B005EMAYWS EBOK (2 page)

Summer shook her head in denial. She was ready to say something in her defense when she saw him. He was playing a dollar slot machine and seemed completely oblivious to his surroundings, though with Anton, appearances could be deceiving.

Somewhere nearby, the lights and bells of a machine started going crazy. Everyone’s attention was on the little old lady sitting at the winning machine. Summer barely noticed. She couldn’t take her eyes off of the giant man with the long blond hair. Summer could only see a profile of him from where she sat at the bar, but that’s all she needed to see. She’d know him anywhere.

What was he doing here?

Was it Sarah’s spell?

Had her dream really been a premonition?

Summer did not want this to be just another dream. She wanted - no she needed Anton to be there in the flesh.

As if sensing her watching him, Anton turned in her direction. Their eyes locked, and Summer had to catch her breath. It had been years since she’d looked into those smoky silver-gray eyes, but they were still as magnetic as she remembered. The corners of his mouth lifted just a touch.

An elbow in her side pulled her out of her trance-like state. Summer forced her gaze away from Anton and turned her attention to Penny.

Blushing, Summer took the little red straw that protruded from her margarita and started stirring the slush in a circular motion. “Yes I know him. He’s from back home … a friend of the family.”

He was from
Outerlands
, the mystical land of that which supposedly didn’t exist to those living in the human world. Anton was also part of what didn’t exist in this world.

In the lounge, the band began playing a slow pop tune. Summer could sense that he was near. Slowly she looked up from her drink.

“Hello Summer,” he said with a smile. Anton’s accent added to the air of mystery that surrounded him.

“Hi,” she responded with a nervous grin. The butterflies in her stomach made her feel as if she were just getting ready to get on a very wicked roller coaster.

Over the years she’d thought of Anton often. He’d been her hero when she was a little girl. Back then she’d been utterly mesmerized by him. She was no longer a child, and now the fascination had an underlying heat to it.

He was the type of man who could make a woman stop what they were doing just to get a better look. Anton was attractive, but there was something about him that made him seem wild, and maybe just a little dangerous. Tonight he was even more breathtaking.

Summer had never seen him out of the black tunic of the Zen warriors, but tonight he wore a royal blue shirt, with several buttons undone to show off his hard - muscular chest.

“Will you dance with me Summer?” Anton smiled and held out his large hand.

Placing her hand in his, she let him lead her onto the dance floor. She was glad for the dim lighting in the lounge so that he would not see how flushed she was. Anton wrapped an arm around her waist and continued to hold her hand.

“How have you been Summer?” he asked, pulling her closer so that she would hear him.

Summer cleared her throat. She was afraid that her voice might crack when she tried to speak. “Good … and you?”

“Little ever changes in
Outerlands
.”

Swaying to the music, they said no more. Then the music changed to an even slower song. Without thinking, Summer wrapped both arms around his neck and snuggled closer.

Anton stiffened. Backing away, he put a few inches between them.

Summer wasn’t sure if his reaction was because he still viewed her as a child, or because he was as sexually aware of her as she was of him.

She knew it!

“I am really having second thoughts about this marriage deal he’s made on my behalf. I should be able to decide for myself who I mate with and marry.”

“Oh come now Summer. You’ve been aware of this for most of your life. And you never know … you might actually like your husband to be.”

“What if he has smelly feet and can’t dance?” Summer pouted.

Again she heard his deep laughter. Summer was ready to spout another slander against her future husband when she felt a light tap on her shoulder. She turned to see who was trying to get her attention, and froze.

Summer backed up sharply - running into Anton.

Only a few inches away, a girl peered at her with dead eyes. When she tried to speak, blood gurgled out of a deep gash in her throat. Her long, stringy blond hair was matted with dirt, and she was so pale. Scarlet stains covered the front of the girl’s delicate, white nightgown.

The phantom held out her hands. Summer could see that her fingernails were torn and bleeding, as if she’d been digging and scratching at a hard surface. Summer’s hand went to her mouth to stifle a scream. She again stepped back abruptly, this time right into Anton’s arms.

“What’s wrong?” Anton asked.

Shaking her head, she told him, “I have to go. I’m sorry.”

Summer stepped around the apparition and headed for the bar where her purse sat next to Penny. Trembling, she reached for her bag, but Anton’s large hand was on hers - stopping her.

“Summer … what is wrong?” he asked again.

Penny looked up. She must have noticed the troubled expression on Summer’s face because she turned to Anton and narrowed her eyes.

* * *

Anton watched Summer as she threaded her way through the flashing lights of the machines and toward the casino’s exit.

