Authors: Unknown
She looked down, unable to meet his gaze. She ached to speak honestly, but she had learned that was impossible.
When she remained silent, he climbed out of bed, naked. As he stood looking down at her, she was suddenly very conscious that she was naked, too.
She wanted to ask him to come back. Instead, she sat up, found the covers, and pulled them over herself. At least she wasn’t so exposed when she looked at him again. Making love had been magic. Then she had ruined everything. He had expected honesty from her, and she had denied it to him.
He was speaking again, and she struggled to take in what he was saying. “At dinner I was going to talk to you about something.”
Before she could comment, he went on. “I have a trip coming up. Day after tomorrow. I mean, I’ll be away from home with a group of men on a canoe trip. I’ll be meeting them at a parking area along the Clarion River, and I won’t be back for four days.”
“You want me to leave?” she whispered, unable to keep her voice from quavering, or her body from trembling.
“You can stay here while I’m gone, if you want.” He shifted his weight from one foot to the other. “But there’s a complication. That gunshot last week. The guy who did it could be watching the house, and he might get bolder if I’m gone.” He shrugged. “So you could be in danger.”
“Maybe your being away won’t make me less safe.”
“Maybe.”
Before she could answer, he turned and walked out of the room. Tears stung her eyes, and holding them back was too much effort. The beauty of making love with Talon was shredded around her. Because of the compulsion Vandar had placed on her.
As she lay in bed confronting her misery, she told herself this was for the best. She wanted to stay with Talon forever. But that was impossible. Instead, she would complete her assignment and go back where she belonged.
FOR the next day, as he prepared for his trip, Talon stayed out of Kenna’s way. Was he hoping that she’d tell him the truth about herself? Or hoping that when he came home she’d be gone?
And was that what he really wanted? Did he
want
her to disappear from his life?
“Up to her,” he muttered.
Making love with her had been . . . He couldn’t finish the sentence because there were really no words to describe how good it had been.
But what did that matter? If she couldn’t trust him enough to be honest, there was no future for the two of them. Or was he kidding himself about that? Was he stuck with her no matter what? Did the life mate of a werewolf feel the same compulsion he felt? Would it be impossible for her to leave?
He should be worried about the shooter. In his present mood, this was the least of his concerns. Perhaps that meant he wasn’t acting rationally.
He took a breath and tried to think through his options. Was there someone who could stay with Kenna? Keep her safe while he was gone?
Could he send her to Ross?
Yes. That might be the solution.
Shit!
He’d have to explain why she was so important to him. But he’d do it, because he wasn’t going to leave her here alone.
Unable to deal with his roiling emotions, he doggedly checked his supplies and equipment for the trip and made sure everything was ready.
Often he met his party at the lodge, but this time they were meeting at a parking lot in Ridgeway, one of the places where you could put boats into the Clarion River. He wasn’t sure why he’d made those arrangements. To keep Kenna’s presence at the lodge secret—for her sake? Or because he didn’t want to explain what she was to him?
One thing he knew: after the confrontation in the bedroom, she’d been avoiding him, just as he was avoiding her.
But he kept turning over that last conversation with her. She’d said “gods,” not “God.” Had he heard her right? And what did she mean about “her world”?
Could Ross answer those questions?
Maybe, but how the hell was he going to talk to another werewolf about it?
While he dealt with his own anxieties, he couldn’t stop listening for her, even as he lay awake at night. Which was why he heard her tiptoe down the hall at two in the morning, then slip out of the house.
Now what? Was she running away?
His throat closed as he climbed out of bed and opened the sliding glass door that served as his bedroom window. After pulling off his shorts, he rushed through the chant that changed him from man to wolf. As soon as he came down on all fours, he was out of the house, sniffing the air. It took only moments to locate Kenna. Silently, he followed her into the forest, where she walked rapidly, using a flashlight. Over her shoulder she carried a backpack.
She seemed to know where she was going. To meet the guy who’d buried the money? Had that been her intention all along? And now she was proving her duplicity?
He kept expecting her to rendezvous with the man. Instead, she walked toward a house that was used as a vacation residence by a couple from Philadelphia, Mr. and Mrs. Winslow.
Staying well back, he watched her climb the two steps to the porch and pause at the front door.
He had thought the Winslows would have locked up the cabin, but after a few seconds, Kenna opened the door and stepped inside.
The wolf moved closer, slipping from tree to tree in the darkness. He thought about climbing the front steps. But he decided it was better to wait until she came out and see what developed.
KENNA knew she had to go home. But she had one more thing to do before she left. Teeth clenched, she closed the door. She’d used her telekinetic powers to open the lock, but she hated being in here, and she was going to get out as soon as possible. Still, she had to bring some artifacts from this world back with her, and she would rather steal them from the people who owned this house than from Talon.
Walking quickly through the rooms, she took in the details. The house was much smaller than Talon’s, yet it was still luxurious by the standards of her world. She recognized the appliances in the kitchen: the stove, the refrigerator, and the dishwasher. The living room had comfortable furniture, in a much different style than Talon favored. The fabrics had flowers, and there were lots of pillows and knit blankets. In front of the fireplace was a fancy brass screen.
The two bedrooms were furnished in the style of the living room. One looked like adults slept there. The other had a couple of dolls leaning against the pillows, and toy animals on the dresser. Opening the closet, she found small dresses on hangers. She might have taken one, but they were too pretty to steal, so she stepped back into the hall.
