Dani Harper - Changeling Moon

Changeling Moon

D ANI H ARPER

KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
www.kensingtonbooks.com

All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.

Table of Contents

Writing is a solitary art and yet no writer can work her craft alone. This story is for my husband, Ron Silvester, who believed in me from the beginning, who shares the dream and cheers me on.

There arent enough words to thank you for your unwavering encouragement, patience, enthusiasm, and acceptancenot to mention the humor, hugs, coffee and chocolate. Your love inspires me every day.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Thank you to Stephany Evans, my wonderful agent, and to Alicia Condon, my terrific editor, for taking a chance on me. I feel so fortunate to be able to work with you both. Thanks to everyone at FinePrint and Kensington who helped to make Changeling Moon the best it could be.

Prologue

T he wolf wanted out.

Heavy clouds obscured the moon and washed the night with icy rain. The cold, damp air brought a myriad of intriguing scents. The man slunk along the sidewalk, his limbs tingling as his body instinctively drew energy from the earth.

The wolf wanted out now .

Full of hunger and rage, the wolf writhed under the mans skin in anticipation as he turned into a familiar alley behind the town hall. It was dark there, overgrown with trees and bushes, flanked with leaning fences, sagging garages, and numberless garbage cans. There was a spot where no light reached, a perfect spot to

The wolf snarled its impatience and the man cursed back. He was trying to hurry, dammit, but his body refused to cooperate. To human eyes, he was just an old drunk, sixty going on eighty. In reality, he was far older than even those like him could guess. When his wolf wanted out, he could no longer keep it leashed for long. And truth be told, he didnt want to. Because once he took on his lupine form, all his aches and pains would disappear, and hed be strong and powerful again.

The wolf within whispered: Tonight we will hunt. And become even stronger.

Chapter One

F reezing rain sliced out of the black sky, turning the wet pavement to glass. Zoey stared out at the freakish weather and groaned aloud. With less than two days left in the month of April, the skies had been clear and bright all afternoon. Trees were budding early and spring had seemed like a sure bet. Now this . Local residents said if you didnt like the weather this far north, just wait fifteen minutes. She gave it five, only to watch the rain turn to sleet.

Perhaps she should have asked more questions before taking the job as editor of the Dunvegan Herald Weekly. She was getting the peace and quiet shed wanted, all right, but so far the weather simply sucked. Winter had been in full swing when shed arrived at the end of October. Wasnt it ever going to end?

Sighing, she buttoned her thin jacket up to her chin and hoisted the camera bag over her shoulder in preparation for the long, cold walk to her truck. All she wanted before bed was a hot shower, her soft flannel pajamas with the little cartoon sheep on them, the TV tuned to Late Night , and a cheese and mushroom omelet. Hell, maybe just the omelet. She hadnt eaten since noon, unless the three faded M&Ms shed found at the bottom of her bag counted as food.

As usual, the council meeting for the Village of Dunvegan had gone on much too long. Whod have thought that such a small community could have so much business to discuss? It was well past ten when the mayor, the councilors, and the remnants of a long-winded delegation filed out. Zoey had lingered only a few moments to scribble down a couple more notes for her article but it was long enough to make her the last person out of the building.

The heavy glass door automatically locked behind her, the metallic sound echoing ominously. Had she taken longer than she thought? There wasnt a goddamn soul left on the street. Even the hockey arena next door was deserted, although a senior mens play-off game earlier had made parking difficult to find. Now, her trucka sturdy, old red Bronco that handled the snow much better than her poor little SUV hadwas the only vehicle in sight.

The freezing rain made the three-block trek to the truck seem even longer. Not only did the cold wind drive stinging pellets of ice into her face, but her usual business-like stride had to be shortened to tiny careful steps. Her knee-high leather boots were strictly a fashion accessoryher bedroom slippers would have given her more traction on the ice. If she slipped and broke her ankle out here, would anyone even find her before morning?

The truck glittered strangely as she approached and her heart sank. Thick sheets of ice coated every surface, sealing the doors. Nearly frozen herself, she pounded on the lock with the side of her fist until the ice broke away and she could get her key in. Come on, dammit, come on!

Of course, the key refused to turn, while the cold both numbed and hurt her gloveless fingers. She tried the passenger door lock without success, then walked gingerly around to the rear cargo door. No luck there either. Shed have to call a tow

Except that her cell phone was on the front seat of her truck.

Certain that things couldnt get any worse, she tested each door again. Maybe one of the locks would loosen if she kept trying. If not, shed probably have to walk all the way home, and wasnt that a cheery prospect?

Suddenly a furtive movement teased at her peripheral vision. Zoey straightened slowly and studied her surroundings. There wasnt much to see. The streetlights were very far apart, just glowing pools of pale gold that punctuated the darkness rather than alleviating it. Few downtown businesses bothered to leave lights on overnight. The whispery hiss of the freezing rain was all she could hear.

A normal person would simply chalk it up to imagination, but shed been forced to toss normal out the window at an early age. Her mother, aunts, and grandmother were all powerful psychicsand the gene had been passed down to Zoey. Or at least a watered-down version of it. The talent was reliable enough when it worked, but it seemed to come and go as it pleased. Like right now. Zoey tried hard to focus yet sensed absolutely nothing. It was her own fault perhaps for trying to rid herself of the inconvenient ability.

No extrasensory power was needed, however, to see something large and black glide silently from one shadow to another near the building shed just left. What the hell was that? There was nowhere to go for help. The only two bars in town would still be open, but they were several blocks away, as was the detachment headquarters for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. There was a rundown trailer park a block and a half from the far side of the arena, but Zoey knew there were no streetlights anywhere along that route.

A dog? Maybe its just a big dog, she thought. A really big dog or a runaway cow . After all, this was a rural community. And a northern rural community at that, so maybe its just a local moose, ha, ha.... She struggled to keep her fear at bay and redoubled her efforts on the door locks, all the while straining to listen over the sound of her own harsh breathing.

The rear door lock was just beginning to show promise when a low, rumbling growl caused her to drop her keys. She spun to see a monstrous shape emerge from the shadows, stiff-legged and head lowered. A wolf? It was bigger than any damn wolf had a right to be. Jesus. Some primal instinct warned her not to run and not to scream, that the animal would be on her instantly if she did so.