Bitten by Cupid (12 page)

A hope she feared was all too slim.

Voices sounded on the stairs. Julianne’s pulse skittered.
Serenity.

She couldn’t get caught because she couldn’t explain. Her heart began to thud in her chest. In about thirty seconds Serenity would walk in the room.

Julianne tore through the boxes with badly shaking fingers, pushing things this way and that. Serenity’s treasures were simple things. A miniature portrait from hundreds of years ago. A leather wristlet. Yellowed, disintegrating letters. For the most part, Therians were simple people, little different from humans anymore, other than the fact that they didn’t age.

They hadn’t always been like this. Long ago, the Therians had been the shape-shifters—each possessing the power of an animal, each capable of changing into that animal at will. There had been dozens, maybe even hundreds of different Therian animal lines at one time—wolves, bears, snakes, horses, and any number of predatory cats.

But that way of life had come crashing down millennia ago, when they’d been forced to mortgage their power to save the world. Only nine shape-shifters remained. Nine who still possessed the raw, potent power of their animals. The Feral Warriors. The other Therians lived and worked among the humans, hiding from the deadly draden at night, but otherwise living their long, long lives much as the humans did their far shorter ones.

As Julianne had expected to live her own life. Though all Therians looked thirty, Julianne actually was. She’d graduated from George Washington University seven years ago and taken a job as a physician’s assistant to an Alexandria allergist. A fairly normal existence.

For a normal Therian.

Until a month ago, when Melisande arrived carrying the devastating news that she wasn’t normal at all.

Footsteps sounded in the hallway, the soft click of Serenity’s heels.
She was out of time.
A bead of perspiration rolled between her breasts as she shoved the boxes back under the bed and sprang to her feet, running for the closet. She wrenched open the closet doors just as the bedroom door opened behind her. Her breathing was harsh and uneven.

If only there were someone she could share her awful burden with.
Zeeland.
Once upon a time, Zeeland had been the keeper of all her secrets.

The thought of him brought a harsh longing that raked at her chest and burned the backs of her eyes.

“Hi, Jules. What are you looking for, babe?” Serenity’s voice, as always, rang warm and loving.

Julianne glanced over her shoulder at the slender blonde. Guilt curled her fingers, but she fought to keep her voice light and natural, fought to present a calm façade. “Your mint green blouse. I’m in a mint green mood today.”

“Sorry, doll. It’s at the dry cleaners. Cambria has one about the same color. Or grab anything else you want. What time do you have to be at work?”

“Nine.” Julianne snatched a blue blouse. “Guess I’d better get moving.” She threw Serenity a smile that trembled at the corners of her mouth, and escaped into the hall. How long could she keep this up?

How long before Melisande lost patience with her for not finding the necklace? How long before Serenity or one of the others figured out something was wrong and started demanding answers she couldn’t give, endangering them all?

At least Zeeland wasn’t here. As badly as she wished he was still in her life, at least she didn’t have to worry about him being harmed by Melisande, too.

He hadn’t been in her life for ten years. Not since that horrible, humiliating night.

She’d come to Alexandria, Virginia, twenty-one years ago as an orphaned nine-year-old. Serenity had taken on the task of mothering her, but it was Zeeland who’d taken on the role of protector and best friend. He’d helped her recover from her grief and find the strength within herself to move past it.

But as she’d gotten older, her feelings for him had changed. Grown. He’d become her first crush, and eventually, her first love.

Ten years ago, at the age of twenty, she’d made the terrible mistake of telling him she wanted him to be the one to take her virginity.

He’d been horrified.

Even now, her skin turned cold and clammy at the memory of that night. Of the look of disgust that had contorted his handsome face.

He’d ordered her away from him, and she’d fled to her room. The next morning, he was gone. He’d left for the British enclaves without ever saying good-bye. Without ever contacting her again. Others heard from him, but she never did.

The pain of that night had dulled. But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t stop missing him. She couldn’t stop the aching need for his strength by her side.

Julianne returned to her room long enough to dress for work, chills skating over her flesh as they did whenever she entered her room.

