Liana stood perfectly still for a moment, watching the animal in the grass. A huge male wolf. She didn’t know how she knew it was male, but it definitely was. The way the moonlight shimmered on his pitch black fur was absolutely breathtaking. He didn’t seem to be aggressive… a large pet dog maybe? A wolf had been her first thought, but that was impossible. There hadn’t been wolves in Nova Scotia for a few hundred years. This animal didn’t seem to be planning to attack her and certainly wasn’t running away. A low growl rumbled at her through the grass again, making her heart race and she took another step back, stumbling a little. Okay, so maybe he was thinking of attacking. It certainly sounded like a wild animal. She took another step up the trail, slowly backing up the steps to her cabin. She should have listened to Gran. Never go outside at night. But the night air was so crisp and clean smelling! The breeze and moonlight had seemed to be calling her…They’d argued about it again but Gran was firm. She was almost 18 and had never been out in the dark. Not to trick or treat, not to go to a sleepover, no drive-in movies... She always had to be home by sunset. In the winter that often meant coming straight home after school, which meant she couldn’t even join the after-school clubs or sports teams. She’d never even been allowed to open the blinds or curtains and let the moonlight into her bedroom! She was expected to miss her own grad party because she couldn’t be out past dark. It was ridiculous!
Never ever go out in the dark.That was the rule. The one, nonnegotiable rule of Gran’s house.But she’d be an adult by graduation, so she’d go to the grad party whether Gran liked it or not. Gran had not liked that statement at all. Gran was being too cautious. She was just an eccentric old woman like everyone said. Good with flowers, good with herbs, a good cook, just a little off her rocker with strange ideas about where danger might be hiding, that’s all.Liana hadn’t been able to sleep after the argument, but she’d lain still and quiet until Gran started to snore, then she’d just… snuck out like a petulant child. She winced, admitting to herself how much she felt like a naughty little girl at the moment, caught with her hand in the cookie jar or something. As much as she hated to admit it, given the animal that was in her yard at the moment, it seemed not going out in the dark might have been more prudent.He shifted forwards in the grass, drawing her attention back to him as he moved a tiny bit further into the shaft of moonlight. Was he a wolf that had somehow managed to get onto the peninsula unnoticed and find its way right to the heart of the province? Maybe a pet? It could be some sort of dog. The urge to move close was almost overwhelming. Strange, she realized through what felt like fog in her brain. Why would she want to move closer to a dangerous predator? He whined a little and his eyes glittered at her. Did he just wink at her? Can wolves wink?His fur looked so soft. What would it feel like to run her fingers through it? To press her face up against his? Liana brought her hands up, pressing her sweater to her chest, surprised to find it was wool, not fur, rubbing against her breasts. Why was she expecting to feel fur sliding against her skin? She shook her head to clear it and heard Gran’s voice in her mind, “You don’t understand the hidden danger in the moonlight child. The goddess is strong there, she’ll muddle your thoughts and convince you to do things you know are wrong. You need to avoid being outside at night to stay safe. Stay out of the moonlight. You’d do best to heed my warnings. Never go out at night. Even after I’m gone. Especially after I’m gone.” Moon Goddess, Liana rolled her eyes at the reminder of her Gran’s belief in all those silly old stories. The wolf shifted in the grass and she took a step back. She stumbled on a stone and the animal lifted his head, his limbs tensing as if he were about to jump. Was it going to attack her now? Her heart began to pound in her chest, the fog clearing from her thoughts.Just because she’d never seen anything more threatening than a squirrel didn’t mean predators weren’t in the bush somewhere. She knew they were actually. That’s why the garbage cans had to be locked and no food scraps left outside. Bears were the reason everyone used them, but there would be other animals too. Here was one of those animals in her own yard, crouched in the grass staring up at her! Why hadn’t she thought more about what she was doing? Gran’s silly stories about an evil goddess watching from the moon, just waiting to send werewolves after young girls were just foolish, of course. Moonlight wasn’t the problem. Even being outside at night was not the problem. The night air was lovely, the breeze smelled like fresh air after the rain