Wolf's Bane by D. H. Cameron Read Free Book Online

good enough for dinner.
    “Oh, thank you.  I guess we can get our things out of the motorhome later as we need them,” I answered.  Yeager looked at me, a subtle look of annoyance on his face.  I’m sure lady Violet was just being accommodating but Yeager wasn’t impressed.
    “Of course, whatever you think best,” she said and then stood.  The three of us stood as well.  Agnes never took a seat, instead just standing off to the side waiting.  “I’ll see you at seven, then.  Come down a little early if you’d like and we can talk,” Violet said and then she was off, her high heeled boots clicking severely on the wooden floor.  I watched her go, wondering if I’d made the right decision to come to Colorado suddenly.
    “I can show you to your room,” Agnes said.
    “Thanks,” Edie replied and joined Agnes.  Yeager and I followed.  Agnes took us to the far end of the room and a staircase that led upstairs.  As we went, I couldn’t help but ask Agnes about Lady Violet.
    “She’s rather stern, isn’t she?” I asked.  Agnes turned to look over her shoulder as we walked, looking about before speaking in a hushed tone.
    “Lady Violet?  Yes, she can be quite severe,” Agnes answered.
    “How did you come to be with her?” Yeager asked echoing my own thoughts.
    “She found me wandering when I was a young girl.  I’d turned and could not turn back.  I lived in the wild for maybe three years as a wolf.  She thought I was like you but after she taught me to turn back and she educated me, she learned I wasn’t.  I was like her,” Agnes explained but left us with even more questions.  Then she stopped and turned, “Here we are. This room is Edie’s and the next one is yours,” the girl indicated and then walked away and entered a third room.  She returned with clothing folded over her arm and placed them in the second room before she left us.
    “Wait!” I begged her as she emerged from the room and walked past.
    “Yes, do you need something?” the pretty young girl asked.
    “What do you mean you’re like her?  Why am I different,” I pressed.  Agnes looked at her feet.  The question made her clearly uncomfortable.
    “Lady Violet should be the one to say.  I’m sorry,” she said and scurried off.  I looked at Yeager, then Edie.  They were both confused as well but Yeager seem wary too.
    “This place gives me the creeps.  That old woman is keeping something from us.  I can smell it on her,” Yeager said.  I guess I could too.  Maybe that’s what I sensed that I couldn’t quite put my finger on.
    “Poor Agnes seems a bit cowed by her too,” I observed.
    “She’s submitting.  Lady Violet is an alpha and Agnes has submitted to her.  Like Dolan and his gang,” Yeager explained.
    “But I thought only males could be alpha,” Edie interjected.
    “Usually that’s the way it is with wolves but were not wolves.  We’re shifters.  Human women can be in charge, a leader, and so can female shifters.  I guess.  Until now, Cassie is the only one I’ve met but Cassie is an alpha, she’s got the traits and the strength.  Even Dolan couldn’t stand against her.  I wonder if that’s what Agnes meant.  She’s not an alpha but you are,” Yeager explained turning his attention from Edie to me.
    “That makes sense, I suppose.  We should go downstairs early like Violet suggested.  Maybe she’ll give us some answers,” I said.  Yeager nodded, grabbed Edie’s hand and looked at her watch.
    “It’s 5:30.  Say we meet out here in forty-five minutes?” he proposed.  Edie and I agreed.  Yeager and I walked a few steps down the hallway to our room as Edie went into hers.  Sure enough, on the rustic bed were laid out a black cocktail dress for me and a suit and tie for Yeager.  “I’m not wearing that thing,” he said.
    “The dress is pretty.  I’ll wear it.  Why don’t you go get something out of the motorhome,” I suggested.