I am Wolf (The Wolfboy Chronicles) (25 page)

I rose to my feet and wiped away my tears.

“Is that you, boy?” she said.

“Camelia!” I threw myself in her arms while tears
streamed down my cheeks.

“Easy there, son. I’m an old woman,” she moaned but
still put her arms around me to hug me back.

I couldn’t stop sulking. Camelia held me tight. Then
she pulled away and kneeled next to Catalina. She grabbed her wrist and felt
her pulse. Camelia turned her head and looked at me. Fear was written in those
eyes. It scared me.

“We need to get her in the house!” she said.

Together we lifted her up and carried her inside the
old house. We put her in a bed and Camelia brought a glass of water and a wet
cloth that she put on Catalina’s forehead.

“Get her to drink some water,” she said and nodded at
the glass in her hand. I took it and put it against Catalina’s colorless lips.

“Please drink some,” I pleaded while caressing her
pale cheek. Catalina still didn’t move. “Please,” I repeated.

Then I gazed at Camelia. She shook her head. She
didn’t know what to do either. I felt hope slowly ooze out of me. Maybe I could
go find her mother by myself and maybe she would know what to do? But it could
take hours and Catalina could die while I was gone. I would never be able to
forgive myself for leaving her side. No, that wasn’t a solution, I thought. As
I was speculating in frustration I suddenly felt something, something coming
from deep within me. It was like I felt drawn towards something and it made me
get up from the bed and walk towards the feeling. I heard my wolf growl deep
within me as I walked out of the room and into another. Camelia didn’t say
anything nor did she follow me. She just stared at me, then sat at the edge of
Catalina’s bed, holding her hand and washing her face with cold water.

Me, I was walking towards something I had no idea what
it was, but something was urging me to walk into Camelia’s kitchen and reach
towards the shelf where she kept her jars with flour. Between two big brown
jars I pulled out something and looked at it. I gasped when I realized what it
was. It was a book, but not just any kind of book. It was my book. The golden
paw on the front cover glowed at my touch. I felt a stream of power go through
me, like some sort of electricity.

Camelia came into the kitchen and looked at me. Then
she smiled.

“He said you would come for it,” she said.

“Who did? Who said that?”

“The other wolf. The man.”

“Caspian?”

“Yes, that was his name. He came back, just a few days
ago. Didn’t stay long but asked if he could leave the book here. He told me you
would come for it. He told me you’d know where to look for it. Just like last
time the book would find you, he said. Because you’re its rightful owner. He
knew it would be safe with me, he said.”

“He left it here deliberately the first time too,” I
said with trembling voice. “That’s why he never came back that night. He wanted
to hide it here, here with you.”

Camelia shrugged. “Well ...”

I scoffed and stared at the book. It felt so good to
have it between my hands. I wasn’t going to leave it again.

“So what kind of book is it anyway?” Camelia asked
curiously.

“The Ancient Book of Wolves,” I said staring at the
glowing emblem.

“What is it?” Camelia asked.

“I just remembered something,” I said. “Something
Caspian said.”

“What was that?”

I looked into Camelia’s friendly brown eyes and
smiled. “That I would be able to use it whenever I needed it the most. Then I
would be able to read it.” I sat at the kitchen table and put the book in front
of me. “This is it,” I said. “I need its guidance more than ever. Maybe there
is something in here about how I can save Catalina. There has to be.”

I took in a deep breath of air, then grabbed the cover
and opened the book. The pages glowed and lit up the entire kitchen, but to my
surprise there was nothing on the pages. I flipped a couple of them but
realized that there was nothing on any of them. Frantically I flipped more
pages, but still the same. They were blank.

“What’s wrong?” Camelia asked.

“I don’t understand,” I said shaking my head. “There
used to be pages of scripture all written in an ancient language that I
couldn’t read. But I was supposed to be able to read it now. I lifted my head
and looked at Camelia in desperation. “Why can’t I read it? Why can’t I even
see the letters anymore?”

Camelia put a hand on my shoulder, then she sat at the
chair next to me. “Maybe it was all erased because the book has a new owner
now,” she said. “Maybe you’re starting off from scratch. Maybe you need to fill
in the blank pages.”

I looked at her with confusion. “But how? How do I do
that? How do I figure out how to save Catalina?”

“Someone once told me that if you need answers in
life, you need to ask questions,” Camelia said and got up from the chair. She
started walking towards the door, then just before she left the kitchen she
turned and said: “Ask the book, Sami. Just ask it.”

Camelia left me and I turned to once again stare at
the glowing blank pages in front of me. I had no other options left, so I
followed her advice, remembering that Caspian had once said the very same
thing. That I could ask the book for advice once he was gone. I hadn’t
understood that he meant it literally.

“Ancient Book of Wolves, please tell me how do I save
Catalina?” I said.

I stared at the blank pages for what seemed like hours
but probably was no more than seconds. Then suddenly something appeared on
them. It looked like letters, but they had no meaning. They danced in front of
me, then spun in a circle before they finally settled down on the page.

