Together with her boss, Odier Labuschagne, she’d gotten permission to try one last time, if necessary. This time, she’d do it with her ability to take over the animal’s spirit, guiding them into the darkness of the woods. She’d teach them how to survive until they could feed on foliage and move as silently as ghosts, just like their Knysna cousins.
Odier didn’t like the plan. If she didn’t succeed in this mission, he’d stick her ass in a chair back at head office. If that happened, she’d shrivel up like a cut flower in a vase and die. She hated the confines of the office. Odier said the mission was too dangerous, but she knew how to look after herself in the forest. It wasn’t animals she feared. It was man. Humans were her biggest enemies. The Theron cousins, for sure. And Wayne West. She couldn’t reconcile the image of the man who’d given her kindness and care with the one Maggie had described. It couldn’t be the same man. Why, when she’d given him the benefit of the doubt, had he gotten all defensive and nasty? He had every right to be upset about his kitchen, and she had every intention of paying for the damage, but why did he have to be a jerk about the orgasm?
Shaking her head to clear her mind of the thoughts that kept turning in circles with Wayne West always in the center, she focused on the environment. She was deep enough into the forest to no longer hear the traffic from the road. Everything else disappeared as she honed in on the animal life that crawled, ran, and flew around her. Her gift operated roughly within a five-mile radius. Anything beyond that, she couldn’t tap into. In her immediate proximity, there was nothing but insect, reptile, and bird life. There were also no bigger animal tracks. For now, she wasn’t searching for the elephants. What she needed was protection from men like the Therons. She wasn’t going to get caught like yesterday.
Near the stream where the overhanging bank offered protection, she found what she was looking for. She could feel the deadly Cape Cobra in its hole. Gently, she probed it out, commanding it by spirit until the snake stopped fighting her will and slithered toward her.
“Good baby,” she cooed, kneeling down and opening her bag for the snake to crawl in. “It’s just for a while. I promise I’ll release you. Stay and sleep.” She drew a finger over his lithe, smooth body. “I’ll call you Kojak.”
Her objective accomplished, she turned back and headed home with the snake.
After a shower, she went to town for food supplies and to withdraw as much money as she could from a cash machine. Two thousand bucks weren’t enough to repair Wayne’s kitchen, but it would be a start. She could pay him off in installments. She didn’t look forward to facing him after the way they’d parted, but it was the right thing to do. She wasn’t going to leave the money in his mailbox with a note like a coward, however tempting it was. Besides, leaving that much money lying around was risky. There were a lot of thieves around.
Her throat closed up when she passed the cattle grid and his cabin came into view.
“It’s all right, Kojak,” she said to the backpack on the seat next to her. “We’re dropping the money, and then we’re out of here.”
The sound of hammering reached her ears as she got out of the Jeep. It came from inside the house. She steeled herself and knocked, but when there was no answer, she made her way around the back.
The kitchen door stood open. Wayne was fixing the burned counter, nailing a new plank into place. He wore only his jeans and boots. His broad back glistened with perspiration. The muscles in his arms and back flexed every time he brought the hammer down.
For a moment, she remained on the spot, mesmerized. Tall and strong, he seemed so together, like he always had everything under control. He didn’t come across as a man who’d explode a Snackwich machine or murder someone in cold blood. Still, there was something dark about him, something both frightening and exhilarating, something deeply mysterious.
His black hair shined in the light of the late afternoon sun. The soft curls in the nape of his neck made him look strangely vulnerable. She wanted to drag her fingers through the strands. She wanted to give him a haircut and tell him it didn’t have to be his land, but the decision wasn’t hers to make.
The counters around the sink were ripped out and the curtains were gone. Black stains marked the windows and the wooden logs above the stove, but the stove had been scrubbed and the floors were clean. Fresh guilt consumed her.
She should make him aware of her presence. Before she could knock or clear her throat, his hand stilled in mid-air, as if he suddenly sensed he wasn’t alone. He brought the hammer down slowly and turned his head a fraction. The hard, cold eyes that stared at her from over his shoulder were enough to send her running, but she stood her ground. Despite the fact that there were no welcoming signs in his stance, she crossed the doorstep and offered a smile.
“Hi.” She shoved her hands in her pockets, not knowing what to do with them.
He turned to face her squarely, his impressive height towering over her. “We had our goodbye kiss. You weren’t supposed to come back.”
“Is that how it works around here?”
His eyes ran over her face. “Careful, little girl, or you may give me the wrong idea.”
She wasn’t here to fight with him. Ignoring the bait he threw for conflict, she took the envelope from her bag and held it to him. “For you.”
He looked at the envelope but didn’t take it. “What is it?”
“Money to pay for the damages.” She motioned with her head at the destroyed side of the room. “It’s not enough to cover everything, but I’ll pay it off.”
“I didn’t ask for your money.” He turned away, positioning another nail on the wood.
“I want to. It’s only fair.”
He started hammering again, ignoring her.
“It’ll make me feel better,” she said.
He didn’t react. She wasn’t even sure he’d heard her through the loud clacks. She approached him and laid her good hand on his back as he brought his arm down, feeling the muscle ripple under her palm. He shuddered as if she’d shocked him, the hammer landing with a softer thud this time. A loud curse erupted, followed by another, and another.
