Luck of the Wolf Read online

  Praise for the novels of

  New York Times bestselling author

  SUSAN KRINARD

  “Susan Krinard was born to write romance.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Amanda Quick

  “Darkly intense, intricately plotted and chilling, this sexy tale skillfully interweaves several time periods, revealing key past elements with perfect timing but keeping the reader firmly in the novel’s ‘present’ social scene.”

  —Library Journal on Lord of Sin

  “Krinard’s imagination knows no bounds as she steps into the mystical realm of the unicorn and takes readers along for the ride of their fairy-tale lives.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Lord of Legends, 4½ stars

  “A master of atmosphere and description.”

  —Library Journal

  “Magical, mystical and moving…fans will be delighted.”

  —Booklist on The Forest Lord

  “A darkly magical story of love, betrayal and redemption…. Krinard is a bestselling, highly regarded writer who is deservedly carving out a niche in the romance arena.”

  —Library Journal on The Forest Lord

  “A poignant tale of redemption.”

  —Booklist on To Tame a Wolf

  “With riveting dialogue and passionate characters, Ms. Krinard exemplifies her exceptional knack for creating an extraordinary story of love, strength, courage and compassion.”

  —RT Book Reviews on Secret of the Wolf

  Also available from

  SUSAN KRINARD

  and HQN Books

  Bride of the Wolf

  Lord of Sin

  Lord of Legends

  Come the Night

  Dark of the Moon

  Chasing Midnight

  Lord of the Beasts

  To Tame a Wolf

  Available from

  SUSAN KRINARD

  and LUNA Books

  Shield of the Sky

  Hammer of the Earth

  SUSAN KRINARD

  Luck of the Wolf

  Luck of the Wolf

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  PROLOGUE

  March, 1882

  “WE MUST HURRY!”

  Franz grasped Aria’s arm and tugged, his sheer determination winning out over her stubborn strength at last.

  It didn’t happen often. Aria was used to being stronger than even the strongest woodsmen in the mountains, and it had been a long time since anyone had tried to make her do anything she didn’t want to do.

  Franz was only a little old man. He had been old from as far back as she could remember, when she had toddled about his cottage on stubby, awkward legs. And he had always been worried about her, even when he wouldn’t tell her why.

  Later, when she had been old enough to understand, she had begun to ask questions. “Where are my mother and father, Franz?” And later still, when she first learned how to become a wolf: “Were they like me? Why am I so different from everyone else?”

  Franz had never really answered any of her questions, not to her satisfaction. He had told her that her parents were dead, though he hadn’t used exactly those words. He had said that he wasn’t really her uncle, though he loved her like one, and that friends of her parents had brought her to him when she was a baby.

  But he had said he didn’t know if her parents were like her. Only that he would always take care of her, that she would always be safe with him, that she must never forget she was different, and never go down to the big, shining town at the foot of the mountain.

  “I am twenty years old, Franz,” she had told him just a week before, when she had decided to go beyond the village and into the valley, where the big town’s pitched roofs and spires glittered with a fresh crystalline blanket of late-winter snow. “I am no longer a child.”

  He had begged her not to go. “You know how the rumors have spread in the village since you came of age,” he told her. “It will be far worse in the town. If you should reveal yourself, even for a moment…”

  But she had ignored him. And her adventure had not turned out quite as she had expected. The town had been filled with people crowding and pushing and talking all at once, and the streets had stunk of dung and spoiled vegetables. Everything was much too big, too bright, too loud. She had been quick to turn and flee back to the mountains.

  And now, as they prepared to leave the only home she had ever known, the real fear in Franz’s eyes stopped her final protest before it could reach her lips.

  Franz had turned her world upside down when he’d first announced that they were to leave Carantia, to abandon the woods and mountains that were as much a part of her as the wolf she could become.

  “You are not the only one of your kind,” he had said. “I led you to believe that you were unique, but my deception was meant to protect you. People are afraid of what they do not understand, and there are many humans in Carantia who would hurt you if they knew your true nature.”

  And that, he had explained, was why he had kept her in isolation for so many years, forbidding her to venture beyond the village. Far away there was an even bigger town where a king ruled Carantia, a king just like in the storybooks Franz had given her as a child. But he was not a good king, and his people were angry and unhappy. That made them dangerous.

  Aria hadn’t been interested in kings. She had begged Franz to tell her more of the others like her, where they lived and how they survived in a hostile world.

  “It is not my place to tell you,” he had said. “And there is much I do not know. We will go to the men who first brought you to me, men who now live far across the ocean.”

  “But who are they?” she had asked.

  “Those who, like me, wish to keep you safe. They will welcome you as one of them, and tell you everything you must know.

  “We will go to America.”

  America.

