Manda stared at her for a moment, almost as if she wasn’t quite sure what she was doing in Daci’s room. Then she walked across the floor and sat on the edge of the bed. She looked down at her hands for a moment. When she raised her head, she didn’t meet Daci’s gaze.
“Manda, I…”
Manda shook her head, one short, sharp jerk of her chin. “I came to tell you that I’ll set you free if you want to go. Anton locking you in here was wrong.” She took a deep breath. “He may hate me, and I know Bay will be furious, but I spent my life as a prisoner. I won’t have any part of holding you against your will, no matter what the consequences of freeing you are. I can’t be part of this.”
Daci opened her mouth to reply, but the bedroom door opened again. Deacon, Jazzy, and Logan slipped into the room.
“Manda? What are you doing here?” Deacon touched Manda’s shoulder, but his eyes were on Daci.
Manda shrugged. “I came to set her free. Anton has no right to hold her prisoner.”
Jazzy plopped down on the bed beside Daci and Manda. “That’s why we’re here, too.” She turned to Daci. “I don’t agree with what you said and the fact you can give us up to the authorities scares the shit out of me, but I don’t believe in holding you against your will. It’s not right.”
Stunned, Daci looked from one person to the next. All of them, here in her room, willing to risk Anton Cheval’s anger? “Why?” she said, shaking her head. “Anton will never forgive you. I don’t understand.”
Deacon took her hand. He stared at their linked fingers for a moment, and then lifted his head and gazed directly into her eyes. “Even though I don’t like what you said earlier, I love you, Daci. I know you think I hardly know you, but I’ve been in your head. I know who you are, even if you’re not exactly sure. Locking you away, especially when you’re ready to make your first shift, is just wrong.”
Manda nodded. “That’s it exactly. I’ve been there. I can’t be part of keeping another Chanku imprisoned. I won’t do it.”
Jazzy got up and stood beside Logan. She wrapped her fingers around his and smiled. “I was a prisoner, too, only my jailer was my pimp. This whole thing—being Chanku—is new to us, Daci. We don’t know the rules, but we know the difference between right and wrong. Locking you up is just wrong.” She looked up at Logan, standing tall and serious beside her.
His eyes were on Jazzy when he spoke. “We think you’re ready to make your first shift. We’ve decided to help you through it. Anton will have to agree we’re right, once you’re fully one of us, but even if he doesn’t…” He took a deep breath and turned his gaze on Daci. “We have to live with our choices, and we choose to help one of our own, not lock you up.”
A shiver raced along Daci’s spine. Deacon had said it earlier, that she was one of them. She’d hardly dared believe him. “Are you sure I…?”
Deacon nodded. “Logan saw the inside of your brain, remember? He was the first one to recognize the part of you that makes you shift. Anton’s made sure you’ve been getting the nutrients you need.”
She shook her head. “I haven’t been taking any pills or anything like that.”
“He’s been putting the stuff in your food without telling you.” Deacon shook his head. “That’s just wrong.”
“That’s another thing.” Manda stood up and slapped her hands down on her slim hips. “He gave you no choice. I know Keisha is upset about it. So are all the other females. Most of the men don’t seem to understand that they’re taking away our choice when they give us the nutrients without telling us what the pills do. We’re not even human after taking them! I’m not saying that being Chanku is bad—just the opposite. It’s wonderful, but whether or not you embrace your birthright should be your choice, not Anton’s. It’s wrong and we won’t stand for it. What’s even worse, Anton’s given you what you need to shift, and now he’s got you locked up in here so you can’t run free.”
A soft knock on the door silenced everyone. Daci squeezed Deacon’s hand and they all stared at the door as it slowly opened.
Keisha and Xandi stepped into the room. Eve was right behind them. Then Mei crowded in, followed by Shannon Murphy. Daci hadn’t even met her yet, though she’d been in Daci’s room when she’d had her meltdown.
Shannon looked around at all the faces and grinned. Then she went straight to the bed, leaned over and gave Daci a big hug. “Looks like we’re all in this together, eh, girls?”
Manda hugged Shannon and laughed. “The guys are going to be so pissed.”
