“It doesn’t look like much but it’s clean and the cheeseburgers are to die for.”
She sighed as her stomach rumbled and, with a pat on Buddy’s head, climbed out of the truck. Jason ordered for them while she took Buddy to do his business then put him back in the truck. “We won’t be long,” she promised. “Then you can sleep with me. It’s a pet-friendly motel.”
Buddy barked once, then whined and dropped his head onto his paws. She filled up his bowl, which she’d found shoved into his bag of food, smiled at him and shut the door.
Jason was right. The cheeseburger was better than she’d expected, especially since she didn’t usually eat meat, but suddenly she seemed to be craving it. She scarfed down the burger quicker than she would have imagined possible then picked at her salad.
“I can’t believe how fast I ate that,” she said, a little embarrassed. “I can’t remember the last time I was this hungry.”
He smiled. “I like girls with healthy appetites.”
It was a nice smile, a charming smile. But it wouldn’t work on her. Not anymore. She looked back down at her plate and speared a tomato. “So, what you said earlier...about my dad.”
He looked up, his pale bluish-gray eyes catching hers, and she was almost afraid to continue, to know. “It almost sounded like you knew him.”
“I did know him.”
She stared at him, her salad forgotten. “When? How?”
“The Colony is a small town. Everyone knows everybody. Your dad was... He was the leader of our village. You would be, too—as his daughter it’s your blood right.”
Blood right? What was that supposed to mean? Suspicion wormed its way through her, leaving a trail of unsettling wariness. What kind of town had leaders based on blood rights?
“My dad died ten years ago. And we have never lived anywhere called The Colony.”
“I know. He left shortly before marrying your mother.”
“Okay, well, that had to have been twenty-three years ago. And you can’t be a day over thirty. So how do you remember my dad?”
“He was a great man. He had a way of making an impression.”
She leaned back into the red vinyl seat and stared around the fifties diner, the long row of booths lining the wall of windows, while trying to wrap her mind around this. Something just didn’t sound right. Hell, none of it sounded right.
“Maybe you should tell me why you came for me. The real reason, because obviously you didn’t just happen to bump into me in the grocery store.”
“No, you’re right about that.” He swiped a handful of fries through a mound of ketchup and stuffed them into his mouth.
She waited, watching, her impatience growing by the second.
He swallowed, took a deep sip of his Coke and then smiled, a devastatingly charming smile meant to knock her off her feet. It wasn’t working. Not even a little.
“I came to find you.”
“Yes, I figured. Why?”
“To save you.” He leaned back with a self-satisfied grin, obviously pleased with his accomplishment.
“Thank you,” she gritted through a jaw growing tenser by the second.
“You’re welcome.”
“Why did I need saving?” She gripped the edge of the aluminum table to keep herself from jumping across the smooth surface and throttling him.
He looked around the room at the few other patrons scattered throughout the small diner then leaned in toward her. “It’s the demons. They’re after you.”
She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was sitting in the middle of God knew where with an insane man. How had her life gotten so screwed up? “Fine, I’ll bite. Why? Why do they live in my walls? Why do they want me? And why were there wolves surrounding my house?”
“I told you earlier, the wolves can smell the demons. But not only that—they can smell you.”
Shock intensified her annoyance, and she wasn’t sure how much longer she could hold on to her temper.
“It’s not like that,” he said quickly. “It’s because of your transformation. They can smell the change coming. Once you’ve made the transition, once we get you to The Colony, you’ll be safe. From them and from the demons, I promise.”
Anxiety burned in her chest. “What change? What transition?”
He took another long swig of Coke and suddenly she could see it for the diversion technique it was. He didn’t want to tell her. He was stalling! Because it was all lies.
“You have about thirty seconds to explain everything before I walk.” The urge to give him a swift kick under the table was almost overwhelming, and she held on to her leg with both hands cupped around her knee. God, what was happening to her? She was so keyed up, so frustrated and angry, she felt like she could jump right out of her own skin.
He took a deep prolonged breath. “Your father, like all of us at The Colony, was...different.”
“How?”
“Well, for instance, you’ve been seeing colors around people.”
“Yes,” she said, still surprised that he knew that.
“They are people’s auras. By now you should also be hearing the energy coming from their brains.”
The buzzing. “Yes...” But how did he know? “So, it’s not a tumor?” she asked, giving voice to her biggest fear.
“Nope. We all went through it.”
“And the people with the black auras, like that man at the store earlier?”
“He is a lost man, someone who doesn’t know who he is or what he values. He’s weak, and weak humans are easy vessels for demons to catch a ride in. We call them the Abatu.”
“Demons again.”
“Yes. But, one-on-one, you can fight them. Easy. Please tell me your dad at least taught you how to fight.”
“Of course he did,” she snapped, not liking the reference that her dad was some kind of slacker. “So, my dad could see auras, too?”
“Yes. Once. Before he went through the change. And after, I think. Though he never really talked about it much.”
