Awake at Dawn (8 page)

“I mean,” Della answered, “are you going to start liking Kevin, or are you planning to hang in there with the shape-shifter in hopes that Perry will…”

“Don’t say it. Leave his testicles out of your dialogue.” Miranda pointed a finger at Della.

Della jumped the rest of the way off the steps then looked back up at Miranda with mock innocence. “I wasn’t going to mention his testicles.” From the grin on Della’s face, Kylie knew the vampire was lying.

Nevertheless, she had a good point.

“She’s right.” Kylie put in her two cents’ worth. “You need to make a decision.”

Miranda frowned and pulled back her hair. They walked a few minutes without talking. Miranda seemed to be contemplating something.

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“But I don’t have to make it like … right now,” Miranda said. “Do I? I mean, there’s a chance that Kevin will just forget it happened. It wasn’t really even that good of a kiss.”

“Hey, Miranda.” The voice came from about fifty feet behind them.

All three girls turned around and confronted the mediocre kisser moving down the walking path.

“Fat chance that he forgot,” Della said and sniffed the air. “You don’t even want to know about his hormones right now. The guy’s got it bad for you.”

“Really?” Miranda asked. “I thought you said you couldn’t read the hormones and pheromones of a shape-shifter? When Perry was a bird, you said—”

“I said I didn’t know what horny birds smelled like. But in their natural states, shape-shifters pollute the air with their lust just like everyone else does.” She waved a hand in front of her face.

Miranda looked from Della to Kevin, who was closing in on them.

“Hi.” He stopped right in front of the three of them. Kylie had never really noticed Kevin before, but she supposed he was kind of hot in his own way. Not anywhere near Derek’s status, but he had some boy charm.

And if you asked Kylie, he was even cuter than Perry, not that Kylie dis-liked Perry. The shape-shifter had sort of grown on Kylie these last few weeks.

“Did you sleep well?” Kevin asked Miranda, and dropped his hands inside the pocket of his khaki shorts. Kylie noted the navy T-shirt he wore hung a bit loose on his medium-size frame. His hair, a brownish blond, hung a little on the long side. He grinned, his blue-eyed gaze zeroing in on Miranda with obvious romantic interest.

“Yeah,” Miranda answered, which was a lie, and Kylie noted Della rolling her eyes.

“I thought maybe we could walk together to breakfast,” Kevin said.

“Okay. I guess.”

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Miranda looked to Kylie as if to ask if she thought her answer had been a mistake.

Kylie didn’t know what to think, so she just smiled nonchalantly. No doubt, if Perry found out Miranda and Kevin were hooking up, he would be hurt. While Kylie wasn’t afraid of Perry, a lot of other campers feared his powers. So hurting Perry could be a bad thing. But then Kylie saw the blush rise in Miranda cheeks and she also noticed how the girl stood a little straighter. Right or wrong, Kevin’s interest in her was doing wonders for her friend’s confidence.

When Miranda and Kevin took off ahead, Kylie and Della hung back.

They stood there without talking until Miranda and Kevin took the turn in the trail that offered them some privacy.

“Whatcha think?” Kylie asked Della as they both started walking at a slow pace so as not to catch up with the two ahead of them.

Della rolled her eyes. “I think sooner or later some serious shit is going to hit the fan.”

“Yeah, but did you see how her eyes lit up?” Kylie asked. “Everyone wants to think a guy likes her. Maybe Perry will see it and realize he needs to make a move.”

“That’s when the shit will hit the fan. You do not play with a shape-shifter’s emotions, especially not one as powerful as he is. I’m telling you, the fact that Perry didn’t turn himself into a wild boar and gore your ass the night you bobbed his ear is a miracle. It was the first thing Chan explained about the supernatural world to me. Beware of shape-shifters, they are one badass species.”

Della tilted her head to the side as if listening. “Oh, shit. Make that sooner.”

“What?” Kylie asked, not that Della answered.

Della had disappeared. Kylie didn’t understand until she heard Miranda scream and some serious animal roaring punctuated the morning air.

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Running with everything she had, which was amazingly fast compared to the speed she could run a month ago, Kylie got to the V in the trail just in time to see two huge black bears swinging claws at one another.

