“Have you spoken with Henla or your mother about what happened?”
Kellum was braiding hemp into a rope. “It isn’t necessary. I don’t want to worry either of them.”
“She’s your mother. Perhaps a mother’s touch could help heal Taryn.”
“He’ll heal soon enough and be ready for battle when the wolves attack again.”
This was ridiculous. “Can’t you wear some kind of armor or protection?”
He looked up and pinched his brows. Finally she got his attention. “No. It doesn’t matter if as humans we’re dressed in full battle gear. When we shift we are lions and nothing more.” His tone came out curt as if she didn’t know anything at all about life on Anterra.
“Shouldn’t you be checking the alignment point today?”
He tossed down the rope and left without a word. She had no idea why he was being so surly. It sure made her decision to leave that much easier. It was clear they couldn’t wait to have her go. She would have checked on Taryn, but if he was awake, he’d probably just growl at her.
While she waited, she looked out the window, admiring the beautiful view. Despite the rustic nature of the planet, she was going to miss a lot of what it had to offer. Most of all she was going to miss Taryn and Kellum.
Kellum burst in half an hour later. “It is time. We have to hurry. The point will move shortly.”
Adrenaline blasted through her system. She wanted this to happen, yet at the same time, didn’t want it to. She had on her earth clothes, and the backpack sat next to the door. She’d dreamed about this announcement for a long time. Now that it was here, why was the dream of happily ever after whooshing out of her?
“I need to say good-bye to Taryn.”
“There isn’t time.”
She glanced down the hallway, thinking it would only take a minute. “Are you sure we can’t say good-bye?” His body stiffened. “Okay, okay, I’m coming.” Her heart broke in two.
The door remained open from when he’d come in. Kellum picked up her sack and motioned she get on the elevator. Lara hurried out and grabbed onto the pole. She looked straight ahead and kept her back to Kellum because she didn’t want him to see the tears in her eyes. He did hold her arm to help her off the platform, but during their ten-minute trip to the alignment point the conversation was merely polite.
When they arrived at the location, she understood that she wouldn’t
see
a doorway, just like she hadn’t noticed anything different on her way into this alternate reality. In a way, it made it scary to walk in any woods. He had said the probability of someone happening through like she did had been slim.
He pulled some petals from his waistband. “Chew some
diltha
. It will make your transition back into your world easier.”
She remembered the horrible headache and upset stomach. “Thank you.”
His gaze moved to the side. “I’ll have to shift in order to find the exact point. We should say good-bye now.”
She knew that if she told him how much he meant to her that she wouldn’t be able to stop crying. She nodded and stepped closer. Without thinking, she threw her arms around his neck and inhaled, trying to memorize the curves of his chest and the way he smelled. She buried her face against his body.
“I’ll never forget you or Taryn.” Despite her best efforts, tears brimmed on her lashes and her throat clogged with emotion.
Gently, he pried her off him and tilted up her chin. “Me, too, kitten, me, too.”
As if he didn’t want to prolong the good-bye, he stepped back. By now the flash of light didn’t bother her. When the lion appeared once the light disappeared, she wanted to reach down and hug him, but he was on a mission to find the exact spot of the crossing-over point.
She watched him move back and forth. About fifteen feet from where she stood, Kellum stopped and roared. Her body nearly didn’t move. She had to use all of her willpower to take the steps. He must have been standing right in front of the portal because when she took a few steps ahead of him and looked back, he was gone.
At that instant, she almost wanted to turn around and run back to him, to embrace his strength and kiss him until he pulled her to the ground and made love to her. Sobs burst out of her.
“What have I done?”
Like a hand clamping down on her head, spikes drove into the back of her head, but quickly lessened in intensity as if the
diltha
was combating the effect.
Just get up and leave.
She didn’t want Kellum to change his mind and come after her. It would have been easy for him to jump through the point and pull her back to his side. She took off her pack and grabbed the compass. She knew the direction of the fork in the path. This time the red arrow told her where to go. Her vision kept blurring, not from pain but from the tears that were streaming down her face. Her pace quickened. She wouldn’t be more than an hour from her destination.
When she came to the fork that broke into three paths, she dropped to her knees. Relief mixed with regret washed over her. Her stomach roiled, but her headache hadn’t debilitated her like the last time. Perhaps going from Anterra to earth was an easier transition.
Move
.
As she hurried down the path, she tried to come up with what story she’d tell Amy and Krista. Would they even believe the truth? If her friends thought she’d lost her mind, they might find a way to stop her from leaving.
Maybe she’d been asleep in the woods for that period of time. Hell, maybe time on Anterra wasn’t the same as on earth and she’d only been gone fifteen earth minutes. Wouldn’t that be nice?
The ski lift appeared, but no one was around. As she approached the lift she glanced at the majestic mountains, wondering how much had been real. Her heart had changed. That much she knew.
Without further debate, she hopped on the lift and said her mental farewell to two of the most remarkable men she’d ever met. She prayed that her future interactions with men wouldn’t be colored by her comparison to those magnificent creatures.
When she hopped off at the bottom, a man and a woman got on. They waved and Lara inhaled. The once-sweet air seemed clogged with exhaust. The High-Country Inn wasn’t a far walk. After being in Anterra, walking a half-mile seemed close.
She took off her pack and stuck her hand in the side pocket. Almost to her surprise, she extracted her keycard to get in her room. Krista had probably already left town, but would she have taken the car? Had the girls assumed she was dead?
