Free Lost Howl by Zenina Masters Page A

there.”
    She pointed down the rustic track, and it took three minutes before Dorine could hear it.
    They huddled together at the stand of rocks while the ambulance and rescue crew arrived.
    The medics examined Amira’s leg and talked softly to her while Dorine watched, but her thoughts were focused on the pile of dead scavengers. She was standing with her arm around Lianna when those huge blue eyes swung her way.
    Dorine had looked a wolf in the eye before, and she knew she was staring at one now. This child had acted with a fierce protectiveness to her family that mimicked that of a pack animal. Somehow, that little girl had defended the bodies of her dead parents and howled for help until her voice broke.
    In that moment of eye contact, Dorine knew that she was willing to protect that little one with all of her resources. How she had managed to survive this long and do what she did was going to be a mystery that Dorine would not pry into until the time was right.
    Step one was to get her well and step two was to seek out Amira’s family.
    Lianna slipped her small hand into hers. “Will she be okay, Mommy?”
    “Yes, Lia. She will be okay. We will make sure of it.”
    “Good. She says she will show me how to chase rabbits.” Lianna looked up with a smile.
    Dorine looked over at the girl who was being fastened to a gurney. Her eyes were calm and far beyond her years.
    She muttered to herself, “I wonder what she does when she catches them?”
     
    * * * *
     
    The clouds were dancing in the valley and Amira was serene. Lianna skidded up beside her and grinned. “I can’t believe you are twenty-five!”
    “I can’t either, sissy.” Eighteen years had passed since that day in the gully. No trace of her family had ever been found, so the Newarks had taken her in and given her a new life.
    Amira knew what she was. She had always known what she was. Her parents had never hidden their forms from her and she had often pulled at her father’s mane and her mother’s bushy tail. Her parents had been different shifter species and Amira would never know who her family really had been.
    She looked down at Lianna and grinned. It didn’t really matter. She knew who her family was, and even if they couldn’t shift shape, they were her pack now.
    Dorine Newark had bought them a family home in the mountains where they could take family vacations and Amira could run free when she needed to.
    “Come on, we are getting ready to light the fire, and we need a fur in front of the fireplace.”
    Lianna squealed when Amira growled and took a swipe at her.
    Amira turned away from the rising mist and the sense that there was something missing in her life and went inside to be with her pack of humans. It was her birthday after all; it was time to be with family.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    The knock on the door the next morning took them all by surprise.
    Lianna went to answer the knock with a bemused expression.
    “Mom, isn’t our nearest neighbour ninety miles away?” Amira finished setting the table.
    “Yes, sweetie.” Dorine kept her arm whisking the batter while she looked around the corner toward the door.
    Amira heard low mumbles coming from the doorway, but there were three walls between her and the door. She couldn’t make anything out.
    Lianna came down the hall with a mist-shrouded stranger. “Amira, set another place. We have a guest for breakfast.”
    A nervous young woman came in behind Lianna. When she saw Amira, she blinked and quickly checked a folder that she removed from under her arm. She sighed in relief.
    Amira felt something peculiar in the air when the young woman focused on her. “What are you doing?”
    The woman blinked. “You felt that?”
    “Obviously.” Amira reached behind her neck and smoothed her hackles. “May I ask your name?”
    “Of course. I am so sorry. I wasn’t expecting your home to be so remote.” The woman reached into her jacket and extended a card. “I am a transporter acting