Caging the Wolf (Snowdonia Wolves) (6 page)

Dinner was subdued, and I spent most of the meal sneaking glances at Levi, sitting opposite me. I still felt like pinching myself. Part of me feared this might simply be another dream. He’d been polite and respectful, insisted on helping to clean up afterwards, and then had given me that pantie-quivering smile. Surely no man could be so perfect?

And now, Levi and Dad took the armchairs, while Mum and I shared the sofa, in the living room. I’d never seen my father so stressed. He wasn’t able to sit for more than a few seconds. Instead, he paced, coming to a halt in front of the fire, and staring into the burning logs.

“I’ve never told anyone this story.” He turned and gazed at Mum, but his eyes were unfocused. Snapping to attention, he looked at me. “You must promise to never repeat it.”

Fear skittered down my spine, and I tucked my feet underneath me, feeling suddenly cold. “I promise.”

Still he paused, as though trying to decide where to begin. “My father died when I was a small child. Mum never recovered, and only lasted a few years longer, so my
taid
—my grandfather—came back to the shop. He brought me up. He was a good man, but had one blind spot. He refused to talk about what had happened to my dad, so I went looking for my own answers.”

His mouth twisted. “He’d been shot. Gunned down in a quiet country pub, with the group he was with. It was all kept quiet, but I found people willing to talk about it.”

Nausea rose in my throat, and I pressed my hand to my mouth. Mum had said he found something he didn’t like, and dear God, that was horrible. Common sense nudged at me a second later. What could that possibly have to do with Levi?

As though he’d read my thoughts, Dad gestured to me. “Go on. Don’t you want to know
why
he was murdered? Hunted, and put down like a wild animal?” He cocked his head at Levi. “He knows.”

Levi stood, and walked to the sofa, to crouch beside me. Catching my hands, he glanced over his shoulder at Dad. “You’re scaring her.” His face was serious. “Is that what you want?”

“I
want
her to be afraid of you. So scared that she never wants to see your kind again.”

My gaze bounced from Levi, to Dad, and back to Levi. “What’s he talking about? Will you tell me?”

“I’ll tell you.” Dad paced some more. “So there I was, digging back into my family history, tracking down a whole set of relatives I never knew existed. And when I asked my
taid
about them, he told me straight. Said he’d left Wales for good and didn’t want to be a part of them anymore. They were freaks. Abnormal.”

Levi’s hands tightened around my own, and his breath hitched, but he stayed silent, his eyes tracking my dad.

“My
taid
just wanted to keep his family safe. And he was right. If my dad had stayed here, things would have been so different.”

“What has any of that got to do with Levi?” My voice shook.

“Because he’s one of them.” Dad made it sound absurdly simple. “I smelled him the minute he walked in.”

“One of what?”

“Shifter,” said Levi, his voice so low I only just heard it. He blew out a breath, released my hands and stood, approaching my dad. “I’m so sorry for what happened to your family. I understand why you fear my kind, but it’s your heritage too. You have the bloodline in you, otherwise you wouldn’t have scented me.”

Something told me that when I asked the obvious question, I might not like the answer, but I had to know. “What does
shifter
mean?”

“Werewolf,” snarled Dad.

“
No
.” Levi spoke over him. “Wolf shifter. We have some unusual abilities.”  He smiled at me, but it looked strained. “We can talk to our partners in our dreams.” Turning back to face Dad, he continued. “We’re stronger, and more healthy, and when we find our Mates—our life partners—we’re faithful and devoted.”

It was Mum’s turn to stand. She went to embrace Dad. “Sounds like Levi is describing you, my love.”

“Wait. What do you mean?
Werewolf
?” I had to be dreaming again. Werewolves didn’t exist outside of horror books and movies.

Levi gave me a ghost of a smile. “It’s very different. And if it’s any consolation, I would’ve spared you finding out like this. I planned to tell you when we’d got to know each other better. When you trusted me.”

My mind raced, but kept coming back to one freaky-ass word. Werewolf. I had werewolves in my family? I gazed at Dad, imagining he looked different. “Are you one?”

“No.” He snapped the word out, but then hesitated. “My
taid
was a half-breed. He had premonitions. He knew the hunters were coming, and that’s why he left. He thought he could avert the vision he’d seen, but he was wrong.”

“It just happened later than he thought,” whispered Mum.

“I hoped Jessie would find a nice young man one day. I never expected her to bring one of
them
home.”

“It’s probably because of Jessie’s bloodline that she could hear me.” Levi stuffed both hands in his pockets, and came to stare down at me. “I thought you were my Mate.” He stumbled over the words, and then swallowed hard. “I must have been mistaken.”

