The Beholder (16 page)

“Fine.” His voice’s sharp edge sent chills through her. “Now we leave.”

She turned, but he grabbed her shoulder, his fingers digging into her skin. He bent until his lips almost touched her neck. Then he said, “By the way, lions don’t have spots, and we have much bigger fangs.” He gave her a Cheshire smile, showing all his white gleaming teeth, the points of his fangs evident.

His hot breath sent goose bumps down her neck. For a minute she felt her heart stop as she wondered what he would do next. Part of her, the part that melted around him, hoped he’d kiss her.

Suddenly, he released her.

That was for the best, she told herself. At least she could think. And she didn’t think much of his harassing tactics. Well, she wasn’t about to let him know that he affected her at all. If he could be cold and heartless, so could she. Her stomach ached with hunger, and she found the courage to ask, “Have you packed food?”

“Yes, but those are our provisions.” He rummaged through the cabinet and handed her a box of toaster pastries. “That should hold you. Now, let’s go. You might need this.” He picked up the quilt that had dropped on
the floor and draped it over her shoulders. He pulled a pair of Daphne’s pink ski gloves from one backpack.

“Here, put them on.”

Nina did his bidding, knowing she could wear twenty pairs of gloves and still be cold out there in the snow. In fact, she didn’t think she’d ever warm up around him—unless they had sex again. That would be Hawaiian paradise in the middle of a Blue Ridge Mountains winter. She had to admit the heat in his body made her the warmest she’d ever felt in her life. And when she thought of their coupling in the woods, it still made her insides do strange things. But he’d pulled away from her emotionally, and she didn’t know how to reach him, or even if she wanted to be hurt like that again.

She had no idea how this would play out when she met his brother again. It irked her that her powers wouldn’t work on Kane and that she might have lost them for good. They might not work on the gleaner, either. When she was alone she’d call Koda and find out if he knew what was wrong.

Kane zipped up the backpacks and hefted them both over his good shoulder. They must have weighed fifty pounds apiece. They bulged with sleeping bags, a tent and cooking gear. He handled them like they weighed hardly more than a pencil.

“If you’re so certain he won’t hurt you, why didn’t he just come in and speak to you?” she asked.

“I don’t know. That’s why I have to talk to him.”

“Do you have any idea what brought him home?”

“Must be a good reason. I just have to find out what it is. Now, get moving.”

He gave her a little nudge out the door. Cold air hit her, and she cringed. The moon beamed silver dust over the snow, glistening bluish gray. But the moonlight couldn’t penetrate the darkness that engulfed the forest. At the edge of the cabin’s backyard, the dried and dead limbs clawed out from the forest and grasped at anything that moved. The lethal appearance of the forest made her shiver. She wrapped the quilt tighter around her shoulders and trudged forward, her hiking boots slipping on her heels and Kane breathing down her neck.

“What’s the matter?”

When Kane touched Nina’s shoulder, she stumbled in the snow. He caught her elbow before she fell. She’d been absorbed in reading a distant emotion and hadn’t been paying attention. He had her full awareness now.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

“I’m okay,” she said, a little disoriented, because Kane’s impressions and the other signal were coming at her in stereo. She blocked his out and zeroed in on the other perception. The cold dulled her reception somewhat, but the agony she sensed was excruciating. “Oh my gosh!” She gripped her waist with both arms as a shiver tore through her.

“What is it?”

“Something I’ve picked up.” She shrank from his touch.

He regarded her with chagrined bewilderment, as if she had surprised him by her reaction.

She added, “Sorry, but you’re breaking the connection.”

“To what?”

“I don’t know. A creature’s in trouble. I hope your gleaner hasn’t struck again.” She shot Kane a reproachful look. She didn’t like thinking of Ethan as a person, or calling him by name, so “gleaner” would have to do.

“Didn’t you say you’d lost his trail on the deer path?”

“Yes.” She’d been following his emotional trail for close to an hour. About a mile back she had lost any sense of him, and she was certain he’d shut down his thoughts on purpose. She believed he was leading them on a wild-goose chase and enjoying every minute of it, then this new feeling had struck her.

