Second Nature (54 page)

And completely naked, genius!
Griffin noticed. "Sorry," she said and quickly moved back, fishing for her clothes with one hand. The scent of Jorie's fear was still permeating the room, and the last thing Griffin wanted was to make her feel even more uncomfortable.

"I'm still waiting for an explanation," Leigh said. "First you're busting my ass for hurting Jorie, and now I find you like this?"

Oh, now she's suddenly appointing herself Jorie's protector?
Irritation prickled along Griffin's skin. She hadn't tried to harm Jorie in any way. If she hadn't been sure of that, she wouldn't have suggested she sleep in her cat form.

Rhonda appeared behind Leigh in the doorway, wearing a shirt that was two sizes too large and smelled of Leigh. "What's going on?" she asked.

"I think Jorie screamed," Griffin said.

"Of course I did! There was a giant liger staring at me from only inches away when I woke up!" Jorie blew out an exasperated breath. She was still trembling but trying not to show it.

That wasn't what Griffin meant. "No. You were screaming before that happened. I think you were still asleep."

"Oh." Jorie's trembling fingers rubbed tired eyes. "I think I... I had a nightmare. A predator was hunting me. His eyes were flashing, and he was quickly catching up." She shuddered. "I think I woke myself up with my screaming, and when I saw you in your liger form looming over me..." She groaned and tried to straighten sleep-tangled strands of hair. "I'm sorry for waking you guys up."

"Don't worry about it," Rhonda said with an understanding smile. "After all that happened to you in the last few days, I would be worried if you didn't have nightmares."

Griffin had to admit that she was right. Jorie had been through a lot. Within only two days, her whole life had been turned upside down. Now Griffin was adding to her stress just by staying in the same room. "Do you have a blanket I could use?" she asked Rhonda. "I think it would be better if I slept on the couch."

"It was just a nightmare, Griffin," Jorie said. "You're not to blame for that."

"And no offense, Ronnie," Leigh said and wrapped her arms around Rhonda, pulling her against her body and smelling her neck before she remembered that there were other people in the room, "but your couch isn't exactly very comfortable to sleep on."

Rhonda's smile was meant for only Leigh. "So you like sleeping in my bed better?"

Oh, Great Hunter.
Griffin looked away and met Jorie's amused gaze.
I hope they get past this blissfully infatuated phase soon.

"Yeah," Jorie said. "And if you want to protect me, I need you in top condition, not sleep-deprived and tortured by a lumpy couch."

The weight of Griffin's guilt lifted off her shoulders. She blew out a breath. It was a relief that Jorie wasn't scared of her and even trusted her to protect her. "Okay. If you're sure about this, let's try the catnap thing again."

"Is that okay with you?" Rhonda asked, hesitating to leave the room.

Jorie nodded. "Of course. I'm fine."

Rhonda and Leigh left the room, still practically wrapped around each other.

"I need a bite to eat," Griffin said. "Turn out the light, and go to sleep. I'll be back in a minute."

The room was dark and silent when Griffin returned. Moonlight trickled in through the window, so Griffin could see that Jorie wasn't asleep yet. The bedcovers rustled as she settled back down.

"You're not shifting," Jorie said after a while.

She's too observant for her own good. Very soon, she'll know all of the Wrasa's secrets.
After trying all her life to keep their existence hidden, the thought scared her, but at the same time, she no longer believed that Jorie would use her knowledge to hurt them. "No, I'm not," she confirmed.

"It wasn't your fault," Jorie said. "You weren't trying to attack me, were you?"

"No, of course not." Even her cat form seemed to think of Jorie as someone to protect, not a delicious snack or a toy to play with. "I think I was trying to wake you up, but without hands or human vocal cords, it was a little difficult," Griffin said with only a slight smile. She still felt bad about startling Jorie, and she suspected she wasn't entirely without blame for Jorie's nightmare either.

"So why aren't you shifting? The floor can't be comfortable in your human form," Jorie said.

It wasn't, but it was better than scaring Jorie to death a second time. "Your nightmare... what was it about?" she asked.

"Not about you if that's what you're asking. I was chased by something else. Not a lion or a tiger. I think it was a wolf," Jorie said. Fear flickered in her eyes; then she shook her head, and when she looked at Griffin again, her gaze was calmer. "It was just a dream. Not real." It sounded as if she needed to convince herself of it as much as she wanted to convince Griffin.

