Spirit Bound - Christine Feehan [90]
“And he’s friends with the sheriff?”
Lev nodded. “Close, I’m told.”
Stefan pulled him close in a brief bear hug and then let him go. “Married life suits you.”
“Rikki suits me,” Lev corrected. “She saved me when I was drowning and I don’t mean in the ocean, although that too.”
Stefan understood what his brother was trying to express to him. Drowning in blood, in shadows, in the cold, was every bit as real as drowning in an ocean. He hadn’t even known he was so far gone until Judith threw him a safety line.
“I have something else to do tonight before I leave, so do me a favor and call off your sentries,” Stefan said. “I don’t want one of your owls to slash up my face. Thomas Vincent would have a very difficult time explaining to Judith what happened to his eyes if your owl plucked them out.”
“I don’t have dogs yet,” Lev pointed out. “I have to keep the women safe, especially now that Ivanov is back.”
“Then show me to them and give me a pass,” Stefan challenged, not willing to let it go. Lev may have accepted him as a brother, but he didn’t extend that trust to the women.
Lev studied his expression for a long time before he nodded again. “I’m going to say this one time, Stefan, and I hope you understand. I would do anything to keep Rikki and her sisters safe. Anything at all, so don’t betray my trust.”
Yeah. His little brother had grown up.
11
JUDITH wasn’t asleep. Stefan could see her pacing in the room he knew to be her bedroom, passing back and forth in front of the bank of windows overlooking her star flower garden. The light behind her cast her image easily through the uncovered window. Behind the gates of the farm, the women thought themselves safe from predators, but there he was, crouched low, once again in the shadows, a phantom come alive.
The surge of anger he’d experienced at his brother no longer surprised him. He realized Judith had not only brought his emotions boiling to the surface after so many long years of suppressing them, but surrounded by her gardens and so close to her home, every emotion would be amplified. Judith might try to contain her spirit, but the element was too strong and energy pulsed around her home and spread like warm honey throughout her enormous gardens. He had a wild urge to climb up to Judith’s balcony and make certain she was too tired to do anything but sleep, with his body wrapped around hers.
The breeze coming off the ocean carried a hint of rain with it, along with the first fingers of fog creeping inland. Soft gray clouds drifted across the sky, slowly obscuring the moon and stars, as if drawing a thick veil over the night. Under his feet the earth pulsed in anticipation. Stefan felt it, that strong burst of energy, of joy, as if the ground exploded with excitement, and then seemed to settle into a throbbing rhythm. He’d never felt such a sensation before and he sank his fingers into the rich soil to enhance his ability to understand what was happening.
The air around him moved subtly, the breeze shifting slightly, enough to bring the clouds into position over the vast fields of vegetables and sweeping gardens of flowers. The air pulsed with power as well, a unique flow of energy that told him that breeze had been directed. He watched Judith as she came onto the balcony and stood at the railing, looking out over the farm as if drawn there by an unseen hand.
She raised her face to the clouds overhead, but didn’t move, obviously waiting for something. The wind tugged at her long hair and pressed her thin tank tight against her breasts, so that the material cupped the soft curves lovingly. Her flowing skirt moved gracefully around her long legs, lending her an utterly feminine mystique that took his breath away.
The rain began to fall over the flower garden softly, with a gentle, almost tender touch. It took a moment for him to hear the music in the drop, a clear pattern emerging, like a quiet symphony building