by Rosanna Leo
For the first time that morning, he smiled. A wide grin that would have appeared fun if the fun wasn’t at her expense.
“We’ll be somewhere on the boardwalk, Ms. Suzuki,” he called as he led the teens out of the room and down the hall.
Nina stood still for only a second. Inspired by the need to show him humans could hold their own, she hefted her heavy human limbs out of the meeting room, out of the lodge, and back to her cabin. Already panting, she tore through the clothes available to her and found a clingy workout ensemble in Lia’s things. She held up a pair of black yoga pants and a halter top that would surely bare her midriff.
“No way.” She’d never squeezed her body into yoga attire. And to run in it, while everything was jiggling? Maybe she’d just go back to the lodge and find a nice book.
“No. You have to do this. Show that man you can keep up with him.” Stripping quickly out of her outfit, she slid into the workout clothes, finishing off the tight ensemble with her own sneakers. Giving herself a once-over in the mirror, praying she looked half as good as Killian did in workout clothes, she bolted toward the lake.
Good Lord.
Within five minutes, she was cursing. When was the last time she’d stretched? Or moved? Ignoring the stitch in her side and the cramp in her calf, she ran. At least, she hoped it appeared a confident run, although she suspected it lay somewhere between a hobble and a crawl.
She gazed over the expanse of Lake Gemini, knowing they could be anywhere. The girls told her shifters had keen senses. She supposed if she’d been a shifter, she could have caught their scents and taken a shortcut. As it was, all she smelled were pine needles and newly-thawed earth. Damn. Winter might be over, but spring wasn’t quite in evidence yet. After a few moments of running, despite her thumping heart, her exposed skin grew cold and pimply. She took a few more steps, determined to catch up, if only to wipe the smug smile off Killian’s face.
As she landed on her right foot, she stumbled on a rock. Twisting her ankle, she toppled over and landed on her bum. She dragged herself over to a nearby park bench on the boardwalk, plunked herself down, and glared at the lake. Her own heavy breathing banged on her eardrums, like her own personal gong.
Within seconds, she heard many feet pounding on wooden slats. She looked to her right and saw the crowd of teens, Killian at the lead. He spotted her, saw how she rubbed her ankle and frowned. He motioned for the teens to continue running and they proceeded down the boardwalk. He jogged over to her and stood in front of her, hands on hips.
Damn him. He wasn’t even breathing hard.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing,” she muttered, reaching into her sock to massage her ankle. “I can handle it, even though I’m just human.”
He crouched before her and tapped her on the shoulder. When she looked up, he grinned. “I never said you were just human. You’re a lot of things, but not that.”
She glared, not understanding his meaning and trying not to read into it. She bit her lip so she wouldn’t offer up a pert retort. How was it possible to be so annoyed and so stimulated by the same man? He made her forget herself, and not in a good way.
He glanced at her bare arms and waist and must have noticed her goose pimples. “You’re cold and sore. Here.”
Before she could object, he yanked off his T-shirt and placed it over her head. As her head popped through the hole, she got a good look at his expanse of chest and stomach as it rippled before her with his movements. May God preserve her! Golden skin ornamented with the perfect amount of blond chest hair. Taut nipples. And the most amazing washboard abs she’d ever seen. She had to resist the urge to touch Killian to see if he was real. Instead, she concentrated on forcing her arms through his sleeves.
His shirt smelled good, like men’s deodorant and cleanliness, and warmed her instantly with his shifter body heat. She wanted to sleep in it, to rub it all over her pillows. “Thanks.”
“Let me look at your ankle.” Without waiting for her to consent, he put her foot on his thigh and began to untie her running shoe. He looked at her as he worked the knot, his gaze full of heat, as if he were stripping her of naughty lingerie.
