Turned Read Online Free PDF Page B

place. Nothing existed
except Charlotte and the black trail of horror across her. His nose
caught a whiff of burned flesh. They'd hurt his wife.
     
    Animal rage erupted inside him. Lips writhed
backward to bare fangs, fur stood on end, adrenaline flooded
muscles. He bounded through the rocks toward the mages, every
breath exhaling in a hideous snorting growl.
     
    Another fireball roared toward him, but
Bernard leaped sideways and kept running. Fire splashed behind him.
Beneath the rage swirled a terrible question--should he attack the
men? If he did, what separated him from the rest of the beasts?
     
    Raging and yet trembling with indecision, he
bounded on a rock near the mages, who were frantically building
another fireball. He could leap for their throats--
     
    Or talk them down.
     
    Panting, slavering, snarling, Bernard roared,
"Leave us alone!"
     
    The mages stared at him and their jaws
dropped open. The fireball, unnoticed, smoked and began to fizzle
out.
     
    Bernard held out both clawed hands
entreatingly. "Please, just go!"
     
    The second mage raised his staff and worked a
teleportation spell. They disappeared in a flash of light.
     
    Bernard exhaled and dropped to all fours.
Crisis averted. Maybe they'd tell someone about the talking
werewolves and someone would put two and two together.
     
    He padded back to Charlotte, who crouched
where he'd left her, whining. Her ears flicked forward as he
approached, and for a second she seemed glad to see him. Then her
ears flattened again and she lowered her head. "I believe I'm going
to die."
     
    Bernard sniffed her burn thoroughly. "It's
not deep. I wish I had some salve, and then--" But why finish that
thought? Their mansion was abandoned, his workshop inaccessible,
and everyone thought they were monsters.
     
    "Come this way," he murmured. "I found a
cave." He almost nuzzled her face, but didn't quite dare.
     
    Charlotte limped behind him, head down, every
hair drooping. He feared she'd drop behind and lie down, but she
followed him all the way to the cave. She went inside without a
word, sniffed the nest once, then stepped into it and curled
up.
     
    Bernard gazed down at her, and a powerful
protectiveness rose inside him. He may not like her much, but she
was his wife. His mate. He was responsible for her, and if she
died, it'd be his fault. He wanted to tend her burn, to find her
food, to cuddle up beside her and put his arms around her, to offer
as much comfort as he could.
     
    But the coldness of their relationship stood
between them like a wall.
     
    Gently he nosed her burn and began licking
it. She flinched away from him. "Stop that."
     
    "It'll help it to heal."
     
    She shot him a disdainful look. "You're a
werewolf. You'll make it worse. Thank you for saving me, now leave
me alone." She shifted and lay down with her back to him.
     
    She might as well have hurled ice water in
his face. Pain bled through him like ink through water. Slowly,
quietly, he turned and padded out of the cave. They needed meat,
and he had to hunt for it.
     

Chapter 5: Empathy
     
    Charlotte's wound smoldered with pain, waking
her with every throb. How long had Bernard been gone? Five minutes?
An hour? What if the mages had killed him?
     
    She twisted around and licked her burn. The
touch sent ripples of anguish through her flesh, but it was better
than doing nothing. Beneath the pain was a deep, echoing hunger.
Perhaps this body needed food to heal. Weren't werewolves
exceptional healers? She'd heard talk of the difficulties in
disposing of a sick or injured one. Perhaps she wouldn't die, if
she could only eat something.
     
    With a whimper she rose to all fours and
limped to the cave mouth. It was late afternoon, and the overcast
sky promised rain. Her delicate nose caught a whiff of Bernard, but
she had no idea how to interpret location by scent.
     
    He'd saved her.
     
    Charlotte hadn't allowed herself to think
about this, but now the concept burst upon her, as shocking