Black Wolf's Revenge (2 page)

“It is a trick you learn over time. New wolves always have trouble with emotional outbursts, and eye color is a big indicator of mood when you are newly turned. When you have more control, you will be able to let your wolf out when you need her, and it will be enough. Grey is getting better about his eyes changing.”

He snorted. She was sweet, but who was she kidding? Every time he looked in a mirror, Wolf’s eyes stared back at him--golden and unnatural. If anything, he was getting worse.

“Well, you are. Sometimes I even see blue in your eyes,” Rachel said reasonably. “Grey is different. His wolf is dominant, even over his human, and it gives him a unique set of obstacles to overcome. You will hopefully have an easier time than he does.”

The light shuffle of fabric sounded as Morgan pulled the blanket more securely over her legs. “How can you tell I will? What is the difference between us?”

“Well, for one, his eyes still shift constantly, back and forth, back and forth. It’s hard to get used to at first. The pack has made a game out of timing how long his eyes stay blue. He is up to a minute, but the second best is only twenty-five seconds. Yours are staying blue until you get worked up. Grey isn’t there yet, and who knows if he ever will be. We don’t know who his maker was either. He told us a little about him. The wolf who attacked Grey must have been rogue, definitely a man-eater. Grey described the size of him to us. It is normal for a werewolf to be larger than regular wolves, but not that much larger. His maker was a Beast, and Grey’s Wolf is also a Beast. They’re shifters so powerful and dominant, they could be a danger to everyone if they don’t learn to control their animal sides. The wolf who attacked your sister lost control. Maybe he was a weak man, or maybe he was a killer to begin with. Grey, thankfully, has his kind human side to balance him out, but there will always be conflict with a wolf so powerful. You soothe the conflict. He says you are the only thing that works.”

“I remember his maker,” Morgan said with ghosts in her eyes. “I’ll never be able to forget him as long as I live. After Grey was bitten, he ran into the forest before I could even call after him. I grabbed Lana and locked us in the truck.” Her lightened gaze found Grey in the dark. “I called the police and when they arrived, they found a man stabbed to death with Grey’s knife. They asked me questions, but I told them I didn’t know anything. You gave everything to save us and they tried to pin that man’s murder on you.”

As much as he tried not to think about that night, it had started everything. The entrance to hell and the light out, all in one. He pulled a twig from the wooden boards beside him and plucked the single remaining leaf that clung to the bark. Closing his eyes, he tried to repel the memories of the pain. Before that night, he’d never really known what hurt was. Wolf had shredded him over and over in his attempt to escape his human form. Thoughts of Morgan were what he’d clung to as his mind and body had ripped apart.

“So I know my eye color is a big deal. Why? Will it make me a monster like Grey’s maker?”

“No, no, it is nothing like that,” Rachel assured her, “but it does make you special--one of a kind, as a matter of fact. You heard Logan call you a silver wolf, but silver wolves haven’t existed for hundreds of years. From the moment you started to Change, Dean knew there was something different about you. White fur is common in the wild, but it doesn’t exist in werewolves, and he knew from your eye color it wasn’t a fluke. He, Grey, and Wade spent hours researching old text, looking for any clues on your history, where you came from, and how to protect you. Even though the silver wolf clan was annihilated by humans and vampires, at least one survived and she is your ancestor. Somehow, the genetics have been passed down through generations of humans to you. You are a silver wolf, and possibly a breeder.”

“A breeder?”

“Yes, female wolves are unable to bare children, but there is a distinct possibility that because you are a decedent of the only known breeding werewolves, that you will be able to.”

A slow smile formed on Morgan’s lips. He wanted to taste it.

“That’s a good thing, right?” Her hopeful gaze found his in the dark. “I mean, it opens up options for us, doesn’t it?”

He nodded sadly. How could he tell her the thing that was so enticing would also bring her unimaginable danger? How could he dampen that hope?

Rachel’s smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “You would be the only breeder in the world. The impact you will have on our pack, on all of the packs, on our community and culture will be huge. You will go down in our history as the beginning of the new silver wolf clan, and it is Grey’s job to protect you no matter the cost. Our pack has offered to keep you safe as well--”

Morgan tensed and shook her head. “No, stop! Just wait. Grey’s
job
to protect me?”

