by Bonnie Vanak
“This place, it calls to me. There’s something about it, so serene and yet riddled with memory.”
“You shifted into wolf to try recovering those memories,” he said gently.
“It hasn’t worked in Fae or human form. In my dreams, I see this lake, hear the wind pushing at the tree limbs. I’ve known this place a long time.” She looked up, and her anguish cut him like a hot blade. “A place of serenity and violence. Something terrible happened here long ago. And I can’t remember anything. Tim came here, as well, but never shared anything with me.”
After removing the purse from her backpack, she set it on her lap and concentrated. A few minutes later, she opened her eyes. “Nothing still. Maybe there’s something here that Tim left that can help. Something he touched, that I can touch and channel his energy.”
She paused, her eyes huge and beseeching. “Matt…I need your help, as wolf, your sense of scent. Can you please shift and search? I don’t know if you recall his scent…”
“I remember,” he said shortly.
Never would he forget the traitor’s scent. It was stamped into his mind like a brand.
The change came swiftly, man to wolf. The breeze drifting over the lake ruffled his thick fur. He pawed at the ground, senses exploding with awareness. The earthy scent of animals hiding in the brush a mile away, decaying vegetation. He concentrated, pushing aside the scents, digging beneath the layers. Tail pointed straight out, chest thrown out, muzzle to the snowcapped mountains, he inhaled.
Smelled pure, white magick, mingled with dark. Yet overriding it was a dark scent, tainted and foul. He caught Tim’s scent, but out in the lake. Odd.
Near the shore, a small granite boulder sat in the frigid water. Matt leaped from the shore to the rock, paws scrabbling for purchase on the slippery surface. The Tim scent was stronger here.
Something else as well was present. Faint and masked partly by bird droppings and mud.
Blood.
He drew his nose closer and studied a thin streak that blended into the natural red striations of the rock.
Something died here violently, fought for its life and fought hard. Trace elements of old magick lingered in the stone. Powerful magick to have survived this long. Like a marker.
He gazed into the clear water. Seemed normal, unthreatening. Only one way to tell.
Matt jumped in.
“Wait,” she cried out. “It’s freezing.”
Intent on searching for clues, he pawed through the muck, silt muddying the clear water. The frigid water bit through the thick layer of muscle and fur. But the cold to a wolf was nothing compared to hours in the Pacific in human form he’d endured during BUD/S training.
Concentration at maximum, he focused on the objects buried in the mud. Something was down there, and he’d find it. He pawed furiously, spraying droplets and mud over his muzzle, his fur, the rock surface.
Then, something solid. Not a rock. Very carefully, he loosened the object with a paw.
Bracing himself, he shifted into human form. Needles of ice stung his naked skin as the wind howled down the mountain. Teeth chattering, he dug into the soft muck and pulled free the object.
Matt lifted it out. Hard and yet porous. Water cascaded from one end, plunking like raindrops into the lake. Covered with a layer of fine grit and silt, it was small, but unmistakable.
A human bone.
* * *
Sienna threw a wool blanket over Matt’s shaking shoulders. The temperature dropped as the sun began to slide downward into the ice-capped mountains.
If she didn’t get him warmed soon, he’d slip into severe hypothermia.
Yet he seemed steady on his feet, no sign of the disorientation or the wobbly muscles. Matt grimly marched down the dirt pathway, clutching his backpack, now hiding the object he’d retrieved from the lake.
He didn’t show her what it was. She was afraid to find out. Anxiety coursed through her as she followed him down the path. Dark secrets lived in the lake. Matt had just unearthed one.
The icy wind cut like a knife. Sienna knew the land, didn’t fear it, but this wind mocked and howled, as if whatever Matt found had unleashed dark forces.
A branch overhanging the path slapped her face, bringing hot tears to her eyes. She heard an eerie sound, like a low cackle. Enough of this.
She turned, facing the winding pathway leading to the lake. The wind was howling with a banshee cry, sending grit and dirt into her eyes. Tree limbs snapped, flying toward her.
