The Empath. Bonnie Vanak

       “You ran because your instinct told you I’m your best damn chance of keeping safe. And I am.”

      Nicolas angled his head toward her. “Because I will keep you safe, to my last dying breath. You and I, Maggie, are destined to be together. It’s not sexual chemistry, not the typical male-female kind. It’s deeper, more important and lasting. So relax and stop questioning everything. In time, it will all make sense.”

      Maggie closed her eyes, trying to understand what seemed like utter nonsense.

      She didn’t believe in karma, the tooth fairy or soul mates. What she believed in right now was self-preservation. Having escaped one dangerous situation, she now had to get herself out of another one. Was Nicolas a knight to the rescue, or a dark night of the soul?

      Dear Reader,

      Imagine working as a veterinarian, oblivious about possessing a healing power that could save the animals you love. You yearn for something more, but are afraid to face the truth—you are not human, but a wild beast who craves the night. And your destined mate is hunting you down to make you his own and bring you back to the pack to save your people. This is Maggie, my gentle-natured heroine for The Empath. She is desperate to find a cure for the mysterious disease killing her beloved dog. It will take Nicolas, the pack’s fiercest warrior, to bring the truth to light and force Maggie to realize their own destinies.

      The Empath is truly a book of my heart. Though I’m multi-published, this is the first story evolving from a real-life experience. I began writing the book shortly after my husband and I were told our beloved Shih Tzu was dying from liver cancer. The story became my balm during those months when I knew we would eventually lose her. For eleven years, Tia had been my constant companion who always rested her head on my laptop while I wrote. Tia passed away in December 2006, but she will always live on in this book and in our memories and hearts.

      I hope you enjoy Maggie and Nicolas’s journey of strength, courage and passion. Maggie does embrace her incredible power to heal, but discovers the greatest power of all lies in the ability to love unconditionally.

       Bonnie Vanak

      About the Author

      BONNIE VANAK fell in love with romance novels during childhood. While cleaning a hall closet, she discovered her mother’s cache of paperbacks, and started reading. Thus began a passion for romance and a lifelong dislike of housework. After years of newspaper reporting, Bonnie became a writer for a major international charity that took her to destitute countries such as Haiti and Guatemala to write about famine, disease and other issues affecting the poor. When the emotional strain of her job demanded a diversion, she turned to writing romance novels. Bonnie lives in Florida, with her husband and two dogs, where she happily writes books amid an ever-growing population of dust bunnies. She loves to hear from readers. Visit her website at www. bonnievanak.com or e-mail her at [email protected].

       The Empath

       Bonnie Vanak

       www.millsandboon.co.uk

      For my beloved Tia, our loyal friend for eleven years. You will always live on in our hearts.

      Special thanks to my friend Julie Sloan and the Rebs;

      Pamela Clare, Jan Zimlich, Alice Duncan, Alice

      Gaines, Mimi Riser and especially Norah Wilson, who kept urging me to write this book.

      And a very special thanks to my wonderful husband

      Frank, and our vet, Dr James Grubb, who loves animals as much as we do.

       Chapter 1

      Death with fangs and long talons stalked him.

      The enemy hunted him. Nicolas, the powerful warrior. The pack’s best fighter. The ostracized.

      Nicolas Keenan lifted his muzzle, sniffed the wind. Caught his pack leader’s scent marking a nearby oak tree. His wolf form stiffened with longing. Pack. Home. Family.

      But he no longer had a family. Even though he continued to quietly patrol their territory, protecting his people, and even though his loyalty would never die, he’d been banished from the pack.

      He was Draicon, werewolves who once used their magick to learn of the earth and its wonders. Now, hunted by the more powerful Morphs, they used their powers in a desperate attempt to survive.

      Morphs. The very word made his hackles rise. They had been Draicon like him. Draicon who willingly embraced evil, entering the ranks of the Morphs by killing one of their own. Nicolas had spent nearly his whole life destroying Morphs. When some in his pack turned, he’d been forced to kill them as well.

      He would always be Draicon, Nicolas silently promised, remembering the tiny mark on his neck. He would never surrender to the Morphs’ alluring power.

      He felt a cooling breeze stir, rustling the leaves and chilling the air. In this part of northern New Mexico, fall draped the trees in vivid colors. Thirty minutes ago, after he’d left his ranch to take a walk in the woods, he’d sensed danger. The familiar warrior instinct surfaced. He’d shifted to lure the enemy away from the pack’s homes and hearths.

      New scents filled his nostrils. He went absolutely still, smelling evil.

      Nicolas caught a faint whiff of rotting seaweed mixed with raw sewage. Enemy. Danger.

       Ah, Maggie, what am I dragging you into? What if they find you as well?

      He reached out, silently slipped into her thoughts. Mitosis. Carcinogenic cells. She was studying a sample under the microscope. He slipped out, not wanting to jar her concentration. Margaret Sinclair, the pack’s long-lost empath. The Draicon foretold to destroy the Morph leader, she was the pack’s last hope and Nicolas’s destined mate. She was safe. For now.

      In the branches of a sprawling oak, a brown deer sat cloaked from view. A shaft of moonlight dappled dying oak and maple leaves with silver. Dead undergrowth soaked in the evening dew. In the distance, a doe crashed through brush. His ears pricked forward.

      They were coming. Once solitary, the enemy had combined their numbers. Nicolas didn’t dare shift. Not now. His change left trace elements of magick, clear as muddied paw prints to his enemies.

      Standing still, he inhaled the air. The scent grew fainter. A new smell filled his senses. Body odor. Fake deer scent. Stale beer. Humans. Loud, obnoxious voices crashed through the woods.

      “There! Did you see that wolf? Let’s get him!”

      The humans who had spotted him earlier had taken chase. Out to bag anything tonight. Such as Wolf de la Nicolas.

      No choice now. Had to risk it. Nicolas shifted, muscles bulging, stretching, bones lengthening. Fur melted away. Wolfskin vanished, replaced by bronzed human flesh.

      Naked man meets eager hunters with loaded rifles. Not good. Summoning clothing by magick would show his presence to the enemy like a lighthouse beacon. He didn’t have to use his power this time. Instead, he dove for the rotting tree trunk and the clothing stockpiled beneath the sprawling roots. Damian had laid similar caches all over pack territory for emergencies like this. He dressed, grabbed the whiskey bottle, gave a liberal splash over his bright orange clothing.

      Nicolas sank down against the tree and waited. He chuckled, glancing at the half-filled amber bottle. “I never drink anything less than twelve-year-old scotch, Damian, you cheapskate.”

      Shouting victoriously, the hunters crashed through the woods like clumsy oxen. He smelled cruelty heaving with