Gabrielle shook her head. "I enjoy taking care of my family. Go on up, you two. Order some drinks, take a bath, do whatever you can to unwind. Traveling our way is tough if you're not used to it. One in our midst is not."
Tristan touched Juliette’s lower back and guided her to their floor. "She's right. Smithers will be the end of our civilized travel. Afterward it’ll be harsh. No more mattresses or picking up a phone to order dinner. Let’s take advantage of tonight and enjoy these creature comforts."
The hall’s dull Berber carpet reeked strongly of cleaner. Crisper air awaited them in their room. Tristan turned on a table lamp, and soft yellow light illuminated his face.
"I can't believe we were still in Ojai five nights ago.” Juliette retrieved her hairbrush out of her purse and pulled the bristles through her hair. “Now here we are in central Canada going even farther north. I wouldn't recognize my life with how much has changed in the last few months."
"Sometimes recognizing you is hard.” He slightly smiled and took her brush. "You used to be afraid of your own shadow, and you were shy and tense around me too. In school, you stuttered a lot. Now you'll tell me off in front of everyone else and stand up for yourself more. I like it. Your feistiness and confidence are attractive."
"You think so?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. “I thought that might turn you off.”
"Not in the slightest. You're happier too." Tristan set the brush down to run his fingers through the length of her golden tresses. "We should probably get to bed, unless you'd like some tea or food first."
She nodded her head and sighed happily. “I think tea would be soothing. Chamomile or something similar, with honey. Anything without caffeine tonight.”
As Tristan ordered her drink, Juliette dug through her bag for lotion. After he hung up the phone, she gestured toward the chair.
“Just sit.” Juliette pushed down on his shoulders. Her fingers worked at the buttons of his shirt from behind him.
Tristan grabbed her wrists. “Whoa. What are you doing?”
“Not what you’re thinking. Top off.” Juliette finished unbuttoning the garment and shoved it down his arms.
“Are you trying to seduce me?”
Juliette squeezed some of the lotion into her hands and rubbed them together. “Nope. I get it, Tristan. You don’t want to have sex with me.”
Tristan sighed hard. “You have no idea how much I--”
“Hush. Just hush.” Juliette pressed her palms over his shoulders. Firmly, she squeezed his taut, round muscles, digging her thumbs into a couple of knots. Tristan groaned. She worked harder at the tensest spots. Slowly she worked up the sides of his neck and focused on the base of his skull.
“How did you learn to do this?”
Without breaking her manual stride, Juliette dropped a kiss on his shoulder. “This is just a run-of-the-mill massage.”
Tristan leaned his head backward and looked up at her, his eyes unfocused. “It’s extremely relaxing.”
Juliette smiled coyly as she let her hands slide and spread out over his firm, bare chest, fingertips making circles. “So is this.”
“Now you’re being cruel.” A slight smile touched Tristan’s lips as he grabbed her hand, leading her to stand in front of the chair, and pulled her onto his lap, her legs astride his.
All collected thoughts left Juliette as Tristan tightened an arm around her lower back. His needy mouth kissed Juliette’s throat. Her heart raced as Tristan’s teeth trailed soft bites down her shoulder. At her collarbone, his tongue traced a small circle. The heat of his exhales sent a shiver down her spine. His rough kisses shot a thrill through her.
In the little space between them, Tristan fumbled with his belt’s buckle and yanked the belt out of its loops. He grabbed the bottom of her sweater and pulled the wool upward. Juliette raised her arms and tossed the garment aside. Skilled fingers reached around to the hooks securing the band of her pink lace bra and snapped together, unfastening it. As Juliette tilted her head and upper body backward, grabbing his knees to support herself, her bra straps fell down her arms. He leaned toward her, his hands supporting her back, his mouth continuing its downward path to her bare belly until she gasped.
Juliette couldn’t think. Something kept nagging at her, but she ignored it and ground herself against the large bulge in his slacks. Their rhythms synced, growing in intensity. She shoved his shoulders back and pressed her soft chest to his hard one. Her mouth kissed the skin of his jaw until she found his lips. Breathing became labored as her body tensed.
