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softened.
    “I need you to understand that everything about you is my
    business. It has been since the night your parents were murdered and
    Charles slipped you out of Hood River.”
    “And why is that?”
    “What did Charles tell you about the white wolves and the beliefs
    linked with them? The Blood Moon Legacy?”
    Aya shrugged, but her stomach flipped uneasily. She stroked the
    back of his work-roughened knuckles thoughtfully. The air, which
    moments ago was cool and light, became dense and heavy with the

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    Rhea Regale
    onset of revelation. Instinct whispered warning of what was to come,
    but the man sitting across from her would shelter her through the
    turbulent waves.
    “Ayasha, I need you to tell me what you know,” Lenox urged.
    “About five years ago, Charles sat me down,” Aya began. The
    vivid memory of that day flew to the surface and she smiled. “He had
    a blanket and a robe. I had no idea what he was about to do.”
    She sighed, finding security in his touch. Somehow, he fed her
    strength as she traced the lines over his palm. The constant fire in her
    spirit licked along her veins, fueled by Lenox’s intense focus on her.
    “He started by telling me that our family had a secret. He asked if
    I wanted to know what that secret was.” She laughed quietly and
    shook her head. “Well, of course I wanted to know. That’s when he
    changed into a wolf right before my eyes.”
    “How did you react?” Lenox kept his voice low, warmth woven in
    his words.
    “My memory of the moments immediately following the
    transformation are still muddled, but I’m sure I was pretty confused. I
    recall wondering if I was crazy. Then I got to thinking that if Charles
    was a wolf, maybe I was, too. It might not be such a bad thing.”
    “You took to the idea of being a wolf quite well, considering you
    hadn’t been raised in the traditional manner or atmosphere,” Lenox
    said. He leaned over the arm of the chair. Despite his calm front, he
    was as alert as a sharpshooter with his target in sight. His casual
    appearance belied his true nature. If she were not a wolf, she would
    easily miss the predator lying beneath his laidback approach. No.
    Lenox Carter was a master of disguising his true state, and she had
    only grazed the surface of him.
    The moonlight pouring through the living room windows reflected
    off the lenses of his eyes in a prism of color. The wolf hovered just
    out of sight, but he made himself known to her. She could almost feel
    soft fur brush over her sensitive skin and the gentle prod of a cool
    nose against her mind.

    Wild Nights
    39
    Her wolf reached out for Lenox, coaxing him to come to her.
    “How did you cope with being a wolf and face normal people on a
    daily basis?” Lenox asked. He leaned closer, cupping her cheek with
    his unoccupied hand. She shamelessly nuzzled her face against his
    rough palm. With every shift of his eyes, Aya caught a different
    rainbow of glassy color. Two rebel waves of dark hair fell over his
    eyes, further casting him beneath an ethereal glow that wet her palate
    on several different levels of hunger.
    “I didn’t have to face people. Charles was overprotective, and
    that’s an understatement. I didn’t attend public school. I didn’t
    participate in sports. I didn’t go out with friends because I had none.”
    Aya shrugged, closing her eyes and soaking in the heat emanating
    from Lenox’s firm skin. He curled his fingers beneath hers and lifted
    her hand to his lips. Currents seared down her arm, her torso, and
    sizzled in her womb. “Charles hired the best tutors. They’d come to
    the house to teach me throughout my school years. He brought me
    hiking in the forest surrounding our home as a source of exercise
    when I was younger. Once in a while, we’d camp out and he’d tell me
    about my parents.”
    “He told you they were murdered?”
    “Yes, but he never went into detail or told me why.” Aya lifted
    her gaze to Lenox. “You made it