Moon Runner 01 Under the Shadow

by Jane Toombs

  "We'll ride into Monroe tomorrow," he said, determined to make up for his negligence.

  Somewhere in the woods a jay called and his gaze searched the trees as if the bird summoned him. Like the jay, he belonged among the trees, not in a stifling house. "I'm going for a walk in the woods," he told Mima.

  Her eyes widened and her lips pressed together but she nodded, saying nothing.

  "You needn't worry," he added in a low tone. "I'll be all right as long as it's daylight."

  She didn't reply, continuing to watch him. Did he only imagine she looked uneasy?

  Damn it, she was the child, not him!

  Without another word, he descended the steps and strode along the path leading into the woods. As soon as the trees closed around him, he could feel himself relax. The high branches shut away the sun and he slowed, savoring the shadowy spaces between the large trunks of the pines and the scent of the evergreens mingling with the dusty, ever- changing smell of decay from the forest floor. Brown needles crunched under his boots. Knowing how those same needles would feel cool and prickly on the soles of his bare feet, Nick yielded to an irresistible urge.

  Yanking off his boots and socks, he dug his toes beneath the needles to the cool earth below and smiled. How good it felt!

  He wandered on, coming to a stand of oaks where gray squirrels chattered to him from overhead and he stopped to watch them flick their tails indignantly at his intrusion.

  A rustling of the forest duff warned he wasn't the only intruder and he waited to see what made the noise. Not human, he knew, but an animal.

  A porcupine, armored with quills, waddled purposefully toward him, not the slightest alarmed by his presence. Nick stepped aside, prudently granting the porcupine the right of way. It climbed a cedar and disappeared into the greenery. He passed beyond the oaks, once more under giant pines. Though he couldn't feel a breeze where he walked, the boughs overhead whispered to one another in an ancient soothing rhythm that made him sigh, acknowledging his need to rest. Though he hadn't changed during his nights in the cellar, his restlessness had kept him awake most of the time.

  Here among the trees where he belonged, here he could rest.

  Liisi knew the moment he stepped into the woods and immediately she shielded herself from him. Was he looking for her? If so, he wouldn't find her. And yet, at the same time, she half wanted to be found.

  For a time she stayed away but finally, as if drawn by a force beyond herself, she tracked him, finding it easy because he hadn't shielded himself. He never did. Perhaps he didn't know how. He intrigued her, especially since she couldn't fathom his inner power. Healing, yes, but something darker lurked there, too. The little Negro girl had power as well but none of his dangerous darkness.

  Until he revealed what he was, she was much better off keeping clear of him as she'd been doing. And yet she followed him. Why?

  She had to admit he was outwardly attractive. Already every unmarried girl in the village daydreamed about him. And, if the truth be told, some of the wives as well. What charmed them wasn't only his handsome features or his tall, well-built body. Though he did nothing overt, he exuded allure, drawing women as a flower drew bees.

  Men took to him as well. So did dogs. The meanest cur in the village wagged its tail for Nick Deplacer.

  But she wasn't a dog. Nor was she a foolish girl to be trapped by this man's strange allure, no matter how compelling. She trailed him not because she couldn't help herself but because she needed to observe him when he wasn't aware of her, to discover his secret. She knew he had one, any man with such a vital energy aura had power. He couldn't keep his concealed forever.

  Not from a noita.

  Chapter 15

  Liisi didn't need her noita power to sense the approaching storm. Tiny rays of sunlight no longer slanted through fissures in the dense canopy of leaves and needles and the patches of sky she glimpsed through the fissures were no longer blue but an ominous coppery-gray. Overhead the boughs danced faster to the wind's increasing rhythm.

  She paused, knowing she still had time to turn back and reach shelter before the storm broke. But she was close to Nick Deplacer and he hadn't moved for some time, leading her to suspect he slept. If she retreated she might never find a chance to creep up on him again. Liisi decided to go on.