“Hey,” Logan said, laughing. “Not all the guys. I’m here.”
“Me, too.” Once again, Deacon squeezed Daci’s hand. “Do you think she’s ready?”
Keisha walked around to the far side of the bed and touched Daci’s forehead. Her fingertips felt cool against her skin. After a moment, Keisha looked up and smiled. “Oh, yeah. She’s ready.” Without another word, she untied the silky sarong she wore and let it fall to the floor in a swirl of pale blue silk.
Daci knew her eyes must be as large as saucers, but Keisha looked like a primitive queen, her body so ripe and beautiful Daci couldn’t stop staring. She was rounded and soft, her breasts and hips full, her skin as smooth and perfect as dark chocolate.
The shuffle of fabric dragged her eyes away from Keisha. Everyone else in the room, including Deacon, had stripped off their clothing as well. Daci grabbed Deacon’s hand and stared. What the hell were they doing?
He grinned at her, and before she could object, tugged her nightgown over her head. Daci flung her hands across her breasts, though she had to admit she felt silly, covering herself when everyone else was naked.
“Link with me.” Deacon didn’t give her time to blush. He spoke so sternly she did exactly as he instructed without taking time to think. “Get into my head. Do what I do.”
She fell into his thoughts, tumbling headfirst into his mind as if she were Alice stumbling down the rabbit hole.
At first, the myriad images terrified her, a kaleidoscope of color and light, sound and scent.
Then they made absolutely perfect sense. It was so simple. So very, very simple.
Without warning, Daci was looking down from her perch in the middle of the bed, mesmerized by a pack of wolves. They circled the bed while she sat there blinking at the change in the light, the difference in perception.
Awestruck, she lifted her right hand, only it wasn’t a hand any longer. It was a paw. A big, broad, hairy paw, tipped with sleek, black nails. Her fur was dark gray with silvery tips, the pads on the bottoms of her feet thick as leather and black as night.
All the air rushed out of her lungs. She felt light-headed, dizzy, and disoriented, her mind was spinning, her heart pounding. What’d happened? How…?
Keisha’s soft laughter echoed in her mind. It took Daci a moment to figure out which wolf she was. There, the dark brown one with fiery highlights glinting in the overhead light. She sat while the others moved, staring at Daci with her long tongue lolling from her mouth, framed in sharp, white teeth.
You are truly one of us, Daci. Just as your mother must have been so many years ago. Come. The men are with the babies. They think Xandi and I are running alone tonight. We’d rather you ran with us.
Deacon?
I’m here. Are you okay? The big dark gray wolf reared up and placed his paws on the edge of the bed. Come with us.
As if she moved within one of her dreams, Daci followed the pack of wolves out of her room and across the hallway to another bedroom. There was a large glass door that opened on to a deck.
The door had been left open, and each of them raced through the gap. Surprised that she actually recognized them now, Daci watched as Jazzy and Logan, then Manda, Shannon, and Xandi raced out onto the deck and leapt to the meadow below. Eve was right behind them.
Mei and Keisha hung back, as if waiting for Daci to make the leap. She did, side by side with Deacon. Then she paused in the meadow below the deck with all the others, and watched as Keisha arced over the railing.
Only Mei remained. But she wasn’t a wolf anymore. Blinking in shock, Daci sat back on her haunches as a beautiful snow leopard practically flew off the deck with such power and grace that she actually sailed right over Deacon and Daci’s heads.
Show-off! Keisha’s mental voice cut through the pack’s silent laughter.
The leopard snorted, and then it was once again a wolf. Daci trotted close and touched noses with Mei. How?
My primary shape is the snow leopard, but then I can’t communicate with the rest of you as wolves. No way am I going to miss out on all the chatter tonight!
Mei took off at a full run. The rest of them followed, streaming out across the dark meadow, headed for the forest.
The night was magical. Daci lived the dream that had haunted her for so long. The scents, the small sounds, the whispers of movement along the trail. As she ran, knowledge spilled into her mind, words from Keisha and the others, as well as instincts coming to life from some deep well of Chanku knowledge that must have been freed by the shift.