She had thought the bathrooms in Talon’s house were luxurious. They were nothing compared to the bathroom connected to the bedroom where the adults slept.
It was huge—larger than her bedroom back in Breezewood. The tub was enormous, big enough for two people, and there were two sinks, set in a stone top with a cabinet that looked like expensive furniture.
Trying to select things that weren’t too valuable, she riffled through the drawers and took a package of soap. In the kitchen, she took a knife, fork, and spoon from another drawer. Then she plucked a book from the shelves beside the fireplace and picked up an old guide to the television programs.
Was that enough? Quickly, she returned to the kitchen and took a can of soup and an old can opener. In the closet by the front door, she took one of the folded-up umbrellas. And from a jar on a shelf, she scooped up some of the coins that they used in this world.
After putting everything into the knapsack she’d brought along, she hurried out the front door, locking it behind her.
TALON waited in the darkness. Kenna was in the house less than fifteen minutes. When she came out again, she hefted the knapsack onto her shoulder, and it looked like it was a lot heavier than when she’d gone in. She turned back to the door for a moment, then started rapidly into the forest.
Again he waited to find out what the hell Kenna was doing. She headed back toward the lodge but stopped several yards from the structure, near the garage where he’d piled up wood chips to use as mulch. As he watched from behind the trunk of a tree, she looked around, then scooped out a hole in the center of the mulch, set the knapsack inside, and covered it back up again.
Once more she checked to see if she was being observed, then headed rapidly back to the house.
Talon waited in the woods until she had gone back inside the lodge. When the coast was clear, he trotted to the circle of trees where he liked to change. Dressed in sweatpants and a shirt from the box, he went directly to the pile of wood chips, where he scooped away the top layer, uncovered the knapsack, and pulled it out. After brushing the chips back into place, he carried the knapsack back to his room and dumped the contents on the desk.
Kenna had taken a number of items from the Winslow house. A stainless steel knife, fork, and spoon. A paperback mystery novel. An old TV guide. Canned soup. A can opener. A compact umbrella. A few random coins. A bar of soap. Nothing of any real value.
He shook his head as he looked at the collection. What the hell did she want with this stuff?
Was she planning to take it away when she left? Or—
As another possibility struck him, he shuddered. He’d thought she might be a con artist. What if this was part of a plan to help the bank robber? The guy could alert the cops to this cache and claim that Talon had taken it.
Did that make sense? He wasn’t sure, not in his present state of mind. But he did know that he wasn’t putting the knapsack back.
He’d like to find out what happened when Kenna discovered it was missing. But probably she was going to make her move while he was gone, and he couldn’t change his plans to be there.
He wanted to stride down the hall and confront her, but he was sure nothing had changed. He’d only get the same old bullshit she’d been giving him all along.
He was angry with her. Angry with himself for making love with her. In a way, he was glad he was leaving in the morning, because that got him away from her for a while.
And what about his plan to call Ross? He’d be saddling his cousin with a thief, and he sure as hell wasn’t going to do that. Besides, if Kenna was friends with the bank robber, she didn’t need protection.
Again, he wasn’t sure about his logic. All he wanted to do was get away from Kenna so he could think clearly. If that was possible.
He left for his trip in the morning, without saying good-bye to her. If she was here when he got back, maybe they could finally get some things straight.
WHEN Kenna heard Talon leave, she felt a mixture of sadness and relief. He was gone. Probably, she would never see him again, because she was going where he couldn’t follow her.
For the last time, she took one of the wonderful hot showers that she loved so much. Then she made herself scrambled eggs with ketchup, which had become her favorite breakfast, and cleaned up carefully after herself.
After dressing in the clothing she’d worn here, she went out to the pile of wood chips to retrieve the knapsack. When she began to dig, she found the carry bag was gone.
Frantically, she dug in other parts of the loose pile of chips, but as far as she could tell, the spoils of her robbery had vanished.
Great Mother. What had happened?
She couldn’t imagine how the items had disappeared, but she knew she had to make other plans. She couldn’t go back to the house of the people where she’d stolen the objects. Not in broad daylight. Not when someone could see her.
Talon was gone. She could wait until dark, but now that she had made up her mind to leave, she felt an overwhelming need to return through the portal.
Was that her own will? Or was Vandar calling her?
She had no way of knowing.
With a tight feeling in her chest, she went back into Talon’s lodge. She had tried to avoid stealing from him. Now she gathered up some of the same things she’d taken from the other house.
Nothing valuable,
she reminded herself. Ordinary items that would interest Vandar.
Simply saying his name made a wave of sickness rise in her throat. If she could have run from him, she would have. But the compulsions in her head limited her choices. She had to go back and face whatever happened.
After taking a few things from the lodge and putting them into another carry bag, she walked rapidly into the woods again, going back to the place she had avoided since her arrival: the portal. Perhaps she was heading for her own destruction, but she hardly cared.
With a feeling of resignation, she pressed her hand against the trigger point that mirrored the one on the other side.
When she touched the cold rock, she felt a vibration under her palm. As the solid surface thinned in front of her, she felt her heart leap into her throat. Even though she’d been through it and was prepared, she wanted to turn and run. Instead, she stepped back into her universe.
SHE was gone. One moment Ramsay Gallagher had sensed the woman—somewhere far away. In the eastern part of the United States, he thought. He’d decided to travel east and try to find her. Now that was impossible.
Thinking he might be wrong, he put on a burst of energy, trying to reestablish the connection. But he knew it was no good. She simply wasn’t there anymore.