The Mammoth Book of Paranormal Romance

smiling. “Welcome, dear! Aren’t you pretty? Such beautiful brown hair.”
    I just wanted to sit, hide, and plot my escape, not exchange pleasantries with Mrs Butterworth’s version of a werewolf.
    “Um, thanks.”
    “Let’s set you up over here, it’s quieter,” she said, leading Daniel and I to a table that only had four other people at it.
    “Thanks, Mom,” Daniel said.
    I stopped so fast, I almost staggered. “Mom?”
    A grin edged his mouth. “Everyone has one, after all.”
    “Quit teasing Marlee, she looks starved,” his mother said to Daniel, holding out a chair for me. “We have excellent venison stew tonight. That should help put the colour back in your face.”
    I sat at the table, avoiding eye contact with the other four people, though I did notice one was a female. Daniel sat next to me, that half-smile still on his face.
    “Not what you expected again?” he asked.
    I glanced around the room once more. People were laughing, eating and chatting. Sure, I kept getting discreet looks, but no one was licking their chops in a menacing way at me. It all looked terribly . . . civilized.
    “No,” I replied, and left it at that. These people might look nice, but they were my kidnappers. My executioners if I refused to become one of their group. All the table manners in the world couldn’t make up for that.
    “Daniel,” someone at the table said. “Introduce me.”
    I glanced up, meeting a pair of blue eyes on a smiling face. Black hair hung past his shoulders, untamed and playful, like his expression.
    “Finn.” There was a hint of a growl in Daniel’s voice that hadn’t been there before. “This is Marlee. Marlee, my younger brother, Finn.”
    Again I was surprised at the family connection, though I shouldn’t have been. Why wouldn’t all of their kind congregate together?
    “Hi,” I said in the same non-committal tone I’d used before.
    “Charmed,” Finn replied, grin widening.
    “Cut her a break, she’s had a bad day,” the girl next to him muttered before giving me a sympathetic glance. “I’m Laurel, Daniel’s cousin. Sorry about what happened.”
    “Which part?” I couldn’t help but ask.
    She sighed. “All of it.”
    There was no stopping my snort. “Yeah. Me, too.”
    Daniel cleared his throat. I returned my gaze to the table in front of me, tracing its edge. It’ll be another day or so before people even realize something’s happened to me. How long after that before Brandy or my parents organize a search, if there is one? How many days will go by before they give me up for dead? How am I supposed to just sit here, surrounded by werewolves, and pretend nothing is wrong?
    A tear slid down my cheek. I sucked in my breath, aghast, but that only made it worse. Another one came down. Then another. I bent my head, hoping my hair would hide it, when a warm hand landed on my shoulders.
    “Laurel, have the food sent to my cabin,” Daniel said, then he scooped me up before I could even protest. We were out of the dining lodge and down the street in the next few heartbeats.
    “God, you’re so fast,” I gasped in astonishment. Fresh tears spurted. How could I ever get away, if he moved this fast and there was a town full of more creatures like him?
    “You’re going to be OK, Marlee,” he said.
    No, I wasn’t. I was trapped in a strange place surrounded by creatures that weren’t supposed to exist. My old life might not have been all champagne and roses, but no one had the right to rip me away from it without my consent. The enormity of what I’d lost between yesterday and today slammed into me. I didn’t care any more that the tears wouldn’t stop, or that I started hitting Daniel. My grief was too sharp to worry about embarrassment or consequences.
Four
    Wolves were chasing me, biting at my ankles, snarling as they crowded around me, letting out howls that made my blood turn to ice. I ran, twigs stinging me as I darted between the trees, gasping for breath, crying out with each new flash of pain in my legs. They were toying with me. My death was only a matter of time.
    The full moon came into view between the trees, illuminating more wolves in my path. I screamed at them, but it came out as a howl. Horrified, I looked down to see that my feet had turned into paws. Fur slithered up my body, replacing my skin. I fell forwards, claws shooting out of my fingers . . .
    “NO!”
    I woke up screaming the word, flinging the sheets away like they were animals