Read Online Wolfe's Lady by Lee Ann Sontheimer Murphy - Free Book Online

including me, worried that it might fester. After all, wild animal bites can and this was long before a cure for rabies existed. I healed, though, in good time and thought that everything would be just fine.”
    “Was it?” Somehow she didn’t think it could have been.
    “Well, no. After my wound healed the first odd thing I noticed was that a neighbor had cuts on his face just where I cut the wolf.”
    She had to sort that out for a moment. “So one of your neighbors was a werewolf?”
    Darien sighed. “He was, although I didn’t know it. I wondered why Henry Browne would have cuts on his face in the same place. That seemed very strange but I didn’t think about it much.”
    “When did you know you were a werewolf?” Saying that word didn’t get any easier for her.
    “When the full moon came around, I transformed for the first time. I had felt ill but then when I began changing, I thought I was dying but I did not, just began an unending misery that has lasted more than a hundred years.”
    Stella wondered about the young lady he had been on his way to visit and even more about the neighbor so she asked about both, one question at a time.
    “Who was she?”
    Darien laughed. “Her name was Isabella but I’ve long forgotten any other details.”
    “Then what about your neighbor? Did you ever talk to him about what happened?”
    With a wry smile, he leaned over and kissed her. “You are a woman of many questions. Yes, I did. I confronted Henry shortly after my first transformation and he admitted that he attacked me. He swore he thought I was a passing traveler, which I never quite believed. You see, he had some interest in Isabella too. He also claimed that if he had not recognized me, I would have been dinner.
    He said he stopped when he knew me but I have my doubts.”
    “Didn’t you hate him for what he did to you?” Stella asked, conscious that if none of it had happened, that she would not even know Darien, that he would long ago have been buried in an English churchyard.
    Darien pondered the question. “I wouldn’t say that I hated him but I did consider trying out the silver bullet theory to see if it worked. I didn’t like the man before the attack so of course I liked him even less after he made me what I am.”
    “You thought about killing him?” That surprised her more than she thought it would.
    “It was a brief thought. I told him how little I thought of him as either a man or werewolf. Despite that, Henry suggested that we run together, in wolf form, which I would not do. I didn’t want to be his wolf friend. I did not trust him, then or now, just another small reason why I left England. I imagine Henry remains there, miserable as ever.”

    “Why did you leave England?” she wondered aloud. “And is your name really Wolfe?”
    He laughed but without much mirth. “I left for many reasons including to get away from Henry but the main one was that I could not fool my family forever. I knew that when the years passed and I didn’t age, they would notice and there would be no valid explanation. They had remarked on it by the time I left, many times, and that was only a few years after I became what I am. I left to avoid contact with Henry who would not leave me alone. And yes, love, my true surname is Wolfe. Ironic, isn’t it?”
    “Yes.” Her voice came out as no more than a whisper. “So, you will be twenty-seven forever?”
    Darien nodded. “Unless my circumstances ever change, yes, I shall.”
    She was twenty-three so he was either four years older or seven generations her senior. Her mind could not compute that for a moment and Darien, seeing her consternation, said,
    “Werewolves are immortal, my dear. And though I love you, my Stella, more than any woman I have ever known or wanted, we must part.”
    That sank into her brain. “No, we cannot! I won’t!”
    “Think about it, my sweet star. For now, we are of an age and generation. In twenty years, will people think you