Wolf Tales VII

Chapter One
Rocky Mountains, Montana

Night was all around him, and the darkness complete, but he sensed he wasn't alone. It was unbelievably dark, considering his terrific night vision. He wondered, for a moment only, if he might be in one of the many limestone caverns nearby, but that didn't feel right. He thought of turning around, to see if he could see who or what waited behind him, but he couldn't move.

He tried to scream. His lungs expanded and his vocal chords strained, but he made no sound.

Why?

Impossible.

The voice in his head sounded smug. His own voice.

Well, of course. Anton Cheval knows everything. Bastard.

Well, crap. Was it possible to curse oneself?

Okay . . . so if I know it all, why the fuck are my arms trapped? Why is my heart pounding? Why can't I move. Why?

He fought whatever held him but fear exploded. Alive, a twisting, clutching thing, and it made its own horrible sound. His sounds. Heart pounding, blood rushing in his ears, the loud whoosh, whoosh, whoosh drowning every thing.

Telling him nothing.

Keisha screamed.

My love! I can't move! His heart thundered, muscles strained. Nothing. Not a damned thing. I'm sorry ...so damned sorry. I can't help you. . . .

Scalding tears filled his eyes. They slid down his face. Hot, wet trails of frustration.

Lily cried. The terrifying sound ripped through him. The heartrending cries of an infant, of his child! He fought harder, battled through the cloying darkness, struggled to reach out with arms like lead, tried to run with feet trapped in thick, grasping mud.

The screams grew louder, more frantic. He ran blindly, free now, but the very air surrounding him was impenetrable. Gelatinous, thick, clinging stuff. Someone had his family. Someone was stealing his mate, taking his child, taking everything that mattered.

Everyone he loved.

Gasping, Anton struggled harder, cried frantically for Keisha. Called out to Lily, but he couldn't run and he couldn't see and his world was ending.

It . . . was . . . all . . . ending. . . .

"Anton? Wake up! You're dreaming. You're having a nightmare."

He blinked, shocked into awareness, surprised out of cloying madness by the gentle glow of sunlight filtering through the window blinds. It seemed so much at odds with the frantic pounding of his heart. He took a deep breath, relieved yet unbelieving, to see the lovely face of his mate peering down at him.

He reached for her, ran trembling fingers along her silken cheek. "You're okay? Lily's okay?"

Keisha laughed. "We're fine. I was already awake or you would have scared me half to death, shouting like that. What were you dreaming?"

He shook his head. His body sagged back against the mattress as he realized his loved ones were safe. For now.

"It was nothing. I don't remember what it was."

But he did remember and he blocked his thoughts, hiding them away from Keisha. He remembered all too clearly the dream that had awakened him, and it was much too threatening.

It was the same dream he'd had, in one form or another, all this past week.

Someone wanted his mate and his child. Someone evil.

He was used to being a target. As the most powerful of the Chanku shapeshifters of the three known packs in existence, Anton was well aware of the risk of capture. There were those in the medical world who wanted his kind for study. Others in the government had hoped to create a secret army, breeding more Chanku to train and use for some unknown yet nefarious purpose. His race maintained secrecy as best they could, but enough humans knew the Chanku existed to make the threat of disclosure all too real.

It was one thing to worry about his own safety. Another altogether to worry about those he loved. He'd been entirely alone for so long. Then, in such a short span of time he, Stefan, and Alexandra had formed a pack. His life mate, Keisha Rialto, had joined them, and Keisha had given him the ultimate gift of love, their daughter Lily Milina. Just as Stefan and Xandi had produced little Alex.

Anton had never understood the strength of the family bond. Now he knew it all too well. Knew how powerful it was, how all consuming.

Finally, he understood the meaning of unconditional love. Even more, he understood the fear of losing what he'd not had before--that deep, immeasurable love of family. It weakened him, made him vulnerable. At the same time, the love of his packmates, of his child and his one true mate, made him more powerful than he'd ever been.

His abilities as a wizard had grown exponentially. He'd developed skills over the past couple of years beyond anything he'd dreamed of, among them a more powerful sense of foreknowledge, an ability to sense what was to come.

The problem was figuring out if he was merely projecting his own neurotic fears into what should have been restful sleep, or if he was having a valid premonition?

His premonitions had been frighteningly accurate, yet he'd had dreams just as frightening that were nothing more than dreams.

The secret lay in determining which was which.

His thoughts slipped back to the trip they'd all taken to Tia Mason and Lucien Stone's wedding in San Francisco, and the hijacking that had almost succeeded in ending their lives.

He'd worried about that flight for days. Had put his unease aside, assuming the graphic dreams were merely those of an overly concerned mate and Keisha's advanced pregnancy.

Then he'd come so close to losing her. So close to never knowing Lily, to never again holding his beloved Keisha in his arms.

Anton wrapped his fingers loosely around the back of Keisha's neck. He wondered if she felt his tremors. It took only a small amount of pressure to bring her close, to touch his lips to hers.

Lily slept on. The morning sun caressed Keisha's dark skin with golden fire as Anton slowly kissed her full lips, nuzzled the tender skin beneath her right ear. He twisted his fingers in the silken strands curling against her throat and drew her close.