Her bedroom, the one place that should be her refuge, had become the place she feared the most. It was here that Melisande came to her. Every few days, she appeared. And it had been three days since her last awful visit.

Ready for work, Julianne escaped her room. As she descended the stairs, she heard Grayson’s voice roar through the house as he strode into view.

“I have news!” Broad-shouldered with sandy brown hair, Grayson had the physique of a bear and the easy good nature of a poorly behaved Great Dane.

“A little louder, Gray,” Cambria called from the kitchen. “They might not have heard you down in South Carolina.”

Grayson ignored the teasing admonition. “Zeeland’s coming home!”

Julianne froze on the bottom step, grabbing for the railing.

Half a dozen voices exclaimed in pleasure and joy.

“When?” Serenity’s excited voice called from close behind Julianne.

Julianne pulled herself to one side, her limbs stiff with shock, as she let Serenity pass.

“Tomorrow,” Grayson replied. “He just called.”

Tomorrow.
Julianne uncurled her fingers from the rail and forced her feet forward. Stumbling into the foyer, she grabbed a set of car keys from the bowl and escaped into the sunshine.
Shit
,
shit
,
shit.
For ten long years, though she’d dreaded the confrontation, she’d desperately longed to see Zeeland again.

But not now. Not now.

No one had ever known her as well as Zeeland had. No one had ever seen her as clearly.

And never had she had so much to hide.

Chapter Two

A rap sounded at the door the next afternoon, the sound Julianne had been dreading. Tension raced up her spine.

“The guys just called,” Cambria called through the door. “Zeeland’s plane was on time. They’ll be here in about fifteen minutes.”

Julianne’s pulse threatened to run away from her. “Thanks, Cam. I’ll meet you downstairs.” As she heard Cambria’s steps retreat down the hall, she buried her face in her hands.

Zeeland is coming home.

Her skin flushed with old, bitter humiliation, butterflies fluttered excitedly in her stomach, and a harsh longing wrapped itself round and round her heart until the pressure was almost too much to bear.

A dozen times since yesterday, she’d debated running away to another enclave until Zeeland’s visit was over. Or even just hiding in her room with the door locked. But with Melisande hovering over her life, her room was no refuge.

And she knew Zeeland much too well. He was as stubborn as an ox and as determined as a jungle cat hunting prey. If he decided he wanted to see her, no locked door stood a chance against him. Nor could she flee anywhere that he wouldn’t find her.

If
he wanted to find her. A very big
if.

No, there was no choice but to grit out his visit and hope he paid her little attention. The hardest part was going to be pretending to be indifferent herself.

She dressed quickly in a sleeveless turquoise sheath she’d picked up at Lord & Taylor’s a couple of months ago with Serenity and Cambria, then sat at the dressing table and applied her makeup with a light, nervous hand. Therians might live forever, but they kept up with the fashions and took pride in good grooming. Especially when they were expecting company, as they were tonight.

Cambria and Serenity had been cooking all day, preparing for the impromptu welcome-home dinner for Zeeland. According to Cambria, a few of the Feral Warriors might even make an appearance. Though all Therian males tended to tower over their human counterparts, the Ferals were the biggest, the strongest, and without a doubt, the least civilized of the race. Things tended to get interesting when the Ferals appeared.

But the only one she both longed and dreaded to see was Zeeland.

Pulling the elastic band out of her hair, Julianne let the dark waves tumble around her shoulders. She grabbed her hairbrush and was nearly finished brushing out her hair when she felt that all-too-familiar trip of power.

Her breath caught. Fear rippled along the surface of her skin as an unnatural, pine-scented breeze blew through her room, raising the hair on her arms.

In the dressing-table mirror, Melisande appeared behind her, a ghostly figure of a woman.

Julianne shot to her feet and whirled, backing away from her nemesis.

“Melisande.” The name shot from her throat, a low burst of air.

The spiritlike woman floated before her, glowing a faint reddish orange. Petite and slender, Melisande dressed like a warrior of old in a brown tunic and tan leggings, a knife strapped at her waist. Her face was deceptively delicate and pretty, framed by golden blond hair pulled back in a long braid.

