Wolf Tales IV Read Online Free PDF Page B

air once more, growled quietly and made one last pass around her yard. Still feeling oddly unsettled, she slipped inside to become Keisha once again in the privacy of her home.
    Sleep was a long time coming. Her burglar alarms were set, the house secure.
    Her dreams, when they finally came, were lonely and unsettled.
    * * *
    It took three days before she was willing to face the huge pile of mail that filled a box she’d left beneath the mail slot. She thought of calling Anton first, but it was even later in Montana, and she knew he’d be running with the pack. Other than a call to let him know she’d arrived safely, they’d not spoken.
    Damn, but she missed the nightly runs, the thrill of the chase when they hunted, the tight mental link of the pack when their prey came into sight.
    She’d run just one other time since her return -- run without intention or direction. It wasn’t at all satisfying without the pack. Instead it was lonely, unsettling. She missed the connection, the sense of family.
    She missed Anton most of all. So serious and patient, a direct counterpoint to Stefan’s more playful yet sweetly caring nature and Xandi’s nurturing soul.
    Anton needed her, if only to lighten him up. Smiling, the sense of Anton strong in her heart, Keisha poured herself a glass of wine and went back into her front room with the box of mail under her arm.
    It took almost an hour to sort through everything. She filled a bag for recycling with junk mail, separated out the stuff she needed to run through the shredder, checked the statements for the bills paid automatically out of her account, dismissed the political ads and added them to the recycling bag.
    One slim envelope dropped out of the small pile remaining in her lap. She leaned over and picked it up off the carpet. There was no postmark, no stamp… no return address. Her name and address were neatly typed on the front, but someone must have slipped it through the mail slot on their own.
    Curious, she slit the top of the envelope open with a kitchen knife and dumped out the single folded sheet of paper, then forgot to breathe when she read the message.
     
    I know about the wolf.
    Call me.
    * * *
    Keisha stared at the telephone. The letter she’d received the night before lay on the table next to another piece of paper with Anton’s phone number written across it in his big scrawling hand. She touched the numbers and bit back the tears.
    Then she dialed the local number. There was no need to involve Anton. She’d put a stop to this, now.
    “Hello? Carl Burns, here.”
    “Mr. Burns, my name is Keisha Rialto.”
    She heard soft laughter on the other end. It made the hair on the back of her neck stand up.
    “It’s true, isn’t it?”
    “What, Mr. Burns? I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
    “The wolf, Ms. Rialto. You are the wolf. You killed three men. Somehow you can shift, become a ferocious beast. A killer. You’re a werewolf, right?”
    “That’s absolutely preposterous. Who are you? Wait… I know. You’re that tabloid reporter, aren’t you? The one with the vivid imagination?”
    The image of that faked newspaper photo was forever seared into her brain. How could he do this to her? All she wanted was to heal, to get past all this. “Please leave me alone. If you persist in bothering me, I will take out a restraining order against you, and I’ll make sure it’s enforced.”
    “You’ll shift again, Ms. Rialto. The moon will be full. Maybe something will happen and you’ll shift. When you do, I’ll be there.”
    “Are you threatening me, Mr. Burns?” She realized her hands were shaking and prayed it wouldn’t show up in her voice. She couldn’t let him know how much he frightened her.
    “Not at all, Ms. Rialto. Have a nice evening. Enjoy your run in the park.”

 
     
     
    Chapter Five
     
    Keisha sat on the floor in her studio in the dark, knees drawn up under her chin, the scattered drawings of her memorial project spread out