Klaus

by Ava Benton

  I looked down at my hands, realizing they still gripped her arms, and released her. What was I doing? “I’m sorry if I came on too strong or went too far. I have no right.”

  “It’s all right.”

  “I only wanted you to feel better.”

  “I said it was all right,” she chuckled. “And you have made me feel better. I’m not so alone. Even though I still have no idea of the best course to take now, I know I have someone on my side. That means a great deal.”

  “I’m glad I could give you that, anyway.”

  Her eyes softened, her full lips curved in a smile. “You’ve given me much more than that.”

  “Ainsley? Klaus?”

  I turned toward the cave, heart leaping into my throat. There was nothing wrong with speaking to her outside the cave, I reminded myself. She was no prisoner. We weren’t up to anything which might make Alan or any of the others suspicious.

  “Yes?” she called out, not waiting for me before heading back to the cave. “We’re out here.”

  “Are you all right?” Leslie spotted us and waved, then rested her hands on her hips. Even from a distance, the distrust in her was plain. I had to wonder if she was even trying to hide it.

  “Just fine,” Ainsley called out, injecting much more life into her voice than I’d heard when it was just the two of us. As though she’d flipped a switch and become another person, the façade she worked hard at maintaining for the sake of those around her. I wondered who she was trying to fool.

  They’d known her a millennium longer than I had, and I had sensed trouble in her. How could any of them miss it?

  10

  Ainsley

  I didn’t notice the note just inside the door to my room until I was returning from the shower. Meet me at the stones.

  Nothing more than that. Not even a signature. I didn’t recognize the handwriting, which told me it could only have been written by one person.

  My pulse picked up speed, even as I wondered what he might want with me. He must have come by while I was showering. Had any of the others seen him standing by my door? Undoubtedly, our rooms extended down the length of the tunnel and off to the right and left three doors down from mine, forming a capital-T shape. There was no chance that no one had happened to pass through at the right, or wrong, time.

  “What of it?” I asked myself, my voice the only sound in the otherwise silent room.

  We were friends. That was all they needed to know.

  So why did my heart begin to race when I knew he wanted to see me? That certainly didn’t happen when Owen or Dallas wished to speak with me.

  His knowledge of my affliction had woven a connection between us, whether I’d known it at the time or not. Two days had passed, and I hadn’t yet managed to remove him from my thoughts. He was everywhere, all the time. His voice, his eyes, his hands on my arms. His kindness.

  So kind. That was the most surprising of all. Anyone who looked at him would think him a brute, while he was large as all male shifters were, his body was what I could only describe as “brawny.” Yet as a lion, he moved with grace I wouldn’t have believed possible.

  A man of contradictions.

  And he wanted to see me outside.

  “Where are you off to in such a hurry?” Alan asked when I nearly crashed into him on my way out the door. He’d obviously been on his way in to see me.

  Of all the times. I hadn’t exchanged more than a few words with him at a clip since our return. I tucked my hair behind my ears, then silently scolded myself for fidgeting. I wasn’t a child, and he hadn’t caught me doing anything wrong.

  “I didn’t think I was in a hurry,” I lied. “I wanted something to eat, and then to go for a walk.”

  “I want you to be careful out there,” he muttered, his brows drawing together.

  “Why? Is something amiss?”

  “…no. Not exactly.” It was his turn to lie, it seemed.

  I heaved a sigh, Klaus forgotten for the moment. “What is it, truly? I’ve known you too long and too well to buy whatever it is you’re attempting to sell.”

  His frown deepened. “I don’t know, honestly. It might be something, it might not. It could’ve been a tourist or hiker who lost their way.”

  “A human, you mean. There was a human somewhere nearby.” My stomach knotted itself, then knotted the knot. If I’d indeed intended on finding something to eat prior to crashing into Alan, a change of plans would’ve been in order.

  “We’re looking into it.”

  “We?” I raised an eyebrow.

  “You know who I mean. Along with Klaus.”

  Which explained why he’d been prowling the woods as a lion. I hadn’t thought to ask him about it at the time, too wrapped up in my own concerns to question his actions.

  “I see,” I murmured, imagining him putting himself in potential danger for our sakes. It wasn’t an image I particularly enjoyed, not one bit.

  “So please.” Alan placed his hands on my shoulders in a familiar, practiced gesture. “Please, do not take too many chances out there. Times have changed.”

  Had they ever. I promised to be careful and managed to extricate myself from his grip as politely as possible before moving on. Klaus would undoubtedly believe I’d chosen to ignore his note by now. What was it he wanted to speak about? Was he going to tell me what my brother had shared, that he’d sensed a foreign presence nearby?

  He paced inside the circle of stones, hands deep in the pockets of his shorts, the picture of a man whose impatience had grown until it was nearly unbearable.

  “I’m sorry,” I said as I joined him. “I was held up.”

  “So I had assumed.”

  Now that we were together, he relaxed. The frown lines on his brow smoothed and a faint smile touched the corners of his mouth. In an instant, he was a completely different man.

