Table of Contents
Synopsis
Praise for Sheri Lewis Wohl
By the Author
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-one
Chapter Twenty-two
Chapter Twenty-three
Chapter Twenty-four
Chapter Twenty-five
Chapter Twenty-six
Chapter Twenty-seven
Chapter Twenty-eight
Chapter Twenty-nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-one
Chapter Thirty-two
Epilogue
About the Author
Books Available From Bold Strokes Books
She Wolf
For five centuries, Lily Avergne has hunted and destroyed preternatural creatures that prey on the unwary and the innocent. Vampires, werewolves, and witches all fall at her hands. Danger is her constant companion, and to keep her own secret safe, she dares not love another. Until now.
Jayne Quarles takes her by surprise and touches her heart in a way no one has been able to do in five hundred years. Suddenly, what she fears the most may come to pass. The hunter becomes the hunted, and the love so newly discovered may be lost before it has a chance to bloom.
Praise for Sheri Lewis Wohl
Scarlet Revenge
“Vampire stories have been written by hundreds of authors, but this is probably one of the few times that you will actually see one who works at the Library of Congress…With the setting of the story, it almost gives the feel of National Treasure meets paranormal.”—American Library Association’s GLBT Round Table
Vermilion Justice
“It’s probably impossible to read this book and not come across a character who reminds you of someone you actually know. Wohl takes something as fictional as vampires and makes them feel real. Highly recommended.”—American Library Association’s GLBT Round Table
Necromantia
“This is one of the most sensational and thrilling books I have read in a long time. From the stirring opening scenes to the dramatic and exhilarating conclusion, this novel keeps the reader completely engrossed.”—Inked Rainbow Reviews
She Wolf
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She Wolf
© 2017 By Sheri Lewis Wohl. All Rights Reserved.
ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-742-2
This Electronic book is published by
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P.O. Box 249
New York, USA
First Edition: January 2017
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Credits
Editor: Shelley Thrasher
Production Design: Stacia Seaman
Cover Design by Melody Pond
By the Author
Crimson Vengeance
Burgundy Betrayal
Scarlet Revenge
Vermilion Justice
Twisted Echoes
Twisted Whispers
Twisted Screams
Necromantia
She Wolf
Through pride we are ever
deceiving ourselves.
But deep down below the surface
of the average conscience
a still, small voice says to us,
something is out of tune.
—Carl Jung
Prologue
Danzig, 1588
Snow was falling outside the window of Lily’s bedchamber, making the world appear shadowy and white. It had arrived early this year, though she wondered if it came as an omen to what was to happen on the morrow. She was no different from her sisters or any other young woman of her class. That she felt like a woman drowning in the waters of the swiftly flowing river just beyond the forest trees was of no matter. It was to be done, and her heart was of no concern.
The young lord her father had chosen for her was as brutish as he was ugly. At least her sister, Sophia, had been blessed by God with a kind and handsome man who truly seemed to love her. How Lily longed for a match of the heart.
It could not be, for any nobleman her father chose her would fail to capture her heart. She would never find love, and she would always be an empty vessel. It was the way for those like her. It was not spoken of her kind and would not ever pass her lips. Only in her thoughts could she find solace. Only in her dreams would the touch she longed for come to her.
Soft hands, tender lips, and rounded flesh. Just the thought made her heart race. Fulfillment of that desire was not to be. Not for her. It was to be a hard hand and muscled flesh that took what she had guarded so carefully. Mother had sternly instructed her in the duties expected of a wife, and she knew of what awaited once her hand was joined with that of her husband. What details Mother thought too delicate to voice were shared by her sisters. They did not fill her head with pretty words and matrimonial joy. They used words of truth and brutal honesty. They tried to ready her and, in doing so, to protect her. She shivered at the thought of what she would be forced to endure and reminded herself to do as she must. Her family would not be shamed. Not by her.
Aldrich Adelmene was coarse and dreadful, but he was of noble blood and his family one of great wealth and standing. He was as powerful and well respected as he was crude and repulsive. All applauded the match between the great beauty and the great warrior. She would want for nothing, except for the love of the one she really desired.
As if bidden by the mere thought of her, Alexia floated into her room, followed by Taria. The very sight of Alexia made her breath catch in her throat. In her best gown of dark blue festooned with a string of pearls at her neck, Alexia was the most beautiful woman Lily had ever seen. It took effort not to rush forward and pull her into her arms. To kiss her as though her life was in peril, which, indeed, it felt as though it was.
