Chapter 8 Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Keep Your Hands to Yourself
Nyree heard the kerfuffle and immediately sensed this was dragon-related.
The last of the passengers had wandered out of the store ten minutes ago.
She balanced the till before placing the day’s takings in a canvas bag.
Hurriedly, she gave the shelves a quick scan and locked up.
She stepped outside in time to see a black dragon fly over the hill and out of sight.
Her mouth dropped open before she snapped her teeth together.
“Did you see that?” Carolyn asked.
Nyree had a split second to decide on which way to take the conversation. “See what?” she asked a beat later.
“It looked like a dragon, but I… No, that wasn’t a blue shopping bag dangling from its talons.” She rubbed her eyes and peered over Nyree’s shoulder. She blinked again. “It’s ridiculous. I didn’t sleep well last night. Yes, that must be it.”
“A dragon?” Nyree’s brows rose as she pretended surprise and played dumb for Carolyn.
Oh, yes. She’d seen a dragon all right. Tāwera.
But the weird thing was that he was almost opaque.
His black hide had stood out, as had the fact he was a dragon.
Confusion filled Nyree along with burning questions. A trace of panic.
“Would you like me to lock the day’s takings in the safe?”
Carolyn blinked again. “What?”
“The day’s sales?”
“Oh, yes. Of course. You take the money and put it away. It looked as if you were busy today.”
“Yes, I haven’t restocked the store yet. I’ll do it tomorrow morning if that’s all right.”
“That’s fine,” Carolyn said absently, her gaze on the white-capped mountain tops. “I obviously need more sleep.”
Judging by the shouts and screams, others had seen Tāwera too. What had he been thinking? No, that wasn’t fair. Tāwera hadn’t shifted for hundreds of years. It was possible in his excitement he hadn’t remembered to use stealth and remain out of sight of others.
Nyree checked her watch. There was another possibility. That might not have even been Tāwera, which raised fresh problems.
She hurried to the office and locked up the canvas bag before returning to her quarters. She’d hoped Tāwera would’ve returned, but her place was empty. Nyree stalked through the quiet rooms, restless yet part of her excited too.
She missed Tāwera, even though they’d only spent a short time together. Crazy. Pure idiocy on her part.
Nyree glanced out the window, her gaze lighting on the distant mountains. Perhaps this was a symptom of the coming full moon because if this was anything else, she was an idiot.
She’d barely rid herself of her Ari problems, so it was stupid to pursue any sort of interest in a cursed man.
“Gah!” Nyree threw her hands up in the air and decided to do something to quell her restlessness. She’d go for a walk, and maybe she’d meet up with Tāwera to put her worry to rest. Although why she worried about a man who’d been a successful warrior given the tattoos on his entire face—his moko.
Nyree changed her clothes, adding another layer more suitable for at least an hour of walking. She pulled on thick socks and her walking boots. She also grabbed her camera, packed water and two of her precious chocolate bars in her day pack before going in search of either Carolyn or Keith.
“I’m going for a walk,” she said when she found Keith in the tiny lunchroom. “I don’t know why, but I’m restless as if I need to stretch my legs.” She glanced at her wristwatch. “I’ll be back within three hours.”
Keith smiled. “Thanks for letting us know. Carolyn says she’s seeing things and is having a nap.”
“Um, she told me she saw a dragon carrying a blue bag.”
“That’s what she told me,” Keith said, shaking his head. “I didn’t see a dragon, and I was standing on one of the old jetties, watching ferry operations. A big wave almost capsized the inflatable again this afternoon. There was lots of girlish screaming.” He pulled a face. “I hope Caro is okay.”
“Me too,” Nyree said, feeling bad for Carolyn. “See you later.”
Nyree set off up the hill. She dodged a wandering pair of king penguins before walking past the tiny white church and powering up the track to the top of the first rise.
As always, she turned to enjoy the view over the bay and drag the clean air deep into her lungs.
A humpback whale leaped from the water while another did a spy-hop.
She grinned, never tiring of the panoramic beauty of this part of the world.
Today was cooler, and a brisk wind tugged at her braid. The cold never bothered her, and she was thriving in this far-flung island of South Georgia. Nyree continued striding along the ridge until the bay on the hill’s far side became visible.
Something moved on the beach, attracting her attention, and when she focused, she let out a gasp. Tāwera, but it was his tattoos that snared her attention. They ran down his shoulder and torso and curved over one sculpted buttock.
