Into the Light (7 page)

He and Olivia had watched from the SUV as Freddy met his cousin, gave him a one-armed hug, chatted for a few minutes, and then accepted the keys. His cousin had glanced all around and then in the blink of an eye, shifted into the form of a wolf and loped away.

Olivia’s eyes had been huge behind her sunglasses.

“I take it you never saw a shifter actually shift before?”

“Until a few days ago, I had never seen a shifter,” she replied.

“Does the idea repulse you?” Tanner had asked before he could stop himself.

Her eyes had shifted from the spot where Freddy’s cousin had stood, to Tanner’s face. “More like fascinate me,” she murmured in a soft, sexy voice that caused Tanner to think thoughts that were not exactly appropriate given their current situation. Hell, considering those thoughts were about a lightbearer, they weren’t appropriate at all, no matter the situation.

When Freddy returned and offered him the keys, Tanner asked if his cousin knew why Freddy needed the vehicle.

“If you’re asking if I told him that you were trying to escape with the pack master’s lightbearer, the answer’s no,” he replied sarcastically.

“Just covering my bases,” Tanner said shortly, and he whisked the lightbearer out of the SUV and over to the sedan. They were cruising down the road, headed toward the interstate, when she announced their destination was Vegas.

Tanner fished his cell phone out of his pocket and offered it to the lightbearer. “Call her,” he suggested.

She looked at the phone as if it was a foreign object. “I do not know how to use that device,” she admitted stiffly.

“Use what? A cell phone?”

“Is that what it is called?”

“You’ve never used a cell phone before?”

She gave him a reproachful look and shook her head. Which meant her cousin probably didn’t have a cell phone either. Where the hell did these lightbearers live, anyway? A past century? He shoved his phone back into his pocket and gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles turned white.

“Fine,” he ground out. “We go to Vegas. But you have to listen to everything I say, do you understand? Obey my every command without question.”

She looked insulted by his words.

“Unless you don’t care about living,” he added, just to push her buttons.

Her back stiffened and she pursed her lips and all he wanted to do was pull her close and kiss her until she softened and melted against him. It occurred to him that shifters were really missing the boat by assuming they should kill lightbearers. Killing her was the very last thing on his mind.

“Fine,” she ground out in an impressive imitation of him. He wondered if she was mocking him. He glanced at her profile, but she stared straight ahead, still ramrod straight, unmoving, and only speaking when necessary.

Once they were far enough away from the pack that he felt reasonably safe stopping, Tanner guided the car off the highway and into the parking lot of a big-box retail store. When Olivia turned and gave him a questioning look, he said, “You need shoes, right? Lisa’s were three sizes too big and you weren’t wearing any when I rescued you from Quentin.”

“I lost them in the struggle, when they kidnapped me,” she said stiffly. He had the distinct impression she wanted to argue the fact that he rescued her, but she fell silent again as they walked into the store together.

She looked fascinated by the contents and the patrons of the store. She even burst out giggling when an overlarge woman walked past, wearing a far-too short skirt that showed off both her butt crack and her cottage-cheese thighs. By the time they reached the shoe section, Olivia had lightened up enough to ask his opinion on the sandals she’d selected.

Which caused him to bite back a groan, because naturally she chose a pair of sexy red sandals, to go with that too-sexy red dress. He was half tempted to suggest she accompany him to the nearest dressing room so that he could show her just how much he liked the sandals. But for the moment, they were getting along, or at least reasonably tolerating each other, and he had a feeling that saying something so crass would destroy whatever-the-hell inroads they’d made at this point.

Tanner had very specific goals in mind. Get to Vegas and find the second lightbearer. Get the hell out of Vegas alive. Take both lightbearers back to their coterie and send them on their way, back to safety, back to where Quentin would never find them. Then he planned to return to Quentin’s manor home and get his mother out of there. The woman was dying—Tanner was convinced it was his own damn fault—and he refused to let her die alone in that place.

Nowhere within those goals was there a subgoal of getting it on with the lightbearer. Nowhere. Tanner liked bad women, women who’d left innocence at their parents’ doorstep a long, long time ago. He liked the sort of women who had a vast knowledge of their own sexuality and weren’t afraid to teach him a trick or two. He liked women who were human, who asked no questions, who had no expectations.

