Which is about the time I realized this wasn’t my sword-wielding opponent. This was Gunner, turned guardian while letting our true quarry escape behind his back. I’d always known alpha werewolves were idiots, but I hadn’t expected behavior as ass-backwardly overprotective as this.

  Unfortunately, I couldn’t shift forms in order to berate him. Not when the reservoir of magic within my belly had gone quiescent with exhaustion, refusing to even create a minor electrical shock to tingle against Gunner’s skin. Without Mama’s star ball to strengthen me, I apparently had far less stamina than I was accustomed to possessing.

  So I lay there panting, unable to so much as twitch without provoking another growl from the alpha straddling my body. Meanwhile, the anonymous being who had paid for my sister’s kidnapping after killing two innocent humans disappeared without a trace.

  We might have remained stuck in that stalemate all night, too, had a trickle of smoke not emerged from the changing room at the end of the hall. The candle, I thought at first, shoulders relaxing back down away from around my ears.

  But the stench flowing over us was too foul to have emerged from one small chunk of wax and cotton. Meanwhile, beneath the smoke, I caught the unmistakable scent of gasoline, suggesting our enemy had left us with a parting gift far more serious than one overturned candlestick.

  Gunner must have smelled it too because his eyes widened, his signature scent of unyielding granite giving way to the more malleable aroma of ozone and dew. Then my captor became my herder. Nudging me erect then chivvying my footsteps, he pushed me down the hall then out onto the stage proper. And when I veered toward my favorite leather jacket, he hip-bumped me away before literally pushing me out through the unboarded window he’d recently used to enter the building.

  In the semi-fresh air of the outdoors, my companion finally managed to shift while I merely dragged my feet a few inches further from the theater that I suspected would soon go up in flames. There was no sign of the conflagration on the exterior just yet, but the building was so very old and built almost entirely out of wood....

  “There’s a fire,” Gunner growled into his cell phone just as the first brilliant streak of orange rose into the barely lit neighborhood. “The theater. Find a burner phone then call 911.”

  So it was his pack he’d contacted rather than the fire department. “Clever wolf,” I mumbled, realizing only after I’d spoken that, of course, I was in vulpine form. So the words came out as a thready whine rather than as understandable human communication.

  Gunner didn’t look down, but his hand dropped onto my forehead even as his scent hardened further in reaction to whatever his pack mate was relaying over the phone. “The whole apartment?” He paused, listened to something I should have been able to hear in my fox form but couldn’t quite manage to focus upon while my body was melting into the watery slush beneath my feet. “And the Ebay account was wiped also?”

  Wait, they were talking about my apartment and Kira’s Ebay account. Did that mean the last possible trail leading to our serial killer had iced over during the night?

  Forcing myself erect with an effort, I realized only after raising a hand to my aching head that I was standing on two human feet rather than on four furry ones. No wonder I was shivering, the effort of the shift creating a watery haze that obstructed my view.

  Those weren’t tears, I told myself. Not over a rented space that had formed the bare minimum shelter necessary to keep body and soul together rather than representing any sort of home.

  By the time I’d blinked the obstruction out of my eyes, Gunner was already slipping into his clothes and turning off his phone. “Here,” my companion told me, pulling Allen’s sweatshirt over my head far more gently than I’d thought him capable of before thrusting the matching sweatpants and Kira’s shoes into my arms. “We need to make tracks.”

  So we ran away from the flaming theater together. Fled toward a shiny SUV that promised to carry us to a tremendous mansion nothing like the rat-infested apartment I was used to...and all I really noticed along the way was the fact that the vehicle’s heated seats eased a tiny bit of the chill away from my frozen heart.

  It would have taken a full-fledged sauna to heat me through at that moment though. And I reached into my mind, hoping for a proverb—any proverb—instead of the terrible silence that resolutely filled my brain like a thick blanket of snow. “I think I made a terrible mistake,” I murmured, only realizing I’d spoken aloud when Gunner glanced toward me, cocking his head in question.

