“You were lucky Mary’s pack was near and knew where the first aid supplies were hidden. Let’s see what they did for you.”
The end of the material stuck to my skin. She moved closer and began to work it away with small, slow movements. Most of the cloth was clean, but pink and red stained a few places. When she had the mass of material on the floor next to her, she tilted her head to study what she saw. I wished I had a mirror.
“Who Claimed you?” she asked.
“No,” I said, shaking my head the tiniest bit. I’d stumbled into a world I didn’t understand, and she wanted to start questioning me? “That’s not how our conversation is going to start. First, you’ll tell me who you are, then what you are. After that, I’ll leave.”
The woman chuckled. “You’ll need that inner strength to deal with us. I’m Winifred Lewis. According to Mary, you saw one of us change yesterday. So, I think you know what we are. We’re having trouble figuring out what you are, though.”
My eyebrows shot up before I could stop the reaction. My heart did a quick double tap against my ribs.
Hearing her say that I already knew what they were definitely troubled me. I’d seen them change from wolf to man. I’d watched movies, and I knew the Hollywood legends. Never once had I thought any of it real. Yet believing in werewolves bothered me a lot less than having her question what I might be.
I relaxed my face before I warily asked, “What do you mean?”
“Our kind doesn’t mingle with humans,” she said. “You, however, seem to be causing a stir. There are two males out there who both insist they have Claimed you.”
She’d circled back to the Claiming stuff again. I sighed.
“Since I don’t understand what you’re talking about, I can’t say what they did other than bite me.” I gestured to my neck. “It hurt, and I didn’t like it.”
She studied me for another moment. “Did you find either of them...attractive?”
Two men bit me on the neck and she wanted to know if they were attractive? I blinked at her, got to my knees, grabbed my backpack, and stood. This place was crazy, and I wanted nothing to do with it. Neither Ms. Lewis nor Mary moved to stop me as I walked toward the door.
“There’s something special about you, Charlene. Don’t you want to find out what that might be?”
I stopped with my hand on the latch.
“How do you know my name?”
“Mary told me. I can communicate with her silently. It’s a bit hard to explain.”
Still facing the door, I considered what she said. She could do things with her head? Things that most people couldn’t? She had my attention. She knew it, too.
“If you’re willing to stay for a bit, I’m willing to try explaining how it works though,” she said.
“I’d be foolish to stay.”
I couldn’t ignore the fact that these beings had the ability to change from a dog to a person at will and that they liked to bite. Did I want to find out more about them? Yes. They were unique, like me. But they’d already hurt me twice.
“What if I promised no one else would bite you without your permission?” she said.
I snorted. “Permission?” Turning, I shook my head at her. “In what universe would I ever give someone permission to bite me?”
“There’s a lot you don’t know, Charlene. You might find yourself willing at some point. Consider staying. Let me introduce you to the people here.”
“People? No disrespect, but I don’t think that’s the right term.” Not for what I witnessed.
She didn’t say anything. I kept my hand on the latch. If I left, where would I go? If I stayed, how long until I died? I closed my eyes, tilted my head back, and silently asked “What next?”
As I stood there waiting, something tickled my senses. Then, I felt the threads of their will drifting in the stillness around me. Animals didn’t have those threads. Only people. And I could control people.
I opened my eyes and found both Ms. Lewis and Mary watching me closely. Ms. Lewis was right; I was special. So special I needed to hide from the world.
“I won’t allow anymore biting.”
“Neither will I. I promise you are safe.”
“No one is ever safe, Ms. Lewis,” I said. I pictured Penny and the gym of people I’d controlled. “I’d like to leave this room now.”
She stood with a smile. “Certainly. Mary, your father has everyone in the yard.”
Mary, who’d quietly watched our exchange, glanced at the window with worry. “How many?” she asked as she stood.
I walked to the window and looked out. A pack of wolves, at least twenty, waited. And they all watched the window. My stomach churned. I automatically searched out the threads of their wills. The thin strands hovered around them. It gave me comfort. I would be safe but not because Ms. Lewis said so.
“Twenty,” I said, moving back to the door. I pulled the latch and let myself out. Ms. Lewis and Mary followed behind me.
The halls were clear of most the cobwebs. I doubted it was due to any cleaning effort but rather their fighting and general presence in the halls.
Recalling the layout, I descended the stairs and kept to the hall to the right. At the main entry door, I hesitated a second before pushing it open.
They remained as they were, waiting in a group. As soon as I stepped onto the porch, a collective, angry growl rumbled from the gathering. I stopped moving forward. Before I could do anything, Ms. Lewis spoke.
“No one will bite you again without my permission,” she said. Complete certainty echoed in her words.
I didn’t turn to look at her. I couldn’t take my eyes from the hackle-raised pack of wolves before me. They certainly looked ready to bite.
“How can you be sure?”
She stepped around me so I could see her.
“I’ve told them they couldn’t,” she said, setting a hand on my shoulder.
Her kind smile did little to reassure me as the growling increased in volume. She looked out at the group.
“Protect her. Make her welcome for as long as she wants to stay here. I will return Friday evening to listen to your requests.”
The crowd before us quieted, and she stepped off the porch, obviously intending to leave me. I panicked. My mouth opened, but before I could ask her to wait, the woman disappeared and a white wolf stood in her place. My heart beat hard against my ribs. I struggled to breathe as she turned. Was I a fool to stand in a yard full of wolves? I swallowed hard against the remembered sensation of teeth breaking through my skin. The white wolf nudged my hand with her nose.
“We can smell your fear and hear your heartbeat,” Mary said gently from beside me. “We can sense lies and taste freedom. She says she sees so much potential in you and wonders, if we can do all that, what can you do, Charlene?”
I met the white wolf’s steady gaze and struggled with my choices. These creatures attacked me, bit me, then bandaged me up and protected me. They could do things regular people couldn’t. How long had they existed yet remained hidden from the real world? I was foolish to stay, but was I more foolish to consider leaving?
“I can keep secrets,” I said. Theirs and my own.
The wolf bobbed its head, turned, and I barely caught the streak of white as she left. The other wolves in the yard hardly gave her a glance; they watched me.
“Are you hungry?” Mary asked after a moment.
“Very.” I looked over at her. The shirt just managed to cover her. Still, I blushed seeing her standing there, close to naked, in front of a group of twenty wolves. Wolves that were also men. Given her complete ease with it, I wondered how much time she spent as a girl versus a wolf. Then, I cringed as I considered what her idea of food might be.
“Um, what do you eat?”
She smiled at me. “Rabbit’s good. Let’s go back inside. Someone will bring in wood and a rabbit or two for us, and we’ll have roasted meat. .”