by Неизвестный
An involuntary shudder went through him. Was it already too late to make a clean break? Had he already bonded with her?
A few weeks ago, that thought wouldn’t have entered his mind; now the question made his throat tighten.
He didn’t want it to be true. He wouldn’t let it be true—if he had a choice. Which meant he should tell her to leave.
As the circular reasoning wheeled in his head, he kept his gaze fixed on her face. While she slept, he could do some prowling around—first on the Internet.
In his office, he went to Google and looked up “Kenna Thomas.” There were several women with that name. A jewelry designer. A financial expert. A psychologist. None of them sounded like they could be the woman sleeping down the hall. According to their biographies, all of them fit too well into the modern world, while the Kenna Thomas he knew was like a time traveler.
But he had another way to get some information. She’d had a backpack with her when he’d rescued her from the tree. He could go out there and get it and see what was inside.
After shutting off the computer, he walked to the front door and slipped outside.
The scent of the fire hung heavy in the air, but there was something else, too. Something that seemed familiar yet at the same time didn’t belong in this part of the woods.
He stood for several moments, breathing in the foreign smell. Did it have something to do with Kenna? Had someone followed her here or come with her?
OUT in the darkness, Mitch tensed when he saw Marshall step onto the porch. What the fuck is he doing now?
Mitch froze, waiting to see what would happen. When the guy walked in the other direction, he breathed out a sigh. Maybe this wasn’t the best time to stake out the bastard’s place.
He took a step back, then another, thinking he’d get the hell out of there and come back another time.
AFTER stepping into the circle of pines, Talon stared up at the stars, thinking that his long-ago ancestor had viewed the same sky. The ancestor had asked the Druid gods for powers that no men possessed and gotten more than he had bargained for.
He’d gained the ability to change himself from a human to an animal of the forest. Gained it for himself and his sons—and all the Marshall men down through the ages. But they’d paid a terrible price for the gift. Girl babies born to the clan died at birth. And half the boys died the first time they changed to wolf form.
Talon knew there was new hope for the Marshalls. His cousin Ross had married a doctor who specialized in genetics—and she had changed the equation.
Like all Marshall men who hadn’t yet bonded, Talon didn’t spend a lot of time with his relatives, but Mom had made sure he knew that Ross and Megan had a daughter, the first girl born to a Marshall since that long-ago Druid priest had changed the lives of his family.
The thought of Ross made him pause. He also knew from his infrequent conversations with Mom that a lot of the cousins were getting together. That is, the ones who were already settled down with their life mates.
He wasn’t interested in joining that happy group, but he’d also heard that Ross had been very helpful to the clan, particularly in his private detective role. Maybe he could figure out who Kenna Thomas really was.
Yeah, he might give Ross a call, but obviously not in the middle of the night. That didn’t stop him from doing some sniffing around on his own, starting with the knapsack, which might yield some clues to her background.
In a low voice, he began to say the chant that changed him from man to wolf. Once again, the muscle and sinew of his body changed. Thick fur sprang up on his skin, and when he came down on all fours, he was an animal of the night. Slipping through the pines, he started toward the place where the fire had been burning.
BEFORE Mitch could make a getaway, a huge sucker of a dog came bounding out of the darkness, heading right for him. Like it was going to have him for dinner.
Shit!
Just what he needed.
In a panic, he pulled out the revolver stuffed in his belt and fired at the beast.
A shot rang out in the darkness, the bullet whizzing by Talon. As he dodged to the side, another report followed.
What the hell?
He slithered on his belly, working his way into the leaves of the fallen tree, keeping down as he made his way in the direction from which the slug had come.
Had the shooter seen the wolf? Maybe. Or had he been hoping to get Talon Marshall?
KENNA sat bolt upright in bed. A sharp sound had awakened her. While she was deciding if it was part of a bad dream, it came again.
From outside?
She was too off balance to know, and she wasn’t sure what she was hearing, although she suspected it might be something dangerous. It had been loud, like a bolt of thunder, but different. Something that wasn’t natural.
She had gone to bed in her clothing, so she was fully dressed when she leaped out of bed, except for her wet sandals, which were in the bathroom.
“Talon?” she called out as she ran barefoot into the hall. “Talon?”
When he didn’t answer, fear for him made her heart thump inside her chest. In truth, she hardly knew him, yet he had become important to her in a very short time.
Standing stock-still, she listened. When she heard nothing in the house, she hurried toward the front door and threw it open. In the light from the moon, she saw the wolf streaking across the open space between the house and the woods.
As the animal disappeared from view, she stepped onto the porch, scanning the nighttime scene.
From the woods, she heard the sound of pounding feet. Still the wolf? Maybe. But something else, too?
Then a louder noise—like a giant clearing his throat—drowned out the other sounds.
Moments later, she heard the grinding of gravel under the wheels of . . . a cart with a heavy load? Then the night was still again.
