CHAPTER TWO
Layla Thorne hugged her afghan closer to her body as the chilled wind rushed past, bringing the sound of an animal’s death to her ears. She let out a shivered breath as she scanned the night for an injured beast—they always managed to find her. Ever since she was a child the beasts of the world found her, both mythical and mortal. Her breath misted gently on the air, her back illuminated by the glow of the cabin. Inside, the soft musical tones of her twin sister, Lexi, humming gently drove away the aching silence.
The door opened and her sister moved to stand beside her. Both were tall, with the same dirty blond hair and sparkling blue eyes. Though Layla would say her eyes were like azure blue seas, and her sister’s more like the sky on a stormy day. Lexi was definitely the more emotional of the pair, feeling everything at the soul level. She had no choice—her healing gift came with a painful and possibly deadly side effect. She could literally feel when people needed healing, no matter where she was.
Layla’s power, however, was quite different. She communicated with the beasts of the world. She could speak to them as if they were people before her. They trusted her, and came to her when they needed aid. Over her life, she had touched unicorns, run her hand through a black bear’s wiry fur, taken a ride on a griffin, and conversed with a nagga sea serpent.
Together, she, the tamer, and her twin sister, the healer, had saved the lives of countless animals that came to their door. Tonight would be no different, she could feel it in the air. Something was out there, something in immense pain. A deep pain called to something within her, aching to help the poor beast that seemed lost in the darkness.
The bond between the sisters meant she could feel what her sister felt, and vice-versa. Turning her head to her sister, Lexi leaned back against the wrap-around porch of their small cabin and crossed her arms over her chest. Only here in this place did Lexi truly show the woman she was inside. Around everyone else she was cold and solid as rock. No one other than Layla, their mother, and Layla’s five-year-old daughter had ever breached the stone wall that surrounded her.
“I know what you are going to say, Lexi. No more strays.” The running joke between them brought a small smile to Lexi’s face. She shook her head and shrugged.
“I know you won’t be able to help yourself. The barn is getting full with your collection, you know, and who is the one taking care of them?”
“Me. Don’t act like the victim, Lex, it doesn’t suit you. You love those animals just as much as me. Don’t think I don’t see you in there giving that pegasus carrots when I’m not looking.”
Her twin made a huffing noise, and the pair of them giggled low. Lexi moved to sit beside her sister and opened the blanket so they could share it. Like everything else in their lives, they were half of one whole. Together they were happy and safe, apart they always felt alone and out of place. Blond heads pressed together as the women sat in silence for a moment. Today was a tough day; today was the day their mother had died five years ago, leaving them alone with powers they needed to keep hidden from the world.
Annabelle Thorne had moved her twin daughters out here into the middle of nowhere the moment the girls began to show signs of powers far beyond those of normal mortals. The twins had been raised in the high mountains of Montana, learning from a woman who respected and loved nature. From her they knew to accept their wonderful gifts, and to use them when they could, but only if they were safe.
Safe—such a small word and used so often. Layla had believed they were all safe once, until she met Richard Tice. That man had swept into her life, swept her off her feet, and then dumped her the moment he discovered being a twenty-year-old father was not what he wanted. Most men had a spine, and would have at least stuck around to see the child born. He had run so fast from the town of Stillwater, Montana, that he left scorch marks on the dirt. He left behind a pregnant Layla, and a really pissed off twin sister who vowed she would castrate him with a spoon if she ever saw him again. Layla did not doubt for a moment her sister would do it, too.
Layla, on the other hand, accepted her fate, and gave birth to a wonderful baby girl with eyes so light blue they looked like ice, but held nothing but warmth and an ageless soul that shone from her. That was five years ago, the night her wonderful daughter had been gifted to her—the same night their mother had died trying to reach them through a snow storm.
The universe worked in balance; one thing came into your life and another had to leave. At least that was what their mother believed. Layla looked back at the door. Annabelle, named after her grandmother, slept in her small room, surrounded by warmth and love, and more than one stray bobcat that called the cabin home.
“Did she go down okay?”
“You know she did. Even filled with enough birthday cake to sink a ship, that girl is pure angel. I swear she looks at you with eyes that have seen the universe. She has a soul much older than us, sis.”
“Yeah, don’t I know it. You know what she said to me today? Make sure you make up the spare room, Mommy, we’re going to have a guest. A guest? I had to inform her that Fluffy and Buttcheek don’t count as guests.”
Lexi snorted a laugh. Neither could keep a straight face when those two bobcats’ names were uttered. Annabelle had decided on their names, and there was no changing them. So it was Fluffy and Buttcheek, despite all efforts to get the child to not call the fat one Buttcheek. She stuck to her stubborn guns, and of course, got her way.
“Don’t laugh, you just encourage her. Buttcheek. I still can’t get my head around it. She swears Grandma Annie sent them to her. Only our mother would send my daughter a pair of wild bobcats to protect her.”
“That she would. You know she always believed there was a reason for every action of the universe. Including you having Belle, even if it was with that asshole Richard.”
“Lex, let’s not do this again; it was almost six years ago. He gave me her, that is what I am thankful for. I learned from that, no more men. We will grow old together, and in our dotage Annabelle can look after us and the menagerie of animals I intend to have.”
The groan from her sister made her chuckle. The touching moment was shattered by the cry of a wounded beast. The sound had them both standing up quickly and facing the black forest. This was not a cry of physical pain, this was emotional, soul stirringly desperate. Something terrible had driven that poor beast to roar out its fear into the night. Lexi shivered and grabbed Layla by the hand, pulling her toward the door quickly.
“Let’s get inside. Whatever that is, I don’t want it anywhere near this cabin, or my family.”
Layla paused and looked back into the darkness. Something made her heart thud hard in her chest and the bottom drop out of her soul. That poor animal needed help, despite her sister’s worry. She knew she would not rest until she knew why that animal cried out in human-like anguish.