Chapter Twelve
It was early morning by the time I finally ambled out of bed as Vale slept soundly. I was still in disbelief about what had happened between this gorgeous man and me. With barely enough light coming in through the crack in my bedroom door, I’d just laid there and stared at him, watching him sleep. Had he really said he belonged to me?
There was still so much going through my head about mating and bonding. What had happened between us physically still freaked me out a little. Though his beast’s traits had been revealed during sex, I knew Vale was still a person, not an animal. Even when he’d morphed into a cougar, his human mind had still been present.
I knew I needed to be completely honest with him about my magical abilities. My Sensitive secret didn’t seem like as much of a big deal as Vale’s mating news, but I had a responsibility to tell him about it, especially if we were going to make this work. Was I crazy to think we even had a chance at a life together? Clearly, we were attracted to each other, but the physical part of a relationship doesn’t sustain the heart forever. I hoped with all of my being that we’d end up being what the other needed without losing our individuality.
While Vale slept the comatose sleep all men seemed to experience, I decided to head out for a walk to clear my head. I wasn’t exactly sure how I felt about being mated or bonded for life to a man I hardly knew. My heart didn’t seem bothered by this bonding thing. It was my head causing the problems.
Quietly, I grabbed a change of clothes, minus a bra since we’d lost my favorite one during the night. After dressing, I headed out the garage door for an early morning stroll to the limestone house.
I knew I was being ridiculous, over-thinking the entire episode between us. Wasn’t I the one who had thought only a few hours ago that I knew Vale was it for me, love at first sight? My heart leapt with happiness as it decided for my head that I needed to stop worrying, take my own advice and go slowly with him. This could be the best part of a relationship if neither of us freaked out about it.
The dew was thick on the grass, and my shoes were soaked by the time I was halfway to the old limestone homestead. Though the sun hadn’t risen completely, the birds were singing loudly. As usual, a few stray ghosts hovered along the path and in the trees, but as long as I didn’t let them know I’d seen them, they left me alone. It had been so dry this summer, I’d not had to worry about mowing a path. The grass had stopped growing around three feet, and I simply crushed the weeds by stepping on them.
Fog still hung just above the ground, making the house and its small pond look ethereal. As I rounded the corner toward the porch, I suddenly felt the same uneasy tingling feeling I’d felt at Mrs. Oliver’s house. It began on my arms and legs, and I intrinsically knew something was very, very wrong. The air was heavy, and it was suddenly extremely difficult to breathe. I staggered, barely making it to the steps of the porch, and quickly sank onto the worn stone foundation.
A breeze blew out of nowhere, and I felt a suffocating sense of evilness surround me. Terrified out of my mind, I wanted to call for help, but who would actually be able to assist me against a spiritual attack? I’d not heard from my grandfather in days, and I didn’t want to involve Vale since I had no idea how strong his will was as of yet.
“Evening Moonlight Dubois,” called a low, menacing voice. “You have overstepped your bounds.”
Had I not been overcome with the need for air, I might have peed my pants out of fear.
“Who are you?” I demanded. Unmoved by the entity’s silence, I threw another question at it. “What the hell are you talking about?” I gasped, still trying to pull oxygen into my lungs. The constantly fluctuating air pressure made my ears pop, causing me to rapidly open and close my jaw.
“The cougar. He is not to be yours.” As though pausing for its own evil effect, it waited a beat before continuing, “Leave him, or you will face dire consequences and he will lose his life.”
I sensed the evil being meant every word it spoke, and its menacing presence scared the crap out of me. The tingling sensation I’d felt on my arms and legs spread to my torso with aggressiveness. It was as though thousands of needles were being driven into my stomach, back and breasts. I’d never experienced so much pain!
A flare of awareness made me shiver as I felt Vale awaken from his slumber. Though I didn’t want him to find me, he’d shifted and was already out the door and running toward me as though I’d called to him, drawn him to me somehow.
