How The Wolf Lost Her Heart

by Sarah Brownlee

  Lord Renzo, who was sitting at the head of the table when they entered, rose from his seat with his walking stick when he saw his son and his companion.

  “Ah Raphael. Will you introduce me to your young friend?”

  “This is Skye Archer, Dad,” said Raphael.

  Lord Renzo took Skye’s hand and stared straight into her eyes. Skye felt terribly nervous being in his presence, but the lord’s gaze was not unfriendly or unkind in any way, and it was a smile that lingered gently behind his greying beard.

  “You are most welcome,” said Lord Renzo, kissing her hand. “Please … sit down. We have a variety of dishes here; I trust some will be to your liking?”

  He pulled up a seat to his left for Skye, who sat down and croaked her thanks. Raphael took the chair on his father’s right, opposite her. Rather overwhelmed at being treated in such a courteous manner by Raphael’s father, Skye could not think of anything to say and her hands twisted anxiously in her lap.

  “Would you like some wine?” asked Lord Renzo, holding up a bottle enquiringly.

  “Oh – no thank you,” replied Skye, rather hastily. Raphael hid a smirk.

  “Ah … perhaps a non-alcoholic beverage then? I find that red wine goes very well with a confit of duck. You don’t mind if I drink in front of you, I hope?”

  “N-no, of course not,” said Skye, awed that she would be asked this question at all.

  Lord Renzo smiled.

  “Raphael?” he said, as he poured some wine into his glass and gestured to his son.

  “No thanks. I’ll just have some iced tea. Want some, Skye?”

  Skye nodded.

  The butler who had just delivered the remaining dish – oxtail stew – inclined his head in a slight bow towards Raphael and left the room to prepare some iced tea. Skye gazed in wonder at the dishes before her; it was an awful lot for three people, not to mention rich in terms of quality.

  “Bon appetite,” said Lord Renzo. Raphael helped himself to the lamb, chicken and pork chops while Lord Renzo picked up the duck and Yorkshire puddings. Skye, true to her nature, went straight for the steak which – she noted – was deliciously rare.

  “I would have had them raw if you preferred,” said Lord Renzo, turning to her, “but my son had not informed me how exactly you like to eat your steak.”

  “Dad, I did tell you; the day I came back from Bert’s remember?”

  “Did you?”

  “Yes … I told you I ate raw steak with Skye. And I mentioned it three times after that too.”

  “Did you indeed?” Lord Renzo shook his head, a far expression in his face. “Ah … yes. So you did, I remember now. Dear me … the memory of an old man often finds that age is the greatest enemy of all.”

  He looked at Skye with a twinkle in his eye.

  “My son has not before had the privilege of eating his meat raw with another human being – aside from myself, of course. He informs me also that your inner beast is the wolf. I am most curious to ask, if I may, how you find it?”

  Noting how unusual this conversation was (but then again, the whole evening was rather unusual) and that she had never before been asked how it felt to live as half human, half wolf, Skye pondered for a moment, swallowing a piece of sirloin as the butler reappeared with the iced tea.

  “Well,” she began, “it has its upsides and downsides. I usually transform a few times a month and that’s just to go for night runs outside of London.”

  “Ah, yes,” nodded Lord Renzo, cutting into his duck, “that is a common feature of we Morphers. Raphael has been doing the same thing since he was a boy … as I have also. I was quite a magnificent beast back in my heyday.” A smile appeared beneath his beard. “I used to transform and run in many places inside the city; many of these places were destroyed and reduced to ash. I was always very careful, of course. People are aware of the existence of Morphers, but it doesn’t mean they won’t scream and panic if they catch sight of a tiger prowling around. Raphael told me that you went running in Hampstead Heath the other day. Did you like it there?”

  Skye nodded exuberantly.

  “Oh yes,” she said; the truth was, the memory of that night often crept into her mind on an everyday basis … and not just because they had both transformed and ran together.

  “My wife who is now deceased used to take Raphael there. In fact, before we had our children, the two of us went there together; I would transform and she would run with me. The only non-Morpher to ever do that.” Another faraway gaze entered his eyes. Then he seemed to shake himself.

