Or both, I thought, feeling the strangest ripple skip over me as those animalistic, hypnotic eyes started to fill with heat. Then his nostrils flared, making me wonder if could tell that some crazed part of me was now wondering what his hard, muscled body would feel like on top of mine. Stop it, Marlee, I chided myself. No lusting over werewolves!
I forced my gaze away from him and then shrugged as if the past several, loaded moments hadn’t impacted me as much as they had. “I think I’m coming down with Stockholm syndrome,” I said, making my tone light. “You know, that whole ‘bonding with your captor’ thing. I’ve already cried in your arms, now I’m checking you out. Just ignore it. Of course, I can’t be your first captive, so you’re probably used to this.”
I risked a glance at him, seeing a faint smile touch his mouth even as his magnetic gaze never wavered. “Not at all. You’re the first female I’ve had to quarantine, and none of the men looked at me the way you just did.”
His voice deepened at that last sentence, until it almost vibrated with intensity. I shivered, both from unease and other, more dangerous things. Yes, Daniel was achingly attractive with his dark russet hair, thick brows, full mouth, and piercing hazel eyes—or slanting wolf gaze— not to mention that body. But this wasn’t a first date. This was a hostage situation, and a macabre one at that.
“Don’t let it go to your head,” I said, regaining control of my wayward emotions. “I’m scared to death and looking for any form of comfort. Speaking of that, since a certain murderous gray wolf keeps appearing in my nightmares, I need to know. What happened to Gabriel?”
Daniel’s expression became shuttered. “He’s under arrest. If you shift, he dies for infecting you against your will. If you don’t turn, Joshua said Gabriel losing his eye was punishment enough. Joshua had liquid silver poured into Gabriel’s eye so it wouldn’t heal.”
That chased away the last of my senseless reaction to him. The pack’s harshness apparently wasn’t limited just to outsiders. I felt mildly sick over what I’d heard, but under the circumstances, pity for Gabriel was beyond me.
“And the others?” Gabriel hadn’t been alone when he’d ambushed me.
“They run the gauntlet.”
Daniel said it lightly, but I swallowed, memories from history lessons filling my mind. “As in, the thing Native Indians used to do with captives where they line up on both sides and beat the shit out of the person as he tries to dash down the center?”
That hint of wildness was back in Daniel’s gaze again, a primal, untamed gleam I’d never seen except in the eyes of an animal. On a full-grown man, it was both mesmerizing and frightening.
“Something like that. Except we’ll all be in our fur, and they won’t be.”
I couldn’t help but gulp. That sounded barbaric, and it was on my account. As I pushed back the graphic images my mind supplied, something else occurred to me.
“But it isn’t the full moon. How can you… you know?” In fact, how had any of the werewolves changed form the other day, if I had to wait until the full moon to see if I was infected?
Daniel translated what I couldn’t say out loud. “Once we’re past the first year, we can shift at will. Only new pack members are dependent on the full moon to change.”
I digested this with a growing sense of amazement. “So, right now you could turn into a—”
“Wolf,” he finished for me, his slow smile doing nothing to detract from the primal intensity returning to his gaze. “Yes.”
So many emotions crashed through me. Fear. Revulsion. Curiosity. Disbelief. What if all of this was a twisted farce and I hadn’t seen what I’d thought was a wolf turning into a man in the woods? What if I’d imagined seeing Daniel’s pupils elongate into animalistic slits? What if this entire town was just full of crazies who thought they were wolves and, in my stress, I’d bought into that?
“Show me.” The words were out of my mouth before I could form another thought. I had to see it. No matter what.
Chapter Seven
Daniel stood, the afghan falling to the floor. He met my eyes, and a jolt went through me that I struggled to hide. His eyes were even wilder than before, pupils slanting and hazel irises being replaced with bright, gleaming amber. Staring into them was like falling into a bottomless well. I wanted to catch myself, but I couldn’t, and my heart started to pound with more than nervousness as he undid his jeans, letting them drop to the floor.
