Tess froze for a moment. Then she left the ladies room as quietly as she could, palming the keys to the truck, which were in the pocket of the baggy sweatpants, to keep them from jingling.
Silently, she slipped out the door and was gone.
Chapter Thirty-eight
“Garron? Garron?” Tess’s throat hurt and her voice was hoarse from calling so much. Her arms were scratched from several encounters with wild black raspberry bushes and the stinging cut that ran from her temple to her jaw which Pierce had made was bleeding again. She was a mess and the shadows in the woods were growing long as sunset rapidly approached. Still, she didn’t want to give up.
“Where is he?” she muttered to herself, pressing through another thick copse of trees. The springy branch of a young alder sprang back and slapped her in the face. Tess gave a little gasp and pressed a hand to her cheek. One of the twigs had poked her in the face, just a fraction of an inch from her eye. Maybe it was time to take stock before she blinded herself or bled to death from a million tiny scratches.
“Garron, where are you?” she said softly. Then she looked around her. “And where am I?”
Lost, that’s where you are, whispered a pessimistic little voice in her brain. Where was Tess BP when she needed her? But the peppy cheerleader voice was conspicuously absent.
Tess pushed the idea of being lost aside, refusing to panic, and looked around some more. Unfortunately, nothing in this part of the woods looked remotely familiar.
She had set off late that morning from the cabin, thinking to try and trace the dr’gin’s trail. Unfortunately, it had left no trace. No footprints or broken branches—nothing at all as far as Tess could see.
Remembering the way it seemed to float in the air, completely ignoring gravity, she supposed that made sense. Still, she had hoped to find at least one or two clumps of its white feather-fur caught in the branches of trees or bushes. But there was no sign that the dr’gin had ever been there. It was as if it had vanished into thin air.
Undeterred, Tess had set off to circle the cabin, calling Garron’s name. Her circles had grown wider and wider as the hours wore on until she found she had somehow spent almost all day in the woods calling for him.
Maybe you should head back, whispered the pessimistic voice in her brain. If you can find the way back, that is. You can try again tomorrow. After all, it’s almost sunset now and I don’t think you want to meet his dr’gin in the dark.
Tess had to admit that was true. Meeting the beast with its razor sharp claws and knife-like teeth in the daytime would be bad enough. But day or night, she had no idea what she was going to do when she did meet it—if she ever met it at all. Should she call it to her? Treat it like a dangerous dog that might bite? Would she even get a chance to do any of that? What if it came at her from behind? What if it was already stalking her? What if it was behind her right now?
Stop it! Tess told herself angrily. Stop worrying so much. This is Garron we’re talking about—he loves me! He won’t hurt me, in either form.
Oh yeah? Then why did he attack you and almost rape you earlier? whispered the voice. Eating Pierce changed him. Going D’fex has probably changed him too. At least, Truth and Becca seemed to be convinced it had.
Well, they’re wrong, Tess told the voice stubbornly. Garron is still in there, inside his dr’gin somewhere. I just have to find him so I can find a way to get him out. I just—
A suddenly crackling in the leaves behind her made her gasp and whirl around. There was nothing there on first glance but then Tess was able to make something out. A pair of large, yellow eyes was staring at her from between the leaves. Predator’s eyes.
“Uh…” Tess took a step back and the owner of the eyes took a step forward.
When it came out from the shadows of the trees, she had to bite back a gasp. It was a simply enormous wolf with shaggy gray fur and glaring yellow eyes. It stared at her unblinkingly and a long pink tongue came out to circle its jaws.
Oh my God, it’s hungry! It’s licking its chops!
Tess’s heart started pounding but she knew from experience that if you let a dog know you were afraid of it, it would come after you. Taking a deep breath, she straightened up and looked the wolf in the eyes.
“Get!” she said in her strongest voice. “Go on, get!”
The wolf cocked its head to one side, regarding her as if she was an interesting specimen it would like to study. Or maybe a tasty morsel it would like to taste. Then it took another step towards her.
