by Ladew, Lisa
He got in front of her to guide her to the path, then handed her phone back to her.
She pulled up her contacts and clicked one button, then held the phone to her ear, speaking after someone answered. “Dahlia, I was hoping I would get you. We need help.”
***
Thirty minutes later, the lights of the ASPCA vehicle came smoothly down the path, lighting up the forest behind Graeme and Heather. Graeme had told Wade to cancel backup but have them wait close-by, just in case. They’d left the cats in the spider webs but stayed close-by and checked frequently to keep any spiders off them. Even Graeme shuddered to think of the size of the spider who must have spun those webs.
As the white, covered pickup truck pulled close, Graeme read the words on the side. Serenity ASPCA.
Heather saw him looking. “American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals,” she said. “They mostly deal with dogs and cats but will try to find help for any animal.” Heather waved as the truck pulled past them and she saw her friend in the front seat.
Graeme looked on, thinking of the woman’s name. “How do you know her?”
“Oh I don’t know. We just became friends over the years, I guess. The ASPCA calls me when they need help with more, ah, exotic animals. I foster them sometimes.”
Graeme half-smiled. “Reptiles.”
Heather fiddled with the kitten’s ears and shot him another look.
He shrugged. “Naught but a guess.”
The woman in the truck got out and slammed the door, looked over her shoulder, then ran up to them. Heather gave her a one-armed hug, introduced her to Graeme, and explained what was going on. While they were talking, Graeme looked her over. She could be twenty-five. She was young and fresh-looking in the same way Heather was, with long brown hair that framed her face and intense, haunted eyes. Graeme stepped away from the two of them, not wanting to catch the woman’s scent. If she was someone’s one true mate, he didn’t want to know if she was a virgin or not.
Dahlia shone her high-powered flashlight jerkily into the forest, then swung around and shone it straight in Graeme’s face. “Are they all bobcats?”
“What?”
Dahlia nodded at the kitten in Heather’s arms. “That’s a bobcat. See the tufts on its ear points and how short its tail is?”
Heather froze and looked at Graeme with wide eyes.
He tried to soothe her. “Shh, don’t worry. It’s not dangerous. If mom were around, we would know it.”
Dahlia looked at both of them, then swung her flashlight around in a wide arc, then stopped, seemingly completely unsure of what to do. “Ok, I’ll head in, then,” she said, her eyes bottomless.
Graeme started forward. “We’ll go with you.” She was a nervous little thing, always looking over her shoulder like someone was coming after her, and he wasn’t going to make her go into the forest alone. But he wasn’t leaving Heather alone either.
Graeme grabbed two cat kennels from the back of Dahlia’s truck in each hand, Dahlia grabbed two, and they headed into the forest.
Dahlia screamed at the first sight of the spiders. “Oh! OH! Sorry. I couldn’t imagine there could possibly be so many.”
“You and me both,” Heather muttered, staying far away from them. “I’m just glad they seem to stay in one place.
Graeme went straight to the first cat and bent to pull it out of the web. It didn’t even look at him, but it’s fur was warm and there was some resistance in its muscles, so he knew it was still alive. Dahlia worked on the one next to him, while Heather held the light for them with one hand.
“Goodness gracious, this is so nasty,” she said as she tried to brush the web off of the cat’s fur. “I’ve never seen anything like this. Do you think the poor cats were bitten by the spiders? Do you think there are bigger spiders around here? Oh, my God, I can’t believe we are doing this. Someone should call an expert or something and have them come look at all these spiders. Or the cops. Or somebody.”
The first time she asked a question Graeme had opened his mouth to answer, but when he realized she was just talking to keep herself from screaming he let her rattle on. Within a few moments, they had all the cats in crates.
Heather swung the light in a circle, then cried out. “There’s one more! See it? On the other side of the spiders. Oh no, I think it’s bleeding.”
Graeme stood up tall and looked that way. He saw the blood too, but he didn’t feel the same concern Heather did. Life was hard. Always. One more reason to reject the role he’d been forced into.
