Vision in Silver(99)

            Sharp steel kissed the skin she’d been scratching. She shuddered, and her face was filled with such terrible pain, Nathan was sure he had killed her. Then her face changed, and he caught the strong scent of lust as Meg began to speak.

            The delicious scent of fresh blood filled the air. Sweet blood. Hot. Rich. More potent than any other scent around him.

            Nathan’s mouth watered and he craved a taste of that blood. Just one little taste.

            He shook his head, trying to clear it. Had to listen. That was his job now, to listen.

            “Happy mask,” Meg said. “Angry face. Ice chest. Heart. Rotting meat.”

            She said the same words twice. Then she sighed . . . and relaxed.

            Nathan leaned closer. He should lick the blood, clean the wound.

            “Wolf.” A hot warning.

            He looked up, startled. He’d been so drawn to the scent of Meg’s blood, he’d forgotten about Fire.

            “Go outside,” a voice said.

            Snarling, he sprang to his feet and spun to face the intruder, who held out a hand dotted with feathers.

            Owl. Male. Bodywalker. Not a threat.

            “Go outside,” the Owl said again.

            Nathan bolted out of the Pony Barn.


* * *

            The euphoria passed quickly, and with its passing, Meg became aware of her surroundings again. Her face was wet, someone was pressing on her side too hard for comfort, her jeans and T-shirt were soaked, and Nathan was howling—a sound so full of misery she wanted to cry in response.

            Swiping a hand over her face, she opened her eyes and looked at the gray pony nose. A fine mist continued falling over her face.

            “I’m awake now, Mist,” she said, blinking water out of her eyes.

            “Which just proves you’ve got less sense than a chick still inside the egg.”

            She turned her head and looked at a male she didn’t recognize.

            “I’m Welby, the Owlgard bodywalker,” he said. “Jane Wolfgard is on her way, but I don’t know if she knows how to fix this either.”

            “Fix . . . ?”

            Meg lifted her head to look at the hand pressing a cloth against her side. As she brushed against Mist’s muzzle, he lipped her short hair before taking a step back.

            Welby pushed her down, none too gently. “You and the little human caused enough trouble today without you hurting yourself even more.”

            “I . . .” Lizzy. Where was Lizzy? “We caused trouble?”

            “You hurt the Wolves and upset the Elementals and Sanguinati.” Welby’s hair changed to feathers, a sign that he, too, was distressed to the point where he couldn’t hold the human form.

            She struggled to think of a safe question. “Why am I so wet?”

            “Fire got upset and the hay started to smolder. Water came and soaked everything.”

            Jane Wolfgard rushed into the barn. “Simon says the human bodywalker is at the Market Square office. Blair is outside with a BOW. He says he can stay human long enough to get Meg to the office.”

            “Where is my razor?” Meg asked once they wrapped her waist to hold a folded cloth over the cut.

            “Simon and Henry said all of this straw and the blanket need to be burned,” Jane said as she and Welby lifted Meg and took her to the BOW. “Anything with fresh blood on it needs to be burned.”