Teagan. Keep your mind on flying. You are distracting yourself.
Of course she was. She was about to take a leap of faith and throw herself off a very high cliff. She’d looked down, and it wasn’t pretty. Rocks. Below that, trees. She needed a minute, but if she didn’t just close her eyes and go, she might never experience flying on her own.
She deliberately retreated in her mind, sliding back to allow the owl to the front. Instantly the bird spread its wings and took flight. No hesitation. She was in the air. Almost immediately she was aware of the night. The mist on her. The way her down feathers trapped air and provided insulation. The fringe on her primary wing feathers actually broke down the turbulence from air rushing over the surface of the wing. She realized that was the reason the owl was silent as it flew across the sky.
She was flying. Teagan Joanes, flying. Crazy cool. If she didn’t let herself look down—let the owl do it—she would be fine. Perfect. The sensation of the air moving through her and over her was amazing.
You have to guide the owl. You are the owl, and yet you are not. I am right beside you. Nothing will happen if you look down. Seeing through the eyes of an owl is wonderful and not to be missed.
That’s total bribery. If she was being honest, bribery was working. She wanted to see through the eyes of the owl. Fear shimmered through her. I don’t want you to see me in panic mode. You already think I’m irrational. I don’t need you thinking I’m unreasonable as well.
I do not think you are unreasonable, Teagan.
That’s because you haven’t seen me in full panic. I am unreasonable. It takes me forever to get myself under control.
Open your eyes and let yourself see. I am guiding both owls and you are perfectly safe. I will not let you fall.
Teagan had spent years learning to meditate and doing deep breathing to remain calm when her fears got the best of her. She wasn’t in the least prepared for this situation. He didn’t understand, and she was a bit ashamed to confess.
I boulder, Andre. I can trad or sport climb using a rope, but I prefer bouldering.
And this means? he prompted.
She hadn’t realized his opinion of her meant so much. She had never much cared what others thought of her. She went her own way and did her own thing. But it mattered what Andre thought of her.
Bouldering is just me figuring out a problem. Controlling the climb. If I climb with a rope, I’m relying on someone else to save me if I’m in trouble. It shamed her, that she didn’t have enough trust in her that she could allow a climbing partner to belay her properly. She’d never been able to get past that one fear—placing her life in the hands of another without falling apart.
Teagan.
His voice brushed over her. Through her. So much silk and velvet. Inside the owl, she shivered, unable to stop her reaction to his mesmerizing voice. She’d never liked her name so much as when he said it in that tone.
You have placed your life in my hands repeatedly. You have great courage facing my world whether you think so or not. The idea of shifting has to be frightening, yet you followed my instructions and were successful.
She hadn’t considered that she trusted him to get her out of a bad situation if she messed up. The idea of shifting had been incredibly fascinating. She had been determined to learn how. Yes, she’d been scared, but she could feel Andre there in her mind. His presence, even without his physical body was so incredibly large and powerful—so steady. Like a rock.
How could she possibly trust him with her life—almost a stranger who had forced her into a world she wanted nothing to do with—and yet not trust the people she knew for years? While astonishing, she realized it was the absolute truth.
I am in your mind, csitri. You are in mine. You know I will protect you with my last breath. You know that. No matter what I have done to displease you, that will always and forever be a constant you know you can rely on.
Don’t remind me you have displeased me. And displeased is a very mild word to describe how I feel when I think about what you did.
Then I regret bringing it up.
But there was no remorse. She kept waiting for Andre to feel remorse or guilt. She found neither in his mind, only the sorrow and regret that she suffered. He hadn’t known how hard the conversion was on a human psychic and he wished he’d researched more carefully and thoroughly, but she knew, without a doubt, he still would have converted her. His culture and her culture were very much opposites when it came to what men were allowed to do with their women.
She understood him more after seeing what he’d gone through as a child and the trauma he’d suffered. She could see the reason in his mind that he had held on with honor for centuries and if he didn’t bind them together, he was at risk because he was already so close to the darkness of his species. Truthfully, she didn’t fully understand that, but she knew it was real enough. Both those reasons were the only things that kept her from fighting for a freedom she wasn’t certain she really wanted.
Teagan, let yourself look. Guide the owl. Stay beneath my wing. I will have you in my mind. Nothing bad will happen to you.
She believed him. He was calm. A rock. Steady. There was something so powerful and invincible about Andre that there simply were no doubts. She was safe. She took a deep breath, feeling it inside the owl’s body, and opened her vision behind the owl’s eyes. For a moment she was disoriented. The owl could see greater distances due to the shape of its eyes and its ability to turn its head. It took just a moment to adjust to that. The ground wasn’t as far as she thought it might be, and the owl could see everything, spotting the smallest movement in the vegetation as they moved overhead.
From above, the trees looked beautiful. Breathtaking. She had never thought to see the tops of the canopies like she could from a bird’s perspective. Andre was really the guide, keeping the coordinates in her mind so her female owl responded and flew away from the mountain toward the village in the distance. Still, it was exhilarating to see the beauty of the land from her position in the sky and to feel as if she was navigating, even if by Andre’s instruction.
So beautiful, Andre. Truly beautiful. There was wonder in her voice and she didn’t try to hide it from him. She knew he was giving her gifts from his world in order to combat the things she considered negative.
She felt that he was pleased. More, she felt she was giving him the same gift that he had given her. For the first time in centuries, he was experiencing something he took for granted with fresh eyes—her eyes.
It is beautiful, he agreed.