Cautiously he stepped around the corner, then moved in a crouch toward the woods. Using a soft drink machine as a shield, he peered toward the trees, then went rigid when he heard someone sneaking up behind him. At the same time, he caught a whiff of strong body odor-from a guy who hadn't bathed in a week. Whirling to face the attacker, he saw nothing.

The gun was still in his hand, but he couldn't shoot because he didn't know where to aim.

Then a hand chopping down on his wrist made him drop the gun.

Cursing, he struck out with his left arm, hitting a solid wall of muscle and hearing his attacker grunt. For all the good that did.

Fighting an opponent you couldn't see meant you couldn't antic.i.p.ate his moves.

Another blow came from the left, as the invisible man ducked under his defenses. This time Jake went down on his knees. Another blow connected with the back of his head. Then everything went black.

RINNA lay sleepless in the bed beside Logan, unable to stop her mind from circling back over the mistakes she'd made during the past few days.

Every time she turned around, she did something wrong. Or Logan had to explain something she didn't understand.

She felt the way she had when she'd first arrived at the school, and she'd had no idea how to do any of the psychic tasks presented to her.

Back then she'd wanted to run away and hide. Now she couldn't stop herself from feeling the same way.

She tried to tell herself that everything was all right. She had just made love with Logan, and it had been wonderful. More than she could have expected. But still, she couldn't stop the air from thickening in her lungs. Finally, when she couldn't stand the sensation any longer, she got up and tiptoed across the floor. From the doorway, she turned and looked back at Logan.

Until he had started kissing her and touching her, she had thought she could never freely give herself to a man. But he had proved her wrong.

If she woke him, she could tell him how she was feeling, and perhaps he could help her deal with the fear that she would never be comfortable in this place.

But it wasn't all that long since she had pulled him from the trap. He didn't have his full strength back, and he needed to sleep.

And she needed to be by herself for a while. So she walked from the bedroom into the front part of the house. She was wearing only the T-shirt she'd put on earlier. After pulling it off and leaving it on the floor, she stepped outside and headed for the woods at the side of the house. The form of the wolf called her. Yet she hesitated. It hadn't taken long to figure out that hazards she didn't understand lurked in this world. The wolf would be vulnerable. But the bird would be high above the ground-free from danger. Unless someone shot at her with one of those guns.

A shiver rippled over her naked skin. She should have asked Logan if men in this country shot at birds. Then she looked into the starry sky. It was still night. Even if men killed winged creatures for sport, they probably wouldn't do it in the dark.

Hoping she was right in her a.s.sessment, she let her mind slip into the pattern she had learned long ago. She imagined herself as a great white hawk soaring through the sky. The image took hold in her mind, and as her thoughts tuned themselves to the bird, her body flowed into that familiar shape. With a feeling of freedom, she beat the air with her wings, then leaped from the ground into the sky, gaining alt.i.tude quickly. Cautious at first, she circled the house, noting the way it looked from the air so that she would know where to land. Then she looked for other landmarks that would guide her back here-if she was coming back.

She still hadn't decided that for certain. Maybe Logan was better off without her. And she would be doing him a favor by simply disappearing.

There was no comfort in that thought. But it helped her breathe more freely.

She took off toward the east, toward the direction from which they'd come when they'd first stepped through the portal. They had left the convenience store in a terrible rush, and she hadn't gotten a chance to study it.

Why was it a portal? Had one of Falcone's adepts opened it? Or had the doorway just occurred by chance?

LOGAN woke. Still half asleep, he reached for his mate. But she wasn't in bed. His heart leaped into his throat as he sat up and looked around.

"Rinna?" he called softly.

When she didn't answer, he levered himself out of bed. He checked the bathroom first. With a tight feeling in his chest, he hurried toward the front of the house. When he saw her T-shirt lying on the floor, he stopped short.

She had taken off her clothes so she could change. He knew that much. Had she gone out into the woods as a wolf? Or had she taken her bird form?

He stepped outside, calling her name again, alarm expanding inside his chest.

He didn't know why she had gone out, except that she needed to get away from him. The question was-would she come back?

He had thought the two of them had worked out their problems. Now he knew that was just male arrogance.

He had satisfied her as a lover. But had that settled anything else?

d.a.m.n. What should he do now? He wanted to rush out and look for her. Maybe she was even in trouble out there.

It flashed through his mind that maybe he needed more wolves to help find her. Then he told himself he was overreacting.

And more importantly, if she had taken her bird form, a bunch of wolves would never catch up with her.

RINNA had learned to listen to her inner feelings when they guided her in one direction or the other.

Too bad that wasn't true about her relationship to Logan.

She flew due east, trying to pick out familiar landmarks. When she spotted the convenience store, the place Logan called the Easy Shopper, she slowed, her wings beating the air just enough so that she could hover over one spot. A man was sprawled on the hard surface in front of the building. He was lying on his back, and as she circled lower, she felt a shock wave roll through her. She knew him!

It was the police detective who had been waiting for them at Logan's house yesterday. And it looked like he was hurt.

In the sky above him, she hesitated. He had wanted information from her and Logan-information Logan hadn't been willing to give. And she should stay away from him.

But she couldn't just leave him like that. And as she hovered over him, she saw something lying on the ground that made her heart start to pound. A spear! From one of Falcone's warriors.

She came down beside the detective, landing lightly on the hard surface, then moving closer to peer into his pale face. He didn't move.

Her heart still pounding, she pressed her beak against his cheek.

To her relief, his eyes blinked open, and he stared at her as though he were contemplating a vision from a nightmare.

She wanted to tell him that she meant him no harm. But speech was beyond her. All she could do was make a kind of deep-throated chirping sound.

"What the h.e.l.l?" He fumbled on the ground and grabbed the gun that was lying beside him.

Gasping, she dodged to the side. If she rose into the air, he could shoot her from behind, so she stayed where she was, her gaze moving from his hand to his face and back again.

"What are you, a trained bird?" he asked.

She didn't answer, but she summoned her old skill, using it as best she could to send him an urgent message, pushing past the pain that gathered in her head as she spoke to him.

You don't want to hurt me. When he lowered the gun, she added something else, something she didn't entirely understand herself. You should keep people away from the Easy Shopper. It's a dangerous place.

"What?" he croaked.

Again she sent him the thought.

"Jesus. Am I going nuts?" His eyes wary, he put his hand to the back of his head and winced. "Better call for help," he muttered.