N. Walters - Legacy Found

Craig snorted. “I’m always careful. Anyway, I hacked into some email accounts.”

“You what?” Quinn felt a headache coming on.

“And,” his brother continued. “There are rumors of a werewolf pack in North Carolina. They don’t know anything for certain. There’s also some chatter that some guy named Sawyer is looking for the owner of a company called LeVeau Holdings. It’s owned by a guy named James LeVeau, but beyond that they don’t have any useful information.”

“Sawyer is Macmillan’s computer guy. His hacker.”

“He’s an amateur.”

Quinn wanted to beat his head against the steering wheel but knew it wouldn’t do much good. Craig was too smart for his own good sometimes. “Just be careful.”

“I will.” Craig paused. “I won’t do anything stupid. But you be careful. I couldn’t bear to lose you too.”

“I’m going to find Chris.”

“I know you will, but it’s been almost a year and a half…” Craig trailed off not finishing the thought.

“Not much longer, I promise.”

“Okay. Take care.”

“You too.” Quinn tucked his phone away, started his truck and headed out. This was his last trip with the hunters. After more than a year with no word, maybe it was time to try something different.

“Maybe not.” Quinn knew himself well and he knew he wouldn’t stop looking. No matter what.

Breakfast had been a quick and silent affair. Shelley didn’t sense that James was mad at her, just giving her the space she’d asked him for. They’d been driving for an hour now and she had no idea how close they were to his home.

“How much farther to Wolf Creek?”

“Another hour or so.” James kept his eyes on the road. He’d seemed tense since they’d left the motel.

Shelley looked out the window and watched the world roll by. Cars and trucks whizzed in both directions, everyone with a destination. She wasn’t sure how she felt about spending time with werewolves, which was weird considering she was one.

“Are we born different or does it happen some other way?” Tom had never really told her.

James frowned as he glanced her way. “You really don’t know anything about your heritage, do you?”

She shrugged. There was no point denying it. Her knowledge about werewolves was limited to mostly hunting them. That’s all Tom and his buddies talked about.

“We’re a different species and we’re born that way. You don’t become a werewolf by being bitten. That only happens in books and movies.” James paused for a brief second before asking, “Do you know if both your parents were werewolves or if only one of them was?”

“Does it matter?” She thought about it and shook her head. “I really don’t know.” Memories of before Tom were murky at best.

“Not to me, but to some. If you have only one parent who is a wolf, the wolf can still be dominant, but you’ll be considered a half-breed. There are some purist werewolf groups who want to destroy all those who aren’t full wolf.”

“Great.” Shelley slumped slightly in her seat and wrapped her arms around herself. “So I have to worry about the hunters and these other wolves.” What she was finding out about her kind wasn’t very encouraging.

James shrugged. “There are good folks and bad folks in all walks of life, wolf or otherwise. Most will accept you with open arms.”

She was quickly becoming attuned to his moods and could feel his tension rising. There was something he wasn’t telling her. “What? What is it?”

“Females are scarce. What with infighting among packs and bounty hunters we’ve lost many of our women. Plus, there just haven’t been as many female children born this past century or so. It all adds up to more males searching for a mate.”

Shelley shivered. That didn’t sound good. She hadn’t left one bad situation only to be thrust into another one. “Maybe you should drop me off at the next town?” She was no longer sure she wanted to go to Wolf Creek. There would certainly be more than a few unattached males there.

“No one will hurt you and no one will touch you. You’ll be safe in my home.”

“How can you be so sure?” she demanded. It was easy for him to say. He wasn’t the one in danger of being taken by some overzealous male.

The muscles in his jaw worked. At first she wasn’t certain he was going to answer her. Finally, he ground out. “I’m alpha. My word is law.”

Shelley sat back. She was stunned. “So you’re their leader?” She wanted to make certain she understood.

“Yes.”

Maybe that explained the sense of power, of command, that surrounded James. Was she going to continue to trust him?

The answer was surprisingly easy. Yes, she was. He hadn’t lied to her, hadn’t sugarcoated his answers to her questions. Instead, he’d laid the plain, unvarnished truth before her when it would have been easier for him to leave out pertinent facts. She wouldn’t have known any better until it was too late for her to back out.

“Okay.”

His shoulders relaxed and his muscles softened slightly. “You won’t be sorry,” he promised, his words soft and intimate in the small space of the truck cab.

Shelley’s skin began to tingle. He’d said something similar last night and she certainly hadn’t been sorry. The atmosphere in the truck became charged with sexual tension. She wasn’t ready to deal with what was happening between them. Not yet, at any rate.

She cleared her throat and rubbed her moist palms over her jean-clad thighs.

His hand reached over and covered one of hers. “Don’t be nervous. I want you, Shelley. Make no mistake about that. But I will never take what you don’t offer.”

It was a pledge. A promise. One that warmed her heart. He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze before returning his hand to the steering wheel.

A few more minutes passed in a companionable silence. Thoughts whirled in Shelley’s head. She realized she had a million questions and finally someone who could answer them for her.

She started with one that pricked her curiosity. “How old are you?” She had no idea just how long her kind could live.

He laughed. “Older than you, honey. I’m one hundred and sixty years old.”

“Wow! That old?”

He laughed again. “Don’t spare my ego.”

She could feel the heat on her cheeks and knew she was blushing. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to insult you.” Tom would have backhanded her if she’d dared to say anything like that about him. Stop it ! Those days were done and she had no idea how most men were.

That wasn’t quite true. After all those months at the diner, she knew that a lot of men were crude and could be mean, but she really didn’t know anything about male werewolves. Just thinking the word “werewolf” felt bold to Shelley. She’d buried that part of herself for so long just to survive, and had been filled with shame for what she was, that she hadn’t allowed herself to even think about her people.

“We actually live to be around five hundred, give or take a few decades. You’re still fairly young. And—” he turned and shot her a grin, “—I’m not so old.”

The grin changed his face, making it less austere and very compelling. She hadn’t known him long, but she felt closer to him than she ever had to anyone else in her life. He knew the worst about her and still seemed to like her. Perhaps her life was taking a turn for the better.

Maybe among her own people she would find some measure of peace and understanding and protection. Even if she didn’t stay she’d at least be better educated about who and what she was.

“Tell me more.” She was like a dry sponge, wanting to absorb as much as she could. Time was short.