The Predator and His Prey

Chapter Nineteen

Dominik stood under the shower letting the cold water hit him, his skin wrinkled and pruned. He didn't want to move, didn't want to leave. It was the fifth shower that day.

She had been gone for two days. Just two days but it seemed so much longer. Minutes seemed like hours and he found himself watching the clock, trying to make it all pass faster. Pass to what he didn't know. But anything was better than the hell he was living in.

He didn't eat, only when his wolf took over and the beast decided he needed food. Raw meat being the only thing he wanted. He didn't sleep, not unless his wolf passed out. He didn't leave the loft much to the dismay of his wolf, who shifted and kept trying to figure out a way to go the two flights to Loco's place. Luckily the wolf didn't have opposable thumbs. He wasn't living. He was alive but he wasn't living.

He missed her.

That was the cold hard truth of it all. He missed Kitten. He missed her being in the loft watching annoying things on TV. Missed the way she glared at him when he said something to annoy her. Missed the way she laughed. Missed her cooking. Missed the way her lips felt on his, the little moans she gave into his mouth from just a slight touch. Missed the way her cat eyes shone on him whenever she saw him.

He missed her.

It had been a long time since he had missed a woman but suddenly this homeless girl comes into the bakery and his whole life changed. He had a plan, a mission. He was going to complete it, then from there he would figure the rest of his life out. Years, for ten years he had been planning this and it was finally so close to being done. But he didn't even have the energy to complete it. Nor did he have a way to now without her. She was the next stage in the plan. His careful, meticulous plan. Ten years, gone in a blink of an eye.

He slammed his fist into the granite of the shower once more, his knuckles bruised and bloodied. The blood washing down the drain at his feet.

Yes, he missed her. Yes, the beast inside of him had claimed her as his own. Showering anywhere from 3 to 9 times a day to keep his wolf at bay, the only thing that calmed his body was the shower. It was the only thing that calmed his body, his body that shook and wanted to shift into his wolf, to drag back Kitten to where she belonged. Each time he stepped foot out of the shower, of his bedroom, his body shook and he shifted. After the fourth time, Dominik had given up fighting it, letting the shift come because it was pointless to fight. His beast won.

He never lost control. He always held his beast at bay, just enough to the forefront to be of use, to be able to maintain the level of control needed. He shifted every night, just to make sure the animal didn't get too caged up and cause a fuss. He went to the woods and let the animal out, let him run and hunt and get it all out of his system every few months. He kept the beast in its place. But one girl threw that all out the window.

"Dom?!" He heard the calling, didn't have to ask who it was to know it was Loco. He was the only other person outside his housekeeper who had access to his loft, same as he was the only other person outside of Jo who had access to Loco's.

"Get your ass out." Loco stormed around the corner, not caring he was getting an eyeful of Dominik in the shower.

He reached into the shower, turning off the water as his other hand snatched a towel off the rack and threw it at him. Dom just stared at the man, he didn't have enough energy to growl or glare. Everything in his life was like that right now, unless his wolf took over and said otherwise. But for the man, he could care less. Nothing in his life made sense. Nothing in his life was going to his plan. All because of her.

"What's wrong with you? Where have you been?"

He climbed out the shower, not bothering to dry off or wrap the towel around him. He didn't care. He knew what Loco was seeing, the skin that was lackluster and pale, the eyes that were dull and black around the skin, weight wise he was still the same or close thanks to his annoying wolf. But his wolf couldn't make the rest of him better.

"Doesn't matter, right now you have to come down to my place. Jade isn't doing so well."

Dom shook his head while hearing the words his wolf clawed to come out. Of course, he knew that was going to be the reaction he got from the beast. It was what he had been trying to do for two days, go to his kitten. Now Loco was giving the animal permission, asking him to go to her. He was stupid, Loco was stupid to ask such a thing. He already had no control, what would going to her do? He would lose it again.

"I can't. My wolf is already clawing to get out as we speak at just the mention of her."

Go to her, you want her. You want her. You want her.

Dominik growled, thrashing his head from side to side as his wolf clawed, growled, pleaded and almost begged to go to the girl. To this one girl that by a freak chance he met. But by his own selfish reasons had forced her into his life, against her will, now the girl was under his skin. Now the girl was all that his wolf could think of. The beast had claimed her even when the man hadn't. He pushed pass Loco and into his closet, pulling a pair of dark jeans from the organized shelves. His life once was organized but now his mind was nothing but chaos.

"Dom, she needs you. She isn't eating, she is barely sleeping, and when she does she wakes screaming bloody murder."

Dom growled, no, his wolf growled. Dom could care less about the homeless girl but his wolf saw her as his. She was just a homeless girl, meant nothing to him. Her musical voice meant nothing to the man, her eyes that bore into his soul meant nothing to him. He growled, pivoting on his heel as his fist bore into the brick wall, cracking of bone clear as pain shot up his wrist. Loco raced over to him, pulling his arm back and trying to restrain him.

"She needs you."

Dominik walked into the loft, his wolf clawing at him as with each step he grew closer to his Kitten. The beast had claimed her and Dominik didn't have a say in the matter, the beast made sure of it. Loco had come up to his loft, demanding him to come see her, practically dragging him from the loft when he had refused. He cared about the girl, his wolf cared, that was clear by the way the beast had kept changing of its own free will, trying to force Dominik to come to her over the last two days.

He sighed looking at his Kitten. She was curled up in the giant bed, allowing it to swallow her up, wasting away from the world just as he was.

He had no clue when she became HIS Kitten. No clue when she got so much under his skin that she could cause his wolf to act insane like a demon hound. No clue when she began to even matter to him, it wasn't that no one mattered to him. He cared about the little old couple, at arm's length, but at least he cared. He cared about Loco, barely but at least he cared. But no one had gotten under his skin, had made him feel like he couldn't go on and come out the other side untouched, not in ten years. But suddenly his Kitten did.

No matter what, he wasn't coming out on the other side untouched. He was going to be touched, burned, cut, and scarred. He was going to change, he could see and feel it already. His uncomplicated life, his selfish self-absorbed, planned life was turning into chaos. The beast inside of him, the beast who was clawing and raging to come out, to close the distance and take his possession into his arms, that beast had no issues with the change. But that beast would also run around the city wild and mount any female it wanted if he was in control all the time.

"Is the plan to starve to death?" He asked her from the doorway, his wolf clawing to get out and it taking everything in him to stop the change.

He watched as his mere voice caused her to flinch, but she didn't look up, she laid in the bed, a tiny ball curled into itself. He moved the short distance, something in him pulling him to reach out to her and for the first time, it wasn't his beast. He sat gently on the edge of the bed and placed his hand on her back, stroking slowly. He could feel the small trembles in her body, shaking silently. And for the first time in ten years, his heart hurt.