The Lone Wolf

Chapter 7: Katniss

I reach out my hand, seeking Peeta's warmth, but find he's gone. I lift my head and blink open my eyes. Judging from the sun gleaming through the window, it's late morning. Later than I usually get up. I get out of bed and go into the bathroom. I take a quick shower and when I get out I notice the red bite mark on my neck.

"Oh Moon Godess, what the hell did I let him do to me!" I say to myself.

"You let him mark you!" Taylor squeals. "You're technically married!"

"I know what I did!" I snap. "I just don't know why I let him."

"Because you love him," she says. "You wanted to be this."

"Yeah," I say. "But we both know what happens next."

"Yes," she says. "You'll go into heat, mate with him, and hopefully become a mommy!"

"But what if I don't want to be a mommy," I say.

"I know right now you don't, but once you feel that wonderful little miracle moving around inside you, you'll change your mind," she says.

"You just don't understand the danger we're in right now," I say. "If I get pregnant now, I'd be endangering another innocent life who doesn't have anything to do with Snow."

"I will not allow anything to happen to your baby and neither will Peeta and Troyal," she says.

"That doesn't mean it doesn't terrify me," I say. "At least I have a little time until I actually go into heat in though. Although next time I see him, I'll be practically tearing his clothes off." Which is entirely true I can already feel it happening. I can feel the hunger burning in the pit of my stomach that gives the heat it's name.

I quickly get dressed and try to go downstairs to get breakfast. Key word: Try. I find that my door is locked from the outside. Probably for my own protection from unmated males, but that doesn't mean I'm happy about it.

"Dammit Peeta!" I say beating my fists on the door. "I can protect myself. I just want a damn sandwich!" I stomp back to bed and throw myself on it as I pout. "You can't keep me in here forever! Just wait 'til I get your hands on you!"

"Then you'll make him yours all night long," Taylor chuckles in my mind.

"Stop saying that!" I scream at her.

"It's getting painful isn't it?" She says and if I could actually see her, I swear she'd be smirking. "You want him to take you, right here, right now."

"Shut up!" I yell and her I hear her laughing as she retreats to the back of my mind, leaving me alone for the moment. Which I am thankful for. I don't need to hear her whispering those kind of things in my ear when I'm already fighting this hard enough.

I hear a knock on the door but roll my eyes.

"You can only come in if you have a key," I say. "Someone decided that my hormones were raging so badly I can't be responsible enough to go outside this room." I hear the lock click and lift my head to see Delly coming in with a sandwich, chuckling slightly.

"Hi," she says. "The Alpha sent me with some food." I take the sandwich from her and start eating it greedily.

"I hate him so much right now," I say.

"Did he force you into this?" she asks, looking concerned.

"No," I say. "Of course not. He brought it up, but I told him he could. But locking the door was something that most defiantly pissed me off."

"It wasn't to keep you in," she says. "It was to keep others out."

"It doesn't mean it doesn't piss me off!" I say.

"I'm sure it does in your condition," she says smirking. "Gale did the same thing after he marked me. It was stressful. It'll get better when he comes back tonight."

"You're Gale's mate?" I ask her.

"Yeah," she says smiling. "Our little boy, Hunter, is almost three." I look at her for a moment, trying to figure out how that's possible.

"How old are you?" I ask her.

"Twenty," she says.

"But that would mean you would have been like, sixteen, when you got pregnant," I say.

"I was seventeen," she says. "You've got to remember, with two mothers working on the child, full term is six months for us." That is how it works for our kind. For about the same amount of time as it takes for a wolf pup to fully develop, the pregnancy is relatively the same developmental rate as a human. But once our wolves finish forming our child's wolf, they use their energy to speed up the process, making our pregnancies almost three months shorter.

"Yeah," I say. "But even at eighteen, I can't imagine taking care of a baby of my own."

"You'll have Peeta to help you," she reminds me.

"But I never wanted a baby," I say. "Taylor reassures me deep down I do, but I'm not sure."

"You will be," she says. "When you feel them moving, you'll know that they are yours and that you will do anything, even die, to protect that precious little miracle."

"I know you're right," I say. "I just don't know what to do now."

"You wait for him to come to you," she says taking the plate and walking to the door. "Then you have a choice. Follow your instincts or your heart or what ever drives you to make your decision. Do what you think is right. I'll see you later Luna." She gives me a smirk as she leaves and I sigh as I hear the lock click behind her.

Just as the sun starts to set, I hear someone open the door and I turn around to see the one person who I can be so angry at and yet wanting him to do things to me my mother would have washed my mouth out for if I said them out loud. I glare at him and he looks down at his feet.

"Katniss," Peeta says. "I'm sorry, but there are a lot of unmated males in and out of here during the day and in your condition," he starts but I cut him off.

"You thought I couldn't control my hormones enough to not jump on the first one I saw so you came with a great idea to lock me in your room all day with out so much as a note!" I yell at him. "You left me in here all day and never talked to me once. Just sent Delly with a sandwich."

"I'm sorry Katniss," he says. "I had a lot of work to do today. I honestly came home as soon as I could. But I still left you alone all day. And you needed me. I'm sorry."

"Well here's your chance to make up for it," I say closing the door and locking it. "You are gonna give me exactly what I've been waiting for all day." I pull I'm into a kiss, one that I don't want to end. And while it does, there's more. So much more. And it doesn't end until I let it, as the sun starts staining the sky pink as my cheeks the next morning.