Ghost Stalker (24 page)

“Jessica?”

Nick felt the muscles in Jessie’s back contract, as if she was prepared to fight, and instantly saw why. Nick glanced from Jessie’s face to see George raising his fist to throw a punch.

If it came to a fight, he knew who the victor would be. He hesitated only because he did not know how Jessie would take him pummeling her father. Even a victory would be a defeat.

Jessie’s intention came clearly to Nick and he deferred to her, allowing her to step forward, only because he was certain she was in no danger.

Jessica sprang between her father and Nick aiming a finger at his nose.

“Don’t you dare,” she said to her father. “Don’t you touch one hair on his head, or I will never speak to you again as long as I live.”

Her father’s mouth rounded in shock. Her mother gasped.

“How dare you dictate to us!” said Mrs. Healy.

Marta Healy cast an uncertain glance at her husband. If she had planned to threaten to disown her wayward daughter, Jessie had just cut the wind from her sails.

Nick could not keep his mouth from twitching in delight. His little Dream Walker was magnificent when she was angry. He had never had anyone come to
his
defense before.

After her father closed his gaping mouth, he stepped back. His wife linked elbows with him.

Jessie had taken their power from them. In that instant, her position had shifted from subordinate to equal.

Nick saw her as he had never seen her before, ferocious and protective, with fists bunched at her side, chin raised and body ready for battle. His woman was an alpha at last.

Nick could not keep himself from grinning, while Jessie stayed stern and aggressive as any pack leader.

“We’ll keep this secret,” said her father, “until you come to your senses.”

Nick stiffened at this insult. But before he could speak, Jessie came to his defense again.

“Then we won’t expect you at the wedding.”

“Wedding!” screeched her mother.

“If he’ll have me, yes.”

Her mother extended a consolatory hand. “But, darling, be reasonable.”

“I was ready to follow him on the Way of Souls. Do you think your disapproval will change my love for him? It will hurt me. But I can live without it.”

It was true, Nick realized. She had walked the Way of Souls to reach him. He could hardly believe the tenacity of his mate. She was more courageous than any woman he had ever met and he was proud to call her his own.

“But he’s dangerous. Nagi is after him. If he loves you, he won’t put you in danger.”

Nick ground his teeth at the realization that Marta Healy was right.

“It is just another reason he needs me. We’re all in danger. You, me, them. Nagi is using humans. Doesn’t that make it our fight?”

Her parents glanced at one another but said nothing.

“Mom, Dad, there is a battle coming, a war. We’ll
need everyone. If the Niyanoka
and
Inanoka come together, we can win. Join us, please.”

Her parents stared at the floor.

Jessie saw their unwillingness to change, even after all they had witnessed.

“You saw the ghosts,” she said.

“It does not change our past,” said Marta Healy, still glaring at Nick.

“I hope one day you will reconsider. I’ll wait for that day.”

Jessie hesitated, but her parents did not move or look up. They seemed embarrassed or perhaps they were already mourning losing her. Nick hoped their stubbornness did not keep them forever separated from their only daughter. From his perspective, the loss would be largely theirs.

He paused. “You should go now. Before Nagi returns.”

The couple exchanged nervous looks and George tugged Marta past them.

Jessie glanced at Nick, her eyes steady. He extended his hand and she clasped it. The connection brought all her emotions to him. He felt her love and her sorrow and her pride. Pride? Yes, she was proud of him, proud to be with him and a part of him.

He smiled in wonder. “I can’t believe it.”

“But you should,” said Jessie, squeezing his hand and leading them down the hall.

Jessie looked at her parents, scuttling out of sight. Nick was possessed by the sudden wave of grief she felt. It hit with such force he tripped. He did not dare
stop, but clasped her hand, bringing her attention back to him and to the way out.

She stared at him and he nodded.

“I love you, too,” she whispered.

They reached the lobby and paused. Visitors sat in chairs by the fireplace, with blackened eyes and broken arms, but they seemed oblivious to the large number of injured among them. The woman at the counter waved at them as they passed.

