Castle couldn't stay at the loft. When his partner had left he had hugged his daughter tightly, whispered comforting words, not really knowing if it was his daughter or himself he tried to soothe. After a while he suddenly remember what the detective had said. I got a murderer on the loose. She was going after him. She was going after John Walton. Alexis had told him she would go to bed, and so he told her he needed some air and would go out for a while. He could tell his daughter didn't truly believed him but she didn't stop him, just told him to stay safe and kissed his cheek. Before he walked out he'd switched to a pair of black sweatpants and a black shirt, hoped the dark outfit could hide him in the dark of the night. Then he'd followed her scent, started following it from his door and out on the street. He hadn't needed to smell one of her things first, he knew her scent, could easily pick it out amongst all the other scents circling in the air.
It didn't take long before he was back at the store Hannah had worked at, where he saw the cops had taped off the ground and their lights were still blinking red and blue. He stayed out of the way, made sure no one saw him as he searched the perimeter. Thanks to his heightened senses he didn't need to go close to follow her movements. She'd gone into the store, into the storage to be more exact, and had most likely stopped at the pool of his blood on the ground. He had no idea how long she'd stood there or exactly what she'd done in there but once she'd gotten out again it had been through the back door. He could tell he'd decided the opposite way of their walk to her car earlier. He followed her trail and saw the things she'd seen. John Walton must've had his car there, had driven away as fast as he could if the marks in the road were any indications of it. Taking deep breaths Castle followed as she must've continued her search on foot.
He couldn't help but wonder why she hadn't taken her car, or a cab, but was thankful for it, it made it easier for him to find her. Maybe she wanted him to find her? Though he doubted it. That fear in her eyes, those tears, he had a feeling she wanted nothing of the sort. Her last words had been 'Don't follow me', and he knew he was violating her wish but the killer she was after had killed a werewolf. The guy wasn't scared of a cop, and that was what feared Castle. The guy wouldn't stop at firing another bullet and if he wasn't there to step in front of her...
"Damnit Kate, where are you?" he mumbled into the darkness of the night.
His eyes searched the road as his feet followed the scent of her. He stopped in his tracks when he saw a car hidden amongst the bushes and trees to his right, across the road. Taking in a few deep breaths he could tell she had seen it too, her scent was leading him right to the car. Before crossing the road he made sure no car was driving on it. Getting closer to the car he prayed he wasn't too late. John Walton must've parked it there on purpose because once he got to it there were no indications of an accident. Which meant the killer wanted to park there. His heart beat increased as his eyes started to frantically look around, tried to find her. What if he was too late? He wouldn't survive if he was.
He couldn't see her, or the killer, and when he drew another deep breath he could tell she'd gone further into the forest. He could also tell she'd gone straight into the same trail of another scent. John Walton. Before he was really aware of what he was doing he was bending his back forward, hunching down with his fingers digging into the ground as he felt his bones cracking, his body quickly and painfully changing. It wasn't quite as painful, though, almost as if the pain of his partner leaving earlier that evening had hurt more. It had. His claws dug into the ground now, his ears taking in every small sound around him, his nose immediately taking in every scent filling the air and his teeth clenched in a low growl. If anyone saw him now they would go off running and screaming, but he didn't care. All he cared for was her and finding her before anything bad could happen.
His clothes had ripped into shreds and he grunted at the pieces. He dug his human-like paws into the dirt and set off into the night, his nose telling him what way to go to find his partner. His heart beating faster when he heard the howl of another wolf not far away. He immediately increased his speed, each step sending him flying through the trees as he followed the trail of his partner's scent.
"Freeze! Police!" The sound of her voice had him pushing himself further, the adrenaline in his veins pumping through his whole body. "Wha-"
Once he got sight of her he could also see the blonde wolf standing right in front of her, teeth growling with his back haunched and Castle recognized that move. Kate did hold her gun pointed at the wolf but Castle could hear her heart speeding and see the way her body had frozen with shock, she wasn't going to be able to defend herself. He launched himself forward, growling and bearing his teeth to the other wolf as he placed himself in front of his partner. The blonde looked at him with question in his eyes but Castle simply growled at him, his body language clearly warning the other wolf to back off. He heard his partner gasp behind him and hoped her finger wouldn't pull the trigger, unsure of how the other wolf would react to that. The two wolves stared at each other for a minute or two before another wolf, not far from them, howled in a victorious way. Not breaking the eye contact the blonde wolf started backing away from them, teeth not gleaming in the night anymore as he spun around and set off towards the howl.
Castle relaxed his body a bit, but refused to look away from where the wolf had gone, just in case the wolf would come back. There were no blonde wolf he knew of, all of the wolves he'd met earlier had either had black or brown hair. Well, except his mother and his daughter then, who were both gingers. But he couldn't recall meeting a blonde wolf in the city before, then again it was a big city. And he didn't exactly keep track of every wolf in town.
"C-Castle?"
Oh, shit. He'd forgotten his partner was right now aiming her gun at him, observing him in his second form. Even if he'd planned on telling her about it one day he'd never really planned on showing her until she asked him to, if she ever did. Carefully he raised his human-like paws in a slow motion, feeling his hair rise at the fear of her shooting him. He could still hear her rapid heart, her shallow breathing, and he made sure to turn around even slower than normal. He would've loved to change back before facing her, didn't want to scare her off, but by doing that he'd need to crack his bones back. And that was a sight he did not want to be the first she saw. He was used to it and he still hurt and felt uncomfortable whenever he witnessed his daughter or mother change.