Nothing but bare skin underneath.
I might have made a sound. Seeing a magnificently formed, naked male body only a few feet away is worth a sharp intake of breath, no matter the circumstances. But all my feminine appreciation fell away when he crouched on the floor and rivers of silvery hair began to replace the skin on his back. Then there was a crunching sound as bones curved, popped, and formed where none had been before. It didn’t look the same as in the movies. There was no screaming. No slow protracting of a muzzle replacing a face, blood spurting, or drawn-out writhing. Daniel had simply crouched on the floor and then, in about ten seconds, a wolf the size of a pony, covered in silver and charcoal fur, stared at me with bright yellow eyes.
“Marlee,” it—Daniel—rumbled.
I felt light-headed and my skin prickled with energy, as though being bombarded with static electricity. Nope, you’re not crazy, and neither are they, I thought numbly. But that’s the bad news.
I had made a move toward the door without even being aware of it. Daniel moved faster than my eyes could track and sat on his haunches in front of it, that golden gaze drilling into mine.
“No, Marlee,” he said, somehow intelligible although speaking through a snout instead of a mouth. “Sit.”
A rather unhinged cackle came out of me. What looked like a huge dog was telling me to sit. How twisted was that?
“Woof,” I replied in a shaky voice, but I sat in the chair he’d recently vacated. His lips pulled back in what looked like a canine version of a grin.
“Stay,” he rumbled in that distinctly animalistic voice.
I was about to say that he was pushing it when another ripple overtook his body. As seamlessly as water flowing over rocks, skin began to cover that thick, silvery coat of hair, bones elongated, reformed, and in less time than it took for me to get over the shock of seeing a wolf in the room, a naked man now knelt on the floor. The only thing left over from the unbelievable transformation was a fine sheen of sweat on Daniel’s skin.
I finally found my voice again, but all I could come up with was a stupid question. “Does… does it hurt?”
Daniel sat back as casually as if he were getting ready to watch a football game. “The first few times it hurts like hell. Then you get used to it, and it feels… freeing.”
I still was having trouble grasping everything I’d just witnessed. He looked like a normal man again, albeit a beautiful, mouthwatering specimen of a man. But that was an illusion. An enormous animal was inside him, and it took up God only knew how much of his mind and conscience.
Daniel smiled slightly. “You smell like fear again, Marlee, but I’ve already told you—you have nothing to be afraid of.”
I wasn’t even going to comment on how unnerving it was that he could smell what I was feeling. All things considered, that was the least of my concerns. “Really? Because what you just did is the scariest thing I’ve ever seen,” I replied, glad my voice was steady even though I was shaking inside. “How do I even know I’m talking to you? It might just as well be the, ah, wolf.”
“It’s both,” he said at once. “Always. And you still don’t need to be afraid.”
Yeah. Sure. Considering it might be me shifting into an animal in a couple of weeks, from where I was sitting, I had plenty to be afraid about.
“I just… I need to go home, Daniel.” Even as I said it, I knew it was useless. But it was true—so true that the very words ached.
He let out a sigh. “I’m sorry for the circumstances that brought you here, I truly am. But even if you left and nev
er told anyone about the pack, think of your family. You’d hurt one of them, Marlee. You wouldn’t mean to, but you’d do it.”
Ice crept up my spine. Why would he say such a thing? “What are you talking about? Why do you think I’d hurt my family?”
He let out a long sigh and then inclined his head. “Because of your ankle.”
I looked at it. It was still wrapped in a cast, same as before. What…?
Then it hit me. When I’d walked to the door from the bed a few minutes ago, I hadn’t been limping. I hadn’t even felt a twinge of pain. In a sudden panic, I pulled up the sleeves on my shirt and looked at my arms. All the ugly scratches and cuts were somehow… gone.
“Your ankle isn’t broken anymore,” Daniel confirmed, sympathy etched on his striking features. “And there isn’t a mark on your skin, which would be impossible… unless you were one of us.”
