Page 63 of Wolf's Prize

“You are no longer alone, Kathryn. We will look after you. Now we know you are one of us.”

Kathryn stared at her hand cradled in Aimon’s. To remain separate from the pack, alone and untrained, or join them and have them shelter her, protect her, but also follow their rules and answer to yet another person. Those were her choices. Or did she not have a choice at all?

She lifted her chin and met Gaharet’s gaze. “What if I do not wish to join the pack?”

Tension rolled off Aimon, and his hand tightened around hers. She waited for a denial, for Gaharet to tell her not joining was not an option.

Gaharet tilted his head to the side and tugged at his beard, his expression puzzled. “What is it you fear about becoming a member of the pack? What is it you think I would do, or ask of you?”

Kathryn squared her shoulders. “Take away my freedom, my choices.”

Gaharet leaned toward her and rested his arms on the table. He smiled, though a hint of sadness crept into the lines around his eyes. “You remind me so very much of my mother, and not only because of the color of your hair. She never truly answered to anyone. Not even my father, though he was the alpha. And he loved her for it.” He shook his head. “I would no more curtail your spirit than my father did my mother’s, that I can promise you.”

Truly?She searched his face, pushing out her senses and sampling the air. She scented no lie.

“However…”

Kathryn’s hopes plummeted.

“For now, until your training is complete, and until the situation at hand is under control, there will be some restrictions. For you and Erin both. I will not risk either of you. You are too precious.”

Precious? Kathryn looked to Erin, whose hand rested in Gaharet’s. Erin smiled her encouragement. She did not seem at all unhappy.

“Will you join our pack, Kathryn?”

Gaharet waited for her answer, staring at her with an intensity she found disconcerting. She swallowed. Living with her secret and hiding her true nature from everyone had brought her nothing but anguish. She needed help, needed to feel as though she belonged somewhere. In the pack she would be accepted, more than accepted. Viewed as important, precious. One of only two of her kind.

She inclined her head. Yes, she would accept his authority as alpha, and would abide by his rules. She would answer to him.

He broke into a smile, nodding at her acceptance. “I am sorry we were not there for you when you needed us, Kathryn. We are here for you now.”

Erin reached across the table, her smile bright, and grabbed Kathryn’s hand.

“I’m so glad you’re here. It’ll be nice to talk to a female about stuff, girl things. It’s so different from where I came from. I’m going to need a little help.” She sighed and her expression turned dreamy. “What I wouldn’t give for a bra and some undies. Or coffee. I don’t know how anybody gets out of bed in the morning without coffee. I wonder…” She tapped her chin with her finger. “I don’t suppose we could mount an expedition to Venice by any chance, or better still go to the source, to North Africa.”

Kathryn looked to Aimon, confused, but Aimon looked as puzzled as she. “What is coffee?”And what were undees and a…bra?

Gaharet coughed and cleared his throat, raising an eyebrow at Erin.

She shrugged. “We’re going to have to tell them at some point. I’m not going to be able to hide it from them forever.” Erin faced them. “Kathryn. Aimon. I have my own secret. I’m not from here. That is, I’m not from the tenth century. I was born in the year 1998 in Australia, a country no one here knows exists yet.”

Kathryn stared at her.

“You are from the future?” said Aimon, sputtering his words. He looked to Gaharet. “How is that possible? Wait. The amulet. She found an amulet.”

Gaharet nodded. “Now you understand why I had no concern about Erin being connected with Renaud or Lothair.”

“Did you know it could traverse time?”

“An amulet?” Now Kathryn was even more confused.Traversing time?

“Each pack member has one,” said Gaharet, tugging a gold amulet from beneath his tunic. It swung on a chain. On one side a howling wolf’s head, the d’Louncrais crest, on the other strange writing. “Engraved on it is an inscription. In time, both you and Erin will receive one of these. All the amulets are linked, through blood and magic, to the binding amulet, an amulet with a red stone instead of an inscription. When there is risk of our secret being exposed, reciting the inscription will activate the binding amulet, drawing you to it, keeping you and the secret of our existence safe.”

“Who has the binding amulet?” she asked, looking from Aimon to Gaharet.

Gaharet glanced at Erin. She glowered back at him. It seemed Erin was no more cowered by Gaharet than her aunt had been by her Uncle Jacques.

“As alpha, Ishouldhave the binding amulet, but…I gave it to Ulrik to convince everyone I was dead.”

---