Keeper of the Wolves by Cheree Alsop Page B

Someone stepped in
front of me and crouched down. It was Joven, his blue eyes wide and
carefully coiffed hair disheveled. “You can let him go, Keeper,” he
said quietly. “We’ll take care of him.”
    I blinked at the familiarity of his words.
He gave me a tight but reassuring smile. Instincts screamed for me
to end the man’s life. When a wolf was threatened, the pack did
what it must to end the danger. I didn’t want to let the man go for
fear he would try to hurt Koya again. I should kill him. That was
the only way to protect her.
    “ It’s alright,” Rasmus said.
“Koya’s safe. You did well.”
    I met his calm gray eyes. Reassurance washed
from him in a confident tide. He wanted to take the man away. He
wouldn’t let him hurt Koya again. The human want to give in to his
wishes warred with my wolf instincts to end the threat forever.
Despair hammered at the back of my thoughts. I was alone in
Vielkeep. I wasn’t human, I wasn’t a wolf. I was a scattered mess
of both trapped in a single mind, and each side tore at me with the
frantic need to be heard. I had to trust someone whose thoughts
were clearer than my own.
    Despite instincts that demanded otherwise, I
eased the pressure of my bite. The bitter taste of human blood
coated my mouth. I opened my jaws and let the man fall to the
ground, then took a step back. Rasmus dragged him a few feet away
as though he barely weighed anything. Anger burned in the General’s
eyes along with something else, fear. He had truly feared for
Koya’s life, but had been able to keep it at bay long enough to
reason with me.
    Koya! I found her standing near a handful of
maids and guards on the walkway where I had left her. Tears showed
on her cheeks in the fading light as a maid carefully cleaned the
small cut on her neck. My chest heaved and another shudder ran
through my body. It was more forceful this time, demanding to be
acknowledged.
    Joven was watching me. “Go,” he said
urgently.
    I ran down the path past Koya and those who
tended to her. I thought I heard her call my name, or at least the
name they had given me, but I couldn’t stop. I slid around a corner
and dashed through the door someone had thankfully had the
foresight to leave open. My paws sunk in the thick carpet as I
loped up the hall and into the room where I had spent my days
recovering.
    My body shook with adrenaline and the
promise of change. The image of the man holding a knife to Koya’s
throat refused to leave my mind. My stomach rolled. I bit back my
breakfast’s attempt to escape and took several shuddering deep
breaths to calm myself. Moonlight spread across the floor. I
couldn’t fight it anymore.
    A groan wrenched from my lips before my
limbs stretched and muscles twisted. The pain and frustration of
not being in control warred as I contorted and felt my fur
disappear to leave me bare and cold. The wounds which had almost
healed didn’t hurt as much as before. A healing ache filled me as
my body settled into the human form.

Chapter 7
    I lay on the carpet exhausted. I didn’t have
the energy or will to move. My head throbbed from pressing my body
far beyond what I should have, and my shoulder hurt. I must have
hit it when I brought the rider down. I lay on my back and stared
up at the moonlight that filtered through the slits in the wall.
They had been filled with colored glass that changed the nighttime
glow into a rainbow-hued tapestry across the dark carpet. I
stretched my hand toward one and watched green and blue fall in
waves along my palm.
    “ Are you
alright?”
    I sat up at Joven’s voice and pushed back
against the bed. I pulled a blanket down to cover my nakedness. I
felt exposed and bare without my fur, and the clothing the humans
wore hinted that perhaps they felt the same way.
    Joven hesitated at the door to give me a
moment to collect myself, then stepped inside. I appreciated his
quiet, unassuming manner. Neither he nor Koya had been bothered
when I couldn’t find the