The Black Wolf

by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  Several things continued to bother him, but the image of Cara with fangs was foremost in his mind. He would have preferred that others in his pack not be exposed to the kinds of things Cara could do. Freak was the word she had used to describe herself, and actually, was that so far off?

  Then there was the attack itself. Why had the vampire gone after a werewolf when a human tourist would have been much tastier fare?

  Rafe kept those thoughts locked away as buildings and lights shot past the window. At this hour, people crowded the streets in search of food and entertainment. Six police cruisers crept by, keeping up a show of law-enforcement presence.

  By comparison, the estates on the far side of the city were quiet, secluded and seemingly a world away from the neon and the noise. His family’s property was one of the largest in the area. Its three landscaped acres were entirely surrounded by an eight-foot stone wall that was monitored by the pack, and there was a small manned guardhouse at the front gate. A well-respected federal judge lived there. Wolves lived there. The Landau house was a place of secrets.

  Rafe stole a glance at Cara as they neared the front gate, thinking she had to feel the heat of his attention even though she didn’t turn her head. Or was he just making that up?

  He sighed and rubbed his temples, not sure what to expect when they arrived. Who would be among the welcoming committee? He assumed that most of the pack would have been kept from meeting Cara, at least for tonight.

  “Here we are,” his father announced as the surroundings grew darker and the long stretch of gray stone came into view. Cara had told Rafe she feared being trapped behind those walls. He’d have given a lot to know what she was thinking now.

  The car stopped in front of the ornate iron gate and was quickly waved through by a familiar guard when it opened. As the Mercedes cruised down the driveway, his father turned in his seat.

  “It’s past dinnertime, but you can have whatever you like as soon as you’re settled in. You must be famished,” he said.

  Rafe could almost hear Cara silently say, What I’d like is to go home. To her credit, she didn’t voice that response.

  “Not many of us will be here tonight,” Rafe’s father continued. “We thought you might prefer some time to get to know the place before we introduce you. Is that all right with you, Cara?”

  Cara was looking at his father. She barely nodded her head. He knew this was the moment she had been dreading, probably since the plan for her to come to Miami had first been hatched. On the surface she looked calm enough, but small quakes rocked the seat he shared with her, and every one of them was like a stab to his heart.

  “Cara,” he said, needing to speak, hoping to ease her trepidation. “Look. See up there?” He pointed at the brick house that rose two and a half stories above a meandering lawn. “Top floor? Can you see it?”

  Her eyes glided that way.

  “Your mother stayed in a room there. Your father, too. Maybe you’d like to have that same room while you’re here?”

  He had snagged her interest. The air in the car became charged.

  “I’m sure that can be arranged,” he said.

  “It can,” his father agreed.

  She was tuning in now and sending Rafe messages over silent Were channels. “Will I be a prisoner?” And “Will you be here?”

  “No. Not a prisoner. I’ve told you that. And yes, I’ll stay if that’s what you want,” he messaged back over airwaves his father would also be privy to, as well as every other Were within a short distance if they weren’t careful with their transmissions. He’d have to warn Cara to erect her own inner walls.

  Here, in this pack, where so many secrets had to be kept, unspoken messages were the normal mode of communication. That didn’t necessarily ensure privacy but there were ways to get around being overheard at times.

  “After what happened tonight with that vampire, it might be best if you stayed away from the walls for a day or two, Cara. Just to be safe,” his father suggested.

  The next shudder that rolled through Cara felt to Rafe as if it had been his own. The word trapped echoed in his mind like a shout. When the car stopped in front of the columned southern portico and Cameron opened the door for her, Cara got out. As Rafe’s mother emerged from the house, Cara paused. But she didn’t have to be worried.

  Dana Delmonico Landau had turned casual into an art form. That showed now in her outfit, a faded pair of jeans and white T-shirt. His mother had never been a fan of anything fancy. She had been a good detective for years and had risen through the ranks to become a captain in the Miami PD. She had only recently retired and therefore had too much energy in need of release.

  His mother had been born human. She had also been here when Rosalind Kirk and Colton Killion had briefly been in residence. From the stories of that time, he knew his mother, along with his father, had helped Cara’s parents in the final showdown with the vampires, after which both of Cara’s parents had disappeared.

  Did Cara know anything about that, or about the part his pack had played in those last days? If she housed spirits similar to her mother’s, would being in this house seem like déjà vu?

  “Cara.” His mother had stopped on the bottom porch step. “I’m Dana, and I’m glad you made it here. Would you like to come in, or would you prefer to take a look at the grounds first? Please understand that we’re not as grand as this place would make us seem, and we’re happy to have you join us here.”

  Cara didn’t speak, but Rafe noticed that her eyes gravitated toward his mother’s.

  “Rafe,” his mother said, turning to him, “why don’t you show Cara around while we find her something to eat? Let her catch her breath before joining us inside.”

  Rafe looked to his father, who nodded in spite of his earlier warning to remain clear of the walls for the time being. Both of them knew the importance of that warning, and also that Rafe would take it seriously.

