Wolf Born

by Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

  For the first time, Colton wasn’t sure how well the simple rules for being a protector that he had lived by would apply in the future. He’d be facing other Lycans of equal status who would expect him to come clean about everything. To top it off, he looked like an albino. Would anyone here take him seriously?

  Colton blinked slowly as the house came into view. It was a formidable place modeled after a plantation mansion. Three stories tall, with a facade of brick, its main feature was wraparound porch. Tall pillars supported the roof of the wide veranda. It seemed that all sorts of things with calm, genteel exteriors could be deceiving.

  As Colton braked by the front steps, he counted three more Weres waiting for him. Two men, and a woman. It wasn’t difficult to recognize Judge Landau, with his silver-gray hair. Beside him was Landau’s son, Dylan. He guessed the third had to be the Judge’s wife, the healer who had tended to him during his first visit. If it had been any other time or circumstance, he would have brought her flowers. Maybe even kissed her cheek.

  He cut the engine and got out of the car as quickly as he was able to, given his disintegrated levels of strength. He was hanging on by a thread, but he had to see this through.

  “Killion,” Judge Landau said in greeting.

  Colton heard no irony or sarcasm or hidden meaning in the welcome, and experienced the first bump in his resolve to remain as distant as possible. In that greeting lay no hint of an acknowledgment of Colton’s white hair and skin being anything other than normal. He found no inkling whatsoever of the dislike of having to face a freak.

  “Hello,” he returned. “Sorry to trespass on your hospitality again so soon. Jared Kirk has been hurt and his daughter is in the car with him.”

  Landau passed his son a look, and Dylan turned to go into the house. Rosalind was likely the cause of Dylan’s hasty retreat. The judge was taking no chances with a strange, death-related entity, even after more or less accepting the presence of a ghost among his brood.

  “We’ll see to Jared at once,” Mrs. Landau said, moving toward the car. Speaking directly to Colton, she added, “Perhaps we can see to Rosalind’s comfort before we do that?”

  Landau joined his wife. To Colton he said, “Rosalind can have the same room she had when last here. She might feel better in familiar surroundings.”

  “Would that room include a bolted door and bars on the windows?” Colton asked before thinking about how rude that might sound. “She already has a chain on her ankle. A gift from her father before he was hurt.”

  Mrs. Landau looked earnestly stricken.

  “Actually,” Landau said, nudging his wife toward the SUV’s rear door, “the room has a pretty view of the backyard, as well as new curtains made by my wife.”

  Colton wanted to hide from Mrs. Landau’s lingering gaze, but the stronger motivation was to protect Rosalind, and in doing so, honor the promises he had made.

  “She’ll probably like that,” he said. “And maybe we can think of a way to remove the chain before too long? It’s done real damage to her ankles and shins.”

  Colton was close enough to the elder Were to see Landau’s eyes shut briefly, as if word of that chain had somehow tortured him. “I’ll get the tools,” he said, “and come right up.”

  Colton’s tension eased a bit more at the sight of the Landaus’ concern for Rosalind. He inclined his head to them. He had to trust these Weres because no other option remained.

  “Rosalind,” he said gently as the rear door opened. “It’s safe to come out.”

  Jared Kirk moaned as the car’s interior light hit him, and tried unsuccessfully to open his eyes.

  Rosalind, on the other hand, was nowhere to be seen.

  “Need I ask if this isn’t a good development?” Judge Landau observed, taking in Colton’s surprise.

  Colton didn’t answer. The way his stomach had begun to knot seemed answer enough.

  Landau gestured with a hand, and out of the dark two Weres responded. The big Weres with arms like professional wrestlers. Carefully, they lifted Kirk up and carted him away, under the judge’s wife’s supervision.

  “You look beat,” Landau said to Colton.

  “Beat doesn’t even begin to cover it. But I’ll find Rosalind. She can’t have gotten far.”