She understood her ability to control her fertility and knew how to release an egg should she want a child. Her heat was upon her, and that explained so many of her sexual urges, the arousal she’d had so much trouble controlling. Was her scent the reason Deacon was attracted? Maybe that was all it was, the fact he was male and she was a bitch in heat.
She’d need to think on that one for a while. Anton couldn’t be right. Deacon couldn’t possibly love her.
More information flooded her mind. She knew she could only become pregnant in the form of the wolf, now that she had finally shifted. Knew that her body was impervious to human diseases, that cancer and viruses and even the common cold were no longer a threat.
But it was Keisha who explained the mating bond. The link so powerful, so all-consuming, that it could only occur when she finally chose her mate and he took her as a wolf, their bodies connected physically and mentally in a merge so complete it could be broken only in death.
Xandi described their unique pack structure—a matriarchal society where the alpha bitch ruled in a powerful partnership with the male. The male alpha might have the cunning and the physical strength, but he usually deferred to his mate. He might not always like it, but he accepted, on a level beyond conscious thought, that her strength ran deep and true, that her choices were for the pack, for their young, for their future. In this way their society as a whole found its strength.
Keisha’s thoughts slipped into Daci’s mind with perfect clarity. Tonight was a perfect example, she said. Anton is our leader and he has the right to order your confinement, but it’s my right and duty as the pack’s alpha bitch to question his decision, and to countermand it if I disagree. She glanced at Daci and her amber eyes sparkled. Obviously, I disagree. He’ll accept my decision whether he likes it or not.
Wide-eyed, Daci followed Keisha and the others, with one thought uppermost in her mind—Keisha must be one tough bitch, if she was so willing to go against Anton Cheval! Deacon ran steadily behind her, but she was hardly aware of his presence. The thought of Keisha facing up to Anton amazed her. The fact she’d stood up to him for Daci, especially after the terrible things Daci had said, was almost too much to comprehend.
Her mind felt crammed full of new experiences, of unexpected sensations, but most of all, with the innate knowledge that she suddenly had a family where before there’d been no one.
A family she could never betray. A family her father had persecuted. How could she have aligned herself with him, when he was so obviously wrong?
Because he was your father, and you wanted his love. Deacon’s soft voice slipped into her mind.
Will you forgive me? I feel so stupid. I’m not sure what I was thinking.
You were still thinking as a human. As Bosworth’s daughter. Tonight, you’re thinking as Chanku. You are your mother’s daughter, Daci. You’ve shed your human self.
He stopped. Daci paused beside him.
You’ll never be the same again, Daci. Please forgive us for taking that choice away from you. Keisha’s right. We should have discussed it with you first.
She shook her head, aware it was a very unwolflike gesture. What’s done is done. I need to go back and apologize to everyone. I feel like such a fool.
You’re not a fool. Never a fool, sweetheart.
Suddenly Xandi’s thoughts filled her mind. Game. Just ahead. Daci, you and Deacon circle to the left and come in around the pond. We’ll approach from the far side.
Daci followed Deacon, shocked when the instinct to slip through the scrubby willows at the water’s edge in absolute silence governed her amazing body. She crept stealthily around the pond. A young buck stood with his front feet in the shallow water. He drank slowly. Then he raised his head and snorted.
Setting her human self aside, Daci exploded out of the willows. The buck reared back. Daci’s jaws closed around his throat, but she missed the solid killing bite her instincts told her she wanted. Jazzy shot in from the right at almost the same time and clamped her jaws higher on the animal’s throat, just beneath his jaw. The weight of the two wolves took the animal to the ground.
The other females crowded in. The kill was quick, though not as neat as Daci knew it should have been. She still had so much to learn, but hunger ruled her now. Immersed in her new reality as wolf, she tore into the soft belly, ripping through hide and skin. Her blood ran hot with the scent of the kill and the taste of warm meat. She gorged herself, feasting with the other females in a frenzy of snarling lips and bared teeth, their ears flat against their broad skulls.
Logan and Deacon circled for a few minutes, snarling and growling until the mood shifted and the bloodlust cooled. Then they moved into the seething pack and found their places at the rapidly cooling body.
