Wolf Tracks - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,11

even found mates among other species of shifter. There were two werecougar mates—two sisters who had mated with two cousins. The cousin having met the sister at the mating celebration for the first couple. There was also a red fox shifter, a hawk shifter, and the most recent had been a lynx who joined the Pack several years ago.

Of the humans, none were magical. Jim wasn’t even certain it was permissible, according to Pack law. Their Pack had a rocky history with mages, and even though Helen was a healer, she came from a long line of very powerful magic users. The Pack might frown on any association with someone like her.

He wanted to tell himself that he didn’t care what the Pack thought. If Helen really was his mate, he’d go total lone wolf to be with her, if he had to. He’d cut ties with the Pack and live out his life unaffiliated—alienated from his own family. He cringed. Never to see or talk to Uncle Arch again? His family? That would be really hard.

Wolves were social creatures, for the most part. Jim knew for a fact that his wolf thrived when surrounded by its family—its Pack. To forsake his Pack… He wasn’t sure he could survive that.

Of course, if Jim had a mate, and a family of his own, that might make such a sacrifice easier. And, in time, he might find another Pack willing to accept a magical human mate. Helen certainly had gifts of her own to share. Her soft heart was a joy to be around, and she gave of her power to help others. That had to count in her favor.

But it didn’t matter right now. Jim was on a mission, and Helen had probably already forgotten all about him. It wasn’t like humans had the same mating drive that shifters had. She’d probably thought he was interesting at the time. An oddity in a world she hadn’t really known existed. She’d admitted as much to them all while they were eating dinner one night.

Helen, and the rest of her magical family, had only learned about shifters being real when her distant cousin had married into a Canadian wolf Pack a few months before. Until that event, all they’d had were old stories from the family archives, and rumors that they couldn’t verify. Even with the new matings in the family, they still knew very little about shifters in general, though they’d been trying to learn more about the Pack that had married into their line. Due to shifter secretiveness, they hadn’t been able to find out much.

Of course, that would all change now that Kiki had mated to a bear shifter. She was a daughter of the house, not some distant cousin. She’d tell her folks, and her siblings, all about life in a bear Clan. Of that, Jim had little doubt. He wondered if they’d realize how very different bears were from werewolves. They might both be shifters, but they were different species, and their animal halves needed different things. Bears were mostly loners—or had been, before the Grizzly Cove experiment. Wolves were Pack creatures. Family was ultra-important to a wolf. The Pack was a living, breathing unit within which the individuals helped and cared for each other. It was much more involved than the casual relationship shared by the bears who had banded together out in Washington State. At least, that was Jim’s take on the matter.

But why was he worrying about this anyway? He must’ve been mistaken. No way Helen could be his actual mate. Sure, he’d felt drawn to her. Who wouldn’t be? She was gorgeous and kind-hearted and intelligent. He’d always liked that kind of woman.

Surely, this attraction was just a normal consequence of being around a very beautiful, gifted woman. No way was she really his mate, and any silly thoughts he had to the contrary would, no doubt, fade with time…and distance.

Still, he felt every mile he put between them down deep in his aching heart.

Jim ignored it. He had a job to do. Mission first. Mixed up feelings later. Much, much later.

Chapter Three

Helen’s mother knocked on her bedroom door in the middle of the night. Helen roused out of a restless sleep to find her mother entering her room, her face pale, her hands trembling.

“What is it?” Helen asked, her head clearing as worry set in.

“You have to go,” her mother whispered urgently. “You have to go to him. Go now.”

Helen guided her mother