Read Online Wolf Tales III by Kate Douglas - Free Book Online

 
     
     
    Chapter 1
     
    Anton came fully awake between one heartbeat and the next. He lay still in the darkness surrounded by the warmth of the two people he loved most in the world. Stefan curled beside him in wolven form, while Alexandria, all warm and sensual woman, sprawled across his lower torso. Her soft lips, slightly parted in sleep, rested against his belly.
    Anton listened to the steady beat of hearts, the comforting rush of blood through veins and knew something else had dragged him from slumber, some shift in the air, some sense of disquiet in his mind.
    Almost two weeks of odd, intermittent dreaming. Now, three nights in a row. He couldn’t blame three nights of strange dreams on Oliver’s cooking.
    He closed his eyes and concentrated, shifted his senses beyond the human range to grasp the part of him that always remained the wolf.
    Nothing.
    A lingering sense of unease, the visceral memory of a terrible scream? He wasn’t sure. The sensation passed, his eyelids grew heavy. He stroked Alexandria’s tousled hair, rested his other hand on Stefan’s furred shoulder and willed his body back to sleep.
    * * *
    Keisha Rialto stared at her clasped hands and tried desperately to believe her therapist. The woman’s soft voice, trained to soothe and comfort, rolled across her tense shoulders without any of the desired effect.
    “The dreams are a manifestation of your anger, your fear… and your pain. You’ve blotted out the worst of the attack. That’s how the mind protects us. You didn’t kill those men, Keisha, no matter what your subconscious wants you to believe.”
    Dr. Wilson, the therapist, leaned closer and placed a comforting hand on Keisha’s shoulder. “We’re dealing with two separate incidents. Your beating and rape had nothing to do with the fact a rival gang chose that particular time to attack the men who harmed you. Though unintentional, that very attack may have saved your life. You were an unfortunate witness to a brutal triple homicide, but, no matter how empowering it might be for you to believe it, you’re not the one who killed the men who assaulted you. They were killed by vicious dogs, animals trained as weapons.”
    Dr. Wilson paused and her choking swallow was audible in the small room, her voice barely a whisper. “Horrible, vicious dogs.”
    Keisha raised her head and caught the look of horror on the therapist’s face. She knew the woman had seen police photos of the apartment, knew exactly how awful the scene had been. Dr. Wilson must be remembering those pictures now. The carnage was imprinted on Keisha’s mind with a stark clarity she’d not been able to forget, images of the torn and bloodied bodies of three men, the men who had held her captive and repeatedly raped her, who had subjected her to unimaginable atrocities over a twelve hour period.
    She’d barely regained consciousness when the police broke through the door, yet the images of those eviscerated, mutilated bodies were burned into her mind. The room covered in gore, herself a battered, bloody mess, her once tightly braided hair hanging in blood-soaked tangles around her face. The police were amazed the dogs hadn’t touched her. They’d killed her attackers in what had to have been a maelstrom of terror without harming Keisha.
    The images were the thing of nightmares… but her nightmares were worse. In her dreams, she was the killer. Each night she replayed the same visuals, of herself rising up, turning on her attackers, changing into a huge rampaging wolf, an intelligent agent of death, all claws and teeth and powerful muscle.
    She still tasted the hot blood, felt the joy of the kill, the thrilling satisfaction of strong teeth tearing throats, of powerful jaws ripping apart the bodies of the ones who had hurt her. Each night she repeated the heinous acts, acts made no more acceptable by the fact the men had practically killed her with their assault.
    She gestured frantically at the therapist. “I know