Read Online The Catalyst by Zoe Winters - Free Book Online

you are.”
    He arched a brow. “You do? Because you’re just so
worldly? You’ve had so much opportunity to experience life and the
world, inside that little cottage of yours.” As soon as he said it,
he regretted it—even before he saw the light go out of her eyes and
her expression crumple.
    She recovered as her eyes appeared to flash with
liquid green fire. If he didn’t know she needed books and tools and
prep time to cast a spell, he’d be scared right about now.
    “I’m just another conquest for you,” she said. “I
didn’t ask you to marry me or have some big epic love with me. I
didn’t ask for any of this, but it’s pretty low for you to attack
my phobias when yours are just as irrational. I get that you’re a
wild animal, and these are close living quarters. And it’s hard to
live your fabulous bachelor existence with a pup here intruding on
your lifestyle. But you chose to take him and you chose to take me.
So if you want to remain unfettered, stop picking up strays!” Fiona
left her sandwich on the counter and stormed down the hall,
slamming Z’s bedroom door behind her.
    That wasn’t how he’d pictured her ending up in his
room. He picked up the plate and followed, knocking softly when he
got there.
    “Go away! Go scratch your itches with some slut who
doesn’t care she’s a sexual Kleenex. I’m not your blow-up
doll.”
    He resisted the urge to break down the door. “Fiona,
I’m sorry. I brought your sandwich. You went to all that trouble to
make it. I don’t want your dinner spoiled because of me.”
    “Too late.”
    Why did she have to be so stubborn about everything?
He took a deep breath, trying to reign in his temper. “I’m going to
leave your food out here by the door. But, if I were you, I’d get
it quick before the pup does. I won’t be back tonight. I’m just
going to go stay someplace in town and get started on the search
when the sun comes up. I should have gone today. You’re right. I
shouldn’t bring others into my life if I’ll resent it once they’re
here. Goodbye, Fiona.”
    He waited for a reply, but the only reply were the
tears she probably thought he couldn’t hear from the other side of
the door. He moved out of sight and watched for another couple of
minutes, long enough to see her hand slip out and take the sandwich
into his room.
     
    ***
     
    After he locked the pup up in the pen, he left his
cell phone on the kitchen counter with a note attached that he’d be
in touch to keep her updated, then he hightailed it out of there.
He’d grab another phone before setting out in the morning. With
Fiona in his room, he couldn’t pack a bag, but he had his wallet on
him, and he traveled light anyway. Anything he needed, he’d just
have to buy on the way.
    He had no idea how long he’d be gone or how far he’d
have to travel to find the pup’s family. It couldn’t be too far,
though the fear clawed in the back of his mind that he wouldn’t
find the family no matter how far afield of Golatha Falls he
traveled. And what if the pup had been abandoned?
    A sick thought entered his mind as he considered that
perhaps a werewolf had gotten a human pregnant. It wasn’t common,
but it wasn’t unheard of either. It would have to be a very strong
wolf to have a human mother and still be born in his fur. Maybe the
pup had been the product of a one-night stand, and she’d been out
somewhere, had the baby, and freaked out. Maybe she’d just
abandoned it.
    If the father had been near her at all within a
couple of weeks of conception, he would have sensed his offspring
inside her, and wolves tended to be pretty possessive about that
sort of thing. But if it had been a one-night stand and they never
crossed paths again, he might not know about it. Could the girl
have been a local, and the wolf just been passing through? Maybe he
was a lone wolf without a pack or family and no interest in one. Z
could identify with that.
    Maybe Z’s hunt was a wild goose chase. As