Changeling Dawn

by Dani Harper

  “As he ate, the strangers told him that his snowshoes were much too narrow but he would be able to run fast on top of the snow if he made snowshoes like theirs. They showed him very carefully just how to make them. Then they told him that he could have all the caribou they had killed so the Tahltan people would live.

  “Xe’nda fell asleep and when he awoke, all the strangers were gone. There was no sign of any fire, but the dead caribou were still there. To his surprise, all of the caribou had been killed by wolves. He looked for snowshoe tracks but found only wolf tracks. Then he understood that he had been helped by the Wolf People.

  “Xe’nda went back and told the hunters to fetch all the meat. The Tahltan people were saved, and from that time on, they all made their snowshoes the way that Xe’nda taught them, just as the wolves had showed him.”

  He looked at Kenzie for her reaction and found her frozen in place, staring at something. His eyes followed her gaze to the other side of the fire. Something small and furry was curled up under the camp table—

  The wolf cub was sound asleep.

  Chapter Six

  “I’ll be damned,” said Josh, lowering his voice. “How long has she been there?”

  “Quite a while. I think she was close to the camp already, and then she moved in when you starting telling the story.” Kenzie whispered, afraid to break whatever spell had brought the little cub close to them. “I guess she likes you.”

  “Naw. Every kid loves a bedtime story, that’s all. She wouldn’t have come if you hadn’t gotten through to her.”

  Was it true? Had the child heard her words after all? “Now what do we do?”

  “Not a damn thing. We continue our conversation like nothing happened.”

  “She might leave again.”

  “Then she leaves. We’re looking for trust here, remember? So if she wants to go, we let her.”

  Kenzie nodded. It was damn hard, though, when what she really wanted to do was scoop up the little cub and keep her safe. “Okay. So, you were saying about the Wolf People ...”

  “The Tahltan have been friends to the Wolf People ever since.”

  She’d heard that, but had never heard the story behind it. “You think the legend is true?”

  “Come on, you’re an archaeologist, aren’t you? You ought to know there’s some truth behind every myth and legend. This one is no different.” From his chair, he stirred the fire with a stick, pushed wood into it with his toe. Settled back. “Yeah, I believe something like that happened, that your people helped ours when we needed it. I hope you believe it too.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you look like you need to believe in something.”

  Her inner wolf should have been on high alert with this human, yet it was completely at ease. Either it was as charmed by the story as the cub—very unlikely—or this man just might be trustworthy. Could that be possible? “I do believe in some things.” Like a future for Changelings.

  He nodded but left it alone. “So, my turn now. You live in Dunvegan?”

  Kenzie didn’t usually talk much about herself, but supposed she could share a little bit. It wasn’t as if Josh couldn’t find out the basics on his own if he really wanted to. “That depends. I travel a lot, but I guess Dunvegan’s still my home base. It’s where my family lives, up in the Peace River region of Alberta. I think you said your dad’s clan is from around there, but I haven’t met them.”

  “That’s because the Peace is a big river. My father’s clan originally lived up by the headwaters, where it begins in the mountains of British Columbia, west of Alberta. So your home would be hundreds of miles downstream and it’s no surprise you haven’t run across many Tahltans. Although one of my sisters lives in your province now, over on the Saskatchewan border near Two Hills.”

  “Hey, I’ve been there,” she said. “I conducted a dig there a few years back. Didn’t find what I was looking for, but I came up with three sizeable chunks of a meteorite.”

  He whistled low and the cub stirred in its sleep. Kenzie held her breath until it settled again.

  “Sorry,” he continued softly. “It’s just that I’ve always wanted to find a space rock. I’m really jealous of you right now.”

  She laughed. He sounded a lot like her brother Devlin, who would have sold his eyeteeth for a space rock as a kid—and might still. “So how many siblings do you have?”

  “One sister in Telegraph Creek. A sister in Alberta, like I said, and another sister lives in Wrangell. All three younger than me.”

