Authors: Ciana Stone
screamed and started running blind.
Chase didn’t understand what was happening but did recognize fear when he saw
it and at that moment Ana was consumed by more terror than he’d ever seen in another
human being. Whatever devil she was running from was one that scared the life out of
her and he didn’t know how to help. But he couldn’t let her just run off. Now that night
was falling it would be dangerous.
He ran after her and caught her just as she reached the fence. When his hand closed
around her arm she whirled around fighting, hitting and kicking as if her very life
depended on it. Chase didn’t want to hurt her but she made it difficult. In the end, he
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had no choice but to take her down and pin her to the ground, straddling her body to
hold her still.
“Nooooo!” she screamed. “Not again. Get off me, Gio, or I swear on my mother’s
grave—”
“Ana, snap out of it!” Chase did the only thing he could think of. He slapped her.
Ana’s head whipped to one side and then she went limp, her chest heaving rapidly.
Chase eased his hold on her to turn her head. Her eyes were clamped tightly shut, but
tears still streamed down her grimy face.
“Ah, Fancy,” he murmured, gathering her up against his chest. “What did that
bastard do to you?”
Ana stiffened at first, then wrapped her arms around him and sobbed. Chase held
her while she cried, smoothing her hair down her back and crooning softly to her. “It’s
okay, baby. Let it out. It’ll all be okay.”
Finally the sobs diminished to sniffles and a short time later she loosened her hold
on him from the death grip she’d had. “You okay now, Ana?” he whispered against her
hair.
She nodded and drew back to look at him. “Had a rough time, haven’t you?” Chase
asked.
She shrugged. “A little.”
“Your husband?” he asked.
She nodded. “Giovanni.”
“He’s the one who broke your ribs.”
Again she nodded, but looked down in embarrassment. Chase put his fingers under
her chin to tilt her head up. “Don’t you hang your head, Ana. The shame’s on him, not
you. But you’re shed of him now and he’ll never hurt you again.”
“You promise?” she asked, her eyes locking with his.
“On my life.” Chase didn’t realize until he had said the words how much he meant
them.
“How can I trust you, Chase? Everyone I’ve ever loved has either left me or hurt
me. How do I know you won’t be the same?” She wanted to believe him, really believe
him deep down in her soul but the memory of what Giovanni had done to her was
making it hard. She didn’t even know Chase. And despite what Cody and Fergi said,
how could she know that one day Chase wouldn’t hurt her just as bad?
Chase considered his words carefully. “You can’t know that, Fancy. At least not yet.
But in time you will. I’ll show you how to trust again, if you’ll let me.”
Ana heard the sincerity in his voice and saw it shining in his eyes, and her heart felt
a swell of hope so strong that it made her smile. “Okay,” she agreed. “You teach me
how to trust and in return I’ll teach you…” A frown creased her brow as she thought
about it. “How to dance sky clad under the moon.”
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“Sky clad?” Chase asked, being completely at a loss as to what that meant.
Ana laughed. “Naked.”
Chance couldn’t help but smile. Ana Stillwater was the singularly most unique
person he had ever met, as fluid and changeable as quicksilver and as quirky as they
came. “Sky clad, huh?”
Ana’s smile brightened. “Trust me, Chase. You’ll love it.”
He had no faith whatsoever that she was right on that score, but there was no sense
in voicing it. The smile on her face had ignited something warm inside him, and he’d
just as soon keep it that way.
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Chapter Six
Chase woke with a start. What was that sound? He climbed out of bed, listening. It
came again. From outside. He went to the window and looked out. “What the hell?”
Quickly, he threw on his jeans and boots and ran through the house and out the
back door.
The moon was straight overhead, but less than half full as it was on the wane. Still it
provided enough light to illuminate the landscape. And there, in the middle of the
pasture, wearing what looked to be a big scarf wrapped around her body, was Ana
Stillwater. Her arms were above her head, moving in intricate and graceful patterns
through the air as her body moved to a rhythm he could not hear, but somehow could
feel in his blood. It was a dance of pure femaleness, as old as time and as seductive as
original sin.
