Wolf Tales III (3 page)

Keisha scooted back on the couch and sat up, looking around as if trying to find the wolf, but she left her hand within his grasp. Held it, in fact, as if it were a lifeline.

“Who…?” She glanced down at their hands, then back up at Anton.

“The others have gone. I asked them to give us some time. I know you have a lot of questions.” Anton stroked her hand, projecting soothing thoughts. “Alexandria felt terrible about frightening you, but she knew of no other way to convince you.”

“You mean… I really did see what I thought I saw? That woman turned into a wolf?” Her voice squeaked on the word.

Anton smiled. “Yes, you saw her turn into a wolf. It was not a parlor trick, not a figment of your imagination. It’s something all of us are capable of doing.”

“Us who?” Carefully, Keisha extricated her hand from Anton’s grasp.

Regretfully, he let her go.

“
Chanku.
We are all of that race, an ancient race… you, me, my friend Stefan and the woman you saw, Alexandria. Others as well, though I’ve not located them yet. Long before I read the article in the paper, I had sensed your existence. The tabloid story merely pointed me in the right direction.”

Keisha stared at him as if she still thought he might be totally nuts. Anton let his thoughts surface in her mind.

Maybe this will help. Our people can communicate over short distances with the power of our minds, longer distances under certain circumstances. I know you can hear me. See if you can answer.

“Holy shit.” Keisha shook her head. “I hear you in my head.”

You can speak to me this way as well. Try it.

How?
Her simple question touched his mind, an erotic feather-stroke across his senses. Anton shivered at the brief contact.

Just like that.

Her eyes grew round and wide.
You mean you can hear me as well as I can hear you? How come I’ve never been able to do this before?

Most likely, you’ve not had anyone listening. Do you believe me now?

Well, I’m beginning to think either you’re totally nuts or I am.
She smiled.

Anton realized she was so caught up in the magic of telepathy she’d forgotten her fear. He silently reassured her, built on her sense of achievement.

He’d never seen anyone more lovely, not even Alexandria in all her wolven glory. He told her so, let Keisha see herself as he saw her… skin like dark silk, sparkling yet wary amber eyes, a lush and sensual mouth that begged to be kissed, full breasts he wanted to nuzzle and taste.

Keisha arched her eyebrows and scooted away from him. The artery at her throat fluttered with her increased heart rate. Anton sensed her fear and immediately clamped down on his sensual thoughts.

I’m sorry. I was out of line.

She stared at him, obviously not certain whether he was worthy of her trust.

He shook his head, held his hand out to her in apology. “I am sorry. I have no right, especially after all you’ve been through. You’re a beautiful woman and I let my thoughts go a bit astray. The
Chanku
are a very sensual race.”

Keisha nibbled on her upper lip a moment, then seemed to come to a decision. “Tell me more about this ancient race of yours. I’m of African descent… one hundred percent, as far as I know. I can trace my ancestors back to the Ivory Coast in the mid 1700s. Both my parents are gone now, but as far as I know, there aren’t any white people in my heritage. How can I be part of some other race I’ve never heard of?”

“I don’t know. Somewhere in your past is the blood of
Chanku.
There’s not a lot of information about the race as a whole, but I sense it very strongly in you.” Anton stood up and paced about the room, gathering his thoughts. “I learned of my own heritage practically by accident. I was a magician, a very good one. I wanted more. I wanted to be a true wizard, a master of the arcane arts. To achieve this goal I studied. I went to libraries all over Europe, read scrolls in their ancient languages, immersed myself in the writing of scholars and practitioners of wizardry.”

He leaned against the edge of a large table, crossed his ankles and folded his arms across his muscular chest. “A lot of it is pure, unmitigated bunk. Even the old stuff. However, some of what I learned led me to Tibet where I was allowed to access some very old records of ancient civilizations. There was a single reference that caught my eye. It was the word
Chanku.
I felt as if that word unlocked some secret part of my mind -- it literally stopped me in my tracks.”

