Ghost Stalker (11 page)

Niyanoka thought with their minds, not their instincts, and this was the logical course.

She breathed deeply, surprised at the continued disquiet rumbling through her like distant thunder. Where was the relief that should be hers? She could not admit to this woman that she wanted him here and so took refuge in her logic.

“But they brought him to me,” said Jessie.

The woman’s graceful brows descended low over her dark eyes. “Who?”

“The Thunderbirds. He said he asked them to bring him to a healer and they brought him here.”

The shifter rose with a suddenness that sent Jessie into retreat. “
They
brought him to you?”

The shock and incredulity made her words sharp, an accusation.

Jessie nodded.

The woman lowered her dark brows as she studied Jessie. “Then he must stay here.”

Nagi had gathered thirty ghosts on the earth and began sorting who would go for judgment and who he would keep to fight in his army. A soul here or there would not be missed.

He felt the buzz of an approaching ghost, which was unusual as most fled when they sensed him. He turned and recognized one of his early enlistees.

“Lord, a raven visits the wounded wolf.”

A raven? He knew her. His earlier guards had told him of a wolf and raven who visited the bear.

“Follow the raven.”

“Yes, Lord.”

“And don’t lose her, if you value your soul.”

The ghost bowed.

“Have you dealt with the Dream Walker?”

“Soon Lord, she will be gone.”

Nagi rippled with satisfaction.

"Go and follow the raven. Report back when the wolf is alone."

“B
ut why?” Jessie could not keep the panic from her voice.

“The Thunderbirds can see the future. So there must be more to you than your tragic sense of fashion,” said Bess.

Jessie’s upset was momentarily overshadowed by her extreme dislike for this shifter. “This is a ranch. My clothing is practical, not…artifice.” She pointed at the woman’s stylish dress.

She fixed her dark eyes on Jessie and again Jessie felt herself being judged. At last a slight smile curled her lips. Jessie thought it made her look more dangerous.

“So you love animals?”

“Yes.”

“And you are a Dream Walker?”

Jessie inclined her head.

“And you have already fallen in love with our Nicholas here.”

Jessie hesitated in her rush to deny the accusation as she felt the shadow of doubt, followed by the fear, that a hasty denial would be an admission of guilt.

“Ah,” said the woman, seating herself in the reading chair. “I see. Well, you’re not alone. Women all over the world fall in love with him. It is as common as rain in New York.”

Jessie mustered her emotions and then her denial. “Don’t be silly. He’s an Inanoka.”

The shifter’s eyes twinkled. “Oh, I see. Forbidden fruit. How delicious. I’m Bess, by the way.”

“Jessie Healy.”

“A pleasure.” She crossed her ankles and drew back her long legs. The heels on her boots looked deadly as daggers. “And please don’t be jealous. Nick and I have been on and off for decades. Like comfort food.” Bess smiled, seeming to enjoy watching her words strike Jessie. “Don’t look so shocked. Nick will sleep with any female who lets him. He’s a wolf, after all.”

Bess released her from the scrutiny of her watchful gaze and turned her attention back to Nick. Jessie felt her face heat at the look of longing the woman cast him. It was so obvious she loved Nick. Jessie resisted the urge to lift the paperweight again. She was taken aback by this new, dangerous impulse and came up short. Niyanoka did not act without thought and certainly not in anger.

Bess scrutinized her and her lips twitched. “Ah, yes, he has that effect on people. I see he still has the
old magic. Managed it even without his pretty face. Impressive.”

Jessie pressed her lips together, refusing to confirm or deny the woman’s suspicions. She did not like the feeling of being just one in a string of this Skinwalker’s conquests.

“So what will you do about it?”

“About what?” Jessie chose not to deny her jumbled emotions but instead to lay her cards on the table. “Look, I agreed to care for him as best I could. Even if I were attracted, I cannot have anything to do with him. My family would absolutely disown me if they knew I even had one under my roof.”

“Two,” corrected Bess.

“Exactly.”

“So you won’t fight for him?”

“Fight?” She shook her head. “No. There is no future for us.”