He did
not
like lightbearers. Lightbearers and shifters had been mortal enemies since lightbearers came into existence, thousands of years ago. He was certain they’d never hooked up before—it would be somewhere, in the history books, surely. And if not there, then it would be whispered, like the urban legend about stealing lightbearer magic.

“Any idea where those legends came from?” he asked casually, several hours later, as they sat in a small roadside diner, eating dinner. They sat in a booth next to the windows, at Olivia’s insistence. He hadn’t wanted to, as he felt exposed, but she still had those massive bags under her eyes and he knew she wasn’t yet fully recovered.

Olivia ate her salmon and salad with gusto and replied, “From the shifters, no doubt. My kind would never think to spout such ridiculousness.”

“Makes sense,” Tanner acknowledged. “So why would shifters have come up with something like that? Most legends are based in some sort of fact or event.”

Olivia considered his words for a moment before speaking. “Well, we are the only beings whose magic must be regenerated. That is common knowledge within the magical community. I would imagine it stems from there.”

“But killing you to gain your magic? That doesn’t make sense.”

“As I understand it, you all are carnivorous beings.”

He scowled. “We don’t eat people. Of any kind. We eat the same game that humans eat. And your kind, I imagine.”

“A thousand years ago, I doubt that was the case. A thousand years ago, you probably rarely shifted into human form. So why wouldn’t you eat other beings, as well as four-legged game?”

This time, Tanner considered
her
words. “I suppose you’re right,” he finally conceded. “There are a lot of legends that stem from caveman days.”

“When we die, there is a great flare of light, as the magic leaves our system for good,” she offered.

“So if a shifter ever saw a lightbearer die”—Tanner snapped his fingers—“a legend is born.”

They continued their journey, an uneasy truce between them as they discussed superficial things about their respective communities. They learned that shifters and lightbearers were very different—and very similar. Some things transcended all barriers.

Eleven hours later, they reached the Las Vegas city limits. It was well past dark, but Olivia looked far better than she had when she woke that morning. The drive had been bright and sunny, with little cloud cover. Perfect for a regenerating lightbearer.

“You look healthy again,” he commented as he maneuvered down the streets, zigzagging up and down side streets, his eyes darting every which way, searching for any sign of other shifters. He was absolutely certain Quentin would at some point send his trackers back to Vegas, once they determined the lightbearer was no longer in Wyoming. What he didn’t know was how soon that would happen.

He glanced at Olivia and noticed she gave him a funny look, as if he’d just given her an insult.

“We’ll be inside soon enough,” he said as he finally drove into the underground parking garage attached to the hotel she’d named.

After he parked the car, he grabbed her arm to keep her from leaping out. “Hang on,” he said, and he scanned the area. “Wrap your hair in the scarf again,” he commanded. “And put on the sunglasses.”

“It’s dark,” she protested.

“Put on the goddamned sunglasses,” he growled, and then he stepped out of the car and hurried around to the passenger door. When she climbed out of the car, she wore both the scarf and the sunglasses and still managed to give him an obstinate look. He almost laughed out loud. The lightbearer had spunk, that was for sure.

Just because he knew it would irritate her—and
not
because he liked the rush of magic he felt every time he touched her—Tanner grabbed her arm and guided her toward the nearest elevator. Once they were inside, she jerked her arm out of his grasp and glowered at him. He gave her a bland look in return.

They made it safely to the hotel room. He watched with fascination as Olivia used magic to open the door. A moment later, a whirlwind of lightbearer energy slammed into Olivia.

“Oh my lights, thank the lights, oh fates above, oh, oh, oh,” the lightbearer babbled in a high-pitched, excited voice that sounded breathless with relief. Suddenly, she jerked away from Olivia and gave a small shriek.

“Shifter! Shifter! Shifter!”

Olivia actually looked around in fear, as if she’d momentarily forgotten that Tanner was a shifter. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Flattered? Insulted?

“She’s referring to me, Olivia.”

