Just get up and leave.
She didn’t want Kellum to change his mind and come after her. It would have been easy for him to jump through the point and pull her back to his side. She took off her pack and grabbed the compass. She knew the direction of the fork in the path. This time the red arrow told her where to go. Her vision kept blurring, not from pain but from the tears that were streaming down her face. Her pace quickened. She wouldn’t be more than an hour from her destination.
When she came to the fork that broke into three paths, she dropped to her knees. Relief mixed with regret washed over her. Her stomach roiled, but her headache hadn’t debilitated her like the last time. Perhaps going from Anterra to earth was an easier transition.
Move.
As she hurried down the path, she tried to come up with what story she’d tell Amy and Krista. Would they even believe the truth? If her friends thought she’d lost her mind, they might find a way to stop her from leaving.
Maybe she’d been asleep in the woods for that period of time. Hell, maybe time on Anterra wasn’t the same as on earth and she’d only been gone fifteen earth minutes. Wouldn’t that be nice?
The ski lift appeared, but no one was around. As she approached the lift she glanced at the majestic mountains, wondering how much had been real. Her heart had changed. That much she knew.
Without further debate, she hopped on the lift and said her mental farewell to two of the most remarkable men she’d ever met. She prayed that her future interactions with men wouldn’t be colored by her comparison to those magnificent creatures.
When she hopped off at the bottom, a man and a woman got on. They waved and Lara inhaled. The once-sweet air seemed clogged with exhaust. The High-Country Inn wasn’t a far walk. After being in Anterra, walking a half-mile seemed close.
She took off her pack and stuck her hand in the side pocket. Almost to her surprise, she extracted her keycard to get in her room. Krista had probably already left town, but would she have taken the car? Had the girls assumed she was dead?
She entered the lobby, and Amy happened to walk out of the back office but didn’t look up. Lara’s heart nearly burst.
“Amy!” She ran toward the front desk.
“Lara?” Amy screamed. “You’re alive. Oh, my God. We’ve had the cops looking for you. What happened? Are you all right?”
The burst of questions were too many to answer at once. “I’m fine. Can we talk in private?”
“Sure. Come into my office. I can’t believe that you’re okay. I can’t tell you how worried I’ve been.”
“Where’s Krista?”
“She had to fly home. Some client needed her, but she made me promise to call her the minute you arrived. Come. Come.” Amy ushered her inside and motioned she take a seat. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I can’t either.” There was no way she could break the news to her friend and not have her freak. She might as well test the waters. “I know you won’t believe this, but I stumbled upon what is called an alignment point and landed in an alternate reality.”
Chapter Fifteen
Amy shook her head. “Let me get this straight. You were on your way to the waterfall when you got dizzy and felt achy, like you were about to have your period or something.”
“The timing wasn’t right for that, so I figured maybe I’d eaten something bad.”
“Next thing you know, you see a flash of light, and two gorgeous hunks appear.”
“Yes.”
She leaned back and smiled. “Can you find this area again? Because, girlfriend, I am so there.”
Leave it to Amy to put a positive spin on it. “I probably could, but the alignment point shifts constantly, and unless you are a shape-shifter you can’t detect where it is. They never would explain to me how that worked.”
“And you’re sure you weren’t kept drugged for days on end in some cabin?”
“No. It was real. They even had US television stations.”
“Uh-huh.”
No matter many different ways she tried to explain it, Amy wasn’t buying it. “I don’t blame you for being skeptical. Hell, I didn’t believe in shape-shifters until they shifted on command.”
“Do you need a drink?”
“Water would be nice.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “I meant an alcoholic drink. I think your brain has been addled.”
“No.” She crossed her arms. “I thought of all the people in the world, you’d believe me. Weren’t you the one who mentioned the possible existence of shape-shifters?”
“Yes, but I believe in aliens, too. However, if a little gray man walked into this inn and asked for a room, I would pass out for sure.”
That was the Amy she knew. “I know, but all I can say is that it happened.”
Amy pulled out her cell. “I’m calling the police to let them know that you’ve returned. You got lost and some hermit let you stay there for a few days.”
She understood that telling the truth would turn her world upside down. “Tell them I ate a mushroom and hallucinated for days. I’ll say I fell ill and don’t remember much, and that I had a high fever. When it broke, I came home. If I need to check in with the police I will.”
“That’s good. We’ll keep it simple.”
Amy made her call and tried to explain the best she could. “Yes, I can have her stop over after she’s rested.”
“Is my room still open?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to change. I’ve been living in this one outfit.” There was no need to give her all the details. She pushed back her chair.
Halfway to the door Amy spoke up. “How was the sex?”
Had she left that tidbit out? A large grin captured her face and she swiveled back around. “Amazing, incredible, awesome.”
“That good, huh? Why did you leave then?”
That was the one question she wanted to avoid. “Because I have a life here.” That seemed the simplest explanation.
“Did you fall in love with them?”
Even to her ears, her cackle seemed fake. “In a few days? No way.”
