He turned, heading back, shaking his hands to help dry them.
Not a touch of disapproval graced his features. Just friendliness. What in the hell happened between us last night? Does it matter for now? I finally have him where I want him. Will this strange situation last? Probably not. Although, I want it to last. Just once to have what I want. If that makes a difference on this fucked-up planet, AEI. But a day or two pretending can't hurt until I find out what he's really after.
And Augustus is undoubtedly behind everything.
"Get dressed," he whispered, and shut the door behind him.
****
I leaned into the hard back of a wooden bench strategically placed beneath the oak tree outside Hostillian's front door where anyone sitting there could watch out the front gate. Not a bad place to linger because you could watch to see if anyone approached the outpost. I'll blame the positioning of the seat on Hostillian. The worry wart. But he'd worried for nothing this morning about his charges. The morning graded into midday without nary a word other than good morning from the teens.
And if I wanted to leave, couldn't. Some genius among the pack of youths had put Marine out to pasture. The Gods-damned stallion hadn't bitched other than to insist following a mare that conveniently was in season. So much for a faithful steed that would fight tooth and hoof to be by your side. He's male. What more could a girl expect from a male?
Otherwise, Hostillian left me to myself for most of the morning, claiming he had things to do with a few of his students afoot. All the better for me. I found the shower out back and tested the water's heat. Not bad with the soap and towels. Nice outpost. Stocked with all sorts of luxuries aside from a large snuggly Shifter who made my heart melt every time I caught sight of him. A far worse reaction than our standard behavior of my knowing he can't stand being in the same room with me. Now, he's using some ploy where he can't seem to wait to get back into that room. Augustus is behind this. Or this damned hot sun is cooking my brain.
Am I losing my mind? Or this is a nightmare. Must be a nightmare. Something really bad will happen sooner or later. That's how my life pans out. Like life fattening me up for a holiday slaughter with my neck being the one stretched out under life's merciless axe.
A smidge of light-headedness and nausea fluttered through my gut.
Why do I keep feeling a little nauseous? Or hot. Too warm since I'm sitting in the shade wearing a short-sleeved brown t-shirt and a pair of cut-off camouflage pants. Why do I feel so weird? Almost ill. It isn't time for my period. And I ovulated last week. I couldn't be pregnant. Maybe I'm tired. Hostillian kept me up late last night. Frustrated, initially. Then all too stimulated. Stimulation isn't good though. I fought a budding smile trying to stretch my lips into a curve.
If anyone sees me, they'll think me insane. But that's the best way to be perceived. Unpredictable. Better to hide out with strange smiles on my face. Besides, Hostillian's nowhere to be seen. Still, I can hold out just as well inside. Even take a nap in the Big Bad Beast's bed. I'd be right where I need to be if he came sniffing. After all, he'd promised to prove he didn't hate me anymore. Trustworthy? Well, that's a completely different issue. He needs to prove he's good on his promises.
****
From the time it took me to check on the brooding white sow's six brand-new pink piglets and ensure all were born healthy, Josie had bored with sitting in the shade, petting the house cat, and vanished.
Play, Wolf whined.
Later. You can sit and cork it, or I'll make certain you don't get another sniff of prime female. It didn't take much for a warrior in control of his inner beast to curb said ornery creature's pleas. Especially with chores a man knew better than to leave to the youths like a gelding's thrown shoe. That required more skill than found in a student's hand. So, I'd have to tend to the hoof before allowing Wolf to play with his new toy. Although, the toy sure needed more attention than the gelding. Licking. Long sessions of focused massage. Excruciating displays of self-control. So much for justice served in the universe. I veered through the stable's door and found Comet's annoyed gaze watching from his stall.
None of the horses liked being shut away on days best spent in the warm sunny meadow full of juicy stalks of green grass at the end of the fenced walkway down to the pasture. But sometimes, you just had to suck up reality and deal with m the fact you have a problem. Even a gelding who'd thrown a shoe. "Back it up." I pulled his stall's gate open enough to press through the gap between the wall and the softness of his unyielding yellow shoulder.
