by Jayne Hawke
The drive over to the far side of the forest didn’t take too long. Cole parked by the side of the road, and we walked through the forest. His footsteps were almost silent. I had to strain to hear him, and he was barely three feet away from me. I was quiet, but he was feline quiet.
“Practise,” he said without looking at me.
I heard the added ‘become one with your wolf’ without his actually saying it out loud.
That side of me was itching to be free and run between the trees. Who cared about the rogue? There were new trails to explore and fresh deer to chase. As tempting as it was, and the itch between my shoulder blades was really intense, I ignored those desires. The council would make sure that I never ran again if I didn’t catch this rogue.
The mature trees provided a dense canopy that meant there wasn’t much ground cover. The pale reddish dirt was hard packed from a well-walked path. Given how narrow it was, I assumed it was a deer run, or whatever they called them. I found myself sniffing the air, trying to see if any of those deer were nearby. That was something I was going to have to nip in the bud. I didn’t want to have to explain to people why I was sniffing around like a bloodhound.
Cole paused and held his hand out at hip height to make me stop too. He had gone tense. Every muscle had him ready to pounce on something. I felt my own ears prick as I looked where he was looking. The body was just up ahead. I could smell it now: the congealing blood, the terror. We slowly circled around the body, keeping a distance. I noticed that Cole didn’t leave any footprints, either. Thankfully, neither did I. The last thing we needed was the human police knocking on our doors.
We moved in closer to the body, and the details really came into view. It looked to be a woman, but the face was practically torn off. Her insides were spread all around her. Strings of intestines were sprawling out near her ribcage. Deep claw marks gouged her toned arms and legs. Her dark athletic clothes were soaked with blood, but I didn’t see a drop of blood on the ground.
Crouching down near her, I pushed down the rising nausea and tried to look for some important clue. I’d expected to see blood pooling beneath her and glistening around her large and gruesome wounds. There wasn’t really any.
“Most of her blood has been removed,” Cole said softly.
“You’re not going to tell me vampires exist, are you?”
Cole’s mouth pinched and he gave me a withering, long-suffering look.
“No.”
“Good. I really dislike vampires.”
He exhaled slowly while visibly calming himself and holding back a biting comment.
“Do you smell any scents besides ours and the body?” he finally asked.
I closed my eyes and breathed deep. Cole smelled of sea air and sage with a touch of something rich and earthy. My wolf snarled as my mind began to wander. That side of me was very firmly not interested in the grumpy brooding alpha. I breathed deep again and caught the scents of the forest, the earth, the leaves, but nothing much else.
“Nothing,” I said with a frown.
Maybe I needed to work on my scenting skills.
“Exactly.”
Cole stood.
“Exactly?”
He really needed to start sharing what was in his head.
“This is far from a normal rogue. They’ve covered their tracks. Literally. There’s no scent, no footprints, and they took the victim’s blood. That’s not a wolf’s M.O.”
I chewed my bottom lip, this was sounding worse and worse.
“We should go now. We don’t want to be here when the human police arrive.”
18
Cole had insisted that I stay for dinner. He had his back to me, cooking up something that smelled absolutely amazing. I caught rich spices with softer earthy tones. He hadn't asked my preferences, he just started chopping up bell peppers, chicken, and adding in spices I didn't recognise. I was a baker, but savoury cooking was far from my forte. I could make a nice pie, or a casserole. If I was feeling really confident, I could make a passable lasagne, but not whatever divine feast Cole was cooking.
I sat at the kitchen table watching him work in an efficient methodical fashion. His muscles slowly relaxed, and I could feel him unwinding and decompressing. Cooking was his happy place. I wasn't sure how I felt about his sharing that with me. Was it a normal garou thing? Was he trying to soften me up before he pushed something awful? Did he actually like me beneath all that brooding and frustration?
"So, er... you like cooking?" I said when I couldn't bear the silence any longer.
He paused for half a beat before he simply said, "Yes."
Ever a man of many words.
"What're you making?"
I knew better than to go and look. I hated when people pushed into the kitchen when I was baking.
"Chicken spring rolls with Laksa soup and fresh noodles."
My mouth drooled at the thought. I adored Thai food, but it was rare that I could afford to eat it as we had to drive an hour away to some fancy restaurant. It was one of those rare treats that Jake got for my birthday and things.
Cole half turned to me and gave me a genuine smile. His eyes shone with happiness, and he looked like a whole new person when he was relaxed. The day-old stubble caressed his strong jaw, and his cheekbones begged me to run my fingertips along them. I looked away, feeling my wolf rising to growl at the very thought of being gentle with the arrogant ass.
He served the food on simple dishware without a single word. He was letting the food talk for itself. I took a spoonful of the soup and had to hold back a moan of pleasure. It was incredible. The sweetness wrapped around the rich Thai spices producing a harmony that danced on my tongue. Cole was smiling again, that gentle genuine smile that made me want to edge closer to him.
I was biting into my second spring roll when he hardened again. Just a little, but I saw him bracing for my reaction. So, he had been softening me up, then.
