Beautiful. She closed her eyes and enjoyed the crisp night breeze that nipped at her cheeks. Home. Her inner wolf trembled with joy. It knew instinctively that she’d returned, and it was eager for the full moon that would come in two nights. Eager to burst free from her human skin and run wild through the forests, chasing deer and elk.
She would have to explain to Phineas that she needed the night off. It wasn’t a choice for her. On the first night of a full moon, she shifted, no matter where she was.
The teaching job at Dragon Nest Academy was perfect for her since she was able to live in the same building with her brother and the banished werewolf boys. She shifted with them every month and roamed the extensive grounds around the school. It was fun being with her brother, but she missed her sister. And the Adirondacks were not the same as the mountains out West. Her inner wolf knew the difference and had longed for her to return home.
While the wolf celebrated, her human half tensed. She was taking a terrible risk. If she stayed here, her father might find her. And if he captured her, he’d make it extremely hard for her to escape a second time. He knew not to trust her now.
A twinge of paranoia skittered through her. She stood and surveyed the woods that encircled her camp, her extra-keen eyesight adjusting to the darkness. She listened with her extra-sharp hearing. A rustling in the grass as a field mouse scurried to its home, the beating of the air as an owl took wing.
“Hurry, little mouse,” she whispered. She knew the feeling of being stalked, the terror of being hunted. Princess, my ass. Phineas had no idea. In her father’s world, she was prey.
She felt a sudden need to have Phineas there with her. He’d said he would never allow her to be forced into a marriage against her will. He would protect her.
Because he wants you for himself. And why should she object? A spark of rebelliousness ignited inside her, inciting an urge to tell the world to buzz off. She wanted Phineas.
But since when did she ever get what she wanted?
She grabbed the sat phone off the sleeping bag and called him.
“Hello, Brynley.”
His voice did the usual warm, fluttery things to her stomach. “You’re all right! I was so worried about leaving you all alone in the cabin. I’m glad you’re okay. Are you ready to come here?”
“I already have.”
Her heart lurched and the phone tumbled from her hand as she whirled around and found him standing behind her. “Don’t do that! I told you to never sneak up behind me!”
“It wasn’t on purpose.” He pocketed his sat phone. “I’m never exactly sure where I’ll end up when I teleport.”
“Oh.” She pressed a hand to her chest as she willed her heart to stop pounding. Great. She’d freaked out again.
“Are you all right?” He was regarding her curiously, so she quickly changed the subject.
“It’s beautiful around here, don’t you think?”
“Yeah.” He glanced around quickly, then focused again on her. “Are you sure—”
“There’s the glacier over there,” she interrupted, motioning to the cirque. “I’m not sure where Jason was attacked. The mountain still has a lot of snow on it. I can’t imagine anyone trying to hike up there in the dark, so I’m figuring Jason was attacked somewhere down here. I’m glad you wore that heavy coat. It’s pretty chilly.”
He studied her silently for a while, and she felt her cheeks grow warm. She was babbling, and he knew it.
“I’ll look around,” he said quietly.
“All right. But don’t take too long. We have a lot of campgrounds to check out. I’ll get the horses ready.”
He gave the horses a wary look, then zipped around the meadow and nearby woods at vampire speed.
With a sigh, she rolled up her sleeping bag. She needed to stop freaking out whenever he was behind her. The attack had happened five years ago. Time to get over it. She attached her sleeping bag behind the saddle on the gelding. Phineas was an inexperienced rider, so she’d let him ride the gentler mare.
He zoomed toward her in a blur of movement, and she gripped the reins of the horses as they shied away. “Cut it out!” she fussed at him. “You’re scaring them.”
“Sorry.” He stopped abruptly, casting a worried look at the horses. “I found the spot where the attack happened.” He gestured toward a giant spruce. “The grass is crushed, and I found a few drops of human blood on the ground.”
Impressive. She hadn’t detected any blood, and her sense of smell was excellent, although not nearly as good as when she was in wolf form. “Can you tell if it’s Jason’s blood?”
