Free Carnal by Jenika Snow

Chapter One
     
     
     
    Alexander Dumont wasn’t human, and he had known what he was from the very moment he could speak. His adoptive parents hadn’t been secretive about it, but although they were honest, they were zealots as well. Alex had been taken from his home, hidden amongst humans so he could never be found.
    His adoptive parents had kidnapped him.
    Granted, they thought they were doing the right thing, but the fact remained that all his life, Alexander knew he had been missing something.
    He was a shifter, a wolf. He knew nothing of his heritage, only what his parents had deemed appropriate for him to know. He had heard the story of his “rescue” hundreds of times. Over the years, he had grown to wonder what his kind was really like. Margareta and Henry had taken him as a baby. Although Alex could feel something inside of him growing, becoming more powerful, he couldn’t chance it breaking free and harming someone he cared about. It had been what he was taught all his life—‘Keep the beast at bay’.
    Not only had Margareta and Henry explained what he was, they also told him that shape shifters were feral, carnivorous beasts that preyed on the innocent. He was told if he ever let it free, it would not only take over his very soul, but hurt anyone who got in its way. There was no way Alex could chance that. His parents may have been fanatics, but they had also taken care of him and given him love. They were all he had ever known.
    It wasn’t until they passed away last summer that he decided to find out who and what he really was. He just hoped this wasn’t all an enormous mistake.
     
    * * * *
     
    Alex adjusted his backpack as he trudged up the steep incline. He had since abandoned the hiking trail, knowing he would never find the answers he needed if he stayed on it. He had been walking for more than four hours and, although the canopy of branches blocked the sun, he could still feel the heat seeping into his skin.
    It was now a daily struggle to hold back the beast that dwelled inside of him. All his life, he had wanted nothing more than to be normal, to not have to worry that his other half would claw its way free and tear people limb from limb. Of course he had only what his parents said to go by, never actually having experienced it for himself, but still, there was no way he could risk it. Not even for the sake of curiosity.
    He stopped, took his pack off and sat on a boulder. He wiped the sweat from his brow and listened to the noises around him. All was quiet, not even the sound of a bird chirping in the distance or a squirrel scurrying on the ground broke the silence. He inhaled deeply, smelling the sweet, yet potent aroma of the wilderness that surrounded him. Since his twenty-fifth birthday, he had noticed his senses, as well as his strength, increasing. Not only could he hear a conversation through a stone wall, he could also smell the apple pie from the bakery a mile away. He hadn’t dared tell his parents about what was happening to him, not after the last time he had revealed his changes and they had tried to ‘bleed’ the evil out.
    He still had the scars on his wrists and neck from their attempts to exorcise the demon that lived within him. It was a miracle he was even alive to remember it today.
    He heard twigs snapping behind him and stood up quickly. He grabbed his pack and dug out the hunting knife he’d brought with him. He inhaled, furrowing his brow as he tried to distinguish the scents. He smelled two male animals, both not more then fifty feet from him. He gingerly edged forward, keeping a tight grip on the knife as he moved towards the sound. His feet glided over the brush, his movements stealthy and quiet as he stopped behind a large oak and watched in rapt awe the scene before him.
    Two male wolves sat facing each other in the clearing. They were massive beasts, their size and muscle mass far more impressive than wolves should be. One had a coat as dark as the night, the