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He would be merciful, this once,
and give them their uninterrupted evening.

Besides, it would make his
victory sweeter, crushing their joy.

CHAPTER EIGHT

Lana awoke shivering and covered
in a cold sweat. She’d fallen asleep only hours before, warm and joyfully
exhausted.

Each time Cole had made love to
her, he had taken her to new heights, done things to her body she had never
imagined possible.

It had been pure bliss.

The dream hadn’t been. It had
been terrifying, cold, twisted.

No, that wasn’t right, she
thought as she swiped the hair from her face. It hadn’t been a dream exactly.
It had been something between a dream and a vision, but still it was…different,
somehow. Forced. An invasive attack on her mind that left her weak and shaken
to the core.

The battle would be tomorrow. She
didn’t know how she knew that she knew that—but she was sure.

The evil shapeshifter must have
somehow planted the vision. Her mother’s visions had always happened when she
was asleep—but Lana knew this was different.

The evil shapesifter was the only
one she could think of who had that kind of power.

She turned her head into the
crook of Cole’s neck. Just the musky scent of him was enough to calm her
rattled nerves.

The Evil One.

As soon as she thought the name,
chills ran down her spine, goosebumps rose on her arms and she slivered as if
she’d been trapped inside a freezer for hours.

She shouldn’t know the name, but
somehow she did. Even as she had the thought, she knew it had another name,
though she didn’t know what it was.

Nausea rolled in her stomach and
had her crawling out of the bed and walking to the window. She didn’t want to
go back to sleep. The dreams would come if she did that, and if they came, the
cold wouldn’t be far behind.

She hugged herself as she stared
outside. Still dark, but the moon rose full and cast light on the ground.

As she watched, the light slowly
turned to shadow. Two blue circles appeared feet from the ground.

Eyes.

Without a second thought, she
turned and headed for the back door. It was wrong, she knew as she opened it,
to go outside without Cole, but she couldn’t help herself. Emotions swelled in
her chest, blinding her to the dangers that might lurk in the shadows.

As she got closer, she met the
eyes, continued to stare into them, even as the shadow turned into a face, a
torso, and then legs.

In a daze, she reached the edge
of woods, her head tilted to the side, staring at the figure as it slowly
changed to form a body.

Short black hair, a round face,
light blue eyes.

Her mother.

“What are you doing here?”

“I’m here because you have a
lesson to learn,” Laura Summers said.

Was she a ghost? A
hallucination?
Hot tears ran down her cheeks even as she asked herself
those questions. “There’s nothing I can learn from you. You’re dead!” Her
voice, even though she had thought she yelled, came out barely a note above a
whisper.

“But there is, Lana. You have the
power to destroy The Evil One. You’ve received one of your gifts. I’m here to
make sure you accept it. Use it.”

“I don’t understand. Why are you
doing this to me?”

“I’m not doing anything to you. I
only want to help you.”

“Then you shouldn’t have killed
yourself,” she spat out, furious.

“You know in your heart that I
didn’t kill myself. You know it, Lana. I taught you better than that, didn’t
I?” her mother asked, her voice sad.

Lana hung her head, shamed she’d
said it—when she’d never believed it. “I miss you, mama.”

The shadow moved closer. “I miss
you, too, baby.”

Lana took a slow, deep breath and
met her mother’s stare. “What do you need to teach me?”

Laura’s smile was wan, a little
ironic. “Now you know it’s not going to be that easy. I can’t tell you—but I
can help you.”

“How?”

“Do you remember what you wanted
to be as a child?”

Lana laughed, but it sounded
strained. “Yes. I wanted to be a doctor.”

“Before then, Lana,” she told
her, her voice urgent. “Remember.”

“You mean a tiger? I was five and
thought anything possible. I doubt that’s going to help.”

“You have the power, Lana. It’s
inside you.” Laura moved closer, reached out a hand toward Lana’s stomach. It
disappeared as it touched.

The touch wasn’t real, Lana knew,
but she felt the heat from it, the softness of her mother’s hand, just as she
felt the color drain from her cheeks. She couldn’t possibly mean…. “I’m
pregnant? But that’s impossible.”

“Is it?”

