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Chapter 3

Penulis: Desiree Holt
last update Terakhir Diperbarui: 2022-04-29 14:06:23

"Where did you get that?" Mike didn't seem to be able to tear his eyes away from it.

"Up in my attic." She moved it more into the open so he could see it better. "It's seen better days but I thought I'd put it out on my porch for Halloween."

Mike reached a hand out to touch the stuffed animal, which came almost to his waist. "So I guess this belonged to your grandparents, too?"

Jamie shrugged. "I guess, although I never saw it whenever I visited them. It was up in the attic behind a stack of cartons. I know this sounds crazy but sometimes when I look at it I get the feeling it's looking back at me."

Mike gave her quizzical look. "Yeah? Interesting."

Before she had a chance to ask him what he meant by that he was at the front door, looking back at Jamie. "You planning to decorate tonight?"

"No. I'm taking the day off tomorrow. My assistant and the volunteers work on Halloween and I work a Sunday for each of them."

Mike frowned. "The library is open Sunday?"

"Only once a month." Her lips thinned. "We used to be open seven days a week but budget cuts did us in."

"I think everyone's feeling the pinch somehow."

"Anyway, if I decorate tonight most everything will be gone by morning." She gave a rueful laugh. "These are good kids in the neighborhood but they like to make mischief as well as anyone. So, tomorrow is the day."

"Maybe I'll stop over." He winked. "See if I can give you a hand. If you'd like me to, I mean."

Before she could answer him he was gone, leaving her with the strangest feeling she'd missed something.

"Well, Mischief. How about some dinner."

"Mrow." The little cat rubbed against her and twined around her ankles.

"And then we'll read some more of that book. Would you like that?"

When she curled up in the big armchair to read Mischief loved to sit in her lap, settling herself so she almost appeared to reading, too.

The book was one of the many treasures she'd unearthed as she worked her way through everything in the attic. First she'd found the wolf, inexplicably dust-free despite the fact that everything else was wrapped in a thick layer of the stuff. Then several books on the history of Romania. She hadn't known her grandparents were students of history, especially of a country that had no relationship to their family. Or did it? Did she have ancestors from there several generations back that she just didn't know about?

And most of all, what did any of it have to do with the very strange book she'd found, Legends of the Werewolf. The binding was ancient leather, now frayed in many places, and the lettering in gold. The other night when she finally opened it she expected to read about the history of werewolves and how that history came to be. Instead, to her shock, the stories were about shapeshifters, people who could change into the shape of a wolf. Whole villages apparently had that ability and when danger presented itself they shifted into their wolf shape, gathered as a pack and disappeared.

The first thing that caught her attention was the extensive family chart at the very beginning of the book. Labeled Pack Diagram, it listed all the human form names of what she assumed was an entire pack. What on earth could this have to do with her grandparents? Did they study this? Surely they weren't -

No. She gave herself a mental slap. That was just too wacky to even contemplate. She was letting her imagination run away with her.

The legends fascinated her from the moment she opened the volume, especially those chapters about werewolf shifters being warriors in human form, even the women. And the hand-drawn pictures showed magnificent animals, sometimes poised on a rock in the moonlight, other times racing through woods.

The first chapters of the book were devoted to the history of shifters and the explanation of the Slavic term for them, vlkodlak. Now why did that suddenly sound familiar to her?

Of course! Her neighbor, Mike Volka. He'd said his ancestry was Slavic. Was that the reason for his interest in werewolves? She needed to get the book out again and get back into it. She replaced what she called her library clothes with sweats and a long-sleeved tee shirt, leaving off her bra, a treat she gave herself in the privacy of her own home. Then she fed Mischief, fixed herself a sandwich and a soft drink and settled in her chair to read more in the obviously ancient book. The little black cat curled up in her lap as usual.

"Tonight we find out the real skinny on this, kitty," she murmured as she opened the heavy book to the page she had marked. "I don't even know what I'm looking for any more but I hope I find it soon."

She opened the book to the place she'd marked, two pages of hand-drawn sketches. One of the drawings especially caught her eye. The face of the wolf looked almost human and she had the bizarre feeling the animal was staring out at her from the page.

Stop it! You're letting this book mess with your mind.

But one of the chapters had mentioned the hypnotic effect of the wolf's eyes. It cautioned against staring into them too long. Well, that certainly wouldn't be a problem. She had no intention of ever getting close enough to such a savage animal to have a staring contest with it.

Then her mind went back to those few seconds in her kitchen when for a moment she'd felt transported to an alternate reality. No, that had nothing to do with this. Mike and a wolf? She had to be losing her mind.

She looked down at the book again and carefully turned the page.

"As only a few mythical creatures can claim," she read, "werewolves have been described throughout different parts of the world for centuries. In the last century, several werewolf sightings have been recorded. The werewolf legend has spread across borders, even across seas and oceans. The shapeshifter wolf has the ability to change form at any time. Aggressive energy or anger may increase the likelihood of causing an unintentional transformation, so such shifters are cautioned to practice extreme discipline and self-control. Black and white werewolves, particularly, are also able to maintain the same ability to think consciously and reasonably as a regular human being, no matter what form they take physically."

Jamie read the paragraph again.  How interesting. Did that mean they could communicate with each other in wolf form? Exactly how did they do that? Maybe that was addressed in a later chapter.

"It is especially important if they choose a human to mate with."

