Standing at the window, she watched the sun set the sky on fire in blazing shades of crimson as it slipped behind the distant mountains. It would be dark soon. In spite of the sorrow that engulfed her, she felt a rush of excitement at the thought of running beneath the moon. Her skin tingled. Her heart beat faster. Even knowing it was impossible, she felt that she could change now, even though the moon had not yet taken command of the sky. What would it be like, to be able to change at will? To run wild and free in the meadows and mountains whenever she wished, the way the Alphas did?
Feeling suddenly fatigued by the day’s events, she stretched out on the bed and closed her eyes. She would rest for just a moment.
She woke to the sound of someone knocking on the door. For a moment, she couldn’t remember where she was.
“Kiya?” her aunt Greta called. “We’ll be leaving in a few minutes. Are you ready?”
Sitting up, Kay ran a hand through her hair. “I’ll be right down.”
She removed her bra and stepped out of her panties, her thoughts briefly turning to Gideon. Where had he spent the day? Was he nearby?
Wrapping a towel around her nakedness, she went downstairs to join the others on the patio.
She glimpsed Victor standing to one side. She intended to tell him not to follow her, but, to her surprise, he kept his distance.
While she was puzzling over that odd state of affairs, her father shifted. Kay dropped her towel, her body transforming from human to wolf in the blink of an eye. The suddenness of it took her by surprise. Usually, she had to concentrate for several moments before completing the change, but not tonight.
She ran after her father and sailed cleanly over the fence, her exhilaration growing as she ran through the night, quickly outdistancing the rest of the pack, including her father. She basked in the feel of the damp earth beneath the sensitive pads of her feet, the myriad scents carried to her by the wind, the beauty of the night as seen through the wolf’s eyes.
She glanced over her shoulder, her tongue lolling in a wolfish grin. She was in the lead, followed by her father and Victor, who were running side by side. She didn’t see any of the other wolves.
What had happened to the rest of the pack?
She slowed when her father and Victor veered to the left and disappeared from sight over a low hill. Her ears pricked forward when a warning bark she recognized as her father’s pierced the night. She skidded to a stop when she heard the sharp report of a gunshot followed by a high-pitched whine.
The ensuing silence filled her with apprehension. She lifted her head, her anxiety growing when she scented blood on the wind.
Throwing back her head, she howled for the pack, then raced toward the place where she had last seen her father and Victor.
When she topped the rise, she came to an abrupt halt, unable to believe what she was seeing. Her father, slowly shifting from wolf to human, lay on the ground. Victor knelt beside him, one hand pressed against her father’s chest. A few feet away, a middle-aged man lay sprawled on the ground, his throat ripped out. A rifle lay beside him.
Kay ran down the hill, shifting to human form as she went. “What happened?”
Victor looked up at her, his cheeks damp with tears. “I don’t know,” he said. “It all happened so fast. That man came out of the brush and shot your father. I … I killed him before he could fire again.”
“My father … is he—?”
Victor nodded. “I’m afraid he’s gone.”
Kay shook her head. “No. No, he can’t be.” She pushed Victor’s hand away, her own searching for some sign of life, and finding none.
She sank back on her heels. She had just buried her mother, and now this. Had she known, on some primal level, that something like this was going to happen? Was that why she’d been drawn home? Because she needed to be here?
Massaging her temples, she closed her eyes. Why did she feel so numb inside, so empty? Her father had just been killed. Shouldn’t she be devastated? Railing against fate? What kind of a daughter was she, that she didn’t feel anything?
One by one, the pack arrived. Victor searched the dead man’s pockets, looking for identification. There was none.
Rising to his feet, he looked at the pack. “You know what to do.”
Rising, Kay turned away, unable to watch, as the wolves disposed of the dead man’s remains.
It was then that she saw the black wolf standing on the rise, watching her.
Kiya, are you all right? Gideon asked.
Someone just killed my father. I need to be here, with the pack.
I’m sorry, Kiya. Is there anything I can do?
Just stay close.
Count on it. He needed to talk to her, but now wasn’t the time.