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Daniel Killin, Deidre’s brother-in-law.”
    “So he died from the stabbing? Thomas killed both men that night?”
    “Yes, and Daniel Killin was a mutant shifter. When he changed, he remained half-human. Apparently, this afflicted many in the Killin family. For some reason, this turned them cruel and cold. Most became vicious criminals who took what they wanted, be it money, land or women. Some, like Daniel, even killed their own kind to get what they wanted. Daniel had wanted Deidre, and he killed his brother for her. “
    “But how did that affect our family?” Hunter asked, caught up in the tale despite his wariness. “Thomas saved Deidre by killing Daniel and her brother.”
    “The Killins swore a blood oath against our family. It continues until this day.”
    “A blood oath?” Hunter repeated. He couldn’t—wouldn’t—believe what he was hearing. He laughed again. “It’s a great story, Grandda, but that’s all it is, right?”
    Fraser looked away from Hunter, gazing through the forest as if trying to choose his words. He squeezed Hunter’s shoulder again and looked down, his face a mask of regret and sadness. Hunter was astonished to see tears in his grandfather’s eyes.
    “Did you understand I was telling you a true story about our family?”
    “How could it be true? It was about shapeshifters and things from fairy tales,” Hunter argued.
    “The stories that survive always have a grain of truth to them,” Fraser said quietly. “ A bheil thug am thuigsinn? ”
    Hunter froze, starring at his grandfather in horror. “Do you understand me?” the old man had asked in the ancient language.
    “Are you saying—” Hunter stopped, unable to go on.
    Fraser looked at him levelly and slid his arm across Hunter’s shoulders to pull him close for a brisk, tight hug. “It’s time to add your story to the tale.”
    With that, Fraser walked away. He turned back and quietly said, “ Tha thid .”
    Hunter stood in the damp forest, trying to catch his breath, longing to be anywhere but where he was, and frightened by his grandfather’s parting words.
    “It’s time.”
    Remembering that night left Hunter chilled as he pulled his car to a stop in front of Zoe’s cozy house. Snow had been falling steadily for the last few miles. But he’d been lost in memories of that summer night in the mountains, the day of his first change when his grandfather introduced him to the ways of the shifter. Fraser taught him to hunt and to fight. He had encouraged him to run free, to enjoy himself and to pursue his own dreams.
    Hunter wondered, however, if there wasn’t something more he now needed to know.
    He sat in the silence of the car a moment longer. The back of his neck prickled. If he was being watched, would he know it? He got out of the car and sniffed the air. Yes, it was there again, the same scent that had surrounded the body in the woods. Who—or what—was there?
    Hunter stood in the cold, listening and waiting, until snowfall began in earnest. Since his first change, he had never felt as human or as vulnerable as he did tonight. He went into the house and locked the doors and checked all the windows.
    He didn’t like this feeling. Was it fear?

Chapter 3
    I jerked awake and sat up. “Hunter?” I looked around for him. Hunter was afraid. I felt his fear. What was wrong?
    It took a few seconds to remember I was sleeping on Kinley’s couch. Hunter wasn’t here. As for him being afraid, I didn’t think such a thing had happened since the summer he learned he was a shifter.
    “Get hold of yourself.” I flopped over on my side but listened intently. The house was silent. Something else had awakened me. Something about Hunter.
    He and I shared a deep connection from the start, but lately I had been jolted on numerous occasions by a sharp awareness of him. The time or place seemed to have no rhyme or reason. But it was damned inconvenient right now. I could call him to make sure he was all right, but he