“Tristan! I’m sorry!” Juliette leaned back slightly and cupped his face in her hands. “This isn’t what I meant to start. I was just...”
Tristan caressed her cheek. “It doesn’t matter, Juliette. Anything you want from me. Anything at all. Everything is yours. Everything. It’s yours. I’m yours.”
“No. I can’t. You wouldn’t mean it in the morning.” Juliette pressed her face into his warm palm and stared into his smoldering eyes. Her heart’s racing turned to aching.
Tristan lazily licked his lips. “I do right now.”
“Taking this further would be wrong.” Juliette laid one of her hands over Tristan’s rapidly beating heart. Beneath her palm, his breaths were shallow and shaky. Juliette blinked slowly and swallowed hard. “My conscience and respect for you won’t let me do anything you’d wish you hadn’t done tomorrow. Like you told me, there are certain things we haven’t said. We don’t both... We have to have two-way love, and the commitment that’s so important to you. We’re not at that point yet.”
“Mais je t’aime. Je ne peux pas tu le dire encore.”
“What does that mean?”
Tristan shook his head. “Nothing. Juliette, how did I get someone as wonderful as you? After all this time, I think I’ve found my perfect match.”
“Shh.” Juliette pressed her fingers to her lips. Biting her lip to control herself, she laid her head onto his shoulder and focused on the heat their bodies produced together. His fingertips traced designs on her bare back. The heart he drew pushed her emotions over the edge. Silently, her tears began to fall.
* * *
Tristan stared at the ceiling while pressing his cheek to Juliette's head. She softly sighed, and he glanced down at her into her sleeping, relaxed face. Morning light illuminated the room and highlighted the delicacy of Juliette’s facial features, the slenderness of her nose, the smoothness of her unworried forehead... He ran a finger along her jaw and carefully tipped her chin up to kiss her lips.
She’d been right. Tristan realized he would have regretted acting on emotional drunkenness. Her choice not to act intensified the feelings he already had for her.
This was the last time she'd sleep in comfort for a while. Guilt grew. If she had found almost anyone but him, she would have had a better chance at a normal life, not one running around a foreign country looking for a coven of upiórs while evading skin-walkers. She wouldn't be in any danger if she had dated someone else, a human. Her last year of college could have continued uninterrupted. She would have followed her dreams and started auditioning for musical theater productions. But she chose him, and he agreed to a relationship. That choice, her choice, forced her to shun half of her desires, and had become his regret.
"You shouldn't have had to choose between your relationship and your dreams," he whispered. His heart gave a painful thud. "I promise I'll make it up to you somehow. Je t’aime, ma Juliette. Je t’aime."
Juliette lifted her hand and laid it on his bare chest. She took a deep breath and rapidly blinked, then licked her lip. After a few more hard blinks her bleary eyes met his, and she smiled.
"Good morning," she mouthed.
Tristan softly chuckled. "Good morning to you, Sleepy Head."
Quickly she pushed herself up and looked around. "Have I slept that late? What time is it? When do we need to be out of here?"
He reached up and pulled her back down. "Calm, Juliette. It’s only nine. We have a couple ho
urs. Gabrielle stopped by an hour ago to see if we wanted to join them all for breakfast. You were so tired I couldn’t rouse you."
"I’m sorry. I'm going to take a shower to help myself wake up. I'm guessing, by your wet hair and being in just underwear, that you already had one."
Tristan nodded and laughed. "Told you that you were tired. I'll order up breakfast. I know you're not a fan of eating in the morning, but you'll need to today. What do you want?"
"Oatmeal. Any kind of fruit and juice.” On her way to the bathroom, she paused to give him a tender kiss. “I'll be out in a few. Thank you, Tristan.”
Tristan dressed and folded up the rest of his clothes and waited. Breakfast arrived, but his appetite had gone. For years, he’d desired nothing more than to find the mysterious. Now he’d set that aside to keep Juliette safe if their lives weren’t at risk. Her own life was in danger too. Neither option sat well with him. He rubbed his eyes and swore under his breath.
The rest of the morning and afternoon passed in a blur. His thoughts clouded. Somehow, the rules had changed. Her touch had become an unexpected lifeline that did not change even after they had stored the SUV.
