Page 79 of Moon Awakening

"Shape-changers?" Emily asked faintly.

"They have more than one form, both animal and human."

Oh, no. Last night had been an ordeal and it had broken her friend, only Emily had been too blind to see it. She stared at Cait, unsure what to say to help. If anything.

"Have you ever heard stories of werewolves?" Cait demanded.

"Yes," Emily whispered, her heart breaking.

She could not stand to see her friend like this and in that moment, if either Lachlan or Drustan had been there, she would have attacked them with her eating knife. They had done this to Cait. Damn then: vengeance-loving natures.

"That's what the Chrechte are, a race of werewolves and femwolves. That gray wolf we saw beside the water was my brother Talorc." Oblivious to Emily's tormented thoughts, Cait continued in an urgent tone that pleaded for belief. And even though she knew it was all fantasy, Emily almost did believe, Cait was so earnest. "Some wolves cannot control the change like that until they are mated, but he has been able to since his first full moon in wolf form. I have, too. Our mother was a white wolf and she passed the ability on to us."

"White wolves can control their change?" she asked for lack of anything better to say while her mind tumbled with thoughts of how to react to Cait's words.

"Yes."

"I see."

Cait clenched her hands into fists, her face contorted with despair. "You don't believe me, do you?"

Emily's eyes filled with tears as she shook her head. "How can I? You are talking about children's fairy tales, not reality. Please, Cait, stop and think. What you are saying is impossible."

Cait shook her head. "It isn't. Please, don't cry, Emily. I have proof."

"Proof?"

"Yes. I can't make the change right now because I'm pregnant, but I want you to think about some things."

"All right."

"Remember in the forest yesterday, when I heard things you couldn't and how Lachlan heard the approaching soldier earlier today when you couldn't?"

"Yes."

"That is a werewolf trait."

"Superior hearing?" No, it couldn't be, but in both cases they had heard things she hadn't and she knew her hearing was good.

Only, was she trying to believe the unfathomable because the alternative, that her friend had gone daft, was too untenable to accept?

"That isn't all," Cait said sincerely. "We are stronger and faster than humans, too."

Without warning, Cait surged from the bed. Emily blinked, saw a blur of movement, and then the other woman was on the far side of the room.

"Do you see?" Cait demanded.

Emily shook her head. It couldn't be true, but hadn't Lachlan played this trick, too? And according to both Lachlan and Cait, he was Chrechte. It was too much to take in. Perhaps she was the one going daft.

Cait did it again and she was in front of the entrance to the garderobe without Emily seeing how she got there excerpt for a blur of color shifting across the room. She rubbed her eyes.

Cait laughed, the sound lacking any real amusement. "You are not seeing things. We move that quickly. I'm not supposed to be running like this right now. It upsets Drustan. He thinks I could hurt the babe if I fell."

"Could you?" Emily asked stupidly, her mind refusing to take in the evidence of what her eyes had seen.

"Yes, I suppose. If I fell, but I don't plan to fall." Cait came back over to Emily and sat down again, taking Emily's arm in a near bruising grip. "You've got to believe me. That wolf we saw was Talorc. Didn't you see him shake his head when I told him Lachlan wanted an apology? He didn't like hearing that. But he heard everything else we said, too. He heard about Lachlan's plan to take you swimming in the morning. Alone. You can't go, Emily. Talorc will challenge Lachlan and then one of them will end up dead."

"How can Talorc be on the island without Lachlan knowing?"