by Tami Lund
“When you say we, who are you talking about?” Lisa wanted to know.
Tanner scowled at her. “Don’t start, Lisa. You know damn well you can’t go with me. Christ, you’re about to whelp a pup.” He waved at her protruding belly.
“I’m fine,” Lisa insisted. “It’s better than staying in this pack. What if he finds out we helped you?”
It was a very real fear, Tanner knew. He couldn’t stop thinking about it, thinking about the consequences to his friends, if Quentin did figure it out.
Three shifters make a pack. My creating my own pack would be even more of a slap in the face to Quentin. He wouldn’t rest until he killed us all.
“No,” he said firmly. He heard the squeak of the faucet being twisted and turned his head toward the hall. She was just twenty feet away, naked, her body glistening and wet. He grimaced as his own body went hard.
* * * *
Lisa continued to argue, even taking it so far as to point out that it was her parents’ vacation home they were using as a hide out. While she argued and Tanner steadily refused to agree to take her and Freddy and little Sofia with him when he snuck the Lightbearer away, Sofia slipped from the kitchen. She returned a few moments later, the Lightbearer walking behind her.
Her blonde hair was still damp, but she’d combed out the tangles and it draped over her shoulder in a gentle wave. Her face was freshly scrubbed, those bright blue eyes looked overlarge and tired, thanks to the deep circles underneath. Her dress was still wrinkled and torn.
She shouldn’t look beautiful.
But she did.
Lisa abruptly stopped arguing and pushed out of her seat. “Let’s go back to my bedroom,” she suggested to the Lightbearer. “I’m taller and bigger than you, even when I’m not pregnant, but I’m sure I can find something that’s better than that dress.” Tanner watched as all three females headed back down the hall.
Freddy pulled a beer out of the fridge, offered one to Tanner. He shook his head. As he twisted off the top, Freddy said, “You really aren’t taking us, are you?”
Tanner would not meet his eye. “You know I can’t, Freddy.”
“Yeah, I know. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. After she whelps this pup, when she’s healed enough to travel. We want out, Tanner. I don’t want to raise my pups in this environment. Sofia is already obsessed with Lightbearers and magic, and she’s only four. Meeting one in person is only going to make it worse.”
Not to mention the very real possibility that Sofia would say as much to one of her school chums. Tanner did not speak this thought out loud. He suspected if he did, he would not be able to convince Lisa and Freddy to stay.
“I don’t even know where I’m going, what I’m going to do once I return her to wherever she came from. It’s going to be hard enough for just the two of us to slip away.”
Freddy took a long pull from his beer before responding. “I know,” he finally said. “I get it, Tanner. I do. And don’t worry, I’ll rein in Lisa. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. Promise me.” His voice became fierce.
Tanner turned away from the window to face his friend. He looked Freddy squarely in the eye. “I will,” he vowed. “I swear it.”
Olivia walked into the room and Tanner turned automatically, as if he sensed her without actually seeing her. He decided to assume it was the scent of lavender shampoo, which should have reminded him of Lisa, since it was her shampoo the Lightbearer used. But Lisa had never stirred his senses like this, not in all the years they’d known one another.
Freddy’s eyes widened as he took in the freshly showered Lightbearer, wearing one of his mate’s dresses. It was red, with thin straps over the shoulders and a skirt that should have skimmed her ankles but instead pooled on the ground so much that she had to clutch a bunch of the fabric in her hand in order to walk.
“She didn’t have something that fit you better?” Tanner asked gruffly. He knew he sounded like a dick, but the other option was to say, “Can we go back to Sofia’s room so I can take that dress off you please?” Yeah, he was even willing to say please. Christ, how was his father so determined to kill these beings, when they were so damn hot that just looking at them made Tanner hard?
Olivia looked down at herself, and Tanner watched as her cheeks blushed to match the color of the dress. “I like this one,” she said with a thrust of her chin. “Once I have enough magic restored, I’ll be able to alter it appropriately.”
