Nature of the Beasts (11 page)

Dastan kissed her brow. “I know it’s scary,” he whispered. “And the spell that is hiding your age will only work for a short time now that your body is changing. But it won’t hold it off forever.” He lifted up and gazed into her worried eyes. “The restlessness will get worse. The need to run overpowering. Eventually you’ll shift whether you want to or not. Here in the mortal world, it would be better to shift on your own terms, not unexpectedly.”

“I know, but I’m not ready.”

He again gently kissed her lips. “You will be. I promise,” he whispered against her mouth.

The warmth of her body seeped into his, and his cock thickened inside her. He really needed to get up before he couldn’t. With a growl, he pushed off her, leaving her welcoming body and hissing as the cool air hit his cock. God, he wanted to be inside her again.

“I need to get out of here while there’s still some daylight left.” He magically dressed, then glanced down at Sarah, who still lay on the bed, staring thoughtfully out the window. “Hey.”

She turned to meet his stare.

“If you want, you can stay there just like that, and when I’m done, I’ll join you again.”

“Won’t Dmitry get jealous?”

Dastan shrugged. “I don’t care.”

Sarah smiled, and Dastan felt a little better about leaving her. She lifted her hands over her head and stretched like a contented cat. Dastan couldn’t help but smile at the image she presented. “Maybe I’ll get Dmitry to fill in while you’re working,” she teased.

“Do you want me to send him up?”

He would if she wanted him to. Dastan didn’t feel any jealousy about Dmitry. Matter of fact, thinking about her up here with him would just fuel his lust for later.

She stopped stretching and glanced toward the ceiling. “Part of me says yes.” She looked back at him. “Why can’t I seem to get enough?”

One side of Dastan’s lips lifted in a small smile. “I’m asking myself that same question right now.”

“Don’t send him,” she murmured. “I need to just…think.”

Dastan nodded and turned to leave her room, giving her the space she needed.

* * * *

Razeen dropped the binoculars he’d used to stare in the young woman’s window. Watching her have sex with Dastan had been eye-opening to say the least. She was beautiful, but there was something about the way she moved, the way her eyes had that faraway look when she gazed out the window that seemed so familiar. Who are you? he wondered.

It was obvious by the way they had sex they meant something to each other. Could she be his revenge against Dastan? The beast inside him clawed to get out, to find its release in the screams of the dying. Would killing her be his revenge? Or would that just raise Dastan’s ire? Would that get him more trouble than he wanted?

Razeen growled with indecision. He needed to take the edge off while he thought. While he plotted his next move. Time to head back to town and scout out his next victim. Dastan wasn’t going anywhere. He could wait.

Sarah stood in the yard outside her mother’s house, deep within the protected dimension. She wasn’t sure why she was here. She wasn’t really angry with her mother, but… She crossed her arms and hugged herself as she stared at the home where she grew up. Nestled in the trees, the three-story plantation-style home looked so inviting.

She could remember the picnics under those trees. All the times her father played with her in the yard. He’d been so good to her, and he’d never once let on he wasn’t her real father. But then why would he? Deep down she admired him for loving her like he had. Could she have done it? Could she have kept a child that had resulted from a horrible rape? And then loved that child like they’d loved her?

The front door opened. Her mother stood just inside, watching nervously. Sarah gave her a soft smile, and her mother rushed toward her. Her mother embraced her in a tight hug and sobbed. Tears streamed down Sarah’s face as well as she hugged her mother back.

“It’s okay, Mom,” Sarah whispered.

Her mother sobbed harder. Sarah noticed her father on the porch and lifted her hand, waving at him. Her father waved back, but the look on his face was still one of worry. Sarah pulled back and cupped her mother’s cheeks. With her thumbs, she wiped away the tears.

The second their gazes met, her mother’s eyes widened. “Your eyes. Dastan said you were…that you were beginning to show signs.”

“They just changed.”

“Have you shifted yet?”

Sarah shook her head. “No. I’m afraid to,” she added in a soft whisper.

A new stream of tears spilled down her mother’s face. Sarah felt a twinge of guilt for saying that and quickly tried to reassure her. “I’m okay, Mom. But we need to talk.”

Her mother nodded and turned to head into the house. Her dad gave her a gentle pat as her mother walked past. He then turned to Sarah. He put his hands on her shoulders, stopping her as he stared into her eyes.