It would not do to act upon her desire. Alexia had no idea how Lily felt about her, and she would keep her secret until her dying day. It was not proper, not in their world, and Alexia herself was bound to a nobleman by the contract made between her father and yet another groom’s family. It was simply the way of the society into which they were born. Within a month of her own wedding, Alexia too would be the wife of a soon-to-be king and far away from the mountains and the forests of the lands where they had grown to the bloom of womanhood. When that day arrived, she would be helpless to stop the storm of tears that would befall her. Her heart was breaking a little more with each passing day.
Taria, unlike Alexia, was plain and almost man-like in her movements. She was as unexceptional as Alexia was exceptional. Despite their physical differences, they were all a
s close as if they were blood sisters. The three of them had grown up together, their families living within a horse-ride of each other. While Lily and Alexia were soon to be married, Taria’s hand in marriage had not yet been sworn. Perhaps it was that she was so plain and so often failed to act like the lady she was raised to be. Lily had lost count of the times she had witnessed her dear friend acting contrary. Growing up, Taria could be found in sword-play with her brothers more often than in the manor house learning the ways of a lady. Her unbecoming behavior did not appear to alarm her family. Rather, they smiled and encouraged her willful ways. Lily often envied her powerful will. She just was not strong enough to defy her father and mother. She did as she was told. Always.
She turned and tried to give her friends the brightest smile she could summon forth. It was very hard for she did not feel gay or happy. What she most dearly wanted to do was to run away and be lost in the forest beyond. There she could dream of the freedom that would be denied to her.
Alexia came into the room, her gown sweeping, and gave Lily a kiss on the cheek. “You look so pale, my dearest. You must have some color when you join with your husband. He must witness the full glory of your beauty in order that he understand how he must cherish you.”
Taria shook her head as she stomped in behind Alexia. Her gown was simple and dark, with very little adornment. Likewise, her hair was in a single braid and hanging down her back. Lily would have needed to run like the wind from her own home in order to be able to present herself looking so, for her father and mother would not have allowed her to be out in such disarray. Once more she envied Taria’s freedom to be the woman she wished to be. How she would love to shed this heavy ornate gown and to pull every pin from the hair piled on top of her head. She would give anything to toss aside the heavy necklace at her throat, a wedding gift from Aldrich, and run with abandon.
Taria snorted. “She looks very well, Alexia, and why does she have to be primped for this man? What difference will it make if we put another pearl in her hair or add another gold chain around her neck? Her father has already sold her to the swine. The bargain has been sealed.”
“Taria!” Alexia put her hand on her hips and stared at her in disapproval. “You must not speak of her father in that way. Someone might hear you. Must you always be so contrary?”
Lily sat on the edge of her bed and sighed. Her head felt heavy from the burden of her braided and jeweled hair. “Let her be, Alexia. It matters not, and if we are to speak true, she is correct. I have been sold to the highest bidder.” She shivered at the thought of what awaited her on the morrow, and tears pooled in her eyes.
“See,” Taria huffed. “I speak true. You, Alexia, my fine, pretty lady, are the one who does not. You live in the fairy tales our nursemaids told us when we were but babes. I do not live in that world of dreams and make-believe. I am here with my friend in the world of what truly is.”
“Stop.” Lily put her hands to her ears and tried not to let her tears spill. It was a difficult time, and she did not wish for it to become even more difficult. She longed only to spend a few hours with her lifelong friends before leaving her home forever. To walk out of the doors of her childhood home remembering how it was when they were young and carefree.
Taria and Alexia looked at each other. Taria spoke first as she kneeled before Lily and put her hands on her face. “My apologies, dearest Lily. I did not mean to cause you pain. My heart is hurting at the thought of you leaving with that oaf…that man…and my sorrow falls to you and Alexia. It is not proper and I beg your forgiveness. I only long for tomorrow to never come and for the three of us to be together forever just as we always have been.”
Alexia looked sad, tears forming in her beautiful eyes. “It is true. Our lives will change when the sun rises again, and we will never be the same. We always knew the day would come, and now it has.”
Lily sighed and for a moment closed her eyes. She did not want to give in to sobs, for it would be of no help. Slowly she opened her eyes and stared at her friends, their faces so beloved. “Indeed it has, my sisters of the heart.” How she wished she could sit here forever with the fire blazing and her two finest friends at her side.
“I have something for both of you,” Alexia said, a light returning to her eyes. “Hold out your hands.”
Lily and Taria both did as Alexia instructed. They always did as she told them. Though they were of the same age, it always seemed as though Alexia were the eldest. Their hands held out with palms up, Alexia pulled a small velvet pouch from her beaded bag. From it she produced three necklaces made of finely crafted gold links and sparkling rubies. She put one in each of their palms and continued to hold the third one in her hand.
