by Candace Colt
In another world, this would be considered odd. Not here.
Hidden from everyone, the only way in was through the portal.
It would be crazy to shift back into human and go through there again. Wouldn't it?
NINETEEN
Clothes had slipped her mind.
After Rachel landed in Echo's herb garden, she shifted back to human. She held her arms out and scanned her body. Fine time to remember she was barefoot and wore a knee-length sleep shirt. One day she'd learn to control her impulses and make better plans.
She could have at least worn flipflops.
But this joyride wasn't supposed to go this long, or this far.
There was no way she would tromp around the woods in the dark. Even with sight better than most humans', she barely saw the pavers. It must be a sign for her to get out of here. She didn't have any business sneaking around Echo's house or even thinking about finding Ian.
She was about to make the shift and get back to the estate when she heard footsteps crunching the leaves behind her.
What the hell?
She managed a semi-whispered, "Hello?"
The footsteps came closer and stopped.
"Echo?" She hoped.
Wishing she had her knife, she turned around. Whoever it was wouldn't take her down without a fight.
But there wasn't anyone behind her. That settled it. She had officially lost her mind.
"Meorowoww."
Rachel slowly dropped her gaze to the ground.
It was Crealde, seated like the palace prince waiting for her to curtsy.
She exhaled a long breath through pursed lips.
"You scared me half to death, silly cat."
He stepped forward and rubbed his head against her calves. His purr was as loud as a lawnmower.
She reached down and scrubbed under his ears. "Buddy, I'm not staying, but it was nice to see you again."
Moonlight reflected off his pure white fur and made him look even larger than she remembered. Too bad only supernaturals saw him. They were missing out.
"Crealde, you are adorable though you are a bit chunky."
His next "meorowoww" resounded off the trees. Rachel automatically shielded her head from possible falling branches.
"Okay. Okay. Keep it down. You want to wake the whole neighborhood?"
Crealde gave a quick body shake she took as a 'no.'
He continued walking ahead of Rachel. After every few steps, he stopped, looked back at her, and waited.
For what? For her to follow? What was the cat up to?
He took a few more steps and looked back at her again. Each time he stopped, he cast light on the path. The darn cat was leading her to the portal.
Half afraid his next howl would topple trees, she followed him. Once they reached the entrance to the clearing, he turned around and sauntered toward the house, never looking back.
This had to be a dream. There was no way she was standing in Echo's garden, barefoot and in a flimsy T-shirt, and led by an invisible cat to a magical opening in the trees.
Dear God. She was going insane.
Her foot slipped off a flagstone, and she stubbed her toe.
The pain was real. She was awake.
Glow-stick Crealde was gone, and she was standing in the dark alone. She should shift and get the heck out of here. Or, go through the portal.
Maybe she should at least peek through and look at the cabin to prove she could do it. She'd come all the way into town. It was still dark. Why not?
She parted the hedge and gingerly stepped through to the clearing. Smoke rose from the cabin's chimney, and there was a faint light coming through the front window.
Why would he be up at this hour?
Well, that was dumb. She was up, wasn't she?
The longer she stared at the cabin, the stronger the sense she was an interloper.
At the same time, she felt compelled to walk closer. This was where Ian lived. His home. She dropped to a crouch and wrapped her arms around her knees. The man had dared to speak his heart. Why had she been so short with him?
Simple. Fear.
Fear of dropping the shroud she wore. Fear of letting someone into her life, and her being a part of theirs. Her life would always be a jumbled mess, but what good reason did she have to live it alone?
Running all over the world hadn't helped her find the peace and acceptance she craved. Never in all her travels had she found a place like Nocturne Falls. Extraordinary people were living ordinary lives. She would like to stay here, and it hurt to think about leaving.
Except when she lived in her parents' home, she never stayed anywhere long. How would she start a life here? What would she do first? Or was it just something a person did without thinking?
It would leave the Fords in a bad place if she left so soon. Solange was a pistol, but the key to success with her was to be two steps ahead. And even if it was bragging, Rachel had picked up on it quick.
And her heart was lost to those twins. Every day was an adventure with them.
Sunrise was a long way off, and Rachel was chilled. Maybe if she sat on the porch a while until she heard him rustling inside. As hot as he kept the place, some heat had to escape somehow.
Walking across the clearing was like walking on silk. There was a path to his cabin, but she chose to stay on the soft, lush grass, pure heaven to her bare feet.
When she reached the porch, she tiptoed up the steps and sat in one of the chairs. She'd been right about it being warmer here. Out of the breeze and cuddled in a ball, she fought to stay awake. She had to pay attention to the sounds inside. If she heard anything, she'd shift and get out of here.
A ray of daylight crossed Rachel's face. She blinked and shook her head. Sunrise? She had to get back to the estate. She wasn't supposed to shift in daylight. Shit.
She threw off the afghan, started to stand, and leaned back.
Afghan?
She cut her eyes from right to left, and slowly turned her head to the open door.
"Good morning," Ian said.
