Left for Undead by L. A. Banks Page B

and released
a long, mournful howl.
    For the first time that she could remember, her
personal life was fully eclipsing a mission. This had to stop and it had to
stop right now. Before, when she was in uniform, she had personal shit going
on, but somehow having the uniform on kept her head on task. Now, with this new
unfettered entrepreneurialism, finding a rudder was harder than she’d imagined.
Where was the structure? Where was the brass that she had to report to? Where
were the rules and regs to keep her on point? Everything that she’d once hated
and had felt onerous was now feeling like a loss of control. Now she was the
brass. Now she set the schedule and all of the rules of engagement. Damn.
    Maybe once she stopped by the sidhe she’d go speak to
Colonel Madison, just to give him a heads-up about the possible storm heading
his way. Going to the NAS would be familiar. It would be good to get her feet
firmly planted on a military base again. Would be good to see fellow soldiers.
Maybe some of that would click her psyche into gear.
    When Hunter didn’t respond, she released another
forlorn howl. All of this was such a waste of valuable time! More than
anything, she hated that he’d been right. She also hated that this unspoken
thing between her and Shogun even existed. The scarier part of it all was
neither she nor Shogun had a clue as to how to make it go away. But one thing
was for sure: Neither of them would act on it. That’s what she repeatedly told
herself. It was her mantra. It was a pledge. She loved and respected Hunter too
much to go there. That was what had infuriated her, the insinuation that there
was more to the story than she’d already divulged and that there may be some
hint of impropriety just because of the phase of the moon.
    Sasha released a hard sigh and then turned to go back
into the cabin to gather her duffel, but something gave her pause. It was an
eerie feeling preceded by an unidentifiable scent and a glimpse of something
that flashed by her peripheral vision. The hair instantly rose on the back of
her neck and along her forearms. Something clear had shot by her, almost as
though the translucent form were a heat wave of some sort. Then it was gone.
    “Hunter!” Her voice gave in to panic as she leaped off
the porch and ran headlong toward the tree line. “Hunter!”
    She saw him part the underbrush in his wolf form, a
few seconds from a shape-shift. Standing three feet at the shoulders, he
bounded out of the dense foliage, massive canines bared. His glossy velvet
black coat was bristled and his eyes were angrily glowing amber. She didn’t
even have to ask. He’d seen it, too. She knew it; she felt it.
    “What was it?” she asked as he shifted back into his
human form.
    “I don’t know.” Hunter looked behind him off into the
distance. “I came out on the porch to cool off, and then I saw something out of
the corner of my eye. It felt dark. Evil. And I knew it had no business being
anywhere near the cabin or my mate.” He turned and looked at her. “So I went
after it, but it was invisible..   I could only track it by scent and
through sensing. I had to come out of my human to do that.”
    Sasha nodded. “Let’s get you some clothes and then
head to Sir Rodney’s. Vacation is over.”
    “Yeah, it definitely is.”
    It had been so long since she’d shadow-traveled that
the first few seconds of doing so were disorienting. Hunter had said it was
like riding a bike, but he’d been going in and out of shadow paths all of his
life. This was still relatively new to her by comparison. Two months of
serenity that was only interrupted by bursts of hot passion didn’t prepare her
for the feeling of vertigo that stepping into a shadow and racing through
mist-filled caverns created. When they came out on the other side, Sasha
clutched her large amber ward that dangled from a silver chain.
    “Take two deep breaths and breathe into the amulet,”
Hunter said, stepping closer to her