"It was you. You came to me last night."
"Yes. I wanted you to see who I really was."
Her smoky blue eyes changed, grew darker. “You're a man and a wolf?"
His breath gushed out. “Yes."
Her lower lip trembled—she looked as if she might cry. The love of his life took a deep breath. “Are there others?"
He took both of her hands into his and gazed deep into her eyes. “I think you know the answer to that question."
"My father?"
He shook his head. “One hundred percent human."
Her nails dug into his palm. “My mother?"
He nodded.
"So that makes me—a half-breed.” She shook her head. “A genetic condition—just not one most people can talk about."
Zack worried as he watched doubt and fear chase each other across her face.
Would she stay? Or would she run away?
She yanked her hands away and his worst fear—losing Charlene—clutched his heart and soul. Instead, she threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Zack's dread of her being disgusted by him evaporated in a rush of lust. His hands found her breasts and stroked her nipples.
She moaned. “I want to be with you always."
"It's not just about you and me. It's about our family, the pack,” he growled. “Jethro's ready to let me take charge. The pack can only survive with a new pair of leaders. All the men—except your grandfather—have died young from years of inbreeding. That's why they need us so desperately. And we need them, too."
"What do you want me to do?"
He stopped nuzzling her neck. “I have to bite you hard enough to draw blood. If I do that, you can never be fully human again. There's no going back."
A pained look crossed her face and tears welled up in her eyes. “My mother gave up her life to protect me, to keep me human. I want to be with you always, but—"
Zack took a deep shuddering breath and moaned. “Your mother was right to protect you, to be afraid for you. Once you make the change, you won't be able to resist the call of the moon. You'll be persecuted. Hunted. Your mother knew."
"When I'm with you here, in this place, the world is brighter, fuller, happier.” She put his hand between her legs and whispered, her voice husky. “You do this to me.” She was wet and trembled at his touch.
His heart jumped erratically in his chest. He tore himself away from her and stepped back—afraid he wouldn't be able to stop once he started.
"Without us, the pack will die out. You and I can make babies, Charlene—healthy ones. But you must choose to become one of us."
"Healthy werewolf babies, Zack? Or babies like Joey?"
He snarled. “No. That evil creature—that predator caused Joey's disease, and all the others. I left your mother's letters for you so you would know from her, not just from me. He wasn't like us. He was one of those people—” He bit back the rest. He wanted to tell her, but Jethro had forbidden him from speaking their name for fear of conjuring one up.
The fading sunlight made her blonde hair glow like gold. A bewildered look creased her beautiful face. “What are you talking about?"
Zack turned on his heel and stamped toward the bus. “I have to see Jethro. Now."
"I don't understand,” she called after him. “What was he?"
He had to see the Old One, bring him here, force him to tell Charlene the truth about Oblis and his evil clan of jinn. She needed to know that a genie could live for thousands of years—and that the blood feud between the clans began when King Solomon favored the loyal and obedient werewolves over the disloyal and disobedient genies.
Charlene watched the bus until it was a yellow dot in the distance. Was he angry with her? Had she driven him away with her questions? She loved him with all her heart, but couldn't make this momentous decision. Not yet. She needed time to process everything, to get her head around her mother's history and her own possible future. Even though it was early evening, she was exhausted. Charlene climbed into bed and fell into a fitful sleep.
In a dream, she saw herself married to Zack, pregnant with werewolf babies—and they were trying to claw their way out of her. She doubled over in agony, looked down, and her fingers turned into claws. She screamed and woke up with cold sweat dripping down her back and between her breasts. She took a deep cleansing breath, got up and opened the window. The full moon peeked over the horizon, enticing her to come for a run, like in the old days when her parents were alive and her life was a protective cocoon.
A man whispered. “Come to me."
She looked around. “Zack? Where are you?"
"Come to the woods, come to me. I need you."
The whispers thrilled her, setting a fire in her loins that only Zack could quench. She lost all other thoughts, could only think about how to get to him.
