Page 2 of Her Wolf Protector

There were no debts between family.

"Spun spider silk. Stronger than armour. It will protect you. Must protect you."

Arwen could only shake her head. Spider silk clothes were something people wore in the fae world, not this one. Her father really must be ill if his mind was wandering.

"What happened, Da? Ravenna said you were sick."

"My heart. My only child. Through all the ages...everything that is mine will pass to you, and you alone. Oh, my heart..." He closed his eyes and stilled.

Arwen panicked. "No, Da...Da!" She squeezed his hands with all her might.

He took a slow, shuddery breath. "You must...you must..." Another tortuous breath. "You must remember to claim...your fae..."

Bright lights clicked on overhead, dazzling Arwen. "So you did get my message, even if you didn't deign to respond. You could have at least warned me so that I could get your room ready. Now you'll have to wait here while I wake the maids to do what they could have done last night, if you'd only had the courtesy to send word you were coming." Ravenna clapped her hands and marched out of the room.

All life left the room with her.

Arwen turned to look at her father, but it was too late. His limp hands slid from hers, already cooling in the wintry air. Only now could she see that his lips were blue. His heart. Of course, his heart. Damaged in some experiment with electricity centuries ago, but he'd survived this long. Until now.

"Da?" Arwen whispered.

Life might have left the room, but something else lingered. Power, of a sort, swirling and angry, like a storm unleashed. It hit her like a tsunami wave, knocking her away from the bed where her father's body lay, before surrounding her, holding her so tight she couldn't move. Could scarcely breathe. Couldn't...

The world went black.

TWO

Tate was rarely wrong, and even less likely to admit it, but Lowell Shaw had been a better pack leader before he found his fated mate. Okay, he'd improved somewhat since he'd claimed her, but that week in between had been disastrous. Or it would have been, if any disaster had occurred that required a pack leader who wasn't thinking with his dick.

Speaking of which...

"Shaw! Did you hear what I said about the mattresses?"

"Mm." Shaw's eyes were fixed on his mate, who was eating a banana for breakfast.

Luckily they had two pack leaders now.

"Pack Leader Sienna," Tate began. "I'm not sure if you're aware, but the Wuffingas Pack has a small retreat in the woods called Tarn Cottage. It's a fairly basic bunkhouse we use for youth group camping trips, where some of the pack's younger members can get used to shifting and hunting in a more isolated environment, before they're ready to join a Full Moon Hunt Party."

Sienna's eyebrows rose as she swallowed the last of her banana. "A private place to practice shifting. What a wonderful idea."

Oh, fuck. Tate hung his head. "My apologies, Pack Leader. I meant no disrespect. Of course, your first shift was textbook perfect, I understand. But some of our younger pack members who lack your confidence and authority don't transition quite as smoothly, and they benefit from the time away. In fact..."

Sienna held up her hand to stop him. "I meant what I said, Enforcer. You don't need to sell me on the idea – I think it's wonderful. I wish I'd had the opportunity to learn about my abilities in a place like that, but I guess I'm lucky I didn't need it. But if your mate is shifting for the first time, I'd highly recommend a bit of privacy – I'm sure she'd appreciate it, too. So, what about Tarn Cottage?"

For a moment, Tate considered telling her that it was damn near impossible that fate would ever see fit to grant him a mate, and if fate did, it would only be so that the lady could reject him as thoroughly as he deserved. After what his father had done to his mate, Tate didn't deserve one. But that would involve talking about Sienna's late mother, and confessing that he was her half-brother, which would undoubtedly result in rejection of a different kind.

Tate sighed. "Right, Tarn Cottage. A tree branch came down in one of the autumn storms and damaged the roof, letting the rain in. One of the guys from Sherwood Homes gave me a hand fixing the roof, but by then, there was water damage to all the mattresses in the upstairs bunkroom. The guys helped me cart them down to the tip, but we need new ones. The only bed left with a mattress is the double downstairs, which is on the small side for Ylva or me, let alone however many kids come along. Not to mention there's no predicting when a kid's first shift will happen, so we need new mattresses for the bunkroom sooner rather than later."

Sienna frowned. "And you're telling me this because..."

"I wouldn't know the first thing about mattresses. I'm a hydrogeologist. If you need some water tested, or want to know where to dig a well, or you're wondering why there aren't any natural hot springs in Scotland...except Sanctuary Falls, which is supernatural, in fact. Hot, pure water that bubbles up out of the ground with almost no trace minerals whatsoever...I mean, I'd heard the stories, but now I've taken the samples and seen the test results myself..." Tate stopped, realising he was babbling. "I'm sorry, Pack Leader. What was your question again?"

Shaw set a plate of bacon and eggs in front of Sienna. "Are you saying you've found the source of the contamination in Sanctuary Loch?"

Tate shook his head. "I took samples from all seven water sources. Had them tested for everything I can think of. Bacterial cultures, chromatography, the works. Aside from the weirdness that is Sanctuary Falls, there's nothing unusual in any of them. Either our contaminant is biological or magical, and definitely something I've never seen before. I tried contacting Mirror Academy, to see if they have a magical microbiologist who can help, but they're closed for the holidays. I can get the samples within twenty-four hours, but I don't know who to ask to test them."

Shaw tapped his chin. "I might know a guy. Fannar Snow."