Long Shadows: The Lycanthropy Files, Book 2 (32 page)

“Carrigan sent Saraya up as he promised,” Max continued, “and he said she removed the tracking and alert spell from my end, but I still can’t shake the sense that something is horribly wrong, and someone I love is in danger.” He stopped on the path and spun around, and I bumped into him. “And even though it’s not logical, particularly as I think I would remember if you and I had been intimate, I think it’s you.”

This time I did indulge the urge to run my fingers through his chest hair and press my body to his. We both had a little film of perspiration and salt water from walking in the sun, and it magnified the electricity between us. He pulled me to him and put his chin on top of my head.

“This feels so familiar, but why can I not remember?”

“Let’s go to the cove, and maybe you will,” I said, although I didn’t want to lose contact with him.

He put his arm around my waist, and we walked side by side into the isolated cove I remembered from my dreams.

Except they weren’t really dreams. They were a combination of reality and his fantasies. Perhaps I can make his fantasy come true, and he’ll remember me.

“You’ve been here before?” he asked. “How did you know where the trail went?”

“In a sense.” Two lounge chairs sat on a sandy stretch with a wicker box table between them. I took off the table top, found towels, and handed one to him. “Now look.”

I removed my robe-like cover-up slowly and was pleased to see he didn’t take his eyes off me. His pupils dilated, and I smiled at his body betraying his interest in spite of his tight self control. I put the towel down on the lounge chair and reclined.

“Now you go stand with your back to the surf.”

He did as I suggested and frowned. “Yes, this does look strangely familiar.”

I reminded myself not to clench my teeth. “Is anything coming back?”

“It seems you’ve seen me in my astral form.”

“Right, a seagull.”

He raised his eyebrows. “That is correct.”

I held out my hand. “Come sit with me.” I scooted over so he could perch on the recliner, and I smoothed the line of worry from between his brows with my thumb. “Maybe it will come back in bits and pieces. How strong are those memory spells?”

He sighed. “I still don’t know how it could have been done to me. Henry and Carrigan haven’t spoken since the incident on the beach five years ago.”

“The one where the werewolves attacked your engagement party?”

“Yes.” He took my hand and traced circles on my palm. “You know a lot about me.”

“And how much do you know about me?” I asked. His touch was making me want to throw him down in the surf and make love to him until he remembered.

“You’ve been marked by another wizard.” His thumb found the small scar where Peter’s tooth had broken my skin.

“It was what caused me to change the first time.”

“And that’s why you are unique—because you were the only one in your cohort that changed with magic, not science. There’s something odd about your family too.” He looked at my eyes. “You’re the descendant of the witch who cursed that one branch of the
Benandanti.
”

“Right.”

“These are all things I know about you from having studied your history, but why can I not remember you?”

“Let me help you try.” I sat up and touched my lips to his. Again the electricity sent shivers across my skin and to my most intimate parts. He ran his hands over my mostly naked body, pausing to caress my breasts and the cleft between my legs. I tore his shirt off and did the same. Other clothing—not that there was much of it—followed.

His hands and lips remembered what his mind didn’t, and soon we were engaged in that ancient dance to the rhythm of the waves and the cries of the gulls. We found our release together, and he collapsed on top of me, breathing hard.

I held my breath, waiting for the words I so desperately wanted to hear from him.

“Lonna,” he said.

“Yes?”

He sat back, and I had to admire the sun sparkling off the little flecks of sand that had been carried to him by the caress of the wind and clung to his lean, muscular frame.
Lucky sand.

“Greedy. Stop waxing poetic and pay attention,”
Wolf-Lonna snapped.

I bit my tongue to keep from exclaiming.
“You reappeared much sooner than the last time they drugged me.”

“That’s because you need me more this time.”
The plaintive tone in her voice almost made me miss Max’s statement.

“My heart tells me I truly love you, but my mind is confused because it doesn’t remember our history.”

“I can remember for the both of us.”

He shook his head. “This was also completely counter to my orders, but they don’t make sense, either.”

I snorted. “That’s the same as before.”

He untangled himself and handed my bikini, which had fallen off the side of the chair, to me. I shook it out before putting it on, but sand still scraped my skin.
 

“I need time to figure all this out,” he said once we were both dressed.

“I understand, but I don’t know how much time I have before Carrigan’s experiments take a nasty turn, and I know you don’t believe me, but he and Henry are working together. You know as well as I do I’m in danger, but I can’t get off this island without help.”

He ran his hand through his hair, which stood up with sweat. “You’re right. The only way on or off the island is by plane or boat, and both of those are in limited numbers and locked up. I’m sorry, but at this point, until I know everything and am sure you haven’t put some sort of love spell on me, I can’t help you.”

His refusal sent an electric jolt through my heart, and I needed to get away from him. “I’m going in the water. It’s safe, right?”

“It is now.” A sad expression crossed his face, and I knew he was thinking about the time it wasn’t. “The saltwater attenuates our wards, but they still work. At the very least, they deter sharks.”

“Good.” I decided to lighten the mood with humor. “We’ve set ourselves up for a horror movie scenario with our lovemaking, so I’m glad I don’t have to worry about Jaws. How far around the villa do the wards go?”

“About a hundred yards from the perimeter of the building and around this cove,” he said, and he put his head in his hands. “Why do I keep telling you these things?”

“Because your heart says to.”

I walked to the surf and let the warm waves caress my ankles.
“What do you think?”
I asked Wolf-Lonna.
 

