Ghost Stalker (17 page)

She smiled down in triumph. “You’re mine now.”

“Always,” he whispered.

She began a slow, tortuous rocking as Nick folded his hands behind his head and let her use his body to slake her desire. The friction was delicious but she ached to feel his hands upon her. His eyes met hers and the knowing shone in his confident expression.

He unlocked his hands and reached for her, his fingers working magic as she rocked back and forth. She panted and gasped as her body responded to his touch. She trembled, afraid her legs would not hold her, carry her
to the finish she desired. Still his fingers danced over her swollen flesh as he rose to suckle at her swaying breasts. The touch of his mouth was the catalyst that ignited her rising passion. She cried his name and arched, locking her hips tight to his as her release pulsed all around him.

He waited, still, erect, moving just enough to extend her pleasure to the last wave of fulfillment.

She opened her eyes to stare in wonder at her lover.

“That was—”

She never had a chance to finish her thought for he flipped her over with such speed that she was dizzy. Throughout, he remained locked deep inside her, but now he arched, pressing her down to the comforter with the lean, muscular power of his loins.

“And now, Dream Child,
you
are mine.”

“Yes,” she breathed.

He captured her hands and forced them over her head. She was weak from her release and offered no resistance as he clasped her wrists in one hand, using the other to arouse her, stroking her belly and breasts, making her writhe with renewed passion. And all the while he pinned her with his hips and with his hand.

The muscles of his cheeks bulged. She marveled at the tension that he held as he awakened her need until she was bucking beneath him and pleading for him to take her again.

Only then did his control snap. She felt it break and with it came the rush of madness that overcame all rational thought.

She bucked; he plunged. She ungulated; he possessed.
He was a rising firestorm of passion. And instead of holding back, protecting herself, she spread her legs wider, allowing him to touch her as no one ever had.

He seemed to recognize it, for there was a flicker of understanding and his eyes snapped to meet hers. It was then she felt his release begin. She registered it with a gasp as she experienced his passion and, in doing, was rocked by her own.

The combination of emotions shook her and she lost all sense of where they were. She knew only that she was his and he was hers. They had found each other and she would never, ever be the same again.

Her body went slack and he drew her close, cradling her in his arms as he stroked her from neck to hip. His hand made a slow, meandering journey that soothed her jangled nerves. And Jessie allowed herself the pleasure of sleeping in his arms.

Jessie gently basked in the starlight of an unfamiliar meadow and wondered whose dream she visited. She had not intentionally jumped. Something was different here. She was not the observer, but it clearly was not her dream.

Then came a scent. Something new, yet familiar. Elk. Yes, that was it. She breathed deep and then lowered herself to all fours, crouching to listen for her quarry.

Mist clung to the ground, making the elk seem to float above the earth. The fresh, clean fragrance of grass and earth enveloped her.

She lifted her head to find her prey. The dawn was
still hours away, yet she could see everything with such clarity.

The doe beside its mother was young and tender.

Her mouth watered. It had been a long time since the last kill. Behind her, the pack circled silently in the tall grass, shielded by the mist, careful to stay downwind of their prey. They would wait for her to make the first move. She was the alpha and they did as she commanded.

She rushed forward in an explosion of force, streaking with a speed that thrilled her, her muscles powerful and fast as her paws ate up the ground between them.

The elk had seen her now, even half covered as she was by the mist. The mother bolted away, charging into the circle of the others, realizing too late she was trapped. The elk lowered her antlers, preparing to defend her young.

Her pack closed in, growling as the elk pawed the ground. One of the others snapped at the newborn. The mother turned to defend her calf, leaving her haunches exposed to Jessie.

She leaped, biting deep and feeling the hamstrings shred beneath her fangs. Screaming filled the clearing as the others closed in to rip and tear as the elk fell. The young one escaped.

Jessie turned to give chase. Instead she looked at her hands, a trick she often used to control her dream. She saw them coated with the blood of the mother.

“No,” she whispered.