  Aria knew little of that country, only a few stories Franz had told her about the men who had founded it, and the fact that they had no kings or queens. In America, across the vast ocean, there were many wehrwölfe who walked quietly among humans, free to live as they wished so long as they were careful.

  Werewolf, they said in English. She knew how to speak English. Franz had taught her many languages. When she got to America, she would not be mute.

  And she would finally meet her own kind.

  “Even in America,” Franz had warned, “you must not advertise that you are not human. Fear will drive the ignorant to violence, and most Americans know nothing of wehrwölfe. Until we find the Carantian exiles, you will call yourself the name you have always used here.”

  When Aria had asked why, he had only shaken his head and promised her an explanation when they reached America.

  And now they were on their way. The wind moaned, laden with a burden of fresh snow. Franz pulled himself into his pony’s saddle and breathed sharp puffs of mist from within his fur-lined hood. He kicked the pony forward. Aria mounted her own pony and rode up beside him.

  “We must ride far this day,” he said, his voice so sof
t that even her wolf’s ears had to strain to hear him. “If I fall…”

  “You won’t fall!” she said angrily. “You know these mountains better than anyone.”

  He turned his head toward her. “You are young and strong. No matter what happens to me, you must ride on to Trieste. I have given you all the money you will need to take a ship to Italy, and thence to America and the city of New York. You must go on to San Francisco by train.”

  “Not without you,” Aria said. “How will I ever find my way?”

  Franz reached out to touch her sleeve. “Your instincts will guide you.” He patted his coat pocket. “I carry the documents that will make your introduction to the Carantians in San Francisco. Should I fail, you are to take these documents and—”

  “Hush,” Aria said, stroking his hand, the joints stiff and swollen even through his thick woolen gloves. He could not heal himself as she could. “You can give them to me when we reach San Francisco.”

  He lifted his head and met her gaze, and she saw the tears in his eyes.

  “Ja,” he said, and kicked his pony into a trot. Aria twisted in the saddle to catch one last glimpse of the cottage. It was already gone.

  A new life lay ahead. A life where she would no longer be alone.

  She clucked to her pony and followed Franz into the forest.

  CHAPTER ONE

  San Francisco, May 1882

  CORT RENIER GLANCED one last time at the girl on the stage and spread his cards with a flourish.

  “Royal Flush,” he drawled with a lazy smile. “It seems the luck is with me tonight, gentlemen.”

  They weren’t happy. The game had been grueling, even for Cort. The players were the best, all specially—and secretly—invited to the tournament, all hoping to win prizes no legitimate game could offer.

  Prizes like the girl, who stared across the room with a blank gaze, lost to whatever concoction her captors had given her. She was most definitely beautiful. Her figure was slender, her face, even beneath the absurd white makeup, as classically lovely as that of a Greek nymph, her golden hair begging for a man’s caress.

  She couldn’t have been more than fourteen.

  Cort’s smile tightened. It was her youth, as well as her beauty and apparent virginity, that made wealthy, hard-hearted men fight to win her.

  Many girls could be bought in the grim back alleys and sordid dives of San Francisco’s Barbary Coast. But not girls like this one, who so clearly was no child of San Francisco’s underworld. Who was of European descent, not one of the unfortunate Chinese immigrants who routinely fell victim to unscrupulous traffickers in human flesh. Someone had taken a risk in offering her as a prize, if only the secondary one. The organizers of this contest were no doubt confident that she would simply disappear, hidden away by the winner until anyone who might look for her had given her up for dead.

  Cort’s gaze came to rest on the man whose hand had lost to his. Ernest Cochrane wasn’t accustomed to losing. His lust for the girl had been manifest from the moment they’d sat down at the table. He had a bad reputation, even for the Coast, even if he deceived the high and mighty with whom he associated in his “normal” life. If he’d won her, she would have suffered a life of perpetual degradation as a sexual plaything for one of the most powerful men in California.

  Until he tired of her, of course. Then she might, if she were lucky, have been sold to another man, less discriminating in his desires.

  Or she might have ended up in the Bay. Cochrane wouldn’t want to risk any chance that his wife and children and fellow entrepreneurs might learn what a villain he truly was.

  The others were no better. Even those Cort didn’t know stank of corruption and dissipation. They were dangerous men, and every one of his instincts had rebelled against becoming involved. He wasn’t some gallant bent on protecting womankind from a fate worse than death, however well he played the role of gentleman. If she hadn’t been so young, he might have ignored the girl’s plight. Yuri had urged him not to be a fool.

  But it was done now, and Cochrane was glaring at him with bitter hatred in his eyes.

  “Luck,” Cochrane said in his smooth, too-cultured voice, “has a way of turning, Renier.” He nodded to one of the liveried attendants. “We’ll have another deck.”

