by Ciana Stone
Iliana looked at the wolf lying unconscious on the ground. It was a magnificent animal and appeared to be a gray wolf, but was a lot larger than what was normal for this part of the county. She climbed into the pen and quickly tied its forelegs together and then its hind legs.
The final step was to put the muzzle on, which she pulled from her back pants pocket. The animal growled low as she worked the muzzle over its head but did not wake. Once she was finished, she hurried out of the pen and to her Jeep parked a little distance away.
She drove the Jeep to the pen and backed it up to the wire. Fortunately, it was equipped with a lift, so all she had to do was get the wolf into the harness and guide it into the bed of the Jeep.
Iliana turned off the engine, climbed out of the Jeep, and turned toward the fence. She didn’t make it two steps before jerking to a stop in complete surprise.
The wolf was gone.
The rabbits were there.
Along with a man. A big man. Unconscious on the ground. Tied, hands and feet, with the muzzle covering the bottom half of his face.
Naked.
What the hell? Iliana looked around. There was a wolf there. I know there was.
Was this some weird prank? She climbed the fence and knelt beside the man. Shock rippled through her, enough to have her falling back onto her ass, hard. What the hell? This wasn’t possible. John Luke?
It was impossible to keep her gaze from traveling over him, and she caught herself taking an unnecessarily long look. Well, hell, who could blame a girl, right? she asked herself. It sure as heck wasn’t every day you found a naked man tied up in the woods.
Which reminded her to remedy the tied-up part. She removed the muzzle and then hurried to the Jeep for snips. Within a minute, the restraints had been removed. There wasn’t much she could do about him being unconscious. He would wake soon.
And then what? That was a good question. What in the world was he doing out in the woods at night, naked? That question prompted her to return once more to the Jeep.
She returned with an old blanket and draped it over him. Despite her qualms about him being there, she couldn’t resist brushing her fingertips over his face and into his thick hair. Her fingers tingled at the touch, a fact she found quite curious.
Iliana stood, intent upon leaving, but a thought intruded. Snakes. She probably shouldn’t leave him just lying on the ground alone like that, unconscious. A thought caused her to smile. She made a clicking sound with her tongue and the rabbits hurried to her.
“You guys watch over him, okay? He should be awake soon. I’ll leave the pen open so you can scoot as soon as he wakes. And I’ll let the others in here with you.” She picked up one of the rabbits and placed it on John Luke’s chest. Once it had sniffed him, others joined.
Iliana smiled and hurried to get the rabbits from the other two pens. She put them into the pen with John Luke and by the time she opened a section of the pen, he was covered with a living fur blanket.
Satisfied he would be fine until he woke, she got into the Jeep to head back to the Center. But when she cut a look back at him, she changed her mind. She couldn’t just leave him there, unconscious.
Damn. Iliana backed the Jeep up close to him and then set about getting the lift arm swung around and the harness on him.
It took a lot longer that it would have to get an animal transferred, but she managed to get him into the back of the Jeep and covered with the blanket. The rabbits had already scampered away. She would return in the morning to break down the pens. Right now, she needed to get John Luke back to the Center. She could hide him in one of the empty cages until he woke.
What the holy hell? She couldn’t ignore the utter strangeness of the situation. No sane person went running around barefoot and naked at night like that.
As she drove, she pondered what had happened. It didn’t make one bit of sense. She knew she saw the wolf. It saw her as well, looked right at her before she tranked it. She saw it collapse on the ground. It was a wolf. There was no way she mistook a man for a wolf. No way.
Iliana cut a look back over her shoulder and her foot slammed on the brake. What the hell? John Luke was gone. She looked around, gaze scanning over the landscape. There was no sign of him.
A tendril of fear had sweat breaking out on her skin. She was not crazy. He had been in the back of her Jeep. Naked. She had not imagined it.
Okay, just take it one step at a time. The analytical aspect of her nature took control. One: you trank a wolf and restrain it. Two: while you are moving the Jeep, the wolf turns into John Luke Legacy. Three: you load him into the Jeep and head for the Center. And four: he apparently wakes and jumps from the Jeep.
Five: that’s all just batshit crazy. People don’t turn into wolves, or wolves into people. The analytical part of her shut down and the part that was experiencing more than a hint of fear rushed to the forefront.
What the hell is going on?
Chapter Four
John Luke damn near jumped out of his skin at the ear-piercing scream that split the silence. He looked up and felt shock reverberate through him. A bald eagle swooped down not four feet over his head. As his horse danced in surprise, John Luke watched the eagle snatch up a fat rabbit from the ground twenty feet away and ascend into the sky.
That was definitely something he wasn’t accustomed to, but then he wasn’t entirely re-acclimated to living on a ranch. He’d been back in Texas for only a little over two months. A month ago, he’d agreed to take over running the family ranch so that his brother Logan James could move to his new place in Colorado.
Logan James had decided to back out of a lot of the family business. He was going to continue as CEO for the time being, but had turned over most of the day-to-day management to others.
