Forest Whispers (3 page)

He shuddered, groaned as his own release
thundered through him, slamming into her over and over until the
spasms of his climax began to dissipate. Finally, still wracked by
random shudders, he caught her thigh and pulled her with him as he
rolled onto his side, gasping for breath.

Lana lay limply beside him, basking in the
warm glow that suffused her entire body in the wake her of release,
struggling to catch her breath. Slowly, her heart returned to
normal, and her breathing, and the warmth began to disperse. A
shiver went through her with the loss of internal heat.

Dragging in a deep, shuddering breath, she
reached up and patted his cheek. “It was as good as I’d hoped,” she
said smiling faintly. “Thanks.” Untangling herself, she got up and
moved down to the small creek to clean herself.

Corin was sprawled beside the fire,
regarding her curiously when she returned. Ignoring him, she went
to her pack and withdrew a towel to dry herself off before she
retrieved her breeches and stepped into them once more. She
discovered once she’d dressed that Thantos had parked his oversized
carcass on her bedroll. Planting her hands on her hips, she gave
him a look. “Uh—that’s only big enough for one.”

His brows rose, but after a minute he moved
off of it.

“
You didn’t bring one?” she asked
disapprovingly.

He eyed her frowningly for several moments
and finally got up and disappeared into the brush. When he returned
several minutes later, he was carrying a bundle slung over one
shoulder. Yawning, Lana settled on her bedroll, pulled her cover
over her shoulders, and composed herself for sleep once more.
Within a few moments, she drifted into oblivion.

Light was just beginning to filter to the
forest floor when Lana woke. Generally, the moment she woke, she
got up, but a vague sense of well being made her reluctant to give
up the dregs of sleep entirely. She lay for several moments with
her eyes closed, allowing herself to come slowly to full awareness
of her surroundings.

She felt more relaxed than she’d felt in a
very long time—warm, surprisingly comfortable—someone was breathing
on her neck.

Fully awake now, Lana looked down at the
weight lying across her waist and saw that it was a massive arm.
She stared at it while memory of the night before flooded back,
wondering if she should’ve fucked Corin Thantos after all.

She hadn’t stopped to consider the attitude
these barbarians had toward women.

Shoving his arm off of her, she got to her
feet and went to her pack. Digging through it for the things she
needed, she headed down to the stream to perform her morning
ritual. On her way back to the campsite, she passed Corin heading
down to take care of his own needs.

She saw when she reached the campsite that
he’d stirred the smoldering remains of the fire from the night
before and set a small pot in the coals. Shrugging, she bundled her
bedding and stowed it. Digging a bar of food from her pack, she
looked around for her bearings and set out for the farm, munching
her protein bar as she walked.

When she’d finished, she shoved the wrapper
into her pack, and dug out her locator. It wasn’t picking up
Sadin’s signature, and she wondered if she’d gotten completely off
track or if the forest was interfering. She stopped, turning in a
circle as she did a 360 degree sweep.

Maybe she should’ve just stayed with the
trail instead of cutting through the woods?

The trees were massive, their trunks
anywhere from three feet in diameter to six. The density of their
fiber must be interfering with her equipment.

While she was considering the situation, an
Ata Prime warrior in full war paint and carrying their weapon of
choice, a trident, stepped from the trees only a few yards from
her. A jolt went through her as she caught sight of him. She hadn’t
realized until that moment how well his garb and skin coloring
allowed him to blend with the forest.

It was stunning to think a man nearly seven
feet tall and a good three feet across the shoulders could become
the next thing to invisible so easily.

It took her several moments to realize the
giant holding the wicked looking trident was Corin Thantos.

He looked pissed.

Maybe he wasn’t a morning person?

Uneasy, but unwilling to show it, Lana
focused on stowing her locator as he advanced on her.

“
Why did you leave?”

Lana looked up at him in surprise. “I’ve got
business here. The only reason I cut through the forest was so I
could reach the next farm early this morning.”