A heavy sensation tormented her thighs, making her want to spread them. An uncomfortable ache messed with her stomach. She shouldn’t be having these feelings right there on a park bench. These feelings belonged in tousled bed sheets or on a stripper pole. She didn’t say a word as he slid her shoe off, his movements gentle, so different from his attitude. He put her shoe down and ran his fingers over her ankle, examining her for swelling.
“Can you flex your foot for me?” he asked, his voice quiet and pensive. He did not let go of her foot, and continued to support it in his hand.
Surrounded by his scent, confronted by his incredible chest, she swallowed hard and slowly rotated her ankle. Thankfully, the pain had subsided. Unfortunately, it seemed to be replaced by the nymphomaniac hankering in her soul.
“I think you’ll live to see another day, my human friend.” He grinned at her again and stroked her foot with an absent-minded touch. Big fingers massaged the bottom of her foot, sending little fireworks up her leg.
Oh, God. “Can I have my shoe, please?”
Her words seemed to remind him he hated her. Frowning, Killian set her foot down and handed her the shoe. “No more running for you today. Why don’t you meet us back in the same room? We’re almost done here anyway.”
“Fine.”
He stood, stared at her for a moment, and then turned and began to walk away.
No. Don’t leave it like this. “Killian, wait.” Her heart jumped into a funny new beat as he looked over his shoulder at her. “Um. Well, what I’d like to say to you is…thanks.”
He nodded once and jogged away. As he moved, the sunlight broke through the trees, shining on his strong back, illuminating the faint, sexy sheen of sweat. Even as he grew more distant, she imagined a lone bead of sweat traveling a provocative path over his shoulders, down the expanse of his back and into the elastic of his shorts.
And then she spent a good five minutes staring into space, wondering what his ass looked like.
Cursing, Nina picked herself up and trudged back to the lodge
* * * *
An hour later, back in his shirt, now redolent of Nina’s soft perfume, Killian observed as she chatted with some of his teens. His jaguar watched, too. It watched with the stealth inherent to his species, a great cat who didn’t chase down its prey, but who stalked it. As it licked its lips, saliva gathered in his cheeks and his teeth hurt. He tried to ease the pain by running his tongue over his canines. Sharp points descended, cutting his tongue.
Shit. He swallowed until the metallic taste disappeared, wondering why his animal teeth would descend. For a man like him, animal teeth should only manifest during battle or mating sex. Typically, during mating, a shifter bit his female in order to mark her, in order to protect her from unwanted attention.
He heard Angus’s voice in his head. She’s unmarked.
Every shifter knew an unmarked woman was fair game. And God only knew, there were less picky men at the Ursa Lodge than Killian. He might restrict his sex play to shifter women, but there would be lots of men on Gemini Island who’d want to try their luck with the pretty human. They might pretend to play by polite courtship rules, but he understood every shifter man was a beast under human skin.
He rubbed his stomach as a nauseous sensation worked its way through his intestines.
Shaking his head, he dismissed any notions about mating and concentrated on Nina’s interactions with his group. No longer skittish around shifters, she seemed to blend in, as if unconcerned they might sprout whiskers or fangs. It was a distinct possibility. In his time as a mentor, he’d witnessed numerous teens succumb to their emotions and shift in a rage. He needed to be on guard.
She sat with a number of them, telling them a story about having to walk some crazy dog named Ernest. H
e admired her easy rapport with the kids, but there was still one problem.
They weren’t like her. And as comfortable as she might appear with them, if anyone decided to shift in anger, it would scare the crap out of her.
Many of the teens had come to Gemini Island because of aggression issues. Young shifter bodies, basically a war zone of hormones, operated on a more intense level than the average teen. Many of them experienced bullying at the hands of human school mates, kids who didn’t understand what set them apart. Even though a shifter teen could physically trounce a human, they often held back for fear of hurting someone, until one day they got pushed to the limits and exploded. It had happened to him and his brothers as kids, and to just about everyone he knew on the island.
The door to the meeting room swung open. One of the shifter girls appeared, a lynx named Dawn, her face wet with tears. He raced right over to her, conscious of Nina right behind him.