John Luke was a bit like his older brother in that he had never been interested in the oil business, or business in general. He’d earned a law degree but had been recruited by the Department of Justice before he graduated, so the last twenty years he’d worked his way up to Special Agent and had been on track for being in the running for Assistant Director of his division.
Then the world turned upside down, and John Luke learned that his family wasn’t at all who he thought they were. Hell, he wasn’t who he thought he was. John Luke clicked his tongue and gave a gentle nudge with his heels to his horse. He let thoughts come and go at will as he made his way toward the camp he’d set up.
Logan James and their Uncle Elijah had spent the last month here on the ranch, trying to help John Luke get fully in touch with his shifter nature. He’d managed to master the shifting process but still felt uncomfortable about it. Men weren’t supposed to be able to turn into animals. It was an odd and not entirely pleasant experience, feeling your body contort, bones stretching or shortening, tendons and muscles following suit as organs were rearranged.
To be honest, it still freaked him out a little, but he was determined to overcome that. He had to get a handle on it so he wouldn’t screw up the way he had last night. What a fubar that had been.
Uncle Elijah had encouraged him to practice on his own at night when there was less chance of being spotted. That was why John Luke had decided to camp for a few days each week. His excuse to the people on the ranch was that he wanted to ride the boundary line and refamiliarize himself with the land.
Everyone seemed to buy the story, which was a relief and in truth, it wasn’t all a lie. John Luke did ride the land, remembering how to find his way around and rediscovering places he’d loved as a child.
For the past month, he’d stuck to his schedule and practiced shifting. At first, he stayed close to the main house. After all, you did lose your clothes when you changed. He didn’t want to get caught running around bare-assed.
After a couple of weeks, he thought he’d mastered it enough to try spending more than a few minutes in animal form. He started camping. This week he’d spent Saturday and Sunday in the forest. The first night he hadn’t encountered anyone or e
ven any animals. He’d chosen the form of a mountain lion and had marveled at the strength and agility of its form, not to mention its sense of smell and sight. John Luke had returned to his camp just before dawn, exhausted from his night’s travels but very happy with the experience.
Last night he’d decided to try the form of a wolf again. He was really starting to like that shape, and he’d gotten immersed in it, particularly when he smelled something that turned out to be rabbits. Only things had gone horribly wrong when he discovered three pens in the forest, filled with rabbits.
When the person with the tranquilizer gun showed up, John Luke’s initial reaction and eagerness to explain his presence had him temporarily oblivious to the fact that what that person saw was a wolf.
How the hell could you forget you were a wolf? It wasn’t the first time he’d asked himself that question. More like the hundred and tenth. Damn. Talk about embarrassing. Not to mention the anxiety that followed when he woke up in the back of a Jeep, bumping along the rough terrain.
Fuck. To make things worse, he’d shifted back into human form when he awoke. One inhale and he’d known who was driving. Iliana James. Damn. That had propelled him out of the Jeep without a thought for anything but escape.
She had to have recognized him. Acid bubbled in his belly at the thought. Damn it all; life was a lot easier when he didn’t know about his true nature. He almost wished he hadn’t let Logan James talk him into discontinuing the drops their mother made for him.
A soft scoff escaped his lips. Hay allergies? Why the hell had any of them ever fallen for that?
Because she’s your mother and you thought she loved you above all else.
John Luke shoved thoughts of his mother aside. He couldn’t walk that path. Not yet. The pain of betrayal was still too fresh. Right now, he had to learn to control his abilities and to come to terms with what and who he was.
The days of being an agent with the Bureau were over. Now, he was a rancher. He’d learn to be happy with that and with being a Shifter.
He had to. Being what he was had cost him a career he loved. Well, to be honest, he had given it up, but he’d done it because he’d feared that somehow his…situation would be discovered and he would be accused of trying to cover it up.
And John Luke was pretty sure that being “outed” as one of the Seven, as humans were calling the preternatural race of beings, was not going to be a plus in the beginning. If ever.
The only positive about any of it was that his ex-wife, Sasha, and their son, Michael, lived in Houston, which was only a few hours away. John Luke would be able to spend a lot more time with Michael now, and that meant a lot to him.
Without letting on why he was asking, he’d questioned Sasha about Michael—his behavior, health, friends, and habits. She hadn’t found his questions odd. John Luke had always taken as active a role as he could in Michael’s life, so she didn’t suspect that the real reason for the questions was to discover if Michael had displayed any Shifter traits.
He’d talked with Michael as well and between what his son and ex-wife said, John Luke felt certain that Michael either had not inherited that from John Luke’s side of the family or had not yet reached an age for the abilities to manifest. He’d talked to his father about it, and Uncle Elijah, and they agreed that if Michael was going to Shift, he’d have done so by now.
At least there was something good that had come from this. His son would never have to face dealing with this and John Luke could be more of a presence in his life. It wasn’t enough for him to consider himself happy, or even content, but he’d find his way there. After all, he was a Legacy, and their motto had always been, “I may give out, but I never give up.”
John Luke would just have to hold onto that and try to figure out what to do about going on his upcoming date with Iliana James. What did a man do after a woman had seen him change from a wolf to a man?
Shit on a stick.