“It isn’t Ethan. He wouldn’t have attacked so close to us.”

“You have a lot more confidence in him than I do. I think he’s capable of anything, including setting a trap for us.” Nina eyed the forest around them. She couldn’t shake the feeling of being watched, or an impending feeling that something bad was about to happen.

“He could have killed you, but he didn’t. You’re safe as long as you are with me,” Kane said, impatience sharpening his words.

She doubted that. The only way they were both safe was if her powers were working. She hadn’t been able to contact Koda, so she had no idea if she was defenseless.

His voice broke into her thoughts. “Are the sensations strong enough to track?”

“Yes.” Nina held her aching temples and stood very still. Like the dowser she was, her internal compass
instantly found the point where the emotion was strongest. At least that part of her powers was still working. She pointed north. “It’s coming from there. But it’s off the trail we were following.”

“Head that way.”

She started toward the emotion’s origin, but Kane’s large hand gripped her shoulder. “Let me go first.”

“Okay, I’ll point the way.” At his touch, she perceived his bravery and concern and need to dominate the situation.

He stepped in front of her, and she was glad to let him blaze the trail. He carried the backpacks on his left shoulder, so she fell in on his right side. Evidently, she wasn’t close enough to suit him, so his gloved fingers slipped into hers.

Nina stared down at their joined hands. His fingers were so long they wrapped totally around her hand. They felt strong and warm, fitting so naturally around hers. She could easily get used to this attention. She should break the contact, but she couldn’t, and she found herself squeezing his fingers tighter, which earned her a curious look from his piercing eyes. And she felt his emotional meter heat up again. His gaze softened for a brief second; then he was back on alert, scanning the woods for signs of his brother.

The trail drew her attention and she double-timed it to keep up with him as he shoved aside thick brambles, sidestepped oak trees and hollies. Snow capped the dense trees and brambles and hardwood seedlings. In places it was a maze of solid white.

A strange emptiness pervaded the forest. As thick as
the trees were here, there should have been animals and birds, but she hadn’t seen one creature, heard anything other than the crunching tread of their footsteps in the snow. She felt like an explorer in one of those sci-fi B movies, moving through the tundra wasteland of a deserted planet. Any moment now an alien might pop out. Maybe it already had, and it was leading them into a trap.

“Veer left,” Nina said while she shoved on his burly arm. She felt the shivers getting stronger, and she whispered, “Try to be quiet. We’re close.”

“You’re the one making the noise.” He frowned at her feet as if he were insulted.

He was right, Nina realized. His steps were hardly audible, the stealth of a hunter in his every movement. She sounded like a herd of stampeding cows. Well, he was forcing her to jog to keep up with him.

“Show off,” she whispered back.

An amused and overconfident grin toyed with his lips. He resembled an evil forest god who had a reputation for taking advantage of innocent young damsels. And his libido waltzed into her thoughts, loud, clear and strong.

It was making her hyperventilate, and she pulled her hand free of his and pointed him ahead. “Go on. I’ll bring up the rear.”

“Don’t get any ideas of taking off,” he warned, his breath hot on her ear.

A tingle soared down her neck as she said, “Stop threatening me, and be careful.”

His smile almost stretched the length of his mouth,
but it vanished before it had a chance. He crept ahead, a blurry moving shadow among the trees. She followed much more slowly, groping and picking her way through the dark ice.

When he’d gone a hundred feet, he dropped the backpacks. They made no sound as he stood behind a tree. He’d spotted something. He waved her forward.

As quietly as she could, she crept up and joined him. They stood on the fringes of an outcropping of rocks that jutted out from the mountain, a sheer drop below.

On one of the rocks, a female coyote stood with two pups. Near them, a steel trap held the paw of her mate, a large male. The female and pups whimpered, while the male licked and chewed at his ensnared front paw. He’d been at this a long time, and his flesh was bitten, torn and bloody. The male’s anguish was what she was feeling, along with the fear and helplessness of the female and her pups. She was glad the gleaner hadn’t killed again and that she could actually do something to help.

“Please stay here,” she whispered. “You’ll scare them.”