Sienna dodged them and held out her hands. She closed her eyes and spoke the ancient Sidhe words to calm the weather, restore peace to the land. But the words were a babble now, their cadence not lyrical, but a stutter.
The wind still howled, an angry vibration humming in the air. Matt frowned. “Let’s go. It’s not safe here, pixie.”
But it was. She wasn’t sure why.
Sienna held up a hand. “Please,” she told the wind. “Stop. Be at peace. I will find what happened here.”
The wind began to die. And then she heard a faint whisper coming from the direction of the lake, echoing through the valley in a ghostly whisper.
“Sienna. My beloved.”
* * *
“Are you all right?” Matt asked as he came into the living room. The hot shower had felt good and finally warmed him.
“Did you hear it? Someone called my name on the path,” Sienna said. She’d changed, as well, and was now wearing the long, flowing dress of the Fae, her hair pinned up in a severe twist. Armor, he realized. A defense mechanism.
He shook his head. “All I heard was the wind, and then you calmed it.”
“Maybe it was an ancient Fae spirit, watching over the land.” She rubbed her cheeks. “What’s up there, Matt? What did you find?”
“Let’s sit at the table.” When they did, he unwrapped the bone.
Blood drained from her face. “A human bone.”
“Part of a hand. It’s been buried there for a long, long time.”
“I don’t understand. This mountain, and the valley, they’ve been Fae territory for over two hundred years. Are you saying someone got murdered and the body was dumped in the lake?”
Matt covered the bone with the napkin. “Not a human. Someone who was in human form when they were killed. Or they shifted back to their human form just as they died. Maybe as a message.”
“A Fae? One of my people?” Sienna shook her head. “Aunt Chloe would have known of it. She would have buried the body and cast a cleansing spell on the lake.”
Matt intensely disliked Sienna’s aunt. What kind of ruler kicked out an innocent because of her mixed blood? The woman wasn’t a Fae, but a witch. The Hollywood kind that rode broomsticks and cackled.
“Tell me about the lake. How long has it been since anyone but you visited?”
She tilted her head. “Longer than I can remember. The Fae said it was a sacred place, but never went there. Maybe because it was outside their colony.”
“Or too damn hard to climb up that path in those fussy robes.”
The joke failed to coax a smile from her. “What’s going on, Matt? You felt it, as well. Something’s at the lake, dark and ancient.”
“Someone lost their life up there, and the residual energy, combined with the long-buried magick, surfaced when you went there.”
“I haven’t been to that lake since I was shunned from the community.”
Things were starting to make sense. “Most paranorms come into full power when they turn twenty-one. Maybe whatever is buried up there reacted to your powers.”
“Or maybe it’s part of a memory I’m starting to regain.”
Their gazes caught and held. In hers he saw a flare of hope mixed with deep worry.
“What if I can’t recall this memory, Matt? What if it’s something I don’t want to recall because it has something to do with…” she pointed at the bone “…this?”
The only way was to pull that memory free. Remembering the nightmare she
’d suffered in New Orleans, he hated the idea, but perhaps it might work.
Matt gathered her hands into his. “Sienna, I can help. I’m a telepath. If you’ll allow it, I’ll go into your mind and pull these memories free.”
Her skin felt cool beneath his palms. “Invade my mind?”
“It won’t hurt. I won’t try unless you give me permission.”
Her gaze darted around the room like a hummingbird. “You’ll pry into my memories. All of them. What if you find something dark?”
“I won’t change your memories, Sienna. Only free them.”
Tension knotted her body as a trickle of perspiration beaded her temples. Damn, this wasn’t turning out as he’d hoped. “It’s not easy, I know. But it’s the only way to find out what happened. Do you trust me?”
When she nodded, they settled on the sofa. Her eyes were huge and anxious. Gently he closed them with his palm.
“Just relax. Think of something pleasant and soothing.”
Matt laid a hand on her forehead, keeping contact. He tunneled into her mind, connecting their thoughts, and saw them last night on the bed, tumbling together in erotic abandonment.
