When finally she looked up to smile at him, a loud howling began in the woods just outside her house. Startled, she looked over her shoulder. “What the—”
Silas practically dumped her on the floor in his hurry to stand and she knew that every one of his senses had gone on red alert. Gone was the lazily passionate lover who’d screwed her silly mere seconds ago. “Wolves!”
“Huh? Wolves?”
He reached down a hand and drew her to her feet as the wild sounds outside increased in pitch. Martha grabbed up her shorts and t-shirt from the floor and hastily dragged the garments onto her body. Silas was already at her front door and stepping naked onto the front porch. “Silas! Wait!”
It was too late.
A single long, low howl went up and she heard Silas snarl a warning. She didn’t think but brushed past him and reached for a piece of firewood from the pile near the front door. Peering into the gloom, she sensed the wolves, heard them snarling and snapping. If seemed as if a dozen eyes were trained on her but she didn’t have time to think about that. Silas’ lupine teeth elongated in his mouth and with a savage sound he leaped from the porch into the yard and went into a crouch, landing on all fours. Then he started to shift.
As a huge black wolf, he faced the threat as the others slowly crept from the edge of the woods. Only three? It had seemed like more had been howling. In tandem they came toward Silas, snarling, growling low, and Martha lifted the piece of firewood, prepared to rush in. Adrenaline coursed through her veins. She gritted her teeth.
The wolves began to circle, one seeming more aggressive than the others. He was a huge gray beast but the other two were equally massive. One was black and the other an odd mix of brown and gold. Even in the darkness she caught the gleam of narrowed laser blue eyes from the gray wolf. Blue?
Before she could consider that, the wolf in question leaped at Silas and she screamed. The wolves had clamped onto each other’s necks and were rolling around on the ground as the other two advanced.
“Silas!” she yelled. “MacAdam! Watch out!”
The second the words of warning left her mouth it seemed the action stilled in slo-mo, halting to a fuzzy stop as the wolves began to back away. Silas shook himself and shifted into a man and stood before the trespassers. His fists were clenched and he was breathing heavily as blood seeped from gouges at his neck. “Stay back, woman!”
An answer from her was impossible at that point since all the breath left her lungs in an instant. The wolves immediately shifted and Martha found herself looking at three huge men. Three huge, naked men.
The weirdest part of it all was that she knew them. Each and every one.
Chapter Seven
Martha had cruised by the Wolf Creek Ranch a million times but had never driven through the massive limestone archway or down the paved road to the ranch house itself. Late that afternoon, she took it all in as she and Silas drove to the ranch to meet Bart Fitzgerald, owner of the prosperous cattle ranch. He was also the man whom she’d seen change from a large gray wolf just last night.
Impossible.
As Fitzgerald handed her a glass of neat whiskey and smiled, his electric blue eyes practically twinkling at her, it was hard to imagine that he was every bit as savage as Silas.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, missy. Guess this whole thing is quite a shock to you.” He poured another drink from the bar in his massive study and handed it to Silas before lounging back in the heavy leather chair behind his desk.
She gave Silas a smile, thinking of all the revelations she’d lived through over the past week and shook her head. “You have no idea. I’ve always thought of the world as pretty much a black and white place. Sure, people often think bizarre things or feel emotions they are careful to hide from everyone else but witches? Lycans? Next thing you know, I’ll learn there is such a thing as faeries and vampires.”
Martha had expected laughter but the men remained silent.
What more was there in the world that she was ignorant of?
Thinking it best to handle one paranormal species at a time, she looked around the beautiful masculine room. Upon pulling up in front of the place, she’d marveled at the roughhewn beauty of the home. Obviously it had been built sometime before Texas statehood in the eighteen hundreds. The aged two-story limestone featured a wrap-around porch and a second-story balcony that would provide a bird’s eye view of the vast prairie and ranch land to anyone who happened to stand there sipping their morning coffee. A historical marker gave authenticity to the place’s age and a giant flag of the Lone Star state flapped in the dusty breeze. But the inside of the house was just as amazing. Rugs of softly aged colors covered the highly polished hardwood floors. Bronzes of wolves and western scenes could be seen hovering in corners or on tabletops or displayed prominently on the buttermilk-yellow walls. Heavy, antique furnishings gave the house an air of authenticity, a feel of history.
