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“That’s why it’s imperative that we never mate outside The Colony. Your dad broke that rule. He saw your mom in a bordering town and fell instantly in love. He was lost from that moment forward. I promised him the day he left that if you changed, if you started your transformation, I would find you and I would bring you home safely.”
She leaned back in the booth. “You realize how crazy all this sounds, right?”
“Yes.”
“So according to you, I’m changing into some kind of demon hybrid and soon I will no longer be human?”
He nodded. “That’s about it in a nutshell.”
She slid out of the booth and stood. “Great meeting you, Jason.”
“I understand how this all sounds.”
“Do you?” She leaned in close to him. “And what about you, Jason? Are you some kind of demon? Are you not human, too?”
He placed a room key on the table and slid it toward her. “We’re both tired. Get some rest. We’ll talk more in the morning. You’re in room fifteen. I’ll be right next door if you need me.”
“Don’t worry,” she said, snatching up the key. “I won’t.”
* * *
Shay put on her jammies and climbed into bed as Buddy settled himself onto the floor next to her. “Everything is going to be all right,” she whispered to her dog. But was it? She had no clue what she was going to do. How could she believe a word Jason had said? It was crazy, and yet, somehow everything he’d said fit. He knew what she’d been going through with the colors and the sounds, and he’d said she wasn’t the only one. The burden lifted off her by his words was substantial. She didn’t have a tumor, benign or otherwise. She wasn’t going crazy. She was just going through some kind of change.
But into a demon? How could he expect her to believe that? She switched off the light and touched the necklace around her neck. If any of this was true, why hadn’t her father told her? Why hadn’t her mother? Both had died when she was so young. First her father from a freak accident in which he’d fallen off the cliffs into the Pacific, and then her mother, killed by a drunk driver. Maybe they meant to tell her, but never got the chance. Maybe there was nothing to tell because it was all crazy.
She had no idea how much time had passed when she woke to darkness. She was dripping with sweat and wrapped in a wet sheet. Pain sliced across her middle. She groaned, bending over, cradling her stomach as images of the forest flashed through her mind. She could smell the damp earth, thick and musky in her nose, could feel the power in her legs stretching out beneath her, carrying her fast through the night as she chased after the acrid scent of fear from a scurrying rabbit.
She screamed as another sharp pain sliced through her insides. The images came quicker, the outlines of the ferns and the Douglas firs were easy to distinguish by the light of the moon. Even though it was dark, details were so much easier to see as her vision sharpened into focus.
Her breathing, rough and ragged, scraped across the inside of her throat. She moaned, curling up into a ball, bunching the damp sheets in her sweaty palms. The door connecting her room with the one next door burst open. On the outskirts of her peripheral vision she saw Jason hurry toward her. The bed sagged as he sat next to her.
“Here, eat this,” he said, thrusting a large piece of jerky into her hand. “It’s venison.”
“I can’t.” She pushed it away as pain seared her insides. “I feel like I’m being ripped in two.”
“I know, I went through it, too. We all did. I just thought we’d have more time before you would. You need the protein. Eat it,” he demanded.
“No!” Her mouth was dry and filled with grit, there was no way she’d be able to swallow it. And even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to keep it down.
“Sorry.” He pushed the meat into her mouth. The woodsy flavor exploded across her tongue. She barely had it chewed before she was swallowing and greedily reaching for more.
He placed another piece between her lips. “No more salads for you. Not for a while.”
“I love salads,” she said weakly then cried out again as another surge swept through her. Her body temperature spiked, and she hung weakly on to Jason’s arm, riding the wave of torment.
“Your body is changing. You need to give it extra fuel. Only protein from now on.”
“Okay,” she whispered, knowing she’d promise anything if he could only make the pain stop.
