“I beg your pardon!” Erin said haughtily. She didn’t know which one annoyed her the most – that this strange man had the audacity to call her his mate or that she felt he might be telling the truth.
“Erin, there you are!” Farida said and waltzed into the back room in her flowing chiffon kimono with beautiful Aztec prints. Her chocolate skin glistened with health and her full Afro hair looked like a dark halo around her head.
“I see you’ve finally met our boss, Mr. Devon Grey,” Farida continued cheerfully, completely oblivious to the tension in the room. “Devon, let me officially introduce you to our new intern, Erin Brown.”
Erin couldn’t believe her ears – this weirdo was the owner of the gallery? Great!
“This is the Devon Grey?” She asked incredulously.
“The one and only!” Replied Farida proudly.
While Devon may not be a known face due to his reclusive lifestyle, his talent and work have made him famous in Alsaka and the entire northwest region of the country. His paintings have been featured in several art exhibitions around the country and he has also won many awards for his outstanding pieces. Curiously, not many people know what Devon look like and Erin can now see why – the guy may be a genius with a paintbrush, but he wasn’t quite right in the head.
“Oh, what a… pleasure to finally meet you in person,” said Erin, unconvincingly.
“Sure,” he said, still looking at her strangely. He finally turned to Farida and said, “I’ll be in my office if you need me.”
“Of course,” she said and stepped aside to let Devon pass on his way out of the back room. Once they were alone, Farida returned her full attention to Erin.
“So, are you ready to start? Are you excited?”
“Yes, and yes,” said Erin with a laugh. She loved Farida’s bubbly personality and she was sure that working with her for the next couple of weeks would be fun.
“Great. Now let’s begin with the inventory. Some customers will be stopping by today to pick up a few pieces and we will…”
As Farida continued talking, Erin couldn’t help but be drawn once again to the giant wolf painting that featured a werewolf with an uncanny resemblance to her. Now that she has seen Devon in person, she knew without a shred of doubt that he was the male werewolf in the painting. But how could he have known her? He may not have a remarkable face, but Erin was sure that if she had ever met him before, either in human or wolf form, she would have recognized him today thanks to her sharp memory.
“Outstanding, isn’t it?” Farida asked beside her, jerking her back to reality.
“Huh? Oh, I’m sorry, I got carried away with my thoughts,” Erin apologized, slightly embarrassed. “What were you saying?”
“The painting,” Farida nodded at the masterpiece that has held Erin’s attention since the moment she set eyes on it. “It’s breathtaking, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. Is this one of Devon’s works?”
“Yes. He spent months working on it in his office and as soon as he finished it last week, he brought it down here.”
“Why here? Why not out there in the main gallery?”
Farida shrugged. “I don’t know. He has vehemently refused to display it and wouldn’t say why. You can’t imagine how frustrating it is for me to leave this beautiful body of work to remain hidden here like this. Trust me, if this baby makes it to the front, it will be snatched up within seconds.”
“I know,” Erin agreed. “Does it have a title?”
“A Werewolf Fantasy,” replied Farida quietly. “I love it.”
“Very apt.”
“And there’s a story too. According to Devon, that stone in the painting levitating above the wolves is called the dream stone, passed down from generation to generation by werewolf ancestors. Legend has it that the stone has the power to take the keeper to their past or future to seek the truth they wish to know.”
Erin replied with a raised eyebrow and Farida raised her hands in surrender.
“Don’t look at me, I didn’t make up the story, Devon did. And the best part? There is an actual stone to prove that this werewolf legend thingy is true.”
“Are you serious?”
“Hold on, let me show you,” said Farida, and she walked over to a small desk at the end of the room and retrieved a small tan pouch from the drawer. She brought the pouch to Erin and emptied the content onto her open palm. The translucent stone was cool to touch and was the size of a large lemon. It looked like a diamond but it didn’t have the luster to qualify as one.
“It’s – it’s beautiful,” Erin whispered, mystified. “Where did he get this?”
Farida shrugged. “He didn’t say. Besides, I kinda believe he made that story up to give the painting an air of mystery, not that it needs that to sell by the way.”
“You may be right,” Erin said, her eyes still glued on the stone.
“And on that note, I say we get on with our work for today,” said Farida.
“Sure,” replied Erin, handing the stone and pouch back to Farida for safekeeping. She couldn’t shake the feeling that there might be an element of truth in Devon’s story about the stone. It may all sound somewhat woo-woo to Farida, especially the bit about werewolf ancestors since she was human, but for Erin, it was believable. Her werewolf ancestry thrived on legends and many of them were true, so this story about the dream stone might just be legit after all. She made a mental note to ask her sister-in-law, Aubrey, about it later tonight at the Full Moon Feast.
