Witch, Wolf, Woods

CHAPTER 26: KATJA'S BIRTHDAY

Wolf's grin widened, even as a faint hint of red appeared along the edges of his cheeks. "I thought about getting you something to do with metal, but you already have a lot of that, so, this seemed like a good option."

"When did you write it?" asked Katja.

"At night, after you fell asleep," he explained. "I had to wait until I was in human-form, because paws aren't very good for writing."

"It's perfect," Katja assured him, feeling a smile spread across her face, a rare enough occasion to draw her attention to it. How wonderful it was to have a friend!

Without thinking of anything beyond wanting to convey her deepest appreciation, Katja stepped forward and threw her arms around Wolf, which was a bit awkward since she was still holding the book, but he didn't seem to mind.

"Thank you so much!" she said. "I can't wait to read it!"

Wolf hugged her back, and for a moment, Katja let her head rest against his chest, savoring the simple pleasure of sharing a physical connection with someone.

She hadn't realized before how tall Wolf was, and while he was definitely on the thin side, she could feel firm muscle against her cheek and where her hand rested against his back.

She'd hugged him in wolf-form before, but even though it was still him, somehow, this felt different.

Not wanting to make him feel uncomfortable—or perhaps beginning to feel somewhat uncomfortable herself—Katja pulled away and took a quick step backwards, keeping her eyes on the book.

"Thank you again," she said.

"You're very welcome," Wolf replied, his voice deeper than usual, different enough that it made Katja look up, in spite of herself.

Rather than meet her gaze, however, Wolf kept his eyes focused on the book. "I'll keep working on it, if you don't mind. I know it's odd to give you a gift and then take it back, but it shouldn't take me much longer to finish it."

Katja nodded and handed the book back to him, and she wasn't sure how to explain the twinge of disappointment she felt when he took it carefully, ensuring their fingers didn't so much as touch.

"I'd better go get changed," she said, and as Wolf nodded, she strode to her wardrobe, withdrew clothes, then hurried off to the bathroom, trying to ignore the fact that her mouth was dry while her hands felt damp.

When she returned to her room to drop off her sleeping clothes, Wolf was still in human-form.

"Now that you know about the book, I was thinking I might work on it a little while this morning," he explained. "I still have some time left before I need to change shapes, and I'd like to make the most of having hands. If you don't mind, I can come meet you in your workroom when I'm done."

"Alright," agreed Katja, both relieved to have a bit of time by herself to think through some of the morning's events and reluctant to be away from Wolf for an extended period of time.

She gave him a small wave as she stepped into the hallway, which he returned before the closing door eclipsed him from view.

Katja grabbed jam-filled croissants from the kitchen, then made her way to her work room, and she'd just finished breakfast when there was a knock on the door. She jumped up eagerly, then realized Wolf wouldn't have knocked—he only left her room in wolf-form, which meant he would have howled or done something else to get her attention.

Opening the door, Katja was surprised to see a Helferin. It handed her a folded piece of paper, which turned out to be an invitation for a birthday lunch with Tante Winola and Tante Hedda in the librarian's chambers.