by Marla Monroe
“Easy, princess. That’s what you are, Kay, our princess. Let me help you with your clothes. You said you were hot, didn’t you?” Cain’s voice sounded almost like a croon to her. She relaxed and let it wash over her strained nerves.
The brush of cooler air across her chest did wonders to bring some of the awful burning down a bit. When she felt more of the delicious chill across her thighs, Kay began to regain some of her wits. She sighed and opened her eyes once she realized she’d closed them to begin with.
“Hey there, beautiful. How are you feeling now?” Cain asked, cocking his head to the side.
Kay lost herself in his gaze for a few seconds then looked around. She was in a rather large bedroom done up in golds, oranges, and chocolates. It felt wonderful to lie there on the comfy bed with Cain lying right next to her. She looked down their bodies to find that he was fully dressed and she was in nothing but her underwear. Why did that seem odd to her?
“I’m okay, but I’m not dressed and you are,” she told him.
“Ah, yes. That would seem to be a bit of a problem, but until Shade gets up here, I think we’re fine like we are. How is the burning? Better?” he asked.
Kay thought about it and nodded. “Sure. Just some tingles now. Thanks.”
“Do you remember how you got here?” Cain asked her.
“My car. I drove here.”
“Good. Do you remember where you were before you drove here?”
“Of course. I went shopping in Springfield and you showed up. Did you enjoy shopping today, Cain?” she asked, trying to focus on the man. For some reason he seemed to jump around.
“I enjoyed spending time with you, princess.”
Kay felt as if she were drifting. The heat receded and she no longer felt as if her skin would crawl off her body. As she opened her eyes again, everything looked normal. The fuzzy red haze was gone. How long had she been lying there drifting like that? Cain and Shade must think she was crazy, a real flake to have suddenly developed a case of the hives.
“I feel better now.” She started to sit up and gasped. “Where are my clothes?”
Cain sighed. “They’re over there on the dresser. You were burning up and tearing at them. I didn’t think you’d want to mess up that pretty blouse you were wearing.”
Kay struggled to remain calm. Something still wasn’t right. She pulled the covers down to cover her and scooted to the middle of the bed. How had she gotten there to begin with? The last thing she could clearly remember was driving up the long drive and stopping in front of a huge mansion. Then things seemed a little weird after that.
“Easy, Kay. No one is going to hurt you, princess.” Cain took a step away from the bed.
“What’s going on?” Shade walked in, looking harried. His hair was all askew even as he ran a hand over the back of his head.
“Why am I naked? What is going on?” Kay demanded again.
“We need to talk, Kay. I’m afraid if you put your clothes back on you’re going to get overheated again with both Cain and I in the same room with you,” Shade told her.
“Are you kidding me? You think that the two of you are just so sexy I won’t be able to control myself?” Kay wanted to laugh, but something tickled her memory telling her she better not.
“Look, wrap the sheet around you and let’s talk. Some of this is going to be hard to explain,” Shade said.
Kay wanted out of there. She figured the only way she was going to get to go anywhere was to let them have their say. So far they hadn’t hurt her. At least she was pretty sure they hadn’t. As she pulled the sheet free of the covers and wrapped it around her torso, she watched them from the corner of her eye. They didn’t make any attempt to jump her or move closer.
“Okay. What did you want to talk about?” she asked in her most rational voice.
“First of all, you need to know that Shade and I are wolfen. We are a magical species that can change back and forth from man to wolf.”
“A werewolf? Are you kidding me?” She couldn’t help the laugh that broke through her control. “There are no such things as werewolves.”
“No,” Cain said. “We’re not werewolves. We’re wolfen. We are the descendants of a vampire who was cursed to become a wolf—only due to his vampire heritage, we didn’t just become the beast, we gained the ability to change at will when it suits us.”
“Vampires? You’re saying a vampire was cursed to become a wolf. I—I think you need help, guys. There are no such things as vampires or were—um I mean wolfen.” Kay wanted out of there but was afraid to try to run for the door. Not only did she not have her clothes, but she still felt a little off.
“We’ll show you, princess,” Cain said.
“Why do you keep calling me that?” she demanded. “What are you doing?”
Cain had stepped back and was undressing right in front of her. He smiled but continued pulling off his clothes, folding them neatly, and setting them next to hers on the dresser. If it wasn’t all so surreal to her, it would be funny.
“Cain is going to prove to you that we are who we say we are by changing to his wolf, Kay.” Shade took a step closer to her but stopped when she shook her head and scooted over on the bed.
“Remember,” Cain said as he stood before her without a stitch of clothes covering his amazing body. “It’s still me. Don’t be afraid. I would never hurt you.”
“What?” she started to ask but stopped when the air around Cain seemed to shimmer as he went to his knees and slowly turned into something else right before her eyes.
Her heart pounded so loudly that she couldn’t hear around it. It was as if the air had become thin and no amount of gasping could help her get enough to keep going. When Shade suddenly appeared in front of her, saying something that she couldn’t understand, Kay fought to pull away from him. Why was he just standing there when there was a wolf right there in the room with them?
