Her Billionaire, Her Wolf(42)

“Then he came to me and said that my little brother, Braze, had gotten sick. He was in the hospital.

“And, as if it was the next logical thing to happen, we were in my father’s jet. He had nothing to say. I tried to keep quiet, and from time to time, I would sneak a look at my father’s eyes. I don’t know how I’d never noticed it before but his eyes shimmered in yellow hues that came and went...like magic. A yellow exactly like the color in those old grey wolves eyes that strange night in the woods.

“I might have only been twelve years old, but I got it. I understood the gist of what that old man had said.

“The wolf of the father is not in this child’s veins.

“I didn’t want it to be true. I wanted to be like him. Strong, proud...a man who commanded the respect of absolutely every single person around him. A wolf among men.

“But, it wasn’t in me and I knew it as well as he did then.

“Later on I would find out that the orphanage was in the Causse mountains of Aveyron, France. All I knew is that people spoke a language I didn’t understand and that there were no women there. Just men wearing rough wool robes that made me think of Friar Tuck.

“My father took me from the hired limousine to the iron gates of that place and, finally, had something to say to me.

“‘Clement. Your brother, Braze, is gone. His death has ruined me as a father and I cannot raise you as you are.

“‘Here, they will look after you.’

“And that was all. Nothing else.

“Those were the last words I’d ever heard from Nashton Abraxis before one of those robed men with a shaved head came to the gate and led me away in silence.

“I tried not to, but I looked back once, only to see my father standing next to the car. Not in a last farewell as he watched me go away. No. Not him. His back was turned and said much more than his words alone.

“I had been abandoned.

“The orphanage was run by a religious order. A monastery that went back more than ten centuries and had always taken in errant boys to give them a home and an education.

“Most of those boys went on to become monks themselves, but not all. Not me.

“In those early days, I was angry...angrier than anyone has any right to be at that age and quickly became a thorn in the monastery’s side. Even if there was no wolf in me, I learned fast how to act like a beast.

“There were plenty of boys who spoke english. Some better than others. As far as I was concerned, though, I didn’t even need to know what they were saying. A simple look would set me off and I’d pound the hell out of someone or get the hell pounded out of me.

“That’s what had just happened when I saw Brother Janos for the first time.

“An old man had come limping in to the isolation hall and came straight for me. His cheeks were unshaven...I remember that. It looked like there was dried soup crusted in the corners of his lips. He seemed a hundred years old to me at the time, but that did not stop him from giving me a backhand that had me seeing stars.

“He roared like a wild man as he came after me. When he hit me, I fell off the wooden bench where I had been sitting and holding a handkerchief to my broken nose. But that crazy old man came after me making more noise all at once than I had heard since I’d come to the orphanage.

“Oh, I fought back, but so did he and ended up giving me a good thrashing.

“‘You think you’re a tough one, eh boy?’ the old man said, then he laughed and I could see that he was missing most of his teeth.

“‘You’re not tough...you’re scared,’ his old man’s eyes looked at me then, really looked at me as he voice dropped to almost a whisper, ‘And that makes you stupid.’

“I hated that he had said that. I was not stupid...except that he knew just what he was doing, the old bastard.

“‘You want to fight. Fine. I’ll teach you. And, then if you’re good enough, maybe we’ll see if you can learn other things.’ He leaned close to me then and I could smell the garlic on his breath as he finished, ‘Magic things...monster things...yes?’

“He had me. Right there. An old man had just knocked the stuffing out of me and then dangled the prize before me. He knew about magic....

“I suppose it doesn’t take much imagination to understand that Brother Janos was no ordinary monk. In fact, he was hardly one at all. He told me once that he had been ordained a priest but that had only lasted a little while before a judgement came to take it away again. He had laughed when he said it, saying only that they should have judged the woman instead.

“‘She was a fine one, that girl. Legs up to her chin.’