His deep brown eyes widen as I shrink away. He glances down at himself, as if realizing it’s him who’s frightened me.
“Can you wake your wife, please, or another woman of the village?” I whisper. “I need help with the baby.”
“There’s no village.” Again, that strange accent and growling voice. His features are hard and pronounced, and his jaw slices away to a strong throat. He looks mid-thirties, or perhaps a little older, and his hair is shades of gold and dark brown. The clothes he wears are neat and well-made, but basic. A tunic and pants. Boots of animal hide. There’s a gash on his cheek, and it’s bleeding a little.
No wife. No village. We’re alone with him. The gratitude I felt earlier has fled. I glance nervously toward the window, covered with what looks like an old sack, and wonder how many hours it is until morning and I can leave.
“What did you see out there?” he rasps, resuming dabbing at my brow.
“I already told you. Wolves and a large beast. If it was a bear, it was the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”
“And the wolves?”
“They were huge, as well.”
“Too large for normal wolves,” he agrees, but to himself, and bitterly.
What are not-normal wolves?
The man’s gaze lands on Finley, and he draws an enormous forefinger down the child’s cheek. I pull the baby away from him. This isn’t a villager, it’s a lone man and a stranger. He could be anyone, do anything; he could be more dangerous to Finley and me than even a pack of wolves.
The man stares at me for a long time, those brown eyes mesmerizing. Then he stands up and goes to the door. He opens it and stands framed in the doorway, his huge bulk blocking out the thin moonlight reflected off the snow.
“There’s nothing out there now,” he says into the wintry air, vapor curling around his lips. Beyond him, the forest is silent and dark.
He turns to me, eyes narrowed. Flakes fall onto his massive shoulders and they glisten in the lamplight.
“Kochanie,” he purrs. “What were you doing out there in the middle of the night with no one to protect you?”
Chapter Two
Balen
The young woman is beautiful, but her eyes shine with fear. I close the door behind me and hunker down before her once more. I gaze at the child, enraptured by his tiny, perfect eyelashes and stubby little fingers. How long it’s been since I’ve held a baby. Fed it so it grows strong. Held its hands while it takes its first steps.
I reach out to the little one, but the woman clutches it closer and shrinks away. My hand curls into a fist and drops to my side. “It’s too dangerous to be alone in the forest with a baby. Stay here until you heal. I’ll not bother you.”
She’s still staring at me. “You’re hurt.”
I reach up and feel wetness, and several long, thin gashes, as if I’ve been swiped by claws. “Must have caught it on a branch. Where are your people?”
“In the village at the bottom of the mountain.” She hesitates, her eyes filling with tears. “They cast me out.”
I grunt in sympathy and get to my feet. “Those people. They let other people fight their battles, but they’ll never accept you if you’re different.” I eye the top of her golden head, wondering what this pretty little thing did to earn the villagers’ hatred. She can’t be much more than eighteen, and she’s strong if she made it all the way up this mountain in the dark and cold. She’d make someone a good wife.
The human-half of me betrays a flicker of interest.
The bear-half shifts restlessly. He doesn’t want a human wife. He wants a mate.
Impossible, I tell him, and he growls in anger. He’s been agitated for hours. He kept me awake long after I should have been asleep. I don’t know what’s got into him tonight.
I turn away from the woman. “Lie down and rest. The wolves can’t get in here.”
I stoke the fire in the pot-bellied stove, and then sit down on the floor opposite her with my back propped against the wall. It’s not comfortable, but I can doze and listen for the sounds of that mangy, flea-ridden pack sniffing around my door.
All through the small hours, the woman feeds and watches over the child and flinches at any small sound outside. Just before dawn, she falls asleep. I doze a little