“Why is that? They told me they wanted me here a couple of days ago.”

“Things have changed. Now Richard wants to be the one who tells you about things. He thinks you’ll be too freaked out if you see it happening.”

“See what happening?” Kevin shook his head. “No, I’ve waited long enough. I need to be here, Tucker. I need to see for myself what’s going on. It’s time I was let in on this big secret of yours.”

Tucker nodded, laying his hand on Kevin’s arm. “I agree, but it’s not my call. Look, stay for a little while, but I think as soon as Richard notices you here, he’ll make you leave. Tonight is kind of special, and I don’t think things will get started right away. Actually, it’s my first time to see this too. It’s the blue moon ceremony.”

“The what? Blue moon? I thought you were joking about that.”

“No, Gavin said it really happens about once every three years. The full moon rises twice in the same month, at the beginning and then again, toward the end of the month. It doesn’t change color or anything, of course, but it’s very rare. When it happens, they have this ceremony, to mark the occasion.” He pointed toward an older woman who was telling the children stories, because they were indeed stories of some kind, and the children sat on the ground under the moonlight seeming to hang on her every word.

“So…what? You worship the moon?”

Tucker shook his head. “They don’t worship it, no. But it’s very important to them. It-it brings on the change, though they can do it at any time.”

“Do what? What do you mean by the change?”

“You’ll find out if Richard doesn’t catch you. For now, listen to what the medicine woman is telling them. These are some of their legends,” Tucker said.

“Medicine woman? Seriously?”

“The clan has an Indian heritage a long way back. Shh…listen.”

Kevin moved a little closer, with Tucker beside him and they focused on what she was saying.

“Once in the old days, long ago, before the humans came, there was a wolf, and this wolf was alone. Oh, there were other wolves in his pack, but each of them ran under the silvery moon together, and he had no mate to run with. He lived high in the hills all alone, and refused to join the others. And this gave rise to the legend of the lone wolf, with his long teeth and his fearsome, fiery eyes.

“But that wasn’t the worst thing. It wasn’t the thing that froze the marrow in the bones of the other wolves late at night, and caused the children to hide their heads under their paws, and the others to cower in their dens. The worst thing was the lone wolf’s howling, in the cold, crackling air and in the light of the silvery moon. He would sit on his high hill and howl the mournful song of a lost soul, tortured and alone.

“And it frightened everyone who heard it—all except one. One young pup, who also lived alone, his parents having moved on and left him. And when the pup heard the wolf’s mournful song, he would stand in the pale, silvery light of the moon, and he would lift his voice to join the wolf, and he would call to him. ‘Who’s going to stay with me this long, lonesome night?’”

Kevin had to admit he was a little charmed by the story. It had the feel of a fairy tale, both from the old woman’s soft voice and the children’s rapt attention. When she got to the last line, the long, lonesome night part, she would drag out the vowel sounds, making the words sound almost like a howl. The sound made a little shiver go down his spine and he saw the children shift to sit closer to each other. As the sound died on the chill night air, she continued.

“But no one ever came, and no one ever answered, because the pup was a solitary soul. No one understood him or took the time to know him. And he would lie awake in his bed at night wondering why he felt so lost and alone. Sometimes it would make him angry and sometimes it would make him cry. And every night when he heard the wolf, he would stand and sing out, ‘Who’s going to stay with me this long, lonesome night?’ But no one ever answered and no one ever came.

“And one night there was a strange and rare moon, a blue moon, and this time when the young pup stood and called, ‘Who’s going to stay with me this long, lonesome night?’ he heard an answering call. It was the lone wolf, singing his sad, lonely song, but closer this time, sounding nearby. It might have been nothing. It might have been his imagination that the song sounded so close, or only a shadow crossing the blue moon, but he thought it might be everything he’d been seeking. It might be a way to belong. He called again, ‘Who’s going to stay with me this long, lonesome night?’ And from the corner of the eye, he saw the shadows move and become living and breathing flesh. It was the wolf. The pup was frightened, but he knew he had drawn the wolf with his mournful song, and as he peered into the red eyes in front of him, he felt his fear go away.

“He knew in that instant that what he had sought for so long had finally come for him. The wolf answered his call. And so with his heart full and his eyes lit up with understanding, the pup faced the wolf and he said again, ‘Who’s going to stay with me this long, lonesome night?’ And the wolf said, ‘I will.’

“So even today, but only sometimes, on special nights when the moon is full, like tonight, if you strain very hard to hear it, you may hear the cry of the two wolves, their voices mingling together, high on a hill, under the light of the blue moon.”