“So, this change, whatever it is, why would that make us targets for demons?” She felt ridiculous even asking the question.
“Because the dimension where the demons come from, the place where the cracks in your wall lead to, is where our ancestors came from. Long ago. Our ancestors were sent here by the Gauliacho to spread fear through humans, to conquer and destroy them. They took the shapes of animals then transformed into humans, terrorizing the natives.
“Myths and legends were born. But our ancestors liked it here. They liked running free. They even liked the humans. After a while, they didn’t want to go back. In their human forms, they mated, started families, creating lives apart from the Demon dimension they came from. We are their offspring. We are the hated ones, the defiant ones. The abominations.”
Her heart gave a little hiccup as he said the word. This couldn’t be real, couldn’t be true. “I, uh, I’m not sure I’m following. Are you saying we are demons?”
“Not demon, not human, either, but a little of both. Your dad wasn’t human, Shay. Not completely. But your mom was. Once she became pregnant with you, your dad wanted to marry her. In order to do that, he had to leave the protection of The Colony.”
She stared at him wide-eyed and stunned. “Why? I thought he was in charge. Your leader or something.”
“He was. But your mother wasn’t like us, and we couldn’t know if you would go through the change or not. If you’d be more like her than him. Sometimes half-breed offspring do, sometimes they don’t. But either way, humans must never know about us. As each year passes, as populations grow, our secret has become harder to keep. If human offspring were allowed to grow up in The Colony, it would be impossible.
“That’s why it’s imperative that we never mate outsid
e The Colony. Your dad broke that rule. He saw your mom in a bordering town and fell instantly in love. He was lost from that moment forward. I promised him the day he left that if you changed, if you started your transformation, I would find you and I would bring you home safely.”
She leaned back in the booth. “You realize how crazy all this sounds, right?”
“Yes.”
“So according to you, I’m changing into some kind of demon hybrid and soon I will no longer be human?”
He nodded. “That’s about it in a nutshell.”
She slid out of the booth and stood. “Great meeting you, Jason.”
“I understand how this all sounds.”
“Do you?” She leaned in close to him. “And what about you, Jason? Are you some kind of demon? Are you not human, too?”
He placed a room key on the table and slid it toward her. “We’re both tired. Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning. You’re in room fifteen. I’ll be right next door if you need me.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, snatching up the key. “I won’t.”
* * *
Shay put on her jammies and climbed into bed as Buddy settled himself onto the floor next to her. “Everything is going to be all right,” she whispered to her dog. But was it? She had no clue what she was going to do. How could she believe a word Jason had said? It was crazy, and yet, somehow everything he’d said fit. He knew what she’d been going through with the colors and the sounds, and he’d said she wasn’t the only one. The burden lifted off her by his words was substantial. She didn’t have a tumor, benign or otherwise. She wasn’t going crazy. She was just going through some kind of change.
But into a demon? How could he expect her to believe that? She switched off the light and touched the necklace around her neck. If any of this was true, why hadn’t her father told her? Why hadn’t her mother? Both had died when she was so young. First her father from a freak accident in which he’d fallen off the cliffs into the Pacific, and then her mother, killed by a drunk driver. Maybe they meant to tell her, but never got the chance. Maybe there was nothing to tell because it was all crazy.
She had no idea how much time had passed when she woke to darkness. She was dripping with sweat and wrapped in a wet sheet. Pain sliced across her middle. She groaned, bending over, cradling her stomach as images of the forest flashed through her mind. She could smell the damp earth, thick and musky in her nose, could feel the power in her legs stretching out beneath her, carrying her fast through the night as she chased after the acrid scent of fear from a scurrying rabbit.
She screamed as another sharp pain sliced through her insides. The images came quicker, the outlines of the ferns and the Douglas firs were easy to distinguish by the light of the moon. Even though it was dark, details were so much easier to see as her vision sharpened into focus.
Her breathing, rough and ragged, scraped across the inside of her throat. She moaned, curling up into a ball, bunching the damp sheets in her sweaty palms. The door connecting her room with the one next door burst open. On the outskirts of her peripheral vision she saw Jason hurry toward her. The bed sagged as he sat next to her.
“Here, eat this,” he said, thrusting a large piece of jerky into her hand. “It’s venison.”
“I can’t.” She pushed it away as pain seared her insides. “I feel like I’m being ripped in two.”
“I know, I went through it, too. We all did. I just thought we’d have more time before you would. You need the protein. Eat it,” he demanded.
“No!” Her mouth was dry and filled with grit, there was no way she’d be able to swallow it. And even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to keep it down.
“Sorry.” He pushed the meat into her mouth. The woodsy flavor exploded across her tongue. She barely had it chewed before she was swallowing and greedily reaching for more.
He placed another piece between her lips. “No more salads for you. Not for a while.”
“I love salads,” she said weakly then cried out again as another surge swept through her. Her body temperature spiked, and she hung weakly on to Jason’s arm, riding the wave of torment.
