Beauty and the Brute [Werescape III] (24 page)

She shook her head and met my gaze. “I don't understand."

Rarely did anyone when it came to elders and their dreams. I pulled the slim curve of her lower back closer. “Let's eat now and speak of dreams later."

She gulped audibly.

Dinner went well sitting around a dancing fire with only Dark Cloud after the gate was secured. Gray Jay quietly served from the wooden tray she carried while her mate studied us closely across the jigging flames.

The woman's long tunic's fringe soundlessly tapped the tops of her tall buckskin boots where they stopped right beneath her knees. Gray Jay smiled, genuinely, handing a large flat round of bread to Beauty.

Content with her duties. Had she prepared the mound of flatbread? Or collected the food in the wooden bowl beside the bread? Her pride in her work resonated in her smile. This village was an excellent place for women. Mates. Beauty.

"Thank you,” Lorelei said.

"You see, it was not but a month ago when my dream began.” The older warrior pointed a long twig at us. “Both of you rode toward the setting sun on a black beast."

Easy enough to claim given Trancer carried us into the village. I nodded respectfully nonetheless and took a soft round of bread. “So what of these dreams? You say Lorelei is in them?"

Dark Cloud bit his flatbread and chewed as if the steady motion helped him access the memories.

Getting a story out of a tribal elder always seemed to require the greatest patience. An entire winter here had made me one of them. A member of the clan who knew what to expect.

What to groan internally about.

He gracefully swallowed. “I saw the spaceships. They seemed to fly heavy as if loaded down with all those they've already taken. But still they remained in the sky. The extraterrestrials must have been waiting for one more.” His gaze settled upon Beauty. “For the one they named Lorelei."

Her heart set off on a bout of thrashing.

Probably trying to beat its way through her ribcage to affect an escape. Poor, Beauty. I'd learned the hard way many winters ago that one couldn't run from a tribal elder.

Dark Cloud's eyes flashed amber. “Do not fear a message from the subconscious. Dreams are gifts meant to help us if we are willing to listen."

The old warrior might speak with the cadence of a Native American but thought like a

Guardian.

"But my name means luring rock. Even if they did choose my name, why would the aliens name me luring rock? It's almost redundant. The Earth is a rock. I am not."

She'd do better to chew instead of speak. But I didn't need to note the point. She'd learn soon enough.

Dark Cloud's salt-and-pepper eyebrows pinched into a long line. “Perhaps you know more than you think.” He nodded slowly, twice, staring at the fire. “If we look a little closer, delve into the similarities, we will see that the Earth is a rock.” He gnashed on another bite of bread.

Leaving her brain to digest the truth. Once a Shifter trained in science and reasoning, always a Shifter. The man could just spit out what he knows.

She shifted the positioning of her bent legs, moving one to the top over the other, where she sat cross-legged at my side.

Fidgeting as if trying to hide the fact neither of us cared to ponder Dark Cloud's great mystery.

The elder swallowed and waved his stick slowly toward the darkening night sky. “But a rock from which all life springs. As are women.” His gaze settled on her. “Mates. Perhaps this redundancy is not a redundancy at all. Merely a stated fact."

As his analogy. “So you say Lorelei lures the aliens here to the rock of Earth?"

The man nodded once, almost indifferently, before chomping on another bite of bread.

Silently. Ever so quietly. A person could hear the pop of the fire. The almost inaudible breathing of a sleeping planet. Well, this bullshit was why I kept going the last time I

wintered here. Too damned much Gods-be-damned pontification. Why couldn't he just spell things out? I met his assessing stare. “What do you know?"

"It was all a dream, Warrior Who Wanders. Just like your life on the move had been. Surreal.

Questionably productive."

If I uttered one word, this could go on for hours. My punishment for interrupting...

Dark Cloud waved an upward turned palm as if lifting the fire's heat to the dark cold sky.

"But now we face the present and the future. And the time has come for us to stand strong.

To stand against the enemy. Because the enemy is coming."

The unyielding determination he wore for a mask wasn't about to generously toss me another morsel.

Sit up. Beg. Roll over like a good dog. Were-dog. Wandering never looked more welcoming.

But arguing the point would only make me look young and headstrong. My child needed me.

