Cry Wolf (Alpha & Omega #1)(64)

"What do you know about the werewolf that attacked you?" Charles asked.

Walter shrugged without opening his eyes. "They came in the fall on a four-wheeler and took over my cabin. After it Changed me...I did a little hunting of my own. Wish I'd seen it before it confronted that boy. If I'd been a little faster that day, I might have killed it-if I'd been a little slower, it'd have killed me. Good thing silver's bad for werewolves." Walter heaved a loud sigh, opened his eyes, and pulled the long blade out of a forearm sheath again. This time Charles saw him do it-though, come to think of it, he hadn't seen him put it away.

"This old knife of mine burns my hand now when I clean it." He looked at his hands, or maybe the knife. "I figured I was dead. I hurt that demon bad with this old blade-it's got silver etched into it, see? But the monster opened my gut before it fled."

"If a werewolf attack almost kills you, you become one," Anna said in a low voice.

Did she still regret that? Charles was overcome with the wild desire to kill them all again, Leo and his mate, the whole Chicago pack-but at the same time he was pathetically grateful that his mate was a werewolf who wouldn't fade and die the way Samuel's wives all had.

Brother Wolf stirred and settled down, just like Walter had.

"The wolf who attacked you didn't come back to you, then, after you Changed?" Charles asked.

Usually when a wolf Changed someone, it was drawn back to the new werewolf for a while. Mostly, Samuel had theorized to him once, some genetic imperative to make sure that an untaught, uncontrolled werewolf wasn't going to draw too much unwanted attention.

Walter shook his head. "Like I said, I tracked her down myself, after the first full moon-she and that woman. What is she anyway? She sure as hell ain't human-sorry, ma'am- not with the things I seen her do. She tried to call me to her the first time I Changed. I didn't know what she was, only that she smelled bad-like the beast. I thought for a while that she and the beast were the same creature, but then I saw them together."

It had begun snowing gently an hour ago, but now big, fat flakes fell with more intensity, sticking to eyelashes and hair. A little more of his tension fell away; snow would hide them.

"Have you ever seen the wolf in her human form?" Charles didn't know what Asil's mate looked like in her human form, but a description might be useful.

Walter shook his head. "Nope. Maybe she doesn't have one."

"Maybe not." Charles didn't know why he was so sure that the other werewolf wasn't what she seemed. They'd been running, it was possible he'd missed her tracks. But he tended to believe his instincts when they were whispering this strongly.

He turned his attention to Walter. Two months, and he'd had the control this afternoon to stop his attack as soon as he'd realized that Anna was a werewolf and not a victim. That was more control than most new wolves had.

"Your control is very good for someone who has only just been Changed-especially someone who didn't have help," Charles observed.

Walter gave him a grim look, then shrugged. "Been controlling a beast inside me ever since the war. Except that now I grow fangs and claws, it ain't that much different. I have to be careful-like when I went after you. When I'm the wolf, I like the taste of blood. If I'd broken skin instead of ripping up your pack...well, then my control ain't so good." He glanced at Anna again, as if worried about what that would make her think of him.

Anna gave Charles an anxious look. Was she worried about Walter?

The thought that she might try to protect another male from him brought a snarl from his chest that never made it to his face. He waited until Brother Wolf quieted, then said, "For someone who's been a wolf for only a couple of moons with no one to help him that is extraordinarily good."

He looked directly at Walter, and the other wolf dropped his eyes. He was dominant, Charles judged, but not enough to think of challenging Charles-most wolves weren't. "You thought Anna was in danger, didn't you?" he said softly.

The rawboned man shrugged, making his crudely stitched-together cape of furs rustle. "Didn't know she was a werewolf, too. Not until I was right between you."

"But you knew I was."

The man nodded his head. "Yes. It's that smell, it calls to me." He shrugged. "I've lived alone for all these years, but it's harder now."

"Wolves need packs," Charles told him. It had never bothered him to need other wolves, but there were some wolves who never adjusted to it.

"If you'd like," he told Walter, "you can come home with us."

The man stilled, his eyes still on his feet, but every other part of him focused on Charles. "I'm not good around people, around noise," he said. "I still...here it doesn't matter if sometimes I forget it's forest and not the jungle."

"Oh, you'll fit right in," said Anna dryly.

Walter jerked his gaze to her face, and she smiled warmly at him, so Charles got to watch the man's ears turn red.

"Charles's father's pack has a lot of people who don't quite fit in," she told him.

"My father's pack is safe," said Charles. "He makes it so. But Anna is right, he has more than a few wolves who would not be able to live elsewhere. If you want to move to another pack after a while, he'll find somewhere that you feel welcomed. If you can't handle it, you can come back here as a lone wolf-after we take care of the witch and her pet werewolf."