"Come to the woods. Leave your bracelet at home. I have a new one for you. Come to me."
"Yes,” she whispered as she dropped the bangle on the kitchen table and grabbed the keys to the minivan. “I'm on my way."
Zack found Jethro on his front porch, whittling a piece of wood.
"We have to tell her about Them. Now."
The Old One looked up at Zack, his eyes flecked with sparks of orange, as they did at the start of each full moon before the Change. “The more she knows, the more likely they'll come after her."
"You told me you kept the cause of Jessie's death quiet, to keep the pack from panicking—because of Oblis and his clan.” The younger man paced the porch. “Charlene's asking questions, is worried about having healthy babies, about joining the pack. She's afraid she'll have a baby like Joey. She needs to know the truth. From you."
The Old One ran his finger over the stick. “As long as she wears the bracelet and doesn't know the names of the evil ones, she's safe."
Zack snatched the piece of wood out of Jethro's hands. “Have you heard nothing I've said? She won't marry me until she hears the truth. And I can't force her to become one of us. She has to choose on her own."
The elder's eyes sparked orange. Jethro bared his teeth at Zack. “It's too much for her—she can't handle the truth."
"She can't? Or you can't? Let her decide what she can handle. She's not a child, she's a woman."
"Those Other People are powerful shape-shifters."
"All the more reason for her to know, so she can be on guard."
"It will sound like a fairy tale to her human ears."
"You must tell her."
A faraway look came into the Old One's eyes as he gazed into the distance. “Our pack goes back to the time of the great King Solomon. He enslaved the Jinn, forced them to build his temple. He commanded all creatures—including werewolves. But because of our great loyalty, we earned the right to one of his rings. She's still new to our ways. How will she understand our history and all that means to us now?"
"Your granddaughter will hear the truth in your words. You once told me she had more loyalty to her family than I did. You must tell her."
The Old One stood slowly and shook his head. “This is a fool's errand, you'll see.” He called out to his mate. “We're going to Charlene's. I'll be back before the Change."
Hair loose, blue eyes flecked with gold and her face more youthful looking as the Change approached, Rebekkah appeared in the doorway. “About time you told her."
Zack realized she'd heard the whole argument.
She pulled the door behind her. “I'm coming with you."
With the full moon rising, a sense of urgency seized Zack and he rushed them into Jethro's pickup truck. “I'm driving."
He flew down the dirt roads, hitting potholes and tearing around corners. The brakes screeched as he slammed them on in front of Charlene's house. The front door was wide open and the minivan was gone.
He leaped out of the vehicle and took the porch steps two at a time. “Charlene? Where are you?"
Jethro and Rebekkah came up the stairs behind him.
Zack turned. “Sh
e's not here. Where the hell is she?"
Rebekkah peeked into Joey's room and returned to the kitchen, a stunned look on her face. “She left her brother alone. She would never do that."
Silence fell over the little group as Jethro pointed at the kitchen table. Her iron bracelet lay in the center. “She's unprotected. This is what Oblis did to her mother. He whispered her into the woods.” He began to wail, “What have I done? What have I done?"
Jethro's face crumpled, and he clutched the side of his head. He fell to the floor. Rebekkah cried out and grabbed at his hand.
Zack went down on his knees. “What should I do?"
Speech slurred, Jethro reached up a shaking hand and pulled the iron chain off his neck. On it hung the large signet ring inscribed with pentacles and Hebrew letters.
"Take the Ring of Solomon,” he gasped. “Save her."
Charlene climbed out of the minivan and stared at the woods near the old mining camp. “How did I get here?” She shook her head and turned to get back in the car and hightail it home.
"Charlene."
"Zack?” She searched the moon-dappled forest for signs of her lover. “Where are you?"
He stepped out from behind a large tree, his silver hair a strange hue of green from the mist that surrounded him. “I'm so glad you're here. Come closer, I want to hold you in my arms.” She took a few steps toward him and stopped. “What are you doing here?"
He grinned. “I wanted to make love to you in the woods, under the full moon."
