Chapter 5

      Sleep was elusive. Jonas hadn’t stopped pacing since he and Gwen had returned to the safety of the cabin. Chastising her would have been useless and might have driven her further from him, so Jonas kept his fears to himself.

      Tonight was the third time he had seen his sister shape-shift. The sight was both a blessing and a curse. He couldn’t foresee what kind of future Gwen might have if they made it back to Miami. The thought of taking her back there made him sick.

      He doubted that anyone else in his family had known about how special she was. She would have been too precious to everyone in the Lycan community to be allowed to roam freely among the packs.

      When they got back to Miami—and if they did—there would be a highly detailed plan for her to breed and pass along her genes. By bringing Gwen here, he had granted her the gift of more time away from all that, besides the other pressing issue of keeping her alive long enough to see that future.

      In any case, his sister hadn’t yet fully healed from her injuries and needed more time to do that.

      Jonas stood for a while at the window, searching for any hint of the things that would eventually come their way.

      The night was quiet. Tess hadn’t followed them here, and he silently thanked her for that. As for the darker thing on their trail, Jonas hoped they would have a few more days of relative tranquility before that battle took place. He also hoped he’d have time to meet Tess in more reasonable circumstances, though that wish seemed like a stretch.

      Already, and from his first sight of Tess, she had become an unshakable fixture in his mind. When Jonas closed his eyes, she was there. Each breath he took seemed to bring her closer. Leather, smoke and flowers were her calling card, and his cabin seemed to be full of those fragrances.

      He glanced at Gwen’s door and sighed. Leaning a shoulder against the wall, Jonas sent his mind outward to test his theory about his uncanny connection to this hunter.

      “Do you sleep, Tess? Are your dreams peaceful, or are they filled with dark things?”

      It was stupid of him to believe she might hear him from this far away, and yet he could swear he felt his thought travel over the distance separating them. He almost felt himself beside her, as if his threat to haunt her had come true.

      She would have a small bed in a small room, Jonas envisioned. Her fair hair would be loose and spread like sunshine across a lavender-scented pillow, because Tess Owens was actually a creature of sunlight, like other humans were.

      What would you be wearing tonight, hunter?

      He pictured her in something comfortable and light, rather than silks or satins. Tess wasn’t a girly girl.

      Maybe you’ll rest in leather in case a werewolf comes calling?

      After letting her go, she would be doubly on guard. She would have her knife handy. It was obvious that she knew how to wield a blade, as well as what she could have done with one if she had wanted to.

      “Expect me, Tess,” he sent to her. “Rest tonight. Sleep in peace. Meet me tomorrow in the sunlight when the dark things are hiding.”

      Did he see her open her eyes and turn from her pillow to listen? Was there actually a possibility she had heard him?

      What would it mean if you are listening? Am I wrong about a bond forming between us?

      He imagined Tess covering her ears in an attempt to ignore his mental invasion. But he also felt her tuning in, as if she were merely in the next room and straining to listen to him speak.

      As the images floated away, he realized that Tess probably wouldn’t fall sleep in that bed tonight, and that wishful thinking on his part didn’t ease things for either of them.

      “Tomorrow,” he said aloud. “Meet me tomorrow.”

      He felt an unusual drag on his thoughts that made his heart pound and sensed that this new bit of awareness carried no hint of Tess Owens in it.

      Jonas turned to find his sister in the doorway with a questioning expression on her face.

      Had his thoughts been too loud?

      * * *

      Tess sat up in bed after tossing and turning her way through two hours of thoughts. After checking the corners of her room for werewolves a tenth time, she threw off the covers and walked to the window.

      She couldn’t see out. The shutters were closed and locked tight in case he showed up unannounced. Without fresh air, the closeness in the room made her feel claustrophobic.

      Tess doubted if she’d be ever able to sleep again until this werewolf issue was settled. She had an intuitive feeling that tonight wouldn’t be the time for a second meeting but had to remain on guard. There was no telling what this unusual Were might do.

      “Get out of my head,” she muttered, shaking the shutter to assure herself that it was in place. Wood planks would be easy enough for a strong werewolf to destroy, but there’d be enough noise to alert her if one tried.

      Tomorrow...

      Since she’d first heard his invitation, the word had floated in and out of her consciousness with the tone of a whispered command.

      “Get out,” she whispered again, forgoing the bed in favor of a trip to the front door.

      Palming her knife, Tess left the cabin in her shorts and tank top to look up at the moon. Sensing no wolf presence, she sighed with relief and spoke out of frustration. “I accept, in case you’re the one sending this invitation.”

      Brush rustled. Night birds sang. Bugs chirped as tree branches swayed in the wind. All this was normal. Usual. Except for one thing: the feeling of dread that invaded her as Tess studied the moon.

      She dropped her gaze to search the area. Her skin bristled. Nerves again began to buzz. Something else was out there, and she didn’t know what. She didn’t recognize the sensations hitting her system. This was no wolf. So, what?

      The air changed. Night seemed to darken as the overhead stars were erased. The moon disappeared as if a black curtain had descended over them and everything else. Tess looked at her knife. The silver blade had been swallowed by the roaming blackness. Its surface was dull. The shadows in her peripheral vision appeared to be moving.

      Feelings of dread brought on a chill. Her knees felt oddly weak. But as quickly as it had arrived, the strange sensations drifted away as though this had been a bad dream.

      The stars and moon reappeared. Tess took a breath and let it out slowly, listening for anything that might explain what had happened. She looked to the west, the direction the Were had taken after leaving her earlier that night, wondering if he had been responsible for what she had just experienced. The rolling blackness had moved off in that direction...toward her neighbor’s place and the wolf who had taken up temporary residence there.

      “It’s coming,” she said, feeling silly for thinking the Were she had been hip to hip with a couple of hours ago would be able hear a warning he might not need.

      And