Runner's Moon Trilogy Megabook Series (27 page)

"Cowven. C-o-w-v-e-n. First name Brian."

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"Okay, Thom. We'll look into it first thing tomorrow. In the meantime, this thing between you and that girl, it's not getting serious, is it? I mean, you don't normally pull this kind of shit, taking on a responsibility like that. Much less for a hooker."

"Yeah, you're right. Guess I got caught up in her hard luck story. Or maybe I'm just an old softie at heart."

He heard McCormick snort on the other end of the line.

"Trying to save the world, one lost soul at a time. Is that it, DeGrassi? Well, good luck. As soon as we take a peek into Mr.

Cowven's client files, I'll give you a ring."

"Thanks, Wade. Appreciate it."

Closing the phone, DeGrassi continued on his way to the police station. The Cowven guy was like a burr under his saddle, irritating the hell out of him. But what bothered him even more were the results from the lab and MacAvie's remarks about the evidence. Not even remotely human. Not the hair or the blood. But it had been Roni's brush. It was Roni's hair. How could it not be human?

Gritting his teeth, DeGrassi decided he would go over to her place later tonight and let her know what he had discovered. Give her the chance to explain. That is, if she had an explanation.

He just prayed to God it would be a good one.

377

DeGrassi leaned back in his chair and stretched, hoping to pull the kinks out of his back and shoulder muscles. After combing his hair with his fingers, he blinked several times to relieve the burning sensation in his eyes before glancing at his watch. Geez. It was after eleven p.m. Where had the time gone?

He had gotten to the station to find several of his past cases needing his immediate attention, one of which he had to shunt downtown for a hearing. That took the better part of the day. Then there was all the paperwork he had to finish filling out, including notifying Roni's probation officer that he would be handling her case personally and overseeing her getting a regular full-time job.

Twice he had tried to phone Roni to see how she was doing and to let her know the steps he had taken after he had dropped her off. But both times his call went straight to the answering machine. Either she had shut off the ringer on her phone, or she wasn't taking any calls.

Or she's screening them, you jerk.

DeGrassi uttered an obscenity as he rubbed his face and yawned. Why was it whenever things started to get interesting between them, it suddenly shifted directions and went downhill fast? It just didn't add up. Of course, having a hang-up about dating a prostitute might have a little bit to do with it. But didn't he have that right?

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The blood test would settle things once and for all. Once she got tested and everything came out squeaky clean, then he could set his mind at ease. She seemed peeved at him that he suggested such a thing, but he was sure she understood his reasons for asking. Still, she had asked him to trust her, and by placing that condition on her he'd proved he didn't. If the shoe had been on the other foot, wouldn't he have been mad about her lack of faith in him?

Which was why he had tried calling her. Once he heard her voice on the other end of the line, he knew he would apologize. He knew he would ask for her forgiveness, and then he would find some excuse to see her. Maybe take her out on a real, honest-to-goodness date. A movie. Or dinner.

Wasn't there some traveling Broadway production showing over at the city amphitheater this week?

Anything was all right with him. Anything that would put him back in her presence so he could stand downwind from her and soak up that tempting, light, syrupy smell of her into every pore in his skin.

Sweet Jesus, he had only been apart from her for barely twelve hours, and already he felt like he was having withdrawal symptoms! What was it about Tiron Tarakon that had him in such a tizzy?

Aside from being in love?

"Fuck this," he muttered, shutting off his monitor. Kicking back his chair, DeGrassi strode out of the police station and hopped into his car. The twenty-five-minute drive felt like less as he chewed on a thumbnail and tried to come up with an apology that didn't sound watered down.

379

The moon was on the waning side, but it still shone like a huge pearl drop overhead. The city was pulsating with new life as spring pushed bulbs and flowers into existence. But already the humidity was beginning to make the days and nights nearly unbearable. If the weather held true to form, it was going to be a bitch summer, but weren't they all?

Pulling into the driveway, DeGrassi was immediately aware that there were no lights on in the house. Just like there had been no lights on last night when he had been by. "Don't tell me she's gone walking in the woods again," he said to no one in particular. Well, there was one sure way to find out.

He got out of the car and walked around to the opposite side of the cottage. He tried the front door and found it locked. Grimacing, he left the porch and went up to the bedroom window.

Yep. Just as he had suspected, the window was open, but the sash had been pulled down to where it wouldn't be noticeable unless it was given a tug. Roni was somewhere out there in the woods, and there was no telling how long she had been gone, or how much longer she would remain out there.

