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“What the fuck did you do, Cathy,” he breathed as he read things for a third time.
After which he looked up to find a shadowy figure standing about five feet away from him.
“Greetings, Dr. St. Claire,” a mechanical voice announced.
When a gun was pointed at him, Gus shouted and thrust his arms forward. But that didn’t do shit. As the contract fell off the counter in a flutter, he was shot, right in the chest.
THIRTY-TWO
THE MALE FIGUREwas about to disappear, so she had to act fast.
Up on Deer Mountain, that was the thought that went through Lydia’s mind as she stared through wolven eyes at the red-robed entity before her. Spurred on by a sense of urgency, she immediately went into her transformation, shifting her form—and sure enough, as she initiated the change, he became totally transfixed.
Whatever it took, she thought as she gave herself up to the magic, the energy flowing through her being, her body trading its identities as easily as a suit of clothing.
When she was once again of biped nature, she put out her hands. “Don’t go.”
The male in all the robing simply stared at her, his eyes wide, his stance steady and tilted forward on his hips as if he were utterly astonished with what he had just seen—and for some reason, shedidn’t think that boded well for him as some kind of savior. Weren’t destiny’s messengers supposed to be otherworldly and all-knowing?
Was this what Xhex had told her to come and find? If so, where was the light?
In the tense silence, Lydia thought of the number of times the ghost of her grandfather had visited her when she’d most needed his guidance—except he had only ever been a beacon warning her of a threat or dire consequence. He’d never actually told her anything about her situation.
Was this male here to give her direction about Daniel?
“Don’t go,” she repeated more softly.
As his eyes left hers and ran down her naked form, she had a thought he was just marveling about what she could do at will. Except then they returned and lingered on her breasts—and all at once, a scent carried over to her on the breeze… a scent of arousal.
Just as it registered, she was blinded by light, the illumination bright as a lightning strike, its origin unknown.
Yet she knew what it meant.
“Oh… God,” she whispered as she covered her mouth with one hand and her breasts with the other arm.
“Are you unwell,” the male blurted. “Here, allow me.”
As she heard a flapping of cloth and felt a swoosh of fabric around her body, she knew he had covered her with his robing. And she gripped the fine folds and held them to her trembling body as if they were a shield against arrows.
“What ails you,” he demanded.
“Who are you?” she tossed back as she blinked blindly and tried to make sure her legs continued to accept her weight.
But then the illumination disappeared. As quickly as the light arrived, the glow was gone, and the mysterious man reappeared to her. Not that he’d gone anywhere.
When she just stared at him, he took a step back. No longer covered by the robes, she saw that he was dressed in a tight-fitting black uniform that made her think he was a soldier, especially given the gun belt around his hips.
Blinking quickly, she sagged in her own skin as tears welled.
“Why are you looking at me like that?” he said in a tense voice.
Lydia shook her head and it was a while before she could find her voice. “I was told to come to the mountain, that something would be waiting for me, something that I was going to need to go on…”
She started shaking her head. “Oh, God… no. I don’t want this… I don’t…”
Lydia stumbled back from the male, thinkingabout what her grandfather had told her, about where to go to see her future.
This was not dawn, though. This was still night—