Her heart was still pounding as she strained her eyes to find out what was happening.
“Talon?” she called, hearing the high-pitched sound of her own voice. “Talon, are you out here? Are you all right?”
He didn’t answer, but the wolf came trotting toward her and stopped short when he saw her on the porch. For a long moment, they confronted each other from a dozen yards away before he turned and disappeared into the darkness again.
She was afraid to stay outside. Yet she couldn’t move from the spot, either.
“Talon?”
This time he answered as he strode out of the woods, hurrying toward her. “Yes?”
She stared at him, taking in the details. His hair was mussed. And his shoes were missing.
“You’re barefoot,” she whispered.
He looked at her feet. “So are you.”
She answered with a little nod. “Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
Unable to stay where she was, she dashed down the steps and ran toward him. When she reached him, she threw her arms around him.
She had kissed him before, and she wanted to do that now, but she couldn’t allow herself that pleasure—not after the way the two of them had burst into flames the last time. Still, because she didn’t want to let him go, she held on tight, her arms around his waist and her face pressed to his broad chest as she leaned into the solid strength of his body and listened to the pounding of his heart.
When his arms came up to clasp her, she breathed out a sigh, absorbing his warmth.
“What are you doing out here?” he asked, his voice gritty.
“I heard . . .” Her voice trailed off, and she started again. “I don’t know what it was. Then I saw the wolf. Did he go after you?”
“He’s a friend of mine,” he clipped out, his tone making clear that he didn’t want to talk about the animal.
She nodded against his chest because Talon Marshall wasn’t going to take advice from her. There was no point in protesting that having a wolf for a friend was dangerous. Instead she asked, “What were the loud noises I heard?”
“From a firearm?” she asked.
His hand tightened on her shoulder. “Yeah.”
“Someone tried to kill you?” she asked.
“They tried to kill the wolf, I think. But I don’t know for sure. I ran after the guy, but he drove away.”
“You know it was a man?”
“I’m guessing.”
“The other sound I heard,” she murmured. “That was the vehicle?”
“Pickup truck. I saw it speeding down the road. Too bad I couldn’t get the license number.”
She nodded again, not understanding what “pickup truck” meant and wondering about the license number. Earlier, he’d asked if she had a driver’s license. Did he think she would have a car or a truck? The only thing she knew for sure was that something dangerous had happened.
“You shouldn’t have come outside,” he said in a rough voice. “You could have gotten hurt.”
She shivered and burrowed more tightly against him. “I was worried about you.”
“I’m fine.”
“Why were you out here?” she asked.
He paused for a moment before saying, “I was going to get your knapsack.”
“My carry bag?”
“Yeah.”
She stiffened in his arms as she thought about the bag. Someone had brought it back to Vandar’s community from this world. But the contents were another matter. What would he think of them?
She did a quick inventory in her mind. She had a change of clothing. Bread and cheese wrapped in a tanned animal skin. A knife that would probably look primitive to anyone from this universe. A talisman that she had been ordered to keep with her. And some gold beads that she could use if she needed to pay for something.
As she tried to remember everything in the . . . knapsack, her hands clenched into fists. Why was that word so hard to remember?
She liked Talon Marshall—very much. She didn’t like the idea of him seeing all the things she’d brought with her and wondering what they meant. She wanted to tell him, but as the words rose in her throat, pain shimmered inside her head and she knew it would get worse, much worse if she tried to reveal her secret.
Was there some way she could get around the pain? She wanted to, but she’d have to figure out how to do it.
CHAPTER TEN
TALON WATCHED KENNA’Sface. He was sure she had started to say something, then changed her mind.
“I’d better go back to bed,” she said.
“Yes.”
She turned and walked quickly back to the house. With the warmth of her body gone from the front of him, he felt suddenly cold.
He wanted to run after her and pull her into his embrace again, but he stayed where he was. At the same time, he wanted to go back and pick up the knapsack he’d come out here to get.
But he knew that could be dangerous—with someone out there armed and reckless.
Who? They’d driven away, but they could come sneaking back.
Talon walked to the front door, staring out into the night before stepping back into the house and closing the door. Standing in the darkened living room, he considered what had happened.
For a werewolf, he was pretty good at dealing with people, but over the years, he’d inevitably had some run-ins with clients—men who had gone on various trips with him and hadn’t fit into the group or followed directions.
He’d been on a rock-climbing expedition at the Break-neck Bridge area of McConnells Mill State Park a few months ago when one of the guys, Barry Montgomery, had insisted on going down the trail to urinate. The guy had tumbled partway down a cliff, and Talon and the rest of the men had kept him from breaking his neck. Montgomery had been mad as hell, and he’d threatened to sue because Talon had taken him to a dangerous location. Nothing had come of it, and Talon had written off the incident. Was Montgomery stupid enough to come here with a gun?
He’d thought the guy was more bluster than bite. Maybe it was worth checking up on him. And who else was mad enough to come here half-cocked?