Levi’s face was pale, his eyes unnaturally bright. There was no trace of his seductive smile, and his face was completely blank of emotion. He looked numb. Dragging both hands through his hair, he gazed down at me. “I’m sorry, Jess.” A muscle flicked in his cheek, but otherwise he could have been a statue. “I’d better go.”

“I can still give you that ride to the station if you want it.” On the surface, Dad’s offer was polite, but his hostility was only thinly covered.

Mum made a little surprised noise. “You can’t be heading out now. There won’t be any trains.”

“I’m wolf,” Levi murmured. “I’ll be fine.” His eyes continued to eat at me, and the intensity finally broke through my shock.

“You’re leaving? Right now?” He gave a little nod. “But there’s so much I don’t understand. We haven’t even talked yet.” I didn’t dare look at Dad, but I had the stupid notion that if Levi walked out now, I’d never see him again. “And this is Manchester.” I improvised rapidly. “It’s not safe for you to hang around the streets.”

His eyebrows lifted a fraction. “Are you suggesting I can’t look after myself?”

“No, I’m suggesting you’re tired and jet-lagged.” His eyes darkened. “And you don’t have anywhere to go.”

Levi ducked his head, and then reached out to touch my cheek. “Goodbye, Jess.”

I couldn’t watch him walk out. I grabbed his hand and clung to it like a lifeline in a rough sea. “Wait. Don’t leave.” He hesitated and I tried again. “Just stay tonight.
Please
.”

“Family means everything. It’s not right for me to come between you and your parents.”

He didn’t sound as sure of himself, and so I appealed to Dad. “You said he could stay the night. That invitation still stands, doesn’t it?”

Mum nudged Dad in the ribs. “Yes, it does. And right now, your father and I are going out. He promised we’d go late night shopping.”

“I don’t think I did.” He sounded indignant.

“Maybe I dreamed it, but that’s what we’re doing.” Mum gave me a quick hug. “We’ll be a couple of hours. Plenty of time for you to talk.”

****

I dug into the kitchen cupboard and found a bottle of Dad’s single malt. Grabbing a couple of glasses, I headed back to the living room and found Levi examining the tiny wolves on the Christmas tree.

“Don’t know about you, but I need a drink.” I held out the malt, and after a moment, he nodded, and took a glass from me. I sloshed two generous measures, and then settled back on the sofa. I was acutely aware we’d only have the house to ourselves for a couple of hours, if that. They might come back early.

Levi prowled up and down, all lean muscle and grace. Just watching him move gave me chills of the very best kind. I quashed those thoughts and wondered where the hell to start. There was only one place.

“Why me?” He cocked his head on one side in a very canine way, and I tried to explain. “Somehow, you came into my dreams. You knew I’d dreamed about Mighty Mike’s, and walking in the Rimutakas. And that bench in the Trafford Centre. But why me?” I took a sip of my drink, and rolled the liquor around my mouth. “I don’t understand any of it,” I finished, lamely.

“We met,” he began, as though choosing his words with care, “in Wellington.” He held up a hand when I opened my mouth to interrupt, and I subsided. I’d remember, surely. He was so distinctive, I couldn’t possibly forget him. “I liked you. A lot.” His eyes seemed to flash sparks in the flickering firelight. “I found you in your dream—and yes, I will explain that too—and I liked you even more.”

Enough to buy a ticket to come here, to try and meet me in person?

Glancing down into his glass, Levi wouldn’t meet my eyes. “I have contacts in Snowdonia, and I figured I’d try to see you before I headed there. It was just luck that we met in the mall.”

There were so many holes in his story, it barely held together. Was he even telling me the truth? I took a drink and gazed at him. He stared back, inscrutable. I took another sip to give me courage. “The wolf thing. What the hell is that all about?”

“Your father might be mistaken.”

That wasn’t an answer. Dad’s words buzzed in my head in an unrelenting chatter of background noise.
Half-breed. Freaks
. “He called you a werewolf, and you said shifter. You planned to tell me later.”
When I trusted you.

Maybe I needed to extend the hand of trust first.

Taking a deep breath, I spoke over the hammering of my heart. I’d never laid myself on the line before, not like this. “When I dreamed about you, I’d wake up and wish you were real. I’ve never met anyone I’ve been so…
connected
to. And now you’re here, and, well, I’d like to take the time to get to know you. Properly.”

Doubt flickered in his eyes, but he didn’t move. I pressed on. “I know I never met you in Wellington, so please tell me the truth. I can’t trust you if you’re not honest with me.”

Levi placed his glass on the mantelpiece, and then took a position with his back to the fire, arms folded. “We met at the dog pound.”