He nodded, but he didn’t look happy about it. “I’ll find who set that trap on my land, and they’ll be sorry they’re alive.”

By the menacing promise in his voice, Nina had no doubt he’d carry through with the threat.

“Here.” Kane thrust a flashlight in her hand.

“Thanks,” she whispered and edged forward slowly, not wanting to frighten them. The female leaped protectively in front of her pups.

It’s all right. I’m here to help,
she communicated telepathically to them. They could all hear and understand her, and it assuaged their fear. She could feel they were beginning to trust her.

Can you?
the female asked, doubt in her eyes.
My mate’s hurt. In pain. Nothing I can do.

Let’s see
. Nina stepped onto the rocks and carefully approached the male.
Don’t be afraid. I’m here to free you.

She shined the light on him and saw he was trembling, his lips snarled over his gums from pain, fangs showing. Nina decided to try and see if her powers worked on the coyote, so she set down the flashlight and gently touched his head with both her hands.

Instantly, he reacted to her touch, relaxing, her magical connection to him breaking down his fear barriers.
You will not feel this. Sleep
.

The coyote’s eyes closed, and his head flopped down on the rocks. Instantly, the pain Nina was sensing silenced and she felt a blessed wash of quiet in its place. Then it occurred to her: she still had her powers. They just didn’t work on Kane. Why not? Would they work on the gleaner? That was the big question.

Nina fumbled with a lever, and the steel jaws popped open. This wasn’t the first trap she’d come across, and it wouldn’t be the last. The hinges rasped like rusty spikes being pulled from wood. She gently extracted the mangled paw from the steel teeth. Luckily it was a small trap and had only caught the paw below the joint. The wound looked better than at first sight. The male
hadn’t chewed much of the flesh off. Most of the tendons and muscle were still intact.

In a fit of rage, she wrenched the trap free from the pin holding it into the stone. Then she flung it off the rocks. It sailed out into the night and down the mountain. It took a while before she heard it hit the ground below.

“I need something to wrap his paw,” Nina called out to Kane.

He came forward, and the female coyote must have sensed he was a seniph because she backed up several steps, fangs showing, and forced the pups behind her.

It’s okay. He won’t hurt you
.

She didn’t look convinced and growled.

Kane kept his distance so he wouldn’t frighten her even more. He set one of the backpacks down and pulled out a roll of gauze and antibiotic cream.

“What else you got in there?” Nina asked.

“Whatever you need,” he said, shooting her a sidelong glance. His wicked forest-god leer appeared as he produced a pair of scissors.

Careful not to look into his eyes, she crawled over and grabbed the supplies. She turned her attention back on the male. She slathered antibiotic cream over the wounded paw, then wrapped it.

She turned to the female.
He’ll wake up soon. You should not stay here. The poacher who set this trap will come back.

We’ll leave.

Is there a place to warm up around here?

A cave with a hot spring about three yards toward the rising sun.

Thank you
.

Nina and Kane left them, listening to the pups nipping and playing with each other as the female licked the male’s face.

When they had gathered up their supplies, Kane said, “That was pretty amazing, watching you do that. You showed no fear, though the male looked ready to tear you to pieces.”

“Kinda like how you look sometimes,” she teased.

“You wouldn’t get a warning from me. I just bite.” His voice had that sensual edge that sent hot waves into her belly.

She found herself reliving that all-too-short passionate moment they’d shared. Then she scolded herself for it. She couldn’t stand another rejection like that again, even if the melding had awakened desire she didn’t know she was capable of.

The hard edge left his voice as he said, “You really do have a gift.”

“Is that a compliment?”

“Take it however you like.”

“A compliment, then.”

Nina saw him rubbing his wounded shoulder and said, “Are you okay?”

“Yes.”

“You’re bleeding again, aren’t you?” She couldn’t keep the exasperation out of her voice. Was recognizing physical limitations only a problem with alpha shifters, or were all men stubborn like him?

“Not much.”

“Why didn’t you say something? I know of a cave we can go to.” She had hoped to talk him into going to the cave to thaw out her toes, but now there was a twofold reason for going.