Savanah’s heart went out to the mother. Losing a child had to be the scariest feeling in the world, especially these days, when so many children disappeared and were never seen again.
“Stay here,” Rane said, and before Savanah could ask where he was going, he had dropped his shopping bag at her feet and was gone.
Savanah tapped her foot on the floor. She could hear the mother frantically calling for her child as she ran through the store. The fear and desperation in the woman’s voice tore at Savanah’s heart. Had someone kidnapped the little girl?
Savanah glanced at the time and jotted it down in the small notebook she always carried with her, along with the child’s name and description, the headline already forming in her mind.
And then Rane was back, with a pretty little blond-haired girl in his arms. The child’s pudgy cheeks were wet with tears. Rane spoke to the salesclerk, who announced that the child had been found and advised the mother to come to the counter in the men’s department.
The harried woman showed up, tears streaming down her cheeks as she took her little girl from Rane’s arms and crushed her close. “Thank you! Oh, thank you so much. I don’t know how she got away from me so fast. One minute she was right beside me, and the next…” She shook her head. “How can I ever repay you?”
“No need,” Rane said. “I’m just glad she’s okay.”
The woman put her arm around Rane’s shoulders and gave him a hug. “Thank you again. God bless you.”
Rane nodded, his throat suddenly tight. People had damned him more times than he could count, but he couldn’t remember anyone ever asking God to bless him.
Savanah dropped her notebook and pen into her handbag. “How did you find her?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Just luck.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“I didn’t think you would. If you must know, I smelled her fear and went after her.”
Savanah stared at him. She had heard that animals could smell fear. She didn’t know people could. Then again, Rane was a shape-shifter, which gave him powers ordinary mortals didn’t possess.
He tucked their packages under his arm. “Ready to go?”
“I guess so.”
As had become his habit, Rane took her hand and they left the mall. On the drive home, Savanah stared out the window, her thoughts on Rane. He wasn’t a normal man, and while that added a bit of mystery to their relationship, did she really want to get involved with a man who was different? And just how different was he? Was he like any other man, except for his ability to change into a wolf? If their relationship continued and they married, would their children be shape-shifters, too? She had a sudden image of herself giving birth to a litter of wolf pups.
Grinning inwardly, she shook the bizarre image from her mind. They had only been dating for a few weeks. It was way too soon to be thinking about a relationship, serious or otherwise. Besides, his last show was tomorrow night. In a day or two, he would be leaving town for his next engagement, wherever that might be, and she would probably never see him again.
“Anything wrong?”
His voice drew her back to the present. Looking around, she realized they were parked in front of her house. “No, I was just thinking…”
He switched off the ignition and turned toward her. “Thinking about us?”
She nodded.
“Thinking that you’ll miss me when I’m gone?” he asked, one brow arched. “Or thinking you’ll be glad to see the last of me?”
She would miss him, she thought, more than she wanted to admit. How could she feel so strongly about him so soon?
“Savanah?”
“I don’t want to miss you,” she said quietly.
“But you will.”
“Yes.”
Rane looked at her a moment, then got out of the car. He opened her door and offered her his hand, pulling her up and into his arms.
“I’ll miss you, too,” he said, “so much that I think I’m going to have to cancel my next engagement and get to know you better.”
Her heart skipped a beat. “You’re going to stay?”
He nodded slowly. “I can’t leave you. Not now, not yet.”
“Won’t you get in trouble, canceling on such short notice?” she asked, but she didn’t really care. All that mattered was that he was staying.He shrugged. “Maybe, but it doesn’t matter,” he said, and then he smiled. “I’ll just take a new name and start over.”
She smiled because she couldn’t help it, because he wasn’t leaving town, because she knew he was going to kiss her. And even then, he was pulling her closer, his dark eyes intense as he brushed a kiss across her cheek, then claimed her mouth with his own.
He leaned back against the side of the car, drawing her with him, so that her body was flush with his from shoulders to thighs. He deepened the kiss and she felt the stir of his arousal, felt her own body grow warm and moist as his tongue plundered her mouth, then laved the sensitive skin behind her earlobe. His teeth nipped her flesh and she pressed herself against him, driven by a need she had never known before. Someone moaned softly. Was it her? She didn’t think she had ever made a sound like that in her life, a hungry, lusty purr that was almost a growl.
