Into the Light by Tami Lund

later, the lightbearer walking behind her.
    Her blonde hair was still damp, but she’d combed out the tangles and it draped over her shoulder in a gentle wave. Her face was freshly scrubbed, those bright blue eyes looked overlarge and tired, thanks to the deep circles underneath. Her dress was still wrinkled and torn.
    She shouldn’t look beautiful .
    But she did.
    Lisa abruptly stopped arguing and pushed out of her seat. “Let’s go back to my bedroom,” she suggested to the lightbearer. “I’m taller and bigger than you, even when I’m not pregnant, but I’m sure I can find something that’s better than that dress.” Tanner watched as all three females headed back down the hall.
    Freddy pulled a beer out of the fridge, offered one to Tanner. He shook his head. As he twisted off the top, Freddy said, “You really aren’t taking us, are you?”
    Tanner would not meet his eye. “You know I can’t, Freddy.”
    “Yeah, I know. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. After she whelps this pup, when she’s healed enough to travel. We want out, Tanner. I don’t want to raise my pups in this environment. Sofia is already obsessed with lightbearers and magic, and she’s only four. Meeting one in person is only going to make it worse.”
    Not to mention the very real possibility that Sofia would say as much to one of her school chums. Tanner did not speak this thought out loud. He suspected if he did, he would not be able to convince Lisa and Freddy to stay.
    “I don’t even know where I’m going, what I’m going to do once I return her to wherever she came from. It’s going to be hard enough for just the two of us to slip away.”
    Freddy took a long pull from his beer before responding. “I know,” he finally said. “I get it, Tanner. I do. And don’t worry, I’ll rein in Lisa. Just promise me you’ll come back for us. Promise me.” His voice became fierce.
    Tanner turned away from the window to face his friend. He looked Freddy squarely in the eye. “I will,” he vowed. “I swear it.”
    Olivia walked into the room and Tanner turned automatically, as if he sensed her without actually seeing her. He decided to assume it was the scent of lavender shampoo, which should have reminded him of Lisa, since it was her shampoo the lightbearer used. But Lisa had never stirred his senses like this, not in all the years they’d known one another.
    Freddy’s eyes widened as he took in the freshly showered lightbearer, wearing one of his mate’s dresses. It was red, with thin straps over the shoulders and a skirt that should have skimmed her ankles but instead pooled on the ground so much that she had to clutch a bunch of the fabric in her hand in order to walk.
    “She didn’t have something that fit you better?” Tanner asked gruffly. He knew he sounded like a dick, but the other option was to say, “Can we go back to Sofia’s room so I can take that dress off you please?” Yeah, he was even willing to say please. Christ, how was his father so determined to kill these beings, when they were so damn hot that just looking at them made Tanner hard?
    Olivia looked down at herself, and Tanner watched as her cheeks blushed to match the color of the dress. “I like this one,” she said with a thrust of her chin. “Once I have enough magic restored, I’ll be able to alter it appropriately.”
    Huh . Tanner almost opened his mouth to suggest she alter it to cover more skin along her shoulders and over the top swell of her breasts, but he liked looking at all that smooth, lightly tanned skin, even if he knew he shouldn’t.
    “Fine,” he said instead. “Are you ready to go?”
    “Yes.”
    Lisa thrust a plate containing a sandwich and potato chips into his gut. “Are you still hungry? You should eat before we leave.”
    Tanner pushed the plate away. He was hungry, but it wasn’t food his body craved at the moment. Which was damned irritating because he would soon be stuck alone in a car with the