Huh. Tanner almost opened his mouth to suggest she alter it to cover more skin along her shoulders and over the top swell of her breasts, but he liked looking at all that smooth, lightly tanned skin, even if he knew he shouldn’t.
“Fine,” he said instead. “Are you ready to go?”
“Yes.”
Lisa thrust a plate containing a sandwich and potato chips into his gut. “Are you still hungry? You should eat before we leave.”
Tanner pushed the plate away. He was hungry, but it wasn’t food his body craved at the moment. Which was damned irritating because he would soon be stuck alone in a car with the Lightbearer for who knows how long. Hell, he wasn’t even sure where they were going nor how long they would be stuck together.
“Something wrong?”
Tanner blinked and pulled the world into focus. Olivia gave him a politely inquiring look, while she stood in the hall entry. He was saved from coming up with an answer by Lisa, who made a noise of pain and clutched her stomach with one hand while grasping the counter with the other. The plate she’d offered Tanner fell and shattered on the tile floor.
Freddy was at her side in an instant. So was the Lightbearer.
“What are you doing?” Lisa asked in alarm, as she stared down at the woman who crouched before her, with both hands on Lisa’s stomach. Freddy wrapped his arm protectively around his mate as he too stared at the Lightbearer.
“I am a healer,” Olivia said without looking up. She appeared wholly focused on Lisa’s stomach. “Well, I haven’t been officially trained, because my father would not allow it, but I have natural healing abilities.”
“That’s reassuring,” Lisa muttered sarcastically.
“You are near to giving birth.”
“Obviously,” Lisa said dryly. Freddy admonished her for being rude, but she did not take it back.
“You need rest. You are having mild contractions. This babe is just about ready to make his appearance.”
“You know it’s a boy?” Lisa blinked rapidly, clearly taken by surprise.
“You did not?” Olivia glanced up into Lisa’s face. “I apologize, I did not realize...”
Lisa shook her head and gave her mate a bemused look. “No, no, it’s ... okay. We didn’t—we can’t— ”
“Shifter midwives don’t have the ability to tell the pup’s gender until it’s born,” Tanner finished for her. He stepped up behind the Lightbearer and helped her to her feet. “Your glow is dimming. Unless she’s in immediate need of medical attention, you should stop before you pass out again.”
Olivia brushed at invisible dust on her skirt and kept her gaze downcast, and then exhaled slowly when Tanner released his hold on her arm. He wondered if her reaction was because he repulsed her. He wouldn’t be surprised if it did, considering he was a shifter, but it sucked nonetheless.
Freddy insisted Lisa follow Olivia’s advice, and despite her protests, she was soon tucked away in one of the bedrooms with Sofia curled by her side, watching a Disney movie.
“Let’s go,” he said brusquely when he returned to the kitchen. “I don’t want to leave her alone for any longer than I have to.”
Tanner produced a multi-hued scarf and gruffly commanded the Lightbearer to cover her blonde hair. He handed her a pair of sunglasses, then shoved a straw cowboy hat onto his own head and added a pair of aviator sunglasses. Freddy snickered.
“You look like a country singer.”
Tanner scowled. “Good. So long as we don’t look like a shifter and a Lightbearer, in case we happen to come into contac
t with anyone from my father’s pack.”
“It’s your pack too.”
Tanner turned his back on Freddy. “No, it isn’t.”
Chapter 5
She wanted to go to Vegas.
Tanner thought that was a lousy idea.
“That’s exactly where they’ll start their search, once they’ve determined we’ve left the territory,” he pointed out, hoping he sounded diplomatic enough. What he really wanted to do was shout, “Are you fucking crazy? Do you want to die?” He didn’t particularly want to die, and he sure as hell didn’t want the Lightbearer to die, either.
She’s too damn pretty to kill. He’d thought those words shortly after he met her for the first time. Now, he thought, She’s too damn sexy to kill.