She entered the lobby, and Amy happened to walk out of the back office but didn’t look up. Lara’s heart nearly burst.
“Amy!” She ran toward the front desk.
“Lara?” Amy screamed. “You’re alive. Oh, my God. We’ve had the cops looking for you. What happened? Are you all right?”
The burst of questions were too many to answer at once. “I’m fine. Can we talk in private?”
“Sure. Come into my office. I can’t believe that you’re okay. I can’t tell you how worried I’ve been.”
“Where’s Krista?”
“She had to fly home. Some client needed her, but she made me promise to call her the minute you arrived. Come. Come.” Amy ushered her inside and motioned she take a seat. “I still can’t believe it.”
“I can’t either.” There was no way she could break the news to her friend and not have her freak. She might as well test the waters. “I know you won’t believe this, but I stumbled upon what is called an alignment point and landed in an alternate reality.”
Amy shook her head. “Let me get this straight. You were on your way to the waterfall when you got dizzy and felt achy, like you were about to have your period or something.”
“The timing wasn’t right for that, so I figured maybe I’d eaten something bad.”
“Next thing you know, you see a flash of light, and two gorgeous hunks appear.”
“Yes.”
She leaned back and smiled. “Can you find this area again? Because, girlfriend, I am so there.”
Leave it to Amy to put a positive spin on it. “I probably could, but the alignment point shifts constantly, and unless you are a shape-shifter you can’t detect where it is. They never would explain to me how that worked.”
“And you’re sure you weren’t kept drugged for days on end in some cabin?”
“No. It was real. They even had US television stations.”
“Uh-huh.”
No matter many different ways she tried to explain it, Amy wasn’t buying it. “I don’t blame you for being skeptical. Hell, I didn’t believe in shape-shifters until they shifted on command.”
“Do you need a drink?”
“Water would be nice.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “I meant an alcoholic drink. I think your brain has been addled.”
“No.” She crossed her arms. “I thought of all the people in the world, you’d believe me. Weren’t you the one who mentioned the possible existence of shape-shifters?”
“Yes, but I believe in aliens, too. However, if a little gray man walked into this inn and asked for a room, I would pass out for sure.”
That was the Amy she knew. “I know, but all I can say is that it happened.”
Amy pulled out her cell. “I’m calling the police to let them know that you’ve returned. You got lost and some hermit let you stay there for a few days.”
She understood that telling the truth would turn her world upside down. “Tell them I ate a mushroom and hallucinated for days. I’ll say I fell ill and don’t remember much, and that I had a high fever. When it broke, I came home. If I need to check in with the police I will.”
“That’s good. We’ll keep it simple.”
Amy made her call and tried to explain the best she could. “Yes, I can have her stop over after she’s rested.”
“Is my room still open?”
“Absolutely.”
“I’m going to change. I’ve been living in this one outfit.” There was no need to give her all the details. She pushed back her chair.
Halfway to the door Amy spoke up. “How was the sex?”
Had she left that tidbit out? A large grin captured her face and she swiveled back around. “Amazing, incredible, awesome.”
“That good, huh? Why did you leave then?”
That was the one question she wanted to avoid. “Because I have a life here.” That seemed the simplest explanation.
“Did you fall in love with them?”
Even to her ears, her cackle seemed fake. “In a few days? No way.”
Amy pushed up from her seat and grinned. “I think you protest too much.”
“Okay, maybe I do love them a little, but life is too hard in Anterra. I’d have to wash my clothes by hand.” They did mention something about a washing machine, but she hadn’t taken them up on the offer. “I’d have to spend my life planting vegetables to feed the masses.” She had no idea what other kinds of jobs were available. Kellum had mentioned they had schools so maybe she could have found a teaching job. “The biggest issue was that they’re kind of like the police.” She told Amy about the raid.
“That could be a problem, but remember my sister is married to a cop and she seems happy.”
“Has your brother-in-law ever been shot?”
Or mauled by wild animals?
“Once, in the arm.”
“Didn’t that destroy your sister?”
“Hon, it made them closer. When they are together, they live life like tomorrow he could die. They are amazingly in love.”
That was a beautiful sentiment, but she wasn’t ready for that. “You do remember that I am an actress and that I have a job in Monaco?”
“Let me walk you to your room. I can see you are about to drop from exhaustion.” They headed to the elevator. When they stepped in she pressed the third-floor button.
“There was an elevator up to the tree house that didn’t have walls. You had to hold onto a pole or chance dying.”
“You said they were technologically advanced. Maybe they could attach a guardrail.”
She hadn’t thought of that. “It’s too late now.” When they got to her door, she hugged Amy. “Thanks for listening.”
“When you’re ready, we’ll continue talking.”
“I’m going to take a shower and then call Krista.”
“I’ll give her a heads-up. She’s going crazy.”
“Do my parents know?”
Thankfully, she shook her head. “I didn’t want to make that call until we found your body.”
That was a distasteful thought. “I appreciate that. So the only two traumatized were you and Krista?” She prayed Krista hadn’t contacted the movie company.
“We’re the only two who spilled tears.”
“If my cell phone hadn’t run out of power maybe I could have called.”
“From an alternate reality, chickie? You do need a nap.”
Once she was alone, she trudged over to the bed and dropped down. She thought she remembered it being softer. She stared at the ceiling trying to calm her racing thoughts, but she failed at pushing aside the grief of losing the men she loved.
Love?
They didn’t love her, or did they?
* * * *