Second Skin (Skinned) (4 page)

I was seriously evil

Alec and Matt arrived like the cavalry, calling our names and stomping through the snow, making as much noise as a full-on battle call with trumpet players and marching drummers.

I curled my tongue, placed my fingers against my lips, and let out an ear-splitting whistle. The sharpness of it rang in my ears, echoing in my head with the same intensity of Wade’s less subtle attempts at reading my mind. Not that whistles were required for me to get Wade’s attention. We had been
in
each other’s heads, shared our thoughts, memories, and more.

But now I even had Wade, running scared, and he was half- witch/ half-vampire. Didn’t say much for his faith in my ability to avoid slipping over to the dark side.

Why else had he been deliberately shutting me out?

I shook off thoughts of Wade, and the mixed feelings they inevitably induced, as Alec and Matt approached. Impressive for humans, the brothers cut through the frosted night with purpose in their steps. They were very much alike, though Alec had longer hair, kind of flowing over his shoulders. It gave him a wild warrior look that went with his Métis heritage. Both were tall and broad shouldered. Standing six feet two, they were some of the few guys I had to look up to.

I was what some would call Amazonian—five feet eleven, lean and athletic. I’d have given anything to be small and curvy like Brit in her human form. She thought she was chunky. Brit was stuck with her “thunder thighs”—her words, not mine. While I was stuck with my size 10 shoes, towering height, and lack of boobage.

That was one thing I never could get about being a shapeshifter. In theory, I could turn into a wolf, although I hadn’t yet, and Brit could assume her muscular, compact, dark sprite self. Yet neither of us could modify our human forms in any way.

Being a supernatural creature was not without its ironies.

Not that the guys seemed to notice. Matt stared at Brit the way twelve-year-old boys drooled over MTV booty videos. Obviously her present appearance wasn’t a deal-breaker in their relationship. Alec strode toward me, his eyes never leaving my face. Always assessing, watching, trying to figure me out. His dark gaze made my stomach clench. The cool night air, the gently falling snow, nothing mattered except the heat building inside me with every step closer until he stood directly in front of me. He scanned my body, looking for injuries, a clinical examination until his gaze lingered on my lips. The focused attention made me nervous. I worried my plump bottom lip between my teeth, waiting for Alec to make a move.
This is it. After days of keeping our distance he’s
going to lean forward and
…

Alec squinted at me in the moonlight. “You okay? Your face is puffy.”

I’m definitely not looking as hot as he does right now.
No wonder he hadn’t kissed me. I sucked back the disappointment I might have wanted to wallow in. There’d be time for wallowing later.

I pressed my hands to my cheeks to check for swelling, thankful my claws had retracted and black fur no longer covered my flesh. “Got sideswiped. It’s nothing.”

“Right,” Alec said on a patient sigh, turning his attention to the drama unfolding by Matt and Brit. I followed his lead, happy to avoid a lecture on safety precautions. The rant would never end if Alec had known how out of control I’d felt, if he thought I was a risk to the crew.

“This has got to stop,” Matt was saying, rushing at Brit. “You’re going to be discovered, or wounded, or worse. One of these times we won’t be able to make it better.” He shot a glance at us over his shoulder. “You’re not the only one at risk when you go off like this. We’re not always going to be here to clean up your mess. You have to work with us here.” He tried to pull her close, but she shied away from his embrace.

Over his shoulder, Brit glared, and I flinched at the anger in her eyes. I choked back a flurry of explanations. She was ticked that I’d called the guys, and pissed that Matt had voiced what we were all thinking.

Brit had broken one of the fundamental Hunter laws with her nightly escapades and almost given humans proof paranorms existed—in the form of a dark sprite flyby.

She was probably as angry at herself as she was at us. Instead of falling into Matt’s arms—her usual MO—she tucked her wings around her scaly torso, protecting herself from the world.

I understood the need to lick wounds in private, but to me private meant alone in my room where no other soul could see me fall apart. The opposite of what Brit was doing, burying her head in the proverbial sand of her black wings, right there in front of us. She had to get her emotions under control if we were going to form a solid,
sober
plan to get Blake back.

“Don’t you dare do the wing thing, Brit.” Matt tugged ineffectually at the more vulnerable membrane between the surprisingly heavy bones sprouting from her back. “You promised to stop shutting me out.”

Brit tucked her wings tighter and higher until we could only see the top of her head.

“Didn’t you say you never wanted to be like your mother?” Matt groaned. “Well, guess what? This is the equivalent of her locking herself in the bathroom when she’s mad at your dad.” Matt pulled at the edges of Brit’s sleek, black wings, but they were made of a thick cartilage like a bat’s, and far stronger than his hands. Odd to see a magical creature like Brit having a very human temper tantrum.

“Come on, Brit, you’re acting like a big, scaly, dark-sprite baby,” I said.

Brit relaxed her wings enough to extend one of the two six- inch claws at the end of each wing, effectively giving me the finger. “Nice,” Matt chided, “so that’s how you treat people who don’t want to see you end up as the featured video of the week?”

I flashed a grin at Alec, wanting to show I could appreciate Matt’s sarcasm as long as it wasn’t directed at me, but he had moved away from us. He knelt in the snow, took off a glove, and touched his bare finger to the blood I’d spewed on the stone angel.

I slipped forward to stand by his side. I expected a lecture, but Alec didn’t acknowledge my presence. He seemed fixated on my blood.

Like horrifically fixated.

