Beauty's Beast - By Jenna Kernan Page 0,16

phone, computer, food, facilities for washing. Take what you like and stay inside until I return for you.”

“When will that be?”

“After nightfall.”

He turned to leave her.

“When will Bess be back?”

“She has abandoned this place. When I have finished with the packs, I will bring you to her.”

That did not seem to please Samantha, judging from the pinched expression and the line that now formed between her elegant brows.

“Why don’t you just tell me how to find her?”

He shook his head. It was a miracle one of the packs hadn’t discovered Samantha already. He wasn’t about to cross his fingers and point her north.

“No.”

“My father told me to find Bess.”

“You can wait or you can die. Your choice.” He stalked away.

Chapter 5

When Alon reached the cover of the trees he turned back. Samantha stared at the place where he had vanished into the forest. Finally she turned toward the house and marched up the front steps.

Alon lingered, watching her, fearing she would leave the house. There was some pull between them. Even from this distance he felt drawn to her. He wanted to go back, and it mattered not at all that she didn’t want to speak to him or that he had business elsewhere.

What was wrong with him?

He placed the back of his hand on his brow as his mother always did when he was acting strangely. No fever. But his blood felt fevered, and his skin tingled with a soft buzz of energy that warmed him like a fire. And each time he touched her soft skin his stomach grew tight.

The door closed behind her. Only when she was out of sight was Alon able to move in the opposite direction.

He removed his clothes, folded them and set them in the crook of a tree. Then he transformed into his flying form and rocketed through the forest. In this form he was least substantial. The billowing smoke made it easy to fly in tight places but impossible to fight. But for fighting he had his first form. That was what his mom dubbed it—first form or fighting form.

Alon just called it his monster form.

* * *

Samantha stepped into the vaulted foyer of the Garzas’ empty home and paused as the unexpected surrounded her.

She had thought to see an abundance of wood and rustic furnishings. Instead, she was greeted with a contemporary stairway that seemed to float upward as it was anchored only to one wall. Clean plaster and elegant molding had been painted white. Before her hung a long Japanese scroll that stretched from the second story and nearly touched the floor. The brightly colored silk edging framed an ink painting of many blackbirds rising through the air.

She peeked into the living room, taking in the sleek white leather sofa set before a glass coffee table facing a hearth with a mantel of white marble, black granite and obsidian. The elegant room had no clutter, but several unique objects of art. A splash of color came from a painting of pink cherry blossoms above the hearth and wilted red roses on the mantel.

She continued through the foyer, finding the kitchen and informal dining room filling the back half of the enormous house.

Reaching the center of the stainless-steel and black granite kitchen, Samantha realized how thirsty she was. She cupped her hand and drank from the faucet. Only when her thirst was satisfied did she explore the offerings in the kitchen.

She felt like Goldilocks raiding the pantry of the three bears, but then remembered she was also one of the bears. Alon had invited her in. Dropped her at the door like a bad date, actually.

Bess Suncatcher kept a full larder, and Samantha had no trouble making a meal. When she had satisfied her hunger, she turned to the computer set up on a counter between two flanking pantry shelves in the walk-in larder. She’d seen such an arrangement in decor magazines, described as a place for the owner to look up a recipe or read emails.

The internet connection was surprisingly strong. None of her family had mobile phones, because changing from bear to human forms made it impossible to carry such things. But they did all have email accounts.

Samantha checked hers for news and was disappointed to find nothing from any of them. She told them of her safe arrival and where she landed. She paused before telling them about Alon, not knowing what to say. She told them she had seen their father attacked before being torn away