Bess rose. “Well, that is true, if you are not willing to fight for him. It’s what alpha females do, you know? The wolves always have an alpha. She is the only one that mates. She fights the others to earn her position and, with it, the exclusive right to the alpha male.” She moved to Nick’s side and stroked his neck.

Jessie balled her hands into fists and resisted the urge to plant one of them into the shifter’s gut.

Bess drew her hand back from Nick’s collar and stared at Jessie, challenging her with her glittering black eyes. “Any female who won’t fight even her own pack for the right to take him, well, she doesn’t stand a chance.” Bess rose from the bed, her smile triumphant.
“So don’t worry, little Spirit Child. He won’t disturb the neat order of your little world for long. He’ll leave you by and by.”

Jessie hated the smug satisfaction in the woman’s expression. But her malevolence dissolved against the realization that her words were true. When Nick left her, he would not be back.

“Ah, well,” said Bess. “You’ll get over him. And if not, at least your secret will be safe with me. I’ll never tell.”

Bess strode from the room, leaving Jessie to hurry after her. “Where are you going?”

“To Sebastian, I think. He will want to know.” Bess swept past her and did not pause until she was on the front porch. Only then did Jessie see that the sky was a deep midnight blue. The stars had disappeared as the world spun from night to morning.

Bess faced Jessie. “I feel sorry for you, Niyanoka. But you lack the courage to take what you want.”

Jessie did not know what to say to this.

Bess smiled. “Goodbye, Niyanoka. Perhaps it is best, for you don’t deserve him. Take comfort in the knowledge that no woman before you has ever brought that one to heel. He has always been and ever will be wild.”

With that she lifted her arms and transformed into a sleek black bird.

She flapped into the air and then turned, hovering at eye level.

“Keep him safe or answer to me,” croaked the bird.

The raven flapped her great wings and lifted into the air, rapidly disappearing in the twilight sky.

Jessie didn’t know what shocked her more, the warning or hearing it from a talking bird.

Far to the north and west, many days’ travel, even as the crow flies, Michaela nestled beside her two tiny infants.

Her body ached, her head pounded and she felt thirsty and weak. Yet she had succeeded in bringing her babies into the world. Sebastian pressed a cool cloth to her forehead and she smiled up at him.

Behind him, Virginia Thistleback, the wise old Inanoka swan, bustled about in human form, removing the soiled bedding and then readying the bassinets.

She returned to Michaela’s side and extended her arms. Even at nearly three hundred, the woman was strong and as hearty as an oak. Her hair was white as the feathers that covered her in her animal state, but Michaela wondered if her hair might always have been that color.

“Time for you to rest,” said Thistleback.

She hesitated, not wanting to give up her babes so soon. After a fifteen-hour struggle she was exhausted, but her instinct was to keep them close.

“For pity’s sake, look at your poor husband. He’s half dead on his feet. Give me the babies so he can lie down.”

Michaela glanced at Sebastian and noted the deep circles under his eyes. He looked dreadful.

“If you’re lucky, you’ll have two hours before they’ll
want feeding. They’re asleep. Quickly now, you sleep, too.”

Michaela carefully lifted her son and firstborn into her midwife’s hands.

“Careful, now,” Michaela cautioned and received a scornful glance from Thistleback.

“Raised who knows how many chicks myself, and helped with the chicks orphaned by those blasted arctic foxes. He’s less fragile than an egg, I’d wager.” Despite her harsh words, she cradled the infant tenderly and with an experience that made Michaela slightly envious.

This was all so new to her and she worried that she would not be up to the task of mothering twins. Not just any twins, but the firstborn of the Inanoka and Niyanoka races. She was actually relieved to see they looked human, which had made Sebastian laugh. Apparently, all Inanoka were born in human form.

Thistleback returned a moment later for their daughter, scooping her up and carrying her off. “I’m putting them in the same basket for now, since they’re such tiny little things.”

“Thank you,” murmured Michaela. She was grateful for the woman’s wisdom, experience and for the gracious way she had opened her home to them at their time of need.

Skinwalkers were such kindhearted people, despite their fierceness and violent reputations. Her people were so wrong about them.