Chapter Eight
The lights from the street seemed to pale in comparison to the moon, which shone like an ominous, bright hourglass in the sky. I looked up at it and shuddered. When it reached its fullness, I would change into something not human. The thought was still as unbelievable as it was horrifying.
All the residents of the town were in the streets. I did a mental head count and came up with forty, maybe fifty people. The “pack,” Daniel called them. My new family.
I thought I might throw up.
There was a slight commotion as a dozen people came from the far end of town. I recognized one of them and flinched, but Daniel laid a light hand on my arm. Even though he was doubling as my captor, the gesture calmed me. It shouldn’t, of course. Daniel was dangerous, but somehow I knew that he’d defend me against the man being led to the middle of the street.
I’d only glimpsed him right before passing out, but still, I’d know that face anywhere. When someone tries to murder you, it makes an impression. Not to mention that Gabriel was the only person there with only one eye. His dark brown hair hung in strands around his face, and he was stark naked. What was it with these people and their lack of clothes?
Joshua stepped out from the crowd. At least he was still dressed. “Gabriel Thompson, you have been found guilty of infecting a human against their will,” he stated in a clear, intractable voice.
“It’s not the full moon,” Gabriel snarled, trying to pull free of the two men who held him. “How do you know she will turn?”
Joshua looked my way. Daniel grasped my hand and led me forward. I didn’t want to get any closer to Gabriel, but thankfully Daniel stopped after only a few feet. Then the blond doctor stepped out of the crowd.
Gabriel faced me and shot me a look of pure hate. I’d never been on the receiving end of a stare so heavy with malevolence and barely restrained violence, but instead of scaring me, it strengthened the momentary wobble I’d had in my knees. I’d never done anything to him, but he’d ruined my life. If anyone had a right to hatred, it was me, not him.
I put my shoulders back and matched his glare. Daniel glanced between us and then gave me a nod that I could only translate as approval.
“Diana.” Joshua addressed the blond doctor. It was the first time I’d heard her name. “You examined Marlee yesterday. What did you find?”
“Her right ankle was fractured,” Diana recounted in a clinical voice. “She had multiple abrasions, contusions, lacerations, and puncture wounds on both her legs, plus a deeper wound on her right arm.”
Joshua swept out a hand to me. “Look at her now.”
I could almost feel the eyes raking over me, taking in my skin, which was revealed by the short-sleeved shirt and rolled-up pants I was wearing. Both were too big since they were Daniel’s. My own clothes had been bloodied and ripped up in the attack, so they were no good. I didn’t ask about what happened to my backpack. Seeing it again would remind me too much of everything I’d lost.
“She is completely healed. There is the proof to all that she will turn,” Joshua stated, his voice now flat. “Gabriel, as you are well aware, the sentence for turning a human against their will is death.”
To my surprise, after those words, Gabriel was released. He looked around in defiance, and I saw some people bow their heads, wiping at their eyes. Were they his family? Would they be here for the execution of his sentence? Daniel’s family was; I could see his mother on the opposite side of the street. I knew how awful this sentence would be for Gabriel’s family, even though I still didn’t pity him.
“I might die now, but the rest of you will follow,” Gabriel hissed. “I’m only giving out the same mercy our kind has been shown. I refuse to be ashamed for hunting those who kill us.”
His words had barely died away when a shot rang out. I jumped, sucking in a breath as a gory crimson hole bloomed on Gabriel’s chest. His eyes went wide, then he let out two harsh, labored breaths before falling to the ground.
Somebody sobbed. Joshua’s face was grim as he lowered the smoking rifle. I was so shocked I couldn’t even suck in a breath, let alone scream as I was doing on the inside. I’d had no idea that the punishment would be carried out immediately, or publicly. Seeing someone die from a gunshot wound was nothing like how it was in the movies. No, it was horrible in ways I couldn’t even begin to describe.
“We only hunt to eat what we need to survive,” Joshua stated, anger and grimness coloring his words. “We will never be like them.”
“Never be like whom?” I asked Daniel, my voice strained from shock.