Lana began pacing. It wasn’t
possible. She used birth control. Had it failed? “No—yes. It just…It can’t be
true,” she said, half-pleading, half-laughing.

“You’re using your head, Lana.
Use your heart. What does it tell you?”

“That I must be insane if I’m
talking to the ghost of my mom and considering it the truth when she tells me
I’m pregnant.”

“That’s closer. Are you beginning
to believe it?”

She thought about it and placed a
hand over her stomach. “I—I honestly don’t know,” she sighed. They had been
together barely forty-eight hours and regardless how much longer that time
felt, it really was a short amount of time. Was she even ready for a child?

Her mother smiled. “It’s in your
heart, child. Your brain will catch up.” Laura sobered, all trace of the smile
forgotten.

When the figure started to fade,
Lana jumped forward, throwing her arms out, trying to catch the shadow. “Wait!
Don’t leave me.”

Laura’s voice lowered to a
murmur. “Listen. Allow yourself to hear the truth, feel it. Believe in it and
your gifts.” The figure grew fainter and fainter until it the shadow stood
where her mother’s figure had been.

“Mama.”

Lana stood, unmoving, as she
contemplated her mother’s visit, her warnings. She had psychic abilities edged
with some empathic ones, knew of and made love with a shapeshifter, had an evil
one after her, and yet, seeing a ghost was something she hadn’t quite imagined.

Especially the ghost of her
mother.

§§§

Cole rolled over, his arm
instinctively moving to rest on Lana, to pull her close. He frowned and opened
one eye. When had Lana turned into a pillow?

He sat up, looking around the
room. Lana was nowhere in sight.

“Where the hell did she go?” he
muttered as he slid out of bed.

A quick search of the house made
it clear she wasn’t in it. He walked back into the bedroom and rubbed a hand
over his jaw worry beginning to set in.

He passed the window and glanced
outside. A silhouette caught his eye, had him taking a step back.

Lana? He continued to look out
the window quizzically for a moment. Why the hell did she go out there?

He turned on his heels and ran
out of the bedroom and out the back door. He stopped abruptly as he reached
her. She was beyond pale, with an almost translucent look to her.

“Lana?” he said again as he
grabbed her arm. It felt frozen, even though the temperature outside couldn’t
be below sixty. When she didn’t respond, he brushed a hand over her hair.
“Darlin’, can you hear me?” Still nothing. “Lana!” he shouted, giving her a
small shake.

“Cole?” A single tear slid down
her cheek, causing more alarm.

“I’m here.” He continued to brush
his hand over her hair, her face and down her arm. “Are you okay? What are you
doing outside?”

“My mom was here.”

He rested his forehead against
hers and stared into her eyes. “Honey, your mom is gone.”

She shook her head vehemently.
“No, she was here—a ghost.”

“What are you talking about?”
Could the shifter have played a trick on her? He waited for her explanation and
checked for any obvious injuries. Had she come outside and hit her head?

“I had a bad dream and woke up. I
don’t know why I came outside, I knew I shouldn’t, but I did when I saw the shadow.
It was my mom, Cole. She said….”

He pulled her back. “What did she
say, Lana?”

She shook her head. “It wasn’t
right.”

God, she wasn’t making any sense.
“Come on, Lana. Let’s get you back inside. You’re freezing.”

She nodded and said nothing else
as he led her back inside, into the bedroom. He made her lie back on the bed,
got in next to her and held her close after he’d pulled the blankets over her.

“She wasn’t right. She couldn’t
have been,” Lana said sleepily.

Would she never stop shivering?
“Shh. It’s okay, go to sleep, love. We’ll talk about it tomorrow.”

“So afraid,” she mumbled, her
voice barely above a muffled whisper.

He bit back a vile curse. “I’m
here now, and I’ve got you.”

“Cole,” she breathed.

If that bastard did something
to hurt her
…. He tried reining his temper in.
She was alive
.
Obviously exhausted and cold, but otherwise she seemed to be fine.

Tomorrow he would find out what
exactly had gone on. He slipped his arm under her and brought her close to his
body, his other arm resting over her stomach.

It seemed to take forever, but
finally, she began to warm up.

