Beauty's Beast(15)

He extended his hand and she lifted hers. Samantha’s palm was crimson with fresh blood. Alon’s stomach pitched. He’d seen blood on prey, of course, but this was different, so different. The sight made him ill, when he’d never been ill a day in his life.

He leaped at her and she startled, but allowed him to turn her so he could see her injuries.

Claw marks, four deep lacerations, as if cut by four scalpels. He recognized them instantly and from the size knew it was one of the yearlings. One of them had harmed her. Which one? His anger boiled inside him like lava. Which one had dared to touch her?

“It’s nothing. I’ll finish healing it later.” She lifted her injured arm and winced but still stroked his cheek. “Don’t look so fierce, Alon. I’m fine.”

He captured her hand, trapped it against his cheek and felt the soothing calm fill him. He met her gaze, and the tightness across his chest eased. She was a healer. He’d seen her repair that rabbit’s spine. He released her hand, and the worry crept back into his heart.

He glanced at her hand. Blood now dripped from her fingertips in a steady beat.

“I’m not leaving you injured and alone.” He recalled the ceremony for the rabbit. “You need the stones.”

She nodded. “I can work more quickly if you could find me a feather.”

He drew her to a seat beneath one of the towering pines and glanced up at the canopy, where two crows peered down at them.

“Any particular kind?”

“Bigger is better, but any sort will work.” She was glancing about on the forest floor when he streaked into the air. The crows were no match for his flying ability, and he quickly plucked a feather from the slower one’s tail then returned the way he had come.

He held out the feather, stained red at the tip from the extraction.

She frowned as she took it. “I generally use found feathers, not ones still in use.”

He lifted his brows. “Will it still work?”

She nodded. “Will the crow still work?”

Was she teasing him? No one ever did that.

“Yes.”

She smiled. He felt his mouth twitch at the corners in return.

“Then all I need is a stone circle. Sage and tobacco help sanctify, but I can do without them for such a small injury.”

Blood dripped between her fingers, spurring him to action. He dressed again and then gathered stones, dug stones, unearthed stones. He set them in a circle as she had done and helped her sit within. Then he paced as she began to chant. Finally, he stood with his arms folded across his chest as he rocked, restless as the March wind.

He circled and watched in fascination as the blood ceased and her flesh knit. Even her blouse mended. But she was a Skinwalker, he reminded himself. This was not really clothing. It was a part of her, her magical animal hide that appeared at puberty and which she could reform to suit her needs.

“There,” she said, favoring him with a lovely smile. “All done.”

He offered his hand, certain she would not take it. She hesitated a moment but then allowed him to assist her to her feet. The electric tingle at the pressing of palms sent a thrill through him. He’d never experienced anything like it, and he craved more.

“Can you heal anything?” he asked.

“Yes, my dad taught me the prayers.”

Samantha stepped from the circle and withdrew her hand from his. He allowed it then felt a tinge of melancholy as she moved away.

“Thank you, Alon, for rescuing me. I’ve been needing a lot of that lately.”

She didn’t move away. He thought about kissing her again then remembered the change that had occurred the last time. His desire died in a rush of shame. She cocked her head to look at him and then leaned in to brush her lips across his cheek. He closed his eyes to savor the tenderness of her gentle kiss and then felt the jolt of desire make him hard. Her sweetness was no match for his lust.

His skin tingled. He stepped away. “We best go.”

Samantha carried the feather along. Better to keep it with her. If she used part of her coat to tie it in her hair, if she wasn’t too rough in her bear form, the feather might stay with her.

Something caught his attention, and he turned to glance behind them. She followed the direction of his gaze at some undergrowth, finding no sign of the others.

“More Halflings?” she whispered.

“Just one, I think,” he said and then raised his voice to be heard. “Aldara?”

A moment later a woman darted from behind a tree dressed in only a simple formfitting sky-blue T-shirt and tight denim shorts. They had a keen resemblance. Aldara’s waist-length straight blond hair was similar. Her skin tone was even paler than Alon’s as if she were Scandinavian, rather than Native, with only the barest blush of pink on her cheeks. Nearly albino, except for those eyes, Samantha thought. His sister was shorter than Alon by more than a foot, athletic, slim, but still curvy.

“Samantha Proud, let me introduce my younger sister, Aldara.”

Aldara narrowed her blue-gray eyes on Samantha and glared. She seemed like a wild little animal, and Samantha didn’t know if she should extend her hand or run.





Chapter 8



Aldara’s gaze flicked over Samantha and then returned to her brother as if dismissing her as unimportant.

“The Beta Pack is on their way back and I located the Gammas. They’re close. I see you found the Deltas.”

“Yes, but they won’t go and they attacked Samantha,” said Alon.

This news did not seem to surprise or concern Aldara in the least. She shrugged. “Small wonder.”

“We can’t go without the Gammas.”

“Together we can make them understand. The Betas and Gammas can help us. I saw another ghost. We need to go.”

The look on Alon’s face had Samantha hugging herself. Nagi’s scouts, she realized. Alon had told her so.

“I have to take Samantha to the house. Then we’ll go after the Gammas again.”

Now Samantha had Aldara’s attention. She turned her flashing eyes on Samantha and curled back her lip to show strong white teeth. “Didn’t you tell it to remain there? I thought animals could follow simple directions like ‘sit’ and ‘stay.’”

“Aldara.” Alon’s voice held a warning.

“She’s one of them.”

“None of her family has ever attacked our kind.”

Aldara folded her arms and glanced away.

“She is our guest,” said Alon.

“An uninvited guest,” Aldara objected.

“My guest,” insisted Alon, his voice holding unmistakable menace.

Aldara threw up her hands as if conceding the point. “Well, it’s taking too much of your time. We need to move them now. The Beta say they spotted two just east of us. They could be here anytime.”

Alon grabbed Samantha by the elbow. “I’ll catch up.”

He turned and marched Samantha away. Behind them, Aldara growled.

* * *

Alon guided Samantha along the worn animal trail that he knew as well as his own face, faces, oh, hell. She’d seen them, the young ones in their natural form, the shape in which all born of Nagi began their lives. Changing to smoke came next, almost as soon as they were born. Why couldn’t they change to smoke to be born and keep their birth mothers from dying in labor? It was one of many questions to which he could find no answer.

At puberty they turned handsome, losing the gray cast to their skin, learning to transform quills to the fine pale hair. This was the same time the Ianoka, born of Tob Tob, assumed their animal form, according to his mother, Bess.

Did Samantha find them horrible? Of course she did. They were horrible, hideous, the stuff of nightmares. Walking, talking monsters.

She would now find him repellent. It hurt him to think of her rejection, even though he had not yet experienced it. But he would. Surely he would.

He glanced back, making certain that Aldara didn’t come at Samantha from behind. He and Aldara had argued last night. She favored bringing the young ones to safety as soon as they gathered them all and letting Samantha fend for herself. He didn’t think Samantha would survive the hunting ghosts or Nagi’s marauding Ghostlings without their protection. Aldara did not think Samantha was their problem regardless of her father’s connection to their mother. But Alon could not leave Samantha.

Aldara needed him. Samantha needed him. He felt torn in two.

He brought her within sight of the house and left her there.

“Is it safe here?” she asked.

He knew nowhere was safe any longer.

“Our packs will not intrude here.” But any outsider would look there first.

“Nagi’s ghosts?”

He hesitated, not wishing to lie to her. He needed to follow Aldara and gather the packs.

“They are still to the east.” He left her, feeling her gaze upon him. Wishing he could stay with her and knowing he could not.