He smiled softly and cupped her cheek with his palm. “You’re still my daughter, Sarah. That will never change.”

Tears gathered in Sarah’s eyes, and her lower lip quivered. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him close. How many other husbands could’ve done what he had? Not many. He gave her a reassuring pat on the back, then pulled away.

Sarah and her father walked arm in arm into the house. Her mother had coffee waiting at the kitchen table when they got there. She sat on one side, her hands shaking just a little as she clasped them before her on the table. Sarah sat next to her and put her hand over her mother’s.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Sarah asked.

“How could I have told you this?” her mother whispered. “We truly thought we could keep it hidden. That by distancing you from the shifters, you wouldn’t be around them enough that they would affect you.”

“Then I go to Montana with two,” Sarah offered in slight amusement.

“When I heard you’d done that, I-I almost went to bring you back, but your father stopped me. He said we were naive to think you wouldn’t find out at some point. Why did Keegan ask this of you? What was she thinking sending you there with them?”

“Keegan had her reasons. She asked this of me not as my friend but as the lead councilwoman. Now that she’s taken her mother’s place as head of the council, I feel I have to obey her as I would’ve her mother. The council is our governing body. Besides, Dastan and Dmitry were her bodyguards her entire life. Now that she didn’t need them anymore, she wanted them to be happy. She knew they would protect me just as they had protected her.”

“I suppose you’re right.”

“We’re going to have to remove the antiaging spell. I can’t, so I’ll need you to do it, since you were the one who put it in place.” Sarah shrugged. “Apparently I don’t need it anyway.”

“What will happen when you do?” her mother asked.

“The spell apparently holds it off some, but now that my body has begun to change, the spell can’t hold it back any longer. I’m only prolonging the inevitable. Because I live in the mortal world now, I have to get control of it before I end up shifting in front of someone I shouldn’t.”

He father’s brow creased in concern. “Then maybe you should come home.”

Sarah shook her head. “I’m happy where I am. Besides, I want complete control of this thing. I don’t want to accidentally shift in front of Mom. I’m not sure she could handle me as a wolf.” Sarah gave her mother’s hands a squeeze of understanding.

“You’re my daughter, Sarah. I love you no matter what and that includes if you shift.”

“
When
I shift, Mom,” Sarah whispered.

Her mother nodded. “When.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “What is Dastan to you?”

The question surprised Sarah, and truthfully, she had no idea how to answer it. What was he to her? A lover, yes. A friend… Yeah, she could see that. Did she love him? “I don’t know,” Sarah replied.

Her mother studied Sarah’s fingernails as though afraid to meet her stare. “He seems very intimidating. Is he good to you?”

Sarah smiled. “Yes, he’s good to me. Yes, he’s intimidating. Yes, he’s a pain in my ass the majority of the time, but he’s also a good man. I’m safe with him.”

Her mother swallowed and gave a nod of understanding. “And Dmitry?”

“Ah, Dmitry,” Sarah said with a chuckle. “Now there’s a man with a sarcastic, snarky sense of humor that Dad would love.”

Her father grinned.

“He tries to treat me like a big brother would a little sister. He picks, he teases, he antagonizes, but I know he wouldn’t let anything happen to me.”

“Dastan was very angry that I had hidden all this from you,” her mother said in a soft, uncertain voice.

“He was,” Sarah agreed. “He also stood up for you when I became angry at you.”

Her mother lifted her head and met Sarah’s stare. Her brow raised in surprise. “He did?”

Sarah nodded.

“Huh,” her mother said.

“I know. Shocking isn’t it?” Sarah teased, and her mother smiled.

Sarah knew then that no matter how scary all this was, her family would still be there for her. It made her feel a little better about what was happening. Now if she could just decipher her feelings for Dastan and Dmitry. Was it merely physical, or was there something more there?

* * * *

“Have you seen Sarah?” Dmitry asked.

Dastan turned away from the fence post he was working on and glanced briefly at Dmitry before tossing his hammer into the box at his feet. “I saw her earlier. Did you check her room?”

“I checked the whole house.”

Worry tightened Dastan’s chest as he looked past Dmitry to the house a few yards away. Had she run off? Gone back to the protected dimension?

