Chapter Three

“Idiot woman.” Gray hissed the words from his perch far above.

Today with his eyes honed by an Eagle shift, he could stay well clear of the woman’s meager sight and enjoy the warmth of the sun on his broad wings. Much preferable to hiding in the trees.

“I should just finish her now. It would be considered within reason.”

Even as he spoke the words, a niggling feeling of discomfort ruined the thought of tearing her succulent body to pieces. Curious. Once his mind was set on a course of action he never usually wavered. Then he heard the voice of his mother calming him. Of course. She always had been soft on humans. He sighed. Not yet then.

Spotting a lamb separated from its flock, Gray dropped into a dive. He would feed first then he and the woman would speak.

“Revealing myself to a human,” he almost spat at the thought of it. She would have exactly five minutes to state her case. That was all.

He landed on the lamb and broke its neck, before tearing through its chest to its still beating heart.

His mind raced as he feasted. The woman better be a good talker. Her life now depended on it.

****

Full of granola and quickly brewed coffee, Yasmin found the terrors of the falling dream easing out of her shoulders.

“It was only a dream.”

So, what about the feather, Einstein?

Taking out the thing of beauty from where she’d wound it in her hair, she stroked it. A birdman.

There were witches and storm walkers back in Nevada, but not birdmen. They were one old species of Otherworlders. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had mentioned them.

“I bet most people don’t even believe they exist. Sure wouldn’t back home.”

Yasmin bit her lip. This would make things much more complicated. Especially if there was some sort of territory dispute no one at the council had thought to mention.

But then no one at the council spoke to her much. “Darn politicians,” she kicked at a clump of stray dirt. Life seemed to be repeating itself.

“I’m just supposed to be an ordinary citizen here. It’s hard enough fitting in as it is.”

Maybe it was a hangover from her previous job in the securities department, but she was sure everyone looked at her as if she was about to knife them. That or they just didn’t like someone from out of town working with them. “Like I had much choice.”

Leaving Reno had been harder than she’d imagined. But with half the Witch Council demanding she apologize for doing her job, and a small faction actively wanting her dead, her old boss had loaded her onto a bus and dumped her into this new job on the other side of the country.

Stupid politics!

Her department had been tasked with tracking and breaking a bunch of wayward witches, but someone got to the Nevada governor and petitioned that the whole thing be dropped.

Only no one told her.

The thought of the accusations that had been thrown at her brought a lump to her throat. “I guess someone had to be the fall guy.”

The word “fall” brought her back to the present. She stared up into the apparently empty sky.

Her past shouldn’t matter here. And her lineage was a closely kept secret she hadn’t shared with anyone except her old boss. She wouldn’t have told him if it hadn’t been for that stupid witch blowing her cover.

The years had taught Yasmin that the gifts she’d inherited from her great-grandmother weren’t always welcomed. In fact, the news that she was part of the goddess network was usually received with fear, despite the dilution generations of humanity laid over it.

“But here, I’m just an ordinary council worker.” She set her mouth. “I’m a human community outreach advisor who builds communities for goodness sakes.” At least, that’s what it said on her business card.

“They better not have sent me out into the middle of some old dispute,” she said to the forest. “No way am I getting involved this time.”

Though why the council wanted to set up an education center out here, anyway, made her wonder. Her musings echoed among the apparently empty trees.

Opening her eyes wide, she looked around again, her senses on full alert. Granted, now that daylight had banished the nighttime shadows, the place wasn’t nearly as creepy. The peninsula was surrounded by clear water, the air crisp, and those rocky outcrops offshore added a certain mystery to the view. The Landing looked beautiful. Stunning even.

Maybe it is worth protecting. Shrugging, she moved to the edge of the water to rinse her dishes. If no one was going to see fit to tell her about the politics of the place, she would just ignore them.

“Desecrating the water now as well?”

Yasmin just about choked on her tongue at the familiar deep voice. She turned and consciously had to close her mouth to keep from gaping.

The creature before her was magnificent. White blond hair covered his head, merging seamlessly into white feathers at his neck. His wings, still outstretched from his landing, were black as night but reflected blue where the sun hit them—evening blue. There was a light covering of inky feathers on the tops of his legs too, but below the knee his legs appeared ordinary. And even with the feathers on his thighs there was no hiding the power of the muscles underneath.

Even as he stood still, the colors in his feathers seemed alive, shifting and shimmering in changing patterns. But when he folded his arms, Yasmin caught her breath as the muscles in his bare chest rippled. The feathers were beautiful, but this was one hell of a man.

She swallowed. “’Morning, birdman.”

“You would do well not to mock me, human.”

He looked her full in the face and the impact made her take a step back. Because despite the beauty of his wings, the perfect sculpted form of his body, the seamless integration of man and bird, his eyes were beyond all that. They were the clearest blue, as if a new spring sky lurked there. A new spring sky, but amidst the daylight, flecks of the depths of midnight had scattered themselves round the edges. And there was something else, something she couldn’t place. Something old and murderous and dark.

Yasmin shuddered. “I don’t mean to mock.”

He cocked his head to the side, and she felt heat rise from her toes to her ears as his eyes seemed to darken further. Never had a man looked at her that frankly. It was as if he wanted to devour her.

“I—” she started, but cut herself off.

This was a man who wouldn’t bend to the whims of politicians. He was his own law and his own security division. She didn’t want to make a fool of herself in front of him.

The very opposite.

In spite of the darkness in those eyes, there was a power in them that was intoxicating. And more. Just looking at him stirred her in places she hadn’t thought about for months. Her insides warmed and tingled as the heat of a blush rushed through her and her nipples pressed hard against the confines of her bra.

“I have decided.” The deep timber of his voice sliced through her deliberations with complete disregard for her embarrassment. The power that lurked in his expression was there in his voice also. He lifted his chin and his face was almost regal in its beauty. “You will make your case to me. If you fail to convince me, you will leave. If you refuse again, you will die. You have five minutes. Begin.”