CHAPTER 1
The stone felt smooth in her hand, round and surprisingly heavy for its size. Carson ran one thumb over it, her mind only barely registering the soft lap of tiny waves on the gritty shore. Quickly, she pulled her arm back and let the stone fly, the smack of the granite piece as it skipped across the surface the only sound disturbing the quiet. As the last skip took the rock to the murky depths, she sighed and wiping her hands on her jean clad knees, stood upright again and let her senses take in every detail of the post card scene before her.
The silvery disk of an almost full moon sat low in the valley of the hills behind the lake. The strands of light reflected off the surface causing the mist to glow in an other-worldly manner. Kissing the shoreline on the right was a dense forest stretching its arms around and behind her to disappear into a small meadow on the left. It was beautiful and serene and one of her most favorite places in the world. Coming here was coming home.
Carson's sea green eyes scanned the tree line once and then again. She knew he was out there - there was always someone out there keeping an eye on her. But as usual, unless they wanted to be seen, they weren't. "Get a grip, Carson," she mumbled to herself, "you should be used to it by now. They've only been there most of your life." With a shrug, she turned to the right and moved away from the lake and back into the forest proper. As she crossed into the wood line, the forest went silent. She barely even noticed anymore.
"Beautiful night, Princess."
The shadows melted and spat forth a figure, darker even than the night itself. Even after all these years, she still startled when that happened. Tall and handsome as were most of her people, he had a square jaw, straight almost equine nose and high cheekbones. The short cropped hair, black as sin, refused to partake of the dance of moonbeams bathing the open shoreline.
"Micah," she murmured. "Yes, it's really nice."
He smiled at her, a tight hidden thing that failed miserably to reach the twin pools of his eyes. Carson knew that had the lighting been different, she would see deep amber flecked with gold and emerald. Micah had unusual eyes even by her people's standards.
He leaned against the tree, crossing his arms over his thick chest, one ankle casually crossed over the other. The black Enforcer uniform hugged his figure and created deeper pools on his body. Her mind slipped back to a time when she used to stand at her window and watch them train in the dirt packed yard behind the compound. She was brought back to the present by the deep timbre of his voice. "Still trying to shake your guards? You know your father would kill all of us if anything happened to you."
She shrugged. "My father thinks I am still a child.”
He chuckled. The deep boom flowed around her senses and she realized that the hot crush she had always had on him had cooled in the past few years. Even though it had, he was still one delectable example of wolf flesh and every female between twelve and one hundred salivated whenever he walked by. She reluctantly turned away from him. Taking a moment to get her bearings, she honed in to the unmistakable lure of the compound and took off in a sprint. After a few steps, with a small explosion of shredded clothing, she phased into her full wolf, loping unerringly towards home.
She ran, her nose taking in the scents that surrounded her: assorted animals, the decaying undergrowth under her paws, the fresh green of summer saplings as she ducked under them. Home. She was finally home. Letting her animal lose of all restraints, she threw her head back and reveled in the freedom of the run. Dimly she was aware of another behind her and grinned to herself. Micah will have to do better than that if he wanted to keep up with her. With a bound over a fallen log, she gave in and let herself run free. Her muscles flexed, stretched and ate up the terrain. Freedom like she hadn't felt in years rushed through her veins. It was good to be back where she belonged again.
HOME.
.-~*~-.
Chase crossed his long legs and leaned back making the old wooden chair creak. Nervously, he stuffed his fingers into his jeans pockets. On the surface, he looked the epitome of relaxed. On the inside, however, he was tied in a thousand knots, his wolf pacing back and forth in the invisible cage of Chase's mind. This feel of unease had seized him a couple of hours ago and refused to subside. Something was coming. Would it be good or bad? He didn't know, but something definitely was coming. He glanced again at the book lying on the table, Nocturnal Animal Physiology, then turned his attention back to the door beyond the table.
His cabin was small, but adequate, with a common room containing a worn leather sofa and chair squatting before the river stone fireplace. A knotted wool rug stretched over the plain hardwood floor underneath and no curtains on the windows. On the other side of the room was a small kitchen complete with all the necessities including a table and two chairs. A bedroom and small bathroom was through the only other door. It had been terribly run down and still needed some work, but was livable. In all, it was definitely a bachelor's pad and he liked it just this way. No muss, no fuss.
