Authors: Harmony Raines
Tags: #General Fiction
“Walk with me,” he said and turned to walk back towards the lake. This was not looking good. The further away from the house they went, the more chance there would be of her cries going unheard, if he decided to hurt her.
Her hesitation only lasted a moment. She might not be able to turn into a beast with four paws, but her two legs could move pretty fast when they wanted to. And there was always the lake. Yes, she could push him in there if she needed to. That would certainly dampen his desire. She smiled to herself at the thought.
She walked four paces behind him, keeping as much distance as possible between them. He led her down towards the water, and then turned towards the small copse of trees at the head of the lake. There was a weeping willow, its branches dipping into the edge of the lake. Once they were under there, no one would see them. No one would know.
His word against hers. If he attacked her, he could say she was the one who instigated their joining. Everyone would believe him. In this part of the world, he was better than her. Her pace slowed; she should run now.
Kane stopped and turned to look upwards, her presence momentarily forgotten by him. The danger he presented momentarily forgotten by her, as her eyes were drawn to the silver disk hanging above them. This was the very place she had been when she had heard him coming. The moon’s reflection was whole and unbroken on the surface of the lake. The thing that mystified her most was why it had the same effect on him, as it did on her: mesmerising, hypnotic.
“Why are we here?” she asked, now more curious than afraid. She had been stupid to think a man like Kane would be interested in her. But she was fascinated by him, something hidden, a depth she couldn’t understand. Now she knew why so many men went to bed with him.
Animal magnetism
.
“The moon. That’s why you were here.” A statement of fact, not a question.
“Yes,” she answered simply.
“Tell me about it. Tell me how you feel on a night like this when the moon is full.” His eyes flicked briefly to hers, and then they were dragged back to the light.
“You know what I am?” she asked, wanting to be sure he knew she was from the Prime.
“Of course. The collar isn’t exactly hard to miss,” he said, not cruelly, but still it hurt and her hand went to it, feeling the cold hardness of the metal. Even though it touched her skin, it never absorbed her body heat. It was always cold as death.
“The moon makes the change harder to control,” she said, thinking of how her father had taught her to gain control of herself. If they didn’t learn when they were young, by the time puberty hit, the moon would force them to shift, their animal dragged from them to howl, or roar at the moon.
“Tell me. What’s it like?” he asked.
“What? To have a collar around your neck that stops the other half of you from existing?” Her voice was bitter with resentment. She still couldn’t understand how her father, so loving, so caring, had managed to end up with so much debt. Short of selling their family home, there had been no choice but for Amara to offer to bargain a contract to pay off his debts. Three years of slavery for the Reinier family. That was how long it would take to repay the debt.
“No. Tell how you feel when the moon is full.”
“Right now I feel as if my body wants to explode. The tension inside is like holding your breath underwater for too long. I want to tear my skin from my body until my other side is freed,” she said, filled with bitter passion and longing.
He nodded, as if he understood exactly what she meant, and then his gaze dropping to look at the moon’s reflection. Her heart stopped beating rapidly. Instead it slowed, the blood in her veins no longer hot in readiness to fight him off; replaced by a chill, deep in her bones, that made time slow down and her mind clear.
The lioness no longer prowled. She was still, the two of them working as one to piece together the fragments of information that were floating around in her head.
She took a step towards him, and then another, her voice soft as she spoke. “This is my first moon with the collar. The hardest one, so I’m told.” She was so close to him now, she could reach out and touch him if she wanted to. Instead, she allowed her eyes to do the touching. Caressing his body, taking in the broad shoulders, encased in a shirt, open at the neck, that emphasised his toned chest. A part of her wanted to reach out and touch him, but the rest of her told her not to start something she would be powerless to stop.
“And when you don’t have the collar on?” he asked quietly, half turning to look at her, his amber eyes soft, mournful; empty of something that he couldn’t find. The exact same expression that greeted her every morning since she had left Shifters Prime.
