From the very beginning Brint and
Heleema are drawn together in lust. Now they are drawn together in danger as
shape shifters and as humans. In
Heleema, Brint has found a woman he can trust and love. In Brint, Heleema has
found a man to satisfy her passion and her heart.
* * *
Heleema
felt overwhelmed, surrounded by her family as they exclaimed over the news of
her engagement to Brint. At one point, Ralasia fanned herself, pretending she
was about to faint at the sight of the man standing inside the doorway.
"I knew it, Hel. I knew
something like this would happen the moment I saw you couldn't keep your eyes
off the guy all during our gig last night. And all those songs you had us play,
with all those suggestive lyrics, and the way you moved your hips... Damn, sis,
you almost got me believing in love at first sight."
"Not quite first sight, Rala,
but close," Heleema admitted. She glanced over to see Brint lay his helmet
on the side table by the back door, and realized she was still wearing his
borrowed shirt from that morning.
A hell of a lot had occurred in the
past few hours.
"Hey, Aunt Joslin? Do you mind
if we use your washer and dryer?" she asked the woman entering from the
kitchen with a tray of glasses. Varandon, her youngest brother, trailed behind
their aunt with a bottle of blackberry wine they'd made last summer.
"Go ahead. I think there's a
load of sheets in the dryer, but you're welcome to it."
Heleema looked over to where Brint
had taken a seat at the end of the couch, like he had earlier that morning. She
started to ask him if he'd go get their soiled clothing so she could throw them
in the washer, when her cell phone beeped loudly. Its final warning that it was
about to die.
Grabbing it from her back pocket,
she turned abruptly. "'Scuse me a minute, y'all. I need to plug this in
while I'm thinking about it."
The bullet plowed through the
window. It grazed Heleema's upper arm, hitting the rock fireplace and sending
stone shards flying through the air like shrapnel. In the split-second between
that shot and the second, Heleema realized that, had she not turned, the slug
would have hit her.
Her animal reflexes took over, as
did those of her family, and everyone dove for the floor as a second and third
round busted through the glass. One bullet hit the wood mantel; the other
smashed the front of the flat screen TV.
"Brint!" She couldn't see
him with Ralasia hunched down in front of her, and she was too afraid to lift
her head to see if he'd been hit.
"Are you okay?" he called
back.
"Yeah."
"Everyone hush." Her
father's voice sliced through the tension, calming them almost immediately.
"Anyone see where the shots came from? Brint?"
"My back was to the window, but
we can't stay here."
"Why not? We've had to dodge
stray bullets before."
"I don't think these are stray
bullets, sir," Brint said tersely.
"What makes you think
that?"
"What does your gut tell
you?"
"If you think this is
deliberate, how come they don't keep shooting?" Demios spoke up from the
other side of the couch.
Heleema bit her lip. He was right.
After the first three shots, it seemed to be over. Feeling more assured, she
started to rise when a shadow passed near the front windows. The outline of the
rifle was unmistakable.
"Brint!"
Click here for buy links.
Posts
