Bait This! (A 300 Moons Book) (6 page)

D
erek felt
as if he had been submerged in icy water again.

He’d gone from the shock of the plane crash to the cold outside, to the frigid water, to the wrenching pleasure of Hedda’s arms, all without losing himself to the agonizing burning on his hip.

But the expression of terror on her face as the light was extinguished threatened to push him over the edge.

The bear inside him exploded with fury at whatever had put that look on her face, even as the man who was always in control cowered at the thing that could make the fierce young woman tremble.

Before he could take in what she was trying to do, or accept that the light coming from her hands was magic, real actual magic - Gloria Cortez style - she ran.

For a moment he was frozen - suspended between fear and fury.

Then the exasperated bear pushed him to action.

Derek jumped over the half door in a heartbeat and landed in the spot where she must have stood, but she wasn’t anywhere to be seen.

The woods outside were only slightly brighter than inside the shelter. He scanned the mud for her footprints, but the temperature had dropped again, quickly enough to cause a haze to rise from the ground.

The bear shoved him out of the way, and pulled the intimate sounds of the woods in. The bear had enhanced Derek’s hearing before, but this was different. It was as if the whole forest were playing on headphones turned up to the max.

Hedda’s footsteps were ahead of him.

The bear tracked her, pulling Derek further and further into the trees.

At last he spotted her in a small clearing. She had stopped. Her breath came out in clouds. She searched the clearing, violet eyes moving quickly across the landscape before her.

“Hedda,” he said softly, not wanting to startle her.

“It’s gone,” she murmured.

Derek looked around too. But as he wasn’t sure what he had seen in the first place, he didn’t know what he was looking for.

“Was it some kind of a bat?” he asked.

Hedda hiked off determinedly to the right, so he followed.

“It was a shadow demon,” she replied.

“Uh, I’ve lived kind of a sheltered life. Can you explain?” he asked.

She glanced at him over her shoulder, surprise on her face, then instant regret.

“I’m sorry, Derek, I’d forgotten you were —well, that you didn’t grow up with wolf parents,” she caught herself.

He nodded to show that she hadn’t hurt his feelings.

“Wolf packs tend to stay in the same place for generations. Is that true in the town where you lived?” she asked.

Derek thought about it.

“Yeah, I guess so,” he agreed. “Tarker’s Hollow is the nearest town to ours. The wolves have been there for generations.”

“Do you know why they’re there?” Hedda asked.

Derek shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it. Most wolves have forgotten the answer, if they ever knew it. But there
is
a reason. And that’s to guard the portals,” Hedda explained.

“What portals?” Derek asked.

“Did you ever wonder why there’s so little magic in the world?” Hedda asked, instead of answering him. “I mean, the old stories are full of magic. But there’s not so much of it anymore.”

“I don’t know. No, I guess not. Though I’m beginning to think there might be more of it than I thought,” he replied, giving her a pointed look when she glanced back at him guiltily.

“You have
no
idea,” she told him, shaking her head slightly before turning back to her trek through the trees.

He wondered what she meant by that. Did she have powers greater than what she had shown him?

The searing in his hip distracted him from asking questions. Sweat was beginning to prickle on his upper lip in spite of the extreme cold outside.

What was happening to him?

In despair, he wondered if she had enough magic to give him three hundred more moons.

“You take it in stride that there are shifters because you are one,” she said, rousing him from his thoughts. “But there used to be more magic than that. A long, long time ago, dark magic creatures, called moroi, threatened to destroy the world, and take humanity down with it,” she explained.

“What were they?” he asked.

“Moroi are sort of like… vampires,” she explained. “But instead of drinking blood, they feed on life-essence. Souls, you might say. And they can take on the forms of their victims. That particular skill assists them in taking more victims.”

“What happened to them?” Derek asked. The whole thing seemed like a stretch, but then, he could turn into a giant bear, so who was he to judge?

“The Native Americans with their spirit animals were among the first to battle the moroi. Although humans can be fooled by the moroi, in the end, spirit animals and shifters are harder to fool. And they are fierce enough, especially when they work in packs, to fight the moroi off.”

She looked to him, as if to see if he understood.

He did. He knew his bear had advantages that went beyond the physical when it came to empathy. He nodded and she went on.

“In time, the Native Americans were able to trap most of the magic in another… dimension, I guess, is the easiest way to think of it. They opened doorways, and then tricked, threatened and fought the dark magic inside. Afterward they sealed the portals with their own light magic.

“It sealed off the bad guys, but also cut this world off from the source of most of its magic.

“Of course, there is always a price to be paid. In that case, trapping the moroi and saving the earth drained most of the Native Americans of their powerful spirit animal magic. When their numbers started dwindling, the shifters were brought into the secret. The wolves’ loyalty, plus the fact that they are resistant to most forms of magic makes them the perfect guardians.

“So now the wolves guard the portals. Even if they don’t all know that’s what they’re doing.”

Derek thought it over, even as they began to jog through the dark woods.