Then he pushed on, deeper and deeper, digging out her years like a miner with a shovel, tunneling deeper until he met with a dark dead end. A wall, solid as granite.
With extreme care, he pushed at the wall, seeing glints of light. He picked at the fragmented edges, and then saw another glimmer of light.
Burning orange, flames, the intense heat seared him, it was growing closer, it was…
“No!”
Tears streamed down her cheeks. Matt pulled out.
“It’s okay,” he soothed. He gathered her close, rocking her against him.
For a few minutes he held her, until she pushed away. A wildness surged in her eyes, and she seemed almost panicked.
“I have to get out of here. It’s too much. Let me go, I need air.”
He shook his head. “It’s not safe out there, Sienna. Not alone. You need to walk and get air. I’ll go with you.”
“No. I don’t want you with me. I have to be alone. You were there…inside my mind.” She gulped down a breath. “I just need to walk, feel free. Let me go, Matt.”
He thought of what he’d seen last night. “Until I find out what’s happening with your people, you’re not setting foot outside the cabin alone.”
Blood drained from her face. “You can’t be serious. I know these woods, these people. When you were in my mind…it was as if I were wolf.”
“Is that such a bad thing?”
“It is for me.”
“Are you saying that because you’re scared of what happened when we made love?” he asked quietly.
Her lovely mouth wobbled. “Last night was so…wonderful. You’re an incredible lover. I’ll always cherish the memory of making love with you. I’ve never felt like that before. But you’re…”
The look said it all.
Matt checked his irritation. “I’d never harm you, Sienna.”
She didn’t answer, but her gaze darted to the bedroom door. “Maybe we should walk. I’ll get my coat.”
As she went into the bedroom, his cell rang. Great timing.
It was his C.O. Matt explained about the Orb. His heart dropped to his stomach as he listened to Curt. Report back to base in twenty-four hours and bring the purse with him if he couldn’t uncloak the Orb. They’d destroy the purse.
The orders were from top brass. Entire squad was on standby. No specifics, but it had to do with intel regarding the missing explosives, the Semtex smuggled out from Libya, and homegrown terrorists planning to blow up a civilian compound.
They were navy SEALs first, paranorms second.
Matt hung up and heard a distinct thump. He glanced out the window to see Sienna racing away from the cabin. Damn it!
A possessive growl rumbled from his chest. Wolf clawed to the surface. He tried to repress it, calling on his icy control, but it spilled past, rumbling like a volcano. It was this forest, the wildness, the heady scent of Sienna in his nostrils, the quivering need inside him to mate and claim.
The calm and levelheaded SEAL vanished, pushed aside by the male werewolf who scented his headstrong and stubborn female endangering herself. Matt bounded out of the cabin, shifting as he ran.
Chapter 16
Sienna had to get away. From Matt. She felt invaded, dominated by the powerful Draicon. In danger of losing her identity.
You’re a coward, a small voice taunted. Running from the best thing that’s ever happened to you.
But she needed space, needed to break free. Running, Sienna followed a trail through the heather until she reached the open plain. Pine and yellow aspen flanked the edge. This had been a favorite place as a child. She loved to sit here, entranced by the quietness of the mountains rising like ancient guardians of the forest and its inhabitants.
The granite boulder was still there. A cool wind teased her hair, ruffling the hem of her gown. Sienna sat, hugging her knees.
The forest was the same, yet different. She couldn’t place it.
It no longer welcomed her, felt like home. Something dark tainted the land, or perhaps it was her. She was no longer the same.
I don’t know where I belong anymore.
The thought pierced her like a steel blade. A physical ache began in her chest. Sienna rested her cheek against her knees, lost and alone. Just like the day when her aunt had gently, but firmly, ordered her out of the colony.
You do not belong to our people any longer. The time has come for you to find your own way, my beloved daughter of our spirit.
Thanks, O Mighty Ruler. Say, can you give me some postage-paid envelopes so I can drop a line and let you know I’m still alive and kicking?
Not that you give a damn.
