Beauty's Beast(34)

Her parents could read each other’s thoughts when touching. But since Alon would not touch her, she did not know if their lovemaking forged this new connection or if that came only with the commitment of the heart.

Were her feelings strong enough for her to choose banishment for him? And could she really love a man who so hated himself?

Once upon a time she had known what she wanted: to be free of Nagi and become a true Seer like her grandfather, Michael Proud. She had longed to use her gifts to help others. Now she faced a hard choice: Alon or her dreams. For if she chose him, the Niyanoka would surely banish her. Marrying a Ghost Child would be far more grievous a breach than marrying a Skinwalker.

That was why she had remained silent. Not because Alon was less than her or not worthy of her, but because loving him would be costly.

Now she had another secret. She’d used a pregnancy test and, though less than a month along, she knew that she carried his twins. It was likely two, as twins ran in both families.

This pregnancy would be Alon’s greatest fear come true. He had told her more than once that he would never have offspring, as he called them. So this news would be unwelcome.

As the battle approached, her anxiety grew. Tell him or don’t tell him? Explain or don’t explain? Choose him or leave him? One thing she knew was that when the battle ended, so would his promise to protect her.

If any of them survived, Alon would return her to her family and he would go his separate way. And that frightened her most of all.

Samantha stayed with Bess and Cesar, who camped in the national forest outside Yellowstone National Park in Wyoming, in RVs and trailers and tents filled to bursting with their adopted children. More Ghostlings arrived every day, seeking out Alon and joining his ranks.

Reports from the Ghost Children scouts were that Nagi’s army had twice their numbers and possessed hundreds of humans ready to act as shields.

Tomorrow they would join the others, interlopers fighting for a cause they believed in, in a place they were not welcome. Tomorrow they might all die. Alon knew it, just as she did. So tonight Alon would not avoid her. Tonight, at least, she might once again lie in his arms.

* * *

Blake finished his meeting between the Skinwalker leaders and his people. The battle plan was set. It was a historic day. But Blake’s footsteps were slow and his heart heavy. He had tried to include the Ghost Children and his proposal had been soundly defeated.

Now he had to tell Aldara. True to her word, she had stayed with him, protected him and remained hidden from all but him. But now, as the battle loomed, he could feel the bond between them breaking.

Gradually Aldara had become his confidante, his adviser, his lover. He thought of his mother throwing away all ties to her people to have his father. But his mother had been raised by humans. She did not know her people. She was not War Chief. To claim Aldara was to leave the Niyanoka without a leader in the most important battle of their existence. To claim her was to destroy the alliance.

He glanced up and saw the mist that hovered at his side. Blake veered from his course and away from the circle of tents, both the traditional conical tepees and their nylon counterparts. They had commandeered a camping area, with the help of the Peacemakers, who suggested to the humans that, for various reasons, they needed to move on sooner than expected.

When he was away from the lights, away from the responsibility, she came, transforming naked before him. He smiled and opened his arms, but she stepped back. He felt a punch in his gut. Was she leaving him?

“Is it done, then?” she asked.

He nodded.

“You brought the alliance. You should be proud.”

Instead he felt ashamed. “I’m sorry I could not convince them to accept your people.”

She lifted her face and he saw that her lovely blue-gray eyes were swimming in silver tears. They spilled down her face. “I would fight beside you, Blake, if you would permit it. I would protect you as I have done since we met.”

“If they see you, they will kill you. You cannot fight beside me.”

Her gaze lowered again to the grass brushing her hips, her cheeks flushed with the shame he caused her.

“Then I will join my brother. Tomorrow will be a terrible day for my people, for we will die on both sides of this war.”

“Aldara, I don’t want you to fight.”

Her voice was fierce now. “That is not your choice.”

“Afterward, will you come back to me?”

Her eyes shimmered like the ocean as she stared for a long, silent moment. “Come back to a man who is ashamed of me? No. I will not. Better to leave now and retain my pride.”

He felt desperate to keep her and desperate to keep the alliance. “But we are soul mates.”

She shook her head.

“Afterward we could move away from the others. No one would have to know and we’d be free.”

“Free? Hiding away from your people as your mother has done? Hiding our powers. I have been hidden my entire life, for fear the humans might see me. Now I have my third form and still you ask me to hide. But I am done with hiding. Tomorrow I will stand in the sunlight in my first form and I will fight the sire to protect the Living World. I will do all this so all can see that I am not ashamed of what I am.”

Bright green light flashed and Blake lifted his arm across his eyes. When he lowered it Aldara stood before him in her first form. Silvery hair covered her muscular body that now stood eight feet tall. Spines raised up on her head and her pointed teeth glistened. She stared out at him with yellow eyes, daring him to look away.

She garbled her words as if they were hard for her to form, but he understood her. “This is what I am.”

With that Aldara vanished into a fast-moving cloud of mist.

Blake ran to the place where she had last stood. Her scent remained. He breathed deep, trying to hold this tiny scrap of her essence. If he could have flown after her, he surely would have.

* * *

Samantha glided across the meadow shrouded by the descending mist. Wet grass swept her calves as she paused at the entrance of the conical tent fashioned like the tepees once used by their ancestors. The flap was open, an indication that Alon welcomed visitors. Had he hoped that she would come?

“Alon?” she breathed his name like a sigh.

He was at her side in an instant. The breeze lifted the tails of his open white shirt, and his snug jeans were unfastened at the waist.

“You came,” he said. He took her by the shoulders and lowered his forehead to hers, resting like that for a moment as if too weary to hold himself without her there.

At the touch she read his longing and his sorrow. Did he already anticipate the casualties that would come with the dawn?

Nagi was delayed by his human army, who walked slowly overland. They would be here tomorrow. Alon would not give them time to rest.

He guided her through the raised opening in the canvas tepee, past the symbols of green lightning someone had painted on the surface. He paused only to lower the ring of sticks that supported the flap, indicating that visitors were no longer welcome. They were alone and no one would disturb them.

A single kerosene lantern hung from a peg, the wick turned low so to cast a golden light. Woven rugs, pillows, blankets and soft furs circled the interior.

They stood with hands clasped in the center.

She read his need, he read her longing. Samantha pressed her body to his.

“I feared you would send me to my dad,” she said.

“You are safer with us.”

Samantha lifted one hand to his cheek and he pressed against her palm.

“It’s dangerous for us to be together again.”

“More dangerous than facing Nagi tomorrow?” she asked.

He shook his head.

“Then let us have tonight.”

She placed one hand on each of her opposite shoulders and lowered her head to concentrate. The energy pulsed and her cloak transformed to a single golden rope that circled her neck. The medicine wheel glinted between her breasts. He lifted the symbol of her Seer power and kissed the center of the cross.

He gathered her gently in his arms. This meeting had none of the frantic fury or rush of their first joining. Instead he lingered, stroking her bare shoulders, caressing her neck as she used her fingernails to lightly rake his back. The groan that issued from his throat made her tingle in anticipation. He rubbed his muscular chest against the soft cushion of her breasts, and she closed her eyes at the sharp darts of delight. Need beat within her, building with each pulse of her heart.

His sweet breath fanned her cheek as he dipped his head, capturing her earlobe between his teeth and sucking the soft, sensitive nub of flesh until her head dropped back and she shivered in pleasure.

His tongue traced the shell of her ear and then darted inside. She pressed herself flat against him, savoring each hard edge as she rubbed her hips against the rigid evidence of his desire. His sharp teeth scored the arched column of her throat, and she moaned in longing. His hands slid down her back until he cupped her bottom, using his strong arms to bring her even tighter against him, and still it wasn’t close enough.