His dog, Cody, sat on the porch watching. “Why’d you let her run out there on her
own?” Chase asked. “You know rattlers come out at night.”
Cody looked up at him then returned his gaze ahead. Chase walked down the steps
and headed in Ana’s direction. Just as he was climbing the fence, she stopped and
called something he could not make out.
A shadow passed over his head, making him duck. Air pushed down on him as the
sound of powerful wings moved past him. Chase looked up. What had to be the biggest
hawk he’d ever seen was flying straight toward Ana.
Chase had never heard of a hawk attacking a person, but he wasn’t about to take a
chance. He set out at a dead run, shouting to Ana. “Ana, look out!”
She turned at the sound of his voice, and then looked up as the hawk started its
descent. Before Chase could reach her, the hawk did. But instead of attacking, it settled
on her raised forearm.
Chase skidded to a stop twenty feet from them. Ana smiled at him. “Chase, this is
Fergi. Fergi, Chase Hawks.”
The hawk twittered at her and Ana laughed. “No, I don’t think it means he literally
chases hawks.” She turned her attention back to Chase. “Does it?”
“Uh, no.” He wondered if maybe this wasn’t all just a dream.
“Nope, it’s real,” Ana answered as the hawk chirped at her, then gave the hawk a
kiss on its head. “Go on, but don’t stuff yourself. You remember what happened the last
time.”
She raised her arm and the hawk lifted off. Ana watched Fergi rise into the sky then
turned to face Chase. “What are you doing out here?”
“That’s what I came to ask you.”
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She shrugged. “Just getting the feel of the place. And spending some time with
Fergi. This is all new territory to her.”
“That’s the Fergi you were worried about? You have a hawk as a pet?”
“Oh, no,” she replied and walked over closer. “And don’t ever let Fergi hear you
say that. She’d be very offended and believe me, a pissed-off hawk isn’t a pretty sight.”
Chase just gawked at her for a moment, trying to get a handle on the situation.
“Your hawk would be offended?”
“Highly.” She nodded. “And she’s not my hawk. She’s my friend and my familiar.”
“Familiar? Is that another witch thing?”
“Yes,” Ana chuckled.
“So what does it mean? She’s some kind of demon or spirit or something?”
“Demon? No. She’s more like my, umm, partner.”
“Partner? So the hawk’s a witch, too?”
“Well, I guess you might look at it like that. She does have certain powers. Mostly
Fergi’s kind of like my radar, and when needed lends me her ability. But more than
anything, she’s my friend.”
“And she talks to you.” Chase was far from convinced that Ana was a witch, even
though things were getting stranger by the moment.
“Sure. Just like Cody talks to you, right, Cody?”
Chase hadn’t realized that Cody was even there. He followed the direction of Ana’s
gaze and sure enough there sat Cody, two feet behind him, watching. He barked in
response to Ana’s question.
Chance looked from Cody to Ana. “He barks, but I’m positive he’s never spoken a
word to me.”
Ana smiled. “Well, sure he has, Chase. He’s told you lots of things. Like how he
really hates that food with the liver flavor, and how he’d rather not go to Charlie’s,
because they don’t let him come in the house, and how much he likes Clara because
when she comes over she always brings him treats.”
Chase was dumbfounded. He hadn’t mentioned Charlie’s or Clara’s names, so how
did Ana know them? Was this some elaborate ruse, some con game to sucker him for
money? Suddenly he was seeing things in an ugly light.
“Look, lady. I don’t know who the hell you are or how you come by your
information, but there’s no way in hell you’ll get a dime out of me, so you might as well
pack up your little traveling show and look for another sucker ‘cause this gig’s up.”
