Kiss of the Wolf

Kiss of the Wolf
Desire is a beast...

Prologue

It was so cold…

Her breath steamed from her lips. Naked and shivering, she rose from her crouch. Her long pale brown hair falling over her bare shoulders, and the tall white dog pressed against her side, were her only sources of warmth.

The windowless basement of the abandoned textile factory was thick with shadows. She couldn’t see the walls or ceiling at all. The only light came from the circular design inscribed on the worn plank floor blazing an eerie blue, all the way around them.

She needed to get out of there.

Just beyond the edge of the glowing circle, her patched corduroys, sweater, boots, and squashed cap lay in a crumpled heap on top of her canvas shoulder bag still full of undelivered newspapers. Arms across her bare breasts, she padded across the icy planked floor toward the edge of the design, heading for her clothes.

Her dog, Whitethorn, followed her toward the circle’s edge with her black claws clicking on the wood floor. The dog’s head stayed low, though her tall pointed ears swiveled back and forth, her silver fur glowing like the moon in the odd light.

Two rings from the edge she rammed face-first into -- nothing. She stepped back and held out her palms. An invisible wall shivered and clung to her skin like spider webbing. She pressed against the shivery nothing. Current vibrated in her bones. She pressed harder against it. The buzzing current increased, vibrating up her arms, down her spine, and in her teeth. Her hair lifted from her back. Pain sparked sharply across her palms. “Ow!” She jerked back and rubbed her hands together. Damn it!

There had to be a way out of this.

Hands outstretched, she wandered the entire glowing inner circle, with Whitethorn’s claws clicking at her side. There was no opening in the nothingness, no way out, no escape.

Whitethorn shoved her head under her hand and rubbed, begging for a pet.

She knelt and swept her hand across the thick silky ruff around Whitethorn’s neck. Her silvery white fur was sleek, warm, against her bare skin.

Whitethorn’s yellow eyes looked into hers, and a long pink tongue swept out to lap along her jaw.

She smiled and kissed the dog’s cheek. She didn’t care that the men who had kidnapped them, insisted that Whitethorn was their escaped wolf. She had found her. Wolf or not, Whitethorn was the sweetest, gentlest, and smartest, animal she had ever known. Finders, keepers…

Whitethorn looked off to the side, laid her ears back and growled. Her black lips curled back revealing long curved fangs.

Together, they hurried to the design’s center. No one had touched them; other then to take Whitethorn’s collar, and her clothes, but that could change. She’d heard horror stories about what men did to naked girls.

A tall man stepped out of the darkness in a long black overcoat. Under the curving brim of his bowler hat, the circle’s blue light reflected on his dark spectacles. His orange beard and handlebar mustache seemed to glow. “My apologies for keeping you waiting.” He pulled his gloved hands from his pockets.

She hunched down and clutched her dog around the neck, pressing against Whitethorn’s soft furry side. She glared at their kidnapper, the man who had put them in this cage of light. “Are you going to let us go now?”

“Let you go? But I only just acquired you?” He walked around the glowing circle’s edge.

She turned her head to follow him and shouted. “Who are you people, and what do you want with us? I’m just a paperboy and she’s just a dog!”

He stopped and his red brows rose. “How many times do I have to tell you, young lady? That is not a dog.” He peeled off his black leather gloves. “That is an artic wolf, canus lupis arctos from the Alaskan tundra.”

Her fingers tightened in Whitethorn’s fur. “Fine, what ever you say. What has that got to do with us?”
“I am the Doktor.” He shoved his gloves into his coat pocket, and his smile turned cruel. “And you are my test subjects.”

A chill shivered down her spine. “You’re a scientist?”

“After a fashion, allow me to show you.” He lifted his hands, and recited a string of words in a language she didn’t know.

The design started to shift and move, rotating in counter circles. The light brightened from blue, to white.

Every hair on her body stood up.

Whitethorn’s fur ruffed out and she snarled.

The light on the floor blazed to blinding brightness.

Pain exploded in her heart and ripped through her. She fell, screaming.

Whitethorn collapsed on top of her, yelping in obvious pain.

Consumed by fire, their terrified voices joined – and ended in a single, long, agonizing howl.

Prologue

Chapter One

Chapter Two