One True Mate 1: Shifter's Sacrifice by Lisa Ladew Page A

opened only for long enough for him to slip inside the dark hallway. He pulled his arms and legs in quickly, before the door slammed on them. Only one person could pass at a time unless it was two moving quickly, that was one of the heightened security features of the outside door.
    Trevor walked fast, his footfalls echoing in the cool chamber. The hallway slanted down, taking him straight where he wanted to go, the underground tunnels. He twisted left, then right, then around, until he found the room he was looking for.
    He pushed open the wooden door, noting by the smells that came at him that Wade had been the last one in here, two, maybe two and a half weeks ago.
    The only history the shiften were allowed to record were all in this room. Three hundred and eighty four thousand and two prophecies, most taken down centuries ago. Only a few had been recorded in the last thirty years, but that was the section Trevor headed for. He needed to hear the One True Mate prophecy again, see if there was any reference to them being called The Promised.
    He knew there wasn’t. He had the prophecy memorized, but he would not trust something so important to his memory. If Khain were hunting down the One True Mates meant for the shiften , that would change everything.
    Trevor pulled out the DVD recording he was looking for and stuck it in the DVD player over the small TV in the corner, then turned everything on and sank into the overstuffed lounge chair, his mind spinning.
    An older wolfen appeared on the screen, sitting in an easy chair, his head back, his eyes closed, his hands soft and relaxed on the arms of the chair.
    “Hi, Dad,” Trevor whispered, feeling sorrow gnaw at his chest and throat. He should have had so much time with his parents still, but his father had been older than his mother, and when she had been murdered, his father had only been able to hang on for three more years. This was the last prophecy he had ever received. He’d died of old age or a broken heart four days later. To shiften , they were the same thing.
    Trevor had been five when his father had died and he’d gone to live permanently in the war camps, but he still had a few memories of the man. Of his mother, he only had impressions. Softness, a smile, a scent of warmth and love.
    Trevor shot to his feet, unable to stand the warring emotions within him. He stalked across the room, hearing growling coming from himself, but unable to hold it back. He surrendered into a violent shift, dropping onto all fours, his clothes and gun falling onto the floor as his powerful body changed into the big black, silver, and gray wolf with the white boomerang on its left shoulder.
    The wolf snarled wildly and hit the door at a run. He needed to bite, to fight, to claw and kill. But his only blood enemy, the demon known as Khain, was nowhere to be found, so he ran, ran through the cool, dark tunnels at top speed, ran for miles, body stretching to the limit with each extension and flexion. Each time he came to a dead end, where a wolfen’s family home was, he turned around and went back the way he came to take a different shaft, his claws on the concrete and the sound of his tearing breath echoing back to him.
    When he finally returned to the prophecy room, it was at a slow walk, his head and tail drooping. He had met no one during his departure from sophistication, and that was probably a very good thing.
    Trevor shifted wearily back into human form, anticipating needing to open the door with human hands, but Wade was already there holding it open for him, the expression on his face saying he knew exactly what Trevor had been doing and why.
    “Thanks,” Trevor said dully.
    Wade shoved Trevor’s clothes at him. “Get dressed. We have a problem.”

Chapter 9
     
    Ella stumbled over her own feet again, walking swiftly around and around her neighborhood, as the late afternoon sun began to drop behind the houses to her west. She steadied herself, looked over her shoulder,