Chapter 13 - Catra

Catra felt more confident after Nora left her to prepare for another pack meeting. They had spent an hour or more discussing the witch that Nora had located in Wales. She actually felt like she could solve the problem before the world broke out into complete anarchy.

She had also resolved not to tell Ryan or Daniel anything about the mating bond yet. Things were complicated enough as it was. She hadn’t even told Ryan that she was pregnant yet.

There would be time to tell both of them that they were in a triad mating bond- that was what Nora called it. She would introduce both men to the idea slowly.

Catra threw the blankets off her legs and got out of bed. Ryan would be back soon, and she wanted to shower before she saw him and checked up on Daniel.

The small ensuite bathroom was well-lit and Catra examined herself in the long thin mirror as she turned open the shower taps and waited for the water to heat up.

Her stomach had definitely expanded, even if only a few inches, but she didn’t think it was noticeable that she was pregnant yet.

She might just look like she had gained some weight. But the pregnancy was showing in other ways. Her hips were wider than before, and her thighs were even fuller than they had been before. Her waist was thicker, and her breasts swung heavily.

Her butt had also expanded and become rounder, and Catra had a feeling she’d need an entirely new wardrobe soon.

She got in the shower when the water was warm enough and groaned with relief as the deliciously hot water burst onto her skin. Her skin tingled with pleasure, and Catra grabbed a bottle of the shower gel she had left there and started pouring copious amounts of it all over her body.

Her body needed the massage, and she started with her calves, kneading them gently, before she moved onto her thighs. She massaged her large ass cheeks just as well, before moving on to stroking her stomach, and then cupping her breasts in both hands. Her nipples had grown hard from the stimulation and her skin tingled again.

A burst of water hit her chest and Catra moaned, as her hand drifted between her thighs and found her clit and her aroused slit.

As she threw her head back and gasped with pleasure, all she could see behind closed eyes was Daniel and Ryan on top of her, both of them taking her at once.

***

5 months earlier.

“Evans? You told me I had a commission?” Catra was walking into the hotelier’s office in the Palace of Souls, staring down at the name and number scribbled in her datebook.

He was waiting for her at his desk and smiled up pleasantly at her as she sat down across from him.

Evans was one of few people that Catra truly trusted, and one of few people she could actually have conversations with, even though she had been living in the United Kingdom for several years now.

“Yes Ms. Catra, and it is quite an urgent one. The client requires your special expertise with death magic.”

She raised her eyebrows as she looked down at the card again.

Ryan O’Connor was the client’s name.

“Can you tell me more about him? I need some background?” Catra asked, waving her hand to summon some coffee and biscuits. Evans tucked into the biscuits and swallowed several sips of the warm, fragrant coffee before he began speaking.

“Well Ms. Catra, Mr. O’Connor is a werewolf, and the Alpha of a very large Irish pack, based in North Mayo.” Evans said, reaching for another biscuit. The plate replenished itself with biscuits each time they ate one.

“And he is quite wealthy too, so he is willing to pay whatever he has to. Now, the case he brought me is quite interesting.”

Catra listened as Evans described Molly’s situation, still chewing on biscuits. She had figured out the spells she would need to halt the progression of Molly’s disease before Evans finished speaking.

“Like I said, Ms. Catra,” Evans drank the last of his coffee. Catra waved her hand and a teapot appeared, with the best English tea brewing inside, “He is quite wealthy. You can certainly mark up your usual prices as much as you like.”

Catra nodded, thanking him, and left. Catra didn’t bother doing any more research on Ryan O’Connor before her trip but packed her suitcase carefully with every possible thing she could need before she left the next morning.

Her train was at six, and the trip would be about eight hours. The train arrived in Dublin in a record five hours, probably because of the magic Catra had used to influence the giant machine, and a car was waiting to pick her up.

The air was crisp and beautiful when she alighted from the train, and a dark sedan waited for her. The driver was a beautiful young woman who greeted Catra kindly, taking her luggage carefully before handing her a bottle of water and some snacks.

The drive to the Cashel pack compound would be three hours, as the compound was out in the middle of nowhere. They arrived in no time, though Catra used no magic. She was quite exhausted when they arrived, but there would be no time to rest, she realized, stepping out of the car.

