by Kate Douglas
“You do that, Sheriff.” Anton stood up. “C’mon. Let’s get something to eat.”
Xandi slipped off the bed and bent over to reach for her sarong. She was barely aware of Stefan’s bark of laughter before she felt a stinging slap to her behind.
“Ouch! What was that for?”
Stefan leaned close and kissed her soundly. “As rosy red as your butt looks, I thought maybe you enjoyed it. What have you girls been up to?”
Grinning, Keisha slid off the bed and grabbed her clothes. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
Xandi leaned close and whispered in her ear. “I think he’d rather we showed him, don’t you? Bring the nylons…”
Keisha slipped them into her pocket as they headed for the kitchen.
Chapter 19
“So you’re telling me we’ve got two alpha bitches now?” Stefan grinned at Anton. “One was enough to drive me nuts.”
“Two is two too many.” Anton gently pulled Keisha onto his lap, pleased when she didn’t attempt to get away. “Don’t you agree?”
She swiveled around, rubbing her bottom against his cock as she twisted to look him in the eye. Anton bit back a moan of pure frustration.
“Xandi and I will work it out between us. You two beta males just stay out of our power play.”
Stefan stood up from the dinner table. “Personally, I intend to work it out between Xandi’s legs. Do you two intend to join us?” He held his hand out. Grinning broadly, Alexandria took it, then reached over and palmed his erection through his soft, cotton pants.
“Down, boy. Behave.” She tugged Stefan’s hand and led him from the room.
Keisha stiffened in Anton’s lap, silently nodded and stood up. He stared at her a moment, until she turned away and refused to meet his eyes. He tried to read her thoughts, but she’d completely blocked her mind.
He almost wished he had the guts to mesmerize her. Just use the powers of his mind to entrance her out of her fear, but that was a coward’s way of coping. Keisha was not a coward. If she ever found out—and she would find out the first time they linked—she would forever resent him. Even worse, he would always wonder if she really loved him, or loved him because he made it so.
Controlling her thoughts with a set of false memories was not an option. Instead he held out his hand, until she slowly placed hers within his grasp.
Stefan and Xandi took the lead. By the time Anton and Keisha entered the bedroom, the other two were already undressed and wrestling playfully on the bed.
Keisha hung back at the doorway, her fingers still tightly grasped in Anton’s hand. He heard the quick rush of her breathing, felt her rising panic.
Suddenly, before he could react, Keisha shifted, became the wolf, and, claws scrabbling for purchase on the hardwood floor, bolted from the room.
“You two stay here. I’ll go after her.” Anton shifted and took off at a full run. He saw Keisha race through the open door, leap over the deck railing and make a mad dash for the thick forest. Anton followed at an easy lope, knowing he would never lose her scent.
She needed this time alone. Once more he would give it to her, but not at so great a distance he couldn’t protect her if the need arose.
It was well past dawn when he tracked her to a small woodland pond. She lay in the thick grass, her fur matted and covered with mud, her paws raw and bleeding.
Anton flopped down beside her with a canine grunt, stretched out his long legs and laid his head across her shoulders. He felt her sigh, waited for her to open her mind to his.
I’m going back to San Francisco as soon as I can get a flight. My month is almost up. I need to go back to work on my project.
Let me come with you.
No. I need time alone, time away from all of you, the intensity of your feelings for one another…your feelings for me.
I love you, Keisha. I will wait.
It’s so unfair! She scrambled out from beneath him, standing squarely in front of the water. You’re so patient, and I’m such a fucked-up head case! It’s not fair to you.
I didn’t ask it to be. I only want what’s best for you. I want you to heal.
One week. Give me a week alone. I’ll call you then and let you know if you can come. If it’s worth it for you to even make the trip.
Her head hung low, her body trembled. Anton sat up on his haunches, then stood. He licked her muzzle and nudged her shoulder in the direction of the house. Okay. One week. I don’t think you can forget me in a week.
She took off at a tired, wobbling run, but he caught her thoughts as she passed by him.
I couldn’t forget you in a lifetime. Not if I lived forever.
Keisha tipped the cabby an extra ten dollars when he carried her bags to the front door and waited until she got inside and turned on the lights. She’d been terrified of coming home to her townhouse alone at night, terrified of leaving the safety of her friends’ love.
Terrified of staying.
She leaned against the door, staring down the well-lighted hallway at the beautifully decorated entry, the attractive front room. She’d loved this place from the moment she bought it. Now it just felt empty…lonely and empty.
Would it ever feel like home again?
Home now was high in the mountains of Montana, where the air was cool and the forest dark and deep and welcoming. Where she could run freely with her pack, feel the night air against her furred body, stretch her legs out and race the wind.
Race the wind with Anton beside her.
Already she missed him. He’d taken her to the airport, held her tightly before she boarded the plane, kissed her forehead when she turned her lips away from his.
She loved him. Of course she loved him. But how could he know that?
She hadn’t told him, certainly couldn’t show him.
That, of course, was the problem. Until she could come to him freely, make love to him as a whole woman, she was useless to him. Anton deserved better.