  Landau came closer. “I don’t usually man the place like this. It’s highly unusual. That last vampire sighting, when you were here, led us to believe that the imbeciles have become more aggressive. And now, for a while at least, we have to be overcautious about safeguarding our own.”

  “They didn’t actually come here?” Colton asked.

  “We didn’t let them get this far.”

  “How did that turn out?”

  “It was nothing we couldn’t handle. Nevertheless, that made two attacks on Weres in a few days, and they were too damn close to these walls. I’m sorry about your parents, Colton. I didn’t have the chance to tell you so before all of this. It couldn’t have been a random targeting. I fear that kind of horror might be the start of a vengeful retaliation against those of us keeping watch over our more vulnerable human neighbors.”

  Colton nodded. “Has there been anything with the vampires since then?”

  “Not even a fang,” Landau said.

  “I’d stay prepared, then. According to her father, they’re likely to know Rosalind has returned.”

  “Then it isn’t safe to go out there alone,” Landau advised.

  “Thanks, but I’ll manage.”

  Colton hoped to God he’d be able to find the strength to go after her, and prayed that no one else, fanged or otherwise, would find her first.

  “Wait,” Landau called after him. “I can’t let you go alone. You’ll need help. Give me a minute.”

  “Who would you send to accompany me when I’m hunting for a Night Wulf, Judge? You’ve kept Dylan and the others from knowing about her for quite a while.”

  Landau’s jaw tightened, probably due to the name Colton had given Rosalind. Yet Landau had been in on some part of this revelation for a few days now, and couldn’t pretend otherwise.

  “I was volunteering myself,” Landau said. “A minute more, while I pick up a weapon or two, won’t get her into more trouble.”

  “So you might think,” Colton whispered as Landau sprinted up the front steps. “If you didn’t know her as well as I do.”

  * * *

  Since the Landau estate was now overrun with Weres, Rosalind could only ponder the chances that the folks inside those gates didn’t know what she was by now. What were the odds they’d allow her any freedom or shelter when she was a monster magnet, and there might be demons on the loose?

  Her legs weakened at the thought of what a creature with that kind of moniker might be like, but she kept walking, directionless.

  She didn’t know anything about Miami or cities; hadn’t a clue where to go now that she had run away from Colton. Her father would be in good hands, though. She’d seen what the judge’s wife had done for Colton, and the care they had taken to be kind to another Lycan line.

  Colton had told her he felt like he was growing misty inside and less like his old self. Though he wasn’t sure what that meant, Rosalind wondered if that felt anything like her new sensations. Her heart went out to him. Her body wanted to go back to him.

  She felt him thinking about her. He was worried, and struggling to come to terms with her vanishing act. Her pulse erupted to match his, so far from his. His lure remained strong and nearly all-consuming.

  She felt sick.

  Glancing over her shoulder at the Landaus’ walls, she fielded a tinge of regret that came with a renewed swell of fear. Going back would place all those Weres in danger. She had caused enough trouble already, had brought enough pain to her father and the others. No way could she hit them with the possibility of yet
another breed of monster.

  “Going back is an impossibility,” she said aloud. “What do I do next?” Would demons come this far to find her, and skip the compound if she distanced herself from it?

  She had no money and no clothes. Without a doubt, she looked like the monster she was, and was still dragging the damn chain around.

  She didn’t get far before her legs finally gave out. She sat on the grass, surrounded by the foreign smells of a foreign city.

  If she was so special, then she had to dig into that specialness and come up with a way to combat what was happening to her while keeping everyone else safe. She had to at least try.

  Determined, and with the help of a tree, she got to her feet. With her hands hanging limply at her sides, she struggled to formulate a plan that didn’t involve being scared out of her wits.

  First, she had to find clothes. Then she had to find a way to remove the chain.

  “How do I accomplish that?”

  Frantically, she tuned into her surroundings, scenting humans in the distance and also...someone walking atop Landau’s stone wall.

