The Last Warrior (Shifters Unbound #13) - Jennifer Ashley Page 0,94

was Spike.

The Guardians were held in the rear. If there were Shifter casualties, Guardians would be needed to quickly dispatch Shifter souls to the Summerland, the afterlife. Sobering thought.

Dylan also asked Andrea, who had some healing ability, and Zander, to remain behind.

Zander rumbled. “You need another bear, Dylan. They’re your strongest fighters, and sparse in this Shiftertown.”

“You’re the only one who can heal serious wounds,” Dylan reminded him. “If you’re taken out, who’s going to save me when I have my stomach ripped open?”

“We can’t risk you either, old timer,” Zander said.

Dylan sent him a deadpan stare but didn’t respond. “You have your orders,” he called to the others. “Form up.”

Shifters dispersed to take their positions.

“The Mongols did this,” Ben observed as he moved with Rhianne to the north point, where they’d been assigned. “Surrounded their target with strength and struck without remorse.”

“Who are the Mongols?” Rhianne began to unbutton her jeans to prepare to shift, which distracted Ben all to hell. “Do you think they could come to our aid?”

“This was more than eight hundred years ago,” Ben said in amusement. “But I have to say, the Mongols would be handy right now. The hoch alfar could take archery lessons from them. The problem is, the Mongols would then turn around and take over here. They perfected pillaging and plundering and not in a good way. I should know. I was there when they sacked Samarkand. Things I wish I’d never seen.” He grimaced, swiftly blocking out the memories.

Rhianne skimmed off her jeans then her T-shirt, and Ben forgot about the past, the present, and some of the future.

“Ivor will know we’re coming, if we can even get to him,” Rhianne said. “He’s probably watching now, sizing up the Shifters and deciding how to destroy them with the least amount of effort.”

“Most like.” Ben studied the center of the clearing, where the ley line came to a point at the gate. A similar point happened in the haunted house, but the house decided when it opened and shut.

Rhianne, clad only in camisole and panties, glanced about shyly. The Shifters around her ignored her, either already animal, or in various stages of undress, preparing to shift.

“You can hide behind me to take off the rest of it,” Ben told her. “Not that Shifters care.” He shuddered. “Geez, I hope I’m not around when they all shift back. Shifters forget about clothes after a while. A nerve-wracking sight, dozens of male Shifters walking around with their ding-a-lings out, pretending everything is normal.”

Rhianne shook with nervous laughter. “Their whats?”

“Their pride-and-joys,” Ben amended. “But use me as a tree if you’re bashful.”

Rhianne stepped behind Ben, who promised himself he’d not glance over his shoulder while she stripped out of her underwear.

Ben broke the promise almost immediately and admired Rhianne’s graceful body as she slid off the final pieces. The curve of her waist came into view, then the firmness of her breasts tipped with dark nipples.

Rhianne caught him looking, but she only flushed and didn’t admonish him.

“I’m not sure I can do it,” she whispered.

“Not sure you can do what?” Ben’s voice was hoarse.

“Shift. Without going insane, or forgetting I’m me. How do they do it so easily?”

She glanced at Broderick McNaughton and his brother Mason as they kicked off jeans and melted into the form of gray wolves.

“Practice.” Ben faced her. “You did it easily at the park in New Orleans.”

“Because all I could think about was saving you. I don’t know how to shift when it’s not instinctive.”

“Remember what I showed you at the house?” Ben took her hands. “Concentrate on each move, find every part of yourself. Flow with it.”

He placed himself in front of her, forcing himself not to look at her bare body. Her red lips parted, and Ben wanted nothing more than to kiss her, touch her, and take her down to the ground, to hell with the battle.

Ben held on to his self-control with difficulty and began the tai chi rhythm he’d taught her. Their hands went back and forth, Ben transferring energy to Rhianne, who then returned it to him. The connection between them filled his body with vitality.

Rhianne began to relax, to smile. Her eyes lost focus as she trained them on Ben, and her movements became more graceful.

What was a Tuil Erdannan deep down inside? Ben saw the truth in Rhianne’s eyes, a being of light, of pure energy, formed long ago into a shape that would make them slightly less terrifying. The