“So what does the shadow demon have to do with this?” he asked.

“Shadow demons are sort of symbiotic with the moroi. The same way a fish cleans the crocodile’s teeth, a shadow demon sucks the excess energy from a moroi, allowing it a clean slate for its next victim, so to speak,” she explained.

“So, if the moroi are trapped beyond the portals, what is a shadow demon doing out here?” Derek asked.

“That’s a good question,” Hedda replied, a bit unsure. “They’re usually only attracted to a serious surplus of magic. I’ve been careful. And there’s nothing else around here with enough magic to attract one.”

Derek bit his tongue. Probably not a good time to share that he’d been carrying around magic inside him for the past 300 moons. And besides, that couldn’t be enough to attract a thing like this. Could it?

“It probably means that a moroi is close to the surface,” Hedda said sternly. “And that means I didn’t do my job.”

Derek pondered that for a moment. Hedda was a young woman living alone in a cottage on top of a mountain. She wasn’t a shifter.

“What do you mean you didn’t do your job? You said you aren’t a shifter,” he pointed out.

She was silent, her lips pressed together.

Then she burst into a run.

Derek took off after her. They were headed back down the hill again, toward the creek and the town.

He slipped and stumbled, but he didn’t let it slow him down. He was getting used to the topography and the idea that keeping his weight forward and his feet moving was the best way to avoid wiping out.

Though of course it was nothing like the way Hedda moved.

Her form slipped effortlessly through the trees, her posture perfect.

The bear rumbled in satisfaction at how at peace she was outdoors, just like he was.

The clouds partly slightly and the sliver of moonlight reflected back in her glossy hair.

Derek’s hip smoldered more than ever before and the bear groaned in his head.

H
edda paused in the clearing
, breathing slowly and expanding her consciousness out of her body, through the long grass and into the trees.

As her awareness spread wider it lost strength. They said that those with the most powerful and most practiced magic could push themselves out of the stratosphere with this exercise and then pull back in, knowing everything in between at will.

Though of course they would not try to absorb everything. The tiniest sliver of that had sent the most talented of her kind into madness.

Hedda could reach beyond herself in a small way. She had chosen the clearing because the less life between herself and the demon the better. It was too easy to get lost in the ants and the birds and squirrels and come back into her own head ten minutes later with none of the knowledge she had sought.

Her sweep told her nothing.

Hedda sighed and ran her hands through her hair.

“Everything okay?” Derek asked.

She could have asked him the same.

He looked rough.

His blue eyes blazed out from under his too long dark hair. His five-o’clock shadow only highlighted the tension in his jaw.

She knew the exact moment when she had stared too long into his eyes.

The tension between them was suddenly palpable. Hedda felt the attraction like a rubber band, stretched too taut across the clearing, pulling her toward him.

She went to him slowly, forgetting the demon, the magic, everything that might stand between them.

Derek’s jaw rippled.

She tried to picture what he must be seeing: Venus rising from the ocean, Eve extending an apple.

She wished just once a man would look at her that way because of herself and not because of her gift.

But at the moment she would accept it, because if her gift got her into the arms of a man who made her feel like this one did, she had to be grateful.

He was brave. He had followed her without knowing what they were chasing. And then he’d followed her again, after he found out how bad it really was.

She was close to him, so close that she could smell the spicy male scent emanating from his big hard body.

Then it happened again.

From the corner of her eye she saw movement.

Movement that was somehow out of place.

She turned to look, and then she felt Derek grasp her wrist, hard.

“It’s not right,” he hissed.

Damn skippy it wasn’t right.

She shook him off impatiently and headed toward the movement.

It was no longer subtle. Branches rustled as they were pushed aside in the wake of something.

Something big.

Hedda planted herself in the center of the clearing. She lifted her palms to the heavens and called to her magic.

A humming blue ball appeared neatly between her hands. It danced with eagerness, quivering between her palms, awaiting her command.

Hedda had been lucky to receive some formal training in her youth. She knew that if she could control her breathing her magic would be more focused, more effective.

But she didn’t feel the coolness that should go along with her best work.

Her whole body surged with desire for the man she had just met. It was freezing outside, she could see her breath crystallizing on the breeze, but she was wearing a still-damp t-shirt and jeans. She had been hiking for hours and her belly was empty. Through all of it, she had the sleepy post-adrenaline feel of having jumped into frigid water to save someone’s life.

Use it.

Her sister’s voice in her head pulled her out of her self-pity.

Swiftly, she loaded her mental pistol with every discomfort, crushing each into a horrible little nugget ready to be flung at the enemy when he arrived.

That would be any second now. The bushes trembled.

Hedda adopted a wide legged stance and reminded herself not to lock her knees. Her heart was beating a mile a minute.

There was a moment when the movement stopped and it seemed there wasn’t a single sound in the forest.

Then the stag burst through the trees. He was beautiful. His ivory antlers glowed faintly in the moonlight. But he didn’t move like a stag.