  “What did you want to see me for?” I managed to ask over the furious racing of my heart. I wished it would stop betraying me as it did. I wasn’t entirely certain that this rush of feeling toward him was wise.

  As an afterthought, I added, “Did you want to tell me about the presence you sensed, which you didn’t feel important enough to tell me about before?”

  He growled. “No, it wasn’t that. Though it had something to do with it.”

  “Why didn’t you say anything the other day, when I ran into you out there?”

  “We had other things to discuss, or have you forgotten?”

  My cheeks flushed at the memory. “You know I haven’t.”

  “Then I should think you wouldn’t have to ask such a question,” he retorted, stern and perhaps a bit put-out by my impertinence. “It might interest you to know that I’ve been wracking my brain for two days, trying to find a way to bring your dragon back.”

  My heart softened further than it already had, much to my dismay. “You have been? But… why? And what do you think you could do?”

  “You might not like the answer.”

  I groaned. “Wonderful start.”

  His eyes darted back and forth, his head turning slightly to ensure we were alone before announcing, “I decided yesterday to share your problem with someone. Just one person. Mary.”

  “You what?” If he’d punched me, I couldn’t have been more surprised. “You told her? Without asking me?”

  “Ainsley, before you lose your temper, try listening to me.”

  “I’ll lose my temper if I see fit,” I snarled. “How dare you speak to her about me without finding out how I felt about it?”

  “Perhaps I knew you would take it the wrong way, as you have, and would fly off the handle over it. As you have!”

  When I turned to storm off—somewhere, anywhere but where I stood with him in front of me—he closed his fingers around my arm in a vise grip and was not about to let go as easily as he had before.

  “Let go of me,” I snarled, trying to pull away to no avail.

  “Not until you listen,” he whispered, which was some
how more threatening than when he’d shouted. “I knew it was of no use to seek your permission, but that we’d find more answers with her help. She has resources we do not, and she can research away from prying eyes.”

  He released me, nearly shoving me away in disgust. That small gesture pained me more than I would’ve guessed.

  “Did she find something?” I asked, hands on my hips. It wouldn’t do to let him know how he hurt me. I wasn’t even certain why he had. The thought of him being disgusted with me…

  He grunted, shaking his head. “Not yet. But if anyone can, she can. She even has the Appalachian clan digging around—not that she would tell them specifics,” he continued, raising his voice over my protests. “She simply has them looking through texts to find any recounting of a shifter who lost their animal, whatever it may be.”

  An awkward silence fell over us, one which I wanted badly to fill. I hadn’t forgiven him for going behind my back, but that didn’t erase my guilt for overreacting as I had. He had a point, I wouldn’t have granted permission. Still, it would have been a nice gesture if he’d come to me first.

  He was the one to break the silence. “So. I assume there have been no developments.”

  I touched the stone closest to me, felt the smooth surface as I rested my palm against it. Centuries of weather had worn them down from what they’d originally been—back when I was a girl; there was hardly enough space between them through which to see the sun.

  “No developments,” I murmured without looking at him.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” He sounded it, too.

  I felt compelled to ask, “Nothing on your side? I mean, looking out for intruders?”

  “You would be the first to know.”

  “I doubt it,” I snorted. “I’d think Alan would be. Or Dallas, or Tamhas. Not me.”

  “Yes, you.” His voice had gone soft, like a caress, and I allowed it to wash over me for the briefest, sweetest of moments.

  “Why?” I whispered, still facing the stone.

  “Because…”

  I held my breath when he hesitated. What was he about to say? What did I want him to say?

  He cleared his throat. “Mary had an idea she wanted me to share with you. She suggested you imagine yourself shifting, imagining it as clearly as possible with every detail precise as can be, and see if your dragon responds to that images. It’s better than doing nothing.”

  My heart sank. The moment, if there’d been one at all, was over.

  I looked over my shoulder to thank him.

  He was gone, having silently slipped away.

  11

  Klaus

  Klaus?”

  I heard several overlapping voices calling my name in the hall, drawing me from my room before I’d had the chance to finish dressing. I was zipping my fly as I opened the door and stuck my head out. “What is it?”

  Isla turned at the sound of my voice. “There’s a call for you. Owen says it’s important.”

  I hurried past her, down the hall to where her brother made his second home in the command center. There was no need to ask why he’d been looking for me or who had made the call, as Mary’s face was on the wall-mounted monitor.

  “I have news,” she announced when we were alone. “Granted, I don’t know how much of a help it will prove, but I wanted to get in touch with you as soon as I heard anything.”

  This was not the first time she’d minced words with me, and I could only imagine that she stalled against announcing what she knew I wouldn’t want to hear. “What is it?”

  “Chatter in the intelligence community regarding the group which funded the testing which went on in St. Lucia. I never thought the doctors were the ones driving the mission, not really. Someone with a great deal of money had to be behind it, otherwise, how could they afford such firepower, transportation, facilities…”

  Hair rose on the back of my neck. “Who is it?”