Hand in hand, they strolled down the road as if they were the only two in the world. The grey skies allowed little light through. An earthen scent permeated the wind, foretelling a cleansing rain. Tristan’s leather coat dwarfed Juliette, but warded off the chill.
Eventually, Sunil stopped in a patch of dirt. “Everyone ready for this?"
"What choices do I get?" Jareth glowered.
Sunil turned toward him, his jaw set. "You can stay at a hotel in town if you’re going to complain. If you’re coming, then shut up with your whining." A calm hand stroked his shoulder. He caught and kissed it. “Sorry, Em.”
Pink tinted Juliette’s nose and cheeks. Her teeth chattered. Tristan pulled a fluffy fox coat from one of the bags and tucked the fur around her. She nodded her gratitude, then asked him, “So what do we do now?”
17. Exploration
Smithers became a distant location behind them. No cars had passed on the nearby road since they'd taken off. The occasional rustle could be heard from the forest on either side of them. Snaps and crackles echoed through the cool air. Juliette picked a path to the seven secluded spots and shoved folded piles of clothes into a bag. A panther butted his head against her side. She scratched the cat behind his ears and followed him back to a clearing.
"This is trippy.” Juliette gawked at the unusual animals grouping around her. Tristan’s inky black gleamed next to Sunil’s vibrant orange between his stripes. Broad deep gold wings of eagle Emma stretched from the bird on Sunil’s back. Lying on the ground before him was Gabrielle, a spotted tawny lynx with a two-pointed beard of white and black. Even as an animal, Gabrielle held her head high, commanding the respect of authority. Near them, Will scratched his dark grizzly back against a tree.
Juliette took a few shaky breaths and moved toward the bison. "Okay, I have to strap this to you, Jareth," she said, tossing the larger of two knapsacks behind his hump, using the many clips to firmly connect the sack to his fur.
The straps of the smaller pack barely fit over the fluffy silver fox coat on her back. "Can you kneel down a bit, Ash?" The caribou obliged, allowing her easy mounting. With her on his haunches, he stood up and she clasped her hands in front of his neck.
Sunil lightly butted his head against the eagle. Emma spread her wings in anticipation of flight. Tristan gave Juliette a small growl and licked her hand.
Juliette blinked hard and breathed deeply, bracing herself for sudden speed. "All right, let's go."
Nippy coolness whipped her hair behind her and forced its way into her nose. Powerful leaps propelled them through the air as if flying. Still, the motion made her nauseated; she shut her eyes tight. A few times, the animals stopped, and the two cats and the caribou conversed in a strange combination of feline and deer. By the time the evening sky had given way to complete darkness, Juliette’s body ached. She was relieved when Ash kneeled, the indication to dismount.
Free of the weight on his back, Ash ran off into the woods, followed closely by Sunil. The black mountain lion nipped at her sleeve and dragged her away from the others. Out of their sight, he changed to his human form.
"Tristan!" Juliette gasped. "You're naked!"
He laughed heartily. "I thought you'd be over that by now."
"Why would I be? I haven’t seen you without at least underwear." She averted her eyes and shielded them with her hands.
Tristan unzipped the pack on her back and pulled out a set of his clothing. "Well, you're going to have to get used to a lot of nakedness. We can't replace things so easily out here. You knew this."
"I'd rather see everyone naked than you."
He paused with one leg in his pants. "Really? Why?"
"I'm attracted to you in a way I'm not attracted to anyone else. Your skin, um, does things to me. Forget I said that."
With a soft chuckle, Tristan finished dressing and took the pack to carry. "All right, Sunil and Ash are off hunting. Sunil's getting meat. Ash is finding edible vegetation. No one's expecting you to get by on our diet."
"When you say no one expects me to live on meat, how would I eat it at all?"
"We can make a small fire to cook." Tristan squeezed her hand as he led her back to their party.
"Of course," Juliette said. "Will everyone else stay as animals overnight?"
"We’ll be warmer that way, so yes."
