To Love a Shifter: A Paranormal Romance Boxed Set (102 page)

“Your parents’ remains have been taken away.”  Green Eyes had followed my gaze. 
He must be a doctor.  Or he is studying to be one.  How else could he be so perceptive of my thoughts?

“I am sorry for your loss.”  His hand almost came close to touching mine before it was quickly withdrawn, as if he had suddenly found physical contact dangerous.

I coped with my parents’ deaths by burying the thought deep inside me.  I couldn’t bear even contemplating how life would be without them.  “My sister?”

“Alive.”

My head snapped up.  “You’re sure?”  Maybe…maybe my memories were wrong.  Maybe nothing had happened to her and we’d be together again.

Green Eyes nodded.  “She’s safe for now.”

“For now?” I echoed, my voice rising at the end.  “What do you mean
for now
?”  If something happened to Davie, I wouldn’t be able to take it.  I couldn’t lose them all in one night.

He shook his head.  “This is not the time for such discussions.  We need to go somewhere safe.”

I nodded eagerly.  “Yes, please, take me home.  Or better yet, take me to where my sister is or—”  The last sight I had of my parents forcing itself into the forefront of my mind.  My voice dulled.  “—wherever my parents are now.”

“No.”  If he thought that the softness and gentleness of his voice would make the word easier to hear, he was wrong.  Supremely wrong.

“I want to go home.  I want to go to my sister.”  My voice radiated both petulance and determination  Davie once told me I was probably the only one who could do that, manage to sound spoiled and mature at the same time.  Fresh tears spilled from my eyes. 
Davie
. 
My baby sister.
  At least she was alive.

“If you go to her, you put her in more danger.”

His words rendered me speechless for a moment.  “Why would I endanger my own sister?”  A nasty suspicion entered my mind and I tensed.  With my entire family possibly murdered, there was no one I could be sure to trust, was there?  “How do I know you’re not making this all up?”

“What would I gain from lying?”

My mouth opened and closed.  I looked at him, really looked at him this time, forcing myself to see the guy behind the beauty.  I tried to see if there was deceit, a hint of evil, anything that would prove he was lying.  I could be perspicacious if I wanted to.  Davie taught me that word when I needed an adjective starting with the letter
P
to describe myself for English class.  It meant being a good judge of character—and I could be that if I could just manage to make myself see even the things I didn’t want to see.

I searched his eyes for lies but found none.  All I could see was impatience.

He wasn’t lying.  For now, I had to believe that.  I drew in a shaky breath.  I would really put my sister in danger if I went to her.  I looked away and studied my surroundings while gathering my thoughts.  I didn’t want to give the guy a chance to guess what I was thinking.  He didn’t seem to be the evil sort, but I wasn’t willing to trust him completely just yet.

Strips of clouds had moved in to blot out the moonlight, and while the stars dotting the sky were pretty, they were not enough to make everything around me crystal clear.  But even so, I could still see everything in vivid detail.  Either I suddenly had the best human vision in the world or something was seriously wrong.

I quelled the spurt of panic inside me. 
Nothing is seriously wrong, Deli.  You’re just imagining things.
  I don’t like inconvenient truths.  Knowing and understanding inconvenient truths hurt too much.  I didn’t care about whatever Al Gore would think.  Sometimes, ignorance was a blessing.  I had to face facts, but surely, there was something I could ask that wouldn’t make me hurt more?

“Why didn’t you take me to a hospital?”  There.  That was a sensible question, wasn’t it?  Davie would be proud of me.

“You were too far gone for a mere doctor to save you.”

I frowned, reluctantly recalling the bizarre fire ritual I had undergone.  “Which makes you…what?  A super, mega witch doctor?”

A choking sound to my left drew my attention, and I remembered then that we weren’t alone.  The other stranger stood a short distance away, dark-haired, and wearing a black cashmere sweater over a ruby red polo shirt and a nice pair of designer jeans.  If not for the streaks of soot on his face and arms and the holes and tears in his clothes, I’d wonder what he was doing here in the middle of nowhere when he was better off posing for a fashion shoot.

The pair of them looked too much alike not to be related.  Brothers probably.  But the similarities seemed to end there.  The other guy was less intimidating, gazing at me curiously.

“Hi.”  His voice was playful.

I welcomed the tone.  I instinctively knew he was like me, the type to keep things casual and free from complications.  “Hi.”

“My name is Dyvian.”  He actually blew me a kiss.

I smiled.  Here I was, lying on the ground, recovering from being swallowed—but not burned—by a fire-breathing monster, and some time before that from an accident that I still didn’t want to dwell on, and now I was making new friends like it was the first day of school.

“Deli,” I told him.

He quirked a brow.  “Deli?”

My cheeks heated.  “Like, short for
Delilah
.”

