Chapter 6

Chase woke with a start. What was that sound? He climbed out of bed, listening. It came again. From outside. He went to the window and looked out. “What the hell?”

Quickly, he threw on his jeans and boots and ran through the house and out the back door.

The moon was straight overhead, but less than half full as it was on the wane. Still, it provided enough light to illuminate the landscape. And there, in the middle of the pasture, wearing what looked to be a big scarf wrapped around her body, was Ana Stillwater. Her arms were above her head, moving in intricate and graceful patterns through the air as her body moved to a rhythm he could not hear, but somehow could feel in his blood. It was a dance of pure femaleness, as old as time and as seductive as original sin.

His dog, Cody, sat on the porch watching. “Why’d you let her run out there on her own?” Chase asked. “You know rattlers come out at night.”

Cody looked up at him then returned his gaze ahead. Chase walked down the steps and headed in Ana’s direction. Just as he was climbing the fence, she stopped and called something he could not make out.

A shadow passed over his head, making him duck. Air pushed down on him as the sound of powerful wings moved past him. Chase looked up. What had to be the biggest hawk he’d ever seen was flying straight toward Ana.

Chase had never heard of a hawk attacking a person, but he wasn’t about to take a chance. He set out at a dead run, shouting to Ana. “Ana, look out!”

She turned at the sound of his voice, and then looked up as the hawk started its descent. Before Chase could reach her, the hawk did. But instead of attacking, it settled on her raised forearm.

Chase skidded to a stop twenty feet from them. Ana smiled at him. “Chase, this is Fergi. Fergi, Chase Hawks.”

The hawk twittered at her, and Ana laughed. “No, I don’t think it means he literally chases hawks.” She turned her attention back to Chase. “Does it?”

“Uh, no.” He wondered if maybe this wasn’t all just a dream.

“Nope, it’s real,” Ana answered as the hawk chirped at her, then gave the hawk a kiss on its head. “Go on, but don’t stuff yourself. You remember what happened the last time.”

She raised her arm and the hawk lifted off. Ana watched Fergi rise into the sky then turned to face Chase. “What are you doing out here?”

“That’s what I came to ask you.”

She shrugged. “Just getting the feel of the place. And spending some time with Fergi. This is all new territory to her.”

“That’s the Fergi you were worried about? You have a hawk as a pet?”

“Oh, no,” she replied and walked over closer. “And don’t ever let Fergi hear you say that. She’d be very offended and believe me, a pissed-off hawk isn’t a pretty sight.”

Chase just gawked at her for a moment, trying to get a handle on the situation. “Your hawk would be offended?”

“Highly.” She nodded. “And she’s not my hawk. She’s my friend and my familiar.”

“Familiar? Is that another witch thing?”

“Yes,” Ana chuckled.

“So, what does it mean? She’s some kind of demon or spirit or something?”

“Demon? No. She’s more like my, umm, partner.”

“Partner? So, the hawk’s a witch, too?”

“Well, I guess you might look at it like that. She does have certain powers. Mostly Fergi’s kind of like my radar, and when needed lends me her ability. But more than anything, she’s my friend.”

“And she talks to you.” Chase was far from convinced that Ana was a witch, even though things were getting stranger by the moment.

“Sure. Just like Cody talks to you, right, Cody?”

Chase hadn’t realized that Cody was even there. He followed the direction of Ana’s gaze and sure enough there sat Cody, two feet behind him, watching. He barked in response to Ana’s question.

Chase looked from Cody to Ana. “He barks, but I’m positive he’s never spoken a word to me.”

Ana smiled. “Well, sure he has, Chase. He’s told you lots of things. Like how he really hates that food with the liver flavor, and how he’d rather not go to Charlie’s because they don’t let him come in the house, and how much he likes Clara because when she comes over, she always brings him treats.”

Chase was dumbfounded. He hadn’t mentioned Charlie’s or Clara’s names, so how did Ana know them? Was this some elaborate ruse, some con game to sucker him for money? Suddenly he was seeing things in an ugly light.

“Look, lady. I don’t know who the hell you are or how you come by your information, but there’s no way in hell you’ll get a dime out of me, so you might as well pack up your little traveling show and look for another sucker cause this gig’s up.”

