Free Yearnings: A Paranormal Romance Box Set by Amber Scott, Carolyn McCray Page A

like you said, leave her alone. Can’t have any unwanted attention, can we?”
    Elijah considered transporting her again, but he itched to return to Sadie, to verify she was safe.
    The smile reached the other side of her mouth, lending a wicked quality to her delicate features. She crouched down to the dirt. “Just so you know, flyboy, I’m not a shifter. And next time, try not to jump to conclusions. I may be able to help you one day. She’s a changeling and she will want to know others like her .”
    Elijah’s rage unleashed. A blink before he could snap through the few feet between them, though , the girl vanished.
    He stopped, spun right, left, scanning the sparse landscape for signs of her. None. His mind boggled. Never had he witnessed such a thing from any being. Had she transported so fast he couldn’t detect the thick reverberation?
    He couldn’t hear or sense her at all.
    Elijah yanked at the compass around his neck, fumbling to read it for signs of a trace. Nothing! If she were fast enough to leave undetectable — “Sadie,” he whispered, dread fingering up his spine. With one last penetrating scan, hearing not the faintest tick of sound, he leapt back to Sadie’s last location.
    He landed outside the house he’d shoved Sadie toward, his best guess as her destination before. He gathered in his wings and energy. The sodden ground squished under his steps as he strode to the rear of the stucco home. Soundlessly hopping over a cinderblock wall, he honed in on Sadie’s sound. Finding it easily enough, he switched to a peripheral search for any immortal traces. From its perch on the window screen, a scorpion pointed its stinger. Elijah flicked the thing away and peered through. He could sense her , but needed to see her face.
    Safe.
    Had the changeling made it here first? Had she come back at all?
    Again, his mind wound around the potential consequences of what the creature claimed. If Sadie was a changeling messenger…if others knew or found out…Elijah’s chances of keeping her a secret seemed nil. What would he do if he were the hunter and Sadie his prey?
    Peering against the cold glass he saw her, a glimpse, only for a moment, but his fears quieted.
    What had he been thinking transporting the shif — changeling? He should have seen there was no real danger. Now, someone else knew Sadie held some significance. Looking for other changelings or not, he couldn’t dismiss his suspicions that there was more.
    Who else knew? Holly, Lyric.
    Holly wouldn’t betray him for the world. Or risk any chance of finding Crusoe.
    Hell, even Lyric could be counted on for Crusoe’s sake.
    How much more time before someone else got to her?
    He should have let Lyric get a feed off of her from the start. Why had he waited? It didn’t matter now. What mattered now was Sadie. If the shifter changeling was near, she hadn’t shown herself.
    Elijah’s heart rate slowed. The pendulum of his indecision fell still. A strange relief snuck through him. He had no other choice, no other answer. He had to interfere, not for Crusoe’s sake. For hers. He couldn’t leave her vulnerable to forces that would exploit her.
    He watched through the window as she faked a smile over a meal. Though not visible from his standpoint, he could still recall the exact pale blue of her eyes. The shape of her mouth as it formed an oh. Recalling how strongly he’d repelled her, a fresh layer of guilt came to the fore
    Now, he’d have to do more than watch and wait. He had to keep her safe.
    More than that. If Lyric found Holly was right, Elijah would have to step into her life and upturn it entirely.
    Only one question remained. Could he ease the butterfly from her cocoon without breaking her?
     

 
     
     
    ~ ~ ~
     
     
    Chapter Six
     
    Back home and safely inside, Sadie slumped against the door and listened to Remy’s car drive away. With a ragged sigh, she gave in to the shakes she’d fought to suppress all evening. In the dark vacuous