"So, what do you want to do?" Castle asked as they stand in the cabin, everything packed out from the car.

"I'm going to run, it was a while ago and the car ride is pretty long," Kate replied and could see his shoulders slump a bit.

"Oh, well, guess I could see if I could make us some dinner while you're gone then, how long does your run usually take?" he asked and she couldn't stop the gigantic grin from blooming on her face. Which of course had his forehead wrinkling and his head tilting in question. "What?"

She ran a hand through her hair, bit her lower lip before grabbing his hand to start pulling him with her outside.

"I think you should follow with," she told him and sensed his excitement as well as the joy filling his scent.

"You're going to let me follow you?" he asked, his eyes sparkling with everything she'd been denying for so long and she couldn't help feel the butterflies in her belly.

"Mhmm," she hummed and turned around to lead him towards the trees, figuring the best place to turn would be beside the trees and not in the open behind the cabin.

He didn't hesitate to follow her and this time he kept quiet, if she knew him right it was because he was observing her and just waiting for whatever came next. Once they were behind the protectiveness of the trees she let go of his hand and told him to stay put with her hand gently touching his chest to be more clear of exactly where he should stay put. She could see the interest in his eyes but also the determination to comply to her wish to stand still. She backed away and disappeared behind some bushes, not feeling like explaining why she's suddenly stripping out of her clothes. Standing in only a bra and panties she felt herself shiver but it wasn't from the cold, she was almost never cold thanks to her warm blood. She was both nervous and excited, she was about to show her other half for her partner, her soulmate. Sure, he'd seen her before, once, but it wasn't the same. Last time it hadn't been intentional, it hadn't been her deciding it.

She took a deep breath, took off the last of her clothing and let her bones start changing.

"Beckett, you okay? Kate?" he asked as her bones started crackling and she realized she kind of forgot to tell him the noise the bones make when they start to rearrange.

She couldn't really answer him but continued to concentrate on her change, the faster she could change and show herself the better.

When Castle heard the crackling noises he didn't know if he was supposed to go after her or not. What if she got hurt? But then she had told him to stay put, and also he had read some myths that the bones had to literally change in the human's body for it to become a werewolf. He tried imaging what that would feel like and grimaced as he imagined the pain it would cause. The breaking must be what he's hearing from her on the other side of the bushes. In case it wasn't he checked his watch, deciding to give her five minutes before he's checking up on her. It didn't go that long, only took about another minute before that chestnut-furred wolf he'd seen once before appears from the same bushes that he saw her disappear behind in her human form.

"Kate?" he said with a smile forming on his lips. The wolf nodded as it carefully, she carefully, moved towards him. He could see the hesitance in her eyes, the way she tried tip toeing made him realize she was halfway expecting him to run away from her, scared. Never. "Can I…" he started asking the one question he wanted to ask most, but stopped himself when it hit him what they were doing out there. "We're here to run right? Lead the way, Kate."

It looked like she was trying to raise an eyebrow, probably being able to hear the change in his question and he slightly wondered if his heart was beating differently too. He'd asked her about her senses and after a couple weeks she'd revealed that she could actually hear people's hearts, which also helped during interrogation. So damn cool. But also quite frightening to know because he couldn't count how many times his heart had started beating faster at the sight of her and knowing she could hear him only made that more embarrassing.

Kate-wolf yelped as if to tell him to follow her and turned around, she looked over her shoulders and he walked up to her with a nod. Then she took off running, and he followed.

Castle could tell she was holding back her speed to let him be able to follow. He could also tell she stopped long before she was tired to not burn him out. She could probably tell by the way he was panting hard and feeling like his lungs were going to explode that he needed to stop. Once she stopped she looked back at him and yelped again, which somehow he translated to "sit down". And so he did. He plumped down on the ground and tried to catch onto his breath, all while watching as she did the same, in her wolf form. She watched him with those hazel eyes and it calmed him knowing it was the same hazel eyes he fell in love with at the precinct long before he knew the secret.

When Castle's breathing were back to normal he couldn't stop but thinking about what he'd been about to ask earlier. His fingers were itching and even though a part of him told him it was too early to ask for he couldn't stop the words from leaving his mouth.

"Kate?" There's something similar to a hum rumbling in her throat. "Can I… can I touch your fur?" He winced at his own words, they sounded so… weird.

At first she laid her head to the side, as if she was thinking about what he'd said and Castle didn't dare looking at her but looked around in the woods instead. When there's movement he looks up to see the wolf slowly coming towards him, still that careful look in her eyes. She's so big as a wolf it made him wonder how much bigger than a normal wolf she was, and if it had something to do with her own height just like the color or her fur depended on the color of her hair. Just a few feet before she reached him she laid down and crawled towards him until she stopped right in front of his legs.

Kate looked up at him, the writer, her partner, and waited for his next move. His eyes showed hesitance and she tried her best to show reassurance, that she wanted him to touch her. She was a bit scared too, she's never let anyone touch her fur. Well, besides her mom but that had been when she was a kid. His hand stretched out towards her and once his fingers reached her head she closed her eyes at the touch.