Just as she finished speaking, a long chilling howl rose up from the group gathered around Gavin. As Kevin watched in fascination and horror, they threw off their clothing one by one and fell on all fours. Even from thirty yards away, where he stood, he could hear the popping and cracking sounds as their bodies elongated and stretched. His mouth fell open and he grabbed Tucker’s arm in terror, pulling at him as one by one their bodies shifted and shimmered as they changed into huge wolves before his eyes. Black ones, brown ones, silver ones, all huge with red eyes and fearsome fangs hanging from their mouths.

Kevin screamed. He couldn’t have held the sound back even if he’d tried.

He heard Tucker yelling at him, even the woman who’d been telling the stories was suddenly on her feet, looking at him in alarm, but he couldn’t seem to stop. His scream pierced the night and was even louder than the howling of the wolves. He saw several huge heads turn toward him and a few nearest the back of the pack began prowling in his direction. That was all it took.

He wrenched his arm away from Tucker and took off as fast as he could back down the path he’d come down. His only thought was to put as much distance between himself and the horror behind him as he could. He was aware of Tucker right behind him, yelling and grabbing at his arm. Tucker had always been a fast runner, much faster than he was. Tucker yanked at his arm and shoved him around to face him.

Vaguely some part of his mind registered feet pounding toward them. Panting for breath he cast a wild eye behind him, trying to wrench away. Whatever was coming for them was headed their way fast. His mind screamed to him that the monstrous creatures were coming for them both, and they had to get away. Kevin threw his body behind Tucker’s, intending to push Tucker ahead of him down the pathway. He felt something huge and powerful slam into his back and knock them both to the ground. He wrenched his body around, half turning over to see a huge black mass hovering over both of them, a gaping maw dripping saliva on their faces. A huge paw slammed into his chest with a stunning, breathtaking pain. His ears were filled with the feral snarls coming from the beast’s throat and his mind refused to register what was about to happen.

Tucker was screaming at the beast on Kevin’s chest, pounding on it with his fists. The beast turned its head toward him, and Kevin could have sworn it gave a growl almost of satisfaction. It sank its teeth deeply into Tucker’s neck. Without conscious thought, Kevin rolled to his side, squirming out from under the creature while it was busy with Tucker, and he staggered to his feet. The only thought in his head was that this thing was about to kill Tucker, to rip out his throat. Rocks almost the size of his head lined the path leading up towards the circle. Kevin heaved one up without thinking, brought it up as high as he could and crashed it down onto the skull of the monster. It let out one loud sound, half scream, half roar and then slumped down across Tucker’s body.

Suddenly, he was pushed roughly to the side, and he fell on the path, his legs unable to hold him up any longer. A huge brown wolf was crouching over Tucker’s body, while another large gray one suddenly flung itself over him, knocking him on his back. He put up his hands defensively as bile came flooding into his mouth. Not again—he wouldn’t survive this time. He choked back the vomit, and he closed his eyes, letting his head fall back on the ground and giving up. Bright pain radiated down from his chest and across his side. Broken ribs, he thought absently, a part of his mind still trying to work out what was happening to him.

After a few moments he was vaguely aware that hands lifted and carried him, as behind him he could still hear what sounded like a battle raging, with other snarls and growls and howling all surrounding the pathway. He opened his eyes and realized Richard carried him, running fast. Too fast, it seemed, to be real. He had to be dreaming. Others were shouting, but his vision was getting dimmer and there was a strange buzzing in his ear. It must be shock. His mind kept repeating the word as a chill swept over him.

He never lost consciousness, but the buzzing in his ears continued, even as he was taken into the warmth of the lodge and taken upstairs to his room. Someone laid him down on the bed and Richard covered him with a blanket, then said something to the others in the room and ran out again. He’d said something about checking on his son. What? What son? What in the name of God was going on? What had he just seen? The images of the beast that tried to kill both him and Tucker flashed through his mind again and again as he lay shivering on the bed. Richard would come soon. He knew that, and he yearned for him at the same time he dreaded seeing him.

Chapter Seven

Richard had never been so frightened in his life. He’d been near the front of the crowd and had just shifted when he heard the loud commotion near the path. Almost unable to believe what he was seeing, he watched as Gavin’s personal guard, the ones he’d last noticed at the back of the pack, ran toward the loud yelling. His keen eyes picked out Tucker right away, and he was stunned to see him struggling with Kevin.