The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,41

back at Ben, giving him a nod that he supposed was meant to be reassuring.

Once the two ladies could be heard talking on the stairs, Dimitri quietly set down his beer. “I’m going after them. In secret, of course.”

“Me too,” Ben said.

Dimitri shot him a grin. They waited until the veranda door had closed downstairs, sending a draft through the house, before they noiselessly descended and slipped out through a side door.

Rhianne leaned on the veranda railing, folding her arms across it, and watched Jaycee dance down the steps, discarding clothes as she went. Rhianne scanned the dark distance, not trusting her father enough to descend after Jaycee into the night. She’d be as careful as she’d promised Ben she’d be.

She tilted her head to gaze at what stars shone through the clouds, wishing she could spend all night with a telescope, becoming acquainted with the skies of this world. The stars were not as thick as in Faerie. Rhianne wondered if some of the distant suns were the same as those she saw from her observatory, or if this place was so alien it was surrounded by a different galaxy.

Watching stars always let her draw away from her emotions, and the ones Ben stirred inside her confused the hell out of her. Rhianne needed, as Jaycee had said, to draw a breath and sort out her thoughts.

Perhaps what she felt for Ben was simple infatuation for the man who’d rescued her. Correction, the being who’d rescued her. Ben was clearly not a man, and Rhianne knew so little about him. These longings churning inside her were the result of stress, fear, and gratitude. Weren’t they?

Jaycee stretched her naked body, beautiful in the moonlight, and then began to shift. She did it gracefully, as the woman did everything—dancing, fighting, or kissing Dimitri.

The leopard and woman merged, for a moment becoming something in between. No struggle through these stages, however. The leopard side grew more and more prominent until Jaycee dropped to all fours as a big cat.

She loped off, her speed increasing rapidly until she was a streak in the night, then she was gone.

Rhianne had to smile when she saw a wolf dart from the shadows and run after the leopard.

The night touched Rhianne, the silence and the stars comforting after the horrifying battle in the garden. If her father had been trying to separate her from Ben, he’d not succeeded.

She allowed herself a momentary flare of triumph before she sobered. Perhaps Ivor was trying to do just that. If Rhianne was forced to wander this strange human world by herself, would she survive?

Ben had showed her how to find food and drink, but she could do that only if she had money in the currency of this place. In Faerie, she had status and wealth, and respect as a prominent scholar. Here, she had nothing, knew no one.

Conclusion—she needed to stick with Ben, at least for now. Tiger had told her this as well. Whenever you are with Ben, you will be safe.

Why did the idea of being without him wrench at her so much? The emptiness the thoughts engendered came from more than worry about survival, and from more than gratitude.

Moon- and starlight brushed the rose vines clinging to the nearby trellis. A breeze brushed the wind chimes, and the tingle Rhianne had felt in her blood during the battle resurfaced.

As she’d noted before, the feeling wasn’t quite the same as when she called up her words of power. Magic, but a different sort of magic.

She straightened, fingertips touching the railing, and let herself explore the sensation. A tightening in her belly, a fire between her shoulder blades, a restlessness in her legs. Rhianne wanted to vault over the railing and run, run, run after Jaycee, to try to best the leopard in speed.

The breeze grew stronger, the chiming louder. A tremor ran under her feet, as though the house responded to the wind.

Rhianne’s skin itched. More than itched, it became fiery hot. She watched her hands tug open her tunic, buttons tinkling to the slatted boards in her haste. The blouse fell, and the silk camisole went next, the sapphire necklace landing with a tinkle next to it.

Rhianne drew a long breath, letting the cool wind refresh her bare skin. But it wasn’t enough. She slid off her new shoes and the stockings beneath, wriggling her toes.

Her body wasn’t satisfied yet. Rhianne glanced quickly around but did not see Ben. Jaycee was racing off somewhere in