Changeling Dawn

by Dani Harper

  The coolness. The scent.

  Kenzie’s eyes flew open and she rose on one elbow to look at Josh.

  “What’s wrong?” he asked.

  “You’re still—” She drew in a long deliberate breath and ran a shaky hand over his skin to make certain. “You’re still human.”

  He nodded. “One hundred percent. I had Stanton give me the shot of silver before I left—although he didn’t tell me what a goddamn big needle it was going to be.”

  “Why?” Kenzie blurted before she could stop herself. “Why would you do that?”

  “Because I love you.”

  “But that makes no sense at all.” Horrified, she sat up and hugged herself. “You had a chance to fix everything and you didn’t want it?”

  “Listen to yourself. What the hell needs to be fixed? I’m here, you’re here, I love you, you love me. The only thing in our way is your fear. You don’t trust humans and that’s why you think you need me to be a shapeshifter like you. So you can feel safe. So you can trust me.”

  “That’s not true.”

  “I hope not because it won’t work. If I become a wolf tomorrow, I’m still going to be Josh Talarkoteen. Having four legs won’t make me one bit more trustworthy than I am today with two legs. For chrissakes, Richardson was a shapeshifter and look at what he did to you. And what about Nikki? She’s human, but she helped you and all the others escape.”

  Kenzie took a deep breath and thought of her brother’s words. What are you willing to give up in order to be with him? Birkie had once warned her that she would have to give up her fears to make room for what she really wanted. And she had no doubt that she wanted Josh.

  “I’m learning,” she said finally. “I understand—now—that there are good and bad people in both species. And you’re right that I thought I needed you to be a shapeshifter, but now I—I just want to share it with you.

  “You’re right that I have a lot of fears, and I want to let go of them. It’s a slow process because old mindsets are so automatic. So it’s going to take me some time but there’s one thing I do know right now. And that is, the only thing I really need is for you to be you. Because I do trust you.”

  He stroked the side of her face with gentle fingers. “Trust me now then. If I accept the gift of the wolf, then you don’t have to deal with anything. That might be convenient for you but it’s not healthy. So I’m staying human for now, and you’ll have to accept me as I am.”

  “I can live with that.”

  “Are you sure? Because I’m definitely asking you to live with that. I’m asking you to live with me. Permanently.”

  “I can live with that too,” she laughed and kissed him soundly. Hands and lips traveled over bare skin and passion flared anew.

  “Wait,” he laughed. “Hold that thought but give me a second. I want to do this right.”

  As she surveyed his naked body with an admiring smile and plotted new moves to try out, he went looking for his jacket and rummaged in its pockets until he produced a small wooden box. Pulled something from it but kept it palmed out of sight as he settled in beside her. “Okay.” He took her hand and tenderly kissed the back of it, then set something cool and heavy on her wrist that gleamed in the moonlight. She looked at it, her Changeling eyesight making out the details of a wide gold bracelet. Her practiced eye told her that it was incredibly old, definitely a museum-worthy piece. Wolves and humans mingled together over its entire surface, carefully crafted by an ancient artisan.

  “It was my gramma’s,” explained Josh. “Her mother gave it to her when she got married. And her mother received it from her mother and so forth. Nobody even knows how old it is.”

  “Omigod.” She shook her head in disbelief. “Josh, this is priceless. I can’t take this away from your family.”

  “Gramma Kishegwet says you’re to have it, that it’s meant for you. And you don’t argue with her, believe me. See the story pictured on this bracelet? It shows that one day a wolf woman would join our clan and connect the two peoples forever. Clan jewelry is usually silver, but Gramma says this bracelet was made of gold so that it could rest against the skin of the shapeshifter that would come.”

  “You’re making that up.” She looked up at him in amazement but his obsidian eyes were steady.

  “Nope. It’s the real deal. And so is this—I love you, Kenzie Macleod, and I want us to be together always.”

  She slid her arms around his neck and snuggled in close. “I want that too.” Their lips met and there were no more words....

