Gregor fell back for a second, slashed across the belly. But the blood smearing the floor wasn’t all his. The intruder was wounded too, and was squalling furiously as he and Ian rolled across the floor. Gregor flung himself forward just as Ian’s jaws closed on the back of the lion’s neck, pinning him to the ground. The lion twisted desperately to tear free. But as his head came up, Gregor ripped out his throat.
Blood sprayed, then the lion collapsed. The air quivered and twisted oddly about him, then his corpse became entirely visible, sprawled limply on the ground, the tawny gold of its fur marked here and there with powdered clay.
Sierra turned away quickly. That dead lion had been a person, not just an animal. He’d had hopes and dreams and feelings just like everyone else. When she had killed that lioness, her overriding imperative had been to keep Ian alive. She had acted on instinct. But now she knew Shifters, saw them as people, and enemy though he might be, the lion’s death struck her with as much force and dismay as if a human had died.
“Are you all right?” Ian demanded, back in human form, his hands gripping her upper arms. “Did he hurt you?”
“No.” She clung to him, her face buried against his chest, and he held her tightly. “You came in time. How did you know?”
“Kurt Lowe’s place was attacked too. Kihain’s gone and the guards who were watching him have been killed. The boy himself couldn’t have done that. He was too weak to stand. Arrhan’s people must have come and taken him. When I saw the dead guards, I realized they might make a try for you too. I tried to call, but there was no answer, so I came as fast as I could.”
“Annie went to town. I think I did hear the phone ringing while I was washing my hands, but I wasn’t sure over the sound of the water running.” She winced at the sight of the limp body on the ground and the blood on the floor. “Did you have to kill him?”
“He was
dasari
,” Gregor said harshly. He too had shifted back to human and was now dragging on the jeans he had discarded outside the door of the studio. There was blood on his mouth. Sierra shuddered. “Humans are no match for Shifters. An action like that is shameful. One doesn’t attack weaker beings. By trying to harm a human, he put himself outside the laws of any pride, just as Arrhan has done by ordering the attack.”
“We don’t play by your rules, Sierra,” Ian said quietly.
“Getting that,” she muttered.
Abel skidded to a halt in the doorway to the terrace, breathless and gasping. His glance took in the situation swiftly.
“You sure left me in the dust, Ian,” he said mildly. “Don’t let me catch you driving like that again. Though I am glad that you got to Sierra in time. Get dressed. There’s a couple of your hands coming this way and we don’t want them asking why the boss is nekkid.”
Ian grinned involuntarily and caught the clothes Abel threw him. “Guess they might think that kinda weird.”
“That lion,” said Sierra as Ian yanked on his jeans and tee rapidly. “Why couldn’t we see him? He was invisible! Is that normal for Shifters?”
“No,” said Abel. “It has to be a spell. That means they have a mage.”
“A spell?” said Sierra blankly. “You’re talking about…magic?”
Abel shrugged. “That’s one word for it. My grandma told me stories of what the mages in the other world could do. It’s all hearsay, of course. No one here’s ever seen it because no mage has ever come through the Gate. But that’s the only thing that can explain invisibility.”
Well, if Shifters exist, then why not magic?
she thought a little dazedly.
“And the lack of scent,” Ian mused, buckling his belt. “And even the opening of the Gate in the first place.”
Gregor looked up sharply. “Didn’t you and Nick say that boy’s buddies were talking about revenge, Ian? Except we couldn’t figure how they’d be able to go back and get that. A mage would make it possible.”
“That’s it,” said Abel. “Seize prides here, turn them into an army and take them back through the Gate to attack the people Arrhan’s got a grudge against.”
There was a silence as they all thought that over. It would explain why Arrhan was so intent on expanding his pride.
“Makes sense,” nodded Gregor.
“But what can anyone do against an enemy that can’t be seen or smelled?” Sierra whispered.
