Midnight Whispers - Paranormal Romance (4 page)

“I don’t feel
the fear that I should,” she admitted. “But the dreams I’ve been having…it’s
like I’ve been here before—with you.”

His eyes narrowed.
“Dreams?”

“I… there was
a man who looked like you in one of my dreams.” She swallowed hard, remembering
the bone-chilling fear as he’d rounded the corner, pinned her with that yellow
gaze. “As I looked at him, his face changed into a wolf. I was convinced he was
going to kill me, but before I could find out, I woke up.”

He sat there
in silence for so long she was tempted to kick him. “Aren’t you going to say
anything?” she demanded. “And what’s your name, anyway?”

“Bryce.” He
said it so softly she almost didn’t hear. “And so you just happened to stumble
upon our location, right after having a dream about me?” His brows drew
together, and his eyes darkened.

“I… no,” she
admitted. “I had another dream, last night.” She told him about the wolves and
humans battling in her house. “And then I woke up and heard those terrible wolf
cries, and I couldn’t go back to sleep. When I went out for a walk today, I
felt I had to come into the woods. I couldn’t tell you why exactly. It’s almost
as if something forced me here.”

“I see.” He
scooped his hands through his hair, and she wondered briefly if he was going to
yank it from his head—he certainly looked of a mind to try it. “This was
not what I needed.” He jumped up from the bed and strode to the door.

“Wait!” Kyra
called, “Where are you---”

He wrenched
open the door and then slammed it shut behind him as he left.

“Going,” she
finished breathlessly. She didn’t know what
he
was so angry about. After
all,
she
was the one tied up and being held against her will! As the
seconds began to stretch in silence, fear crept up on her again as she wondered
exactly what he was going to do with her. Remarkably, she’d not been nearly as
afraid of him as she ought to have been during their conversation, but now that
he was gone her mind ran wild with possibilities of all the awful things he
might do.

Part of it,
she thought as she tried to distract herself, were his good looks and his
laughter. Certainly there was a sense of menace around him, almost like an
invisible warning sign that had been hung around his neck—but he cloaked
it with a certain amount of charm that made it so one could almost pretend as
if it weren’t there. He made no bones about his intentions—which, at the
time, were to get information from her—and certainly didn’t give a fig
about her personal space, but there was something so familiar about him that it
didn’t feel nearly as invasive as it should have.

But no amount
of charm and good looks could distract her from the fact that she’d apparently
stumbled upon a secret society of wolf shifters, and that they didn’t at all
seem predisposed towards strangers or visitors.

The door
opened, and Bryce strode in, his expression grim. Kyra’s breath stuttered as he
leaned over her, but he did not touch her except to remove the restraints
binding her to the bed. As soon as she was free she jumped to her feet, ready
to bolt, but he moved his big body in front of her, reading her perfectly.

“Come with
me,” he ordered, gripping her left wrist.

“Where are we
going? What are you going to do to me?” she asked, a note of hysteria in her
voice, but he didn’t answer her—just pulled her through the door and
outside. He led her through what she realized was a village of sorts— a
cluster of cabins that looked mostly to be houses, but some seemed to have more
industrial purposes. Men, women, and even children came out of their homes to
stare at her, some with curiosity, others with suspicion, and yet others with
downright hostility. A little boy stepped forward with wide blue eyes before being
tucked protectively behind his mother’s skirt. Were all these people really
shifters? Even that innocent little child?

Eventually
they arrived at a small clearing that seemed to be at the heart of the village,
where a group of men were gathered around a small platform. It looked to be
their version of a town square. Bryce dragged her forward, stopping in front of
an older man dressed in a black tunic, which she assumed must have some
significance as all the other townsfolk—shifters, she reminded herself—all
wore brown. Despite his grizzled hair and weathered face, his blue eyes gleamed
with sharp intelligence as they settled on her.

Instinctively,
she lowered her head, feeling almost as though she should curtsy, but not quite
willing to afford the courtesy to a group of people who seemed intent on
holding her prisoner in their secret place. She looked up at the old man from
beneath her brows to see him nod his approval before turning to Bryce.

“It seems you
are right, Bryce. She is already responding to pack hierarchy, and I can see
the threads of the bond beginning to form between you two.”

