Skylar’s Pride

by Lara Zielinsky

Prologue

After leaving her brunette lover, Lila, still soundly sleeping in their bed, Skylar bestowed a kiss on the dark brow, then put on her cross-training shoes and slipped out for her morning jog. She tied back her long, straight, blonde hair with a pale blue strip of cloth that matched her eyes. Gauging the coming day’s weather with a glance at the sky, she settled easily into her stride. She could barely make out any cloud cover, promising a midsummer day with lots of sun and heat that would make lazing about through the afternoon seem most inviting.

Though it was an hour before dawn, it was still super dark. She could smell the condensation gathering on the grass and hear the fluttering wings of several nocturnal birds settling into their nests as the night’s hunting came to an end.

She rounded a turn and jogged to the end of the sidewalk, entering the state park through a back trail. She started for the outhouse, its rickety door barely closing on rusted hinges.

The sound of snapping branches broke the silence of the woods to her right. Immediately her shoulders tensed, and she searched through the darkness for the source.

Seeing nothing, she nevertheless kept sweeping the woods with her gaze as she continued to run. Today she planned to run for the full hour, turning back only when she reached the reservoir wall within Cherry Creek Park.

A breeze blew from behind her, and she spun, having caught the scent of more than leaf decay in its bouquet. “Mar, show yourself, you runty sonofabitch.”

She jogged in place, continually watching a patch of bushes as she shook the fists out of her hands.

Briefly she spotted a sleek, tan figure crouched behind the branches of a woody bush. Then a man with curly golden hair on his head, as well as spread liberally over a thickly muscled chest and arms, rose to his full height, about the same stature as Skylar.

“So, he sent you this time.”

“Gray says it is time for you to return,” he said, in a voice that flowed both thick and slow.

“I have obligations here now.”

“You have duty to family,” Mar replied with an unmistakable grumble.

“Lila and Max are my family now.”

“Will you come?” Mar asked, thick brows narrowing over his honey-brown eyes.

Skylar sighed. “I always do.”

Mar turned and walked back into the woods from where he’d come.

Skylar turned away from the sight of his tan body loping through the woods, headed home.

Chapter 1

Skylar bounced on her toes and then jumped toward the black and white ball bouncing across the grass toward her. She swept it back in the direction it had come with the side of her left foot.

“Hah!” she cheered and ran forward after it.

Her opponent trapped it under his right foot, then swept it to his left, making Skylar jump to her right to keep up.

The ball rose into the air, about shoulder height, aimed for a point beyond her. Bounding into the air off her left foot, she round-housed her right foot into the ball, saving the wall -- her goal for this pick-up game. The world spun, and she landed on her feet after a complete rolling flip.

“Hey!” The dark-haired twelve year old darted after the wildly returned ball. “How’d you do that?”

Skylar smiled as she watched him retrieve the soccer ball from where it had rolled into the gutter of the parking lot. “Skills,” she replied as he started jogging back.

He laughed. “You are nothing like my mother’s other friends, Skylar.”

Skylar silently agreed that was likely very true. “So, what’s happening this weekend with you and your dad, Max?” They turned shoulder to shoulder and walked across the grass toward the two-story adobe apartment building. She sensed eyes on them, looked up, and waved at the brunette woman leaning over a second-floor balcony railing.

Covered in sweat and grime from their afternoon game, Max rubbed scars across his jugular that snaked up onto his right cheek and down onto his left chest. Skylar felt a surge of anger, as if the incident were new and happening right now in front of her. Her hands curled into fists, and she felt her back straighten as she shifted the weight over her feet. Her eyes darted back and forth across the open green space in the middle of the apartment complex. Resolutely she looked away from her girlfriend’s son, concentrating instead on the sidewalk beneath her.

The dog attack had happened when Max had only just begun school, years before Skylar and Lila, Max’s mother, had even met. Still, if she had encountered the dog responsible, Skylar would have been hard-pressed not to kill it, despite her general feelings of live-and-let-live with the animal kingdom. Out here in the suburbs of Denver, the wilderness was mixed in with the city everywhere, and it wasn’t unusual to find that animals had gone through a garbage can or had territorial spats overnight right in your backyard.

“You’ll want to put some of the cream on it,” Skylar advised.

“Yeah. Don’t know why it’s itching anyway. Not like it’s ever gonna heal and go away,” Max replied, pulling his hand down from his face and resettling the soccer ball in the curve of his arm.

“You guys coming in for some dinner?” Lila called down from the balcony as they started left, to go around the building to the front doors.

Skylar scuffled her fingers through Max’s unruly mop, feeling the sweat. Max rolled his head, not quite fully dodging her touch, but making it clear he wasn’t in the mood. Her nose twitched as the wind shifted and she caught his smell. “Shower first,” she said.

“Yeah, yeah. I’m starving, though,” Max replied, jogging to break away from alongside Skylar, leaving her to walk the rest of the way into the apartment alone. She heard the bathroom door slam shut just as she reached the front door of apartment 211-C.

The sliding glass moved in its track, and she looked toward the balcony to see Lila reentering the small dining space outside the kitchen. “You need any help with dinner?” Skylar asked.

“No. Got about five minutes before the roast is done. The new potatoes are already on the table and salad’s in the fridge.”

Skylar lifted her arms as she came within reach of Lila, and the other woman slipped into her embrace, their arms circling around each other’s backs. Skylar kissed the smaller woman’s head as Lila pressed her face into Skylar’s shoulder. She straightened then and met Lila’s lips when the brunette lifted her head.

“So... how was work?” Skylar asked.

“Same as always.”

“Tired?”

“Sort of.”

“How about after we pack the boy off with his father for the weekend, I get the massage oils out?” Skylar suggested with a waggle of her brows.

“Sounds heavenly.”

Skylar extricated herself from Lila’s hold. “All right. Let’s get this dinner taken care of.” She pulled out Lila’s chair at the small table. As Lila sat, Skylar swept through the kitchen, just reaching into the refrigerator for the salad bowl when the stove-top timer began beeping.

She smacked it into silence and rubbed her right ear. Then she grabbed the protective mitts from the hook on the side of the fridge and slid the oven-to-table roasting pan out. Lila was putting a trivet on the Formica table when Skylar came out carrying the pan.

Empty handed, she reentered the kitchen and opened the fridge. “Drink?” Skylar asked. “There’s still an open bottle of Greg’s hard cider.”

Greg bottled his own ciders in his basement and had given them six bottles last Christmas.

“Sure.”

“Can I have some?” Max asked. Skylar turned to see him still pulling on his shirt as he walked up behind his mother.

“No, you may not.” Lila shook her head. “Milk,” she told Skylar.

Skylar nodded, grabbing both the long-necked cider bottle and the milk jug before backing out and closing the fridge door. Retrieving two wine glasses and a plastic tumbler from the cabinet next to the sink, Skylar filled the drink requests and walked them out to the table.

While Max distributed the glasses, Skylar retrieved the salad, tongs, and a creamy, honey-mustard dressing.

She quickly glanced over the table, seeing everything was in place before seating herself between Max and Lila. “Dinner smells fantastic,” she told Lila.

“Delayed-cook settings on ovens have to be the best invention ever,” Lila said with a self-deprecating shrug. “You gonna cut?”