Later, when the buck had been reduced to a scattered carcass of skin and bloodied bones, the pack began to disperse. Keisha touched her nose to Daci’s flank. Xandi and I have to go back. The babies need us. She snorted. And we need them. We’ve discovered our milk comes in heavier when we’ve made a kill and gorged ourselves. You’ve done well, Daci. The others will accept you, once you come to them. I’ll talk to Anton and tell him what we’ve done.
There’s no need.
Daci spun around. The wolves near the carcass all turned in the same direction. A huge black wolf stalked out of the forest. It didn’t stop until it reached Daci and Keisha.
Daci felt her legs begin to tremble the moment she recognized Anton. She leaned close to Deacon. He stood beside her without any sense of fear at all. Jazzy and Logan moved closer to stand next to them. Manda crowded close and then pushed out in front to face the wolf.
It was my idea to set her free, she said.
But we all agreed. Logan faced Anton as well. Soon the others stood beside and behind them.
Anton looked at Keisha first. Then he gazed directly into Daci’s eyes. She felt his mind touch hers, but there was no sense of what he thought or felt. He looked absolutely regal, standing there in front of her with all the others facing him.
Then, without responding to either Manda or Logan, he spun around and trotted back into the woods. Keisha turned to Daci. Don’t worry. Everything will be fine. I’m going with him.
She and Xandi trotted after Anton. The others followed, until only Daci and Deacon remained in the quiet meadow. The scent of blood and death from their kill still lingered. The amazing rush, the sense she’d finally found her place in the world, had been dulled by Anton’s appearance, the reminder of what she’d said, what the others had done on her behalf.
Deacon was the first to shift. Daci followed, hesitant now that so many truths had been revealed. The night was cool and she wrapped her arms around her naked body. “What now?”
“Do you still hate us?” Deacon smiled at her, but his hands stayed at his sides.
Daci raised her head and gazed steadily into his amber eyes. “I can’t believe I defended my father. He doesn’t deserve my loyalty. He never showed me any compassion, never loved me as he should have. He was obsessed. Maybe he was insane.” She shook her head. “I feel so stupid. So many things make sense now. They didn’t before. Even my mother. She was always such a mystery to me. Now, it’s like my entire sense of reality has shifted.”
“That’s because you shifted.” He touched her chin, lifted her face so that she couldn’t avoid the light in his amber eyes. “I do love you, Daci. Make love with me. Here, now.” He touched her shoulders. His fingertips lightly traced the curve of her arms all the way to her wrists. He linked their hands.
She shook her head. “I don’t know if I love you, Deacon. I don’t know anything, anymore. I think I do, but so much has happened. I can’t mate with you. Not as a wolf. I understand the permanence of that now, and I’m not ready. It’s all too new.”
He leaned over and touched his forehead to hers. “I’m not ready for the mating bond, either, though I have a feeling it will happen, and it will happen with you…when we’re both ready. My first shift happened this week, remember? Make love to me, as a woman loves a man. If I don’t have you right now, I think I might explode.”
His voice cracked. She wasn’t sure if it was laughter or a sob, but when she looked up he was smiling.
“I really can’t face Anton with a boner, Daci. Have pity on me!”
Laughter burst out of her. She threw her arms around his slim waist and buried her face against his chest. “You idiot. Of course. But I have to run first. I’m not ready to face Anton at all. Not yet.”
She shifted and spun around in one, flowing motion, as if she’d done this all her life. Then she realized she had—for years, in her dreams. Those amazing dreams that finally, after so long, made sense.
Deacon shifted and followed. Daci felt his sharp teeth as he nipped her flank. She kicked into a higher gear until they were flying across the ground, feet barely touching the hard-packed earth, tails aloft like flags in the wind.
Daci had never felt so free. She ran from her mother’s death, from her father’s betrayal. From all the years she’d lived with people who didn’t care for her beyond the money her father sent them to keep her.
She ran from everything that had shaped her, that had formed her into the young woman she’d become, and in the process she realized she was no longer racing away from her past.
No. With Deacon behind her, Daciana Lupei raced forward, into her future.