“Fuck you!” I yelled at the entity. I’d finally found someone with whom I wanted to enjoy life, who would always love me and would always be true to me, as I would be to him. No one and certainly no
thing
would make me give him up, at least not without a serious fight. I felt Vale closing in on my location, but instead of worrying about him, I knew I had to concentrate on the shade-like entity trying to take the life from me. A surge of energy coursed through me, and I immediately stood to face the terrible being threatening my life and happiness.
Opening my third eye, I saw my fingers and arms glowing bright blue with my magic. I felt the empty, soulless shade suddenly shrink back from my power. Evidently, it hadn’t planned on me being a challenge. I laughed at it as I wondered if it had thought I’d just lie down and die for it. Did it think I wouldn’t protect the one I loved? That I would leave the man I’d mated less than twelve hours ago at its mercy?
Taking advantage of its momentarily stunned state of mind, I bounded into the yard, stomping on the weeds and blades of grass, creating a protective circle around me.
In the shape of a huge black cougar, Vale skidded to a stop just outside the circle I’d created, making sure to keep it intact. Very carefully, he stepped into the round barrier I’d created, and I felt a tingle of energy snap through my body.
The instant he joined me, I felt stronger and even more powerful, so much so that I felt slightly intoxicated. I swooned with the incredibly high feeling as I drew in my magic, centering and focusing it. I was nearly ready to unleash it when the horrible entity showed an image of Bud, riddled with bullet holes and bleeding to death. The shooter turned and smiled at me, revealing the face of the spirit.
The next motion-picture was of Karisma, stabbed over and over again by the men who had broken into my house while the evil entity directed them like pawns. The scene that followed was of my grandpa, choking in pain and gasping for breath as the evil shade invaded his body. Before it could continue its movie rampage of horror, I looked away, not wanting to see the terrible death it had planned.
I sensed without a doubt that the entity was showing me its power. If I didn’t do what it wanted, it would destroy everyone I held dear. I felt the shade delight in my torment. With each painful illustration, fear rose into my throat and my heart broke into a thousand pieces. All of this was my fault. My loved ones would die because of me. I sobbed loudly as rising guilt and panic overtook my emotions.
Wicked laughter echoed all around me, bouncing off the trees, the bluffs and the limestone house. My name whispered on the howling wind as the vile ghost attempted to draw me into its suffocating clutches. Without thinking, I looked up and stared into its blackness just in time to see a projection my beloved Vale being ripped to bloody shreds as the shade raked his body apart.
I cared deeply for my friends and adored my grandfather, but my heart belonged to Vale. The spirit had chosen to show me the one image that motivated me to fight back, kicking and screaming, even if it meant my life.
“No!” I shrieked and nearly stepped outside the circle. Had Vale not clamped his teeth onto my leg, I would have breached the protective barrier. We very well could have died, been lost to the creature or under its control. I’d nearly given the creature exactly what it had wanted—me.
The shade’s energy waned for a moment while my anger built, fuelling my power. Though it was only for a moment, I saw a new picture of a man with an eerie likeness to my grandfather. Surrounded by dozens of wild animals, he drove the shade into the beyond with his powerful magic and I felt the entity’s fear. In its rush to show me its strength, it had handed its greatest weakness to me on a silver platter. I suddenly knew how to defeat it!
I’ve heard that Sensitives never forget a ghost they’ve met, and that proved true in the next moment when I recognized its magic from the other day. It had been there when I’d spoken to the little boy’s ghost—it might have very well
been
pretending to be Colby. Horrified, I understood it had been with me at Mrs. Oliver’s house, posing as her ghostly husband. It infuriated me.
The images it had shown to me had been terrible, but the fact that it already had invaded my life and the lives of my friends took my anger to an entirely new level. If a bad guy messed with me that was one thing, but mess with a friend or those I love, and my enemy would have a new kind of fury to deal with. Even more livid that it had invaded Anna’s home, my power grew stronger, making my magic so bright, I had to squint.
I thought of each picture it had dared to show to me—of Bud and Karisma dying, of my grandpa gasping for breath and of Vale being ripped to shreds—and let my love for them shine through my magic. My contempt for the evil being increased exponentially, and I imagined my power building and winding into a tight coil in my belly until I felt as though I would burst.
