Circle of Desire (Damask Circle 3)

So why had they been allowed to walk free? The soul-sucker surely would have realized the zombies’ attack had weakened them. It didn’t make any sense to simply sit back and leave the attack until later when they had the upper hand right now.

“It makes a little more sense once you know we’re being followed,” Ethan murmured.

She resisted the urge to look behind them again. “By what?”

“It smelled like a wolf when I first sensed it, but it took off into the sky not long afterward.”

“A dual-shifter,” she murmured. “That’s rare.”

“Rare or not, it’s probably going to follow us right back to the cabins.”

“The soul-sucker must realize we’re not working alone.”

“I believe it was you who said it wasn’t stupid.”

“We can’t go back.” They’d lead them straight to Gwen, and while her grandmother could look after herself, she was their trump card and the one person they could not risk exposing. Not yet, anyway.

“There’s a motel up near the main highway. We’ll head there and call your grandmother.”

She nodded. Once the attack had hit, it should be fairly safe to go back. If they both survived the attack, that was.

She tried not to think about how tired she felt. How cold she was. How bad her head hurt. Tried not to think about facing the oncoming attack with little more than stakes, silver chains, and the protection stones.

Because right now she was more frightened than she’d ever been in her life.

But why?

She frowned as she continued following Ethan down the steep slope. She’d certainly been in far worse situations than this before. If Gran and she could survive a mass attack of demons, as they had in Seattle a few years back, then surely Ethan and she could survive the attack of a couple of vampires and shape-shifters. If that was all the soul-sucker sent at them, of course.

Then it hit her.

For the first time in her life, she had something more to lose than just her life. There was a very real possibility that Ethan and she had created a life last night, and it was not giving that child a chance that she feared more than anything.

She lightly touched her stomach. She had to survive, not only tonight, but this whole damn case. The child she carried might be the only good thing to come out of her brief time with Ethan, and she sure as hell was going to make sure they both survived. Because even though she now had something to lose, she also had an extraordinary reason to survive.

They came out of the trees, and she glanced skyward. A solitary bird flew high up, a dark form almost lost against the deeper darkness of the clouds. It was circling, and she had no doubt it was the shifter Ethan had sensed in the tunnel. Given the strength of the approaching storm, most birds worth their salt would be seeking sanctuary right now, not riding the blustery wind.

The storm hit before they reached the car. Not that it really mattered, since she was already soaked and chilled to the bone. Ethan turned the car’s heater up to full, but it didn’t seem to help melt the ice that had settled deep into her bones.

“We’ll be at the motel soon,” he said, concern in his eyes as he glanced at her. “You can have a hot shower there.”

She nodded and wondered why he wasn’t shaking with cold himself. He was as soaked as she was.

“Werewolves have a strong constitution. The cold has never really worried me.”

She studied him for a moment, wondering why he was catching some thoughts and not others. He surely wouldn’t be sitting there worrying about her being cold if he knew she could be carrying his child. Or was it simply a matter of neither of them being ready—or willing—to push any deeper than surface thoughts?

“So there are some good points about being a werewolf, after all?”

His gaze returned to the road. “Perhaps.”

She studied his profile and saw the tension around the corners of his eyes. In the firm set of his full lips. “Why would one woman’s reaction set you so against what you are?”

“I loved that woman.” His voice was tight. Angry. At her, at the past.

“But unless you were born and raised in a wolf community, you must have witnessed or experienced such a reaction before. You must have been aware it was a possibility.”

God, she’d certainly experienced it. And while a lover’s reaction of horror and fear was both disappointing and upsetting, it was also to be expected. It was human nature to fear what you could not understand, and those who were more than human had to accept that and deal with it.