Dark Embrace by Brenda Joyce

defend mankind. Yet she knew he had taken a long, dark journey away from that man.
    She wasn’t sure what had happened after he’d ceased howling tragically. It might be better that she didn’t know. “I heard the Wolf earlier. Why do you do it?”
    His mouth curved mirthlessly. “Because I can.”
    â€œDo you do it often?”
    To her surprise, his gaze dropped to her mouth. “Often enough,” he finally said.
    She hugged herself, becoming uneasy. Had he just looked at her with sexual interest? Had he done so earlier that night? “I don’t like the Wolf.”
    He shrugged.
    â€œBeasts are prey or predator,” Brie said carefully. “We both know the Wolf is a predator.” He looked at her. “And animals do not have a conscience.”
    â€œYer meaning?” he asked, rather coolly.
    â€œHow convenient that Wolf is for you.”
    His face tightened. “Aye, the Wolf serves me well.”
    â€œBut the Wolf has a conscience, after all, just as you do. I saw it.”
    His shoulders lifted, stiffened. “Dinna challenge me.”
    Brie hadn’t meant to provoke him. “I’m not! I was thinking aloud, trying to understand you. I’m sorry.”
    â€œYe dinna need to comprehend me, Brianna. Dinna even try.” His eyes flashed with anger.
    She had raised a sore subject. She did not want to make him mad. “I am sorry about your son,” she said, meaning it with all of her heart. “I am so sorry. What happened is so terrible—tragic and unfair.”
    He was so still he could have been carved from stone. Then she saw his chest rising and falling beneath the vee neckline of the leine. She could see the fang necklace he wore.
    He folded his bulging arms across his chest. “Ye saw Ian,” he said bluntly, “when no one has ever seen him, except fer me.”
    So Aidan could see Ian, too, although apparently not all of the time. She nodded, trying to search his gaze, but he wouldn’t let her. “Malcolm and Claire told me what happened. How long has he been haunting you?”
    His face tightened. “He was murdered sixty-six years ago next month.”
    Brie was shocked. Aidan had been haunted for a human lifetime!
    â€œWhat did he wish o’ ye?”
    â€œI don’t know,” she said truthfully. “He was trying to speak, but I couldn’t hear him.” She stopped. The little boy had been afraid and desperate, and telling Aidan that would only cause more anguish.
    Aidan flushed with anger. “I can hear yer every thought,” he warned. “He was afraid.”
    Oh, God, he was telepathic. “Yes, he seemed very afraid.” And suddenly a wave of grief hit her, very much the way an ocean wave might.
    â€œWhy did he come to ye, instead of me?” he cried. “He’s been tryin’ to speak to me fer all these years! What does he want to say?’
    His desperation added to the flood tide of anguish. It was hard to speak. “I don’t…know.”
    Suddenly the anguish and desperation vanished, tamped down in his soul. Brie breathed, shaking like a leaf. She had to monitor her thoughts, so as not to hurt him. “The other day, I felt your suffering, across time. There was so much pain and anguish, I thought you were being tortured. There was rage, and then, at the end, there was grief, and it was the worst emotion of all—like now. You weren’t being tortured, were you? It was about Ian.”
    â€œMoray took my son from me.” He breathed hard. “I stood there, helpless, while he was murdered! I tried to stop Ian’s murder by going back in time. I tried again an’ again…. I failed.”
    Aidan had witnessed his son’s death many times, and she had felt his pain as he relived the murder.
    Her head ached now. “Did the demon bury you alive?” she asked carefully.
    Aidan turned away. “I brought my own walls