The Wolf's Surrender

“I’m not strange, I’m trying to be practical,” Mia replied, bristling. “Whatever’s coming, I can handle it. I can even come back at the full moon or whatever if it would help. But before anything happens, I need information.”

Jenner couldn’t do anything but stare at her. It was obvious Mia needed a few basic things explained to her, and he had no interest in being the one to do the explaining.

Damn you for sticking me with this, Bane, Jenner thought, taking care to keep it to himself. And though he hated to invade the Alpha’s thoughts almost as much as he hated having his own picked up, Jenner pushed out a request with as much force as he could muster.

Bane, could you get over here? Mia…that is, the bitten from last night…she’s asking a lot of questions, and I don’t think I’m really the guy to be answering them…

The response was quick, and though terse, laced with a little amusement at his expense that Jenner didn’t miss.

You’re one of us. Why not you? I’ll be over later, Jenner. Didn’t expect her to be up and lucid so early. Little busy right this second.

Jenner set his jaw and fought back a groan.

The blonde from the bar?

You got it. Smugness, Jenner decided, came through telepathy just fine.

“You can’t keep me here against my will,” Mia said. “I don’t care what you turn into, or what’s supposed to happen to me on the full moon, I’m not staying here indefinitely. I want Jeff caught, but as long as someone explains how it all works to me, I’ll handle my own…stuff. At home.”

The voice Jenner had found rich and warm just a few minutes ago had moved further into just plain “heated” territory. Innocent or not, he decided, this one had plenty of fire in her. Mia was obviously no pushover, nor a simpleton, which meant she’d probably do just fine here. Once she accepted the way things were.

He guessed an upside of being the bearer of bad news, though, was that Mia would probably want nothing to do with him after this. That would make things a hell of a lot easier on him. At least, he thought as he watched Mia cross her arms over her chest and glare at him with enough heat to set the house ablaze, it ought to. If he could somehow manage to ignore her presence in the Hollow altogether.

Which was unlikely at best.

Chapter 4

“Mia,” Jenner finally began, not really sure what he was going to say but aware he had to say something before the woman decided to punch him, “you must have seen a werewolf movie or two. I’m not saying they’re accurate, but they did hit a couple important points. You realize you’re going to turn into a wolf at least once a month from now on, right?”

That reminder took a little of the heat from her eyes, Jenner noted, and replaced it with worry. It was a step in the right direction.

“Well, yes…I was only thinking once a month, but…yes,” Mia said. “But, I mean, there’s got to be werewolves in Philly, right? I figured if there were a group or club or something, you know…they could help me sort it all out. Get used to it. What do you mean by at least once a month?”

The only thing that kept him from laughing was knowing it would hurt her feelings. He kept his voice carefully emotionless. “We’ll get to that. Are you talking about some kind of werewolf support group?”

“Why not?” she asked, and sure enough, a defensive note had crept into her voice. “It wouldn’t be any weirder than everything that’s happened to me so far. You’re telling me there are no werewolves in Philadelphia?”

Jenner shrugged, a gesture that seemed to irritate her.

“Does that mean no, or that you don’t know, or that you’re just not going to answer me?” Mia asked.

“It means I don’t know any, and even if there are, they’re not the kind of wolves who would be in some kind of club that would help you. There’s no known pack in that city, so any werewolves you’d find there would be outliers.”

“Outliers?”

“Yeah, you know…” He lifted his hands as though he could grasp the words he wanted out of the air. Had he wondered whether Mia was intelligent? This conversation was like being crossexamined by a particularly bloodthirsty lawyer.

“Werewolves congregate in packs,” he said. “It’s natural. We’re linked to one another. Telepathically.”

To his surprise, this bit of information seemed more of a revelation to Mia than a shock.

“Oh,” she murmured. “That explains why there were a lot more funny looks than actual talking last night.”

“It does,” Jenner said, relieved not to be challenged on something. “Pack mates can all speak that way, even over great distance. It’s a little weird at first, but you get used to it. And without it, the change, and learning to live with all of the other effects of being what we are, can be way too much for one person. The pack, this pack, is the support group you’re looking for, Mia. The group helps curb the basest instincts all of us deal with from time to time. Living away from the pack is unnatural. I’m not saying it doesn’t happen sometimes…but mostly, in an area without a pack, you’re going to find ferals.”

“Like Jeff,” Mia said. Jenner watched the way her eyes dropped, the way she wound her hands together and began toying restlessly with her fingers. The sight hit him with a flood of guilt. However much he didn’t want to be the one introducing Mia to the facts of her new life, he needed to remember what it was like to be on the other side of things. It had been ten years for him, years that felt like a lifetime away from the man he had been. And Mia had the added burden of not having asked for this. Whatever she might be holding back from him, right now she needed some sympathy, not suspicion. He knew a lot about evil. Mia wasn’t it.

He needed to remember that.

Jenner shoved his plate aside and leaned in close to her, wanting to catch her gaze. It was a mistake, he knew immediately. The scent of her, sweet and carrying the hint of orange blossoms, swamped his senses. His heartbeat accelerated, blood beginning to pump more quickly through his veins. The animal within him stirred, stretched.

Hungered.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said softly. The need to comfort Mia surprised him with its strength. She looked back at him, eyes wide and full of misery.

“I don’t see how,” she said. “I really don’t. Not unless there’s a way out of this that you haven’t mentioned.”

“Well,” he drawled, hoping to erase some of the pain from her lovely face, “there is the one ritual with antelope blood and goat heads.”

Damned if she didn’t suddenly look hopeful. “Really?”

He shook his head. “Uh, no, Mia. You’re stuck being a werewolf. But like I told you last night, it’s not so bad. You’ll probably like it, once you get used to it.”

She closed her eyes and gave her head a tight little shake, as though she could will all of this away.

“No, I won’t. I have enough to deal with. And whether you like it or not, whether your Alpha likes it or not, I’m going to be one of those outliers. I have no interest in quitting my job, moving to the middle of nowhere, and starting all over again.”

“Again?”

She opened her eyes, but couldn’t quite meet his.

Of course she has secrets, Jenner thought, hating the bitter, cynical feel of them. You’re a magnet for women like this. Get suckered this time and it’s on you.

“My upbringing…wasn’t the greatest. So I got away. I want to put down roots, not keep pulling them up.”

There wasn’t even the slightest hint of deception in her words, and Jenner immediately felt like an ass. Maybe she wasn’t the one with the issue, here.

Wouldn’t be the first time.

Flustered, Jenner tried to shift gears. “Don’t write it off when you haven’t even really begun changing, Mia. It isn’t easy to live away from the pack. And I bet we could find you a job here,” Jenner said. “What do you do?”

Her voice was flat. “I do web-based PR for a software company, and I do freelance web design on the side.”

Jenner thought of the Hollow’s one internet provider and single video game store and fought back a grimace. “Okay, maybe not the software company thing. But you can design websites from here as easy as in Philly. Just because it’s quiet in the Hollow doesn’t make it the middle of nowhere.”

Mia’s look said volumes about what she thought of that.

“Just because you love it here doesn’t make it not the middle of nowhere. This isn’t my home, and it isn’t going to be.”