WOLF DAWN: Science Fiction Thriller/ Romance (Forsaken Worlds) Read Online Free PDF Page A

formal. With satisfaction he pulled on a treasured old sweater, something Hen would never have let him wear outside of his own quarters. Ash was cared for and cosseted by footmen, valets, groomsmen, tutors, and numerous personal physicians. He couldn’t sneeze without an army of panicked attendants worrying lest it presage oncoming illness. He hated it, but with stoic fortitude, he accepted it. Everyone loved him and wanted to help. He was trapped by affection and smothered by constant attentive kindness.
    Surrounded by people, isolated by circumstances, Ash had no intention of further defining his differences by confiding to anyone about his bond with Tynan — at least not until yesterday, when he had found Mother Latnok in the forest.
More like she found me,
he realized.
But why had she come? And why had she continued to call him “young wolf?” Ash
swallowed, caught in the memory. He recalled the angry chill of her power. It had ignited the heat of his own gift. Something had happened while he was with her. For a moment, he had known some truth … something important.
    Trueborn! Inhuman!
    Ash frowned and shook his head. When his straight black hair fell into his eyes he pushed it back. Well, that fleeting awareness was out of reach now. Meeting with the seer was Ash’s second big secret. Like his bond with Tynan, Ash felt uncomfortable whenever he thought of confiding these events to anyone.
    Dressed, he held his breath, listening. The ship hummed, alive with energy. He grinned. Despite everything it was still exciting to be in space.
Assurance
had already entered Omni via the Delian corridor. Theory postulated that natural law was suspended when in Omni-space, allowing rapid travel between worlds. To the human eye Omni-space appeared as a kind of a dirty gray fog.
    “Mother?” he called.
    “In navigation, Ash.”
    For a moment her anxiety vibrated like a small insect trapped in his mind. It set his teeth on edge. For once her disquiet had nothing to do with his health. But why was she afraid? He frowned, recalling the ominous red dawn and his inexplicable fear. He had sensed danger then, a cold hard threat. Had his mother felt it, too? With mental awareness he reached out, searching, scanning.
    Nothing. He didn’t feel it now.
    A small service bot moved aside to let him pass as he jumped up to the landing. “I’m hungry, mother,” he yelled. He could hear her on the upper landing, probably in navigation. A day shipboard and he was already bored with the auto-chef menu.
    “I thought you might be.”
    Ash imagined her smiling as she worked. He had discovered a modest appetite and even put on a tiny bit of weight over the last few months, allaying his parents’ anxiety. Now that he was thirteen maybe he would actually grow.
    “There’s warm kasha in the keep.” Kasha was a pungent, spicy nut indigenous to Delian. It had a savory flavor, a kind of peppery cumin taste.
    “Thanks.” Ash placed meat and culdish cheese in his kasha roll and munched on it as he scanned his surroundings. The ship was an unending source of interest, from self-molding chairs and sleep webs to scenery-changing holovid walls. Such walls were common in many homes, but he wasn’t used to them. He had the antiquated glories of priceless paintings to view in the castle, not modern holovids that cycled photos.
    On the lower level, Ash started toward navigation but paused on the landing. Near the portal was a plaque with the bright blue Delian emblem on it. He read,
R.D.S. ASSURANCE
2322. Standing up on tiptoe, he touched the plaque, awed.
Assurance
had to be the last of her kind. When the United Worlds Government made warships redundant, the rest of the Delian Fleet had been decommissioned and sold.
    The UWG had been humanity’s salvation, according to his history lessons. The human race came close to extinction during what was now known as the “Age of Perdition.” Millions of colonists had died during those destructive times. Many