Earlier, as they’d entered the house, she spotted Ringo Ramone leaning negligently against a rock pillar near the front steps. Like Silas, he was a black wolf and it was shocking to realize she’d passed him on the streets of Cloverfield a million times never knowing he was a lycan. Crazy! Just last night he’d been standing stark naked in her front yard. Lordy! He was gorgeous with those Latino good looks. Straight black hair brushed his shoulders and his darker-than-sin eyes could scare the wits out of a woman, man or beast. He was deadly and dangerous but as she nodded to him, his lips quirked into a little smile as he continued to work the toothpick he held between his teeth.
Silas and Bart Fitzgerald talked while she took a calming sip of the well-aged whiskey. Leaning against the window frame just behind and to the right of Bart was Joe McKinnon who obviously held some position of power among the Wolf Creek pack or he wouldn’t be present tonight. Like Ringo, he’d been in her front yard last night looking like God’s creation of Adam. Naked, built like a warrior, he didn’t carry the menacing appeal of Ringo, but was intimidating nevertheless with a quiet, heavy intensity that carried a threat of its own. He was beautiful, savage and wild with fierce golden eyes. Like Silas, power surged around him, and try as she might she couldn’t sense his emotions. This was a man who carefully shielded himself from others. Wavy, saddle-brown hair brushed his wide shoulders and the late-afternoon sun caught upon the heavy streaks surrounding his roughhewn face, making them shine like antique Spanish coins.
“I knew who you were the second Martha called out your name,” Bart said. “There are none more powerful among our people than you, Silas MacAdam. You are Supreme Alpha over us all. When you disappeared from us all those centuries ago, there was talk of the witch Embeth, talk of a curse. But no one lost hope you would return to us to take up the rulership again.”
“’Tis true.” Silas glanced at her, spearing her with the intensity of his gaze. “Martha rescued me.”
“She is your mate, then?”
Silence fell for a moment or two and Martha shifted uncomfortably at the personal turn of the conversation.
“Yes,” he answered finally. “We will consummate soon.”
Consummate soon? Huh?
When she went still, Silas probed her mind and she opened to him.
They smell my scent upon you, dearling, and I have staked my claim upon your body. I would not fight these men over you. It is good they know you are mine.
Martha heard the whispered words but was a little miffed that he’d discuss private matters so openly.
Just don’t be so sure of yourself, big guy. You haven’t asked and I haven’t said yes. Don’t forget that.
She heard his laughter, dark and sexy, before the shields were closed again.
“As leader of our pack, Silas, you have much to learn of what has happened during your imprisonment at Castle Sgian Dhubh. To those of us who were left behind when you disappeared, the castle seemed empty but we knew something was amiss. We prayed for your return and even now our pack protects your home and lands.”
“Excuse me.” The men looked at her. “I’m sorry to interrupt but what does Sgian Dhubh mean?”
Their host smiled. “In Highland Gaelic it means black dagger or black knife. We all hail from Black Dagger Castle. In ancient times Highlanders wore daggers at the waists of their kilts during weddings. It was tradition.”
She must have looked confused because Silas reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. “I will have much time to explain these things to you, Martha.” Then his slight smile faded as he gave Bart a serious look. “The pack thrives still?”
“Yes.” Bart leaned his forearms against the desk and watched Silas steadily. “But time rolled on and many of us scattered to other places, other continents. I came here and became alpha of the Wolf Creek pack. Since we don’t age as humans, we wanted to avoid questions and suspicions. We built the town of Cloverfield and have lived here for generations. It is isolated and suits our purposes.”
