The Heart of a Wolf by IntuitiveIntelligence.

A/N: Hey guys, thanks for all the wonderful reviews. I really appreciate them, and they inspire me to write faster. So by all means keep on reviewing. This chapter is a little shorter than the other ones have been, but there is a lot of information I think that needs to get digested in it. So read, enjoy…review.

I don't claim to own anything…Ms. Klause has that honor.

Chapter Ten: The Truth Revealed

Vivian knocked gently on the front door of Persia's cottage, shoving her hands in her pockets as she waited for the old woman to make her way to let her in. After a minute passed without Persia appearing, Vivian tried to knock again. There was still nothing.

Perhaps she has gone out. But when does Persia ever go out? I'll just go in and make sure everything is fine. No harm in checking; besides I'm an alpha now.

The door swung open, the hinges creaking from the effort. Stepping inside, Vivian's nose was immediately assaulted with the powerful fragrance of incense. Even if she hadn't had the nose of the wolf, the scent would be enough to make her retch. Slowly she made her way into the bedroom, following the scent. The door was only partially closed allowing her to catch a glimpse of the sagely woman she called Aunt sitting rigidly on the carpet surrounded by strange objects.

"Persia?" Vivian breathed out as she stepped into the room.

The aged wolf before her didn't stir, nor did she seem to show any signs of life. It was almost as if Aunt Persia was frozen into stone. Vivian's heart rate started to increase.

Please don't be dead. I know you are old, but damn it if you are dead I have no idea what to do.

Dropping to her knees, Vivian's hand reached across the circle of runes on the carpet to attempt to gently shake Persia's shoulder. Before her hand came in contact with the thin robe the older woman wore, a hand shot out and stilled Vivian.

"Child, never disturb me when I am meditating." The voice was deep, melodic and vibrated with a hint of threat.

Vivian nearly had a heart attack. Glancing over she saw that the older woman's eyes were bright gold; her wolf self was bubbling to the surface.

"I'm sorry, its just that I knocked and you didn't respond. So I wanted to make sure you were alright."

"As touched as I am by your concern, pup. Never disturb me when I am meditating. A time will come when you need to learn to channel yourself as well, but that day is not today. So come, tell me why you sought me out?" Persia admonished as she struggled from her kneeling position on the floor to sit on the edge of her bed.

"The herb you drugged me with the other night…"

"L'herbe qui fait le loup dormer: le monnayage du dormeur."

"Sleeper's mint? Does that mean it is used by humans also?"

"It is native to France, where it is commonly regarded as a pestering weed. However hunters found that if they rubbed some of the plant oil on the arrow tip, that they could fell a wolf. When most of France's wolves were killed off, most forgot what it could be used for."

"But it grows in the herb garden plentifully...Someone had to have known—"

"Ah, very good child. You are now beginning to learn to see what is in front of you."

"The people who lived here before us had to have known about it."

"Yes, I am sure they did."

"There were loup garou here before?"

"Why not speak to your mate, hmm? Perhaps he can tell you what sort of people he bought this place from. And then if that mind of yours is as sharp as I believe it to be, you should be able to connect the dots."

Taking a deep breath, Vivian rose from her position on the floor and left the room eager to find Gabriel. Her feet crunched along the gravel pathway, and as she neared the main house she noticed that Gabriel's bike was gone.

"He got a call. Took off as soon as he hung up the phone. Didn't say a word to any of us." Finn supplied from where the Four were smoking next to the barn.

"How long ago did he leave?"

"About fifteen minutes or so ago." This time it was Wilhelm who spoke.

"When he gets back tell him I need to speak to him."

"Yes your majesty." Greg said with a mock bow.

Only Ulf didn't leave her with a parting snicker. Instead he watched her make her way back into the house looking entirely confused.

If he loves me couldn't he spare a moment to tell me where he was going, or why? Or am I too much of a child to be bothered with such things?

"Viv!" Esmé's voice called out from the backdoor.

"Yes?"

"I need to speak with you. Come inside please."

Shoulders slumped she entered the main house, her pupils enlarging to accommodate the lack of light. She sought out her mother who was waiting by the base of the stair.

"We'll talk in my room."

Esme and Tomas's room was a place she generally attempted to avoid. The mental scarring alone would take a therapist several years to work out. All in all it was the same as some of the other guest rooms; charming quilt, old wooden furniture and hope chest at the base of the bed.

"Well I am here, so talk." Vivian said crossing her arms over her chest.

"Take a seat, Viv."

Grumbling she sat down on the bed next to her mother who never really acted like a mother.

"I know it's a lot to take in…its hard when they ask or demand you to have a child. With…Iv— … with your father and me, it was easier. We were entirely in love, and we wanted you. Sure I wasn't excited about the stretch marks, or the weight gain, but we really wanted you. So it wasn't a bother that it was a requirement of our alpha status. But with you, Viv, you're so young, and I know you are thinking its unfair and you are probably dreaming up ways of escape…But a life with the pack, a life for the pack isn't so bad. Gabriel is a good man; he'll make a good father. And you with some work will be a good mother. It's always harder for the women, than it is for the men. They still get their dreams, while we sacrifice."

"And what did you sacrifice, Esme?"

Esme paled, her gaze abruptly turning away from her daughter to look at a pattern on the wall paper. For a moment, it looked as if her eyes were turning glassy. But Vivian determined it to be a trick of the light; her mother wasn't a sentimental woman.

