Rebecca Royce: Wolf's Valentine

"Hold him."

They nodded and Malcolm followed Gabriel into the room. Never one to be left out of any situation, Jana quickly made her way in as well. The room was at least three degrees colder than in the rest of the building and the lights were dimmed. A loud humming noise filled the air. Hundreds of cages lined the walls. Jana gasped. It wasn't wolves in the cages. No, instead of being caged as wolves, they'd been shifted back to their human forms.

Jana felt tears sting her eyes and she blinked them away. Whatever else they were, they had been at one time human beings who Kendrick had all but destroyed in his sick scientific games. One lone tear slipped to her cheek before she wiped it away.

Turning around, Malcolm walked behind her and squeezed her shoulder tightly.

"Any sign of the medicine they need to stay alive?"

Gabriel shook his head. "Not anything. Evidently, Carl isn't overly concerned with these people living very long. He probably gets new shipments of them when they die."

"How long can they live without that drug?"

"Az has been examining this subject for some time. It seems to depend on the wolf but none of them live more than a month."

Jana approached the cages cautiously. Gripping the cool metal of one holding cells, she stared at the young woman inside. Almost unblinking, the poor thing couldn't be more than in her late twenties. Her hair, ill kept, unwashed, and tangled looked like it fell somewhere between the blonde and brown hair categories. "Can they understand us?"

Gabriel shook his head. "No. They have less communication than actual wolves.

Their lives are devoted to nothing more than instinct. Whoever feeds them, commands them."

For a moment, Jana thought she saw the woman's eyes flare before she saw the glazed, no one at home look reappear in her pupils. Had she just imagined what happened?

"Are you sure?"

"That's what Az tells us and I've never known him to be wrong." He sighed. "Looks like he really got the mother lode here to test on."

Jana's stomach rolled. "Feels really wrong to me that you experiment on these people."

Gabriel's eyes flared. "My brother is trying to save them. He's been killing himself trying to synthesize the drugs they need to survive or to figure out how to wean them off of the stuff so they don't die. I assure you, he is not treating them like lab rats."

"I know you're not thinking of yelling at my mate, Gabriel." Jana swung her head around to stare at Malcolm. Had he just threatened a Kane for her? She placed a hand on his arm hoping he would take the message of restraint.

So nice to have a powerful man as our mate .

Jana agreed with her wolf but she'd be damned if she watched him get his head placed on a stick because he spoke disrespectfully to a Kane.

Gabriel snorted. "What the hell happens to you mated males? You all become something out of a regency romance novel. No, I was not going to yell at Jana. I've known her since I was born." Jana winced at the reminder of her ancient age. "I don't want anything to do with this mating thing I see going on with everyone. I'd rather keep my brain."

Laughing as he walked from the room, Jana heard him pick up his cell phone and snap it open to call back to Westervelt.

Jana ran her hands on Malcolm's hard chest. "What were you going to do if he had planned on yelling at me?"

"Let him know in no uncertain terms that wasn't an acceptable thing to do." Leaning down she smelled his earthy scent and thanked the fates that she had found Malcolm and was not currently residing in one of those cages.

"How would you have done with that?"

He raised an eyebrow, his dark hair lifting off his shoulders as he shrugged.

"Anyway I needed to."

She laughed and snuggled closer as she let him lead her from the room. "What now?"

"Well, if it's okay with you. We go home."

Home. The word caused a shiver to pass through her body. She would love to go home. More than she'd ever even admitted to herself. Nodding, she took his hand and decided not to ask what they planned to do with Carl.

The boat shook in the water and Malcolm felt Jana shake in his arms. He had a feeling it had nothing to do with the cold air that assaulted their senses. Compared to New York, Maine was an icebox.

No, he could only imagine the nervousness she must be feeling and he was doing his best not to speak telepathically to her. It seemed to him that if he were returning to a place he'd had to run for his life from in the middle of the night, he might be having strong reactions as well.

That did mean, however, that he couldn't distract her if he wanted to. Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the cardboard cutout he'd gotten up way too early to construct.

Would she think it was dumb? The last one had quickly found its way into her garbage can.

Clearing his throat, he handed her the red wolf he'd made that morning.

"What is this?" She stared up at him and his heart jumped in his chest.

Swallowing, he tried to compose himself. "It's a valentine."

"It's a wolf."

He shrugged. "It's a wolf valentine."

"But you already gave me a valentine."

"Which you promptly put in the trash."

She sat back against the side railing. "Because I thought it wasn't real."

"So, now I'm giving you this one in person."

Her grin rocked him to his core. "I love it." Reaching up, she kissed him. Her lips felt soft against his and he couldn't help the groan that came from his throat. How could he want her again? It had only been a few hours since their early morning joining. He ran his hands through her hair to get a better look at her face. The dark circles that had formed when they got on the boat seemed to be diminishing.

"I'm glad."

A mischievous glint lit her eyes. "I have an idea. February fourteenth is the actual Valentine's Day. Let's make February fifteenth the Wolf's Valentine's Day. It'll be our thing."

He liked that idea and nodded. Fairly certain he would still give her gifts on the actual Valentine's Day he had some ideas of what he could do every February fifteenth too.

Jana turned from him, drawn by the island as it appeared in the horizon. She gasped and leaned forward a little further. Not liking how far over the edge she seemed, he pulled her back slightly.

"All of those buildings?"

"Tristan's mate Ashlee made us all modernize a bit."

He tried to imagine the horizon as she'd last seen it in the pitch blackness. Much better to witness it like this.

She squeezed his hand tightly in hers and brought it to her mouth to kiss. "I assume one of those buildings belongs to you."

"I live in the main facility but now that we're mated we can take one of the cottages if we want to." He pulled her closer into his arms. "Happy Wolf's Valentine's Day, Jana…and welcome home."

"Thank you, mate, I'm so glad to be here."

The End

As a teenager, Rebecca would hide in her room to read her favorite romance novels when she was supposed to be doing her homework. She hopes that these days, her parents think it was worth it.

She is the mother of three adorable boys, and she is fortunate to be married to her best friend. They live in northern New Jersey and try not to freeze too badly during the winter months.

A hardcore fan of science fiction, fantasy, and the paranormal, Rebecca tries to use all of these elements in her writing. She’s been told she’s a little bloodthirsty so she hopes that when you read her work you’ll enjoy the action-packed ride that always ends in romance. In her world, anything is possible, anything can happen, and you should suspect it probably will.