Phineas winced. “The older Vamps probably could, but I’m not as experienced as them. I can’t tell if Corky was here, either.”
She nodded. He seemed embarrassed, but that only made him more attractive to her. Werewolf men, especially the Alphas, tended to be overconfident to the point of arrogance, and that had always annoyed her.
He retrieved a piece of paper from his jacket pocket and unfolded it. “I printed out a map that shows the location of campgrounds. Vampires would need a cabin or a cave to stay protected from sunlight.”
She patted the sheath attached to her belt. “I brought a good hunting knife. I’m ready for them.”
He lifted his hands. “Wait a minute, Wolfie-Girl. If there’s any fighting, you have to stay out of it.”
“I’m not going to leave you alone.”
“Your brother would kill me if I let anything happen to you.”
She scoffed. “So it’s just my brother you’re worried about?”
“What do you need to hear, Brynley? That I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you? That if I failed to protect you, the shame would kill me?”
Her eyes widened. “Is that true?”
“Yes! So stay the hell out of trouble, okay?”
“Okay.” She smiled, her cheeks flushing with heat. “Let’s go, bloodsucker.”
“After you, Snout-Face.” He handed her the map.
She pointed at a spot on the map. “We’ll head to this one first. It’s not too far.” She folded the map, stuffed it into her jacket pocket, then mounted her horse.
He stood still, eyeing the mare with an anxious look.
“Come on, city boy.” She bit her lip to keep from grinning. “Mount up.”
“I think that’s the one that tried to bite me.”
“That’s Molly. She’s as gentle as can be.”
“Until she sinks her teeth into you.”
Brynley snorted. “A vampire afraid of biting?”
“Hell yeah, if I’m on the wrong side of the bite.” He inched closer to the horse. “Do you just sort of jump on their back?”
“Put your foot in the stirrup. No, the other foot.” Brynley chuckled. “Unless you want to ride backwards.”
He put his left foot in, then hopped on his right foot as the horse shied away. “Whoa, Nelly!”
“It’s Molly.” Brynley gasped when Phineas suddenly teleported right onto the horse’s back.
With a frightened whinny, Molly reared up and dumped him on the ground.
“Ow. Damn.” He hefted himself to his feet and glared at the horse. “What did it do that for?”
“You frightened her.” Brynley dismounted and grabbed Molly’s reins. “Here. I’ll hold her still while you mount.”
He rubbed his rear, scowling at the horse. “She doesn’t like me.”
Brynley smiled as she patted Molly’s neck. “Poor Phineas. Must be hard, mounting a female who doesn’t like you.”
He glowered at her. “I wouldn’t know. They’ve always been willing.”
Her smile faded. How many women had been seduced by the Love Doctor’s sexy voice and handsome face? “I suppose you’ve had a whole herd of willing females? And you rode them like a cowboy?”
“If I did, would you be jealous?”
“No, more like nauseated.”
He snorted, then slipped his foot into the stirrup and mounted n
eatly. “How’s that?”
Gorgeous. She was sorely tempted to pull him to the ground and give him the ride of a lifetime. Make him forget about the herd of willing females he might have had in the past. Instead, she handed him the reins. “Hold them lightly. Molly won’t need a lot of direction.”
“She knows what she wants?” His hands brushed slightly against hers as he took the reins.
She swallowed hard. “We don’t always get what we want.” She hurried back to the gelding and mounted up.
This wasn’t so bad once you got used to it, Phineas thought. The trail was wide and smooth, and well lit with a nearly full moon and a million stars.
His horse was happy to follow Brynley’s gelding. And he was happy to watch her from behind. Her back was graceful and curved into a slim waist. Her long ponytail swayed from side to side.
The stars shone more brightly here than at home, and the sky seemed bigger. Even the Earth seemed bigger, more expansive without the cramped and crowded feel he was used to in the city. Here, he could easily believe that he and Brynley were the only two people on the planet.