She carried her bags up to her bedroom, checked on her studio, made sure the greenhouse watering system had kept her plants alive, then went back inside.
The night called to her. She opened the door to the fenced backyard and took a deep breath. Anton, Stefan and Xandi would be running right now. Running as a pack beneath the nighttime sky, following the trails of deer and rabbits, leaping creeks and fallen logs, baying and yipping with the pure joy of the hunt.
She smiled, imagining Xandi’s beads scattered all over the planks on the deck, and hoped Oliver wouldn’t slip on them when he came to work in the morning.
Slow tears coursed down her cheeks as she sat in the dark on the back porch step. The sounds of the city were all around her, the stars lost in the bright reflection of a million lights. Before Keisha was even aware of what she’d done, she became the wolf.
A single leap took her over the tall fence, into the narrow alley that was a direct link to the only wilderness within miles. She ran low to the ground and fast, weaving in and out of shadows, until she leapt the last barrier between herself and the freedom of the forest that was Golden Gate Park.
She circled Stow Lake, found the spot where her memorial garden would eventually grow if the commission accepted her entry, then raced the length of the park, staying clear of roads and lights. Watching, always watching, hiding in shadows, avoiding sleeping transients and their skinny, underfed dogs, curling her lip in disgust at the smells of unwashed humanity, overfilled trash cans, the detritus of too many people in too small a space.
She dreamed longingly of the thick forest and fresh air of the Montana mountains, missed the sense of brotherhood she’d known with her pack, searched fruitlessly for the sense of freedom she’d discovered under the wide Montana sky. She ran until her muscles ached, until each breath screamed in her lungs, until her footpads were raw from the asphalt and gravel paths.
Well before dawn, she retraced her path, slipped quietly through the sleeping neighborhood, leapt her backyard fence and paused in the silence
near the greenhouse. Something seemed out of place. Something was not quite as it should be.
Her Chanku senses went on high alert as she checked the yard, sniffed the back door, which was still slightly ajar, just as she’d foolishly left it. Hackles rising, she squatted and peed by the back step, marking her territory.
Nothing. She sniffed the air once more, growled quietly and made one last pass around her yard. Still feeling oddly unsettled, she slipped inside to become Keisha once again, in the privacy of her home.
Sleep was a long time coming. Her burglar alarms were set, the house secure.
Her dreams, when they finally came, were lonely and unsettled.
It was three days before she was willing to face the huge pile of mail that filled the box she’d left beneath the mail slot. She thought of calling Anton first, but it was an hour later in Montana, and she knew he’d be running with the pack. Other than a call to let him know she’d arrived safely, they’d not spoken.
Damn, but she missed the nightly runs, the thrill of the chase when they hunted, the tight mental link of the pack when they saw their prey come into sight.
She’d run just one other time since her return—run without intention or direction. It wasn’t at all satisfying without the pack. Instead it was lonely, unsettling. She missed the connection, the sense of family.
She missed Anton most of all. So serious and patient, a direct counterpoint to Stefan’s more playful yet sweetly caring nature and Xandi’s nurturing soul.
Anton needed her, if only to lighten him up. Smiling, the sense of Anton strong in her heart, Keisha poured herself a glass of wine and went back to her front room with the box of mail under her arm.
It took almost an hour to sort through everything. She filled a bag for recycling with junk mail, separated out the stuff she needed to run through the shredder, checked the statements for the bills paid automatically out of her account, dismissed the political ads and added them to the recycling bag.
One slim envelope dropped out of the small pile remaining in her lap. She leaned over and picked it up off the carpet. There was no postmark, no stamp, no return address. Her name and address were neatly typed on the front, but someone must have slipped it through the mail slot on his or her own.
Curious, she slit the top of the envelope with a kitchen knife and dumped out the single folded sheet of paper, then forgot to breathe when she read the message.
I know about the wolf.
Call me.
Keisha stared at the telephone. The letter she’d received the night before lay on the table next to another piece of paper, which had Anton’s phone number written across it in his big, scrawling hand. She touched the numbers and bit back the tears.
Then she dialed the local number. There was no need to involve Anton. She’d put a stop to this now.
“Hello? Carl Burns here.”
“Mr. Burns, my name is Keisha Rialto.”
She heard soft laughter on the other end. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
“It’s true, isn’t it?”
“What, Mr. Burns? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“The wolf, Ms. Rialto. You are the wolf. You killed three men. Somehow you can shift, become a ferocious beast. A killer. You’re a werewolf, right?”
“That’s absolutely preposterous. Who are you? Wait…I know. You’re that tabloid reporter, aren’t you? The one with the vivid imagination?”
The image of that faked newspaper photo was forever seared into her brain. How could he do this to her? All she wanted was to heal, to get past all this. “Please, leave me alone. If you persist in bothering me, I will take out a restraining order against you, and I’ll make sure it’s enforced.”
“You’ll shift again, Ms. Rialto. The moon will be full. Maybe something will happen, and you’ll shift. When you do, I’ll be there.”
“Are you threatening me, Mr. Burns?” She realized her hands were shaking and prayed it wasn’t showing in her voice. She couldn’t let him know how much he frightened her.
