Wolf Hills (3 page)

“Formality helps keep frisky young wolves in order, Mistress,” Jason cut in. “The hierarchy of the Pack is important. Isn’t it just as important among your kind, Dmitri?”

Dmitri bowed his head but didn’t lower his eyes. “You are correct, Alpha. Without the hierarchy, there is chaos. I have been Master here for a long time. There have been challenges through the years, but I have always prevailed to maintain the order.”

“I’ve been Alpha long enough to face a few challenges of my own,” Jason agreed. “Someday the challenger will win and I will either die or accept my new role as elder in the Pack.” Jason shrugged as if he weren’t discussing his own death with such a casual air. “It’s the way of things. The way it needs to be among predatory races like ours.”

“You really believe you turn into a werewolf at the full moon?” Sally asked. Her analytical mind needed proof.

“Not just on the night of the full moon. We become wolves, not just the half form you’re thinking of from bad, old movies. Our combat form is something only the strongest of us can maintain for any length of time.” Jason snapped his fingers and her temporary bartender stepped forward. “Show her, Seth. Drop your jeans behind the couch. She wasn’t raised among wolves.”

The phrase took on a whole new meaning if what Jason was saying was true, Sally realized. The young man took off his shirt and dropped his pants. The high back of the couch hid his private parts from view, but he had an amazingly muscular chest and equally bulky arms.

“Combat form,” Jason ordered succinctly.

Before her disbelieving eyes, the young man’s body began to morph and change. He went from a relatively clean-cut, six-foot tall dude with a shock of blonde hair to a seven-and-a-half-foot hairy beast. He was trembling as he came out from behind the couch. A quick look downward told her that he was hairy enough that the more sensitive bits were mostly hidden. The way his newly formed legs crouched hid the rest.

“Holy Moses…” Sally breathed the words, in shock at what she was seeing. Seth walked closer on legs that were jointed oddly and ended in huge, sharp claws. His hands were clawed too, but his eyes were the same innocent blue she’d seen when they’d been introduced. His limbs trembled. “Does it hurt?”

“Seth is young. He is still growing into his true strength. The more he practices the battle form, the easier it will become, but to answer your question, yes, it can be quite painful to hold the shift at this point.” Jason turned his attention back to Seth, who now stood a few feet in front of her. “Take it to completion, Seth. Show her your wolf.”

The transformation began again. Or perhaps it was more accurate to say it continued. Muscles shifted under the skin, bones realigned and changed shape. Still, the eyes remained that clear, sweet blue. A moment later, the young man who’d become the scary creature had turned into a fluffy blond wolf.

Bigger than any natural wolf had a right to be, of course, but he definitely looked like a wolf. Seth walked right up to her and bowed his head, as if awaiting further instruction. Then she remembered Jason. He was in charge of these wolves, if all this was real. Seth was waiting for Jason’s instructions.

“You can touch him, if it will help you believe.” Jason’s words sounded in her ear. He’d moved closer without her realizing it. The heat of his breath on her skin made those shivers return.

To get some space, Sally hopped off the stool, careful to move away from Jason, though she had to move closer to get away, the way he’d positioned her. Standing on her own two feet, she faced the light-colored wolf, considering him.

“You really are Seth?” she asked the wolf directly. His head tilted sideways, then nodded. “I guess that answers that question. Wow.” She walked closer, moving around the wolf, who sat patiently while she inspected him.

She came back around to face him, marveling at the change. If she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes, she never would have believed it. The men were right in that respect.

“Go ahead and scratch his ears. We have at least that much in common with dogs. Not much else, but in this form, our paws kind of limit our reach.” Jason had once again moved silently closer to her. The man had an uncanny knack for sneaking into her personal space.

“I guess I can understand that,” she agreed wryly as she bent to touch the wolf’s head. Seth arched into her touch when she did as Jason had suggested and she couldn’t help but be charmed by the way Seth’s tongue hung out of his mouth as he panted in happiness.