He gave her another piece of jerky. She chewed it more slowly this time, the gamey flavor satisfying her in a way she’d never imagined. She wanted more. And she wanted it now. She chewed and chewed, trying to concentrate on the fulfilling taste even as the pain swept over her, stealing her thoughts. Tears coursed down her cheeks, but she didn’t care. This pain was sharper than when she’d broken her arm and deeper than anything she’d ever felt.
She cried out again as another wave swept through her, doubling her over until she just wanted to die, to close her eyes and drop off the deep end of oblivion. She felt herself being moved, being gathered up and pulled into Jason’s embrace. He was lying behind her, holding her nestled against him as he murmured in her ear and continued to put small pieces of the meat into her mouth.
She tried to concentrate on the feel of him behind her. With the strength of his arms wrapped around her, his infinite heat seemed to melt her limbs into mush. His smell, woodsy and earthy, of pine and forest, reached inside her and she breathed deep, breathed it so far into her that she wasn’t sure where she stopped and he began.
She touched the crystals on his wrist, fingering the smooth stones and rough twine. Dragging her fingers down to his strong warrior hands, trying to focus on the feel of them, their strength and their gentleness.
“I can help you if you’ll let me,” he whispered.
“Yes,” she cried, as another wave of intense heat stole over her, bringing with it the racking nausea.
He stood and slipped out of his jeans and pulled off his T-shirt. She wanted to protest, to demand to know what he was doing, but instead she curled up and closed her eyes as she willed the pain to stop. And then he was pulling off her pajama pants, pulling her shirt up over her head.
“No,” she protested, trying to cover her exposed breasts.
He slipped into the bed next to her and pulled her up against his hot skin. At first she tried to pull away from him. To put some distance between them, but then his hands began to move, soothing and caressing her skin. Moving up her body, and with each sure stroke, the pain and the tension began to ease. Warmth seeped into her clenched and strained muscles, appeasing the tension, until she began to relax and a new tension lit her nerve endings.
She felt each gentle touch so deeply it was almost as if she could feel the ridges of his fingerprints being imprinted on her skin. Nerve endings fired and tingled, leaving longing in their wake. His bare feet cupped hers, the backs of her legs pressed tight against the front of his, her backside nestled deeply in his center, his warmth melding with her as his hand moved up and around her hips.
His lips moved across the sensitive lobes and the outer shell of her ear as he murmured to her that everything would be all right. The pain wouldn’t last. And he was right, it was finally ebbing. But a new kind of pain was starting, an exquisite burn of longing and need, and she pushed herself even closer to him as his fingers moved down her arms to her middle, caressing, loving. She moved her hand up behind her to his neck, drawing her fingers across his skin to cup his head and draw his lips down to hers.
And then she was pressing her mouth to his, her stomach tightening, her breasts drawing in, her nipples hardening. Her lips moved over his as his tongue filled her mouth. She took his hand and placed it over her breasts and he rubbed and tweaked and massaged until she thought she would burst with need. She shifted, turning until she was facing him, her hands cupping his face as his kiss sent her soaring.
He moved his hand behind her back, holding her close, and then finished the kiss. He pulled away from her and a small moan of protest left her lips. She tried to pull him back, but he moved farther and farther away, until he was off the bed and pulling the sheets up over her, covering her nakedness. “What is happening? Where are you going?” she asked.
“You are changing. But don’t worry, the worst of it is over.”
If it was over, then what was he doing over there and not back in the bed with her? “I am not a demon,” she insisted.
“I know,” he said, his words breaking over her, the deep timbre of his voice skittering across already frayed nerves.
“Nor will I ever be,” she clarified, in case that was the reason he was pulling away from her. Because there had to be a reason. Didn’t there?
“I know,” he repeated.
“But you said—” she cried out as another twinge grasped hold and twisted, ripping and pulling her insides. Not again!
“The demon dimension was where we came from originally, but that’s not why the Gauliacho are after us and that’s not what we are now.”
He gave her another piece of jerky. She ate that, too, and then another until at last she felt the wrenching pain subside. She pushed herself up against the headboard. “But what does that mean? And why don’t you come back to bed?” she asked when at last she caught her breath. Her body temperature dropped and her breathing returned to normal.