“Kay! Listen to me.” The beat of her heart slowed and softened so that she could hear him now. “It’s just Cain. We told you that we could change into wolves at will. That’s what he did.”
“Both of you can?” she asked with a squeak breaking through.
“Yes. Both of us. Please don’t be afraid of us, darling. We would never hurt you. You are the most important person in our lives now. You’re our mate,” Shade told her.
Before she could answer that, a cold, wet nose brushed her shoulder. She jerked her head to the side to find the huge red wolf lying on the bed next to her. Even lying down, his head topped hers. He was enormous, much like the man himself.
She blinked at him. Was she really going to believe that the wolf next to her was Cain? There had to be some sort of trick, but she’d seen him change. It wasn’t a sleight of hand type thing. She’d seen him fall to his knees, and despite the shimmery air around him, Kay had seen his body reshape and fur emerge from his skin to cover him. Thankfully the fur had covered the majority of the reshaping part. It looked painful and a tad gross.
Oh, God! I’m really going to believe them. I know what I saw, and I’ve never been one to try and deceive others, much less myself. But how? How can they do it?
She slowly lifted her hand to reach over and touch the wolf, but hesitated when his ears twitched.
“Stop that, Cain. You’re scaring her. Be still so she can touch you,” Shade told the wolf.
“It’s really Cain?” She slowly brushed her fingers across the soft fur at his neck.
“It’s really him. Rub him, Kay. He would love to feel your hands on his neck and under his chin.” Shade stepped back to give her more room to move.
It took a lot of faith that they were telling her the truth and they wouldn’t hurt her, but she reached out with both hands and sank her fingers into Cain’s fur to reach the skin beneath. Then she slowly scratched, lightly at first, then a little harder when the animal seemed to moan and lean into her hands.
“He likes it,” she said needlessly.
“He likes it becaus
e it’s your hands touching him. We’re a very social animal and need touch even more than humans seem to, especially the touch of our mates,” Shade said.
“Mates? You said I was your mate. Are you saying you want me?” she asked, almost afraid of the answer.
Kay wasn’t fooling herself. She knew exactly what they were talking about. If werewolves—wolfen—were real then maybe some of the erotic romances about wolves and cats and mates were real, as well. That meant that they wanted to make her their bride of sorts. God! Would they turn her into one of them? She didn’t want to be a wolf. She had to be able to work, even on the full moon. She still owed thousands of dollars.
“Easy, Kay,” Shade whispered. “What are you thinking? Your breathing got a lot faster, and your heart is racing. Calm down and let’s talk about it.”
“I don’t want to turn furry every full moon. I have a job and I can’t lose it,” she said, racing through her words because she was afraid she wouldn’t be able to get them out at all if she didn’t.
“You aren’t going to turn furry, Kay. Wolfen are born. Biting someone won’t turn them into one either. And we don’t have to turn into the wolf on full moons. That’s an old wives’ tale,” Shade explained.
Kay relaxed a bit at hearing she wouldn’t have to go through some horrible change. Shade was still on edge though. There had to be more to this than what he’d told her. Otherwise he would have relaxed by now. Right?
“What else is there?” she asked.
“Can Cain change back now? I’d like him to be able to talk, too.” Shade nodded at the wolf, who was panting with his eyes closed as Kay continued to scratch behind his ears.
“Oh, sure, but I think he was enjoying that,” she said with a nervous laugh.
“I’m sure he was. We love that. Come on, Cain,” Shade told the wolf.
As Kay watched, the wolf turned into Cain again along with the whole shimmering air and morphing body parts. She turned away this time. It just looked so painful to her.
“Are you okay with us being wolfen now?” Cain asked her.
“I believe you, if that’s what you mean. Okay that you turn into a wolf, not so much. Maybe it will grow on me,” she told them.
“Fair enough,” Shade said. “Do you understand what I meant when I said you were our mate?”
“I—I think so. It’s like being married only more permanent and all.”
“That’s right. Once mates are joined, there is no divorce. Wolfen who get tired of waiting on a mate might join up for companionship and may even produce pups, but if their mate comes along, they always go to their mate. It’s understood between the two wolves before they ever start living together.” Cain smiled at her. “We chose to wait for the mate meant for us alone. We knew you were out there and we’d find you one day.”
“What happens if we decide not to, um, become mates?” she asked.
The sudden change in Shade frightened her. He stepped back, his face shutting down of all emotion even as his eyes darkened. It seemed like the very air grew thick with despair. What was going on?
“Shade! Stop it. She’s just asking. She hasn’t refused us,” Cain said. He turned to Kay. “You aren’t refusing us, are you?”
“I just wanted to know what happened. I need to know everything to understand what this means to me. You already know everything. It’s not new to you, but I didn’t even know you existed until now,” she argued.
“You’re right,” Shade finally said as his face softened a bit. There were still lines at his mouth and near his eyes. They were stress lines that she hadn’t remembered seeing before.
“It’s unheard of, but I do know that if a mate loses his chosen before they join forever, he will slowly grieve himself to death. They have been known to exist for years in a sort of limbo, not exactly alive, but not dead either,” Shade explained to her. “It’s a terrible way to exist.”