  The intensity of his energy flow reminded her of her father's during the times he'd failed to shield himself. Her shields were in place for she dare not take a chance with unknown powers--as her father had done in Finland one too many times. Arno Waisenen had been a broken man, the spirit gone from him, when they arrived in the United States seven years ago. He'd survived the trip because she kept him infused with her own energy but, after they landed, she'd been too depleted to be able to keep him alive for more than a few months.

  Until now she'd never met anyone remotely like her father. If this man she tracked was like him. She mustn't waste this opportunity to learn more about Dr. Deplacer.

  The gloom under the trees darkened but his starshine glow of energy drew her like a beacon. There! She could see him now as well as sense him--he lay sprawled under a pine no more than twenty paces away. She stopped, traced a protection rune in the air between them and then slowly, cautiously, eased closer.

  Her art should keep him from waking and, since she knew his name, with luck she'd be able to enter his mind.

  Nick never slept deeply, some part of him--the beast?-- always remained alert. He woke abruptly, aware someone-- something?--watched him. Opening his eyes to slits, he looked for the watcher without moving, but failed to find it. He knew he was in the woods, he'd fallen asleep on a bed of pine needles. Whatever watched him was close but hidden. Since he had his back against the bole of the pine, the watcher was either to one side or in front of him.

  Why couldn't he sense its energy more clearly? It called, but in a manner he couldn't define. He thought the call was meant for him but didn't understand either the meaning or the reason.

  Though every muscle in his body tensed for action, he forced himself to remain still, afraid sudden movement would scare off the watcher before he could discover its whereabouts. What could it be? He sensed no ordinary human glow nor any blue crackle, either. And he'd never before encountered any animal like this.

  Thunder rumbled far off and he realized for the first time how dark the day had grown. The calling grew more urgent, buzzing in his head like a persistent mosquito. Unsure whether he had the ability, Nick concentrated on tracing the call to its source. He'd about decided the watcher was to his left when suddenly the call stopped.

  In one fluid motion, he rose and leaped to the left, glimpsing a flash of white beyond the thick trunk of a pine. Human!

  Liisi Waisenen stepped from behind the trunk, her slightly tilted eyes quicksilver in the storm light, the familiar crackle of blue surrounding her. Stunned, Nick aborted his charge, stopping in front of her. He didn't understand why he hadn't sensed her sooner but he knew she was the watcher.

  "Why?" he demanded, all too aware of the invisible current of power between them.

  She raised her chin. "If you mean why was I hiding behind the tree, the answer is simple. I didn't want you to see me."

  "Why were you watching me?" As he spoke, thunder rumbled, closer now.

  She shrugged. "Why does any woman watch a man?"

  Annoyed at her evasion, he resisted the impulse to fasten his hands on her shoulders and insist she explain exactly what she'd been doing. The peculiar intrusive calling could have come from no one else--what had she meant by it? He wanted to know, he needed to know but he didn't dare touch her. God only knew what might happen if he did. Wind lashed the boughs overhead. Though it was so dark under the trees he couldn't clearly see her expression, he was certain she didn't fear him. He wished he could be as sure he had no reason to fear her.

  "You called me," he accused, bringing his resentment into the open. "Not aloud. Don't lie to me, I know you did."

  "It's beginning to rain," sh
e said. "You may not mind getting wet but I do." She started to turn from him.

  He grasped her arm. She tried to wrench away. Then, somehow, she was in his arms, his mouth hungrily seeking hers. For a long, heart-stopping moment, she responded to his kiss, pressing her soft, uncorseted body against his. Lightning flashed, sizzling around them. Wood

  shrieked, ripping apart as a tree to his right split in two and crashed to the forest floor, accompanied by a deafening roll of thunder. Liisi pulled free of him and fled, leaving him as riven and devastated as if the bolt had struck him rather than the pine.

  He'd known from the moment he first saw her that he couldn't have her but now that he'd had a taste of the forbidden he refused to accept his loss.

  He stood amidst the wind and rain, the stench of electricity and burned wood in his nostrils, his face raised to the lightning-bright sky and shook his fist at the heavens.