Concentrating on the malicious spirit, I threw my hands down, sending the bright white-blue of my magic from my head to my toes and out from my body like a mushroom cloud, enveloping every ghostly entity in its wake. I watched with a mixture of anger and awe as my magic ate the ghosts innocently hovering near me, their forms dissipating into thin air the moment the magic wave crossed over their beings.
Dark clouds hung directly above me, and the wind whipped my hair around my face and into my eyes. The evil entity shrieked in pain as my magic ripped it to shreds, and it oozed black oily muck onto the ground. Though I wasn’t certain, I suspected it had left this plane of existence and wouldn’t bothering me or the people I loved anytime soon.
When the wind finally ceased, I collapsed inside of the circle, only catching glimpses of what was happening around me. When I awoke moments later, a huge, rough cougar’s tongue licked my face, trying to wake me up.
The sky was now clear, the birds had resumed their happy chirping, and I was shocked to discover Vale and I were in the middle of a crowd.
Packs of wolves, troops of foxes, bands of coyotes, colonies of rabbits, snakes, mice, swans and thousands of insects had emerged from the surrounding woods. Somehow, a few horses, goats and sheep had managed to make their way to our location. Sitting outside my protective circle, they waited patiently as I met their stares, one group at a time.
It took a moment for me to realize I’d actually summoned them to me like a homing beacon. It became clear as the smaller animals began to leave that the large predators were
not
happy about having been called, making me wonder if my magic had forced them to come to me. Had they been curious when they’d felt my magic or had they been unable to resist? Maybe, the homing beacon reference wasn’t accurate. Maybe, they’d been drawn to me like moths to a flame. They were wild, after all, and I felt their terror at being so close to something they didn’t understand. Hell,
I
didn’t fully understand what was happening!
Each animal scurried or flat-out sprinted away. I got the distinct feeling the large predators and even a few prey animals were more than they appeared, though it wasn’t as if I could question them at the moment. Still feeling a little high, I giggled at the thought of all of the different mammals and insects making their way across the land. What a sight it must have been!
Vale made a sound behind me, and I turned to find him lying on the ground in human form.
“Are you okay?” I asked as I kneeled next to him.
It was obvious he was exhausted, but he nodded. He laid his head in my lap then wrapped himself around me protectively and fell asleep. Wow, did I ever have some explaining to do.
Chapter Thirteen
It was several months before anything else happened, giving Vale and I the chance to rest and recoup as we needed. My cougar took everything in stride, understanding the reasons I’d kept my magic to myself, which nearly made me cry with relief.
We had to be apart during the day so we could keep our jobs—after all, we had bills to pay—but being without him was physically difficult. When we were apart, my heart ached to be with him, and I thought about him all the time. Little things would remind me of him, or I’d see something I wanted to share with him and miss him. It wasn’t an unhealthy obsession—at least, I didn’t feel it was—however, something about our mating had bonded us in a way that made sure he came running home to me, and me to him, every night.
My magic was changing, and it was scary because it was more powerful. I’d always been in control of my abilities, had always been capable of predicting the way they would behave. It used to be easy for me to gently caress a person with my magic, to sense their emotions, and the person would never be the wiser. Now, I had to be careful and concentrate on focusing my magic, or I’d accidentally get into my target’s head and see things that were intimately private. To be honest, this was tempting at times. However, morally speaking, there were some boundaries best left uncrossed.
Last week, when I’d gone grocery shopping, I’d seen a woman openly flirting with a man. Had she not been married to a good friend of Bud’s, the situation wouldn’t have been quite so interesting. Before I realized I’d even done it, I’d been in her head and getting flashes of her and the man to whom she spoke naked in bed. Whether she was imagining what had already occurred or what she hoped would happen, I couldn’t determine. When she’d gasped and mentioned how chilly it had gotten, I knew I’d accidentally shoved my magic onto and into her, no caressing involved. I’d slammed my shields into place, left my cart full of groceries in the middle of the aisle and hightailed it out of there.