The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,53
wondering why I never age.”
“You could pretend to.” Rhianne gave him a little smile, already feeling better. This was Ben’s magic, she decided. Putting others at their ease.
“Sure, that would be fun. Trust me, I feel my age some days. But my hair won’t stay gray. The goblin in me isn’t gray-haired yet.”
Rhianne wanted to laugh. “Does the goblin in you have hair?”
“Yes.” Ben looked straight at her. “And no, I’m not going to show you. I like yours, though.”
He brushed his finger over a stray lock of it, reminding Rhianne of the gentle and then fiery way he’d touched her this morning. Her face heated as she turned her head and kissed his palm.
“This could get dangerous.” Ben’s whisper brushed her cheek.
“I don’t care anymore.”
Ben withdrew, the absence of his touch cold. “You might care again someday.” He folded his arms, shoulders moving enticingly. “You’re avoiding what we really need to talk about. The elephant in the room.”
Rhianne snapped around to stare down the hall. “There’s an elephant …?”
Ben’s laughter rumbled around her. “Figure of speech. Wait, you know what an elephant is? It’s unique to the human world.”
“My mother brings home books. I learned human languages by reading them.”
“Ah, clever of you. The expression means we’re not talking about the thing that we very obviously should be. The elephant, in this case, is you shifting into an eagle.”
Rhianne pressed her hand to her knotting stomach. “I think I’d rather talk about elephants.”
“We can discuss them all you want later. First, we’re going to figure out your shifting ability. If you’re afraid that you can’t control it, then you need to learn to control it.”
“That easy, is it?” Rhianne asked in irritation.
“I was wracking my brains all this morning, trying to figure out who could best help you. My friend Kenzie whacked me upside the head—another figure of speech—and told me I should do it. I decided she was right.”
Rhianne had heard him speaking into the phone on the porch, but he’d kept his voice too low for her to discern what he’d said. Her heart beat faster. “Because neither of us is Shifter?”
“You’re sharp. Now, much as I’d love to sit here and natter with you all day …” Ben unfolded himself and touched her cheek. “Or caress you, or kiss you, or …”
Definitely dangerous. Rhianne laughed shakily. “Sounds more fun than me facing my demons.”
“I don’t know. Fighting demons can be a kick. Like those snakes last night.”
Rhianne rose quickly to her feet. “No more snakes.”
“Naw, I didn’t like them either.” Ben rose and took her hand. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“Scene of the crime. So to speak.”
He towed her down the hall and out the end door to the veranda. It was shaded, but sunlight dazzled the trees and grass beyond, and warm air floated around them.
Ben patted the railing. “All right. You were standing here, watching Jaycee shift into her leopard.”
Rhianne went to him with reluctance. Ben’s matter-of-fact attitude reassured her a small amount, but her heart pounded and her mouth had gone dry. Not even the manacles locked around her wrists in Walther’s dungeon had been as frightening as her experience last night.
She rested her hands on the rail and gazed across the yard to the outbuildings in back. “My skin was itching and burning, and I couldn’t stand still. As I said, when I saw Jaycee, it sort of occurred to me that I could shift too, and then something in my mind just … took over. The next thing I knew I was up on the railing.”
“I saw you.” Ben abruptly vaulted to the top of the rail, crouching on it with ease. “Come on, join me.”
Rhianne watched him balance in his motorcycle boots, legs in jeans folded under him. “You look ridiculous.”
“Probably. All right, don’t join me. Nice view from up here, though.” He remained on the rail as effortlessly as Rhianne had done last night.
A prickling made her scrub her hands over her arms. “Can we not do this?”
Ben pivoted toward her without losing his footing. “What happened to the woman who picked up a stray piece of pipe and started smashing hoch alfar with it? This after being thrown into a dungeon and then rescued by a scary-ass goblin and a pyromaniacal dokk alfar?”
Rhianne couldn’t help the twitch of her lips, but her fear didn’t fade. “That was different. That was self-defense, plus battling Walther’s thugs was easy because I was so angry at him for kidnapping me. This