He closed his eyes again and started over.

“The wind will carry me to the tops of the trees.

I will see the fish jumping in the stream.”

Liz swayed next to her sister, Simon’s singsong voice echoing in her head.

He rounded his neck in a stretch and the tissue beneath the surface of his skin started to ripple. Liz swallowed hard, focused on his fingers, and bit her lip. As Simon clasped his hands, his digits disappeared with crisp gray feathers in their place.

She grabbed Tara’s hand, eyes wide, praying for something, but not wanting to see her son change.

Liz felt her body start to rock back and forth. Unable to tear her eyes away from her son, she held her breath.

Blood rushed from her head.

Simon bent his arms, reached them out and for one brief moment, they fluttered in the form of a bird. Liz heard him calling in his head, he flapped his arms again, and they were whole. Human.

“Lizzy?” Tara called to her, but all she could see was her son down a long dark tunnel. He was Simon again, only stars surrounded him.

Fin turned when Tara called Lizzy’s name. As her body started to sway, Fin leapt to her side, catching her before she hit the ground.

The pasty color of her skin brought a wave of panic over him. He lowered her to the ground and brushed her hair from her face. Her head fell to the side. “Mom, are you okay?”

“She’s fine, Simon. Fetch some water.”

“Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.”

“No, you did fine. Your mother will be okay.”

Tara drew Simon by his arm and led him toward the water. “Come on, bird-boy. You know your mom, she’ll be all right.”

“I really started to change, didn’t I?”

“Yes, you did.” Tara and her nephew turned away, talking.

Fin glanced at Duncan. “She wasn’t ready for this.” And watching her crumble to the earth with her eyes rolling in the back of her head wasn’t something Fin had been ready for, either.

Liz stirred under his hand. Slowly, she opened her eyes. After blinking several times, recognition flashed over her face.

“I fainted?”

Fin nodded.

“Simon?”

“Is retrieving water for you.”

Liz started to sit up only to fall back on her elbows.

“Lay down.”

“I don’t want him seeing me like this.” Her eyes locked with his. “He’ll blame himself.”

“I’ll keep him away,” Duncan told them before leaving their side.

“Dammit.”

The simple curse brought a smile to his heart.

She was feeling better.

“I thought I could handle this.”

“’Tisn’t easy to watch him change.”

Liz sat up with his help, but he refused to let her stand until her color returned to normal, which it hadn’t.

“What if he can’t change back, Fin?”

Fin reached over and clasped her trembling hand. “’Tis in his nature to be human, not animal.

We have to believe he will be able to change at will.”

One small tear dropped from her eye. Her fear ripped him apart. How could he protect her, reassure her that everything would be fine? All he could do was drape an arm around her shoulder and tell her to have faith. The fact that she didn’t pull away when he drew her close was a testament of just how deep-seated her concern was.

“He scared the crap out of me,” she confessed.

“I know.” And he did. He kept his own fears and feelings to himself.

He sat there holding her in his arms until he felt her trembling subside. When Liz lifted her head from his shoulder, her color had returned to normal.

Her gaze rested on his lips and hers opened slightly.

Was it an invitation? Would she want his kiss?

God’s blood, she was beautiful. At times like this, when she allowed her vulnerability to show, Fin was lost. Without thought of the consequences, he lowered his lips to hers.

At first they simply sat there, lips touching, neither pulling away or moving to deepen the kiss.

Then Liz sent out a simple tiny mewling noise that roused his passion and had him kissing her completely. Her mouth opened and her tongue darted into his mouth. Fin wove his fingers in her hair and deepened everything. Plunging where he probably shouldn’t, touching where he’d wanted to for months but didn’t.

A flame built within him at such an alarming rate, he thought he would combust. Liz’s hands and nails dug into his shoulders with desire. Fin brushed his hands down her back and rounded to the side of her breast. She arched toward his touch and quivered. Although he knew the kiss could go no further, he tantalized her more, his tongue danced with hers.

His body hardened, signaling to him to end their embrace. Against his will, he removed his lips from hers. Her eyes remained closed, her breathing as sporadic as his own.

“Oh, God. That shouldn’t have…”

Fin placed a finger to her lips, stopping her words. “We both feel this way, Elizabeth. This spark between us.”

“Yes, but…”

“No buts. Don’t think on this now. It will only confuse you further.” This was exactly what he told himself, even though his mind worked just as quickly as hers to come up with a logical explanation to their attraction. He didn’t, however, want her fighting him. At least not right now. Holding her in his arms, feeling her body responding to his touch…

That he wanted.

Oh, yes. That he wanted more than water, more than air.

The voices of the others returning cut off their intimacy and conversation. Duncan, Tara, and Simon, soon surrounded them, excitedly talking about Simon’s change.

All Fin could think of was how soon he could get Elizabeth back into his arms.

Chapter Six

Tatiana gazed upon the corpse of her uncle, unmoved. With his death, came her birth, or so her visions told her long before this day arrived. Closing her eyes, she rekindled the images that revealed her future.

As night time fell on the eve of the Romani’s final journey, a powerful darkness would end her uncle’s life and deliver her from the hell he made it.

Her redemption didn’t come without cost. Her uncle’s death would be the first of many, but Tatiana’s suffering would be over as long as she stood beside the dark power.

Tatiana lifted her head and opened her eyes. In her path stood Grainna, a woman who appeared more beautiful than any she’d seen in her fifteen years. Yet that appearance only licked the surface.

Under the plane erupted Grainna’s aura, which took skill to look past. It held a dark fog and enraptured the battered souls claimed by Grainna’s hands.