Chapter Three
Grant ground his jaw.
He leaned forward in the tall, wingback chair and settled his forearms on his thighs. He shook his head back and forth. A host of words slid over his tongue, burning as they went, but he remained silent.
Just when he thought he had his world figured out, he learned he could build dreamglides.
Until this moment, his goal had been perfectly clear: One day, at the right time, he would challenge Kryder and take over the Meldorin Pack. He was ready to unseat the bastard and finally have the control he’d been seeking. To cement his power and position, he intended to take an alpha female as his mate as quickly as possible. His body was demanding it. But he also knew that a strong bond in a mated pair would further engage the entire pack and work to build their community in a positive way.
But this? A fae gift? What the hell was he supposed to do with dreamglide-building? He was a wolf, for God’s sake.
He supposed it would be good to have an additional weapon in his arsenal, especially facing a man like Kryder. The wolf’s general disregard for life, alter or otherwise, made him a menace anywhere he went. But building dreamglides?
Even if it turned out he could, what the hell was he supposed to do with that?
He glanced up at Natalie.
She’d moved closer once more then huffed a sigh. “I don’t know the answer.”
“You don’t know the question,” he said.
“You’re wondering what you’re supposed to do with a gift like dreamgliding.”
He rose slowly to his feet. He needed to get his head out of his ass. “You said I should try building one of these damn things. But how am I supposed to do it when I have no idea what it is?”
She opened her mouth, ready no doubt to respond in kind with something like, ‘How the hell am I supposed to know.’ Instead, she clearly thought the better of it and clamped her lips together. They were alike in that way, both a bit impatient.
He was grateful she’d kept her mouth shut. It wasn’t helping their situation that they were both in the same frame of mind, both equally frustrated. “And you’re sure you don’t have this gift?”
She spread her hands wide. “Positive. Sorry I can’t be of more help.” She moved to stand a couple of feet from him.
The scent of her, of lemonade and mint, washed over him. His nostrils flared. Her womanliness blended with the unusual aroma and a kind of peace descended on him. During the earlier dreamglide, how she smelled had aroused him and he could tell the same thing could happen now.
But whatever this was, this peculiar scent she possessed, it also had the power to ease his mind. So, he let it work for him.
“What do you remember,” she asked, “when you found yourself in the Cloister Garden? What’s the first thing that comes to mind?”
He shifted his gaze away from her and focused on the earlier Mont St. Michel experience. One thing he knew about dreamglides, they were real, though they operated on a slightly different plane, which meant he and Natalie had actually been in the garden, in real time and space.
He’d thought about little else from the time he’d awakened for the night. He was working a short shift between ten and two, which he thought a good thing given the circumstances.
But what had he recalled when he came to a full-waking state? “I remember how sweet the air smelled. The grass must have been cut not long ago. It was real, wasn’t it? Not a dream, I mean.”
“Very real. We were in France.”
“Jesus.” He rubbed his forehead with his thumb. “A dreamglide.”
He had to figure this out.
He focused on how the grass felt beneath his bare feet then forced his mind backward. What had he been dreaming about?
Natalie.
The dream suddenly came back to him. “I’d been dreaming about you. We were flying together in the cool night air, side by side.” He could remember it as plain as anything. He’d been flying beside her and taking pleasure in her smile. He hadn’t known her very long, but he could tell she had a naturally joyous nature, something she rarely showed in Five Bridges.
“Where do you want to go?” he’d asked her. “I’ll take you anywhere.”
She’d responded immediately, “The Cloister Garden at Mont St. Michel in Normandie. In France. You know the painting in the foyer at the shelter?”
“I know the one. It’s of that place that gets surrounded by water at certain high tides, so it sometimes looks like an island.”
“Yes. That’s the place.”
She’d looked away from him as he’d slid his arm around her within the dream.
That’s when he’d built the dreamglide. He could feel it now, how the dreamglide had formed around him.
She’d disappeared because the actual dream had faded. But the dreamglide had become a living thing. He’d been back in his burrow then he’d pictured the tidal-island monastery.
He’d felt the grass next.
Somehow, he’d known that before he drew her into the dreamglide, he had to be at the destination. It had something to do with flight times. He could maneuver or fly the dreamglide, but a trip to France across one continent then the Atlantic Ocean would take time. Maybe. Hell, he wasn’t sure about any of it.