Della was holding Miranda, who fought to get away, as if she wanted to break up the fighting animals. It took Kylie about half a second to realize that these weren’t your average giant bears. Nope. They had to be Perry and Kevin.

When the larger bear raked its claw across the other bear’s shoulder and blood squirted onto the dirt path, Kylie screamed out, “Stop it!” She would have gotten more attention from a brick wall. The two angry animals continued to swing at each other. Suddenly, a few sparkles filled the air, and one bear transformed into a lion, a lion about the size of a minivan. Its roar rang so loud, it hurt Kylie’s ears. Within a few more seconds, the other bear transformed into a lion—only larger. The sound of clashing teeth could be heard between the piercing roars, and more blood moistened the dry earth beneath their paws.

Kylie didn’t know if the damage the two shape-shifters did to each other was permanent or if when they transformed they came back in one piece. When one lion grabbed the other by the throat, Kylie realized she couldn’t just stand by and watch these two possibly kill each other. Not thinking about the consequences, she flung herself into the mix, grabbed the larger lion by its mane, and yanked as hard as she could.

“Don’t do that,” Della yelled out, and while Kylie couldn’t see her, she suspected Della was talking to her. And just when Kylie actually considered listening to Della’s advice, the huge cat stood up on his back paws, bringing Kylie up with him. With her two fists knotted in the orange hair of the lion’s mane, Kylie’s feet swung in the air. The beast opened its mouth, blood dripped from his teeth, and it roared with fury unlike anything Kylie had ever heard. The feline’s angry eyes cut back at Kylie. She saw the eyes turn from a deep gold to purple. And somehow she knew this was Perry.

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“Put me down and stop fighting!” she yelled.

Right then the other lion rammed Perry in the side. The hit jolted Perry back and Kylie almost lost her hold on the mane. She looked to the ground a good six feet below. The fall would no doubt hurt, might break a bone, but she would survive. However, the fall would also put her right in the path of Kevin’s angry swipes and snapping jaws. Surviving that might be a little harder, so she tightened her hold on the mane and hung on for dear life.

Perry started shaking his head as if to rid himself of her presence. She swung from the right to the left like a not-so-loved stuffed animal in the hands of an angry child. Kylie’s fingers started to slip. She glanced back down, trying to figure out an escape route, but her thoughts shifted when she saw Kevin’s jaws sink into Perry’s soft lion underbelly. Tightening her hold on the thick mane, she raised her foot and kicked the attacking lion right in the eye to stop him from killing Perry. Kevin let go, but when he retreated, Kylie saw blood dripping from his mouth.

Perry roared, from pain or fury Kylie wasn’t sure. Maybe both.

Kylie heard Della yelling something. Next, Kylie felt her friend flying past as if in an attempt to rescue her, but each time she passed, Perry would shift direction, moving Kylie out of Della’s reach.

“Enough!” Kylie screamed at the lions. “Both of you, stop it! Stop it or I’ll get the death angels here.”

The words no more than left her mouth when Kylie felt the temperature drop around her. The air in her throat felt icy. Her idle threat rang in her ears. But then she couldn’t help but wonder … Did she have the power to call forth the death angels or was this just Daniel or another ghost making their presence known at an inopportune time?

Or maybe an appropriate time.

Hadn’t Daniel helped her in the past? Suddenly it didn’t matter, because she saw bright orange sparkles appearing around Kevin. Perry drew back his right paw as if to attack Kevin during his morphing stage.

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“Don’t do it, Perry,” Kylie demanded.

Perry roared as if complaining, but he came back down on his four paws. Kylie let go of his mane and dropped. Still a couple feet off the ground, she landed off balance on her feet and then fell flat on her butt.

When she looked up, there were sparkles appearing around Perry and she saw his human form take shape. With clothes, thank goodness.

He looked down at her, his eyes glowing bright yellow, and fury still filled his expression. But he wasn’t bleeding. “That was stupid of you.

Never, never ever get in the middle of a fight with shape-shifters. You could die.”

“You’re scolding me?” Kylie asked, flabbergasted that he had the nerve to reprimand her. “I wasn’t the one trying to maul a fellow campmate.

And I was trying to protect you.” She leaned on one hip and rubbed her bruised backside.

“I didn’t need protecting.” His voice boomed and his gaze shot to Miranda.