It was a tempting fantasy—he and Brynley all alone with a moral obligation to repopulate the Earth. And no angry werewolf father to object. But in reality, his sperm was dead, and Brynley hated vampires. He was ninety-nine percent positive that she had spied on him when he’d gotten out of the shower, but of course, she’d found him easy to resist.
He took a deep breath. The air was definitely fresher here. No smoky scent of meat grilling at the local street vendor or stench of trash overflowing from a Dumpster.
At first, it seemed deathly quiet. No horns honking, no sirens, no throbbing bass from passing cars. But slowly, he became aware of different sounds. More subtle. A breeze ruffling the leaves, a twig snapping beneath a paw. The scenery appeared peaceful on the surface, but danger lurked in the dark depths of the forest. A different set of predators existed here—wolves, bears, mountain lions. But the predator that had attacked Jason Pritchard was one he knew well—a vampire.
Just like other predators, a vampire always left a trail. It was their need for blood, and their options were limited. They could order blood from Romatech, raid a blood bank, or drain animals dry. Or if they were Malcontents, they left human victims in their wake.
As Phineas relaxed into the swaying movement of the horse, he congratulated himself. This cowboy stuff wasn’t so hard after all. Brynley would have to stop calling him a city boy. Unfortunately, at that moment his horse decided to leave the path and turn right into the forest.
“What the hell?” He sat up. “Horse! What are you doing?”
Brynley glanced back over her shoulder. “Where are you going?”
“I don’t know.”
Brynley pulled to a stop. “Steer her back onto the path.”
“There’s no steering wheel!” He looked frantically about as his horse continued to walk into the forest. “How do I put this thing into reverse?”
Brynley’s laughter drifted toward him. Dammit, he couldn’t even see her now.
“She’s not a thing. She’s a mare,” Brynley yelled. “You have to let her know you’re in charge!”
“I thought I was!” Typical female. The mare had only let him think he was in charge.
“Pull on the reins,” Brynley called. She sounded closer, thank God.
He pulled hard, and the horse reared up, dumping him onto the ground. “Umph.” He fell back, hitting his head. Stars danced around the sky. “Damn.”
“Are you okay?”
“I think so,” he mumbled as she walked past him.
“I was talking to Molly.” She smirked as she grabbed Molly’s reins. She rubbed the horse’s neck. “Poor girl.”
With a grunt, he hefted himself to his feet. The muscles in his rump and legs twinged with pain. “Damn.”
“Come on.” Brynley led his horse back to the path, her mouth twitching as she passed him by. “Don’t forget your hat, city boy.”
He spotted his hat on the ground, but when he leaned over to pick it up, his muscles objected. “Ouch. Damn.” He walked slowly and stiffly back to the path.
Meanwhile, Brynley had tied a rope from Molly to her gelding. “I’ll have to lead your horse since you don’t know how to control her.”
“It’s not my fault the horse is weird.”
She chuckled. “Do you need help mounting?”
“No. I can mount just fine.” He ignored her dubious look, and swung his leg over the horse. His muscles groaned as he settled into the saddle. “See?” He grimaced, hoping it looked like a smile. “Piece of cake.”
“Okay.” With a grin, she headed back to her horse, then mounted up.
After about half an hour, they arrived at the first campsite. It was bare. No cabins. No pitched tents. No heartbeats. They dismounted, and he wobbled on legs that now felt like rubber. He gritted his teeth, determined not to show any weakness.
Brynley chuckled. “City boy.”
Dammit, she knew he was in pain. “Country girl.” He tipped his cowboy hat as she gathered the reins from both horses. “Mighty obliged, ma’am. I heard that in a movie.”
She gave him a wry look. “Why, land sakes! You’re practically a cowboy.”
He reached inside his coat to remove his pistol from his shoulder holster and winked at her. “Pardon me while I whip this out.”
She rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen bigger.”
“Darlin’, you ain’t seen what I’m packing.”
Her mouth twitched. “I’ve heard all you Vamps shoot blanks.”