“Our fathers and mothers may not be the same, but we are blood sisters just as though we shared blood,” she told them. “These rubies will forever seal our pact as sisters. We may be taken away to far-off lands to live with men we do not love, but we will have these rubies to remind us that we will always be in each other’s hearts.”
Lily’s tears could no longer be held back. She put her arms around her two dearest friends and held on tight. They both returned the embrace, and Taria, tough, boy-like Taria, kissed away her tears.
When it was time for them to leave, Lily kissed Taria on the cheek. Her embrace of Alexia went on a breath too long, and she knew it. If Alexia looked at her questioningly when she released her and stepped back, she paid it no mind. Her heart was breaking when the one she wished to spend her life with walked out of her chambers for the very last time.
Later that evening, Lily stood alone at the window of her bedchamber staring out into the night. A full moon rose high, and its bright golden light spilled over the beautiful snow-covered land. She wondered how a place so lovely could feel so much like the donjon of Rheinfels Castle. In the distance, the howl of a wolf cut through the night air. At least the wolf could run with abandon. She envied him.
Her room felt stifling and so she opened the window, though she knew her mother would disapprove. It allowed far too much cold air into her chambers, and Mother did not want her beautiful daughter to fall ill. At least not until after the wedding. After she and Aldrich became man and wife, her mother would be free to turn her full attention to Lily’s brothers. They were the true children of her mother’s heart. She was, and always had been, a burden to the cold woman who gave birth to her.
Resting her palms against the stone windowsill, she leaned out and breathed in the cold, fresh air. It smelled wonderful, and she closed her eyes to let it all wash over her. It brought her a moment of peace, and for that she was grateful. She heard the movement only a moment before she felt teeth against the fine skin of her neck. Roughly she was yanked from the window, and before she knew what was happening to her, she was tumbling through the air, falling down as the ground rushed up. She hit with a painful thump, the snow icy against her back and soaking through the thin cotton of her nightgown. She wanted to jump up and run, but she could not. Her arms and legs did not seem to want to obey her. The wolf that stood over her still body stared at her with eyes that somehow seemed familiar to Lily, though she could not imagine how that could be. As her vision began to fade to black, she wondered why her neck felt so warm and wet.
Chapter One
Colville, Washington, present day
Lily stood alongside the highway with her cell phone pressed to her ear. An amazing amount of traffic passed by, and considering where she was, she found it interesting. The breeze stirred up by the highway traffic whipped her hair around her face. She used one hand to hold it back. “You’re sure this is where the problem is?” It really was hard to believe there was a preternatural issue clear out here that required her area of expertise. Of course, just as the volume of traffic coming this far out of the way surprised her, the preternatural activity did too.
On the other end of the call, her handler, Senn Heiserman, was halfway across the world sitting in his nice warm office and his nice comfortable chair. U
ndoubtedly he was scanning the graphs and reports his supercomputer generated on a daily basis. “Yes, our reports have been verified. You need to connect with the sheriff. What’s her name?” She could hear the click of the keys on his keyboard. Just as she suspected, he was one with his computer. Some things were very consistent. “Oh yes, here it is, Jayne Quarles.”
The name didn’t mean anything to her. “Is she a friendly?” The long trip out here had made her weary, and she wasn’t up to explanations or political correctness. Frankly, she didn’t think she was up to this trip at all. Lately she’d been grumpy and discontented. Not shocking, considering how many years she’d been playing this game. It was way past time for a vacation. A really long vacation. She was going to have a heart-to-heart with Senn as soon as she was done here, and she was going to take, as they liked to say these days, some “me” time.
If Senn had any clue as to her current mood, he didn’t let on. He continued talking without a pause. “I told you before you left, she’s not 210-friendly. It won’t be the first time you’ve had to deal with this, so stop stalling and get to work. I know you’re not thrilled to be there, but the quicker you get on it, the quicker you can get back home.”
Easy for him to say. He hadn’t been out in the field in eons. Quite the opposite for her. She’d been out in the field for years. A lot of years. “Have you seen this place?”
The keys were clicking again. “Can’t say I’ve ever been to Colville. Eastern Washington isn’t a place I’ve visited, so no.”
Hunted is what he really meant. Like her, Senn had traveled to hunt, not to vacation. Holiday was not something hunters like her or Senn ever had the time to enjoy. Except his decision to be the brains of the organization was a lot closer to time off than what she got. “Like you ever leave your little fortress. Give me a break.”
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