Amanda's Wolves(20)

Hey, look at that. A solid thought. Expressed verbally with nouns and everything.

As if forcing herself to break the spell she was under, she jerked her gaze toward the night sky and blinked several times to drag herself out of the trance. Maybe she was hypnotized. This far away from both cities the sky was vibrant with the twinkle of stars.

Logan spoke again. “Oh. I heard they were going to do that study. Some of the college kids were talking about it at the lodge. Did they warn you how unwelcome you would be?”

Amanda flinched, her eyes going wide. “At the college? Why would I be unwelcome?”

“Because people are not generally in favor of the idea of integrating.”

“Yeah, the woman mentioned that. Geez, how bad can it be? I’ve never heard of such a thing. There must be other reasons for the high drop-out rate among the Native Americans.”

Logan frowned as though he totally disagreed with her. Weird.

Sawyer slapped him on the shoulder. “Stop harassing her. She just got here. She doesn’t know how it is.” He turned to face Amanda. “The Native Americans aren’t fond of being forced to play nice. Neither are the whites. It’s been an issue here for a long time. Few people are going to receive this notice well.”

Amanda shrugged. “Well, I have tough skin. I can handle it.” Plus she refused to believe anyone would harass her for doing a study.

Logan still stared, his eyes not blinking. She felt like she was falling under some sort of spell.

Hell, maybe that was how this weird commune worked. They hypnotized women and then kept them. In fact, as absurd as that idea was, Amanda jumped to her feet and took several paces backward, away from the two men staring at her as though they wanted to devour her, and the woman on the swing who looked shocked.

“You okay, Amanda?” Laurie asked.

“Yep. Fine. I should go.” She pointed toward her car, but couldn’t find the right neurons to tell her legs to move.

Logan stood abruptly also. “No.” His word was quick and sharp.

It startled her.

“I mean… It’s early. Are you in a hurry?”

“No.” She wanted to kick herself for uttering that one syllable without thinking. She should have lied and said yes and gotten the hell off this piece of land before she got sucked into the strange vortex that seemed to call to her as though the wind itself was beckoning her to stay. Like forever. “What are you?” she asked without thinking. Suddenly she had no filter.

Logan looked startled. “You mean who?”

“Right. Yes. I mean who.”

Laurie’s soft voice oozed into the night again. “They’re family, Amanda.”

Family.

What did she mean by that? Laurie’s family? Amanda’s family?

She shuddered, even though the night air wasn’t that chilly. Surprising. She glanced down, realizing she’d left her sweater inside where she’d been too warm earlier. She stood there in her white tank top, her nipples puckered to stiff points no one could miss.

She crossed her arms and swallowed. What could she say to easily get away from this insanity? “I should go. My sister…”

“I’ll call her.” Laurie jumped up. “I’ll let her know you’ll be here a while longer. If it gets too late, you could stay. I’ll tell her.” She fled the porch and re-entered the house so fast her movements were a blur.

When the front door shut with a loud slam, Amanda flinched. She needed to gather her wits and find a nice way to get to her car. “Nice to meet you both. Your, um, nieces and nephew were a pleasure to watch.”

“Amanda…” Sawyer began, his voice trailing off.

“Yeah. See, I feel a little strange. Maybe I’m coming down with something. I should really get home.”

“Come here,” Logan said. “Before you fall.”

Now that he mentioned it, her legs were wobbly, and she stood precariously close to the steps leading to the driveway.

Sawyer lurched forward and grabbed her biceps before she stumbled and fell.

“Thanks…” She tipped her head back to meet his gaze. He was so much taller than her own five-feet-four that he hovered over her like a giant.

His expression was serious, his brow furrowed in concentration, and his lips parted. He inhaled long and slow and deep, and then his shoulders slumped as he moaned around the exhale.

If she could have broken contact with him, she would have. His fingers seemed to burn where all ten of them wrapped around her biceps.

He pulled her gently closer and then released her arm with one hand to wrap it around her back and haul her against his chest. At the same time, he buried his face in her hair and breathed in again, as if smelling her.