She looked sweet and harmless to anyone who didn’t notice the brittle look in her eyes or the cruel twist of her mouth.

For a thousand years, the Therians had believed Melisande’s race, the Ilinas, extinct. For a thousand years, they’d been wrong.

“The moonstone, Julianne.” Melisande’s eyes snapped with warning.

Once, Julianne had demanded to know why the woman needed it. She’d been told the Queen of the Ilinas was ill and in need of the stone to heal her.

Julianne lifted her hands, palms out. “I’ve looked everywhere. Over and over. Give me a hint, Melisande. Anything to narrow the search.”

Melisande scowled. “It’s somewhere in this house. I can feel its power, but not its source.” Melisande stepped…
floated
…closer. “You’re useless, little sister. Worthless. But you will find that moonstone.”

Melisande’s bright blue eyes gleamed with threat. “I’m giving you one more day, Julianne. When I return tomorrow, you’ll give it to me.”

Julianne stared at her, a dull quaking beginning deep inside, half fury, half fear. “You’re not listening. I’ve looked everywhere.
It’s not here.
”

“It’s here! If I could search for it myself, I would.”

But she couldn’t because the Ilinas were determined to keep their existence a secret. From what little Julianne had been able to ascertain, the Ilinas had faked their extinction a thousand years ago in order to hide from a dangerous enemy, to protect their race. And they would kill to keep that secret.

Something Julianne’s mother had failed to do when she’d told Julianne’s father her true heritage. That she was half-Ilina. They’d both paid for that bit of honesty.

Julianne would never tell anyone.
Ever.
She would never endanger the people she loved in that way.

Melisande’s small hand clenched around the hilt of her knife. “If you haven’t found the moonstone by tomorrow, you’ll feel my wrath, little sister.” Her voice turned low and terrible as her lip curled nastily. “Tomorrow, one of your friends will die.”

Julianne jerked as if she’d been hit, her jaw dropping. “You can’t do that! They don’t know anything. I’ve told them nothing. I’ve kept them safe!”

“Then find the moonstone!”

Julianne felt her own lip curl back, fury washing away the fear that had ridden her for a month. An odd tingling sensation began to flow through her limbs.

She glared at the Ilina. “Retract your threat, or I’ll do nothing more to help you.”

An ugly smile formed on the spirit woman’s face. “You would threaten me?”

“The only reason I was willing to help you was to save my friends. If you’re going to hurt them anyway, I’ll do nothing more to help you. You can find that moonstone yourself.”

Melisande’s mouth compressed, her eyes beginning to narrow as the tingling in Julianne’s body grew worse. She felt as if her blood had become carbonated and was beginning to fizz in her veins like champagne.

Melisande made a sound of disgust.

Julianne lifted her hand…and stared.

Her fingers looked as mistlike and insubstantial as Melisande’s. She gasped, her eyes widening with horror. The last of her doubts about her heritage died as she stared at her traitorous flesh.

“Why is this happening?
”

The cruelty and anger had drained from Melisande’s expression, replaced by a look of resignation. “Violent emotion apparently triggered the change in you. When you were young, I had hoped you had too little Ilina blood ever to turn to mist. I’d hoped you could live your life free of any knowledge of us. But I felt the power in you spark to life at your maturation. I feared it was only a matter of time. And I was right.”

“You’ve been watching me?”

“All your life. As I did your mother.”

“Why?”

“It is my job to eliminate all threats to the secret of the race.” She held out her hand. “You must come with me, little sister.”

Julianne stared at that small, mistlike hand. “You’ll kill me.”

“You will merely abide in the Crystal Realm for a time.”

“Where I’ll die. Don’t play me for a fool, Melisande. The Ilinas may have been out of sight for a thousand years, but we haven’t forgotten you. And everyone knows no corporeal being can live long in that place.”

Her gut cramped with fear. She’d become a true threat to them. “Tell me how to change back, Melisande.” Her words were half demand, half desperate plea. “Tell me how to keep this from happening again so I don’t give you away.”

Melisande’s jaw clenched and unclenched, a debate clearly raging in her eyes.