run! Do you want me to just lie down here and wait to die?
What are you talking about? Nothing’s chasing us! You’re acting like a crazy person and that’s MY job!
Her mouth went dry. Fear rolled around her, a solid force pushing her to her knees. Can’t you feel that? Sheena almost sobbed.
And then it was gone.
Sheena ran her hands down her face. Gone, yes, but for how long? It was like a light-switch in her brain. Terror, then nothing to show for it except her shaking breaths and sweaty hands. Not that she could see anything even when she was afraid. Except for those eyes.
If they were even real. Sheena swallowed. Her sheep hadn’t seen the eyes, and it hadn’t felt what she felt. What if she really was losing it?
Maybe everyone is right. Her heart sank. I can’t cope alone. If I can’t even trust my own eyes…
Now I don’t want you to be upset, her sheep said nervously.
Too bloody late for that. Sheena sat back.
But I think we should get up.
The fire. I know. Wouldn’t that just be perfect. Run around like a fucking lunatic and then just sit here and let the fire roll straight over her. Totally in-character. No one would be surprised.
Well, yes, the fire, her sheep said gently. But also… I told you I could smell something before, didn’t I?
When you took over my eyes and ears so I couldn’t see my way out of here? Sheena felt suddenly exhausted. So what if she burned to death? It seemed inevitable now. She should just lie down right here and prove all her family right.
Yes. Promise you won’t be mad?
Sheena took a deep breath. Why would I be—
A new scent flooded through her. Not the sweet-sick stench from before, or the throat-scorching smell of burning buildings. Something clean and masculine that filled her senses.
Sheena opened her eyes and looked in the direction her sheep was pushing her.
“Oh,” she tried to say, but her whole body was paralyzed by shock and it came out more like “Oaaargh.”
There was a man standing on the road, surrounded by burning buildings. Even through the smoke and heat-shimmer she could see that he was tall and leanly muscled. His black leather jacket and dark glasses made his pale skin and red hair all the more striking. She couldn’t see his eyes behind the mirrored lenses of his sunglasses, but that didn’t matter. He was the whole deal. Everything. So much muchness her mind stuttered over it.
Don’t be mad, her sheep repeated, and Sheena’s mouth dropped open.
I’m not mad, she told it. I mean, I might have gone crazy, but I’m not angry.
Oh, good! Her sheep’s relief was so intense Sheena felt drunk. Or maybe she would have felt drunk anyway. Here was something that made sense. Forget the strange fear, forget jumping at shadows that Sheena-the-human couldn’t explain and her sheep couldn’t even sense, here was something that they both understood bone-deep.
This man was her mate.
He looked as stunned as she felt—for a moment. Before Sheena could even think about what she could say, let alone twist her tongue around the words, he walked towards her, moving with the casual grace of someone who never tripped over their own feet.
She felt dizzy, as though she was standing on the edge of a cliff. Which she was. Metaphorically speaking. Her life was splitting off into before and after and she was teetering on the edge of after. This was it. He was it. This gorgeous stranger whose hair caught the light like a live flame.
She didn’t wait for him to reach her. For one glorious moment, she didn’t even care that she was losing her mind and covered in soot and had probably singed her eyebrows off. Her sheep skipped like a lamb as she half-ran, half-stumbled to meet him.
He stopped in front of her and reached out with one hand, as though he wasn’t sure she was real.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
His voice was like sunlight on her skin. She swallowed, opened her mouth, and absolutely failed to make any words come out. “Hngk?” she managed.
“You’re hurt.” His eyebrows came together above his sunglasses and he hesitated with his hand almost touching her face. “What happened h—”
He didn’t get any further because Sheena threw herself into his arms and kissed him.
It should have been awkward. She barely came up to his collarbone and she’d just lunged at him with no warning but somehow it worked. His arms folded