“Was she upset when you saw her?” Dmitry asked.

Dastan sighed. “A little, but she seemed okay when I left. She just said she wanted to think. Let’s don’t panic just yet.”

A scream ripped through the air, and both men immediately went on edge. George came running out of the barn, two other hands behind him. “What the hell was that?”

“That was Sarah,” Dmitry murmured.

Dastan fought the desire to shift to a wolf. He could get to her so much faster as the animal, but he didn’t dare shift in front of the hands.

“Dastan!” Sarah screamed.

“It’s coming from there.” Dastan pointed to the hill behind the house.

They all took off at a run up the path that led to the overlook above the house and barn. Dastan’s heart raced in fear. What had her so scared? What was she doing up there alone?

He and Dmitry topped the hill first. Sarah rushed into Dmitry’s arms and buried her face in his chest. “It’s another one,” she whispered.

Dastan cautiously walked forward. As he went, he checked the ground, spotting the same tracks as before. It wasn’t hard to miss the body on the side of the path, her torso ripped to shreds just like the other one. Dastan winced. He’d seen his share of dead bodies before, but there was something about these that set him on edge.

Why would he kill here? Right behind the house? What was this shifter up to?

“Oh my God,” George said as he covered his mouth and nose with his bandanna. “Is this like the other one you saw, Dastan?”

With a sigh, Dastan nodded. “We need to call the sheriff.”

He hated to. He knew what would happen when he did. Mike would look at them with even more suspicion.

George stepped back and raised his hand. “I’ll do it. I can’t stand that image anyway.”

George took off down the path, along with the other hands. Dastan couldn’t say as he blamed them. He wouldn’t be here either if he didn’t have to. He put his hands on his hips and turned to look at Sarah. “What were you doing up here alone?” he asked.

“After talking with my mother earlier, I just wanted to get some air and think. I thought it would be okay.”

Dmitry tightened his arms around her and sent Dastan a look of warning to back off.

Dastan frowned. “When did you talk to your mother?”

“After you and I talked.” Sarah nodded to the girl. “Is she like the other one?”

“I’m afraid so,” Dastan murmured.

“Two bodies found on our ranch. The sheriff will start to ask questions,” Dmitry said.

“We’re going to have to tell Keegan,” Sarah said as she pushed away from Dmitry.

“No,” Dastan replied, maybe a little sharper than he’d intended.

“You and Dmitry are bodyguards, Dastan. You’re not investigators,” Sarah snapped.

“I will not have this ranch and the normal life that I wanted torn apart by allowing the council investigators in here.”

“They would be discreet.”

“And how would you explain it, Sarah?” Dastan growled. “The mortal sheriff is already involved. He’s just looking for a reason to distrust us more. The hands have already seen the body. There’s no hiding it now.”

“We don’t have to hide it,” Sarah argued as she came forward. She unbuttoned the last two buttons of her shirt and tore a piece of the hem from the bottom.

“What are you doing?” Dmitry asked.

“I can use her blood to cast a spell—”

Dastan took the fabric from her hand. “No.”

She scowled up at him in anger. “Why not?”

“That would open you up to him,” Dastan replied.

“He’s right, Sarah,” Dmitry said as he put his hand on her shoulder.

“We can’t just let him keep doing this!” Sarah argued.

She tried to grab the fabric from Dastan’s hand, but he jerked it back out of her reach. Her scowl deepened, and if not for the situation, Dastan would find her quite amusing.

She actually stomped a foot and snapped, “Damn it, Dastan! So you’re just going to let this mortal sheriff track down a shifter, is that it? And what if he does? What then? What of your normal life then?”

“Fine,” Dastan growled. “I’ll do the spell.”

Sarah shook her head. “It’s too complicated. You guys can do simple stuff. Not this.”

Dastan raised an eyebrow. “Thanks for the confidence, princess.”

Some of Sarah’s anger seemed to deflate as a flush of embarrassment moved over her cheeks. “I didn’t mean…”

“I know exactly what you meant,” Dastan said with a frown. “But you forget just how old I am, and with age comes a lot more wisdom than you might think. I’ve been guarding witches a long time. I’ve watched, and I’ve learned. I can do a lot more than you think.” He stepped close to her and kissed the tip of her nose. “So let me handle this.”