"I'm going to take you to the shadow ball as my shadow."
I glared at him. There had been no question there; he just stated that was going to happen.
"No."
He sighed.
"You don't even know what the shadow ball is."
"I know that you didn't ask whether I wanted to go."
"Must you be so difficult?"
"Yes,” I said with a sweet smile.
He began clearing the plates away.
"A normal garou would be honoured."
"As everyone keeps reminding me, I'm not a normal garou. I'm turned."
I felt him grinding his teeth.
"The shadow ball only occurs once every fifty years. It is a place for the upper echelons of the supernatural society to show off their proteges and network with each other. Deals are struck, alliances forged, and information gathered."
I hadn't realised that Cole was part of the upper echelons. I knew he was a councilman, but I'd assumed he was the junior member and didn't have that much of a say. He felt more dangerous now.
He sat back down opposite me with his forearms on the table and his gaze intense.
"I am giving you the opportunity to be seen as a real garou. There is also a chance that you'll be able to find some information on who killed your mother."
My chest tightened. I'd searched for years to find out who the killer was and come up empty. Cole was a pushy jerk, but the opportunity to get information on that was far too good to turn down. He knew that. I saw the victory in his eyes before I said a word. I wanted to slap that little smile from his face, but I needed to know.
"Ok. I'll go. What do I need to do?"
"I'll bind you as my shadow in the next couple of days. I'll supply your ball gown. You'll need to learn some etiquette, but everything else will be handled."
And it was back to sounding too good to be true.
"The catch?"
"No catch. It looks good for me to take a shadow, and there aren't any young garou in my territory."
There was a slight tinniness to h
is voice. He was hiding something.
19
Jake was staying out late, and the apartment felt empty without him. It didn’t matter how much noise I tried to fill the space with, I couldn’t escape the increasingly consuming need to run. It was somewhere around midnight, and night had taken hold. The woods were calling to me. Or more specifically, my wolf side was howling and driving me mad. It felt like a deep itch that I couldn’t get to. My mind was filled with images of running through the woods and the happiness that would bring. I’d caught myself pacing around the kitchen twice.
It was almost one AM when I finally gave in and changed into a pair of little shorts and my sneakers. The air was balmy outside, and the wolf needed to really run. Sighing in frustration at having to give in to myself, I stepped outside and stretched for a few minutes. It was an exercise in control more than anything. The wolf side of me was dying to go and run immediately. I wasn’t going to allow that side of me to run rampant. Yes, it was a part of me, but I needed to keep the human side in control.
I took my time walking into the dark woods and was pleased to see that my night vision was far improved. The need to run was almost overwhelming, but I made myself walk the first half mile and enjoy the peace of the woods. The animals were all asleep bar a few foxes and other small nocturnal animals. I was safe there.
The wolf side was ecstatic when I finally broke into a run. I started on my favourite trail and allowed my mind to wander as my feet led me down new paths. The ground started up a gentle incline, and I felt myself pushing a little harder to maintain my brisk pace. There was nothing but the peace of running through the mature forest. The scents of wood and the night air filled my nostrils, bringing a broad smile to my face.
I must have been running for forty minutes and wasn’t entirely sure where I was. I knew most of the forest during the daylight, but everything looked different at night. Slowing my pace a little, I began to look around for familiar landmarks. I thought I saw the old gnarled tree that stood crooked and scarred from where it had been struck by lightning a couple of decades prior.
An explosion of pain in my upper thigh tore through my inner peace and stole away my breath. I stumbled, unsure what had just happened. More pain quickly bloomed just above my hip, and I felt warm sticky blood streaming down my legs. I gulped down air and reflexively touched the wounds to find out what had just happened. There were small arrows there. My instincts told me to run as far and as fast as I could.
Footsteps were running towards me. Another arrow flew through the air and hit the tree trunk barely inches away from my head. I was being hunted.
I ran.
My muscles were burning. My head was spinning. Breathing was laborious, and the ground was tilting dangerously beneath me. The footsteps were closing in. Soft calm breathing accompanied the sense of doom that was settling around my neck like a noose. I needed to keep running. Could I go home? Would that endanger Jake?
A new set of footsteps tore through the quiet of the forest. I stumbled over an exposed root and fought to keep myself upright. My legs weren’t working right, and my vision was blurring. The wolf side was fading, and I feared that I wasn’t far behind it.
Strong arms wrapped around me and pressed me gently to a strong chest. The scent of sandalwood and warm leather encased me in a cocoon of safety. I tried to get a grasp on what was going on. I fought as hard as I could to stay conscious.
The darkness claimed me without so much as a whisper.
I came to with a jolt. The pain was almost unbearable. It felt as though fire were coursing through my veins. I tried to steady my breathing as my vision began to clear. The blurry shapes slowly formed into heavy tasteful furniture and a small open fire with flickering flames. The room began to spin again, and the fire in my veins became an inferno that tore a scream from my throat.
“It’s almost over,” a masculine voice whispered as someone stroked my hair.
