Wolf's Valentine

Chapter Two

He had stood her up. Jana took a deep breath and tried not to breathe fire. She was a wolf, not a dragon, and if this was going to be one of those powers she picked up over time, as she grew older and more powerful, well the fates could just shove it. Pulling the little black dress she'd put on for the occasion over her head, she slipped on her comfortable red and black flannel pants that really should be pajama pants but that she happily wore out of the house for occasions like these.

She wasn't going to sit around anymore. Throwing on a long grey sweater—she felt no inclination to match her clothes at the moment, besides she could always change upstate—she grabbed her black pea-coat and stomped out of her apartment loudly.

Slamming the door behind her, she waited a beat until she heard the automatic lock latch.

Pressing the down button to call the elevator, she wasn't surprised when it took a few minutes to arrive. It was V-day. Everyone was going out. Just most of them not alone. A full elevator dinged on her floor and she tried not to breathe as she entered. So many bodies stuffed in one spot meant way too much body odor, way too much perfume, and way too much aerosol deodorant for her wolf nose to tolerate.

Forcing her way out of the elevator first when it reached the lobby, she walked out of the lobby of her apartment building smiling at the doorman and putting her head down as she walked out. She hailed a taxi and directed the cabbie to Penn Station.

The taxi took off at top speed and she sighed, promising herself it would be the last time she made that sound. Things had been a lot harder than this. Much much worse, in fact. The first time she'd arrived in Manhattan, fifty dollars in her pocket, wearing clothes that pinched and itched, she barely been able to see or hear anything at all due to sensory overdrive. For two days, she'd sat on the street and tried not to breathe.

It hadn't helped that she'd been rushed from her home in the middle of the night surrounded by mostly young girls and babies. One of just a few unmated grown women; not being mated had always seemed a nightmare. It wasn't easy watching all her friends and family find their soul mates. Deported in the middle of the night while everyone else she loved and knew was butchered by her mate—now that was hell.

What she'd discovered a few weeks later was that she was completely adaptable and more capable then she ever could have imagined. In no way would she fall apart, ever.

Not then. Not now that a human stood her up on Valentine's Day. She had a date with her wolf. Together they would run until they collapsed.

The taxi pulled in front of the train station and she paid the driver as she opened the door to the cab and ran out. If she didn't hurry, she would miss the nine o'clock train to Woodstock. Then it would just be a quick drive later until she was alone on her land where she could run as her wolf. She loved New York City—the anonymity of it and the hustle and bustle—but she'd bought the place upstate so whenever she needed to she could still be the wolf she needed to be.

Running through the terminal, she made the train with a split second to spare and sat down in her seat. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath. Soon she would be where she needed to be and then Monday morning she could pretend the whole thing never happened.

The seat next to her slumped down as someone sat next to her. She took a deep breath preparing to smile and say nothing at all when the scent hit her like a truck slamming into her senses.

Wolf.

Jana's eyes darted open as her heart beat frantically. Sitting next to her, his eyes half open as he stared at her through dark lashes was Malcolm. She gasped. He couldn't be a wolf. She'd sniffed him to her heart's content in the office just that afternoon. She took a deep breath again.

He's a wolf. Trust me on this.

Never having doubted her wolf's knowledge on this subject before, Jana narrowed her eyes.

"Surprise." Malcolm's voice sounded rough, like sandpaper, much different than he had in their earlier encounters. "I didn't want to stand you up. Sorry I was a little late."

She sucked in a breath. "What are you?"

"I'm like you, Jana. I'm a shifter."

He was and he was much bigger than she was. It might have been thirty years since she'd gotten to live like a wolf but she remembered the rules of these things well enough.

He was male and large in human form. He'd be huge as a canine. Sitting back in her seat she tried to make herself as small as possible, as non-threatening as she could be.

There was no way she was going to be murdered on the train to Woodstock by a cursed Westervelt male who could somehow disguise his scent from her.

He reached out and touched her arm. She tried not to jump and swallowed the lump of anxiety in her throat.

"I'm not going to hurt you. I could never hurt you. I'd rather cut off my own arm.

Take a deep breath; now that you can smell me you'll see I'm your mate."

Jana nodded. "I'm sure that is what I would find. That's why I'm terrified. You are not going to be killing me on this train. I will fight you to the death before I let you do that."

Closing his eyes, Malcolm smiled. "Good. That's exactly what I would want you to do if I threatened you in any way."

"You want me to challenge you?" Something was off and Jana couldn't get her senses around it yet.

He is our mate. And he is yummy.

Don't start purring. You're a wolf, not a cat. And he might psychotic or struck by a curse.

"The curse has been removed from Westervelt. It was in play for thirty years but now it's gone. Almost four years ago."

Four years? Had it been more than thirty years since she'd been home? Had four more years passed somehow and she hadn't marked them? Her mind whirled as she counted backwards in her mind. Yes, he was right. The thought made her slightly sick.

