Beauty's Beast(8)

“The Thunderbirds might have saved him,” he offered, squeezing his hands to fists and willing himself to take slow, steady breaths. Each one brought the floral scent of her to him. The sharp claws retracted and he let his shoulders sag.

She blinked at him with those impossibly long lashes, and he was hit with another emotion—lust, deep and red. He was not touching her, so he knew that this reaction was all his. He tried to move away, but she reached out her hand. The only way to control his response was not to touch her, yet he found his arm lifting, his fingers lacing with hers. How could the simple pressing of palm to palm raise every hair on his body?

“Do you think so?”

The hope flickering in her russet-brown eyes did something to his insides. It felt as if she squeezed his heart instead of his hand. What was happening to him?

“They protect Skinwalkers. He is a Skinwalker. Therefore they protect him.” The logic that so annoyed his mother seemed to help Samantha, for a smile broke like the dawn across her lovely face.

She lunged at him, and he had time only to brace himself before her arms wrapped about his neck as she hugged him. He stiffened as she pressed to him. His body sprang to attention with a rush of blood and surging need.

What madness was this? Why would she hug him now that she knew what he was?

She seemed to come to her senses in slow degrees. Did she notice that he did not hug her back? That his hands stayed in fists at his sides and he held his body rigid as a corpse? She slid off him, her toes returning to the earth as she pushed away.

He found his breath again, but each time he inhaled, the air was full of her arousing, alluring scent. He growled.

“I’m sorry, Alon. I didn’t mean to upset you.” She stared up at him. “What’s wrong with your eyes?”

They were likely changing color, turning from icy blue to the sickly yellow of his first form. He spun, giving her his back, and stalked away.

This time she pursued him.

“Do you really think that he’s alive?”

He would do nothing to crush the hope he now heard in her musical voice. But neither did he want her joyful again. It was too dangerous for them both.

“It’s possible.”

She trotted behind him in silence for a shockingly short time. Then the questions began again.

“You don’t look like the ones that attacked my family. Why are you so different?”

He cast a glance back at her.

“Nothing personal, but I’m not inclined to answer your questions, either. Two-way street.”

Her brow wrinkled and she stopped again, pressing both hands to her hips in a posture that reminded him of his mother when she was on a tear.

“Fine. What do you want to know?”

What she looked like naked. He paused, weighing his options, knowing he should leave her, knowing he would not.

“Well?”

“Nothing. I don’t want to know anything about you except how to get rid of you.”

Her hands slid from her hips and dropped to her sides. Her chin trembled for a moment before she bit down on her lower lip with straight white upper teeth. Did she use the pain to keep her from tears? He stepped closer, fascinated. His sister never cried.

“I didn’t ask to come here.”

“Neither did I invite you.”

She folded her arms over her chest. Her breasts squeezed upward from the constriction, and he forced himself to look away an instant too late. Damn, he wanted to see what she had under that stupid uniform. He wanted to pin her to the earth and...

“How much farther?”

He didn’t know if he should shake her or kiss her. He wanted to do both. He stared at the trees and prayed to the Great Spirit to send him control.

“Four hundred and fifty meters,” he said.

“Do you have internet? I want to write my family and tell them I am all right.”

That might be premature, he thought. If Nagi was after her, he might be following her. If he found her, Nagi would find him and Aldara and all the young ones hidden in these woods. He and Aldara were the eldest. It was their duty to keep them safe.

“To get to the computer, we have to move that way.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “And you keep stopping.”

Samantha continued beside him without pausing or asking her endless questions. Alon listened for the yearlings while scenting the air for their trail. For some reason they were not in their usual territory. Perhaps Aldara had succeeded in communicating with them. If anyone could, it would be his sister.

The packs roaming the property concerned him deeply. Samantha had been very lucky that he found her first.

Or was it luck? He thought of the Thunderbirds dropping her practically at his feet.

He didn’t take it as some grand sign. The Supernaturals had correctly determined that he was the creature least likely to kill her on sight and placed her accordingly.

But then, why hadn’t they taken her to Bess as her father had wished? They could have. They could find anyone anywhere. So why hadn’t they? The reason for their action eluded and troubled him.

They broke from the trees a few moments later and entered a wide alpine meadow.

“There it is.” Alon pointed.

At the crest of the rise sat the impressive log structure that looked large and grand enough to be some sort of lodge. In fact, it had been so before Bess repurposed the building into a living space for her adopted horde. When they outgrew it, Cesar built the dorms and later the school behind the main house. Alon glanced toward the clapboard construction where he now lived and then flicked his gaze at her. She’d be safer in the house. None of the yearlings ever ventured there.

“You’ll stay in there,” he said.

She lifted a brow as if to argue. He narrowed his eyes.

“It will be more difficult to keep you alive if you leave this place.”

“The only threat that I’ve seen so far is you.”

He didn’t argue the point. He was a threat but not the only one here, regardless of what she had seen. Something about this little Skinwalker interested him, and that was dangerous for her. Alon knew what he was capable of, even if his parents did not. They had a blind spot for all their children, denying their true natures and giving them high ideals. Alon feared his parents would soon be disappointed. The prospect of Bess and Cesar seeing their “children” for what they truly were troubled him, as well.

“And how do I know that Suncatcher lives in that house?”

Alon paused. He’d never been called a liar before and found it irritated him.

“Where is she exactly?”

“Moving north with the eldest of my siblings. All that would go have gone. Aldara and I stayed behind to try to convince the others. The Beta, Gamma and Delta packs.”

“Packs?”

“We run in packs with those of our approximate age. I’m Alpha. The Betas are near their final change, approaching fifteen. The Gammas are less than ten, and the Deltas only babies, two and under. The Betas have roamed too far for us to easily find them. The Gammas refuse to leave this place because they cannot conceive a threat. It is not in our nature. The Deltas are not old enough to understand what we ask. At so young an age their needs are...basic. Aldara believes we can convince all of them to follow.”

“But you do not?”

“My kind is not open to persuasion. They are influenced only by superior force. To the young ones all creatures are either predator or food.”

Samantha frowned at this answer.

He motioned toward the house. “Inside there is a phone, computer, food, facilities for washing. Take what you like and stay inside until I return for you.”

“When will that be?”

“After nightfall.”

He turned to leave her.

“When will Bess be back?”

“She has abandoned this place. When I have finished with the packs, I will bring you to her.”

That did not seem to please Samantha, judging from the pinched expression and the line that now formed between her elegant brows.

“Why don’t you just tell me how to find her?”

He shook his head. It was a miracle one of the packs hadn’t discovered Samantha already. He wasn’t about to cross his fingers and point her north.

“No.”

“My father told me to find Bess.”

“You can wait or you can die. Your choice.” He stalked away.





Chapter 5



When Alon reached the cover of the trees he turned back. Samantha stared at the place where he had vanished into the forest. Finally she turned toward the house and marched up the front steps.

Alon lingered, watching her, fearing she would leave the house. There was some pull between them. Even from this distance he felt drawn to her. He wanted to go back, and it mattered not at all that she didn’t want to speak to him or that he had business elsewhere.

What was wrong with him?