by Jae
"Just for the record," Jorie said, hoping to distract Griffin from the pain. "If I had written this scene, it wouldn't have been the poor human who had to run from a predator again. Why not have the shape-shifter run for a change? Readers like variety."
Griffin's hand reached across the length of the couch and wrapped around Jorie's fingers.
Jorie soaked up the reassuring warmth.
"I'm sorry," Griffin said. "I know jumping down that ladder and letting yourself be chased by Jennings must have been terrifying, but there was just no time to explain."
"How did you know he wouldn't just shoot me?" Jorie asked.
"When he shot at us in front of the bed-and-breakfast, he was only shooting at me, not at you. Jennings wanted me out of the way quickly, and he didn't care how he did it, but you... with you, it was personal for him. He hated humans. He wanted to hunt you down, feel the rush of the hunt, see the fear in your eyes, and not just shoot you from a distance."
The words brought the memory of being chased back to life. Wild blue eyes flashed through her mind, and Jorie shivered.
Griffin squeezed her hand, bringing her back to the present. "Up in the lookout, I thought about that dream you had, about the wolf with the blue eyes chasing you, and I realized if you ran, Jennings's hunting instincts would get the best of him. He couldn't stop himself from shifting. He dropped the gun, and that finally gave me a chance to take him down." Her head dipped, and her gaze connected with Jorie's. "Thank you for trusting me — and for trusting your dream visions. That dream about Will and you on the tree... that was what gave you the idea to climb up on the lookout, right?"
Jorie just nodded. She was too tired to go into detail right now, too tired to even think about what it all meant.
Nella wandered over. She handed Griffin a pair of sweatpants and a large T-shirt; then she stood silently looking down at Jorie. Something in her gaze had changed. "So she really is a dream seer?" Nella asked.
"She is," Griffin said, no hint of doubt in her voice.
Instead of being reassuring, her confidence scared Jorie. A part of her still didn't want to believe that she was somehow connected to the Wrasa in a way and for reasons she didn't understand. The denial of a lifetime was hard to overcome. Still, Jorie had always been a realist. She couldn't deny that following the visions from her dreams had saved her life. If she hadn't trusted her instincts and made them climb on the hunter's lookout, giving Griffin time to come up with a plan, Jennings would have just shot Griffin and then hunted Jorie down.
"I still don't understand how it's possible," Brian said. He finished his examination of Griffin's healing wounds and carried the first-aid kit over to Jorie's side of the couch. "She's human, not Wrasa."
Ouch. Yes, and maybe that's why this is hurting so much. Brian's hands were unexpectedly gentle, but it still hurt when he cleaned the superficial wounds on her neck.
"Are you so sure about that?" Griffin looked over at them, watching her father's every move. She was still holding on to Jorie's hand, her thumb stroking soothing circles.
Despite the scratches covering Jorie's hands, it felt good. Safe.
I wonder if she's even aware she's doing that.
"Jennings was the only one who read the results of Jorie's DNA test," Griffin said to her father. "He told me it said she's human, but I never saw the results with my own eyes."
"You tested my DNA?" After the length to which Jennings and the Saru had gone to kill her, it probably shouldn't surprise her, but the invasion of her privacy hurt nonetheless.
Griffin's gaze darted away. "Sorry," she whispered.
Jorie gave a hesitant nod. Thinking of how Griffin had betrayed her still hurt, but so much had happened since then. Griffin had risked so much for her — her job, her family, her very life. It was time to move past what had happened and trust Griffin again.
"Then we'll test it again," Brian said. "Only if you agree, of course," he added when Griffin nudged him.
Jorie nodded tiredly. Finally getting some answers would be good.
"I have a few connections and can get someone in our lab to put a rush on it while Nella und Ky use their influence to get the council to extend the forty-eight hours," Brian said. "We need an official order from the council or the Saru will close in on us now that they know where Jorie is hiding. While our pride has some fierce hunters, we can't survive an all-out war against the Saru."
Nella frowned at him, clearly used to making her own decisions instead of being part of a team. For a few seconds, Jorie thought she would refuse, but then Nella nodded.