Glancing back at Kevin, Kylie realized his changing process took longer than Perry’s. As soon as Kevin appeared, he stepped away from Perry.

“This isn’t over. We’ll finish this later,” Perry said to Kevin, his voice sounding more like a roar.

“Fine.” Kevin stared Perry right in the eyes, and Kylie almost thought they were going to start again, but Kevin turned and walked off.

Kylie realized it took nerve to turn your back on Perry when you’d just taken a chunk out of his belly. But somehow the fact that Kevin was the one to walk away, that he never once looked at Miranda, left Kylie with little doubt which of the two held more power.

* * *

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When Kevin disappeared into the woods, Kylie waited for Perry to say something to Miranda. But no one spoke. The birds in the distance started back on their song.

“Are you okay?” Miranda asked.

Kylie looked up to assure Miranda that she was fine, but then she realized that Miranda wasn’t talking to her, but to Perry. Kylie shifted her gaze to him. He looked fine. Not a scratch on him. Which meant that when shape-shifters changed back into human form they healed from any injuries they’d received. And that meant Kylie had thrown herself in the middle of the fight and gotten a bruised ass for no good reason at all. She could have let them rip each other to shreds. She should have.

Just friggin’ great. Still sitting on the ground, propped up on one side of her hip, she gave her backside another rub and watched as Miranda moved closer to Perry.

“Why did you do that?” Miranda sounded half honored he’d fought for her and half pissed because, well, he’d fought for her. “Tell me.” She took another step toward the source of her anger.

“I felt like it,” Perry growled back. Indeed, his anger became apparent in the way his body changed the moment she stepped closer. His posture hardened as if he was unable to bend. His blond hair hung scattered over his sweaty brow. His eyes were blue for a second, then changed to bright green.

He still personified the fierce appearance of an angry lion—gone was the jokester, the guy who always had something funny or sarcastic to say.

And for the first time, Kylie understood why everyone was a little frightened of him.

“You didn’t do it because of me?” Miranda asked, obviously not picking up on the fury he wore like an outer skin. “Because you were jealous?” Perry didn’t answer Miranda. He just stared at her and asked his own question. “So it’s true?”

“What’s true?” Miranda said.

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“You kissed him,” Perry said. “I didn’t believe him when he told me. I thought he was just trying to piss me off, but he wasn’t making it up, was he? You really did it. You kissed him.” Miranda’s eyes grew a tad larger. “Yes.” Silence hung in the hot morning air.

“No,” she blurted out, and shook her head, sending the streaks of pink, black, and green in her hair intermingling with each movement. “I didn’t kiss him. He kissed me.”

“But you kissed him back,” he accused.

Kylie held her breath. Della came to stand beside Kylie and extended her hand. Kylie accepted Della’s help and, once upright, she reached back and gave her rear end another rub.

“Answer me,” Perry demanded.

Kylie’s gaze shot back to Miranda and Perry. The tension radiating from the couple seemed to suck all the oxygen from the air and made it hard to look away.

“This could get nasty,” Della said.

Kylie crossed her fingers that this whole mess could somehow have a good ending to it—that the only thing nasty to come out of it would be her sore ass.

“Be honest,” Perry demanded.

Miranda hesitated before answering. “I … I didn’t kiss him back.” Della shifted her head closer to Kylie’s ear and whispered, “She’s lying.”

Perry took a step closer to Miranda and studied her as if trying to figure out if he believed her. “Why don’t I believe you?” He paused. “And even if you didn’t kiss him back, you didn’t stop him.” Miranda hesitated and then her shoulders dropped as if in defeat, and Kylie knew Miranda had decided to come clean.

“No. I didn’t stop him. And yeah, maybe I did kiss him back just a little. But—”

“That’s all I need to know.” Raw and bitter pain filled Perry’s color-changing eyes and for a second all Kylie could think about was feeling that same hurt when she’d seen Trey with his new girlfriend plastered at his side. Then there was the pain of seeing Mandy kiss Derek. And don’t forget when she learned that Lucas had run off with Fredericka.

“That’s not fair,” Miranda said.

“Oh, it’s not fair, but that’s just too bad,” Perry said. “It could have been good between us.” He turned around and walked away.

He got about ten feet down the path when Miranda called out to him.

“Aren’t you curious about why I didn’t stop him?” 71/375