“I see the sequence now,” he said aloud. “I built it when I pictured the destination. Then I found you in your bed and brought you to the monastery.”
She cocked her head.
“What?”
“How did you know I wanted to go there?”
Right. Their conversation had taken place in his dream. He said as much.
“Grant?” No question followed.
“Yes?” He felt himself frowning again.
She gave herself a shake. “Nothing. I mean this whole thing is so strange. Anyway, would you be willing to build one now?”
“I thought I had to be asleep.”
“I don’t know the ins and outs, obviously. But Agnes said the gift is peculiar to each person. You, it would seem, can travel thousands of miles with just a thought.”
“That’s not normal?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Right. I had the sense that while we were flying, within my real dream, that I couldn’t take you directly from there and bring you into the dreamglide. I had to go to the destination first, then find you.”
“I was asleep,” she said. “As I came awake, I saw you above me. But I thought I was still dreaming. I don’t know if I have to be asleep or not to join you. But we could try getting relaxed. Maybe sit down?”
“All right.” He gestured for her to take the tall chair, but she quickly planted herself in the smaller one opposite.
He didn’t argue. Instead, he took his seat once more.
She closed her eyes and settled her hands on her lap, palms up.
It was odd how he could feel her beginning to let go as though he had a connection to her though he barely knew her.
The more she relaxed, the more he could as well. It helped a lot to be focused on the issue at hand. He was a man of focus, of direction, of purpose. Being here felt like a waste of time. He needed to figure out the right time to challenge Kryder. The Meldorin Pack needed him to set things right.
Grant, try to focus on the dreamglide.
Her voice in his head brought him back to the studio. Sorry. I have other concerns. Big ones.
I know. But it’s possible that the dreamglide has come to you at this point in your life to help resolve those concerns.
He’d lived in Five Bridges as an alter wolf for six years. He knew she was right.
He released a heavy sigh. I’m here. I’m ready.
Then do it.
He forced his mind to slow down. He let go of his wolf-pack, at least for the moment. He focused exclusively on his new, bizarre circumstances.
As he began to breathe more deeply and to sink into the chair, he let his head rest against the upper part of the cushions. The concept of the dreamglide floated through his mind.
The moment he reached a certain level of relaxation, just like that, the dreamglide materialized all around him. He opened his eyes and he was in two places at the same time. He could see himself sitting in the chair with his eyes closed, yet he was suspended in the same setting but ten feet higher. The edges of the dreamglide faded to a smoky darkness and he could see through the floor of the strange conveyance.
Natalie was watching him in his chair.
Natalie?
Yes?
Look up.
She lifted her gaze and her brows rose as she saw him in the dreamglide. You did it.
Come up here. Join me.
He watched in astonishment as she split into two different people. One remained watching him in the chair, the other rose swiftly to enter the dreamglide.
Once she was opposite him, he mentally closed off the space below. His consciousness was now fully in the dreamglide.
Natalie’s lips curved then spread into a grin. “You did it. Way to go, Wolf.”
He chuckled because of the way she spoke. But his faint amusement dimmed as he stared at her. The unease he felt ran bone deep. Half his instincts kept drawing him to this unusual fae woman with glittering hazel eyes. But the other half pounded warning bells inside his head.
Natalie was trouble for him. For reasons he didn’t understand yet, she threatened the straight-and-narrow of his life, the one that demanded he care for the Meldorin Pack. Yet here was this fae woman who seemed to have triggered an alter fae response within his wolf body. He wanted to blame her, but Five Bridges was full of anomalies and right now he’d become one of them.
His doubts about this new gift began to subside. He could build dreamglides. The gift, if it could be called that, was like breathing air, as though his alter genes had always run this direction but had simply needed the right impetus to get going. Apparently, he’d needed Natalie to offer a jumpstart.
For a powerful moment, he was caught yet again by her beauty, by her exquisite hazel eyes and thick, dark lashes, by the airy swirl of her light brown curls around her shoulders and down her back, and by her strong cheekbones and her full, kissable lips.
As he held her gaze, he wasn’t surprised that her womanly scent rose, the one he’d caught before. Do you know you smell like lemons and mint?”
“I do?”
“Yep, and it’s getting to me.”
She leaned close and sniffed near his neck, then drew back to meet his gaze once more. “Do you know what you smell like?”
“I have no idea.”