He didn’t look away from Gabriel’s twitching, bleeding form when he replied with only one word. “Humans.”
Chapter Nine
I didn’t stay to watch Gabriel’s five companions run the gauntlet. I’d already seen things that would be forever burned in my memory no matter how I’d try to forget them. Daniel didn’t argue when I said that I wanted him to take me back to his cabin. He just led me away with a hand on my arm that felt more supportive than restrictive. Once back at his place, he made a pot of coffee and handed me a cup. It tasted like it was laced with something alcoholic, which I was grateful for.
Occasionally I’d hear shouts coming from the direction of the town. The gauntlet was a noisy business as well as a brutal one, it seemed.
“Gabriel’s wife,” I said after the minutes stretched. “Joshua said a member of the pack was upset because his wife had been killed. That was Gabriel, right? Did… did hunters kill his wife?”
Daniel sat across from me, resting his elbows on the table as he drank from his own cup. The lighting in the kitchen reflected off his hair, making the russet color look richer. “Yes.”
“But why hurt me?” I wondered. “I was camping, not hunting wolves!”
A sigh rumbled out of Daniel. “Gabriel wasn’t being logical. Neither were the others with him. The pack has been going through a hard time since the laws were changed.”
“What laws? No one even knows about werewolves; it’s not like it’s open season on them.”
“Gray wolves were taken off the endangered species list a few months ago,” Daniel said, his expression hooded. “The government did it knowing what would happen. Before the ink was dry, scores of wolves were killed. They were hunted to near-extinction in these areas before, and now certain groups of people are trying to eliminate all wolves again. What Gabriel did was wrong, but I can empathize with what drove him to it. You can’t understand what it’s like, having people try to wipe out your entire race from existence.” His voice was bitter at that last part.
I set my coffee cup down with a bang. “I’m Jewish. Don’t tell me I can’t understand what that’s like.”
After a moment, Daniel inclined his head in acknowledgement. We sat in silence after that, but oddly, it wasn’t tense silence anymore. Instead, it was as if we’d come to an unspoken truce.
“So,” I said at last, mythology and reality competing in my mind. “Gabriel’s wife was shot while in wolf form, but she was killed. How would the hunters know to use silver bullets on her? Maybe you’ve been found out
after all.”
A bleak smile creased Daniel’s face. “The bullets don’t have to be silver. No, Marlee, we can be killed in a lot of normal ways. But if the wound isn’t mortal, and if it’s not exposed to silver, we can usually heal it.”
Noises rose from the town again, sounding something like a cheer this time. Daniel nodded in its general direction. “They must be finished.”
What a strange, harsh society this was. Gauntlets. Executions. Shape-shifting. And here I was, stuck right in the middle of it.
“You know, soon my family will start a search for me,” I said, trying to sound as casual as possible. “My parents will notice when I don’t come back from vacation, not to mention that my employers will wonder what happened when I don’t show up for work in the next few days.”
He shook his head at that. “What were you thinking anyway, hiking out there all by yourself?”
His tone was so scolding that I stiffened. “I didn’t start out alone. My friends came with me, but then Brandy twisted her ankle, so she and Tom had to leave. I was going to leave too, but…”
I stopped. Finishing that sentence would be too revealing. But I was sick of putting my dreams on hold, waiting for just the right, most ideal situation.
I’d put off so many things thinking I had to have my life set up perfectly first. It’s why I’d stayed at my job as a paralegal instead of continuing my education to be a lawyer (I wanted to decide on the perfect branch of law to practice before making that leap). It’s why I’d waited so long to take this camping trip (I wanted to pay my car off before splurging on a vacation). It’s also why I hadn’t moved to Manhattan with Paul when he’d asked me. No, I’d wanted to be further along in my career before taking my relationship with him to the next level.
Staring at Brandy’s twisted ankle that day, thinking that again I was going to have to put my plans on hold, had been the last straw. I’d decided to hell with waiting. Even if I was doing it alone, I was hiking through Yellowstone like I’d planned.