“Don’t spoil him,” Jason said. She could hear the humor in his dark velvet voice and she drew back her hand, standing from her crouch. He was at her side, but she didn’t mind. She was moving rapidly from disbelief to fascination.

“You can do this too?” she asked Jason. “You all can?” She glanced around the room. Everyone was watching her and the small group by the bar. They all, no doubt, realized that something special was happening.

“Indeed I can, and I’ll show you at the first opportunity.” He moved closer. “But since I get naked when I shift, I thought I’d save the demonstration until we know each other a little better.”

She felt the blush rising to her cheeks at the thought of him stripping for her. Hoo boy, now that would be a show worth watching.

“Is that why everyone here is so tall and good-looking? Is that a side effect of being a werewolf?”

“Good genetics,” Jason agreed.

“So you breed? You don’t become a werewolf by being bitten, like in the movies?”

“Well, we can make someone a werewolf in very special circumstances, but mostly we expand our population the old-fashioned way. It’s more fun, don’t you think?” He winked at her and she couldn’t help the little fire that lit in her middle at his roundabout mention of sex. She was fairly certain sex with Jason would be memorable, to say the least.

“Why are you telling me all this?” Sally got a sinking feeling in her stomach that replaced the heat in a flash. She turned her gaze to Carly. “What are you going to do with me?”

“Nothing you don’t want, sweetheart,” Jason was quick to reassure her, but she wanted to hear it from Carly. She knew Carly better than anyone in this room. Better than anyone in the state, for that matter.

“I discussed this with the other girls, and our husbands have talked among themselves. It’s their world and their rules, but considering all of us have proven to be vampire mates, it was likely you were special too. For that reason, and because it would be hard to hide from you forever, we decided you should be let in on the secret that could destroy us all. Normally, you understand, no normal human is allowed to know anything about any of this.”

“Wait a minute. The other girls?” Sally feared she knew what was coming.

“It started with Lissa. Her husband is second in command to Marc LaTour, Kelly’s husband. Marc is the Master of his region, like Dmitri is Master here. When Christy was in the hospital that last time, Sebastian turned her to save her life. That’s when Jenna found out about all of this and she had to be watched. Ian is an enforcer of sorts and it was his job to watch over Jenna. One by one, they all discovered they were mates. That means something special among their kind. These men have waited centuries to find the one woman who is their perfect match. Like Dmitri is my perfect match.” Carly reached up to place one palm over her husband’s cheek in an obvious sign of affection.

“You’re the only one left unmated from the original study group,” Dmitri picked up the thread of the conversation. “We are all wondering if you could be another woman with special traits, able to mate with one of our kind.”

“Or one of my kind,” Jason interrupted challengingly.

“What’s this?” Dmitri demanded.

“Can’t you detect it? In her scent?” Jason spoke to Dmitri alone though everyone could hear.

Dmitri stepped out from behind Carly and sniffed. He sniffed her!

Sally pulled back, but Jason was behind her, having outflanked her. She felt suddenly threatened.

“Subtle,” Dmitri’s eyes scrunched up as he thought aloud. “Magical. Wild. Predatory. Not like us.” He looked up toward Jason, his eyes widening. “Like you.”

“What is he talking about?” Sally demanded.

“Somewhere in your family tree, maybe centuries back, there was a wolf,” Jason said in a low, intimate tone near her ear.

She stepped out of the space between the two men, needing room to think.

“You’re saying you can
smell
something like that?” She was scandalized by the thought. Nobody had ever accused her of hiding a werewolf in her ancestry before. Not that she knew much about where she came from.

“Haven’t you ever noticed your senses are a bit sharper than other people’s?” Jason prodded.

Now that he mentioned it, she had noticed. She could hear things others didn’t seem to. She could smell things others didn’t. And she had instincts only a few other cops of her acquaintance had developed over many years on the beat.