  “Your sister’s safe,” he offered when my flood of self-recrimination became dammed into silence by the dryness of my throat.

  “For now,” I countered, voice croaking as I forced further explanation out through parched lips. “But I just gave a serial killer power over my mother’s star ball. And if I lose custody of Kira....”

  Then a water bottle was being inserted between my trembling fingers, a large hand guiding mine up to tilt the much-needed moisture into my mouth. “You’re among wolves now,” Gunner promised, the words far less ominous than they would have been one week prior. “Our pack will solve this together.”

  And even though I’d been trained since birth to catch sight of a werewolf then run in the opposite direction as quickly and stealthily as possible, I believed the words of the alpha beside me. Sank back against the buttery leather seat and relaxed into acceptance.

  I was no longer alone. Together, Gunner and I would figure this out.

  DID YOU ENJOY Wolf’s Bane? If so, you won't want to miss Mai's second run-in with the stealer of her mother's star ball in Shadow Wolf (a sneak preview of which begins on the very next page).

  Or why not take a quick side trip and learn more about kitsunes, how Gunner came to terms with Mai's identity, and what Kira thought of moving in with werewolves in the Moon Marked bonus pack, free to newsletter subscribers? To sweeten the pot, I’ll throw in two additional werewolf novels so you don’t have to come up for air for days.

  Thanks for reading! You are why I write.

  Shadow Wolf Excerpt

  Dried blood coated my cuticles and I blinked, unable to make sense of the unexpected sight. Safely sheltered by werewolves, I’d gone on frequent fur-form expeditions in recent weeks. So maybe that explained the dark circles beneath my fingernails...but since when did I pounce upon unwary rabbits and rip open their throats while I was sleeping?

  Seeking clues, I tipped my head upwards to take in the crescent moon then stamped bare feet against bent and splintered grass blades. The strands caught against my toes, clinging as if coated with glue...or with some other halfway-dried and considerably less savory substance.

  Blood?

  I leapt sideways, the harsh tang of copper following me away from the trampled circle of earth. From the amount of bodily fluids I’d brought along with me, I could only assume I’d waded through the same carcass that had sullied the grass and soil...or had been the one to spill those bodily fluids myself.

  There has to be a rational explanation for all of this. Closing my gaping mouth and forcing air to flow more naturally through flaring nostrils, I peered out at the darkened landscape in which I found myself. I was perched atop a rounded knoll, encircled on four sides by tree silhouettes while the moon shone down through a gap in the canopy to illuminate the spot where I now stood...

  ...Where I stood beside a cloaked figure all too familiar despite the three months since I’d seen him or her last. The being had bought Mama’s star ball and absconded with it last spring despite all of my efforts to reclaim the magic....

  So I was dreaming. I exhaled in relief, pinching my forearm. Unfortunately, the sharp burst of pain failed to wake me back up.

  Well, if I had to repeat a three-month-old battle against the owner of my mother’s star ball, perhaps this time I’d win the fight. Change the rules, change the game....

  To that end, I yanked at the source of my magic, the glow of a sword arcing through the air between me and my enemy. And in instant response, lightning bugs rose in a wave of green-hued reaction, their sheer numbers proving that this was not memory but rather dream. I’d never known so many of the bioluminescent fliers to exist in one location...had rarely even seen a smattering of their neon lights at the wooded edge of the city park where I sometimes went to be alone.

  But I wasn’t located in my home city any longer. Instead, forest stretched out around me, lacking streetlights, porch lights, even the barest hint of asphalt and diesel fumes to pinpoint a nearby road.

  Where was I? And why had I moved this frequently remembered battle from the abandoned theater in which it had actually occurred to an idyllic spot lifted from a fairy tale?

  All of these thoughts flooded my neurons in the time it took for the lightning bugs to wink out and return the scene to near darkness. Meanwhile, as if my enemy had been waiting for the return of my attention, cloaked arms rose in a flicker of black on black. Then a shining orb levitated out of the being’s right sleeve.

