West With Giraffes: A Novel Novels & Stories

Please just give her the coins, magical books, and totems and she’ll be on her way out. "Come on, Alec, they’d be impressive assets. When was the last time you saw a wolf this big and powerful?" They weren’t typical along the coast of her castle, where she lived when she was a girl, but she didn't bring up her long-forgotten childhood. Not to this man. Not to anyone. "They’re rare but untamable, feral even... they eat people." Alec nodded.

And for the first time, he felt complete. --- The Song from the West That night, none of them slept. They lay beneath the Echo Hall’s star-sculpted ceiling, watching as something new traced itself across the sky. Not flame. Not threadlight. A third path. Velan whispered, “What now?” Elarai looked east—toward where the horizon curved and the air carried weight. > “Now,” she said, “we listen.” Mira blinked. “To what?” The boy rose slowly, eyes glowing faint. “There’s a song… rising. From the west.”

That was when she saw it. A werewolf. It was old, its fur were thin and graying, its steps was uneven with a limp. Its ribs pressed sharp against its hide as it nosed through the underbrush, searching for scraps. It wasn’t hunting. It was surviving. Garrick lifted his crossbow, eyes at an alert. “Easy kill.” Irvine’s throat closed. “Wait,” she whispered, the word breaking from her before she could stop it. Her father shot her a look, sharp and cold. “What?”

I asked when the laughter settled down. “Lisa’s an author and a city girl,” Kenzie explained. “She’s not used to being around domestic animals, let alone wild ones.” “So, she came into the deep woods where there are wild animals all about to relax?” Noah incredulously pointed out. “Piss off,” I snapped. I’d had just about as much of his pompous attitude as I could stand. Host or no host, the man was rude and insulting. “I’d say you did enough of that for all of us,” Noah chuckled.

Zeke’s jeep rumbles in front of Ethan's apartment building, headlights slicing through the night. It’s past eight, and the cool evening air brushes my skin as I step forward, backpack slung over one shoulder. My heart kicks harder than I’d like to admit, fueled by a terrifying mix of dread and reluctant curiosity. So I'm going into the world of wolves...wolves that have been wolves all their lives, not a human like me. What's it going to be like?

“I should be staying here with you,” Lila complained as Jasper escorted her to the door of the werewolves’ lodge. “We’ve been together from the start. I don’t like separating now.” “You have your people to be with,” Jasper muttered. “You’ll be safe with them.” “You’re my people,” she grumbled. “Besides, I’ve been perfectly safe with you right along and that was with vampires. I can’t imagine it being worse with werewolves. They, at least, have a human side.”

The book in Jack’s hand felt like it weighed a hundred pounds as he rushed out to the trucks and the shifters who were begging him to hurry the hell up like they hadn’t eaten in a hundred years. He rushed out and jumped into the driver’s side, carefully placing the book on the console between himself and Chase. “Is that what I think it is?” Chase asked as Jack buckled his seatbelt and turned the truck on. “Yeah,” Jack said, turning the truck around to head back toward their village.

Grace growled again, this time, the sound more menacing and the wolf growled right back. And then I knew. I realized why it stared at me with laughter in its eyes. I was wrong to think Grace’s growling sounded menacing. To this wolf, it must have sounded like a whining pup because when the beast in front of me opened its mouth, a sound that shook the ground filled the air. I found myself ducking even as Grace flinched, taking a step back and lowering her head despite every fibre of my being screaming against showing deference. My teeth gnashed and I fought the force making me lower my head. And as I raised my head, a sigh fell from my lips.

"I must stay at the Kensington estate. This is where he will look first. If I leave, I am breaking the trail for him." "Ewing!" Madison shouted, shifting into a small wolf and sprinting toward him. Ewing laughed, ruffling her fur as she shifted back. "Look at you, little Alpha." A nurse stepped out with Grant. Even in the dim light, the pup looked frail, his scent lacking the robust musk of a healthy werewolf infant. Ewing touched the boy’s cheek. "You have all bled enough," he said to Avery. Avery looked toward the horizon. "It was Hudson who bled. He gave everything so we could run. Sometimes I wish the desert had taken me instead."

The heartbloom stirs low and restless beneath my skin, calling me closer to the Game. I’m in the west library, the one Kael hates because the shelves still rearrange themselves when no one is looking. Nyxara’s magic didn’t fade here, but for some reason I have found it comforting. I’m seated at a long table, hands wrapped around a cup of tea that’s gone cold, pretending the words on the page in front of me mean anything at all. They don’t. Nothing does, not when the castle feels like it’s leaning toward a memory it can’t quite reach.