  “What is it that you do, Skye?”

  “I work in Customer Services. Very boring – what I really want to do is go travelling and work with endangered species. I put an application form in, but the waiting time for a response is three months.”

  “Ah, a noble cause. You should take my son with you.”

  He gestured to Raphael who was busy ravaging a lamb bone.

  “I have always taught my sons the value of hard work and integrity. Money is a valuable bonus, but strength of character is much more important. Though despite this, each individual character will transpire, no matter what you teach them. My eldest son is currently in China, but the other two remain here. They are twins. Both spend the majority of their time out partying with women. My reprimands have no effect, of course. And Raphael aspires to be an artist.”

  Raphael went rather red-faced.

  “Well … I’m not really sure what it is I want to do yet …”

  “You see that painting up there? The one of the two tigers sitting around the table?”

  Skye turned to look where Lord Renzo was pointing. A large painting hung on the wall of two tigers both dressed in civilian clothes, roaring with laughter, smoking cigars and playing a game of poker.

  “Raphael painted that when he was sixteen. He based it on the two of us. I am the old, overweight one in the tweed suit – as you can probably tell.” His mouth twitched behind his beard, his eyes smiling.

  “Wow … you painted that?” said Skye, stunned. The detail of the painting was amazing; it certainly looked professional and must have taken quite some time. When Raphael told her he was an artist, she had no idea that he was so talented.

  They finished dinner and discussed a bit more about morphing and how it felt to fit into a society where they were in such a tiny minority. The butler came in with bowls of strawberries and cream which were delicious and Skye honestly felt that, despite her initial nerves, there were few other places that she felt truly comfortable. Lord Renzo and Raphael really made her feel at ease; Lord Renzo’s charming conversation, ready to listen just as much as he was to talk, and Raphael’s occasional wisecracks made for delightful company. There was no longer any regret at all inside her for having made that phone call earlier.

  Just at that moment, the doors of the dining room banged open and two young men entered, laughing loudly and stumbling over themselves. Like Raphael, they possessed stunningly handsome features and were identical in appearance, except one had wavy dark hair and the other had short spiky hair with flecks of white peroxide in it. There was a wild sort of air about them, one that seemed to know no boundaries or, at least, cared little for them. Lord Renzo lowered his glass of wine with a sigh.

  “My other sons, Ricardo and Joey,” he said to Skye, gesturing towards the pair who approached the table, devilish glints in their eyes.

  “Have you been out tonight?” he turned to the twins, who pulled up seats beside Raphael.

  “Just got in,” replied one, taking a glass from the table and pouring himself a drink.

  “Yeah, we heard talking coming from the room and thought we’d see who was in it,” said the one with spiky hair.

  He caught Skye’s eye and winked at her.

  “Alright, Raphy?” grinned the other twin, punching his brother on the shoulder.

  “This your new squeeze?” The one who had winked at Skye rose a glass towards her.

  “This is my friend,
Skye,” replied Raphael, shooting her an apologetic look. “Skye, like my dad said, these two idiots are my older brothers. This one is Ricardo,” he pointed to the wavy-haired one who smiled at her mischievously. “And this is Joey.”

  “Pleased to meet you,” said Joey, holding out a hand and firing a killer smile at her.

  “Bacchus and his wild women had nothing on these two,” remarked Lord Renzo, shaking his head. He turned towards the butler who was standing by the door. “Forbes, bring some extra plates for my troublesome sons. I would ask you two to show some respect towards our guest,” he added, turning back to the twins.

  “When are we anything apart from respectful?” said Ricardo, pretending to be outraged.

  “And there was me thinking that Raphael had finally got himself a girl,” said Joey in wonder. “What about that other girl from the dinner party a few weeks back? The one who was all over you like a rash? Blonde? Dress was so tight I thought it was going to split in half as soon as she sat down. Not that I'd mind.”

  “Shouldn’t you two be worrying about getting girlfriends of your own?” said Raphael uneasily. Skye had noticeably stiffened as she realized they were talking about Sasha and she hurriedly gulped down her iced tea in an effort to appear unconcerned.

