Chapter 14
Vane wasn't just any werewolf, Sunshine discovered. He was the werewolf, judging by the tough, hard-edged aura he projected.
He entered the cabin wearing a pair of faded jeans and a white T-shirt with a weathered motorcycle jacket, black cowboy boots, and a body that would cause a traffic jam.
And when he removed his sunglasses, her breath caught in her throat.
Even in height with Talon, he was stunningly gorgeous. His startlingly green eyes were a perfect contrast for his hair which at first glance appeared an extremely dark chestnut, but on closer view seemed to be made up of every color known. There were traces of ash and gold, red and black. She'd never seen hair like that in her life.
At least not on a human...
He wore it long, hanging just below his collar. She could tell he didn't spend any time with it, just brushed his hands through it and went.
But what captivated her most was the raw, overt male sexuality he oozed. One that ranked right up there with Talon's sexiness. Vane moved with the fluid grace of a predator, with his head held low as if ready to attack.
Grrrr, but the man was a fetching beast.
"You're early," Talon said.
Vane shrugged, his body a symphony of movement. "It didn't take as long to leave the pack as I thought it would."
The werewolf looked to her and gave her a knee-melting smile. "You really going to trust me with your female, Celt?"
"Yes, I am, because in this swamp, I rule."
Vane arched a skeptical brow. "That a threat?"
"It's a promise, Vane. I have my army camped on your doorstep to protect your family. I ask the same of you."
"I'll respect your trust, Celt. But only because I know how rarely you give it."
A look of mutual understanding passed between them.
Vane put his sunglasses back on. "You ready, baby?"
Sunshine stiffened at his offhand endearment. He might be cute, but she had no intention of letting him get away with that one. "You're not my boyfriend or my brother, so lay off the 'baby' thing, okay?"
He flashed a set of killer dimples. "Yes, ma'am." He held the door open until she walked past him. "See you after dark, Celt."
"Yes, you will."
Sunshine paused on the porch and looked about for their ride out of here. "Where's your boat?"
"I don't do the boat thing. It's loud and it takes too long."
"Then how are we going to get out of here?"
Vane smiled devilishly and held his hand out to her. "Trust me?"
Was he joking? "No, I don't even know you."
He laughed, a warm, rich sound that was seductive and charming, although strangely enough, it had no real effect on her. She could appreciate how appealing he was, but her heart and loyalty belonged to Talon.
"All right, then, Dorothy," he said. "Close your eyes, click your heels three times, and say, 'There's no place like home.' "
"What?"
Before she could blink, he took her hand and they flashed from the porch to a wooded area where a small trail broke through the trees. She had no idea where they were, but Talon's cabin was nowhere in sight.
Sunshine gasped. "What did you do?"
"I beamed you over."
"What are you, Scotty?"
He gave her a taunting look as if he were enjoying her discomfort. "It's correctly called a lateral time jump. I just moved you through horizontal time from Talon's porch, across the swamp to where my motorcycle is hidden. Simple."
"Horizontal time? I don't understand."
"Time flows in three directions," he explained. "Forward, backward, and laterally. If you do nothing at all, time always flows forward, but if you catch the Rytis just right, you can choose one of the other directions."
Totally confused, she frowned at him as she tried to comprehend what he was telling her. "What's the Rytis?"
"For lack of a better term, it's warp space."
When she continued to scowl, he pulled his jacket off. "Let me explain it this way." He held the shoulder of his jacket in his right hand and the end of the sleeve in his left. "Time is like this... If you want to get from here"-he moved his right hand-"to here," he said, moving his left, "you see how far you have to travel?"
She nodded as she noted the long length of his sleeve. The man had really long arms.
"The Rytis is essentially invisible waves that move around us all the time. Through everything on the planet. They echo and flow and sometimes they buckle. In essence, they do this." He compacted the sleeve between his hands so that his left and right hand were next to each other. "Now to travel from hand to hand, it takes a few seconds instead of several hours."
"Wow," she breathed as she understood. "So you can travel in any time direction? You can even go back in time?"
He nodded.
"And how do you do that? How do you catch this Rytis?"
He shrugged his jacket back on. "Baby, in this world, I'm the all-powerful Oz and there's not much I can't do."
Oh, this guy was getting irritating. "Stop calling me baby."
He inclined his head to her and moved to a tree. Two seconds later, a sleek dark gray motorcycle appeared out of nowhere.
"Okay, how did you do that?"
"In short, I'm a sorcerer. I can bend every law of physics known to mankind and a few not yet discovered."
She was impressed. "That's some serious talent."
Again that dark, deep laugh. "Baby, if you weren't with Talon, I would show you where my true talents lie."
She just bet he would too.
He handed her a helmet.
"You're calling me baby strictly to irritate me, aren't you?"
"My father always said I was born to be the barnacle up his nether regions. I guess I can't help it."
"Do me a favor. Try.'"
Flashing his dimples, he removed his sunglasses, put them in the inside pocket of his motorcycle jacket, and placed a helmet on his head.
"So tell me," she said. "If you can do all this magic stuff, why are we riding a bike into town? Couldn't you just time-jump us over to the square?"
He fastened his chin strap as he answered her. "I could. But as Acheron so often says, just because you can do something, it doesn't mean you should. Personally, I don't want to be some guy's lab experiment, so I try not to pop in and out of populated areas if I can help it."
That made sense to her. "Since you can time-travel, do you ever think about changing the past?"
"Yes."
"Have you ever done it?"
He shook his head and a dark earnestness came over his face. "There are some powers in this world that are best left alone. Altering someone's destiny is definitely one of them. Believe me, the Fates have a nasty way of putting a hurt on anyone dumb enough to mess with their domain."
His ominous words rang in her ears. He sounded as if he had once made that mistake, and she wanted to ask if he had, but something inside told her to let it be.
Sunshine put her helmet on, then climbed on the back of the motorcycle and did her best to keep some distance between them. Vane was a handsome man, but something about him made her extremely nervous, and it wasn't the fact he was a werewolf or time-walker.
There was something about him she didn't trust.
At her request, he took her to the small art gallery where she kept her cart of artwork locked up and helped her wheel it to Jackson Square.
By the time they got there, it was a little after ten, and there was a huge crowd already gathered.
"I don't get it," Vane said as he wheeled her cart toward Selena's card stand. "Why are you setting up shop if you just want to meet a client?"