Chapter 3

Keisha understood the part about being stopped in your tracks… watching this absolutely drop-dead gorgeous guy pacing around her living room as if he owned the place was a surrealistic experience. Though she couldn’t control her intense fear of men when he was close enough to touch her, she could certainly admire him from across the room.

His dark hair fell well below his collar and his eyes were the same unusual shade of amber as her own. He had the high cheekbones and shadowed jaw of a top fashion model and he moved with the grace of a dancer, all long limbs and lean body. His shoulders were broad, stretching the dark knit of the shirt he wore, and sleek muscles rippled along his arms, across his chest. As tall as she was, he was so much taller, so much stronger.

She wondered if she’d ever be able to let a man come close to her again. The image of her abductors slipped, unbidden, into her thoughts and she shuddered.

“Are you okay?” Anton knelt in front of her, his look one of concern and caring.

“Yes… I was just thinking…” Her thoughts drifted, her heart pounding as Anton drew closer. He smiled and backed away.

It’s okay. I respect your need for space. I want you to know I will never hurt you. None of us will. We understand your fear. With time, we will make it go away.

I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same again!

Anton stood up, still smiling, as if Keisha’s cry had never entered his mind. “Once you fully understand
Chanku,
you’ll realize you need never fear again. You will discover new strengths within yourself and within the links you share with others of our kind. We are strongly connected and just as strong individually. Like the fabled werewolves, we have the power to shift our bodies from human to wolf and back again. It’s nothing paranormal, not supernatural. We don’t need a full moon or any type of spell, nor must we remain under cover of darkness. It’s due to a physical anomaly, a small part of the brain near the hypothalamus, an extension of that organ, actually, that exists only in the
Chanku,
an organ that, without certain nutrients, loses its ability to function.”

Keisha stared at him for a long moment, weighing the veracity of his words. “If what you’re saying is true, how could I have shifted? How could I have suddenly, without any warning, turned into a wolf?”

“Fear. Adrenaline. The body’s need to survive. I don’t really know. For the rest of us, it takes a special diet. When I was in Tibet, I learned there were plants once common to the area that have the ability to draw certain nutrients from the soil in precise percentages -- nutrients perfectly formulated to stimulate the special part of the brain which in turn exerts influence on the functions in the body needed to shift. I was drawn to the plants, not realizing my body craved what they offered.”

A small shipment of exotic shrubs and grasses sat, at this moment, in the little greenhouse in her backyard. Some even grew in the decorative planter in her studio. Shrubs and grasses common to the lower reaches of the Himalayas. She’d seen them at a demonstration, had felt oddly drawn to them… had created her entire memorial design around varieties of plants she’d never before heard of.

Could something in her own genetic make-up have forged the immediate connection she’d felt for the odd selection of plants?

No. Absolutely not… but, what if?
The suspicion lingered in her mind.

She took a deep, steadying breath. “I’m a landscape architect. I work with a lot of imported varieties. Possibly some of those…”

“Only if you eat them.” Anton shrugged, but there was a twinkle in his eyes. “Been nibbling on your plants much?”

Keisha felt the tension slowly ebbing from her body. Whoever and whatever this man was, he was handsome and sexy and trying so hard to help her relax.

“Actually, yes.” She stood up, took a moment to gain her balance and walked slowly toward the backyard, immediately feeling more at ease. “I tend to nibble when I work. Come see if anything looks familiar.”

She sensed his attraction to her as she brushed past him. Her muscles tensed when she felt the warmth of his body, the reaction involuntary and irritating. Her insides felt twisted, tied in knots. He was attractive, intriguing. She was drawn to him, wanted to know more about him, but at the same time was repulsed by his very maleness.

Before her attack, she’d always thought of herself as a sensual woman. She liked sex. Always had. She wanted to want someone again, wanted to know that rush of sexual excitement, the tingling awareness of her own sexuality. Frustration stiffened her gait as she led him to the back of the house and down into the small garden.