"So why didn't I feel compelled to come home? And how come I couldn't smell you earlier?"

Still not opening his eyes, Malcolm sighed. "I took an herb that disguises my scent.

It's how the bad wolves that are running around hide from us. In terms of going home, as far as we can tell, it has to do with the danger not being entirely gone. The curse is off of the island, it's off of us, but Kendrick is still out there, still wreaking havoc, and so very few of the female wolves are feeling the compulsion either from Mary Jo's spell or Ashlee's advertising to come home."

"Why should I believe you?" She wanted to. Oh man did she want to think he told her the truth. That would mean possibilities opened up she hadn't considered and Malcolm was her mate. Her wolf was right, he was yummy.

Opening his eyes just enough to look down, he pulled his phone out of his coat.

Pressing a button, he handed it to her.

"It's ringing."

She stared at the phone, dumb struck for a moment. "Who is it calling?"

"Theo Kane."

Now there was a name she hadn't heard in a long time. She pushed the phone to her ear.

"Malcolm. Are you hurt?" Theo's voice, which brought immediate memories of home through Jana's head, sounded frantic.

"Theo?" She had no idea if he'd remember her or not. She'd been slightly older than he was.

"Jana. I see Malcolm finally approached you. Is he hurt? Tristan is going crazy here.

He says he can feel Malcolm's pain, that he's been injured."

I smell the blood.

Thanks for saying something earlier.

Staring at Malcolm, Jana couldn't see any obvious injuries but that didn't mean it wasn't true. "I'm not sure if he's injured. Um, Theo." She stuttered. "Is the curse really lifted?"

"It is. He's safe to you. Take care of him."

Theo disconnected. She stared at Malcolm for a moment before shutting the phone and moving into action.

She shook his arm. "Malcolm, you're hurt. Where? What happened?"

"It must have been strange to talk to a Kane again."

"Don't avoid the question."

Coughing, he smiled with his eyes still closed. "Think of it this way, we haven't yet technically mated so if I die on this train, you won't have to follow."

"You're funny. You're also hurt so let me help you." She paused. "At least tell me what happened and I think you'd better fill me in on what's going on with Westervelt. I'm really confused."

"What was the last thing you heard?"

She shook her head. "The last thing I heard? It was Kendrick's wife pounding on my door and running me off the island, telling me all of the mated wolves were going to go nuts…that I had to hide from all the male shifters until the curse was broken.

"It was gruesome. You can imagine. Utter betrayal at the hands of our Alpha and in the most horrendous way." She watched him shiver. "When all the men came back to their senses and discovered they had killed their mates, it was mass ritual suicide. The unmated men tried to find all of you but Mary Jo had put a spell on the unmated women so they couldn't be found until the curse was lifted."

She looked up at him, eyes inscrutable. "When did it get lifted?"

"About four years ago, Tristan Kane found his mate and took the role of Alpha.

Since then, everyone has been slowly finding their other halves…but Kendrick is still a problem. Ashlee, that's Tristan's wife, thinks that we can find the women even though Kendrick is still a threat because we need the women to come home to beat him."

That was a lot to digest and she needed to sit with it for a while. "What about the here and now? What are you doing in New York?"

"We're looking into your boss, Carl Elders. Finding you, it was like a dream in the midst of a nightmare."

His words made her heart flutter. She hadn't missed that he'd changed the subject.

"Do you not trust me? Is that why you won't tell me?"

This time his eyes flew open and she didn't miss the pain illuminating them. "When I pictured finding my mate, I never imagined I'd have to discuss with her, issues of security and danger. It was more about romance and love notes."

"I think it's adorable that you're a romantic. However, there are some things we're going to have to get out of the way between us before I will listen to any of that."

"Tristan had Theo and Gabriel put together their best warriors and sent us out to find out what is happening with Kendrick and his newly made wolves. It became immediately obvious that too large a majority of wolves were hanging out in Manhattan. Your boss, Carl, funds a lot of projects for Kendrick. We think the wolves are here working for him but we don't know how or in what capacity yet. That's my job to find out. When I left your office today, five of the wolves jumped me on the street. They had some pretty serious mojo magic. None of the humans could even see us." Malcolm coughed. "That's why I was late."

"What's a newly made wolf?" Her mind whirled. All of the years she worked for Carl, had he known what she was? No. She didn't believe that. Her status as a shifter was protected.

"Kendrick has found a way to create wolf-shifters. But not like us. It's really grotesque and they're entirely dependent on him for a drug we have not yet been able to synthesize. They're entirely controlled by him, and if they don't get their dose of this drug, they die. It's horrible."

Jana narrowed her eyes, as for the first time she saw the blood seeping out of his coat. A shifter didn't bleed like this unless they were really hurt. "Malcolm." His name was more like a gasp as the reality of just how hurt he really was hit her. "You should be in your wolf form; you can't heal as well like this."

