Beauty's Beast(24)

The door to the bus slid open and a tall, handsome man stepped down. His jeans and button-up shirt were ordinary enough, but that was the only thing expected. His copper skin and dark eyes complemented the close-cropped cap of brown hair. His physique showed him to be fit and physically capable, and he moved with the grace of a Skinwalker, though his aura showed he was not. The jagged white spikes were tipped with black and crowned by the familiar gold of all Spirit Children. The odd mix of the purity of white and the deathly black was new to her. But she had never seen a Soul Whisperer before. Cesar could speak to the dead, and his wife could follow them to the Spirit World. Samantha repressed a shudder.

On reaching the ground he lifted a hand to assist his female companion down the steps. Samantha noted that the couple’s auras blended naturally together, like colors of light merging in a rainbow. A fully formed soul mate bond, exactly like her parents, though Alon’s father’s aura was a more unsettling black and white.

“That’s my mother,” said Alon, extending a hand toward the woman.

Bess Suncatcher’s aura was a familiar fawn brown surrounded with the white of a spiritual being. She did not have Samantha’s height but was still unusually tall for a woman. Slim and reedy, Bess had long black hair that cascaded over the shoulder of a black tailored blouse cut to reveal her elegant neck and slender arms. The rest of her attire, also black, consisted of a sedate pair of formfitting pants tucked into stylish calf-high boots. So this was the Skinwalker who married a Soul Whisperer and adopted Nagi’s ghastly offspring.

“Mother. Father.” Alon extended his hand to Samantha. “This is—”

Before he could say her name, Bess repeated her given name, the one held secret to all but family and the closest of friends.

“Night Sky Woman.”

Her smile was warm and welcoming, but her eyes held an intense scrutiny that disquieted.

Bess took Samantha up in her arms and hugged her tight.

“You’ve grown into a beauty just like your mother.”

Bess released Samantha to greet her son with a kiss on each cheek. “Welcome home, Alon.”

Alon did not look at home. In fact his rigid posture and strained expression told of his mood.

“I’m sorry I could not save them, Mother.”

Bess’s dark eyes filled with tears that caught on her lower lashes. “If you could not then no one could.”

Alon dipped his chin, breaking their eye contact. “It is the wish of Samantha’s father that I bring her to you.”

An instant later smoke billowed from the place he had stood and his clothing collapsed to the earth.

“Wait,” called Bess, but her son was gone.

There was an unfamiliar sound like the fluttering of wings and many more billowing clouds escaped from the bus.

Bess rolled her eyes, glanced to her husband and then back to Samantha. “The Alphas. Alon is their leader. They will want to know his plans. You wouldn’t know them, would you?”





Chapter 12



She knew only that Alon wished to be done with her. Now he had his wish. His obligation was finished and she had reached her goal. Why then did her chest ache and her stomach twist?

Bess motioned to the picnic table and waited while Samantha sat before joining her on the long narrow bench. A larger cloud flew out the door.

“The Beta Pack,” said Cesar. “Plus the ones we found here in the forest.” There was another rushing sound like a sudden wind on a calm night. “Gammas.” Cesar sighed and took a seat in one of the folding chairs. “Alone at last,” he said.

Samantha turned to Bess. “Have you heard anything more from my family?”

“I have word from your brother. Blake has been elected War Chief of the Northwestern Council.”

Samantha sank back against the connecting table. He had done it. Blake was now in a position to speak before the other councils and convince them of the imperative of joining the Skinwalkers against Nagi. Their dad would be so proud.

Satisfaction buoyed her up. Then an arrow of self-doubt pierced her bubble of contentment. She’d been running and hiding and lusting after Alon while her brother had accomplished the impossible.

“None of mixed blood has ever reached such a position,” said Bess. “Perhaps there is hope for those Spirit Children yet.”

Samantha hunched and folded both arms across her middle. “Father will be pleased,” she managed to whisper.

“Yes. He hopes to bring Skinwalker and Spirit Child together to fight. But old wounds heal very slowly.”

Samantha assumed Bess referred to the wars between the Halflings. Both sides had endured heavy losses, but that was before her time. Had Bess fought the Spirit Children?

“Blake will convince them.” If her dad wanted something, Blake would move heaven and earth to bring it to him. Her brother made everything look effortless. She released a long breath. Would she ever get a chance to make her dad proud?

Bess spoke softly. “I’ve known this day would come. Your father asked me long ago to protect you should the need arise, and you are welcome to remain as long as you wish. But...”

Her hesitation gave Samantha time to grow anxious.

“But?” she asked.

“But the Thunderbirds did not bring you to me. They brought you to Alon. I wonder if they think he is better suited to be your protector.”

“He’s happy to be rid of me.”

“I know my son, and I can assure you he is not happy. Now, why is that?”

“He finds me a burden.”

Bess glanced at Cesar, who shook his head. Then she directed her attention back to Samantha.

“What are your plans? Will you rejoin your father or your mother?”

Samantha felt her breath catch. But she needed to say aloud what was in her heart.

“Neither. Since my arrival I’ve seen many things. And I think...that is I believe that it is essential to include the Ghost Children in this fight.”

Both Bess and Cesar rose to their feet. Samantha followed them, now feeling awkward and uncertain.

“Did your father send you here to ask us this?” asked Bess.

“No. He told me you had strange ideas and that there would be Toe Ta...Ghostlings about you. He told me that if I saw a Ghost Child, I was to run and if I could not run I was to kill it.”

Bess threw up her hands. “He doesn’t listen to me. I warned him of Nagi recruiting the lost children, but still he sees no difference between those Nagi has captured and those we have found.” She pinned Samantha with a focused stare. “But you see. Don’t you?”

“Yes.”

“I believe you are right. Your father cannot win without the Ghost Children.”

Samantha clasped her hands together before her heart. “Then you’ll help me?”

Bess shook her head. “I am not their leader. Alon is. He has always been. If you wish them to fight, you must persuade him.”

“How do I do that?”

“It will be difficult, as he hates the Skinwalkers, but the Thunderbirds brought you to him for a reason. Perhaps this is it.”

“There is another reason,” said Cesar, looking at Samantha. “Isn’t there?”

She looked into the eyes of a Spirit Child, one who could see auras as clearly as she could. Her stomach dropped.

“And now, Samantha, you and I need to have a talk.”

* * *

Aldara found him first, of course. She materialized in her fighting form. The other Alphas appeared a moment later.

“Alon, what is happening?”

In the course of a few moments the other twins from the Beta and Gamma packs took shape around him, and he was forced to change to his fighting form or stand naked before them all.

“I was scouting for ghosts.”

“There are none,” reported Bart. He and his sister, Bella, were the second twins found by their father. It was Cesar’s idea to name them alphabetically. The Alpha Pack also consisted of Cody and Callie, Daniel and Darya and Evan and Elizabeth.

“Aldara said that she’s a Skinwalker,” said Callie, her speech much better than Cody’s, whom Alon still could barely understand when in this form. “Why would you bring her here?”

“She is a Seer of Souls.”

The gathering gasped.

“If he finds her, he finds us,” said Darya, her yellow eyes huge and round.

There was nothing his siblings feared more than Nagi. Samantha’s arrival threatened them, and that put her at risk. He wondered if he should take her away.

“You said there are no ghosts here.”

“Brother, there is a war coming,” said Aldara. “Our parents speak of little else. What are we to do?”

“That is up to each of you to decide.”

“No,” said Bart. “You are the Alpha leader. You decide for all of us.”