Circle of Wolves

by Jacqueline Roth

  She put her arms around her father’s neck and hugged him tight. He patted her back. She broke away to leave and he stopped her. “One minute dear. This came for your friend.” He held out an envelope made of strange yellowed paper like the ones in the ancient texts hidden away in her library. “Scared the life out of your mother. A small flame erupted from an unlit candle at the breakfast table and dropped onto the tablecloth. It flared up suddenly and died out just as quickly. This was left behind.”

  She frowned at it but shrugged. “They are a strange lot, mages.”

  “They are indeed,” her father replied.

  * * * * *

  She exited the garden and headed down toward the lake. She stood on the near side and watched the two men on the far side of the pool of clear blue. It was mid-August and both men had shed shirts and were wet with perspiration. She watched her brother’s barrel-broad chest and powerful biceps flex as he lifted the end of a large log. Evan had his back to her and his back muscles strained as he used his legs to lift his end. She smiled at them. Alexi was a bear. He was also somewhat evil working the slighter Evan as hard as he worked himself. The wolf inside him would not be enough to compensate for the differences. The younger man would feel the consequences of this later.

  Devilment toyed with her mind as the pair turned to add the log to those already stacked and forming the base of the bonfire that would consume them in only a couple of days. She watched the pectoral muscles and biceps contract. Even his abs tightened, his sweat adding definition as he shifted the weight to lift it to the top of the pile. Her body flushed and something jerked tight in the pit of her stomach. That something that made her think about how those muscles would feel under her hands. His lips on hers, his hand on her shoulder, the tender touches these past days had reawakened something in her she’d thought was long dead.

  Relieved of the load, he wiped the back of his arm across his forehead. She could see the darkened outline around his face that told of the wet tendrils of hair that clung to his face and neck. She saw him draw a deep breath as he turned to follow Alexi back to where they had piled the brush to be used as tinder and kindling. He stopped suddenly and turned to look directly at her. She let her smile widen. Good boy, she thought. He was learning.

  Evan grinned at her. It had taken him only an instant to recognize an all too familiar and sought-for scent on the wind blowing toward him. She was upwind and standing on the far side of the lake, a narrow but long strip of water. Her hand rose in a wave and she began to make the trek around the lake. He fought the urge to tell her to stop and simply swim the distance between them. I’ve got it bad, he mocked himself, real bad.

  “Evan, it will take her a few minutes to walk that lake, give me a hand and we can have the rest of this in place by the time she gets here.” Alexi was standing next to the pile of brush.

  He turned, grin still on his face and headed toward his new friend. He bent over and gathered several small limbs in his arms. He stood to see Alexi standing, arms filled with a similar load, smiling at him. “You’ve got it bad, my little friend.”

  Evan’s eyes widened. “What?” It wasn’t that Alexi noticed but that he had effectively echoed Evan’s exact thoughts.

  Alexi nodded to the figure moving toward them. “Bad, my friend, you’ve got it bad. But under the circumstances I’d say that isn’t such a bad thing.” Alexi moved to step away and Evan fell in step beside him.

  “It’s been six days. You don’t ‘get it bad’ in six days.” Or rather, she wouldn’t be so stupid and hasty, Evan added to himself.

  “You’re thinking like a human again. You’re not human and neither is she.” Alexi dropped his stack and knelt down and began to push the smaller bits of wood between larger logs.

  Ignoring the comment that was obviously a losing battle with the older man, Evan knelt down opposite and mirrored his movements. “Has she said something to you?”

  Alexi chuckled. “No, Evan but I’ll pass her a note at dinner for you if you like.”

  Evan groaned. “You’re not funny.”

  Alexi’s smile remained in place, if anything it broadened. “Yes I am. And more importantly, I know my sister. Come on, at her age do you really think she wouldn’t recognize this? It would take someone just shy of their first moon running to miss it.”

  “How old is she?” Evan hoped the question sounded casual.

  “A youngster really, just a shade over two hundred.” Alexi looked up at him. No sound came from him but his shoulders shook with laughter.