Something was off. His teeth were even. His canines a regular length. She began to back up and heard a low rumbling. Five black dogs stood between her and the minivan. One growled and nipped at her hand. She cried in pain.
"Come over here and the dogs won't hurt you."
She hesitated and one bared his teeth at her and snarled. She picked her leaden feet up, one at a time, her mind trying to make sense of the dogs and Zack's strange behavior.
"Closer."
She shuffled up to him.
"Take off your nightdress. I want to see you naked in the moonlight."
Trembling with fear and cold, she lifted the flannel gown over her head.
Zack trailed his fingers down her neck, across her breasts, and rubbed at her nipples. Unbidden, a rush of erotic images of him taking her from every side, her mouth on his hard cock, his fingers in her moistness, stroking her, forced their way into her mind.
He whispered, “Oh, yes, we are going to have a very good time.” Zack slid his fingers down her belly, played with her silky triangle.
Heaviness filled her limbs, lassitude took over her body, and she leaned back against the tree for support.
"You are so beautiful. Even more beautiful than your mother was when my dearly departed father, Oblis, took her."
Her eyes flew open and Zack shifted and shimmered, morphing into a creature with a forked tongue and scaled skin. Breath flowed back into her lungs and she began to scream.
Zack pulled up behind Charlene's minivan and killed the headlights. Where was she? He looked in the rearview mirror. His hair was more silvered, longer, thicker. His eyes glowed orange, his shirt strained across his chest, and silver fur stuck out between the buttons. He was running out of time, already changing. He climbed out of the truck and heard a gut-wrenching scream.
"Charlene! I'm coming—” His voice turned into a howl as heat filled him and frissons of pleasure and pain undulated from his toes to his head. The sounds of his clothing ripping came to him as if from a distance. He fell to all fours, heard her scream again. He raced into the forest, searching for her, hoping it wasn't too late.
He found the man-sized lizard in a swirling mist of green standing over her, laughing and taunting her with what he was going to do to her. Black dogs, too many to count, held her wrists and ankles in their teeth, growling and snarling. She was white-faced and bleeding profusely. He had no time to waste.
Jaws snapping, Zack jumped on the creature's back and sank his teeth into his neck. The evil one arched his back, threw Zack off and turned to face him. The black dogs whined, but didn't release their prey.
"Zack, oh thank God, it's really you,” Charlene cried out.
Claws extended, the shape-shifting deviator jinni came at Zack, hissing and screaming in a strange language. Then in clear English, the creature shouted, “Not even Solomon's daughter and her soldiers could capture me. You think a dog can hurt me?"
The snake man swiped at Zack and grabbed a handful of his fur. Zack yelped in pain, then lowered his chest to the ground, a deep growl morphing into a snarl as he hunkered down and prepared to leap.
The reptile snickered and danced before him, a whirling dervish of death and destruction as Charlene lay pinned to the ground by the jinni's companions. The night sounds of the forest ceased. Zack's nostrils twitched at the dank smell of the genie and the clean copper scent of Charlene's blood. He thought of his friend, Jessie, and how she must have been tortured in the same manner by this evil being. His paws gripped at the moist ground, and a rush of energy coursed through his legs into all of his muscles—as if the earth mother reached up to give him additional strength against this creature from another world.
Snarling, Zack jumped on the capering tormentor's chest and hit him squarely on the face with the Ring of Solomon. There was a deafening bang, a blinding flash of light, a puff of green smoke and the world went black.
He didn't know how long he was out. Zack blinked his eyes and when he could see again, the jinni was gone, along with the dogs.
Running to Charlene's side, he found her barely conscious and pale—as pale as the moon.
She smiled. “You're here."
He couldn't speak, could only try to communicate with his eyes, his paws and tongue. He licked her terrible wounds and whined.
"It's bad, isn't it?"
He nodded.
"I'm dying.” Not a question.
He whimpered.
"If you bite me, will I live?"
Zack nuzzled and licked her neck.