He arched a brow. “You want some cowpoke with a quick trigger finger, or a man like me who can go all night long?”
“I wasn’t referring to your finger.”
“Neither was I.”
Her cheeks blushed a pretty pink. “Fancy talk coming from the Love Doctor.” She turned to tether the horses to a hitching post.
He was tempted to tell her the whole Love Doctor act was just that, an act. It had started out as a joke, a way to make ladies laugh. But it seemed to have backfired on him, because no one wanted to take him seriously.
He paced along the camp’s perimeter as he surveyed their surroundings. “I’ll check the boulders over there. Maybe there’s a cave.”
“If you find one, make sure there aren’t any bears inside,” Brynley called after him. “Or cougars.”
Sheesh. What a friendly place. He trod carefully with his pistol ready. The wilderness was beautiful, but primitive. He couldn’t imagine Queen Corky hiding here. If she was in the area, she’d use vampire mind control to land herself some better accommodations. A fancy ski lodge, maybe, or a ranch house.
He holstered his sidearm and returned to Brynley. “There’s no one here. And I can’t tell if anyone has been here recently.”
She nodded. “It’s part of the ‘leave no trace’ program. You’re not supposed to—” She stopped suddenly with a gasp.
“What?” He reached for his gun once again.
“Look,” she whispered, her voice hushed with awe. She pointed at the far side of the meadow. “Do you see him?”
Relief rushed through him and he released the weapon. “Yeah, it’s a horse.”
“That’s not just any horse. It’s the wild white stallion. Isn’t he beautiful?”
“He looks like a horse.” When Brynley gave him an exasperated look, he continued, “You’ve seen him before?”
“I’ve only seen him a few times in my life. He just seems to appear out of nowhere like magic. He’s totally wild. No one has ever been able to catch him, and believe me, they’ve tried.”
“He sounds cool.”
She smiled at him, her face radiant in the almost full moon. “He is cool. The coolest horse in the entire world. Even my father couldn’t catch him.”
Behind them, Molly whinnied and tugged at the reins Brynley had looped over the hitching post.
“I think Molly likes him, too,” Phineas added with a wry
smile.
Brynley patted the mare to calm her down. “She has excellent taste.”
“Is that why she veered off the path? Did she catch his scent?”
“Maybe.”
Phineas watched as the stallion reared up, then galloped off into the woods. “There he goes.”
Brynley nodded, still smiling. “He roams a wide area. I’ve spotted him in Montana a hundred miles from here. He goes wherever he wants.”
“Completely free,” Phineas murmured.
“Yes.” Brynley’s smile faded as she untethered the horses. “I’ve always had this feeling that if the wild white stallion remained free, then all was right in the world.” She shrugged and looked embarrassed. “That probably sounds silly to you.”
“No, not at all.” He moved closer to her. “You figure that as long as he’s free, you have a chance to be free, too.”
Her eyes widened. “You do understand.” She glanced away, her cheeks blushing. “Not bad for a city boy.”
He brushed back a wavy tendril of hair that had come loose from her ponytail and tucked it behind her ear. “I could understand a lot more if we talked to each other instead of sparring.”
“I suppose.” She shifted her weight. “Maybe we could be . . . friends. There wouldn’t be any harm in that, right?”
It would be sheer torture. “I’d like that.”
“Well, good. We can talk while we ride.” She mounted the gelding.
“Okay.” He mounted Molly, wincing inwardly at the pain. Thank you for giving me a ride, he attempted to communicate mentally.
Molly snorted and shook her head, and he felt an air of resignation about her as if she’d accepted long ago that she must do as she was told. He wondered briefly if she wanted to be free like the white stallion. Or when the snow piled up in winter, was she grateful to have a warm stable?
Freedom versus security. It was the choice Brynley had been forced to make when she’d left home.
They rode side by side, but neither of them spoke. Now that they’d called a truce, he didn’t know what to say. It had been easier to communicate with her when he had picked on her and pretended not to like her.
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