"One wolf? Just one?" Griffin asked, lifting a skeptical eyebrow.

Jorie nodded. "Just one, but he was really fierce. He jumped at me, aiming for my throat. When I threw up my arm to protect myself, his sharp teeth bit into my forearm. I could hear the bones break." Her fingers rubbed over her arm as if she could still feel it.

"It was just a dream," Griffin said soothingly. "In reality, wolves — or Syak — never hunt alone, and they don't attack humans unless they feel severely threatened."

She saw Jorie nod in the almost darkness of the guest room.

Silence settled over them. The scent of fear dissipated. The calm ebb and flow of Jorie's breathing soothed Griffin, and she finally felt calm enough to shift. She slipped out of her pants and opened the top button of her shirt while she focused on the image of her cat form, the mental picture that always started voluntary shifting. She stopped when she saw Jorie shudder again.

"His eyes," Jorie whispered into the darkness, "they were so cold... like blue ice."

The image of her liger form faded as a warning tingle shot down Griffin's spine. She sat up. "Blue?" she asked. It probably didn't mean anything, and she told herself it was just an unimportant detail from a dream. Her instincts didn't listen, though. They were still screaming at her.

"Like that of a husky," Jorie said. Fear drifted up from her every pore as she was once again firmly ensnared in her nightmare. "At first I thought I had been dreaming in black-and-white because the wolf's coat was white, but I clearly remember his eyes. They were blue."

White fur and blue eyes.
Only a handful of all the Syak in America had that combination. Was it just a coincidence that one of them was Griffin's superior and one of the fiercest advocates of keeping their existence hidden no matter what it might cost? "Was there anyone else in the dream?" she asked.

"Um, yes. There was another Wrasa. A cat-shifter." Jorie nervously nibbled on her lip. "I think it was you."

"What was I doing?" Griffin asked. Her breath caught in her throat. Had she attacked Jorie? Had she helped the wolf to hunt her down?

"Nothing," Jorie whispered.

Griffin frowned at Jorie's refusal to tell her. Did it mean that she had hurt Jorie? "Tell me," she urged.

"No, really, you weren't doing anything," Jorie said again. "You weren't attacking me if that's what you think."

"But I also wasn't helping you?" Griffin asked. The thought alone made her feel guilty.
It's just a dream,
she told herself. She couldn't imagine just standing around, watching, while a Syak attacked Jorie.

Jorie hesitated. "I'm not sure. At first, you did nothing. You just waited and let the wolf chase me. Then you started to run too, but before I could see what you were doing, I woke up."

It sounded like the typical nightmare, just a dream that didn't make sense, but something niggled in the back of Griffin's mind. She needed to be sure. "Did you have that dream before?" she asked.

In the silence of the guest room, Griffin heard Jorie suck in a lungful of air.

Jorie leaned over and turned on the lamp on the bedside table, blinking at Griffin for a few moments. Her dark eyes were cautious, searching for something in Griffin's face.

"Have you?" Griffin asked again.

"I'm not sure," Jorie finally answered. "Maybe not exactly the same, but..."

"Trust me," Griffin said when Jorie hesitated. "Tell me."

"I..." Jorie stopped and rubbed one of her eyebrows, like a cat smoothing down its ruffled fur.

She's embarrassed,
Griffin realized.
Dreams are a private thing for both Wrasa and humans, but humans seem to think dreams are silly and feel childish when they take them seriously.
She said nothing, just gave Jorie an encouraging nod and waited patiently for her to continue.

"I often dream about things like that," Jorie said, her voice low, barely above a whisper. She slowly raised her gaze, looking at Griffin from behind half-lowered lashes as if guarding herself against Griffin's reaction.

This was important. Griffin could feel it. Her body vibrated with excited tension. She raised herself up on her knees to be able to see Jorie's face. "Things like that? What exactly?"

A few heartbeats went by without Jorie saying anything. Griffin heard her take a deep breath. "The shape-shifters in my novel," Jorie said slowly. "I based them on the creatures from my dreams."

*  *  *

Jorie waited with bated breath. After giving up the most important piece of information, she could only hope and trust Griffin not to betray her now that she knew.