“No, get!” Tess reached out blindly, trying to find any kind of a weapon without taking her eyes off the huge gray predator. Her seeking hand found the springy alder branch that had whipped her in the face earlier and she broke it off with quick, jerky movements, her eyes glued to the wolf the entire time.
The wolf took another step forward and she swished the branch at it. It was so close now that she smacked the tip of its black nose.
The wolf jerked back and its silky muzzle wrinkled into a snarl. It began to growl—a low rumbling like the idling of a car that seemed to rise from deep in its throat.
“Get back!” Tess insisted, waving the branch at it again. “I mean it, get away from me!”
She was backing up as she spoke—which made it hard to appear confident and menacing but she tried. Then her heel caught on a root and she went sprawling.
It happened in a second but it seemed to take much longer. Tess gave a gasping cry and pinwheeled her arms, trying to regain her balance. The wolf, no doubt sensing an easy supper, crouched to leap on her.
Tess fell backwards, watching helplessly as the lean, shaggy gray shape launched itself in her direction. It’s going to kill me—kill me and eat me up. Guess it’s my day to die after all…
But it wasn’t. Just as she could see the wolf’s huge yellow eyes and its slavering jaws growing in her field of vision, something long and sinuous and white appeared. It clamped the wolf in its teeth and shook it until Tess heard a sharp snap and a piercing whimper. The blur of motion was suddenly still and the white form loomed over her. Tess was finally able to see what had saved her.
“Oh my God….Garron?” she whispered. It was indeed him—or his dr’gin at least. It floated in the air before her with its white feather-fur flying in all directions, looking even more otherworldly now in the forest than it had back at the cabin. The limp form of the wolf hung from its jaws. “Garron?” she whispered again.
The dr’gin shook the beast in its jaws viciously and then let go with a snap! The huge wolf went flying and slammed against a nearby tree trunk where it crumpled to a silent heap on the ground, obviously dead.
“Garron?” Tess scrambled to her feet, never taking her eyes from the floating form. It was looking at her again. Giving her that unblinking glare that had so unnerved her at the cabin. What was it thinking? Whether she would taste good for dinner? She would have thought that eating someone as big as Pierce would keep it satisfied for awhile but it was twilight now and her ex-husband had been devoured in the early morning. Maybe the dr’gin had a really fast metabolism. Maybe it was already hungry again. Maybe…
The brilliant, glowing turquoise eyes, so like Garron’s, suddenly narrowed and the dr’gin inhaled deeply, its nostrils flaring as it sniffed the air.
Oh my God, it’s smelling me. Becca and Truth were right. I’ve stranded myself in the forest with the equivalent of a man eating tiger. I—
Her thoughts were cut off as the dr’gin lunged right at her.
Tess gasped as she was knocked to one side. She heard a scuffle in the dried leaves and bushes right behind her. A strangled snarl turned abruptly into a pained whimper.
Scrambling to turn around, she saw the dr’gin had yet another wolf in its jaws—it must have been sneaking up on her from behind.
One more minute and I would have been wolf chow! It saved my life—twice. That has to mean something, doesn’t it?
She didn’t get a chance to answer her own question because off to
her right she heard a long, low, mournful howling.
“Crap!” she whispered in a trembling voice. She peered into the forest but the dusk was deepening rapidly and she couldn’t see a thing. Then she did—a pair of yellow eyes was approaching and getting closer and closer. Not only that, but there wasn’t just one pair of eyes. Several sets were speeding towards her in the darkness.
The howling sounded again, much closer this time. Great—it wasn’t just one wolf or even two that had been hunting her. There was a whole freaking pack.
She turned to the dr’gin which still had the limp body of the second wolf dangling from its jaws. It met her eyes and swung its head, casting the furry corpse out into the forest. Then it lowered itself until it was horizontal to the leaf strewn forest floor and looked at Tess.
Tess looked back uncertainly. Was it really indicating what she thought it was?
“Garron?” she asked softly, taking a tentative step towards it. “Do…are you asking me to…to get on your back?”