  “Cara, what do you say to a little more fresh air?” Rafe asked. “Just to get the feel of the place.”

  She nodded. And as though she was merely any invited guest instead of the daughter of two Were legends and potentially as dangerous as both of them, everyone else went into the house, leaving Cara and him in the driveway, alone.

  * * *

  She had never seen a house as large as the one in front of her. Actually, Cara had never seen any house besides the small one she had grown up in. Nevertheless, she sensed a certain familiarity with the Landau mansion that didn’t make it seem as foreign as she had expected. There were plenty of ghosts here, something she was intimately familiar with.

  “How long?” she finally said to Rafe, looking up at the house. “How long were they here?”

  The fact that he was keeping up fairly well with her line of thinking was reflected in his reply. “Your father was treated here after being gravely injured. My grandmother took care of him and helped him to heal. Your mother was also a guest at the time and helped keep watch over him. This was before your parents had bonded.”

  “My mother was a guest?”

  “She was here with her father. Your grandfather. It was also Rosalind’s first time away from her home, and she skipped the warnings about remaining inside, and breached the wall. She must have found your father in the park, in a fight with the fanged hordes. It was her call that brought other Weres to your father’s aid before it was too late.”

  Cara eyed the wall in the distance and the trees topping it. “That park?”

  “The same one,” Rafe said.

  “So close?”

  “The vampires had infiltrated a section of the park that’s still some distance away.” Rafe was eyeing her intently. “Does being near to it disturb you?”

  Cara shook her head.

  “No one mentioned those things to you?” he asked.

  “My parents don’t speak about the past
,” she replied.

  “Not even to explain why things are the way they are?”

  She turned to look at Rafe. Getting to the heart of her parents’ past had been a burning desire for as long as she could remember, and Rafe was telling her things she had long waited to hear, but how much of what he knew was the truth, and how much of it was either hearsay or exaggeration?

  Rafe probably hadn’t been born when her father and mother had been here, and neither had she. To Rafe, the past was just tales. To her, the real story of what had happened and who she was had become the main puzzle of her life.

  “Vampires,” she said. “Vampires made my father a ghost.”

  “It took a hell of a lot of them to do so, I’ve heard,” Rafe agreed. “Colton was one of the strongest Lycans around in those days, and also a damn good cop.”

  “Cop?” Cara echoed.

  He nodded. “Your father was a cop, like my mother. They protected Miami’s population from bad things that dwelled both in and out of the shadows.”

  “Until those shadows gained strength,” Cara noted.

  When Rafe smiled, she was taken aback. There was no humor in anything that had been said, yet his smile was spontaneous and sat as easily with Rafe as his wolfishness.

  He said, “We’ve both sprung from some pretty good genes. My mother was a badass, too, I hear. She’s actually pretty formidable even now.”

  His smile dissolved into a more serious expression. “How did you know that vampire would be after me? I’m asking you because I’m wondering if maybe you purposefully gave me a trail to follow that took me away from her tonight. Could that be right, Cara? You lured me out of my apartment in time to prevent those fangs from reaching my neck?”

  When she broke eye contact, Rafe seemed to read into it. “Well, then I doubly owe you, don’t I.” he said. “And I’m not going to ask how you managed it, because whatever you did worked.”

  She let that go. Had to. Rafe was looking at her differently now—more warily. Her earlier show of tricks might have scared him. Either that, or he was perplexed by what seemed to be an overly complex plan.

  She could read in his expression that he had more to say on the subject. Instead, he changed tack. “We can walk in the grass. In the evening, and this far inland, it’s the coolest place around.”

  “Where are the others? Your packmates?” she asked, wanting more of her parents’ story but not ready to ask. What Rafe had already told her was food for thought, and better than any dinner the Landaus could have served up. Her parents had both stayed here, in this house, and some of these Weres had fought beside them.

  “The others will be waiting to be called,” he said.

  “Will they come tonight?”

  “A few of them, especially because of the vamp sighting. They’ll keep a close watch on the park. You won’t have to meet more of them until tomorrow.”

  So, she had been wrong about being a freak show for this pack. There was no crowd. She wasn’t going to be the main event for tonight. Rafe’s immediate family members and the Were who had accompanied the alpha were the only wolves present at the moment. She could breathe easier, and almost relax.

  Maybe not too much relaxation, though. Because there was a new scent in the air, and a sense that someone on the other side of the wall was silently calling her name.

  Chapter 7

  A chill reached Rafe as he watched Cara turn toward the section of stone wall not far from where they stood in a way that made it obvious she sensed something he didn’t.

  After years of having to protect herself, Cara was probably a master of the art of self-preservation. He’d hate for it to be another bloodsucker out there, though. His grandfather’s pack had culled vampire-nest numbers years ago. As far as he knew, there hadn’t been a vamp sighting near here since he was a kid.

  Rafe maintained his neutral expression while keeping a cautious eye on Cara. The electrical current she radiated eased after he took a few deep breaths, testing the air the way most Weres did when their inner fur was ruffled by a disturbance. Her frozen stance had produced waves of anxiety in Rafe that made his muscles twitch.