“My father used to build things all the time. He had a workshop in our garage with every tool arranged on peg boards just so. Even as a little girl, I would sit on a tall stool by his work table while he built some project or other. I didn’t mind that high-pitched grinding of the saw or the dust in the air. I just loved being around so much industry.
“But that smell, of wood being cut, that’s what I’m getting from you. Is it a type of cologne or aftershave?”
He smiled slightly. “You’re smelling me, Natalie. You’re smelling my wolf.”
Her hand was on his cheek. “So other women have told you this before?”
He shook his head slowly. “No, I just know it to be true at least where you’re concerned.”
He caught her hair with both hands just below the shoulder then lifted slightly. “I like your hair. It’s softer than I thought it would be.”
“It gets a little wild when it rains.”
At that, he smiled. “Which isn’t often.”
“No. Not here in the desert.”
He wanted to kiss her. Hell, he wanted to do a lot more than that. But how wise would it be to get involved?
She was fae and he was reaching alpha status. He wanted a female wolf to be his alpha-mate. Even though Fergus’s mate, Mary, was fae, he wanted what Renee would have given him: a wolf pairing.
He let go of her hair.
Fae.
Jesus. He couldn’t believe he had fae abilities. He could build a dreamglide, but what else could he do? Could he see the future?
“What’s wrong?” She reached up and pressed a forefinger between his brows.
He could feel the tension there as well. As he forced himself to relax, she slid her hand away. “I’m wondering if I have anything close to the gift you have to see the future. What’s it like? I mean how do you access it?”
She turned away from him slightly, her gaze fixed elsewhere. The dreamglide had taken on her studio surroundings. She moved slowly in the direction of the wall of objects.
He sensed she’d collected them over a long period of time. There were several bronze pieces, one of a dragon, another a wolf. She had objects carved out of wood and assembled from driftwood. There were old photos in frames, a couple of antique clocks, several pairs of glasses in then metal, round frames. A sense of the ancient lived in this room, of things from dreams, even nightmares.
“I guess what I’m trying to say is that I don’t get why a fae woman has shown up smelling like something I want to drink.”
He caught up with her then fingered her hair once more. So why had a fae woman come into his life? Would it be different if a female wolf had assisted him in the Graveyard instead of Natalie? Or was this about Natalie herself?
“If this were any other situation,” she said, “if you weren’t a wolf, and if what’s going on here didn’t feel as though the world suddenly depended on these bizarre fae gifts of yours, well, I’d invite you into my bed.”
Something inside him relaxed. He even chuckled. “All I’m thinking about right now is sex.”
Her smile widened. “I know. You smell like an entire lumberyard, one that goes on for acres. It’s getting to me.” She shook her head. “What’s worse, I like you even though you’re a wolf.”
As he searched her eyes, he felt a tremor inside his mind, though it seemed to vibrate through his chest as well. Instinctively, he knew it was something very fae, but it felt different from the dreamglide.
“What is it?” She asked. “I can tell something’s going on.”
“It is.”
“The dreamglide?”
“Not sure. It feels fae but it’s not the dreamglide exactly.”
“Very cryptic,” she said.
“This is new to me.”
She shrugged, a roll of her shoulders. Her curls rose and fell with this small movement. “Maybe I can help.”
For whatever reason, he was surprised. A fae would help a wolf? “How?”
“I don’t know.” She planted a hand on the center of his chest. The touch was all Natalie’s style, firm and confident. He drew a slow deep breath to steady his racing heart.
The internal tremor increased in strength.
Her brows rose. “I can feel what you’re experiencing and yes, this is very fae.”
“But what the hell is it?”
“I think…no, I’m sure this is about foresight or knowing. It’s not exactly futurism. I think it’s more like connection. In this case, to me and my faeness.”
He was about to ask her to elaborate, but the tremor grew very strong and began to pulse as though it had a heartbeat. Suddenly an image, like a video, arrived in his mind.
He saw Cape Town in South Africa.
He didn’t relay what he saw. For the moment, he was afraid to say anything for fear he would lose the vision. He and Renee had visited the southernmost city of South Africa. They’d taken the cable car to the top of Table Mountain, walked on the beach and spent a lot of money on native jewelry.
“Where are you?” Natalie’s voice brought him back. “I mean, what are you seeing because I know something has captured your mind?”
He decided to risk losing the images as he said, “Cape Town.”
“What?”
The odd sound in her voice, almost a break, drew his attention back to her. Fortunately, the vision remained and continued to take him in the direction of a place called where the African penguins lived.
