Golden Eyes

CHAPTER 11

Duncan drove slowly down the bumpy winding ATV trail off one of the closed national forest roads. He’d picked the most obscure spot he could think of, but that didn’t guarantee they wouldn’t come across campers seeking a remote place to pitch their tents.

Every one of his instincts told him this was a bad idea. Not just a bad one, a stupid risk that Aliyah had no business taking. But he couldn’t let her go off alone without any form of protection.

He glanced over at her, and even in the darkness, he could see her tense with anticipation. She was edgy, almost wild, and he knew that she was hanging on by a thread.

“It’s not far now,” he said as they forded a small creek and rounded a sharp bend.

The road had narrowed considerably, and they wouldn’t get much farther with his truck, four wheel drive or not.

She didn’t reply but kept her gaze fixed ahead, as if waiting the opportunity to bolt from the truck. When he finally pulled to a halt, she gripped the door handle then finally looked over at him.

“Aliyah, how much of yourself do you retain when you… uhm…shift?”

She cocked her head in confusion. “I’m not sure I understand.”

“A wild animal has instincts. You’re free now.”

“Ohhh. You want to know if I’ll run and keep on running.”

He nodded slowly. “I guess I’m asking if you’ll be back.”

She stared at him, her gaze steady. “I’ll return, Duncan.”

“Okay.” He shrugged away his relief and opened his door. “Then let’s get this over with.”

They both got out and walked around to the front of the truck. To his surprise, she kicked off her boots then began to pull off her socks and then her pants, both of which he’d just purchased. She held them out to him even has her other hand began fumbling with the buttons on her shirt.

He took them from her, and in another minute she was standing naked in front of him, moonlight bathing her pale skin.

“I don’t want to ruin them,” she said with a grin. “Plus I’ll need something to wear when I shift back.”

“You’re going to freeze your ass off,” he grumbled.

He watched in a mixture of horror and fascination as a shudder rippled over her body. She fell to her knees then braced her hands on the ground as her back arched.

Tawny fur prickled across her skin. Black spots shimmered into view. Her fingers that dug into the dirt and rock became paws, and her legs buckled then bolted upward as she rose on all fours.

Her long golden hair raced upward to her scalp, disappearing and then falling lightly over her nape in a scruffy mane. When she turned her head to him, he found himself staring into the golden eyes of the cheetah.

She continued to regard him for a long moment, and then she simply loped away, disappearing into the surrounding forest.

Her paws pounded the earth, and her heart rejoiced in her freedom. She kept to the shadows, leaping behind rocks and keeping under the cover of the trees. She was whole.

Power pulsed through her veins. She was the guardian, charged with keeping her human safe. With each leap, each push forward, she could feel her strength returning. Just as transforming to human had rejuvenated the cheetah, shifting to cheetah was healing the human. Two halves that made up the whole. Each dependent on the other for survival.

The human part of her mind cautioned against going too far, warning her to return soon and shift back as soon as possible. The cheetah only wanted to run free, to exhaust herself and later succumb to a healing sleep.

Her lithe body stretched and coiled as she pushed herself harder. Her soul sang and rejoiced as she embraced the wind.

As she began to tire, her human mind regained more control, and she remembered that Duncan waited for her.

Reluctantly, she turned back, returning slower than she’d come. Fatigue rippled through her muscles, and she slowed to a walk. Her breath escaped in a light fog as she panted. Her energy was spent, but she felt lighter than she had in many months. Since she’d run along the African Savannah with her cheetah kin.

By the time she neared the truck, the change was already working its way over her body. She fell to the ground, shivering with cold and exhaustion as the human regained control.

Mustering her strength, she pushed herself to her feet and made her way unsteadily back to where Duncan waited. When she stumbled onto the road, Duncan looked up and started for her. She collapsed into his arms as he gathered her shivering body close.

“Dear God, Aliyah, you’re like a freaking icicle.”

She burrowed into his warmth, absorbing his heat and his scent. He scooped her up and carried her back to the truck where the clothes still laid on the hood.

“I should have kept the truck running so it would stay heated,” he murmured as he began dressing her. “I just didn’t want to draw any attention to our location.”

“Duncan, I’m fine,” she said around chattering teeth. “I’m just tired.”

She sagged against him when he finished buttoning her shirt. Again, he simply plucked her up and deposited her into the passenger seat.

He retrieved her socks and boots and put them on her feet as she lay against the still warm leather. He quickly shut her door and walked around to his side.

A brief burst of cold air blew in when he opened his door, but he got in quickly and started the engine. He flipped the heater on high and then reached over to touch her cheek.

“Are you all right?”

She nodded and closed her eyes, leaning further into his hand. She loved his touch. Found much comfort in his tender gestures.

“Come here,” he said and pulled her against him.

She curled her legs into the seat and snuggled into his side. He put his arm around her and pressed a kiss to the top of her head.

“Let’s go home.”

He turned the truck around and headed back down the narrow road as she lay against him.

Home.

She was suddenly filled with a fierce longing. Not for her own home and her parents who she hadn’t seen in so long. No, she was imagining what home would be like with Duncan. With this untamed warrior. Someone who knew what she was and accepted her. Who understood her and protected her. It was something she’d never dared hope for outside her own race.

She liked Duncan, and, she decided, she trusted him. Her time with him was limited, but she wanted to enjoy the attraction between them, wanted to share her body with him, and, she knew, a part of her soul. A part that would remain with him when she left. A part she wouldn’t want back, just as she would take a part of him to keep forever.

“Duncan?”

“Yes, honey.”

“In a few days…” She let her hand slide down his leg. “In a few days, I’ll have to go.”

He stiffened against her. “Why do you have to go?” he asked, surprising her with his bluntness. Was he asking her to stay?

But she couldn’t stay, even if he wanted her to. Her parents thought her dead, and they’d already lost one daughter. She risked discovery here with the poachers crawling over the mountains like vicious, hungry ants.

She couldn’t do that to her parents or to her people. Sadness clogged her throat. How telling was it that on the eve of her freedom that she was reluctant to take it?

With a sigh, she turned her face up to Duncan.

“I like you. And I think you like me. I’d like…I’d like to make the most of our remaining time together.”

His hand tightened on her arm then relaxed, and he stroked his fingers up and down the flannel of her shirt.

“I’d like that, too,” he finally said.

“I want you to make love to me again. All night long. I want to spend what time we have in your arms.”

“Then that’s where you’ll spend it,” he said simply.