She nearly dropped the book. Mate? With a human?

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    Lia was sure she'd never run so fast in her life. She didn't even care if Mike saw her naked when she shifted back and yanked on her clothes. She raced for the house, barely getting the back door open before she heard the ringing of the front doorbell. Scraping her hair back from her face and catching her breath, she flung open the door to see a tall, blond man in jeans and a pullover."Lia?" His voice was kind. Almost too kind, she worried."Yes, I am.""Charlie Ramos, Riley's partner." He held out his hand to her. "Riley's had a little dustup tonight. He'll be fine, but he's asking for you.""Where is he?""On his way to the hospital. I came to fetch you.""Let me just grab my purse and I'm ready."All the way on the drive to the hospital, she prayed Charlie was right, that Riley was going to be okay. And that she'd used up her allotment of bad luck.*****Lia didn't know what she would have done without Charlie. He was a calming influence as he drove her to the hospital

  • Wolf Tales   Chapter 42

    Riley's cell phone rang just as they were finishing dinner. Lia hoped it didn't mean he had to go out again. Yesterday, he'd come home early, and they had spent exciting hours going over want she needed to do to close out her old life and jump feet first into her new. Today, she had spent a fair amount of time on the phone working to make things happen. Riley planned to ask for time off so they could take a long weekend, fly back to where she'd lived, and pack up her personal things, stuff she didn't want to leave to movers.Some of the more important pieces of furniture they would have trucked here and put in storage while they decided what to do with it. The rest she'd worked out with the real estate firm handling the house. But she had clothes and books and other personal items she wanted, some things to settle. Her bank had a branch in Calderwood, so that wasn't a problem. As she'd worked during the day, she had conversations with bunica, telling her how happy she was.She'd also

  • Wolf Tales   Chapter 41

    When Lia disconnected the call, she gave Riley's phone back to him."See? You don't have to worry about me while you're gone. I'll be in good company.""Just tell him he'd better make sure nothing happens to you. There's a rapist out there."She giggled. "Riley, I don't think even the most insane rapist wants to take on two wolves, do you?"He stroked her cheek with his fingertips. "I'm just sayin'." He reached into the cupboard and took out two travel mugs. "I think we're going to need java tonight. Charlie and I take turns providing it. His wife started it when we first became partners, and it's become a regular habit." He winked. "What's a shift on duty without coffee, right?"Lia pushed back from the table. "Why don't you go get your gun and shield. I'll fix the coffee and have it ready for you."He stole another kiss. "I'm liking this more and more." He cupped one breast and gave it a gentle squeeze.She swatted his hand away. "Behave yourself. We don't have time for that.

  • Wolf Tales   Chapter 40

    "Okay." The word popped out before Lia could organize her thoughts. She was nervous and relieved at the same time. "I'll marry you."Mike tugged her out of the chair, tunneled his fingers in her hair to anchor her head, and gave her a kiss that seared her down to her toes. He thrust his tongue into her mouth, sweeping it over every surface and tangling with hers. Only when they both ran out of breath did he finally lift his head and grin at her, hunger glittering in his eyes."You had to know I'd never let you get away.""I hoped," she told him. "But you didn't bring it up.""Like I said, I was afraid it would break the spell and you'd leave." He sprinkled kisses on both cheeks. "Let's eat and we can talk about the future, okay?"In the end, it had been so easy, she laughed at herself for all the crazy thoughts she'd had. They'd gotten past the biggest hurdle. Her wolf. Everything else should be a piece of cake. Right?"Graphic designer," Riley mused when she told him. "You work

  • Wolf Tales   Chapter 39

    Lia was stirring a pot on the stove when she heard the sound of the garage door going up then the slam of Riley's car door and the opening and closing of the door into the garage."Lucy, I'm home." he called, in the age-old imitation of the familiar phrase from the Lucille Ball show."In the kitchen," she called back.Her stomach jittered with nerves, and her hand on the mixing spoon was not quite steady. All day, she'd been going over this situation with Riley, trying to figure out what was going to happen next. And all day she'd avoided the answers, not sure she wanted to hear them. She was both anxious for him to come home and dreading it.She knew he'd head for the bedroom where he'd lock up his gun and shield. Then she heard his footsteps in the kitchen."Something smells really good in here." He came up behind her, swept her hair to one side, and placed a string of soft kisses on her neck.Lia shivered as delicious heat swept over her. Her nipples beaded, her pussy ached, a

  • Wolf Tales   Chapter 38

    "I liked tasting myself on your lips last night. Did you like your own taste as well?""Yes," she breathed, and licked her own lips for emphasis."Next time I plan to mingle our tastes in an erotic cocktail." He licked her lips again. "My flavor and that of my wolf."She smiled at him. "And how was sex with your wolf?"He gave a rough laugh. "Incredible, but we aren't finished." He rose to his feet and rearranged her on the bed so she lay with her head on the pillows. "Don't move. I'll be right back."In the bathroom, he ran cold water over his hands to dial down his heat and grabbed the box of condoms he'd stopped for on the way to the Volkas. He'd been stunned to realize he had only one left in his stash. Had it been that long since he'd had sex? Apparently so, and that was a shocker. He was a man with a healthy sexual appetite, but apparently no one had appealed to it in a long time.He swallowed a smile. That was okay. Every other woman he'd ever been with paled in comparison

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