“Birds, squirrels. The usual forest creatures. It took the rest, but maybe the deer was too heavy for it.”“So, it can kill something of that size but can’t drag it away?”The question hung in the air and had her contemplating. “Maybe.”Hands on her cheeks turned her attention to him, where he peered into her eyes. “You weren’t affected?”“I was. I closed my eyes. I think it broke the trance or whatever that was.”“I’m glad,” he said, pressing a kiss on her cheek. “Not about the situation, but that you were awake. You saved us, Maya.”“You would have done the same. Any of you.”And she believed it, this faith that Reese and Daria wouldn’t have let her fall to her demise, either. The two eventually caught up to them and Reese examined the deer, too, then described it to Daria in detail. When he was done, tension hung in the now-peaceful forest.“What the hell was that?” Reese muttered.No one could answer.***“It stormed again after that whole fog incident. We had fog outside our terr
His tone hinted that he was teasing, but something on her face had his features darkening. Before she could answer, he was leaning in to capture her lips, a testing kiss that caught her by surprise. Even so, it was already instinctive to kiss him back, and what started as a test became a rising desire that spread tingles over every inch of her body.Refusing to be the only one feeling it, she searched his tongue and sucked on it, then rubbed his thigh up and down. When she was inches from crawling on his lap and forgetting propriety, Luke broke the kiss with a sharp exhale and his thumb resting under her one breast. His lips skimmed down her shoulder as he breathed her in.“I wanted to dare you if we could be quiet here, but I don’t think I can be quiet,” he said in a low, silky voice against her ear before his tongue played with her earlobe. “Maya…”“What?”“I need you.”Perhaps she could have denied him if it was a different scenario, but the rawness in his voice gave her no defense
“Do you want to go home, or do you want to keep strolling around?”She looked up at the sky, then at him. “I want to shift with you.”His eyes widened, then blazed with concern. “Don’t overexert yourself. Shift only to the point where it doesn’t hurt.”“That’s why I want to shift with you,” she confessed. “You comfort my beast and make me feel…” Alive. “Calmer.”“You are going to drive me crazy, Maya,” he returned. “But it would be my honor.”He offered his hand, and soon they were venturing into the forest to find the perfect spot. Scanning the horizon, she was about to tug him in a specific direction when something trickled into her line of vision and left her frozen.“Luke.”He stilled at her urgency. They spun to watch fog creep from a forest patch, dancing the same pattern it had danced before.*****It took him a while to recover from the shock, but Luke closed his eyes once he did, remembering how Maya had escaped the trance they had all gone through. When he opened his eyes, h
A strong breeze knocked his hat back. Then a bigger force pushed, stronger than he anticipated, sent his body flying through the air. Seconds later, the thick fog from above closed in on him, a trap that he had been too much of a fool to see. Maya’s curled body disappeared from his sight because it wasn’t her but an illusion, and now the space where she had been filled up with fog, too, until he could see nothing. He pushed to his feet and tried to run away. Every time he did, an invisible barrier slammed into him until he felt it closing around him on all corners. Pain sliced down his legs, then banged his head repeatedly. A shadow lurched above, the menace so unsettling that it felt like he was staring death in the face—The growl stopped his trail of thoughts. The shadow forming into a wolf before him snapped him into movement, but it was the clamp of jaws on his body that made him understand one thing: this wasn’t an illusion. Recognition blazed as he moved until he was riding the
“Yes. Sometimes. She’s a great friend and thinks she’s some mother hen approving my dates left and right. I think she likes this one…and yes, we are going to remain friends.”“Again, I didn’t say anything.”Reese smirked. “I can’t say the same about your brother and Tina, though.”Luke agreed with that but didn’t say anything, unsure how Eric and Tina were navigating their complicated relationship now and how many people knew of its progress. When Reese left, Luke sat on the grass to continue monitoring Maya’s progress, aware of how strictly she kept to their barrier while also avoiding venturing deeper in. The private corner remained private as no one noticed what she was up to other than him and Reese, and that show of trust in them had him making sure they remained alone for the rest of her activity.When her movements slowed, he was ready with her clothes, handing them over the moment she shifted back to human form. She shimmied in them, unashamed to face him naked. The confidence
The woman didn’t question her excuse, already too preoccupied with the seeds lined up for planting. Maya took advantage of it and was out of there, walking at first before she burst into a sprint as far away from the center of the territory as possible. She avoided the guarding spots, too, and headed straight for the mansion, then snuck towards the back until she arrived in the greenhouse. The empty rows of wooden stands indicated that it hadn’t been used in a while, but a sweet scent drew her towards the back where pots of colorful blooms lay. She stopped in her tracks, eyeing the budding stems.An image of the little girl who had once been so real popped into her head, holding a flower just as small. The dam she had been holding on to broke so hard that she could only fall and curl up on the ground as she was hit with memory after memory of how it felt when she had first given birth: that same unbearable joy whittling at her defenses before everything had been torn away from her. Sh
“You could have killed me but you didn’t,” the woman blurted out.Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Luke saunter close and give a slight shake of his head out of Hannah’s view.No intruders.Stupefaction made her dizzy, but she focused on the woman. Hannah was alone?“You could have alerted them, but you didn’t,” she said slowly. “What do you want?”“I wanted to tell you what I think you don’t know, even after all these years. The trap and the sabotage. The infiltration and the burning of your clan.”Maya’s spine stiffened. “Yes. Because I was foolish enough to trust Sam.”But the woman’s words were yet another shock to the system.“No. They already knew before you got there. Someone else tipped them off—someone else in your clan who knew what kind of man your clan leader was. You were the backup plan.”“Who? What kind of man?”“Nelly. She was—”“My cousin.” Her brain processes the information, and anger seeped in. “She would never have betrayed us. She would never have…”Except
“Space?”“I need to be alone. I need to think.”Luke examined her, trying to figure her out. Then he let it go and trusted, nodding. “You can shop in the city. Book a hotel. Unless you want to stay in our territory….”“The city sounds good.”She swallowed down her guilt at not telling him yet but felt like her state of mind would ruin the moment. So, Maya returned the kiss he gave her and walked away, but not before assuring him of one thing.“I will be back. I won’t leave New York.”“I know,” was his reply. Then, “Call if you need help. Lie low.”Despite how light his tone sounded, there was no missing how he struggled with letting her go, his worry apparent. Having Reese escort her outside felt like a relief as the younger man didn’t ask questions, just as preoccupied. When they arrived on the streets, she turned to him.“She wasn’t with anyone?”“What?” Reese snapped out of his reverie. “Oh, Hannah. Yeah, alone. I tailed her until she left the city.”“Hmm.”“Would you like to come