A Wolf of Her Own (12 page)

He leaned over and kissed her nose, the gesture natural and greatly needed. She wrinkled it and her smile deepened. "I’m sorry," he said to her before addressing the officers. "I was pursuing trespassers to our territory. They fled to the golf course grounds where they had a car waiting. Suppose you wouldn’t have photos of them too? We could use them."

The officers exchanged looks. "How do we know you’re telling the truth?"

Kieran fought not to sigh. The security must have seen the footage right before his shift, where he’d fought the other two wolves. "Well, the security tapes would prove that perfectly."

"And what where these alleged trespassers doing on your territory that merited a chase?"

Kieran was about to say something along the lines that no one was allowed to trespass for any reason when Gemma spoke. "They killed my dog."

Everyone’s attention was on her now. She looked acutely sad, so Kieran pulled her into a comforting embrace, sharing energy with her. Neither of them should have anything left to share, but together they had plenty. It was odd, but he wasn’t about to question it.

"Killed your dog, how?"

She shuddered, so Kieran answered for her. "They tore her throat open."

The officers looked disgusted. "With what?" one of them asked.

Kieran resisted the urge to roll his eyes. "They were in wolf form. What do you think?"

"You mean, with their teeth?"

Give the man a medal for being fudging obvious.

Kieran almost laughed aloud when he remembered Gemma’s words to him the previous morning. "Yes. So it would be really helpful if you could show us the footage from the scene."

"Well, we don’t actually have the footage with us. We’d have to arrange it with the golf course security." The officer sounded like it would be too much trouble and he wouldn’t do it. Kieran waited patiently, assessing him, not saying a word. The man broke pretty fast. "But I guess we could arrange for you to take a look."

"I’d appreciate it."

"And we would be grateful too, if you could arrange to have a two-natured officer with us there," Gemma said. She looked composed now, and didn’t flinch when the officers frowned.

"Why?" They sounded suspicious.

Kieran wondered about the request too, but Gemma had a perfect explanation ready. "They may be able to verify certain things only two-natured can see. That way you wouldn’t have to take our word for it."
Our
word. Apparently she didn’t find it difficult to oust herself when it mattered.

The officers exchanged glances again. One of them clearly wanted to deny them the right, but the other was more flexible. "The only two-natured we have in our service is a sentient detective."

"Absolutely not!" Jamie had been quiet until now and his angry exclamation made everyone flinch. The officers paled. "No sentient will judge matters concerning my clan."

Gemma gave him a polite nod and Kieran admired her resolve. Jamie could make anyone’s knees weak when he was on a bad mood. "I understand how you feel. Sentients are responsible for the deaths of many of my family members too. But that was over two centuries ago."

"It was bloody yesterday as far as I’m concerned," Jamie bellowed. Kieran had been born long after the Sentient War had ended so he didn’t hate the third two-natured race as passionately as Jamie did, but he understood his alpha who had lived through some of the worst atrocities.

The officers looked like they were ready to flee, but not so Gemma, who straightened and shot a stern look at Jamie. "I had enough of that attitude from my father, thank you very much. I won’t take it from anyone else. The officers are kind enough to accommodate us and we will accept their offer. Gratefully." The last word was very emphatic.

Jamie, though formidable, wasn’t an unreasonable man. Kieran could see his mouth twitch as he tried to suppress a smile, and he relaxed muscles he hadn’t noticed he had tensed. But Jamie had a reputation to uphold before humans. "Fine. But I’m not attending, so you’ll be personally liaising with the sentient. Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir." She sounded amused and Kieran’s heart warmed in delight. She addressed the officers who were staring at her like deer in headlights, not knowing if they should flee and who from. "We’d be happy to have your sentient detective join us when we view the footage."

"You know, we could call in someone from the MET just as well. They have all kinds there." The officer must have been terrified of Jamie to make the offer. The police could be just as territorial as wolves, so offering to call in someone from London Metropolitan Police was quite a concession.

"That would be acceptable too."

