Beauty's Beast(10)

“Do you have word from your family? Is that why you were unhappy?” He released her wrists with no fanfare. Now his hands gently stroked her back in a way that might have been comforting but instead set every nerve beneath the thin fabric of her shirt tingling with pleasure. Somehow he still captured her, but now he did it only with his touch.

Breathe. Answer the question. Step away. Put your arms about his neck.

Clearly she didn’t know her own mind.

“My brother has reached his destination.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?”

She sagged against him, unsure why her lip was trembling. The tears already burned her throat, but she held them off.

“How did you know where Blake went?”

“Your father would send him to the wolf or the buffalo. Those are his closest friends. But Chien is his oldest friend, and Blake, is it? Blake is his oldest son.”

Handsome and smart. A double threat, thought Samantha.

“So why does the news of your brother’s safe arrival upset you?”

She glanced away and managed to take her hands from his strong arms. The emotions she felt over her brother’s success did not do her credit.

Alon’s palms still danced rhythmically up and down the long column of her back.

“Will you tell me?”

She stared up at him. What gave him the right to pry, when he wouldn’t answer her questions?

His eyes narrowed on her and the feathery touches ceased as if he sensed her change of mood. But that was impossible.

She stepped away and continued until she stood before the French doors that led out to a gigantic multilevel deck with a starlit view of the meadow and tall trees beyond. Her night vision was better than a human’s and she saw the world beyond the window in shades of gray. The urge to return to him and nestle in his arms tugged at her.

No, you don’t. You are not falling for that pretty face, those soothing words or those skillful fingers. Remember what he is.

Alon exited the pantry a moment later, and she realized he had read Blake’s letter.

“So your father wants Blake to join the Niyanoka. But he sent you here. Odd. What is your mission, little shifter?”

He came to stand beside her, a little too close, a little too tempting.

“Alon, we were attacked by your kind.” She nearly told him it was her fault but stopped herself. “They tried to kill us. You are one of them. Why would I tell you anything?”

“Because I can help you.”

She shook her head. “You want to help? Stay away from me.”

“I thought you wanted to find my mother?”

She released a long breath. It was what her dad wanted. Find Bess. Ask her to join the cause and...and...She tried to remember his words. None know the Toe Taggers better than Bess. Learn what you can.

She fixed her eyes on Alon.

He folded one arm across his chest, using it as a rest for his other elbow. He studied her as if she were some problem he had to work out.

“My mother says that people distrust what they don’t understand. If I tell you something about my family, how we came here and why we are different from those others who attacked your family, would that assuage you?”

“Assuage? Are you for real?”

“My parents are both over one hundred. I learned speech from them.” He shrugged as if that explained all. Then he opened the door to the deck and stepped outside, then moved aside to let her pass. This time he stood well back and made no move to hinder her. She felt disappointed, and that realization made her heart sink even more.

Above them the stars wheeled in a perfect clear sky. Her vision was adequate enough for her to see him in shades of gray. In the night his aura became unmistakable and most definitely gray—bluish-gray, like the smoke from a rifle. It flared from the crown of his head like a halo.

He took a seat on the long built-in bench and motioned for her to join him. No way was she sitting that close. She moved upwind, so she couldn’t smell the masculine scent, choosing to lean against the rail. She tried for a relaxed posture, certain that he could see her as clearly as she could see him. For them, the night masked nothing.

She gazed out at the inviting lawn, dew already glistening on the soft grass. From here she could jump to the ground and dash to the forest. But now she knew that he could also outrun her. Damn, she hated his advantage.

Alon settled back, secure in his superiority, she assumed, and then began the telling that was supposed to magically change her from enemy to friend. Yeah, right!

“My sister and I are the first of the Ghostlings to be adopted by my parents. My father found my sister and me in a Dumpster on Fisherman’s Wharf in San Francisco. I was naked, afraid and starving.”

She wanted to ask why none of their mothers survived, but that would imply an interest.

“He brought us here and gave us clothing, food, a home and a purpose.” He met her eye. “To protect the Balance and to protect Mankind.”

She cocked her head. His adoptive parents had combined each of their purposes. Bess, a Skinwalker, protected the Balance of Nature. Her husband, a Spirit Child, was charged with the care of all Mankind.

“But the two aims often run in opposition.”

“True.”

“Is that your purpose?”

“I accept the need to protect men and the need to guard nature. But I do not know if it is my purpose.”

She sensed the honesty of his answer, and that surprised her. It would perhaps have been wiser to lie. She started to tell him that she knew her purpose, but that she had never been able to use her abilities because of Nagi. In the end she said nothing about that and instead asked another question.

“So they adopted you?”

“Yes. All of us. They teach us in that school.” He pointed to the building to the right. “My sister, Aldara, is very good at finding newborns and bringing them here. Our parents have never turned away a set of twins.”

“What happened to your real mother?”

He glanced away, hoping to hide the rush of shame. “Died giving birth. She was human. I don’t remember her.” He cleared his throat, but the emotion lodged there like a chicken bone. “We have forty-eight twins now, but six are under one year.”

Her eyes rounded at the number.

“Why are there so many orphans?”

He held her gaze even as the guilt consumed him like a forest fire. “All humans die giving birth to my kind.”

She gasped. “All?”

He nodded and dropped his gaze to his folded hands.

She could see the anguish on his face. His eyes pinched shut. All traces of the calm self-assurance vanished, and she felt that she was seeing him for the first time. The rawness of his pain stirred an ache deep inside her. She had believed that his handsome veneer was a mask. Now she wondered if his confident air was a facade, as well.

His birth caused his mother’s death. What a terrible burden to bear. This was too awful to be a lie. Her instincts told her that his words were true and his pain genuine. She did not know whom she felt most sorry for, Alon, never knowing his birth mother, or the humans, used by Nagi and discarded like old wrapping paper.

She didn’t remember crossing to him or sitting next to him, but there she was at his side, taking one of his hands in both of hers. Suddenly the grief drenched her until she swam in it like a river. He glanced up at her now, the pain still glittering like shards of glass in his pale eyes.

“I’m sorry for your loss, Alon.”

“I didn’t know her,” he whispered.

“That only makes it a greater loss.”

He nodded and his Adam’s apple bobbed. Why had she assumed that he was incapable of feeling pain? He wasn’t. He was a Halfling like her, and that meant he was half human.

The other half was Nagi. She slipped her hands back to her own lap. He let her go but stared at her hand as he struggled to gain control of his ragged breathing.

“My parents know Nagi is hunting us. They are trying to find a safe place for our family. I wanted to accompany them, to protect them, but she bade me to protect the young ones. They cannot yet reason and do not understand the need to flee. But there have been ghosts here, scouts of Nagi. I know he will find us sooner or later. We must be gone before he comes for us.”

She reached for him again and checked herself. “Protect them? How does one protect against an immortal?”

“We have had this discussion many times. I do not know how to stop him, but I can stop his ghosts and I can stop the Ghostlings who have joined him.”

His own siblings, she realized, half brothers and half sisters. She shuddered. He caught her physical display of aversion and narrowed his eyes on her.

“I would prefer to fight than run.”

“Just the opposite of me.”

“You are a good runner. But it is not your nature.”

She threw up her arms, flapping them uselessly at her sides. “Oh, you’re wrong. I’ve been running my entire life. Hiding, pretending I have no powers.” She stared at him, feeling a connection that was not there before. “All I want in this world is to use my powers to protect the Balance and keep men safe from Nagi. Do you know what it is like to have the powers to help, to save lives, and never be able to use them? I want my family safe, but sometimes...”