Beauty's Beast - By Jenna Kernan Page 0,15

keep her from tears? He stepped closer, fascinated. His sister never cried.

“I didn’t ask to come here.”

“Neither did I invite you.”

She folded her arms over her chest. Her breasts squeezed upward from the constriction, and he forced himself to look away an instant too late. Damn, he wanted to see what she had under that stupid uniform. He wanted to pin her to the earth and...

“How much farther?”

He didn’t know if he should shake her or kiss her. He wanted to do both. He stared at the trees and prayed to the Great Spirit to send him control.

“Four hundred and fifty meters,” he said.

“Do you have internet? I want to write my family and tell them I am all right.”

That might be premature, he thought. If Nagi was after her, he might be following her. If he found her, Nagi would find him and Aldara and all the young ones hidden in these woods. He and Aldara were the eldest. It was their duty to keep them safe.

“To get to the computer, we have to move that way.” He thumbed over his shoulder. “And you keep stopping.”

Samantha continued beside him without pausing or asking her endless questions. Alon listened for the yearlings while scenting the air for their trail. For some reason they were not in their usual territory. Perhaps Aldara had succeeded in communicating with them. If anyone could, it would be his sister.

The packs roaming the property concerned him deeply. Samantha had been very lucky that he found her first.

Or was it luck? He thought of the Thunderbirds dropping her practically at his feet.

He didn’t take it as some grand sign. The Supernaturals had correctly determined that he was the creature least likely to kill her on sight and placed her accordingly.

But then, why hadn’t they taken her to Bess as her father had wished? They could have. They could find anyone anywhere. So why hadn’t they? The reason for their action eluded and troubled him.

They broke from the trees a few moments later and entered a wide alpine meadow.

“There it is.” Alon pointed.

At the crest of the rise sat the impressive log structure that looked large and grand enough to be some sort of lodge. In fact, it had been so before Bess repurposed the building into a living space for her adopted horde. When they outgrew it, Cesar built the dorms and later the school behind the main house. Alon glanced toward the clapboard construction where he now lived and then flicked his gaze at her. She’d be safer in the house. None of the yearlings ever ventured there.

“You’ll stay in there,” he said.

She lifted a brow as if to argue. He narrowed his eyes.

“It will be more difficult to keep you alive if you leave this place.”

“The only threat that I’ve seen so far is you.”

He didn’t argue the point. He was a threat but not the only one here, regardless of what she had seen. Something about this little Skinwalker interested him, and that was dangerous for her. Alon knew what he was capable of, even if his parents did not. They had a blind spot for all their children, denying their true natures and giving them high ideals. Alon feared his parents would soon be disappointed. The prospect of Bess and Cesar seeing their “children” for what they truly were troubled him, as well.

“And how do I know that Suncatcher lives in that house?”

Alon paused. He’d never been called a liar before and found it irritated him.

“Where is she exactly?”

“Moving north with the eldest of my siblings. All that would go have gone. Aldara and I stayed behind to try to convince the others. The Beta, Gamma and Delta packs.”

“Packs?”

“We run in packs with those of our approximate age. I’m Alpha. The Betas are near their final change, approaching fifteen. The Gammas are less than ten, and the Deltas only babies, two and under. The Betas have roamed too far for us to easily find them. The Gammas refuse to leave this place because they cannot conceive a threat. It is not in our nature. The Deltas are not old enough to understand what we ask. At so young an age their needs are...basic. Aldara believes we can convince all of them to follow.”

“But you do not?”

“My kind is not open to persuasion. They are influenced only by superior force. To the young ones all creatures are either predator or food.”

Samantha frowned at this answer.

He motioned toward the house. “Inside there is a