Page 30 of Father of the Wolf

“All I can offer is my word. But it was not my family, nor I.” She had met those of the Valàfrn before. Who would dare to attack humans? Was this what the clans now chose to do with their powers? How could he convince her of his good intentions? “We only left our forest about three weeks ago. We spent that time traveling to this area, which is the territory of another clan. I have never done harm to any innocent, and I will not hurt you. Please trust me.”

“I don’t think that would be a good idea just yet.” She stood and paced across the room with her slow, limping gait. “I mean, you have admitted to being a werewolf or a vala-whatever.”

She paced back again. “You could be lying about not hurting me. And what about other people? Will you hurt anyone else?” She shook her head. “What if you are just a wolf and I am imagining this whole thing?”

Athair gave a toothy smile at that comment. He was thoroughly enjoying her inner debate, as she talked herself into letting him out.

“Is that better or worse?” She paced back. “I like talking to you.”

“I will not hurt anyone, and I promise I will be a perfect gentleman in your home. We are people and do not act like animals often. But even we have certain personal needs. Needs that will not be so pleasant in this small room.”

“Ohhh,” she said on a flowing breath. “I guess if ever there was a good reason, that’s it.” Looking desperate for another option, she studied the cage and mumbled what sounded like, “Driven to bravery in search of a toilet.”

Then looking more resigned, she turned to him. “If you are to have “humane” treatment, you will have to eventually leave the cage. All right, but we need to have some ground rules.”

He nodded.

“One. You will hurt no one. Not me. Not anyone else.” She shifted her weight. “Two. You will stay out of sight. I don’t want you to scare my grandmother, or anyone else. And three. You will return to this cage if I say so.” She stared at him expectantly.

“I will agree to that for as long as needed or possible.” Her rules were silly. The kind to commit any of those problems, wouldn’t have an issue breaking such a promise. The last rule almost made him laugh. Seeing as he technically could open the cage whenever he wanted and was only asking her to make him appear less threatening.

She was obviously not reassured, but she showed her courage by releasing the latch on the kennel run gate. She gave a startled laugh and looked at him. “You could have opened this gate any time. Couldn’t you?”

“Without too much trouble.” Had she come to that conclusion on her own, or was she better able to read him than he thought? He stepped from the cage and walked slowly across the room toward the doorway. “Where would you like me to go? Where is your privy?”

“There is a bathroom on the left side, first door. It’s not quite done, but it is functioning.” She had been following him at a distance and her directions were little more than a whisper.

He figured having a sudden and unexpected chat with a wolf was probably too much for her to accept, especially if she already had reason to fear his kind. With a deep breath, Athair went into the small room and pushed the door shut behind him.

Hope decided she was insane. Any way she looked at her recent actions, she was definitely crazy, completely ready for a padded room. After all she had been through and seen in her life, she had just turned a werewolf loose in her home. A very polite werewolf. A werewolf with a sexy mind voice, who made promises to heal her mess of a body. This werewolf didn’t prefer the term werewolf. She would have to get the right pronunciation for what he called himself. Of course, it all would be a moot point if he decided to eat her as his evening snack.

Worse yet, what if she had imagined the attack, and now all this? What if he wasn’t a werewolf at all? Then she was more than a few bricks shy of a load. After all, she had enjoyed their conversations, which may have been only in her head. If she was honest, and she was trying to be, she liked him. Even more when she was not facing his wolf-shaped body. The low, masculine voice that filled her mind sent her body tingling in surprisingly feminine ways. That she was attracted to a werewolf was just too weird to consider.

She had to at least try to be honest with herself. She wanted to forget the attack and his possible link to it. She wanted to pretend he was no more than a man. Not a wolf, and certainly not a werewolf.

The only way she would get through this would be to simply stop thinking. Logic no longer applied. For now, she would just go with the flow. And thinking of flow—how would a wolf use a toilet? Could he lift his leg that high, or would she catch him drinking from it?

The soft whoosh of the toilet’s flush answered one question.

Then the bathroom door reopened, and Hope watched cautiously as the wolf came back to the hall and sat before her. She saw that he was already limping less than before, but his left foreleg still didn’t support his weight. “Feel better? If you’re hungry, I can fix something.”

“I am very hungry. You won’t poison me again, will you?”

“No, but I should give you some antibiotics to prevent infection and maybe something for your fever. Will medicine work for you?”

“They may help, but I have no way of knowing. I have never needed them before.”

She motioned for him to follow her and turned to walk down the hall that led through the breezeway to the house. She stopped before the entry and turned to Athair again. “I should tell you that we have several cats living in the house with us. If that will be a problem, you can stay here on the clinic side.”

I do not mind cats too much. If they object to me, I can leave the house. That wasn’t exactly the truth. Most of the cats he’d met, both the normal and the were-type had been down right obnoxious. Not bad personalities, just difficult because of their differences. In the past, he had avoided them whenever it was convenient.

“All right then.” Hope continued through the door, past the living room, and into the kitchen. She went directly to the icebox, where she pulled out more of the beef and rice meal and prepared and heated it for him.

From the doorway, he took his time looking around the kitchen. It was decorated in warm, natural shades that appealed to him. He moved to one side of the room, where a sliding glass door led to a covered porch. Past the porch he saw a wide lawn, a field, and the edge of a forest. A strong, wild longing filled him. Called to him. He could feel the distant trees inviting him beneath their sheltering limbs. Suddenly the house closed in on him, threatening him. Even the spacious, warm kitchen was too confining. He had to get outside. Get to those woods. Get to safety. A barely audible growl vibrated through the quiet kitchen.

Hope turned and faced him uneasily from the stove. “Are you about to lose it? Is now when I should be running?”

He shook his head. “No. But I need to be outside.”

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