Silver Wolf Clan by Tera Shanley Page A

lean over the table and kiss them.
    The food was just as delicious as it smelled. With a lopsided grin, Lana took a bite every time he did as if it were a game. In the past year, the girl had changed and grown so much from the toddling two year old he remembered. He’d only caught a glimpse of her in the woods, but the night in late summer had been seared into his memory. Wolf had been conjured that night.
    “Am I done?” Lana asked Morgan at last.
    She made of show of examining her bowl, where only a few stray noodles remained. “You can be excused if you put your bowl in the sink.”
    Lana crawled from her booster seat and stood on tiptoe as she launched the plastic bowl where it was supposed to go. Her tiny footsteps sounded as she ran for the living room, and moments later, the animated voice of a television cartoon spouted off alphabet letters.
    “I can’t even believe how much you ate.” Morgan laughed. “Where do you put it all?”
    Grinning, he explained why he needed so much food to keep his body fed. “Hope you weren’t planning on leftovers.”
    “Nope, I’m glad you liked it. I was nervous,” she admitted. “I didn’t know if you had a specific diet or anything.”
    “Nope. No special diet, but I’ll never be able to embrace vegetarianism.”
    She became quiet and looked somewhere behind him with a faraway expression. “That…man. The one who attacked us last year. Why’d he do that?” Her gaze dropped to the floor. “I mean, have you ever hurt anyone?”
    Wolf let out a long low growl before Grey could stop himself. He squeezed his eyes closed and stood, took the dishes to the sink, his back to her. “Sorry,” he said softly, pressing his palms against the counter. “It’s just, when I think of telling you things about that part of me, I’m afraid you’ll run and I’ll never see you again.”
    He turned and let her see his eyes. She deserved to see the truth of those words on his face as he spoke. She watched him quietly, and he leaned against the sink. “I don’t think I’ve ever hurt a person. The first six months, before I met the pack, I blacked out a lot and Changed uncontrollably. I had to camp at different parks, hoping I was far enough in so I wouldn’t run across people.”
    He looked at the ceiling. How was he supposed to explain this to her? It was impossible to sugarcoat any of it. “I would hunt animals. I’d wake up, a man again, and animals would be near me. I’m not a man-eater. I’m not like the wolf that attacked you, but hunting when I Change helps me to keep some semblance of control. I Change more than I have to now. We really only need to a few times a month because our bodies demand it, but I Change at least twice a week because it makes Wolf happy. It doesn’t have to be on a full moon or anything. That’s a myth, but we like to because it is brighter for hunting at night. I don’t black out anymore because I’m taking care of my body. Keeping it fit, eating enough, Changing enough. It keeps me sane.”
    She stayed quiet, so he turned and rinsed the dishes. When he returned to the table to grab her plate, she reached for his hand and held it.
    “Come here,” she said, tugging him gently to the chair beside her. “I’ve seen the way people look at you. You scare them. Why?”
    He gave a half shrug. “I don’t know. It’s just the way I came out, I guess.” Nope, he definitely wasn’t ready to tell her Wolf was king of the monsters.
    “Why don’t you scare me?”
    “I don’t know. I keep waiting for you to gather Lana and run away screaming. Maybe you just know I’d never hurt you or the child. I don’t have some of the answers you’re going to want from me,” he admitted.
    “How’s your arm?”
    “My arm?” he asked, looking down at his skin.
    “I saw that man stab you with a knife last week. You were bleeding. I could see it even through your dark shirt.”
    “Oh, it’s okay.” He lifted the sleeve of his fitted, red shirt,