Free Hunter of the Dark by J A Graham Page B

pumping through its veins. But he wasn’t chasing her. He was running with her. Why Tanitha was imagining this, she didn’t know, but she felt a certain kinship towards the Canine and she didn’t want the image to end.
    “ Tanitha?”
    The voice cut through her dreaming. The Canine blurred, and then dissipated, along with her fantasy. She turned around in shock, only to trip up, unable to stop as suddenly as she had anticipated. Strong arms caught and held her as she looked up into familiar green eyes. She breathed a sigh of relief.
    Christian helped her to her feet, and only then did she notice he was breathing heavily. She looked around, but Sorsa too had disappeared. He must have followed in the direction of Sadie.
    “ Goddamn, Tanitha. How do you run so fast? It’s like the wind was at your feet. It took me a while to catch up, then I realised your eyes were closed!”
    Tanitha felt a strange sense of sadness. So it wasn’t the footsteps of the Canine padding easily beside her, it was the footsteps of Christian. She had thought she had felt the Canine’s presence, but she knew that she was mistaken.
     

Chapter Eighteen
     
    “ What are you doing here anyway?” Tanitha spoke up, suddenly intrigued by Christian’s equally sudden appearance. Christian shrugged, a slight movement but one which seemed to get the message across. He obviously didn’t want Tanitha to know and, from the look on Christian’s face, she didn’t really want to find out. He looked as if he had had no sleep whatsoever.
    “ Can I ask the same of you?” Christian said, looking sideways at her, his eyes slanted so the green looked catlike. She thought that with those eyes, he could see into her mind, know what she was thinking. She shivered, noticing that the sun had disappeared and a biting breeze had billowed out of nowhere. His eyes had on their dancing appeal, as if he was making fun of her. Tanitha should have been used to it but it was making her heart churn with pain. She had to keep reminding herself over and over that he didn’t feel the same way about her. She tried to put it down as puppy love but couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something more to it then that. She wrapped her arms around herself, rubbing them with a slight shiver of anticipation. What was going to happen now?
    “ I was out for a run. Cameron’s sister’s cat was mauled by a stray dog…”
    She looked curiously at him as he stiffened. She felt a wave of insatiable curiosity creep over her. Who was he anyway? She realised she didn’t know a hell of a lot about him. It was slightly unnerving but Tanitha’s love helped her overcome that fact so, like so many other things in the past, she merely dismissed it to the back of her head.
    “You know anything about it?”
    “ No.” He said it a little too fast for Tanitha’s liking. “The truth is I came to see you.”
    Tanitha’s heart skipped a beat at this line and she looked at him, her head tilted slightly upwards so she could see his face. His gaze was directed at the ground, and not at her own eyes with their laughing gesture. It seemed too, that the same bubbliness had disappeared from his expression.
    “Oh?” Tanitha implored. She didn’t want Christian to stop at that. She wanted him to go on and confirm her worst nightmares. That he didn’t want to see him again. That he was leaving for good.
    “ Yeah. I didn’t mean what I said back then.”
    Tanitha just stayed quiet, but she lowered her eyes to a more submissive level. Christian’s head was raised again; he took initiative and instantly became the more dominant one. Tanitha knew that he knew he had power over her now.
    “I really like you. I’m just afraid of my feelings. The dance we had together confirmed my fears. I never want to hurt you, Tanitha.”
    Tanitha’s heart swelled with an overwhelming emotion. She lifted her head up and looked him straight in the eyes. She felt herself leaning into him, into his arms, and he