Phoenix Reborn (Woodland Creek)(22)

Still backing away, Ashling spoke again. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Yeah. You do,” he said, advancing. High above, the eagle cried out again. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. You’re a shifter. Now shift. I need to see your form, before we…” He stopped short of completing the sentence.

“I…can’t,” she said, her voice catching in her throat. “I don’t know how to shift.” Her feet were still moving her backwards, closer and closer to the water’s edge. She had nowhere to run.

“Your hands are telling me a different story,” said the man. Ashling looked down to see that once again, beyond her control they glowed, hues of red, orange, yellow, which ran in molten streams up her arms.

“Please,” she said. “I can’t always control it. I don’t want to hurt anyone.”

“You’re a creature of fire,” he said, stopping before her. “You are one of the rarest of us.”

“Us?”

“You have the potential to be very powerful and very dangerous to all our kind. A fire shifter cannot go by undetected, and your power will only grow into a more destructive force. And the only way to stop you is to end you.”

So, her instincts had been right. He was a psychopath. “End me? You’re saying…”

“There isn’t room for your kind on this earth,” he growled. “You will take us all with you to ruin, too. I’ve seen your sort before and they don’t belong on this earth. They bring nothing but destruction and chaos with them, everywhere they go.”

Ashling fell backwards then, her feet tripping her up over a large stone. Her hands came down on a patch of dry grass, igniting stray blades around her fingers. Flames circled her in a shallow wall, protective and uncontrolled at once.

“There it is. The flame that would destroy us all. The fire that would engulf entire towns, expose every shifter. You don’t know your own curse.” The man lurched towards her, his body threatening to leap over the fire onto his victim. So, he really did mean to kill her.

She threw a glowing arm across her face, concealing herself from him. But there was no protecting herself from whatever he intended to do. Fire was not a solid shield, and he would no doubt move through it with ease. He could be on her in a flash.

“Stop!”

The voice came from behind Ashling’s assailant. Hawke was running out of the woods, sprinting towards him at enormous speed; so fast that he seemed almost to be a blur. Or perhaps it was only Ashling’s paralyzing fear that created the illusion, slowing everything else down as her life tried to flash before her eyes.

Hawke leapt on the man’s back just as he began to turn, the two rolling a in a flurry through the grass, limbs tangled together. The man, immediately going limp, didn’t fight back. It seemed that he was no match for Hawke’s youth or strength.

Nevertheless, the young man held his collar as he pinned him down, snarling words at him.

“What did you do to her?” he said. “If you hurt her, so help me…”

“Please,” said the stranger. “My arm — you hurt it badly. Please let me go. I just wanted to scare her. I wanted her gone, away from here.”

Hawke stood up, releasing his collar. “Get the f*ck out of here,” he said. “But if I ever see you near her again, I’ll kill you. Do you hear me?”

The man nodded before dashing into the woods, away from them.

“Ashling,” said Hawke, turning to her. “Are you all right?”

The fire around her died down in that moment to faint embers, fading fast as though it had never existed.

She looked down at her hands, which were still planted on either side of her hips. The grass was charred around them but the glow from the fire had disappeared, probably because of the dampness brought on by proximity to the creek.

“I’m okay,” she said as she pushed herself to her feet. “That man…he…”

“He’s gone now,” he said. “For good. It’s all right.” He put his arms around her, pressing her head to his chest. “I’m here.”





10





Long minutes passed before either spoke, though Ashling would gladly have stood pressed to Hawke in silence forever.

She found her breath calming as he held her. But what had he seen? Had he heard what the man had said? Did he know what she’d done?

“I thought…” she said. “He phoned and said he was your location scout, Wayne. I don’t know how he did it. He sounded exactly like him.”

“He tricked you. I told you the other day, some people aren’t what they seem. I’m just glad you’re okay.” He pulled away for a moment and kissed her forehead.

“I think he wants me dead, Hawke. I think he wanted to kill me.”

“How could anyone want you dead?” He asked the question with a smile on his face, but underneath his reassuring fa?ade Ashling could sense anger; rage, even.

All she could do was shake her head. She had no reply for him.

“Damn it. Ashling, there’s something you should know,” said Hawke at last. “About me.”

She lifted her chin to look into his eyes, uncertain that she could handle any more bad news. Hawke opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself, as though whatever he had to convey was too painful.