even though it wasn’t raining, and pine needles drying in the sun, even though there was no sun. In fact, it was nearly freezing, but the moonlight on her skin had felt warm and when it touched her bare skin she felt the most exhilarating tingly feeling… A vengeful moon goddess was a bunch of nonsense from an old lady’s superstitious mind. But she should have stayed closer to the house. Closer to safety. Outside was fine, but near the door. Near the security of a building. That would definitely have been a safer option with the creatures of the woods being so close.She took the last step onto the back deck and pulled the gate closed, laughing inwardly at the foolishness of her actions. Of course, a wolf could easily jump this gate, the deck rail either for that matter, it was only waist high, after all, more for decoration than safety. The black wolf sat in the moonlight staring at her, but she couldn’t bring herself to go back inside. This was crazy! Why did she feel the need to stand here and watch the animal? More than that, she wanted to go and cuddle with it! It felt as though she were under some sort of spell, oddly like the girls in Gran’s old stories she realized. She really felt unable to look away from him. He whined again, the sound tugging at her heart. Was he hurt? Did he need her help? Liana stepped forward again, stopping herself before she opened the gate. This was madness! The clouds parted some more, exposing the oblong shape of the moon and lighting up the entire yard, splashing light over both her and the black wolf. The hair on her arm stood on end and she felt all tingly again. The wolf looked to the moon, tipped his head back, and howled. Liana shivered, then tensed, hearing the neighbor's door open. She and the wolf both turned towards the sound.Albert was an avid hunter. She knew he kept a loaded gun by that back door and happily shot anything with four legs or a set of wings. His cabin was covered in the bodies of his victims. She’d been in his house just once. The nasty smell of chemicals used during taxidermy was so strong they made her nauseous and dizzy. Preserved pelts of the animals he had killed covered the floor like carpets and the furniture like blankets. The stuffed bodies of once living creatures covered every surface. There were even several deer and moose heads with large antlers hung on his walls, staring out at her with their creepy glass eyes. It was a morbid place that made her skin crawl. She couldn’t bare the thought of the beautiful black fur being sliced off this creature and draped over one of Albert’s overstuffed chairs. “Hide” she breathed, barely a whisper, but the animal heard and turned towards her. “Please, hide. He’ll shoot you as soon as he sees you. Hide now!” She glanced towards the old shed, knowing there was a hole on the side that she hadn’t patched up yet. She could crawl in the hole, surely he could as well. Seeming to understand, the animal stood and turned in that direction. There was a gust of wind and clouds moved quickly in front of the moon, plunging the yard instantly into the pitch black darkness of a starless night.She heard Albert curse and start to fumble around. Then the bright beam of a powerful flashlight pierced through the yard right where the wolf had been moments before. Liana caught her breath, praying that the animal had escaped in time. The light swung up in her direction.“Ah Linda, it’s ye,” Albert drawled. His accent had always struck her as strange. As though he were faking it, or maybe had grown up traveling and picked up bits and pieces of accents from different places. She found the sound of his voice a bit irritating too, almost as though he were trying to talk through his nose. “Don’t s’pose ye saw a wolf out here did ye.”“My name’s Liana,” she corrected him, her voice tinged with irritation. “And yes, of course I heard that howl. It can’t have been a wolf though. There aren’t supposed to be any wolves in Nova Scotia.”“Those scientists say a lot of things ‘bout this bush that ain’t true. There are wolves. Bobcats too. I even seen mountain lion a time or two.”“Oh,” Lia fidgeted a little trying to think of something to say that would get Albert to go back inside. “I- I thought it might be a stray dog? Or perhaps a coyote?”“S’pose a coyote is possible. Seemed a bit too full-bodied a sound though. But they’re mixing with dogs now, so the sound could change I s’pose.”“I hope it’s a ways off though. Don’t you think it would be? Didn’t it sound a good ways away?”“hmmph. Sounded right close to me. I expected to see it sitting right out here. He swung the light out into the yard and then back to her. She squinted, using a hand to shield her eyes a. “Are you sure you didn’t see anything? Something moving in the bushes perhaps?”