Skylar nodded and lifted the carving knife from the table next to the roast. One, two, and three slices, then she found an innermost slice done just to medium rare and took it for herself. She finished slicing the roast and passed the platter to Max, who took another slice before passing it to his mother, who took the well-done end piece.

Lila turned to Max after finishing her first bite. “So what’d you do besides kicking the soccer ball around all day?”

Max rolled his eyes in an expression of long suffering but answered. “Skylar took me to the bookstore, and I helped clean some.”

***

Skylar stood at the sink, hands in the soapy water halfway up her forearms. Out in the living room, just out of sight, Lila sat on the couch watching the television news. The low murmur of the talking head didn’t sound too alarmist. Max had been granted permission to play video games in his room until his father came to pick him up, and she could feel and hear the thumps as he threw his body onto his bed, bouncing it significantly, and the slight buzz as he engaged the console and monitor.

The summer evening sun shone now directly into the apartment through the balcony glass. It was still two hours from setting, and the day was still as hot as it had been at noon. The doorbell buzzed.

“I’ll get it,” Lila said.

The door opened, and Skylar heard a male voice say, “Max ready?”

Skylar stopped the water flow into the sink but didn’t leave the kitchen, just listened. Lou was early.

Lila’s voice was serene as she answered him. “He’s in his room.” Then she called out, “Max!”

In his room, Max thumped the wall, and Skylar heard the video game go silent. “Yeah, Mom, I’m coming.”

Lou didn’t say anything, and Skylar considered making an appearance to watch him. She had sensed his anger the minute he’d entered the apartment. She wondered what had happened, but she was a sore spot with Lou, and Skylar didn’t want to be part of a confrontation, especially today when her own tension was living close to the surface.

Lila kept up conversation, even if Lou wasn’t interested. “Skylar took Max with her to the store today and let him help out.” Skylar heard Lila give the words a few boosts of extra cheer, and it pleased Skylar that Lila appreciated her efforts with Max.

“What’re we doing this weekend, Dad?” Max asked.

Now Skylar stepped out to the living room, staying back by the kitchen wall, drying towel moving between her hands as she watched Max with his father.

“How’d you like to go camping and fishing up at Cherry Lake?” That wasn’t too far away, Skylar thought.

But Max looked devastated. Skylar could just imagine his thoughts: a whole weekend away from his technology IV drip. The horror.

The mention of a camping trip also made Skylar’s heart skip several beats. She recalled her father’s message conveyed through her cousin Mar. She clutched her hands together in the towel and spoke up. “My family camps all the time,” she said, hoping it would relax Max.

“Really?” Max perked up. Just as Skylar intended. If she did it, Max would consider it at least worth a shot.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“I’ve got all the gear already in the truck. Just grab your clothes,” Lou said. His gaze settled on Skylar as Max darted back into his bedroom. He frowned, then shrugged. “Thank you,” he said to her.

“You’re welcome.” Skylar met his brown eyes steadily for a moment but then dipped her head. “Excuse me. Still finishing the dishes.” She returned to the kitchen.

After a few minutes more of Lila and Lou talking in low voices, Skylar heard the front door open and close and knew Max and his father were gone.

***

“I’m glad you came out of hiding tonight,” Lila said.

“It’s important to support Max,” Skylar said. “That’s all I care about.” She and Lila had settled after dinner on the futon couch covered in a sedate red and gold Native American print. Ambient music, the sounds of birds, babbling brooks, and the wind’s whistle through trees, filled the tiny apartment.

“So you and your family go camping?” Lila said.

“Every year.”

“I thought you were going to a book conference next week,” Lila said. “You put Pam in charge at the store for the week.”

“She told you?”

“Yeah, I called her to... talk about something.”

“Lila.” Skylar cupped her lover’s cheek. “You do not need to plan a surprise party for me. It’s just a birthday.” She’d known about it for two weeks, since Pam, her assistant manager, was more horrible at keeping secrets than anyone Skylar knew.

“It’s your fortieth and it’s the first of many we’ll get to spend together,” Lila insisted.

Skylar leaned back on the cushion, crossing her feet at the ankles as she put them up gingerly on the low coffee table. Though she didn’t know why she bothered. The surface was pock-marked and scuffed from Max racing Matchbox vehicles over it for the last twelve years. She settled her arm around Lila’s shoulders and stroked the woman’s skin visible around the tank top strap.

She swallowed as she considered what to do. “We’re together this weekend,” she said.

“You gave me such a wonderful party at my birthday.”

“Because you’re important to me.”

“And you’re important to me. I love you. Even Max loves you.”

That was saying a lot, Skylar knew. Max was leery of most people. It had taken almost four months of constant attention from Skylar for him to say more than two words in a row to her.

“My father messaged me,” she said obliquely. “I can’t avoid him.”

“Max would enjoy meeting your dad. So would I.”

“You can’t afford the time away from work.”

Lila turned to face Skylar and emphasize her words. “We’ve been together a year. You haven’t made any effort to introduce me to your family.”

That would be difficult, Skylar thought. “They don’t approve.” That was an understatement.

Lila frowned but then brightened with some idea. Skylar cut her off. “I will not subject you, or Max, to my father’s pissing.”

“Maybe I could talk to him,” Lila persisted.

Skylar shook her head. “He’s old and set in his ways, Lila. It would be dangerous for me to challenge him. Nearly every choice I’ve made in my life, he disagrees with.”

“So, why subject yourself to this every year? Just tell him if he can’t accept you the way you are, you won’t be coming.”

Skylar frowned. If only it were that simple. She said, “I can’t for this year.”

“Couldn’t you work a little on your father?”

There was no brooking the determination in Lila’s eyes. Skylar had no idea what she could say that she hadn’t already said to her father. He was not to be reasoned with, particularly on these annual visits, but she nodded, mutely indicating to Lila she would try. Chastened, she ducked her head and nuzzled Lila’s shoulder.

She risked changing the subject. “So... How should we take best advantage of our kid-free time?”

Lila hummed as Skylar nipped and nuzzled up and down the column of her throat. Skylar had been captivated by the willowy brunette from the first moment Lila had brought Max for the YA reading circle at Book Nook, the store Skylar managed in downtown Denver.

“I think we can think of something,” Lila said as Skylar leaned her back on the cushion and unbuttoned the pink silk blouse. She palmed Lila’s breasts, thumbs flicking over the nipples, enjoying the warm mass in her hands and the little catches of breath as Lila tried to rein in rising arousal. Loving Lila was such a feast for Skylar’s senses. Lila’s body heat welcomed Skylar, pillowy breasts filled Skylar’s hands, and the silky skin sent up wave after wave of heavenly musk.

Lila lifted her hips; Skylar loosened the scarf-like belt and slid the black Capri pants from Lila’s legs. She bent over Lila and inhaled, nose twitching to catch every nuance of Lila’s arousal, before she surveyed the slope and curves of belly and thighs, trying to decide where to start. She flicked her tongue in and out of Lila’s bellybutton, like a cat licking at cream. Lila rewarded her talent with a gasping single cry and fingers tugging talon-like through Skylar’s shaggy, long, blond hair. Her face was guided, insistently, toward Lila’s center, but firming the muscles in her shoulders, Skylar lingered on Lila’s belly instead, pushing Lila’s legs apart and resting in the cradle of her pelvis.

