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

though the sun had shone almost
every day. Shifters could shrug off the sharp bite of wind, but the old manor
the Greenwood clan called their home demonstrated the turn of the season by
getting excessively damp, forcing its occupants to build fires in every room to
ward it off. They were used to it though, and they looked forward to the long
hours spent in front of fireplaces every fall.
    Rafe
was sitting in his brother’s study on the ground floor of the manor, enjoying
the heat radiating from the grate a few feet from his wingback chair, his long
legs stretched towards the warmth. Despite the cold wind, he had decided to
take his bike for a spin from London to Epsom, a whim he was now regretting.
The distance wasn’t great, but it had been long enough a ride to freeze him to
his bones.
    Jamie,
Rafe’s older brother and the leader of their clan, sat in a similar chair on
the other side of the fireplace. They were old chairs, their leather worn from
use, but the brothers preferred them to pretty much all the other seats in the
entire manor. Rafe remembered their father sitting in this office in these same
chairs, and Jamie, who was almost a century older than him, could recall when
the chairs had been new. There was something very comforting about having
things older than you around to rely on.
    “So,
what’s the solicitor like?” Jamie asked after Rafe had given him an update on
the case. The brothers looked greatly alike. Jamie had a few more lines around
his eyes, which made him look about forty in human years to Rafe’s thirty-five.
His colours were lighter too, flaxen blond instead of dark gold, and his eyes
were the colour of good whisky, like his wolf’s. “Will she get the job done?”
    An
image of Charlotte flashed in Rafe’s mind. “Absolutely.”
    The
brothers were equally strong, and were both very much dominant, but they had figured
out ages ago how to run the clan together efficiently without coming to
constant fights. Rafe dealt with the finances of the clan while Jamie saw to
its people and day-to-day operations. If Rafe told Jamie that things would get
done, Jamie wouldn’t question the statement.
    But
today, a slow smile spread on Jamie’s face. “That good, huh?”
    Rafe
frowned. He didn’t quite understand why he was having such trouble putting
Charlotte out of his mind, but he didn’t like what Jamie implied with the
question. “She’s human.”
    Jamie
cocked an amused brow. “Humans are fair game too, you know.”
    The
brothers were close and could talk about almost everything, but today Jamie’s
teasing irritated Rafe. He did have his reasons for steering clear of humans,
even if they weren’t set in stone. Charlotte was hot enough to warrant him
bending his own rules, but there was more to it. “The thing is, she’s very much
a dominant. My wolf is convinced she’s a wolf too and that we should go after
her in earnest.”
    No
matter how much his wolf studied her, it wouldn’t change its mind.
    Jamie’s
face went carefully blank and Rafe’s heart ached for him. With shifters, the
human half could like, lust, and love anyone he or she wanted, but if the beast
didn’t approve, nothing would come of it. Rafe had met any number of nice girls
during his long life that he had thought would do just fine for him. He didn’t
have any great demands. He would take care of a woman’s safety and wellbeing;
in turn, she would make sure he was fed and clothed and warm his bed at nights
– at least that had been his general idea about marriage in his youth. Only,
his wolf hadn’t accepted any of the women, and there had been no point in
pursuing them in earnest.
    However,
once the beast made its choice, it was very difficult for the human half to
resist. Ideally, it chose another shifter whose beast reacted with equal
determination as Might pulled them together. Difficulties might arise if the
beast went after a different kind of a shifter – a wolf with a non-predatory
shifter was a