He didn’t envy her racing thoughts. She had been Changed against her will, survived a lethal werewolf attack, realized her entire life would be forever turned upside down, and now she had to deal with the fact that she was this super one-of-a-kind breeder wolf. This wasn’t Morgan. She didn’t want to be different or special. Her life was devoted to Lana, to him, and she seemed completely content with a simple existence. She seemed happiest when their life was quiet. Being special wasn’t a blessing for the supernatural. It was a curse, and realization darkened her expression until all that was left were shadows.

“But what if I decide I don’t want children? And now there will be all of this pressure. Or what if I can’t breed after all and the werewolf nation is forever disappointed by my failure?” She turned a furious gaze to him and the muscles in her clenched jaw twitched. “And now it is your job to protect me? You knew this and you didn’t say anything about it?”

Sure, he’d kept it from her, but he’d been waiting for the right moment. “You just Changed back a couple of days ago, and it was a lot for you to deal with. I didn’t want to bring it up until you were feeling better.”

“Save it,” she said angrily. “I’m a freak, and you let me walk around thinking what I’ve been going through is normal for a werewolf. The way everyone looked at me tonight--all wolves will have that reaction. Won’t they?”

“No,” he snapped. “They can’t find out you are a silver wolf or you will be in danger, and Lana will be in danger because she has the same genetics. Wolves will want her Turned.”

“No! Never.” Her fury rocked him back. “She is only a baby. She isn’t meant for this. Now she could be hurt because I have stupid purple eyes and white fur? I didn’t sign up for this, Grey.”

“I’ll keep you safe,” he pleaded. “You haven’t been claimed, which puts you at risk, but we’ll get married and you’ll be mine. I can keep you safe. I was tethered to Wolf for a reason, and it has to be for this.” He stood, fighting the panic that dumped adrenaline into his veins. “We were meant for each other, can’t you see it? I’m this way so I can keep you and Lana safe. I’m it. I’m your best chance at survival.” This wasn’t coming out right, and the more he fumbled, the hotter Wolf seethed inside of him. He wasn’t good with words like other people. Every sentence he spoke, she only looked more hurt, and the more he tried to fix it, the more she withdrew from him.
Dammit.
Raking his hands through his hair, he closed his eyes against a building headache.

Her gaze dropped to the ring, so newly a part of her. “Is that why you proposed to me? So you can keep the silver wolf safe? You are the best man for the job, so you’ll fulfill your duty accordingly?” Her gaze was bright and accusing.

“Damn right I’m the one for the job, Morgan. I think we’ve both established I’d give up my life for you without a thought. Who else is going to do that for you? For Lana? Call it what you want, but I’m it for you.” Wolf pressed, snarled, unfurled raging words that widened her eyes with each syllable. Still, he couldn’t stop himself. “You’re a silver wolf because of me. I brought you here, exposed you to this, and the responsibility of protecting you from this curse destroying your life completely rests on me.”

Her lip trembled and she clenched and unclenched her fists at her sides. She slid the ring from her finger and set it on the railing of the porch. “I need time,” she said simply.

A pair of tears, shining like the gem she’d discarded, spilled down her cheeks, but he couldn’t do more than stand there with his arms outstretched. What had just happened? He needed to say something to change her mind, but nothing would come out. Now Wolf had nothing to say? His head was filled with churning black waters of dread.

“Morgan,” Rachel pleaded, following her inside. “He didn’t mean it like that. You’re taking it wrong. No one loves you more than--”

“Just stop, Rachel.” Morgan’s voice was muffled, and the jangle of keys sounded as she lifted her purse to her shoulder inside. “I said I need time to think, and I can’t do that until I’m alone. Lana, come on, baby. We have to go.”

Slick anger twisted in his gut. Had she not heard anything he had said? He stepped off the porch and gripped the bed of the truck. She wouldn’t leave until he explained away this obvious misunderstanding. He wouldn’t let her.

Pain slashed through him and he yelled at the sudden ripping burn. No, please, no, not now. Not when Morgan was about to leave him.

The Change, fueled by his anger and loss, came on so fast he didn’t have time to do more than gasp and claw at the ground as if it would keep him in his own skin. He fought it, but his defiance only slowed his transition from human to wolf. Unable to think, instinct urged him to the dark shadows near the house, where the others wouldn’t see him in between forms, the grotesque existence between his two anatomies.