Her weight prevented Lila from moving very much, but the rising onslaught of passion still had Lila squirming, trying to force some small friction against Skylar’s chest. Lila’s voice told her when she’d found a satisfying protrusion, rising a notch. Skylar leaned back and stripped off her satin button vest, feeling the bit of moisture now dampening it. She followed the vest quickly with her Oxford shirt and divested her jeans in a puddle on the floor.

Skylar looked down between Lila’s open thighs, shining with light sweat, and smiled. Lila’s wetness was already creating a dark patch on the fabric of her light blue panties.

Lila’s gasps revealed just how sensitive she had become when Skylar finally gave a tiny lick to the quivering nub. Strands of Skylar’s hair came off in Lila’s fingers, and Skylar winced but continued the cunnilingual assault.

“Oh, fuuck, fuck, Sky, holy...” Lila’s belly muscles shuddered as they tried to convulse around the point of Skylar’s contact. Skylar set her nose against Lila’s clit and opened her mouth, tongue lashing at the flowing center of her lover.

When she sensed by the quivering within that Lila’s body craved something firmer, Skylar brought her broad, flat fingers up and gradually rocked two inside, curving inward and downward where Lila’s g-spot lay. She was already licking her lips and cheeks to savor Lila’s deep flavor when she felt a thin stream squirt her in the face.

Lila steadily cried out in her pleasure as Skylar lapped at the full length of Lila’s sex, her kitten’s cream filling Skylar with pride. The tugging on Skylar’s hair gentled and became stroking and patting.

“On the floor,” Lila murmured. “My turn.”

“Later,” Skylar objected as she lifted her mouth from Lila’s folds, pulled her body up over Lila’s, and gave Lila’s breasts soft but insistent attention. She closed her eyes, sinking into the sensations of their flesh sliding together, the pliant nipple in her mouth, the scents and sounds of their lovemaking, and the delicious quivers from Lila stroking her bared skin.

Skylar rocked her hips, and Lila insinuated a thigh between Skylar’s legs.

Skylar thought she truly never wanted more than this, loving and being loved by Lila. She gasped as an orgasm ebbed and flowed through her like waves lapping at the ocean shore at low tide.

Chapter 2

Skylar stretched into her lover’s touch, awakening to the sensations of Lila’s teeth and tongue lavishing her body with attention. Feathering her fingers through Lila’s hair, she followed Lila’s head down between her thighs, arching her back to encourage the ministrations at her center. She loved being made love to like this, seeing the enjoyment on Lila’s face from pleasuring Skylar. Lila’s midnight-black brows contrasted with creamy skin. Skylar was essentially tawny and tan, golden hair and golden skin, and she loved the variety of Lila’s body. She massaged Lila’s shoulders, enjoying Lila’s attentions.

Lila’s fingers stroked and awakened nerve endings, but did not penetrate. Skylar stroked Lila’s head in contentment, happy to rise slowly to her peak.

Skylar felt release finally coming on, and her breathing quickened. Lila’s lips wrapped around Skylar’s quivering nub and sucked it, driving Skylar expertly to fulfillment.

Catching her breath, Skylar rolled Lila over and rocked their mounds together, the friction more than enough to bring on orgasm again as Lila wrapped her legs around Skylar’s back. She sucked at Lila’s breast, teething the nipple, and tugging to extend her orgasm. She was rewarded to hear a cry catch in Lila’s throat.

“I love you, Skylar,” Lila murmured as Skylar eased off her and tucked their quivering bodies together.

“I love you, too.” Skylar kissed Lila’s temple, tasting the sweet, salty sweat.

***

Sunday evening, Lila and Skylar sat together at the small dining room table, feeding each other bits of fondue as the pot sizzled on the heat nearby. Skylar closed her teeth around a chunk of beef seared in the light oil, and held a shrimp up to Lila’s lips with her spearing fork.

They were nearing the end of the main course: shrimp, beef, and strips of vegetables. A warming pot of chocolate waited next to a tray of cheese chunks and several fruits.

“Enjoying yourself?” Lila asked after chewing and swallowing her shrimp. Skylar speared another piece of beef, then plunged it into the oil.

“My favorite meal,” Skylar pointed out. “No muss, no fuss. Happy birthday to me.” She chuckled, then snapped the meat from the spearing fork and chewed with a self-satisfied grin.

“I swear, you’d eat the meat if it was still mooing,” Lila complained good-naturedly as she settled a piece of meat for a much longer spell into the hot oil. The hissing and spitting of the oil were the only sounds for several seconds as Skylar finished chewing.

Skylar speared a strip of green pepper and left it in the oil until she judged it would nearly be mush. Not her favorite thing, but she had learned to eat vegetables and balance her diet a little better since childhood.

Lila smiled as Skylar chewed. When she had swallowed, Skylar accepted a soft, closed-lips kiss from Lila.

“We don’t have time to go back into the bedroom,” Skylar mourned as the kiss ended. “Max is due home any minute.”

Lila nodded. “It’s been a good weekend. It might sustain me for the whole week.”

“Lila,” Skylar lamented.

“Okay, okay. You’re right. I hope you can talk your father around, or at least let us come with you next year.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Not your problem. I’ll get over it.”

Skylar recalled how her previous girlfriends never did “get over it” and worried if the same might happen with Lila. She hoped not, but she could not change things now. She was allowed to live away from home only because she’d made a deal to return each year for a week to satisfy the elders.

Chapter 3

They were ensconced again on the couch, replete from dinner, this time watching a rented DVD of Casablanca, when the doorbell buzzed.

Max would have had a key, but maybe his hands were full, Skylar thought as she got up and went to the door. She glanced through the peephole and squinted. It was a man in a uniform. But the distortion made it hard to determine exactly what agency or business he worked for. “Who is it?” she asked, glancing toward Lila, who twisted quickly on the futon.

“Colorado State Police, ma’am. We need to talk to you.”

Skylar pulled open the door, leaving the chain in place. “ID?” She didn’t know a real badge from a fake, but the question gave her time to take a deep breath. The officer, who she could see now was a man a little thick around the middle, showed his badge and ID card, revealing he was Lieutenant Grimms.

She closed the door, detached the chain, and opened the door fully. “Yes, sir?” Lila had come from the couch and now stood at her side.

“Are you Ms. Lila Lohr?” he asked Skylar.

Lila pointed to herself. “I am. What’s this about?”

“Ex-wife of Mr. Lou Lohr?” he asked.

“Yes. What’s happened?”

“Ma’am, I need you to come into town with me. I’ll explain on the way.”

“What’s happened?” Lila demanded. Skylar put a supportive arm around her shoulders.

“We found your ex-husband in Cherry Creek State Park this morning.”

“Found?”

“He’s dead, ma’am.”

“Dead? How? He...” Lila stuttered. Skylar hugged her tighter. “My... our son... Max. Where’s Max?”

“Max?”

“Lou had taken Max on a camping trip this weekend,” Skylar informed the officer succinctly.

“Do you have a picture of your son, ma’am?”

“Right there on the wall, his last school picture.” Skylar pointed. “Are you saying Max was not with Lou?”

“We had no evidence there was another person at the scene, ma’am.” The officer looked apologetically from Lila back to Skylar. “We can get an Amber Alert out for him. Let’s go back to my car.”