  "Damn You!" he shouted through the thunder's boom.

  "Why was I born? Why?"

  He didn't know how long he wandered in the woods but the storm had long since passed over and the sky was a deep twilight blue when he heard Mima calling his name.

  He didn't want to answer. The woods were his home, he belonged here and here he'd stay. But her voice, childish and frightened, touched his heart. Slowly, reluctantly, he turned.

  "I'm coming," he called to her.

  Mima ran to meet him, caught his hand, pulling him toward the village with an urgency he didn't try to resist. Once they reached their house she led him into the back yard. "Moon, she be rising. You got to get down there." Mima pointed to the cellar door.

  He shook his head, feeling he couldn't bear to be caged ever again.

  "You got to!" Mima insisted. "Maybe she die if you don't."

  He stared at the child, her words chilling him with their truth. Fighting the restlessness welling within him, he lifted the door and descended into the dank cage of the cellar, letting the door slam shut behind him. He growled when he heard Mima locking him in.

  He couldn't stand the feel of his damp clothes against his skin, he wanted them off. Needed them off. Needed to be free....

  Frantically, Nick fought against the pounding inner urge. He'd resisted changing the other four nights, he wouldn't let go now. He clenched his fists to prevent his hands from tearing at his clothes and began to pace the too- small cellar. Rain water had seeped in, he could feel muck under his bare feet. Where were his boots? He couldn't remember.

  He paced back and forth, back and forth. One more night, he told himself over and over. Only one more night. The rhythm of the pacing and the repetition of the words seemed to ease the gnawing inside.

  The night was endless. He'd been in this cage forever, he'd be here forever. Morning would never come. He was in hell without the chance of redemption.

  Abruptly he paused in his pacing, all senses alert. Someone was on the other side of the cellar door. She was there. Nick's control snapped. He tore off his shirt. His gut twisted in the dreaded, familiar shift and he was powerless to stop it.

  The child was in the house, Liisi knew, and probably sleeping. But he was not. He was nearby but not inside. She'd taken great care to creep out of the Lindenblatt home without rousing anyone and she was determined not to return until she'd solved the mystery of what he was. It had been a terrible mistake to try to probe his mind, she wouldn't do that again. But there were other, more subtle ways to learn what she must.

  Your father died because of his curiosity, a voice in her head reminded her. Take care you don't follow in his footsteps.

  Liisi huddled into her black cloak. It wasn't mere curiosity driving her. She fought for her very life! He and she were bound by bonds she couldn't sever, a binding that would last a lifetime. But, if she must face that dangerous darkness inside him without knowing beforehand what it was, how long would her life last?

  True, she was afraid to go near him, especially at night, despite all her protective amulets and spells. At the same time, she had little choice. If she fled from him, leaving the only friend she had, Toivi Lindenblatt, sooner or later, because of the binding, he'd find her. If she stayed, she must discover his secret or die.

  Without moving, Liisi traced his brilliant energy aura to the back yard. She crept cautiously around the corner of the house and found herself confronted by a thick cedar hedge. Using her sharp Finnish blade, she sliced off the branches until she'd cut a hole large enough to crawl through.

  The moon, just past full, dusted the night with silver, its light strong enough to see him if he was in sight. There was no sign of him. Yet she knew he was there. Somewhere. She focused all her attention on his energy.

  Underground!

  She inched closer to where the energy level was strongest. An old piece of canvas covered the spot and she eased it aside, finding the door to a root cellar underneath. She stared in disbelief at the padlocked chain and the heavy wooden bar. Why was he locked inside the cellar?

  A burst of energy flung her backwards, sending her sprawling. Deep in the cellar something snarled, a vicious animal sound that could not have come from a human throat. Liisi stifled a scream.

  As she climbed hastily to her feet, whatever was

  inside the cellar attacked the door. It knew she was there and meant to reach her!

  No, not it. Worse. He. The raging beast was as thoroughly male as Nick Deplacer. She shuddered, all too aware of what would happen if she didn't escape.

