Wulf's Redemption (Borne Vampires Book 3) by W.M. Petzler Read Free Book Online

she saw in him
and not the shadow of a Borne he had become.
    Considering the deadly situation they were in, Alex
found he was happier than he had been in years. Kai was in his arms. That was
all that mattered to him at the moment. He laid his cheek against her soft hair
and ‘willed’ the dirt to cover them.

Chapter Four

 
    January 22, 1819, Magdeburg

 
    Town Hall was crammed past capacity. More people waited
outside in hopes of participating in the emergency meeting called by Magistrate
John Breber and the Lord Mayor Heinrich von Blumenthal.
    In a mere span of nine days, eight infants and toddlers
had been brazenly stolen from the safety of their homes and there was no trace
of their whereabouts. Fear stretched taunt in the humans, it slithered and tormented
them. It struck the strong hearts of the stoutest of men and created an
undercurrent of reckless need to kill. The anxious and terrified women gathered
in small groups, consoling the brokenhearted mothers who held their remaining
children or blankets and toys of the missing. Alex felt sympathy for the
mortals and was equally lost on how to aid them in their time of need. What was
taking the children was no mere man and his suspicions led him to think it were
something of supernatural nature, leaving him dreadful something worse than a
vampire hunted the innocent of Magdeburg.
    Shouts erupted and Alex watched Breber enter the
hall. He stepped aside and Lisle walked past him, her head held high. Blumenthal
joined them and led the way through the crowd, working their way to the stage, where
they could conduct tonight’s meeting. He almost smiled as Breber cast a
long-suffering eye at his wife, who shook off his hand and left him to join the
women.
    Poor Breber.
    Lisle was rumored to have refused to speak to him,
condemning him as did the townsfolk for his inability to capture the fiend
taking the children. Best known for her tantrums than a soothing disposition,
he was surprised to witness her administering to the mothers of the lost
children. They encircled her as she spoke quietly to them. Studying his former
lover, Alex swore she appeared even lovelier than the first day they met. Her
silvery-blonde hair shimmered, her skin creamy and flawless. Despite dressed in
a black taffeta gown, adorned with same-hued lace, Lisle radiated youth and
beauty.
    Glancing at Aldric, he grew concerned. His brother’s
gaze never once left Lisle, seeming as entranced as the women around her. Lisle
looked in his and his brother’s direction and gave them a wicked little smile,
a secretive one that gave him the willies.
    What the devil was the woman up to?
    A banging of a mallet against wood rose above the
chatter. Breber had taken the pulpit, while a nervous Blumenthal stood to his
right. Banging the mallet several times, the Magistrate tried to gain the
silence he needed to be heard over.
    “Good people … please …. SILENCE,” he roared.
    One could hear a pin drop the immediate result his
command produced. Not even a whimper escaped the children who were brought to
the meeting, their parents not trusting anyone to watch them while they were
absent.
    Grimmer than he had ever seen the Magistrate, the
man held the edges of the podium with his big hands, his brown eyes intent upon
the expectant faces staring at him. “Good people of Magdeburg, I and the Lord
Mayor have assembled you to address the slew of rumors and misconceptions concerning
who may be responsible for kidnapping our children. Gossip has spread the
gypsies are involved. A witch, perhaps, is taking the children. I have
personally examined each crime scene, including the recent kidnapping and I am
confident in informing you that the monster we hunt is not a man.”
    Uproar issued at his words. One of the men
shouted, “If not a man responsible, what then?”
    Breber said firmly, “A wolf. An extremely large
one and is far more intelligent than the average beast we have ever encountered.”
    A collective gasp