Awake at Dawn (Shadow Falls 2)

Her throat felt tight again. "I missed you all my life," Kylie said. "I didn't know I missed you, but I know it now. You were supposed to be there."

He placed a hand on her cheek. "I was there. I saw you take your first step. The day you fell off your bike and broke your arm I tried to catch you. You went right though my arms. And remember the day you flunked that algebra test and you got so upset that you ran off and smoked a cigarette?"

She frowned. "I hate algebra. But I hated the cigarette, too."

"Me, too," he chuckled. "I've been here, Kylie, but I can't stay here much longer."

His words bounced around her head and hit her heart with a thump. "That's not fair. I just got to know you."

"My time in this realm is limited. I've used much of it watching you grow to be the woman you are."

"Then ask for more time." Her throat tightened. She had lost one father already; she didn't want to lose another one. Not now. Not before she even got to know him.

"I'll try, but it may not happen. I don't regret spending my time with you then." The corners of his eyes crinkled into another smile. "I see in you the best of your mother and the best of me. And while I know you don't want to hear this right now, I see the best of Tom Galen. He is not all bad, Kylie."

She wanted to tell Daniel he was wrong, to insist she wasn't like Tom Galen, but her thoughts were interrupted by the whisk of wind. It came on so fast, as if something had shot past, something so fast that her human eye hadn't detected it. Something not human.

The dark silence that followed told Kylie she was right. "I'll bet that's Della." Kylie looked around. "Looking for me." But even as Kylie finished the sentence, she felt the cold of her father's presence fade. "No, please don't ... go." Her last word rang out in the warm yet eerie and lonely silence.

Gone. He was gone.

Her chest tightened, then she came to the realization that even though he'd come to her, he didn't have the answers she wanted. Her surefire plan of solving her identity crisis had been squashed.

Biting her lip, she pushed away her thoughts of her father and prepared herself to face Della. Could she explain to her friend her reservations about being vampire without hurting her? Would Della be totally furious that she'd broken the circle and disrespected the vampire culture?

Knowing Della, the answer would be a hell yes.

Della had a lot of unresolved anger and it didn't take much to infuriate her. Some of her angst could be blamed on being vampire-vampires weren't known for their loving dispositions, but most of Della's issues were from her family. Apparently, her super-strict father had noted the changes in his daughter since she'd been turned, and he didn't like them.

Not being able to tell her dad about being vampire, Della had remained silent, which made her dad accuse Della of everything from drugs to just being lazy. The sad part was, Della loved her father so much that disappointing him was breaking her heart.

Kylie waited for Della to return, to come to a whizzing stop. She didn't. Had her ghost-fearing friend sensed her father's presence and kept going? The lack of sound suddenly seemed menacing.

"Della?" Kylie called out.

No answer came. Not unless you considered the dead silence an answer.

Kylie recalled Della's cousin, Chan, and the uninvited visit he'd paid to Della and her after she'd only been here a few days. His presence had brought on this kind of dead silence as well.

The memory of that night filled Kylie's head. Della had assured Kylie that he'd only been joking about her being a snack, but after Kylie's little run-in with the Blood Brothers gang of rogue vampires, when she'd nearly become a snack for real, trusting an unknown vampire took a little effort.

When the night's stillness continued, Kylie forced herself to speak. "I know someone is here." She stood up, hoping her false bravado would become real. The whisk of speeding wind passed again. "If that's you, Della, this isn't funny."

No one answered. Kylie stood there, trying to think of what to do next. Then she heard it. Very slight, but still the definite rustle of some bushes-someone was behind her. Breath held, she swung around to face the music.

Chapter Two

At first Kylie didn't see anything, then her gaze shifted lower to the ground and locked on to a pair of eyes-eyes that glowed golden in the night's obscurity. They weren't vampire eyes. Nope, they weren't Della's golden hue that expressed her anger. These weren't even human. Canine?

No.

Wolf.

She nearly tripped taking a step back, as her heart screamed run. But the one word that whispered though her head next stopped her from attempting escape. Lucas?

Her chest clutched tighter but no longer from fear. Something akin to longing warmed her heart. Then the warm, gooey feeling slipped right into the feeling of betrayal. The hot-looking werewolf had kissed her senseless, made her want him, and then run off with Fredericka.

Kylie's gaze shot up to the cloud-covered moon. Even through the gray mist, she could tell it wasn't full. That didn't happen until next week, when the werewolves at the camp were planning their own ceremonial event.

Which meant the wolf staring at her couldn't be Lucas. Which meant it was a real wolf. A real wild-animal kind of wolf. Which meant she should be trying to get the hell away before it decided to attack.

Her gaze shot back to the wild animal, and while her mind created images of the creature snarling, ready to pounce, what she saw wasn't anywhere near as frightening. The gold eyes held hers. The cloud shrouding the moonlight must have shifted, and Kylie was able to make out the medium-size wolf in detail. Its coat looked thick and coarse, and it held a mix of colors from gray to red. She wouldn't call it beautiful, not exactly, but it sure as heck didn't appear threatening.

Lowering its snout, it slowly moved forward. Even though the thing still didn't look hostile, Kylie took a step back. As if sensing her fear, it crouched lower to the ground in a submissive position.

"What are you-someone's pet wolf?" Another thought hit. A real wolf couldn't have made the supersonic blast of air. But a real shape-shifter could.

She slammed both her hands on her hips and gave the beast a hard cold look. "Damn it, Perry, is that you?"

Perry, the powerful shape-shifter of the camp, loved to play jokes. But Kylie had had it up to her eyeballs with his tricks. Enough was enough. "Game's over or I'm going for your ears." Kylie waited for the diamond-like sparkles to fill the air around the wolf as it changed back into human form. "Now!"

No sparkles.

The creature, down on all fours, inched forward.