Had her sexuality, her need to touch and be touched, been beaten out of her forever? Sighing, Keisha knelt down and brushed her hand across a soft, yellowed grass growing in tangled clumps around the low steps leading to the greenhouse. “I liked this so much, I planted some of it in my own yard and even have a planter of it in my studio. The rest is for a project I’m working on, a small memorial garden in Golden Gate Park.”

Anton rolled a few blades of the grass between his fingers, looked up and smiled, then followed her into the greenhouse.

Immediately, the space seemed too small, the air too heavy… damp and warm and close. Keisha backed away from Anton. He stepped away as well, giving her more space. She sighed and shook her head, well aware he knew why she’d reacted the way she did. “I imagine it will take time. I’m still recovering. I’m sorry. I don’t want to feel like a victim, but even more, I don’t want to make you feel like a pariah.”

“I understand, but more importantly, I know this is only temporary. You will heal.”

Anton turned away and stared intently at the rows of flats, each one filled with familiar soft grasses, stunted and twisted shrubs and small, flowering ground covers. When he raised his head, he was smiling once again.

“Your choice of plants alone would convince me of your heritage. Each one of these, in very small amounts, is an integral part of the
Chanku
diet. I have most of them growing at my own home. Do you have any idea what made you choose these particular varieties?”

His eyes sparkled and the smile broadened, changed his entire face. She’d thought him handsome at first but hadn’t realized the man was downright breathtaking. Literally. Damn. It was such a stupid cliché, but Keisha had to remind herself to breathe.

“I… I don’t know exactly why I chose them.” She did though. She knew exactly why she’d picked these particular plants. They’d felt right. That was all. When she’d gone to the wholesaler’s and looked across the vast array of growing things, this selection of plants had practically called out to her.

Her choice of just the right plants for her various designs had brought her numerous awards. Keisha had always figured it was her extensive knowledge after years of education and training. Was it merely that odd sixth sense she’d always wondered about? Something beyond her normal, human skills?

Was she merely fulfilling the needs of
Chanku?

Startled by her weird train of thought, she looked away, knelt down and patted dirt around a small bush. Her heart fluttered and she felt terribly self-conscious, unbearably aware of the fact her mind was in turmoil, that she was alone in a small, isolated greenhouse with a stranger. She concentrated on the grains of sand clinging to her fingers instead of the powerful man standing, once more, almost close enough to touch. “The garden is a memorial to a group of Sherpas who died leading an expedition of local climbers. I thought plants from the region seemed apropos.”

“Very apropos. Yet the ones you selected are all specific to the
Chanku
diet.” He held his hand out to her. “I realize you don’t know me, but please try and trust me. The others are returning. I sense them drawing near. You might be able to sense their arrival as well.”

Keisha stared at his hand a moment, gathered what courage she had left and wrapped her fingers around his larger ones. His olive skin looked pale against hers, the size of his fingers dwarfing her hand. He tugged her easily to her feet, pulling her up with a single, graceful motion that drew her close to his chest.

She tried to sense the others. Sensed only Anton. Felt the beat of his heart, the soft exhalation of his breath. Smelled the clean, musky scent that made her own heart rate speed up.

She dropped his hand and stepped away. Only then, when she’d put some distance between herself and Anton, was she aware of the others coming up the front steps, the sound of their footsteps ringing in her mind, wisps of conversation floating, barely heard.

She glanced quickly at Anton, then practically ran out of the greenhouse. “Your friends are back. I guess I should let them in.”

She heard Anton’s quiet laughter as he followed her across the yard.

Chapter 4

“I know it’s asking a lot of you to come with us, but please consider it.” Alexandria set her coffee cup down on the placemat in front of her and smiled at Keisha.

“I have my work… I don’t know any of you…” Keisha held on to her cup, clutching it with both hands as if it were a lifeline.

