Haley didn’t trust speaking for a minute. Then she took a breath. “Is their planet a nice place?”
“It’s beautiful. It’s different.”
From the corner of her eye she saw movement, a shadow. Haley thought it was a hawk. When she turned she noticed an owl perched on a far fence post. “There’s that owl again. Odd for him to be out in the afternoon. Usually you see them at night.”
Brad moved slowly, his leopard skin hooked over his shoulder and arm.
“Brad don’t,” Sakari said.
“I’m not going to shift, and I’m not going to hurt him. I just want to take a closer look.”
The bird dipped his head and spread his broad wings and flapped.
“Brad, you’re scaring him,” Haley complained. “He doesn’t act like any owl I’ve ever seen.”
Brad stopped and the owl gracefully folded his wings back and raised his head in a proud, regal pose. Brad grinned. “You won’t see another owl like him. I think you have a guardian.”
Haley gazed at the bird closely. How could he tell? The sound of a truck came rumbling down the dusty road toward the ranch. Dante pulled into the driveway. He got out holding a manila envelope and a small bag. The owl flew up to the top of the barn as if to take a predator’s perch.
“You might be safe with Dante, but be careful around the other Drones,” Brad warned her in a low voice.
“Shoot. I’ll be fine.”
Sakari touched her arm. “Call us if you need anything.”
“I will.”
Brad took in a deep breath. “Darling, you’re not indestructible.”
She smiled. “I know. I’ll be careful.”
“I feel so much better,” Brad said with a tone of sarcasm.
Dante approached the group. “Everything okay, Haley?”
She nodded.
“I guess this has to do with your session with Ambros?”
“Yes, and we can talk about it later.” Her words were stiff but at the same time her heart was melting.
“Dante you don’t look well,” Sakari said. “You look exhausted.”
“Feeling a little drained is all,” he said.
Sakari nodded as if she understood. “No collections recently?”
“I’ve had other obligations.” Dante leaned against the fence.
“Good,” Sakari said. “But you can’t let yourself drain completely.”
“We’re leaving, but you’re being watched.” Brad took Sakari’s arm. “So, don’t let anything happen to her.” He tilted his head toward Haley.
“What do you mean ‘being watched’?”
“We’ll be checking in too,” Sakari added, ignoring Dante’s question.
“I would never let anything happen to her,” Dante promised. Haley felt comforted that her friends were so concerned but she didn’t need their help. Ambros told her she had the power to protect herself. She believed him.
“What happened with Ambros?” Dante got straight to the point after Brad and Sakari left. He was leaving Earth soon anyway, so why was he so concerned?
“Long story. What’s that?” She pointed to the large envelope he held in his other hand.
He should have put the papers away in a safe place. “I had some business in town.” It was the deed for the ranch. He’d signed everything over to Haley. Once he disappeared, the ranch would be hers. The bracelet he bought from the New Age store was in the bag, but he didn’t think now was a good time to give it to her. She seemed too upset.
“Shhh. Don’t move,” Haley whispered.
“Why?” Dante froze and glanced down. Was a snake inching toward him? A scorpion crawling on his pants? Then he felt a nudge on his shoulder. He turned slowly and D.A. was there. The horse gave him a nudge with his snout. He glanced at Haley. What had gotten into him? She was smiling. “How?”
“I think I figured out the problem with the horses,” she said. “It’s not the horses. It’s you. They detect that strange energy within you. But Sakari said you’re drained. Maybe when your energy is low, you’re more human and the horses sense that.”
“What do you mean that I’m more human?” What had she learned during the hypnosis session? He gently stroked D.A.’s snout. The horse dipped his head, then turned his body to get a full body scratch. Dante complied and didn’t want to move. He couldn’t remember ever being able to do this with these two. “Son of a gun.” Did his voice crack a bit? D.A. was ready for the journey through the portal.
“I know what you are, Dante.” Haley patted D.A. “I’ve put it all together. Between the hypnosis session and what Sakari told me.”
Dante groaned.
“If you became mortal again, I believe you wouldn’t have problems with the horses. D.A. and Siren don’t like Valdon or Natesa either.”
“I’m not becoming mortal,” he said through clenched teeth.
She pulled a carrot out of her pocket and handed to him. D.A. cautiously approached Dante again and munched the treat.
