The Wolf's Daughter (The Tala Chronicles 1) Read Online Free PDF Page A

know I’m in town?”
    “News travels
fast, Tala. Especially when you’re a detective. I wanted to tell you how sorry
I am about your mother.
    “Thanks, Matt. I
appreciate it. But we weren’t close.”
    “I figured that.”
He paused. “I was wondering if you’d go out to dinner with me. There’s so much
I want to tell you in person. You broke off so suddenly—not that I didn’t
understand why, though. And that’s another thing I have to say I’m so sorry
about.”
    Tala bit her
lip. “Well, not tonight, anyway. I’m exhausted from traveling. Did your source
also tell you I have a broken foot, and I’m not exactly a fashion model right
now with this heavy boot?”
    Matt laughed. “As
I remember, you never were.”
    “Gee, thanks.”
The same old Matt. “How’s your family?”
    “Oh, Mom and Dad
are fine, and would you believe this, I’m even an uncle now and…”
    ***
    “Thanks so much
for inviting me over,” Debbie said, her teacup poised midway to her lips.
    Tala smiled. “Thank you for supplying the milk. I could only find tea and cookies.”
    “What I want to
know about is the conversation with Matt. You were so vague,” Vanessa said.
    “We’ll talk
about that later. First, I want to show you something.” She dug the pendant out
of her pocket. “Any ideas on this.”
    Debbie reached
for it. “This looks old, very old. I’m not sure what kind of animal it is, but
it certainly looks ferocious.”
    “So it’s not a
witchcraft symbol?”
    “No…not that I
can tell. Wait a minute… I have seen this design before. It was in a
book, but I don’t remember the name of it.”
    Tala leaned
forward. “What was the book about?”
    “It talked about
werewolves. How—”
    “So they really
exist?”
    Debbie set her
tea down on the side table. “Absolutely, and what happened with some families
is the werewolf strain weakened from intermarriage with non-werewolves. So what
were left were called Violents and Violent Makers.”
    Chills ran
through Tala as she remembered her mother talking about the strains after her
father’s murder. “What else do you remember?”
    “When those with
the strain neared adulthood, the Violent Makers had the power to cause the
Violents to have burning rage, which ended in savagery and carnage.” Debbie
scrunched her lips to one side and then continued. “When a Violent Maker is
starting to affect a Violent, the Violent Maker’s eyes change to a lighter
color and glow.”
    Tala’s breath
caught. That’s what Matt had said about her eyes that night in the cemetery.
    Vanessa seemed
unusually quiet. “What about you, Vanessa? What do you think about all this?” She
took the pendant from Debbie and held it out to Vanessa.
    “I don’t want to
touch it.”
    “Why?”
    “I have a bad
feeling about it. Like it’s an amulet of some kind.”
    “Okay.” Tala
pocketed it again. “Debbie, do you remember reading anything about how you can
get rid of the strains?”
    Debbie bit her
lip. “Yes, but the ritual is hidden knowledge. The book said the only way to
remove the Violent Maker strain is to find a Violent who knows the secrets. It’s
very dangerous, though, because the Violent Maker often sets off the Violent
before the ritual can be completed, and then the Violent Maker is killed.”
    Tala pressed her
lips together in a determined line and then sighed. “Debbie, is there any way
the Violent strain can be removed?”
    “The author of
the book wouldn’t reveal it. Instead of the possibility of just one person, the
Violent Maker, being killed to remove the strain, the ritual to remove the
Violent strain put the lives of many people at risk.”
    A sad silence
filled the room for a while. Then Debbie touched Tala’s arm. “I’m not going to
ask you why you’re so interested in these subjects, and I sense it’s none of my
business, but I’m sorry I couldn’t give you more information.”
    “Thanks, Debbie.
I appreciate what you told me. It’s a lot to