How long had he been standing there? "I can explain." Somehow.
"No need. I came out for wood about an hour ago and found you. Thought you might be chilly. I must say, you travel light."
She looked down at her shirt and bare feet, grabbed the afghan and wrapped it snugly around her.
He came out on the porch and handed her a cup of tea.
"I'm a little embarrassed." She rubbed her stiff neck.
"May I guess? You flew."
She drew her mouth into a side pucker. Good guess.
"I couldn't sleep so I decided to fly around Wolf Creek. One thing lead to another. I was in the air anyway. It was a short trip into town."
She sipped the sweet chai tea and cast a sideways glance at Ian, sitting in a chair next to her. Dressed in slacks and flannel shirt, he was as youthfully fine-looking as men half his age.
"Then you came here?" He asked.
"This place is well hidden. There wasn't a way to fly in." Go ahead, ninny. Spill all your secrets.
"So, you shifted in Echo's garden?"
"What is this? A cross-examination? You're leading the witness."
He chuckled. "I'm sorry. I'm just surprised. Yesterday, I didn't think you wanted to see me again. The next morning, I find you asleep on my porch."
"It doesn't make much sense, does it?"
"Does it have to?"
She tipped her head back and with her eyes to the sky said, "There you go again with questions."
"The last one, I promise. Shouldn't we be thinking about how to get you back to Solange's?"
There was another one.
But she didn't want to leave and miss the sunrise.
"In a bit. I'd like to sit here for a while," she said.
"I'll get us more tea."
With the afghan around her, she sat cross-legged and watched the sun shining th
rough the trees. Soon it would be up, and the day would start. With all the gifted people in this town, couldn't someone make moments like this last longer?
Rachel's fingers lingered around Ian's as she took the cup from him. He was such a gentleman. His parents had raised a fine man. She was sorry not to have met them, or those siblings he talked about.
Odd they had the shared experience of loved ones dying.
"I've been thinking more about yesterday," she said.
"And?"
"You said no more questions?"
He opened his hands. "I believe I should say 'my bad' at this point."
A laugh roiled from her toes upward causing her to choke on a sip of tea.
"Are you okay?"
Another question? The cycle of laughing started again as she nodded.
She wiped laughter tears away and turned to him. "I am so sorry about how I acted yesterday. I was a royal brat. You're the best friend I have in this town. And I don't want to ruin it."
"So, you're staying?"
"Ian, my sides are killing me. Do you realize you have done nothing but ask me questions for the last ten minutes? I was raised by a lawyer who never gave me a direct answer."
"I will rephrase. I understand and accept the apology you don't need to offer. I don't want to ruin what we have either. Finally, I will interpret your statements to mean you are staying in Nocturne Falls after all."
Rachel's eyes opened wide.
Apart from his presumption she was staying, he'd nailed it.
TWENTY
"Well, come on in." Echo opened the screen door to the kitchen.
Dressed and in full makeup at six in the morning, Echo welcomed Ian and Rachel with a crimson-lipped smile.
"Didn't expect to see you two at my back door at this hour. I was about to have breakfast. Won't you join me?" She put two more place settings on the table.
With Ian at her side and the afghan still wrapped around her, Rachel wondered how Echo was so nonchalant. Not even a suspicious stare.
Ian had suggested Echo might have something more suitable for her to wear. Her current state of dress might cause people to come to the wrong conclusion.
She'd hesitated to bother Echo, but now the sun was up and flying was out.
"Ian, granola and whole milk, right?" Echo asked.
"You know me well."
"And Rachel. I have sourdough bread we can toast. I believe you like it with honey butter and cinnamon."
After last night, Rachel didn't even try to guess how Echo Stargazer knew her favorite breakfast. She'd let that and finding out how Crealde led her to the portal, slide for now.
"Where's the cat?" She asked.
"Dead asleep on my bed. He was out all night playing in the full moon. Even at his age, he loves to prowl," Echo said.
Ian and Rachel exchanged glances. And it seemed, so did falcons.
Thankfully, they finished their made-to-order breakfast, along with sliced fruit which Ian consumed with a passion, without any questions from Echo.
Rachel would have found a way to sneak in at least one if a half-dressed woman and a good-looking man showed up at her door.
"I was wondering if you have anything I might wear back to town?" Rachel asked.
"I just might. Jess has a closet full of shoes and clothes in her room she hasn't moved to the Ford house. I'm sure something in there will work. She won't care."
"Mind if I shower, too?"
"Be my guest."
~~~
Once the water started running, Echo turned her attention to Ian. She said nothing and stared at him.
"This is not what you think," he said.
He looked at the bracelet, firmly affixed to her wrist.
"Too bad. I hoped it was." Echo cleared the table.
"I found her on the porch," he offered.
Echo snapped her head back from the sink to Ian. "Really? You found her? Like a stray cat?"
"She went for a night flight and ended up at my place."
"And you wrapped her up and brought her here."
"We watched the sunrise, first."
"And what was second?"