“Your body is changing. You need to give it extra fuel. Only protein from now on.”
“Okay,” she whispered, knowing she’d promise anything if he could only make the pain stop.
He gave her another piece of jerky. She chewed it more slowly this time, the gamey flavor satisfying her in a way she’d never imagined. She wanted more. And she wanted it now. She chewed and chewed, trying to concentrate on the fulfilling taste even as the pain swept over her, stealing her thoughts. Tears coursed down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. This pain was sharper than when she’d broken her arm and deeper than anything she’d ever felt.
She cried out again as another wave swept through her, doubling her over until she just wanted to die, to close her eyes and drop off the deep end of oblivion. She felt herself being moved, being gathered up and pulled into Jason’s embrace. He was lying behind her, holding her nestled against him as he murmured in her ear and continued to put small pieces of the meat into her mouth.
She tried to concentrate on the feel of him behind her. With the strength of his arms wrapped around her, his infinite heat seemed to melt her limbs into mush. His smell, woodsy and earthy, of pine and forest, reached inside her and she breathed deep, breathed it so far into her that she wasn’t sure where she stopped and he began.
She touched the crystals on his wrist, fingering the smooth stones and rough twine. Dragging her fingers down to his strong warrior hands, trying to focus on the feel of them, their strength and their gentleness.
“I can help you if you’ll let me,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she cried, as another wave of intense heat stole over her, bringing with it the racking nausea.
He stood and slipped out of his jeans and pulled off his T-shirt. She wanted to protest, to demand to know what he was doing, but instead she curled up and closed her eyes as she willed the pain to stop. And then he was pulling off her pajama pants, pulling her shirt up over her head.
“No,” she protested, trying to cover her exposed breasts.
He slipped into the bed next to her and pulled her up against his hot skin. At first she tried to pull away from him. To put some distance between them, but then his hands began to move, soothing and caressing her skin. Moving up her body, and with each sure stroke, the pain and the tension began to ease. Warmth seeped into her clenched and strained muscles, appeasing the tension, until she began to relax and a new tension lit her nerve endings.
She felt each gentle touch so deeply it was almost as if she could feel the ridges of his fingerprints being imprinted on her skin. Nerve endings fired and tingled, leaving longing in their wake. His bare feet cupped hers, the backs of her legs pressed tight against the front of his, her backside nestled deeply in his center, his warmth melding with her as his hand moved up and around her hips.
His lips moved across the sensitive lobes and the outer shell of her ear as he murmured to her that everything would be all right. The pain wouldn’t last. And he was right, it was finally ebbing. But a new kind of pain was starting, an exquisite burn of longing and need, and she pushed herself even closer to him as his fingers moved down her arms to her middle, caressing, loving. She moved her hand up behind her to his neck, drawing her fingers across his skin to cup his head and draw his lips down to hers.
And then she was pressing her mouth to his, her stomach tightening, her breasts drawing in, her nipples hardening. Her lips moved over his as his tongue filled her mouth. She took his hand and placed it over her breasts and he rubbed and tweaked and massaged until she thought she would burst with need. She shifted, turning until she was facing him, her hands cupping his face as his kiss sent her soaring.
He moved his hand behind her back, holding her clo
se, and then finished the kiss. He pulled away from her and a small moan of protest left her lips. She tried to pull him back, but he moved farther and farther away, until he was off the bed and pulling the sheets up over her, covering her nakedness. “What is happening? Where are you going?” she asked.
“You are changing. But don’t worry, the worst of it is over.”
If it was over, then what was he doing over there and not back in the bed with her? “I am not a demon,” she insisted.
“I know,” he said, his words breaking over her, the deep timbre of his voice skittering across already frayed nerves.
“Nor will I ever be,” she clarified, in case that was the reason he was pulling away from her. Because there had to be a reason. Didn’t there?
“I know,” he repeated.
“But you said—” she cried out as another twinge grasped hold and twisted, ripping and pulling her insides. Not again!
“The demon dimension was where we came from originally, but that’s not why the Gauliacho are after us and that’s not what we are now.”
He gave her another piece of jerky. She ate that, too, and then another until at last she felt the wrenching pain subside. She pushed herself up against the headboard. “But what does that mean? And why don’t you come back to bed?” she asked when at last she caught her breath. Her body temperature dropped and her breathing returned to normal.
“It means you are changing, leaving your humanity behind and becoming like us.”
“Like you? What are you?” She looked up at him with blurred vision. “What am I changing into?” She had to know, all this pain, this suffering—if she wasn’t dying, then it had to be for something.
He brushed the hair back from her face, and for a second she wondered if he would climb back into bed with her. His pale eyes locked onto hers. Eyes that looked so familiar, that almost looked like...
“A wolf.”
Chapter 5
A wolf? She took several deep breaths, trying to still the panic in her mind. “How can you possibly expect me to believe that?”
Harlequin Nocturne March 2014 Bundle: ShadowmasterRunning with Wolves Page 32
