Melody Snow Monroe (12 page)

When she was naked, he lifted her up and as gently as possible placed her in the large pool.

“Oh, that feels so good.”

“I can add more hot water if you wish.”

“I’m fine.” She rested her head against the rim and closed her eyes.

He located a bottle of soap under the sink and brought it over. “I need to wash you. Your cuts need some tending.”

Her eyes opened. “I can do it.” She held out her hand.

He wasn’t sure if she didn’t want him to touch her or if she was merely trying not to be a burden. “I’d like to.”

She shrugged. “Okay.”

As he washed her arms, her body seemed to relax. “Why didn’t you tell me good-bye?”

The pain still gnawed at him. He thought she was enjoying herself. They’d had a connection, and he truly believed she was happy in Anterra.

“I couldn’t say good-bye. It would have been too painful.”

He leaned over the tub and kissed her battered cheek. “I know, but I’ve been miserable thinking I might never see you again.”

She looked up at him with tears brimming on her lashes. “I was so conflicted, but when Kellum told me there was a place where I could go back, I knew that I had to go.”

A tear slid down her face, cutting his soul. “Were you so miserable here?”

She reached up and grabbed his wrist. When she brought his knuckles to her lips, he knew he loved her, and he was going to do everything in his power to keep her. He and Kellum would share her. His brother adored Lara, but he had a hard time showing his emotions.

“No. Making love to you was the best thing that ever happened to me, but life here is hard. I have to admit that I like driving my convertible, going out to dinner and the movies, and hanging out with friends.”

He studied her. “You could have good friends here.”

“I don’t want to be a farmer.”

Before he could respond, Kellum raced back, waving the
xanthic
. Kellum knelt down next to the pool, broke up the petals, and dropped them in the water. Only then did he notice one of Lara’s arms pressing against her chest and the other protecting her pussy.

“Don’t be embarrassed,” he said.

“Kellum is here.”

“Lara, you are beautiful. Don’t ever be ashamed of your body.”

Her mouth opened. “I’m not ashamed. It’s just that I don’t go around naked in front of any man.”

Kellum leaned back on his haunches. “I’m sorry that you think of me as any man. I promise I’ll make this up to you. I was a dick to you when I first met you, and I’m sorry.”

She almost laughed. “How you two talk. Now that I know this isn’t Colorado, or earth for that matter, and that you two are shape-shifters, which by the way still blows my mind, how have you picked up our slang?”

Kellum smiled. “I watch a lot of your American television. It’s the way we can keep current, but I speak differently when there are only Anterrans in the room.”

“Oh.”

Taryn moved closer to her foot. He lightly touched the ankle. “It is swollen, but with rest, you will be fine in a few days.”

“Do you have ice?”

“I know you use it to reduce the swelling. I will get you some.”

She ducked under the water and scrubbed her hair. When she emerged, her wounds were merely thin red lines.

“I think it is time for you to rest. I’ll get you some ice and prepare dinner.”

“I am hungry.”

She started to get up but then dropped back down. “Sorry. It hurts when I put pressure on my ankle.”

Kellum reached in and picked her up. Water dripped everywhere, but Taryn didn’t want to turn on the forced air. She’d have a hard time standing upright. His brother carried the dripping woman out the door.

His heart ached the moment she was out of sight. He was going to do everything in his power to make her love him.

Only now did Lara realize that Kellum also had gotten quite scratched up climbing the tree. “You need to get cleaned up, too.”

“I will after I take care of you.”

Either something had changed with him or perhaps it was that she now believed what he’d told her. They’d shared a journey, and she felt his frustration in not being able to help. He truly wanted to take her to Spirit. Whether it was to get rid of her, as she first suspected, or because he sensed she really didn’t want to be here, it didn’t matter. He’d acted heroic and resourceful. Had he not stopped when he sensed danger, she might have been able to hold on.

He patted her dry with the bed sheet. “The bath was nice. Thank you for getting the herb.” She rotated her ankle and it did feel better.

Taryn came in with ice wrapped in one of his loincloths and placed it on her injury.

“Thanks.”

“I’ll bring you some food.”

He looked over at Kellum. From the way they held each other’s gaze, it seemed like they were communicating. Silently, Taryn left.

Kellum adjusted the ice so that it fell evenly over her ankle. The cold seeped into her skin. She was a bit self-conscious that she was naked, but he hadn’t stared at her nor had his loincloth bulged. Clearly, he wasn’t interested in her as a woman. That was a shame. Once she learned about his passion to be with his family and his desire to help the Anterrans, she liked him for who he was inside. Then after the failed escape, she got to see the real Kellum. He was a gentle soul, protective of all, especially of his brother.

Taryn entered with a tray of delicious-smelling vegetables he’d topped with chicken. She suspected that their diet was rather similar from day to day since picking vegetables appeared to be the way they got their food. He placed the tray on the bed.

“Eat all of this. You need your strength to get better.” He almost sounded like her mom, and she had to refrain from chuckling.

As if he didn’t want her to see how much he cared, he spun around and left. She took a bite of the wonderful food and only then realized she wasn’t in Taryn’s bedroom.

“Maybe you should carry me to Taryn’s room.”

Kellum smiled. “Not until you are healed. I want to stay by your side.”

Wow
. Who was this man? He’d gone from sullen to protective in one day. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I know, but you are now my responsibility. I caused you harm. I should have been more careful.”

He was taking this heroism a bit too far. “I wanted you to help me, and you did. It’s not your fault that I was clumsy and fell.”

“Eat.”