  Now I could see my opponent easily as he—she?—beckoned me forward with one curving finger. Come, the gesture demanded as Mama’s star ball winked at me from around the being’s gloved hand. I cocked my head in response to the magic’s odd behavior. Then the glowing star ball shifted, stretched...and turned into a whip that lashed out faster than a cobra to encircle my arms and chest.

  The magic burned. Cut through my silk kimono and almost—but not quite—prevented me from noticing how dramatically this nightmare had gone off the rails of its usual script.

  Since when was there a lasso involved in our battle? Since when did I wear kimonos? Since when did the anonymous being I fought against wield magic I had yet to understand?

  “Who are you?” I demanded, not even trying to bring up my magical sword to sever the imprisoning connection that pulled me one step closer to my nemesis, then another. Because I could feel my mother’s essence within the glowing rope restraining me—who knew what would happen if I cut that soul-bound magic in half to free myself?

  The words had been a parry, meant only to win me another moment in which to think. But, to my surprise, my opponent didn’t ignore them. Instead, lasso pressure on my stomach eased as a hooded head cocked to one side in mimicry of my own earlier gesture. I could almost smell the being’s confusion as he or she paused rather than continuing to reel me in.

  Scent. Yes, of course I should use every weapon at my disposal if this really was a face-to-face meeting with my nemesis rather than a rehashed memory-turned-nightmare.

  But the breeze was flowing from behind me, the air too dry to be redolent with identifying scents. And as the wind whipped unbound hair against my cheekbones, I flinched, realizing what I should have gathered from the start.

  The body I inhabited wasn’t my own—how could I have missed that? Instead, I stood in the skin of my dead mother. More slender than my real body, a trifle shorter, and enfolded in the subtle haze of jasmine that always preceded my mother whenever she entered a room.

  Then my lips opened and Mama’s voice spoke through me. “Master...” she started, chilling me to my core. So the cloaked being had figured out how to use Mama’s star ball since I’d last been in his or her presence. Had figured out how to use her magic...and her as well.

  But before Mama could bow to the Master further, before I could beg forgiveness for letting her fall into such a trap, my earlier wish was granted. I slipped out of my mother’s body and woke in my own bed with a start.

  Chapter 2

  It was half past four in the morning, but I couldn’t close my eyes, let alone return to slumber. Not even after examining now-clean fingers and toes to reassure myself that the strange confrontation had only been a figment of my dreaming mind’s imagination.

  Instead, I lay between soft sheets, listening to the silence of Gunner’s mansion. During the day, the halls filled with chatter and laughter. But in the wee hours of night, the place became positively peaceful with everyone sleeping.

  Well, everyone except for me.

  It wasn’t the first time I’d risen before dawn, unable to accept a wolf pack’s confining safety. So I pushed out of bed, pulled on clothes, and headed downstairs to the empty courtyard. There I drew upon my star ball and dueled against nobody, stretching muscles well toned from previously insomniacal bouts.

  Fighting, at least, tired me enough so the questions and worries circling through my mind lowered their volume. Was I doing the right thing choosing momentary safety for Kira while going against every instinct toward self-preservation that our parents had taught? Slash, lunge. Would I come to regret accepting a so-called “job” that involved doing whatever I wanted while being paid more than I’d previously made as a teacher and cage-fighter combined? Riposte, retreat.

  There were no more answers this morning than there had been last Tuesday or two weeks ago Wednesday or any other time I’d come out here to fight shadows rather than snuggle up in my bed like a good little wolf. Still, I couldn’t help smiling despite the sweat burning my eyeballs when the inevitable morning bickering rose with the sun, proving that my sister was now wide awake and much perkier than she’d been the day before.

  “So you think it’s funny to let me fall into the toilet first thing in the morning?” Kira snarked from the east end of the first floor—the massive kitchen where everyone except me tended to congregate as soon as they got up.