Chapter Five
“What do you mean, you’re pulling the report?” Iliana leaned closer to the monitor. “We spent almost a year on that study.”
Londal Purtm smiled at her over the video chat link. “I’m sorry, Dr. James, but you can’t publish or publicize without approval.”
“Approval from whom?”
“Me.”
“Then approve it. Our team did good work, and you know it. Our findings are solid and verifiable. The public has a right to know the effect those spills are having on wildlife and the environment.”
The smug look she received made her want to reach through the monitor and smack the man on the other end of the video conference. She’d disliked him at first glance. Pompous, arrogant, and possessed of the mistaken idea that he was better and smarter than everyone else, Mr. Purtm had been named Director last year. Iliana would as soon eat used cat litter as deal with the man, but she had no choice.
“I don’t believe your data stand up to the test, Dr. James.” The emphasis he put on the word doctor made it sound distinctly like he discounted her credentials. That irked her, but she could let it pass. What she couldn’t tolerate was him denying the data.
“I beg to differ, Mr. Purtm. The data are solid.”
“Differ all you want, doctor, but I have the final word and I say the report is flawed. I suggest you turn your attention to your current assignment and let those who have a broader grasp of things handle the big decisions.”
It took all her willpower not to respond to him with hateful words. “And besides,” he continued. “You have plenty on your plate keeping the Center in good shape for your sugar daddy.”
“My…” Iliana couldn’t even get her mouth to form words for the rage that ripped through her.
She literally felt energy sizzle through her body like an electrical current running through a grid and energizing it. The monitor blinked; colored lines shot across it in wavy lines, and the speakers connected to the computer buzzed and popped.
She scooted back from the monitor, watching Purtm’s image distort, twist, and warp as his voice cut in and out.
Wasting no more time, she snatched up a pencil from the desk and used it to press the power button on the computer. The monitor screen went black, and Iliana jumped up and raced out of the office and the front door.
The moment she stepped outside, the energy peaked, literally lifting her body off the ground and bowing it back. Her arms and head jerked back and her mouth opened in a silent scream. Light poured from her open mouth in colors of a rainbow, jettisoned into the sky where it danced and swirled like a nebula.
Once depleted, she fell, hitting the ground in a heap. Overhead, the energy continued to swirl and frolic. Iliana lay on the ground watching and regaining her strength. This wasn’t the first time she’d had what she called “an episode,” but it had been awhile since her last one.
She shouldn’t be surprised that it had happened. Putting up with Director Purtm was challenging, to say the least and until being assigned here, she’d had to put up with him on a weekly basis. There was a lot of built-up stress and anger from that, and she supposed today, or maybe the events of last night, was just the last crack in the dam.
Last night. A vision of John Luke naked flashed in her mind. She forcibly shoved the thoughts away. They’d plagued her enough while she tried to sleep. She told herself it was not just silly, but pathetic to have lusty thoughts about some crazy man who ran around the woods naked. And yet, the thoughts came.
Gritting her teeth, she forced her thoughts to matters at hand. Namely, getting this Center running on track and proving that she was up to the task. She still could barely believe her good luck.
Purtm had turned her down for a position she wanted in West Texas, doing research on the effects of fracking on bacteria in the water supply and how that was affecting wildlife. Cotton Creek had a large fracking operation that bordered public lands and she’d put in a proposal.
It was a slap in the face that her proposal was approved but given to someone else.
She’d been furious and had confronted Purtm. He threatened to fire her.
Thank her lucky stars that Senator Legacy had funded this Wildlife Center and asked for her to run it. She was more grateful than she could express, and a bit mystified. Why had he chosen her? Sure, she was qualified, but so were a lot of other people. And it wasn’t as if she’d ever met the man, despite Purtm’s suggested insult.
The energy above her faded and Iliana pushed herself up, just then becoming aware of the sounds from the animals. They were afraid and for that, she felt guilty. The energy scared them. She knew it put off a sound, but at a frequency only animals could hear, and it could be painful to them.
She hoped she hadn’t hurt any of them and hurried to check. As she did, her thoughts turned to the mystery of the wolf and John Luke the previous night. She knew she’d seen a wolf and had tranquilized it. Knew it. She’d even restrained it. And then…
Then what? It turned into John Luke Legacy?
On her way into the barn where a baby deer with a broken leg bleated in fear, she stopped dead in her tracks. That wasn’t possible. Was it?
All at once, things the Gran’s stories came rushing back into her head, and she felt herself suddenly break into a sweat. She’d always chalked Grandma Oma’s stories up to a vivid imagination and maybe a bit of senility. Heck, Gran was old when she took Iliana into her home.
Iliana had loved her like a mother and still grieved at her passing, but until now had never given much weight to her tales.
Maybe that had been a mistake.
Chapter Six
John Luke felt a swell of pride as the horse responded. He’d been working with the animal for over a week, and until today, the horse had seemed determined to be as uncooperative as possible.
He did have to consider that maybe he was as much of the problem as the horse. It had been a long time since he’d worked with horses and he’d be the first to admit that he was rusty. But it was coming back and the more it did, the more he remembered why he had loved growing up here.