"Good." Brian returned her nod. He stood and stripped off his latex gloves. "Can you and Max keep an eye on Jennings's pack?" he asked Nella. "Even should the council extend the forty-eight hours, I want to make sure that the Syak are not going rogue to avenge Jennings. I'll take Griffin and Jorie back. They'll be safest in the middle of the pride while we wait for the DNA results. I can have some members of the border patrol to stay behind if you think you might need them."
"No. Max and I can handle a few wolves just fine," Nella said curtly. Her gaze softened when she looked at Griffin. "Be careful."
CHAPTER 26
"ARE YOU REALLY okay? How do the wounds look?" Jorie asked when Griffin stepped out of the bathroom and back into the guest room. Brian and Gus had offered to let them stay at the Eldridges' house, but Griffin had declined, saying that they were safer at Rhonda's, where people weren't coming and going at all hours of the day. If any Wrasa ignored the truce the council had called until they made a decision, they'd search for Jorie and Griffin at the bigger, better protected house.
Secretly, Jorie was relieved. Rhonda's small house felt familiar and safe, and sharing a room also allowed her to keep a closer eye on Griffin.
It hadn't even been two days since Griffin had been injured. With wounds like that, a human wouldn't even be up and walking, and Jorie wasn't sure if the shifting process had really healed Griffin or if she was playing the hero. Both Gus and Brian had been over twice today to look at the slashes and bite marks, but despite their reassuring words, Jorie couldn't quite stop worrying. She had to see for herself.
Griffin slid up her sleeve and showed her the left upper arm. "Just fine."
The light of the lamp on the bedside table was too dim for Jorie to see the wound clearly. She got up from the easy chair, walked over to Griffin, and directed her more toward the light.
She looked at the graze, then tugged up Griffin's T-shirt to check out the bite marks on her side. Instead of angry-looking, raw flesh, she encountered wounds that were already scabbed over, with no signs of infection. Jorie stared in silent wonder, then breathed a sigh of relief. "And the one on your back?" she asked.
"Hey, I'm a shape-shifter, not a contortionist. I can't see that one," Griffin said with a smile.
"Lie down on the bed," Jorie said.
Griffin lifted one eyebrow but did as she was told.
Jorie's hands trembled when she sat on the edge of the bed. She frowned down at them, willing them to be steadier as she slid up Griffin's T-shirt. Calm down. You're not an innocent virgin, and you're just going to take a look at her wound anyway. Just because you kissed once, in the heat of the moment, doesn't mean anything. When the T-shirt rested across Griffin's shoulder blades, Jorie could see the wound just below.
It was far from being healed, but it looked like a much older injury. While her own bruises shimmered in all colors of the rainbow, Griffin's were already fading. Jorie slid her fingers over smooth skin. "Amazing," she whispered and bent down to take a closer look.
Griffin shuddered when Jorie's breath brushed her back. She turned her head to look at Jorie. Her eyes were wild and tender at the same time.
A lump of emotion formed in Jorie's throat, and she swallowed heavily. "Sorry." She pulled Griffin's T-shirt down and quickly moved back. "Shouldn't the wounds be covered?"
"No," Griffin said, her voice raspy. "My father applied a salve earlier, but frequent shift
ing is the best medicine, and the dressings would only get lost then anyway." Griffin turned around, careful to keep her full weight off the wound. A teasing grin danced across her face, and she crooked her finger at Jorie. "I've shown you mine, now you show me yours."
Jorie's hand reached up to cover her neck. "They're just scratches compared to yours. Gus said they'll heal without a problem. Apparently, liger saliva contains some kind of antiseptic."
Heat crept up her neck and colored her cheeks as Jorie remembered the strange intimacy she had shared with the liger. Did Griffin even remember what she had done in her cat form?
"Yeah." Griffin rubbed her ear. "Now show me."
Jorie peeled off the edge of the adhesive dressing and leaned over Griffin so she could see the wound from her reclining position.
Griffin took in every inch of Jorie's neck, studying the bite marks even more closely than Gus had when he had patched her up. "You look as if a vampire gave you a little love bite," she finally said.