  Not Colton. Female. Recognizing this particular smell, Rosalind stood tall, with the hair at the nape of her neck bristling.

  The female walking along the top of the wall had the grace and flexibility of a cat. Slim, and not too tall, she wore her dark brown hair at shoulder length, and out of her uniform, in jeans and a sweatshirt, looked just as formidable as she had the last time Rosalind had seen her.

  “Delmonico,” Rosalind muttered, recalling the name that had been engraved on the officer’s name tag.

  It didn’t take Delmonico long to sense Rosalind watching her. “Who’s there?” she called out softly. “Show yourself.”

  Rosalind nervously stepped out of the shadows.

  “You again,” Delmonico said, widening her dark eyes.

  “Naked this time,” Rosalind returned.

  “Why is that, exactly?”

  “I’m on the run, and didn’t have time to address wardrobe malfunctions. Plus, my house was burned down tonight.”

  “There’s blood on your legs.”

  “Some of it is my father’s blood. He’s inside your walls now.”

  “Jared Kirk.”

  “Yes.”

  “You haven’t run very far, then. He has been taken inside. Why are you out here?”

  “No one would or should willingly accept an abomination into their homes. That warning should be cross-stitched, framed and hung above every front door.”

  Delmonico blew out a breath. “I see.”

  “I’m pretty sure you don’t.”

  “Then why don’t you enlighten me?”

  “I’m afraid of people running away if I do.”

  “Has anyone run away from you?”

  “Very few know about me, to date. That doesn’t mean they have to accept what baggage I bring with me when they do know.”

  “Is that why we weren’t asked to go after you?” Delmonico asked.

  “Neither Colton nor Judge Landau would allow contact, I’m sure.”

  “Then you must be pretty lonely.”

  For the second time that night, tears gathered in Rosalind’s eyes. She tried desperately not to let them fall. All she had to do was jump over the wall Delmonico crouched upon, and her mate would be there. She wasn’t sure how she could want him so much, and miss him so ferociously. Every cell in her body called out to him.

  “Heck, I don’t see anything wrong with you, except for the lack of clothes,” Delmonico observed. “And the blood. Come with me and I’ll outfit you.”

  “No. But thanks.”

  Delmonico looked into the distance. “They’re coming after you now.”

  “I know.”

  “Can’t I help?”

  “Would you help, against their wishes?”

  “They are my pack, and my family. They’ll be yours if you’ll give them a chance.”

  “I’m a different kind of wulf. Beyond that, I harbor a darkness that draws darkness to me. My father called me a Death-caller. I’m probably not safe to be around, and won’t see anyone else harmed.”

  She had no idea why she was telling this to a stranger, and a member of Landau’s pack. Maybe it was because she’d never been around another female.

  Delmonico had a pretty, wise, intelligent face, and wore a calm expression. As a police officer, she’d be used to freaks...that’s what Colton had thought when the three of them had last met on the city street.

  “That’s an altruistic plan,” Delmonico said. “And complete hogwash, just so you know. More than a few of us also possess an intrinsic need to help, and to protect. If we tempered that need to only include the morally pure or the physically weak, what kind of world would this be?”

  “Mine,” Rosalind replied.

  “I think you’ll find that isn’t true. I’m willing to help you.” Delmonico pulled her sweatshirt over her head. Shaking her hair free of the collar, she tossed the shirt to Rosalind, then straightened up and reached for her zipper. “I don’t keep many clothes here. I’m a guest, but Dylan can spare me something.”

  Climbing out of the jeans, and dropping them to the ground, she added, “I’ll come with you, wherever it is you’re going, if you’d like me to. However, I strongly recommend that you either let the white wulf catch up with you, or that you get behind these walls. The night has a strange thickness to it that I don’t like.”

  “Colton, the cop you knew of, the white wulf, is what he is because of a vampire attack. He went after the bloodsuckers that killed his parents, and was hurt.”

