The Wolf's Call (Two-Natured London) by Susanna Shore Read Free Book Online Page A

earlier for
showing concern for her safety? Her scent didn’t indicate fear, only the
remains of her arousal, making his body tighten in response. Was she appalled
or excited about what she had witnessed?
    “Did
you now?” he drawled, deciding to play it safe. With the demonstrations going
on, there was no need to tell her what he was just yet. “Then you admit I’m
right and it’s dangerous out there.”
    But
she wouldn’t cede to his superiority in anything, as he had known she wouldn’t.
“Everyone knows the park is full of shifters. Nothing has ever happened
before.”
    “I’m
not actually worried about the shifters,” he said. It didn’t surprise him,
though, that she thought they would pose the greatest risk. “Only wolf clans
use Hyde Park and they’re pack creatures like natural wolves, only with the
human ability to reason to make them more predictable even in wolf form. They
have a standing order to steer clear of humans when in animal form, and that
will hold.” Hopefully, anyway . If the demonstrators aggravated the clan
leaders with their march, no one knew what would happen. “It’s the humans I’m
worried about.”
    It was
her turn to sneer, slightly amused. “What, a few bigots armed with banners?”
    He
gave her a stern look and, to his satisfaction, he hadn’t completely lost his
touch, because she finally averted her eyes first. “There are more than a
thousand of them and they’re pretty worked up. Unless you’re willing to declare
for human supremacy, they’ll take their anger out on you. Are you?”
    He
held his breath, hoping for a negative answer. He could take up the challenge
of her without disclosing what he was, but he wanted her to want him, all of
him, otherwise it wouldn’t be a real victory. She was taken aback by the
strength of his question and she gave him a scrutinising look. The game might
be up already.
    “No, I
don’t think I’m with them,” she finally said, and he released the breath he had
been holding. Too early. “But that doesn’t mean I’m with you either. It’s not
dangerous in the park.”
    “You
just said you saw a wolf-shifter there.” To his surprise, he was getting a bit
angry again. He wasn’t very temperamental, but her obtuseness was starting to
aggravate him. “What if it had been someone riled by the demonstrators who
wanted to take it out on a lone female like you?”
    “Didn’t
you just say the wolf-shifters aren’t allowed to attack humans?”
    He
growled; he simply couldn’t help it. “There are exceptions to every rule.
Besides, the full moon is on us and that makes all shifters more
unpredictable.” He was a strong shifter, but even he felt the strain, as Might,
the energy that made all the two-natured more than human, poured into him in
full force.
    Charlotte
straightened, excited by their argument, giving him a notion of what she would
look like in a courtroom. Magnificent. “So those people are right, shifters
aren’t capable of integrating to human society?”
    It was
a deliberate provocation, but after being forced to flee the demonstrators
earlier, he couldn’t ignore it. “The two-natured people have been around for as
long as humans have. It’s not solely a human society and never has been. Humans
have just been allowed to think that way.”
    In
Rafe’s opinion, being the weakest race around, humans shouldn’t be in charge
even this much, but they were more numerous, and the two-natured had always
been more interested in their own affairs. Since humans unaffected by Might
only recognised the human face of the two-natured, it had always been easier
for everyone to pretend that it was a human society.
    Charly’s
mouth quivered in a small triumph. “So the wolf was you?”
    He should have expected her to make that conclusion, but
faced with such a blatant attack, he did what he had thought he would never do.
He denied everything.
    ***
    The October weather had been
colder than usual for the time of year, even