Looks like the future was unavoidable. A future with or without Dark Cloud.

"Tomorrow will bring more answers. Tonight, we rest. Sleep. Welcome the dream."

The hide tent flap fell into an immobile curtain hiding the whisper of Gray Jay's retreating footsteps.

Beauty shoved close to me. “What was all that rambling about his dream?” she whispered.

I pointed toward the central fire's circle of stones and guided her back with a palm to a hide spread for sitting beside the fire's golden light. “Say as little as possible,” I whispered. “Dark

Cloud will be listening to see if we take his advice.” I winked at her less-than-amused pinched brow.

Her hands anchored on her hips. “I am not some crazy person who forgot who named me."

"Sit.” I waved toward the hide at our feet. “I'll tell you what I think. Just speak softly.” Or we'd be in for another lecture when leaving our sleeping skins in the morning.

"Let's just go to bed,” she said with a groan and scanned the shadows around the circular base of the teepee. “Where do we sleep?"

Sleep was good. Or just a nice idea to let Wolf loose to play.

"I see that look on your face, Brutus."

Well, I couldn't help but grin. I led her to the pile of sleeping skins.

We began unlacing our boots.

She sat on the hides, yanking at the brown laces of one of her hiking boots. “I can't believe you didn't tell me I was pregnant."

And now I get a big scowl. “Would it have made a difference if you knew? You had enough to worry about without knowing you carried a baby. So, I didn't say anything."

The almost-indifferent look Beauty focused on me had to reflect she contemplated throwing a boot at me. Instead, she thrust her bare feet under a hide.

We couldn't mate with those pants on. “Pants,” I snapped.

"No. Not until I hear what I need to hear.” She wriggled down onto her side.

Curvy perfect side. Just where in the hell was Wolf? Maybe the Mating Fever was over now that his seed grew in her womb. But lying beside that tight little ass wasn't going to be any easier without Wolf breathing down my neck. I tossed my shirt onto my boots and shimmied down to pull that little bottom into my lap.

Not so good.

My cock hardened instantly.

"Brutus!” She rolled to face me with a straight-lipped scowl. “I need to know why Dark Cloud said those things. My God. I'm pregnant! What about our future? Brutus, the aliens are coming!"

Her heart began drumming.

A plea for someone to help her understand. I ran a palm across her velvety soft cheek and brushed the tip of my thumb over her silken lips. “I don't know. Elders are considered wise here. Not just the toughest bastard gets to call the shots. These people respect wisdom as well as strength. He told us what he could. All he knew. And dreams have a funny way of warning us. He just wanted us to know something could happen."

She snuggled into my chest.

Although I would have rather her soft skin touched mine. All I got was her bare palms.

"I had that feeling again today,” she said.

The confession about her need to rip off her shirt would have been nicer to hear. “The one that someone was watching us? Or following us?"

She nodded and tucked the rounded firmness of her forehead beneath my chin. “It has to be about his dream. Something's wrong, Brutus. Really wrong. I'm scared."

Nobody's taking my mate. I raked my fingers into the warm silk of her hair and locked her even warmer and softer curves against my chest with both of my arms. “Don't think about it another second. Just go to sleep. No one is taking my mate."

The wind kicked up, bending the tall grass into stinging whips at my knees. Where are my clothes? Brutus had shown me the Plains cacti. Why am I standing naked on the prairie?

A whirring sound hummed.

The aliens.

A chill gripped my bones.

I turned, scanning the blue sky.

The disk zipped toward where I stood on the top of a swelling mound of grass-covered Earth.

Slowing. Unlike my pounding heart. I had to run. Had to hide. I tried to move. Tried to take one bloody step.

My legs were frozen.

Nude. So damned trapped. Locked in place. Incapable of saving myself.

The sky darkened.

Went absolutely black except for the ray of white light shining down from where the saucer edged toward my immobile feet. Bare feet. Feet that felt like they were part of the helpless

Earth. Unable to run. Powerless in the way the universe ensnared a planet.

The spacecraft's brilliant beam of light moved across the darkness as if intent on finding me.

As if it knew my location. What I did. That I couldn't run.

