On principle, Lilian was careful not to use her telepathy. She didn’t want to know what others were thinking. Most of the time, though, it was just a pain to read minds. Most people didn’t think in an organized manner. Their thoughts were jumbled and went in all different directions, at different speeds. If she wasn’t careful, she’d suffer migraines. Not only from pushing her abilities, but also having to deal with the confusion.
However, as she touched Matthias’s mind, she gasped in astonishment. His mind was nothing like a normal human’s. He didn’t even have the typical thought patterns for a human. He thought in pictures and emotions, and oh God, those pictures and emotions were a bit…explicit, with a capital E.
Lilian’s nerves tingled and her heart stuttered, but pushed on. Beneath those rather hormonally driven emotions were images, memories in pictures. Sometimes scenes, but usually flashes of remembered things like a wolf pack, moonlit nights, the forest, and hunting prey.
She jerked her hand from his face, wide eyed as she stared at him. Was she feeling confusion or awe?
He still held her, but she could see the expectant look on his face, in his eyes.
“You’re…a werewolf?” she asked.
He nodded. “Yes.”
“The Alpha. He was trying to say Alpha when he was interrupted.”
Matthias gave a weak grin. “Yeah.”
“And you can change into a wolf?”
Okay, that's a stupid question.
“Yes,” he said. “Want me to prove it?”
“No! I mean, no, I believe you.”
“Do you want to talk about it?” He watched her carefully.
“Not particularly. The whole thing’s a bit daunting.”
“It’s no different than you and your abilities.”
“I don’t turn into a wolf. Can you do anything else?”
“I have three forms. Human, wolf, and a hybrid form, or war form. It’s the typical wolf man form you see in the movies, except, we’re a little bigger.”
“How big?”
“About eight feet or so.”
Okay, that’s one hell of a big wolf.
Lilian tried to pull her wrist from his grip. “Let go, please.”
Matthias released her in a slow, languid manner. She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Not so much, no.” She shook her head and started for her motel room. “I think I need to be alone. Too much going on.”
He didn’t follow. “Let me give you my number in case you need anything.”
Lilian waved him off. “Good night, Matthias.”
* * * *
She lay in a field of grass. The sun warm on her skin and bright, even with her eyes closed. She could smell the sun-kissed, earthy scent of grass and soil.
A howl pierced the peace and she opened her eyes. In the distance, a pack of wolves took their leisure near the forest edge and she stood up to watch.
They were playing with one another, mock battles and games of tag and tug of war with a stick of some sort.
A black wolf paused and looked over at her, its golden eyes bright, and its ears perked toward her. The others paused and looked over as well.
The dream changed. Daylight turned to night. Shadows stretched over the landscape, but the wolves were there. She could see their shadowy forms as they melted amongst the trees. Her right palm began to hurt and she brought her hand up to look. The brand glowed a dull pink and burned with the scorching heat of molten metal. She rubbed at it, but the pain didn’t subside.
A howl broke her worry and she looked toward the noise. The black wolf watched her.
“Come play,” it invited her. “Come run and play!”
Lilian smiled and broke into a run toward the majestic creature. Before she had gotten halfway, her body changed. At first, it was painful as her muscles stretched, her bones elongated, but the pain became an afterthought compared to the sheer freedom of shifting to another form. By the time she reached the black wolf, the change completed and instead of her human form, she stood there as a white wolf.
The black wolf bounded around her and they both ran, moving through the woods as though they were a part of the shadows, the forests, and the earth.
Senses keen, she smelled not only the forest, but also the earth they tore up from their claws, and various other beings whose scents floated in the air currents. She could hear his heartbeat, the way he drew in air as he ran beside her and the rhythm of their paws as they hit the ground. She could see the world through the wolf’s eyes, pupils dilated to catch every nuance of the moon’s light as they ran through the woods.
Freedom!
A large, white creature stepped into their path and caused them both to come to a sudden stop, scrambling for purchase on the soft ground. As she looked, she saw the white stag. The black wolf snarled and put himself between her and the majestic creature, his hackles raised.
“You are not this,” the white stag said.
At least, she thought it spoke.
The black wolf snarled again and gave a mock lunge toward the stag, in warning. The stag lowered its head and waved it, brandishing its huge antlers in response.
“Wait!” Lilian called out, surprised when she found herself in human form again.
“Come with me,” the stag told her.
She shook her head. “Who are you?”
The stag lifted its head and looked beyond her.
A sudden, loud knocking woke Lilian up from her sleep. She jerked upright, her heart pounding. She slid out of the bed and pulled on her clothes. When another knock echoed through the motel room, she made her way to the door, careful to make no noise. Staying low, she made sure she didn’t block the peephole.
The doorknob jiggled and Lilian looked around for another way out.
Or in.
* * * *
Matthias wandered the streets of Hawk’s Point, too antsy to return to the pack and he didn’t want to leave Lilian alone, not after everything that’d happened.
She had a right to be angry with me.
He hadn’t intended to tell her about himself, even after she revealed her own story. He also realized there must have been more to the story about Stephan, something she held back.
Had Stephan abused her sexually as well as mentally and physically? Why wouldn’t she tell him what happened? Of course, he was still a stranger to her, in her eyes, and he couldn’t blame her for not revealing everything.
He debated heading back to the motel but knew she wouldn’t have been thrilled about his presence after she’d sent him away.
There was something about her that made him want to protect her. He didn’t exactly know what, but it had started the moment he laid eyes on her at the diner, when she had spilled the cold water and iced tea over him. Her look of horror had been priceless and made him want to kiss her.
When