The pound? I frowned as I thought back to that weird afternoon. “You weren’t the guy I spoke to in the office.” Something nudged at my memory, but I ignored it. “And I didn’t see anyone else there.”

“I asked you to help me.”

Jigsaw pieces slotted together in my head.
Werewolf
. The wolf-dog I’d freed from the cage. He said his name was Levi.

I scrambled from my seat, unable to stay still. “Oh my God, that was you? In the cage?”

“Don’t be afraid of me.” I saw pain in Levi’s eyes when he spoke. “I would never do anything to hurt you.”

“That was you,” I repeated. The wolf really had been talking to me. “They doped you with something.”

“Ketamine.”

“Oh my God.”

He gave me a faint smile. “You already said that.”

“It was really you.”

“Yep, you said that too.”

I blew out a breath, my head spinning. It felt as though the world was shifting beneath my feet. I wanted to run away and hide, but at the same time, I wanted to see him as a wolf again. It was the only thing that might convince me I hadn’t gone insane.

“Show me,” I whispered. “Please?”

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

“I need to strip. Look the other way.” His lips curled up, and I nodded again, but didn’t move. He waved his fingers in a circle, and I tried to focus.
Turn around.
I moved to face the sofa and stared at the slightly faded cushions. How long would it take? Was he really going to change into a wolf? Anticipation skittered through my bloodstream, but for some bizarre reason, I was no longer scared. Nervous, yes. My palms were sticky, and my heart was racing, but I wasn’t afraid of him.

Behind me, I heard a rustle of clothing. A soft
swish
, that could have been a T-shirt dropping to the floor. A rasp and scrape, repeated, and two
thuds
. His boots. The sound of a zipper, and then another rustling noise, the sound of denim being shoved down.

He’d be standing there naked. How pervy would it be if I turned to look? Very, I told myself firmly. I had to wait until he’d
changed
, however long that took. Something occurred to me. “Levi? I never thought to ask. It doesn’t hurt does it? When you, uh…”

A sharp
yip
was my reply, and my heart almost stopped. Hauling in a ragged breath, I counted to three in my head and then turned around.

Levi had vanished.

A wolf sat in his place.

My mouth was as dry as the Sahara, and for a second I felt light-headed. How was this even possible? Everything I thought I knew was false. A memory of Becca flashed in my head, her sobs when she told me how she’d caught her boyfriend with another girl. “I saw them together,” she’d cried. “No matter what I do, I can’t un-see them.”

I couldn’t un-see this.

The wolf looked the same as the beast I’d released from the pound. Staring at him, I realised how freakin’ big it was. Handsome too, with thick, dark fur, and the same brilliant blue eyes as Levi. Well, duh. This
was
Levi.

He took a step toward me, and then flopped to the floor, to roll onto his back. Lying there, mouth open and tongue lolling, he looked harmless, and very friendly. What would his fur be like to touch?

“Can I stroke you?” He stretched out, the picture of innocence. His jaws were huge, and the teeth long and deadly, and if he wanted to, he could snap my wrists without even thinking about it. Even so, I still wasn’t scared. I should have been running away, screeching, but I wasn’t. Deep inside me, buried and locked down tight, was a spark of recognition. An awareness. Levi had talked about bloodlines, and Dad’s heritage.

My father’s words were:
My
taid
was a half-breed.

If my great-grandfather had wolf-blood in him, that meant I had a trace of it too.

I dropped to sit on the carpet, and reached out to touch Levi’s head. His ears were like velvet, the fur thick and soft, and I ran my fingers down his neck, to dig into the ruff. He made a rumbling noise of pleasure, and I gazed in awe. This was Levi. He was beautiful. How could Dad think him to be a freak?

He rolled to lie on his stomach, and then, without any warning, he just dissolved into a glorious rainbow of shimmering sparks. I sat spellbound, not daring to move, to even breathe. Next thing, Levi lay on his front, buck-naked, my hands on his bare shoulders.

In human form, he was even more devastating to my overloaded senses. Acres of tawny skin lay there, mine to touch. A tribal tattoo snaked down his spine, and another wrapped around his upper arm. He shifted position to rest his chin on his hands, and he looked up at me, the image of devilment.

“It doesn’t,” he said.

Huh? “Doesn’t what?”

“It doesn’t hurt. That’s what you asked, a minute ago.”

I had, before my entire knowledge of science had been blown out of the water.

His skin was warm. I could touch him all day in either form, if he’d let me. Without thinking, I stroked the inked characters down the line of his back, tracing them with my fingertips. “I don’t know what to say.”

“You’re still here. That’s a good place to start.”