“What’s the matter, Dawn?” he asked, reading the girl’s expression and body language for any sign of impending violence.
“My parents just told me we go home tomorrow. I’m not ready. I wanna stay on Gemini Island.”
He and Nina traded looks. She wouldn’t know it yet, but many of teens found it hard to go home and leave the nurturing bosom of the Ursa Lodge. After being in a place where everyone accepted you, hairy bits and all, it could be difficult to head back into the big, bad world again. He generally dealt with them using his tried-and-true tough love methods.
“Dawn, you can’t be sheltered here all your life. We’ve given you the tools you need to function, and at some point, you need to take the plunge. Trust in yourself.”
“But Mr. Moon, I can’t,” she wailed with the hysterics of youth.
He was about to suggest they take out her frustrations on a punching bag when the girl yelled and dropped to her knees. In a flurry of tufted hair, she let out a keening cry. Her clothing flew from her body, in tatters, and she transformed into her lynx. Restless and sad, the animal prowled.
He stepped in front of Nina, suddenly too aware of her human nature. All he needed was for her to get mauled by one of the participants. “Stay back, Nina.”
“It’s okay,” she whispered, a hand on his shoulder. “We just need to calm her down.”
“What we need is to get everyone else out of here before we have a mass hysterical shift. We need to get you out of here.” He called over to the other teens, telling them to give them some privacy and leave through the opposite door. With one eye on lynx Dawn, he watched until the other kids left.
In the meantime, Nina grabbed a long sweater one of the boys had left behind. She brought it over, her movements slow and cautious. “You know, I was a teenaged girl once. Do you mind if Dawn and I have a chat?”
And then, surprising the hell out of him, she reached out and ran a gentle hand over the girl’s fur. The teen lynx wailed, her cat eyes assessing, and then she bumped her head against Nina’s hand as a domesticated cat might.
“I don’t know. I’ve never had a human in my class.”
“Killian, please. Let me try.”
His jaguar issued a warning growl, but he realized it was aimed at him for being a stickler and not trusting her. All right, all right, you crazy cat. Calm down. “Okay. But only if she shifts back.”
Nina’s answering grin made his chest expand and made his jag purr. It also made his track pants feel tighter. Ignoring the warring sensations in his body, he turned his back to preserve the girl’s modesty. He heard a slight popping noise, the sound of bones cracking back into place, and knew Dawn had shifted. He listened as Nina quietly helped her put the sweater on. Once they’d seated themselves on one of the couches, he turned and sat opposite them, not quite ready to leave in case Dawn felt the need to release her lynx again.
Plus he had no idea what Nina planned to say and wanted to be there when she screwed up. The woman groomed dogs for a living. How on earth would she know what to say to a lynx girl? He was pretty sure her doggy clients never talked back to her.
Nina smiled at the girl and Dawn sniffled, taking her hand. “Do you feel better?”
“I guess.”
“You’re a beautiful lynx.”
“No, I’m not.” She hung her head.
“Uh, Dawn,” Nina replied, her face dancing like a child’s at Christmas Eve. Like someone who’d just been told Santa Claus was real. “You’re incredible. I can’t do what you do. I wish I could.”
“You do?”
“Girl, if I could transform into a sweet, little lynx, I’d be strutting my stuff all day.”
Dawn let out a laugh. Killian did too, disguising it as a cough.
“You just need to think positive thoughts. Mind over matter, you know. Can I tell you something about myself? I haven’t shared it with too many people.”
Dawn nodded, rapt. Killian realized he was holding his breath, wanting to hear her secret. Wanting to know all her secrets.
“When I was at school,” Nina began. “I was told I had a learning disability. Not a severe one, but it made it harder for me to process information. I went through a period where I flunked a lot of tests because I couldn’t cope with strict timelines. I needed to go at a slower pace than other students.”
“What did you do?” asked Dawn.
