Half Wolf. Linda Thomas-Sundstrom

done, she could take Kaitlin under her wing. That task would serve Rena right for coming to see Kaitlin uninvited.

      He shouldn’t linger near Kaitlin Davies for two minutes more. He’d done a good deed, had shared Lycan blood, which was a rare event for any Lycan, and Kaitlin had thanked him. The sun was up. She had made it through the weekend and seemed to be okay.

      Damn, though...

      Only heartless, soulless vampires left their offspring to fend for themselves. Vamps, and also a new breed of nasty rogue Weres created from the bites of other werewolves bent on passing along that trait to unsuspecting others. He had an obligation here to see Kaitlin through her transition to becoming Were, no matter how attracted to her he was. Three members of his pack had been the recipients of illicit tooth-and-claw encounters. Surely those Weres would understand about Kaitlin needing help, and condone what he had done to save her.

      Kaitlin’s voice rose again, cutting through Michael’s internal chatter. “Why me? If you have a secret to keep, why help me?”

      Her beautiful gray eyes reflected the chill of her fear. Kaitlin’s sober expression pierced his soul. Hell, this woman made the big bad wolf want to protect her.

      “You’re young, beautiful and innocent. You have a whole lifetime ahead of you and didn’t deserve to die like that,” Michael said.

      “Does anyone deserve to die?” she asked.

      “Yes. The monster that attacked you and dozens of others like it.”

      “God, there are more of them?”

      “A seemingly infinite number,” Michael replied.

      Kaitlin winced at the pain turning her head caused, and said, “You would have helped anyone out there?”

      He had to think about that, and took too long for Kaitlin’s current need for answers.

      Her eyes were accusatory. “You’re telling me the truth? You’re some sort of shape-shifter? I wasn’t mistaken about what I saw?”

      He said, “Beneath a full moon, I change from this shape into another one.”

      “Only with a full moon? I don’t recall seeing one last night.”

      “I can change other times, as well. Only a few Lycans can do that, and not very many of us.”

      She fired off another remark. “I’ll be a hybrid because I’m also human.”

      “Because you started out human.”

      “Why didn’t I die, Michael? What about this blood gift you mentioned? How does that work?”

      “If you’re not born into our species, a transfer of blood is the only way to be initiated. It doesn’t take much, and is the only way I know of to heal the damage from a deadly vampire attack.”

      “But it creates another werewolf.”

      “Yes,” he reluctantly admitted.

      Species. Initiated. Heal. Michael wondered how anyone in Kaitlin’s situation could possibly comprehend this.

      “Would I have become a vampire if the monster’s blood had been left inside me?” she asked.

      “You would have died and then been reanimated as one of them. Just like them. No heart. No soul. No need for breath. Hungering for blood.”

      She pried her lips apart. “Maybe you helped me so that you wouldn’t have to contend with one more bloodsucker like the one I would have become.”

      “Being like us seemed the better option, Kaitlin. Our genetics cause us to heal faster than normal, and we recover from injuries cleanly. We can survive a lot of things. With wolf blood in your veins to counteract that vamp’s damage, you had a chance. You’ve made it this far. In another month, that wound will be nothing more than a thin white scar. So I suppose...”

      He leaned over her, with his hands on the mattress. “I suppose that though this new turn of events is unbelievable, you can be thankful you’re here today.”

      Staring at Kaitlin, Michael relived how he had breathed life back into her after she had lain on the hard, damp ground. How he had cradled her in his arms and run his fingers over her bloodless face. He, who prided himself on remaining aloof from the human population, had whispered assurances to this woman, though one of her species had destroyed his family and others like his with a spray of silver bullets.

      Did helping Kaitlin make him a traitor to his family, or just a bighearted idiot who made a rash decision on the spur of the moment? He felt like a traitor. Hell, saving a life didn’t equate to being an angel, and might have been an action he would someday regret.

      Yet when Kaitlin broke contact and looked away, he wanted to pull her attention back despite his inner protests about keeping some distance. He wanted to lift her in his arms and trade hot, sultry breaths. Fantasies were appearing about pressing her to a tree in the moonlight, where he’d kiss Kaitlin to within an inch of her life, and revel in each second.

      And if he were willing to admit more personal blasphemy, he’d concede the desire to go beyond that kiss-fest and have her in all the ways that counted between a male and a female, while listening to her soft growls of pleasure.

      He had to close his eyes to shut those images off.

      What had been his motivation for going back on an oath? Kaitlin Davies wasn’t human anymore. There was a slight possibility he could have helped her in that park in hopes of just such a situation as this, having been instantly attracted to her, and despite the taboo placed on Lycans mating with human-wolf hybrids of lesser bloodlines.

      If that had been the case, though, he didn’t recall it. Nor had he stopped to consider that by saving her he would prevent Kaitlin from becoming a vampire. Neither of those thoughts had crossed his mind. All he saw was her, and how badly she was being hurt.

      “I think I’m going to be sick, and I think I’d prefer to be sick alone,” she announced, bringing him back to the present.

      She wasn’t looking at him now. He had to go, had to leave her, at least for a while. He also felt sick, confused, sad.

      “All right, Kaitlin. I’ll go. Things will work out. You’ll see.”

      Promises, little wolf, from what you believe to be a freak of nature, Michael silently added, scanning her profile.

      “Werewolves tend to land on our feet, you know,” he said aloud.

      “Yeah,” she agreed in a strangled voice, and with a last stab at defiance. “All four.”

       Chapter 5

      Remember that I gave you a choice.

      Michael’s words from that night floated through Kaitlin’s memory as she looked into the emerald-colored eyes of the man who had uttered them.

      Contrary to what he’d just said, Michael hadn’t made any effort to leave her apartment. Looking at him, she realized Michael wasn’t just handsome, he was extraordinary. Tall, leanly muscled and much too male, he wore a blue long-sleeved T-shirt and faded jeans that fit him like a second skin.

      His face was as chiseled as her memory of his abs, and the angularity served up a regal air. Dark hair hung to his chin, straight, shiny, with the slightly mussed look of a man who didn’t give a hoot about his appearance.

      But his looks were deceiving, because Michael wasn’t human, even though he appeared to be at the moment. Something much wilder hid beneath his skin, waiting to get out. She sensed that wildness as if she could taste it.

      She had witnessed his shape-shifting firsthand. That wasn’t what bothered her at the moment, though. The awful part was the realization that whether or not Michael was a wolf, she was attracted to him. She wanted him in blistering hot, slightly demented