The light was going out of her eyes. Please choose, please choose, he urged mentally.
Charlene whispered, “I. Choose. Life. You. The Pack. Bite me."
Worried that it might be too late, he placed his teeth on her neck and drew blood. Nothing. He pushed at her with his nose. Her head flopped to the other side, lifeless.
The love of his life, his one and only soul mate was still and cold. He staggered away from her body, threw his head back and gave a long mournful howl. All was lost. Jessie, Jethro, and now Charlene were dead. The pack was going to die out. He had failed. Zack thought his heart was going to break. He howled again. And again. And again, until his throat was hoarse. He paused to take a deep shuddering breath.
A female howled back.
He turned.
Resplendent in thick golden fur, her smoky blue eyes flecked with emerald green, Charlene trotted over to him and nuzzled his ear. "I can hear your thoughts."
"Charlene," he breathed. "You're so beautiful."
"Thanks for the love bite. Let's go home."
Eliana's heart thundered and her hands shook as she watched the live video feed on her home computer in Alexandria, Virginia. She could scarcely believe her eyes, but there it was, live and in color, proof of the existence of jinn and the power of the werewolves. Furious, she began to type up her report and cursed her boss.
"Stand down, he said. Stay away from the mine, he said. Stay away from the Carter clan, he said. You killed that corporal with your foolhardy scheme, he said."
Despite the wealth of intelligence she'd gathered from Fred Johnson's research, her by-the-book boss had refused to listen to her and had told her to get back to Virginia and prepare to be transferred.
She had obeyed his orders—right after she installed a dozen infrared, motion activated surveillance cameras in the woods around the abandoned mine. She attached the video clip to the email and hit the send button with a hard click of her mouse.
"Let's see what you have to say about this, el Jefe."
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Epilogue
New Beginnings
Special Agent Eliana Solomon stood by the abandoned mine in Eden and drummed her fingers on the butt of her Sig Sauer. She rubbed her eyes and wished she hadn't been right. That poor soldier had paid with his life. Generations of women and children of Eden had suffered and paid with their lives, too. The Carters had been particularly hard hit. But now, they had a fresh start. And, thanks to Charlene and Zack's unflinching desire to protect the world from this threat, Eliana knew why the Jinn attacked certain groups in a blood feud of biblical proportions.
She sighed, whispered the prayer for the dead in Hebrew, and waved over the military demolition expert, a huge hulking figure of a man whose size belied his intelligence. “This is a Jinn portal. The people of Eden have been terrorized by these deviants long enough. Fill it with iron, whatever you can find. If you've got anything magnetic, throw that in there, too. Then demolish it."
The large man nodded. “I got no problem with that. I'll see what kind of scrap metals we can find in the area."
She flexed her fist and rubbed the heavy signet ring inscribed with pentacles and Hebrew letters. Last night, she received a call from the Virginia Bureau of Investigation. Girls had gone missing and turned up traumatized, alive and pregnant. Or found dead, torn to bits. When the doctors at Quantico saw the ultrasounds of the babies, they promptly called the Department of Homeland Security, Science and Technology Directorate, and Special Agent Eliana Solomon, aka, “The Jinn Hunter."
She was going to need some help in the Virginia coal fields, someone who had personal experience with the Jinn. She knew exactly who to ask—a tall, dark and dangerously beguiling psychiatrist she'd worked with on an extremely difficult case two years ago. But he was the last person in the world she ever wanted to see again. Not that she held a grudge, mind you, but didn't she have the right to be pissed at a guy for leaving her for dead?
The orchard exploded in pink with newly opened buds, tables overflowed and bowed under the weight of food, and little tow-haired girls, decked out in their best dresses, played hide-and-seek, their laughter ringing through the trees. Mothers chatted, their excitement palpable. The boys from the bus route poked at their mothers and signed, “Where Charlene?” Trotter made rounds, investigated each partygoer with his gentle nose, and created a ripple of giggles in his wake. He found Joey, sat down at the foot of his wheelchair and began to snore.
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