Her scream tore her from the dream. She was in her bedroom again. Beside her, Nick leaped from the bed,
crouching in a posture, ready to attack. She screamed again, recoiling to escape him. He did not leap at her, but stayed between her and the door, searching vainly for some sign of threat and then turning back to her in bewilderment.

Jessie curled against the headboard, her heart pounding in her chest.

Nick placed one knee on the bed. “Jessie, what’s wrong?”

He reached for her and she extended her hand, holding him off.

“No! Not yet. Give me a moment to understand what is happening.”

He hovered there before her, a dark shadow, as she tried to rein the terror back in. Had it been her dream or his?

This was why she slept alone. Touching another person while she slept often caused her to slip into their dreams. The journeying disrupted her sleep and she woke exhausted.

But that had not happened here. She was not visiting. She had experienced this.

“Nick, were you dreaming?” she whispered, finding herself still breathless from panic.

“Yes.” His voice was cautious.

He sat beside her, careful not to touch her. She released her death grip on the bedpost and crept closer.

“What did you dream?” she asked.

“I was hunting.”

“Elk?”

His eyes glowed green and feral in the near darkness. “You were there?”

“No. Yes. Oh, I don’t understand this.”

He stroked her cheek. “Tell me.”

“I wasn’t visiting your dream. I was you, chasing the elk, tearing its tendons.” She clamped her hand across her mouth to stifle her cry of horror.

He said nothing. Jessie needed to see him. She flipped on the light and found him sitting with his head hanging low and his forehead cradled in his hands.

“I’ve always been able to keep others from seeing this beast I become. But not you.” He stared up at her with a look of such utter misery. “I’m sorry I can’t shield you from what I am.”

“I
am a hunter, Jessie. It is a part of me.”

She opened her arms to him and he accepted her embrace.

He drew her in, molding his body to hers.

She nestled against his warm, solid form and felt the tension slowly dissolve.

“Should I sleep in the other room?” he asked.

She shook her head. “I just have to figure out what to do. This never happened before.”

Jessie crawled beneath the covers and waited. Nick lay on top of the blankets beside her but she noticed he was careful not to touch her.

He brushed her hair from her face with the gentlest of touches. Then he flicked off the light and moved to the far side of the mattress.

She lay awake for some time, trying to think of how
to keep from slipping into his dreams. She didn’t want to wake him like that again. He had been sound asleep and dreaming, only to be roused to what he assumed was another attack on her, to find her cringing from him.

Did he really hunt like that? She stifled the urge to shiver. There was so much about him she did not know.

Jessie dozed at last and awoke at her usual time, just after sunrise. She opened her eyes to find him already awake.

“How long have you been up?”

“About three seconds.”

Yet he looked completely alert. She smiled, feeling rumpled and tired. “How do you—”

“Light sleeper.” He grinned. “Any more dreams?”

Her night raid boiled to the surface and she dropped her gaze. “I’m sorry about that.”

He stroked her bare shoulder. “Don’t be. We are still strangers in many ways.”

“No, don’t say that.”

His sad smile echoed the doubt that haunted her. Was he reluctant to believe her, even when he felt the truth?

She captured his face between her hands, surprised that he did not have the stubble of beard she was accustomed to feeling on a man’s face in the morning.

“I love you.”

He grimaced and she felt his rising horror. His thoughts jarred her. Love did not last. Love was dangerous. Her love for him would die or be killed by
the hatred of her people. They were doomed to repeat his parents’ tragic love story.

“I’m not like her.”

His eyes were sad but he didn’t deny his thoughts. “No, you’re not. She was human and had no preconceived notion of how vicious a Skinwalker can be. You, on the other hand, already know.”

“Lots of people hunt,” she said.

“Not with their bare hands and teeth.”

“It doesn’t matter.”

He swung his feet to the floor and stepped from the bed, fully dressed in faded jeans and a tight white T-shirt.

“Jessie, my father tried to destroy your people. He was a killer and I’m his son. How we gonna get past that?”

Jessie spotted her robe on the floor and retrieved it, slipping into the cold, silky shell. “You’re not him.”

