"It's your mother!" she cried. "Come quickly, Ivan."

He ran through the open door and down the steps to the Dusenberg. Gei stepped aside to let him get into the back seat where Liisi rested in Wolf's arms.

"Is she all right?" Ivan demanded.

"She's dead." Wolf's voice quivered with suppressed emotion.

Tears welled in Ivan's eyes as the meaning of his mother's third vision dawned on him. "She foresaw her death," he whispered. "I wish I'd understood earlier that was what she wanted me to tell you."

"I can't stop death." Wolf's voice was sad. "No one can." He turned to Chung. "Please let the guests know the reception is canceled--catch them at the gate, if you can." "I'll carry my mother," Ivan said.

Without a word, Wolf placed Liisi's slight body in Ivan's arms, preceding him up the steps and into the house. Arno and Griselda, halfway down the flight of stairs from the second floor, stopped, staring at Ivan and his burden.

"Is she--?" Arno asked, his voice breaking before he finished.

Wolf nodded. Ivan said nothing as he eased past the pair without pausing.

"Damn it, Ivan!" Arno cried, slamming his fist on the bannister rail. "She's my mother, too."

From the foyer, Leo watched the undertakers carry Grandmother Liisi's black coffin from the parlor where she'd been lying for a day and a night to the hearse that would take the coffin to the church for the funeral. The stranger who'd suddenly appeared at the gate last night followed close behind the coffin, dressed all in black, like some kind of priest or minister, except he didn't wear a clerical collar. Waino Waisenen was a Finn like grandmother--her cousin, he claimed.

Though Waino's hair was snow-white, Leo couldn't tell how old he was, maybe forty. His skin was as white as his hair and his eyes so pale they seemed no-color, like an icicle. Most of the time he wore dark glasses, even in the house. Ivan hadn't wanted to let him through the gate but Wolf insisted, claiming Grandmother had told him of Waino's coming.

Wolf usually let Ivan and Arno run things, he never said much, but when he did no one contradicted him. Even Wolf seemed a bit put off by Waino's oddness, though. Druse didn't. She said he looked the way he did because he was an albino. Once Leo had seen a white fawn with reddish eyes and Wolf had told him the fawn was an albino and that albino mule deer were defective, lacking the normal brown pigment of their species. Up until now he hadn't realized people could be albinos--was Waino defective in other ways, too?

It used to be Arno who took charge but since the two of them had come back from the war, Arno left the decisions up to Ivan. Maybe it had something to do with the fact they didn't speak to one another. Their estrangement made everyone in the house uncomfortable.

A lump rose in Leo's throat as the coffin disappeared through the front door. Grandmother was gone forever. The house would never be the same. He looked around, wanting to share his sorrow with Quince but his twin had slipped away. He went to look for him.

The trouble between Arno and Ivan bothered Leo. He couldn't imagine not speaking to Quince. Not that they didn't get into scraps, but that was different. Twins might disagree but they weren't meant to be cold to each other. If you were around Ivan and Arno these days you could catch pneumonia from the chill.

He found Quince under the piano in the music room. When they were kids they used to drape the paisley shawl over one end of the grand piano and pretend the space underneath was their secret cave. Hell, they hadn't done that in more than ten years--what was old Quince up to?

"Just felt like it," was all Leo could get out of him. Leo shrugged and crawled underneath to join him. Quince was the leader, he had been since they were babies, like Arno led Ivan until lately. Leo wondered if it would ever switch around between him and Quince and shook his head. He couldn't imagine Quince ever doing what he said. Absently he rubbed the bite mark on his left arm. Though it had healed the mark was still red and sometimes itched.

Arno was the shifter and so was Quince. Except Quince had never shifted. Arno and Ivan had talked to them so many times about what to watch for and what to do when it happened that it got boring. He'd begun to hope they were wrong and Quince wasn't what they said.