  The twins roared with laughter at Raphael’s comment.

  “Very funny, Raph,” said Ricardo, chortling.

  “But I am considering taking applicants,” said Joey, with a piercing look at Skye, his eyes languidly scanning her; she blushed fiercely and looked at her empty plate. This did not go unnoticed by Raphael, whose expression went from apprehensive to ferocious in an instant.

  “Can you quit making her feel uncomfortable?” he snarled at his brother, his green eyes flashing orange, his pupils dilating.

  “Jeez, chill out, Raphael, I’m just playing,” said Joey with a wide smile, smacking him on the back.

  “Joey, when are you going to learn your lesson?” said Ricardo in mock disapproval. “Lay off Raphael’s women!”

  “I swear, that’s it –” growled Raphael, rising from his seat.

  “That’s enough,” said Lord Renzo.

  He turned to Skye.

  “I do apologize for my sons. They may not be Morphers, but they are extremely difficult to tame. Raphael, sit down. You know not to take them seriously when they jibe at you.”

  “You sure Skye’s not your girlfriend, Raph?” said Ricardo slyly.

  “Seriously, though, we don’t mean any harm,” said Joey, smiling at Skye who shook her head and told him she wasn’t offended. The honest truth was, she found the twins quite overwhelming as they clearly had quite strong personalities and did not have a problem saying what they thought, but at the same time there was something rather likeable about them; she could also now see what Daphne meant when she had said that the Renzo sons were famed for their striking features.

  Why are they all so amazingly goodlooking? Skye thought in bewilderment.

  Anyway, considering that one of Raphael’s favourite hobbies seemed to be winding her up, it was refreshing to see him on the other end of it for a change! Still, she couldn’t prevent the tingles she felt deep down at the curiosity portrayed as to whether she and Raphael had something going on – even if he clearly didn’t approve.

  “Temper, temper, tiger,” said Ricardo, shaking his head at Raphael, whose nostrils were still flaring a little.

  “Just don’t take anything they say seriously,” said Raphael, rolling his eyes at Skye.

  “That’s right,” said Joey in pretend seriousness. “We’re just a pair of drunken fools who don’t know what we’re saying. Don’t forget to take your own advice, Raphael.”

  “Ms Archer here happens to be a Morpher too,” Lord Renzo informed the twins as Forbes returned with two plates and cutlery.

  Both twins’ eyebrows shot up as they stared at Skye.

  “No way!” said Joey. “You a tiger too?”

  “No … A wolf,” replied Skye. She really was starting to feel rather shy now, surrounded by all these male members of the renowned Renzo family and she found herself incapable of stringing more than a few words together.

  “How’d you two meet?” asked Ricardo, digging into some chicken breast and vegetables.

  “Pearson had her cornered,” Raphael told him. “I was passing by …”

  “Knight in shining armour, eh?” said Ricardo, his eyes twinkling.

  “Well, Skye can look after herself,” said Raphael, shooting her a wink.

  “Speaking of Pearson,” said Joey, and for once his impish face turned serious.

  “Careful,” Ricardo warned him, glancing subtly at Skye.

  “It’s fine,” said Raphael, gazing around at his brothers and father. “I trust Skye; she knows that he’s trying to pin the murder on me.”

  “OK then. Well, we were about to go into the saloon earlier when we came across a couple of Pearson’s boys. Really dim ones. We hid behind a corner for a bit to see if we could catch what they were saying and we did. It looks like Pearson wants to jump you at some point – and soon.”

  Raphael shrugged, unconcerned.

  “Nothing new there. When is he not thinking about that? The guy hates me. Hence why he’s trying to have me framed.”

  “No, we think there might be something in it this time,” said Ricardo, his eyes darting towards his father; Lord Renzo’s expression was unreadable, yet fixing him with an intense stare. “It’s the way they were talking, really meticulous with their planning; mentioning something about having you watched. It seems really calculating this time – not the usual brutish behaviour you’d expect from them.”