“What?” Ana stepped back under the force of Chase’s anger and his ugly
accusations. “You think—”
“No, I know,” he barked. Now that he had his anger up, it was taking control. He’d
played right into her game, fallen for her wounded deer act and all the while it was just
an elaborate ploy to swindle him. “You thought you’d sashay in here with your tight
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little body, come-get-me, jungle-cat eyes, and abused-wife sob story and sucker me
right in, have me eating out of your hand and forking over every dime—”
“Enough!” Ana was past the shock and full into her own rage. That he could even
think her capable of such despicable things was more than she could take. For the first
time in many years, her control slipped. She advanced on him with eyes flashing. “How
dare you! I’ve been nothing but honest with you and have asked nothing from you.
Nothing! And now you want to make me out to be some gold-digging hussy who
would spread her legs to get your money? Well, to hell with you, Chase Hawks!”
She started to march past him, intent on gathering her things and walking off his
property as soon as possible. But he grabbed her. The fear Giovanni had created rose
and almost choked her into insensibility, but her rage was stronger. She whirled on him
with one hand lifted, palm out. “Do NOT touch me!”
Chase had no idea how it happened. One moment he was standing toe-to-toe with
her, his hand wrapped around her upper arm and the next he was flat on his back in the
dirt. And he knew she had not touched him. He shook his head, climbed to his feet and
stared at her in shock.
Ana’s reason was shrouded by anger and she couldn’t think straight. She extended
her hand in front of her and he saw, literally saw, arcs of golden energy dancing
between and off her fingers. “Keep away,” she warned.
“How do you do that?” Chase was so amazed he forgot he was angry. It was true!
She was a witch. How else could it be explained? He’d felt it. Seen it with his own eyes.
As impossible as it seemed, it was true.
Ana was so taken off guard by the complete change in Chase that her rage
dissipated like morning mist. She closed her hand and the energy retreated back inside
her body.
“How?” Chase asked.
“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.
“It’s incredible. Ana, this is… This is unbelievable. You’re a witch. A real, bona fide,
knock-my-ass-in-the-dirt witch.”
Ana had to laugh. It was just too funny. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.”
Chase was filled with curiosity. “So what else can you do? Can you fly?”
“No, that’s Superman,” she said, biting back a grin.
“Okay, maybe that was lame, but seriously, can you do anything else?”
A mischievous smile appeared on her face and she stepped up close to him. “Oh
yeah. Want to see?”
“Absolutely.”
Ana reached out and placed her hand on his chest. A bolt of pure unadulterated
energy, so completely sexual that it nearly made his dick explode, shot through him.
Chase literally staggered it was so strong.
“Good god, woman. What was that?”
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“Remember that fire we talked about?” she teased suggestively and moved close to
run her hands up his body to circle his neck, her lips moving ever so slowly toward his.
“Oh yeah, I do indeed.”
“Well, just consider it a preview,” she whispered and pulled his face down to cover
his lips with hers.
Chase thought he was going to come in his jeans. Her lips slanted across his, soft
and wet and warm. Her tongue moved inside, tasting and exploring. And all the while
her body rubbed against him, creating wave after wave of sensation so strong that his
need exploded like a keg of dynamite, stripping away the veneer of civility and
reducing him to a primal man with but one thing on his mind.
Ana was as lost as Chase. She had not intended to fall victim to her desire, but one
taste of him and nothing else existed but the feel of his hard muscular body pressed
against hers, his arms wrapped around her and his mouth, that glorious sexy mouth,
feasting on hers.
Suddenly from behind Ana, Cody growled.
Chase immediately looked to see what Cody was upset about. “Ana, don’t move,”
he said calmly. “Stay perfectly still.”
“Why?” she asked, but followed his instructions.
“There’s a rattler about six inches from your right foot.”
“Oh, is that all?” She looked down, saw the snake, then bent down and picked it up.
“Holy hell!” Chase took a big step back. “Are you crazy?”
“Don’t think so,” she replied, letting the snake curl around her arm. “You’re a big