"I wish Hawk would get back." Quince's voice sounded different, hoarse and sort of growly. "Wolf's getting too cautious. Hawk's different. He'd go with us bow hunting in the mountains, we'd track deer through the snow--" His voice trailed off. "Did you ever notice how much redder blood looks against the snow?"

"Never thought about it," Leo said.

"I think about things like that a lot lately."

Leo glanced at him, started to ask "How come?" and stopped before the words came out. He blinked, staring at his twin's hand, at nails as long and sharp as talons. "Jesus," he muttered, swallowing.

"Quince," he said urgently. "Damned if it isn't happening. I better go get-"

"No!" The taloned hand clutched Leo's arm. "They'll stop me."

"That's the idea. We promised--"

"You did. I never promised anything except to Grandmother--and she's dead. Come on, let's get out of here before it's too late." Leo could hardly understand his twin's last few words, they were more of a growl than speech. He followed Quince, crawling from under the piano, and gasped when he saw his brother in the full light of day. Quince's face was elongated, hair grew thickly on his arms and face and his teeth were fangs. He looked hideous.

"Can't stand these clothes," Quince growled, shedding them as he hurried toward the front door. "Open it, I can't," he ordered.

Leo obeyed. The hearse was gone, no one was in sight. Quince loped toward the thick stand of oaks at the side of the house and Leo ran after him, his mind in a whirlwind of confusion. It was broad daylight. Why was Quince shifting when there wasn't a full moon? When there wasn't danger threatening? Arno had stressed that those were the two main reasons for a shifter's change.

What should he do? Part of him longed for the security of having Arno and Wolf stand by to help but his loyalty to his twin kept him from turning back.

"Quince, wait up," he shouted at the hairy back plunging into the trees. He scratched at the bite mark as he ran because it had started to itch and burn like fury.

Come to think of it, he didn't feel right. His gut ached, the collar around his neck was suddenly too tight and his shoes hurt his feet. Frightened, he threaded between the trees, calling to his twin, the strangely hoarse sound of his own voice panicking him.

Quince was the shifter, not him!

Then why was he kicking off his shoes, flinging off his clothes? Why were his hands changing, where was all the hair coming from? What was this terrible wrenching inside him? "Wolf!" he screamed in desperation and was appalled to hear himself howl instead. The answering howl was the last thing he remembered.

Free? The beast glanced around warily, remembering walls and gates. What should he do? Then his brother beast loped toward him from the shadows under the trees and his uncertainty faded. He'd follow his brother.

Wolf was talking to his two young sons as he dressed for the funeral. He stopped in mid-sentence when he heard the first howl.

By the time the second howl sent the hair on his nape prickling, he'd already shoved Reynolds and Nicholas through the dressing room door into the bedroom he shared with Cecelia. She stared at him, her expression horrified.

"Is it Quincy?"

"I'm afraid so. Lock the boys in here with you and don't open the door for anyone but me or Druse."

"Don't go out," she begged. "Stay with us."

He paid no attention. She knew as well as he did that with Liisi gone there was no one else who knew the shifter charm as well as he did. For five years now he'd carried with him the amulet Liisi had fashioned for Quincy.

As he raced down the stairs he thought that Arno might be of help--but the fact Arno was a shifter himself made Wolf uneasy. Grandfather had warned him how tempting it was for one shifter to change into a beast to join another already shifted.

Waino Waisenen stood waiting in the foyer. "I'll come with you," he said calmly, his dark glasses hiding his expression.

Wolf shook his head. "Too dangerous." Even if it wasn't he dare not expose the Volek secret to a stranger. Waino paid no heed, following him out the door. "I know words of protection against shapechangers; you'll need my help."

His words jolted Wolf. But he had no time to worry about what Waino did or did not know, or even about his safety. To be fair, he gave him one last warning. "You'll be facing death."

"I've done so before and still I live."

They ran side by side toward the grove of live oaks in the side yard, plunged into the trees and neared the wall just in time to see the beast top it and leap to the ground on the other side.

