Free Wolf Tales V by Kate Douglas

 
     
     
    Chapter One
     
    One moment, she was a tall, elegantly dressed African American woman with long, darkly waving hair and eyes of brilliant amber. In less than a heartbeat, her dress lay on the redwood deck in a tumbled shimmer of blue satin. The woman had become the wolf, amber eyes glinting angrily in the last dying rays of the sun, canines glimmering like ivory blades. With a single low growl and a flick of her tail she leapt over the deck railing and raced through the damp meadow.
    Anton Cheval threw back his head and laughed. Keisha hated to lose an argument, any argument.
    “You gonna let her get away with this?” Anton turned to the couple sitting behind him.
    Grinning broadly, Stefan Aragat lifted his wine glass. “She’s your mate. You better chase her down. Xandi and I plan to enjoy the sunset before we run.”
    Anton’s abrupt shift from human to wolf left his clothing in a messy pile on the deck. So unlike him, he thought, not to fold everything neatly. He glanced once more at the dark pants and black cashmere sweater lying in an untidy heap, then cleared the deck railing and the garden beyond in a single bound.
    Maybe laughter hadn’t been his best response.
    Only Keisha could leave him so flustered.
    Or so turned on.
    Anton’s powerful forelegs stretched out and he gathered speed with each thrust of his haunches, but his mind was not entirely the wolf. No, he was reacting like a very protective male, no matter the species, and he knew it irritated the hell out of his Alpha mate.
    No matter. He was not, under any circumstances, going to allow her to return to San Francisco by herself. It went against all he stood for, all the Chanku were. Their strength lay in the pack, not in the individual.
    The memorial garden Keisha had designed was moving forward according to schedule. She’d made enough trips, accompanied by either Anton or Stefan, to ensure everything would be perfect for the dedication. There was no reason she needed to go back early.
    Not with that damned Carl Burns once more on her trail.
    Anton had hoped the mind-job he’d done on the tabloid reporter would erase the smut-peddler’s memories of Keisha for a longer time than they had, but the bastard had suddenly reappeared in their lives on Keisha’s last trip to the city.
    Why hadn’t she let him file harassment charges? Carl Burns was a menace.
    No matter. Anton’s meetings would be over in less than a week and they could make the trip together. He had a lot of money riding on this latest investment. Stefan was learning the business, but he wasn’t up to handling an entire board of directors for a multi-national company.
    Following the trail with his wolven mind, working through the problems with Keisha with his human side, Anton loped along the familiar trail. He still wasn’t certain what he could say to make her wait, but somehow he would convince her of the danger.
    He had to.
    Danger !
    Keisha’s warning hit him like a solid object. Another scent assaulted his sensitive nostrils. Anton ducked low, twisted and slipped off the trail.
    Male. Not Chanku . Human male. More than one, very close. Anton raised his nose and sniffed the air. He scented excitement, fear and the sour sweat of unwashed human.
    Keisha’s scent was strongest to the right.
    Pain. Anger. Fear .
    Her emotions washed over him, impossible to understand, beyond speech, beyond coherent thought. Anton veered off the main trail and, keeping his body low to the ground, raced down a narrow, bramble-filled ditch. Tufts of dark hair clung to some of the thorns. He scented blood and his hackles rose. Either she was so pissed she was ignoring the thorns, or something -- someone -- had hurt her.
    All thought of meetings, investments, humanity, evaporated. Pure wolven rage filled his heart, seared his mind. His lips curled back in a dark snarl, exposing sharp canines.
    Anton !
    Keisha’s mental cry, clear now, ringing true as a bell in his mind, sent ice running