“I don’t think I can,” Dahlia muttered under her breath. “I want to, but there’s so many spiders.”
“I’ll get it,” Graeme said. He wasn’t letting either one of those females get any closer to the spiders than they already were. He sent his senses out into the forest to make sure there were wolven around, in case things went bad. There were. Three, no, four, surrounding them in a half-circle. Good.
He took a step towards the carpet of spiders, half-expecting them to part before him like the Red Sea before Moses. They didn’t. He took another step, then another, and still they didn’t move. He dangled his foot above them, watching to see if anything changed. When it didn’t, he dropped his foot down, beyond caring. The spider’s bodies burst under his work boot in a horrid crunching he tuned out as he walked swiftly to the last cat.
But was it a cat? As he drew close, he could see where the blood was coming from, a shallow cut on the animal’s side. “I think it’s a marmot,” he called over his shoulder, pulling his shirt off his body and using it to wrap the animal and pick it up.
Dahlia’s eyes were on it as he carried it back. “Woodchuck,” she said.
“Will you still help it?”
“Of course.” Dahlia took the animal from him, wrapping it tighter in his now-bloody shirt and made a beeline out of the forest. The light from the flashlight found its way to the center of his chest and stayed there as he walked towards Heather, then bent to pick up cat kennels. He couldn’t see her face behind the light, but something in her scent and the way she stood shifted slightly, making a deep desire flood through him. He cut it off and lifted his chin. “Go out to the path.”
The light bobbed, then turned as Heather seemed to flee out of the forest.
Chapter 18
As Graeme stepped up the tiny embankment to the path, Dahlia pulled her head out of the back of the truck and started grabbing kennels from him. Each time she grabbed a kennel and slid it in its spot, she stopped and swung her gaze around the forest for a moment before repeating the procedure.
When all the cats were stacked in the back of the truck, she looked him over, a frown on her face. “Aren’t you cold?
“No,” he replied simply, dismissing her to listen to Wade in his head.
Mac, Beckett, and Harlan are in the woods. Crew is on his way. Do you need more?
I dinnae think so. We are leaving soon. When we go, they’ll want to look through the area and see what they can find. Does Crew know how to find dimensional cracks? Or do you know any felen who can? Because I think there’s one buried under all those spiders.
I don’t know. What can be done about them?
Graeme sighed. Nothing, but they should be mapped and watched. He wasn’t surprised Wade didn’t know about such a thing. Historically, wolven had very little knowledge of any other worlds or how to travel between them. The felen would know, but they had never shared their secrets easily.
Dahlia stood close to Heather and very carefully took the bobkitten from her arms. Graeme saw a change come over her at once when she did. Her shoulders relaxed and her mouth curled into the first smile he’d seen that night. A tiny oh escaped from her mouth as the little thing opened its eyes and mewled at her. She stared, transfixed, then turned and walked to her truck with the kitten in her arms, not saying a word of leave.
Graeme walked up to Heather. “Is she always like that?”
Heather glanced at him, her face unreadable. “Wh
at? Intense? Yeah, that’s Dahlia.”
Graeme forgot himself for a moment. “She has the look of a traveler. One who doesn’t know she’s been traveling.”
Heather expression contracted in confusion. “What?”
“Nothing.”
They heard the clunk of the truck being put into gear. Graeme pulled Heather far to the side of the path as soon as he saw the truck reversing their way. From his height, he could see Dahlia had the tiny white kitten on her lap as she drove, one hand in its fur.
Heather lifted a hand to her, but they were blinded by the headlights and could not see if Dahlia returned it. The lights faded until they disappeared.
Heather’s scent shifted again and Graeme looked at her, not able to identify her emotions by scent yet. Her face wore a determined look. He knew he was about to be told off again.
But then he saw something drop into her hair from the evergreen tree above them. Eight legs big enough that he could see the hairs glistening on them. She felt it as he saw it and her face contracted in disgust. He reached out to flick the spider away, as she whipped her head back and forth and screamed, her own hands flying up to squash it.