As he met Natalie’s gaze, his connection to her seemed stronger still. He covered the hand planted between his pecs. He could tell she was upset though he had no idea why.
For a reason he couldn’t explain, he wanted her to see the penguins. “A colony of penguins lives at Boulders Beach and the place looks as I remembered it. I wish you could see it.”
“I know about the penguins.” Were there tears in her eyes? “I always thought it something of a miracle that they lived there.”
Because it seemed as though the vision had arrived specifically for Natalie, he asked, “How would you like to take a dreamglide trip right now, to visit the penguins?”
At first, she looked almost horrified. Then tears flooded her eyes, her head bobbed, then her forehead landed on his shoulder.
Deep, grief-stricken sobs followed, yet still the vision was intact. The penguins were still there.
He didn’t know what to make of any of it.
He couldn’t imagine why the idea of seeing penguins was causing Natalie so much pain. But it seemed right to fold his arms around her shoulders and hold her.
She responded by crying harder still and sliding her arms tight around his waist.
She held onto him with a grip so fierce his own eyes stung. If he’d thought for a second that the mention of Cape Town or the penguins would have caused her this kind of pain, he would have kept his mouth shut.
~ ~ ~
Natalie held Grant in a vise-like grip. He’d caught her completely off-guard and somehow brought back in the most soul-shredding way, with her husband six long years ago.
Of course, Grant couldn’t have known about the penguins or or her husband, Aaron. She’d never told anyone about their final moments together and about his desire to take their daughter to visit the penguins at Cape Town. Even if Grant had known, he would never have reminded her of such a painful memory by bringing it up. Grant would never be so cruel. She knew that much about him already.
Natalie rarely wept, and she was embarrassed by her tears. She believed in getting on with things, not wallowing in past grief and loss. She’d had counseling and training. She thought she’d done a good job at mourning the passing of her husband and her unborn daughter, Grace.
As her tears subsided however, she found it difficult to let go of the wolf. What he’d seen in the vision had renewed her grief and she had to ride it out to get through it, dammit. She allowed herself, therefore, the comfort of his arms.
He was warm, wolf-warm.
She shifted her head slightly to lean her ear against his chest. His heart drummed an ancient call. She could listen to it forever.
She let her thoughts slide toward his mind. Just for a few minutes, unless this bothers you.
Not at all. Take as long as you need.
That might be an eternity.
She felt him chuckle, his chest rumbling and disturbing the sound of his heart. Then an eternity it is, he said.
She sighed heavily. She understood the dreamglide itself was partially responsible. She felt less inhibited here with Grant. She knew the moment they left this protective space her necessary walls would strengthen once more. His as well, no doubt.
After a few minutes, when thoughts of Aaron and baby Grace retreated, she slowly released Grant. She took the time to savor his powerful arms as they slid down her back and she stepped away from him.
She was grateful beyond words that instead of letting go of her completely, he kept his big warrior hands, calloused from wolf-battle, settled gently on her hips.
From a pocket in her tunic, and careful not to disturb his hands, she withdrew a tissue. Her work with her clients had taught her to keep a small stock on hand. Emotions could run high when the future interacted with the present.
She wiped her face and blew her nose, then met his gaze. Sniffing, she asked, “So how red is it?” She tilted her chin up to give him a good look
“More than a pink rose, less than a tomato.”
His response made her smile and she chuckled. There it was again, that she liked this damned wolf.
“I take it that’s a ‘no’ for Cape Town?”
Her lips parted. Was it a no? She even wondered if, in Five Bridges’ fashion, Aaron himself had had a hand in the idea. Maybe he was nearby? Ghosts often visited, like Grant’s wife.
In six years, though, she’d never heard a whisper from Aaron.
Now that the initial shock had passed, she considered the suggestion. It took only a few seconds to decide. “Actually, I want to go. The vision that came to you took me by surprise, that’s all. You say you’ve been there?”
“With Renee. Lots of beaches. Good water. She surfed. I watched, played the tourist, enjoyed seeing the galaxy at night from a completely different angle than here in Phoenix.”
“I remember hearing somewhere that you taught astronomy to high school kids.”
“I taught science and threw in as much astronomy as I could.”
“It’s a love of yours.”
“It is.”
“You didn’t surf?” At that she pulled away enough to see his face better. But he still kept his hands on her hips and she wanted them to stay there.
