AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“There’s gotta be a better explanation than lycanthropy,” Gina muttered. Of course she was the one who’d been contemplating a sorcerer.
“Wolves avoid werewolves. They sense their otherness.”
Gina glanced at Jase, but he still stared through the binoculars. Teo peered at Isaac as if he’d said something fascinating, instead of gibbering like a madman.
“I’ve never seen a wolf on this property. Not even one like that.” Gina jabbed a finger at the semi-circle of freaks. “So what ‘otherness’ did they sense?”
“What lay beneath,” Isaac intoned.
“The Tangwaci Cin-au’-ao,” Teo said.
“We buried it. But animals know. From that point on no true wolf would come within fifty miles and the horses refused to walk there.”
Gina was starting to get a headache.
“Jase,” she said. “What do you know about this?”
He lowered the field glasses. His pupils were dilated so large she took a step backward. He almost looked like one of … them.
“Jase?” She reached for him, and he shoved the binoculars into her outstretched hand.
“Check the last one on the right.” When she hesitated, he lifted his chin in a sharp, jerky movement. “Do it, Gina.”
She did, tweaking the focus, moving a little closer, a little closer, waiting for the silvery-gray beast to turn his head her way.
When at last he did, Gina squeaked and dropped the binoculars on the floor.
Those were Mel’s eyes.
* * *
The instant Gina gave a strangled cry and dropped the field glasses, both Matt and McCord started forward.
Matt reached her first, which only gave the other man an excuse to snarl, especially when Gina grasped Matt’s outstretched hand and ignored his.
“That’s— That’s—” Her eyes were wide, exposing more of the whites than usual, which made Matt frown and glance at the wolves again.
What was it about their eyes?
“Impossible,” she finished, her fingers clenching until his cracked in protest.
“What’s impossible?” Matt asked, glancing at McCord, who continued to glare at him like a two-year-old denied his favorite toy.
Gina bent, picked up the binoculars, and handed them to Matt without a word.
One tug on his hand and she released him. Matt shoved his glasses on top of his head, then lifted the binoculars and zeroed in on the nearest wolf’s eyes.
“Some kind of virus,” he muttered, and Isaac snorted. “Which makes the sclera expand, while decreasing the amount of pigment.” What other possible explanation could there be?
Not lycanthropy. He was with Gina on that one.
“What the hell is a sclera?” McCord muttered. “Speak English, Dr. Moldy.”
“The white,” Gina said, and Matt had to resist the urge to stick out his tongue at McCord. That would be a good way to get it ripped out of his head.
“You recognize any of them?” Isaac asked.
“Recognize?” Matt repeated. “The wolves?” Until yesterday there hadn’t been any wolves.