A dirt trail wended through the flat meadow, flanked by thick pines. Her senses pricked with awareness. Undergrowth rustled. A large timber wolf stood in the path. Her stomach churned with anxiety as the wolf bared its teeth, threw its chest out, its tail standing straight.
Its dark gaze locked on to hers, and then he growled. The sound was unmistakable. Mine. Maintaining that proud, arrogant stance.
She’d run away from Matt. And he was very angry.
Sienna’s palms flattened against the rock.
Suddenly the wolf stopped. Sparks floated in the air. In the wolf’s place stood a man, more than six feet tall. Wind ruffled his thick, dark hair. He was naked.
Emotion glittered in his blue eyes.
“You’re mine,” Matt said softly. “You won’t run from me again, Sienna. Understand?”
Dry-throated, she could only manage a nod. Arousal pumped through her as she gazed at him, the proud, straight limbs, the wide shoulders and chest. Sweat glistened on his muscles. A powerful man whose concern was for her and her safety.
No Fae ever made her feel this wild yearning. No Fae ever sent heat spiraling through her, making her center moist and ready for him. Only this Draicon did, with his spicy scent and the hard edge of sexuality, sharp as a knife blade.
Matt’s nostrils flared. He’d caught the scent of her arousal. From the nest of thick, dark hair at his groin, his erection jutted out as stiff as a thick tree limb.
Sienna trembled with sexual anticipation.
This time, there would be no turning back. Wolf that he was, he would hunt her down like prey until he claimed her, naked and writhing with pleasure beneath him. A wildness flowed from him, intensified by the rawness of the land.
Intent smoldered in his steely gaze. He crossed the distance between them and leaned forward, caging her with his strong arms.
Breathing heavily, he looked as wild as the mountains ringing them. Tension threaded through his body.
“You said you don’t belong anywhere. No one will accept you, Fae or Draicon. I’m telling you now, you do belong. With me. I don’t give a damn about your origins, your bloodlines. Your people. They don’t matter. All I care about is
you.”
Thickness lodged in her throat at the blazing sincerity of his declaration. At the raw emotion etched on his harsh features.
“The wolf inside me wants to mate. But the man just wants to love and cherish you.”
Matt pushed a hand through his thick hair.
“Every time I catch your scent, it drives me crazy. All I can think about is you. I don’t care what you are—Fae, Draicon—hell, all I care about is who you are, Sienna. My Sienna.”
Captivated, she stared at his mouth, the firmness of his jaw, the dark stubble shadowing his cheeks.
“Love me. I need you.” Sienna slid a palm over his stubbled cheek.
As she lifted her mouth in total surrender, he caught her in a powerful embrace. The kiss was brutal, savage, and she welcomed it, sliding her arms around his neck to draw him closer. His mouth worked over hers savagely, his tongue thrusting deep inside as his hands slid down the small of her back, cupping her bottom. Matt lifted her skirts, his hands sliding between her legs, and made a growling sound of approval at finding her naked and wet for him.
For all his need, he was gentle as he lowered her to the rock, pushing up her skirts. He mounted her, catching her wrists in his hands as he settled his hips between her opened legs.
“Now,” he said thickly, and pushed forward.
A gasp fell from her parted lips as the head of his penis made contact. He was hard as steel, soft as velvet. He nudged farther inside, his gaze locked to hers as cool air flowed over their bodies. She laced her fingers through his, holding on to him. Wildness flared in his blue eyes as he thrust hard. He lifted her and changed his position, angling his thrusts. Heat built inside her, a gathering tension. Tightening her fingers through his, she stared at him gazing fiercely down at her. The tension wound higher and higher as she wrapped her thighs around his pounding hips.
Her cries of release echoed through the meadow. Matt growled, arching as he spilled himself deep inside her. Wild emotions raced through her, a kaleidoscope of thoughts spinning past…
Gotta make it good for her, damn, she’s tight, so good, so good, my Sienna…
Then the thoughts faded, along with the warmth. She felt emptied and drained, and oddly alone. Matt pulled out and glanced down ruefully.