“You have a great day!” Her smile caused her split lip to bleed and she dabbed it with a colorful red bandanna.

Nick waved.

Outside, Jessie and Nick saw her parents climb stiffly into their car and start the engine. Apparently George had used L.J. gift to have someone retrieve his car from the road. They did not toot or wave as they pulled out.

Jessie watched them drive away, certain that her mother would not forgive her.

“Perhaps time will change them,” said Nick.

“How did you do that? We aren’t even touching.”

“That one I read on your face.”

“Do you think they will be all right? I mean, with Nagi after us?”

“There is no reason to follow them.”

He left the rest unsaid. Her parents would have no contact with her and so they were in no danger.

They used the ranch van to bring them to Nick’s rental. Nick held open the door to the red Mustang convertible. Jessie tried not to let him see the bone
weariness she felt, but could not stifle the groan of exhaustion as she crawled into the leather seat. Nick hopped behind the wheel and lowered the top.

Jessie glanced about. “Where are the others?”

“Safely away, I hope.”

Above them came the caw of a raven. Jessie shaded her eyes to look up at Bess in her bird form soaring in lazy circles.

“Will she say goodbye?”

Nick shook his head. “She never does.”

The light hurt Jessie’s eyes, another lingering effect of her long journey.

Jessie knew Nick loved her but the prickly thorn of jealousy still stabbed at her.

“Will you see her again?”

Nick took his gaze from the sky and studied Jessie before answering. “Not in the way you imply.”

Jessie pressed her lips together to keep from revealing more of her insecurities.

“She does not threaten us. That time was born of loneliness, not love. I am grateful that I no longer walk that road.”

He stroked her cheek. The wave of emotions caused her to sway. She felt the gnawing ache of loneliness he had carried for so long and the isolation known only to Skinwalkers. He had no community to foster him, no tribe, no true love. Only his friends and he was selective with them. He did not love Bess. Never had.

“How did you bear it?” she whispered.

He drew back to spare her his emotions.

Nick’s smile held a deep sadness to it. “What choice did I have?”

Jessie glanced at the blue sky, following Bess’s endless circle. “Only a true friend would have come to me on that road and turned me back.”

Nick kept his thoughts to himself for the moment.

“Why did you do it?” he asked at last.

“What? Believe Nagi?”

“No.” He turned to her. “Take the Way of Souls?”

“That’s easy. I belong beside you no matter where you are. There is no other way for me now.”

“Yet I feared your parents would turn you against me.”

Jessie chuckled. “Nick, facing death can be a whole lot easier than facing down your mother.”

He cocked his head in confusion, as if trying to determine if she was serious. She was.

“Your relationships are very complex.”

She laughed at that. “I’ll say.”

Nick started the car and pulled out, lifting the top to shield them from the increasing wind. Jessie nestled in the seat beside him, happy to be alone with him at last.

She had none of the confusion or torment of their earlier time together. She had made her choice and was content for the first time since she could not remember when. She was safe. She was with Nick and the world seemed full of possibilities. The relief was palpable, pulsing like a heartbeat within her.

“Where are we going?” she asked.

Nick steered the car onto the main highway. “I can’t
take you home. I’m sorry, Jess. But if he’s trying to find us, he’ll send a sentry there.”

“How do you know?”

“It’s what I’d do.”

She couldn’t go home. After all the losses, she had lost that, too.

He brushed her cheek and then drew back as if her thoughts had scalded him.

“Nick—”

“It’s all right.” He accelerated down the narrow road.

Jessie stared out the window at the golden grass and blue hills. She couldn’t go home. But what was her home? She and her parents never stayed anywhere long. Her home was where they were, where her people were. But now all that had changed. Now her home was with Nick and she found that was exactly what she wanted most.

She glanced over at him and found him staring fixedly at the road, gripping the wheel a little too tightly.

What could she say to reassure him?

“Nick?”

“Jessie. You need to rest. You’re exhausted.”

