Part 3 (1/2)

Sleep came in fitful bouts for the first few hours. Ethan squished up against her back like a nylon caterpillar, and she continually edged away until her nose pressed against the tent surface, leaving her cold and lonely. Not only was he a s.p.a.ce invader, but Ethan snored too, the loud, staccato kind that sounded like a gunshot nearly every time she managed to drift into sleep.

Still, dreams pressed closer, and so did images of the. woods around them; of her running through them in a white gossamer gown, bright as fairy wings. And of a man too, following her, chasing after her. When she spun to face him, he glowed like her gown-bright, magical, tall as a mountain. She whispered his name, something foreign and strange; then he reached to touch her cheek, his fingers burning her face.

She woke in a cold sweat, s.h.i.+vering and fevered all at once. Lifting a hand to her face, she realized that it felt warm, as though from someone's touch. As if the forest man had truly chased her in her dreams, blessing her with kisses and that strange name of his.

Maybe it was the dream that beckoned her. Or maybe it was her curiosity about the night sky over Mirror Lake. Whatever called her, Kelsey dressed and drifted out of the tent, ignoring the mist that folded over the midnight darkness. Drawn down to the sh.o.r.e, she stared up at the clear sky overhead, a dazzling tapestry of lights. Moments like this made her wish she'd studied astronomy instead of geology. Beneath the full moon, the landscape gleamed, the snow-encrusted mountains jutting skyward like crystals.

Plopping onto the frozen earth, Kelsey huddled, her warm breath clouding in front of her face. Expectant. That was what she felt, blowing into her cupped hands to warm herself. Something about that dream had moved her, she realized, left her antic.i.p.ating the extraordinary.

Drawing her knees close to her chest, she watched the sky. The Leonids were visible right now, as they always were in mid-November. Maybe she'd catch a glimpse of a dusty-tailed meteor shower, she thought with a smile.

And that was when she heard the blast-a loud, explosive sound that she thought might have been a sonic boom, and yet she knew it had to be something much greater. After the initial thunderclap, what looked like jets shot over the mountains r.i.m.m.i.n.g the lake's other side. Strange jets, she thought, rising to her feet. Maybe stealth fighters? Black and ominous in shape, barely visible in the night sky, they blasted across the water like a pair of twin phantoms from h.e.l.l. Then they were gone, leaving a cacophonous trail in their wake, a litany of thunderclaps that still echoed off the silent landscape.

Did the fighter jets cause the explosion? she wondered, studying the mountains again. The park was a no-fly zone, but maybe the government was testing some new equipment out here in this remote area. They'd been known to do that, and it wouldn't surprise her. Still, the suddenness of it-and at nearly midnight-didn't quite add up. Besides, those jets had been moving faster than it was possible for anything she'd ever heard of to move.

That was when she saw it: a darting light just over the water, glowing like a boat's headlights. Squinting, she tried to make out the shape. It seemed to agitate, shooting first in one direction, then another, then back toward the sh.o.r.e where she stood.

And then the shape intensified, looming large as it made unexpected landfall, and she found herself face-to-face with a blazing wall of energy. No, she realized, not energy: a being of sorts. She gasped, staring up at him-and everything within her understood that this being was most definitely masculine. She thought of Ethan, asleep back in the tent, and hoped he'd heard something, that maybe he could help her. Save her. Stumbling backward, she tried to cry out, but was too terrified to form any words.

Still, she heard in her mind, like a distant whisper. Be still. In immediate response, her breathing came under control. She had to get to Ethan. But that thought fled her mind as the being moved closer, and she felt his energy burn low within her, like molten lava, something ancient and primal and foreign and innocent all at once. No face, no arms, no body. Only the lovely golden fire of him.

”Who are you?” She gasped. In response he retreated, the wall becoming more compact and intense. Less open. ”I won't hurt you,” she promised softly, terrified, but somehow desperate to keep him there all the same.

He released a quiet reverberating noise in reply, one that she wasn't sure how to interpret. ”I-I don't...” She hesitated, aware that breathing had become nearly impossible. ”I don't understand what you're saying.” When his rumbling grew louder, more forceful, she began to back away, twisting her ankle on a rock behind her. Falling backward, she stared up at him.

He had her cornered. It might be where he wanted her. Towering large, he loomed closer, and she pressed her eyes shut.

The warm sensation in her abdomen intensified, spreading through her legs, her arms, all the way up into her chest. Tentatively, she opened one eye. Was this his way of communicating with her?

A stillness resounded in the center of her being, bringing peace with it. She knew then that he wouldn't hurt her- she was certain. He couldn't possibly hurt her.

”Tell me what you want,” she insisted, inching backward on the ground, trying to put more physical distance between the two of them.

Then, before her very eyes, his form began to change, drawing inward as it s.h.i.+mmered into the slowly solidifying image of a man. When his transformation finished, before her huddled a beautiful, black-haired man, staring back at her with dark eyes, wide-set and soulful, accentuated by high cheekbones.

Each gaped at the other for what seemed endless moments, Kelsey fearing even to blink. Her stranger wore all black-some kind of uniform-with a thick bulletproof vest. He dressed like a soldier, and as he searched her face, he obviously made calculations. Could she be trusted? Should he reveal more of himself? As he studied her, though, the wariness in his expression vanished, replaced instead by the flicker of deep recognition. She s.h.i.+vered, and not just because she had the sense that this stranger knew her-but rather because she felt he'd always known her.