“Oh,” Olivia said with a sigh of relief. “Cici, he’s harmless. Well, not harmless, but won’t harm us. At least, he keeps insisting that is the case.”

Tanner rolled his eyes, but before he could assure her—yet again—that he meant her no harm, another lightbearer stepped in the room. This one was male, with perfectly groomed blond hair, a smoothly shaven face and wearing clothing that was more fitting for the nineteenth century than this one.

He stormed into the room, shrieking at almost as high a pitch as Cecilia had, and then rushed to the two women and tried to pull them both away from Tanner, who stood there looking with bemusement at the man whose head barely reached his shoulders. Although when he produced a sword out of thin air, that got Tanner’s attention.

“Dane,” Olivia snapped as she struggled out of his grip. “What are you doing here?”

Dane stood between the two women and Tanner, holding them back with one arm, while holding a sword with the other, and glaring at the shifter. “Protecting you, my lady,” he proclaimed, as if he were an old-world hero.

Olivia glared at her cousin. “You called Dane of all people?”

Cecilia shrugged. “Who else was I to call? You disappeared and he was the only one I knew would come without alerting your father.”

Olivia’s look suggested she now appreciated Cecilia’s wisdom in calling Dane.

“Can you call off your toy soldier please?” Tanner requested. He wasn’t too worried about taking the significantly smaller man, even with a sword in his hand, but Tanner assumed he was friend to Olivia, so he didn’t want to hurt the guy.

“Toy soldier,” Dane sputtered indignantly as he thrust the sword at Tanner.

“Dane,” Olivia snapped. He reacted instantly, backing off and dropping the sword to his side. Tanner found his reaction interesting, to say the least. Olivia hadn’t mentioned that she was some sort of general in the lightbearer army. Although, in truth, all Tanner had learned thus far about the beautiful lightbearer was that she had healing abilities but her father hadn’t allowed her to actually become a full-fledged healer. For all he knew, she
was
a general in the lightbearer army. She was certainly bossy enough to qualify as one.

“He’s on our side, Dane,” Olivia said wearily. “Release the sword.”

Dane hesitated, but after a moment, the sword disappeared from his hand. Still, Tanner kept a wary eye on that appendage. He’d never seen anyone conjure a sword from thin air before.

“What are you doing with a shifter, Olivia?” Cecilia whispered to her cousin, loudly enough that even without his enhanced shifter hearing, Tanner would have been able to hear her.

“And what is with the scarf? Is this some sort of new fashion statement?”

Olivia tugged the scarf out of her hair and tossed it and the sunglasses onto a small table. “It is a disguise, Cici. So that other shifters did not recognize me.”

Cecilia did not react to Olivia’s words quite as Tanner might have expected. Instead of alarm at hearing she was hiding from other shifters, she said, “Are they all so handsome?”

She gave him an appreciative look that encompassed his entire body, from toes to shaggy hair. Tanner had to duck his head so she would not see his grin.

“Whether they are handsome is irrelevant,” Olivia pronounced as she walked over to the small kitchen area and pulled two bottles of water out of the refrigerator. Tanner was mildly surprised when she walked over and handed him one of the bottles. Bossy
and
considerate.

“Most are our enemy, so do not allow Tanner’s presence to lower your guard. Now, hurry and pack. We have to get back to the coterie. There are far more dangerous shifters out there who will be coming after us soon.”

“What happened?” Cecilia demanded, and Olivia must have figured out it would be quicker to simply tell the tale than to try to convince them to get on the road first, because she gave them a quick recap of where she’d been and what happened to her over the course of the last two days. By the time she was done explaining, both Dane and Cecilia looked as if their eyes might pop out of their heads at any moment. Then Cecilia turned and batted her eyelashes at Tanner.

“That’s so romantic,” she cooed, and he blinked uncertainly.

Olivia stepped between them. “It is
not
romantic,” she said icily. “Now, do you think you could go pack your things so we can leave?”

Cecilia threw Tanner another adoring look before leaving the room.

Olivia looked at Tanner. “I should go help. Dane?” She gave the male lightbearer a questioning look.