God, to move a foot. To save myself. To escape. To find my mate, my Brutus. My sweet sweet

Brutus. How could I live without him?

Wolf woke with a start, focusing through my eyes with a growl chugging inside my chest.

Beauty jerked against my heart.

Against Wolf beneath my ribcage with both palms pressing into his throbbing presence. Like she tried to shove away from me. In a dream. Not the insects again. I slid a palm to the jutting ridge of her shoulder blade and pressed my lips against the firm rim of her ear.

"Lorelei."

Her body flinched. “Brutus,” she cried out weakly.

A fraction of a moment passed before her hands slid beneath my arms and clung to my back.

What bothered her? I kissed the warm velvet of her cheek. “The insects again?"

"No,” she gasped and whimpered. “The aliens. Outside. Beyond the trees. They were coming for me."

No. She will not have nightmares about the extraterrestrials coming to capture her. I curled my fingers into her hair and cradled the curve of her head. “Speak no more of them.” I

planted a kiss on her cheek, rubbing my flesh against her smooth skin. “No more bad dreams,

Kitten."

"But the premonitions.” Her lips brushed my cheek.

"No more.” I tilted her chin up to gaze into my eyes. “See Wolf in my eyes? He won't allow the aliens to take you."

She smacked her lips together thoughtfully. “I was nude, trapped in an ocean of whipping grass. Because of the cacti you warned me about. And the flying saucer was coming as if it knew where I stood."

Maybe the dream was merely a warning? Or her subconscious chomping for us to run. To fear the inevitable? “They can only know where we are once they find us. Any Shifter following your trail will dread the consequences of leading them to you and the Black Hills Shifters. Do not worry. We are safe here.” Or as safe as I could lead her to believe.

"I love you, Brutus.” Her hot breath burned the skin of my neck where Wolf's pulse throbbed for existence. “Love you.” Her arms tightened around me. “Please be right. I need you to be right."

I did too. “Sleep.” I tucked my nose into the warmth of her neck and sucked in a deep breath filled with the aroma of her salty metallic blood and Wolf's scent.

Mine, Wolf snarled.

She burrowed deeper into Wolf's possessive gurgle as if she associated security with his beastly antics.

Quiet, Wolf. But was she right? Did her dream equate to a premonition? Could I be wrong? Or did I just wish I were in control? Pretend to have some say in what unfolded around me? Fuck

Yale and the aliens. And discussing her dream with Dark Cloud might shed some light on her psyche's warning. I'd catch him tomorrow. Without Beauty. The clan head's thunder would only disturb her more. Better avoid the crash and burn of a thunderstorm.

Brutus had gone off to speak with Dark Cloud. Left me with the women. Lots of happy women. Who had taken me to Horseshoe Lake, a nice long stretch of blue water at the base of some Ponderosa-Pine-covered hills. Beautiful? Yes. But a niggling itch to run kept me wondering why Brutus thought it best I spend the afternoon with the Shifter encampment's mates. Smiling laughing women. Many had bulging bellies. All the children were back in the village though. Guarded by many mothers and older siblings as well as fathers. The two fathers who had brought us here were hidden up on the hill crests. Protecting us. So why did I

feel so worried?

"Come on, Lorelei,” Strawberry laughed, pulling my elbow toward the glimmering water. “We didn't come here to feed mosquitoes.” The redhead's ponytail dangled down to her waist.

Well, if they thought I was stripping for the two guards to watch my naked butt, they were wrong. “Look, I didn't bring anything to swim in."

Strawberry shot me a grin. “Nobody's watching. There's a code between the warriors. They don't spy when the women swim. Come on."

The golden blonde Rita snatched a foothold before Strawberry. Her straight-lipped scowl reflected the age her blonde hair hadn't revealed by turning gray. “Leave her alone. She'll get used to us. When she does, she can swim."

The younger woman sighed and released my arm. “Alright.” She shot me a weak smile. “If you change your mind, join us."

Rita watched the redhead's swinging knee-length deerskin tunic as Strawberry walked toward the lake then the older woman turned to lock her brown gaze on mine. “Sometimes they forget how it was when they arrived. How long it takes to feel like one belongs.” She slightly nodded. “Enjoy your first day with your feet on the ground."