"That would be really tough to explain, wouldn't it? How a giant black and white wolf got onto the train? If I let myself shift, I'm likely to lose consciousness. It'll be my fourth or fifth one today. I've lost count. How would you get me off the train?"

"It wouldn't be a problem if I could shift too."

A smile touched his lips before it disappeared back under the pain. "That would be a disaster. Two wolves on the train. They'd bring out news crews."

"You don't seem like most of the shifters I've known."

"That's good, I guess."

"I don't remember you from Westervelt."

He shrugged and the movement made him grimace. "I don't remember you either."

"Why is that, do you think?"

"Because I was six years old at the time of the female mass exodus."

Her head threatened to explode. "So you're only forty years old now?"

"Only you would think that was young."

"I'm old enough to be your great-great grandmother."

"Doesn't seem to stop Cullen and Summer."

Jana closed her eyes. "Who were your parents?"

Just then another coughing fit hit Malcolm. Jana opened her eyes and grabbed his arm. "If you can't shift, tell me what I can do for you."

"You don't happen to have any hidden healing magic do you?"

She shook her head. "No. I never mated so I never came into my full powers."

"It might help if I could rest. How long is the ride up to wherever we're going?"

How the hell had he gotten on the train? "A few hours."

"Wake me when we get there." Malcolm's eyes closed instantly like he'd been struggling to keep them open. She felt guilty about all the talking she'd been making him do. His head drooped, his face still pained.

We can't lose our mate now that we've just found him.

Jana couldn't agree more. She pulled him down until he stretched over her body in lying position. He had to be more comfortable like that. Absently, she stroked his long hair as she realized it was the first time she'd ever seen it loose. Black as midnight, it felt like silk under her fingertips.

Moving his jacket, she took a look at his wounds. Besides the one she'd seen seeping, he had several others that bled through his shirt. Damn those wolves working for Kendrick. If she'd been there, she would have…

Would have what? It's been 34 years since we attacked anything except a deer.

That was true but Jana would guess it was like riding a bike. You didn't forget how to fight, not if you were half-wolf.

The train plowed on into the night, whistling into the darkness. Jana shivered and pulled Malcolm closer enjoying the feel of his warmth. She would find a way to get him off the train safely, and then he could shift. Later when he was healed, she would help him with the wolf problem, and then they could both go home to Westervelt. But this time she'd go home with a mate.

The word brought heat to her belly. What did it even mean to have a mate? Or more specifically, what would it mean to be mated to Malcolm with his blue eyes, pitch-black hair, and his rank in the pack as one of the top warriors?

She supposed she was about to find out.

The first thing Malcolm became aware of was the sound of crickets. They chirped loudly and he was surprised he could hear them at all through the window of his apartment. Next, he realized he wasn't in his apartment but partially on the ground and partially on something warm and soft.

Mate.

His wolf wasn't being particularly articulate but that word alone was enough to get his attention. His eyes flew open. He'd been right. The majority of his body was on the cool grass in an open field he didn't recognize. His head rested gently on Jana's stomach.

She stroked his hair gently, running her fingers from the top of his scalp all the way down to where the strands ended.

He couldn't remember his parents and the Kane's aunts, who had raised him, had been kind but this was the first time he could remember ever being stroked so gently.

Jana's face was turned up to the moon, her neck back, but her eyes stared down at him in amusement. He ached everywhere. Even so, he couldn't help the heat that travelled to his groin at just the look from her. In truth, he'd been perpetually hard since he'd first scented her a month earlier.

"How did we get here?" He knew he must have helped her move him but he had no recollection of it whatsoever.

"Luggage rack to a taxi."

He raised an eyebrow, the idea amusing him more than it should have. "You wheeled me on a luggage rack? Like a piece of baggage?"

She nodded and sat up. His weight shifted as she did and he grudgingly sat up, missing her scent immediately. The best he'd been able to tell, she was somehow a combination of roses and strawberries. Both 'girlie' smells, he never knew they could be so addictive or that he could like them so much.

"It was ingenious."

So our mate is clever. Every second I spend with her, I like her more.

She smiled. "I've looked at your wounds. They're mostly healed. I think you need a run to make them heal completely."

Nodding at the truth of her words, he sniffed the air around them. If the wolves had found him unscented in New York City, it could only mean that Carl had somehow found him out. That meant they weren't safe here, wherever that might be. Malcolm stood up.

"Where are we?"

"Woodstock. Well, just outside of it."

"Really?" He swung around looking around the dark field. Of all the places he thought he'd visit in his life, this had never been one of them; however it was thrilling that he actually was.

"Are you a music fan?"

He shrugged and felt his cheeks warm. He was glad it was dark outside even though she'd be able to smell his embarrassment. "Sort of."