She flinched back, startled, when Griffin shot to her feet. "What?" Griffin was almost shouting.

Embarrassment warmed Jorie's cheeks. "I know it sounds stupid."

"No," Griffin whispered with a tremor in her voice, "it doesn't sound stupid at all. How long? When did you first start to dream about them?"

"I don't know. My whole life, I guess. I dreamed about these creatures for as long as I can remember. When I was a child, I dreamed about them every night," Jorie said. They hadn't all been nightmares. In fact, most of them had been nice, relaxing dreams. The nightmares had started only in the last year, and Jorie had thought maybe writing some of the terrifying images in her head down, using them in her novel, would help.

And look at how well it worked. Now the scary creatures are part of your waking life too.

Griffin paced the length of the guest room with the barely leashed tension of a caged tiger, making Jorie's nervousness rise. Finally, Griffin stopped and reached out a hand, palm up. "Come with me," she said urgently.

"What? But it's the middle of the night. Where are we going?" Jorie asked even as she laid her hand into Griffin's and let herself be pulled out of bed.

"To my fathers' house," Griffin said. She was already moving to the door, effortlessly tugging Jorie with her. "I need to make a call, and I need you to come with me."

"Now? Can't this wait until tomorrow morning?" It was the middle of the night. Despite the adrenaline that was pulsing through her, Jorie was exhausted and wanted nothing more than to go back to sleep and forget about the confusing situation for a while. She tried to slow Griffin down by hanging back and pulling on Griffin's arm, but it had the same effect as a mouse trying to slow down a dinosaur.

"At least let's get dressed first," Jorie said, pointing at her pajamas and at Griffin's still bare legs.

"Wrasa don't embarrass easily," Griffin said but stopped and let go of Jorie's hand.

"But maybe humans do." Jorie made a swiveling motion with her finger. "Turn around." When Griffin did, Jorie turned her back too and slipped out of the pajamas and into her clothes, which she had put on the bedside table earlier.

Dressing quickly was a learned skill for shape-shifters. When Jorie turned back around, Griffin had put on her cargo pants and was already waiting next to the door.

Jorie gently touched the small of Griffin's back to let her know she could turn back around. "I'm ready." Maybe it was naïve to put her trust in Griffin again, to let Griffin drag her through a town full of shape-shifters in the middle of the night, but Jorie's instincts told her that this was the right thing to do.

In the hallway, Griffin slowed her urgent strides.

"Uff!" Jorie, who had to hurry to keep up with her, collided with the solid body.

One of Griffin's arms wrapped around her, steadying her. "I think I should tell Leigh and Rhonda that we're leaving."

"We're not coming back?" A ball of tension formed in Jorie's stomach, and she swallowed against a suddenly dry mouth. Rhonda's house had started out as a prison, but by now it was more of a sanctuary. Leaving when she didn't know what was going on in the rest of the world seemed dangerous.

"I'm not sure, but just in case, I think it's better to say good-bye. I don't want them to worry," Griffin said.

That's a definite change.
Jorie knew that just a few days ago, Griffin would have walked out the door without a word and without thinking twice about it.
Hell, a few days ago, I doubt that she would have stayed with her sister and with Rhonda in the first place.
"Won't they mind if we wake them up?" she asked. "Maybe we should write a note."

"No. Cat-shifters are light sleepers, and they fall back asleep easily. And besides, they've kept me awake for hours, so I earned the right to wake them up just this once," Griffin said with a grin that didn't quite reach her eyes. The tension that she felt vibrate through the big body made Jorie even more nervous.

"Leigh?" Griffin knocked on Rhonda's bedroom door. "Leigh!"

After just a few seconds, Leigh's disheveled head appeared in the doorway. Her eyes were glowing in the dark, adding to the surreal feeling that Jorie experienced. "What's going on?" Leigh asked, looking from Griffin to Jorie and back.

"We need to leave to make an important call. We're going over to the dads, and I don't know when or if we'll be back," Griffin said in a rush.

"What phone call? Where are you going?" Leigh asked the same questions racing through Jorie's mind.

Griffin shook her head. "I don't have the time to explain right now. I don't even know if I know enough to explain it yet. Tell Rhonda thanks for letting us stay here."