  Epilogue

  The young girl jogged along the riverbank, the loose shale beneath her soggy running shoes crunching like clay pots breaking. She’d laid a false trail, then ran in the shallow water for what felt like a mile, hoping to throw off her pursuer. If she could just reach—

  A sound behind her sent a burst of adrenaline through her lithe body. Her own footsteps were loud, but she could still pick out the determined lope of four large paws on the telltale shale. She was close, so close, to safety, but only the fastest sprint would get her there in time. Lungs heaving, arms pumping, she threw everything she had into one desperate dash up the wide bank, heading for the base of the cliff that towered above the broad Peace River.

  Hot breath on the back of her calves let her know she’d lost the race. An enormous shape the color of strong coffee came into her peripheral vision—

  “You are so not going to pass me!” She squealed as the monstrous wolf nipped her sock, but it wasn’t in fear. Seeking to put space between her and the creature, she leapt high, shifted in mid-air, and came down running on four legs.

  In her lupine shape, she was much stronger and faster. She raced ahead of the brown wolf, then abruptly wheeled and leapt at her pursuer’s ears. He danced out of reach but she managed to bite the bigger wolf’s tail, and then he was shaking her by the scruff of the neck. They rolled and tumbled, until the mock battle took them crashing through the tall grass at the base of the cliff where a number of squares were marked off with string.

  Suddenly Kenzie’s voice rang out. “Hey, be careful, you two! If you mess up my grids, I’ll have to kill you both.” A moment later, her head appeared above a mound of sandy soil that had been dug away from the cliff face. “I think I’ve got something here.”

  The wolves resolved into human forms, breathless and grinning.

  “I’m faster than you,” declared Anya, with satisfaction.

  Josh shook his head. “No way. I tagged you down by the river.”

  “You didn’t tag me, you tripped. I saw you. Twice. And you fell off that log into the stream and then tried to tell me you were swimming.”

  “Hey, so I don’t have a driver’s license yet for my wolf body. Gimme a break, kid, I’m new at this. In fact, shouldn’t I be allowed some sort of handicap since you were born a Changeling and I wasn’t?”

  “Uh-uh. It’s like Darwin said, survival of the fittest,” she laughed.

  “I’ll remember that when you ask for your allowance.” He made his way carefully through the obstacle course of string and stakes to the enormous hole that Kenzie stood in. Anya followed. The three of them had been working on the project for a month, gradually exposing a 20-foot wide expanse of the rock face below the foot of the cliff. They’d found a number of petroglyphs, carvings in the rock that dated back thousands of years. Most were classic shapes—spirals and circles, some faces, even a fish.

  “Look what I found,” said Kenzie, and stepped away so they could see.

  Etched into the rock was the unmistakable image of a wolf walking upright among several human figures.

  “Is that what I think it is?” asked Josh, leaning down to place a hand on his wife’s shoulder.

  Kenzie grinned up at him. “It’s a beginning.”

  Have you tried the other books in Dani’s fabulous series? It starts with CHANGELING MOON ...

  He roams the moonlit wilderness, his every sense and instinct on high alert. Changeling wolf Connor Macleo
d and his Pack have never feared anything—until the night human Zoey Tyler barely escapes a rogue werewolf’s vicious attack.

  As the full moon approaches, Zoey has no idea of the changes that are coming, and only Connor can show her what she is, and help her master the wildness inside. With her initiation into the Pack just days away and a terrifying predator on the loose, the tentative bonds of trust and tenderness are their only weapons against a force red in tooth, claw ... and ultimate evil.

  Freezing rain sliced out of the black sky, turning the wet pavement to glass. Zoey stared out at the freakish weather and groaned aloud. With less than two days left in the month of April, the skies had been clear and bright all afternoon. Trees were budding early and spring had seemed like a sure bet. Now this. Local residents said if you didn’t like the weather this far north, just wait fifteen minutes. She gave it five, only to watch the rain turn to sleet.

  Perhaps she should have asked more questions before taking the job as editor of the Dunvegan Herald Weekly. She was getting the peace and quiet she’d wanted, all right, but so far the weather simply sucked. Winter had been in full swing when she’d arrived at the end of October. Wasn’t it ever going to end?