Lila and Skylar followed the trooper out to his vehicle. Several neighbors had already gathered, looking on with curiosity. Skylar shook her head when Bert Camden asked, “What’s going on?” She steered Lila with a cheek kiss into the front passenger seat, and she took the back seat.

The officer keyed his radio. “This is unit 1904. I’ve got Mrs. Lohr. We’re going to need an Amber Alert on a missing child -- Max Lohr. Age?” He pointedly looked at Lila.

“He’s twelve.”

“Age twelve,” Lieutenant Grimms repeated into the radio. Looking at the photograph, he described, “Black hair, brown eyes, weight average. Height?” He once again looked at Lila.

“Five feet, five inches, I think.”

“Height five-five,” Grimms supplied over the radio, then set it back in its cradle. The communications system came alive with officers chatting back and forth with central dispatch. Skylar listened to the audio traffic, sorting out the information as the trooper’s vehicle wended its way out of the neighborhood and onto the roads leading into town.

“What can you tell us about the scene in the woods?” Skylar asked. Cherry Creek Park wasn’t far off her jogging route. The reservoir wall she usually considered her turnaround point was at the far edge of the park space.

“We’ve got people going over it. Looked to be a tussle of some kind. Found animal tracks. Were your ex and the boy out hunting?” Grimms asked Lila.

“No. Just camping. They left Friday night.” Lila’s voice quavered.

“We can’t be sure exactly what happened until the coroner’s report,” Grimms said quickly.

“Max knows you can’t hunt on park land. Did you find weapons at the campsite, is that why you thought they were hunting?” Skylar asked.

“No weapons,” he said. He didn’t talk for several minutes as he pulled the cruiser into the drive at the Cherry Creek park rangers’ station. “All right. Ms. Lohr, can I take this picture out of the frame? I’m going to fax it in to get the alert going.”

“Yes.” Lila fumbled with the frame. Skylar took it gently from her hands and turned it over, easing the back cover off and slipping the photo from the frame before handing it all over to the officer.

“Where to?” Skylar asked.

“Just inside. Corporal Vince Tibbs is waiting.”

“Thank you.” She shook Lieutenant Grimms’ hand and steered Lila inside the building with firm but gentle hands on her shoulders. She could feel Lila’s tension in her muscles, even smelled it since the perspiration covering her skin had nothing to do with summer heat.

Inside the building, Skylar’s eyes adjusted quickly, and she found a thin black man in a park ranger’s uniform pacing behind a desk near the back of the one-room space, cordless phone to his ear.

“Get that site cleaned up,” he ordered someone on the line. “We need every scrap you’ve got down here for analysis ASAP.”

“Corporal Tibbs?” Skylar asked.

“Yes?”

“Lieutenant Grimms brought us.”

“Mrs. Lohr?”

“Lou Lohr was her ex-husband,” Skylar said. “Were there any signs of another person at the campsite?”

“The Amber Alert?”

“Their son, Max. He’s twelve.”

“Would he have run off, gotten lost looking for help?”

“Maybe, he can’t know the park all that well,” Lila said quickly. Skylar recognized the hope in her lover’s voice.

“Send someone out looking for a kid,” Tibbs said into the phone. “Answers to the name of Max.”

“What exactly did you find at the campsite?” Skylar asked as Tibbs pulled the phone away from his ear and tapped the “off” key.

“Ripped up pretty bad. We thought robbery, but your husband still had his wallet on him, though his pants were in shreds.”

Lila gasped. “An animal attack?”

“That’s kinda what we’re thinking now. There’s a few lone cougars in Cherry Creek, couple real small wolf packs. Nothing else big enough. We just can’t figure out what might’ve triggered an attack.” He looked at Lila. “Not hunting, right?”

“No. My son has never handled a gun in his life.”

“What about your husband?”

“No, I’ve never known Lou to carry a gun either.”

“Well, soon as I get radio the scene is clear, I’ll take you into town.”

Skylar hugged Lila across the shoulders and kissed her head. “I’m going to step outside a minute.”

“Need a smoke?” Tibbs asked, brandishing the pack from his breast pocket.

“No, thanks, just some air.”

Skylar stepped outside and immediately scanned the trails leading away from the ranger station. She lifted her head and felt the breeze on her face, coming from the north. She didn’t sense anything, but that didn’t mean there was nothing to be found. She glanced back at the ranger station door, and the window just behind her left shoulder.

She felt her heart speed up and her palms begin to sweat. Rubbing her fingers together, she debated what to do. The whole purpose of living here was so she didn’t constantly have to give in to her instincts. She liked civilization. Allowing it to fall away wasn’t in the plans on a regular basis.

But she couldn’t just let this go. As Lila’s partner, Skylar knew finding Max was her responsibility.

Just then a noisy caravan came down the trail out of the heart of the park.

A rescue travois swung between two men walking quickly down the trail, watching their steps. A third man, like the other two in blue jumpsuits, carried a large leather pack slung over his shoulder and across his chest. The figure on the travois was covered completely in sheets and blankets. Skylar’s nose twitched and she knew it was Lou Lohr underneath.

Fuck.

She looked back up the trail. Where was Max?

“Inside,” she directed the two men, who startled at her approach.

“Who’re you?” the lead man asked.

“The man’s ex-wife is in the office.”

When the men and travois were around the other side of the park office and out of sight, taking Lou’s body to the transport waiting in the parking lot, Skylar took one last look around to check all was clear, then jogged up the trail, into the trees, and out of sight.

***

The dirt of the trail slipped under her feet as she scanned the area. Noise. Picking her head up, she slipped sideways into the brush, hunkered down, and waited. Two men wearing equipment belts hurried past. She waited until the wind shifted and then took off again.

Cresting the rise of the trail, she caught the scents on the breeze and darted down a path hidden by freshly broken undergrowth to her left.

The twin smells of burned wood and tent canvas guided her into the campsite. No one else was around. She paced around the open space, searching. She realized the fire had been tossed from the safe confines of its rock enclosure as her foot landed in warm embers. Man was here. And wolf; she confirmed the scent when she found spoor. She hunted frantically for other evidence, ducking inside the tent.

Max had been there. But the wolf had been, too.

Emerging into the sunlight with a pair of Max’s underwear in her teeth, she surveyed the clearing’s edges, rooting about for direction. Layered with Max’s scent was that of the wolf.

Finally she found the trail, though her heart thumped with painful worry. The trail led south. Toward town. Toward home.

At a fast run, she reached the reservoir lake without any further sign of Max or of the wolf that had obviously been in the campsite the night before. There was a ledge out over a copse of trees, and she covered the space at a leap. The wind was behind her and blew her hair into her eyes.

She rolled and tumbled, coming up teeth and claws fighting with a black and brown wolf. The juvenile was skinny and unskilled as a fighter. It hissed and growled. She backhanded it with a paw and leaped for its throat. I am the dominant here, she growled. I don’t have time to waste with a stupid cur.

The wolf, already slashed once by her strike, rolled to its belly in surrender. She leaped past it, trotting to the edge of the park property. She made the outhouse door bounce and slipped inside when it opened.

***

Skylar emerged from the outhouse wearing a black tank top and blue-black shorts, though her feet remained bare. The ball of clothes had been exactly where she’d left them weeks ago, behind the commode. Despite how close it was to the road, humans clearly hated using the unkempt facility.