Bryce sighed
heavily. “I was hoping you weren’t going to say that.”

Kyra
straightened. “Bond? Pack hierarchy? What are you all talking about?”

Bryce tugged
on her arm roughly. “It is disrespectful to speak to the Alpha in such a
manner.”

Kyra snatched
her arm away. “I’ve no idea what that means, but I owe no allegiance to him,
nor any member of this group.”

“It’s
alright, Bryce,” the old man said before Bryce could respond. He turned toward
Kyra, his face impassive. “My name is Charles, and I am the leader of this
group. We are a wolf shifter clan, and as our animal sides hold a certain
amount of sway over our lives and culture, our hierarchy is similar in nature
to a wolf pack. I am the Alpha, which is considered to be the lead male wolf in
a pack. The three men behind me, my advisors—” he gestured toward them,
“—are my Beta, Gamma, and Delta.”

“I see.” Kyra
took a moment to digest this—she didn’t know very much about wolves. “And
this… bond, you speak of?”

Bryce spoke
up before Charles had a chance. “As it is with all creatures, every wolf has a
mate. With shifters, we do not necessarily get to choose our mates in
accordance with our hearts, but rather our bodies choose the one who is most
biologically suited, who will bear the strongest and most gifted children.” His
eyes came up to pierce hers, and Kyra took a step back.

“You… you
aren’t saying…”

“He is,”
Charles interjected. “And after hearing your story from him, and seeing the
bond being woven between the two of you, I can’t deny it any more than he. You
are destined to be Bryce’s mate.”

“No. No!”
Kyra repeated louder, taking another step back. “This isn’t right. It’s not
possible.”

“I’m not
warming to the idea of being mated to a human any more than you are,” Bryce
said, “but I don’t believe in running from the truth when it stares me in the
face. Why else would you have dreams about me, Kyra? Why else do you think you
would be drawn to this place, when no other human has been able to find it in
centuries?”

“Perhaps I
have prophetic dreams,” she sputtered, pulling out the first explanation that
popped into her mind. “And as for finding this place, maybe I just got really
lucky. I’m very good with mazes,” she lied before remembering that he could
tell when she wasn’t speaking the truth.

“Kyra.” Bryce
said it softly.

“No.” She
took another step back. “This isn’t real. This can’t be real. I refuse to
believe it.” She turned and ran.

“Stop her!”
one of the advisors shouted, but the Alpha held up a hand before anyone could
move.

“Let her go.”

“What?” One
of the advisors scowled. “We can’t let her leave. How do we know she can be
trusted? For all we know she is in league with those Hunters, and will lead
them back to us the first opportunity she gets!”

“You saw her
reaction,” Bryce said bitterly. “She didn’t know anything about us before, and
I know from my interrogation that she wasn’t lying about anything she said. I
doubt she’ll even admit to anyone she was even in the forest, much less what
she found. She’s in denial.”

“It’s
alright, Bryce.” The Alpha laid a hand on his shoulder. “If the two of you are
fated to be mates, she won’t be able to resist the call. Now that you two have
met face-to-face, it will only strengthen.”

“I can’t help
but think I’ve seen her face somewhere before,” Charles’ Beta said, frowning.
His eyes widened after a moment. “Do you think she—”

“She is. But
I thought it be best not to burden her with that information so soon,
especially after her reaction. When the time is right, she will know. And then
she will have to decide what she wants to do about it.”

****

 “Kyra!
Where have you been?”

Kyra brushed
her straggling locks from her hair and took a breath to steady her heart. She
hadn’t stopped running until she’d reached the edge of the forest and had burst
out into the fields, safe and sound. And when she saw that the sun was
beginning to set, she forced herself to run across the field and back to the
cottage, hoping against hope that her aunt was still asleep.

Unfortunately,
Kyra wasn’t born with that kind of luck. Sylvia had been putting on her bonnet
and boots, apparently on her way out the door to go and bring her home. Kyra
was glad that she’d arrived when she did—if her aunt had arrived to find
out that she wasn’t at the Whitaker farm she would have been worried sick.

“I’m sorry,
Aunt Sylvia,” she said when she was certain she could talk without gasping.
Still, she sounded slightly breathless. “I got lost in the woods.”