  “This confirms the suspicions I already had,” said Lord Renzo, his voice grave. “Your brother will be laying low for a while; until the Pearson boy gets over his current vendetta towards him.”

  “He will always have a vendetta towards me,” said Raphael fiercely. “What am I supposed to do? Hide in this house until the end of time?”

  “Why don’t we just take the bugger out ourselves?” said Ricardo, rolling his napkin up and lazily throwing it back and forth in the air. “That would solve a whole heap of problems. He’s got it in for Raph, he’s got it in for Joey, he’s got it in for –”

  “Why’s he got it in for Joey?” asked Raphael.

  Ricardo hesitated as Joey shot him a wide-eyed warning look of alarm.

  “Er … he doesn’t – did I say Joey?”

  “Yes, you did,” said Lord Renzo, his forehead furrowed. “Why is this? What have you done?”

  He turned to the other twin who was pretending to examine his wine glass with great interest.

  “It’s just the way he hates all of us really,” said Ricardo hastily. “You know, Pearson has got it in for our whole family.”

  “I will ask you one more time,” said Lord Renzo to Joey, ignoring Ricardo. His stare was powerful and there seemed to be fire burning in his pupils. “What have you done?”

  Reluctantly, Joey raised his turquoise eyes to his father.

  “I sort of … took his girl,” he mumbled.

  “What do you mean ‘took his girl’?” said Lord Renzo, stony-faced. Ricardo coughed.

  “To be fair, she did kind of throw herself at him,” he said.

  “Joey?”

  “Well, I sort of … you know … had her,” said Joey, his eyes dashing about nervously. It was common for the twins to brag about their conquests, but even they both knew that this was going one step too far. “But the thing is, I’m not surprised she came onto me like that, she’s not really his girl, just a girl he sees every now and then –”

  “Stop,” said Lord Renzo, his voice quiet and dangerous as he surveyed his sons. The twins fell silent and Raphael shifted uncomfortably. Skye fiddled about with her dinner knife, feeling as though she could cut the air in the room with it, what with all the tension that had suddenly appeared.

  “Years I have spent trying to maintain some form of tranquility in this cit
y. I am astounded that my own sons appear to be going out of their way to defy my efforts. What is it about the situation that is not getting through to you? If you’re not starting personal wars with the Pearsons, then you’re stealing their women! Do you think I say these things for myself? I say it for you, I say it for your dear mother who made me swear that I would keep you safe and well, I say it for the shred of hope that one day this city will not be so deadly and violent! Whether your intentions are good or whether your intentions are bad, if you continuously create rifts with them, however small you think they may be, you will only make matters worse. You needn’t tell me what the Pearson boy is like – I know full well what he is, he is his father thirty years ago! I urge you time and time again, stay away from them, keep your cool, be smart – but time and again, it appears you do not listen! Was it really necessary to have your way with the girl when there are plenty of other girls you could have had? I tolerate your scandals, your impudence, your lack of focus and your wild ways, but to so blatantly cause such provocation in our enemy? No, this is something I cannot tolerate! All of you … what do I have to do to send the message across? Is youth really so arrogant to presume that there are no consequences to the actions you take? Tell me, for it appears that age has caused me to forget!”

  The three Renzo brothers stared at the floor as their father finished his frustrated rebuke towards them. Skye, thoroughly uncomfortable, now felt the opposite of what she had felt only a short while ago and wished she wasn’t there.

  “Sorry,” mumbled the twins. Lord Renzo looked defeated, holding his head in his hands. Raphael was staring at one of the paintings motionlessly. Skye, who had caught sight of the clock on the wall, cleared her throat.

  “Um,” she began tensely, “I should probably go … It’s getting late and I told my mum I’d be back around eleven.”

  “Yeah … we’re going to shoot off too,” said Ricardo, jumping up from his seat, his brother following suit. “It was nice to meet you, Skye. Raph, see you in a bit. Dad …” He walked over to his father and placed a hand on his shoulder, Joey doing the same. “We’re not trying to make things worse. We’re sorry for how we’ve made you feel. We’ll be more careful in future.”