Wolf ground his teeth. Damn, Quincy'd gotten away. In daylight. Even in this sparsely settled valley, someone was sure to spot him. He'd have to go after him. Turning away from the wall, he was about to speak to Waino when he noticed the man staring intently at a large clump of camellia bushes between the trees and the wall.

"He's gone," Wolf said.

Waino gestured toward the bushes with his head.

Maybe Leo was hiding in them, Wolf thought. He'd probably trailed Quincy after the shifting. "Leo, we know you're in there," he called, striding toward the bushes.

A low growl halted him in his tracks even before Waino shouted, "Stop!"

"Leo?" Wolf said.

The menacing growl came again.

"There are two," Waino said from behind him.

Two beasts? He'd seen one go over the wall. Had Leo shifted as well as Quincy? Wolf stared at the bushes. He'd never once felt the telltale shifter emanations from Leo. But who else could the second beast be?

Making up his mind, Wolf took the amulet from his pocket and began chanting the shifter charm, not surprised when Waino joined him, their voices intoning the ancient Finnish words together. Slowly Wolf inched forward, still chanting, the amulet on its leather thong held in both hands. The rune Mannaz was inscribed on the steel charm. Mannaz, symbol of the divine within each person, could also mean a linking of two--had Liisi sensed what would happen?

Waino's words changed, became a coaxing croon. With a snarl, the beast thrust through an opening in the bushes. As it sprang, Wolf tossed the thong over its head, at the same time leaping aside. With a strangled cry, half-shout, half-howl, the beast began to change.

Moments later, Wolf stared at the naked Leo. "What happened?" he demanded.

As the dazed Leo fumbled to explain, Waino handed him the clothes he'd discarded. When Leo reached for them, Waino caught his arm and stared at the fiery red circle on his skin.

"Who bit you?" he asked.

Wolf answered. "His brother."

"Ah. I have heard--" Waino paused, gazing uncertainly from Wolf to Leo as though wondering whether to go on. "You're not happy that I know about Volek shifters," he said, speaking directly to Wolf. "When she realized death waited on the threshold, Cousin Liisi shared your secret with me. I understand it will be hard for you to trust me as she did but surely you're aware I've come to stay."

"We'll talk about that later," Wolf said. "I want to know what happened here."

Waino shrugged. "It's obvious. When his brother bit him, the shifter saliva activated a latent tendency in Leo to shapeshift."

Both Wolf and Leo stared at him. "The bite mark did start to burn and itch just before I--I--changed," Leo said. "After Quince turned into a--a beast."

"Let's get you back to the house." Wolf urged Leo along even though he was only half-dressed.

Once inside, he hustled Leo to the bedroom he shared with Quincy. "For safety's sake I have to lock you in," he told him. "Quincy's still loose, I'm going after him and I don't want to worry about what you're doing while I'm gone." Leo fingered the amulet. "This is supposed to be Quince's, isn't it? You'll need it." He started to lift the thong from his neck.

"Don't touch that!" Wolf ordered. "Until we can sort this out, the amulet stays around your neck to prevent another shifting. The beast has no conscience and you're inside Volek House. Those in the house with you need to be protected from you--do you understand?"

Leo swallowed and nodded. "Maybe if I came with you I could help," he suggested hesitantly. "Quince won't hurt me and--"

"No! If he's near you, whatever influence that bite gave him over you might make you shift despite the amulet. We can't take any chances."

"Then you believe what Waino said about the bite?"

"It's as good an explanation as any."

Once Wolf locked Leo's door and pocketed the key, he hurried to his own room and told Cecelia what had happened while he took down an old wooden chest from the closet shelf and removed a sheathed silver dagger.

Cecelia's eyes widened. "That's not enough, he'll kill you. What about a gun?"

"What good is a gun without silver bullets? Liisi may have some stashed away in the tower room. I'll have Druse look for them but I can't wait--I have to go after the beast before he's seen. Don't let anyone go outside until I come back."

