Dark Guardian #4: Shadow of the Moon Read online

  A piercing cry echoed around us.

  Suddenly I was swamped with emotions dancing around me, through me, quickly darting in and leaving as though I provided a passage. Love, gratitude, relief. And I realized I was feeling what remained of all the souls the beast had harvested. With its death they were released from bondage.

  A thousand souls, trapped in oblivion, providing energy to a creature that didn’t deserve to exist.

  I felt love so strong, so purposeful—and for the first time in my life I knew who the emotions were directed to. Daniel. These were the souls of his family, reaching out one last time. I absorbed the feeling, hoping he sensed it. If not, I’d share it with him later.

  And then there was Justin. Not blaming me for realizing too late the trouble he was in. He was free now. His soul was at peace. At last.

  Abruptly…nothingness. The souls were all gone. The emotions with them.

  The harvester shrieked again, then dissolved into ash. The ash was captured on the wind and blown into oblivion. With his destruction the hounds disappeared.

  Utterly exhausted, I collapsed and crawled to Daniel, tenderly touching his wounds, which were beginning to heal. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Even though I can’t feel your emotions, I know you. I knew you’d shift. Then it would have you, too. I couldn’t bear the thought—”

  Purring low in his throat, he licked my cheek.

  I was aware of a shimmering in the air and glanced back to see that Seth had shifted. His wounds would heal, and whoever it was he loved—he’d return to her.

  Maybe it was because Connor loved a half human/ half Shifter, loved someone who didn’t shift into wolf form, that he knew what to do. He brought the quilt over and draped it over Daniel.

  In the blink of an eye I was staring at Daniel’s beloved face. I touched his cheek. “You should have waited to shift until you’d completely healed.”

  “I’ll shift back soon.”

  “Daniel.” My throat clogged; tears welled in my eyes. “How did you escape?”

  “Did you think a locked door was going to hold me? I shifted and used the strength I have in panther form to beat down the door.”

  “You risked death by shifting.” I couldn’t prevent harsh scolding from creeping into my voice.

  “I figured the harvester was occupied with you.”

  “But what if there had been more than one? What if—”

  He touched my lips. “It’s over, Hayden.”

  But I couldn’t let go of what he’d risked. “I love you.”

  He grinned, the smile that had first made my knees grow weak. “I know. Good thing, too.” He nuzzled my neck. “Because I can find you anywhere.”

  I was vaguely aware that we were now alone. The Dark Guardians had left, quietly retreated. And I realized that my feelings for Daniel were so strong that there had been no room for their emotions to slip inside me. Or maybe I was becoming better at blocking what I didn’t want to experience.

  Then pain rippled through me. My limbs, my entire body, went numb before the nerves burst with sharp tingles. I gasped.

  Daniel cradled my face between his large hands. “Hayden, do you accept me as your mate?”

  “With all my heart.”

  He drew me close. “Concentrate on me.”

  His lips touched mine, hungrily, as if for the first time. Then they settled into the familiar. My body began to feel strange; I felt little undulations, as though it were preparing.

  I focused on Daniel, on the feel of his arms around me, the taste of his kiss, the heat of his skin.

  His emotions didn’t slip inside me, but I still knew what he was feeling. He loved me. He didn’t want me to suffer. He would do anything—and everything—to protect me.

  I heard his purr of satisfaction, low in his throat. In animal form we’d make different sounds; we’d look different. But deep down we’d be the same.

  The pain escalated, then receded as he glided his hands over me and deepened the kiss. Passion ignited within me, drowning out everything else. Between one heartbeat and the next a thousand stars erupted within me, moonlight flowed over and through me.

  When I opened my eyes, I was staring at a panther, knowing that he was staring at a wolf.

  Hayden?

  I’d been so afraid that, because I couldn’t feel his emotions, I wouldn’t be able to hear his thoughts. But they were there, whispering to me.

  You’re beautiful in wolf form.

  I nuzzled his snout.

  Are you disappointed I’m not a wolf? he asked.

  Silly. Do you wish I was a panther?

  I love you just the way you are.

  The warmth swirled through me with his words, my heart beat harder. Even though I knew how he felt, there was satisfaction and joy in hearing the words.

  I could see what remained of the wounds in his side, the long scrapes, healing quickly. The wolf in me scented them, then licked gingerly. Blood scent.

  Now I’ll find you anywhere, too, I thought.

  The wounds healed, leaving no scars, no evidence that they’d ever been. It was our gift, our ability to heal.

  What now? he asked.

  I glanced at the vast white landscape spread out before us. I don’t think I can run as fast as you, I confessed.

  I can adjust my stride.

  I raced off, my paws kicking up snow. Daniel loped easily alongside me. No, I’d never outrun him, never escape him.

  But the truth was I no longer wanted to.

  TWENTY

  We raced through the forest until we reached the cavern where he’d brought me the night before. As I stepped inside, my eyes adjusted to the darkness. I could see with the vision of a wolf, could see through the darkness.

  What I saw surprised me.

  My backpack. I wondered when he’d brought it. Sometime in the afternoon, when I was with Kayla, Lindsey, and Brittany, maybe.

  I glanced back at him.

  You guessed right.

  You can read my thoughts even when they’re not directed at you? Why can’t I read yours?

  Because I’ve learned how to hold them back. I’ll teach you. So I’ll know only what you want me to know.

  Maybe that skill will help me hold the emotions back, too.

  I could hope.

  I prowled through the cavern to the area in the back where the pool was. My clothes were set on a boulder, waiting for me in human form.

  You can shift in here, Daniel thought. I’ll shift in there.

  Okay. To shift, do I just think human?

  Just think human.

  When he was no longer visible, I closed my eyes, concentrated, felt a ripple pass through me. I opened my eyes. I was back in human form. Quickly I slipped on my jeans, my sweater, and my boots. When I walked into the front of the cavern, Daniel was standing at the entrance to the cave, staring out. Large battery-operated flashlights lit the darkness.

  I took my time to study him leisurely: the broad slope of his shoulders, the length of his back. His hands were shoved into the back pockets of his jeans.

  I’d almost lost this, lost him because of my fears. But it was also my fear of losing him that had given me strength to fight off my own transformation and reach down to destroy the harvester. Before Daniel I might not have fought so hard. I wouldn’t have given up quietly, but neither did I have as much to lose.

  I crossed over to him, slid beneath his arm. There was comfort here, familiarity.

  “You’re right,” he said quietly. “I brought the harvester here.”

  “No, you didn’t.”

  He looked down at me, his eyes questioning, wanting to believe my words.

  “You’ve been here since the summer. If it had followed you, it would have shown up sooner,” I said.

  “I want to believe that.”

  “I do believe it. We don’t know everything about the harvester. It’s not as if it’s been on Oprah. We don’t know why it was dormant for centuries. We don’t know why it made