| |
Gwynn ran down the hall, down the stairs, and through the hallway, swallowing emotion all the way. This house had too many people, staring at her, never mind the one wolf she ran into and made a wide detour around. They all let her go. Finally, she burst into the huge great room and out onto the porch.
Here, finally, there was space. The crowd that had been here to welcome her and Aaron was gone. A wide vista of open valley and mountains spread out before her. Gwynn sucked in air until her breathing reached normal. Heartbeat calming, she leaned on the rail and thought about her collapsing universe.
“How are you holding up?”
She turned. The elderly woman, Anna, came up to her, a long, dark purple afghan wrapped around her narrow shoulders.
“I’m fine.”
Anna leaned on the rail next to her. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
People and wolves dotted the landscape, working at distant buildings. There were cabins dotting the hills in the distance and more roads winding out from the main one. The sound of a group of children laughing carried on the breeze. This was more than a working ranch. It was a compound.
“Yes, it is.” Gwynn inhaled the peace of the winter landscape, letting it soothe her soul. “I’ve never seen anything like it—it kind of looks like a set from a movie.”
“We’ve spent many years accumulating land. It’s the only way we’ve survived the modern world.”
“With satellites and cameras and drones, how is it no one knows you exist?”
Anna’s wrinkled cheeks curved into a smile. “Bribes, secret agents.” She winked at Gwynn. “If you stay, you’ll learn all about our wicked ways.”
Wrapped in the fuzzy afghan, her graying hair shot with streaks of black in a bun held up with a pair of wooden chopsticks, Anna looked like someone’s grandma. But underneath the old lady charm Gwynn could sense bands of steel.
“That’s what I’m afraid of.”
Anna laughed. “Don’t worry so much, you’ll end up with more wrinkles than me. Now, I know you have questions. What do you want to know?”
“Do you think I can become a wolf? What happens if he bites me? What’s a dream wolf?” She didn’t ask the most important question—if I don’t do this, will you let me leave?
Anna grinned at her again. “That’s a lot of questions, and it’s cold out here.” She headed for the door. “Come on. Dara has tea for us in one of the parlors. Let’s go warm up.”
“One of the parlors?” Gwynn shook her head and followed Anna back into the house. Her entire apartment building could fit inside this one. And she’d never known anyone who had a “parlor”, let alone more than one.
They settled inside a cozy living room on a pair of matching floral easy chairs.
“I love this room. It’s perfect for these chilly days, and tea. And I never let any of those rough cowboys in here. It’s girls only, one of the perks of being an old lady and in charge.” Anna poured and handed Gwynn a bright red teacup. She poured herself one, blew on the hot liquid, and took a sip. “Mmm, Dara’s gotten it just right. Now, let’s tackle wolf shifter DNA.”
Gwynn set her own teacup down. She was shaking so much, she was afraid she’d break it, and Lord knew what an angry wolf grandma would do about broken china.
“We didn’t used to know why we changed.” Anna’s face grew thoughtful. “We knew it ran in families and we knew it was unpredictable, but since science has developed all these new-fangled tests, it’s helped us tremendously. We now know there are two genes that combine to produce a wolf shifter. We call them A and B. They’re both recessive.” Anna took another sip of her tea. “Do you know what that means?”
Gwynn shook her head. “I’m afraid I didn’t pay much attention in biology. Does that mean you need both of them for the trait to show?”
“Very good, yes.” Anna beamed a smile at her. “You need both the A and the B genes to shift into a physical wolf. But it’s more complex than that. You see these genes can lie in wait for generations, never showing up, unless the person catches the Fever. We learned that many thousands of years ago. Science is only now realizing that’s how many autoimmune diseases work, but we figured it out on our own. Now, it’s become tradition to expose our children to the Fever when they hit adolescence. They catch it and we find out what they’ll be. Wolf shifter, dreamwalker, or spelltalker.” Anna paused. “With me so far, dear?”
“I guess so.” Gwynn frowned. “Aaron seems to think I won’t have both genes. Why would he think that?”
“Let me explain how the other types of wolves work, and then you might understand better. We call gene A the wolf gene. If you have two A genes, no B genes, and you catch the Fever, you become a person with an inner wolf. You can manifest the wolf in your dreams, but not on the physical plane. These are our dreamwalkers. If you have two B genes and you catch the Fever, you become a spelltalker. A spelltalker can cross the akashic plane and speak to our ancestors, among other things.”
“So, AB means wolf. AA means dream wolf, and BB means you get to talk to dead people.” Gwynn shook her head, so confused she didn’t even know what to feel. “But what if you only have one gene? What about A without B? Or vice versa?”
“If you only have one, you don’t manifest anything—dormant. We have a lot of pack who don’t manifest as anything. They’re simply human, inside and out. No change.” Anna touched Gwynn’s hand. Her skin was soft and warm. “That’s what we think will happen to you. You’ll get the Fever. You’ll be very sick for a few weeks. Then you’ll wake up one day and be your normal self. No wolf.”
“And the ones who aren’t wolves or dreamwalkers or spelltalkers. What happens to them?”
“Nothing. They live their lives as pack. Once you’re pack, you’re ours. We protect and provide.” Her face grew stern. “And we expect the same loyalty in return.”
“Like a gang.” Gwynn shook her head. “No thanks.”
A small smile curved Anna’s lips. “Not like a gang. Like a family. A big extended family. One that will show up when you call. One you can depend on.”
A family that would be there, who would back her up against her dad, Mike Leon—the world. Or would they?
“You kicked Aaron out. Is that the type of family you mean?”
“Aaron ran off against the pack council’s wishes. He could have let us help, but he’s stubborn.” She shook her head. “Surely you can see that we couldn’t let the likes of Mike Leon near Fated Mountain. We have children here, pregnant women, the elderly.” Anna’s gaze was serious. “It’s the council’s job to think of the entire pack. Aaron put us all in danger.”
“And what if I do something wrong?”
“We’re like any other society. We have rules, but mostly they’re the same as everyone else’s. We don’t limit pack members, we support them. The enforcers do just as many rescues as they do arrests. And we’re much more lenient than the regular law, I’ll tell you that. Just ask Aaron.”
Aaron had said they’d let him back in, but she still needed to think about it. “Can you test me? See what my genes are?”
“We can, but it will take a few weeks.” Anna squeezed Gwynn’s hand. “Gwynn, Aaron doesn’t have that kind of time. The Fever is running too hot and too fast inside his body. If he doesn’t claim you in the next day or so, he’ll turn feral and run wild.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He’ll be a wolf for the rest of his life. We’ll never see him again as human.”
Gwynn went cold. “And if I let him bite me?” Her words were little more than a whisper.
“You’ll be bound to him for life. You’ll be one of us. Pack.”
Gwynn held onto the old woman’s hand like it was a lifeline and stared into her still-bright eyes. Was what she felt for Aaron strong enough to save him and change her entire world?
Or should she walk away and leave him to run wild forever?