  “Now I’m jealous—you have no idea what it’s like to be the baby of the family. I’ve got four older brothers and an older sister, all with good intentions I have to endure.”

  “Lots of unsolicited advice, right?”

  “Tons. From everyone and their dog, except Birkie.”

  “Who’s Birkie?”

  “My friend, but that doesn’t begin to describe her. Kind of like a mom and a favorite aunt and a BFF all rolled into one. She’s been around since forever, and she runs Connor’s clinic for him. Wonderful gardener; you’ve never seen a green thumb like hers. Even my brother James can’t top her.”

  “So she’s a shapeshifter too?”

  “No, she’s—well, I’m not sure. Not Changeling and that’s all anybody knows. Even my parents don’t know and she’s been close to them for years.”

  “Must be really hard to keep your secret from her.” He made it sound matter of fact, laying his trap carefully.

  “I—we don’t. Birkie knows what we are, she’s always known. She can see it.” Kenzie frowned. “Like you can, I guess.”

  “But she’s totally reliable, definitely not evil, and even your BFF?”

  “Of course she is—”

  “Aha. So you have to concede that it’s possible for a non-shapeshifter to be trustworthy?”

  “I didn’t say that!”

  “You should.” He looked at her steadily. “Because it’s true.”

  She was saved from answering by her cell phone beeping. Kenzie looked at the text message and made a face.

  “Everything okay?”

  “My brother is just being brotherly again. Connor can’t stand that I’m alone out here. I finally had to promise him that if a man dropped out of the sky, I’d date him.”

  “Really? Bet you didn’t count on meeting someone with a helicopter.”

  She opened her mouth and closed it again, momentarily stunned.

  “I’m thinking dinner at The Caribou in Glennallen, followed by dancing at the Tapout Lounge,” he continued. “What day works for you?”

  “I’m—we’re—I’m not going out with you!”

  “Sure you are, or I’ll have to tell your brother.”

  “I wasn’t serious when I made that promise.”

  “Maybe, but I’m serious about helping you keep it. Consider it an educational experience—did you know that The Caribou has a ceiling made of copper? They used to mine the stuff in this region back at the turn of the last century.”

  She folded her arms. “Big deal. The Ahtna discovered copper thousands of years ago in this region. Your restaurant isn’t exactly a historic site.”

  “Taste their poached salmon or their Halibut Olympia, and you’ll change your tune. Saturday is good for me by the way.”

  Exasperated, she got up. “Thanks for dinner, Josh. I’m going to bed now.”

  “Now? It’s still early.” He sat back in his chair and looked at the twilight sky. “Okay, it’s not early but hey, it’s not dark yet.”

  “I like to be at my site when the sun comes up.” She glanced around. “Just where were you planning on staying tonight?”

  “In the chopper. Unless I’m invited somewhere else of course.”

  “Nice try. Good night.”

  “Night.” He gave her a mock salute. “Make sure you dream about me.”

  Anya opened her eyes ever so slightly. The fire had died down but was still giving off plenty of heat. She wasn’t being watch
ed—Kenzie had gone into her tent and Josh had dozed off in the camp chair—and she rolled on her back in pure bliss. For the first time in days she’d gotten enough to eat, she was warm and safe, and she wasn’t quite so lonely.

  Josh told good stories. And just like Anya and her mother, Kenzie was a Changeling. Her wolf was pretty, blueish gray like rainclouds. Anya’s mom was pretty too when she was a wolf, and her fur was soft. If only she were here. She’d like Kenzie and Josh, Anya was sure of it. And maybe her mother wouldn’t be so lonely anymore either.

  She sighed and rolled over to rest her head on her paws. Her mother had told her not to talk to strangers. Ever. But was a person still a stranger if you knew their name?

