“
What? Of course not.” I brushed his hands away. “I…um…I lost something.” Yeah, that was it.
“
What are you looking for?”
“
Um...uh...” What was I looking for? I couldn’t tell him the truth. “I was looking…for my contact.” I pretended to search for it.
“
And what’s a contact?” He looked confused, but amusement twinkled in his eyes.
“
It’s a,” I looked at him in irritation. “It’s a…it’s a contact!” I shrugged as if it was completely obvious. A contact? I knew that word but what did it mean?
He suddenly laughed. “Ok.” He scooped me up off the floor as if I weighed nothing and started towards the bed. My heart hammered loudly. “I think you need to rest.” I hoped my disappointment didn’t show. He placed me carefully in the middle of the bed and pulled a blanket over my legs. “You can find your contact later.” He tapped his finger against my nose.
“
What were you doing out there anyway?”
His expression turned dark. “My horse,” he nodded towards the window, “I think he was bitten.”
“
Bitten? By an animal you mean?”
“
A werewolf.”
“
Here?” I started to sit up.
“
No, not here.”
I settled back against the pillow. “Then where? How?”
“
This morning when I went out to check the river. I dismounted so I could get closer. I didn’t see or hear a wolf but,” he shrugged, “the bite marks along his flank look a little suspicious.”
“
Will he become a werewolf?”
I was surprised when he laughed loudly but his expression changed when he realized I was serious. “No, Eva. You— or a horse,” he chuckled, “cannot become a werewolf by being bitten.”
“
Then how? I mean I thought a bite from a werewolf meant…”
“
No. Werewolves are bred.”
“
Bred?”
He sat down on the bed beside me. “An adult werewolf,” he began patiently, “chooses a human mate. They choose a woman based on strength and size, then they kidnap her from her home. After the woman becomes pregnant he will hide her away with the other packs’ mates.”
“
How many are there in a pack?”
“
Seven to ten.” He stretched out beside me on the bed, getting comfortable for the rest of the story. Of course my heart reacted badly. “After sixteen weeks the woman will give birth. Always male.”
“
Never female?”
“
Never. As long as I’ve been around I have never heard of a female being born.” He looked at me briefly and then continued. “Now, for the first five years the offspring are predominantly human. The adult males do not have any part of their young’s first five years. They watch and guard from a safe distance. These years are the most vulnerable for the pack. Since the offspring are mostly human at that point it would be very easy to kill them all off. And the adults only have time to breed and teach one offspring.”
“
Only one? Why?”
“
Well, from year five to year seven they go through a major growth spurt. The werewolf gene takes over. At this stage, the offspring join their fathers. Once the offspring join, the pack will split up into smaller groups and teach the young.”
“
They are full grown by year thirteen. Then the young join back together to form a new pack. The older males that are left fade out — often times returning to their own mothers to die. They only live up to thirty years.”
“
As soon as they are full grown, at year thirteen, they begin looking for a mate. Once their mate is pregnant they take her back to their mother’s to live. Then the cycle begins again.”
“
Wait. Once they are pregnant? What do they do with them until then?”
“
They travel with them, so that they are easily accessible.”
He said it so nonchalantly that it took me a minute to realize what he was talking about. “Oh.” I was embarrassed even if he wasn’t. “And how do they know, you know, when to take them to the village?”
“
A pregnant woman smells different to them.”
“
And how do you know all this?” I demanded.
“
A werewolf was captured several years ago. Before we killed him we saw into his mind. Every thought he had. We just asked the right questions.”
We? I would let that slide for right now. “And how long did it take?”
“
To read his mind?”
“
No!”
“
Um,” he grinned, “usually within three months of maturity the whole pack has offspring on the way.”
“
And they go live with their mothers?”
“
The bond between a wolf and his mother was unexpected.” I looked at him curiously. “It is very strong. They want their mother to help raise their young.”
“
What happens to the mothers after their son dies?”
“
There is a village here called Lelun. All the former wolf mothers live there. The pack supplies both villages.”
“
Do they ever have more than one offspring?”
“
When the pack’s numbers are down the dominant male will take several mates.”
“
So pretty much their entire life is about having a child and raising it to take over the pack?”
“
You shouldn’t say child,” he said quietly.
“
Why not?”
“
Do not think of them as human.”
“
They are half human.”
“
No,” he said firmly.
“
Why do you hate them?” Had he been attacked? Or had someone he cared about been killed by a wolf?
“
They are vile creatures. Evil.” He said it with such vehemence and hatred.
Something tugged at the edge of my memory.
‘Vile.’ ‘Evil.’
“What about vampires?” I blurted out.
He crinkled his nose at me. “What about them?”
“
Are they real too?”
He was silent for so long that I almost forgot I’d asked him anything. “Something is different about you, Eva,” he finally said.
“
What do you mean?” I tried to laugh him off.
“
You’re not like other people here.”
“
Yes, I am, I just don’t remember everything clearly yet.” I took a deep breath and held it in.
“
No, it’s something else. I don’t know what it is. It’s almost as if you’re not from around here at all. Like you don’t belong.” I already knew I didn’t belong. “You remember some things,” he continued, “like chicken and fires and contacts,” he grinned, “but you had no idea what a horse was. And now you are asking me if vampires are real.”
“
You don’t have to answer that.”