When her hand hit it, instead of mashing into spider guts, it grew in size until it was as big as a mouse, then a rat, then a Chihuahua.
Promised an awful voice whispered in his head.
Heather screamed again and Graeme grabbed the spider around its hairy middle and flung it into the trees, then spun Heather behind him so he was between it and her. It continued to grow as it flew through the air, until it was the size of a Great Dane. It landed, bounced, and rolled into a tree, then faced him, eyes staring, two front legs pawing at the air between them.
“No!” Graeme roared, and he transformed, even as the spider grew to the size of an elephant. In one great outbreath that sounded like a locomotive train screaming down shaky tracks, he directed a stream of fire directly between the front fangs, both of which dripped poison in a steady stream onto the ground in front of them.
The spider didn’t so much explode as it incinerated, its body surprisingly liquid. Graeme didn’t stop until it was entirely gone, its poison nothing but a waft of nasty-smelling steam.
Graeme turned his scaly head to be sure there were no more spiders, then planted his feet and turned slowly, certain, based on the absolute silence behind him, he would find Heather flat on her back in a dead faint.
But, when he turned, she was standing, a look of wonder and joy on her face. She lifted her hand, placing it directly over his heart, curling her fingers around the edge of one of his scales. He’d never been touched with affection in his dragon form before. It felt unimaginably good.
“You’re real,” she whispered. “Exactly as I’ve always seen you in my mind.”
Beckett and Harlan exploded out of the forest behind her and Graeme stepped closer to her, then transformed to give them a fighting chance if they came too close and he lost it. Heather’s hand stayed on his chest and when she realized it was a human torso under her fingers, her scent shifted, deepened, and she licked her lips. Graeme had to catch himself from falling as his knees buckled at the sight of that pink tongue wetting those amazing lips.
He passed a hand in front of her face and sent a stream of energy toward her, hating himself for doing it, knowing it wouldn’t work, anyway. It didn’t. She glanced into his eyes before looking down at his chest again, but that was all.
“What in the cornbread hell is going on here?” Beckett shouted from the other side of the path as Crew and Mac emerged from farther down, both with their fangs visible in their mouths. Graeme couldn’t help but notice Crew looked like death eating a cracker. His cheeks were hollowed and black purses stood out under his eyes. All the males were rubbing their clothes like they had the heebie-jeebies and Graeme could tell they had needed to run through the spiders to get to the path.
Graeme grasped Heather’s upper arms and looked over her shoulder at the males. “The spiders. Khain is controlling them.”
Mac nodded, then called out to Beckett. “Get us some bearen. We’re going to do a little slash and burn.” He turned back to Graeme. “Unless you care to do the honors for us, Sparky?”
Graeme looked back at Heather, who stood compliant in his hands, her fingers still grazing his chest, her expression jubilant, but dazed. “I’ve gotten a better offer.”
Mac nodded curtly and frowned when he got a good look at Graeme. “What happened? Burnt and Scaly run out of your shirt size?”
Graeme ignored Mac and leaned in close to Heather. “You want to go to my place?”
Her eyes found his and she nodded, her smile widening.
“Climb on,” he said, then transformed, kneeling so she could clamber up onto his back. He waited until she felt solidly on his back, her fingers curling around his wingmounts, her knees grasping his sides, and then he looked up into the sky. Mostly clear. No matter, he had a bit of magic that would keep them dim when they needed it.
Hold on, he sent in ruhi and leapt into the air using his legs, then unfurled his wings to catch an updraft. He beat his wings hard, grabbing the atmosphere mercilessly until he owned it and they were a thousand feet above the ground and climbing.
You ok back there? he said, not surprised at all when he heard her voice in his head.
I’m in heaven.
