Shadow Walker (30 page)

The hardness in his eyes softened for only a moment, and he raised the sword again. “It’s what must be done.”

“By whose rule?” I countered.

My death was eminent. In his eyes, I could see nothing I said would change his mind. All I could do was pray that in my next incarnation I’d have the chance to exact revenge upon this man. The one man who had taken my heart. He’d taught me how to love in the one place I’d found had truly lacked the cruelty of the rest of the world.

“It does not matter because I will rule!” His eyes flashed golden.

I had watched civilization flourish on every continent and seen a great many empires destroyed by greed for power and pride. Life hadn’t been easy for me, I’d had to fight for everything to get where I was. In the two hundred thousand years since my creation, I’d refused to submit. Swallowing, I did the one thing I hadn’t since I’d lived among my pack. I gave him my throat. A pose I swore I would never give again.
I
became submissive.

“You could rule at my side,” I hissed through clenched teeth.

When he gave no response, my heart dropped into my stomach. I was through fighting, tired of living the life I’d been foolish enough to accept.

I surrendered completely. “Take my life. I have given you all I have. There’s nothing more.” Tears stung my eyes at the betrayal of the one being I never thought would forsake me, my life mate.

He choked back another sob. “I do love you,” he whispered and brought the sword down.

* * * *

The end of my first incarnation; nearly two hundred thousand years…over. For two thousand years after my murder, I stayed in stasis, waiting with the spirits. Some bound themselves with the new lives being born. Many, like me, were so jaded from our first lives that it took a long time before we felt ready to return.

I have been a Goddess, a queen, a warrior, and the lover of many. I was the wolf that became a woman; I am the Silver Wolf: the mother of all Weres. I’ve watched humanity grow and my brethren learn to get along or create their own communities for protection. Weary of watching, I’ve finally decided to try life again.

A new Were would soon be created. I’d followed the human from infancy. She has an indomitable spirit within her; one that matched my own. In joining my spirit with hers, the gifts of the Silver Wolf will once again be known.

“I can’t take any more of this,” Casey Maynard mumbled, watching the model she was photographing turn from the camera to puke in the bucket that had been strategically placed out of the scene.

Dorian Xanthis sighed, pulling another roll of film out. “It looks like this is going to be a long day.”

Casey turned to her assistant and shook her head. “I can’t do this anymore, Dori. I’m done with all of this. Three a.m. shoots with models and actresses who have to be coddled by their handlers. This is not why I got into photography.”

Dori’s eyes widened. “What are you saying?”

Another violent round of wretches came from the make-shift stage.

“How much longer do you think it will take this time?” Casey ground her teeth and the model’s handler glared back at her.

“She had a movie premiere last night—”

“I don’t give a shit if she did a groundbreaking ceremony with the royal family! This is bullshit! My time is just as valuable. But what do I know? I’m just the one that takes these mind-blowing shots to revamp the careers of those who have fallen out of the limelight.” Casey threw her camera at the stage, hearing it break all to hell. She didn’t care.

Turning, she stormed out of her studio into the cool predawn morning.

How had things turned into this?

“Casey! Y-you can’t walk out like that,” Dori said running out to her.

“Why? Can’t I act like a superficial bitch? How many of those have we had to shoot this month? What should have taken two hours tops, turns into a five or six hour fiasco. I’m done.”

Dori shook her head, taking Casey’s arm. “Don’t do this. You’re going to regret it. You’ll ruin your career.”

“Right now, I don’t care. I…I just need to get away for a while. Go home. Go camping with my dad and brother. Get away from civilization for a little bit. I’m feeling caged in.”

“A vacation then.” Dori nodded. “I can postpone all your shoots for a while.”

Casey sighed, looking back at her studio. The very last thing she wanted to do was return to the madness her career had become, but she wouldn’t tell Dori that. She would spare her assistant’s feelings for a while. Out of the three she’d had over the last ten years, Dori had been the most competent and a good friend and confident too.

“Call me in a couple of days and let me know how you’re doing, okay?”

“I’ll try to, but out in the woods there is no signal.”

Dori wrinkled her nose. “I keep forgetting you’re one of
those
people.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“Fucking hell Casey, you are far more beautiful than those you shoot. The difference is you don’t need an ounce of makeup to make you look good. You’re a natural beauty.
And
you can rough it and not worry about the essentials.”

Casey scoffed and waived her off. “Yeah.” She sighed, purposefully looking away from the studio. “I just need some time to get back to the basics and reevaluate everything. The crap we’re dealing with is not why I started taking pictures.”

“Just think long and hard, okay? I really like my job.”

* * * *

Casey stretched, waiting at the baggage return. The flight had been long enough to stiffen her muscles. The hubbub in the airport was the closest to silence she’d heard in nearly four years.

Had it really been four years since she’d been home?

Her father and brother had been the central male figures in her life. She still talked to them weekly. But had it been four years since her brother Dean had been sent home from Iraq as a wounded vet? Both men in her life were now retired marines.

Lifting her bag from the carousel, Casey rushed out to grab a taxi, only to find a long row of empty ones to choose from. She smirked to herself, so used to rushing everywhere for everything. It was time to relax. This was home.

An old man, with a long white beard sat on a bench near the taxi line. It was pretty chilly out. His clothing was worn and far too thin for the weather. Casey paused next to his bench and pulled out the blanket she had brought along for the flight.

“Sir?”

He turned to her, his eyes were a timeless, deep, blue.