She didn’t need to change often. But as her annual cycle got closer, she knew she might have need of a backup plan, so had stashed the clothes on a run out to the park two weeks ago.

Her right arm pained her and she looked to see a deep scratch dripping from her elbow to her wrist. She looked back toward the park. The wolf she had tangled with was gone.

Fuck.

Jumping the guard rail, she walked back to the spot of the fight. She retrieved several tufts of hair and smelled the strands.

Why was the wolf’s scent tangled up with Max’s?

Damn, she wished she could ask Mar about the Cherry Creek wolves now. She suspected they had a werewolf running with them. It must have attacked Max and Lou Saturday night.

Running barefoot, she easily covered the miles to the apartment, slipped the emergency key from the false base in the flowerpot, and let herself inside the apartment. She had to get back to Lila at the ranger station.

A glance at the clock, though, made her realize she’d been gone from Lila’s side for more than two hours. Just then she heard her cell phone ring. Retrieving it from the charger by the front door, she snapped it open. “Hello.”

“Skylar! Thank God, you’re there. We thought we’d lost you, too.”

“No,” Skylar said quickly. “I was walking through the woods, looking for Max, and came home for some water. I’m on my way back to you.”

“You’ve been out looking for Max?”

“Of course I have. We know he was with Lou. Whatever scared him away from the campsite, I thought maybe he’d have tried to find his way home.”

“Oh, God, I love you. Thank you for keeping your head.”

“Just hang tight, Lila. I’m getting in my car now. I’ll be right back there in a jiff.”

“I’ll be waiting,” Lila said.

Skylar closed the cell phone, tucked it in her pocket, went into her room, and grabbed a duffel bag, into which she tossed another pair of shorts and a t-shirt. Throwing it into the backseat, she hurriedly turned on the car and raced out of the apartment complex, driving back to the Cherry Creek ranger station.

She sorted flashes of memory from her run through Cherry Creek Park: the campsite, the reservoir, and the encounter with the black and brown wolf. There had to be a clue somewhere about Max’s whereabouts.

***

“Oh, thank you, God!” Lila fell into Skylar’s arms as she stepped out of the dark blue sedan. “They still can’t find any trace of Max at the campsite, other than his clothes and bag. He had to have run off during the attack on Lou.”

“We have noticed an increase in wolf activity in the park,” Corporal Tibbs said, as he walked up to the two women. “Seems your ex-husband bled to death from slashes and bites on his throat. Completely ripped open his jugular.”

His next words sent an icy chill through Skylar’s veins.

“We’ve dispatched the wildlife trapper with a tranq. Once we confirm the capture, we’ll euthanize it.”

Skylar frowned. But there was nothing she could do. “Whatever you think best, sir. I’d like to take Lila home now.”

“Sure thing. We’ll let you know when we find your boy, Mrs. Lohr. We’re gonna organize a sweep-search.”

“Thank you.” Lila spoke through tears, which she tried to blot on Skylar’s shirt. Fists in the fabric, Lila frowned at it, then looked up at Skylar’s face. “Sky..?”

“I changed,” Skylar replied succinctly. “Remember, I went home to check if Max made it back there.” She smiled reassuringly. At least she didn’t yet have to explain the scabbed-over scratch on her forearm.

“Oh.” Lila uncurled her hands and let the fabric go. Skylar guided her over to the sedan.

Chapter 4

Safely back at their apartment, Skylar helped Lila up the steps. Once inside, she coaxed Lila onto the futon couch, and went into the kitchen to pour her a glass of lemonade over ice. But when she emerged to bring the drink to Lila, her partner was sound asleep, curled into the cushions at one end.

Draining the lemonade herself with a grimace, Skylar went to the sliding glass doors that overlooked the courtyard and out toward the park lands. It didn’t seem to make much sense that a native wolf would have attacked Max and Lou, and the only mountain lions in Cherry Creek Park really lived farther west, often messengers from the Pride lands to her and others who preferred living more among humans.

Skylar didn’t like these reminders of her heritage when the human and animal worlds collided. She wasn’t one for even socializing with the other Coula changelings who lived in Denver and its surrounds. They were not werebeasts, but born shifters, in control of their form -- except in heat. The youngest often scampered in animal form, but by age four or five were shifting between that and human form, matching their parents. The old almost always reverted to full-time animal form. Though some, like her father, remained strong in both body and mind and maintained their shifting ability well into what should be declining years, they disdained a lot of the human trappings of life.

Like many young, Skylar had attended school with human children. But unlike many of her Pride-mates, Skylar flourished in the human world, not only graduating from elementary school, but continuing on.

Skylar discovered a love of knowledge. She loved the contentment that came with expressing her mind, not in grunts and growls but in a human tongue. She enjoyed reading the expressions of humans -- thus her current position as manager of a bookstore.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, her college aspirations could all be laid at the feet of love. Most Coula couldn’t sustain a relationship, their desires too animal for most humans to match for long. But Skylar’s attraction was unusual for even a Coula: she had been infatuated with a female classmate. Georgia Arrends had been senior captain of the high school debate team, and Skylar just a lowly sophomore. But days and weeks of studying together had led to feelings Skylar could only call love.

Georgia was a lesbian, receptive to the admission of her feelings.

The girls had enjoyed that year together, emotionally, mentally, and physically. Skylar’s father had been livid when she didn’t ask him, but rather informed him, that she intended to finish high school and follow Georgia to college.

She’d stood her ground and moved out to Denver after high school graduation, living with Georgia in an apartment near campus, but her father was Pride leader. He decreed that she return to Pride lands every year for her estrus, or heat cycle. He sent Coula to fetch her if a week passed beyond the solstice and she had not yet returned. The only way she could end the obligation was to no longer cycle, and she had another ten years of that at least.

She’d managed not to tie herself to the Pride lands beyond the annual return. Her Coula form had successfully fought off all comers. Her father was angry each time, but there was nothing he could do if she didn’t have cubs. Let one of her siblings and half-siblings, his other children, maintain the Coula lineage.

Her annual estrus occurred on or after the summer solstice each year. She didn’t know what time of year she had been born, but it served her purposes in the human world to make the excuse that she traveled home every year for her birthday. Solstice had occurred four days ago, and her control of her form was slipping as the complex hormones ricocheted around her body, so it was time once again. She was due back in the Pride lands this week and had made arrangements for her “vacation time” accordingly.

Now, though, she felt no desire to go. Not while Max was missing.

Maybe not even after he was found.

Skylar considered Lila and Max in very human terms as her family. She’d been with Lila the longest of all her girlfriends. Max was a good kid, and Skylar could honestly say she loved him and enjoyed having him as well as Lila in her home. The Coula in her growled: her Pride.

Movement at the distant edge of the park land caught her attention. All right. It was time to find one or more of the Coula passing through the park to see what they knew.

She would find Max. Glancing over her shoulder, she silently promised Lila’s sleeping form: or I’ll die trying. She pulled off her shirt, leaving it on the bed, and shifted on her way down the stairs.

A sleek mountain lion slipped out the front door of the apartment building and trotted quickly to the woods’ edge, out of sight.

***

She encountered another mountain lion by the reservoir wall. As soon as they sniffed and identified one another, they shifted to human form. Nude in the clearing, Skylar and Mar stepped into a copse of trees to talk and avoid surprising any park patrons.

