Phoenix Reborn (Woodland Creek)(36)

“You’re safe now,” Ranach said, even as Hawke shifted, his breath heavy in his chest.

“Are you all right?” Ashling asked, draping him in her jacket.

“I don’t know,” said Hawke. “I can’t…remember…”

“I set a spell on the Vulture,” said Ranach. “He will go back to his home, away from here. He will forget this place exists, and that you do, Ashling. He will forget what you are, if not what he is.”

“Has Hawke forgotten?” she asked, staring at the man who’d taken possession of her heart.

“No,” Hawke said, turning to her, his eyes seeming to clear. “I — for a moment I was confused, like something was clouding my mind. But I could never forget what you mean to me. Never.”

“Hawke will be just fine. And I’ll leave you two alone,” said Ranach, seeing the way that the two young people were looking at one another. He handed the Eagle shifter a bag that he’d been transporting. “Here are some clothes, young man. I wish you all the best. I think you’ll find at last that your lives can start. Together, I hope.”

He raised his right eyebrow, inquisitive, but not seeking a verbal answer.

Ashling turned to him. “Thank you, Ranach,” she said, embracing him hard. “For everything you’ve done. It’s inadequate to try and put it into simple words.”

“I’ve done all sorts of things, all of them selfish. If I hadn’t, after all, I wouldn’t have had you around all these years. Much as I hate to lose you, Ashling, I cannot tell you what joy I derive from seeing you happy.”

He smiled warmly and turned away. Ashling and Hawke watched him go, and with each step the wizard seemed to fade until he’d disappeared entirely into the woods.

“It’s true,” said Ashling, turning back to Hawke. “All my life he and others have looked out for me, and I didn’t even know it; I didn’t fully appreciate it. I’m the most fortunate woman who ever lived, I think.”

“You’ve deserved to be protected, Ashling.” Hawke took a step towards her, a hand going to her waist. “And I wish that I could have done more all these years, instead of trying to conceal from you what I was — what I am.”

“Perfect, you mean?” She smiled up at him.

He laughed. “Hardly. But you and I are cut from the same cloth. I only wish you’d always known, as I did, how entwined our fates were.”

“I don’t resent you for it, you know. I understand. You were protecting me as well as yourself, just as Ranach was. From people like that shifter. And from myself.”

“I think you’ll find that the town of Woodland Creek looks quite different to your eyes, now that you know about our kind. You’ll see how well you fit in.”

“In Woodland Creek,” she said. “And you…in New York.”

“New York? Maybe not. Do you remember when you asked me what might make me stay?” he asked, his eyes fixed on hers.

“Yes.”

“Do you remember my answer?”

“Yes.”

“Show me.”





16





New York City was everything Ashling had expected and more: giant skyscrapers, a perpetually frenetic pace, people running about as though their hair were on fire.

Among its inhabitants she didn’t see the shifter population that she was now aware of in Woodland Creek. It seemed that shifters stayed away from Manhattan.

But she would always recall the day when Hawke had taken her around her hometown and pointed out how many inhabited the streets where she roamed so frequently.

“Over there, window-shopping,” he’d said.

Ashling had looked over to see a person — one that she’d always assumed was normal — and now she could see. The differences, the subtle variation in movement, in alertness.

In the days that followed, when she and Hawke weren’t staying in bed late to make love or to talk about their future together, they wandered the streets. The Demon Run, an autumn tradition in the town, was in full swing by now. So occasionally a costumed inhabitant would zip past them, dressed in a menacing mask.

But no demons frightened Ashling now. She was at peace. It felt at times as though she’d been issued a new life, offered a rebirth of sorts in a body that finally made sense. She was powerful, strong and all the more so for the man who stood by her side. The man who offered her love without condition.

And now they were in his New York apartment, packing up his things.

“Are you sure about this?” she asked. “This is your home.”

Hawke turned to her. “You’re my home,” he said, grabbing her by the waist as she let out a surprised yelp. “I’ll go where you are. I have no attachment to an apartment that costs far too much money. Besides, in Woodland Creek I can fly. Here I worry that I’ll get shot for less.”

“Well, I’m happy if you are. You know that,” she said, giving him quiet pecks on the cheek. “But it seems odd for a movie star to take up residence in such a small town.”

“All the clever movie stars do it. Especially the shifters.”

“There are other shifter stars?”

Hawke leaned in and whispered something in her ear, causing her eyes to go wide.