He snorted and swiped his darker yellow tail at me.
So much for admonishment. "You can go out as soon as I see to your shoe."
That point earned me another snort.
It's not like he's my onery child. But the creature's shorter, easily thrown down when I shifted into were-form, and can't argue when I'm the person filling the feedbags. He'd just have to deal with his plight. Like all beings. We all do sooner or later. Holding tight while being re-shoed was little in comparison to a warrior dealing with a horny Wolf and a flighty female. Hell, when Josie jumped up from the bed out of a dead sleep, I knew her brain suddenly registered a body wrapped around hers. That made sense because she'd been a virgin and her mind hadn't connected waking up wrapped inside a blanket of sleeping man. Then she'd gone and rubbed a palm all over my arm. Like she decided she got something equally valuable in the exchange of hymen for a bed partner. She'd almost sulked afterward, lurking quietly. Waiting. Oh. Yes. Put off in the delay of waiting for treats.
Females.
What would Comet know of such things? The lucky bastard had been gelded. Talk about irony. Shifters need to learn how to castrate the inner Wolf.
It wasn't long before I stared at the cleaned hoof's filed edge and held a short nail in place to tack the silvery iron horseshoe into position. Comet's mass leaned into my side. Lazy beast. I'd just turn the animal out the back gate and be done with my chores. I tapped the nails into place and watched his golden rump slip through the trees behind the outpost.
At long last.
Time for a little rest and relaxation. Funny how that didn't entail the rigorous exercise that precluded such welcomed "r"s in a warrior's bed when the rigorous exercise far outweighed the significance of the literal definition of both rest and relaxation. Especially when a warrior shrugged off the offers of females for the most part. But Wolf won't be happy until his little kitten mewled beneath him.
Wolves and their kittens. What a combination.
The dark cabin interior didn't jack with my vision for more than two steps.
Empty cabin. Where is Wolf's kitten?
Find, Wolf whimpered.
As if that isn't the plan. Mutts. She probably piddled in my room where I'd deposited her backpack. Females have such a strange need to keep up with their personal items.
The door hadn't been completely shut either. It hung about two inches open. Enough to reveal she wasn't across the room by my table. I gave the thick wooden planking a push.
The loud creak certainly alerted her of my entry.
Not enough to warrant her rising from the bed where she faced the wall, still wearing the slip-on sneakers she'd had on outside. Or set her off from not budging at all. Was she upset? Had I done something? Gods know I could have, the way females think. And everyone knows this female is anything but normal. Warriors fought losing battles when facing females though. Might as well find out now. "Josie?" I squeezed the door's flat hard edge.
She just stared at the wall.
Could she be so exhausted from our exercise last night to have fallen asleep? After all, we'd been up for awhile before Wolf stuck his nose in our business. Well, her business. Then again, what better way to stay awake during the day when one wanted to sleep? From exhaustion. I choked down a chuckle and crossed the tattling floorboards.
Not even those squeaks of wood caus
ed her to stir. Odd. For someone so schooled in fighting. She should hear my approach. React. A warrior would. I leaned a foreleg against the bed and tried to peer over her shoulder.
Eye shut. But her lips fluttered. Like she spoke. Dreaming? Maybe. Well, startling her would be bad. Probably get me booted out of my room. I'd have to be careful. I claimed a seat on the soft bed and gently draped a palm over her side and studied her long bare legs.
Beautiful legs with boxy little calves and shadows outlining the muscles. But she just continued to sleep. Josie wouldn't sleep that deeply with her fighting instincts. Maybe in a few weeks after I got her used to sleeping next to my body. But it's too soon for this comfort in a warrior. "Josie?"
Still nothing.
Well, something is wrong. I snaked my arm around her slim form and pulled her onto her back.
"No, Augustus. I said no! Bother someone else," she snarled softly, her eyelids tightly shut, and swatted at my wrist holding her down.
