Chapter 1
Chapter 1
Anamalia galloped, racing forward in her sleek horse body. Nuno’s legs wrapped around her for stability, he wrapped his hands in her mane, pulling ever so slightly at her hair, directing her where to go with nothing more than light pressure. There was no time to think, was she running toward her future or from it? A howl riddled with pain and anguish dipped inside her ears, was this what she was running from? It didn’t matter, Nuno nudged her forward, with a slight movement of his legs. She didn’t hesitate, she ran faster, she ran with elation.
A black van appeared in her pathway before she could hesitate she felt Nuno’s presence in her head: Slow down my little finch I will dismount, shift quickly, we are taking the van from here. Within seconds Nuno was slipping off her side, dismounting as she slowed. They have pulled a similar trick before, only this time her shifting body was flying into a van, not a carriage. Her horse figure disappeared and one of a medium gold house cat took its place as she landed on the black leather seat. Nuno slipped in right behind her closing the door. A hiss escaped the golden cat’s lips showing her teeth, paw raised with claws swiping through the air. Nuno reopened the door allowing White Dog to leap in and sit next to the glaring golden cat.
“Ahhh, Anamilia,” Nuno glanced at the sleek white canine eyeing it almost approvingly, “we have much to discuss, my little pet.” The cat turned its back on its master, wrapping herself around the white dog. Anamilia, closed her eyes as the adrenaline started to seep from her body. Anamilia felt that she didn’t know much of anything in that instinct. Nuno was back, he was alive, he was in front of her, but Lucian was alive too. She curled tighter against the only comfort she was willing to receive. Nuno reached out to stroke her. White Dog growled, tense and ready to strike at any moment. She could feel Nuno’s arm retract back to his side of the van. Physical contact was not going to be allowed, but their mental link was open. We will talk soon my bird of prey. But right now your emotions are too much for us, sleep. Before she could shut the mental door between them, she was asleep.
Ana stretched in the sunlight. How long had she been asleep? It was daylight, time to move, Nuno would not be able to stop her or reach for her right now, the light of day making him incapacitated, dead to the world if you will, but she was not. Daylight nor moonlight, neither affected her, which is what made her dangerous. She opened her eyes, White Dog was asleep next to her on a window seat. Nuno had to have placed her here. He always had put her next to windows when they slept inside and felt safe. Clearly, he felt safe here, where ever here was. She shifted to human form, wrapping a fur blanket around her naked body. She moved slowly towards the bed, and there he was, Nuno, the dark handsome Spaniard sleeping like the dead fully clothed and above the covers. To the human eye he must look like no time had passed, but Ana could see the fine lines on the face that she had lovingly looked at for hundreds of years in ready anticipation. Something in her longed to touch it, to stroke it under her human fingers. What did his lips feel like now that they were older? Had she ever known? She wanted to know now. With quiet calculated steps, she drifted closer to the bed. Suddenly Ana stopped dead. How could she not smell her sooner? Was she losing her touch? No, she wasn’t, Ana snapped her head in the direction of the door, there she stood draped in green silk, auburn curls falling cascading down covering one eye as her lips curled upwards.
“You must be his precious Anamila,” the figure drifted into the room, Ana braced herself, preparing her muscles to attack, no one should be in a vampire’s room while they sleep other than those they truly trust. The green silk woman never took her eyes off Ana as she moved toward Nuno’s sleeping body. “Sit shifter,” she said. Ana didn’t move. “Oh, he did say you’d need to see this,” she lifted her hand displaying a sapphire, a stone Ana knew, a stone from her and Nuno’s past, this woman was wearing her collar stone. The stone that warriors traditionally gave their mates to ensure their shifter’s loyalty. A stone that guaranteed obedience. Nuno gave it to her? Her stone was in the hands of a person that she didn’t know. Ana felt all of the breath leave her lungs at once. “Oh,” the woman added as Ana’s body folded into the sitting position, her perfect naked body slipped from the protection of the fur blanket, “we will be having no more of that shape, turn into something more… animalistic.” And with that Ana’s human figure was gone as she shifted back into a golden cat, only this time she was not house cat-sized.