“I see I struck a chord.” Jason was smug about being right.

“So what if I can hear better than some other guys? That doesn’t mean I howl at the full moon.”

“No, you wouldn’t. You don’t have quite enough wolf in you for that. Or maybe it just hasn’t been awakened yet.” Jason moved into her personal space again. “Of course, it would be my pleasure to try to help you find your inner bitch.”

“Call me that again and you won’t have to look far,” she promised with a snap of her teeth.

The other wolves in the room grew even more silent, holding their collective breath, but Jason only laughed. He looked like he took her words as a challenge, and this man seemed to really enjoy a challenge. Oh, great. As if she didn’t have enough to deal with at the moment.

Her best friends were all married to vampires. She wondered if…

“Have all the other girls become vampires too?” Sally shot her question toward Carly, who looked concerned.

“Yes, we’ve all been turned. You’re the odd man out, Sal. As usual.” Carly tried for humor, but Sally could read the worry in her eyes.

“Odd
wolf
, if these guys are to be believed.” Sally sipped her drink, tempted to chug it for the alcohol if it wasn’t for the slushy ice. Chugging anything ice cold would give her brain freeze and she didn’t want to deal with that on top of everything else.

“Whoa there, pretty lady.” Jason took the glass out of her hands and placed it back on the bar. She wasn’t happy about it, but she let him. She had learned early on to pick her battles. “Level heads are best for this kind of conversation.”

“Give me a little credit.” She shot him an exasperated look but argued no further. “So when were you all planning to tell me the big news?” Sally asked Carly accusingly. “I can’t believe you hid this from me for so long.”

“It wasn’t really by choice. There is a strict edict about telling regular folks about all this. Punishable by death, Sal. None of us wanted to take that chance. But now that we’re all…” She made a helpless gesture with her hands, at a loss for words, apparently.

“Now that you’re all immortal,” Sally supplied. “You are immortal, right? That part of the legend is true?”

“Yes, Detective,” Dmitri answered with a nod. “I’ve searched for Carly for hundreds of years. Now that we are together, I hope we can share centuries of wedded bliss together.”

“Hope? You don’t know for certain?” Worry edged into her mind. Worry for her friend.

“There are a few things that can end us. We have some vulnerabilities. Especially the newly turned. It is my duty and pleasure to teach my mate how to protect herself and to keep her close to my heart and under my wing.” Dmitri looked down at Carly with such love, Sally had to look away. Would anybody ever look at her like that? She doubted it. She wasn’t lovable. Her youth had taught her that.

“Sunlight? A wooden stake through the heart?” she asked, wondering aloud.

“And silver,” Jason added. “Silver isn’t very good to either of our races.”

“Why?” Sally turned her questioning gaze on the werewolf leader.

“It’s poison,” he answered simply. “Shuts our systems down.”

“Wine can reverse the effects for us,” Dmitri added. “Wine is one of our few ties to the sunlit world. Grapes flourish in the sun and capture some of that energy in their essence.”

“Which is why Lissa’s husband owns a vineyard, I suppose.” Sally was making interesting connections. The idea of such creatures existing alongside humanity was both shocking and tantalizing.

“Carly always said you were quick.” Dmitri bowed his head as he complimented her.

“So you really can’t go out in the sun anymore, Carl?” Sally moved a step closer to her friend.

Carly shook her head, placing her hand over Dmitri’s. “I don’t really miss it. Not when I’ve got Dmitri. He’s showing me all kinds of things about the night.”

“I bet.” Sally couldn’t help the lascivious wink she gave her friend. It was so easy to accept all this because of the undeniable happiness she could see on Carly’s face.

For that matter, all their newly wedded friends were blissfully happy. Sally had seen it for herself during their monthly get-togethers. Sure, none of them really ate anymore and the dinners had turned into outings for drinks, but they were the same old girls she’d gone to college with. Same senses of humor, same love of laughter.