“So am I the only human here?” Martha asked. “Why? Why did you let me stay?”
Bart smiled kindly. “Truthfully we didn’t know what to do with you. You’ve only been here for a year and you tended to keep to yourself out in the middle of nowhere. If you’d made a habit of interacting with us on a regular basis, things might have turned out differently. Eventually we’d have scared you away but now it seems that isn’t necessary.” He glanced at Silas. “As Supreme Alpha, your seat awaits you in the Highlands, if you wish to resume it. Already I have alerted the pack who lives there on your land. They want you with them again. Will you go back?”
Martha stilled at his words. A cold blast of fear swept her. Would he leave her now that he was free of the mirror? Would he return to the Highlands and if so, was she willing to leave all she knew and go with him? The questions swimming in her brain were almost too much so it was a relief when Bart stood behind his desk. “Too many questions for one night, I’m thinkin’, MacAdam. Would you like Joe to show you around the place? He is my first lieutenant and knows the business like the back of his hand.”
Silas stood and as Bart Fitzgerald came around the desk toward him, Silas clapped him on the shoulder. “Yes, there is much to think about and I will tell you my answer soon. I would like to see this place you have built, my friend.”
“Good. We have a prosperous ranch here and the woods surrounding us provide us ample wild game for the hunt.” Suddenly Bart grinned. “Come with us tomorrow night.”
Martha felt Silas’ pleasure as if it were her own. “Yes. I will. How long it has been since I’ve hunted with the pack.” Anticipation rolled from him in giant waves.
There was still so much to learn about Silas. She’d never been a wolf or hunted with a pack. To these lycans it seemed almost a religious experience, a part of their nature that she would never understand.
Unless she was to become one of them.
Suddenly, she wanted that more than anything. Her life had been a series of lonely years. She’d had no family, no friends. Could she have all of that after a lifetime of isolation? Could she become one of them and have the family she’d longed for in the deepest part of her heart?
Bart stayed behind as they left with Joe and she learned Bart had hired private investigators to search for his daughter, a daughter he hadn’t known existed until recently.
“I hope he finds her,” Martha said as Silas, Joe and she walked the grounds and paddocks of the ranch. Dusk had settled and there was a little time before dinner would be served. Joe had offered to give them a short tour. The smell of horses and hay filled the air along with the dust that permeated the skies in this part of Texas.
“He will. I’ve never know a more determined man,” Joe replied, pride heavy in his deep voice. “The mother of his daughter, a human, left the area when she learned that Bart was wolf. She was pregnant and scared out of her mind. Of course Bart didn’t know about any of it or he’d have gone after her and claimed his daughter. She is one of us.”
“He’d have been right to do it,” Silas said. Certainty rang in his voice along with a touch of the arrogance she’d learned to accept as part of his nature. “She is lycan and belongs with her people. No one can change that.”
Joe grunted an agreement.
They stopped by a fenced paddock and watched the horses chomp grass. Martha folded her arms over the fence and took it all in. Her mind was swimming with questions. “So is Bart’s daughter all lycan or only part?”
“Lycan is lycan,” Joe answered in a low voice. “Though she was born to a human woman, she is one of us. If Bart’s information is correct, she is nearing the age when our females become wholly wolf.”
“How does that happen?”
The men exchanged glances then Silas looked out over the land. “Intense passions bring about the change. Male wolves turn around the time of puberty but it is different with our women. Sexual passion or deep, traumatic fear can bring it on. Usually in the years between twenty-five and thirty. It is a dangerous time for our females. This woman must be found and returned to her pack.”
Joe went very still. “Soon. We’ll find her soon and bring her home.”
A heavy silence fell and Martha couldn’t help but wonder if the woman would be accepting of her fate. There was no doubt in her mind, she would be found because she’d never known more determined people than these. They’d carved a life for themselves out of the wilderness. Surely it wouldn’t take long to find one lycan woman.