Then she saw it. He wore a bracelet around his left wrist. Unable to resist temptation, she reached out, her fingers connecting with the cold metal, the same colour as the moon. She jumped with shock, and touched his skin, feeling an electrical current shoot up her arm.
Scared, she turned and ran.
Kane staggered backwards as if he had been shot. The jolt of electricity that had burst out from her left him unable to move. It reminded him of the time he had been walking through the park on his way to work and had watched a man, a shifter, being cornered. One of the policemen had panicked, thinking the guy was about to change, and he had drawn his Taser. The shifter had arched his back as the electricity shot through his system, and then collapsed on the floor, his body in spasms.
He lifted his hand and clenched and unclenched his fist. What had she done to him?
The second shock of the evening hit Kane. On his wrist he wore his father’s bracelet. Darius had given it to him when he was five. His uncle had told him how precious it had been to the father Kane had never known, and Kane had vowed to never take it off.
It had always been there, a thing, a part of him that he never noticed, in the same way his body took in air, constant, but unobserved. Now as the moonlight caught it, it shimmered cold and dull, just like the collar the woman, he couldn’t recall her name, wore around her neck.
He itched to take it off. But if he did, and he was one of
them
, his life as he knew it would be over.
Kane closed his eyes and drew on his inner strength. This couldn’t be rushed into; he had to be careful and calculated in his actions. He had to behave exactly as his uncle had taught him.
Damn it! None of it made sense. His uncle was training Kane to take full control of his growing empire and Darius would never, knowingly, pass it on to a shifter. The business world would never accept him, and the law made it impossible. Shifters were not allowed to own property, let alone a successful corporation, in this part of the world. They had their own country across the border in Shifters Prime.
Kane sank to the floor, sitting on his haunches while he formulated a plan.
What plan?
He either stayed here, living a lie. Or he jacked everything in and went across the border to Shifters Prime and a life as … a what? What exactly did this bracelet prevent him from becoming?
Standing, he walked quickly to the house. He had to corner her. The woman who had been here under the full moon might be able to help him. Or might very well be on the phone now to the press. This story would pay off her debt and set her and her family up for life. It was just what the paparazzi were looking for.
His walk became a run. Although as soon as he reached the drive, which was floodlit, he slowed to a walk to avoid drawing attention to himself. Because now, in Kane’s eyes, he was vulnerable— the slightest mistake and he would be outed.
Touching the bracelet, feeling its cold hard surface, he wondered if he was overreacting. Maybe it was just a trinket his father had picked up on his travels. It might be completely innocent, of nothing but sentimental value, and if he took it off, Kane would be completely the same. Completely normal.
Yet as he walked into the house, the moon reflected on the glass pane in the door and he knew that wasn’t true. He had felt the change in himself, the pull to rip his skin off and become something else,
something more
.
His uncle must know. Darius was the only person in this world he truly trusted, and he should be the person Kane spoke to first. Would that take away his choice? If Darius had been shielding Kane’s true identity, once he knew the secret was out, would he have to force Kane to leave?
What was he supposed to do?
All his life he had known what was expected of him, how he was supposed to behave. Darius had brought him up to be strong, and truthful, in all he did. Taught him to listen to others, and how to treat those under him with respect. Was he supposed to throw that all away? For the unknown.
He took a deep breath, straightening his clothes, smoothing his hair. Head held high, he assumed his normal persona, blocking out the pull of the moon, becoming his usual self. Becoming normal.
Why would he want to be anything else?
Shaken, she went to the kitchen, quickly returning to her chores. If you worked hard, then no one noticed you, and she wanted to be unnoticed.
Well, she had royally screwed that one up. She had brought herself to the attention of Kane Reinier, and no doubt her behaviour would be enough for her to be moved on. Her contract sold to someone else, and her life would be miserable.
Amara had been lucky to be brought here by Darius. She had no skills, no training to be a housemaid, and yet he had insisted. Now he would regret his actions and she would end up in one of the sweatshops in another part of the world. Her only skill, as a seamstress, would ensure that.