Instead of the proud, light leap of a real deer, he was charging indelicately, like a drunken brawler. Awkwardly, he lowered his head, bringing his antlers into play.

Hedda fought her instinct to run. The closer it came, the easier it would be to stun it.

It was twenty feet away, fifteen now, ten.

She could see the animal’s eyes. Lifeless, glossed over grey, like a snake getting ready to shed.

When it was five feet away, Hedda readied herself to strike, gathering the magic from herself to pulse outward.

A low growl issued from Derek’s place just behind her. She risked a glance at him. He wasn’t looking at the dear at all, but past it, at something in the trees.

A huge, dark shape lumbered into view.

Before Hedda had a chance to register what was happening, an enormous black bear exploded out of the trees and attacked the deer.

She jumped back instinctively and nearly fell on her rear.

The bear already had his mouth clamped around the screaming creature’s neck, a black pool of blood gushing onto the grass beneath them.

For a moment Hedda was transfixed with horror. Then it occurred to her to wonder what would happen to the demon occupying the deer.

She didn’t have to wonder for long.

The deer’s eyes went dark and then there was a flash in the eyes of the bear.

Frozen, she watched it drop the deer and rise.

It would all be over in a heartbeat.

Sepia toned memories of baking gingerbread and holding sticky hands with her sisters flashed through Hedda’s mind.

“
No!
” shouted Derek from behind her.

H
edda turned
and watched as Derek approached. Maybe it was shock, but the whole thing seemed to unfold in slow motion.

He ran two staggering steps as himself, and then his hands hit the ground.

But they weren’t hands anymore, they were paws.

His clothing exploded off of him to reveal brown, glossy fur. And his face lengthened into a long brown snout.

A bear? He had said he was a wolf.

But he was clearly a giant, brown bear.

There was no time to sweat the small stuff, Hedda could only pray that the demon bear wouldn’t harm him.

She need not have worried.

Before her eyes, Derek’s brown bear attacked the black one without hesitation.

Before the black bear could turn to defend himself, the brown bear had bitten savagely into the scruff of his neck and thrown him to his back.

The ground shook as if there had been a lightning strike.

Hedda had seen bears fight before. There was normally a lot of posturing and circling first. This was altogether different.

The black bear jerked strangely on the ground, then wrenched itself free of the brown one, leaving a chunk of its own fur and flesh hanging from the brown bear’s mouth.

Blood collected in the black bear’s wound, but he seemed unconcerned. He threw himself heavily onto the brown bear and bit into its spine.

Hedda gasped.

The brown bear glanced at her and she saw the glimmer of Derek’s blue eyes beneath the mop of glossy brown fur.

Twisting sideways, he bit again at the black bear’s face: once, twice, viciously slashing his teeth into the meaty jaw.

But the black bear didn’t seem to mind having part of his face removed.

And then Hedda realized that the demon didn’t care what happened to his host. He would simply migrate to another if this body didn’t survive.

Just like that, she knew that Derek was doomed if someone didn’t help him.

Good thing Hedda had her magic.

The bears were on their hind legs now, gripping each other’s scruffs and shaking savagely.

Hedda fought her instincts and stepped in closer, calling the magic into her palms once more.

She got as close to the battle as she dared, then she began to look for an opening. It would be hard just to hit the demon bear without hitting Derek too.

Taking a step closer would bring her magic too close to Derek, but bring her within striking distance of the bears as well.

At last Derek twisted, presenting the black bear’s back to her.

Hedda launched the ball of blue energy.

Her aim was true. She hit the black bear squarely in the back of the head.

Derek threw the other bear to the ground with a resounding thud.

Before he could mount it and attack again, the life seemed to go out of the possessed bear for a moment.

A small bird sailed past Hedda, crashing through the tree canopy and into the sky.

Meanwhile, the black bear began to moan.

Derek froze, and then backed away from the other bear quickly.

The black bear sat up and bellowed, batting a paw at its face as if to ask what had happened to its cheek. Then it shook itself and staggered into the woods.

“Derek,” Hedda whispered to the brown bear.

She expected that he would shift back right away, but he didn’t.

Instead, he whirled to face her.

She froze in place at the wildness in his eyes. This wasn’t mostly Derek, allowing his bear out. This was mostly the bear with Derek still inside.

He sidled up to her and nuzzled her hands.

Hedda stood perfectly still, even when he growled at her hands and nosed the fly of her jeans.

“Derek, please,” she heard herself whisper.

It was enough. The bear reacted as if she had slapped him. He lumbered away swiftly, uprooting a sapling at the center of the clearing as he left.

“Come back, Derek,” Hedda encouraged in a soft voice.

The bear slowly stood upon his hind feet, but did not shift. He paused, his large eyes squeezed shut.

Nothing.

He threw his head back. His ear-splitting roar ripped through the clearing.

Then he came back toward Hedda. His eyes were dark pools without a trace of his own blue color. He panted with excitement, knocking a large stump into the trees with one paw, ripping another sapling out of the ground with the other.

He was out of control. And there was nothing Hedda could do to stop him.