She guessed her talk embarrassed him. When she finished with the meal, he took the tray and carried it out. When he returned he had a blanket in his hand.

“I don’t want you getting cold.”

The temperature in the house was rather warm. She doubted she’d get cold, but perhaps he understood that her nudity bothered her. “Thanks.” She pulled the blanket onto her lap.

“Tomorrow, I will try to find some
diltha
for the pain.”

She didn’t want him to chance going into wolf territory. “I’ll be fine. The ice is really helping.” Kellum dropped onto the floor and watched her eat. “Aren’t you having something?”

“Maybe later.”

“You’re welcome to sit on the bed.” It was at least the size of a king-size bed.

“I tend to shift, no pun intended, when I sleep. The movement might affect your ankle.”

She was speechless. No one had ever been that considerate before. “You don’t have to do that. You can sleep in your own bed.”

Images on him gathering her in his arms surfaced. She inhaled and her ankle shot her a searing ache. She bolted upright.

Kellum was at her ankle in a flash. He removed the ice. “You don’t want to keep it on too long.”

She doubted that was the cause, but since he’d been so nice, she agreed. He nodded and disappeared with the ice. Her thoughts jumbled. Here she thought Taryn was such a wonderful man only to find that Kellum had a soft side that appealed to her. His sullenness seemed to be a façade, a veneer in a way, to cover his sensitive soul.

Lara scooted back on the bed and was resting her back against the wall when he returned. “When you just want to get away from it all, where do you go?” She loved the ocean, but sitting on top of a mountain did her soul good, too.

He looked to the side as if he were trying to decide where his favorite place was. “The high country.”

“Do you go as a man or a mountain lion?”

A smile filled his face. “As a lion. There is nothing more exhilarating and invigorating than when I’m running full out. Every muscle is engaged and all my senses are heightened. It’s me and the green land living in harmony. My lungs fill with oxygen and I am more alive than at any other time.”

His image inspired her, too. “I love climbing on top of a rock and seeing the world below. I almost feel powerful and all-knowing, which I’m not, but the rarified air seems to alter my cells.” She studied him. “Do like being in your lion form more than your human form?”

“They each have their pros and cons.” His shoulders relaxed as if he’d been mentally transported there for a moment. “I’d like to take you to my favorite spot sometime.”

“I’d like that.” The mountains were fairly far away. She’d seen a glimpse of them when she and Taryn had picked vegetables. “How would I get there? I’m not climbing on your back again.”

“We have means.”

At times Kellum infuriated her with his evasive ways. “Taryn mentioned you’d been to Spirit a time or two. What did you think?”

“Earth is a bit inferior to Anterra, but it has its pluses.”

She pictured them going through this alignment point in loincloths. If they walked into town like that, she bet some tourist would call the police for indecent exposure. “Do you own earth clothes?” She wasn’t sure what to call them.

He chuckled. “We have some jeans, boots, and shirts, but we prefer not to wear them.”

Loincloths were more practical. “How do you buy things?”

“In Anterra or in Spirit?”

“Both.” She wanted to learn as much about their culture as possible. Maybe it was the scientist in her, but she found this place fascinating.

“In Anterra, we have something like your credit card. We use them as bartering chips. Taryn and I run the protection detail. Basically, we’re Anterran cops. We get paid in credit and then can buy things.”

“What about in Spirit?”

He leaned back on his elbows. “We get money just like you do. We work for it.”

Wait a minute. “What do you mean? You go to Spirit and get jobs?”

“I’ve never done that, but others have. What money they don’t use, they donate to the general fund. If, say, I want to visit for a few days, I can just take the money.”

“That’s very generous of those men.” The idea that Anterrans would be in Spirit without anyone knowing they were shifters had to be the scariest of all thoughts. “My friend Amy lives and works in Spirit. Is it possible that she’s met some lion-shifters?”

“Very possible.”

From now on, she’d have to think twice about talking to men in Spirit. “Do you ever travel far from here?”

He got up. “I think you’ve used up your quota of questions for the day. You need to sleep.”

The room had remained light, but only now did she notice how dark it was outside. “Did you turn on the lights?”

“No. Everything is on a sensor. We’re more highly evolved technologically than the humans. Go to sleep.”

She scooted down on the bed. “You don’t have to sleep on the floor.” The room flashed and suddenly Kellum was in his mountain lion form. “That’s such a cop-out. You just didn’t want to continue this conversation.” He let out a little growl, and all she could do was smile. “Good night.”

Her ankle ached a bit, but the pain was diminishing. In fact, she could rotate the foot a bit without any severe ache. Gingerly, she got into her sleep position. While her mind had a hard time settling down after all that had happened today, she miraculously fell asleep.

When she opened her eyes, light filled the room, but so did the back of the big lion. Her heart nearly jackknifed. It took a full second before she realized that sometime during the night Kellum had crawled on the bed. At least she assumed it was him. God help her if both Taryn and Kellum changed into lions at the same time. She’d never be able to tell them apart.

Since this lion was breathing so shallowly, she dared to drag a hand down his head. His soft hair prickled her skin. When he didn’t growl and jump up with a start, she let her hand go a bit lower, over his flank. Muscles bulged under her palm. This sleek animal was all power.

* * * *

Kellum could hardly stand it. It was bad enough to be in the same room with her and keep from touching and loving her, but now that her hand was rubbing his body, it took all of his concentration not to shift back into human form and take her. He’d tried hard not to become attached to the human, but her bravery and determination to return to her world intrigued him. She was way too inquisitive, but he couldn’t blame her. Being faced with this strange new place, she was doing quite well adapting.