DeGrassi glanced down the side of the house to where he knew his car was parked, out of sight from the front door or side window. He could wait for her, but that could be hours.

Common sense told him to go home and try again tomorrow.

Unfortunately, his heart refused to wait that long.

"Dammit, Roni, where are you?"

What if he got his flashlight out of the glove box and went looking for her? Surely not that many people were wandering around in the woods in the middle of the night.

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A chilling thought suddenly went through him. Were there any dangerous animals in the forest that she might encounter? It was difficult to remember. When was the last time a bear or a mountain lion had been spotted in Galileo Woods?

Four-legged creatures be damned. What about the two-legged variety?

"Roni, you must be out of your ever-loving mind to go roaming around in there after dark by yourself."

Stomping his feet, he strode back to the car and slid behind the wheel. After a second's hesitation, he rolled down the window. Okay. If she could go meandering around like Sheena of the Jungle, he could wait for her. Shit, it wasn't like he hadn't done something like this before whenever he had gone on stakeouts.

He grabbed a stick of gum from the dispenser he had tucked in the visor. Making himself comfortable, DeGrassi settled in for however long it would take. After all, once she got back, he had all of the rest of the night to apologize.

It was something he was beginning to really look forward to.

* * * *

Two hours went by. Every so often, DeGrassi would press the little stem on his watch so the numbers would light up. It was a little after two, and ever since one a.m. had come and gone he had felt antsy. The feeling only got worse as his imagination tried to conjure up horrific scenes of Roni lying injured—or worse—somewhere out there. And here he was, 381

sitting a short distance away, ignorant of her need for help.

Unable to hear her cries of pain.

The roiling in his gut continued to irk him. He tried to write it off as hunger pangs. The last decent meal he had eaten was the breakfast he had shared with Roni that morning.

But the truth was that he was scared, and getting more scared by the minute. He had come real close to calling for back-up and going in after her himself. That was until he reminded himself she had been going on these midnight walks for years now, long before he met her. She knew how to take care of herself. She was a big girl. Give her time, DeGrassi. She'll eventually find her way home.

The moon was on its downward slope in the west. The shadows cast in its luminescent glow gave rise to mystical creatures, lying dormant until an unsuspecting victim happened by. Then they would pounce and seize those victims, only to vanish back into the shadows, leaving no clue as to where the hapless person had gone. To DeGrassi's adjusted eyesight, even the little cottage appeared menacing.

Screw the overactive imagination. A cramp had started in his left leg, forcing him to beat on it and move it as best he could to stave off another Charlie horse. Working on his leg averted his attention from the front lawn for a brief second.

When he glanced back up, DeGrassi froze in his seat.

There was someone emerging from the forest, moving between the trees and heading toward the cottage. But there was something ... odd ... about the way it moved.

Using an old trick, he shunted his eyes from the person walking his way to the hood of the car, then back. Again. And 382

again. Readjusting his focus in order to see the person more clearly.

It emerged into a shaft of moonlight, and suddenly DeGrassi went stiff with shock. It wasn't completely human.

Then again, it didn't appear to be any kind of animal he knew of, either. But it looked human, and that's when he felt his nerves begin to quake at the sight of that ... thing ... making a beeline for the side of the house where Roni's window was.

Whatever it was, he knew he couldn't let it reach her house, much less find its way into the cottage where Roni could return and confront it. If he got out of the car, he was certain the thing would hear him and run off.

But if he could lean far enough out of the car window...

DeGrassi pulled his police-issued pistol from his shoulder holster and flipped off the safety. His eyes never left the dark shape slowly ambling toward the cottage without any sign of fear. A quick check at the moonlight assured him the car was still hidden in the shadows. The thing had no idea he was here, and that was exactly how he intended to keep it until he was ready to reveal himself. The element of surprise was on his side, and DeGrassi planned to use it to its fullest.

Slowly, carefully, he hoisted himself off the front seat and eased out of the window, keeping the gun aimed toward the thing. He managed to get his wide shoulders out without incident. Then his hips. Perching his butt on the doorframe, DeGrassi aimed for the lower extremities. If he was forced to fire, he wanted to wound the thing, not kill it. Wound it so it could be studied. Wound it in case it wasn't a creature, but an animal. Or a human being.

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Yeah, but what kind of human being walks like that?

It got closer. At any moment, DeGrassi knew, it would either have to turn the corner to jump the porch or head off toward the other side of the house, where the bedroom window was. Any moment now. He reached down into the car and turned on the headlights, straight onto the creature.