“It sounds like it.” That didn’t help her figure out what to do. Instead, it softened her toward what Shade and Cain might go through if she walked away.
What would be necessary to make them mates for real? Did they have to bite her? She thought she remembered something about biting from earlier, but couldn’t be sure. Were there more of them? Would they expect her to live with them? Did they all live in the same house? That would be kind of weird. She was used to walking around in her underclothes, and if there were others in the same house, that would be impossible.
No matter what she decided to do, her life had already changed and nothing would ever be the same again. If she refused them, would they kill her? Lock her up so she couldn’t tell their secret? Kay didn’t know the answers and was almost too afraid of them to ask.
“Talk to us, Kay. What do you want to know?” Shade asked, kneeling in front of her. “We only want to make you happy so you’ll be ours. Just tell us what you want to know.”
“Will I have wolf puppies if I get pregnant?”
Chapter Seven
Wolf puppies? Cain had to fight to keep from laughing. Of all the things he’d expected her to ask, that wasn’t even on the list—at least not the first list. Kay was a woman unto herself, unique in so many ways.
“No, precious. No wolf puppies in your future. Our offspring are born human and are not able to change until they reach puberty. The hormone surges that even humans get during that time bring on the change. It’s a very difficult and dangerous time for our children,” Shade explained.
Cain wanted to tease her and tell her that most births were twins if not triplets, but he didn’t want to scare her off when they were making headway. At least he hoped they were. She wasn’t screaming bloody murder and trying to run away yet. Of course, the fact that she was almost completely nude and they were so close to her might have been a deterrent for that.
“A—are there male and female wolves? You said you don’t make them, that they have to be born that way. Why don’t you mate with another wolf instead of me, a human?”
“It is very rare for a female to be born to us. We don’t know why, except that maybe the male gene is just too strong. We’ve always mated with human females. There were a few who mated with vampires in the old world, but it rarely happens anymore. Their offspring aren’t always, um, sane,” Shane told her.
“You were telling the truth then. There really are vampires, too.” Kay squeezed her eyes shut and seemed to be counting. Then she opened them again and shook her head. “I’m not dreaming, am I?”
“No, princess. You’re awake and everything is going to be fine,” Cain told her with a smile.
“What happens if I become your mate?” she asked, staring hard at Shade.
“When, darling, not if.” Shade stared at him. “We claim you.”
“But what does that mean? Do we have some sort of ceremony under a full moon? What happens for me to be your mate?” Kay seemed to already have figured out part of it, but she was fighting that knowledge.
“We make love together, princess. While we are loving you, we bite you, one on each shoulder. Our saliva mixes with your blood, and we are bound for life to one another,” Cain told her.
“What?” Kay squealed. “You’re serious. You think you’re going to bite me? That’s so unsanitary.”
“Cain. Couldn’t you have explained it better than that?” Shade asked. “Kay. Our saliva won’t hurt you. It actually helps you.”
“How can it help me? The human mouth is full of germs,” she argued.
Cain noticed how she’d moved a little farther away from them every chance she got. She was getting closer to the other end of the bed, and the bathroom was near her. He walked around Shade and sat on that side of the bed to cut off her escape. If she really wanted to leave after they’d made sure she truly understood everything, then he would let her go. He might have to fight his bondmate over it, but he refused to force someone to be with them. It might have been the old way, but it wasn’t his.
“It wouldn’t be a human bite, Kay. We’d bite you wit
h our wolfen teeth,” Shade told her.
“What? You’re going to change into a wolf and bite me? Not no, but hell no you’re not!” She started to lunge for the bathroom but noticed that Cain had countered her move.
“Calm down, Kay. You’re not listening to everything,” Cain tried to explain. “We don’t change in the middle like that. Just our mouths change so we can mark you with our bite and our saliva.”
“Kay, there are healing qualities in our saliva that will help you heal faster and protect you from most diseases humans are susceptible to, like the flu and pneumonia,” Shade told her.
“And it increases your life span to equal ours,” Cain added.
“Life span? What do you mean? Are you telling me that you live longer than humans do? How is that even possible?” Kay asked.
“Vampires are immortal for the most part,” Cain began. “Or at least to the best of our knowledge they are. The oldest one I’ve actually heard of is Bastian who is nearly two thousand years old. He mostly keeps to himself now. There are far fewer of them than there once were because they don’t indiscriminately make new ones as they used to do.”
Shade held up his hand, and Cain stopped. “She’s spacing out on us. Stick to the wolfen for now. She can always ask more questions later.”
“Right. Kay. Look at me, princess. Are you with me?” Cain asked. Her eyes slowly refocused until she stared back at him and nodded.
“Sorry. I—I’m trying to get it.”
“I know. Everything you’ve always believed about the world has changed and it’s a bit overwhelming. As far as I know, our life span is on average two hundred years. There are some who have lived to be nearly three hundred, but it’s not a normal occurrence.”
“So if you bite me, it transfers some sort of antibody or enzyme into my blood that keeps me from getting sick and makes me live longer. Is that it?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“That’s the basics, yes,” Cain said. He didn’t like the paleness of her skin. He wanted to hold her and tell her that everything would be fine.