He studied her angrily for several moments
and finally lifted his head, as if he was listening to something.
Frowning, Lana lifted her head and listened, too. She couldn’t hear
anything, however.

“
He did not pass this way,” Corin said
finally.

“
I know. He probably took the trail,
but I’m trying to catch up to him,” Lana responded tartly and
turned, striding away. Without a word, Corin fell into step beside
her. After glancing at him with a mixture of curiosity and
irritation several times, Lana ignored him.

She knew the moment the farm came into view
that something was wrong. She didn’t have to be familiar with Ata
Prime to know it. Farmers were the same, whatever world they hailed
from. It was full light. The farm should have been buzzing with
activity. Instead, a deathly quiet lay over it.

Drawing her pistol, Lana stepped back into
the line of the trees and made her way as closely as she could to
the farm before she stopped once more and scanned the area
carefully.

There was nothing to indicate that the farm
had been abandoned, no sign of deterioration from lack of care. It
was possible, of course, that the owners had gone to market.

“
Do you know the people who live
here?” she asked Corin quietly when he crouched beside
her.

“
No.”

She turned to study him a moment. “Check the
outbuildings. I’ll take the main house.”

Corin’s lips tightened. “We will go together
and check.”

Letting out an irritated breath, Lana
conceded that there wasn’t much possibility that she could shake
Corin at this point, or induce him to follow orders either. Shaking
her head in irritation, she began to make her way carefully toward
the main structure, moving from cover to cover, stopping to survey
the area for any signs of movement before she moved on.

When she reached the building, she flattened
herself against the wall and inched forward until she could glance
through a window. The room appeared deserted and she could see no
signs of a fight. Corin, she discovered when she glanced around,
was right beside her.

A start of surprise went through her.
Irritation quickly followed it.

The man was a mountain of flesh. By rights,
he should move like a thundering herd of buffalo, not like her
shadow.

Dismissing it, she jerked her head in the
direction of the door. “I’ll take this door. You go around to the
other one,” she said on a breath of sound.

His eyes narrowed. He lifted his head, as if
listening, or perhaps considering whether he wanted to follow the
order or not and finally moved away. Ducking beneath the window,
Lana moved forward slowly until she was standing beside the door.
Catching hold of the handle, she tested it and found that it was
unlocked. After taking several deep breaths to calm the adrenaline
surging through her system, she grabbed the handle and burst
inside, immediately executing a dive and roll that brought her
behind a section of wall.

She glanced around. Here, there were signs
of a struggle—a basket on the floor, strewn vegetables, several
smears of blood. Sickness welled inside of her. Sadin had been here
and left.

After a moment, she moved away from the wall
and began a careful room by room search. She met up with Corin in
the kitchen area.

The woman was completely naked and pinned to
the floor, spread eagle, with a knife driven through the palm of
each hand into the floor.

Her entrails were wrapped around her neck.
It looked like he’d used her intestines to strangle her.

Lana coughed but managed to keep from
throwing up.

“
He has gone from this
place.”

Lana nodded a little jerkily. “You checked
the other buildings?”

“
No.”

She was on the point of demanding to know
how the hell he knew Sadin was gone if he hadn’t checked but
decided against it. She knew Sadin was gone because she knew
Sadin.

Shoving her pistol into her holster, she
moved toward the victim and squatted down, prying one of the knives
from the woman’s palm. The arm was cold and limp. Blood had pooled
along the bottom side of her arm.

“
Shit!” Lana ground out
furiously.

The woman had been here, dying by inches
while she fucked around at the other farm the day before. Tears of
rage filled her eyes. If she’d come straight here instead of
deciding to check on the other farm first …. “The son-of-a-bitch is
a day ahead of us … at least. He’ll be moving fast now that he’s
made a kill.”