  Sighing, she buttoned her thin jacket up to her chin and hoisted the camera bag over her shoulder in preparation for the long, cold walk to her truck. All she wanted before bed was a hot shower, her soft flannel pajamas with the little cartoon sheep on them, the TV tuned to Late Night, and a cheese and mushroom omelet. Hell, maybe just the omelet. She hadn’t eaten since noon, unless the three faded M&Ms she’d found at the bottom of her bag counted as food.

  As usual, the council meeting for the Village of Dunvegan had gone on much too long. Who’d have thought that such a small community could have so much business to discuss? It was well past ten when the mayor, the councilors, and the remnants of a long-winded delegation filed out. Zoey had lingered only a few moments to scribble down a couple more notes for her article but it was long enough to make her the last person out of the building.

  The heavy glass door automatically locked behind her, the metallic sound echoing ominously. Had she taken longer than she thought? There wasn’t a goddamn soul left on the street. Even the hockey arena next door was deserted, although a senior men’s play-off game earlier had made parking difficult to find. Now, her truck—a sturdy, old red Bronco that handled the snow much better than her poor little SUV had—was the only vehicle in sight.

  The freezing rain made the three-block trek to the truck seem even longer. Not only did the cold wind drive stinging pellets of ice into her face, but her usual businesslike stride had to be shortened to tiny careful steps. Her knee-high leather boots were strictly a fashion accessory—her bedroom slippers would have given her more traction on the ice. If she slipped and broke her ankle out here, would anyone even find her before morning?

  The truck glittered strangely as she approached and her heart sank. Thick sheets of ice coated every surface, sealing the doors. Nearly frozen herself, she pounded on the lock with the side of her fist until the ice broke away and she could get her key in. “Come on, dammit, come on!”

  Of course, the key refused to turn, while the cold both numbed and hurt her gloveless fingers. She tried the passenger door lock without success, then walked gingerly around to the rear cargo door. No luck there either. She’d have to call a tow—

  Except that her cell phone was on the front seat of her truck.

  Certain that things couldn’t get any worse, she tested each door again. Maybe one of the locks would loosen if she kept trying. If not, she’d probably have to walk all the way home, and wasn’t that a cheery prospect?

  Suddenly a furtive movement teased at her peripheral vision. Zoey straightened slowly and studied her surroundings. There wasn’t much to see. The streetlights were very far apart, just glowing pools of pale gold that punctuated the darkness rather than alleviating it. Few downtown businesses bothered to leave lights on overnight. The whispery hiss of the freezing rain was all she could hear.

  A normal person would simply chalk it up to imagination, but she’d been forced to toss normal out the window at an early age. Her mother, aunts, and grandmother were all powerful psychics—and the gene had been passed down to Zoey. Or at least a watered-down version of it. The talent was reliable enough when it worked, but it seemed to come and go as it pleased. Like right now. Zoey tried hard to focus yet sensed absolutely nothing. It was her own fault perhaps for trying to rid herself of the inconvenient ability.

  No extrasensory power was needed, however, to see something large and black glide silently from one shadow to another near the building she’d just left. What the hell was that? There was nowhere to go for help. The only two bars in town would still be open, but they were several blocks away, as was the detachment headquarters for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There was a run-down trailer park a block and a half from the far side of the arena, but Zoey knew there were no streetlights anywhere along that route.

  A dog? Maybe it’s just a big dog, she thought. A really big dog or a runaway cow. After all, this was a rural community. And a northern rural community at that, so maybe it’s just a local moose, ha, ha... . She struggled to keep her fear at bay and redoubled her efforts on the door locks, all the while straining to listen over the sound of her own harsh breathing.

  The rear door lock was just beginning to show promise when a low, rumbling growl caused her to drop her keys. She spun to see a monstrous shape emerge from the shadows, stiff-legged and head lowered. A wolf? It was bigger than any damn wolf had a right to be. Jesus. Some primal instinct warned her not to run and not to scream, that the animal would be on her instantly if she did so.