Sebastian crawled in beside her, and she inched over, feeling the muscles of her legs and the sensitive tissues inside her all cry out in protest.

“When they wake up, send the bear for them. Never too soon to get accustomed to holding them. And you—” she pointed at Michaela “—are to stay in bed, unless you need to use the privy. Understand?”

Michaela nodded.

“Call if you need me. Like all swans, I sleep lightly.” She clicked the door behind her, leaving them alone for the first time since before the contractions began.

Michaela turned to find Sebastian propped up on one elbow, gazing down at her with a look of adoration that made her heart catch in her chest.

“How do you feel?” he asked.

As if she’d just birthed a camel—with two humps—was what she wanted to say, but he seemed so excited and exhausted and caring. She thought him just dear.

Funny, for he was a massive man and a formidable grizzly bear when in animal form. He could make man or beast turn tail and run just by rearing on his hind legs.

But to her, he was everything, so she lied.

“I feel wonderful.”

He rested a hand on her arm and squeezed her tenderly. “You did well, little mother.”

She smiled at that, exhaustion taking hold. She lifted her chin and he kissed her on the lips.

“Do you think they will be Seers?” she asked.

Sebastian gazed into his wife’s lovely worried eyes and answered the question she was really asking. If they were Seers like their mother, then Nagi would want them dead.

“I’ll keep them safe, love. I’ll protect them and you, even from him.”

She smiled and nestled against him, confident in her husband, but it was a long time before sleep found Sebastian. He believed his wife’s dream. Nick had been attacked. He worried about his friend. He wanted to go to him and heal his injuries. But to do so meant leaving his family unprotected. His instincts warred with his loyalty.

The Ruler of the Circle of Ghosts wanted his wife and children dead. And now he was attacking his friends to get to them.

For the first time in his life, Sebastian felt powerless.

J
essie spent the remainder of the night sleeping in the chair beside Nick. She did not dare leave him alone after the strange appearance of the raven.

She slept fitfully, waking at last with relief to see that dawn had cast the sky in pale pink.

She stood and tried unsuccessfully to roll the kink out of her neck before creeping to Nick’s bed. She rested a hand on his forehead, troubled by the warmth that told her he had a low fever, but more troubled by the fact that he did not stir. She had not been able to get near him yesterday without him rousing.

This change troubled her deeply.

He needed the antibiotics. She left his side to retrieve them, determined to quickly throw some hay to the horses and then return to her patient.

She was halfway across the room when she recalled
the details of her conversation with last night’s visitor. If she didn’t know better, she’d say it was a bad dream. Much of what had happened to her lately fell into that category. But a Dream Walker always knew reality from the creations of the mind. The raven could not be dismissed as some vision. She had been here and had so much as told her that she and Nicholas were lovers, then made a crack about Jessie lacking courage.

“Well, why should I care
what
she said?” she muttered.

But she did. The magnitude by which she did care rattled her as much as the realization that the raven was correct: she was wildly attracted to Nick.

“But that’s not love. It’s lust.” She flicked on the kitchen light and stooped to tug on her high rubber boots. “I’m not made of stone. He’s attractive, available. It’s only natural.”

Jessie was not a prude. In her early adulthood, she had taken a variety of human lovers, which was relatively common for her kind. She had tried and failed to meet a fellow Niyanoka who was willing to live in so isolated a place. Most of her people preferred cities or larger urban centers than the country road she currently called home. But no one she knew had ever even spoken to a Skinwalker. There was no question that she tread upon extremely dangerous ground.

Before she reached the front door, her cell phone, which sat on the counter, began to vibrate and flash. She lifted the thing, forcing her eyes open enough to read the display: Larry Karr.

Her neighbor, who could see her kitchen windows
from his upstairs. She sighed and flipped open the phone.

“Hi, Larry.”

“Saw your light. How’s the wolf.”

“Fine. No problems,” she lied.

“Need any help with him?”

The thoughtfulness of her neighbors, which had always reinforced her belief in the goodness of humanity had suddenly become a real pain in the ass.