  Reluctantly, he tore his focus from her to check out the wall. Cara took a step toward it. Though it was only one small step, Rafe sensed that she wasn’t going to be chained by any rules governing her confinement, even if they were for her protection. Actually, he couldn’t imagine who might stop her. The memory of Cara Kirk-Killion in action tonight wasn’t going to fade any time soon.

  Ebony lashes fluttered over her eyes. Strands of midnight-hued hair, still damp from her swim, looked like streaks of ink against her ivory neck and the shoulders of the borrowed shirt, which was too large and made her look waifish. In his jeans, Cara seemed even more like a kid playing dress-up.

  “What is it?” His voice was low and steady.

  “No one is watching us now?” she asked, her gaze intent on the wall.

  “I wouldn’t say that—” He didn’t get to finish. Cara was already heading for the barrier at a sprint. She was more like a streak of lightning than anyone moving on two legs.

  Rafe swore out loud. Then he gave chase, hoping to God that he could catch up with Cara before anything else did.

  He didn’t see her top the wall and didn’t stop to analyze his actions in following her. There were eyes on them from the windows in the house and also from somewhere else nearby. He and Cara hadn’t truly been on their own, and she must have known this.

  He breathed a sigh of relief with the knowledge that backup would be right behind him if it was needed. Uttering oaths beneath his breath and pushing the limits his patience, he followed her into the park.

  She was fast. Cara ran like she was on all fours, much like their ancient wolf ancestors. He had never seen anyone go from zero to thirty in just a few seconds on foot. But he was also no slouch when it came to running. Pack training readied all Weres for speed a few nights each month after the sun went down. Plus, he spent a lot of time sprinting after bad guys in the day job.

  In his favor there was the fact that he knew every corner of the park that lay beyond his family’s property. Most of the officers in law enforcement did, because the western section had a notorious reputation as a gathering place for gangs and criminals. There would be a cop or two on duty out here tonight, keeping watch for illegal activity. There would also be a party of Weres scouting around. It was unfortunate that a place so haunted by an unsavory past was connected to the estates beyond its borders, but that was part of city life.

  He ran without breathing hard or breaking a sweat. Cara, just ahead of him, had slowed to a jog. She darted from tree to tree like a bloodhound on the scent, and he still had no idea what she was after.

  Damn it...why didn’t he know what she was doing? He was supposed to be a good detective.

  After nearly tripping over something on the ground, Rafe slowed. Cara had removed the jeans, possibly in order to get around more freely...which meant that she was again half-naked. He was an idiot for allowing her the freedom to get away like this.

  He was also an idiot for harboring thoughts of what he’d like to do with all that ivory bareness of hers if the situation were different. And, well...even if it wasn’t.

  * * *

  The disturbing scent Cara had noticed was strongest near the trees. The humid air had filled with whispers.

  Night had a strange feel to it here, too. The darkness was thicker, denser, as if unseen things took up space in the shadows. The pressure in her ears was a warning. Strange odors left a tang on her tongue. Her pulse thundered, though she saw nothing.

  She slammed to a stop beneath an old tree, where her search turned up no one. Ready to shout a warning to some unseen foe, Cara waited a few more seconds to gather what information she could find.

  The bark of the tree she stood beside shimmered like gold in the m
oonlight. Leaves shuddered and fell at her feet, as if the season were changing. There was movement. Rustling.

  Cara glanced up.

  Her equilibrium wavered. She gave a soft roar of protest. Clinging to the tree’s branches was a kind of darkness she hadn’t seen before. The treetop had become like a black hole in the atmosphere that was filled with chatter.

  She swayed, unsteady on her feet, finally realizing what this was. What it had to be. Vampires were here. Lots of them. The damn bloodsuckers had called to her in a way only they could.

  That realization caused the night to blur. Bloodsuckers unlike any she had seen before began to drop to the ground, one after the other. Five. Ten. More kept coming. Too many to count. The sheer number of them took the air from Cara’s lungs. For the first time in her life, she felt afraid.

  They moved like a monstrous incoming tide of malevolence—a wave of dark disjointed bodies with shockingly gaunt white features and skeletal frames. Things out of nightmares. Throwbacks to ancient times when vampires were nothing more than the walking dead. Their black eyes sank into dark sockets. Mouths were open and hissing, exposing lethally sharp yellow fangs.

  An odd sensation of déjà vu hit Cara and rooted her to the spot. Sickness roiled in her stomach as nasty odors churned up unpleasant things inside her. She was going to be surrounded and vastly outnumbered. She’d be dead if she didn’t act fast.

  Fear of what she was seeing caused her wolf’s energy to blaze. She didn’t want to become like these monsters and had to do something to stave off a transformation she refused to accept. But could she manage to trick the traits built into her system by avoiding the rules?

  Yes...

  Like a caged animal finally freed, Cara let a rush of energy take her over. That energy flowed through her like a river of fire, burning everything in its wake. A new, crazed kind of power fueled her fury. Fangs filled her mouth before disappearing again.