Read Online Lone Wolf by Karen Whiddon - Free Book Online

something that sounded like assent and closed the phone. Her expression told him nothing as she passed it back to him.
    “What did she say?”
    “More woo-woo bullshit. I’m tired of this.”
    “Why does she hate me?”
    “She doesn’t.” Her automatic reply contained no conviction.
    He stared, he couldn’t help it. “What the hell do you mean? She actually believes I’d harm my daughter.”
    “She has visions. They usually come true.”
    “And she claims to have seen me harming Dani?”
    “Not you specifically. A shifter.”
    “Of which there are millions. I don’t believe this. Two years of my daughter’s life, gone. All because of some old lady and her generic prophecy.”
    She bit her lip. “I couldn’t take a chance. I had to protect my child.”
    “Our child.”
    “You’ve got to understand. Brigid can supposedly tell the future.”
    “Supposedly.” He pounced on the word. “Do you doubt her?”
    “Maybe I do, now. I don’t know.” Anger colored her voice. “If she can really see the future, why didn’t she know they’d capture me and take Dani? If she has true visions, she should have already known. She could have prevented this.”
    The agony in her voice mirrored his own, amplifying it. Again, despite what she’d done, he ached to take her into his arms. Instead, he forced himself to concentrate on the matter at hand. “Does she know where Dani is now?”
    “No. That’s the thing. All my life, I’ve looked up to her. Her prophecies come true, always. She’s the Vampire Seer, for plasma’s sake. But if she’s so damn powerful, why doesn’t she know where they’ve taken Dani? I’m beginning to doubt her all-fired abilities.”
    “She has something,” he felt compelled to point out. “I felt her magic.”
    “Really?” Shoving her hand through her hair, Marika’s anger radiated from her. “I didn’t. She’s a powerful vampire witch. She’s one of the oldest of my kind, reputedly ancient, a thousand years old or more.”
    He filed this information away for future reference. “What did she want?”
    “To give me orders.” Her voice dropped into a growl, eerily wolflike.
    “She tried to give me orders, too. Are you going to follow them?”
    Her frown deepened. “No vampire, Huntress or not, is allowed to refuse her orders.”
    “Answer the question.” He felt a glimmer of hope. “Are you going to do what she asked?”
    Finally, she met his gaze, her own remarkably clear and direct. “Some of it. Probably not all. She wanted me to ditch you.”
    Careful not to show any emotion, he nodded. “I’m not surprised.”
    “Yes, well, I’m beginning to think things aren’t as black and white as she makes them sound.”
    He caught his breath, but said nothing.
    “However,” she continued, “if I ignore her completely, she’ll probably send others to hunt me down and kill me.”
    “We’ll deal with that when and if it happens. What do you want to do, Marika?”
    She answered without hesitation. “Find Dani. And hunt and destroy the ones who took her. Brigid claims she can help me do that. After all, she has a stake in this, too.”
    This last comment surprised him. “What do you mean?”
    “Brigid was supposed to begin training Dani, once she turned five. This is a great honor among my people. I myself trained with her.”
    He felt a moment of grief. Had she been raised among his people, Dani would already have begun instruction in Pack heritage. He said nothing, aware that Marika wasn’t ready to hear such a thing.
    She squared her shoulders, lifting her chin and effectively wiping all emotion from her face. “Brigid told me something about herself. She says she’s like Dani. Mixed. She claims she herself is the product of a union between an elf and a vampire.”
    Shocked despite himself, Beck scratched his head. “An elf? They can’t have children, either. How would such a thing be possible?”
    “Who knows?” She began to pace, agitated. “A few years