Which was laughable, actually, because compared to the human women with whom he normally spent time, she wasn’t sexy, not really. Enticing was a good word. Something about her sent his blood to boiling and made his body so hard he continually shifted in his seat, because his jeans were too damn tight in the crotch area.
She’s just another female, he reminded himself. And not the type I’m attracted to.
Except Tanner wasn’t sure he’d ever been so attracted to a woman before in his life.
“My cousin is there,” she said in a determined voice.
Despite his annoyance, he liked her determination. He liked that she wasn’t a wimpy female who cowered away from him, who obeyed his every command without question. If he had to describe her personality, he would say she was a leader, too. The way she held her head high when she was essentially heading toward the gallows. The way she’d commanded him to open the shade at Lisa’s parents’ vacation home. The way she informed him that they had to go to Vegas.
Wait—all of those things should annoy him, not impress him. What the hell was wrong with him?
“Cici,” he guessed, recalling what she’d said just before she passed out the day before.
“Yes. Her name is Cecilia, actually. We have to go back for her.”
“What makes you think she’s still in Vegas?”
Her hesitation told him she wasn’t sure. But then she thrust out her chin and said, “She wouldn’t leave until she knew I was safe.”
Procuring a vehicle from Freddy’s cousin had been surprisingly easy. It was an ancient maroon sedan, but under the hood it was in impeccable condition.
He and Olivia had watched from the SUV as Freddy met his cousin, gave him a one-armed hug, chatted for a few minutes and then accepted the keys. His cousin had glanced all around and then in the blink of an eye, shifted into the form of a wolf and loped away.
Olivia’s eyes had been huge behind her sunglasses.
“I take it you never saw a shifter actually shift before?”
“Until a few days ago, I had never seen a shifter,” she replied.
“Does the idea repulse you?” Tanner had asked before he could stop himself.
Her gaze had turned from the spot where Freddy’s cousin had stood, to Tanner’s face. “More like fascinate me,” she murmured in a soft, sexy voice that caused Tanner to think thoughts that were not exactly appropriate given their current situation. Hell, considering those thoughts were about a Lightbearer, they weren’t appropriate at all, no matter the situation.
When Freddy returned and offered him the keys, Tanner asked if his cousin knew why Freddy needed the vehicle.
“If you’re asking if I told him that you were trying to escape with the pack master’s Lightbearer, the answer’s no,” he replied sarcastically.
“Just covering my bases,” Tanner said shortly, and he whisked the Lightbearer out of the SUV and over to the sedan. They were cruising down the road, headed toward the interstate, when she announced their destination was Vegas.
Tanner fished his cell phone out of his pocket and offered it to the Lightbearer. “Call her,” he suggested.
She looked at the phone as if it was a foreign object. “I do not know how to use that device,” she admitted stiffly.
“Use what? A cell phone?”
“Is that what it is called?”
“You’ve never used a cell phone before?”
She gave him a reproachful look and shook her head. Which meant her cousin probably didn’t have a cell phone either. Where the hell did these Lightbearers live, anyway? A past century? He shoved his phone back into his pocket and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.
“Fine,” he ground out. “We go to Vegas. But you have to listen to everything I say, do you understand? Obey my every command without question.”
She tossed him an indignant look.
“Unless you don’t care about living,” he added, just to push her buttons.
Her back stiffened and she pursed her lips and all he wanted to do was pull her close and kiss her until she softened and melted against him. It occurred to him that shifters were really missing the boat by assuming they should kill Lightbearers. Killing her was the last thing on his mind.
“Fine,” she ground out in an impressive imitation of him. He wondered if she was mocking him. He glanced at her profile, but she stared straight ahead, still ramrod straight, unmoving and only speaking when necessary.
Once they were far enough away from the pack that he felt reasonably safe stopping, Tanner guided the car off the highway and into the parking lot of a big box retail store. When Olivia turned and gave him a questioning look, he said, “You need shoes, right? Lisa’s were three sizes too big and you weren’t wearing any when I rescued you from Quentin.”