He shook his head. “Not even a little. That was all Renee. I didn’t look like this back then. I was lean and spent more time on the roof with my telescope.”
“Were you this tall?”
“Only six-two.” His smile broadened. “I could gain some muscle strength, but bulking up? It wasn’t in the genes.”
“We’re all different here. My eyes were grayer, and my hair didn’t float. There. I’ve said it aloud. My alter hair is different in Five Bridges.”
He took hold of a long lock of her hair, lifted it up and said. “I like your hair.”
Compliments were the last thing she’d expected from a wolf. She had supposed his kind was like the name of his territory, savages in every respect. But there wasn’t anything savage about Grant’s spirit. Oh, shit, she really did like him. A lot.
Time slowed and for a moment she was struck by how he looked. He was a truly handsome man with strong, even features, an angled jaw and pronounced, almost ridged cheekbones.
His brows were thick and angled away from his eyes giving him an intense expression. He wore his hair in a long braid, straight down his back that reached his waist. His blond hair on top coupled with a light brown beneath, gave his braid a multi-shaded effect.
Like her own hair, his had a curl though in parts it was only a wave. Tendrils had escaped the braid near his face. The whole effect, coupled with his gold-green eyes and their unique shards of brown, gave him his usual god-like appearance.
Davis Grant was a hunk-and-a-half. The female wolves of his pack had to be in heat one second to the next just looking at him.
“I’m smelling lemonade with mint again.”
“You can ignore it. You’re handsome and built. What else am I going to feel?”
He shifted one of his hands to catch the tender, underneath side of her arm. “So, you’re okay? I was worried.”
She could smile now, though she couldn’t quite ignore the ache in her heart. “I am.”
“Good.” He glanced around. “How about we go for that ride?”
“I’m ready.” She turned to scrutinize the dark, hazy edges of the dreamglide where her studio faded to nothing but a kind of preternatural quiet zone.
The only other time she’d been in the dreamglide was at Mont St. Michel. She had no idea what it would be like traveling to another destination.
Very few fae had the advanced ability to create a dreamglide, so she’d never been in one before Grant. In fact, she’d never had the opportunity to even sit down with someone and ask about their experience.
She had no idea what to expect.
For that reason, she shifted to stand next to Grant and took his arm. She used her free hand to cradle the inside of his elbow.
“Nervous?” He asked. He covered her hand with his own then squeezed.
“Of course. I mean, do you have any idea what you’re doing?”
He chuckled, and she loved that he wasn’t offended. “Hell, no, but I’m willing to learn.”
~ ~ ~
Grant felt split down the middle, two men, two very different desires. One was a wolf who would take over the pack. The other wanted to hold onto Natalie and never let her go.
Her interest had gotten to him, firing up the nerves along the insides of his thighs and connecting at the base of his groin. Only the most strenuous discipline had kept his arousal in check.
He had to admit he’d never felt like this before since Renee passed. Not once. A line of fur had erupted down his spine all the way to his tailbone.
He wanted Natalie.
He’d wanted her since the hospital and every minute in-between. That old saying about men thinking about sex every seven seconds had dropped to a very fine line between two and three. Only it wasn’t sex: It was Natalie and sex.
He took deep breaths.
He worked to focus on Africa and the penguins. Yet his thoughts kept shooting to the way her fingers held tight to the inside of his elbow. She held on with soft pads of pressure that set his nerves tingling in another straight line to his testicles.
He finally tore his thoughts away from his need for her.
He focused instead on the blue waters of Cape Town, on the layer of clouds that often streamed across Table Mountain, on the colony of penguins that had given Natalie a sudden heartache.
A rush, not of wind, but of energy, came toward him. The dreamglide began to move though not in a linear sense.
Natalie said, “This feels familiar.”
“I thought you hadn’t travelled in a dreamglide before.”
“Right,” she responded uncertain. “But the sensation, right now, of a kind of movement that isn’t movement. Seeking out the future feels similar to this. It’s like a rush of air, yet not.”
Grant felt compelled to look up. He was shocked to see the stars as he headed southeast across the North American continent toward the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic.
In front of him was nothing, just a sense of extreme motion and destination. But above was what he loved most. Natalie lifted her head as well.
“Look at the stars,” she cried, her voice full of excitement.
His heart felt tight. He was seeing the various constellations move swiftly and in positions different from what he’d ever expected to see because he was stuck in Phoenix.
God, was he no longer stuck?