  Cort rose from his chair. “I do thank you, Mr. Cochrane, gentleman, but I am finished for the evening, and I believe this game has been won in accordance with the rules of the tournament.” He tipped his hat. “Perhaps another time.”

  “Another time won’t do, Mr. Renier. And I have doubts that this game was played honestly.”

  “If I were a less reasonable man, Cochrane, I might choose to take offense at your insinuation.” Cort inclined his head. “Bonsoir, messieurs.”

  He knew it wouldn’t end so easily, of course. He heard Cochrane’s hatchet man come up behind him before the hooligan had gone a foot beyond his hiding place behind the curtains on the left side of the stage. Cort casually hooked his thumb in the waistband of his trousers. The man behind him breathed sharply and shifted his weight.

  “Now, now, Monsieur Cochrane,” Cort said. “We wouldn’t wish this diverting interlude to end on an unpleasant note, would we?”

  “Another game,” Cochrane said, less smoothly than before.

  “I think not.”

  The hatchet man lunged. Cort turned lightly, caught the man’s wrist before his fist could descend and twisted. The man yelped and fell to his knees, cradling his broken limb to his chest.

  Cort sighed and shook his head, flipping his coat away from his waist. “As you see, gentleman, I carry no weapons. However, I find it quite unmannerly to attack a man when his back is turned.” He bowed to Cochrane. “I bid you good evening.”

  His ears were pricked as he walked away, but no one came after him. They’d been at least a little impressed by his demonstration, though how long that would last was another question entirely. It would be the better part of valor by far to leave this establishment as soon as possible.

  And he would have to take his prize with him, even if he didn’t want her and had no place to put her. He was threading his way among the gaming tables toward the stage when Yuri came puffing up to join him.

  “Why did you do it?” Yuri whispered, his accent thick with distress. “You have lost us half a million dollars and made enemies we cannot afford. Have you gone completely mad?”

  Oh, yes, Cort thought, recognizing the true height of his foolishness. He could avoid Cochrane’s henchmen for a while, but he didn’t want to spend the rest of his time in San Francisco watching his back, and fighting was always a last resort. His strength and speed had a way of attracting too much attention. And the kind of attention he liked had nothing to do with being loup-garou.

  “Don’t fret, mon ami,” he said. “Has my luck ever failed us yet?”

  The question was sheer bluster, of course. He had not always had such luck. In fact, he and Yuri had been nearly penniless when they arrived in San Francisco. He had won just enough over the past several months to pay for room and board, and to get himself invited to the tournament, which had been intended only for the wealthier patrons of San Francisco’s gambling establishments.

  But he had chosen to compete in the secondary match for the sake of a sentimentality that should have been crushed long ago, like all the other passions he had discarded over the years.

  “Would you have me leave a child to such a wretched fate?” he asked.

  Yuri had just opened his mouth to make a sarcastic reply when a tall, thin man with a crooked nose rushed up to them. His gaze darted from Yuri to Cort and then warily over Cort’s shoulder to the table he had left.

  “Cortland Renier?” the newcomer asked.

  Cort bowed. “At your service.”

  “You’re ready to claim your prize?”

  “I am.”

  “Come this way.”

  The thin man scurried off, and Cort strode after him. Yuri rushed to keep up.

>   “I think you’d best stay behind,” Cort said over his shoulder. “The girl may be frightened if both of us approach her.”

  Yuri snorted. “And you care so much for the feelings of this girl you have never seen before?”

  “I intend to protect my winnings,” Cort said.

  “I am not going back into that room,” Yuri said, gesturing behind him.

  “In that case, I would suggest that you go home.”

  Yuri muttered a curse in his native language and stopped. The thin man went through a door at the left foot of the stage, which opened up into a small ante-room. A second door led to a larger room, empty save for a few broken chairs, a table laden with various prizes and a quartet of rough-looking characters Cort supposed must serve as guards.

  The girl sat in the only sound chair in the room, utterly still in her white nightgown, her hands limply folded in her lap. The smell of laudanum and some sickly perfume hung over her in a choking cloud. She looked like a doll, which Cort assumed had been the point of dressing her to appear the waif, innocent and pliable and ready to be used. What she might be like free of the narcotic was anyone’s guess.

  His guide disappeared and the guards glowered at him as he approached the girl. She didn’t look up.

  “Bonjour, ma chère,” he said softly.

  Her fingers twitched, but she continued to stare at the floor some three feet from tips of her small white toes. Cort moved into her line of sight.

  “It’s all right,” he said. “No one will hurt you.”

  Slowly, so slowly that the movement was hardly visible, she lifted her head, her gaze sliding up the length of his body. Her eyes, when they met his, were remarkable, even clouded with the effects of laudanum or whatever else they had given her. Their color was neither green nor blue but some intermediate between them, the color of the sea on a clear, still day.