One of the officers took out a mobile phone with slightly shaky hands and made the arrangements. The other tried to restore some of their authority. "I’ll leave you with a warning this time," he said to Kieran sternly. "But you really can’t go traipsing nude in public places, not even in the countryside."

Kieran nodded. "I won’t do it again." He would make sure there were no CCTV cameras witnessing when he shifted.

He saw the men out. When he returned to the study Gemma had taken a seat on one of the armchairs. He went to sit on the armrest of her chair and put a hand on her shoulder. The five minutes he had been away from her felt like an eternity and he needed to establish physical contact. He had never before felt such need to be close to another person, but since touching her quieted the need, he didn’t question it. She leaned in to his hand so she must feel it too.

Jamie was watching them, amazed and amused, but he didn’t demand answers. He got up and, circling his desk, took the seat opposite them. "I’m sorry about your dog."

Sadness took over Gemma again, replacing the strong woman who had stood up to a powerful alpha. She leaned against Kieran, seeking comfort and he stroked her hair. "Thank you. She was old and in bad condition. But she deserved a better end."

"Absolutely. Do you know why they targeted your dog instead of your sheep?"

She pulled herself together with a sigh and straightened. Her hand sought his though, as if she needed the contact as much as he did. He held it, supporting her with his strength. As much as he had, he would give her.

"Well, we were at the meadow at the time with Kieran so maybe they knew it. Or … maybe it was a revenge for what happened earlier."

"What exactly happened?" He sounded too demanding, even to his ears, but the mere thought that she may have been in danger made his entire body go cold.

"I think I met the sheep killers."

"Where?"

She frowned at his sharp question. "At the Asda by the Brighton Road."

Not exactly what he had thought he would hear. "Asda?"

"They were at the parking lot. We had a bit of a run-in. I didn’t recognise them, but I know they weren’t Greenwood clan wolves."

"What exactly do you mean by ’a bit of a run-in’?"

Chapter Thirteen

Kieran’s anger was tangible, like a scent. The emotion was mixed with worry, however. Worry for her. That he cared for her enough to worry was curiously delightful, but it made her feel bad she would have to add to it.

"After you left yesterday, I was in a bad mood. I had to struggle to get my shields up when I was heading to the shop."

"Why? Because you were low on blood?" His sharp question reminded her that she did need to feed soon. If only their moment hadn’t passed.

"No, because my—" She stopped abruptly. He was genuinely concerned for her, but was that a reason to divulge a secret she had kept for over a century. Was the secret of all vampires even hers to tell?

"Your what?" Kieran wouldn’t accept an evasive answer. He deserved better too. Trust had grown between them, a bond forged last night, and secrets would taint it. But the truth wasn’t easy to accept either, and it could break the fragile bond. And she didn’t want that to happen.

As if seeking permission, she glanced at Jamie who shrugged and nodded. She evaded the question with one of her own. "What do you know about vampires’ second nature?"

Kieran frowned. "It’s magic, isn’t it?"

That was the official line. "Well, no. That’s how it manifests. Most of the time anyway." She rubbed her face to make blood flow better, trying to find right words. There weren’t any. "Our second nature is a bloodthirsty monster that kills everything if it’s let free."

His face went blank. Then he frowned, disbelieving. She could practically hear him question how a nice girl with dimples could turn into a monster. There was only one way to make him understand. She didn’t like to remind him of Colm when the memory clearly upset him still, but she had no choice. "Why do you think I was hiding when I was a little girl? Who do you think Colm was protecting me from?"

He shook his head, baffled. "I have no idea."

"I was hiding from my mother. Did you ever meet her? Smaller than me, always smiling, pretty as a doll?"

His face cleared as a memory dawned. "The sheep."

"Yes. But only because I wasn’t available." She sounded harsher than she meant, but it was the truth.

Father and Tom hadn’t been home, having travelled to Scotland to study sheep farming there. Gemma had always believed it was what had finally pushed mother overboard. By the time Father had returned, it had already been too late; Mother was past gaining control of her Rider, with the consequence that she, or the Rider, had butchered a number of sheep in her rage.