I opened my eyes to see a man that looked as though he’d stepped right out of every woman’s fantasy kneeling next to me. His emerald green eyes held a gentle light in the warm glow of the fire. His pitch-black hair was cut in the fashionably scruffy way that cost more than my month’s paycheque. My wolf was eager to press my lips to his pale pink mouth and run my fingers over his hard bare abs. Shadows pooled around him and gave him an intensity that brought a smile to my face. He wore his predatory nature right there for everyone to see, and I needed to feel it.
His hands worked with gentle efficiency as he almost caressed my bare skin. I looked down and realised with horror that I was down to my underwear and he was pulling the arrow in my lower abdomen out.
“They were coated in wolfsbane,” he said softly.
Did that mean the Blackthornes knew what I was?
He reached up, paused for a beat with his fingertips almost touching my cheek before he smiled and stroked along my jawline. My wolf side was ready to ride him like a bronco. I was not quite so convinced. There was something in the expression on his face that made me cautious. His eyes had tiny creases in the corners showing concern, but he wasn’t looking at my injuries. I looked away, telling myself I was being stupid - he’d just saved me.
The strange man continued to clean my wounds with a gentleness that I found myself relaxing into. He handed me a t-shirt that carried his scent and walked away into a room bathed in shadows. I pulled the shirt over my head, glad to be covered once again. My clothes were in a bloody heap nearby, completely ruined.
He returned with a rich hot chocolate topped with a sinful number of marshmallows.
“You’ll need the calories,” he said with a gentle smile before he sat at the end of the couch he’d placed me on.
“I’m Valentin.”
20
Valentin watched me closely as I sipped my hot chocolate. It was rich and decadent, tasting like melted chocolate with sweet marshmallows on top. I self-consciously checked my top lip was froth- and mallow-free before I turned to look at him. He had an intensity that radiated off him as he lounged on the couch with his arms spread along the top of the cushions behind him. His eyes were soft, and a genuine smile sat on his pretty mouth, but everything about him screamed dominant predator.
“How are you feeling?”
I tried to place the accent. It wasn’t local. There was a cultured edge to it. Maybe he’d spent time in Europe.
“Better, thank you. Do you know who shot me?”
As I was coming back to my senses, I realised I had no idea where I was or how to get home. Given I’d been shot out in the forest, I wasn’t sure if it was safe to return home on foot.
“Hunters, I’m afraid. You’re newly turned?”
He edged in a little closer. The small crease formed between his brows and concern filled those startling emerald eyes that threatened to drown me if I looked too long. I found myself licking my lips as my wolf side was trying to close the distance between us.
“That obvious?”
I placed the mug down on the heavy golden-wooded table next to me and looked for exits. The room was dark with deep shadows in the corners formed by the small flickering flames from the open fire. Exhaustion was beginning to sink into my bones, and I wanted to be back home in my nice familiar bed.
“There’s a disjointedness about you, as though you’re almost two beings.”
I wrinkled my nose. I hated that it was so obvious. It made me feel weak and vulnerable.
“Thanks for your help, but I should be heading home.”
He glanced at the window to his right. I couldn’t see a thing through it, there was just pitch black.
“I’ll take you. It isn’t safe for you to be in the woods alone. Not with hunters and a rogue loose, anyway.”
He stood and offered me his hand. I’d taken it before I realised what I was doing. The wolf side was pushing hard, and I was struggling to keep control of my own body. I mentally pushed it back down into the darkness of my mind and gave Valentin what I hoped was a genuine smile
. He returned the expression and handed me my sneakers.
“I’m sorry I couldn’t save your clothes. You’re welcome to keep my shirt, though.”
I self-consciously tugged at the hem of the t-shirt. It just about covered my ass. Valentin didn’t seem to notice, though. He kept his eyes above my collar bone, and I appreciated that. I looked at him out of the corner of my eye as I put my sneakers back on. He looked to be in his late twenties, but that didn’t mean much for a garou. There was a confidence about him that came with experience. He knew what he was capable of. The slight edge to him, the glint that he couldn’t quite hide suggested that he’d killed in the past.
“Thank you, you’ve been very kind. Am I still in Cole Loxwood’s territory?”
Cole had said that there weren’t other garou in his territory. I’d assumed I’d feel something when I crossed a territory line, but I’d been so wrapped up in the bliss of running I hadn’t even noticed the hunters.
“Yes. I’m a lone wolf granted the pass to wander for a year.”
There was a slight hollowness to his words that set my teeth on edge. He swept that feeling away with a gentle touch of his fingertips against my bare arm.
“I’ll take you home.”
He guided me through his home with his hand on my lower back. It felt natural to lean into him and enjoy the safety and security that he granted me. I fought against that and tried to take in any details that might be important. Everything was neat and tidy. The decor looked to be tasteful and simple, but it was hard to be entirely sure in the darkness. The floors were expensive hardwood, and small landscape paintings were dotted along the pale walls.
We stepped out into the fresh air, and I noticed the slight lavender blush between the trees. The sun would start rising soon. That meant I’d been passed out for longer than I’d realised. Valentin caressed my lower back as he guided me across the gravel towards a flashy sports car.