He lifted his head and looked at her. His eyes were deep and dark, burning with a hunger of their own. “Tell me what you want.”
What did she want? She gazed into his eyes as she weighed her answer. Was it the moon’s bright light that made his eyes burn with such fire? Or was it just the reflected glow of her own desire?
Whispering, “I don’t know,” she buried her face against his shoulder.
“Don’t you?”
She did know. Why was she being such a coward? Lifting her head, she looked deep into Rane’s eyes. “I want you,” she said, “but it’s too soon, and…”
“And I’m a shape-shifter.”
If they were to have any kind of lasting relationship, she had to be honest with him. “Yes.”
“Okay.” He tucked a lock of hair behind her ear, then slid his knuckles down her cheek. “We’ll take it slow and easy.”
And so saying, he wrapped his arms around her and claimed her lips a second time.
It was more than just a kiss, she thought, swaying against him. It was a promise of more and better things to come.
Chapter Nine
Savanah was still thinking about Rane’s parting kiss when she slid her key into the lock on the front door, only to find the door already unlocked. That was odd, she thought. She knew she had locked it when she left. Even though they lived in a small town, her father always insisted on locking the doors, undoubtedly a holdover from the days when he had investigated high-profile cases involving drug lords, hookers, and politicians on the take.
Shrugging it off, she stepped into the living room, Rane still uppermost in her thoughts. One thing was for certain: whether he was a man or a magician, Santoro the Magnificent knew how to kiss. She could still taste him on her lips and her tongue, feel the heat of his body pressed close to hers. The man had enough sex appeal to light up a city, she thought. Look at the way he turned her on!
She dropped her purse and her shopping bags on the sofa, called, “Dad? Hey, Dad, I’m home,” on her way into the kitchen to get a bottle of water.
“The better to cool off with, my dear,” she murmured, though she wasn’t sure she wanted to cool off. What she wanted was to be in Rane’s arms again, to revel in his kisses, to hear his voice whispering in her ear, though she couldn’t now recall what he had said. But it didn’t matter. He wanted her. There was no doubt about that. And she wanted him.
Returning to the living room, she paused in the doorway. The lights were off, but the satellite screen was on, so where was her father? It wasn’t like him to go to bed without turning off the screen. Saving energy had always been one of his quirks.
She glanced around, a sudden feeling of unease skating down her spine. Murmuring, “I don’t like this,” she switched on the lights.
Something was different…. She moved through the room. The books on the bookshelf had been moved, the drawers in the small desk that had been her mother’s were open. The trio of candles on the coffee table had been knocked over. Her father’s favorite coffee cup lay on the floor surrounded by a dark stain.
She stood in the middle of the room. Should she leave? What if the intruder was still on the premises? Goose bumps prickled along her skin. “Dad?”
When there was still no answer, she picked up one of the heavy candlesticks. She couldn’t leave. Her dad might still be in the house, hurt, unable to answer.
Tension coiled deep within her as she walked down the hall to her father’s bedroom. The door was open. The lights were off. In the light from the hallway, she could see that his bed was empty.
Chilled, she stepped into the room. “Dad?”
Looking closer, she saw his wheelchair lying on its side by the bathroom door. Fear’s icy hand clamped Savanah’s insides. Where was her father? Why didn’t he answer? Her fingertips tightened on the candlestick as she hurried around the foot of the bed, her eyes focused on the bathroom door.
She looked down when her foot hit something soft, felt her heart go cold when she saw her father sprawled face down on the floor.
“Dad!” Tossing the candlestick on the bed, she switched on the bedside lamp. “Dad?”
Kneeling, she turned him over, gasped in horror at what she saw. His face was as pale as paper, his lips were blue, his eyes sunken. Had he had a heart attack? She placed her hand on his heart. Was he breathing? She couldn’t feel a heartbeat.
She had to call 9-1-1, had to get help. He couldn’t be dead. She was reaching for the phone when his fingers curled around her arm.
“Sa…vanah…”
“I’m here, Dad. Hang on.”
“Listen…things you need to know…”
“Later, Dad, I need to call…”