“The woods?”
Her aunt narrowed her eyes as she set her bonnet back on its hook. “Whatever
were you doing in the woods? I thought you were going to see Jake and his
family!”

“I was,” Kyra
insisted, “but for some reason I decided I wanted to be alone. I thought the
woods would be a nice place to get some time to myself, and I hadn’t a chance
to explore them before. That’s likely why I got so turned around.” She laughed
ruefully, hoping that she sounded more convincing that she felt.

“I see.” Her
aunt stared at her a long moment. “And that’s really all that happened? You
just got turned around in the woods?”

“Yes.” Kyra
frowned.

Aunt Sylvia
shook her head. “Well, you could’ve been eaten by a wild animal, but you’re
back now and that’s all that matters.” She smiled slightly, but the look in her
eyes made Kyra wonder whether her aunt knew something she wasn’t letting on.
“Still, I would prefer if you didn’t venture in the woods, Kyra. It can be very
dangerous.”

“Oh, I
definitely don’t plan on going back,” Kyra said fervently. “At least not by
myself,” she amended hastily as her aunt gave her another suspicious look.
“Getting lost is not my cup of tea.”

“Alright
then. Now let’s get started with the evening chores. If we hurry we can get
everything done before the sun sets.”

Kyra debated
whether or not she should press her aunt—it really did seem as if she
knew something—but that would be admitting that she held an interest in
what went on beneath those trees. And she didn’t. Not anymore. Her curiosity
had been piqued by that howling, but now that she’d met the shifters and been
told that outlandish story about mating, she had no desire to ever go back
there again. She was a normal woman, and that sounded far too much like the
stuff faery tales were made of.

And everyone
knew that faery tales were often dark, and did not always have happy endings.

****

The days
passed on as normal. Kyra busied herself with farm chores, and entertained
herself during her daily visits with Jake’s family. Amelia seemed to be
genuinely warming to her, and Jamie was such fun to be around. Kyra was an only
child and did not have much experience with youngsters, but the boy was easy to
please and not very demanding.

As for Jake’s
older brothers, they were constantly teasing him about his ‘new girlfriend’,
making jokes and telling her all kinds of tales.

“You know I
remember the time he woke up to find an earwig sitting next to him on his
pillow,” Tyler, the eldest, said one day. “It was the middle of the night, and
I don’t think anyone got a wink of sleep after that.”

“Screamed
like a girl,” Byron, the second oldest, chortled. “Came running down the hall
to our parents’ room like the fires of hell were chasing him.”

“I did not,”
Jake said, laughing, but his cheeks were scarlet.

“You did
too!” Tom, the youngest only by two years, piped up. “I ought to remember since
you and I shared the same room. I don’t think I’d ever seen you run so fast
before.”

“Now, boys,”
Kyra said, unable to keep from laughing as Jake cuffed Tom over the head. “I’m
worried that if you keep it up he’ll turn so red he might explode!”

Jake grinned
at her. “I think that’s the idea,” he said, taking her by the hand. “Now let’s
be off before they convince you that you shouldn’t hang around with me
anymore.”

Kyra really
wanted to fall in love with Jake. He was such a nice young man, and she knew
that a marriage to him would provide her with a sense of financial security and
a stable family she could one day call her own. He also seemed to genuinely
like and admire her, and knew from the looks he sometimes cast her way when she
thought he wasn’t looking that he was interested in her.

But try as
she might, the only affection she felt for him was that of what a sister might
feel for her brother. She knew that amongst the gentry many women were
satisfied with that level of affection between themselves and their husbands,
and were even considered lucky to have any sort of genuine relationship at all
considering just how many marriages of convenience were made every year.

Kyra could
count on one hand the number of marriages she knew in which both partners were
faithful to each other, and it only made her angry that people were willing to
say the vows so casually in the house of God that would bind them, and then
break them just as casually as soon as the day after. Perhaps the priest should
make a special set of vows for couples entering matrimony without a love match.
It would be unorthodox, certainly, and maybe even considered heretical, but at
least the priest wouldn’t be forcing people to lie under God’s roof eight out
of ten times he performed a marriage ceremony.