“It’s too hot out here for D.A., I’m taking him inside to cool down.” She walked D.A. into the barn. Betrayed by his own horses. Was he doing the right thing by taking them with him? He was told that Prygos was a beautiful planet of rolling fields and forests. The demoness’s kingdom was also by an ocean. It sounded like an ideal place to raise horses. Then again, many years ago, he was tempted by the promise of a better life out west, during the Gold Rush days of the mid 1800s, and look how that ended.
Several minutes later Haley came out of the barn again and strode to him, her mouth tight. “What’s so horrible about becoming mortal again? Do you want to spend eternity with evil people and give up your ranch?”
He tried to reach for her but she backed away. “As a mortal, I’ve experienced the horror of death. I was shot and watched helplessly as my blood drained into the desert. I don’t want to ever feel that again.”
“We all have to cross that bridge one day, Dante. It’s what makes life so precious. What makes life precious to immortals?”
He didn’t have an answer.
After all these years, he finally had what he wanted—owning a ranch. All along, he knew he’d have to give that dream up the day Anartia left exile. He was fine with that, but he’d expected to have it a little longer.
Glancing at Haley, his insides plummeted. Leaving her was going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done in his entire life. That included his mortal and immortal lives. On top of the barn the owl was perched on the roof, motionless like a taxidermy animal. That damn owl again.
This time he saw it change.
Chapter Eight
Perched on the roof, the bird elongated, blurred, then reformed into an old man. Crouched down, he wore moccasins, suede pants and no shirt. He had long, nearly white hair, tied into a ponytail. Colored paint marked his arms, chest and face, like ceremonial Navajo designs. Then Dante recognized the man.
Bill Sikes, Brad’s grandfather, a Navajo. Was he a shapeshifter like his grandson or had he projected the image through the owl by some sort of ceremony? Dante glanced at Haley. Sikes was in plain view of her but she didn’t seem to notice.
The intensity of the man’s gaze bore through Dante’s core. Brad had said he was being watched. Dante first met Bill over a year ago through Brad’s brother Jake, another shapeshifter in southern Arizona. Back then, Dante’s true immortal nature had been exposed and he had to move on.
Keeping one eye on Bill, Dante walked slowly toward the barn, expecting Sikes to vanish at any moment. Haley followed. He didn’t ask if she could see Sikes in case this was all in his own mind. Why was Bill watching him? Fear? Mistrust? Curiosity? Whatever the reason, Dante didn’t think it was a good thing.
“I knew he’d come around,” she said smiling.
“Who?” Maybe she
had
seen Sikes.
“D.A., of course. Siren might take some time yet.”
Dante held up the turquoise stone he’d placed on the cord next to the nebula stone. “Think the stone helped?”
“More likely your decreased energy. Let’s go inside the house. We’ve got to talk.”
Damnation.
Any time a woman used those words, “we’ve got to talk”, it usually meant bad news. She was leaving the ranch. He knew it. Checking the roof of the barn, Dante saw no sign of Sikes or the owl. Vanished again?
Inside the house, Dante convinced Haley to stop pacing and sit on the sofa. The cabin was cool and smelled of stained wood, fresh paint and old fires from the furniture he refinished, rooms he remodeled and fires he burned in the fireplace. This old cabin was his sanctuary away from Anartia, a place to disconnect from that life. But he knew their conversation would lead straight to his immortal life on Anartia.
“Tell me about your hypnosis.” He had to find out what she knew and why she’d been so upset. The Drones or the demoness wouldn’t allow a mortal to interfere with their plans when this was their last chance to return home to Prygos.
Unlike Haley, she was silent for several moments and dug fingers into the cushions. He chose to sit several inches away from her. Her lips pressed together and the flicker in her eyes turned icy.
She knows. She knows everything.
“It’s more than what I learned from Ambros. This has to do with where I came from. Why I left Texas. This is hard for me to tell you.”
Taking her hand, he encouraged her to continue.
She fell silent. “I didn’t get along with my parents. I left home when I was a teen. I’ve not seen them since. I moved here to Sedona to get away from the memories.”
“That must’ve been hard.” Dante moved closer and pulled her into his arms. She gave in to the closeness and even allowed him to kiss her. A soft, gentle kiss, not enough to draw energy, but enough to get him aroused. She always got him aroused. She was so damn hard to resist. His mouth trailed to her neck. “Maybe someday you’ll see them again—” She shoved him away.
