The Wolf Fount

by Gayla Drummond

  It was with reluctance that Cal ordered Morgan to leave with Thane, and not attempt to run away. She had no choice but to obey direct orders from him. The were-liger accepted tending to her without a word and carried her meager belongings out once they were gathered.

  Cal suffered a pang watching the two of them walk down the hallway to the back stairs. He’d see her again, of course, as she’d be his personal assistant for a while, unless Morgan changed her mind about that. Which, after the disaster her first change had become, she probably would. Shame, she was interesting.

  He stepped back inside the suite to find Jake pulling on his clothing, while Sebastian had moved to the windows to watch the crowd below. “Thanks for helping.”

  “No problem, boss. I have the feeling I may need to watch my back for a while though. She was pissed.”

  “Don’t worry about it. She won’t be leaving headquarters until she’s settled down.” Cal patted Jake’s shoulder. “I may keep Thane on her for a few months. He needs a job for now.”

  Jake snorted, bending to collect the bags of trash. “I thought you loved him like a brother. Even Thane’s going to have a hard time with her.”

  “We’ll see.” Cal opened the door to let the other out. “I’ll be down in a bit.”

  “Sure, boss.”

  Closing the door, he turned to cross the room and stood by his nephew. Sebastian glanced at him. “A newly Awakened Were is a reason for joy, uncle. Why aren’t you joyous?”

  “She tried to attack you.”

  The vampire smiled. Not much dented his calm exterior. “It wasn’t Morgan’s fault. You were a bit harsh with her.”

  Cal ran a hand over his hair, a grimace flashing across his face. “Yeah, I was heavy-handed. Didn’t mean to be. We had to trick her into first change. I don’t know what happened, but she did an about-face, turned suspicious and defensive.”

  “She hasn’t had an easy life,” Sebastian reminded him. “She’s only had herself to depend on for much of it. I’d be more surprised if she hadn’t had second thoughts about the changes in her behavior.”

  Sometimes, his nephew’s habit of playing Devil’s Advocate amused Cal. This was one of those times, because the Were being defended had come close to injuring the boy. “Morgan nearly got hold of you, and I’m certain it wouldn’t have ended well.”

  Sebastian shrugged, a graceful motion. “Unless she removed my heart or head, the damage wouldn’t have been permanent. I doubt the matter would’ve gone that far.”

  No, it wouldn’t have. Cal nodded, his eyes scanning the crowd below. Blowing off some steam sounded like a great idea, and the club made a fantastic hunting ground. He doubted he’d find a woman able to match Morgan for her voracious sexual appetite, but then again, someone different would speed getting his new Were out of his system. “Let me get dressed and we’ll go downstairs. I’m in the mood for some fun after the drama.”

  “Certainly.”

  With a faint smile in place, Sebastian watched his uncle. They’d been downstairs for nearly two hours. Calhoun’s behavior was becoming a source of worry for the vampire.

  At the moment, the First—which was what Sebastian usually thought of his uncle as—was out on the dancefloor, surrounded by half a dozen young women vying with each other for his attention. The vampire could sense the women’s lust, but Calhoun hadn’t yet singled one out.

  It was a deviation from his normal routine. Calhoun tended to select one woman at a time to spend a week or two with. Then he’d move onto a new playmate. He didn’t gather women and divide his attention between them.

  The most likely cause for the change was Morgan, but Sebastian didn’t understand why. She wasn’t the first female Sleeper his uncle had bedded, or supported through Awakening and first change. Calhoun had done exactly that more times than Sebastian could remember, to the point that it seemed simply one of his duties as the First. Morgan wasn’t even the first Sleeper to come along who’d had such a difficult human existence. The ranks were full of people who’d led hard lives.

  But something about the new Were had affected his uncle adversely. Sebastian pondered the matter, watching Calhoun sandwich himself between two of the women for some heavy grinding. Perhaps Morgan was just a challenge, one he hadn’t faced in a few years?

  That idea didn’t sit well with Sebastian, because it didn’t mesh with his knowledge of his uncle. Calhoun didn’t regard women as notches on his belt.