“What?” Ana stepped back under the force of Chase’s anger and his ugly accusations. “You think—”

“No, I know,” he barked. Now that he had his anger up, it was taking control. He’d played right into her game, fallen for her wounded deer act and all the while it was just an elaborate ploy to swindle him. “You thought you’d sashay in here with your tight little body, come-get-me, jungle-cat eyes, and abused-wife sob story and sucker me right in, have me eating out of your hand and forking over every dime—”

“Enough!” Ana was past the shock and full into her own rage. That he could even think her capable of such despicable things was more than she could take. For the first time in many years, her control slipped. She advanced on him with eyes flashing. “How dare you! I’ve been nothing but honest with you and have asked nothing from you. Nothing! And now you want to make me out to be some gold-digging hussy who would spread her legs to get your money? Well, to hell with you, Chase Hawks!”

She started to march past him, intent on gathering her things and walking off his property as soon as possible. But he grabbed her. The fear Giovanni had created rose and almost choked her into insensibility, but her rage was stronger. She whirled on him with one hand lifted, palm out. “Do NOT touch me!”

Chase had no idea how it happened. One moment he was standing toe-to-toe with her, his hand wrapped around her upper arm and the next he was flat on his back in the dirt. And he knew she had not touched him. He shook his head, climbed to his feet, and stared at her in shock.

Ana’s reason was shrouded by anger, and she couldn’t think straight. She extended her hand in front of her and he saw, literally saw, arcs of golden energy dancing between and off her fingers. “Keep away,” she warned.

“How do you do that?” Chase was so amazed he forgot he was angry. It was true! She was a witch. How else could it be explained? He’d felt it. Seen it with his own eyes. As impossible as it seemed, it was true.

Ana was so taken off guard by the complete change in Chase that her rage dissipated like morning mist. She closed her hand and the energy retreated back inside her body.

“How?” Chase asked.

“I don’t know,” she answered truthfully.

“It’s incredible. Ana, this is… This is unbelievable. You’re a witch. A real, bona fide, knock-my-ass-in-the-dirt witch.”

Ana had to laugh. It was just too funny. “I guess that’s one way of putting it.”

Chase was filled with curiosity. “So, what else can you do? Can you fly?”

“No, that’s Superman,” she said, biting back a grin.

“Okay, maybe that was lame, but seriously, can you do anything else?”

A mischievous smile appeared on her face, and she stepped up close to him. “Oh yeah. Want to see?”

“Absolutely.”

Ana reached out and placed her hand on his chest. A bolt of pure unadulterated energy, so completely sexual that it nearly made his privates explode, shot through him. Chase literally staggered it was so strong.

“Good god, woman. What was that?”

“Remember that fire we talked about?” she teased suggestively and moved close to run her hands up his body to circle his neck, her lips moving ever so slowly toward his.

“Oh yeah, I do indeed.”

“Well, just consider it a preview,” she whispered and pulled his face down to cover his lips with hers.

Chase thought he was going to come in his jeans. Her lips slanted across his, soft and wet and warm. Her tongue moved inside, tasting and exploring. And all the while her body rubbed against him, creating wave after wave of sensation so strong that his need exploded like a keg of dynamite, stripping away the veneer of civility and reducing him to a primal man with but one thing on his mind.

Ana was as lost as Chase. She had not intended to fall victim to her desire, but one taste of him and nothing else existed but the feel of his hard muscular body pressed against hers, his arms wrapped around her and his mouth, that glorious sexy mouth, feasting on hers.

Suddenly from behind Ana, Cody growled.

Chase immediately looked to see what Cody was upset about. “Ana, don’t move,” he said calmly. “Stay perfectly still.”

“Why?” she asked but followed his instructions.

“There’s a rattler about six inches from your right foot.”

“Oh, is that all?” She looked down, saw the snake, then bent down and picked it up.

“Holy hell!” Chase took a big step back. “Are you crazy?”

“Don’t think so,” she replied, letting the snake curl around her arm. “You’re a big one, aren’t you? Well, you better be careful cause Fergi’s hunting, and I’d hate to see her make a meal out of you now that we’re friends and all. Maybe it’d be better if you found a safer place to spend the night.”

She stooped down and released the snake. It unwound from her arm and moved away. “And remember, no biting Cody or Chase, okay?”

She and Chase watched it slither away into the darkness. When she turned to face him, he was staring at her like she had two heads. “What?” she asked.

“You just picked up a rattlesnake.”

“And?”

“And you do know they bite, don’t you? And are very poisonous?”

“Did it bite me?” she asked.

“Well…no.”

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Damn, Sassy. Just what the hell are you?”

“Just your ordinary, run-of-the-mill, garden-variety witch.”