Midnight Pleasures - By Amanda Ashley Page 0,1

like a river of molten gold.

This night, her voice beckoned him as never before. Unable to resist, eager to more closely behold the face of the one blessed with the voice of an angel, he gathered his power close around him. He felt it coalesce and he drew it close, feeling it surround him, and then he stepped out into the darkness of space, his body falling like a leaf from a tree, changing from wizard to wolf as he drifted downward to land, as light as dandelion down, on the ground.

"Sing another, Channa Leigh."

"Aye, lass, give us another!"

Channa Leigh smiled as the crowd gathered around her urged her to sing another song. Singing was her one true love, her sole reason for living. Locked in a world of darkness, she had only her music to light her days.

Hands clasped to her breast, she began to sing again, an ancient lullaby she had often heard her mother sing. A hush fell over the crowd, and even the rowdy young men near the tavern fell silent, until the only sound to be heard was her voice, the notes strong and true, blending with the whisper of the night wind and the faint crackle of the flames. The lullaby gave way to a ballad of love lost and found, the words sung with such feeling that many a woman wept silent tears, and many a man, too.

There was a moment of awed quiet as the last note fell away, and then Channa Leigh heard someone gasp, heard someone else softly exclaim, "Look at that!"

She felt the undercurrent of fear that ran through the crowd, heard their shuffling feet as they backed away from her.

"Hold still, lass," her father called softly.

Accustomed to obeying her father's every word, Channa Leigh did as she was told. And then, like a ray of brilliant sunshine penetrating a dark cloud, she felt a presence beside her.

"Dinna move, Daughter." Her father's voice trembled now. "Dinna move."

She felt a pressure against her leg, the brush of thick, soft fur against her hand. "What is it?" she whispered.

" 'Tis a mountain wolf, the biggest I've ever seen."

She should have been afraid. Mountain wolves were huge beasts, some near as large as a draft pony. They were predators without equal.

She should have been afraid, yet she felt no fear at all as the big wolf circled her, his body pressing against her legs. She felt a stirring in the air, a whisper, like the mournful sighing of the wind before dawn. A tingling on her skin, like the touch of the sun after a cold winter. Before she had time to wonder what it meant, the chains of darkness fell away from her eyes. Too stunned to speak, she stared at the creature as he rubbed his huge head against her hand, blatantly begging for her touch. What magic was this? she wondered in awe. What witchery had fallen on her to restore her sight? Hesitantly, she scratched his ears, then ran her fingertips over his head and neck. She was rewarded with a low growl that rumbled like soft thunder. Startled, she drew her hand away, and darkness descended on her once more.

The wolf whined low in his throat, his muzzle pressing against her arm. She blinked and blinked again, and as she sat there, her hand resting lightly upon the wolf's head, she realized that she was seeing the world through the wolf's eyes. Her own eyes widened with surprise as she noticed the wolf's eyes were blue. Who had ever heard of such a thing as a blue-eyed wolf?

"Be still, lass," Dugald warned softly. "Ronin has gone for his bow."

"Nay!" Channa Leigh cried. "Nay, Papa, you must not kill it!"

"Are you daft, girl? 'Tis a wild beastie, not a pet."

Slowly, her hand resting firmly on the wolf's head, she stood and turned toward the sound of her father's voice. "Papa? Papa, I can see you."

Dugald stared at his daughter in astonishment. "Channa Leigh, what are you saying?"

"I can see you."

"Channa Leigh?" A woman stepped out of the crowd, her pale blue eyes shining with tears.

"Mama? Oh, Mama, I can see."

Mara stared at her daughter. "But... but... how is that possible?"

"I dinna know." Slowly, Channa Leigh glanced around, and she could see them all, the people she had lived with all her life, some whom she had never seen. " 'Tis a miracle."

A miracle that ended when Ronin ran forward, his longbow clutched in his hand. Ronin, who was