"You said vampires don't exist," Jorie said. She hoped it was true.
"They don't."
"Good." Jorie gave a satisfied nod. "I've got enough on my hands with you shape-shifters."
Griffin reached up and stroked her thumb over Jorie's neck, putting the dressing back into place. "You do?" she asked, her voice a low purr.
The seductive tone made Jorie's heart beat faster. Oh, stop it. She's just playing around. She's a cat; she loves to tease. It doesn't mean anything.
The door flew open, and Leigh stormed in. "Dad just called. The DNA report is in, and he —" Leigh stopped in midstep and took in the scene on the bed.
Griffin pulled her hand back from Jorie's neck, and Jorie hastily got up.
In one agile move, Griffin rolled off the bed and towered over the staring Leigh. "Can't you knock?"
"I would have, had I known that I would interrupt something," Leigh said, looking from Griffin to Jorie with a frown.
Griffin folded her arms. "You didn't."
"No?" It was clear that Leigh didn't believe it for a moment. "There's nothing going on?" She glanced at Jorie, then at Griffin again.
"No!"
Is there? Jorie wondered. She couldn't deny that she found Griffin attractive, and the shared danger of the last few days had brought them closer, but still... Even if we weren't on the run and had time for romance... she's Wrasa, and I'm human. I have trouble connecting with a human woman under the best of circumstances, so what chances would I have with Griffin?
"No? Then how do you explain that when Jorie stepped up to you in your animal form after you'd just made a kill, you not only didn't tear her to pieces but 'protected' her from your mother and cleaned her wounds?" Leigh slapped her thighs in amusement. She visibly enjoyed seeing her sister squirm. "Great Hunter, I would have loved to see that."
Tearing me to pieces... Her stomach clenched. Is that what usually happens? Nella had thought so. She had tried her best to get Jorie away from Griffin, and for a few terrifying moments, fear had overcome Jorie too. Approaching a giant liger crouched over its kill was a very stupid thing to do, yet here she was, safe and basically unhurt.
"The report on Jorie's DNA," Griffin reminded, clearly not willing to discuss the events in the forest with her sister. "What does it say?"
Leigh straightened and looked at Jorie when she answered, "She's one hundred percent human." She handed Jorie the report so she could see for herself.
Jorie's gaze darted across some of the words on the report. "Forty-six chromosomes, not fifty-two," she read aloud. "No Wrasa-specific DNA sequences. Human."
Relief made Jorie gasp for breath, and only then did she notice that she had held her breath. She couldn't take another revelation about herself or her life. There had been too many already — realizing as a small child that her mother was not the woman who had given birth to her, accepting that she was a lesbian, and now finding out that her dreams were not just meaningless dreams but visions about a race of shape-shifters. Nothing in her life was as she had thought it would be, and finding out she was Wrasa would have taken away the last of her identity. Jorie exhaled slowly.
"Are you sure?" Griffin asked, not sounding relieved at all.
Leigh nodded. "The lab said they ran it twice. Jorie is human."
Griffin's brow furrowed in concern. "I was almost sure that she's at least part Wrasa, that maybe one of her birth parents or their ancestors was Wrasa. I was convinced that Cedric Jennings found out about it, and that was why he wanted to kill her. He knew more about Jorie than he let on, and I thought Jorie being one of us might be it." She glanced at Jorie, clearly at a loss.
She looks disappointed. The thought hit Jorie and made her feel queasy.
"No," Leigh said. "It seems for once Jennings was telling the truth. She really is human."
Griffin sighed. "Things would have been so much easier if you were one of us," she told Jorie.
Things? Jorie wondered what that included. Things with the council? Things between the two of us? "One of us?" she repeated. The anger in her voice surprised even her. "So we're back to us and them now? After everything we've been through together, I thought we were past that."
"We are," Griffin said. "But if you're human and I'm Wrasa, there's also no denying that we're different. That doesn't mean that I find you inferior in any way. It's just that being at least half Wrasa would have kept you safe. We would have just needed to show them the DNA report that said you're Wrasa, and the council would have revoked the kill order."