“Gray wants to know,” Mar said without preamble.

“Not now. My mate’s son, Max, is missing. I won’t leave until he’s found.”

“You consider that woman your mate?”

“I do. And my father can be stuffed if he challenges that.”

“This young. Is he the dark-haired male I often see running with you?”

Max did sometimes accompany her jogging. Skylar nodded, surprised that Mar sounded like his interest was piqued.

“He has been in the park,” Mar informed her plainly.

“He was camping with his father.”

“Two days ago?” Mar asked. He glanced north, his gaze narrowing as he scratched his jaw in a very human gesture of thought.

“Yes,” Skylar said.

Mar returned his gaze to hers; she was the superior here, though, and he dropped his quickly. “I have seen him. Oro has seen him as well.”

“Where?” Skylar felt the adrenaline slip into her veins, warming her for action.

“At the water’s edge.”

“Take me there.”

Mar glanced at the ground, and Skylar knew the unspoken question was should they shift to travel. “How far is it?”

“At the north side of the lake.”

That would be two hours on foot, or just a brisk run on paw.

“We’ll shift,” she said with a sigh.

***

The pair of mountain lions sped on paw around the east side of the lake, where the human trails were thinnest. Only the hardiest hikers would be up here. Coula and wolves traveled these paths, preferring to keep away from humans as much as humans wanted to keep away from them.

She scented the wolves that made this trail area their home. A pack of five, though she scented that a sixth was traveling with them at various points. Her suspicion grew stronger that a werewolf was making its home in Cherry Creek Park.

The wolves of Cherry Creek were black and gray. That meant the black and brown one she’d encountered earlier had to be the were. A wolf pack had been relocated to Cherry Creek a decade ago, out of the humans’ desire to help the timber wolf population increase. The werewolves had moved out, ceding the territory to the fully animal newcomers.

She trotted through the trails, following scents, and finally isolated the black and brown wolf’s from among the others.

It did indeed lead to the north shore of the park’s small lake.

When the scent was strongest, Mar slid back behind Skylar, allowing her to take point. As she neared their destination, she began to scent Max.

She stopped trotting forward, caught in a quandary. If she and Mar met the werewolf, being in Coula form guaranteed their success in a fight. If she and Mar met Max in Coula form, they could further traumatize the boy. But if she and Mar shifted to human now, they’d both be nude.

An adolescent boy definitely did not need that.

She crept to the top of a rocky promontory, keeping the wind in her face, and looked down through the foliage.

His dark hair matted with blood, and pale, naked skin further spattered, Max lay on a makeshift bed of grass and leaves that looked hand-swept together and mounded from the surrounding ground. He lay curled in a fetal position, arms wrapped around his knees. He appeared to be sleeping, though his back, legs, and arms twitched spasmodically.

The wind shifted, carrying her scent now toward Max.

The twitching turning into convulsions. Max jerked upright, instantly awake. He lips drew back from his teeth.

He snarled, gaze darting around, searching for what apparently he could sense but not see.

She glared to her side at Mar. Shifting would lessen their Coula scent. But with a nod, she ordered him to change. She gritted her teeth against the tension that built and receded in her as the change occurred.

Skylar exhaled when she opened her eyes and did not see a wolf pouncing on them. Creeping back to the ledge, she risked a glance down on Max’s location as she absorbed the revelation.

Max was a werewolf. He had been the wolf she encountered near the edge of Cherry Creek Park.

Even now, Max twitched and made canine woofs and whimpers with the heightened hormones still rushing in his blood after the full moon. His wolf senses had obviously picked up on her, and Mar’s, presence.

Her mind filled with questions: where and when had Max been infected? How long had he been shifting with the moon? Why hadn’t she or Lila sensed anything before now? Was he involved somehow in Lou’s death, or had another werewolf set this whole thing in motion that night?

One thing was certain. She couldn’t approach Max right now.

***

Skylar and Mar did not have a chance to reconnoiter. As they stood up, preparing to walk away carefully from the promontory above where Max had made his bower, they heard the sound of a body crashing through the undergrowth. Two wolves rushed headlong at them. One was brown and black -- Max. The other, not much older, was black and gray. And female.

Max and the female circled them. Mar and Skylar backed up to one another, each keeping an eye on one wolf.

“Do we shift?” Mar asked, sounding frantic. He was not used to fighting in human form, and clearly trusted his Coula form in these matters.

“If we stay in human form, we don’t smell like the scents they caught.” Skylar hoped so anyway. The female wolf had decided to remain focused on her, while Mar dealt with Max’s jittery snapping. The female was clearly a top-notch hunter, not rushing at Skylar, but also not wavering in her attention to Skylar’s every move.

So Skylar froze in place. With a firm hand, she held Mar still, though even she could scent his Coula wanting to emerge.

With no overt challenge, the female wolf lowered her rear. She swung her head right and left in confusion, passing her gaze back and forth over them and occasionally over the promontory behind them. Her lips drew back from her teeth and she growled, but it sounded more like a question than a threat.

Skylar eased Mar and herself away from the promontory, distancing them from the female wolf and Max. She risked a glance away from the female toward Max’s werewolf form. She hoped to see something within his eyes that meant he found her familiar. However, he only echoed the female wolf’s growl. Without turning their backs to the wolf pair, she and Mar moved slowly down the trail, away from the spot.

Max and the female wolf did not follow.

Out of sight, Skylar and Mar finally turned. It took another half hour and a wind shift for them to feel safe enough to shift to Coula form and run all the way back to Skylar’s favored port-a-potty station.

Mar left her there, and Skylar, for the second time that day, ran back to the apartment.

Only this time she had no spare clothes.

***

Lila stirred on the futon when Skylar let herself in. Before Lila could lift her head, Skylar hurried to the corridor leading to the bedrooms and bathroom. She snatched a towel from the bathroom and wrapped herself in it.

Emerging from the corridor, she was grateful for Lila’s sleepy state. Her brain didn’t always work quickly when first awake.

“How’re you feeling?” Skylar asked.

“Okay. Looks like you took a shower.”

“Cleaned up a little. You wanna go back to the park ranger station and check on the search for Max?”

“Yes.” Lila stood up, too quickly. Skylar reached out and steadied her with a hand.

“Maybe you should eat something first.” Skylar aimed her toward the kitchen and kissed her head. “I’ll make a call, see if I can find out anything before we leave.”

While Lila puttered around the kitchen, making herself a sandwich, Skylar grabbed her cell phone and dialed one of the Coula living in town.

She didn’t want the human search parties to find Max, in either form, before he could be brought under control.

“I need your help,” she said as soon as the line connected. “There’s a were loose in Cherry Creek Park.”

“You want us to kill the poor thing?” came the cold response.

“No!” she hissed, trying to be both adamant and soft, so Lila wouldn’t overhear. “I need you to trap it and bring it here.” Lila entered the room, nibbling on her sandwich. “I’m going to send Lila to the park ranger station right away,” she said, easily shifting gears.

“They have some news on Max?” Lila asked, sounding a hopeful note.

“Maybe,” Skylar hedged.

“Well, tell them I’ll be right there.”

Skylar spoke into the phone, “Thirty minutes.”

Lila was already leaving the room, headed for the front door.