“No. That won’t happen. Tell me
your
deepest darkest secret,” Haley said. Her face was flushed, not from anger, he suspected. She was turned on too.
Dante frowned. “I think you know it already.” How much she knew, he wasn’t sure.
“I learned a lot from the hypnosis. How I was abducted for some kind of experiment at this strange place.” She paused for a moment. “Not Earth. Ambros says an alternative world. And you rescued me. You risked your life to rescue me.”
Dante took a breath.
She does know then
.
This was bad
. “What else?”
She watched him intently, searching his face for his response. “Sakari was once like you, now she’s mortal.” She took a breath. “Dante, I know you’re immortal.”
He knew he couldn’t deny it. Could he protect her? “And this doesn’t worry you?”
“Hell no. Sakari was once immortal. Now, she’s mortal and seems to have adjusted well. So could you.”
“I’m not becoming mortal.” He stood up and strode over to the fireplace.
“Then make me immortal.”
He spun round staring at her, shocked. “No, you don’t know what you’re asking.”
“I remember a lot more from my abduction. I remember that you cared for me. If I were immortal we could be together.”
“Haley, I’m leaving Earth soon, never to return. You don’t want to leave your world.”
“Good, I’ll go with you.” Haley jumped to her feet and approached him. “Nothing is keeping me here. I have other reasons for wanting this besides wanting you.”
“No, I can’t let you.”
Her laugh was bitter. “Can’t let me? It’s my decision.”
He shook his head. Somehow he had to make her understand. “I brought my wife to an unknown land in the mid-1800s and lost her, lost my home, lost everything, almost lost my life. And you ask me to take you to an unknown world. I can’t. You deserve better.”
With a shaking hand, she pushed his hair away from his face. Her palm rested lightly on his cheek and she swallowed before speaking. “This is different.”
“You’re right. It’s much more dangerous.”
“I’m not afraid.”
He grasped her hand and kissed it. “That’s what worries me. Trust me on this. Immortality will change your perspective on everything.”
She pulled away from him and dropped onto the sofa. For a while, she didn’t say anything. “Obviously, you feel strongly about this. When are you leaving?” Her voice was calm—too calm—and she didn’t look up at him.
Maybe she hadn’t given up yet. “A couple weeks, maybe sooner.”
“Mmmm. Then I have a lot of work to do to get the horses ready.”
“You think you can have them ready by then?” he asked softly. “I want to take them with me.”
“I think so.” She looked up at him and he put an arm around her. The tears in her eyes broke his heart. He almost considered making her immortal. Leaving her would be the hardest thing he ever did.
“You like it here, the ranch and the horses?”
She beamed, forcing a smile. “Damn, straight.”
“Good.” Then what he’d done this afternoon was the right decision. He’d signed the deed for the ranch over to her. When he didn’t return, the ranch and house would be hers. He’d have the horses but she could get her own. “Then you won’t mind staying here while I’m gone on business?” He hated lying to her. She had no idea what it was like to be immortal or how terrifying death was. This way was easier for both of them.
“You’re coming back?” Her voice seemed cautious as she stared at the dark fireplace.
“This time, yes. When I leave with the horses, I won’t be back.”
“I understand.”
He hated talking about this. And he hated hearing the hurt in her voice.
She took a breath as if to add something, then stopped. Her blue eyes reflected frustration. “Ever since my experience, my abduction, Ambros said my aura changed.”
Dante frowned. “Changed how?”
“He said the colors are more intense. There are now royal blue and violet shades, meaning I should be more clairvoyant, even have the ability of visions.”
Dante frowned. “Do you have visions?”
“Not yet. But I think I have a strong sense of intuition. And my intuition says you should stay away from Valdon and Natesa.”
“But they’re my colleagues.” He cupped her chin and kissed her slow.
Still in his arms, she gazed up at him hesitantly. “After the hypnosis, I remember everything about Anartia.”
He looked at her, shocked. She even remembered its name. “What do you remember?”
“It’s a world run by master demons and supported by demon servants. I remember a laboratory with an odd machine with large crystals. I had a painful experience dealing with that machine. You gave me one of those pendants and I jumped off a cliff with you. Then we ended up in the desert.”
“That sounds about right,” Dante said. “And you’re okay now.”
“I also saw the flood.”
“What flood?”
“I don’t know. I saw it,” she said.