Jorie's anger drained away, and her shoulders slumped. "Being human means I'm seen as an enemy, and I'll never be safe from the Saru."
Griffin tilted her head with regret. "Most of us have been taught to fear and distrust humans from a very early age, and some have lost loved ones to a human without being able to do anything about it." Her gaze wandered over to Leigh, who looked away. "Jennings was one of them, but there are others who think exactly like he did. All these feelings of hatred and distrust aren't something that you can overcome in just a few days. It'll be hard to get them to listen to the proof that says you're a human dream seer."
Jorie's throat tightened. Her aching muscles tensed. "Where does that leave me?" Jorie asked. She was tired — and not just physically. After Jennings's death, she had hoped that the hunt on her would be over, but now it turned out to be just a temporary reprieve. She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed heavy lids.
"Us," Griffin said.
The force of her voice made Jorie's eyes snap open. Her gaze connected with passionately glowing cat eyes.
"Where does that leave us," Griffin corrected. "You're not alone in this, okay? I won't stand by and watch if they try to harm you in any way."
A shiver ran down Jorie's spine as she took in Griffin's determined stance, the flexing of powerful muscles along her shoulders. Wow. She's so fiercely protective of me. Like a tiger protecting its cubs... or its mate. The thought made her roll her eyes at herself. Oh, come on. One tiny kiss doesn't mean you're mated for life. At least I don't think it does. She wondered what a kiss meant to the Wrasa. What does it mean to Griffin?
"Okay?" Griffin asked again when Jorie didn't answer.
Jorie could hardly meet the intense gaze. Everything was moving too fast, and she was afraid to be overwhelmed by the situation, by Griffin, by her own feelings. "Okay," she said.
Griffin slid her hand up Jorie's arm and squeezed her shoulder, making warmth spread through Jorie's body. "The council will convene an emergency meeting tomorrow. They agreed to keep the Saru away from my dads' territory until they made a decision. We'll be safe — at least until then."
Fear prickled along Jorie's spine. Her life and Griffin's lay in the hands of a council that had ordered her death before. She didn't like those odds.
"Don't worry," Griffin said, rubbing Jorie's shoulder again. "The pride will keep us safe for now. And we have to trust Kylin to handle things."
Putting her fate in other people's hands was scary
. Jorie had never liked to depend on others, and she knew Griffin had never liked it either. Until now. Jorie didn't even know Griffin's twin sister, but if Kylin was anything like Griffin, she was probably their best bet. She exhaled slowly. "I trust her," she said. "It's just that... is there nothing we can do? We'll just wait around here until they decide to spare us — or come to kill us?"
A feral glint lightened up Griffin's eyes. "We cats are masters at the waiting game. But we also have a plan B. My dads arranged to have a friend take us out of here tomorrow morning, just to be on the safe side."
"But you said the Saru are controlling all the highways, bus and train stations, and airports in the area?" Jorie could imagine the Saru lurking at the edges of the Eldridges' territory, just waiting for the council's go-ahead. She shivered.
"Yes, but my dads' friend owns a small, private helicopter — one the Saru and the council don't know about."
So they'd be on the run again. Will this ever end? Will we ever be safe again? Jorie sighed and wearily closed her eyes.
* * *
Griffin slipped quietly back into the guest room. She had lain awake for half of the night, worrying, keeping watch over Jorie, and trying not to scratch her itching wounds. Finally, when she couldn't stand it any longer, she had gone for a quick run, trusting Leigh and Rhonda to look after Jorie in her absence. Now, after raiding Rhonda's fridge, she felt calm enough to sleep for a while.
Not that shifting had improved their situation. There was still nothing she could do but wait for the council's decision. Even if their escape by helicopter was successful, it would at most be a temporary solution. No one could escape the Saru forever. Their only chance was convincing the council that Jorie was a dream seer.
She settled back down on the makeshift bed they had prepared for her right next to Jorie's bed and slipped under the covers. Her warm skin met cold linen. Goose bumps formed all over her until her body heat had warmed up the bedding. She curled up and closed her eyes.