Free Taken by Moonlight by Dorothy McFalls

wolf.
    “Perhaps,” she said thoughtfully. “But I suspect something more than that happened to me last night. I no longer feel incomplete, as if I’m missing part of myself. Because of you, because of the connection we forged when we fought together and when we...” She blushed deeply. “I finally feel complete.”
    His heart started pounding against his chest as if he had run across hundreds of fields and had the energy to dash across hundreds more. Not caring who was watching or who might be scandalized by an open display of affection, he crossed the room and enfolded her in his arms.
    “I have never felt this feeling that I feel for you. My heart is tight and warm and happy and jittery as hell,” he said and reverently kissed the top of her head. “It’s really quite a confusing jumble that I’m feeling for you. I believe it must be love.”
    “I believe it must be,” she said with a stunning smile that took his breath away. “And now back to the issue at hand. The property.” She gave Dimitri a quick kiss and slipped from his arms to return to her father’s side.
    “M-much of our land is too rocky for farming and the rest is too wet,” the countess tearfully explained. “And dear, you aren’t interested in raising sheep. Our property is in the farthest reaches of Northumberland, remote and vast. The only thing we have in abundance is small game and vermin.”
    “But the danger—”
    The countess caught the earl’s hand. “Sh-she will leave us if we don’t. She was never ours. We-we knew that. And now she’s grown. We can’t force her to stay.”
    The earl’s frown deepened. He cupped his daughter’s chin. “We loved you as if you were our own. We did the best we could for you.”
    “I know, Papa. I don’t want to leave you. But I have to learn who I am, what I am. I… I don’t belong here.”
    “No,” he said. “I don’t suppose you do. Do you really love him ?” He gestured toward Dimitri.
    “I do, Papa. I truly do.”
    And so it was decided that morning that the pack would make their home in the north of England on the Earl of Hawthorn’s vast property, but not before—the earl insisted—Lia and Dimitri were properly and legally wed, not just in a church, but at Westminster Cathedral with all of London Society in attendance.
     

EPILOGUE
    FOUR MONTHS LATER
     
    “Are you ready, my cub?” Dimitri asked.
    Lia swallowed hard. The dark fields and fens spread out for as far as the eye could see. The vast space was both beautiful and terrifying. “I-I don’t know.”
    He squeezed her hand. “I’ll be right beside you.”
    On a rise in the distance, a group of wolves gathered. They turned their gazes up toward the moon and howled. Their somber song called to her.
    Lia glanced back at the manor house. There was a soft glow from the windows. It would be warm inside there. Her parents would be in the library by now. Was her father reading the newspaper? Was her mother embroidering another elaborate table runner? Was life moving on without her?
    Part of her wanted to go back to the house, back to her family and the comfortable life she’d known. But the wolf in her paced restlessly, anxious to escape from its cage. Please , she could hear it cry. Please, let me go .
    “You’ll see your parents again,” Dimitri promised. “I give you my word that you will.”
    “Yes, I believe you.” She took a deep breath and gathered her courage. “I’m ready.”
    He gave her hand a squeeze and kissed her cheek. “Let’s go.”
    Together they shifted. Her wolf, snowy white with a black-tipped tail, leapt from her body. Feeling more alive than she’d ever felt before, she ran beside her silver lover to join the rest of the pack.
    And she ran free.
     

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    TAKEN BY MOONLIGHT
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