Exotic. It was the only word that came to mind as his eyes followed her every movement. She was as graceful as a cat. The silky white cocktail dress she was wearing complimented her smooth - sun kissed skin perfectly. Her golden-brown hair hung like a silk curtain around her shoulders, swaying as she walked.

Yes she was exotic, but she was also headstrong and stubborn.

Anton had to keep reminding himself of this, along with the fact that he was here to escort her to her family and fiancé. If he thought about her too long, he would remember how it felt to dance with her - how it felt to have his hand on her hip and her arms around his neck.

He banished the memory from his thoughts. Anton couldn’t recall the last time he’d actually felt shaken by the nearness of a woman. He reasoned it was probably just shock at seeing little Summer as a grown woman. After all, the last time he’d seen her she’d been a teenager, though she’d tried hard to convince him that she was a woman.

When he could no longer see her, Anton felt his common sense return. Something was wrong. He sensed that strongly. It could possibly be her reluctance to marry, but he didn’t think that was all there was to it.

“So how long have you known her?” Penny asked.

Anton had forgotten all about the woman. He looked over at her, shocked to see her still sitting at the bar. Summer’s friend was not unattractive, but she seemed a little too overdone. Her short bleach-blond hair was worn in a wild array of sharp spikes. Her lips painted a deep red and covered with shiny gloss. Penny’s blue eyes were almost obscured by the dark shadow and liner she wore. Her black dress was much shorter than the dress Summer had been wearing.

Anton had been so busy sizing the woman up that he had forgotten to answer her. She was staring at him as if he were the most bizarre person she’d ever met.

She was coming on to him strong, and his male instincts didn’t miss it. Anton’s eyes roamed over the woman’s curvy body and immediately his thoughts went to how it felt to have Summer in his arms while they danced.

“I’m fine,” he told her, looking away. He didn’t like where his thoughts were leading him at the moment.

It had been a while since he’d enjoyed the feel of a woman’s body against his bare skin. Since Lex was no longer the leader of the Zen, he was now free to enjoy the company of a human female. But he’d done so only on rare occasions, and then only when he’d gone a very long time without indulging his needs.

Some did it often, but Anton always felt a little as if he were taking advantage of them - taking from them without being able to give back. Though Lex’s mandate about mating with the human female had been eradicated, the Zen still could not marry or take a life mate.

Tonight was one of those times when the longing to feel a woman’s flesh was nearly strong enough to override his morals. The problem was that when he thought of indulging his need, it was Summer’s face he saw.

Something was wrong!

* * *

The bright and colorful lights that illuminated the exterior of the casino helped to light her way as she searched for her car in the crowded parking lot. There were hundreds of cars, but there wasn’t another soul in sight. The sound of her heels of her shoes tapping against the blacktop was loud - echoing through the silent jungle of automobiles. She couldn’t remember where she’d parked, but she knew it hadn’t been too far from the entrance.

Out of the corner of her eye she caught the fleeting movement of shadow. She stopped in her tracks, waiting to catch another glimpse. Though she could not take the form of the wolf, she still had the wolf’s blood and she could sense danger.

She was being hunted, but by who or what? No human could move that fast.

A shiver ran down her spine, but she forced herself to move forward. Summer wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible.

Finally she spotted her small red sports car a few rows back from the building. She quickly walked in that direction. Her hands still shaking, she fumbled with the remote to unlock the doors. Once inside, Summer hit the lock button on the door before digging into her handbag for her mobile phone. Her hands were shaking so badly that she had trouble hitting the right buttons, but she finally managed to press the speed dial button for Sanders.

Summer groped for a way to tell him about her suspicions, without sounding too crazy. “I was thinking about it tonight, and I have this strange feeling that she is in a closet. It could also be a coffin or tomb. I think she’s locked away somewhere.”

“I know that your strange feelings are usually pretty good, but I don’t see how that would help us. There must be thousands of places in the Reno area that fit that description.”

What he said was true, but she knew there had to be a reason why Bridget had tried to bring attention to her hands. It reminded her of a story she’d once heard about a girl who had been buried alive. For some reason the body had been exhumed. When the coffin was opened, they found deep gouge marks in the lid. Summer squeezed her eyes shut, trying to block out the terrifying vision of Bridget Pearson being buried alive.

Her voice shook when she tried to talk. “I … I don’t know. I just think that the police should check the cemeteries for signs of disturbed graves.”

She should have waited until tomorrow to talk to him, but she’d freaked out when she saw that girl. Through the summer she had been helping Warren Saunders with some of his criminal cases. He was the local expert on criminal psychology, and known for his skill in homicide investigations. The local police often consulted him, as they had done with these latest homicides. Summer had been studying under him since she was an undergraduate. Even with both her education in criminal psychology, and her psychic ability, she just couldn’t seem to figure this killer out.