“Why?” he wondered.
“I don’t know.”
“Let’s get out of here.”
“Yes, but first…” I headed straight for the freezer and grabbed a few cookies, offering one to Kel, who shook his head. Damn, that was probably how he stayed so much leaner than me.
We went out into the night. Again, that odd sense of noisy silence surrounded us-air rustling through the trees, a coyote calling in the distance…
Or some other wild animal that I didn’t want to meet.
The stars scattered across the black-velvet sky lit our way, but I’d have rather been home, with so many city lights, they drowned out the stars.
Inside the guest house, Kel set the laptop and Blackberry on the coffee table, and took me straight to the bedroom, where he pulled back the covers on the prissy, lacy bed and waited until I obediently slipped between the sheets.
“You coming in?” I asked, and batted my eyes.
“Bad idea.”
“I’m cold.”
He pulled the covers up to my chin, tucking them in, as if looking at me would weaken his resolve. “I’m not falling for that one.”
“I
He put his hands on his hips, looking tense, rough around the edges and slightly temperamental. “You want me to crawl in there with you and share my body heat.”
“Uh-huh.”
“And other things.”
“You’re quick, Kel.”
“I need to think. And I can’t do that when you’re near me.”
“Ah, that’s the sweetest thing anyone’s ever said to me.”
If possible, he looked even more tense. “I’m not feeling particularly sweet, Rach.”
Well, if that wasn’t arousing. Tossing the covers aside, I came up to my knees on the mattress. I cupped his beautiful face and looked deep into his drown-in-me eyes. “I want you.”
“For now.”
“At the moment, now is all we have.” And besides, thinking ahead to what I’d want tomorrow, or the day after that, wasn’t in my genetic makeup. “Can’t that be enough?”
A shuddery sigh escaped him, and his hands came up to my hips, squeezed. His voice, when he spoke, sounded tortured. “No.”
He said it so gently, it took a moment for it to sink in.
“But-”
His arms came around me, and I felt the softening in him that I needed, even as his body became harder than ever. The hug clogged my throat with emotion, because I knew it was a good-bye hug. I held on, and closed my eyes. “You make me feel so safe, Kel.”
“You are safe. I’ll make sure of it. Even when-or if-I change back.”
I blinked back tears. “Another promise.”
“I mean it.”
No one had ever said such a thing to me before, in a voice so fierce I didn’t doubt he’d keep me safe if it meant his own life.
I’d never wanted anyone to say such a thing. I don’t know if I was ready to want
I wasn’t.
Of course, I wasn’t.
I was young. Twenty-seven. I was a modern woman who could take care of herself. I always had.
But a small part of me stared at him with a bunch of what-ifs suddenly flowing through my head.
But before I could finish processing, a shockingly loud
Not to mention us.
With an oath, Kellan grabbed me off the bed and dragged me to the doorway, but as fast and loud and hard as the Earth had rumbled, it stopped.
Everything went completely, almost unnaturally, still. Not a sound, not a remnant shudder, nothing.
And then, from out of the darkness and through the windows, came a high-pitched scream.
“Marilee?” I gasped, reaching for Kellan. “Was that Marilee?”
I’d never seen him so grim. He pushed me back into the bedroom while at the same time flipping off the light, flipping off all the lights. “Wait right here,” he said urgently. “Stay still, and don’t make a sound, all right?”
“Kel-”
“Say you’ll do it.” He pushed me behind the door, thrusting something into my hands.
I stared down through the dark at his flashlight. “I don’t need-”
“Listen to me. This thing is heavy. If you swing it just right-”
“A nice hit to the head will make an assailant kiss the floor long enough for you to get away.”
“Oh my God.”
“Promise me you’ll use it if you need to.”
“I don’t-”
He was so fierce, so serious, and I think that scared me more than anything else had so far. “You think something very bad is happening.”
“Promise me, Rach.”
“I promise,” I said very quietly, instead of clinging, as I really,
And then he was walking away from me, hands out in front of him, staggering slightly, heading directly for the coffee table instead of the door. “Kel-”
Too late. He tripped right over it, going down flat on his face.
I ran to his side just as he rolled over.
“Out of all the abilities I could have gotten,” he said through clenched teeth as he rocked back and forth holding on to his shins, “I had to get worthless superstrength, when a little grace would have done me.”
“Are you all right?”
“I will be.” He got up, felt around for me and pulled me close for one beat. “Stay here.”
I let him get to the front door, fumbling, limping now, before I called his name softly. When he turned around, blind in the dark, I walked to him and slipped him back the flashlight. “You need this more than me, Superboy. And here’s something else to chew on. I’m going with you.”
“You are not.”
“Am, too.”
“Not.”
“Kel.”
The front door whipped open, almost slamming into us. In the doorway stood Serena and William, both with their clothes askance, hair mussed, eyes wild, looking as if they’d been interrupted right in the middle of a good time.
“Thank God,” Serena said at the sight of us, and pushed her way inside the dark guest house. “We don’t have a lot of time. I assume you have the laptop. Can I have it, please?”
“No,” Kel said.
“It’s imperative.”
“I’m sorry.” Kel said this with genuine regret as he shook his head forcefully, not looking at me, while I-the only