“You are becoming stronger and able to beat the wizards’ potions and spells, but I do not know if you are tough enough to defeat them in battle.”

“Okay…” I said under my breath. The sand in my bikini was driving me crazy, so I walked further past the breakers, where the turquoise water caressed me with its undulations. I tried to swim out farther, but an electric jolt stopped me, and my foot and hand tingled.

“So there’s the spell.” A large shape moved in the water farther out, so I decided to be prudent and not test it at the moment. I swam back toward shore, found a place where I could stand, and rinsed my skin and bikini. My hair swirled in the water around me, and I wondered if I looked enough like Max’s fantasy to entice him into the water for another round of lovemaking. If it had brought Wolf-Lonna back to me, maybe it would bring me back to him.

I glanced at the beach, and Max frantically waved his arms at me. I turned around to see a large fin cutting through the water heading straight for me
inside the ward perimeter.

Chapter Twenty-Six

The adrenaline hit my system like an internal punch to my solar plexus, and I almost doubled over. I swam frantically toward the shore.

“Stop swimming! You are acting like prey.”
Wolf-Lonna’s voice cut through my panic.

“What?”

“Stop and stand your ground. He is merely curious as to what creature could disrupt the electricity in the water.”

“You’re freaking kidding me.”

The shark drew alongside me and didn’t seem to be interested in taking a bite. I stood and watched it circle me. Max thrashed into the water, but I held out my hand.

“Don’t come in! It doesn’t want to hurt me, but I don’t know how it will feel about you.”

Since I stood, I estimated the shark’s length at about six feet. It was a hammerhead.

“Greetings, fellow hunter,” I said.

“Greetings, huntress.”
The voice was deep and resonant in my brain.
“How is it that you disturb the stinging wall?”

“I’m just now discovering that I can. Would you like me to swim out with you so you can get back through?”

“No need, although I appreciate your courtesy. Most human types do not care if we perish. There is a weak spot near the end of the cove I can slip through because I am small.”

I smiled at the idea of a six-foot-long shark being “small,” but I kept my amusement to myself.

“Have a safe journey, then.”

“You as well, Huntress. If you need help from my kind, please call upon us, and we will come. Like you, we do not have a good history with the wizards, so we tend to avoid the area.”

“Why are you here, then?”

“To guard the island. We do not wish another battle in the war of wizards and werewolves. You are not the only shifter here, Huntress.”

With a swish of its tail, it left me to ponder its strange words. I walked back to the beach through the breakers and resisted the urge to turn around and see what else might watch me.

Max folded me into his arms. “Are you all right? I was afraid you’d be bitten.”

“No, the shark was quite nice, actually.” I didn’t tell him about the shark’s comment about the weak spot.

“How did it get in?”

“I don’t know. It said I disturbed the wall.”

“Salt water can amplify our power or attenuate it. Perhaps your unique makeup interacted with it in such a way that it did. No more swimming too far for you, then.”

“I won’t.”
For now.
I walked back to my chair, but I couldn’t get comfortable. The breeze changed direction, and dark clouds appeared from out of nowhere.

Max sighed. “We should get back. Carrigan is getting suspicious.”

I looked up, and the first of many cold raindrops landed with a splat on my forehead. “He can control the weather?”

“No, it’s common for storms to blow up over the island. He’s on the trail at the edge of the cove.”

I stood and put on my wrap before gathering my things. Carrigan frowned at us as we ran through the pelting raindrops, which the large tropical leaves sheltered us from somewhat, but not all the way. Goose bumps stood out on my tanned skin.

“There you are,” he said to Max and ignored me. “What is the meaning of this?”

“We were taking a break,” Max said, which wasn’t technically a lie. He walked next to Carrigan, and I trotted along behind like an obedient servant.
Or slave.

“She was to get a break this afternoon, not you. We have too much data to go through for you to be slacking off. We need to plan out tomorrow’s experiments based on today’s results, remember?”

We’d reached the end of the trail where it let out to the beach, and therefore the end of the sheltering trees. The rain came down in sheets, and I could only see a large, dark shape where the wizards’ mansion should be. We were all soaked.

“Further delays. Come back when you can safely see your way through,” Carrigan huffed, and he disappeared.

“Where’d he go? Oh, astral projection, right?”

Max nodded. “He doesn’t leave the mansion in any form if he can help it. He must’ve been really pissed to come looking for me.”

I shivered, and he put an arm around me. “Don’t wizards know to bring umbrellas to the beach? Is there some other way you can protect us from the water?”

“As an energy wizard, this is opposite to my talents, and it would take too much for me to zap all this water to steam.”

“I don’t know, that sounds entertaining to me.”

He laughed, and we ducked back inside the canopy of leaves. It still rained, but the foliage gathered the drops or broke them into mist, so the rain didn’t fall as relentlessly. He put his arms around me and pulled me to his chest.

“You know they say making love in the rain is the most romantic,” he told me and reached under my cover-up to play with the strings on my bikini bottom.

I would’ve started panting if Wolf-Lonna wasn’t already doing so in my head. “Aren’t you concerned Carrigan will pop in again? And what about needing time to think?”

 
“No, he’s probably back in the library with a big tumbler of bourbon to warm up his soul. It’s just you and me, and I have no doubt I want to do this.”

“In that case,” I tilted my head so our lips could meet, and he took possession of my mouth. Cold fingers raked across the back of my neck, and a full body shiver made me cry out, scraping Max’s tongue with my right canine tooth. He jumped back, holding a hand over his mouth. Blood streamed down his face.