Stefan took a swallow of his coffee. He looked so much like Anton it was just plain eerie, but the men insisted they weren’t related, other than their shared
Chanku
heritage. “You said the designs are almost complete. If I remember correctly, you also said they have to go through an approval process that should take about six weeks. Come with us, just for a month. Give yourself a chance to know us, give us a chance to find out more about you, to convince you to join us. Whether you like it or not, you are one of us.”

He’s telling the truth, Keisha. We all are. Please, look into our minds. We’re all completely open to you. Look into our minds and see that we mean you no harm.

Keisha’s hands trembled. To have Anton enter her mind so easily… she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. The connection was both frightening and at the same time comforting. With her eyes still closed, she tried again to sense the thoughts of the others in the room.

As if a veil had lifted, she suddenly caught their conversation flitting through her mind.

She’s been badly traumatized, Stefan. It’s not fair to push her.

She’s a lot stronger than she looks, my love. She needs us as much as we need her.

Alexandria’s right. We will not force the issue. I don’t want her hurt. If she says she’s not ready, we’re not going to push her. This must be her decision, and her decision alone.

Anton!
Alexandria worried about her, but Anton was the one willing to give her space, the one who saw her troubled soul and understood. For Anton, she would make this decision. Nodding slowly, she looked at each of the three people in the room.

“I will go, but only if you promise me a room of my own, a quiet place where I can be by myself, and a return ticket if this doesn’t work.”

“It’s yours.” Anton slowly held his hand out to hers, not to grab it but to shake and seal the agreement.

Keisha took his hand, felt the warmth, sensed the innate honesty of the man. Beyond that, she felt his need, his desire for her. She almost slipped her hand free, but she looked into his eyes and stilled.

Need. Such need and naked vulnerability she thought her heart would break. Where she feared, Anton needed. Where she worried, Anton wanted.

She fought the urge to pull her hand free, almost turned and ran, but a small whisper of thought entered her mind.

Anton needs you. We all do, but Anton most of all. He is the one to rediscover the
Chanku
, he is the one who brought Stefan and me together, who brought all of us together. You need to find yourself, and Anton should be the one to help you. Please, join us?

Keisha jerked her head in Alexandria’s direction. The woman’s face held no sign of their discussion. It had been totally private, words between two women. Kindred. She felt a warmth under her heart she’d not known before. Alexandria nodded, an almost imperceptible movement, but enough to let Keisha know it had indeed been her speaking.

Keisha glanced once more in Anton’s direction. He studied her, his eyes wide open and yet so sad she wanted to cry. He thought she would turn them down, would change her mind, though she’d already accepted. He was afraid of losing her.

Slowly, Keisha nodded her head. “I will go with you. I need to know you. More than that, I need to know myself.”

* * *

“It’s lovely.” Barefoot, dressed like Xandi in a soft, blue silk sarong tied over one shoulder, Keisha stared out over the vast mountain range, tinged with pale gold and silver in the last glow of evening. She and Xandi shared a quiet moment on the large deck surrounding the western side of the house. “I’ve never been to Montana. I thought it was all cowboys and buffalo.”

Xandi laughed. She’d shadowed Keisha since their departure, a comforting presence with so many new experiences. “It is beautiful. This is my favorite time of night. After dinner, Anton, Stefan and I usually shift to our wolven forms and run. We’ve explored every inch of the forests around us.”

“You really do shift, don’t you?” Keisha turned and leaned back against the deck railing, her wine glass clasped between her fingers. “I still can’t believe it, though after seeing what you did yesterday I know I have to accept. Will you run tonight?”

“If you don’t mind being left alone. Oliver will be here, but the three of us might be away for hours. Otherwise, we can stay here until you feel more settled.”

Keisha took a deep breath. “I think I would like to see you shift. I want to feel what you feel when it happens. It might make it easier for me to accept.”

“Are you sure?” Xandi’s eyes practically bored into hers.

Keisha nodded. Immediately, Stefan and Anton joined them on the deck, and she realized they’d been listening to the conversation.