  “Smart ass,” Evan muttered.

  They finished the task in silence except for Alexi’s occasional mysterious chuckles every time he caught Evan looking up to check her progress. They were standing back examining their work when she arrived. She had been upwind of him earlier and now was catching the full effect of his scent. Yes, he’d be feeling this later. Maybe she could find a way to help with that. She felt her skin heat at the thought and smiled. Stop it, she admonished herself. When he hears what I have to tell him it’s possible that cerieshe or not, he’ll be out of here so fast he won’t even leave tracks. But damn he looked good.

  “I have something for you. It arrived this morning, according to Father.” Kira added the last for Alexi’s benefit.

  Evan looked hesitantly at the envelope and reached for it slowly. Recognizing the messy hand he tore it open and read quickly. The siblings watched as the words on the paper brought a sweeping joy to the face reading them and finally as a whoop tore from the throat. The cry startled them both as it greatly resembled the howl of a young wolf.

  Evan reread the paper again, then again. He turned to them, beaming with happiness. “She’s had the baby. She’s had the baby, a boy.” He ran his hand over his face, his voice rushed as if he couldn’t contain the happiness the words generated inside him. “Well, we knew it would be a boy but he’s arrived and she’s come through well.” His head tipped skyward and he closed his eyes, his joy radiating from him. A breathy “Yes!” escaped his lips.

  Kira stepped back from him. How could she have been so mistaken? She had seen a man react like this before, Alexi the day his eldest child was born. Alexi the days all his children were born. She stepped back again.

  Alexi stared at Evan wide-eyed. How could he have been so wrong? God, what had he done to her? Was this why Evan had been fighting against the attraction he so obviously felt for her? Was this why? It hadn’t occurred to him that it would be more than Evan’s human hesitancy that was holding him back. He’d been so sure that Evan had finally surrendered. He was standing here, wasn’t he? He’d agreed to help with the hunt. He turned to look at his sister. Her face had that closed-door look she got when she wanted to cut and run but knew she couldn’t, that formal, calm, Lady of the Manor look that chilled him to his core. God, he’d done it to her again.

  “Congratulations, Evan,” he muttered. “You should have told us. We wouldn’t have kept you so long.”

  Evan lowered his head to the paper again and shook it. “It’s all right Alexi, I…” He had turned and caught sight of the two faces looking at him. Alexi looked deeply saddened and Evan caught the impression of something else. Guilt? But it was Kira’s face that stopped him. She looked as she had the first time he had seen her. Chin up, the Princess Royal, the Miss Gregoravitch look was back. It was gentle and even kind but distant. She was upset. He was aware of noticing the signs in both her body and her scent. Even beyond that some part of her screamed out her distress to him.

  “We’re happy for you, Evan. What will you call him?” Her legs began to shake. She moved over and sat down on one of the larger logs that had been positioned like benches around the fire. Taking a deep breath she forced her breathing to slow and her heart rate to calm. She’d jumped to conclusions. She was a damned fool.

  “Ryder. It was decided he’d be Ryder for his grandfather. It’s also his mother’s maiden name.” He turned to look at Alexi imploringly. He was missing something and he was certain
the big man could explain it. But his friend wouldn’t meet his eye. It was as if he couldn’t bear to look at him.

  “That’s a nice name. Is it common among humans?” Her voice was strangely stilted. She forced herself to say the word. Humans. She’d been an idiot to underestimate his ties to them.

  “No, but it’s not going to get him beaten up on the playground either. Kira? Something’s wrong. What is it?” He took a step toward her.

  Ice seemed to fill her veins even as she fought to keep the flame of embarrassment from burning her face. The Fates were toying with her again. She’d not have been wrong, she knew that. He was cerieshe, her destined mate. They were that rarest of things, soul-mated. But that didn’t rule out his already having a mate. With a blood Wolf it would have been instantly obvious. His scent would have changed to bear the mark of mating. With a human mate this did not happen, she knew that. How could she have forgotten? This must be why he made no declaration, why he had not pressed the attraction between them. He was already mated. “I think perhaps it’s time we sent you back to your world. Alexi is right, we’ve kept you too long. It’s time you went back to your family.” She rose. “I’ve already spoken to Father. He’s in agreement. We will help you. Just have your Alpha let us know what he needs of us. Father will send an emissary of his own to negotiate the details.”