His hand was careful, hesitant, for a few more seconds before he found confidence to pet her fully. Kate couldn't stop a rustling sound coming out of her throat even if she wanted to, his touch was hypnotizing and she wondered if this was what they meant when they said a soulmate's touch could calm the beast inside no matter how upset the wolf might be. Her mom had told her all those stories, had told her all about soulmates, at least everything she knew. When Kate had been about seven years old she'd asked her mom if she and dad were soulmates, her mom had laughed happily and gotten this look Kate hadn't understood at the time, saying that yes, they were soulmates. Now when Kate looked back at the memory she'd understood the look her mom had gotten was the one of someone fully in love, someone who'd found their soulmate.

"I know you can't speak back to me while you're in wolf form but… thank you, for inviting me here. You have no idea how much it means to me to be here, to get the privilege to see the whole of you," Castle interrupted her thoughts and she smiled as best as she could as a wolf.

She couldn't think of anything better but opened her eyes and lifted her head, when his hand fell off her she put her nose to it to keep him close. He let his hand cup the side of her head and she didn't stop the lick to his wrist. Their eyes met, and she wasn't sure what he saw in hers but what she saw was definitely that same look her mom had had every time she'd looked at her dad. For a few minutes they just stare into each other's eyes, the longer she drowned in his blues the more sure she became of her next decision.

Kate made a low howling noise before slightly pulling away, standing up on her paws in order to back away a bit. Locking eyes with him again she put her head slightly to the side to make sure she had his attention.

"What?" he asked and she closed her eyes before concentrating on her body.

She can hear his gasp but doesn't stop the transformation she started, her bones crackling as they turn her back into her human form. It didn't take many minutes before she raised up, straightened her back, standing in front of him on her two legs. Naked.

"Wow," Castle gasped and when Kate opened her eyes to look at him she saw him clenching his eyes shut.

She didn't stop the chuckle from leaving her lips, he looked cute. Adorable, in fact, that he tried to protect her privacy by doing his best to keep his eyes closed. She could see it twitched in them though, probably having an internal battle about keeping her privacy and peaking to satisfy his own curiosity.

"It's okay Rick, I wouldn't have changed in front of you if I wasn't comfortable with you seeing me," she said before biting her lip as she observed him, his body relaxing inch by inch before his clenched eyes started to relax and opening.

She felt a bit self-conscious but tried not to show it, tried not to cover herself. This was, after all, what she'd planned after inviting him to join her. He stood up and she felt her heart start racing as her lip started to bleed from the biting she couldn't stop.

"You're beautiful, both wolf and human," he whispered and she felt her cheeks burn.

He carefully started moving closer to her and she stood her ground, not letting herself run away this time. She wasn't aware she was holding her breath until he's gently cupping her cheek with his hand and she's letting go of a long exhale. She felt electricity moving through her veins as she locked eyes with him. His deep blues flickered between her two hazels and she just managed to wonder what he was thinking about before he was leaning down. Her heart made a quick jump right before his lips touched hers and she didn't stop herself from stepping onto her toes to connect their lips further in the kiss she would lie to herself if she didn't say she'd waited a long time for. The hand on her cheek turned more confident with her answer to his kiss and he held her stronger when he started to kiss her more fiercely. Without thinking about it she pushed her body closer to his, only to slightly gasp against his mouth when she remembered she was still naked and could feel the material of his shirt rub against her breasts. He pulled away a bit, not letting her go but just parting their lips, and took a through breaths of his own before voicing his reason for pulling away.

"Are you cold?"

She shook her head with her forehead wrinkled in question. "No, I don't really get cold, why?"

"You shivered, I thought it was from cold," he said and she looked up at him only to look away again with a blush on her cheeks and a bite to her lip as a smile started to break free.

"No," she said with another bite. "I'm naked and getting kissed by my partner, I don't think cold would be the reason behind any kind of shivers right now," she confessed and saw the raw arousal enter his blue eyes. The blue turning a darker blue by the seconds passing. "Are you cold?" she challenged and let her eyes wander his body, suggesting something that made her heart pound against her chest and she could hear his was as well.

"Definitely not cold," his voice was darker and Kate couldn't stop the smile from spreading across her lips before they both lean closer to claim each other's lips with their own.

To be continued...

A/N: Hi everyone! Hope you all are doing as good as you can in these hard times. Both due to the pandemic but also due to what's going on in America. Stay safe, but don't stay silent. I really hope everything will change, that people will listen to these protests. I'm sorry there is need for protests, I'm sorry you have to go through all this. I'm sorry some people are stupid and can't see common sense, see through the color of your skin and treat you as a human being. I'm even sorry if I'm in this text is saying something wrong because honestly I'm not sure what to say. Anyway, I'm sorry. Black Lives Matter.
Until next time, xxxx