“God dammit!” He threw the hammer aside and shook his fingers.
“Wayne! Did you hurt yourself?”
“Fuck!” He lifted his hand and checked his finger.
Ouch. That was going to turn blue. The nail might even drop off. She retreated, trying to make herself small.
“I’ll just leave the money here.” She put the envelope on the table.
In two steps, he was in front of her, his eyes simmering and his nostrils flaring. “Go away, and take your money with you.”
“I’m trying to make things right.”
“If you want to make things right, leave.”
“I already apologized for your kitchen and for hitting on you last night.”
“Apology for the kitchen accepted. No apology needed for the second part.”
“Can we at least try to be civil? I’m going to be around for a while, at least until my job’s done.”
“That’s the problem,” he mumbled.
“What?”
“Do your job if you have to, but do us both a favor and stay out of my way.”
She bit her lip. All she wanted was for the implementation of the new law to go smoothly. Her job depended on it.
His shoulders hunched as he blew out a sigh. “Look, I admire your guts for coming here and apologizing, not that it was necessary. I’m sorry for being an asshole. There. We’re square. Doesn’t mean I’m not going to fight you tooth and nail. I’ll do whatever it takes to keep what’s mine.”
“May I at least tell you what we’re offering?”
“Don’t want it.”
“You don’t even know what it is.”
He cupped the nape of her neck and drew her so close her chin touched his chest. Holding her breath, she tilted her head up to him. Fine dust from the wood clung to his long, dark lashes.
His lips lifted in
one corner. “I do know one thing. I can’t afford your kind of trouble.”
“What trouble?”
He lifted his damaged nail. “Do you need to ask?” His thumb brushed over the back of her neck, sending shiver after shiver down her spine.
“I have a kitchen to repair,” he said after a strained moment. “If you don’t walk your cute little ass over to your Jeep, I’ll carry it there for you.”
There was no winning with him. If she could only show him the land government meant to give him. Before she could finish the thought, he scooped her up in his arms, snatched up the money, and was making his way around the house.
She squirmed in his grip. “Put me down.”
He held her in one arm like she weighed nothing more than a feather pillow and opened the door of her Jeep. Unceremoniously, he dumped her in the driver seat and threw the envelope in her lap.
“I can’t say it was a pleasure,” he said.
“Neither can I.”
His eyes softened. “The physical part excluded. I liked making you come.”
Heat warmed her cheeks, but this time it wasn’t annoyance or fury. Something warm unfolded inside of her at his admittance.
He tapped the roof of the vehicle twice and with a last, crooked smile, turned back for the house.
She dumped her bag on the passenger seat and started the engine, her eyes fixed on his incredibly masculine back. “You see, Kojak? Told you it wasn’t going to be so bad.”
* * * *
It was twilight when she got home. There was a brown spotted owl not far from her cabin. His hoot rose above the song of the crickets and the cobble of the river. The dark moon was turning, growing into the rounded tip of a fingernail. She parked the Jeep in the driveway and commanded the owl to stay near the house.
“If anyone comes near,” she said, “make a lot of noise.”
The owl would be her natural alarm. She doubted the Theron mongrels would attack her in her own house, but you never knew. She’d learned her lesson. They may think they’d scared her by feeding her mushrooms, but she wasn’t that easy to run off.
She made a bed for Kojak in the warmer drawer of the oven, leaving it on a low temperature setting and stuffing it with towels. “If anyone comes through the door, you get them, Kojak.”
The snake coiled into a ball.
She fixed dinner and put the bird’s eye chilies she’d gotten with her groceries in a pot with a bit of water and lots of sugar, letting it simmer. When the chilies were soft, she removed them and let the syrup cool. She scooped out some of the aqueous cream she’d bought, and mixed the remainder with the syrup. She pulled the label off the pot and stuck a white sticker on, marking it with a one-word warning–hot.
The owl hooted twice. A knock on the door made her jump. This wasn’t good. Had trouble followed her this soon?
“Sorry, buddy, but I need you.” She lifted Kojak from his bed and draped him around her neck like a scarf. “I’ll never waste your poison mindlessly, but if I tell you to bite, you bite.” She stroked the flat triangle on his head and made her way to the front.
“Who is it?” she called through the door.
The female voice that answered sounded girlish. “A friend of West.”
Sara opened the door on a crack. A petite girl dressed in a T-shirt, jeans, and sandals stood on the step. Her wheat-blonde hair was tied into a ponytail and her face, void of any make-up, was striking in its unadorned beauty.
The woman jumped back. “Oh, my God! Is that a cobra?”
“Don’t worry, he’s … uh … tame.”
“You must be the Sahara Graham I’m looking for,” the woman said, not coming closer.
“That’s me. You said you’re a friend of Wayne’s. How can I help?”
“I’m Bella.” She shot a wary glance at Kojak. “May I come in?”
“Did Wayne send you?”
“Not exactly.” Bella flicked her ponytail over her shoulder. “Actually, if he knows I’m here, he’ll probably throw a tantrum.”