“Not at all, Ms. Rialto. Have a nice evening. Enjoy your run in the park.”
Chapter 20
Keisha sat on the floor of her studio in the dark, knees drawn up under her chin, the drawings of her memorial project scattered about her on the hardwood floor.
The commission had accepted her entry, which meant she had to stay here in San Francisco, at least until it was completed. She should be thrilled, celebrating, jumping for joy. She should be on the phone to Anton, who would celebrate with her.
She should be happy.
All she really wanted to do was go home. Home to Montana, to Stefan and Alexandria and, most of all, Anton.
Home to the people who loved her.
She wanted to run free in the forest, feel the wind on her muzzle, the damp earth beneath her paws. She wanted the sense of power she experienced when she ran as a wolf, the physical strength, the aggressive nature, which became, in essence, a focus for her energy.
Instead, she was a virtual prisoner here in her townhouse, afraid to venture out as a human, much less as a wolf.
Now that she knew how to shift, she craved the feeling. Now that she knew she was being watched, she couldn’t risk giving in to her true animal self.
Images of the torn and mutilated bodies of the three men she’d killed flashed through her mind. She shuddered, well aware she recalled more of that fateful night each time she drew the memories forth. More detail, more blood.
The Chanku were an ancient race, their rules of survival primitive and violent. Like the wolves of the forest, the Chanku hunted. When they were threatened, they killed.
Keisha did not want to kill again.
She couldn’t call Anton. He’d have no sense of remorse over killing Carl Burns. She didn’t want murder on his soul, and she knew he would want to protect her. Neither did she want to expose him to her misery, to a woman who wouldn’t take the risk to become whole.
She glanced at the scattered drawings, at the project that had consumed her, given her so much satisfaction, before the attack. Work on the memorial garden was scheduled to begin in two weeks. All she could think of now was the fact that she had time to go back to Montana, time to spend with others of her kind.
She knew if she went, she’d never return to San Francisco.
She wanted Anton here. Wanted to feel his warm, undemanding body next to hers. Wanted finally to find the strength to tell him how much she loved him, how very much he meant to her. Wanted to make love to him without fear, without the horrible memories slipping in and stealing her soul. Wanted to ask him to stay, at least until she completed this project, sold her townhouse and moved home with him to stay.
She wanted…
Something moved just outside, on the front porch. Keisha sensed life, someone or something male. Rolling onto her knees, Keisha slowly crept across the floor of her studio and looked down from the open window.
The shadow on her porch was obviously not a potted plant. It slipped out of the darkness, still partially hidden from view. Could it be Burns? She’d never seen the man, couldn’t identify him at all, but dammit, if he had the temerity to come to her home…
Furious, barely controlling the Chanku’s violent nature, the almost overwhelming desire to shift and become the predator, Keisha stomped down the stairs, prepared to do battle. She flung open the front door.
“Hello, sweetheart.”
Anton!
Sobbing, she threw herself into his arms. He half carried her across the threshold and closed the door behind them.
“Keisha? What’s wrong? Has something happened? Are you okay?”
I missed you. I didn’t think I would, not like this, but Anton, I’ve missed you so much!
I couldn’t stay away, my love. I was certain I sensed your need, then realized the distance was too great, and I was merely projecting my own need, my own desire.
He knows about the wolf. He’s threatened me.
“Who?” Anton’s anger was suddenly a palpable third party in the entryway. “Who’s threatened you?”
Gasping for air, Keisha struggled to get her breathing under control, to cut the flow of tears. “His name is Carl Burns. He’s the tabloid reporter who wrote the story about me being a werewolf. He contacted me, told me to enjoy my runs in the park.”
“You’ve shifted?” Anton stepped back but kept his big hands solidly clasped about her shoulders.
Keisha nodded. “Twice. I had to. I missed all of you so much more than I thought I would. I figured if I shifted, I might feel closer to you, feel like part of the pack, but it was so lonely. I went to Golden Gate Park and pretended it was your mountains, but it’s not the same without you.”
“Oh, sweetheart.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her close.
She sighed against his broad chest, inhaled his familiar scent and realized there was no fear in her. Not now, not with Anton here to protect her.
“I got the project. The memorial for the park. I start in two weeks.”
“That’s wonderful!” Anton stepped back but kept his hands on her. “I knew you’d win. You’re talented as well as beautiful.”
She dipped her head. “You’re biased, but thank you. I wish I could enjoy the feeling more, but I’ve been so worried. What about the reporter? He could ruin everything.”
“Leave him to me.” The low snarl behind Anton’s voice left no doubt how he would handle things.
She couldn’t let him kill.
I know. However, it’s very tempting. He tilted her chin up and forced her to look at him. The naked desire in his amber eyes practically stole her breath.
“Come away with me. You’ve got a couple of weeks before you have to start work. I have a cabin up in Humboldt County, just a few hours north of here. The redwoods and ferns grow thick, there’s no one around, and we can run as much as we want without fear of observation. We’ll figure something out. Please, say you’ll come.”