He’d been shocked to learn he could build a dreamglide at all. But if traveling outside the confines of Five Bridges was one of the possibilities, his heart thudded in response.
The Gulf replaced the land below.
Natalie’s hand gripped his elbow harder. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we?”
“I was thinking the same thing. Jesus, we could travel the world. Think of it!” The moment he invoked the word ‘we’, he felt sick.
There was no ‘we’.
He glanced at Natalie. She didn’t meet his gaze, but she must have read his thoughts because she’d grown very still. “Forget about it, Grant. I know what you meant.”
“I need to be clear. What’s happened here can’t happen. I will soon be alpha of the Meldorin Pack or I’ll be dead. Either way, this attraction has nowhere to go, at least not where I’m concerned.”
She released his arm and shifted toward him as the dreamglide continued to hurtle through its own dimension in space. The strange, preternatural craft was on autopilot. He’d set the destination. He could feel Boulders Beach in Cape Town like a beacon pulsing in the night.
Natalie pivoted to look up at him. “I get what you’re saying and believe me, I’m not interested at all in a relationship with a wolf from Savage Territory. But what do you mean by saying you’d be dead?”
“The current alpha is a psychopath. He provokes dominance battles with the intention of legally killing his challengers and I know he’d love to do the same with me. He requires half of everyone’s wages, but no one knows what he does with the money. The compound needs a dozen major repairs, but he hasn’t spent a dime on them for the past eighteen months. Worst of all, he brutally rapes his own wolves, both male and female.”
“When you said psychopath, you weren’t kidding.”
“No, I wasn’t.”
“I hate Savage Territory.”
“And Revel is full of virtue?”
“No. Of course not. In fact, I know there’s a similar level of violence because of the cartels in our territory and the fae who work for them. But Savage—”
He sighed. From science teacher to Border Patrol officer, it had taken him some time to get used to the visceral nature of Savage, of fangs that tore out chunks of flesh, of so much blood. “I understand. Wolves tear into each other.”
“Like Talya. Like your wife.”
“Yes. I won’t pretend otherwise. But your kind is duplicitous. You work in the shadows, pluck information from the future to do harm in the present.”
“I won’t pretend, either. There are dozens, maybe even hundreds of futurists in Revel who offer their skills to the highest bidder, to drug-runners and other criminals.”
“You don’t?”
“Not to criminals but I did do it once during the Fae-Wolf Wars, and promised myself I’d never do it again. Besides, do you think Kiara would have let me get anywhere near her refuge if she didn’t trust me?”
“Of course not.” Kiara was one of the finest women Grant had ever known. She had refuges in each of the five territories, even though she was a witch. She was also bonded to Alpha Warren, one of the most powerful wolves in Savage Territory.
There was a gulf between him and Natalie, understandably so. Fae and wolves didn’t trust each other easily. Yet, Kiara trusted her and everything Natalie had done so far led him to believe she was the kind of woman he could put his faith in. This assessment of her character, however, wasn’t helping at all.
The dreamglide cruised easily above the Atlantic Ocean. Suddenly, the dark shadowy front edge of the dreamglide began to thin until the vista opened and land appeared in the distance.
Soon, the distinguishing features of Cape Town took shape. Mist streamed across the flat surface of Table Mountain and the natural coves of the beachline grew clear.
It was daytime in this part of the world, yet the sun didn’t bother them at all because something about the dreamglide offered protection.
“Do you feel the sun?” Natalie asked. She held her free arm aloft and lifted her face.
“Yes. It’s unbelievable.”
As he focused on the penguins and what was known as Boulders Beach, the dreamglide began to descend then veer toward a portion of the beachline dominated by massive boulders.
“There are penguins everywhere.”
Grant sought a cleared portion of beach and settled the dreamglide in the middle of it.
“They’re adorable.” Some waddled to the surf’s edge then dove in. Natalie had grown very quiet and still as she watched the penguins. He didn’t know what she was thinking, maybe those thoughts that had earlier caused her grief. He didn’t want to press her.
She said, “My husband wanted to come here. I’m feeling overwhelmed.”
“You miss him.”
“I do. Every day. I imagine it’s much the same with you and Renee.”
“She’s a big part of my sense of mission with my pack. I promised her I would take care of our wolves. But I still can’t believe she appeared to you.”
Natalie huffed a sigh. “Neither can I. Though I’m glad she did.” She glanced at him. “She’s never come to you?”