Ian's skin was aflame with embarrassment. "Echo, I'm surprised at you. You know in my culture, we never have relations with a woman before marriage."
She giggled. "Relations? How quaint."
He sat tall in his chair. "The marriage bond is sacred. Besides, we've not exchanged promise rings."
"Tell me you didn't think about it."
Rachel was a most desirable woman. Finding her on his porch this morning was like a gift from the gods. It would have been easy to turn his back on tradition and take her to his bed.
The shower stopped, and they immediately turned their conversation to something else.
"I haven't seen Elle around. Is she okay?" Echo asked.
"I have no idea. I haven't seen her either since we had a bit of a row." And he'd kicked her out. She was probably holed up in the woods, still pouting.
"A row, you say? Can I guess what, or who, it was about?"
Ian waved his hands at Echo. "Shhh, please. I hear footsteps. She doesn't know about Elle."
"How long do you think that will last?" Echo's raspy whisper was as loud as her speaking voice.
Ian was about to speak, but his words disappeared into vapor. Rachel's transformation was stunning.
She wore a sleeveless sundress patterned in pink and yellow flowers. And toeless sandals.
Echo folded her hands over her stomach and gave Rachel an approving nod. "You're lovely. I've been wondering how you'd look without the whole black thing. Now I know. Ian, what do you think?"
He'd stopped breathing two minutes ago. And it took a breath to speak.
"Ian?" Echo asked again.
"Yes. Very nice." Couldn't he find something better to say? What was wrong with him? She was as beautiful and fresh as the morning sunrise had been.
And she was testing his resolve more than any woman had before.
"I'm not used to dresses. I feel funny in it," Rachel said.
"You don't look funny at all," Echo said. "I like it."
Rachel caught Ian's eye.
He took a breath and fought to look away from her. "We should be going."
~~
Rachel hopped into the pickup's passenger seat and lifted her butt to smooth down the bottom of her skirt. This was so not her style. The last time she wore a party dress was junior prom night, the fiasco of fiascos.
It was so hard to sit like a lady while wearing this get up. But it was about the only thing of Jess's that fit.
She'd hoped for a little more positive reaction than Ian's half dozen words about her wearing a dress. He probably thought she looked goofy and was too polite to say anything. The more time she spent with him, the more fascinating he was to her. Like the ocean on a calm day, he was quiet on the surface. But underneath held deep and mysterious secrets.
It would take a lifetime to know him well.
Rachel pointed to her outfit. "How do you suppose I explain this?"
"It never hurts to tell the truth."
"Did Echo give you the third degree after I left?"
"Only the second degree before I stopped her. I'm afraid she held a notion we did more than watch the sunrise."
Rachel watched out the window as the trees blurred into one long montage. "Would more have been bad?"
God, a major filter-fail once again. Had she said her thought out loud?
He downshifted and made the last turn toward Wolf Creek. Maybe he hadn't heard her.
At the gate, he punched in the code. After a long silence, he turned to her.
"Dearest Rachel, making love to you would never be bad."
TWENTY-ONE
The gate swung shut.
Rachel pointed toward the iron bars, shut in front of them.
"Uh, Ian," she said.
He reached out
the window and punched the code again and drove through after it opened.
"My apologies," he said.
She hoped it was for the gate closing, and not for what he's said, though it had stirred a colony of butterflies in her stomach.
When they arrived at the Ford mansion, Ian glanced around the grounds and the building.
"They expect me here to help with the children. If you go around the back way, you might avoid a lengthy explanation. And they'll think you were here all along. I can return the dress to Echo later."
She was tired of sneaking around. She wasn't ashamed of being with Ian nor about shifting last night. So, nothing embarrassing to explain. She'd thank Jess for the use of the dress, and start the day.
"Why can't we just go in the front door together?"
"Wait." He reached for her hand. "Aren't you worried what they might think?"
"Nope. Are you?"
Delight beamed from his eyes. "As you say, nope."
Ian came around to her door and held her hand to assist her exit.
She giggled. "It must be the dress."
He bowed. "As lovely as the lady wearing it."
Oh, this was all too sweet, but Rachel lapped up every drop. She might have to invest in a dress or two. No. Just one. Maybe. But this chivalry thing was fun, particularly with Ian who honestly meant it.
They stood on the front porch, poised to enter. Was a woodpecker in the trees, or was her heart racing in her chest?
"I feel like we're coming home from a date." Would he take the hint?
"I'm learning modern conventions, but isn't it customary to give one's date a good night kiss?"
"It's not night."
He scooped her into his arms. His warm breath glided over her moist lips. "Good morning kiss?"
Her words drowned as his mouth devoured hers. His hungry tongue was anxious to finish the dance they'd started before.
Her body thrummed. She felt as though she was riding a roller coaster, held in her seat by his arms.
He broke the kiss. Did it mean the ride had ended? Or was it the heart-stopping pause at the top, right before momentum dropped them down the last steep, screaming slope? If she had anything to say about it, they would soon go full throttle and resume speed.
"I think we should go in," he said.