"Let me guess, you used to play in a band?" He loved the sound of amusement in her voice.

Pulling his shirt over his head, he didn't want to destroy another set of clothes even if they were bloody. Anything was better than ending up stranded and naked. He laid it gently down on the grass. "Who said anything about 'used to'?" She stared at him, her face showing nothing while her eyes were huge. "What is it?" He reached out and grabbed her arms tightly.

"Oh." She exhaled loudly. "I guess it's just two things."

"Like what?"

"First, I'm not used to having any other wolves around anymore. When I used to do this alone, it felt a little bit like dying each time but now I'm used to it. I guess I had the feeling all of a sudden of being brought back from the dead. Silly right?"

He shook his head, his heart breaking a little. "No, it doesn't sound silly." She had been so alone for so long. Never having thought about it, he had always assumed the men left behind on the island were the ones worse off. But the women, most of them would never see another wolf or have any pack around. How had Jana stayed sane the whole time?

Clearing his throat, he continued. "What's the second thing?"

"You have a really nice looking bare chest."

Now he could smell her embarrassment and it made him feel intoxicated. Unable to think of anything even remarkably appropriate to say, he pulled her into his arms and against his chest more tightly. Leaning down, he breathed in the essence that was Jana.

Quietly, he exhaled her name like a prayer. Inside of him, his wolf paced in happiness, still anxious to get out.

Malcolm couldn't believe how perfectly she just seemed to fit with him. "I never knew you but I feel like I've missed you my whole life."

She giggled, rubbing her nose against his chest.

"What's funny?"

"You made me a Valentine's Day card and you say the most beautiful things. You're not like any wolf I've ever known."

"Do you not like the card? I know you tossed it away."

"Well, I didn't know you were a wolf, I thought it was some kind of joke or something."

Malcolm's muscles were still tight. He needed to shift so he could give Jana the Valentine's Day gift he really wanted to present her with. However, there was no way he was going to attempt it until he was in peak physical condition. It would be a bad way to begin their life together, disappointing her sexually.

"Come on. Let's run."

She nodded, biting her lower lip. "Turn around."

"What?"

"I've been living like a human for some time now. I'm not used to nudity. Turn around so I'm not embarrassed."

Oh they were going to get her over this one quickly, but for the moment he nodded and looked away, even though he was dying to see her nude form.

Don't upset our mate.

I have no intention of doing so.

Pulling off his pants, he called the shift on himself and let the white light bring on his wolf form. Looking down during the change, he saw Jana's white light emerge and join with his. For a moment, he could see her very soul before it shifted from human to wolf.

She was still in there, as her wolf was always with her when she was human, but the shift did change them.

He whirled around. She stood on all fours in front of him, a small dark brown wolf with white spots decorating her small body.

Good heavens she is tiny.

His wolf couldn't have been more right. He was bigger than most other wolves when he shifted, he'd been told his father was too, but he hadn't anticipated Jana, not overly small in human form, being so miniscule as a wolf.

Letting out a yelp, she ran forward looking over her right shoulder, a grin in her eyes.

Okay, he got it. She wanted to play. He'd have to be careful not to hurt her since she was so fragile. Darting after her, he let out a mock growl and gave chase. Or at least he attempted to.

Whatever Jana lacked in size, she made up for in speed. He'd never seen a wolf move so quickly. Picking up speed, he attempted to catch her but could barely see her form up ahead. Sniffing the air, he had to follow her scent rather than watch her as she looked nothing more than a blur when he could manage to see her in the night.

She howled, a joyful sound, her meaning clear. She had won their little race. Jana must have known what he thought when he saw her size and set out to teach him a lesson.

Well, he'd been taught. He would not make assumptions about her based on size alone.

Finally catching her when she stopped to look at the moon, he rubbed against her, needing to feel her physical presence next to his. He hadn't liked not being able to be with her. He was her mate—even if they hadn't done the ceremony yet—and it was his job to protect and look out for her even if she didn't need it. Moving his body around, he quickly made note that he no longer hurt anywhere. His wounds, which had still burned slightly when he shifted, were completely healed.

His wolf was amazing when it came to fixing physical ailments.

Jana called the shift on herself and he watched as the beauty of the light led her body to realign itself into its human form. Naked and stunning, she looked at him, her hands at her side. In the moonlight, he could see she had one eyebrow raised in amusement.

Sauntering to him, she bent over and scratched between his ears. "Bet you thought you had a slow, small old lady on your hands, didn't you Malcolm?"

Wanting to laugh, he called his own shift enjoying the feel of his humanity coming back. "Never old. I'll admit to underestimating your size. But I've learned my lesson."

Nodding, she wrapped her arms around his waist and rubbed her face back and forth against the dark hairs on his chest. This time when he growled, it wasn't in jest. Here was his mate, he would claim her.