She blinked at him, knowing he was right.

“We’ll talk later,” he promised.

The stress of the kidnapping and the battle fell upon her and she could not seem to keep her eyes open.

“Are you all right?” she muttered to Nick.

“Sleep. I’ll protect you.”

She knew he would. She let her eyes drift shut and did not open them until she felt the car stop. She was
jarred awake, sitting up and glancing about. It was night and they sat under fluorescent lights beneath some kind of underpass.

“Easy,” said Nick. “We’re at a hotel.”

Jessie rubbed her eyes and stretched as Nick held the door, then turned over the keys to the valet.

“Luggage, sir?” asked a man whose face seemed to pivot around a huge bushy gray mustache.

“No,” said Nick.

Together they negotiated the lobby and reception desk, where Nick secured a suite. It was not until they were alone in the elevator that she noticed the tension rippling from Nick. Instinctively, she reached for him.

He stepped away. “Not yet.”

It frightened her, this need to keep his thoughts and emotions locked up tight within himself. What was so terrible that he did not want her to know?

She knew he loved her, but was love enough for him, this loner who had never stayed in one place or with one woman for more than a few days? She knew what she wanted—never to leave his side. But what did Nick want? To have her with him always? It was a great change for him. Uncertainty made her heart trip along, steadily increasing into panic.

The elevator doors slid open, and he waited for her to precede him and then followed her to their suite, sliding the plastic key into the slot and waiting for the green light.

They found the large room dark. Nick seemed to have no trouble negotiating the room, for he swept past her.
A moment later she heard him click on the tall reading light by the upholstered chair.

She was afraid again, not of him, but of what he might say.

Nagi arrived at the sight of the battle to see not one of his ghosts remaining to meet him. All had been repelled by the Seer and sent for judgment. The Spirit Children and Skinwalkers had fled before his coming. Worse still, the Dream Walker had managed to heal the Spirit Wound by breaking free of the illusion of her mind. This meant she left no easy trail by which to lead him.

It was left only to decide how best to act.

The Seer might already have born her brats. Nagi finished his survey of the humans at their meaningless lives but found nothing of interest. He was preparing to depart when he chanced to glance skyward and caught sight of a tiny black speck high in the air.

His mind stretched back to the day his ghosts nearly killed the Seer. It was before she carried the babies. His ghosts had reported seeing a raven.

Could it be a Skinwalker? Nagi rose, light as a cloud of mist as he swept after the fast-flying bird.

Nick wished he could comfort Jessie, but to touch her was to let her see the heartache he carried in his soul. He had not meant to cause her such pain, or make her choose between him and the people she loved most in the world.

She had sacrificed her family, community and now her home, for him. She would never again see the horses
that she dearly loved and he wondered if she would ever forgive him for it. If this soul-mate connection was such a gift, why had it nearly cost her life? When was the price too high? When did the weight of the losses kill the love you shared?

He wanted what was best for her. He just did not know if he was best. Before he met her, she had meaningful work, a home, a family; she was happy and safe. Now she was standing alone in a hotel room with only the clothes on her back.

How could she love him?

He feared it was like a thorn buried deep below the skin. After the prick, the festering began, until the infection poisoned the blood.

“Nick, please, you’re frightening me.”

“Jessie, I’ve lived alone for many years.”

Her eyes grew round and her face went pale. But he continued.

“I never had to consider what was best for anyone but myself. Now I have you and I’m not sure what to do.”

“What do you mean, not sure? You’re my soul mate. We belong together.” She stepped forward, hands extended.

“How can you forgive me?”

Her brow furrowed. “Forgive you? For what?”

“I’ve cost you everything.”

“Nick, I love them, but they are wrong about you and about all Skinwalkers. I left because—”

“Because of me.”

“No, that’s not right. I left because they cannot accept
you, so they cannot accept me. This is the choice
they
made. It has nothing to do with us.”

“Everything to do with us.”

“Nick, I can’t go back to things as they were. I’ve changed. I see the world differently and I see myself with you.”