  “I know about his family. I also know that there’s nothing wrong with being different,” Delmonico said, standing on the wall half-naked in some sort of flimsy undershirt and a pair of black lace underwear. “Wouldn’t most people be surprised to find out what we are?”

  Rosalind stared at the jeans before picking them up. They smelled like worn denim and the perfume Delmonico probably wore when around humans for any length of time.

  “Your mate is lucky,” Rosalind said to the off-duty cop, meaning it. She liked Delmonico. “And I appreciate the offer.”

  “But no thanks?”

  “I’m poison. I have to go before that poison chokes you.”

  “Suit yourself,” Delmonico said. “You know where to find me.”

  Rosalind nodded, and with Delmonico’s gracious gift of a sweatshirt and jeans in her hands, and Colton’s scent and mystical allure getting stronger by the second, she turned back to the park to find a hiding place.

  Chapter 23

  “It’s odd,” Judge Landau said as they scrambled over the wall, “how I can’t find her scent.”

  Colton scented Rosalind easily, and could also make out her aloneness and her fear. “She smells like night, and like wind in the leaves.”

  “You have her scent in you, Colton?”

  “It has become a part of me.”

  “Then you actually have—”

  “Yes. We have mated.”

  They leaped to the ground on the far side of the wall and stopped short. Landau turned his head. “Dana?”

  “I’m here,” a soft voice returned, after which Officer Delmonico, minus her clothes, landed soundlessly beside them on bare feet.

  Colton sucked in a breath. The last time they’d spoken, Delmonico had been in uniform, with a grip on Rosalind’s shoulder. Up close, and out of those unisex clothes, Dylan Landau’s she-wolf looked beautiful. Her fighting-fit body showed sculpted, long, lean muscle. She had long brown slightly curly hair, an oval face and large eyes, dark in color, that were fixed on him.

  “Sorry if this embarrasses you, Killion,” she said. “As it happens, I gave my clothes away not more than five m
inutes ago to someone who needed them more than I did.”

  “Rosalind.” He reacted with the familiar nerve burn when he said her name.

  “Actually, the name she gave herself was Night Wulf,” Delmonico said.

  Landau interrupted. “Did you see where she went?”

  “Yep,” Delmonico said. “She headed west. I’ve never come across anyone like her. Her shape seemed to fuzz at the edges when she spoke to me, as if she wasn’t quite solid. I thought to myself that she may be tough, but she’s also scared. She wouldn’t come with me when I asked her to, which doesn’t say much for my powers of persuasion. Sorry.” She patted her bare thighs. “I didn’t have my cuffs with me.”

  “She’s hurting,” Colton said, gazing at the park, thinking he could almost see Rosalind there, and that her presence was, for him, like a strong radio signal.

  “She had a chain wrapped around her ankle,” Delmonico said. “That has to hurt.”

  Colton hadn’t forgotten about the chain. Thinking he could hear its echo rattling as Rosalind ran, he set off after her, rudely leaving Landau and Delmonico behind.

  Rosalind, he silently called. It’s all right. I’m here.

  Her fear breezed over his skin like a layer of ice over heat. The taste in his mouth as he took in air was again like crushed aluminum. Rosalind would be in human shape and wary of another change. Yet outside Landau’s compound lay a strange human world unfamiliar to her.

  Landau caught up, forcing Colton’s attention to split. “She’s not the only one out here,” Landau said. “This time, it’s humans, up ahead.”

  Colton smelled those humans who had a preference for artificial fragrances like aftershave, scented soaps and shampoos—things most Weres shunned in light of their heightened sense of smell. Another odor emanated from the park, as well. Metal. This new flavor of a scent kindled a memory he didn’t have time to explore.

  He and Landau jogged toward the center of the park, where Rosalind’s trail guided him. Having Landau beside him felt curiously similar to running with his father. Some of his sense of loneliness faded to a dim, dull throb as he locked the memory of his father away with others that were too painful to confront.