Dark Guardian - Moonlight Part 16

would I have reflexes that quick? Did I want them?

"Almost there," he said as he helped me to regain my balance.

"Where's 'there'?"

"A hiding place."

When I thought of a hiding place, I thought of someplace small and dark. A place where you crouched

and quaked. I wasn't looking forward to it. Especially since I'd be cramped into and nestled right up

against Lucas. Would I be able to resist my urges? We stepped out of the woods and into a small clearing. Moonlight spilled around us. The rus.h.i.+ng water I'd heard was a waterfall cascading down the side of the mountain. Lucas let go of my hand. I was stunned to realize that I suddenly felt bereft. I almost reached for his hand. Not because I was afraid, but because I didn't want to break the connection between us.

"Wow, this is awesome." For a minute I forgot that we were being hunted by Evil Scientist and his crew.

"I didn't know anything remotely like this existed around here."

"We have a lot of similar places in this forest."

"'We'? You say that like you own the forest."

"Technically it's federal land, but yeah, it's ours."

"What? So there's really a village hidden away out here, like Mason said? Are there really others like you?"

He got eerily still, as though he was trying to decide how much he could trust me. I guess my att.i.tude about not wanting to be whatever he was caused doubts about my sincerity. If I was going to reconnect with Mason's group, I figured the less I knew the better.

"Go ahead and turn on your flashlight," he said, totally ignoring my question. "You'll probably need it where we're going." "And where is that?" "Into the waterfall."

THIRTEEN.

The waterfall cascaded into a pool. Lucas told me there were some underground streams that fed into a river farther down. Of course, there was also a river high above that furnished the water for the waterfall. I thought maybe we would see it the next day.

But for now, Lucas was holding my hand again and leading me around the edge of the rippling pool. The gra.s.s eventually gave way to rocks, pebbles, and small stones that were as slippery as gla.s.s. I lost my footing. If Lucas hadn't been holding my hand, I would have tumbled into the pool. Instead, with a tug of my arm, I was tumbling into him, against his warm skin. The shock of it should have had me pulling back, but I found myself melting into him. He felt so good, his skin smooth, his muscles firm.

His arm came around me, holding me in the shelter of his embrace.

As we got closer to the waterfall, it was like walking toward thunder. The rus.h.i.+ng water echoed around us and blocked out any other sound. It was disorienting and almost frightening. In contrast, a delicate mist tickled my face. But I knew it was an illusion. Getting caught in that waterfall could kill a person.

Lucas pulled me behind it. I had only a second to run my flashlight over the curtain of rus.h.i.+ng water before Lucas drew me into the black abyss.

He released his hold. I sh.o.r.ed up my courage and didn't release an embarra.s.sing screech begging him not to leave me. It was quieter in here, the waterfall muted but still present. I swept the beam of the flashlight around the cavern. Someone had been here before us.

"This is one of our lairs," Lucas explained as he crouched to switch on a battery-operated lantern. It provided more light than my flashlight did, so I turned mine off to preserve the batteries. I planned to keep it with me. I felt safe with it. Maybe because my adoptive dad had given it to me. It was like having him here with me. Suddenly I desperately wished he were my real dad. Then all of this might not be real. What was I thinking? It wasn't real anyway.

If it was genetic, then I had to have inherited it from my parents. And they certainly weren't wolves. They didn't heal the way Lucas did when Mason shot him. They died.

"Hungry?" Lucas asked, bringing me out of my morose musings.

"No. Thirsty, though."

He tossed me a bottle of water. The cave was cool. So was the water. Clear plastic crates containing provisions were stacked along the walls. Lucas grabbed a granola bar and started chomping away while he opened another crate and took out a blanket. He walked over to me and draped it around my shoulders.

"You need it more than I do," I said. "At least I'm wearing a s.h.i.+rt."

"There's more. Besides, I can always go furry." He gave me an incredibly s.e.xy grin, and my whole body reacted with a jerk of awareness.

As though suddenly embarra.s.sed, he turned away and walked back to the crate. He took out more blankets and a couple of sleeping bags. He unzipped the bag and laid it down fully opened and spread out. "Thought we could lay down together, share our bodies' heat," he said, indicating that I should stretch out on the bed he'd made. He was still holding the one sleeping bag. I figured he was going to cover us with it.