  Maybe it was the lack of his Chimaera. The vampire knew intimately how much Calhoun longed for her to finally appear. The other Firsts hadn’t waited long for theirs, less than a few hundred years at the most. Sebastian had even met one, the Tiger Fount’s Chimaera. They were unusual women, able to change into each of the animals chosen by the Guardians. That ability allowed them to help control Weres not of their own species and was useful to the Founts when they’d worked together.

  The vampire also knew that his uncle believed his Chimaera would never appear, because of what Calhoun had been forced to do: kill the other Founts to put a stop to their plans to take control of the world. No one had realized that killing the Founts would also be a death sentence for their Chimaeras and the guilt of those three women’s deaths continued to weigh heavily on Calhoun’s conscience.

  And perhaps he was correct, because over two thousand years had passed since the last Chimaera had died. Calhoun’s had never appeared. It was a long time to go without one’s promised mate. A long time to spend mostly alone. Sebastian’s faint smile faltered, sympathy for his uncle quick to rise. It wasn’t his fault. He couldn’t have known.

  The Founts didn’t take their mates onto the front lines. They left them behind in camp, heavily guarded. But even if Calhoun had known, he hadn’t had much choice. Allowing the others to rule a world meant for humankind, to overstep the duty they’d been selected for, wasn’t something he could’ve turned a blind eye to.

  Sebastian took a sip of his red wine, savoring the taste of blood. He’d learned long ago that he could ingest liquids, as long as they were mixed with blood. Were blood had been his only diet for longer than he could remember. He’d given up preying on humans after saving his uncle’s life and being given the chance to rejoin the family.

  Calhoun had saved him too. Not from death, but from a life of killing innocents. Sebastian could never repay him, or wash away his own guilt for the hundreds of lives he’d taken while under his former master’s control.

  But I can try, the vampire thought, watching Calhoun disengage from his little harem of eager volunteers, and head for the bar. The First had apparently said something to make it clear he didn’t want the women following him, because they stayed on the dance floor. All of them stared after him, their longing writ large on their faces, until one said something. The six immediately began trading barbs, from the way their expressions changed.

  “Beer me,” Calhoun said to the closest bartender, who obeyed. He sat down next to Sebastian. “You’re not enjoying yourself, nephew.”

  “My blood runs cooler than yours, especially tonight. You don’t seem yourself, uncle.”

  Calhoun half-drained his beer. “I didn’t handle Morgan as well as I should’ve. Maybe I’m slipping in my old age.”

  “I doubt that.”

  The other shrugged, his eyes fixed on the six women who were definitely arguing now. Sebastian half expected him to leave, to go settle the matter by choosing one and gently letting the others down, but Calhoun stayed on his stool. “All I know is that she was fine one minute, and ready to gut me the next. Called me an asshole and accused me of feeding her drugs.”

  The vampire raised one eyebrow. “Interesting.”

  “You’d think after Awakening, she would have seen how much things had changed, and known no one lied to her. But no, not Morgan. Puzzles me. She was completely onboard, much faster than I expected her to be.” Calhoun’s eyes narrowed as two of the women began to shove at each other. “Then she most definitely wasn’t.”

&
nbsp; Sebastian realized he wasn’t actually seeing them, and signaled Jake, who followed the turn of the vampire’s head before nodding. The manager headed for the women to handle the situation before it grew more serious.

  Calhoun continued to sit, staring at them, but didn’t seem to notice anything was wrong. Definitely unlike the man Sebastian knew, and the vampire’s worry grew. “Are you all right?”

  “What?” His uncle looked at him. “Why?”

  “Maybe you should have Thane bring her back here. Surely she’s calmed enough to change and you’ll be able to speak with her. Settle the matter more to your satisfaction.”

  “No, she’s better off at headquarters, with him, for now.”

  Sebastian’s brows knit as Calhoun finished his beer and held up the bottle, signaling he needed a new one. Out on the floor, Jake had called in a couple of the circulating bouncers to help him. The women were too caught up in their argument to pay much attention to the fact they were all about to be ejected from the club.

  Something was definitely not right.