He turned as if he sensed her watching him, and she waved. Her hand stilled in the wave position as she gaped at him.
Tāwera gestured for her to join him. She hadn’t explored this beach before, preferring to go farther afield to guarantee privacy.
Nyree scrambled down the hill, and when Tāwera indicated she should walk farther along the crest, she discovered a path that zigzagged between the rocks.
Five minutes later, she stepped onto the flat grassy area above the pebble-strewn beach.
To her right, a broad glacier met the sea and glittered blue and white in the sunlight.
She located Tāwera, and her gaze zapped to his naked form. An unusual heat formed in her cheeks. “What happened to you? I can see you. Where are your clothes?”
“I left my clothes farther inland.” He beamed at her. “The curse is loosening its hold.”
“You’re visible,” Nyree repeated. While he wasn’t handsome in the traditional sense, his features were strong with a stubborn jaw and a broad nose.
His golden-brown eyes glinted with intelligence, and his body was a muscled work of art.
Tāwera’s skin was a deeper shade of brown than hers, and she positively itched to trace her fingers over the black whorls of his tattoos.
“Is something wrong? You’re staring at me.” Tāwera’s eyes glowed with an inner fire, and it ignited an answering one in her.
“Um,” she said, at a loss for words. The heat built in her cheeks. “You’re very nice to look at.” She groaned when he grinned at her. “That wasn’t me. I didn’t say that.”
“Which part do you like best?” He struck a pose, comfortable with his nudity.
Generally, she was relaxed with nakedness, but somehow, this seemed different. “I’m not answering that,” she said in a firm voice. “Tell me what you did after we had breakfast together.”
“I went exploring, walked around the buildings, and watched the big penguins with the yellow on their faces and the baby seals. Then I walked up the hill in the direction you suggested.” He paused, his big shoulders rising and falling in a shrug.
Her gaze automatically followed the movement and slid over the delineated muscles of his abs. Unbidden, her attention slipped even lower, and a wash of heat filled her cheeks at his chuckle. She hurriedly ripped her gaze away to focus on the churning sea.
“You can look as much as you want,” he assured her. It was simple to discern the amusement in his words. “It is so long since I have had the pleasure of a beautiful woman enjoying my body. Aroha…”
“Do you miss her?” Nyree asked, desperate to divert her thoughts.
Tāwera scowled. “My memories of her have faded, and I have wondered if I loved her as much as I thought. I recall a sweet girl, but her features escape me while my brother’s face is distinct, especially my last view of him.
My thoughts of Aroha are more nostalgic than full of love. Does this make me a bad man?”
“No.” Nyree gulped at the rush of satisfaction his words brought and decided the safest course was to change the subject. “What happened while you were walking? Was that you who I saw flying across the bay?”
Tāwera winced. “I’m so sorry. That was an accident. I know better than to show myself in my taniwha form to those who don’t understand. It won’t happen again.”
“It’s all right as long as neither of us makes a habit of flying in front of others. What I want to know is what made you visible?”
“I am trying to tell you.”
Nyree rolled her eyes and waited.
“I had a sudden yearning to fly through the mountains and explore. The full moon approaches.” He shrugged those broad shoulders again, and his black hair shone under the sun.
“Perhaps that is why… I found a private spot and disrobed. After I hid my clothes, I centered myself and pictured my taniwha. My shift was slow, much slower than I recall, and the pain. It was much worse than a mere to the head or a taiaha across the shoulders.”
A flat stone club across the skull or a staff whack on the shoulders, Nyree interpreted as Tāwera continued speaking.
“I’d hate to get stuck between forms. When I was a child, my mother told me tales of this.
The taniwha trapped between forms and ended up a monster.
His whānau exiled him to a cave high in the mountains, and he had to scavenge to eat.
When he started killing innocents who wandered too close, the tribe’s warriors had to kill him.
That was the last thing I wanted—to inflict this responsibility on you.
” Tāwera had lost his teasing, and his expression was somber as he met her gaze.
Nyree shuddered. “That sounds horrid. For his family to force him out. That must’ve been difficult for him.”
“You have never heard of this occurrence?”
“No, but my mother and her brother always told me I must never try to stop shifting once I started the process. Never, under any circumstances, even if it meant a human spotted me. I guess that is why. They never told me if we got stuck, it was possible to become trapped halfway.”