"Liisi's funeral--?"

"Call and tell them we have an emergency and must postpone the funeral."

"The day servants?"

"Tell them whatever you can think of that will keep them in the house."

When Wolf ran down the stairs he found Waino waiting once more in the foyer. Realizing the man meant to go with him no matter what argument he might put forth, Wolf merely said, "I have no amulet for this one."

Waino patted a bulging pocket. "Don't worry."

Wolf eyed him uneasily. He had only Waino's word that he was Liisi's cousin. True, he was Finnish, but what if Waino was something or someone other than he said? Something that also knew about shifters? It wouldn't be the first time Wolf had inadvertently welcomed a stalker into Volek House. He motioned with his head toward the door and Waino donned the wide-brimmed black hat he wore to protect himself from the sun. Once they were outside and the door was closed, Wolf slid his hand under his coat and gripped the hilt of the silver dagger.

"Guns are useless against the beast," he said, probing, waiting tensely for Waino's reply. Would he admit he had silver bullets? What then?

"I"m not carrying a gun," Waino said. "I couldn't shoot straight to save my life. Besides, he's a Volek. I know you don't want to kill him."

Wolf hesitated, all but convinced by Waino's words. If the man was a stalker wouldn't he have killed them all by now? And wasn't it true Liisi had warned him to expect a relative to arrive after she died? Still....

"Which gate?" Waino asked.

Without speaking, Wolf led the way toward the back gate. When they were outside the walls, trotting toward the pine grove, Waino said, "Interesting that Quincy's beast didn't wait for the moon to rise--almost as though the change was long overdue. I wonder if Liisi, even after she died, was in some way responsible for keeping him from shifting. After all, he didn't change until her coffin left the house."

A memory came to Wolf of Liisi once telling him that when Quincy was twelve she'd shown him the amulet and explained its purpose.

"I won't need it, Grandmother," Quincy had insisted. "Honest. I promise you I won't shapeshift." He'd laid a hand on his heart. "I promise."

"He promised he wouldn't shift," Wolf said to Waino. "Ah. Liisi must have been powerful enough to bind him to a freely-given promise, forcing him to keep it." Waino shook his head admiringly. "I wish I could have met her in person." He smiled. "You have a fascinating family, fascinating. Especially your daughter. Her healing skills are remarkable."

Wolf shot Waino a considering glance. He hadn't realized the man had so much as said two words to Druse. Changing the subject abruptly, he said, "I think I know where the beast is heading. He may have shifted during the day but he's a night hunter and he'll want to den up until it's dark. There's an old cabin a few miles from here..."

In the late afternoon, a Miwok hunter carrying a bow and quiver of arrows intercepted Wolf and Waino before they reached the cabin. As he introduced Waino to the Indian, Wolf noted with alarm that two of the arrows were silver-tipped.

"Bear Claw said you would come," Sitting Fox said. "As he said the spirit wolf would return."

"Is he--the spirit wolf--in the cabin?" Wolf asked.

"He is. Three of us watch and wait."

"I'm going to try to take him alive," Wolf warned. Sitting Fox said, "I'll tell the others. But we shoot if we must. Shoot to kill." He slipped into the trees and disappeared.

"I assume they're good shots," Waino said. "So we'd best get closer to the cabin to give ourselves better odds of hauling home a live beast."

With the cabin in view, Waino somehow, imperceptibly, assumed charge of the hunt. He started a tiny blaze and threw on dried leaves while he chanted. He captured some of the aromatic smoke in a black rubber balloon which he then inflated to the size of a muskmelon before he sealed the end of the balloon.

He tied a steel knife to the balloon with black ribbon, spit on the knife blade and, followed by Wolf, crept from tree to tree until he was opposite the cabin, the door still askew on its hinges. With the ease Wolf knew could come only from long practice, Waino balanced the knife in his hand and threw it.