Amy pushed up from her seat and grinned. “I think you protest too much.”
“Okay, maybe I do love them a little, but life is too hard in Anterra. I’d have to wash my clothes by hand.” They did mention something about a washing machine, but she hadn’t taken them up on the offer. “I’d have to spend my life planting vegetables to feed the masses.” She had no idea what other kinds of jobs were available. Kellum had mentioned they had schools so maybe she could have found a teaching job. “The biggest issue was that they’re kind of like the police.” She told Amy about the raid.
“That could be a problem, but remember my sister is married to a cop and she seems happy.”
“Has your brother-in-law ever been shot?” Or mauled by wild animals?
“Once, in the arm.”
“Didn’t that destroy your sister?”
“Hon, it made them closer. When they are together, they live life like tomorrow he could die. They are amazingly in love.”
That was a beautiful sentiment, but she wasn’t ready for that. “You do remember that I am an actress and that I have a job in Monaco?”
“Let me walk you to your room. I can see you are about to drop from exhaustion.” They headed to the elevator. When they stepped in she pressed the third-floor button.
“There was an elevator up to the tree house that didn’t have walls. You had to hold onto a pole or chance dying.”
“You said they were technologically advanced. Maybe they could attach a guardrail.”
She hadn’t thought of that. “It’s too late now.” When they got to her door, she hugged Amy. “Thanks for listening.”
“When you’re ready, we’ll continue talking.”
“I’m going to take a shower and then call Krista.”
“I’ll give her a heads-up. She’s going crazy.”
“Do my parents know?”
Thankfully, she shook her head. “I didn’t want to make that call until we found your body.”
That was a distasteful thought. “I appreciate that. So the only two traumatized were you and Krista?” She prayed Krista hadn’t contacted the movie company.
“We’re the only two who spilled tears.”
“If my cell phone hadn’t run out of power maybe I could have called.”
“From an alternate reality, chickie? You do need a nap.”
Once she was alone, she trudged over to the bed and dropped down. She thought she remembered it being softer. She stared at the ceiling trying to calm her racing thoughts, but she failed at pushing aside the grief of losing the men she loved.
Love?
They didn’t love her, or did they?
* * * *
Taryn pushed up on his elbows. “She’s gone?”
Kellum had waited as long as he could to break the bad news to his brother. “I’m afraid so.”
“Why didn’t she say good-bye?”
“There wasn’t time.”
“Why did you let her go?”
His brother fell back onto the pillow. Kellum switched to sending mental images because it took less energy for Taryn to receive. She wanted to leave.
You have to go after her.
He expected that request. She begged me to let her go.
You still shouldn’t have let her leave. Taryn rolled over and planted his face in the pillow. I loved her.
He knew that Taryn did. Hell, he loved Lara, too, but this was the first time he’d heard his brother express those words. Me, too, but we have to understand that she didn’t fit in here.
Taryn got up and came toward him as if he wanted to fight. “Don’t ever say that again. She did fit in here.”
“You heard her explanation as to why she had to leave. Maybe if she talks to her two friends and comforts her parents, she’ll want to come back.”
“She has a movie job.”
They’d been over this before. “Her passion for the possible dig really excited her.”
Taryn dropped back on to the bed and covered his eyes. “You still should have stopped her. I don’t care what she said.”
Kellum held up his hands. They never thought anything of punching each other, but Taryn was too weak right now to get in a battle. “She might have fit in if we’d shown her how to work the elevator and the television. We did a crappy job of explaining our lifestyle.”
“I’m not talking about that. I saw the snickers of the other women, but once they got to know her, they’d have accepted her.”
“I know.” Taryn got out of bed, and Kellum motioned that he remain there.
“I’m too upset to rest.” With that, he changed into a lion. The slices and scabs clearly showed on his skin.
You are too weak.
Fuck weak.
Taryn headed out the door. Maybe a good run would get Lara out of his brother’s system, but his strength wasn’t where it should be. Hell, he needed do the same. Worried about Taryn, he raced after him. The elevator was already on the way down. As soon as it returned he got on. At the bottom he shifted and sped after him.
He didn’t have to see which direction Taryn was headed. Though the alignment point wouldn’t be in the same spot, it wouldn’t have gone far. Since it was in lion territory, Taryn would be safe.
Kellum arrived less than sixty seconds after Taryn had stopped. Don’t go there.
I need to bring her back.
Kellum sensed the alignment point was higher now and he blocked Taryn’s path. “If you really love her you’ll let her go.”
That stopped his brother.
Why would I do that? As I was lying in bed, I realized that the best thing in our life is gone. I loved her laugh and her passion for all things.
“She needs her freedom.” He, too, knew that he’d learned to really love for the first time.
She needs us.
He hated to feel the pain. Not only were the words translated, but so were the emotions. “I love her, too, but if you drag her back here, she’ll never really be ours. She has to come back on her own.”
Taryn turned around and dropped to the ground as if standing exhausted him. “How can she return?”