Skylar quickly told the Coula, a male named Gar, human name Garrison, where she and Mar had encountered Max. “He’s still under lunar influence,” she warned, “but he’s my mate’s son. I need to find out what I can about how this happened before we let him be found by the humans.”

“Your mate is human.”

Skylar replied, “Right, so Max must’ve been bit...” She trailed off. “Fuck! That’s it. The bite when he was five!” Then she paused and frowned. “Wouldn’t I have known all this time?”

“How old is he?”

“Turned twelve in the spring.”

“Weres don’t shift with the moon until puberty,” Gar reminded her.

Skylar blinked. Of course.

That was immediately followed by a sinking thought. “What the hell am I going to tell his mother?”

In telling Lila, Skylar knew she would have to come clean about how she learned of it, and that would entail revealing her own heritage.

That, of course, was even before adjusting to the fact that her were-son had killed his own father in what was probably a moment of lunar madness, when he couldn’t be held responsible for his actions.

And that these moments would be part of Max for the rest of his life.

“Bring Max here as quickly as you can,” Skylar added with emphasis.

“Will do.”

Gar would round up the two other Coula he lived with, and it would probably take them the entire half hour to round up Max. She wondered if she and the other Coula would be able to separate him from the female wolf. They seemed pretty inseparable, and Skylar wondered what the story was there. Max wouldn’t remember. Unlike Coula, who kept most of their memories in shifted form, werewolf lunar madness blocked most of the memories of a werewolf’s lunar rampages.

To have so little control, either to prevent their transformations or to prevent their animal form’s natural killer instincts, made Coula consider the average werewolf’s plight most pitiable.

Skylar knew Gar was right. Killing a were would be the most merciful thing to do.

But Max was Lila’s son, and Skylar’s attachment to them both demanded she find an answer that wouldn’t lead to that.

She picked up the phone again, this time asking the operator for the number to Tracks nightclub.

***

She hadn’t been to Tracks in the gay district of Denver since college, but the bartender there was the first werewolf she’d encountered when she arrived from the Pride lands. Being were and being Coula made them different from one another, but it also meant they both shared similar secrets from society at large.

“Ben,” she said by way of greeting when he was summoned to the phone.

“Sky,” he replied. “How’ve you been?”

“Can you tell me anything about the were who went amok about seven years ago?”

“You mean the ‘rabid dog’? Damn, we had a time sweeping that under the rug.”

“Yeah, that’s the one. He made it out to this side of town, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, got two kids, a girl and a boy, and ripped out the throat of two Rottweilers before any of us could turn him. We had to let Denver Animal Control euthanize him. But we snuck the body out before it could slip back.”

“Well, one--” Skylar stopped. “You know, maybe both -- his human victims have reached puberty.”

“Both?”

“I’m pretty sure my girlfriend’s son Max is the black and brown sighted out in Cherry Creek Park. There was a female with him, not much older -- though she’s gray and black, like the rest of the regular timbers. I’ve got Gar and his buddies rounding up Max. If I introduce you, do you think you can help Max handle this thing?”

“You mean Lila’s kid? Hell, yes, I can give it my best shot.”

“Thanks. She doesn’t know, and for as long as I can, I’d like to keep it that way. I should have him here at the apartment in about thirty minutes, give or take.”

“I can’t be there ‘til morning.”

Skylar frowned but realized that he was just being honest. “All right. I’ll figure out something in the meantime,” Skylar said. “Thanks, Ben.”

“Good luck, Sky.”

Chapter 5

There was a knock on the apartment door. On her way to open it, Skylar looked at her cell phone, wondering if Lila would call saying the park rangers didn’t actually have any news for them.

Max, bloodied and battered almost beyond recognition, was being held up between Gar, a thickly muscled blond male, and Arn, who was more light brown than blond but just as thickly built. All were naked, and as Skylar stepped back to let them in, she noted Max obviously had given nearly as good as he got. Both Arn and Gar bore the marks of a significant fight, and Arn was limping.

“We had to pummel him unconscious, Sky,” Gar said apologetically.

“Put him in the tub. I’ll get him washed and cleaned up, hopefully before he comes to or his mother comes back.” She pointed the way. “Grab some towels for yourselves, and you’ll find sweat clothes in my drawers, on the left, in the bedroom dresser.”

When Max was deposited in the tub, Gar and Arn exited the bathroom, pausing beside her in the hall. “You want us to stick around?”

Skylar wondered if she should. If Max couldn’t yet control his wolf, did she need them as backup? Or would it just be more complicated to explain the presence of so many men...

“Wait. No. Stick around. Truth is, you found him. If I can make it seem like he was injured in the fight that killed Lou, having you guys around will make it look like you found him as part of a human search party.” She reached for her cell phone, but then stopped. “I’d better not call her just yet. Better to find out Max’s reaction.”

“Max’s reaction was pretty severe when we went to separate him from the female wolf.”

“I think she’s were, too,” Skylar said. “Remember the rabid dog attacks a few years ago?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“Were community says that it was one of theirs who had succumbed to lunar madness.”

“You want us to find out?”

“Not right now. For now, we’ve got Max back, and that’s who I’m concerned with.”

“You mind if we raid the fridge?” Arn asked.

“No, help yourself. I’m gonna take care of this.”

Skylar let herself into the bathroom and shut the door.

***

“Max.” Skylar murmured his name over and over again as she cleaned numerous cuts and gouges. She shampooed the blood and dirt out of his hair. Rinse, lather, repeat. Twice for good measure. He wouldn’t smell like decaying animal to any humans if she could help it. To herself and the other two Coula, though, she knew the smell would linger, making them a little hunt crazy. Even now she had to wrestle her instinct to chase down the scents tantalizing her nose.

But this was Max, her lover Lila’s only son. She growled internally, silencing her animal instinct. She would protect him with everything inside her.

She was cleaning his legs, using antiseptic to treat a particularly nasty gash across his calf muscle, when Max jerked awake.

The thrashing boy was wild-eyed, taking in his surroundings as Skylar fought to keep his arms from coming up. She couldn’t stop his partial transformation, his fingers sharpening to claws, but allowing the water to soak her clothes-covered body, she wrapped herself around him until his thrashing slowed. Recognition began to dawn in his features, and his face screwed up in a frown. Then he crumpled into tears.

Skylar moved him so he could cry into her chest, knowing he was not yet ready to speak. But the emotional overflow, whether or not he knew its source, was overwhelming and needed to be released.

When Max’s crying had finally become ragged tears, Skylar had no idea how much time had passed. Max was lifting his head, looking about to speak, when she dimly heard the ring of her cell phone from the living room. That had to be Lila.

“Hold that thought,” she promised him. “I’ll be right back.”

Letting herself out of the bathroom, Skylar shut the door. She waved to Gar, who had come from the kitchen at the noise.

She gestured to the bathroom door. “Watch the door. Don’t enter.”

When he was guarding the door, Skylar picked up the phone and looked at the caller ID. “Hi, Lila.”

“Any news?” Lila asked.

Skylar looked over at Gar. “I had a call from a friend who joined the search parties. He and his buddies found Max.”

Lila’s cry through the phone tore at Skylar’s heart for her part in the deception. “I’ll tell everyone here. I’m coming home!”

Skylar put down the phone. “We’ve got about twenty minutes,” she warned Gar and Arn. “Let’s see where Max’s head is.”

