Free Wolf's Bane by D. H. Cameron Page B

it’s not convenient,” she told me.  I tried again but nothing.  I still had the sense I was a shifter.  I could smell the wolves about me and Violet, but I couldn’t change.
    “You bitch!” I shrieked but Violet didn’t react.  She just smiled but this time it wasn’t the phony smile she wore so often.  This smile was full of satisfaction.
    “Child, we can do this the hard way if you want but I’d prefer it to be easy.  You really don’t have a choice.  You’re alone here,” Violet said and then glanced over her shoulder towards the main house. I followed her gaze and a moment later I realized the motorhome was gone.  I gasped in horror.  “I told you he didn’t love you, child.  He used you and when things didn’t go his way, he left you,” Lady Violet told me.
    “No!  That’s not true!” I said but the motorhome was gone.
    “You know he’s gone, Cassie.  You can feel it, can’t you?  Nevertheless, this is for the best.  He wasn’t good enough for the Wolf Mother.  You deserve better.  You will be revered among our kind, a wolf of distinction.  If, that is, you cooperate.  Don’t think I won’t do whatever is necessary to fulfill our kind’s destiny.  I will.  However, the choice is yours,” Violet told me, turned and began walking towards the big house but as she did, she ordered the wolves that surrounded me, “Bring her to Phillip.”
    The wolves closed and one growled to get me moving.  I didn’t have a choice and I followed Violet as the wolves surrounded me.  Where was Yeager?  What about Edie?  Did they really leave me?  Could Violet be right?  It didn’t make sense.  I suppose Yeager could have been lying to me but Edie?  We’d been friends for years.  Maybe she was still here but I found myself hoping she had gone.  I worried what Violet might do to her if she chose to stay.
    I wanted to run.  As a wolf, I would have tried.  I was at least the equal of any wolf but even with six wolves, seven counting Lady Violet, I would have tried to escape.  As a woman, however, I was vulnerable, especially surrounded by wolves.  I was at Lady Violet’s mercy and that’s just how she wanted it.  I wondered what would make Yeager leave.  I had to believe it wasn’t because he didn’t love me.  I had to believe it was because of Lady Violet’s manipulation, which I knew now had a precise purpose all along.
    We approached the house and now some of the residents that lived here had gathered to watch as I was led past.  I found it curious that there were so many women and so few men but I had more important things on my mind.  I was led inside, the wolves becoming men on the porch who donned their clothes and rifles.  They hadn’t been there as we arrived but now I was sure they stood guard to protect me, or rather protect Violet’s prize.  I followed the blonde woman up the stairs and past the rooms we had been provided.  I hoped to find Edie waiting but she was gone.  I was truly alone.  Agnes stood waiting at the stairs leading to the third floor and when she saw me, surprise registered in her eyes. She fell in behind me as I followed Violet up the staircase.
    At the top, we entered a room with walls of rich wood, cases full of books and a large oak desk.  Phillip waited behind the desk in a red leather chair.  A leather sofa sat against the opposite wall and next to it was a table and on top of that, a metal tray covered with a white cloth.  “Please, sit down,” Phillip offered pleasantly.  I glanced around but without any other choice I did as I was asked.  Violet and Agnes remained standing as I took a seat on the leather sofa.
    “I’ll post two guards outside,” Lady Violet announced.
    “Oh, I don’t think that will be necessary,” Phillip said as he stood and came around his desk.  The middle-aged man leaned against the table gazing down at me.
    “I hope not.  I hope Cassie will come to see the need of