The dr’gin made a snorting sound and looked at her. Then it cast a glance at the rapidly approaching wolf pack and looked at her again.
Don’t do it! whispered the voice of panic in her brain. It just wants to take you off somewhere so it can eat you!
But what was her alternative? Was getting eaten by the dr’gin really any better than being ripped apart by wolves? It was, as Di would have said, six of one or half a dozen of the other.
The pack was almost on them now—so close that Tess could see white teeth and long pink tongues as well as yellow eyes coming at her from out of the dark trees. She hoped she wasn’t interpreting the dr’gin’s signals wrong but there was no more time to doubt.
Stepping forward, Tess climbed awkwardly onto the long, sinuous body and threaded her fingers into its silky feather-fur. She was intensely relieved when it didn’t buck her off and eat her at once. In fact, it seemed to wait until she had a firm grip on its fur. Then with a sudden surge, it leapt into the sky, leaving the snarling, snapping wolf pack behind and taking Tess with it into the night.
Chapter Thirty-nine
“I can’t believe she snuck away like that!” Becca said for the hundredth time as they drove down the rutted dirt road. “Is the girl crazy? Does she have a death wish?”
“We don’t know for a fact that she went to look for Garron’s dr’gin,” Truth pointed out, but inside he didn’t have much hope. He had seen the look in Tess’s eyes when she said that Garron was still there, inside the beast that had consumed him. She hadn’t been ready to give up yet. Love and pain had made her reckless.
“Oh yes we do,” Becca said grimly. “You heard her, saying he was still in there.”
Her words mirrored his thoughts so exactly that Truth felt a surge of guilt.
“You’re right, Rebecca. We should have done more to stop her. I should have done more.”
“It’s not your fault, honey!” Becca put a hand on his arm. “I just wish we could find that damn cabin they were staying at. I just…”
“You’re close—almost there,” came the voice of Far through the mental link all Kindred share with their mates. “I can feel you getting closer.”
“Far?” Truth sent, frowning. “Where are you? I thought we were out of range of the Mother Ship, even for our bonded link.”
“Which is why I came down to Earth,” the light twin said. “But I made a stop in Tampa first, to speak to Tess’s friend, Di.”
“The one who called to tell us about Tess and Garron in the first place?” Truth sent back.
“Exactly. The females working at the Tampa HKR told me where I could find her. She was badly beaten but she’s awake and responsive now and she was able to give me the coordinates to the cabin. Take the next left, Brother, and then drive a little further and look to your right.”
Truth did as he said and soon enough they saw a small, rustic dwelling with two vehicles parked in front of it. One was a large, lumbering thing that stunk of fossil fuels. Truth believed the humans called it a “truck.” The other was a small, sleek car which was clearly a converted Kindred shuttle. Far stood just outside it, his long blond hair glimmering in the last rays of the setting sun.
Truth parked his own converted shuttle on the side of the road and jumped out to greet his brother. Far went to him with open arms and Truth felt some of the tension he’d been carrying since they got the awful news that Garron had gone D’fex ease just a little as his twin enfolded him in a firm embrace.
“Gods, Brother,” he murmured as strong arms held him tight. “I’m so glad you came. It’s good to see you.”
“I second that.” Becca stepped in to make it a three way embrace. They all hugged each other in silence for a moment, drawing strength from their bond.
Finally Truth stepped back, his eyes stinging a little. “Garron…”
“I know,” Far sent gently through their link. “I’m here for you, Brother. Here to help you bear the pain.”
“Thank you.” Truth cleared his throat and took a deep breath. “Right now, though, we need to find Tess. Have you been here long?”
Far shook his head.
“I just pulled up a moment before you.”
“So you haven’t seen anything?” Becca asked.
The light twin shook his head again.
“No, but I thought I heard something a minute ago. It was so far I couldn’t be certain but it sounded like snarling and thrashing. That way.” He pointed into the deep undergrowth that surrounded the cabin. “I was going to check it out but then I felt the two of you and called to you.”