“There’s a sea on Anartia.”
“That must be it. But it seemed like a flood.”
As she closed her eyes, she took several slow, deep breaths, a white energy field expanded around her to several feet. That energy source not only prevented him from draining her but she could absorb energy from him. Good God, he’d never seen a Sha Warrior do that. Only demons have the ability to absorb energy. “What are you doing?”
She opened her eyes and seemed to relax. “Remembering helped me overcome fears. Fears of that day, fears of my psychic skills. If I could only use those skills to wipe out my past.”
“Haley, I’m sorry. The past is something you can’t change. You can either accept it or let it go.”
“I’m fixing to,” she said.
“The psychic benefits were worth it too. Ambros said I don’t even know all the skills I have yet.”
Dante looked at her in disbelief. The room was charged with static. “Haley, you have to be careful about this knowledge. If Valdon or Natesa find out that you know about them, they could destroy you.”
“Why?” She smiled as if she was smiling at a child.
“Because we’re close to escaping our exile. Any mortal who might threaten that last chance will be history.”
“They can try to harm me, but they won’t be successful,” she said, with a cocky tone. “Your race draws energy from humans. Try drawing energy from me.”
“That’s not a good idea. Besides, I think the horses sense my heightened energy levels and that’s what frightens them. If I can keep my levels low, I’ll be able to control them.”
“I realized that this afternoon too.” Haley swung around to straddle his lap facing him and rubbed against his cock. “Try, Dante. That’s what you do.”
“Haley, don’t.” As he said it, he drifted into a spiral of lust as his cock hardened. His demon-heightened sex drive wasn’t making this easier. Now, she was using her influence on him, not unlike a Drone would on a Kithra. With slow precision, her hands moved over his shoulders, his chest, and then she lifted his shirt and smoothed over bare skin. Rocking her hips, her mound made contact with his shaft, using enough pressure to make him grow even harder.
Against his better judgment, he grasped her breasts and felt her nipples harden through the thin, cotton shirt. Oh hell, she wasn’t wearing a bra. His groin tightened. The shirt came off in one swift movement. “Take these off.” Haley giggled as her fingers tugged at the button and zipper of his jeans.
At first he was tempted to help her, then he stayed her hands with his. “It’s dangerous for you when I’m this aroused.”
She dug into her jeans back pocket and pulled out a condom and smacked it on the side table. “No, it’s not. I came prepared.”
“That’s not what I mean and you know it.” Focusing on the blood surging through his body, he attempted to ease the throbbing in his cock. He was dangerously aroused, and stopping himself from climaxing would be very difficult.
“I do know it. It’s why you’ve avoided me. You’ve been afraid to hurt me.”
“Yes.”
Her mouth brushed over his in a sensuous kiss then trailed over to his ear and down his neck. The tip of her tongue sent a hot, wet trail along the base of his throat and back up to his ear. “You can’t hurt me,” she whispered. Her hand slipped inside his open pants. “Try it now, see if you can drain anything from me. Do it!”
When she closed her eyes, a glittering golden light radiated from her body and touched the ceiling. He’d never seen a mortal do that before, or a Drone. He tried to draw off some of that energy but got nothing, then tried again. “How the hell are you doing that?”
Climbing off his lap, she kicked her shoes off and yanked off her jeans and panties. Standing naked in front of him, she touched herself, teasing him. First her breasts, cupping them and pinching the nipples, stretching them out. Then her hand slipped between her legs. He groaned. His cock pulsed and his balls tightened. Bringing her here was a bad idea. He knew that. But what choice did he have?
Raising a bare foot, she pointed a toe at his boots. “Take them off. Take it all off.”
Dante got up and stared down at her, fighting to maintain control, struggling with his desire for her and instinct to collect chi. Eyes widening, she froze, mouth open slightly anticipating his move. She was right, he did want her and had been avoiding her because he was afraid to harm her. The number-one rule all Drones were taught—never get personal with your quarry. It had always been personal when it came to Haley.
Now the desire was ten times more powerful. It wasn’t enough to protect her from his own drives as a Drone. He pressed his lips together, regretting what he was going to say. Touching her cheek with his fingertips, he sighed. A shadow of doubt and cold regret drifted over her face. “I’m sorry, we can’t. The risk is too great.” He started to turn away. He needed distance. Outside, he could breathe and the early evening air might clear his head.