The entire pack seemed to be waiting for her.

The werewolves of the Cashel pack came in every shape and size. Wolves of all genders, races, and sizes stood waiting for her, and Catra felt truly comfortable for the first time in a while.

And then the Alpha of the Cashel pack stepped forward and all hell broke loose. Ryan O’Connor was her mate. They knew it the minute they locked eyes.

The entire pack knew it. But everyone else didn’t matter at that moment.

All that mattered right then, was Ryan and his blue eyes and red hair and the way he was looking at her with expressions of shock, surprise, and desire on his face.

Catra’s glamor and concealment spells were torn away as the force of the mating bond opened up the skies, and rain started thundering down.

The mating bond demanded unwavering honesty and the glamor she used was stripped away. They must have been standing in the rain for at least ten minutes before Ryan’s mother, Nora, ushered them into the shared communal hall of the Cashel pack.

“Well,” Ryan spoke in a rumbling voice, “This certainly complicates things.”

“No shit.” Catra sighed, rubbing her eyes.

The mating bond was an external force, a silver thread crafted by the Fates, by Destiny, and tying them together for eternity.

It could not be controlled, and most people were grateful to find their eternal partner. However the tradition of mating was more localized to werewolves and other shapeshifters.

Catra couldn’t think of many witches who had become ensnared in the mating bond.

She turned to Ryan, restraining herself from going up to him and touching him, being close to him, as she spoke.

“Maybe I can find someone else to heal your sister.’ She said. ‘I need to leave.”

“What?” The hurt and confusion was evident on his face.

“I know this is important to you, this mating thing.” She whispered the words, aware that it sounded like she was gossiping. “But I am a witch. You know that. You can’t think I’d go along with it.”

“It’s not like either of us wanted this!” Ryan retorted angrily. His cheeks had gone as red as his hair and his hands were clenched into fists. “Do you think I want my mate to be a witch?”

She stepped back like someone had smacked her. Catra could feel every one of Ryan’s emotions. Anger, disappointment, hurt.

He was angry and hurt that she was rejecting him, and disappointed that his mate wasn’t who he had imagined.

Ryan exhaled deeply, closing his eyes, trying to remain calm. He was beautiful. A big, burly man, built like a linebacker. His red hair was curly, and he also had a full red beard that extended all the way to his neck. His skin was weathered and pockmarked and when Catra’s gaze dropped to his hands, she noticed that they were calloused.

So her mate, and client, was a royal werewolf who did manual labor and had adopted a human girl into his family.

“Listen,” Ryan continued speaking then, ‘I don’t want to think about this now. I just wanted you here for my baby sister.” His voice shook slightly. “And don’t tell me to find someone else, because all I’ve been doing since she was diagnosed was try and find someone to help her. You’re literally the last resort here. Please, can we just ignore this while you assess my sister?”

Ryan looked like he was about to fall to his knees and start begging. His eyes had gone glossy, like he was on the verge of crying, and Catra could feel his exhaustion coming strong and steady through the mating bond.

It had been years, she realized, of working hard to keep Molly, the human girl his parents had adopted into the pack, alive.

She had muscular dystrophy, a degenerative disease that was incurable. It could be treated, and they were doing all they can. But the girl was dying. Fast.

A sharp gasp escaped Catra as spikes of pain stabbed her chest. She bent over double, trying to catch her breath. Ryan was at her side in seconds, his arms around her, holding her up.

When she turned to him, her face against his chest, the movement was instinctive. Her mate was there, ready to comfort her, and she took advantage of it for only a second.

She could feel all of Ryan’s pain through the mating bond. And no matter how Catra felt about being the mate of a werewolf, she could not let him continue going through that kind of pain.

They would just have to ignore the bond while Catra worked.

Catra spent a month working on Molly, carefully unraveling the football-sized tumor inside the girl.

It was at the end of that month that Catra and Ryan fell into bed together, after getting drunk, celebrating Molly’s recovery.

After five months, Ryan was ready to mark her and claim her as his mate, and as the Luna of his pack.

That was when Catra fled, running as far and fast as she could.