It was Monday and Nick was at work, feeling numb and hollow.

While measuring out the correct amount of coffee to put in the filter, his mind wandered to Kate again, like it had been doing all weekend.

She probably hated him.

He wondered what she was doing right now, because he hadn't seen her at work.

"Hi, Nick."

"Kate?"

He almost dropped the tablespoon he was holding. There she was, looking as beautiful as ever. The look on her face was one of determination.

"I've decided to believe you," she informed him.

His heart almost skipped a beat. "Really?"

"Careful, I might change my mind." She said it teasingly and with a smile, and boy, was she pretty when she smiled.

His wolf silently agreed, latching on to the warm, pleasant feeling Kate's mere presence induced. They both just stood there for a while.

Wasn't she afraid? No, she was here after all. Maybe her curiosity was overpowering her fears.

Finally, Nick broke the silence: "I'm pretty new to all of this myself, you know."

He turned on the coffee maker.

"You mean you haven't always been a werewolf?"

Nick quickly put a finger over his lips.

"Don't shush me!" Kate chuckled and stepped closer to him.

He felt the warmth radiating from her body even tough she wasn't touching him. His wolf was excited, inching closer to the surface.

"We're alone in this corner of the precinct. No one can hear," she whispered. "Besides, nobody would believe us, anyway."

Trying his best to act causal, like her proximity didn't affect him, he murmured: "Well, Stevens could hear us, for starters. If he found out you knew.. well, it wouldn't be good."

Kate's eyes widened. "Is he a..?"

"God, no."

The coffee was now completely brewed and Nick began pouring it into the cup.

"He just doesn't like us very much," he explained, not wanting to scare Kate any more than necessary. "He's like.. part of an anti-werewolf group."

He finished pouring the coffee and reached for a packet of sugar. Hugo liked his coffee sweet.

"Oh. I didn't know those existed," Kate said apprehensively.

"Well, I can't really blame him. I'm not very fond of werewolves myself," Nick confessed, "and if there was a way for me to reverse all of this, I'd do it, no questions asked."

"So.. you didn't want to be.. turned? How did you become a werewolf?"

"I-"

Nick averted his gaze. "I don't know if I'm ready to talk about that, I'm sorry."

Kate's eyes widened. "That's fine!" she exclaimed. "Sorry I asked."

Wanting to lighten the mood again, she asked: "Don't you have, like, special abilities? That must be nice."

Kate looked at him so expectantly that Nick couldn't help but laugh at her. "I'm able to heal quicker. That's about the only useful ability."

The sugar had fully dissolved now and he put the cup aside.

Her eyes widened. "Well, from my perspective, that doesn't sound too bad."

"You're wrong. Even when I look like I'm human, like right now, the wolf is still in my head. All the time. And it's not just.. there, it's waiting to take over. Not to mention that it's preventing me from living my life the way I want to."

He paused, letting his words sink in before he continued.

"I can't do anything that would cause me to get too excited or happy or angry. I have to lie to my friends and my family. It might sound cool to you, but I can assure you it isn't. I want nothing more than to just be normal again."

Nick was careful not to mention the immortality-thing. He had yet to deal with that himself.

"But.. can't you learn to control it?" She reached for the coffee cup, but Nick shook his head. "It's still hot," he murmured.

He added: "I've never asked for any of this, Kate. I don't really want to learn how to control it, I want to return to the life I had before."

-------- TW: Mention of a knife --------

Kate is about to test out if Nick really is a werewolf and she does something involving a knife.

If that is something you don't want to read about, you can skip this part and scroll down a bit until it says "TW over".

Or you can skip this chapter altogether, of course.

Keep safe, everyone!
The last thing I want is to trigger anybody.

- - - - - - - - -

Suddenly, a sharp pain shot up Nick's arm, making him wince.

His eyes went yellow in an instant as he looked down to his arm, which was covered in blood.

A long cut ran from the back of his hand to the middle of his elbow.

Clenching his teeth, his gaze automatically went to Kate, expecting to find her holding his attacker at gunpoint.

He noticed her guilty expression first, then the bloody knife she tried to shove back into her pocket a little too late.

"Kate! What the hell?"

With his non-bleeding arm, he dragged her into the nearest room - luckily, it was empty.

The smell of his own blood and the excruciating pain made any hope of calming down enough to make his eyes go back to normal impossible.

It irked him that she had to see him like this - he hadn't wanted her to see this side of him yet. He actually didn't want her to see it, ever, but..

"You said it would heal," Kate said defensively, as if that excused her actions. Her gaze was fixed on his bleeding arm.

"It is," Nick said angrily, his voice raised.

Indeed, the wound was beginning to close. The skin was knitting back together before their eyes until there wasn't so much as a scratch left.

------ okay, TW over <3 -----------------

Nick snapped his fingers in front of Kate's face, getting her attention back to where it belonged.

He was furious and his gums were aching, sharp canines waiting to slip out.

"Just because it's healing doesn't mean it doesn't hurt! I don't want you doing that ever again! Do you know what could've happened if people had seen?"

"I know! I- I didn't-"

"Didn't think?" He stared at her like you stare at a misbehaving child, his golden irises penetrating her gaze.

Kate lowered her gaze to the ground.

"I'm sorry, Nick. I.. I needed to see it for myself."

She didn't see him as a person anymore, she saw him as an animal she could experiment on, he thought.

His canines slipped out fully. Nick didn't even really notice, but Kate flinched and retreated a few steps.

A twang of sadness pierced his heart at her reaction, even though some part of him understood, but right now, it only intensified his anger and his wolf was loving it, wanting to use this opportunity to break out fully.

"Do you view me as some sort of.. lab rat?" he asked quietly, his shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"No! No, it isn't like that at all! But.. you have to understand that this is a lot for me to take in!" Her eyes were glistening with tears and her voice was beginning to tremble.

"You're important to me. I don't want to lose you over this," she added.

****

Chapter 14 picks up right where this chapter left off!

Please consider leaving a comment or a vote! Thank you so much!