Savage Beauty(9)

Cat and I sat in the chair. It was dark. The crickets sang loudly outside the windows.

“I have to leave in the morning at first light,” I told Cat. She let out what sounded like a sad meow.

“I know. I’ve enjoyed your company, too. But I’m afraid your mistress won’t be happy when she wakes. She will wake, won’t she?” I hated the thought of leaving Cat behind, but she was a skilled hunter. She could feed herself. There was a small stream nearby. She had everything she needed to eat, drink, and survive until her mistress did awaken.

I had become so lonely, I was conversing with a cat.

“I need to gather my things.”

I stood and Cat jumped to the floor. Packing a bag with some food, I sat it near the door and took my sheathed knife from the hearth. I was worried about leaving the young woman in the next room. What if someone with ill intentions wandered in here and saw the state she was in? Who would protect her?

Cat would try. She seemed very protective of this place, and also able to read people. She knew that I was no threat, but would she recognize someone who was?

With a small pile of my things and borrowed food near the door, I settled into the chair with cat in my lap. I needed to rest and the sun would rise soon enough.



I jerked awake when Cat jumped off my lap, meowed loudly three times and ran into the bedroom of the young woman. Blinking the blurriness out of my eyes, I called for her. Was something wrong? “Cat?”

Gritting my teeth, I decided to peek inside and make sure the woman was okay. I grabbed a candleholder and entered her room, quietly pushing the door open. When my eyes adjusted to the darkness as much as they could, I saw her in the dark room, hovering above the bed. She hadn’t moved an inch since I’d been there. I half expected her to be sitting up or standing, or even laying on the mattress, but thankfully she only floated in the air.

Cat squalled but I couldn’t tell where she was in the room.

“Cat?”

Cat brushed against my legs, but quickly became restless, jumping from the floor to the bed, to a chest of drawers that was stuffed full, and then to the writing desk again, overturning a pot of ink. She jumped down and crossed the floor, disappearing into a closet that was brimming with clothes. I sat the candle down and rushed to stop the spill, uprighting the overturned ink pot. “What’s gotten into you?” I asked Cat.

In the process, my hand was stained black. I needed to find water and a rag to clean up this mess. I turned to look at the levitating woman... and she was gone.

Warm breath fanned the back of my neck. My hair stood on end. And every muscle in my body tensed.

Slowly, I turned to face her.

The woman’s fingers, sharp at the tips, curled around my neck. With more strength and speed than was humanly possible, she slammed me into the wall beside us. I cried out, panting through the pain bursting through my bones again.

“What are you doing in my home?” she growled, enunciating every word. Her teeth were bared. She had... fangs. And her eyes. Her eyes were yellow-green, just like Cat’s. She narrowed them, squeezing my throat tighter.

Oh, God. Rolfe was right.

“I—” I couldn’t talk. Couldn’t breathe. She had cut off my airway. A pressure built in my face until she eased her grip, but she didn’t let me go. I wasn’t out of danger yet. “I injured myself in the woods and found your cottage,” I stammered.

“How long have you been here?”

One of her claws bit into my skin, drawing blood. The wound stung. A warm, wet trickle slid down my throat.

“One week.” I swallowed. She was going to kill me.

She looked me over from my hair to my feet, sizing me up. Cat came to my defense, settling on my shoes between us.

“You look familiar, somehow. Your ribs are healing. Your arm, too. How is your ankle now?”

“How did you know where I was injured?” I asked suspiciously as she eased her nail from my flesh and took a step back.

She snorted. “You walk with a slight limp, you winced when opening the curtains, and you did so gingerly because your arm or shoulder was hurt.”

“You were asleep. How did you see all that?”

“I was waking, not asleep. And I didn’t see it. I heard it.”

She looked at Cat, narrowing her eyes. “You’re pathetic,” she growled. “Find someone to pet you, huh?” She took Cat into her hand and held her up. Cat stared right back at her, unflinching.

“What’s her name?” I asked, fighting the urge to step back when the woman glared in my direction.

“Her name is not important,” she said with a hint of warning in her voice, raking her narrowed eyes over my clothes. Her eyes flicked to the door where the food and my knife lay. “What is that for?”

“I was going to try to hike out of here in the morning. I’m glad you woke, actually. I was hoping you could give me directions?” I would have asked her to lead me to the edge of the dark forest, but she wasn’t what I expected. She hadn’t hurt me yet, but it was clear that she didn’t want me in her home. And I didn’t want to push my luck by staying any longer where I wasn’t welcome.

“Do you have any idea what today is?” she countered.

My God, she was beautiful. I shook my head to clear it. What was significant about today? I had no idea.