He burst into laughter.  “Delilah?”  He laughed again.  “Where’s your Samson?”

It was the same old joke.  I kept on hoping people wouldn’t know about that particular story in the Bible, but there was no such luck for me.  And they said we Americans weren’t so religious.  Ha.  I wished.

I scowled.  “Just call me Deli and forget about it.”  I normally didn’t admit that Deli was short for anything, but Dyvian had caught me in a vulnerable moment.

“Delilah,” he teased.

I glared up at him.  “You’re one to laugh when your name sounds like
deviant
.”

“It doesn’t bother me though.”  Then he added, “Delilah.”

Aargh. 
I looked back at Green Eyes, hoping he’d be in a better mood to talk.  He answered with an expressionless stare.  I sighed.  Which of them was the lesser of two evils?  Dyvian was fun but annoying.  This guy, Mr. Impassive, was silent but disconcerting.  But both of them were nice to look at, at least.

I almost jumped in my skin when Green Eyes spoke.  “You need to come home with us.”

“I don’t even know your name.”

He blinked, as if my words had surprised him.

Idiot. 
I almost rolled my eyes.  I looked back at him and was startled at being the recipient of his glare.

“It doesn’t matter.”

What was he so angry about?
 
And what did he mean it didn’t matter?  God, what an idiot he was.

“Now, will you come home with us or not?”

“Not if you’re acting like that, I won’t,” I snapped back.

“
You—
”  Green Eyes glared again but his mouth flattened into another tight line, as if he didn’t trust himself to speak.

“We’re just not completely safe here, Delilah,” Dyvian intruded softly.  “We’ll tell you in time but please, trust us.  We need to leave soon.”

“I truly can’t go home?  Or see Davie?”  It wasn’t really a question, but I wanted to hear him confirm it nonetheless.

Dyvian nodded.

“I’m going to be safe with you?”

Another nod.

I took a good hard look at them.  In any other situation, to meekly go home with a pair of strangers was the height of foolishness.  But I trusted my instincts, and they told me that I was safe—maybe even safest—if I went with them.

“Then…yes.  And…thanks for offering me a safe place to stay.”  A thousand more questions raced in my mind but I pushed them away.  I knew there wasn’t any point ignoring life’s inconvenient truths.  They could only get worse and worse until they stared back at you in overwhelming quantities.  But for now, I just wanted a break from them. 
Tomorrow
, I promised myself silently. 
Tomorrow, I’ll face the truth
.

Besides, I was getting sleepy.

“You’re tired,” Green Eyes bit out.

“Yeah, so?”  I could barely keep my eyes open as Dyvian helped me to my feet.  I hoped their home, wherever and whatever it was, was nearby.  I was dying to surrender to sleep so I could forget about everything and enjoy a few hours of blissful ignorance.

“I’ll carry you on the way home.”  He reached for me.

My eyes shot wide open and I pushed his hands away.  “No.  There’s no need—”  I stumbled, feeling woozy all of a sudden.  Well, okay, there was, but I didn’t want to risk him thinking I’d eaten one pound of chocolates too many.  Which I had and which really meant I should avoid being carried.

“Trust me.”  Dyvian’s voice was dry.  “He won’t think you’re heavy.”

“You.  Go away.”  He was fast becoming the annoying little brother I used to dream of having.  I guessed that really meant you should be careful of what you wish for.

Dyvian laughed.  “I like her, Lucian.  I’m glad you saved her.”

Lucian. 
So that was his name.  It suited him somehow. 
Lucian Green Eyes Alien. 
I smiled.  Nice ring to it.

“Very funny,”
a voice growled from somewhere inside my head, startling me.

“Is something wrong?”  Lucian crossed his arms.

Imagination,
I decided, brought about by my injuries and exhaustion
. 
I shook my head.  “Thank you for saving me.”

I wasn’t expecting him to answer—he didn’t seem the type to say, “you’re welcome”—but he did.  “You deserved to be saved.”  And without warning, he scooped me up in his arms with seemingly effortless ease, pulling me close to him.  My head rested against his heart, and I listened to it, expecting his heartbeat to accelerate at the added exertion of carrying me.

But it didn’t.  His heartbeat remained steady. 
Physically fit
.  I liked that in a guy.  Someone laughed inside my head, but I chalked that up to my injury-induced hallucinations as well.

In his arms, I could see more of our surroundings.  Night was slowly giving way to dawn, and now the brownish hues of the mountains I had glimpsed earlier had turned bright red in the light.  I could make out the figure of a professional climber wearing a blue-and-white striped shirt.  A few miles away, I espied a pebble-gilded oasis with the gleaming surface of a silver mirror. 
How can I see all these things so clearly? 
But again, I pushed the question aside.