After a moment, she rose and strode outside.
There was a well between the house and the barn. She went to it,
dropped her pack to the ground beside it, and pulled up a bucket of
water, scooping up handfuls and splashing it on her face before she
cupped several handfuls and drank. Drying her hands on her
breeches, she looked around.

Like her shadow, Corin had followed her. He
was studying her, his own expression impassive. She offered him the
bucket, glancing around while he drank. “Her man will be in the
fields.”

Corin set the bucket down. “He would be
tracking the killer.”

Lana shook her head. “Sadin doesn’t leave
witnesses.”

As she’d expected, they found the man in the
back section of one of his fields. He was lying on his back and
looked to have been dead for some time. Lana squatted beside the
body, examining it.

“
He followed the man to the field and
killed him first.”

Corin squatted down beside her. He was
frowning as he studied the man. “He has been here much longer.”

“
Exactly. As I said, he followed the
man and killed him so that he could take his time with the woman.
From the deterioration, the man has to have been dead three or four
days … of course, without an autopsy, it would be impossible to pin
it down precisely, but it looks like Sadin’s MO.”

“
This man was killed by a wild
beast.”

Lana shook her head. “He’s an animal, but
he’s no wild beast.”

Corin’s lips tightened. “The claw marks …
here and here. What weapon would he use?”

Lana rose. “What beast did those claws come
from?” she asked, pointing to Corin’s garments.

“
The manazir.”

She nodded. “My guess is, probably one of
those.”

He glanced from her to the body in
confusion. “He slew a manazir and used its claws for his
weapon?”

She shook her head. “Sadin Quyz is not
human. He’s a chameleon of the Diem star system. He assumes
whatever form he pleases. That’s one of the reasons it’s been so
hard to catch the son-of-a-bitch. Or did you think I was just that
damned incompetent?”

Chapter Three

His lips tightened. “You do not know what I
think. Do not make assumptions based on your own prejudice. I did
not become captain of the royal guard only for my abilities as
warrior.”

Lana was taken aback. Finally, she shrugged.
“Maybe you’re right. Maybe I’m too touchy about it, but Rex
Pimetrius certainly gave me the impression that women here are
nothing but chattel and considered of no worth.”

“
That is not true. Our women are of
great worth to us. That is why we protect and care for them. But
you are nothing like the women of Ata Prime. Beyond the fact that
you neither dress nor behave as the women here, I had not known
what to expect of a woman of Earth—but I learn quickly.”

Lana felt a faint flush rise in her cheeks.
Obviously, he wasn’t unaware of the fact that she’d dismissed the
Ata Prime male as big, brawny, and stupid, besides being control
freaks. “Touché.” Uncomfortable under his gaze, she surveyed the
field, wondering which direction Sadin would have taken from here.
“Someone needs to inform the authorities about what’s occurred
here. And since I can’t picture them paying me a lot of attention,
I’m thinking it should be you.”

Corin nodded. Lifting his head, he scanned
the area.

Curious, Lana followed his gaze. Above them,
a small speck circled overhead. As she watched, it dropped lower
and lower and finally settled on Corin’s outstretched arm. The
bird-like animal turned its head, staring Corin in the eyes for
several moments. Finally, it took flight once more, behaving for
all the world as if it had somewhere to go and something to
accomplish.

“
That was weird.”

Corin glanced at her. “It is done.”

“
What’s done?” Lana asked
blankly.

Corin nodded toward the speck in the sky.
“She will tell them.”

“
The bird?”

He glanced at her. “She is gehuwk.”

Lana was silent for several moments. When
Corin turned and stepped into the forest that edged the field, she
followed him. “The bird … the gehuwk, it’s telepathic? Or something
like that?”

Corin frowned. “I do not know this
word.”

“
Speaks with its mind.”

His frown deepened in thought. “It is
something like that.”

Lana’s brows rose. “I hadn’t realized the
people of Ata Prime were telepathic. It isn’t in the reports.”