He had worried that once she stepped through the alignment point, Lara might never find her way back. “She’ll find a way. I’ll know when she’s trying to contact us.”
Like hell you will. You two can’t telepath with each other.
“You have to have faith.” He waited for his brother to get up, but he didn’t. “You going to wait here for her?”
Maybe. He looked up. What makes you sure she’ll want to come back? If she loved us, she never would have left.
“There are a lot of reasons. The big one was that I was a jerk after the fight. I wasn’t ready to deal with your injuries and console Lara. However, if she can’t handle what we do for the Anterrans, then perhaps she isn’t the one for us.”
You aren’t helping.
He could have lied to Taryn and waited until he healed to be honest, but this seemed right. “I’m going back.”
I’m staying.
“Suit yourself.”
All the way back home he kept telling himself that if she loved them enough she’d find a way back to them.
* * * *
After Lara took her shower she opened her suitcase full of clothes. She pulled them out and placed them on the bed to decide what to put on. After being in Anterra she realized the men didn’t care what she wore. Hell, the women only seemed to own what was necessary. Her excess seemed just that—excessive. She pulled on jeans and a simple white T-shirt. She didn’t put on any makeup or jewelry. Now that she’d gone without any for a week, she knew she could survive with cream alone.
Her next order of business was to contact Krista. As much as she wanted to call her best friend, she dreaded going through the whole story again. Maybe she needed to tell her the same story she told the police, but this time add in the fact that she’d picked a fairly poisonous mushroom and eaten it.
“Hello?” From the tentative way Krista answered, she didn’t want to believe that Lara could really be on the other end.
“It’s me. I’m fine.”
What came after that was a bunch of yelling and shouting. She thought Amy was going to call her first. Guess not. By the time she got Krista to calm down, she didn’t have the heart to lie. She told her the whole truth.
“You’re making that shit up, right?”
“Part of me wishes it wasn’t true, but it is, I swear. Listen, until I saw them shift with my own eyes, I didn’t believe them. Trust me, I’ve asked myself a million times if what happened to me was real or if I’d hallucinated everything. But the bloodstains on my clothes are real. I was with the men.”
“If they were so wonderful, why did you leave?”
That seemed to be the prevailing question. Each time she answered it, her conviction diminished.
“So what you’re telling me is that despite the fact that these men could be the loves of your life, you are too damn lazy to put clothes on the line and pick a few vegetables?”
Her words hurt. “You know I love my luxuries.”
“How good is your convertible in bed? Do your clothes kiss you good-night?”
“Ouch.”
“I’m not saying that you really did find two men who shifted into lions, but from the way you talk about them, they were hot and you love them.”
Could that be true? “For the sake of argument, say it is true. The truth is they’re gone. I couldn’t get to them even if I wanted to. I need to move on.”
“I’ve known you forever. You never gave up on anything in your life.”
Everyone had called her a bulldog. How else would she have gotten the best movie role of a lifetime? “True.”
“Do I need to come down there and talk some sense into you?”
Right now she could use a hug. “It’s a long drive.”
“When did that ever stop me?”
Just thinking about having someone care about her that much made her eyes water. “You are the best friend I’ve ever had, but if I do go to Anterra—that’s what it’s called—it might be a while before I can come back.”
“If I know you’re happy, I’ll be happy.”
Her throat clogged up. “Okay.”
Chapter Sixteen
Lara and Amy had dinner at The Happy Buck, one of Spirit’s vegan restaurants, but the food somehow tasted so processed that she didn’t enjoy it. The fresh garden in Anterra had spoiled her.
At least Amy seemed to believe portions of her story this time. Retelling all of the things that had happened made her realize that her time with Taryn and Kellum had been special.
“You’re going to miss them, aren’t you?”
“More than I’d realized.” A lot more.
“Are you going to try to contact them?”
She leaned her elbows on the table. “You weren’t listening. I can’t even if I wanted to.”
“Nonsense. Nothing is impossible. Why don’t you ask Imelda for help?”
“I have a movie contract, remember?” She listed all of the talk and radio shows the agent had lined up for her in the next two weeks. “A lot of money is riding on this movie.”
“I know, but you love these men. If you don’t try to go, you’ll always wonder if you gave up the best thing in your life.”
She hated that Amy was right. “Do you really think Imelda could help?”
When she’d first arrived in Spirit, she was a diehard skeptic about everything paranormal. She didn’t believe in ghosts, and still didn’t, thought psychics told the client what she wanted to hear, and knew with her whole heart that shape-shifters were a figment of the writers’ imaginations. In hindsight, Imelda had gotten so much right, especially the part about her being with two men and one of the man’s name began with a T, that she believed in her powers.
“It can’t hurt.”
She wanted to believe that. “I guess I could try, but why add to my heartbreak when she fails?”
Amy sipped her drink and leaned back. “You really need to figure out your life. I know that the movie experience will be fantastic, but are you ready to have people shove cameras in your face when you go to the grocery store?”
Melody Snow Monroe Page 15