  Chapter Ten

  He lied. The thought was looped in Morgan’s mind, as she numbly stood beside Thane in an elevator. I am a prisoner.

  Not a single one of her efforts to take off had gone further than thinking about it. Somehow, Calhoun had compelled her to obey his orders. She’d stayed beside Thane the entire way out of the building and had allowed him to lift her into the back seat of the SUV waiting there. Morgan wasn’t certain how far they’d driven before being passed through a gated checkpoint.

  From there, they’d gone into a large metal building filled with vehicles, and into the elevator. She looked up at the control panel to discover they were descending and felt a sluggish panic. I’m never going to leave here. Wherever here is.

  Pressure on her side turned her head. She met Thane’s calm eyes. It was his leg touching her. He hadn’t said a word. Not a single one from the moment he’d stepped into Calhoun’s suite at the club. What the hell was a were-liger? Why had Calhoun decided to pass her off to him?

  Well, duh, because you tried to bite his nephew. Morgan lowered her head, watching the elevator doors. It wasn’t my fault he smelled... wrong. She felt her muzzle wrinkle at the memory of that odd mustiness exuding from the vampire. Sebastian’s scent had triggered a new instinct. If he hadn’t shown up...

  No, that wasn’t exactly fair or truthful. She’d been pissed before then, by Calhoun’s manhandling of her after forcing her to change shapes. Admittedly through Jake, who Morgan placed at Number Two on her shit list. But it was Calhoun’s doing, not giving her more time.

  Even now, stuck as a wolf, she couldn’t quite rid herself of her attraction to Calhoun. I should hate his guts for this bullshit.

  The elevator stopped, the doors sliding open. Morgan followed her jailer out to find a carpeted corridor filled with doors on each side. The doors were spaced well apart. Calhoun had said something about apartment levels. This had to be one of those.

  So she wasn’t going to be put in a cell. That knowledge lessened the panic she’d begun to feel. Which was good, because Calhoun had also said she wouldn’t be able to change back until she calmed down. Morgan wanted to change back, return to the shape she knew. Once human again, surely she’d find a way to get the hell out of Dodge.

  Maybe Thane would prove easy to manipulate. She glanced upward to study him. He noticed, but his expression didn’t change. His only reaction was a blink, before they reached a particular door. After he opened it, he waited for her to step inside first.

  Morgan entered to find herself in a good-sized living room. Her new nose informed her that it was probably Thane’s apartment, because his scent permeated the place. Confused, she took a few steps more before halting to examine the room more closely.

  Thane shut the door and crossed to set her belongings down on the wooden coffee table. The furniture was comfortable looking, but nothing fancy. The color scheme didn’t match Calhoun’s. Evidently, the were-liger preferred browns and greens.

  She watched him sit down on the overstuffed sofa and pat it. Instead of accepting the invitation, Morgan sat down where she was at and stared at Thane. He stared back.

  Well, this isn’t going to accomplish shit. She didn’t move though. Neither did he. They sat there for a while, until her patience ran out. Morgan growled, causing the were-liger to tilt his head and raise an eyebrow.

  He didn’t seem worried by the aggressive sound. She had to admit, he probably didn’t have any reason to be. It’s not like she could do anything to him. Thane was big and strong enough to keep her from that.

  Why was she here? Was he supposed to be some sort of counselor for her? Kind of hard to be that if he didn’t talk.

  Thane patted the sofa again. With a heavy sigh, Morgan stood and walked over to clamber onto it beside him. Once there, she wasn’t sure what to do. After a few seconds, weariness began to slow her thoughts and she lay down. It felt natural to rest her muzzle on Thane’s thigh, at which point he began to gently stroke her back.

  She startled when he began to purr, but quickly relaxed. Obviously, a were-liger was some sort of feline. The deep, rolling sound continued for some time, until Morgan was close to falling asleep. She felt a strange sensation and opened her eyes to find she was no longer a wolf.

  “Thank God.” She shoved herself upright, belatedly realizing she was naked. Her jailer had withdrawn his hand and met her eyes. He’d stopped purring. The situation was so beyond anything she’d dealt with before Morgan didn’t know what to do next. Except to ask, “What the hell is a were-liger?”

