Free A Wolf of Her Own by Susanna Shore Page A

everyone behaves civilised."
    "You share a house with humans?" He sounded astounded.
    "Yes. I wouldn’t want to live with other vampires, and shifters prefer to keep among themselves. What choice do I have? It’s frightfully expensive living in London."
    "Many people pay good money to live in Epsom so they don’t have to live in London," he noted, amused. "I commute."
    She shuddered. "I was stuck here for a century before I won the sun. That was enough of this place, thank you very much."
    "So what’s it like, living with humans?"
    "Easy. I don’t get sudden urges to drain them dry," she said, amused. "But it can get really exhausting, too, pretending to be human."
    He recoiled. "You’re in hiding?"
    His strong reaction to such an innocent remark baffled her. "Many two-natured are in hiding." Most of them were, in fact, at least to some people.
    "Only the cowards."
    "I am not a coward!"
    "Exactly."
    His assessment of her felt good, but she wasn’t about to give in. "Sometimes you have to keep things secret from humans. It’s for their own good."
    "You should think of what’s good for you."
    "This is good for me!" She was losing her temper, never a good thing, but especially perilous today when her Rider had been close to the surface the whole day. "And you’re the one to talk. You didn’t want to tell humans that wolves killed the sheep."
    He closed down so fast, his energy retreating, that she staggered for the loss. "I have my clan to protect."
    "Why would humans care if wolf-shifters kill vampires’ sheep?"
    "Tell that to my brother." His anger was mixed with grief now.
    "What happened to him?"
    "You mean you don’t know?" he asked, genuinely surprised.
    "How should I know about your brother? I’ve told you I’ve not associated with the clan much, apart from my wolf friend. And he went away when I was eight, so that’s 120 years ago."
    His face hardened. "Humans killed my brother, Colm. Shot him when he was in wolf form as vigilante justice after some sheep were killed."
    Her heart melted for him. "I’m so sorry to hear that." She reached over the table and put her hand on the fist he was squeezing tightly to ward off the grief. "When was it?"
    He sighed. Then he looked her directly in the eyes. "About 120 years ago."
    Shock made her bones go liquid. Her control slackened and the Rider surged to the surface, forcing her to shut down completely. She closed her eyes tightly, but not before she had a brief glimpse of the world through alien eyes.
    "I’m sorry, but you have to leave now."
    Kieran was back at the manor before he was suitably calmed down, the long walk almost not enough to let out his spleen. The day had been straining as it was, rubbing his emotions raw. He hadn’t thought of Colm this much in ages, but the memories and emotions his death caused were rushing back.
    He was sorry to have caused Gemma such a shock, but why had she driven him out? It was obvious Colm had been her wolf friend, and his death news for her, kept from a little girl on purpose no doubt. They could have grieved together. He wanted to be there for her, to console her. That she wouldn’t allow him made him feel restless, like he had unfinished business to do.
    His grief for Colm had a bittersweet taste to it. It was wonderful that Colm had been her protector, but it upset him, too, that he had kept it a secret from his family. He would have wanted to know Gemma when they were children. He wished he could have been there for her. That he had been only ten at the time was irrelevant. He had an overwhelming need to keep her safe, the feeling more baffling because it felt so natural.
    He had always been protective, a trait he had learned or inherited from Colm. Older by decades than Kieran and Aidan, he had always kept them safe. In a way, losing the sense of safety his brother had brought to his life had affected him worse than knowing it had been humans who had killed him. But he had needed someone to blame.
    He had thought