Skin Walkers Conn (18 page)

Aries
watched in appreciation as he stretched his large powerful frame. 
Her eyes traveled over the large expanse of his back, down his tapered waist to rest on his perfect muscular ass. 

When he turned to eye her, she quickly looked away and feigned
interest in
their surroundings. 

With the
motor off
, the cold wind cut through the jeep and had
Aries
wrapping
her
arms around herself. 
She didn’t have a coat and seriously wasn’t looking forward to trekking to wherever this so-called bunker was located.
  She clicked open the door and made to push it open, but looked up when she felt resistance. 

Conn’s breath fogged the glass as he towered outside her door.  “Wait here.  It’ll take me a minute to dig out the entry.
  Start the jeep if your cold.
”  He pushed her door closed and Aries could only watch as he stalked toward the mountainside. 

She cringed when he sunk to his hips in deep crunchy snow
and refrained from starting the jeep to warm herself, feeling guilty at being nestled in the still slightly warm confines while he was out in the cold
. 
She shook her head.  She had no idea h
ow in the hell he was supposed to dig out
that much snow without a shovel
.

He forced
himself to struggle forward a few more steps
then
Conn finally stopped and lifted his head.  He looked left then right and Aries watched his nostrils flare. 
What is he smelling?
  The question died instantly when he dropped to his hands and knees and nearly disappeared into the deep snow.  Seconds later, it looked like the snow had caved in on him. 

Aries threw her door open and had one leg out when she saw a massive white bear grow before her eyes in the exact location Conn had just been.
  Gasping she jerked her door closed and the noise drew the bear’s large head around as it eyed her. 

One lone
scar
cut across the bruin’s face
and
marred the soft looking fur. 
Conn!

The bear turned back around and
lumbered its massive form a few feet up the mountainside before it rose on its hind legs to its full height then dropped with full force
, pushing shoulder deep into the snow.  Slowly at first, then more rapidly, the bear began paddling with its large paws, sending snow shooting up between its back legs as it dug through the snow.  The bear backed up slowly, digging all the while
until a long trench down the mountainside began to form. 

Pushing herself higher in the seat, Aries tried to see over the bear’s massive form to try and catch a glimpse of th
e
hidden bunker.  She saw a door
above the bear and was concentrating on it when she almost missed the bear begin to shrink.  It slowly melted into the snow and white fell away from strong shoulders to reveal bare muscular flesh.  Aries could only gape as Conn knelt waist deep in the snow.  A ripple of color crept up from where the snow hid his lower half and she watched in wonder as Conn’s clothes regenerated on his form, covering him in the exact clothes he’d been wearing before he’d shifted.

He stood and approached the vehicle and Aries had to force her mouth closed, knowing she was staring at him like he’d just grown two heads.

He opened her door, “You ready?”

Wordlessly, she
turned to climb down knowing that her
slippered
feet were in for one
artic
walk.  Instead, Conn reached into the vehicle and slid one hand under her knees and the
other behind her back before pulling her into his chest.  Instantly, she
noted how warm he was. 
Must have been the exertion.

“It’s okay, I can walk.”  She
dropped her arms that had instinctively wrapped around his neck, but Conn only lifted her higher.

“Too cold,” was his lone response.

She was
carried
up the plowed path and
through the opened
door that was dug into the mountain
side
. 

Inside the bunker
he set her down and the first thing she noticed was that the interior
was dark and muggy.  It smelled like wet earth.  The thick iron door clanged closed behind her and Aries reached out blindly for Conn.

“The light’s will be on in a minute.”

Her fingers brushed against cloth
and she gripped it with both hands.  When the lights flashed on she winced against the sudden brightness and instantly released her hold on Conn’s shirt.

Tur
n
ing she took in her new temporary home.  The bunker was not what she’d expected.  She’d envisioned some dilapidated underground fallout shelter, but this was defiantly not dilapidated. 

The room was long and narrow, resembling the inside of a few train cars placed end-to-end.  The front door opened into a small kitchenette with stove, fridge, and cupboards.  To her right a small table with two chairs
sat against one wall while the other was lined with shelves upon shelves of
provisions
.  Food mostly, but there also appeared to be clothing and first aid
supplies
as well.

To her left, the kitchen ended and a wall with a single door bifurcated the bunker. 

Conn pointed to the door.  “Bedroom’s in there.  Bathroom too.”

Aries swallowed, “One bedroom?”

“One bedroom.  I think we can manage.”

Aries crossed to the door and pushed it open.  A large bed sat against one wall.  Further
in the room the bunker was cut-
off by another wall with another single door
that led to
what she assumed was the bathroom.  The
walls of the
bunker
were plain, but the structure was clearly built for necessity not comfort.

“I’ll start dinner.  You can rest if you like.”

“Speaking of, how are we…” she flushed at the juvenile question before it was even asked.  After all, they were two adults.  They could share a bed, couldn’t they?

“You can take the bed.  I’ll sleep on the floor.”

Slightly offended that he’d so easily dismissed the idea of sharing
a bed with her,
Aries
’
brow furrowed. 
“How very magnanimous of you,” her tone dripped
with sarcasm.