The overbright flood of light nearly blinded him. But it was blinding the creature as well. DeGrassi got a glimpse of green skin and long, wicked-looking talons. The thing gave a cry of fear or surprise, then turned and dashed back into the forest faster than DeGrassi could follow.

Automatically he raised his weapon and fired into the air, hoping to scare the creature and maybe force it to stop. But the being never slowed, plunging into the thicket of greenery so smoothly barely a leaf trembled in its wake.

The thing moved fast. Unbelievably fast. So fast he had been afraid to fire at it for fear of hitting a vital organ and killing it. As far as he knew, the thing wasn't hostile. It hadn't hissed at him or bared any teeth, although those talons looked razor-sharp. It could have been curious and wanted to inspect the cottage.

Tales of Bigfoot floated into his subconscious. Did he recollect any stories of Galileo Woods having its own version of a Bigfoot?

If he hadn't been sitting half-in, half-out of the car window, he would have gone after it. On second thought, he realized, as fast as that thing moved, there probably wouldn't have been a chance in hell he could have gotten close enough for another look or another shot.

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Cursing himself for mishandling the entire episode, DeGrassi slid back under the wheel and started the motor. He would need to come up with a different plan of action if he wanted to get another chance at finding out what that creature was. In the meantime, he needed to find Roni and protect her from running across that thing, in case it was dangerous.

How he planned to find her, he had no idea. Not right now, anyway. But maybe after giving himself a few minutes to think, and a strong cup of coffee to settle his stomach, he might come up with a solution. It was the best he could do at the moment.

Glancing back at the dark wall of trees behind the cottage, DeGrassi pulled out of the driveway. It was nearly three in the morning. Sooner or later, Roni would have to emerge from the woods. He hoped.

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She had reacted out of pure instinct. Terror like nothing she had ever felt before had sizzled through every nerve and muscle in her body when the bright, blinding light had hit her.

She hadn't noticed the car sitting there. Her mind had been elsewhere. She hadn't expected anything or anyone to be waiting for her when she had struggled wearily back to the cottage for a few hours of sleep before the next daybreak.

Frozen in place as her brain refused to function, somehow her Ruinos body had made the next decision for her. It had fled back into the safety of the trees.

The shot ringing out nearly stopped her heart. In that instant, she thought she could feel the impact of the bullet drilling into her back, tearing and chewing its way through her body. But it hadn't. Either he had missed, or he had deliberately aimed elsewhere.

She hit the first big tree she came to and scrambled frantically to the top to hide within its thick canopy of branches and leaves. Her heart was pounding faster than she could feel. She couldn't drag a full breath of air into her lungs because she was gasping between the tears.

It had been Thomas. She'd nearly fainted when she'd recognized him in that split second. Thomas had tried to kill her. Somehow he had found out about her true self, so he had come back to the house to wait for her. To kill her. But he had missed. And now she could hear the familiar rumble of 386

the car's engine as he backed out of the driveway and drove off.

He would be back. He wasn't the type to miss and then let things stand as they were. He wanted to kill her. He had waited so he could kill the abomination—that's what people would call her if they ever found out. If they ever knew about the race of green-skinned aliens living among them.

Or maybe....

Roni reached over and grabbed another limb to keep from falling. What if he hadn't known it was her? What if he had thought she was a monstrous creature, and he had fired at her to protect Roni?

Slowly, she shook her head. She couldn't think straight.

Her eyes still throbbed from the intense beams that had temporarily robbed her of her night vision and her sanity. One part of her was wailing in grief, consumed by the fear that the man she could not live without now wanted her dead.

Yet the other part of her kept fighting to be heard. It called for reason. For calm. It tried to wipe away the tears flowing down her face.

Her body quaked, ravaged by chills she couldn't stop. It was a natural reaction after the blood-freezing fear she had experienced. Roni continued to clutch the branches as she fought the shakes.

He had been waiting for her. For how long? She shook her head to try and clear it. After she had awakened, she'd found it was already dark. She was hungry, so she had eaten a quick salad and some grapes before heading out for her nightly run. She remembered thinking she needed to ask 387

Thomas what she was going to do for money, since she wasn't bringing in any income. Pretty soon she would need some more groceries. How was she going to pay for them?

Not only that, but the rent would be due next week.

A warm breeze pushed through the trees. The limb she was stretched out on swayed. Its rocking motion gentled her.

Made her feel safe. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine she was on her homeworld, frolicking in the furry treetops, chasing after her mother as they gathered food for their evening meal. She had been such an innocent back then. Those memories of her parents were precious to her.

