The Animal Within You

Chapter 35

Once the entrance was firmly shut behind us, I turned to face Kalmin with a small frown, lowering the large gift bag to the floor. He returned it with a neutral, vacant expression, but his eyes were still a stormy blue. He was angry, but it seemed as though something new was fueling the fire behind his stare. I heard a distant growl, no doubt from Sage, but not a single word was uttered from her. She stayed back, waiting.

"You are still an enigma, child; to us, to every damn person in that room, and to every damn person in this world." Kalmin began, his breaths shuddering as he forced himself to calm down. "I'm not here just to yell at you, Caitlyn."

"You could have fooled me." I muttered, cocking my head. "The beginning of that speech didn't really give me that idea."

"I'm enraged," he retorted.

"I can clearly see that—"

"Bring out Sage." Kalmin ordered, his gaze boring deeply into my eyes, to the point that it was uncomfortable. I narrowed my eyes at him.    

"Why?" I interrogated sharply, folding my arms in front of my chest tightly as a gust of freezing wind whipped at my thinly covered arms. Strands of hair slithered across my face, but I made no move to brush them away. I focused on transferring the heat in my hands to my lace cladded arms.

"She's brought unnecessary attention to you, a mere child who has too much power at her disposal. People have taken notice of you; people who would do anything in order to find out what you are." He seethed, taking a step closer to me. "Bring her out. We need to discuss this with her."

"I'm sure she can hear you just fine." I pointed out, shivering slightly as the frost bit at my nose. If I was transformed, the cold wouldn't be bothering me nearly as much as it was right now. Without the proper attire, I was only going to get myself sick out here. "Plus, it drains my energy to have her using my body as a vessel. I might not know much about what I'm capable of, or what my animals are capable of, but I know what affects my body." In reality, it didn't matter to me whether Sage took over or not. The draining of energy wasn't as violent as I would have thought, and I would easily be able to handle Sage speaking for a few minutes.

Kalmin opened his mouth to retaliate, but the doctor stepped up and clasped the man's shoulder. He shot him a gentle smile and nodded for Kalmin to step down for a bit. Without a word, he inched away and stood next to another man. I had only realized now that I didn't have the faintest idea of who he was.

"Would you be willing to confirm if Sage is listening?" Dr. Moore questioned quietly, looking down at me patiently. I clenched my teeth and nodded, already feeling her resurfacing.

"He may go on."

"She's listening," I mumbled, looking away from Jonathan's eyes. Instead, my vision studied how the doctor looked. His unruly hair was combed back, a few short, stray strands from his hair line dipping down to the tips of his glasses. He was cleanly shaved, as always, but he had ditched the typical lab coat and was dressed in a classic, tight black suit. Surprisingly, it hadn't looked oversized compared to his skinny frame. 

"The energy convergence was a no-no. I would understand if you had used a small amount to calm Caitlyn's nerves, which is what I assumed was the reason, but you seemed to have pumped an abundance of it throughout her body. It's practically oozing out of her pores, Sage." Jonathan chastised, pushing up his glasses. "She's attracted too much attention, and I'd very much like it if a student of ours wasn't harassed by greedy leaders."

"Caitlyn, I'm going to borrow your mouth for a few moments." Sage warned before I felt my lips, jaw, and throat go numb.

"Really, if you could just refrain from doing anything that would further intensify people's curiosity towards Caitlyn—"