He barely slept a wink. Lana
slept beside him, though it could hardly be considered rest. She tossed and
turned the entire night and he, already worried, had woken anytime he felt her
body move or whenever he heard a strange noise.

“Cole?” Lana said as she turned
over and met his stare.

Immediately he brushed a hand
over her hair. “I’m still here.”

“Was it all a dream?” she asked
as she stared up at him, her sleepy eyes tinged with sadness.

How did he answer that if he
wasn’t sure of the answer himself? “I don’t know, darlin’. You believed it to
be real last night. Has anything changed?”

She shook her head. “No.”

“Then you probably have your
answer, don’t you?” he said, his tone gentle. He felt her nod against his
chest.

“Yeah,” she sighed. “I suppose I
do.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

She looked up, met his gaze. “I
seriously doubt you’ll believe it. I don’t even believe it, not entirely.”

“Tell me, Lana. I’ve believed
everything you’ve told me so far, haven’t I?”

“Yes, but how can I expect you to
believe a ghost…. I’m not even sure I do” He raised his eyebrows, but said
nothing. She let out a frustrated sigh. “Oh, all right. She—she said I’m
pregnant.”

His hand froze mid-stroke.
“What?” he croaked.

She had a triumphant glint in her
eyes that he found annoying. “See. I told you so.”

“But…we only—she can’t be right.”

“You try telling that to a
ghost.”

He paled. “Pregnant?” Slowly, he
moved his hand over her hip, rested it apprehensively on her stomach.

She laughed at him. “That’s about
how I’m feeling,” she said as she covered his hand with hers. After a moment’s
silence, her smile fell. “I know it’s really fast and completely unexpected—but
I don’t even know if it’s true, so we shouldn’t worry yet.”

“Why would the ghost of your
mother lie to you?”

She sat up, pulled the covers up
under her arms, even though the room wasn’t cold. “Maybe it wasn’t her.”

“It could have been Martians,” he
teased.

“No. I’m thinking more along the
lines of The Evil One.”

Cole shook his head, dismissing
the idea. “I don’t see him playing a game like that. I’m not sure what types of
games I’d see him playing, but that seems…I don’t know. A bit extreme and doesn’t
seem like it’d help him.”

She bit her lip. “It could part
us,” she said quietly, looking down at her hands.

Part them?
“How could it
do that?” She didn’t respond. He put his hand under her chin, made her look at
him. “How could it separate us?”

“It depends on what you think of
the idea.”

“Are you worried I’m unhappy
about the idea?”

“I don’t know. Are you?”

He knew he had to pick his words
carefully. “I’m surprised, I admit, and caught off guard. But I wouldn’t say
unhappy.”

“You don’t have to lie, Cole. This
whole thing has moved faster than either of us is prepared for. We barely know
each other, have barely been ‘together’ for two days and now this.”

How did he explain it to her? Her
points were all valid—she knew that as well as he did. Things were moving fast
and her being pregnant did add a new level to things. He hadn’t really given
much thought to a family, at least not seriously, and now? “Lana, do you
remember what I told you last night?”

“About what?”

He took her hand, covered it with
both of his. “I told you I loved you. I meant it. If you’re pregnant, if you’re
not pregnant…” he shrugged, “it doesn’t change how I feel about you at all.”
And it didn’t. He hadn’t had much time to think about it, but enough to know he
liked the idea.

Wow. He was going to be a father.

“How can it not? You said it—this
wasn’t expected or in the plans. I don’t see how it can not change things.” The
cloud of uncertainty in her blue eyes bothered him.

“I’m sure. We’re in this
together, I promised you that. This just solidifies it and makes it damn near
impossible for you to try wriggling your way out of it.”

A spark of hope shimmered in her
eyes, though the doubt remained. “Are you sure?”

He shook his head, and a smile
spread across his lips. God, he loved her. How could she think for even one
second that her being pregnant could change that?

Well, he’d just have to prove her
wrong then, wouldn’t he?

He moved quickly, pulled her down
to the bed and rolled on top of her. As she glanced up at him, startled, he
lowered his head and brushed his lips over the smooth skin of her neck. “Do you
really need to be convinced?”