Dreaming? Deeply. She'd spent far too much time under Augustus's irritating tutelage not to growl at him in a dream. She needed to wake up from her little nightmare. I splayed my fingers and rubbed a palm across the kitten's sweet flat belly. "Josie?"
She wagged her head with a groan and tried to roll back onto her side.
Not right. She's sleeping too deeply. I pulled her stiff body over onto her back again and scooted up the bed to sit closer beside her face.
Those long brown eyelashes lacing her eyelids fluttered slightly.
Just enough to show how her blue eyes were busy in her dream. I'd rather them flutter at me though. Now. I'd just have to be more forceful. "Josie?" I reached for the velvet of her cheek.
And slid my palm across hot damp skin.
Feverish skin. In the shadows, her skin didn't appear flushed. But the telltale heat when touched didn't require sufficient lighting to note she wasn't well. Illnesses are tough on Normals in The Wild. We need to treat her now. How long had she felt bad? And just what were her symptoms? Hopefully, she could tell me. "Josie, wake up." I rubbed my knuckles against her cheek. "It's me. Hostillian."
She flinched a moment but settled down to let me pet her, smacking her heart-shaped lips.
Although she seemed peaceful, her heightened temperature spoke otherwise. Something is wrong with her. What? She needs to convey the symptoms so I can notify Augustus. He'd bring his medical supplies if he thought this illness required medical attention. "Josie." I moved my palm to her shoulder and gently shook her sleeping form.
She rustled to life, wild blue eyes popping open, arms reaching upward. "What?"
"It's alright." I settled my palm on her ribs and pushed slightly in order to keep her in place. "Don't move. You're sick."
Her brown eyebrows pinched into a straight line. "Sick?"
"Hot. You've got a fever."
Her arm shot out in an evasive swipe, shoving my hand from her body. "Don't touch me." She dodged my hands.
The glare she locked on me had to be rooted in anger, but something shouted fear in those crazed eyes. That something noted her fear is for me. But Shifters don't contract the illnesses of Normals. Just gangrene. And that lovely killer isn't contagious. "It's alright. It's just me. Tell me how you feel. I'll send for Augustus--"
She shoved onto her hands and knees, scrambling across the pillow to cower against the wall. "No. You can't bring Augustus here." She hugged the wall and hid all but one crazed eye from me in profile.
Definitely crazy once again. Consumed by fever. But she can't make me ill. "Look. You're going to be okay. But I need you to lie back down and cover up. You've got to fight the fever. I'll look after you."
"No!" She tried to crawl into the wall's corner. "Everyone has to stay away. Tell Augustus. Tell him--I've got the fever."
This fever had to have affected her ability to reason. "Okay. I'm going to go write the message. I'll send the hawk--"
"Yes. The hawk. Don't send a Shifter," she sputtered and wedged her nose back into the corner. "Everyone can be infected," she almost growled.
Everyone? "We're Shifters, Josie. We're fine. You'll be fine. I'll take care of you."
"No," she shouted. "You have to stay away from me. And don't go near the youths. You might already be infected."
"Josie, you're a Normal. Normal bugs don't jump hosts with Shifters." How can she forget that?
She dragged one knee to her chest , one at a time, until she sat with her back to me hugging her bent legs. "Not this time," she whispered.
What? "You're sick. You don't know what you're talking about."
"Tell Augustus he was wrong. His healer doesn't heal. Tell him I have the fever." Her last words broke into bits.
But I heard them. Every heart-stopping syllable. "This fever you speak of, the fever that kills Shifters?" That it had jumped hosts to Normals? Impossible.
She nodded at the wall's corner.
She's wrong. Has to be. "Since when do Normal and Shifter illnesses mix as you claim has happened?"
Her long brown hair shimmied side to side. But she didn't toss me a glance. "I don't know. I just know I have a fever. Tell Augustus. And stay away from the others. It's bad enough I brought it here. That you're probably infected now. But I'd rather not have the blood of every Shifter here on my hands."