“It means you are changing, leaving your humanity behind and becoming like us.”
“Like you? What are you?” She looked up at him with blurred vision. “What am I changing into?” She had to know, all this pain, this suffering—if she wasn’t dying, then it had to be for something.
He brushed the hair back from her face, and for a second she wondered if he would climb back into bed with her. His pale eyes locked onto hers. Eyes that looked so familiar, that almost looked like...
“A wolf.”
Chapter 5
A wolf? She took several deep breaths, trying to still the panic in her mind. “How can you possibly expect me to believe that?”
“Because you already know it’s true. The buzzing you’ve been hearing, the colors you’ve been seeing. You dream of the forest, of running free. You know it deep inside. It’s who you are. Who you’ve always been.”
“It’s not possible,” she whispered, even as his words resonated deep within her.
“It is. You’ve already gone through the first modification. Things are going to be different for you now. Your sight, your hearing, your senses. After this last adaptation, you will be stronger. And when you’re in wolf form, you’ll heal quicker.”
“Wolf form? Like a werewolf?” She thought of the horror movies she used to watch as a teen where the actors’ faces stretched into grotesque misshapen monsters, their jaws and noses elongating into a wickedly sharp tooth-filled snout. And they sprouted hair. Everywhere.
She shivered.
Buddy whined, placing his head on the side of the bed. Jason smiled and patted Buddy, comforting him. “No, not a werewolf. More like a shape-shifter. We can change form at will, anytime. We are not ruled by the light of a full moon and we do not crave human flesh.”
“Great. That’s the best news I’ve heard all day.” Not. “This is really too much to believe.” She tried to sit up and pull away from him, but a wave of dizziness broke over her.
She fell back into the pillow and willed sleep to return. She didn’t want to hear any more, didn’t want to think or feel.
He touched her head again, brushing his fingers across her hair in a soothing caress. “I would love to let you sleep the day away, but I can’t. After this latest change, your wolf scent is even stronger. The sun is almost up. We have to keep moving.”
“Why?” she asked, her voice treacherously close to a whine.
“The demons. Or have you forgotten them?”
No. She hadn’t. She just didn’t want to believe him. No matter what he said. No matter what kind of wicked food poisoning she’d had. The next thing she knew, his arms were under her and he was picking her up, lifting her up off the bed.
“Hey,” she cried in protest as he carried her into the bathroom and set her down on the toilet then turned on the water in the shower. She drew her knees to her, covering herself the best she could.
“Get in and take a hot shower. You’ll feel better. Don’t take too long, though. Here are my keys.” He pulled his key ring out of his pocket and laid it on the counter. “When you’re done, put Buddy and your stuff back in the truck. I’m going to take a quick shower myself, then head over to the diner to order us breakfast. We have a long day ahead of us.”
“How do you know I won’t take your truck and drive myself back home?”
He stopped on his way out the door and turned back to her. “Because I trust you. And deep down, you know you can trust me. You know I’m right.”
“Fine,” she grumbled as steam began to fill the room. “But don’t be surprised if I don’t eat. My stomach is still topsy-turvy.”
“I’m not worried.” His smile was annoyingly confident as he turned and walked out.
“Whatever,” she grumbled as she heard the adjoining door close.
Apparently no more kisses for her. Or anything else. She sighed and stripped out of her underwear then stepped under the hot spray, and melted as the pulsating water massaged her muscles. A wolf. Ridiculous. All she needed was a hot shower and she’d be fine. Obviously, something she ate hadn’t agreed with her, that’s all.
As she stood under the hot water, her stomach growled as she thought of a thick slab of ham covered with over-medium eggs, and topped with a side of bacon and sausages. The little link kind. It had been years since she’d had sausages. How could she be thinking of food now, after all she’d been through? But she was. As impossible as it was for her to believe, she was starving.
