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Plenty of human females came sniffing around the store, hoping to be invited for a walk on the wild side, but there was something about this one that made him want to sink his fangs into her throat instead of nibble on her belly.
The woman looked half frozen. She wore sneakers — sneakers, for pity’s sake — and her jeans were soaked up to the knees. The denim jacket was a light covering suitable for a summer night, and she was wearing a T-shirt under it. She looked so painfully cold he didn’t have the automatic consideration of whether she’d be edible.
PAY FOR THE BOOKS BEFORE ENTERING A LITTLE BITE, OR WE’LL TAKE A BITE OUT OF YOU.
Be a leader for your people. Be the voice that decides who lives and who dies within your Courtyard. The day will come when a life you save will, in turn, save someone dear to you.
Her hair, usually brown and straight, now curled wildly and had green streaks — a sign that Tess wasn’t feeling calm. At least the streaks weren’t red, the indication that she was angry. When her hair turned black, people died.
A white room. A narrow bed with metal railings. She was trapped in that room, in that bed, feeling so cold her lungs couldn’t draw in a breath. And Simon Wolfgard, the dark-haired man she’d seen in the prophecy, was there, pacing and snarling.
Then the man looked at him with eyes that were the same amber color as the Wolf’s. How could anyone look into those eyes and not understand that a predator was looking back at you?
The terra indigene aren’t animals who turn into humans or humans who turn into animals. They really are something unknown that learned how to change into a human shape because it suited them.
He didn’t know why he was so angry. He just knew that something about the tone of Meg’s voice when she was trying to defend her territory — and being so damned inadequate about it!— had tripped something inside his brain.
Would the cutting be as compelling if there were other ways to feel pleasure, other sensations?
Some subtle foreshadowing?
Too afraid to stay in her own den? Unacceptable!
He watched her run toward the parking lot and decided two things: one, she couldn’t run worth a damn in those clothes, and two, on her, he found the fear scent agreeable.
“Whether you’re beaten or pampered, fed the best foods or starved, kept in filth or kept clean, a cage is still a cage,”
“I would rather die than go back there.” A quiet statement. The honesty scared him because there was a little too much Wolf in her voice when she said those words.
So at least one of the Elementals also had an interest in Meg. And Winter, if provoked, could be a terrifying bitch even for other terra indigene.
“Human law doesn’t apply in the Courtyard, Lieutenant. No matter what anyone else thinks, Meg Corbyn is ours now — and we protect our own.
“I’m having a difficult morning. Sam! Stop tugging at me!” “Is it that time of the month?” Vlad asked. Some feeling blew through her. It might have been embarrassment, but she suspected it was closer to rage. “What?” He studied her. “Is that not an appropriate question to ask?” “No!”
“Kindness,” Winter murmured, taking the scarf and wrapping it around her neck. “So unexpected.”
“Crow in the front room, puppy in the middle room, crazy Wolf outside,” she muttered. “Could today get any better?” Apparently, it could. Fortunately, she noticed the bug Jake must have dropped in her tea as a peace offering before she took a sip.
It was a mistake to think the Others were exactly like the birds or animals they mimicked, but after living in those forms for so many generations, they had absorbed some of the behaviors of those animals.
When she pulled up in front, she counted four Owls perched on a decorative piece of wooden fence. Three Hawks claimed a similar bit of fence on the other side of the barn. And the trees around the barn held a dozen Crows. Apparently, she was still entertaining enough for the Others to watch her activities.
But as he heated up food for both of them, he wondered if he was trying to take away Sam’s adventure buddy because he truly believed it was best for Sam and Meg, or if he was doing it because he felt excluded.
The sweatshirt was big on her and she looked ridiculous. He liked it. And he liked that she was wearing something that carried his scent.
Tess sighed and held out a hand. “Give me that. I’ll send Merri Lee to the Market Square to replace it.” His hands fisted in the material that held Meg’s scent. “Merri Lee doesn’t need this one to fetch another sweater.” Tess gave him a long look. Then she walked back to A Little Bite.
Happy Meg made him calmer. Happy Meg was willing to share food.
“Then it’s time for you to experience the world instead of just identifying its pieces.”
Of course, listening to John whine yesterday about not being allowed to go out and play hadn’t done anything for his own eroding self-discipline — especially because he could tell just by watching that Meg really did make a good squeaky toy.
Earthday had been an enjoyable balance of chores and a long, fun romp in the snow with Simon and Sam in their Wolf forms. The romp had tired her out so much, she fell asleep while they all watched a movie that evening. And Simon didn’t say a word about her using him as a furry pillow.
“Speak,” Tess said, her voice rough with the effort to deny her own nature. “Speak, prophet, and I will listen.”
“You can call Jester, or you can call the girl at the lake. One of them needs to hear this.” All the males flinched.
As she walked the short distance to A Little Bite, her coiling hair turned red and black in equal measure, and she allowed the smallest glimpse of her true nature to show through the human skin. And everyone who looked upon her died just a little.
She swallowed. Such a bitable throat, so soft yet firm.
You just remember that all roads travel into the woods.
If I’m late getting back, Mr. Wolfgard will send the whole pack out looking for me. Namid has given you to us, and we value the world’s gift s.
“You know how some people say ‘If looks could kill’?” Burke asked after a moment. “Well, it seems there is something among the terra indigene that has the ability to do exactly that.”
While they looked like horses, they were now the Elementals’ steeds, and the screams of rage that rose from deep within the Courtyard as Hurricane died came from Earth, Air, Fire, Water … and Winter.
Snow acting like quicksand. Gods above and below, what kind of place is a Courtyard anyway that snow can turn into quicksand? Seconds later, only silence. A snowmobile, its nose buried. Unmarred snow that gave no indication that a man had just died beneath it. And a horse staring at him with hate-filled eyes.
Humans often said payback was a bitch. Well, Winter was looking for payback.
In ancient times, there had been a name for her kind. But the naming attracted the named, so the word was said to be cursed. As races and languages changed, the symbol of the word, still recognized in the primal part of the human mind, was never translated into newer languages. Which was why, beyond a few whispered myths, even the rest of the terra indigene no longer knew about Namid’s most ferocious predator. Long ago, there had been a word for her kind. Then, as now, it meant “harvester of life.”
Lorenzo glanced toward the entrance. “You can’t know the storm won’t end.” “Yes, sir, I can, because the fury driving this storm was standing outside this hospital a minute ago and told me flat-out that our lives depend on their Liaison getting well.”
Not so angry now. Not feeling so alone now with his body touching hers.
Red flickered in his amber eyes and he snarled at her. “If you ever scare me like this again, I will eat you!”
“She should stay in the den until next week, but she snarled at me when I suggested it.”
Something had changed between them while she was in the hospital. She wasn’t sure if Simon considered her a friend, a playmate, or a valued toy, but he seemed to enjoy playing games with her.