He shook his head. “Early on, I contacted several deadtalkers, but Renee remained distant and silent. Until now.” Another reason he felt uneasy about all that was happening. Why, now, after all this time?
“Did you ever see your husband?”
“No. I wanted to desperately. But my experience was similar to yours.”
“What a world we live in.” He held out both hands. “And now this? I’d give about anything to swim in that water with the penguins.”
The dreamglide was one thing. He couldn’t exactly explain in what kind of state they existed. It was very physical, yet it wasn’t. He’d read the blogs about dreamglides, interviews done with Fergus and others who could build them. Humans would never be able to see them and only uber-powerful alter people. They were, for the most part, invisible to anything around them.
Several penguins waddled close and appeared to be arguing maybe about territory. Natalie started to move, but Grant held her arm. “Wait. Let’s see what happens.”
But the penguins moved right through them.
They were definitely on a different plane.
“That was so strange. But that means we could get as close as we wanted.”
“I think so.” He began directing the dreamglide to a large group of penguins and for the next few minutes, often at Natalie’s direction, he took her around the beach, up and over boulders and once into the water to see them swim below the surface. The latter had to be the strangest experience. It was a though the dreamglide allowed them a perfect experience without any of the downsides.
After a few minutes, he returned to the dreamglide on an empty space of beach several yards from the nearest penguins. He stood beside her watching their antics, when Natalie asked, “How did Renee die?”
Grant drew in a long, deep breath. “In my arms after a brutal attack by rogue wolves. It wasn’t far from where Talya was attacked.”
“Renee mentioned her death when she sent me to the Graveyard. I take it the wolves didn’t survive.”
He frowned at the memory. “I was armed with my Glock because I was on duty when I got the call. I fired three times and took them out, but it was too late. They’d disemboweled my wife and sliced up her throat. I didn’t care about the blood or anything. I just held her and wept. I remember thinking my life had just ended.” Maybe he shouldn’t have told her so many details. He frowned, “Yes, it was savage.”
She took hold of his arm. “I wasn’t thinking that. I’m just glad you got to hold her. I was in too much pain when Aaron passed. I regret that I couldn’t have held him and comforted him more. He died during his transition.”
He turned to face her, wanting to comfort her, maybe wanting comfort for himself. But without warning, his desire for her returned like a powerful Tsunami that picked him and carried him straight into her.
He slid his arms around her and pulled her tight against him. What he’d been craving was suddenly in his arms.
He waited, though. He wouldn’t do this without her permission.
“Yes,” slid from her throat, low and husky.
He crashed his lips down on hers. She slid a leg close and connected tighter to his body. When she parted her lips, he drove his tongue inside.
He was hard as any of these boulders and arched his hips to let her feel him. Her arms wended around his neck as a softly murmured groan surrounded his pulsing tongue.
He could lay her down on the sand and take her. It would be quick, a hasty shoving aside of clothes and he’d be inside her.
Do you want this Natalie? Right here and now?
He wouldn’t do anything without her complete willingness, even if it meant living with a throbbing hard-on.
~ ~ ~
Grant’s lips were like fire against her mouth.
Natalie drew back to meet his gaze. She had a death grip on his arms and couldn’t seem to let go. She had never felt this way before in her entire life and she’d known a passionate relationship with Aaron.
Grant’s eyes had changed color as well, almost gold-rimmed. She’d heard this could happen with wolves. His lumberyard scent had her abdomen rippling with pleasure as well as a powerful need that would require so little to put her on her back.
Yet, she hesitated. “What is this between us?” she whispered.
A small smile played at the edges of his lips, “A Five Bridges kind of torture.” He leaned close then nuzzled her hair very wolf-like, just at her shoulder. He dipped his nose and lifted as though pushing it away. His breath was warm on her skin.
He tilted his head a little more then pressed his lips to the tender part of her neck just below her ear.
A series of small gasps left her throat as shivers played leap-frog down her throat and side. Her nipples grew peaked and desire danced over her sex. In that moment, she felt her faeness reaching for what was his most essential wolf: Her alter nature wanted his.
She felt it again, how being in the dreamglide had removed much of her inhibitions, her rational thought.
As he placed a series of warm erotic kisses down her throat, she forced herself to remember that above all, Davis Grant was a wolf.
This thought had a sobering effect. “I think you should take me home. This is all too much. I’ve done a good job charting my course in Revel until now, doing some good I hope, with my investment in Kiara’s refuge and avoiding the pitfalls, at least most of them.”