She shuddered again, and a wide yawn followed. Dearest heavens, she was drained. If there was any way she could, Roni knew she would spend the rest of the night flying from tree to tree. Sleeping on and off as her body needed it. It was a delicious thought, but an impossible one. It was too risky to try and beat the daylight back to the house. There was too much of a chance she would either get caught in her true form and be locked in it or change into her human form and be seen out in the open running around nude. Either way, as much as she wished otherwise, Roni knew she had to return to the cottage before dawn. The new day wasn't that far away.

Spreading her skin flaps, she drifted downward like a parachutist gliding to earth. As soon as her feet touched the cool grass, she kept running. This time her eyes raked the surrounding forest and open field for any sign of an intruder or danger. The smell of the car's exhaust still hung rank and oily in the morning air.

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Rounding the side of the house, she threw open the window. The gentle scent of baby powder drifted down to her as she clutched the sill and pulled herself up. Thomas had been inside again. Probably looking for her. Probably worried about her. Despite the ache inside her, she couldn't help but smile, knowing his concern was so much like a Ruinos male's need to care for his mate.

Closing the window, she turned to head for the bathroom and a cooling shower when a scent like wood smoke rushed at her to cling like a thick blanket. At the same instant, Roni heard a click, and the glare of a small spotlight struck her dead center, trapping her as solidly as the headlights had done earlier.

She froze, wide-eyed.

His breathing became jerky, as if he was fighting some inner turmoil. Then his voice asked softly, angrily, "What the hell are you?"

She turned to judge the distance between the window and where she stood.

"Don't even think about it," DeGrassi growled. "I have my gun trained on you, and this time I won't fire over your head."

Closing her eyes, she turned back toward him and lowered her face. A minute passed. The flashlight never wavered.

Then, in a voice that almost sounded as though he was choking, DeGrassi whispered, "Roni?"

She looked up at him.

"Oh, Jesus, Roni ... is that really you?"

"It's me, Thomas."

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The flashlight moved. Rose. DeGrassi reached over toward the wall and flipped on the light switch. The two bedroom lamps filled the room with their soft glow. Roni deliberately kept low-wattage bulbs in every socket in the house. But there was enough light for him to see every detail of her true self with stark clarity.

She couldn't look into his face or into his eyes. She was too afraid of what she might see there. Instead she focused on his chest, where she noticed him lower the flashlight as well as the gun. Roni blinked. He lowered the gun.

"I kept telling myself I was wrong. So fucking wrong. But MacAvie had told me the hairs and the blood on the brush I took from here weren't human. When I drove away, I kept thinking about that. I thought ... when I first saw you, I thought you were some kind of monster out to get Roni. But then I remembered what MacAvie said, and..."

The silence between them lengthened. A little shudder went through her, enough to make her knees shake. "Thomas

... can I sit down?"

He gestured with his gun hand toward the foot of the bed.

Gratefully, she sat down on the coverlet and tucked one foot underneath her.

DeGrassi continued to stare at her, studying her. Mentally cataloging every difference and oddity about her. His quiet, intense scrutiny quickly became nerve-wracking as the minutes ticked away. Finally, he sat back down on the small chair she kept by the closet.

"What are you?" he demanded again.

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Roni sniffed. He was angry. The smell of it was pungent.

Yet he was also in pain. Emotional pain. The conflicting scents filled the room until she almost felt smothered.

"My people ... we're called Ruinos."

"You're aliens from another planet," he stated abruptly. His comment wasn't meant to be a question. Roni nodded slowly.

"How many of you are there?"

She took a deep, hiccupping breath. "Many, many years ago there were millions of us. Until the Arra found us. They ...

they began harvesting us. Selling us to other worlds as slave labor. Or as food."

Her eyes traveled up to his face to find his eyes boring into her. "I'm listening," he said to urge her on.

"For years they took us away, until in the end there were just a few hundred left. There were maybe two hundred of us on the ship heading for Iili Pil' Sokk when our males revolted.

We ran for the escape pods." She crossed her arms and clutched them with her hands. "There were thirty-one of us on that tiny ship. Somehow we managed to leave the main ship. We searched ... we searched for nearly two years for a planet where we could live. That's all we wanted. A place that was relatively safe where we could live the rest of our years without fear of being tortured."

She gave him a helpless look. "That's what I meant when I told you we landed five years ago. Once we got here, we couldn't leave. The ship was out of fuel. There was no more food. So many of us were sick. For all we knew, we were the last of our kind."