Anton stepped close to her. “I don’t want you to fear us. There’s so much for you to learn, but I admire your willingness to see something that, for want of another word, is impossible.” He smiled, then slowly began to unbutton his shirt.

Keisha glanced quickly away, in Xandi’s direction. She was already naked, having only a silk sarong to unwrap. Stefan was slipping out of his pants, his shirt and shoes neatly folded on a deck chair.

“What?” Her hand went to her throat and she choked back a nervous giggle. She hadn’t expected them to undress first, hadn’t really thought of anything, but suddenly she was surrounded by three of the most beautiful people she’d ever known, all naked and grinning at her.

“We can shift while wearing clothes, but it makes a big mess. I hate to iron.” Xandi laughed, then suddenly it was happening all over again and she was melting, shifting, stretching and reshaping. It happened so fast Keisha forgot to link to her mind, but she twisted around and caught Stefan’s thoughts as he went through the same process.

It all made sense. Strange and unusual, so hard to imagine, but when she linked to his mind as he shifted, Keisha realized she’d done this before.

She was the wolf.

She truly had killed three men.

She spun around to watch Anton shift, but he stood beside her, still in his gorgeous human body.

“Are you all right? I can stay here with you.”

Compassion flowed from him in waves. Compassion and warmth, so strong, so loving, Keisha basked in his healing strength.

“No. I want to go with you. I want to shift.” She felt a sob catch in her throat, realized the two wolves standing beside her, the man directly in front of her, were caught unaware by her decision.

Are you sure? You don’t have to, not so soon, but if that is your wish, we’ll help you. All of us.

Xandi’s soft question washed away her fear. “I know how to shift. I’ve done it before, though I must have blocked the memory, but I remember doing it, now. I remember the power of the wolf. I want that power again.”

Shift with me. Link with my thoughts, feel what I do and let your body flow. It will be disorienting. You may experience a bit of nausea. Just relax and follow my lead.

Keisha nodded, her mind so completely linked with Anton’s she no longer sensed the other two, no longer felt the wooden deck beneath her bare feet. Slowly, she loosened the knot holding the sarong over her shoulder. It drifted to the deck, brushing her bare feet with shimmering coolness, a cobalt blue puddle of silk. She stood shivering in the warm evening, more aware of the molten heat in Anton’s eyes than her own nudity.

His look was pure male appreciation, but he quickly banked the smoldering lust in his eyes and took Keisha’s hands in a light grip.

She felt the first tingling awareness that something about her body was changing. Following Anton’s lead, she concentrated on the shifting of bone and muscle into new lupine directions. It happened so quickly, so completely, she was hardly aware of the shift completing before she was sitting on the deck, blinking at the coal black wolf staring back at her.

Fascinated, she held up her front paw, turning it this way and that to study the thick pads, the sharp claws. Her fur was dark, dark brown, as dark as Anton’s was black, though she noticed a reddish glint when she moved, as if there were fire hiding in the depths of her coat.

Her heart pounded. She wanted to run. Wanted to leave Keisha Rialto behind, wanted to outrace the victim and find this new self in the darkness of the nighttime forest.

Stefan leapt first, sailing over the railing and landing in the thick lawn that circled the house. Xandi followed him, her muscles bunching as she cleared the three-foot fence with ease. Anton nudged her shoulder.

What the hell?
Keisha followed, amazed her brain knew how to make this strange shape function with such fluid beauty. She landed in the soft grass beside Xandi with Anton coming down just ahead of her.

He yipped, turned and nipped Keisha on the shoulder and took off running.

The night was clear and warm, the forest scents intriguing, the strength and power of her wolf body a pure, unadulterated joy. Speed, unbelievable speed as they raced through the woods, leaping over creeks, slipping beneath brush and following trails barely visible along creek beds and canyons.