“Well, I felt like a loser for a long time. But my parents got me help and I had teachers who understood. They were able to tailor their learning plans to my needs.”
“And you felt better after that?”
“No,” Nina confessed. “I still felt inadequate. And then one day my mom pulled me aside and she told me the power to feel good was inside me, not inside other people. I always admired my mom. She’s confident and happy and holds herself high. She’s a tiny woman but you’d think she was taller than Killian because of her proud posture.”
She smiled and he didn’t bother disguising his glee at the reference.
“Things will never improve for you, Dawn,” continued Nina, “until you believe you deserve happiness. You have to believe in yourself. It’s as simple as that. Now, I want you to try something. Repeat after me. I am a warrior.”
Killian watched with a wary eye. Oh boy, here we go. This was the point where Dawn would turn into a raging lynx and scratch Nina’s eyes out.
Only she didn’t. The girl composed herself, looked Nina right in the eye and repeated, “I am a warrior?”
Nina smiled. “Good. Really good. Only it’s not a question. And when you say it, sit up straight and hold your head high. Now try another one. I am unstoppable.”
Dawn let out a sheepish giggle.
“Come on,” she coaxed. “I know you can do it. You have to believe it for it to work. Now take a breath, check your posture, and just say it. I am unstoppable.”
The girl did exactly as Nina requested, breathing deeply, sitting up straight. “I am unstoppable.”
Nina squeezed her hand, her excitement palpable. “Awesome. You’re doing so well. Now try this one on for size. I am a blessed child of the universe and I am powerful.”
More giggles. “I don’t know…”
“Dawn, sweetie. You are a shifter woman and have tremendous strengths. There is no one on this planet quite like you. There’s no need for you to be afraid. Now say the words.”
The girl gaped at her as if One Direction had just materialized before her. “I am a blessed child of the universe and I am powerful.”
Nina crushed Dawn to her chest in a happy hug and the teen laughed. Killian stared, not quite sure what he was witnessing, and frankly, a little daunted by the quiet power of the moment.
“Now what scares you most about going home?” Nina asked, her exotic face etched with empathy.
“There’s this group of human girls at school. They pick on me sometimes.”
Nina rolled her eyes and grinned. “Let me tell you something about humans, Dawn. We fear what we don’t understand. Those girls
sense a strength in you, a certain something they know they don’t possess. And because they can never have it, they resent you. So what I want you to do from now on, girlfriend,” she said, her voice rising, “is walk into every single room as if you own the fucking building.”
Dawn and Killian both gawked. He couldn’t remember hearing her use that word before. Hearing the curse trip so easily from her tongue was a turn on he couldn’t ignore.
“You will hold your head high,” Nina continued, clearly on a roll. “And you will show those petty girls who’s in charge. Do you understand me?”
“Um,” Dawn began, her voice cracking with excitement. “Yeah. I understand.”
Nina waved her hand with a flourish. “Now say the words again and show me you mean them.”
Dawn’s back was ramrod straight, her eyes flashing, and the posture of a queen. “I am a warrior. I am unstoppable. I am a blessed child of the universe and I. Am. Powerful.”
“Damn straight.” Nina hugged her again, her eyes watering, and kissed her on the cheek. “I know you can do it.”
With another giggle and a wave, Dawn rose from the couch and practically skipped out of the room.
Killian stared at Nina, whose lovely cinnamon skin had flushed a dark pink. In that moment, he wanted to touch her face. Hell, he wanted to taste her skin. “That was, uh, really weird.”
Her face crumpled.
“But,” he continued, “also really amazing. You totally inspired that girl. I wouldn’t have used the same approach but you told her exactly what she needed to hear.”
Her lips, tinted with soft pink, curled up in a joyful smile. They gazed at each other for a long moment before she spoke. “I know I’m not a shifter, Killian. I know I’m just human. But it seems to me so many of these kids are terrified of what humans will think of them. Maybe it helps for them to hear from one of us, too.”