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DeGrassi gestured toward her with the gun. "How are you able to look different? How do you manage to disguise yourself?"

"We're shape-shifters. We can assume the identities of other species. Most of the time. Although there have been planets where we just couldn't adapt our bodies enough to fit in."

She watched as his expression changed and his face hardened.

"Change. Change into Roni."

It was as easy as slipping on a blouse. A paleness crept under his skin as he watched the transformation. Slowly his eyes slid down her nude body, finally snapping back up to her face. Suddenly, to her surprise, he placed the gun and flashlight in his lap and rubbed his face with both hands.

"Okay. That's freaky. That's just plain, flat-out mind-blowing. Okay, so explain to me about the night thing. Why do you go out into the woods? Does it have something to do with what you are?"

"Yes. On my world we are what you would call farmers. We work the ground to grow plants. We live in forests, surrounded by vegetation and trees, some of which are bigger than what you have growing here. But they look so much like those of my homeworld. And being near it, or in it, is ... is..."

"As close to feeling like you're on your homeworld as you can be," he finished for her. Roni managed a tiny smile. "Dear God, what am I going to do?"

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"I ... I'll leave," she told him. "Come morning, I'll leave. I'll go to another city and find another place to live. You won't have to worry about me—"

"That's not what I meant," he almost snapped at her. "I meant, what am I going to do about the way I feel about you? Shit, it was hard enough trying to talk myself into accepting you as a hooker ... but as an alien? How in the hell am I going to be able to live with the fact that I'm in love with a goddamn alien?"

Her breath caught in her throat. Roni felt the blood drain from her face as she stared at him after hearing his confession. DeGrassi saw her look of surprise.

"Yeah. Ain't that a kick in the pants? Go on and laugh at me. I deserve it."

"I can't ... I mean..." Her lungs wouldn't draw air. She began to feel light-headed from lack of oxygen. "Thomas?

There's so much I need to tell you."

"Like what? Get a life?" He jumped to his feet, startling her. "Christ, it's late. What the hell am I doing here trying to protect a freaking alien? Thom, old man, you've really done yourself proud this time. Just when you think you've found the right woman after all these years..." He stomped out of the bedroom as he slipped his gun into the holster, and he headed for the front door.

Giving a little cry, Roni ran after him. "Please! Thomas!

No! Don't go..." She tried to call out for him, but her breath suddenly left her, making her gasp for air. Her knees went weak, forcing her to stop halfway across the room.

"Why not?" he challenged as he reached for the doorknob.

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It took everything in her to draw enough air to answer him. "Because you're my life partner. My bond mate. Only ...

only you can't be. But you are." The tears appeared out of nowhere and were starting to run down her cheeks again.

Cursing, she tried to wipe them away as he stood there watching her. It was no use. She couldn't prevent them from falling, and neither could she stop her last attempt to keep him with her. Because she knew that if he walked out of that door, it would be the last time she would ever see him. That shredding noise echoing in her ears was the sound of her soul being torn apart.

"What are you talking about?" His words were clipped and cold, but Roni thought she could detect the faint scent of bananas hovering overhead.

"It's difficult to explain. But give me a chance. Please."

DeGrassi remained at the door, staring at her. His eyes kept brushing over her naked body, taking in the sight of her pale skin and breasts. He was especially attracted to the juncture between her thighs. The bulge in the front of his jeans increased with every passing second, until she thought he was going to bust the zipper.

"Shit." Releasing the doorknob, he walked over to the lamp beside the couch and turned it on, then plopped down on the cushions. "Take all the time you need. I'm not going anywhere until I get all my questions answered, beginning with this bond mate thing."

"Okay." She opened her mouth to begin when he interrupted her with a wave of his hand.

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"Before we get started, I suggest you put something on.

Because frankly, the sight of you like that is a major distraction."

"Would you mind if I went back to my true self?"

"True self?" His eyes narrowed. "Is that what you call it?

Ruin—"

"Ruinos. Yes."

"Why? Do you need to change back?"

"When it's daylight, the sun locks our bodies into whatever shape we've assumed. If we are our true selves and don't change, that's what we are forced to remain as until sunset.

But after sunset, we can revert back."

"But you just changed for me," he observed.

Roni nodded. "We can change at will after dark. But sometime during the night, we must go back to our true form, whether we want to or not. Our bodies must revert."

DeGrassi lifted a hand to his chin. "Is that why you didn't want to spend the night in jail? Because you were afraid of what might happen when you changed back?"