In no time at all, she was out of the shower, dried off and combing her long dark hair when she noticed her arms did look different. She held them out and stared at them. They were suddenly well-defined. Muscular.
You will be stronger.
She looked away, brushed her teeth then put on a quick dab of lip-gloss and mascara. She wasn’t changing. She just didn’t feel good. She walked out of the bathroom, staying clear of the mirror as she dressed and repacked her duffel, then she and Buddy left the room for the parking lot.
“Here you go, Buddy,” she said after he did his business. She poured some of his dog food into his bowl, put some water in a stray coffee cup rolling around in the back and placed it on the floor. “Everything is going to be just fine,” she lied as she locked him in the truck and walked toward the restaurant.
The sky was beginning to show the first reddish-gold streaks of dawn across the horizon when she walked into the diner. She was surprised to find it already half-full with other patrons. She glanced through the long row of windows into the parking lot and saw several large diesel trucks. That made sense, especially if the diner’s breakfasts were as good as their burgers.
The smell of coffee was strong and inviting as she dropped into the booth across from Jason.
“You’re looking much better,” he said with a wide boyish smile. She couldn’t help remembering his arms wrapped tight around her, as he’d helped her through an agonizing night. The way his hands felt on her skin, heating her blood and everything else. Annoyance surged through her at the thought.
“I assumed you were hungry, so I ordered you the special.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the soft red hue surrounding the man sitting directly behind him. The colors around all the patrons were much more muted than they had been yesterday, but even better than the muted colors was the fact that she didn’t have to put in her earbuds. The buzzing sounds coming from them were so soft she barely noticed them. She could still feel the person’s intentions, but the sound wasn’t nearly as annoying or debilitating.
In fact, she almost felt normal.
She certainly felt better than she had in... Well, she didn’t know how long.
“Good morning, hun.” A rotund waitress with shockingly bright red hair placed a large steaming plate of food in front of her. “Coffee?”
“Yes, please.” Shay’s eyes widened as she took in the mound of food on the plate. “There is no way I’m ever going to be able to eat all this.”
“Thanks, Marge,” Jason said, offering her a smile as she filled Shay’s coffee cup then refilled his.
She paused for a moment, basking in his attention, a pleased smile stretching her painted lips. “Anytime, hun,” she said, then took her coffeepot to the next table.
Shay would have to remember that smile of his and make sure she didn’t swoon over it. Irritated, she shoved a piece of ham into her mouth.
“Are you feeling better?” Jason asked.
“Yes, thank you,” Shay said politely over the mouth-watering ham. When had ham ever tasted this good? Much better than the spinach-and-cream-cheese omelets she usually ate. And sausages. There were sausages, too, buried under the thick slab of ham, and strips of bacon. She smiled. Heaven. She was in heaven.
“I don’t know why I’m so hungry,” she said as she scooped scrambled eggs into her mouth. “I can’t believe I can even eat after everything I went through last night.”
“Your body needs the protein.”
As she ate, she glanced out the window, surprised by how much clearer her vision was, especially in the dim light of dawn. She was seeing color slightly differently. Yet, somehow, she was able to see better, farther. And she could hear and smell really well, too. The rich scent of sizzling pork was making her ravenous.
She dug into her food, not stopping until the waitress was back refilling her mug with coffee.
“My goodness. Well, he did say you were hungry.”
Shay glanced down at her plate and felt the heat of embarrassment rise in her cheeks. Her plate was half-empty. How had she eaten all that food, that quickly? “Please give my compliments to the chef,” she said. The cook behind the counter turned and waved.
“Joe says thanks,” Marge said, and laughed.
Shay took a sip of coffee and looked up at Jason, her eyes meeting his over the rim of her cup. Was it really possible? Could she really be changing? Transforming? Into a wolf?
“Okay, tell me more,” she said, suddenly wanting to hear it all, even if she didn’t believe. Even if she refused to believe.
