Lady and the Wolf [Book One, Lady and the Wolf Series] -Published-

Chapter Seventeen: The Big, The Bad & The Ugly

Her accent was strange as if she didn't know how to speak properly. His father had once told him that there were many other languages in the world and that their language was just one of thousands. Did she not speak his language, or was she speaking slowly to calm him down?

It was then that he noticed her right arm was missing from the elbow down. His golden eyes widened as he stammered, "Where-where is your arm?"

It was quite frightening to see. He had never met anyone with a missing limb before. He didn't even know that was possible.

Her eyes seemed to dart down to her missing arm, but instead of taking offense, she simply smiled. "Oh, this? I was in an accident."

Memories he had pushed to the very back of his mind came flooding back almost instantly. Emotions he had kept bottled up — both hatred and love — were blazing throughout his body. The very reason for his contempt and compassion towards humans kneeled before him, and he stood petrified at the sight of her.

Her smile lit up her entire face. She gently patted the back of a weeping pup as she asked, "Is that my name?"

And just as suddenly, everything that was flooding back seemed to just disappear in an instance. But the girl before him had the same aura of the girl who had saved his life when he was just a pup, running from the slaughter of his pack. But the thought at the back of his mind told him that the girl from his past would never forget him so easily. Through time and space, he was sure that she would never forget who he was.

"You have both arms," he muttered without even thinking.

Maybe the resemblance is what startled him. There had been many girls who had resembled the girl who saved him, but none that stopped Van Volkov in his tracks, none that made him look twice and question if the human was still alive.

"I do have both arms," she replied. "Is that a problem?"

His eyes turned steely as he sized up the smaller female. "No... I suppose not."

His response made her frown as if disappointed. Van didn't pay any mind as he readied himself to deal with the chaos around them. That sudden flood of emotion completely wiped away his blinding rage at the current situation, leaving him to think about what he would do next.

"Your clan holds, what happened to them?" he asked. It wasn't so much a question as it was a demand. He wanted to know what had happened and when.

Her face dropped, and all color drained from her previously flushed cheeks. "I— They were burned to the ground, sir. We fled before the humans caught on and came to investigate the smoke."

The way she sneered the word humans made Van uncomfortable. Van was also curious as to why she could speak perfect English. Native shifters knew little English, as they preferred to keep to their traditional tongue, all except the few packs that had migrated to the States for safety.

"What's your name?"

Her eyes seemed to light up when he asked this. After a moment of thought, the girl grinned and quipped, "You, apparently."

He couldn't contain the low growl that rumbled through his chest at that sly remark. "Don't get smart, bitch."

She seemed to let his crude sentence roll off her back as she shrugged. "Borya named me Innochka."

Van couldn't help but arch his brow. Borya named her, which meant she was a stray that came into his pack. Innochka — one of innocence, the name seemed to fit her. It was a strange name, however. He'd never heard of it before.