“Alas, ’twas only a flesh wound,” I joked, putting a hand on his shoulder.

His body jerked at my gentle touch like I’d zapped him with a million-watt Taser. He glared up at me. The concern, the hint at something deeper, something hotter, no longer flared in his eyes. Now his gaze burned like the worst case of frostbite. His face, cold. Lips stretched into a tight line.

I lowered my hand. “Alec, what the—”

“This is your blood.” He scrambled up from the stone and backed away from me. “It’s wolven and human. It’s yours. Eryn, I saw—”

He angled his face away, his dark brows furrowed. Moonlight cast shadows down his high cheekbones and that crooked, hawkish nose I’d grown to find so attractive. The normal sweet tang of his scent had changed. Fear whirled in the air around him.

My heart wobbled under my ribs, off kilter, as the moment

I’d been dreading since I learned Alec was a hunter came to pass.

Alec was deathly frightened. Of me.

Yet, at the same instant I wondered,
What took him so long?

Matt shouldered me aside.

He touched his brother’s arm. I flinched when Alec didn’t warn
him
away with a cold stare. “What did you see?”

Alec’s dark eyes sliced to me for an instant and than he shut them tight. He shook his head, his lips pressed in a harsh line.

I rounded on Matt. “What did he
see
? Alec’s had visions?” I gestured to the angel spattered with my blood. “He touched my blood and saw…what?”

I swung back to Alec, who had opened his eyes now, his face resuming its usual calm. He shifted his body away from me as I took a step forward.

“Oh, I get it. Your power is manifesting. You’re seeing into the future, and you didn’t tell me because I’d insist you confirm or deny Marie’s vision.” A fist clenched around my heart. Alec’s mother, Marie, was a powerful shaman. She had the ability to heal, which Matt had inherited. But until this moment I hadn’t known that Alec had developed any of her skills. Lucky for me, it appeared to be her ability to foretell…to see all my crimes.

Even ones I’d yet to commit.

“So it’s true.” My blood seemed to glow with guilt on the cold stone. “Marie was right. You saw it too. I get you killed.” I put a shaking hand over my mouth and staggered away from Alec.

He held his arm open wide, but I stepped out of reach.

“It doesn’t mean anything,” he said, letting his arms drop to his sides. His voice lacked conviction.

My shaking fingers muffled my words. “It means everything. It means your
life
.”

Alec sighed. “I’ve never deliberately tried to get a vision before. I probably did it wrong. Maybe instead of calling a true vision, I only saw what I’m scared I’ll see.”

I gave a sick laugh. “That’s even worse. It proves you think I’m capable of not only causing you pain—I could take your life. Thanks, I feel so much better.” I wrapped my arms around my chest, guarding my heart as if that would help. Causing harm to Alec, taking his life would kill me.

I wouldn’t survive. I was done tempting fate.

Alec bit off a curse. “Why do you take everything the wrong way?”

“I don’t think I am.” I stared into his dark eyes. They saw so much, and yet what had they
seen
? “How many other visions have you had?”

Alec shrugged. “A few.” A muscle in his jaw tensed.

“And have they come true?” I pushed, a ripple of fear forming in my gut.

“Not exactly.” The taint of a lie tinged his scent.

I closed my eyes for a second. “But the big-ticket items were the same.” I crept backward, putting distance between us.

His eyes narrowed. “I guess.”

His body stilled with a suddenness I recognized. He was about to pounce. If he swept me into his arms, logic and reason would go out the window with the baby and the bathwater.

I held up a hand. “You have to stay away from me.” “Impossible.” A vein at his temple pulsed wildly. He took an angry step forward. “We hunt together. We go to school together. How’s that supposed to work?”

“You know what I mean.” I sighed. “We can’t do”—I gestured between us—“this anymore. We’re done.”

Alec shoved his hands into his jean pockets, his shoulders hunched ever so slightly. “Don’t say that.”

I let out a shaky breath. “I just did.” My voice, if not my resolve, was firm and final. I whirled and stumbled through the snow. This time Alec didn’t try to stop me.

Tombstones swam as my vision blurred. Maybe, deep inside, he actually felt relieved I’d made the decision for him. He had to know I was doing the right thing, the only thing I could do, pulling back before we could cause each other further damage. Me, with the chomping wolven jaws of death, and Alec with his sledgehammer to my heart.

Like Brit, I had to get myself under control. More was at stake than my wants, my fears.

I swallowed hard, my eyes burning in their sockets. “Let’s get Brit to Kate’s,” I said over my shoulder. “She has a stash of clothes at the café.”

It took all my will to keep tromping ahead of the others. Though I could hear every word they said, I desperately wanted to analyze their body language. Was Alec upset that I’d turned away? Did Matt and Brit agree with what I’d done? Their words were one thing, but I could tell so much more about the way they held themselves, an ability that came with my wolven inheritance.

The power to see, and even smell, what was unsaid.

“Eryn’s right,” Matt agreed. “Brit needs to change before we drop her off at home.” His voice was low, but my wolven hearing brought his words to me as clearly as if he’d spoken in my ear. “You have to tell Mom everything. She can help.”

Alec cursed at my back. He only let me go because Matt and Brit were around. We’d get into this again. Although Matt and Brit’s relationship could withstand the pressures of Brit having scales and wings and Matt being able to heal mortal wounds, Alec’s vision of me doing him harm was a deal-breaker for me.

I would protect him at all costs. Even from myself.