"Is that you?" her trembling voice matched the emotion he saw the second their eyes met. Fear of the unknown.
She gasped and he saw her hands, still holding the gun, start to shake a bit. If he'd been in his human form he would've gently laid his hands over hers, bending her gun out of her grasp just to make sure she didn't accidentally shot him or herself, but he wasn't in his human form and so he couldn't. She would've most likely shot him if he had.
"It is you," she whispered to his surprise.
Her hands lowered the gun as her eyes kept flickering between his blues, her lips slightly parted in shocked wonder. He stood still and observed his partner as she hesitantly started moving closer, her right hand letting go of her gun in order to slowly lift it up. He tried not to react when her fingertips slid across his chest, trailing over his fur, and he was sure she could feel the way his heart skipped a beat. Her eyes kept flickering between his, as if she tried to make herself believe it was really true. When she let her whole palm spread out over his chest he couldn't stop the shiver going down his spine, her hand was sending electricity down his body in a way he'd never experienced before.
"How long have you been like this?" she questioned carefully and continued to let her fingers move through the short fur she could reach.
Castle held up his right hand and started to back away slowly, just enough to make sure him turning back wouldn't somehow hurt her. Before he started cracking his bones back into place he took a second to listen to their surroundings, because even if he had heightened senses in his human form they still didn't beat the senses he had in his wolf form. He gave his partner an excusing look and bent forward a bit in order to start changing back. Here we go. He heard her gasp but knew there was no turning back now, knew that this was a part of his nature, and she needed to see this side of him too. Hopefully it wouldn't scare her away. Sneaking glances at her he saw her eyes were wide but to his relief she wasn't backing away. She wasn't rejecting him. When he felt the last bones crack into the right places he straightened in his stand and stretched his back as the final crack sounded through the forest.
"Oh," her sudden exclaim had him immediately looking at her and he could just see the blush on her cheeks before her back was staring at him. "You're naked."
Oh. He couldn't help but chuckle at that, both amused and nervous. He'd forgotten about that part.
"Sorry, usually I-ah don't change back until I'm back to where I started," he apologized, running his hand through his hair. "I could change back but thing is I can't really talk when I'm a... wolf." He didn't know why but saying it out loud to her felt like a heavy stone was lifted off of his shoulders. It was such a relief! She finally knew the truth! Only took him three years.
"Well-eh... here," she started shrugging off the coat she was wearing and he doubted it would do much but at least he could cover?
She held it out towards him but kept her eyes facing the other way. He didn't hesitate to accept the coat and after holding it up in front of him he decided it was indeed to small to put on, so he just held it up in front of him so it covered his most intimate part.
"I'm good," he said and she hesitantly turned around, her eyes avoiding his until she was completely turned. Her eyes were searching his again, looking for answers he knew she wouldn't be able to figure out on her own. "I was born this way," he answered her previous question, the one he hadn't been able to answer in his wolf form. "Mother is a wolf, her parents were wolves but I don't know how far back it goes." He shrugged his shoulders, because he didn't know how the whole so-called myth had started. Didn't know who was first and how they first had changed. Was it a bite from a wolf or mutation in the genes? Maybe both? He had no clue.
Her forehead wrinkled in that adorable way it always did when she was thinking deeply about something. He'd let that slip that first time they worked together, when they went through his fan mail in order to find the killer.
"Born... does that mean Alexis..?"
He nodded. "Yeah, she's born a wolf too. Though Meredith has no clue," he added quickly.
"So, all your kids will be... werewolves?"
"Oh," he chuckled slightly, "no, if both parents are werewolves it's more likely but it's not always a guarantee. I kind of hoped Alexis wouldn't be, considering Meredith isn't my soulmate, but the second I could sense she was one I was careful to make sure she wouldn't change in front of anyone other than me or mother."
His partner opened her mouth again, probably having a thousand more questions and honestly Castle was just happy she felt safe enough to ask them, but before she could let out the first question another howl sounded through the air. Castle immediately looked into the distance where the sound had come from, instinctively taking a few steps closer to his soulmate in order to be able to protect her if needed.
"What are they saying?" Beckett asked and he turned to her.
"Well, I don't know." When her eyes narrowed and her lips parted slightly in confusion he explained as short as he could. "I'm not part of one of the packs around here, Marco asked me to join his when I got old enough but honestly me and my mother have always kept to ourselves. And after I got Alexis I figured we were our own little pack."
"Who is Marco really?" She asked but before he could answer another howl sounded through the air, from the opposite direction this time.
"We, uh, need to go. I'll answer everything at the loft." Looking around he took a deep whiff of the wind to make sure the wolves weren't anywhere near them. Still covering his intimate parts with her coat he silently cursed himself for not saving his pants earlier. He took another whiff before he held out his hand to her in a hesitant reach. She looked at his hand and he started to fear she wouldn't take it when she suddenly bit her lower lip and met his eyes with a small smile. When she took his hand it was with gentle fingers slowly tangling themselves into his. Did she feel the electricity too?
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A/N: Hope you enjoyed! Now it's like this: I haven't fully been able to write much this week, and I only have one more chapter that is finished, but I'll see if I can write some more tomorrow (if I don't get called to work) and still be able to publish tomorrow, if not then I'll let you know through my twitter that I won't publish (LololovaX). Until next time, xxxx