Taken at Dusk (Shadow Falls #3)(9)

Kylie took one step off the porch and turned back around. "You will let me know the instant you hear something from Burnett or Derek, right?"

"The instant," Holiday assured her.

Kylie started to leave and then turned back, walked over to Holiday, and hugged her. Hugged her really tight.

"Thank you," Kylie said.

"For what?" Holiday sounded confused, but it didn't stop her from hugging Kylie back.

"For being here. For being you. For putting up with me."

Holiday snickered. "You're beginning to sound melodramatic, and that's just a hair away from pathetic."

Kylie broke the embrace, smiled back at Holiday, and took off down the trail to her cabin.

* * *

She hadn't gotten halfway there when the hair on the back of her neck seemed to dance and she felt the unmistakable sense of being watched. She glanced to the woods on her left but saw nothing but trees and underbrush. She fixed her stare to the right and found the overgrown terrain to be equally empty. But she still felt it-even stronger.

Glancing up at the cloudless blue sky, she blinked. A bird soared high overhead. The broad wingspan, the hooked beak, and the white splash of coloring on his chest identified him as an eagle. She studied the creature, slowly gliding as if taking his sweet time, as if he were transfixed by ... the view?

What view?

Did he watch her? Was the feeling she got from the bird? Was it just your average eagle? Or was it like Perry, who could change his form into anything he desired? She continued to watch him, feeling uneasy.

Without warning, the eagle changed course. His movements quickened as he charged. Close. Closer. She met his eyes. The fierceness made her shudder. Or was it his thick talons held out as if prepared to attack?

The whoosh of air from his wings hit her face, and she slammed her eyes shut.

Chapter Three

Kylie threw up her arm to protect her face, but she felt nothing, no claws cutting into her flesh. Not on her face or her arm.

She heard rustling at her feet, accompanied by a rattling noise. Uncovering her face, she looked down. Her breath caught. She lurched back as the eagle used his sharp beak and talons to attack the snake that lay a few inches from her feet. The rattling noise hit again. She noticed the diamondlike shapes on the back of the brown-and-tan snake, then her gaze followed the coiled reptile to the dry, tan appendage growing from its tail.

A rattlesnake.

She lunged back. The bird buried his talons into the round, thick flesh of the snake. The eagle's wings worked overtime as he carried the squirming snake a few feet off the ground. The flapping of wings, the whooshing of air, and the distinctive rattle of the reptile filled her ears. The eagle hung a few feet above the ground, his wings slapping against the air.

She stood in the middle of the path and watched as the huge bird flew away with his prey. Looking back at her feet, she saw dusty marks in the path where the snake had fought for its life and lost. Beside the marks, a pair of shoe prints pressed into the ground. Her shoes. Had the eagle not charged, would she have seen the snake? Or would she now have the rattler's venom running up her leg?

Was she just lucky, or had this meant something? She considered turning around and finding Holiday, but logic intervened. She was in the woods in the Texas Hill Country. Her father-stepfather-had warned her constantly about snakes.

Convincing herself that this was just an uncanny moment that she'd gotten to experience nature at its scariest, she took another step forward. She did glance up one more time, though. The eagle, with the snake still tightly in his clutches, circled above. She stared, her breath caught in her throat. And as crazy as it seemed, she could swear the eagle stared back.

She stood, hand shadowing her eyes, and watched him until he was a dark speck fading into the massive blue sky. A thought hit that she should be grateful to the eagle, but the cold look in the bird's eyes flashed in her mind and sent a shiver down her spine.

Moving her hand away from her brow, she started for her cabin when her gaze clashed with another cold pair of eyes. Fredericka. Kylie remembered how angry Fredericka had been when she'd caught her and Lucas behind the office. Not that they'd been doing anything but looking at pictures of Daniel and talking.

"How does it feel to be a play toy?" Fredericka's voice sounded tight with anger, the kind of anger that could bring out the claws. And the hint of orange in the girl's dark eyes said the claws were definitely an option.

Kylie inhaled and reminded herself not to show any fear. "Jealousy isn't becoming on you."

"I'm not jealous." Fredericka flashed a smug smile. "Especially now."

Now what? Kylie wanted to ask, but to do so would have given the bully credence, and Kylie refused to do that. Instead, she started walking away. She told herself to forget about Fredericka, that she had other problems to chew on right now. Kylie pulled out her phone to see if Derek had ever returned her call about the detective. He hadn't.

"Lucas's bloodline is pure, he values that," Fredericka spouted from behind Kylie. "The forefathers value that, too. They've made that clear. So when it comes time for him to seek his true mate, he won't dirty up his bloodline with the likes of you."

Nonsense, Kylie told herself, and kept walking. Fredericka was just talking nonsense. She had grandparents or pretend grandparents to worry about, so she wouldn't let this she-wolf upset her. Then the memory of the eagle filled her mind. Maybe she should worry about that, too.