“I’ve been wondering about something,” Martha said into the quiet. She smiled at Joe.
“Yeah?”
“How is it you don’t scare the livestock? I mean, you guys are cowboys, ranchers but you’re also predators. Wouldn’t the animals sense you?”
“Smart lady, you have here, Silas.” Joe smiled. “We are different from most lycans. Our mental powers are very strong and it’s natural for us to be able to shield our true selves from others. A genetic gift. We don’t want to eat our profits. We save our hunting for the deer in the area.”
Made a strange sort of sense, she figured.
Then she laughed. “Eat your profits? That’s funny, Joe.”
Smiling a little, he tipped the brim of his battered cowboy hat back with his thumb. “Don’t think I’ve ever been accused of being funny before. Quite a mate you have there, Silas.”
When Silas came behind her and pulled her against him, she settled in, loving the feel of his arms around her. He nuzzled the side of her neck and smiled against her flesh. “I must agree. I believe I shall keep her.”
Chapter Eight
The next night Silas sat sprawled on Martha’s couch as the wind howled outside her small house. After spending the day at the Wolf Creek Ranch and visiting the town of Cloverfield, he felt exhilarated and excited about resuming life among his people. Everywhere he’d gone today he’d been treated with the respect due the royalty of the pack and now he wondered if his reception would be the same when he returned to the Highlands.
He’d think about it later.
At the moment, Martha was curled against him like a little cat. After tonight’s dinner of something delicious that she’d called chili and cornbread, she had slid a small round object into a black machine and pressed a button. The music that swept the room seemed like a miracle to him. There was something to be said for modern music.
Martha sighed and cuddled closer as he absently stroked her arm and listened to the man on the CD player croon a song about living like he was dying. Martha said the singer was Tim McGraw. Obviously a Highlander. He closed his eyes to concentrate on the song but he opened them again as Martha sniffed. “What is it?”
She looked up at him with beautiful green eyes that had gone watery with emotion. “I love that song. It always makes me cry.”
“You have a sweet heart, Martha.”
She rolled her eyes, making him smile. “Not that sweet. It just gets me though. We spend so much time avoiding life instead of doing the things we’ve always wanted to do.”
; “Is that how it has been for you?”
“Yes, I think so. I’ve always felt the emotions of others so strongly that after a while it just became too much. So I hid away. Avoided life.”
“And now? Do you still want to hide from the world?” Silas went still as he waited for her answer. It was so important. He wanted to ask her to come with him to another country and start over. Would she be willing to leave her isolation in the woods? He loved her. He needed her. True, he’d never actually professed his love but tonight, after the hunt, he would change all of that.
Martha laughed softly and shook her head. “Not so much. Things have been different for me lately. Gotta admit that being trapped in the past and then learning there is such a thing as witches and wolf men can shake a woman up. I’ve been yanked firmly out of my comfort zone but I’m adapting.”
“You are stronger than you know.”
“Jeez, ya think? Actually, I’m feeling pretty strong these days. A real modern kickass woman.” To emphasize the point, she stretched out her arm and flexed, making a puny little muscle pop.
Laughing, he grabbed her up and settled her across his lap. Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her, letting her feel the pleasure she’d brought to his life. He owed her a debt of gratitude but it had always been more than that. She was more. She was his life. Martha relaxed against him and returned his kiss. Her ass was soft, ample enough for a man to enjoy fondling. His cock stirred in reaction but then he heard the sounds of the wolves.
Breaking the kiss with a curse, he looked down at her. “They are here.”
“I know. Time for you to have some fun.”
She crawled off his lap so he could strip out of his jeans, boots and t-shirt. Quietly she watched him until he finally turned, naked as a babe, to smile at her. “I wish only that you could come.”
Her sigh almost broke his heart. “I know. Maybe some day. Go. Go kill something.”
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