  She turned to walk away and stopped. She couldn’t leave it like this. She had promised him answers to his questions. She had given her father her word that she would tell him the truth. She turned back but didn’t look at him. “Before you leave I do need a couple hours of your time. There are things I need to tell you, I promised you answers.”

  “Kira?” There was such confusion in the voice, in the air she was breathing. She looked up at him.

  “What happened? What is this?” Evan looked from one to the other.

  Alexi placed his hand on his shoulder. “We’re sorry, Evan. We’ve been enjoying having you here. We didn’t realize. Kira’s right, a father needs to be with his son. Get packed. We’ll get you home as fast as we can.”

  “His son?” He looked not at Alexi but at Kira. Realization dawned slowly. His son.

  Neither Wolf understood what was happening. Why was he so puzzled? What was it he didn’t understand? Did he not want to go back to this family? Was his mating an unhappy one? It made no sense.

  Evan covered the distance between himself and Kira in short order. He reached out and laid his hand on her arm. “Kira, I have no son. I have no wife. I left no one behind who can claim me in that way.”

  It was her turn to be confused. “But your letter?”

  He smiled and placed his free hand on her other arm, turning her to face him fully. “My friend Sethlin. His wife, Arianna, gave birth to their son Ryder yesterday. Kira, had I had a wife that close to giving birth I would not be here.”

  He was telling her the truth, she knew this instinctively but her mind couldn’t accept it. “But you were so happy. You howled, Evan.”

  His eyes opened wide. “I did? I guess I did. You have to understand, Kira, this child is so important for so many reasons. He’s the son of my best friends, people who have been like family to me since I was a boy. They’ve thought for some time now they wouldn’t be able to have a child. Seth’s accident and Ari has had such a hard time carrying to term when they could conceive. The doctors have been preparing Seth and Ari for weeks now for the possibility the child wouldn’t survive being born or could be stillborn. There was even a possibility she might not survive. If you knew Ari, how much she wants children… That’s why I’m happy. The boy’s born, he’s safe and so are his parents.”

  She stood there, her eyes not meeting his but seeming to focus on a spot at the base of his throat. A faint white scar marred by what looked like two large puncture wounds ran down across one shoulder. That scar had changed everything about his world. That scar had shattered her world. That scar haunted Alexi’s nightmares. A piece of her registered his words but at the same time the enormity of what was yet to come suffocated any relief she might have felt. His words broke her focus. “Kira, are you hearing me?”

  “Yes, Evan. I hear you.” She looked up at him, her eyes still filled with sorrow. Her mind finally grasped the bit of memory that poked at her. His friend Ari who had tied his tie at her wedding. “The baby is not your son. He’s the son of friends.”

  Evan moved one hand up to touch the side of her face. “Kira, I wouldn’t have acted to you the way I’ve acted if I had someone at home waiting for me.”

  “I know. I do know that.” She smiled at him. Ignoring Alexi’s presence still, he leaned toward her. She knew he would kiss her and she wanted him to. But this couldn’t happen. Her heart sang that he was free, that his heart was not claimed. But what lay between them all spilled its poison into her heart and drowned out the song.

  His lips had just brushed hers when she stepped back. His confusion and a bit of anger showed on his face. “What hasn’t changed is that we need to get you home. We’d like it if you stayed for the hunt, especially now that you’ve helped with the hard part. But we have no claim to hold you here. The decision has been made, now we must get you home.”

  He watched her face. She was holding something back from him. There was something that she was afraid to tell him. Something she didn’t want to tell him. Something so fearful that it had made her back away from his kiss. A kiss the roaring inside him told him she wanted too.