“Is it lost on you that I’m out here
against the wishes of CEO
StoneCrow
and
against direct orders from my c
ommander?”

Aries didn’t miss a beat.  “Is it lost on you that
I’m
out here against
my
wishes.  If you recall, I was doing fine all alone in the jungle.”

“Doing fine?” Conn scoffed.  “You call living in that shit hole doing fine?
”

Indignant, Aries glared at him.  “I
was
doing fine.  I was alive wasn’t I?”

“You wouldn’t have been for long.”

“You don’t know that.  You do
n’t know what I’m capable of, or w
hat I’m capable of surviving.”  She blinked back tears, “You have no fucking idea what I’ve already endured.  And why?” She threw her arms in the air, “Because of
your
people.  Because Mason thought I was
somebody that I wasn’t.
”  She turned her back on him and stormed to the bedroom.  “You should have just left me the hell alone in my ‘shit hole’!”

Conn followed her and caught the door before she could slam it.  He entered the room just as angry and slammed the door himself.  “You know what Aries
?
I’m tired of tiptoeing around this subject with you so let’s get on
e thing clear right now.  Skin W
alkers are not just
my
people.”  He jabbed a finger in her direction as she scrambled up on the bed and pulled a pillow over her lap as she frowned darkly at him.  “They are
your
people too.  Whether you like it or not beautiful you
are
a Skin W
alker.  It’s time you get used to the idea.”

Her frown faltered at the declaration and gave way to shock.
“I am not a Skin W
alker,” she challenged without any true conviction.

Enraged, Conn stomped toward her and ripped the pillow from her grasp
, threw it against the wall then grabbed her arms and forced
her back on the bed.  His face hovered inches above her
s, “You’re a Skin W
alker and we’re not leaving this bunker until you come to terms with that fact.”

With her heart racing, Aries fought the swell of fear that threatened to overwhelm her. 
She was terrified, not of Conn, but of his words. 
It can’t be true
! 

He
loosened his grip on her and his
scowl
softened
as
he slowly stood and backed away.  “I’d never hurt you Aries.”

She
slowly
sat up but didn’t look at him.  “I don’t know you.”  She lifted her eyes, “I don’t know any of you.  And I
don’t know what
you hop
e to gain by saying that I’m a
Skin Walker
.  Everything’s happening too quickly.”  She turned her head to the side.  “I just want to be left alone.”

“Understood,” Conn turned to exit, but her words halted him.

“Not by you!  By them
!
  I just want them to stop chasing me, to let me be.”  She fidgeted nervously with a loose string on the comforter that covered the bed
, “Sometimes I wonder if…”

H
e still had his back to her. 
“If what?”

She closed her eyes
and her shoulders slumped.
“If I stopped running
, i
f I just let them have me
, maybe it’d be easier to just get it
all
over with
.”
  She felt the bed move and looked up to find Conn sitting on the foot of the bed staring at her. 

“You can’t give up Aries.  You can’t ever give up.”
  His tone was soft but demanding.

“I know,” she shrugged negligently, “I just wish…”

“That it was easier?”

She laughed, “That I could just rest a minute.”  She looked up at him as he stood, “Do you think that’s too much to ask?”

He smiled
weakly
, “No.”  He walked to the door and pulled it open, “You can rest
here Aries.  No one will find us and if anyone did, they’d have to go through me to get to you.” 

He turned to leave and Aries couldn’t help but ask, “Why is that?”

“Why is what?”

“Why would you fight for me Conn?  Why are you
protecting
me
, as you said,
against the
wishes of
Monroe
and against the direct orders of
Tyce
?”

“I’m asking myself the same thing.”  He opened the door and exited the room without another word.

***

Damn
, he’d been prepared for the question from his men, but not from Aries herself.  How could he explain to her why he was risking his rank and probably his life to protect her when he couldn’t even explain it to himself. 

Shoving an angry hand into his hair he stalked to the small kitchenette and jerked out two cans of soup, a
tin
of peanut butter and a sealed bag of hardtack
.  He kept his bunker well stocked in case of any emergency.  He had enough food
and
water
to last him six months, luckily he’d never had to hunker down that long.

He glanced at the bedroom door and wondered whether Aries was trying to get some sleep.  He’d meant what he’d said about protecting her and whether it was from the
Megalya
, Monroe
StoneCrow
, or even
Tyce
himself, Conn wouldn’t let anyone near her without
defending her with his life
. 

He snatched the p-38 from where it hung by a magnet on the fridge and began
widdling
it back and forth to open the first can of soup.  After circling the lid he peeled it back and dumped the contents of the can into the sauce pan on the hotplate.
  He hadn’t checked the label but it appeared to be some form of bean and bacon soup. 
 

Picking up the second can he frowned at it before returning it to the cupboard. 
Who am I kidding?
He was still unable to keep any food down, and while he was ravished
,
his body refused the nourishment. 
He’d have to do something about that soon.  He could feel his body becoming sluggish and whether it was the lack of nutrition or lack of sleep, he knew he wouldn’t be able to protect
himself, let alone Aries in the state he was in.