And always, always the link, the constant flow of information, one to the other. Sharing the scent of live things rushing out of their path, sharing the pure joy of the hunt. Keisha had never felt this sense before, of being one with the pack. Had not realized the power inherent in the pack link, the sensual beauty of streaking through the dark forest with eyes that pierced the night, with a brain that understood each different scent, each rustling sound and tiny squeak or chirp.

They ran for hours, their bodies finding a rhythm that gave them strength. Keisha wanted to go on forever but Anton’s quiet presence beside her was a reminder she should take care, at least this first time. Still, the pale rays of dawn streaked the sky when they finally flopped down on the damp grass in front of Anton’s huge home, tongues lolling, eyes sparkling, tails too tired to hold high.

Stefan rolled over on his back, his shaggy gray-streaked coat matted and dirty from their rush through a boggy swamp. With a teasing glint in his amber eyes, Anton leaned over and nipped Stefan’s shoulder.

The act was rife with blatant sexual overtones, a sense of dominance and submission.

Xandi did the same to Anton, leaning her furry body close to his, then nuzzling Stefan as well. Keisha sensed it then, the strong, linked sexuality among the three of them. Anton turned and looked at her, his eyes wide, his mind open.

He shared the intimate relationship he had with both Alexandria and Stefan. Shared the sensual connection among all within the pack, the physical intimacies that were as natural to them as the shift from human to wolf and back again, the almost hedonistic rush of desire that followed each time they ran through the forest together.

Keisha understood and accepted, aware at once of her own sense of heightened sensuality, her recently dormant libido raging almost beyond control. Somehow shifting, taking the form of the wolf, had reawakened the sensual side of her nature. A sensual side she was still unable to accept.

She felt no jealousy, only a sense of sadness, an awareness that what the other three shared so freely was not for her.

She wasn’t ready. Not yet. The assault was too recent, her body too newly healed.

Exhausted, she pulled herself to her feet and padded up the stairs to the deck. In a fluid motion, as if she’d shifted for years, she regained her human form and picked up the sarong she’d left the night before. She wrapped it lightly around her torso.

Her hair fell forward. She reached up to push it out of her eyes and realized it now cascaded in loose, corkscrew curls to her shoulders. Her hand paused over the unfamiliar texture. Gone was the short, coarse, tightly kinked hair she’d known all her life.

Her laughter sounded shaky even to her own ears and she knew her smile was just as wobbly. “Well, I guess this explains why I can’t keep a braid ‘do for any length of time. They keep working themselves loose. It must be the wolf in me.” She bit her lips and blinked back the tears that filled her eyes. Everything was changing… her body, her mind, even her hair. It was too much, too intense. Too fast.

She took a deep breath and stared solemnly at Alexandria, Stefan and Anton, not even sure where to begin. “Thank you. Thank you all for something more amazing than anything I ever imagined. It’s going to take me awhile before I can really accept what has happened here tonight. I need to shower, now, and sleep. I want to replay every second of the night.” She started to leave, then turned around, grinning. “And I wanna do it again, okay?”

Anton shifted and raced up the stairs. He grabbed her hands in his and held them firmly. “Are you okay? We didn’t mean to upset you. Our feelings for one another are so natural, so much a part of who we are… I didn’t think. The last thing I want to do is make you feel uncomfortable.”

Keisha laughed and slowly looked him up and down. His body was streaked in mud and wet grass, his cock partially erect and jutting out from its nest of dark hair. He was masculinity incarnate, so beautiful she wanted to touch him.

When she was ready.

“Yesterday, seeing you like this would have terrified me. Today it makes me miss what I’m not quite ready for. You’re not making me uncomfortable, Anton. You’re helping me feel again.” She cupped the side of his face in her palm. “Give me time, please? Just a little bit of time.”

He leaned over and placed a very chaste kiss on the side of her face. “For you, anything. Good night, Keisha. Sleep well.”

Keisha left Anton standing on the deck and went straight into the bathroom. Smiling, she turned on the shower and stepped beneath the spray. Her cheek still tingled from the tender brush of his lips.