I'd never slept with a guy before-and even if all we did was sleep, we were still going to be in bed together, our bodies touching, maybe curling into each other. I didn't know if I was ready for the intimacy. On the other hand, absorbing his warmth in this cool cavern sounded heavenly. But sleeping together, even innocently, seemed too soon.

"Uh, after everything that's happened, how can you even think about sleeping?" I asked.

"Honestly, I'm about to collapse."

I'd somehow shoved to the back of my mind that he'd gone through an ordeal. Been shot, no less. Or maybe it was just that he was so good at covering up what he was feeling. Or maybe hewas superwolf. But I'd been leaning on him since his escape, when maybe I should have been letting him lean on me.

"What do you need me to do to help you?" I asked.

"Just sleep."

I looked at the makes.h.i.+ft bed again.

"I'm not going to attack you the way Mason did," Lucas said.

I glanced over at him. "I know. The thing is-I've never slept with a guy before."

A corner of his mouth hitched up. "It's easy. You close your eyes and dream."

And I could imagine all the things I'd dream lying so close to Lucas. Still, I nodded and stretched out on the sleeping bag. Lucas eased down beside me. Cautiously. I didn't know if it was because he was so exhausted or he thought I might bolt. Or maybe he sensed how stiff and still I was. I'd spent a lot of time thinking about what it would be like the first time I slept with a guy. I hadn't expected it to be in a cave with a guy as dark and dangerous as Lucas. Even though I knew he wouldn't hurt me, for some reason tonight my body didn't feel as though it belonged to me. It wanted to roll over and snuggle up against him.

"Are you okay with the dark or do you want the light left on?" he asked.

"The dark is fine." It wasn't, but no way was I going to admit I was scared of what I was feeling toward him. It seemed like the dark would only intensify it.

I heard the click and the light went out. My eyes quickly adjusted and I could see the waterfall. The moonlight made it look like falling gla.s.s. It was somehow very comforting. I slowly began to relax.

"This is my favorite of all the lairs," Lucas said quietly.

I wondered if he'd lied about being able to read my thoughts only when he was in wolf form. Maybe he could read them anytime.

"Looks as though you set this place up like you were expecting trouble," I said.

"We always expect trouble."

He scooted a little closer. I could feel tiny tremors going through him. "You're cold." I didn't mean for my voice to sound accusing, but it did.

"No, just the aftershocks of an adrenaline rush and a s.h.i.+fting. Warmth helps."

He'd risked everything to save me from Mason. How could I not risk my emotions by moving closer to him?

I rolled over until I was sprawled partway over him. I knew all about adrenaline rushes. When my parents were killed, I'd thought I'd never stop shaking. His arm came around me, holding me close, and I snuggled even closer with my head nestled in the nook of his shoulder. He brought the other sleeping bag over us. We were warm and cozy in our little coc.o.o.n. Being next to him like this was wonderful. My body grew limpid. I could smell the heat of his skin, feel the heat of it beneath my cheek and fingers.

"Is it a rush?" I asked quietly, not wanting to disturb the peace settling over us, but wanting to deepen the connection. "Being a wolf, I mean."

"It's not something I think about. It's what I am."

"How did it happen? I mean I know you said it was genetic, but how? Was the first one bitten by a wolf or something?"

His deep laughter rumbled through the cavern. "It's so stupid when they do that in movies. Why would anyone think getting bitten by anything would turn you into that thing? Same with vampires. So stupid. But no. Lycanthropy isn't something that started because of a bite."

"Then how?"

"We've been here since the dawn of time. But self-preservation made us secretive. Centuries ago, we lived in the general population, but there's always an awareness when we meet our own kind. You've probably felt it when you've met people, but because you didn't know we existed, you might not have recognized it for what it was: like calling to like."

I thought about the first time I met Lindsey last summer. It was as though we were instantly best friends. I'd felt a connection, a history. I'd been able to tell her anything. "Is Lindsey . . . ?" I couldn't say it. It was too incredible.

"Yes," he said quietly. "She hasn't had her transformation. She'll turn seventeen next month."

"We're friends. Why didn't she say something?"

"Would you have believed her? If she couldn't show you?"

"I don't know. I'm not sure I believe you-I believe that you can transform, okay. ThatI'm going to-I'm not convinced. But you're saying there are others like you living out among people?"

"Sure. At schools, universities. We live in communities. We're doctors, lawyers, cops. We're like everyone else, except we s.h.i.+ft."

