B008IJW70G EBOK (10 page)

      “I had hoped to wait until you were in college, but we don’t have the time.” A cloud shadowed Sophia’s face, worry making her eyebrows knot together. “They’re coming. It’s like a rotting carcass blowing through on the wind at times. Once you know the scent, you won’t ever forget it.”

      Riley shuddered. She’d wanted to know about this enemy. Wanted to understand. But now she wasn’t so sure. 

      “Can you tell me about them?”

      Sophia gave her a solemn nod in response, then started to pace again.

      “We call them the soul suckers. Once upon a time our ancestors called them the
Infecti
, because they infected the souls of so many. They infect then kill, gaining their strength before moving on to their next target.” 

      Riley hated the word already.
Infecti
. It just sounded so evil. 

      “They can take on the form of any animal, but they have to take over a living body. They don’t shift like us, they kill their prey by sucking out their soul and implanting theirs instead. We can only kill them when they’ve taken over a living body.”

      Riley hung off Sophia’s every word. She hated the sound of them, of what they could do. Could she really be expected to fight against them and succeed?

      “And what makes them our enemy?” she asked. “I mean I understand why we would dislike them, but what can we do?”

      “They can’t shift easily into our form. Their usual victim is a medium size animal, something large enough to give them strength. They draw strength to take over human forms.”

      “But they can sometimes take over our bodies?”

      “Yes.” Sophia stopped and put her hands on Riley’s shoulders. “They have before, but only because they want to defeat us, to get us out of the way. And only once they’ve drawn enough strength. Killing us is one of the ways they can get to the humans.”

      “What?”

      “Once every decade, they come back in some way. This time, the guiders predict they will be better prepared, and every hundred years they come back stronger. They exist to infiltrate the humans, to control, take over the species. And our century is up.”

      This was unreal. Even more unreal than anything else that had happened since she’d been here. 

      “Is that why we have an army?”

      Sophia smiled. “Yes.”

      “And do the humans know about this? Any of them?”

      “The President’s personal secret service is aware of it, but you are effectively the missing link to our puzzle. They’ve been pushing for a new, younger leader to take my place, before the next infiltration.”

      Riley tried to smile back, to look at ease, but it was all so confusing. 

      “I’ve lived here most of my life, Riley. I know this land like the back of my hand, but I can’t control everything. Not anymore.”

      She had her attention again. 

      “When Hunter found me, the day he arrived here, I saw something special in him. When he proved himself to me as a soldier, I knew he was the one for you.”

      “How?”

      “You’re my successor, Riley. The leopard for you had to be strong, able to fight anyone,
prepared
to fight anyone to the death. To help you lead against our enemy.”

      The death word hung in the air between them. Stale. Dirty. It made Riley
sick
.

      “But why now?” she asked again. 

      “Even though you couldn’t change until your seventeenth birthday, the leopards around here would have known you were the one. They would have been staking their claim on you, trying to get to you, and I didn’t want that, not until you were ready. You were safe where you were, and you needed to enjoy your time with Claudia.” She waited, like she was making sure Riley understood. “But Hunter had finished his training early, and we’d had a warning about the next attack coming early.”

      It was starting to make sense, at least the part about Sophia not inviting her to stay before. 

      “And now I have Hunter to protect me?”

      Sophia nodded. “You’ll take him, Riley. You just have to admit to yourself, and to him, that you want him.”

      Talking romance with her gran was not the purpose of this conversation. She ignored it. 

      “What do you expect of me?” Her voice sounded haunted, even to her own ears. “What do I have to do?”

      “All I expect is for you to consider what you could be, what your potential is, if you stay here. It’s your life, and you can choose your own path. But we do need you. And it’s greater than just
me
meeting you.”

      Thinking about leaving made her feel empty. Like she’d be losing something within herself that she wasn’t prepared to sacrifice.  

      “And if I go?”

      Sophia turned, took her hand again and looked deep into her eyes, as if she was searching her, looking into her soul, for an answer. 

      “I don’t think you’ll go, Riley. If you do, we’ll just have to find another way.”

      Riley felt like she’d already made her mind up. She was still torn, but there was every reason for her to stay and few for her to go home permanently. 

      Besides, how could she go home, back to school and her friends, and pretend like this had never happened? It would be hard enough thinking about not seeing Hunter again, let alone considering a life without Sophia, without being able to
change
, now that she knew how. And what could potentially happen to the human race didn’t exactly sound promising. 

      “And if I do stay?”

      Sophia had started walking again. Riley followed, like a puppy clinging to its owner. 

      “If you stay, you have to decide what your destiny here is. You can take your place as my successor sooner rather than later if you take Hunter as your,” she hesitated, before selecting her next word, “partner.”

      It was just as she thought, all questions came back to Hunter. To her taking him, accepting him.
Falling in love with him.

      “There’s no pressure, but you cannot fight and lead us forward until you have a long term mate. It’s not enough for Hunter or any other male to protect you, without every other leopard out here knowing you are spoken for. For life.”

      It sounded almost ominous when said like that. But how bad could a life bound to Hunter be? After last night, she was starting to think that a life by his side would be rather… nice. Better than nice. 

      But being married off at seventeen or eighteen, if marriage was what they called it here, was young.
Way too young
. 

      “Have you seen the future?” It was a question she’d been dying to ask Sophia for days. 

      She received a nod and a smile in return. “I have.”

      “And?”

      “Seeing forward into the future or the present is a wonderful gift our guiders can endow us with. But looking into your own personal life, into the future of it, without knowing all the twists and turns that get us there first, can do more harm than good.”

      Riley cleared her throat, still wanting to know. “But did I look happy?” She wanted to ask her more about this whole
guider
thing, but she bit her tongue. Hunter had asked her not to, and she’d given her word. 