  “Come on, pipsqueak. Today’s the big day. Give me a break.”

  Looked like my kid sister was back on task as self-appointed toilet monitor. And one of our house mates—Tank this time—had relieved himself in the night without remembering to re-lower that all-important white seat.

  Kira grows more wolf-like and less fox-like every day, I noted, not sure how I felt about the matter. Foxes were reserved and elusive. But wolves, I’d found, expressed their affections best in the physical realm.

  Sure enough, the crack of a snapping towel evoked a squeak from my sister even as another house mate, Crow this time, stated the obvious: “That’s our bathroom, puppy. You and Mai have your own on the third floor. So if you fell in, it’s your own da...ahem...darn fault.”

  Logic, apparently, had no impact upon my sister. “I live in this entire house, not locked in the attic like a crazy auntie. For example, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen cooking. So if you want any of my bacon, you’ll start putting down the toilet seat everywhere.”

  “Ooh, burn,” Allen murmured, far too quietly for the neighbors to hear him. My fox senses, on the other hand, caught the comment quite ably...along with a salty sweet scent that had me slowing my morning exercise into a cool down. Perhaps being part of a wolf pack wasn’t so terrible if it came with bacon at the exact moment my stomach started growling....

  Except even as I started imagining breakfast, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled. My nostrils flared, my muscles tightened. There was something nearing, something watching....

  Bacon abruptly forgotten, I whirled in reaction, raising my sword as I turned to face the stalking wolf.

  OR, RATHER, TO FACE the two-legged wolf in human clothing. Gunner raised one eyebrow at the pointy blade just barely indenting the skin beneath his Adam’s apple. Then, ignoring my weapon, he held out a mug of chamomile tea, the sweetness of honey curling off the surface as the leader of the wolf pack I lived amidst greeted me aloud.

  “Tough night?”

  I shook my head, not so much in denial as in a refusal to rehash my dream landscape verbally. And in response, Gunner’s open face shuttered ever so slightly as if he was more disappointed by my evasion than at being greeted by the sharp tip of a sword.

  But just as quickly, Gunner regained his customary smile, jiggling the mug between us so the ceramic clanked against my magically-created weapon. “We should do something fun before Kira’s custody hearing,” the ever-patient werewolf suggested. “Go for a run somewhere wild before we’re due in court. Or...shopping? Does Kira like shopping?”

  “My sister loves nothing better than spending other people’s money,” I admitted, allowing my sword to diffuse back into a magical blob that slid along my skin to form a bracelet, a belt, a sheathed knife at my left ankle. In front of me, Gunner didn’t even twitch at this evidence of my kitsune nature. “But we shouldn’t spoil her,” I added. “And, anyway, I’ve got other plans.”

  “Plans?”

  This time I accepted the mug my companion brandished in my direction, pretending that I needed all of my attention to prevent a spill. Taking a sip, I noted that Gunner had steeped the tea just the way I liked it, not so long it turned bitter but not so short that it was simply sweetened water with a hint of aroma to turn hot liquid into soothing tea water.

  The flavor was perfect...but my gut clenched anyway. Because it was time for our inevitable weekly ritual. No one managed to slip away from the pack without extensive explanation, but I couldn’t afford to let any of the werewolves I lived with know where I went on Tuesday afternoons. In lieu of the truth, I always ended up stuttering through an entirely unbelievable explanation, and the wolves around me always smiled grimly and allowed me to lie.

  As usual, my body language broadcast my mistruth before I even opened my mouth to speak it. “Girl stuff,” I said stiffly, turning away from the piercing eyes of the far too astute werewolf who was providing food, housing, protection, and now the likelihood of ripping Kira out of the foster system permanently.

  Gunner had done everything he could think of to enfold me into his pack...and yet I remained at heart a solitary kitsune.

  “It might take a while,” I continued. “So I’ll meet you and Kira at the courthouse. If you don’t mind bringing her there for me....”