  He didn’t answer. Instead, he stood and moved slightly away to begin undressing. Morgan frowned. “I asked a question.”

  Thane ignored her, neatly folding his shirt. She caught a glimpse of his back as he bent to place the shirt on the coffee table. His back was covered in thin, white scars. “What the hell happened to you?”

  He ignored that question too, undoing his belt. Morgan scooted down to the end of the sofa, putting as much distance as possible between them. “What are you doing?”

  Calhoun had sent her with this strange man and ordered her to stay with him. Even with Thane undressing, she discovered that she couldn’t follow her urge to run the hell away. What was he planning to do?

  The answer came a few seconds later, after Thane had finished undressing and proved to be just as impressive to look at as Calhoun. They were practically a matched set, right down to... Morgan lost her train of thought as Thane’s body began to change.

  Horrified, yet fascinated, she couldn’t look away as he went from human to some sort of gigantic tiger. A tiger that wasn’t orange and black, but the same pale brown as his hair, with umber striping. His eyes were the same color too, but now had the whirling, gold sunburst around their pupils.

  He stood there for a few minutes, until she realized he’d answered her question by illustrating what a were-liger was. “You could’ve just told me.”

  The change back to human looked no less horrifying. Morgan was relieved when Thane began to pull on his jeans. “Now what?”

  He finished zipping and buttoning before gesturing to her to follow. Once she stood, he grabbed her belongings and led the way to one of the doors set in the living room’s back wall. It opened to a smallish bedroom. Morgan surveyed it, noting how unlived in the room looked. “I guess I’m staying here?”

  Thane nodded, moving to the dresser to put her bag and safe down. She noticed he gave her a quick once over when he turned and decided to use the sudden display of interest to her advantage. Hands rising her hips, she blocked the doorway. “I want some answers.”

  He raised an eyebrow.

  “Getting really tired of your silent act. How long do I have to stay here?”

  His response was a shrug.

  “Why are you my keeper?”

  Another shrug.

  She huffed in exasperation and tried to think of a question he’d have to verbally respond to.
“I want to talk to Calhoun.”

  Thane shook his head.

  Morgan gritted her teeth. “This is bullshit.”

  He stood silently by the dresser while she tried to think. What was she supposed to do? Go to bed like nothing had changed? “I don’t want to be here.”

  No response. Maybe he was slow? Morgan dropped her hands. Slow didn’t mean stupid, but someone with a faster brain might have an advantage. “It’s against the law to kidnap people.”

  He cocked his head. She had the feeling he wasn’t impressed by that argument. “Come on, I don’t want to be here. I have to talk to Calhoun.”

  A slow, deliberate shake of his head answered her. Morgan felt a thrill of anger. “What are you going to do if I just walk the hell out of here? Tie me up?”

  Thane shook his head again.

  “So I can leave?”

  No response. Morgan decided to take a chance. Turning, she left the room and crossed the living room to the door. It wouldn’t open and had some sort of keypad above the doorknob. She slapped both hands against the door, realizing it was metal. “Motherfucker!”

  Trapped, she turned around to find Thane had followed her and was holding his hand out. “What do you want?”

  He simply waited, watching her eyes. The gold sunburst was still present in his, no longer whirling, but slowly turning. After a long moment, Morgan sighed and put her hand in his. Thane silently led her back to the bedroom.

  The were-liger clearly wanted her to go to bed. Maybe she was becoming a headache for him. Morgan hoped so. Bypassing the opportunity to put something on, she went directly to the bed. Once under the covers, she watched Thane turn off the light and cross the room. “You’re not sleeping with me.”

  He sat on the edge of the bed and patted her arm before beginning to purr again. Before long, her eyes had grown heavy enough to close. Why am I so tired?

  Morgan fell asleep.

  A mouthful of drool woke her. Morgan hopped out of bed to grab her robe out of her bag before leaving the bedroom. The mingled smell of coffee and bacon led her to the kitchen’s entrance, to the right of the living room. She paused there, watching as Thane deftly transferred an omelet from skillet to plate.