She opened the bathroom door cautiously. She opened it wider when she found Max sitting on the toilet, head in his hands. He’d wrapped a towel around his waist.

“Sky,” he said plaintively, not looking up. “What’s happened to me?”

“Max, I don’t know that we can explain everything, but it’s become pretty clear to us that you’re a werewolf. What do you remember about the last couple days?”

Max rubbed his head like it pained him, scrunched up his eyes, and then shook his head. “I remember setting up camp with Dad in Cherry Creek Park. And laying back in my pup tent, looking up at the moon high in the sky.”

“It was a full moon.”

“Yeah. Gorgeous. I remember thinking I should get the camera and see if I could take a picture, to show Mom.”

“Do you remember seeing any wolves?” Skylar asked. “You know there’s a pack the wildlife people relocated to the park, right?”

Max started to shake his head, but then stopped. “I’ve got this image in my head of a wolf, I think... Where did I see a wolf?”

“When you were one. She’s still out there. We found you on the north shore of the lake.”

“When I was...” Max’s voice trailed off. “I was a wolf,” he said, looking down at himself. “How did this happen?”

“I can’t say for sure, but it looks like that dog attack when you were little was actually a werewolf.”

Max inhaled and exhaled slowly, absorbing this information. Absently, as he always had when remembering the attack, he rubbed at the scar on his throat. Then Max lifted his head, directly asking her the one question she still didn’t know the right way to answer. “How do you know all about werewolves?”

Skylar shook her head. “I’m not a werewolf, if that’s what you’re asking. I’m Coula. We’re mountain lions.”

“Mountain lions versus wolves. Is that all?” Max seized on the new information and looked thoughtful. Skylar gestured him out of the bathroom and into the hallway.

Max saw the two men standing in the living room and stopped. “Who’re they?”

“These are Gar and Arn. They helped me get you home.”

“Are they werewolves?”

“No, they’re Coula, like me.”

“What is the difference?”

Skylar pursed her lips, trying hard not to let the instinctive pity she felt for werewolves color her words. “Coula can control their shifting. Werewolves can’t. You shift because of the moon’s influence. We can shift with only a thought, human to animal, and back again.”

“Great.”

“I know a werewolf who can help you, though. His name’s Ben, and he’ll come by tomorrow.”

“But the full moon is over.”

“Your first time shifting can last longer. The full moon was last night, yet you shifted twice today,” Skylar pointed out. “Ben can probably explain it better.”

Max sat down on the futon, head back in his hands. “Twilight shit is supposed to stay in books.”

“Well, it doesn’t. Shifters and weres do exist. Though not all of the popular lore about us is accurate.”

“Vampires?” Max asked, looking up at her from under his dark brows.

“I’ve met two.”

“Great. So... does Mom know about you?” Max asked.

“No.”

“Is your annual trip related to your being... Coula?”

“Yes.”

They didn’t have time for more conversation as the apartment’s front door burst open, and Lila came running through it.

Despite her rush, she identified Max and Skylar on the couch and the two large men standing over them. “Max! Sky!”

Max didn’t have time to respond before he was swept into his mother’s frantic embrace. He rose from the futon and wrapped his arms around her as well, letting her bury her face against his shoulder and cry.

She pulled back abruptly and searched him up and down. “More scratches.”

“And a few serious cuts,” Skylar supplied. “He got away from the attack on Lou, but ended up wandering with memory loss.” Again, close to the truth was an easier lie to keep. She looked at Max and shook her head slightly, so he’d not counter any of what she said.

“Yeah, Mom. I’m okay now. Thanks to these guys.”

Lila looked up at Gar and Arn. “You’re the friends of Sky’s who found Max?” She launched herself at them and hugged them, tiny against their more massive forms. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

She kissed each man’s cheek and then fell back onto the futon.

“Mom!” Max said in alarm.

“I’m fine,” Lila said. “Now, anyway.”

“What are the rangers going to do about Lou’s attack?” Skylar asked cautiously.

“They’re still going to tranq the wolves, try and figure out which one or ones attacked him, and euthanize it.”

Max looked anxiously at Skylar before asking his mother, “Do they have to?”

“You suffered at their paws, too,” Lila said.

“But I’ll be all right, Mom. Really.”

“We should take you to a doctor to get checked out anyway,” Lila said firmly.

Skylar spoke up quickly, seeing the opportunity. “I’ll take him tomorrow while you’re at work.”

Lila looked up with grateful eyes. “I love you, Sky.”

“I love you, too, Lila.”

Max leaned over and hugged Skylar, and she hugged him back.

Epilogue

Max promised to lock his windows and his bedroom door that night when Skylar came to talk to him before bed. He didn’t want anything to happen to her or his mother if his episode was going to be longer than one night.

Skylar found Lila brushing out her hair when she entered their bedroom a few minutes later. She squeezed Lila’s shoulders and met her eyes in the small dressing table’s mirror before going over to the bed and stripping out of her clothes, though with a wince here and there as her injuries reminded her of their presence.

Lila turned to gasp at her. “Sky!”

“What?” Sky asked.

“What happened to you? You look almost as bad as Max.”

“I’m fine,” Skylar assured. “It’ll all be healed in a couple days.”

“You went off looking for Max yourself, didn’t you?”

Skylar sighed. “Yeah.”

“You didn’t tangle with the wolf that attacked Lou and Max, did you?”

“No,” Skylar said. “It’s just me being earnest but clumsy.”

“You are not clumsy, Skylar. Never have been. Max always admired what he called your cat-like reflexes.”

Cat-like reflexes? “Um, yeah.” Skylar laughed lightly. “Just because I’m able to whip his butt at soccer.”

Lila nodded. “You’ve always been in great shape, as long as I’ve known you,” Lila said.

Skylar nodded her acceptance of the compliment.

She moved to Lila as they both slid onto the bedding, wrapping her arms around her lover. “I’m glad everything worked out,” she said. “And Max is home safe.”

“Thank you, Skylar for everything you’ve done to make that happen.”

“I love you, Lila, and I love Max, more than anything. You’re my family.”

“Do you still have time to tell your father you’re bringing your family on this year’s trip?” Lila asked.

Skylar held Lila close, considering her options. Nothing between her father and her would change simply because of the last few days. He wouldn’t see her relationship with Lila as she did unless she demanded it. Unless she put it first, and told him no more. Even more important was the point that, if Lila and Max were her family, her Pride, as she said, shouldn’t she be truthful with them? About everything?

She’d come clean with Max because in his situation, it made her an ally. But was it wise to keep Lila out of the loop?

She rolled over to her side and looked down into Lila’s upturned face, resting her head on her own upturned palm.”Lila,” she began. “There are some things I need to let you know about me and my family...”

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental and beyond the intent of either the author or the publisher.

Skylar’s Pride

SAPPHIC SIGNS

An imprint of Torquere Press Publishers

PO Box 2545

Round Rock, TX 78680

Copyright 2011 by Lara Zielinsky

Cover illustration by Alessia Brio

Published with permission

ISBN: 978-1-61040-267-5

www.torquerepress.com

All rights reserved, which includes the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever except as provided by the U.S. Copyright Law. For information address Torquere Press. Inc., PO Box 2545, Round Rock, TX 78680.

First Torquere Press Printing: July 2011

Printed in the USA