SOMETHING NUDGED the underside of my foot. I kept my eyes firmly shut.

It prodded me again. Maybe if I ignore it the annoyance will go away. Go back to its home in the garbage dump.

I awaited the next disturbance.

Instead, I heard the soft plop of a body meeting the ground.

One eye hesitantly peeped open. Why was the world sideways?

My head lifted off Jesse's as-comfy-as-a-pillow shoulder to see Fynn sitting at my feet, legs crossed like a yoga teacher. I could only wish to get my legs to contort to such a position.

"Unless they were pushed by a certain somebody," Riana trailed off, her wolf eyebrows practically wiggling to their own music.

The music of being sex deprived. I reminded myself to ask Amelia if she'd had any sexual escapades recently. I pre-prepared myself for her onslaught of questioning on how it was possible that I, constantly surrounded by 'sexy hulks' – her words, not mine – got less fun than she did.

I huffed and laid back on Jesse's shoulder, unbothered to entertain Fynn's antics.

A few minutes later, just as I was about to fall asleep, another prod shocked me awake.

My head sprung up and I stared daggers into Fynn. If they had been real, there would've been at least fifty sticking out of his neck. A dagger collar for the naughty wolf-shifter.

Because of my repeated movements, the others had slowly begun to stir and wake up.

"I feel another soul in our presence," Fynn said once everyone was rubbing their eyes and reasonably attentive. "A new one."

"That's me."

"That's my wolf, silly. Why else would you have found a wolf lying on its side, earlier?"

Fynn rolled his eyes. "I thought I was having a nightmare where you were actually a wolf."

Riana and I felt slightly hurt – actually, very hurt – by his comment. That my wolf didn't exist, and he had a nightmare about us.

Jesse could feel me bristling and lay a comforting hand on my shoulder. I turned and sent him a small smile. I won't murder him. Yet.

The disbelieving looks on Jesse's face told me he didn't believe what I had expressed through my facial expressions.

I turned back to Fynn, only to find him glaring at the fingers stroking my arm like he wanted to chop them off.

When I cleared my throat, he awkwardly coughed and averted his eyes. "So, what do we do now that Katie has a wolf?"

"You're supposed to tell us that, alpha," I snarkily reply. I pause, suddenly aware of the newfound boldness that I hadn't possessed before.

How am I wittier?

"It's good you notice the lack of that skill previously," Riana snickered.

"But to answer your question, I lent you some of my amazing power. I'd rather not suffer second-hand embarrassment through your lame jokes, thank you very mucho."

Hey!

Fynn freezes and the James laughs at him. "Nice one," he calls.

A few blinks later, Fynn seemed to have composed himself enough, at least to the level where his hands were no longer twitching to snap my neck in half. He turned to me, "thank you for your obedience and dedication to me, Katie."

I huff.

"As for what we'll do, I think it's best to hide her transition," he addressed everyone, "for the rest of the Celebration."

"WHAT?" "WHAT?" Riana and I exclaim in unison.

Everyone but Fynn slapped their hands over their ears and cringed in pain. "What. What did I do?" I asked dumbfoundedly.

"You hurt my ears," whimpered Liam. "That's what you did."

"And mine," added Blaze.

Turning to Fynn, I waited expectantly for an explanation. "You've got alpha blood in you, little Kitty Kat. Only alphas can command shifters like that."

If only it worked on Fy– "It doesn't on me because I'm an alpha too. Andif I happen to do it, it won't work on you. Pity."

"Oh," I pondered, before remembering the cause for our outburst. "Why do we have to hide Riana? I just got her; it should be time for celebration!"

"Riana?"

"My wolf."

Fynn gives me a weird look. "Why do you think?"

Just as I was going to tell him to shove the rudeness up his ass, he interrupted. Apparently not finished spewing pollution into the atmosphere. I shook my head at the disappointment of not catching a break.

His unnecessary speaking is the reason why there's so much carbon dioxide in the world and the cause of a rise in temperature.

I saw Riana's wolf pause, before collapsing in heaps of laughter.

Fingers clicked up close to my nose. It diverted my attention and made my vision cross-eyed.

Angrily swiping them away, "what was that for, asswipe!"

"Did you even listen to a word of what I just said?" questioned an annoyed Fynn. "If I remember correctly, it was you who asked me about what to do."

"Well, you remembered wrongly because it was you who asked me, Mr. I-am-a-dimwit!" I responded in outrage. "So would you please give Riana and me a moment to laugh about your incessant chatter being the reason for global warming! And then you can repeat whatever it was you were saying – and cause more dolphins to lose their homes in the trees."

James quietly nudged me in the ribs and whispered, "dolphins are sea animals."

"Yeah! I meant sloths are going to lose their tree homes. Sloths!" I wave my arms frantically for good measure.

"Oh yeah?" Fynn challenged with an evil shine in his brown orbs of wickedness. "It's your breath that melts all the polar ice-caps every day! Your hot, stinky breath!"

My eyes widen and I quickly bring my hand to my mouth, huffing and smelling the odour reflected. Nothing, whew, I wipe my imaginary forehead of imaginary sweat.

"As if!" I scoffed.

"Yes, you smell," Fynn teased, "like decomposing trash."

"Do not!"

"Yes too!"

"Do not!"

"Yes too!"

"Mix it up," advised my wolf.

"Yes too!"

"Do not!" he responds.

"Finally," I sigh, "we have reached an agreement."

Fynn starts to splutter, "I meant ye– I mean no– yes too, no not!"

A smug smile is plastered to my face as I shrug. "Well, you gotta agree, to disagree. Don't you Fynn," I mockingly ask.

"What's happening?" asks a voice at the door.

We all turn to the newcomer and before I can stop it, a single word comes out of my mouth in full-on gymnastics tumbling routine.

"Oop."

***

A/N:

You guys were only two votes away from having an extra chapter this week!

I was going to be lenient and still publish Chapter 28, but I decided not. I cannot brew an atmosphere of laziness here!

It's as if Riana wants something to happen more than Katie does! Always suggesting things, that sassy wolf. Sometimes, I feel like I have a second soul in me with a personality somewhat similar that of Riana's, lol.

QOTC: Why does Fynn want to hide Kitty Kat's (Katie's) newly discovered wolf? Does he know something she doesn't? Who is the newcomer?

Comment and share, I love hearing your thoughts,

-Hilda

Chapter 28 (and Chapter 29 if we can get 15 votes): 24september2022