“I lost them in the struggle, when they kidnapped me,” she said stiffly. He had the distinct impression she wanted to argue the fact that he rescued her, but she fell silent again as they walked into the store together.
She was fascinated by the contents and the patrons of the store. She even burst out giggling when an overlarge woman walked past, wearing a far-too short skirt that showed off both her butt-crack and her cottage-cheese thighs. By the time they reached the shoe section, Olivia had lightened up enough to ask his opinion on the sandals she’d selected.
Which caused him to bite back a groan, because naturally she chose a pair of sexy red sandals, to go with that too-sexy red dress. He was half-tempted to suggest she accompany him to the nearest dressing room so he could show her just how much he liked the sandals. But for the moment, they were getting along, or at least reasonably tolerating each other, and he had a feeling that saying something so crass would destroy whatever-the-hell inroads they’d made.
Tanner had very specific goals in mind. Get to Vegas and find the second Lightbearer. Get the hell out of Vegas alive. Take both Lightbearers back to their coterie and send them on their way, back to safety, back to where Quentin would never find them. Then he planned to return to Quentin’s manor home and get his mother out of there. The woman was dying —Tanner was convinced it was his own damn fault—and he refused to let her die alone in that place.
Nowhere within those plans was there a sub-goal of getting it on with the Lightbearer. Nowhere. Tanner liked bad women, women who’d left innocence at their parents’ doorstep a long, long time ago. He liked the sort of women who had a vast knowledge of their own sexuality and weren’t afraid to teach him a trick or two. He liked women who were human, who asked no questions, who had no expectations.
He did not like Lightbearers. Lightbearers and shifters had been mortal enemies for as long as they’d known the other species existed. He was certain they’d never hooked up before—it would be somewhere, in the history books, surely. And if not there, then it would be whispered, like the urban legend about stealing Lightbearer magic.
“Any idea where those legends came from?” he asked casually, several hours later, as they sat in a small roadside diner, eating dinner. They sat in a booth next to the windows, at Olivia’s insistence. He hadn’t wanted to, as he felt exposed, but she still had those massive bags under her eyes and he knew she wasn’t yet fully recovered.
&nbs
p; Olivia ate her salmon and salad with gusto and replied, “From the shifters, no doubt. My kind would never think to spout such ridiculousness.”
“Makes sense,” Tanner acknowledged. “So why would shifters have come up with something like that? Most legends are based in some sort of fact or event.”
Olivia considered his words for a moment before speaking. “Well, we are the only beings whose magic must be regenerated. That is common knowledge within the magical community. I would imagine it stems from there.”
“But killing you to gain your magic? That doesn’t make sense.”
“As I understand it, you all are carnivorous beings.”
He scowled. “We don’t eat people. Of any kind. We eat the same game that humans eat. And your kind, I imagine.”
“A thousand years ago, I doubt that was the case. A thousand years ago, you probably rarely shifted into human form. So why wouldn’t you eat other beings, as well as four-legged game?”
This time, Tanner considered her words. “I suppose you’re right,” he finally conceded. “There are a lot of legends that stem from caveman days.”
“When we die, there is a great flare of light, as the magic leaves our system for good,” she offered.
“So if a shifter ever saw a Lightbearer die— ” Tanner snapped his fingers “ —a legend is born.”
They continued their journey, an uneasy truce between them, as they discussed superficial things about their respective communities. He learned that shifters and Lightbearers were very different—and very similar. Some things transcended all barriers.
Eleven hours later, they reached the Las Vegas city limits. It was well past dark, but Olivia looked far better than she had when she woke that morning. The drive had been bright and sunny, with little cloud cover. Perfect for a regenerating Lightbearer.
“You look healthy again,” he commented as he maneuvered down the streets, zigzagging up and down side streets, his gaze darting every which way, searching for any sign of other shifters. He was absolutely certain Quentin would at some point send his trackers back to Vegas, once they determined the Lightbearer was no longer in Wyoming. What he didn’t know was how soon that would happen.