“Here.” Casey handed him the blanket, and then fished in her pocket and pulled out a twenty. “And please, get something to eat.”

The corner of his mouth lifted and he took the blanket, but hesitated taking the bill. “How do you know I won’t go and buy alcohol with that money?”

His voice was crisp and clear, with a hint of an accent she couldn’t quite place.

Casey pretended to glower at him. “Because you and I both know a cup of coffee and a hot meal will carry you a bit further.”

He smiled a bright white smile and reached for the bill. When his fingers brushed hers, Casey felt a slight charge that ran through her entire body. The old man leaned close. There was no stench of unwashed clothes or body odor.

“Your kindness, my lady,
will
be returned.”

Casey blinked and moved to step back…but the old man was gone, along with him, her blanket and money. She frowned, looking up and down the sidewalk. He was nowhere to be found.

That was strange.

Completely unsettled, she opened the rear door of the nearest taxi and slipped inside. “You didn’t by chance see where that old man went, did you?” she asked closing the door.

The driver raised a brow looking back at her through the mirror. “Lady, I been sitting out here for half an hour and ain’t nobody been out here but me and the other driver’s waiting for a fair.” He shrugged and put the taxi in gear. “Where to?”

Still shaken, she gave directions to her father’s bar then sat back, taking in the scenery. Not much had changed over the last ten years. There were a few more stoplights and a few extra businesses, but it was still recognizable.

Relieved, she paid the fair and stepped out of the taxi once they’d reached Maynard’s Bar and Grille. Standing there, she tried to collect her bearings a moment before going inside.

I’m home.

With a grin, she pushed into the bar.

There weren’t many patrons at eleven a.m. A few were at the bar eating an early lunch, and two guys were playing a quiet round of pool.

Peyton Maynard, a giant of a man at six-foot-five, was hefting a load of glasses to place under the backside of the bar.

Casey sidled up and slipped over the bar top like she had done so many times as a teenager.

“If I didn’t know it was you, you’d have been in for some trouble,” her father said pointing to the Louisville Slugger and the forty-five magnum he kept under the bar-top near the register.

“I missed you, too, daddy.” She grinned when he turned to her.

He scrutinized her carefully for a few moments. “You’re too skinny baby-girl.” Moving forward, he abruptly scooped her up, giving her one of his welcoming, bone-obliterating hugs.

She giggled, holding him tight and feeling the tears well in her eyes. Blinking them back when he set her down, Casey didn’t miss the moisture she saw in his eyes.

“I just wish Dean and I’d a little more notice. But with opening the new location, there is no way either of us can get away to meet up with you until the weekend.” He frowned and leaned against the counter.

“It’s just three days daddy. I can handle that alone. You and Dean can meet me Saturday.” Casey grabbed a bottle of water from the ice chest. “I need this time. There are some things I need to think over before I completely lose my mind. The stress is really getting to me.”

Peyton nodded, rubbing a large hand around the back of his broad neck. “I understand, though I never imagined it would take ten years.”

A few extra lines around his eyes were the only difference she was able to notice during her four year absence. Her father was an astonishingly good-looking man. Still in fighting form with as solid a build as he’d been while on active duty.

“Well, Dean and I packed everything up for you. Can you still carry it all?” He smirked, his emerald gaze showing merriment.

She rolled her eyes. “Yes daddy, if nothing else I managed to keep up our old exercise regime.”

“Good, I packed a few extra bottles of propane for the heater. They are calling for a storm come the weekend, so Dean and I will bring extra supplies.”

“I saw a small storm in the forecast for this evening.”

He nodded and shrugged. “I figured you could handle it. It’s not like you haven’t roughed it before.”

Casey grinned. “You’re damn right.”

With a proud smile, he hugged her to him again. “Good to have you home baby-girl.”

* * * *

Pulling her old SUV into the lot, Casey got out and fetched the rucksack and added to it her own supplies. The five mile hike in with all the equipment would be a long one. They had used the same campground for as far back as she could remember.

She smiled, rifling through the pack and supplies. Her father and Dean had made sure to prepare her with MRE’s and her father’s special deer jerky and trail mix. Securing the straps around her waist, she grunted with the weight. It had been a long time since she’d tried to hike with this much equipment. Grabbing her camera bag, she locked the vehicle and began the long walk.

A little more than a mile down the trail into the forest, Casey heard a four-wheeler approach. Turning, she was surprised to see a familiar face.

“Well if it ain’t Casey Maynard!” the old Ranger said laughing. He slid off the all-terrain vehicle and stepped in front of her. “I can give you a ride out to your campsite. Save you the hike and help you set up before nightfall.”

Casey grinned. “Jazzy Massengill, I thought you’d have retired by now you old coot!” She laughed, and he stepped forward to help her take the pack off.

“Not yet honey, I still have quite a few good years left. So how is it out in Los Angeles?”

“Absolutely crazy, Jazzy. I’ve come home to get my bearings and try to figure out a few things. Maybe getting back to my roots is what I really need.”

The old Ranger smiled again. “I know your dad and brother are glad to have you home. Are they coming out to meet you?”

“Saturday they will.”

He frowned a moment and shook his head. “Were it any other young woman coming out here on their own, I’d have taken you right back out to the lot. But I know your father taught you how to handle yourself in the wilds. You got a gun?”

She nodded and motioned to the pack. “Daddy’s shotgun, my three-eighty, a bow, and daddy’s old hunting knife.”

“Good girl. Well, hop on and I’ll take you in. There’s supposed to be some snow tonight you know.”

“I have propane.”