“I suppose it might have just been some wild animals fighting,” Becca said doubtfully.
“Or it might have been Garron’s dr’gin making a meal of Tess,” Truth said darkly.
“Let’s check the cabin first, before we jump to conclusions,” Far said reasonably. “After all, we don’t know—she might be just inside and too upset to come out.”
“I could certainly understand that,” Becca said softly. “She just lost the man she loves forever—that makes you crazy.”
“Mi’now…” Far put an arm around her shoulders at the same time Truth slipped an arm around her waist. She had lost both of them at different times and though they had managed to come back and be together, the experience had deeply affected the female he and Far both loved.
They made their way to the cabin but when Becca raised her hand to knock, the front door creaked open at the first blow of her fist to its wood panel.
“Hmm, that doesn’t seem good,” Becca murmured.
“Not at all.” Truth pushed the door open wide and was about to step in when the smell of blood hit him in the face. He stepped back, wincing.
“Ugh.” Far made a face. “This place reeks of death.”
“And look at the carpet.” Becca motioned. There was just enough light to see the dark, sodden stain in the middle of the living area, right in front of the couch.
“This must be where Garron’s dr’gin devoured Tess’s ex-mate,” Truth said. “Let’s just hope he didn’t come back and eat her as well.”
“I don’t think so.” Far sniffed the air. “I only smell one kind of blood here. My nose may not be as sensitive as a Rai’ku’s but I can tell that much.”
Truth sniffed the air and nodded. “I agree. Let’s search the cabin and try to avoid the blood. Tess may still be in the back, too filled with grief to move or care what happens to her.”
But a search of the small cabin revealed no signs of Tess other than her clothes. Clearly the place was deserted.
“What are we going to do?” Becca asked when they converged outside the cabin again. None of them really wanted to be inside where the stench of blood and death still lingered. “If she’s not here, where is she?”
“I think we all know the answer to that,” Far said quietly. “Her vehicle is here but she’s not in the cabin.”
“She went looking for him—looking for Garron,” Becca put a hand to her t
hroat.
“She must have.” Truth felt another surge of guilt. He should have kept an eye on the human girl instead of letting his own grief blind him. “But I greatly fear that all she is going to find is her own death.”
Chapter Forty
Tess thought later that she would never forget her first flight on a dr’gin’s back. As the long, lithe body rose high in the air she clung to him, leaning down to wrap her arms around his neck, afraid she would fall off. She still had no idea how the dr’gin was able to fly. Maybe he was filled with some lighter-than-air substance inside? Whatever it was, the huge beast seemed to have no trouble at all rising higher and higher, right above the tree tops as it flew up the side of the mountain.
At first Tess—who had never liked heights—was afraid to look. But the dr’gin flew so smoothly she finally dared to open her eyes a crack. The sight took her breath away.
Flying high above the forest, she could see the last burning orange and crimson red vestiges of the sunset bleeding across the landscape. The dying light threw the trees into stark relief, turning them into tall, black shadows and filling the forest with danger and mystery.
“Oh…” Tess whispered, sitting up a little, though she made sure to keep her fingers tightly clenched in the dr’gin’s silky feather-fur. She’d been on airplanes before and seen such sights from the window but never had she felt so enveloped by the view.
She could see in every direction for one thing, not just a tiny square presented by a plane window. For another, there was nothing separating her from the vast space around her and nothing to distract her from its beauty. There was no noise of the airplane engines, no coughing or shifting from other passengers or a bored stewardess reciting safety instructions by rote. The dr’gin flew in absolute silence—there was nothing but the soft whistle of the wind in her ears and the cry of an occasional bird.
Even the smells were different up here—the air was fresher, cleaner. It was colder too. Tess shivered and lowered herself a little, resting her forearms on the dr’gin’s broad back to soak up some of its heat. His soft white feather-fur was warm of course, but his body also seemed to be a very high temperature. Under the silky white mantle of fur, she could feel something like hard, overlapping scales. From these radiated an immense heat which almost might have burned her if the wind wasn’t so chilly.