“I didn’t see anything in the bushes,” Liana said, relieved that he’d given her a way to answer honestly. She really wasn’t good at telling lies. Even strangers seemed able to tell when she lied. “It’s dark now though. The sky has really clouded over. I doubt I could see anything in the bushes even if I knew it were there.”“True that,” he mumbled grudgingly. “Wish the snow had come, I could track the beast. Stupid frozen ground. Best get yerself inside girl, ye never know when those animals will attack. They come in packs you know. Dozen’s of them, all with great big maws full of teeth to tear the flesh right off ye.” Liana stepped back to the door, fumbling with the nob.“We...we only heard one howl. I’m sure there...there was only one.”“That’d be the biggest one calling to the others in its pack. Kill and make babies, that’s all those beasts know how to do. They don’t even care if it’s the same species. Wolf, dog, coyote...they all mix. They’ll be especially hungry this time of year with the small critters sleeping in burrows. Ye head in now, ye hear? And stay there. I don’t want to have to ‘splain to your gran how we heard wolves but you stayed out and got yerself torn to shreds.” He laughed as she skittered inside like a frightened child. “That’s right, off ye go girly! I’ll keep guard for a bit and be sure the big bad wolf doesn’t come back to eat you in your sleep. Maybe yer right and it’s a coyote! They pay for them there hides. Easy money if I git it tween the eyes.”Liana trembled as she closed the door behind herself and locked it. A man with a gun is frightening she reasoned with herself, far more frightening than an animal that lay still in the grass and looked at her with such sad eyes. And definitely more frightening than Gran’s imaginary goddess.Jake slumped down into his leather armchair, running a hand over his face. “COFFEE!” he yelled into the empty room, knowing the omegas in the kitchen below could hear him and would bring it quickly. It was later than he usually wanted his coffee, but they would have been waiting for the call to bring it promptly.Last night had been long and miserable, so he was in a bad mood this morning. Going down to eat with everyone would be a really bad idea. He’d spent hours in that tiny little shed last night waiting for the man with the gun to go back inside. Then he’d waited another hour, until almost dawn, just to be sure he the jerk wasn’t watching from inside.He was still furious with the man for frightening his mate the way he had and then laughing at her.It had taken all of his concentration to keep from charging out of that shed to attack the oaf.“You bellowed, Alpha?” Mark said sauntering into the room, his stride long and confident with a little uplifted movement at the end of each
Liana lay on the hardwood floor by the fire, staring up at the bunches of herbs and flowers that hung from the ceiling. Her calculus book was open beside her but not much of her homework had been finished. She’d been up late but forced herself out of bed early so Gran wouldn’t be suspicious. Her head was aching with the lack of sleep and she was more than a bit distracted but what she’d seen. Nothing could hold her attention for more than a few minutes, certainly not enough to answer these math questions. She could take the few steps to the kitchen and brew a tea to get rid of the headache, but that seemed like too much effort at the moment. It was cold out today and smelled a bit like snow. Would the wolf come back in the snow? That would be dangerous for him, Albert will be on the lookout. His black fur would really stand out if everything else was covered in white. His footprints would be easy to follow too. It would be nice to have snow for New Year's though. There hadn’t been any
Jake sat in his truck watching the house where his mate lived. The girl appeared to live there alone with an elderly woman. Both smelled like wolves, though there was something different about their scent. It was almost like that of a young one who was on the verge of finding their wolf but had not yet turned. That couldn’t be the reason though, they were both well past the age… or did neither of them know they were werewolves? Could that happen? Wouldn’t they just change anyways during a full moon? Certainly, during a wolf moon, the goddess would have changed them at least that one night of the year.He had almost gone up to the house to introduce himself, but he wasn’t sure what to say if they didn’t know they were werewolves. Before he’d worked that out, the pair had left. That had been about three hours ago. He’d thought about following them, but decided against it and stayed by their house to check out the area and see what he could learn. It seemed safe enough, except for the one