Truly amazed I read the sentence that had formed in
front of me.

Saliva of wolves. So rare, so precious, so dangerous
it can either kill a man or make him wolf. Too much is fatal as is too little.

I stared at the sentence again and again but understood
nothing. What did that mean? I called Camelia and read her the sentence out
loud.

She looked at me. “She was bitten, right? She has
wolf-blood in her veins from birth. The bite should turn her, like it did you,
but not everyone survives it. There has to be the precise mixture of wolf-blood
and human-blood in a body to make a perfect specimen of werewolf. Either she
had too much saliva or she needs more wolf in her blood. There is only one of
these scenarios you can do something about. Now go and give it to her.”

I stared her.

“Hurry up for God’s sake!” Camelia yelled.

I jumped up, stumbled over my own feet before I
finally managed to run out of the kitchen and into the bedroom where Catalina
was lying. I walked closer while my heart was racing in my chest. She was so
still, so quiet. I took in a deep breath and let her scent fill me. Then I
kissed her cheek. I raised my head and looked back at Camelia.

“What if it doesn’t work,” I said. “The book said it
could also be too much. What if I kill her instead?”

“Well there is only one way to find out,” Camelia
said.

I took in another deep breath then bent over Catalina.
I forced my wolf to appear and felt the fangs grow out.

I closed my eyes and leaned over her beautiful neck
before I sunk my teeth into her and penetrated her soft skin. It felt
intoxicating. I bit her as gently as I knew how to, held it for a wondrous
second while our thoughts, our minds and our blood became one. Then I withdrew
hoping that since she had the blood of wolves in her and not ordinary human
blood, the bite wouldn’t make me crave human flesh.

I looked at her. The color was already back in her
lips and soon she opened her emerald eyes.

“Sami,” she said gently.

Suddenly her eyes grew worried. I drew backwards
thinking that maybe I had done something wrong, maybe it hadn’t worked after
all?

Catalina looked strained, her face torn, like she was
experiencing great pain. She lifted her hand and looked at it. Long brown hairs
were growing out of all pores, then she moaned in pain as claws grew out
between the fingers and soon she was staring at a paw covered in brown fur. I
looked at her face as it slowly transformed until only her green emerald eyes
gave her away. At first she was startled. I smiled at her and caressed her with
my snout.

I guess that was why Caspian bit you, I said through
my thoughts. He wanted you to turn like I had. Become a wolf like he was.

I
t took a couple
of days for Catalina’s body to get used to its
new shape and capabilities but she was much faster at learning how to control
her wolf than I had been - maybe because she managed to embrace her new life
immediately and not deny it like I had.

We talked for hours during the day while I explained
to her who she really was and what she was now capable of. I even told her that
Caspian had been her real father and a true hero.

At night we went hunting together and I truly enjoyed
having a companion on my lonely nights chasing wild animals. After seven days
we finally decided Catalina was well enough to leave Camelia’s house and travel
to meet her people and her true destiny.

But the war had come closer to the village now and
every day and night there had been fighting over the hills in the distance, in
the direction of the forest of Hoia-Baciu. Every night the sky was illuminated
by their cannons and guns and we heard planes flying close in over our heads
dropping bombs on their targets not far away. It worried us and Camelia as
well. So we decided to travel at night, as the wolves. In that way we could
move faster and the darkness would cover us. We packed our new clothes that
Camelia had provided for us and the book in a sack that Camelia tied around my
back.

As darkness fell upon the small house and the
transformation came upon us we hugged Camelia one last time before we were
ready to leave the house. Camelia cried but tried to hide it from us as she
followed us out the door.

There was heavy artillery fighting in the distance and
the sky had turned orange. I heard yelling and screaming and gunfire coming from
over the hill. Then I turned and looked back at Camelia.

She didn’t speak, merely looked at us with concerned
eyes. Sometimes eyes say far more than any words. I wondered as I had done so
many times before whom she really was and how she knew so much. I hoped deeply
that our paths would one day cross again.

I took one last glance at Catalina before we both
leaped into the night.

THE END

Dear reader.

Thank you so much for purchasing I am Wolf. It is the
first book in a planned series and I am planning on writing more books about
Wolfboy and his adventures in the coming year.

Wolfboy was originally a character from one of my
first novels called A Gypsy Song (The Eye of the Crystal Ball - The Wolfboy
Chronicles) and he never quite left my mind. So later I decided he deserved his
own series and that was how this book was born.

If you’re interested in reading about how Wolfboy
helped Sara the Gypsy on her marvelous adventure you can get the book here:
A
Gypsy Song

Don’t forget to check out all my other books while
you’re at it:

Take care,

Willow Rose

Other books in English by the author:

Paranormal Romance Novels:

BEYOND
 
(Afterlife #1)
 
http://www.amazon.com/Beyond

SERENITY
 
(Afterlife #2)
 
http://www.amazon.com/Serenity

ENDURANCE (Afterlife #3)
 
http://www.amazon.com/Endurance