"…You should probably take a nap. Get yourself some rest, and then join us for dinner later. You look haggard."

Vivian didn't need to be told twice when it came to leaving the room. She moved in a trance into her bedroom, but as soon as she caught sight of her bed all thoughts of sleep dissipated. Instead she grabbed hold of her sketchbook and climbed into her secret tower. There in the fading afternoon light she began to draw twisted images of a past that may have been; of a loup garou woman abandoning her life, to be one who is free from the sway of the Moon Goddess. She drew a girl with long flowing brown hair, and eyes you could not look away from, a French peasant girl. It was only when she finished her sketch that she realized she gave the peasant girl Melody's face.

It seemed odd that she would sketch a dead girl whom she had never met before. Yet the only thing that came to her was the way those eyes of her looked out; eyes that were mysterious, observant and if you glanced just right a tinge of pain.

"Who were you Melody?" Vivian thought to herself. "Why did you kill yourself?"

She sat pondering in her perch, letting the setting sun warm her back as she stared out across the grounds. It was picturesque here, certainly even West Virginia hadn't been better. It was the type of place you'd find on souvenir post cards or something. A place where people played happy families that gathered round at Christmas time drinking cocoa and eating gingerbread cookies.

Moon Goddess, I just wish I knew how to do what is right. There should be nothing wrong with having a child with Gabriel, it's the way my pack has operated for centuries. It's how we survive. Yet part of me just wants more than playing Queen Bitch and brood mare. Whatever happens, I can't hurt the pack again.

The sound of a roaring motorcycle alerted her to Gabriel's return and she slowly began to make her way down to her room. She had just tucked her sketchbook safely back into its drawer when Gabriel came into the room. He smelled of sweat and leather and looked more tired than she had ever seen him before.

"You wanted to talk to me, Princess Wolf?"

"Aren't I technically Queen now?" Vivian said playfully.

"Always have to fight everything I do."

"And would you care for me the same if I rolled over and presented my belly to you?"

He chuckled at this and took a seat next to her perch on the bed, his calloused fingers stroking her long hair.

"You know me too well. Yes I love you for your spirit; it's what makes you worthy to be Queen Bitch. But my dear, you bust balls with the best of them."

"Gabriel, the people who lived here before us…what were they like?"

The question certainly surprised him that much was evident when his gentle caressing of her scalp ceased. Vivian looked up at him, meeting his gaze and he seemed confused.

"Why the interest?"

"I have reason to believe that there were loup garou here before us, so be honest with me. What sort of people lived here before us?"

"And what reasons do you have?"

"The bear trap. You and I both know it is illegal to put those things out, and it was on private property…their property. And the two old people who 'died off' don't really seem the type to want to kill bears the easy way. Then on top of that, how on Earth did we ever afford a place like this? I'm not stupid Gabriel. I know that real estate in this area doesn't come cheap. A spread like this would be an easy million or more. The pack didn't have the money; we lost most of that in Virginia. So why would they be so willing to let this place go if there wasn't some sort of stigma attached to it?"

Gabriel stood up and walked to his window, his favorite spot to brood, with his hands grasping the sill so hard that his knuckles turned white.

"There names were Pierre and Colette. They moved here from France when they were both young, they built this Inn brick for brick, stone for stone. It was intended to be a sanctuary for our people. A place of safety, a place where loup garou knew they could go if they were in trouble. When I was…When I accidentally killed… I came here. They were good people and they housed me till I was ready to return to Virginia. You must have been about ten at the most.

"The Inn was very popular, frequented by many tourists most of whom knew nothing of what the owners truly were. They just saw the fall foliage and picturesque town and didn't ask questions. Pierre and Colette were very adept at concealing their wolf selves. The people of the town were none the wiser. Then a few years back, livestock started getting killed. People thought it was a bear, maybe even wolves. They started taking precautions against it, buying more rifles, setting up traps.

"Rumor has it Pierre and Colette were housing two loup garou from France. Not here at the Inn, but they found places for them near by. One of these loup garou had a problem, some sort of inability to control the wolf. Pierre and Colette tried to help, with some remedy of the old ways. Apparently it just got worse until one night Pierre and Colette were trying to restrain the wolf, and they themselves were killed. Their family in France didn't want to keep the place, so they put it on the market. No one was interested until me."

"Christ…." Vivian said with her hand covering her mouth. There were others here, and there was also a bloody past. Would her pack meet the same fate?

"Now you know. But don't tell the others, we can't afford unrest now. The shift to come up here was hard enough.

"What happened, to the two loup garou from France?"

"I don't know… I assume they moved on or went back to France. I haven't caught the scent of any others near here."

Vivian went still and her silence prompted Gabriel to turn to her. He knew the look that was in her eyes, it was the same look she had when she was trapped between forms. The same look that was in her eyes when she wanted to kill herself.

"Viv?"

"That could have been me…At one point in time I thought that was me."

She hated showing weakness. Moon goddess why on Earth did you have to make females hormonal?

"No, that never was you. That never will be you." He whispered soothing her by rubbing small circles on her back.

Vivian cradled herself into him finding comfort in simply lying against his chest. Gabriel would always protect her. Gabriel loved her. If she had to be vulnerable it might as well be with him.

She must have fallen asleep cradled in his arms, for when she awoke the sun had set and the wolf was beginning to stir.