  Her hand strayed down his chest and she felt the shudder that ran through him. She wasn’t sure why she did it, only that she had wanted to and so she did. “I’ll meet you after dinner, Evan. Do you remember the stairs that led out to the garden?”

  He simply nodded.

  “Good. Take them all the way down to the bottom. I’ll be waiting. Around eight.” She turned and walked away leaving behind her a trail of sadness, fear and regret.

  He turned to look at Alexi. The man smiled at him but the smile did not reach his eyes. “She has her reasons, Evan. We all have our reasons. You’ll understand once tonight passes. You’ll understand more than any of us really wants you to.”

  Circle of Wolves

  Chapter Ten

  The Archivist

  Evan flinched as he poured the antiseptic over the small puncture wounds on his hand. “Just reach in and grab it, Evan,” he mocked. “Damned idiot.” After Kira had left them, Alexi had distracted him by having him help check the traps he had set in the middle of the night, as soon as his wife told him about the need for the hunt.

  “Why now?” Evan had asked Alexi as they retraced the other man’s steps. “How did you come to set this as the time for the hunt?”

  Alexi gave him that surprised and irritated look he reserved for moments when Evan asked something that even a child in their world should know the answer to. “Give me a break, Alexi,” he had sighed, “just answer the question.”

  “She had her first transformation. Last night we were awakened, my wife Sonya and I, by the cry of a strange wolf. We found Katerina in her room. She’s a beautiful Wolf, Evan, a lovely gray just like her mother. It seems to have been triggered by a nightmare. That is often the case, a nightmare or a tantrum of some sort. High emotions at the right time push the body into its first transformation.” Alexi beamed with pride.

  “And the hunt must take place on the first full moon following the transformation?” Evan guessed.

  “Correct.” Alexi’s pride and pleasure in the forthcoming event were obvious. He was swaggering a bit more than usual, his head held high and his chest puffed out. Evan smiled at him. He must be an interesting man to have for a father.

  The usual sadness at thoughts like this settled over Evan. He had resigned himself to the fact that he would simply never have that kind of life long before most men had even begun to consider such things. It was fine for Seth, fine for Alexi. They had a welcome place and world into which they and the women they had married could bring a child. People would gather to them, p
eople would rejoice with them over the coming joys and support them through the trials and sorrows of parenthood.

  He shuddered to think what reactions would be to his becoming a father. As much as they loved and respected one another, as much as they kept telling him to find a nice girl and stop worrying about “the whole werewolf thing”, Seth and even Marcus, would have serious reservations. Ari would try to smile and be happy for him but she’d be fearful for the child.

  The whole werewolf thing. That’s how they put it. Words that had formerly seemed so comfortingly dismissive now sat badly with Evan. They said that they accepted him despite what he was. Evan was no longer sure that was enough. Being here was changing something inside him. The beast he’d feared and fought didn’t seem so terrifying. In fact, it seemed a huge help. If he listened to that part of himself, he found he was making the right choices. The very thing he’d learned to fear was fast becoming his greatest asset.

  Evan wrapped the wound with clean bandages he had found in the bathroom. When Alexi’s younger son Johannes, named for his Scandinavian grandfather—the leader of a small Family—had his hunt Alexi could damn well reach in after the fox himself. Evan’s hand paused in mid-motion. When Alexi’s younger… What was he thinking? He’d not be here for that. He’d be going home soon and leaving this world behind. He had what he came for. They would help. With Gregoravitch behind them, the rest of the packs, or Families, would fall into place. They were loyal to the man. He’d be going back to his own world. Back to a place where things made sense and they did make sense. Right?

  Evan sat down on the edge of the bathtub. When Alexi’s younger son… He had met the boy that morning, a sandy-haired bulldozer of child whose stocky body plowed its way through the garden to fling himself at his father. He had met most of Alexi’s family that morning after he’d agreed to help. Fair and lovely Sonya, she had been radiant as she sat patiently while Alexi wrestled with their three-year-old son. In her thickly accented English she had welcomed Evan and thanked him for helping with the coming event. She had even kissed his cheek and told him she was pleased he had decided to be present.