“Like dating wolves.”
His words made her think. “That’s just it, Grant. This doesn’t feel like dating. Maybe I could handle that. But this feels like getting sucked into a sexual vortex with no guarantees it won’t end in death.”
He shook his head. “You always have a gloomy perspective? What if this is something we both need?”
New tears bit her eyes. She wanted to hope, to believe something good could come of the miracle around her. “I’m cynical because I live in Five Bridges. I’m cynical because three wolves nearly killed one of my fellow fae late last night. I’m untrusting because every day I live with a sense I’m being watched, my movements tracked.”
“What do you mean?”
She felt Grant’s sudden tension. The same sensation had been there the night she became an alter fae six years ago. She said as much then added, “I’d brought my husband, Aaron, his favorite strawberry pie from a bakery far away from any outbreaks of alter serum transformations. I was out at Cave Creek. In the parking lot, when I could have sworn someone was there. But as hard as I looked, I didn’t see anyone. I’d had a similar moment in the bakery. I became a fae that same night, which meant that I’d been right. Someone was there, with me, in that parking lot. But off and on, through the years, I’ve felt the same presence as well. Always briefly, but it’s been there, haunting me.”
“What about any time while you’ve been with me?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Grant released her and the tense, sexual moment evaporated. He even turned in a slow circle. “I’ve heard rumors over the years of invisibility potions and spells that some of the more powerful wizards can concoct.”
“I’ve heard rumors as well, but never anything concrete. So are you thinking I’ve been tracked by an invisible entity? A person? A wizard, maybe?”
“It’s hard to say, but my best guess is that you have.”
“Agnes thought so as well, but neither of us knew what to do about it. The moments were always fleeting. By the time I became aware I was being watched, the entity was no longer there.”
He nodded and appeared somber. He’d gone from ready to jump her bones to serious advisor in less than half a minute.
She became acutely aware that he was a man of great worth. Her heart began to pound in her chest as she realized the time had come to make a clean breast of things.
She straightened her shoulders. “There’s something you have to know. I’m not proud of this, but I participated in the Fae-Wolf Wars of three years ago. That was when I’d used my futurism to locate where a team of enemy wolves would be. I know at least two wolves died because of my information.
“I’d lost a good friend the night before and my judgment wasn’t at its best. I let my emotions rule my decisions and agreed to help. It only happened once, but I was sick afterward.”
A bucket of ice water couldn’t have had a greater impact. He compressed his lips, his nostrils flared, and the sweet smell of cut-wood dissipated as though a strong wind suddenly carried it away.
“You used your futurist abilities to secure our locations.”
“As I said, only once then I came to my senses. But you’ve already told me you participated as well. So, I’d say we have a difficult history between us.”
He nodded gravely, a slow dip of his chin. Lines of honey-gold fur appeared on his cheeks. “This will be hard to forgive, Natalie. I don’t know if I’ll be able to trust you.”
“I understand. It’s why I brought it up. We both lost people we cared about during that time. We can’t do this, Grant. Any of it, can we?”
He looked away from her, his gaze tracking several penguins that dove into the water. “You’re right. We can’t.”
He sighed and for a long moment was silent. Finally, he turned to her and said, “There’s just one thing. The next time you have the sense you’re being watched, call me. I’m not sure, but it’s possible you’ve been targeted.”
Natalie stared at him dumbstruck. “For what and by whom?”
“I don’t know. But you need to be careful. It’s even possible this entity provided the alter serum that made you fae.”
Until this moment, Natalie had never considered that she might be in some kind of danger. She’d always assumed the sensation of being watched was part of her alter experience. Or maybe that was what she wanted to think.
A certain doubt entered her mind. “Are you suggesting that when I was at the bakery in Cave Creek before my transformation that I was targeted? Someone wanted me specifically to become an alter fae?” The serums that turned humans into any of the five alter creatures were specific to that species. She could only have become fae with the fae serum.
“I think it’s possible. But you need to be on your guard if you’re not already.”
Grant shifted his gaze to the sky overhead. She did as well. All that blue, something she hadn’t seen in six years.
“We should head back.”
Natalie felt it as well, the need to be going. “Being here has been wonderful. I want you to know that. We probably won’t see each other again, but I want to thank you for this brief adventure.” She could even offer a half-smile as she took one last look at the penguins.