“
Hmmm.” He patted my arm affectionately. “We’ll figure it out.” I only hoped that I would figure it out first. “Vampires are indeed real.” He raised one eyebrow dramatically my way, making me laugh. “They have lived in this area for the past six years.”
“
They have?”
“
Yes they have. The lady Neleh.”
“
She’s a vampire?”
“
The colony is in fact the Lady and her warriors and whoever decides to follow them. They go wherever she decides they need to go. The Lady is a self-proclaimed protector of human life. Wherever humans are in too much danger — she and her band of vampires goes to save them.”
“
You don’t approve?”
He laughed shortly. “It just seems so…fake.”
“
Fake?” Why was I repeating everything he said?
“
They should just mind their own business. They don’t need to interfere.”
“
So you don’t like Neleh but you will join her because you hate werewolves more?”
“
Yep.”
“
How can you join her anyways?” He waited with a smile as the pieces clicked together. “Are you a vampire?”
He laughed outright then, showing all his dazzling teeth. “Indeed I am.” He winked at my stunned expression.
“
Oh.”
“
So maybe,” he said twirling a strand of my hair in his fingers, “maybe the wolves wanted you as a mate.”
“
Me?” I was shocked.
“
You are ideal. Young, strong, beautiful.”
“
And female,” I teased.
“
Yes. And female. If your sister or anyone else stood between them and what they wanted.” He looked pointedly at me.
“
Meaning me?”
“
Yes, you. They would have killed anyone in their way.” I couldn’t say anything to that.
***
I lay awake for a long time after he left thinking of all he had told me. Nickolas being a vampire didn’t scare me or surprise me as much as it should have. Did the wolves really want to take me as a mate? No, my mind rejected that idea almost immediately.
There was a reason that I was here, it was no coincidence. And I knew I wasn’t from here. I had come here for a purpose. I thought of the angel in my dream, but pushed the thought away. She had said to kill someone, but I was no killer. Then why had I come here? In the middle of a werewolf/vampire battle. Why?
The answers must lie with the vampires — not the wolves. With a sudden certainty I knew that I had been raised with vampires my whole life. I was one of them! But no, I wasn’t a vampire. Nickolas would have known, and besides, human food sustained me. But I had lived with vampires, I was sure of it.
I closed my eyes and concentrated hard to remember something — anything. I gasped out loud when a face came to mind. The picture was so clear. It was a man with pale brown hair. His dark brown eyes were kind, but sad. He didn’t smile. He just looked at me with those sad eyes. He felt sorry for me. Why?
“
Eva, are you ok?” Nickolas called from the doorway.
My eyes snapped open. “I’m fine,” I answered automatically. It made sense now that he could hear every noise I made. Irritation flooded my veins. Even if he could hear, why did he have to listen?
“
Are you sure you’re ok?”
“
Yes,” I snapped. “I’m just trying to sleep. Isn’t that what you ordered me to do?”
“
Ordered?”
I heard the disbelief in his voice. I groaned inwardly. “I’m sorry. It’s just…” He didn’t say anything or move away from the doorway. “I saw someone, just now,” I admitted.
“
In here?” He was at my side in an instant, crouching over me.
“
No, not in here,” I pulled on his shirt, “in my head, like a memory.”
“
You were remembering someone?” I nodded. He sank down next to me. “Who was it?”
“
I don’t know. You interrupted me,” I playfully accused.
“
Oh.” We both laughed at his sheepish expression. We both stared at each other for a long time after the laughter died away. “Will you tell me what he looks like? Maybe I can recognize him,” Nickolas said softly.
“
How can you be so sure it is a he?”
“
Because of the guilty way you are looking at me.” His lips turned up in a sad smile.
I tried to laugh but it turned into a sigh. “So what now?” I couldn’t hide my desperation.
“
Now? Now I will leave you alone so you can dream about your mystery man.”
“
Nickolas.”
“
Eva, I know you…” he seemed to be trying to choose his words carefully, “I know you care for me. But the truth is, you don’t know what your situation might be.”
“
Meaning?” I crossed my arms across my chest.
“
You might be married,” he pointed out.
“
Ha!” I shoved his leg. “I’m not married.”
“
How do you know?”
“
I think I would remember.” He raised one eyebrow. “And you can look at me as proper as you want Mr. Nickolas Gant but I know the truth. You care for me too.” I sat back and glared at him, daring him to deny it.
“
Even if that were true,” he said elusively, “it doesn’t matter.”
“
And why not?”
“
Because you and I come from two different worlds, Eva.” I opened my mouth to protest but he stopped me with two fingers against my mouth. “Has it truly escaped your attention that I am a vampire?”
“
So?”
He twisted his expression into something I couldn’t tell if it was a smile or a grimace. “Eva, I am a,” he swallowed hard, “a monster. A murderer.”
I narrowed my eyes. Must have been a smile. “Humph…you’re no more a monster than I am.”
“
You know, Eva,” he said leaning close to my face, “in all my life — and I’ve lived a very long time — I have never met anyone else like you. Male or female.”
I smiled. “Wait, that’s a good thing right?”
“
Yes.” He laughed at the return of my smile. He was so close I could feel his breath against my face. My heart reacted, of course. He regarded me curiously for a moment and then stood up. “You sleep, Eva; I’ll be keeping guard tonight, so no worries.” I still couldn’t breathe properly enough to answer him. “Goodnight sweet Eva.” He leaned down and kissed my forehead lightly. I nearly hyperventilated.