"Excuse me, but that makes younot like everyone else."

"Okay, you have a point. And yes, there is some risk to us living among the Statics, but it's easier for us to fit in than to have our own country or something. Yes, sometimes we're outed. Our kind has been burned at the stake as witches, hunted down as demons. So centuries ago, the elders created a brotherhood of . . . I guess you can think of them as knights. They're young warriors. We call them Dark Guardians. They're charged with protecting other s.h.i.+fters."

I scoffed. "I don't think much of their protection techniques. Where were they tonight when you needed them?"

He cleared his throat. "Well, the code is-if a Dark Guardian is stupid enough to get discovered, he's on his own. We risk our lives for others. We don't ask others to risk their lives for us."

I pushed myself up until I could see his face. "Wait a minute. Are you telling me you're a Dark Guardian? That you're a knight or whatever?"

"Yes, exactly. My job is to protect you. That's the reason I sent the others on and I stayed back, to make sure no one hurt you and to be there when the full moon rose."

He was my protector? That explained the way he always watched me. I wasn't ready to face the full moon and all those ramifications. I still had way too many questions about Lucas. "So you can die."

"Sure. Fire. Bullets."

"But I saw you heal."

"Pretty amazing, huh?" His voice held a hint of pride. "I was just lucky that moronic Mason doesn't know that silver is our Achilles' heel. That part of the Hollywood c.r.a.p is true. For some reason, a wound inflicted with silver doesn't heal like a normal wound. Knife, sword, bullet-if it's made from silver, we're in some deep s.h.i.+t."

I realized that he trusted me with the secrets to destroying them. Maybe it wasn't trust. Maybe it was self-preservation. Silver had suddenly turned from an accessory to the source of my potential demise.

"Is there any way not to become . . ." My mind was screaminga freak , but I couldn't say that. Surely he'd take it as a major insult.

"No," he said quietly. His hand curled around my neck and he eased me back to his shoulder, his arm holding me close to his side as though he could prevent me from feeling the blow of that word. "But it'll be okay. Trust me. I know you have a lot of questions, but I'm fading, Kayla. Let me get some sleep and I'll answer everything tomorrow."

"Okay." I heard his breathing go shallow and felt the slow rise and fall of his chest against my cheek.

I watched the waterfall streaming past. I thought about getting up and just walking straight into it. Let it push me beneath the water and hold me there. I didn't want to be a wolf. Maybe Mason thought that it was totally cool and that people would buy recreational drugs for a couple of hours of being furry, but I wouldn't have taken it if it were free. I hoped Lucas was wrong. That the connection he felt was something else. Maybe his perception was skewed and he had misread me. I couldn't be a s.h.i.+fter.

And as far as I was concerned, if I was, my life was suddenly going to suck. Big time.

I was crouched at the edge of the cave, listening to the thundering waterfall, studying my nails. I'd crawled out of the bed while Lucas was still asleep. I had a lot to think about. Part of me wanted to start running from him, from all this, and never stop.

Lucas was so quiet that my heart nearly burst through my chest when he dropped down beside me. I was proud of myself for not giving any indication that he'd startled me.

"You're up early. You okay?" he asked.

Was that a serious question? My world, my life, might not be what I thought it was. Of course I wasn't okay. But I managed to do little more than sigh. "Just thinking. I've never had much luck growing long nails. I guess that's about to change."

He chuckled. Or at least I thought he did. With the waterfall, we had to talk loud, so low chuckles were difficult to hear, but he was smiling. Then, as though he thought we were at risk of ruining our throats if we kept trying to have a conversation where we were, he jerked his head to the side. I followed him back into the cavern.

"Do you know if my adoptive parents know . . . about me, I mean? What I am? Or what I'm going to be?"

"I don't think so. When your parents were killed, you were whisked away before a Dark Guardian could be sent for. Once the government gets involved, it's a little hard to reclaim our own." He opened a crate and tossed me a can of V8.

"I thought wolves were carnivores," I said dryly as I popped the top.

"Wolves are. s.h.i.+fters aren't." His tone said that I'd insulted him. He handed me a protein bar. "Need to eat. Keep up your strength."

I tore open the wrapper and eyed him dubiously. "You don't think of yourself as a wolf."

"I'm not a wolf. It's a shape I s.h.i.+ft into, that's all."

"That's all? Most people don't go all furry and snarling. Not to mention the loonies who are trying to capture you for research."