Beauty and the Beastmaster - Linda Winstead Jones Page 0,7

plans. She’d begged him not to, had said Clint would interfere. Still, Clint was a friend, and one way or another they were going to have to talk.

Maybe he’d make a decision this afternoon, after he allowed Gabi to cut his hair. He wanted to size her up, get a better feel for her before he made up his mind.

Brigadoon. He’d been tempted by the idea over the years, and he wasn’t the only one. But truth be told, wishing for something that didn’t seem possible was very different from making it happen. Did he really want to be cut off from the world, along with the rest of the town and the people in it?

Gabi was very pretty, delicate in a way that might appeal to a man’s protective nature. There was something about her…

It was just as well that their date had been a bust. For the past several years, Silas’s romantic relationships had been short-lived, carefully planned, and always took place away from Mystic Springs. He planned to stay single, so taking up with a woman from town could lead to all sorts of complications.

Why would he even entertain the idea of a permanent relationship with a woman? With the animals he cared for he always knew what they were thinking, what they needed, what they wanted. With women? Nada. God, it was frustrating.

He’d been keeping his distance from the pretty Non-Springer for months, or trying to, but that was about to change. Maybe if he spent a little time with her he’d come up with a way to ease her out of town. Or else he’d decide it was right that she be allowed to stay, Jenna whatever-her-name-was-now be damned.

His place, home and work, spread out over more than six acres of land. Surrounded by woods, and yet not too far from town for his two-legged customers, he was situated almost an equal distance from the end of Main Street and the river.

A bit farther to the south was where the springs for which this town was named were located. Most of the animals he cared for, trained, and eventually found homes for, were drawn to those springs and instinctively drank from the clear water there. For a while the magic that infused the town affected the animals. They didn’t develop abilities any more than a human who drank the spring water would, they remained ordinary in most ways, but the energy they experienced for weeks after was enough to drive any living being over the edge.

Wild animals were not as affected by the spring water as those who’d been domesticated. Like the Springers many of them had been born here, and the water was a part of them in a way that could not be explained. They were at home in this forest; it was theirs as much as it was his. Silas helped when he could, if his help was needed, but for the most part he left the wild ones alone.

The dogs needed him. They needed an outlet; they needed a purpose.

So Silas and the dogs ran. To town, through town, through the woods. He trained some of them, those who displayed an affinity, in a field he’d designed for that purpose. There they practiced agility, grew stronger, and learned to obey commands. All the dogs occasionally howled at night, chased rabbits and squirrels in their dreams when they did sleep, and they followed him.

He was their alpha. Without him they would’ve terrorized the town until the effects of the springs wore off. He knew what they needed, what they felt, what he could do to help them. The smarter dogs were trained and sold to police departments across the Southeast. While the larger departments had resources for more traditionally trained search and rescue or drug sniffing dogs, the smaller towns and counties were often strapped for cash. Silas always managed to provide what they needed at a reasonable price.

His part-time helper, Damian Tucker, wanted to learn as much as he could about caring for and training the dogs. The lanky, always-happy kid was barely twenty years old, and possessed no magical abilities where animals were concerned. Still, he did have a natural gift, with the dogs in particular. Poor Damian was mildly allergic to cats and deathly afraid of birds. His mother was a witch and his father could manipulate fire and water, but Damian wasn’t particularly powerful when it came to his inherited abilities. He did have a real love for