  It was hard work to keep a grown-up Changeling from seeing what was inside your head, but Anya was very good at it. It was even harder, though, not to answer questions, not to say a single word in her mind, and especially not to ask for help. Anya wanted so badly to tell Kenzie what had happened—she might help her find her mother. That would be all right, wouldn’t it?

  Anya closed her eyes. Maybe she’d talk to Kenzie tomorrow.

  Nate paced his hotel room, occasionally glancing at downtown Anchorage through the wide fourteenth floor window. The Chugach mountains lined the horizon, capped with snow even in July. His inner wolf was restless, wanting Nate to Change and head for those mountains, wanting to run free, to hunt and howl.

  Later, he murmured. He had to think, had to figure this out. The IBC wanted his expertise again, but what did he have left to offer them? It wasn’t his fucking fault that things had gone south in the last operation. He’d earned his pay, delivered exactly what they asked for.

  But now they wanted more.

  He flopped on the king-sized bed, gazed at the expensive teak furnishings. The money he’d earned from the IBC allowed him to stay in places like this, the kind of places he belonged. Travel often kept him away from home, but he finally had a place worth coming home to—a luxury loft in Manhattan, not far from NYU. There was a sleek Audi in his private parking space these days. His tenure at the university was assured for life with the kind of funding he’d been able to bring in lately—after all, being able to wine and dine the big dogs meant big donations. Gone were the days of a crummy apartment in a crummy neighborhood, with a long and crummy commute. And everything was paid for in full, thanks to IBC.

  He didn’t owe them a thing of course. He’d fulfilled their orders, provided them with what they needed, and they’d paid him on the spot each time. There was no contract, no obligation to do more. Only his own desire to have more. And he could have as much as he wanted if only he had more items to deliver.

  Too bad there were only so many of those....

  There was the one delivery that had gone missing—he could definitely go looking for that. Those idiots employed by IBC couldn’t find their asses with both hands, but he had no doubt of his ability to find the lost item himself. The reward would be substantial too, more than enough to pick up that second home in Mendocino. It’d be a luxurious retreat, and the redwood forest there would be a great place to turn his lupine side loose. After all, his inner wolf didn’t really care for the whole Manhattan scene.... In fact, that little romp with Kenzie had been the most fun he’d had, well, since the last time their wolves had run together. God, how many years ago had that been?

  Only this time, there’d been no sex at the end of it. Make that stupendous sex. He’d been with plenty of women, including two last night in this very bed. None of them compared to Kenzie Macleod. And then she’d gone and decided to live like a nun. Sorry Nate, we’re just friends now... .

  What the hell was her problem anyway? Sure, she was older than he, but damn she was hot. And thanks to her lupine genes, she was likely to stay that way. They looked good together, a matched set, light and dark. Nate groaned with pleasure as he imagined walking into a room of potential donors with Dr. Mackenzie Macleod on his arm. Whatever wallets couldn’t be loosened by his charm and their looks would be opened by her reputation. Their social success as a couple would be nothing short of stellar. He headed the archaeology department now, but who knew how much further he could go?

  It was perfect. Meant to be, even. So why did Kenzie refuse to see it?

  Well, maybe it was about time he made her see it. And if she still insisted on brushing him off, maybe she could be useful in another way. She just might be able to help him solve his little supply problem with IBC.

  Kenzie felt like cheering when she emerged from her tent and found the cub curled close to the fire pit. Its head was resting on its front paws, one white, one black, and she couldn’t help thinking of her brother Culley. In wolfen form, he was pure black, but an odd white snippet on his nose gave him a comical look. His tail was tipped with white and there was a white star on his chest. Trickster that he was, he delighted in utilizing those unwolf-like colors to the max by pretending to be a monstrous dog among unsuspecting humans. He’d even learned to make his pointed ears flop like a collie’s—although how, she couldn’t imagine.

  “Good morning,” she whispered. The young wolf pricked its ears and opened its eyes. Yawned and stretched. And looked at her expectantly.