He faced her from across the king-size mattress. “But I’m like him, more than you realize. He saw the buffalo driven to near extinction by man’s reckless killing. Your charges have lost the balance that existed for generations. His duty was to protect the animals by fighting their enemies. My duty is the same.”

“But he attacked Spirit Children.”

“He attacked men. Your people stepped between him and his prey and the war began.”

“He was wrong.”

“Was he? He sought to reestablish the balance by controlling a race that was devouring the earth like termites in fresh wood.”

They stood only five feet apart, but suddenly a chasm between them yawned to eternity.

She could not suppress the horror his words stirred. “You think what he did was right?”

“Not right, but perhaps necessary.”

“How can you say that?”

“How can you protect a species that is destroying the planet?”

“They’re not a species. They’re men.”

“Already we stand on opposite sides.”

“No, protecting animals and protecting mankind do not need to be mutually exclusive.”

He stared back at her, his eyes sad and weary.

“What about your friend—the Healer? He married one of my race. They love each other and have fought together.”

“Whether Sebastian and Michaela’s love will last is an open question. I wish them well but am a skeptic at heart.”

“Sebastian?” A cold uncertainty gripped her innards as the unusual name echoed from her past. “The Healer’s name is Sebastian?”

Nick inched around the bed, his face wary but concerned. “Yes. What’s wrong, Jessie? You’ve gone pale.”

She slumped to the mattress as Nick rounded the bed, crouching before her.

What had the raven said?

“She said she was going to find Sebastian. That he would want to know.”

“Know what? Who did?” Nick reached for her,
grasping her clasped hands. His eyes widened in understanding. “Bess! She was here. When? How long ago?”

“She came before the buffalo. In the night. Last night, just before dawn.”

“Twenty-four hours ahead and flying. She’s faster than I am, but she won’t fly at night. I still have time.” Nick released her and pressed his hands to his forehead.

“The ghosts might have heard her, too. They’re following her,” said Jessie.

Nick met her gaze and the somber expression told her he already understood this.

“She’s leading them to Sebastian and to Michaela.” His hands fell to his sides. “Oh, Sweet Mystery—the babies.”

Jessie sprang off the bed. “Nick, you have to warn her. You have to stop her from reaching them.”

He stood, torn. “I can’t leave you. It’s not safe.”

“Can I come with you?”

“It would slow me. I might not reach her in time.”

She drew a heavy breath. “Then you must go.”

“I won’t leave you unprotected.”

“Then call Tuff back.”

He wrinkled his brow. “He could be miles away by now.”

“He said he’d stay close. Call him.”

“I will,” said Nick.

She breathed a sigh of relief.

“And you must go to your parents.”

She had the sudden image of a firing squad. She stiffened, cinching her robe more tightly. “What?”

“They will protect you in my absence.”

He didn’t understand her mother. Jessie’s stomach roiled with a category-five acid storm.

He studied her reaction and his expression went deadly. She caught her breath, suddenly afraid.

“Are you saying they will not protect their own child?”

That was exactly what she meant. But before she admitted it, she recognized two things. The first was that his own mother had used Nick to seek revenge on his father and that he thought this the most despicable act imaginable. And second, that he would not leave her if he believed she was not safe. And so she lied.

“Of course they will protect me. I just would rather stay here.”

He narrowed his eyes at this. “Then we will wait for Tuff.”

She was happy that he did not touch her and so could not perceive her deception.

“That could take hours.”

He pressed his lips together in a show of stubbornness. “Then so be it.”

“Nick, please, you have to hurry.”

“No.” He sat on the bed.

Jessie was certain her mother would know what her daughter had been up to the instant she saw her. She had always been able to tell, and it often made Jessie’s life difficult. Still she would play the charade through. She would allow Nick to come with her to her parents’ place. They lived thirty minutes south of her home. She hoped that Nick would be gone before the earth
started shaking. When Nick arrived, her father had been away and her mother had not seen the isolated storm the Thunderbirds had caused. This time would be different.