Beneath a Midnight Moon - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,60
you’ll have to learn to live with.”
Turning, Kylene saw Lord Kray standing in the doorway. “My lord?”
“It’s in their blood, you know. You can’t fight it. Nor can they.”
“I don’t object to Hardane taking on the shape of the wolf,” Kylene replied. “I find it rather . . . fascinating.”
Lord Kray stared at her for a long moment, and then, slowly, he shook his head. “You don’t know, do you?”
“Know what?”
“It isn’t a shape he assumes. It’s a part of who and what he is.”
Kylene felt a sudden coldness creep down her spine. “Are you trying to tell me my husband is a wolf?”
“Aye, in a manner of speaking.”
“He told me once that the wolf shape is the easiest to assume,” Kylene remarked.
“Of course. It’s what he is.”
“But Hardane told me his brothers can’t change shape.”
Lord Kray shrugged. “It’s a trait that’s passed only to seventh sons, or daughters. I don’t know why the others don’t possess it. Perhaps no one does.”
“Did you know about Sharilyn when you married her?”
“Aye.”
“It still bothers you, doesn’t it?” Kylene guessed.
Lord Kray released a deep sigh. “Sharilyn has been my life-mate for more than thirty seasons.”
“You have not answered my question, my lord.”
“Aye, child, sometimes it bothers me greatly.”
Lord Kray crossed the room and stood beside his daughter-in-law, his gaze focused on the two wolves dancing in the moonlight.
“I don’t believe it,” Kylene said, though the proof was there before her eyes. “He can’t be a wolf.”
“You misunderstand me, Kylene. He isn’t the kind of wolf that prowls the forest and steals our chickens and kills our sheep. And yet . . .”
Lord Kray released a breath that seemed to come from the depths of his soul.
“And yet?” Kylene prompted.
“They are capable of killing.”
For a moment, Kylene watched the two wolves in silence. They were beautiful in the moonlight. Graceful. Powerful. Almost mystical.
Deadly.
“Has . . . has Hardane killed people?”
“In the wolf shape? I don’t know.”
“But Sharilyn has. And that’s what bothers you.”
“Aye. She killed a man to save my life. I should be grateful, I know, and yet it was so savage.” Lord Kray shook his head. “I’ve seen men killed before. Men have died by my hand, and yet . . . I know not how to explain it, Kylene. I know only that it troubled me greatly at the time, and I’ve never gotten over it.”
My husband, Kylene mused.
The instant the thought crossed her mind, the big black wolf turned and stared up at the window, its fathomless gray eyes shining in the moonlight. And then, with a wave of its tail, it disappeared into the shadows. A moment later, the other wolf followed.
“Good sleep, daughter,” Lord Kray said, and after giving her a fatherly hug, he left the room.
Kylene stood at the window for a time, and when Hardane still did not return, she began to pace the floor, Lord Kray’s words replaying in her mind over and over again.
Something you’ll have to learn to live with . . . in their blood . . . who and what he is . . .
A sound at the door drew her attention. Turning, she saw the wolf standing in the corridor. She took an involuntary step backward as the contours of the wolf’s shape began to transform, the thick black pelt melting away to become sun-bronzed flesh as the four-legged creature took on its human form.
He crossed the threshold into their sleeping quarters, closed the door behind him, but didn’t approach her.
Kylene saw the tension in his face, in his taut muscles as he crossed his arms over his chest.
“Does it change anything between us?” he asked, and she heard the wariness in his voice, saw the vulnerability, the fear, that lurked in the depths of his eyes.
“I don’t know,” she replied honestly, knowing she might as well speak the truth before he read it in her mind. “I knew you could take on the shape of a wolf; I didn’t realize you were one.” She clasped her hands together to still their trembling. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was afraid it would frighten you. Afraid you’d run back to the Motherhouse and I would never see you again.” A melancholy smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “And I was right. You are frightened.”
“How can you be a wolf?” she exclaimed, her anguish evident in her voice. “I know what your father told me, but it’s more than I can comprehend.”