Chapter 19
Oh God, Oh God, Oh God. Heather looked down at the ground again, then pressed her face onto her dragon’s warm back. Graeme, she had to remind herself. Her dragon’s name was Graeme, and he was also a human man. Combining the two into one being took a surprising amount of work in her head and she gave up, instead directing her gaze at the sky. They seemed to be flying directly into the moon at a speed that was dizzying whenever she looked at how quickly the ground was slipping beneath them, but seemed just right if she stared up or straight ahead.
Below them, bright lights caught her attention. Chicago, it had to be. Yes, there was Lake Michigan. She trained her eyes on it and tried to tell how fast they were going by how quickly it disappeared behind her. Faster than a plane, for sure. And higher too. Much higher than a plane.
The chilly night air breezed softly by her in a way she never could have imagined if she ever had tried to conjure this moment in her mind. Her dragon was warm, comfortable against her body, and if she felt chilled, all she had to do was lean against him and rest first one cheek, then the other on his smooth, strong scales. She did so, holding on to him with one hand as she traced the diamond shape of his scales with the other, one finger running along the edge.
Mmmmm, he rumbled in her head, and a sweet tingle ran between her legs. Oh God, oh God, oh God. The voice was a man’s low purr that she associated strongly with Graeme, the human. The man. She flattened her hand against his back and remembered what his chest had looked like as a man. The tattoos. The sculpted muscles. The perfection. Oh God. Her tongue snaked out and lightly tasted the scales of the dragon, only because she was convinced she was dreaming and she wanted to see what it (he) would taste like.
Nothing. Maybe a bit of salt. Ok.
She looked down again. Was she dreaming? Yes, she was dreaming. She had to be. Chicago disappeared behind them and another Great Lake came into view. She didn’t know which one it was. Erie? Ontario? She didn’t know any other names and that bothered her. She should know the names of the Great Lakes!
But then big city lights came into view and she forgot about the lakes. What city is that? she sent to her dragon. Dreaming, definitely dreaming.
I dinnae ken the names of your cities, lass.
Heather replayed the words over in her mind. His accent was so much stronger in her head, and his choice of words seemed different, too. But still so sexy it had her squirming. Dreaming. She had to be. The city seemed as unimportant as the lakes now, although she knew it had to be Detroit, or maybe Cleveland.
She wanted him to say more words, she didn’t care what they were.
We aren’t going t
o your place in Serenity, are we?
I dinnae have a place in Serenity. I slept in the woods.
The city slipped behind them and a few smaller ones dotted the landscape.
How do you go so fast?
Magic.
She could hear the grin in his voice and she smiled too. Wetness touched her cheek and she wiped at it, not knowing why she was crying. She’d never felt so happy, so free in her life.
A larger city loomed on the horizon, and past it she felt a gulf so large it threatened to consume them, even from as far away as they were. She took her eyes off it and focused on the city, watching as the lights twinkled to their right, then came in to focus, revealing how large it really was.
“New York City,” she breathed but the wind ripped her words away from her.
Her dragon’s trajectory changed slightly and they steered away from the city. Smaller synapses of light popped up here and there, but forest seemed to dominate the landscape. The yawing of the Atlantic Ocean began to creep into her consciousness again and she dropped her head to her dragon.
Be not afraid, lass. I’ve flown this route a hundred times before. The water will not have us.
She peeked over the side of her dragon and saw only water below them, but within a few seconds, an island appeared. Newfoundland. She knew that because she’d studied the reptiles of the island after an imported species of garter snakes had been proven to survive one winter in the wild there.
The island passed quickly, and then it was only water. Chilled suddenly, she pressed into her dragon.
Are ye cold?
Aye, she told him jokingly, her tongue clamped between her teeth.
He chuckled and another spurt of happiness flooded her and suddenly she wasn’t cold anymore.
She didn’t ask him where they were going. She knew. Of course, she knew, and she didn’t want to ruin the magic of the moment. She reminded herself to text Jimmy when she got there and ask him to check in on her babies until she told him otherwise. He would just assume she was off on a rescue. He always came through for her when she had to leave for a few nights.