Six hours later, it was time for Erin to pack up her stuff and go home after a busy day of work. Who would’ve thought there was much work to do in an art gallery? Farida had been such a great supervisor; patiently taking her through the gallery inventory, showing her the basics of curating remarkable pieces of art, guiding her through intricacies for displaying the right pieces on the main floor, and which spots were best for different paintings depending on their sizes and visuals. It had been such a wholesome experience for Erin that she couldn’t wait to come back to work again tomorrow.She couldn’t help but notice that she didn’t get another glimpse of Devon after their awkward meeting in the morning. As she backed out of the parking space in front of the gallery, she thought she saw someone stepping away from a window upstairs just as she looked up. She suspected the person might be Devon and she wondered why he had acted so strangely with her ear
Devon could tell that Erin was very nervous about his announcement and he couldn’t blame her for feeling that way, not after how he freaked her out this morning at the gallery and even called her by a name she obviously couldn’t know was hers. In fairness to him though, he had been caught off-guard by the sight of her. He’d thought that his trip to the past had been merely a dream and not a real depiction of his previous life, but now he knew better.Resisting the urge to look at Erin, he looked straight ahead and began his speech. “Thank you for the flattering welcome, Chief,” Devon began. “And thank you to every clan member here for accepting me into your midst. At least, I hope that I’m welcome.”“Of course, you are, son,” said Dame Black, the head of the Black pack. “We are one big happy family here, and you are now one of us.”“Can we skip to the good part already?” Asked Da
Work seemed like a blur to Erin the next day because she spent the entire day looking forward to the moment when Devon would present her with the so-called dream stone with its supposed time travel powers.Any normal person would have brushed off Devon’s wild tales about a powerful stone with supernatural powers, but being the curious person that she was, Erin couldn’t resist the opportunity to explore a new adventure, even an unbelievable one. Plus, there was the issue of Devon claiming to be her mate even though he was a complete stranger and they had never met before. Was that how it’s supposed to be? Shouldn’t her mate be someone she already knew? Weren’t they supposed to automatically fall in love or something?At that last thought, Erin cringed a little. She had always found the whole falling in love thing a bit creepy because she was an independent woman, and the thought of having someone in her life whom she couldn’t live wit
“May I come in?” She asked when she reached the doorway.Devon looked up sharply as if stunned to know that there was someone else in the building with him at this time. “Oh, hi, Erin,” he said a bit absently. “Please, come in.”As she walked into the wide office, he stood up to greet her. “Good to see you again, Erin,” he said with a grin. “I completely forgot about our meeting.”“It’s not exactly a meeting,” she said self-consciously. “Just me coming to get some instructions on how to use the oh-so-powerful dream stone.”Devon chuckled and propped a hip on the edge of his desk. “I was even more skeptical about it when I first heard of it a few years ago. My cousin, Eli, had been in possession of it before then, but he’d never been curious enough to find out if the stone was what legends claimed it to be or not. I, on the other hand, decided to humor mys
Morning came faster than Erin had expected. It seemed as if she’d only closed her eyes for two seconds last night and when she opened them, it was morning. Yes, she’d had a dreamless sleep and now she was awake, feeling refreshed and ready to go to work and gloat at Devon about how she’d known all along that his stupid dream stone was nothing but an ordinary pebble that he’d probably picked up at a riverbank somewhere and transformed it into something special with his fake story about werewolf legends. What a tall glass of horseshit. And to think that she’d nearly fallen for it. Ha!With an unusual burst of energy, Erin sat up in bed and threw back the covers, but the moment her feet hit the floor, she knew something was wrong. Her energy levels immediately dropped down to zero as soon as she looked at her feet and saw them encased in a pair of primitive leather booties instead of the soft woolen socks she’d worn to bed last night. The tan
The man blinked and then his look of surprise was replaced with annoyance. “What do you mean? Is this a time to jest?”“I’m not jesting!” Erin snapped, equally annoyed. “I’m legit confused and I don’t even know where I am, or what this place is, or what the heck is going on here.”“Why do you speak so strangely?” Asked the man, mystified. “Are you unwell?”Erin let out a sigh of exasperation. For all his good looks, this man had nothing to offer in the way of intelligence. But… what if it wasn’t his fault that he didn’t understand her? What if the dream stone had truly transported her back in time and now she was in her past life just as she had thought about before she fell asleep last night? Could that explain her sudden understanding of the Athabascan language?No way! She thought, rejecting the possibility. Time travel wasn’t possible – forget
Her mother came into the room shortly after Danshak’s departure. Erin still hadn’t recovered from the shocking turn of events in the last couple of minutes since she woke up. Either someone was playing a cruel joke on her, or she was developing some sort of mental problem. Or she was truly in a different dimension, even though that was most likely impossible.“How are you, my dear child?” Her mother asked. In this era, Bernice Brown had waist-length hair, dressed in leather and fur clothing with a woolen quilt thrown around her shoulders. She even looked younger here than she did in the future, that is, if this was really the past.“Here, drink this. It will make you feel better,” she said and offered Erin a bowl of broth that didn’t smell so good.“Um, thank you, but I’m fine,” said Erin, trying not to wrinkle her nose at the unattractive smell wafting out of the bowl.Her mother smiled. “
Erin thought for a moment before speaking again. “Do I love Danshak?”“Well, from your behavior towards him since your betrothal, it does not seem as if you do. You have spoken harshly about him many times, but I believe that with time, you might grow to love him. Danshak is a good man and a strong werewolf, you are lucky to have him as your mate.”“He doesn’t seem to be fond of me either.”“I know, and that can change when both of you get to know more about one another,” said her mother, optimistically.“But if we don’t like each other, why did we agree to be mated?”“Well, that decision was not up to either of you. Your father saw an opportunity to become a member of Vak’s family and he took it. He may not be next in line to become the supreme leader after Vak is dead, but he has secured our family a spot in the ruling clan. There is no higher position for a werew