  “Breakfast time, right?” She considered the problem. A Changeling in wolfen form usually couldn’t eat people food—not without causing an upset stomach. Culley insisted on eating pizza whether human or wolf, but he had a cast-iron digestive system so he didn’t count. As for herself, Kenzie had never had much luck with it. “You know, if you were a little girl, I could make breakfast for you.” She rifled through her freeze-dried packets for something that looked like morning fare. “Scrambled eggs?”

  “Hold it right there! Back away from that instant crap!” Josh walked up the knoll to the campsite, whipping the packet out of Kenzie’s hand, flinging it into the bushes.

  “Hey—” She clapped her hands over her mouth when she saw the big rabbit hanging from his belt. Josh had been up early this morning.

  He knelt in front of the cub. “Okay, kiddo—this is what wolves eat. This is all for you.” He laid the rabbit at its feet. “But whenever you feel like being human again, I can make pancakes for you. Real ones with syrup. Kenzie can’t cook—”

  “I can too!”

  “—but I can, so I’ll make pancakes for you anytime you’re ready.” He dropped his voice to a stage whisper. “Even for supper.”

  “Josh!”

  “Bet I’m in trouble now, eh?” He winked at the cub and turned to Kenzie.

  She played along and put her hands on her hips in a classic exasperated mother position but spoiled the effect by laughing at him. “You’re a completely bad influence, you know that?”

  “I know. And now this bad influence is going to fly back to base and see what I can find out, okay? I got things to do so I’ll be two or three days. Anything I can bring you on the flip trip?”

  “I’m fine, thanks.”

  He leaned in a little then. “You’re very fine,” he whispered. He cupped the back of her neck and placed a gentle lingering kiss on her forehead.... The next moment he was heading back down the trail.

  Kenzie stood where she was for a long time. She barely heard the throb of rotors from down by the river, hardly noticed the shift in sound as the helicopter lifted off and headed away over the valley. All she could think about was the pleasant thrum in her blood and the realization that she wanted Josh to kiss her again, this time on her lips. And everywhere else....

  “Stop that right now,” she ordered herself through gritted teeth. Exasperated, she shook off the spell and sternly told her inner wolf to settle down as well. The last thing on the planet she needed was to get involved with a human. It was just hormones—had to be. After all, it had been a helluva long time since she’d had sex, so of course Josh looked good to her. Almost any guy would, right? Case closed.

  Before she could banish it from her mind, however, a little rebellious thought pointed out that neither her hormones nor her
inner wolf had responded in the slightest to her former Changeling lover, Nate Richardson.

  Chapter Seven

  When Josh arrived in Glennallen, he discovered that his best hope for information was out of town for two days. While he waited, he pulled in favors right and left with friends in the state troopers but came up empty. There were no recent reports of a missing girl of the right age in the region. He even phoned Mamie Dalkins, praised her home-cured bacon to the skies and sat through two and a half hours of the latest gossip from several communities. He came away with no useful information (other than some things he’d rather not know) and the promise of a jar of smoked bear meat the next time he was in Gakona. Ugh.

  He put the waiting time to good use, catching up on all the paperwork in his cramped office and answering phone messages—and damn, somebody was keeping a very young moose as a frickin’ pet in their backyard. He dealt with that, and referred a call about hunting deer out of season to the troopers in that area. Finally, thankfully, his best contact returned to town. Surely Josh would get some answers now.

  After all, Bygood Stanton was a Changeling.

  It wasn’t hard to find the old vet at The Caribou. He was the one with his table covered with papers and file folders.

  “Christ, did you chair a meeting in here?” Josh counted five coffee cups lurking under the documents, and those were just the ones he could see. He checked his watch but he wasn’t late.

  “Hey, Tark. Sit yourself down, boy, and have a look-see.”

  “What the hell’s all this?”

  “Just a little information I’ve been gathering about the International Biodiversity Conservancy—the IBC—who built that little facility I told you about, the one near your lady friend’s camp.”