They rejoined the others and Juliette lowered herself a flat rock next to Gabrielle and rubbed her feline head. Tristan spoke low to Jareth and started a campfire. Sunil dragged a deer behind him and tore chunks of flesh away from bone. Separately, Ash brought back several leaves with plump berries, dropping them at Juliette's feet. Emma lifted herself up in flight to go search for mice, and Gabrielle scurried through some brush.
"What if they get hurt? There are other animals who are animals full-time." Juliette asked with a frown.
"They can manage. We’re nearly immortal. Only two things can kill us. Bullets and arrows will hurt, but not kill us. The teeth and claws of regular animals can’t puncture our skin." Tristan speared a couple small chunks of the meat on a branch and laid it over the flickering flames. He left the carcass and sat next to Juliette. "Sure you don't want to try this raw? It's fresh enough to be safe for you."
"No, you enjoy it." Juliette pulled berries off the branches and popped them into her mouth while waiting for the venison to finish cooking. Several feet away Sunil ripped pieces of flesh into smaller bites dropped them in front of the caribou and bison. “I’m not hungry, just tired. Aren’t those two herbivores?”
“Ash and Jareth?” Tristan shook his head. “They’re not normal animals. They’re still upiórs and need the meat.”
“Ah.” Juliette sighed. The coat fell from her knee when she lifted her arms to stretch and then leaned against him.
"Bon nuit, ma Juliette," he spoke into her ear, as she drifted to sleep.
* * *
Their first morning was covered in frost. Sunlight reflected off the world like light off of diamonds.
Juliette dug through the pack strapped onto Jareth's back, deeply breathing the fresh, crisp air, and pulled out a bottle of mouthwash and her toothbrush. She took a mouthful and tipped her head back while scrubbing. Then she spat.
"What was that?" Tristan asked.
"Makeshift tooth brushing. I'll be nicer to kiss now than you are."
"I should have brought mine. Not used to human time on these trips."
She held hers out to him. "Our tongues have touched. We've swapped spit. You can use mine.”
Tristan accepted it and imitated her process. After finishing, he gave her a deep kiss. William growled and shook his head as if laughing.
Gabrielle nipped Tristan's trouser leg.
"All right, all right, Gabby. Juliette, time to get going." Tristan undressed behind a bush and changed into his feline fo
rm. Juliette packed his clothes, secured her pack to Jareth, and mounted Ash.
The following days stretched into a blur of time punctuated by meal breaks and sleep. The exhilaration of their first day wore off. At the end of the week, Tristan and Sunil paced in a small meadow. They sniffed around the perimeter and pawed at a circle of nearly bare ground, dirt with a few shoots of new grass. Sunil found a weathered shoe and carried it to Tristan. They held a conversation in growls, heads low.
Juliette studied them with great interest. A black tail twitched, an orange face peered west. Tristan’s dark paw patted the ground while Sunil’s titian one kicked up dirt. She couldn't tell if they were agitated or lost. The golden eagle resting on a velvety antler cocked its feathered head at her, confusion clear on Emma’s avian face.
"We found the camp."
Juliette screamed, not expecting the male voice behind her. "Tristan, don't startle me like that!" She placed her hand over her racing heart. "I could have gotten your clothes out."
"I didn't want to make everyone wait until I got dressed. Time to change to human again. We need to figure out the plan from here," Tristan told them all. He pulled out handfuls of women’s clothing and handed them to Juliette.
She dropped them in semi-private areas behind trees and ran back to the camp. "Can we stay put today? My hips are so sore. I don't know if I'll ever have feeling in my butt again."
"I want four paws on the ground." Jareth groaned, appearing between a couple trees. "I’m not balancing well."
William bounded to meet them. "Jareth, not balanced? I could have told you that!" He laughed at his own joke.
"Shut up!" Jareth aimed a punch at William but missed.
"Children!" Gabrielle crossed her arms. "Quit bickering."
Juliette pressed her hand to her mouth to stifle a laugh. Gabrielle's smooth, physically twenty-seven-year-old face had the strain of a mother of many more years after the end of a rough day, lips pursed and eyebrows lowered.
"You've been taking jabs at each other all week. Knock it off."
Tristan leaned down to Juliette to whisper. "They've been using words Gabrielle won't repeat. Be happy you don't understand the language the rest of us have come to use."