into his eyes. What Jonas saw in those eyes frightened him more than the idea of what might eventually be out there somewhere.
And then he heard what Gwen must have heard: the echo of a distant voice.
“Whatever the hell this thing was is heading your way.”
The effort of absorbing that warning required Jonas to turn for the door.
* * *
Though she hadn’t meant to move, Tess found herself running.
Curiosity had gotten the better of her as to what that engulfing blackness had been, and yet she wasn’t a fool. Her property line would be the stalling point in going after it. She just wanted to see that thing again to make sure she hadn’t made it up. After all, not much about tonight had been usual. The wolf next door had seen to that.
And okay, maybe she was a fool for falling for his line about being needed elsewhere and about being a good guy. She found it difficult to explain the leniency of her actions and his. The damn Lycan’s face had been painted in her mind ever since.
It was in her mind now as she sprinted over the rocky ground in her bare feet, ignoring the discomfort, feeling lighter without her boots. The flimsy tank and shorts she slept in wouldn’t help her fend off claws if she bumped into that Lycan and his friends, but she didn’t think she would meet them. There was no sense of that Were’s closeness in spite of all that imagined telepathic mumbo jumbo. She just needed a better view of the fields.
Nevertheless, her heart hammered inside her chest, pushing adrenaline to the right places to fuel her muscles. The chill she had felt several minutes ago melted away as rising body heat took over.
It didn’t take her long to reached the crest of the hill where she had encountered the Were. Stopping, Tess waited in silence with her eyes trained on the valley beneath the rocky ledge. No new anomaly stood out as far as she could see, and yet she couldn’t shake the return of an inexplicable undercurrent of dread.
And then she saw something down there. It wasn’t a moving black curtain or the Were she had encountered earlier. This thing moved like the wind, like a white missile, close to the ground and heading straight for Tess’s home turf.
It was the white wolf. The Lycan’s pet.
Without hesitating to watch that ghostly apparition in action, Tess turned and retraced her steps, heading for home, clutching the knife in her hand and hoping to beat that animal there.
When she got to her fence, she found the place quiet. Nothing moved or jumped out at her, but she still felt a wolf’s presence. Inching toward the gate by walking backward, Tess scanned the yard.
“I know you’re here.”
Those words had become her mantra lately and seemed terribly inadequate for tonight’s level of activity.
“Cat got your tongue?” she asked with her heart banging against her ribs.
Cool air swirled around her as she waited. No big, hunky Lycan stepped out of the shadows. No rolling mass of darkness descended. Her only visitor could be the four-legged animal she had seen running in the valley—the real wolf she had seen loping along in the Lycan’s wake.
“No use hiding,” she said, hoping to lure that wolf out of the shadows, though it was, she supposed, silly to think that an animal could understand human speech.
The wolf emerged from beneath the trees as if it had understood her request, moving just far enough out of the shadows for Tess to see the brilliance of its silver-white coat in the moonlight.
“I have no problems with wolves. Real ones,” Tess said, speaking more for herself than for that animal.
As soon as she had spoken those words, however, Tess began to comprehend that this was no mere wolf after all. The vibes coming from it were altogether new and different. And honestly, she was getting sick of things being so far out of the norm.
The white wolf’s muzzle lifted as it sniffed the air. Tess couldn’t see its eyes or determine the animal’s actual size. After seeing the animal’s head, she guessed this visitor was a lot larger than any other wolf she’d seen in the wild. Twice as big, maybe more.
“This place is protected from the likes of you,” Tess said, moving toward the gate that would seal her off from immediate harm.
Her knife dangled from her hand.
“Try it, wolf. Take me on and see what kind of skills I have developed to ward off claws.”
Her dare was punctuated by a rustling sound in the brush. Tess couldn’t look there. Dividing her attention could amount to suicide.
Her heart could not have pounded harder. The fingers holding her knife were turning white due to the tightness of her grip on the hilt.
Damn it... There was another visitor. His approach hit her hard. Coming up against this particular presence was like running into a familiar wall.
“Tess,” the Were said, as if they were friends.
She refused to look for the speaker, already knowing who it was. No one else said her name like that, in the tone of a caress.
“Is that wolf with you?” she demanded with her gaze fixed on the white wolf.
“This wasn’t planned,” the Lycan said. “I’m sorry you were disturbed.”
Tess rallied. “This is the second time you’ve come here and gotten too close to where you aren’t welcome.”
The white wolf growled in response to Tess’s clipped tone. Tess raised the hand holding the knife.
“It’s all right,” the strange Were said in a placating whisper that reached Tess from a short distance. “I’ll take her home.”
Her?
Hell, Tess didn’t want to know what a werewolf might do with a female animal like this one. She was sorry she had believed this guy to be truthful and handsome. His looks might have been exceptional, but werewolves were still monsters in disguise. Being handsome and convincing didn’t mean he was exempt from her reaching current goals.
“We’ll go,” he said with the adamancy of a promise. “Turn your back, Tess, and we will be gone.”
“What sort of an idiot do you take me for?” Tess returned.
“She won’t hurt you. I won’t let her.”
“Do you have a leash? The beast keeps a beast for a pet?”
The white wolf growled again, forcing more of Tess’s attention there.
“She doesn’t like trouble,” the Lycan said.
“Then why is she here?”
“She sensed trouble and came to investigate.”
“Then she knows about me?” Tess asked.
“Yes, in theory.”
Tess
