House Of Bears 7 - Samantha Snow Page 0,5
of her the way he did at The Stones. He wanted her, but not like that. He wanted her like this, in her usual, normal, soft self.
Her delicate hands drifted to his waist. Her arms twined around his ribs, and her blessed form fell against him. Her lips parted. He tasted a single delirious rush of her tongue when Keller’s voice called from the house. “There you are! Where the hell have you been? We’ve been searching everywhere for you.”
Holly’s lips dropped off Garret’s mouth. She eased back, and her eyes found him once again. She didn’t look away. She gazed into the depths of his heart. She smiled again, and her cheeks colored.
They shared a passing moment of unspoken understanding before Keller rushed to Holly’s side. He grabbed her elbow to tow her away. “You have to get inside. There’s another delegation here to see you. They’ve been waiting four hours. They’re eating every scrap of food in the house. That’s the only thing we could come up with to stop them from getting annoyed that you weren’t around.”
Holly kept her gaze locked on Garret. She stroked her satin palm down his cheek. Her lips formed the words, I love you.
The next moment, Keller tugged her up the steps to the open double doors. She walked backward for a second before Keller turned her around to face the music.
Garret couldn’t reply to her message. His heart flooded with agonizing love watching her walk away. He alone knew what happened to her in the woods today. That made him responsible for her, more responsible than he was before.
Someone had to do something about this, and he was the only one who could do it. What could he do, though? What could anyone do? If this new shifter power came from her pregnancy, maybe it would go away after she gave birth.
And if it didn’t? He needed help, and only one source around here offered the kind of help he needed. He didn’t want her to be a shifter. He didn’t want her to be any different from the woman he fell in love with, but that wasn’t getting the job done.
He took a step toward the house when a snapping twig drew his attention to his left. He whipped around to see Loch saunter into the yard from over by the barn. He ambled to a stop at Garret’s side. He looked toward the doors without showing any sign of noticing Garret. “Did you see anything out on the perimeter?”
Garret pursed his lips and scowled toward the doors, too. Loch’s presence brought him back to Earth in a hurry. “Nothing. There ain’t nothing out there.”
Loch nodded to himself. “That’s what I think, too. It’s all quiet.”
“Too quiet,” Garret grumbled. “There has to be something out there. There has to. No one can convince me there isn’t.”
Loch cocked his head to study Garret for the first time. His dark features twitched, and his eyes gleamed. “Why does there have to be? Is it asking too much that we’re finally safe without some unknown threat stalking us? Why does there always have to be another danger lurking around the next corner?”
“You don’t really believe that,” Garret fired back. “You know it’s there. Don’t give me that shit about how we’re finally safe. That’s pure shit, Loch, and you know it.”
Loch returned to studying the doors. Neither man could see anything beyond them. The house throbbed and pulsed with unseen potentialities. It transmitted them into Garret’s being without words. “You’re right. I don’t believe it, no matter what Johnny says.”
“Where is he?” Garret demanded. “Is he around?”
Loch nodded. “He’s in his basement doing God knows what. The witches are in the living room. I’m sure they can tell you a whole lot of nothing if you really want them to.”
“I don’t need them to,” Garret fired back. “They’ve already told us that an unknown threat is still out there getting closer all the time—not that I need them to tell me that, either.”
Loch turned around and inspected him closer. “That isn’t all, though. Something’s bothering you. What is it? Is everything all right with Holly and the baby?”
Garret gritted his teeth. “She’s fine. She’s strong and healthy. She’s never been better.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“Nothing. I gotta go talk to Johnny.”
He took a step forward when Loch called to him from behind. “There’s something else.”
Garret stiffened and rotated around to face his friend. He braced himself for a confrontation. If Loch planned to push