A deafening roar filled his ears as Morgan’s truck door creaked open. The jangle of Lana’s car-seat harness was eclipsed by Rachel’s pleading. The engine stuttered to life and Morgan drove away. A series of pops filled the yard as his bones broke in the last seconds of transformation. He got up as soon as he could move and tore out after her. Panting against the pain, he pushed his body faster and faster until his paws barely felt the gravel road beneath him. Her taillights were still visible, but she was going too fast for him to catch up to. Even when it was no use, he kept running until he was to the front fence line.

A howl of despair ripped through his body and he closed his eyes against the pale moonlight and dark blue sky. He shut out the clean breeze that brushed through his thick coat like it was trying to comfort him. It was no use.

His family was gone. His pack was gone. Everything that mattered would just be an untouchable memory.

* * * *

Morgan could see the black wolf with the golden eyes running after her. She wiped her tears and pressed the gas pedal harder. He didn’t want her for the right reasons. He’d explained it with such little emotion, as if he’d accepted his duty. He cared about her, she didn’t doubt that. Their months together had filled her with a sense of safety, not just physically, but emotionally. But she wasn’t the same woman she’d been before the turn. God, she loved him so much it hurt with every passing inch she put between them, but he hadn’t proposed for the right reason. He and Dean had discussed her future without her, and Grey had accepted this huge responsibility for her and Lana’s welfare out of some twisted sense of duty. He was kind to do so, but she had watched her mother stay in a marriage of convenience and couldn’t do the same to Lana. To herself.

“Where’s Mr. Grey?” Lana asked from the back seat.

“He’s not coming with us, baby.” She gritted her teeth against the sob that clawed its way up her throat as she lost sight of Grey in the rearview.

She was no one’s obligation.

The world was colder and darker. Shadows stretched longer, like the depths of a bottomless sea. Grey shook his head slowly in denial. Morgan would think about their conversation and realize she was mistaken. She would come back to him. He just needed to give her a few days. That was all. A stifling panic built in his gut. How had the night gone so wrong? He’d been engaged to her only a few minutes before. It made him fight for breath as if he had been punched in the stomach and couldn’t catch his wind.

“Grey, she needs space, but she’ll come around,” Rachel reassured him when he was close enough to the porch to hear her.

He lumbered up the porch stairs and paused in front of the railing with Morgan’s ring on it. The faces of the pack blurred and moved against the window panes and he gritted his teeth against the nausea that hit him in the gut. Their sadness would drown him.

Just let go, Wolf pleaded quietly inside of him. I’ll dull the pain until you are strong enough to bear it.

How could he ignore such a tempting escape? Wolf would know what to do. He would be logical about the damage done that night. He could be the drug that blurred the edges of the pain. All Grey had to do was give the beast his body. And suddenly, he couldn’t see any other answer, as if it were a crumpled note pressed into his hand with the key to his survival scribbled across the folds. He would let Wolf have the reins until he could reason again.

He stumbled off the porch, unbalanced and uncertain, but Dean followed. Grey let out a soft warning growl, but Dean still stayed in step behind him.

“They still need protection, Grey. You can’t leave them alone. Not now.”

Spinning, he snapped, gnashing his teeth behind a feral snarl. “Don’t you get it?” The words sounded strange coming from an animal’s throat, in the deep tenor of a wolf’s snarl, but so what. What opinion could possibly matter after his reason for existence had been stripped away? The good in his life had driven off with his soul, leaving the devil in its wake. “She doesn’t want me!” He took a menacing step toward Dean, and the alpha slowly backed up, his hands in the air in surrender.

Nothing sounded better than ripping apart someone strong; someone challenging. Anything to lift the sear of his loss. For even a few second’s relief, the prospect of shredding Dean was alluring.

He relaxed his curled lips and sighed. Violence against his friend wouldn’t fix anything. Even Wolf could see the logic in that. He turned and ran. The land that would be his in two weeks’ time beckoned him like it already belonged to him. The wind rushed against his fur, urging him farther, faster. He didn’t stop running until he’d slid under the barbed-wire fence that separated Dean’s land from his.