Snippet from Animal Attraction, St. Martin’s 2008, unedited, subject to revision:

My life as I’d known it was well and truly over. My plans for the future, well, at least I’d achieved one goal. I knew who my real parents were.

I absorbed that while my stomach sank and my head went light. “You know, I had that whole secret princess fantasy as a kid,” I told David. “That someday my real family would show up and I’d be some sort of princess. My fantasy did not include growing fangs and fur under the full moon.”

I hadn’t dreamed of a prince who howled, either. Orgies had also not made the list. My imagination seemed woefully inadequate.

He didn’t answer. Probably he guessed, correctly, that there was no good response. After a while, my butt started to notice how cold and hard stone could feel. I got stiffly to my feet. I waited for my babysitter to take the lead, and I followed him out of the hedge maze in silence.

When we returned to open ground, I took a good look at the house. It was a sprawling brick structure, more than adequate housing for thirteen. It could probably hold twice that number without anybody feeling crowded. I made a silent bet with myself that whatever bedroom I was assigned to could hold my apartment two times over.

The lines of the building were graceful, classic. Whoever had designed the place had an eye for beauty and the skill to execute his or her vision. It had a sense of stability, and I guessed it was over a hundred years old.

This house had stood the test of time. The pack had endured since very early history, if my internet search results could be believed. Slavic mythology went back to Neolithic times, possibly earlier. Which made sense, if humans and shapeshifters had evolved together.

I’d wanted to discover my roots, I reminded myself. Too late now to whine that ignorance was bliss. Besides, in my case ignorance was dangerous.

“David.” He stopped when I spoke and turned back towards me. “Do you want to be the leader of the pack?”

“Not particularly.” His voice and face were neutral, giving nothing away, but I thought I detected tension in his body.

“Then why did you kiss me?”

His grey eyes took on heat. “I didn’t say I don’t want you.”

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