  “We still don’t know, and I have many pairs of ears on this. I wish I had more to share. But trust this, someone wants to finish off this mission. I have no doubt that it would take quite a lot of effort on the part of any adversary, now that the antidote exists.”

  “Agreed, they could never come close to doing what they did before. Even so, I would rather this adversary never get the chance to test our theory,” I replied.

  “At least we know now that they can defend themselves. They have the element of surprise on their side. With that in mind, I think it’s time to spread the word that there’s still a potential danger for them to be aware of.”

  It wasn’t the clan I was thinking of. Not all of them. Only one, in particular, one who wouldn’t be able to defend herself against an attack.

  “I must go,” I announced, standing in a rush. “I’ll speak to Alan and the rest. Keep in touch.” I rushed from the room before the call ended, intent on finding her. I couldn’t let her out of my sight, not ever again, not until either her dragon returned or we’d killed every last enemy in our path.

  I’d tear the hands from the wrists of any who dared touch her.

  Isla stood outside the control center, leaning against the wall. Waiting for me to emerge. She was a curious one, perhaps a bit of a gossip. She wanted to know what the fuss was about, why her brother had been looking for me, who had wanted to speak with me and what they’d wanted to discuss.

  “Have you seen Ainsley?” I asked, knowing she’d read into the question but asking nonetheless.

  She raised an eyebrow. “Not recently. I assumed she was out hunting or something of that nature. She normally spends a great deal of time outdoors.”

  “Thank you.” I ignored the humor in her voice as I turned away. She found it amusing that I wanted to speak to her friend. It was natural, I supposed. Centuries had passed with nothing changing but the outside world. Their world, the world of the clan and the caves, looked much the same. My presence was a diversion.

  The weather had turned from warm and sunny to cool and misty. It mattered little to me, either way. My lion felt little difference, almost no discomfort even in the most severe conditions be they hot or cold. As a man, I barely noticed while I scanned the surrounding land for a glimpse of her hair.

  Was she waiting for me out there?

  What if someone was watching her? Waiting for just the right time to—

  “Klaus!” She emerged from around the boulder which marked the turn to the loch, the very picture of radiant health in a robe which she’d belted tight around her waist, every inch of exposed skin glowing from the exertion she’d obviously just performed. So, she enjoyed swimming even in such unpleasant conditions.

  I did, as well.

  She lifted a hand, waving as she continued walking toward me. Her hair was darker than usual, slicked back from her face and soaking wet.

  She looked happier than I’d seen her since our return. Happy to see me? I didn’t dare assume such a thing.

  Regardless of the reason why, she was radiant. The epitome of perfect beauty. The lion stirred in the back of my consciousness, aroused to something near frenzy at the vision before us. When a gust of wind blew the clean, sweet scent of her in our direction, the course was set. There was no other option.

  I went to her, unable to wait for her to reach me. I needed to touch her, to feel how real she was, to know she wasn’t only a dream. She didn’t slow down, though her brow furrowed. I could only imagine how I must’ve looked, as though something was grievously wrong.

  Perhaps something was. Perhaps everything was wrong. I hadn’t been able to get her out of my head since we’d met, even back on the island, and that ever-present interest had only deepened with time.

  It was very wrong. Very unlike me.

  Just as it was unlike me to take her face in my hands once she was finally close enough to touch, to stroke her smooth cheeks with my thumbs before finally tasting the lips I’d watched move every time she spoke. So sweet, as sweet as I’d imagined without meaning to imagine.

&nb
sp; She froze, but only for a moment, before leaning into me. I wrapped my arms around her waist, holding her close as her arms wound around my neck. Her mouth moved beneath mine as though she’d kissed me every day of her life, sure and confident, lips parting for my tongue to sweep along the crease before dipping inside.

  She groaned, arms clenching tighter, a shiver going through her as she touched her tongue to mine. My arms tightened as well, all but crushing her against me. Her full breasts pressed against my chest, and I wished her robe wasn’t tied so tight so I could slide my arms beneath it and touch her bare skin.

  But this was enough. For now. The fire building between us, threatening to overtake us both until we burst into flame. I couldn’t breathe by the time the kiss ended, the two of us still touching from head to toe.

  Her chest rose and fell in time with her rapid breaths. “What was that for?” she whispered, beaming.

  What was it for? “You’re just too fetching in that robe,” I explained, making her giggle. I couldn’t tell her how desperately worried I’d been for the briefest of moments, that I’d been certain she’d come to a bad end. That the thought of harm coming to her had made me sick.

  That the lion had urged me on and roared in triumph once I took her in my arms. That he’d made it all but impossible to concentrate whenever he got a corner on my attention, reminding me of her scent and the sound of her laughter and the warmth which emanated from her lush body.

  That I had wanted to touch and taste her for weeks and had no choice but to give in once everything became clear. There was her, and there was the rest of the world. As simple as that.

  Except she was the world. That was the craziest thing of all. My heart swelled with joy when she smiled up at me, still safe in my arms.

  That joy dissolved when I remembered the reason for my fear. She couldn’t always be in my arms, though I’d rather it be that way.