Free Cry of the Wolf by Dianna Hardy

on?
    She sniffed at the air and could no longer detect what had clearly been there a second ago. Maybe everything was starting to get to her; all these new senses and feelings, and heightening lust. She couldn’t deny that her father and Aunt Gladys worried away at her mind. Them, and whatever the ‘truth’ about her background was. She hadn’t once contacted them since she’d discovered she was a werewolf, too uncertain of her reaction towards them and what they might have to say. The werewolf thing alone was almost too much to deal with. Some unexpected bombshell about her heritage might just tip her over the edge and at the moment, she too often felt her control on reality slipping as it was.
    Dismissing her thoughts about her estranged family, she turned her attention back to why she was here. Her stomach knotted and her legs suddenly felt weak as she pushed the door open and stepped out of her truck.
    She’d been careful on timing. The bikers weren’t due until three-thirty – Saturdays were the only day they rode to Barry’s in the afternoons – and it was now three o’clock. This was just enough time to see Brendan, explain things quickly from her end, then get the hell out of there before he asked too many questions.
    Guilt enveloped her.
    Damn Lawrence for making this hard. If he hadn’t forced her out of this job…
    She let out a huff and tried not to look like she was scowling. Brendan couldn’t know anything was wrong or he wouldn’t leave her alone.
    Since she’d ‘disappeared’ three weeks ago, he’d been leaving messages and texts on her mobile every day. Last week, she’d caved in and texted him back, saying she was fine but had some family issues to sort out, and that she was sorry she had to leave the way she did – that she didn’t want to leave that way. And that was the honest-to-god truth.
    Damn you, Lawrence!
    Brendan had not taken the hint. In fact, his texts had become even more persistent after that, demanding to know what was up, and Lydia couldn’t bring herself to be irritated by that. She’d left him and his father in the lurch, and it had been right after that horrendous night when Simon had attacked her. Brendan had been worried, and he’d been a good friend. So no, she wasn’t annoyed that he was beating down any wall she put up to try to reach her. But she didn’t want done to him what had been done to Taylor’s wife: his memory wiped because he knew too much or discovered something he shouldn’t. So she had to stay away from him. Far away.
    That was the sole reason she’d made no attempt, other than that text, to get in touch with him. Certainly not with three male wolves around who could hear any conversation she might have from a distance.
    But she owed him some kind of explanation, so here she was, hoping she was about to make peace, rather than everything ten times more difficult.
    She made her way around to the side of the café, then towards the back where she knew Brendan would be, not least because she could smell his cigarette smoke.
    And there he was with his back to her, his blond hair, neat, looking as familiar as always. She had only been living in Guildford two months when she’d started her job here, and despite the sexual slant on their friendship, Brendan really was the best friend she had here. She blinked back tears as she approached him. She did want to make peace with him, but she knew deep down that she was also saying goodbye, and it cut her up more than she had prepared for.
    “Penny for them?”
    He spun around so fast he dropped the unlit smoke he’d just pulled out of his carton. “Jesus Christ!”
    Two strides towards her and she was in his arms, unable to keep a fresh surge of tears at bay.
    “I’m gonna kill you when I’ve finished holding you,” he breathed, and then he squeezed her tighter and she settled into his bear hug, wishing she was human for the first time since she’d discovered otherwise.
    She tipped her head