I awoke to find myself in a bedroom I didn’t recognize. My heart racing, I sat up trying to remember
what happened. When the trip to London
resurfaced I regretted it.
“How the hell did I get to London?” I hadn’t realized I’d
spoken out loud until James’ voice came out of a shadowed corner of the room.
“We brought you here for your protection. Do you remember?”
“James! What the hell
are you doing hiding there?”
“Kris and I wanted to be sure you were well. What do you remember?”
“Yeah. Kind of. I know we didn’t take a flight here. How did Kris do whatever it was he did?”
James didn’t answer at first. I was about to get up and beat the answer out
of him when he spoke again.
“Emma, the world I am about to tell you of must be kept
secret. If it were common knowledge,
many lives would be in danger. Do you
understand?”
“Sure,” the confusion and disbelief must have shown in my
face because quicker than I could blink, James was leaning over me pinning me
to the bed with an intensity I hadn’t seen from him since meeting him.
“I am in utmost earnest with this request.”
“Okay,” I blinked, “No one will find out from me. I give you my word.”
“And I will hold you to it,” James backed off to sit in the
chair next to the bed and gestured toward a huge photo on the wall.
The photo was of some mountains taken near sunset. The golden light washed over the ancient
hills in amazing contrast to the verdant shades covering them.
“Our story starts there.
The Isle of Skye. Our people were
driven from the Isle centuries ago.”
“What people? What
does this have to do with how we got to London from Germany?” I was totally
lost.
“Because we are what you Americans call werewolves.”
I didn’t know what to say to his matter-of-fact statement, “Excuse
me?”