Jumping up, he crossed the room again, long fingers raking through the deep auburn shoulder length hair then moved down to his chin, rubbing absently. A portion of his mind registered the fact that he was well past due for a shave. He shrugged it off. He'll shave before meeting the rest of the pack in the morning. Tonight, he was just too keyed to even handle a blade much less let one near his own flesh.
Halfway across the floor he stopped. His head shot up, nostrils flaring, drawing in deep pulls of the air. Shaking his head he finished the current circuit in the small cabin and stopped before the window, throwing it open and leaning out, inhaling a great lungful of the still night air. He detected owls in the tree across from him and squirrels nestled into a void in the tree cavity just below them. To the east a pair of foxes was stalking a brace of rabbits burrowed into their hole under an old log. To the west, a doe lead her fawn to the brook for a drink. Nothing was out of place; everything was as it should be. He frowned, causing lines to form in his brow over the creamy brown of his eyes. If everything was perfect, then why was he so uptight?
The symphony of frogs and insects stilled instantly. It was as if a switch had been thrown, effectively turning the forest from a living breathing entity to a photograph of muted greys, blacks and silvers. Something definitely was out of sorts. He hesitated a moment then growling, shrugged out of his jeans, slid out of the window and shifted before his feet hit the worn planks. Resisting the urge to shake his supple body, he instead took a few steps, leaping off the porch and melted into the inky blackness of the surrounding trees. His father had always taught him that it was better to think than to act, so instead of hunting down the source of the uneasiness, he chose to wait and see. Crouching into the blackness, he backed under a bush and settled down to see what had disrupted the woods.
Overhead, the just rising moon, mere days from total fullness, spilled pale light into the clearing. His enhanced sight caught a subtle shifting of shadows just beyond where his black pickup truck sat parked. Focusing on the spot, his muscles tensed in ready should danger manifest.
He smelled her before he saw the dappled black and silver coat of a she-wolf step cautiously into the small clearing surrounding his cabin. Pulling a deep breath, he detected earthy lilacs, warm honey and the sweet vanilla of the female and closed his eyes, registering her fragrance into his memory. He had always been partial to the scent of lilacs and coupled with vanilla and honey, she smelled exactly what he would consider to be perfection. He was just about to step out and go greet her – surely she was a part of his new pack, just one he hadn't met yet - when her head shot up and she turned looking behind her. Then as quickly as she had appeared, she silently stepped back into the trees and disappeared. Chase stood up, wondering idly who she was. Just as he was about to leave the bush, he smelled the presence of another wolf. A blur streaked through the clearing and disappeared, racing in the same direction the female had gone. As soon as the two had
left the area, the night burst forth into song again as if nothing had happened. He waited a moment more, but nothing else moved in the night. Shaking himself, he padded back to the door. He quickly phased back into human form and placed a hand on the doorknob, turning it. With a tired growl he let it go when he realized it was locked; a habit left over from his old pack living just outside Roanoke. Closer to the city had its own lure – things like decent cell phone service (he had figured out quickly that his new phone was basically worthless here), iced lattes and designer jeans painted on beautiful women, but it had it's downfalls as well. Closer to the city was closer to crime; not that a human could really hurt a wolf, but it was just better to not invite trouble. Slipping through the still open window, he stopped and looked back into the woods, wondering again who the female was and why she was being chased. There was something about her... He shook his head and picked his faded jeans up off the floor and tugged them back on, fastening them. He shrugged and closed the window behind him. He looked at the book he had been reading and picked it up from the table. Settling down in the chair, he tried to immerse himself in the text. After reading the same page for the fourth time, he recognized it as a lost cause. Standing up, he closed it and placed it back on the small built in bookshelf by the fireplace. He was just too keyed up to read now – maybe he should go for a run and get to know the area a little more. He nodded to himself and slipped out of the jeans again and made his way to the door. Leaving it unlocked this time, he walked out onto the porch, shifted and gave into his wolf.