Feral Magic by Robin D. Owens

to be more careful now."  Not looking at him, she tried to hide her hurt.  "You didn't stay all night." 
    "I...needed...to run."  His jaw firmed.  "And I wished to check out the west and the mountain terrain.'"
    "Did you find the portal?"  Just how fast could he run, how far, how long?  Big cats were usually sprinters.
    "Not quite, before I had to turn back," he said steadily, rocking a little as he held Favel.  "It seems to be close enough for us to reach, and stationary."  He glanced at the dining room table where the red jewel sat.  It glowed brightly and the backs of her eyes stung.  So this was really the end.  Just as well…she couldn't go through the daily stress.
    He moved to the couch and sat down, placed the sleeping Favel next to him and rubbed the baby's back.  Dak's soles appeared nearly black.
    "How are your feet?"  She scrutinized him. He seemed okay physically, but she sensed he was still a bit off his internal balance, whatever that might be.  As if his emotions hadn't recovered as quickly as his body to all the dramatic events of the last couple of days.
    "They will do."  He stood, nodded toward Favel.  "I would like to bathe, but both of us would take too much time.  I will change into another set of fighting leathers, then we can leave once more."
    "Wait just one moment."  Okay, fear and irritation and stress snapped through her.  She stopped herself from shifting her feet as she met his purple gaze, let her own face form into serious lines.  Kept her arms from crossing her body, too.
    "What is wrong?" he asked.
    No, she would not shift under the weight of his intense stare.
    She cleared her throat, lifted and ungritted her teeth.  Dammit .   "I have one rule for lovers."
    He raised his brows.  "Only one?"  He patted Favel on the back and a large burp emerged.  The baby opened sleepy eyes.
    "Please do not leave me – this house – without waking me."
    "I was being considerate."
    She didn't know about that.  "With human men, leaving when one's lover is sleeping is extremely tacky.  Please, don't do that again."
    He frowned.  "Tacky?"
    "Rude and disgusting."
    His nostrils flared, his upper lip lifted as if unhappy such words had been applied to him.  He straightened into a soldierly bearing, inclined his head in a nod, his own face serious.  "I will not do so again."
    Of course he wouldn't.  He wouldn't be here.
    Favel gurgled, rolling over and propping himself against the couch to stare at them with a dribbling grin, obviously not picking up on the tension between Dak and her.
    "We need to leave as soon as possible."
    "I understand and accept that."
    Dak glanced away, back toward the door.  "I apologize.  Circumstances made me restless."
    She thought of a black-maned panther running through the neighborhood, scattering all before him, liked the image and smiled.
    "There is another person outside the porch.  Female," Dak said.
    Brandy turned and opened the front door.  Waved to the mail carrier, took a sheaf of letters from the box and flipped through them.  The cop car drove by slowly and she'd have bet that the officers had circled the block and gone down the alley.
    "The guards are curious and careful," Dak said from the doorway.
    She stepped back into the house more quickly than she would normally have done, and still thought she felt the woman officer's gaze on her.
    Flipping through her mail, she sighed.  "Bills," she said.
    "Invoices?" Dak asked.
    "Yes."  She frowned.  "I'm still not sure how you know our language."
    He shrugged.  "Spell. It will wear off as I learn."
    That sounded confusing, too.  Her smile strained.  "You won't be here long enough."
    "No, but it would only take a few more of your days, less if we went out amongst other people."
    She opened her mouth to protest, and he raised a hand, saying quietly, "It has been best that we stay hidden.  I do not like even the guards knowing Favel was here. "
    Of course he wouldn't.  He was all about