She can't be right. This is a fever-induced fear muddying her logic. "Okay. Now, listen. You stay here. I'll be back. Just give me a chance to send the message."
Chapter Five
Hostillian closed the door behind him as I pressed my shoulder blades into the biting walls of his personal quarters where I sat on his bed. That Gods-be-damned cousin of mine had been wrong about me being healthy. I'm infected with the fever that killed my relatives. How could he send me here? Make me infect my Hostillian? Not now. Not because of me. We might have just connected. Must have because of the fucked-up irony. We had. Somehow. Managed to reach some silent truce. I'd been a fool. I should have fought him last night. Refused him. Now, I'm going to kill him with this Gods-be-damned germ.
My heart choked.
Squeezed with dread. Forced up a welling mass of caustic molten tears that could burn out my eyes and make my nose bleed.
Why? What kind of world mocked the living like this? I just need my mother. Or my sire. Or Hostillian to hold me while I cry. Anything to make the madness end. But all three options are out of the question--just in case Hostillian hasn't caught the germ yet. I can't risk infecting him if he hadn't already volunteered to host the microbe. But his scent is everywhere. So warm and comforting.
The room swayed.
As if to lay me out upon the bedding where I could burrow in deeply and sleep. Sleep. What a wonderful thought. Forget about this insanity…I dug in my heels and leaned backward.
Like it mattered where I crouched atop his mattress. But the wall's relentless bite at my shoulder blades helped me stay awake.
Sleep pulled at my eyelids.
Got to stay awake. Must keep Hostillian away from me. I grabbed his pillow and jammed it between my knees and my head.
At least it smelled like him. I could sob all I wanted silently into the softness and hide my fear. But the despicable germs are still here. Must be. Lurking. Waiting to latch onto my warrior or one of his students. Not if I can help it. I grabbed a fistful of the thick cotton blanket and yanked the long sheet of fabric.
The accursed cloth pulled back with more force than I could muster.
But I won't be the one who lost the battle. Not when I can cover up, try to prevent anyone from inhaling something I exhaled, protect those I can. I twisted and thrust my knees into the bedding and pulled with both hands.
****
By the time I sent the note tied to the hawk's leg, Josie had wrapped herself like a leper and returned to pay homage to her corner. Ridiculously. If she is contagious and the micro
be could infect Shifters, we're already doomed. And, Wolf's little kitten sulking in the corner isn't going to make any of what lay ahead easier. The fever will wage its war inside her. She'd need constant supervision. And I'd gladly give it to her. I reclaimed my seat on the soft mattress near her back. "The hawk's away. Augustus will have the message in hand by sunset."
"Please, go away," she groaned from inside her cocoon.
This dark hulking appearance she'd adopted did anything but suit the alluring beauty I found so inescapable all these years. But it wouldn't drive me away like the warning of a leper's tattered cloak. No. I'd touched, tasted, smelled, and almost-completely conquered Josie in the past twenty-four hours. And if I'm going to die because of my loss of control and allowed Wolf to partake of his little infatuation, I'd do so sitting here with the woman I forbade myself to take for myself for twelve long years. Whether she agreed with anything I just thought or not. Because Josie is synonymous with contradiction. And although she appeared flighty, Hostillian the Guardian, does not. I'll stretch out to wait until she decides to lie down herself. Now where's my pillow?
Well, she'd tossed it. Must have. I scanned the bare walls and floorboards.
No pillow.
Great. The afternoon and night promised a standoff with one of the most stubborn people I'd known on Earth. Fever-stricken or not, she had the determination to win. "What did you do with my pillow?"
"Go away," she insisted with a hoarse voice from inside her bundle.
"I'm not going anywhere, Josie. Now, where's my pillow?"
She squirmed more closely into the Gods-be-damned corner that had somehow won her full attention. "You can't have it back."
Was it buried beneath her shroud? And that would somehow spare me this affliction? Josie is something else with her hatred for me suddenly twisted into the need to protect me. "What are you doing with my pillow?"
Big Bad Beast (Werescape) Page 7