“The lack of scent is not that unusual,” said Abel. “Scent can be covered up or washed off. Even humans have created odor neutralizers to hide theirs. But invisibility is different. It requires the bending of light around a moving object. That’s a very complex spell and the way the legends tell it, a complex spell like that needs power. A lot of it. I doubt if even the most powerful mage could make more than a couple of individuals invisible at the same time, and then not for very long. Otherwise, why haven’t we been overrun by invisible enemies already?”
“Yeah, this mage must have pulled the invisibility thing out of his box of tricks only recently,” Gregor agreed. “Remember that first attack when Arrhan killed one of the cheetah twins? We all saw him then. Did you see him when he attacked you, Ian?”
Ian shook his head. “I was blinded by this green light and he came at me from the side. I was knocked into the river before I could see what jumped me.”
“That light, too, must have been one of the mage’s tricks, a distraction to hide the real attack,” said Gregor. “Which means he wasn’t invisible then. And he wasn’t when Sierra shot that lioness.”
Abel nodded. “Sounds like that spell really is something new.”
“Could be that’s why it wasn’t completely perfect,” Ian said. “You saw something, didn’t you, Sierra? What was it?”
“A distortion in the air. A kind of sparkly blind spot. So small I almost didn’t notice it.”
“Could you smell him?”
“No. Not even when he grabbed me. But then I can’t smell things as well as you all can.” She turned quickly. “I heard him, though, when he snarled and swore!”
“That’s something.” Ian looked at the others. “We’ll have to keep an ear out for sounds that are unusual or out of place.”
Maybe there
had
been eyes out there in the darkness last night watching her, Sierra thought suddenly. She should have mentioned it to Ian even though she had believed it was just her imagination, or perhaps Gregor making his rounds in cat shape. At the time she hadn’t consciously thought of it being Gregor, but now she realized that perhaps that comforting idea had been there somewhere in the back of her mind, allowing her to ignore the possibility that it might be an enemy planning an attack instead.
She told them now about those eyes and that half-glimpsed shape. The grimness in the faces of all three men deepened.
“I thought I’d imagined it,” she said ruefully.
“Looks like you didn’t,” muttered Gregor.
Ian’s face was set. “We were careless.”
“There’s a car coming,” Abel said suddenly. Ian and Gregor turned their heads to listen.
“It’s Annie’s Jeep.” Ian came and took Sierra’s face tenderly in his hands. “How are you feeling? The whole thing must have been a hell of a shock to you.”
“I am a bit shaken, but I’m fine.” Yes, it had been scary in the beginning, but then Ian had come and somehow she had felt that everything would be all right after that. And it had. “I think I must be getting acclimatized to weird occurrences.”
He laughed a little, but ruefully. “It’s my fault you’re mixed up in all this.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s Arrhan’s fault.” She stood on tiptoe to kiss him lightly. “And even if it was your fault, I…wouldn’t change a single minute of it.”
He drew in a sharp breath, then glanced at Abel and Gregor hauling the dead lion’s body toward the terrace door.
“Do you think you’re recovered enough to go make sure Annie doesn’t come in here until we’ve cleaned up the mess?”
“Sure I am! Think I’m a wimp? I’m tough.”
“Of course you are.” His eyes crinkled up and long creases slashed down his cheeks in silent laughter. “Just as tough as those mountains you’re named for. My Sierra. I’ve always thought that name suited you.”
He had always teased her about her name, but she had never seen the warmth that lay behind the teasing.
I’ve been so wrong about him
, she thought as she went out to make sure Annie stayed away from the sunroom. She had let her fears build up such a huge wall of prejudice. But now it was crumbling.
A crazy bubble of laughter welled up in her. Here she was with her whole life turned upside down, threatened by determined and vengeful enemies, surrounded by beings from whom most sensible people would flee—and she didn’t care. Amazing, the things one could adapt to! She was scared, of course. Who wouldn’t be? But she wasn’t terrified into incapacity. She knew that Ian and the other Shifters would do their best to keep her safe. She could rely on them, trust Ian with her life if not her heart. Arrhan would kill her only over Ian’s dead body.