But then his labored breathing grew more extreme, his eyes rolling back briefly into his head. Something was wrong with the man: Blood seeped from a huge gash across his brow. Lifting a hand, he touched the wound, then stared down at sticky red blood on his fingertips.

”I don't believe it,” he half whispered, shaking his head. He seemed stunned, confused, but also very aware of his predicament.

”You don't believe what?” she cried, her eyes growing wide with a mixture of confusion and fear. Her words seemed to weaken him, and he bent lower, scrabbling at the earth with his open hand.

”Kelsey.” He gasped hoa.r.s.ely. ”I won't... hurt you.”

”No, see, how do you know my name?” she demanded, struggling to breathe as she rose to her feet. At least she could gain the physical advantage that way. ”There's no way you can know my name.”

The dark eyes opened, lifting to meet her own, and she saw kindness there. Unsurpa.s.sed strength. ”You are Kelsey Wells,” he answered, reaching a hand to his shoulder. That was when she saw the deep wound there-his left arm was nearly severed from his body, and dangled, useless, at his side.

”What happened to you?” she asked, stepping closer despite her self-protective instincts. ”You're really hurt. Badly.”

Her a.s.sessment seemed to steal some of his life force, and he almost collapsed, but caught his hand on the ground between them. ”Too weak,” he whispered. ”Too weak. Can't hold form.” Then suddenly the man vanished, replaced by the bright wall of energy. Only this time the glow seemed to have faded somewhat. Was he dying?

”Please,” she said, drawing closer, wanting, oddly enough, to rea.s.sure the stranger. ”Tell me who you are. What you are. I want to help.”

Not safe. The words sounded within her mind. Glancing around them, she s.h.i.+vered.

”No, no,” she insisted, lifting a hand to s.h.i.+eld her eyes against his brightness. ”You are safe with me.”

Was he afraid of her? He didn't seem afraid, but as she opened her hands, he withdrew sharply. No! she heard him say, clear as a thunderclap within her mind. No, not touch!

”Okay,” she agreed, taking a tentative step closer, until she stood almost at the. water's frigid edge. ”Okay, I won't touch you.”

Never touch.

Still, she did want to touch him, burned to do it, as irra-tional as that thought was. She ached for more of his heat, for more of the fire he had unleashed deep inside of her body, and it seemed that touching was the only way to have more of him.

As if reading her thoughts, he again warned, Never touch me. Still, he edged cautiously closer.

A strange wave of defiance overcame her. ”Why not?” she asked, tilting her face toward his brightness, forcing her eyes open.

Because... could hurt you.

”No,” she said, answering on instinct, shaking her head. ”I don't believe you would ever hurt me.” How can I know that? She wasn't sure, but the certainty settled as a firm, substantial peace inside of her heart.

In reply, he released a panting sound, a rattled gasp for breath, his energy visibly dimming in reaction.

Heart pounding, Kelsey took a step closer, ignoring his warnings. ”Who's after you?” she asked, searching across the water. ”Please. Maybe I can help.”

Silence, gasps, desperate breathing. Then, Yes. That was the last thing she heard before she felt him enter her. Felt him, like a fanning breeze across her skin, un.o.btrusive, tender, apologetic.

Nothing in her twenty-eight years had come close to the sensations she instantly experienced. She sensed him move quickly within her, felt her chest tighten, her whole body tremble. Like burning fingers, he caressed all the way into her very core. ”Amazing,” she whispered, wondering how he maintained a distance of at least four feet yet seemed somehow to enter her body simultaneously. But then, he spoke within her mind, so why should this surprise her?

Touching her abdomen, she felt his fire build there, and she cried out in response, sliding to the ground. ”Please,” she moaned, lying back on the earth, feeling him everywhere. G.o.d, he'd set her on fire, teasing her toward an unseen edge. Like some erotic torturer, he kept setting her ablaze, but he begged for her silence.

Danger here, he cautioned hoa.r.s.ely; then all the heat and intensity of his touch flamed cold. Done. He'd finished with her. As quickly as he'd begun something she might dream about until the end of her days, he had withdrawn himself from inside of her.

Staggering to her feet, she reached toward him, but he spun from her, diminis.h.i.+ng to the smallest of radiant lights: From above she heard a quiet whirring sound, and as her gaze lifted, she glimpsed a large cloaked craft almost visible against the dark night sky. It came so stealthily, so imperceptibly, she would never have spotted the thing if not for the dull humming sound that accompanied it.

And then, just like that, he soared out of sight, swallowed into the belly of the craft. The s.h.i.+p lifted, leaving her on the sh.o.r.e, and she raised her arms, still trying to reach him. He'd been inside of her, touched a yearning place where no other man had ever been-yet he'd never once allowed her to touch him in return.

”Please, sir!” came a shout.

”Out of the way!” thundered another, a voice Jared recognized as one of the medics'. A group of them knotted around where he'd collapsed on the transport floor, carefully maintaining a safe perimeter apart from him. His energy ebbed low and cool-a fact that had to be obvious to every one of the soldiers on the cruiser.

Scott Dillon's worried face appeared in his line of sight. ”Jared, what happened?” his best friend demanded, kneeling low beside him.