“What’s so funny?”
“You are.”
Kay sucked in a deep breath, knowing, even before he said anything else, that he had been walking around in her head again.
“So,” he drawled, “you think it’s lucky that I was turned in my prime?”
“Gideon!”
“Because my—let me put this as delicately as I can—because my backside is so fine?”
“I hate you,” she said, between clenched teeth. “I really hate you.”
He laughed as he pulled her into his arms. “Doesn’t sound like it to me, not when you think I’m the sexiest man you’ve ever met.”
“Please stay out of my head,” she implored. “It’s so unfair.”
“I know.” He cupped her face in his hands. “And I’d be happy to kiss you, right here, right now.” No longer laughing, he lowered his head to hers and kissed her deeply, almost desperately. She leaned into him, the lush curves of her body warming his, chasing away every thought but the need to possess her.
It took all of his willpower to let her go, to remind himself that he had brought her here to keep her safe.
“Gideon,” she murmured. “Maybe we should go …” Her head jerked up when a melancholy howl shattered the quiet of the night.
“You’re not afraid of a wolf, are you?” Gideon asked with a teasing grin.
“It’s not just any old wolf,” Kay said. “It’s my father.”
Gideon glanced up. A crescent moon hung low in the night sky. “I thought your people only changed when the moon was full?”
“Alphas can change anytime.”
“You neglected to mention that little fact,” he muttered.
“Did I? A few of the other wolves can also change at will.”
“I’m not worried about them,” Gideon said with a dismissive wave of his hand. “Do you think your father knows we’re here?”
“I don’t know.” Her gaze swept the hills. “I don’t think so. He usually goes out every night about this time and runs the perimeter of our territory.”
Another howl rumbled through the night. “So,” Gideon said, his gaze sweeping the darkness, “tell me about your old man.”
Kay wrapped her arms around her waist and stared into the distance. “What do you want to know?”
Gideon shrugged. “Anything. Everything.”
“He’s very strict. Very honest. Very Indian. His ties to the past, to the old ways, are strong. There are legends of shape-shifters among our people, tales told around campfires late at night.”
“Only they aren’t legends, are they?”
“Not entirely. It’s believed that the first true werewolf was a distant ancestor who was cursed by a witch for killing her pet wolf. Angry and afraid of what he’d become, the young warrior went crazy, killing everything that crossed his path.
“That first werewolf was the son of a Lakota medicine man. The shaman trapped the werewolf, intending to kill it for the good of the tribe, but he couldn’t do it. Instead, he tried to remove the witch’s curse, and when that failed, the shaman met with the witch and begged her to remove the spell, but she refused. He went to her every day until, after six months, she took pity on the old shaman and altered the curse so that it was only in effect on the night of the full moon.”
“Good thing the warrior didn’t kill a grizzly bear,” Gideon remarked.
“Anyway,” Kay went on, “the curse was passed from father to son. Over the centuries, our people learned to control their feral side until, today, we are a relatively civilized race. The Alpha keeps the pack in control. The pack keeps the individual members in line. There’s no room in the pack for rogue wolves. They’re dangerous to others, and to our existence.”
“And the compound is to help keep the pack in line?”
“More or less. We can hunt here, on our land, without fear. Our children are schooled here. They’re taught the old ways, the old stories. There was a time when we were a proud people. My father is trying to instill that same sense of pride and honor in our youth. It isn’t easy.”
“I’m surprised he let you go off on your own.”
“I think he was hoping that living on my own would scare me back here, that I wouldn’t be able to cope with life in the real world and that I’d come running home. Instead, just the opposite happened. For the first time in my life, I felt like I was where I was supposed to be. I had friends, a job, responsibility. I had the freedom to make my own decisions, my own mistakes.”
He mulled that over a moment or two before asking, “So, who are the other wolves that can change at will?”
“My aunt Greta. She’s the pack’s Alpha female. Victor and his father. Of course, they aren’t members of our pack, but allies.”
Gideon nodded. “Come on,” he said, as another howl filled the air. “Let’s get back to our room before we draw a crowd.”
Kay didn’t argue. Whether she liked it or not, her days of freedom were over.
* * *
Chapter 19
Kay sat in front of the TV, though she had no idea what she was watching. Her eyes felt gritty from lack of sleep. All night and into this morning, she had heard her father howling. Had she been able, she would have shifted and gone out to meet him. Her sudden desire to run through the night with him had come as a surprise. Since leaving the pack, she had rarely thought about changing except when the moon was full, but last night, she had wished for the ability to change at will and join her father. Almost, it had felt as though she had the power to call on her wolf if she could only concentrate hard enough, but it was just wishful thinking. Only full-blooded Alphas and those of their bloodline had the power to shift back and forth at will.
She glanced at the bed where Gideon lay sleeping. Gideon had made love to her when they’d returned to the bed-and-breakfast. Never had he caressed her so gently or kissed her so tenderly. He had held her close all night long, kissed her one last time before surrendering to the dawn.
It had felt like good-bye.
With each passing hour, Kay’s uneasiness at the thought of returning to the pack grew stronger. What would her parents think when she brought a stranger home? To her knowledge, no one other than her father had ever brought an outsider into their compound—especially someone who was a vampire. Gideon was vulnerable during the day. Was she putting his life in danger by not sending him away?