“Stupid. Stupid,” she breathed to herself as she took down a serving tray and began to gather up all the cutlery ready to lay the small table in the breakfast room. It was where Darius and Kane ate when it was just two of them for dinner. She wanted to get it done quickly so that she didn’t have to face him.
Then she would ask Misty to take over serving the dinner. Amara would cry off with a headache. Understandable since the moon was so full, so bright in the sky.
Concentrate
.
“Amara. Can you take this up to Mr. Reinier’s office?” the cook, Mrs. Bower, asked.
“Of course,” Amara said, going to pick the tray of drinks up. Darius liked a drink before dinner; he was old fashioned and formal about these things, so different to the younger Mr. Reinier, Kane. At the thought of him, her hands trembled and the glass clinked against the decanter.
“Don’t drop it,” Mrs. Bower said sharply. “If you do, you will most likely add another year onto your contract.”
“It’s not worth that much, is it?” Misty asked, coming in and looking critically at Amara. “Are you OK, honey? You look all done in.”
“I’m feeling a bit odd,” Amara said, knowing she couldn’t possibly face Kane and Darius tonight.
“I bet,” Misty said, coming over to her and looking at her more closely. “It will get easier. Why don’t you go and have a lie down?”
“What about Mrs. Bower? I supposed to take this up to Darius,” Amara said.
“She’ll understand; this is your first moon. Not being able to change makes you feel as if you are in a straitjacket. I know, I can still remember…”
Amara put her hand on Misty’s arm and said comfortingly, “You are so close to the end of your contract. One day soon you’ll be free.”
Misty smiled weakly. “What if I’ve forgotten how to shift? What if I’m stuck like this?”
“You won’t be,” Amara said, but knew how Misty felt. The thought had haunted her ever since her lioness had been tamed by the awful collar. After three years of denying her lioness, would she still be there, waiting for her?
“Go. I’ll take care of this. Go and have a hot bath, that always helps.” Misty took the tray, spoke briefly to Mrs Bower, and then went upstairs.
Amara paused for a moment, not sure what to do. The moon was calling her outside, but she knew to go and sit in the open air, with the light on her skin, would be torture. So she headed upstairs to her room, grabbed her bathrobe, and went to the bathroom she shared with Misty.
There she ran a hot bath, pouring in copious amounts of bath foam, letting the scent fill the air. Slipping into the water, she let her mind clear. Misty was right, this was the best place for her to be. The window was small, and the moon wasn’t in view. She could lie here and forget about the evening and just hope that, in a month’s time, the next full moon wouldn’t be so difficult.
However, as those thoughts faded, they were replaced by the face of Kane Reinier, his expression a mixture of fear and dread. She had brought something into his life he had been unprepared for. She knew he would be questioning why she had run, and why her touch had shocked him so much. And any intelligent person, and she knew for sure he wasn’t some dumb rich kid, would put the pieces together and come up with
shifter
.
Amara ducked under the water, wanting the water to wash away the sensations she had felt when she touched Kane. It couldn’t be true. She didn’t even know for sure he was a shifter.
Yes, you do
.
And even if he was, he had kept it carefully hidden, and why would he want to give up a life here for a new life in Shifters Prime?
A new life with her. With his mate
.
No. He wasn’t, it was something else—the electricity must have been just static. There was no way she was his mate. She had to put it out of her mind. With the collar on, the sensations were dimmed; if she didn’t touch him, didn’t go near him, this would go no further. He had no idea who she was, what she was to him. And that was how it would stay, she wouldn’t even tell Misty.
Getting out of the bath, she dried her body, ignoring the sense of arousal that infused her blood. She would conquer this, and work the two years of her contract, never going out to look at the moon again, never looking at Kane Reinier, and certainly never letting on he was her mate. That was the promise she made herself as she lifted her duvet and slid underneath.