Kieran recoiled. "Surely your mother wouldn’t have harmed you."

"That’s what I’m trying to say. It wasn’t my mother." It had taken her years to understand it. "It was her second nature. She wasn’t strong enough to control it. And I have a monster like that inside me too."

He looked uncomprehending. "So how do you control it?"

She sighed. "By controlling my emotions. All the time. Fear excites it, mine and others’, and anger. But more importantly, if I’m feeling strong emotions, I’m less able to keep it in rein." Mother had loved her, but she had loved Father more. Alone, missing him and her son, her emotions had become too strong.

He contemplated her words. "So where does your magic come from?"

At least it wasn’t an all-out rejection. Her tension eased a little. "Our second nature is a self-aware, thinking entity, just like yours. It causes all our magical abilities."

"Can you shift like we do?"

"Not exactly, no."
Yes we can.
She ignored the Rider. "When you shift, you share the consciousness with your wolf, but you stay in charge. If we let our second nature free, we don’t have a way to control it and it’s not certain it’ll allow the human half back." If that happened, those stronger had to control it for them, permanently if needed. Gemma had never learned if her mother had died of natural causes or if it had become necessary for the Circle to end her life for her. Put her down like the monster she had become.

"Is that why you said you hadn’t wanted to become a vampire?"

Trust Kieran to remember it. Unlike most humans who contemplated having their
promise fulfilled
, she had known the risks and hadn’t been willing to take them. She nodded.

"I feared I wouldn’t be strong enough. But Father had lost so much. He was the only member of his family alive after the Sentient War, and he had lost Mother too. He couldn’t bear the thought I would die." She had postponed it as long as she could to make sure she was mentally strong enough for it. She had managed so far, but Mother had been a century into her
fulfilment
when she had begun to lose it. She had been as old as Gemma was now.

He shook his head, in awe. "I’ve never heard of this."

"We don’t really share the knowledge with outsiders." They would be hunted as monsters if people knew.

"You wouldn’t have believed it anyway." Jamie came to her help from the other side of the fireplace. For such an intensive, dominant man, he could sit perfectly quietly and not draw attention to himself. A true predator. "You’d have to witness it with your own eyes."

"I take it you’ve seen this happen?" Kieran asked.

"Let’s just say vampires didn’t see the need to hide their second nature during the Sentient War."

Gemma shuddered. Stories of vampire rampages were all too real to her after having witnessed it in person. "Some of us are strong enough to let it free, like the Circle warriors. The rest have to fight endlessly for dominance with it. And when I’m upset or angry like yesterday, it becomes more difficult. It makes me more likely to act rashly or violently too. So when one of the wolves bumped me in the parking lot, I lashed out. He didn’t back up and I wasn’t about to either. Things might have got ugly, but his alpha was with him and he intervened. The guy wasn’t happy about it, so perhaps he got the alpha to follow me home. Or maybe they were the killer wolves who recognised my scent and knew where to find me."

"Let me get this straight. You almost lost control of a monster inside you and almost got into a fight with two killer wolves because of it?"

Put like that, it sounded worse than it had been. "Pretty much, yes."

"Why didn’t you tell me about it?"

She shrugged. She really didn’t have a good explanation. "It took a while for me to calm down and gain control of the Rider." He lifted a questioning brow and she explained. "It’s what we call our second nature, ’cause it kind of hitches a ride. Or rides you…" She shuddered, but continued matter-of-factly. "I was too angry to notice what car they drove or the licence plate. I wasn’t even sure I’d be able to describe the men themselves. I had nothing to tell."

"I could have gone to the car park myself and checked their scent to match it to the trail from the kill site. Then we would have known the killers were still around."

Her stomach fell. "I didn’t think of that." It was too late to change things so she had to move on. "So, were those who killed Rissa the same wolves who killed the sheep?"

"Absolutely. Only two of them though." So where had the others been while those two visited the farm? "They got away at the golf course parking lot."