Her lips tightened. Well, he would kill Ian only over hers.
“Abel,” she said, pulling him aside later. “I want a gun.”
He gave her a narrow look. “Do you know how to use one?”
“Target pistols and rifles. Taylor taught me, even took me hunting. I’m great on the rifle range, but not at hunting.” She grinned at him wryly. “I don’t like shooting Bambi or Thumper.”
“Well, you got that lioness right between the eyes, Ian says. And I guess you do need some protection in case Arrhan’s people get by us. I’ve got a Glock 26 at home that might suit you. Small, lightweight, but packs a punch without too much recoil. I’ll bring it around for you, fix you up a permit. Get Ian to give you some practice with it. Even Taylor might help you out on that, now that he knows you’ve been attacked right here on the spread. But Sierra?”
“Yes?”
He gave her a level stare. “If you’re going to use it, be absolutely sure ahead of time that you mean to kill. Waving it at a Shifter and yelling something stupid like ‘Put your hands up’ is plain suicide. Even one second of hesitation and he’ll not only have the Glock off you, but he’ll rip your arm right out of its socket. We move very fast.”
Sierra swallowed hard, then nodded. “I’ll remember that.”
I’m perfectly ready to kill
, she thought that night, watching Ian sleep.
If anybody tries to hurt Ian, I’ll kill.
It occurred to her suddenly that she wouldn’t have been so ready to kill for Peter. The thought was disturbing. She didn’t want to face what it meant, all the implications.
She looked down at Ian. She could see him clearly in the light of the one bedside lamp that was on. She had always made love to Peter with the lights out, the rawness of the act concealed by the darkness and by sleepwear and duvets. Ian, though, could see her clearly with his cat’s night vision, even with the lights off. That didn’t seem fair to her. She wanted to see the expressions on his face during lovemaking, so she insisted on at least one low light being turned on. Ian liked that, but for a different reason.
“Nothing between us,” he said. “Not even darkness.”
She was used now to sleeping and waking with a light still on. And to both of them being naked in bed. She had expected to feel cold that way, but the heat of his body wrapped around hers kept her warm. Shifter metabolism was higher than human, which was why a thin sheet was the most he could endure and even that ended up at the foot of the bed half the time.
She brooded over him as he slept, flat on his back, his face turned toward her on the pillow. He was beautiful in sleep, the tension that was there in him when he was awake finally gone, lids closed over that strange intensity always in his eyes, body relaxed and given up to her. It was so touching, the vulnerability and trust of sleep, that surrender.
Head propped up on one bent arm, she traced his features with delicate fingers, careful not to wake him—the flat plane of his temple, high curve of cheekbone, hard jaw, firm mouth with its pointed corners and its deep indent above the upper lip, strong throat with the vulnerable hollow at its base where the pulse beat steadily.
His lashes fluttered, then his eyes opened. He frowned drowsily up at her.
“Something wrong?”
“No.” She bent and kissed him lightly. “Go back to sleep. I didn’t mean to wake you.”
“Lovely way to wake up.” Still half-asleep, he purred, an honest-to-God purr, a deep vibration that ran through her body as she lay half over him.
“Did you just purr?”
He snapped wide awake, color touching his cheekbones. “No, I didn’t!”
“You so did.” She laughed at him. “Why are you embarrassed? It means you’re happy, doesn’t it? I like making you happy.”
“Oh, Sierra…” He let out a little shuddering breath and slid his fingers through her hair, pressing it to his lips then letting it fall across his throat. “I love your hair.”
She tilted her head and shook it so that the heavy silken waves trailed back and forth over his chest and stomach, felt him shiver.
“I see that. Hey,” she said on a sudden impulse. “Can I play?”
One eyebrow shot up. “With what?”
“With you. You’ve been all over me. Now it’s my turn. I’d like to explore. You’ve always made love to me. I’d like to make love to you.”