Jake gave one nod of agreement. “You’re sure?” Jake raised an eyebrow. Every werewolf knew their destined mate by scent from the day they turned eighteen. It was the moon goddess's highest gift to a werewolf.“Look, I don’t know what happened, Selene never really said and I didn’t ask. It wouldn’t be my story to tell anyways. I will tell you that the older woman was running when we met her, a little over eighteen years ago. She was terrified of someone, still is actually. She has lived her entire adult life scared of this one wolf and his pack, certain that they are looking for her.” David sighed again and ran his hands through his hair making the brown curls stick out at odd angles on his head. “Okay look,” he said at last. “Liana is only seventeen, so she won’t scent a mate for a while yet.” Jake relaxed a bit against his seat. She wasn’t rejecting his scent, she was still a juvenile and not scenting him yet. That was easier to deal with.“How long until she’s of age?” “Not long,” D
Lia tried to push the blinds further apart and get a better look at the man in the truck on the side of the road. She couldn’t get a good look at him from this angle though, and Gran wouldn’t let her open the curtains in the main room. She could see enough of the shape to know it was a man, but that was all. She could see Mr. Rogue better. He was standing outside the truck and had been talking to the stranger for a long time. Sometimes he looked pretty shaken by whatever it was the stranger had to say. Her hearing was really good, but they were just far enough away that she couldn’t hear them clearly. Giving up, Liana flopped down on the soft woolen blanket that covered her bed and pulled out the note that Ellie had slipped into her pocket as she headed for the door with Gran. She’d realized right away that she’d have to be alone to read it, otherwise, Ellie would simply have told her or given it to her right out front, not slid a note so quickly and cautiously into her pocket while hu
Mark wiped his face and stood up from the table, calling out “Black jeep coming in fast!” Everyone in the pack house froze, catching the image from the mind link. Then they jumped up, rushing to the windows to see what was happening or to the door to get to their posts. Jake’s long strides got him to the front steps quickly. He mind linked with Jake, sharing the full image along with the scents that the border patrol had sent to him.“Is it the one you told me about from the buffer zone?” Mark asked, “That Lone Wolf’s ride?” Jake nodded. Most black jeeps would look, smell and sound the same, but somehow he was still certain this was David’s.“Seems like it, but there must be something wrong. Just yesterday David said he didn’t have any use for the bush, now here he is coming fast, apparently all alone.”“They’re Lone wolves, that would make them alone by definition,” Mark scoffed in disgust, his dislike for the idea of lone wolves obvious.“I suppose. But they’ve been there for a deca
It had only taken a few more hours for the two Rogue girls to wake up feeling perfectly fine. They had been able to heal themselves completely, not needing the parental bond to help at all. Mother Luna had said it would be safer for David to wait and see rather than jumping right in, just in case any of them still had traces of the toxin on them. Neither of the girls remembered anything about their poisoning, even after they were told the words that Lia had mumbled as she’d fallen back to sleep. No matter how many times they went over it, nothing seemed to indicate how the women had been poisoned. The Rogue sisters knew what wolfsbane looked and smelt like, as well as how to handle it safely, but neither remembered having seen it that day. It wasn’t one of the things they’d been in the attic to collect.Jake sat in a chair by Liana’s bed, as far away from her as his wolf would allow. He didn’t want her to wake up and be scared by seeing a stranger beside her bed. His wolf had argued th
Ellie and Elsie suddenly burst into the room, their mother right on their heals. “Lia?” Elsie dropped to her knees on one side of the cot and Ellie on the other. Damned if he could tell which of the girls was which. Usually there was a way to tell with twins but he really couldn’t see any difference between these two.“Come on Lia, we know you’re waking. Open your eyes.” The other begged.Marie sat on the cot by Lia’s hips and held her hand. “Come now, sweetie. We feel you stirring. Open your eyes.” David had followed his girls in and stood beside Jake now. “So...Lia’s wolf talks to you, but she doesn’t know it exists? And Selene’s wolf is completely silent?”“Selene’s wolf has chosen to be silent. She spoke to us when we first met her but stopped not long after Lia was born. I don’t think her wolf talks to her anymore either, or if she does Selene completely ignores her. Lia doesn’t really link with us the way other werewolves do, but my girls can usually tell how Lia’s feeling. Not