  She backed away slowly, trying not to slip, trying to put the truck between herself and the creature. Its eyes glowed green like something out of a horror flick, but this was no movie. Snarling black lips pulled back to expose gleaming ivory teeth. The grizzled gray fur around its neck was bristling. Zoey was minutely aware that the hair on the back of her own neck was standing on end. Her breath came in short shuddering gasps as she blindly felt for the truck behind her with her hands, sliding her feet carefully without lifting them from the pavement.

  She made it around the corner of the Bronco. As soon as she was out of the wolf’s line of sight, she turned and half skated, half ran for the front of the truck as fast as the glassy pavement would allow. Don’t fall, don’t fall! It was a litany in her brain as she scrambled up the slippery front bumper onto the icy hood. With no hope of outrunning the creature and no safe place in sight, the roof of the truck seemed like her best bet—if she could make it. Don’t fall, don’t fall! Flailing for a handhold, she seized an ice-crusted windshield wiper, only to have the metal frame snap off in her hand. She screamed as she slid back a few inches.

  The wolf sprang at once. It scrabbled and clawed, unable to find a purchase on the ice-coated metal. Foam from its snapping jaws sprayed over her as the beast roared its frustration. Finally it slipped back to the ground and began to pace around the truck.

  Zoey managed to shimmy up the hood until she was able to put her back against the windshield, and pulled her knees up to her chin. She risked a glance at the roof behind her—she had to get higher. Before she could move, however, the wolf attacked again, scrambling its way up the front bumper. Vicious jaws slashed at her. Without thought, Zoey kicked out at the wolf, knocking one leg out from under it. It slid backward but not before it clamped its teeth on her calf. The enormous weight of the creature dragged at her and she felt herself starting to slide....

  One hand still clutched the broken windshield wiper and she used it, whipping the creature’s face and muzzle with the frozen blade until she landed a slice across one ungodly glowing eye. The rage-filled snarl became a strangled yelp; the wolf released her leg and slipped from the hood. This time Zoey didn’t look, just turned and launched herself upward for the roof rack. She came down hard, adrenaline keeping her from feeling the impact
of the bruising metal rails. She was conscious only of the desperate need to claw and grasp and cling and pull until she was safely on the very top of the vehicle.

  Except she wasn’t safe. Not by a long shot. Crap. She could plainly see that she wasn’t high enough. Crap, crap, crap. The enraged wolf leapt upward in spite of the fact that its feet could find little traction on the ice-coated pavement. What it couldn’t gain in momentum, the wolf made up for in effort, hurling itself repeatedly against the Bronco. Its snapping jaws came so close that Zoey could see the bleeding welts across its face, see that one of its hellish eyes was now clouded and half-closed. She slashed at it again, catching its tender nose so it howled in frustration and pain as it dropped to the ground. Snarling, it paced back and forth like a caged lion, watching her. Waiting.

  The wind picked up and the freezing rain intensified. Huddled on her knees in the exact center of the icy roof, Zoey’s adrenaline began to ebb. She was cold and exhausted, and parts of her were numb. But she wasn’t helpless; she wouldn’t allow herself to think that way. The thin windshield wiper was badly bent with pieces of it missing, but she’d damn well punch the wolf in the nose with her bare fist if she had to. If she still could....

  The wolf sprang again.

  And continues with CHANGELING DREAM ...

  In times of stress Jillian Descharme has always found calm in her dream of a great white wolf with haunting blue eyes. But she is startled when the visions return and this time seem so real. Late at night he comes to her, speaks to her, touches her. It’s almost as if he’s alive ...

  Thirty years ago James Macleod lost his wife and unborn child to a killer bent on destroying the Changelings. Though he longed for death, his animal instinct fought for survival and James has been a wolf ever since. Yet now a woman has reawakened the man in him, taming wild instincts but arousing still wilder needs. With his ancient enemy hunting the legendary white wolf, James must fight for new life, new hope, new love.