  Terrified, she gathered the cloak around her, raced for the hole in the hedge, wriggled through and ran faster than ever before in her life. If she didn't reach the Lindenblatt house before he escaped, she would die.

  Free! Yet not free. He was caged. Caged, while his mate ran free. He sensed her presence. With a snarl of rage, he flung himself up at the door of the cage. Wood bulged and creaked. Slivers of moonlight penetrated the darkness and he shivered with pleasure as they caressed his fur.

  Gathering himself, he assaulted the door again and again, hearing the wood strain until at last it splintered under the fury of his attack. He forced his way through into the moonlight, truly free.

  His mate was gone, though her scent lingered, mingling with other exciting odors of the night.

  He'd find her, she couldn't escape him. But before he tracked her to her lair, he must satisfy his more urgent lust. For blood. Raising his muzzle, he sniffed carefully, untangled the deer scent from all the others, plunged through a hedge and loped into the woods, hunting under the moon.

  At sunrise, Nick found a folded blanket beside the path leading into the village. He wrapped it around his nakedness, hesitated, then stepped onto the path and strode boldly toward the village.

  He sensed the man approaching before he saw him but didn't break his stride. No matter who it was, he was desperate to get to Mima and discover what had happened during the night. She must be alive--who else would have left the blanket where it was?

  He had a confused memory of Liisi being outside the root cellar, a memory he prayed was false. Because if she'd been there when the beast broke loose he couldn't go on. Let them kill him, he'd be better off dead.

  Nick gritted his teeth, grimacing. He'd washed the deer's blood from his body and rinsed his mouth in the stream but the metallic aftertaste remained. God grant it was only deer's blood.

  He recognized Zeke McMasters' white beard before the old man reached him.

  "I see ye abide by your own advice, doctor," Zeke said, his gaze on the blanket. "Had an early bath in the creek, did ye?"

  Nick gathered his wits. "How's the leg?" he managed to ask.

  "'Tis true me leg's better but I'll be damned if I mean to wash the rest of me every blooming day. If'n the good Lord meant me to be that fond of water he'd've made me a

  fish 'stead of a man." Zeke chuckled at his own wit.

  Forcing a smile, Nick nodded at him and strode on. The old man's words stuck in his mind. Zeke would never be anything else but a man, that much was sure. Unlike Nick
Deplacer.

  He reached his house without encountering anyone else. The village folk were early risers--how many had caught a glimpse of him from a window, he couldn't be sure. At least no one was waiting with a gun.

  Taking a deep breath, he mounted the steps. The front door opened before he reached it.

  "You found the blanket," Mima said.

  He stepped past her, closing the door behind him. "What happened?"

  "Something wake me up," she said. "Me, I go look out the window. Moon, she be shining bright on her."

  Nick swallowed before he could push the name past his dry throat. "Liisi Waisenen."

  Mima nodded. "She pull off the canvas. Down in the cellar, you change--me, I feel it here." She laid a hand over her heart. "Beast, he smash the door."

  Nick gripped her shoulder. "What happened to Liisi?" "She run off before the beast get free. Beast, he come out, he look around, he sniff the air. He leap over the hedge and me, I can't see him no more. I run to front window and she be climbing her steps. She go in her house. The beast, he don't come near that house."

  Nick eased out the breath he'd been holding. Liisi was safe; she was alive.

  "You tell me never go out when the beast, he be loose," Mima went on, "Me, I stay in. When moon, she go down, I take your blanket and leave it under the trees because you say the beast, he likes the woods."

  Nick hugged Mima to him. "Thank God I have you."

  Liisi might have been frightened by the noises from the cellar last night but she hadn't actually seen the beast, she couldn't know he was a shifter. And what she didn't know she couldn't tell. He'd been given a reprieve and so had she. But neither of them could count on another. He'd make damn sure to be nowhere near this town during the next full moon. When, on the following day, he discovered that Liisi Waisenen had left Nogadata, Nick wasn't surprised, though the news left him despondent. It didn't change his mind about what he must do. He knew he had to get away from people completely during his dangerous days.