Page 5 of Her Wolves

Nick replied, “Lon and I would welcome that, Princess…”

She gently interrupted him, “Please…call me Tara, won’t you?”

We both smiled at that.We’d like nothing better than to be on first-name terms with the Prime Regent’s daughter.

“Tara,” Nick continued.“We’d both welcome a little personal time with you, of course.Right now, Lon and I were on our way to have a little session in the practice rooms…”

Her transmitted image put on a bigger smile.

“Really?” Tara said.“Do you mind if I come down and watch?I’ve always enjoyed watching you guys practice.”

I could sense Nick’s heartbeat speeding up as fast as my own.“We’d love to have you,” I replied, then quickly added, “at practice.As soon as we have our room reserved, we’ll send you the info.”

“Wonderful!” Tara said.“I’m so looking forward to this.It’ll be the best part of my day.Talk to you soon.”

“Soon,” said Nick.

“Looking forward to it,” I said.

Tara’s image blinked out and Nick and I exchanged another, very intrigued and interested look.Having the Princess watch us work out would be the best part of our day too.

CHAPTER 3

Tara

“You know,” said Melanie, sitting at the table in my bedchamber next to my artifacts collection, “the reason you’re so interested in being with them is that you’re nothing like them.”

While checking my tight white jumpsuit in my tall mirror across the room, I turned around and crooked my eyebrow at Upper Secretary Melanie Lovett, my best friend.“What do you mean, I’m ‘nothing like them’.”

“Well, look,” she said.“You’re not exactly rough around the edges, you know.You’re used to the finer things, the best of everything.”

Returning to my reflection and fussing with my hair, I said, “Well, maybe it’s because I’m used to the best of everything that I enjoy their company.After all, not just any lycanthropes get to be Canis Guard.They have to be the best just to be considered for their Academy.”

“But they don’t come from the same kind of place as you do,” Melanie said.“I think that’s the real attraction for Regency kids.Every son and daughter who’s lived in this house has been under the protection of the Guard and gotten to know them…personally.Admit it, it’s exciting and a little dangerous to be with someone who comes from another kind of life, a different class, where it’s not always so shiny and proper and refined.”

Looking back at her, this time curling my lip a bit, I said, “You’re making it sound like some ‘Lady and the Tramp’ fantasy.They’re not mutts; they’re wolves.At least they are,part of the time.I know it’s what Regency kids do, but it’s not like that.And the ‘class’ thing is ridiculous.The Regency isn’t actually royalty, you know.My father was elected to this position, like all the Regents before him.It’s not like the divine right and the line of succession, back centuries ago on Earth.”

Pointedly, she asked, “So you don’t find it even a little thrilling to know that the guy you’re with is from a whole different kind of life than you are, where they have this other side that’s an animal and not a human?You mean you don’t see even a little danger in it?”

I faced her with hands on my hips, looking very sleek in my jumpsuit.“Just like it’s not ‘Lady and the Tramp,’ it’s not like some ancient ‘Wolf Man’ movie, either.They’re not going to turn into wolf monsters who want to tear my throat out.Wolves are strong and powerful and cunning, and every lycanthrope is a bit of a human and a bit of a wolf.They’re not dangerous; they’re fascinating.And it’s not just the sons and daughters of the Regency who think so.Lots of people are attracted to them.”

Melanie made a naughty little grin.“Lots of people don’t see them parading around in their sleeveless uniforms that say, ‘Take me to bed, human girl, if you dare’.”

“Oh, stop,” I said, waving dismissively at her.“You’ve been with them too.Do you really go with them because you think they’re dangerous?”

“I go with them,” Melanie said, “because when I’m alone with one, I like to have him slip into his other body—and I like to pet them.”

That startled me.“Pet them?Like a dog?”

“You mean you’ve been with them and never petted them?Oh, Tara, I’m surprised at you!The next time you have one, you have to have him morph for you and let you pet him.It’s the most amazing thing, the way they lie there and kick their legs and grumble and growl while you run yourhands over them.You’re right, it’s just like having a huge dog.”She looked off, remembering some earlier time.“And it makes great foreplay.”Looking back at me, she said, “Seriously, I can’t believe you’ve never tried it.”

I actually considered that for a moment, then said, “It’s always been enough for me, just knowing they’re wolves inside.”Then, quickly getting back on topic, I said, “And besides, how do you know I’m really so different from them?How do you know I’m not a little bit of a wolf inside?”

“Tara, please…,” Melanie scoffed.

“No, I mean it,” I insisted.“Maybe I have only one, human body.And maybe my life is, how did you put it, shiny and proper and refined.But how do you know what I’m really like inside, even if I’m not a wolf?I have the protection of the Guard, that’s true.But I’ve also had self-defense training.I’ve been taught how to elude an attacker, or fend one off if I have to.And if I say so myself, I was good at it.Daddy thinks it’s too dangerous for me to go off the Manor property now, but if I ran into a dangerous situation, I could handle myself.I could.”

Melanie shook her head.“It’s nothing anywhere near like the same kind of training that the Guard gets.You can’t tell me that if you had to face Soorns by yourself, or some of their mutations, you’d be able to handle it the way, for example, Sub-Commander Nick or Lieutenant Lon could.Or Sub-Lieutenant Kris.No, see, the reason you’re so interested in them is one, Regency kids always go with them, and two, Canis Guards and you really are two different breeds.Opposite breeds.People are interested in being with what they’re not.”

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