Of course, there was a difference between a guy who would shoot at a man and one who would shoot at an animal.
As he turned that over in his mind, the recent incident with the box in the woods leaped into his mind.
Someone had buried that money. Did they know who had found it and turned it into the cops? If so, how?
Perhaps he should have asked the state police a few more questions. Or perhaps not. And did he want them out here investigating tonight’s incident? Maybe a werewolf could take care of it on his own by identifying the shooter and ripping out his throat.
That route had a lot of appeal, although he’d better think about it before he let his savage nature take over.
He looked down the hall, toward the room where Kenna had disappeared. How would she react if he brought up the subject of the police? And what would it mean? That she was here to spy on him? Or that she didn’t want to run into the authorities?
With a sigh, he headed for his room, determined to get up early and retrieve the knapsack.
FOR a while after Kenna woke, she had no idea where she was. Then it came back to her. The portal, the storm, Talon Marshall.
Her throat tightened. She was here, in the other universe, but she didn’t know how she was going to carry out the impossible job Vandar had assigned her. Because even with his powers, he had no idea what this world was really like. He should come through the portal and find out for himself, but it was clear he would rather have a slave take the risk.
Closing her eyes, she said a little prayer to the Great Mother asking for strength.
“Help me,” she whispered. Then she dared to say what was in her heart. “Help me break away from Vandar. Help me find a way not to betray Talon Marshall.”
She waited with her heart pounding, waited for the pain inside her head. Apparently, she hadn’t stepped over the line.
How far could she go? A wayward thought stole into her mind, and she dared consider the subversive idea. Perhaps, if she was careful, she could erect a wall in her mind, a wall that would keep Vandar out.
But this morning she had something else to do, if it wasn’t too late.
Slipping out of bed, she hurried to the window and pulled the shade aside, noting that it was still early. Could she get to the knapsack before Talon Marshall found it?
After using the bathroom, she picked up her sandals and tiptoed down the hallway. Not until she was on the front porch did she put the sandals on.
She’d come here at night, and she’d been shaken up by her rude introduction to this world. This morning, she was seeing Talon’s home in daylight. At the side of the house was something she hadn’t noticed in the dark. One of the horseless carriages. She had seen pictures of them, but this was the first one she had encountered up close. They were called cars, but the simple word did nothing to convey the imposing appearance.
Bright silver, large and sleek, it was nothing like a horse-drawn wagon. She tiptoed over to it and ran her hand over the smooth surface. It was cool and hard to the touch, and the riding compartment was completely enclosed by doors and windows. Inside she saw comfortable seats and an array of dials and other mysterious instruments under the front window. There was a wheel in front of one of the seats, and she could only guess at its purpose.
Yesterday Talon Marshall had asked if she had a driver’s license. A license to operate this thing? She guessed it would be hard to get one.
Looking away from the car, she saw a one-story building with no windows and a large bank of doors in front. After taking twenty steps toward it, she turned around and looked at the house.
It was made of stone and wood, and her breath caught as she stared at the long, low structure with the large windows that brought the outside in. The style was nothing like any dwelling she’d ever seen in Breezewood, but she admired the simplicity and the beauty of the design.
She drank in the sight, marveling that this home sat alone in the mid
dle of the woods. Apparently, Talon wasn’t worried about soldiers or the police attacking. Of course, there had been the shots in the dark last night. But Talon had seemed surprised by the incident.
Sighing, she turned away from the house and hurried toward the woods, stopping when she reached the area where the giant tree had gone down. She didn’t know what kind it was because she had encountered few trees in her life. She only saw that it was big and that it could easily have crushed her.
Beyond it was a blackened patch where the fire had burned. Thank the gods Talon Marshall had put it out before it had reached the place where she was pinned.
After contemplating her narrow escape, she took a deep breath and clambered into the branches. But she was coming at the tree from a different angle, and she wasn’t sure where she’d been when the monster had pinned her.
Frantically, she began to search among the branches, looking for the place where she’d been lying, but there were so many leaves that she couldn’t find the right spot.
The need to hurry made her clumsy, and she tripped over a bough, sprawling in a tangle of leaves. Picking herself up, she wormed her way farther into the mass of limbs and leaves, sweeping debris aside as she searched for the knapsack.
“Looking for something?”
She jumped, losing her balance. She would have fallen off the branch she was on if a strong male hand hadn’t whipped out and caught her arm. As the hand steadied her, she twisted around to stare into Talon Marshall’s face. Although his expression gave nothing away, she was sure that he was wondering why she had come out here so early in the morning.
“I was looking for my carry bag.”
“Why?”
“I wanted to change my clothes.”
He tipped his head to one side, regarding her. “The clothes you had on are still wet?”
She hadn’t even checked the jeans and shirt in the bathroom, so she raised one shoulder.
“Let me help you find the knapsack.”