The mental image of Wayne throwing a tantrum had her grin. “In that case, come inside.”
Kojak lifted his head and flicked out his tongue, his way of identifying their visitor.
Bella walked a circle around her. “What are you, a snake catcher?”
“Something like that.” Sara closed and locked the door. “Let me put him to bed.” She caressed his head. “He won’t bother you.”
Bella gaped at her. “Wait. What? His bed? You have a venomous snake as a pet?”
“I’m just borrowing him for a while. Think of him as a guard dog.”
“Ah, the guys have made trouble already. Can you get me one, too? I can do with a guard snake. As long as I don’t have to cuddle it.”
“I always release them back in the wild. They’re not meant to stay in captivity.”
She walked to the kitchen, Bella in tow. When she’d deposited Kojak in his bed, she said, “Would you like a drink?”
Bella shrugged. “Sure.”
“Diet coke?”
“Thanks.”
Sara handed her a can from the fridge and leaned on the counter. “So, you’re here about Wayne?”
Bella popped open the can and slurped up the foam that boiled over the top. “Yep.”
She hated to ask, but she could only imagine one reason why the beautiful blonde would be here. She cleared her throat. “Are you his girlfriend?”
Bella choked on the sip she had taken. “God, no.” She wiped her mouth daintily with a palm. “West was my grade one crush, but that’s where it ended. We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. He’s like a big brother to me.”
“Oh.” She tried not to sound too relieved. It wasn’t that she was jealous. Conflict just wouldn’t be nice. “Then why look me up?”
“I want to talk about the land reclaim.”
“He told you about it?” Already, she wanted to add.
“Naturally, he’s very upset.”
“I understand that, but I wish he’d listen to our offer.”
Bella regarded her with a penetrating stare. “There are things about West you need to know.”
“If it’s about his jail sentence, Maggie beat you to it.”
“Ah, Maggie.” Bella’s expression hardened. “I’m sure she went into all the gory details. No, it’s not about West being an ex-con. It’s about why the land you’re about to take away from him means so much.”
An involuntary, inexplicable pain twisted her heart at the thought of taking away something from Wayne. “Land always means a lot.”
“The land now owned by Clive Theron belonged to West.”
Sara stared at her. “The game farm?”
“All of it. Everything from the edge of the forest to the shore of the lagoon on the east.”
She blinked. “I didn’t know.”
“The game farm had been in West’s family for years.”
“What happened?”
“Clive offered to manage the farm when West was convicted. West trusted him. A series of bad investments and mismanagement led to a substantial amount of debt. Clive covered it up until it was too late to do anything about it. West had signed over the land as security, and the rest you can guess.”
“Wayne lost the land, and Clive bought it?”
“For next to nothing.” Bella’s pretty mouth pulled into a sneer. “Daylight robbery. If you ask me, Clive had it all worked out. He always wanted to get his hands on that farm.”
“All Wayne has left is the land by the river,” Sara said softly.
“The land government wants to reclaim.”
“It’s the only farmable land from here to the coast.” Sara wiped a hand over her brow. “There wasn’t another option.”
“It’ll break him. It’s the last morsel of his inheritance, the last tie he has to his identity.”
No wonder he hated her. “I don’t see another way. Government has passed the bill. To reverse it would be nearly impossible, no
t to mention costly.”
“When Mariana died, the West I knew died, too. When he lost his land, the last of the light in his eyes went out. He’s barely holding on, as it is. This will destroy him.”
Sara bit her lip. Her heart broke for Wayne, but she had to remain professional and remember her mission. “If we don’t fence off the forest, the precious trees will all be chopped down by the wood smugglers. Eventually, there won’t be enough forest left for the elephants to hide. They’ll die.”
Bella straightened. “Then the price for their conservation will be West’s sanity. Hasn’t he paid enough, already?”
“I don’t know him like you do, and I understand that you care about him. You must be a good friend, or otherwise you wouldn’t be here. I’m afraid I don’t have a choice.”
Bella left her can on the table. “If there’s someone in government who can be bought–”
“I won’t tolerate such talk.”
The pretty blonde shrugged. “I had to try.” Her smile was sad. “I’d hate to see West hurt again.” She glanced at her watch. “I’ve kept you long enough, and I have an appointment.”
Sara walked her to the door. “I’m sorry. Really, I am.”
“I’m sure you are, but sorry isn’t going to help West, is it?” Bella stopped on the step. “Don’t tell West I was here. He’s a proud man. He won’t forgive me for trying to fight his battle.”
“I won’t tell him, but I won’t lie to him either, should he ask.”
“Fair enough.” Bella’s lips tilted. “I guess I’ll see you soon, then. It’s a small town. We’re bound to run into each other if you’re sticking around.”
“How did you find me, anyway?”
“As I said, it’s a small town. I only had to ask around.” Bella skipped down the steps and waved. “Be careful, Sara. You seem like a nice girl, and this can be a very nasty town.”
It was said like a warning, not as a threat. The girl got into a sleek old Mercedes sport model, started the engine, and disappeared down the dirt road.
Scapulimancist (Seven Forbidden Arts Book 7) Page 7