      “If happiness is what you seek, and you are confident in Hunter now, then you are right to take him as your mate.”

      Ick. There went that word again. She was going to stick with husband in her own mind. Partner. Anything but
mate
.      

      “You have a lot to think about, Riley.” Sophia gave her a gentle pat on the back and squeezed her shoulder. “Hunter will take you to your guider. Your answer will be there. I know he’s already told you,
so go.”

      Riley grinned. There was nothing they could keep secret from her. “Sophia?”

      She met Sophia’s eyes. “When you lost your sister, and then found out what you were, did you say yes straight away?”

      Riley heard a deep voice then, projecting from behind them. She would recognize that voice anywhere. 

      
Hunter
. A voice deep, smooth as honey and so calm. 

      “She’ll try to tell you otherwise, but the answer is no.”

      Riley watched as Sophia’s face lit up at his words. At the way her smile widened as Hunter appeared behind them. She obviously cared for him, even more than Riley had realized. 

      Riley had a flutter of butterflies in her belly when she turned to listen to his voice.
Shirtless again
. She was never, ever going to get used to him looking like that. Barefoot, jeans riding so low it made her eyes wander, and a tanned, muscled chest that never failed to make her pulse ignite. 

      She hoped he hadn’t overheard their entire conversation. She wouldn’t have spoken quite so candidly. 

      “Should I tell her?”

      Sophia waved Hunter closer with her hand, smile still fixed on her face. 

      “Tell me what?” Riley asked.

      Hunter sauntered over before crossing his arms and winking at Sophia. His smug expression told her he definitely had one on her. 

      “Our current leader was a rather rebellious teenager.” He paused to smile, his eyes filled with laughter. “When her sister died, she was devastated, even more so when she found out that her life partner had been arranged for her. She was able to change straight away, almost without trying, and learnt to be faster and more devious than her mate-to-be as well as her grandparents combined.”

      Riley was enjoying this. Imagining Sophia as a natural shifter, yet so cunning she was prepared to rebel. “Go on.”

      “Rumor has it that she flat out refused to stay and take her position as leader, went so far as to flirt with all the other male leopards, and even challenged her chosen mate to public spectacles where she made him look the fool by beating him. Oh, and that was before she flounced off back home and refused to become part of the pack.”

      Riley knew her jaw was hanging open. “Seriously?”

      Sophia nodded, telling her his words were true. There was a sparkle, a wetness in her eyes that told Riley the story went deeper. 

      “So you humiliated my grandfather in front of all the other leopards and disrespected your own grandparents?”

      Sophia just nodded in reply, but Riley didn’t miss the smile in her eyes.  

      “So what happened?”

      “Your grandfather happened,” Sophia said, in a soft voice Riley hadn’t heard her use before. “Followed me back to my home town and courted me the traditional way. Eventually I gave in, but I always challenged him. You might say it was hard to know which one of us was the alpha at times.”

      “But in the end you came back and fulfilled your destiny.” If she hadn’t been so concerned about having to travel the same path herself, the story would have sounded romantic. Instead of terrifying. 

      “Yes I did,” Sophia nodded again, only this time there was a hint of sadness. “And I fell in love.”

      Hunter was silent now, but he was still watching Sophia. His cat-like eyes taking everything in. Riley looked between them, watched the way they seemed to connect, the way their eyes flickered over one another’s. 

      “He didn’t die of a heart attack, did he?” Riley hadn’t even thought to question that until now. But suddenly it seemed clear. Her grandmother had lost her soul mate, her true love, to their enemy. She could just feel it. Sophia had sacrificed and lost everything. And she’d been alone for so long already.       

      It looked like a storm of rain clouds had just brewed in her grandmother’s eyes. Even Hunter was silent, his body language closed. Waiting for Sophia to explain in her own words. 

      “He died the last time
they
were here. He fought for me, for all of us, and we were so close to succeeding.”

      “But they killed him?” Riley’s voice whispered, almost without her asking it to. 

      “He took down so many of them, single handed. Was one of the best soldiers, fighters, we’d ever had.”

      It didn’t need to be said. She understood what had happened. Could see it in her mind without the need for Sophia to explain. 

      Riley looked up at Hunter. She saw in his face that he would do the same, give his life for the cause, but she also saw that he would protect her. From anything, for any reason, so long as he could keep her safe. But it meant that if she accepted him, and her place amongst the pack, the same fate could await them. If she let herself
fall in love
with him, gave herself to him, she could lose him and then face a lifetime of heartache. 

      If the guiders were right, and a storm was brewing now, then they might not even have long together. Months instead of years. Just when she was starting to warm to the idea, when she might actually want him like that, she could just as easily lose him forever. 

      “Hunter?”

      He snapped to attention, eyes moving from Sophia to her. 

      “I want to go see Claudia now. Can you take me?”

      Riley needed to see her for herself. Needed to know for sure that Claudia existed and seek her guidance. Needed her other half more than ever. She had a big decision to make. And only her sister was going to give her the answer she needed. 

      Hunter glanced at Sophia as if for permission and received a nod of her head in approval. Riley felt in her bones that she needed to choose now. Today. Even if she just kept it to herself, in her heart and in her mind she needed to know. 

      “Yes, but tomorrow. It’s safer to go in the morning, so you’re back before late afternoon from the forest,” said Sophia. “I’m sorry, love, I’ve kept you talking too long and now the time has passed.”

      Riley was so gutted she could have screamed, her body covered in goose pimples just at the thought of seeing Claudia again. But she would wait, she had to. Because she had no other choice. Hope flickered in her chest, calmed her. The idea of even seeing Claudia made her body hum with anticipation.