`It's nothing, Sal. I just overreacted.' He put his arm around her and judged the distance between him and the branch. If their watcher moved, he would not hesitate.
Sally stopped, squeezing his arm hard. `You can't keep pushing me away when something gets weird, Wil. I accept what happened last year was terrible and I can't understand what nearly dying was like, but I've been here for you. Staying with you in the hospital and listening to you scream in your sleep. I came here to the island so we can be together, to be with your family. Let me in, Wil.'
He looked at her. Blue eyes full of life held his gaze. How much could he tell her?
`Okay, okay.' He kissed her on the cheek and began walking slowly, her hand in his. `The nightmares I don't think I can ever talk to you about.' Wilson shuddered as unwelcome memories threatened to surface. He felt her hand squeeze his, but no questions came. `I guess it freaked me out back there. At the funeral, just before it happened, everything went quiet like that. Like something was watching us, from the shadows.'
`You thought something bad was going to happen to us?'
`Yeah.' He glanced at her and at the trees up on the dunes. The shadow had vanished from the tree, grass moved farther up the dunes and he spotted it slipping away. Good.
`Do you want to go and find Mr D?'
`No, I don't want him getting worried. Besides, I'm hungry.' His stomach rumbled.
`Ha,' Sally snorted, bumping him with her hip. `There's the Wil I know. Always hungry.'
`Yep, starving actually.' He pulled her into his arms, her face close to his. `Are we cool about what happened back there?'
`So far,' she said, kissing him lightly. `But from now on you're going to spend all day not thinking about the past.'
`Done.' Her smile was infectious and he couldn't resist tugging at her bikini string.
`Oh, now you're interested.' She pulled away and rescued her top before it fell off. `I thought you were starving? Make your mind up — food or making out.'
`Could we do both at the same time?'
`Maybe.' She bit her lip and he raised an eyebrow. She winked at him. `Gotta catch me.'
`Crap.' Wilson bolted after her, her long legs his focus, the shadow forgotten for the moment. He would deal with it later.
Birdsong and insect life resumed in the trees of the island. Liquid purple eyes half-closed, she lay on the forest floor, panting, her glamour shimmering.
The soft scales covering her body reflected the colours of the forest around her.
`He saw me this time.' She shivered in the heat; no one had seen through her glamour before. `The boy actually saw me. Curse this collar.' Her body took shape as her gift faded, her hands nearly touching the collar around her neck. `Not good — getting sloppy with this on. If he can see me, the father will as well. Kill me for sure.'
She used her claws, digging them into the tree to pull herself up.
`I need to feed,' she whispered, touching the collar around her neck. Its iron touch burnt against the scaled flesh of her neck.
`No. Find them.'
She growled at the cold touch of the command in her mind. Her lip curled as she looked at the blood on her fingers. Bark flew as she tore at the tree in frustration. `Bitch!' she spat and moved towards the scent of the one she was compelled to find.
Ruth sat back in the deck chair listening to Mason bustling around the villa's kitchen. He had always liked to prepare meals. Something about it made him happy and she liked Mason happy. She liked it a lot.
`You opened the wine yet?' Ruth tapped the plastic wine glass on the table.
`Yep, just getting the prawns out.'
She smiled, closing her eyes. It had been a very long year, but now it was much better, more than she could have planned. She stretched. Mason was hers again. The darkness that had taken him from her was no longer in control. Even better, her year-long abstinence had yielded truly amazing results.
`These are just great.' Ruth opened her eyes as Mason placed a plate full of cooked prawns in front of her. He smiled, already munching on one. `Gotta be fresh off the trawler?'
`Yep, just like we always did for the holidays.' Ruth tapped her wine glass again. Mason was busy peeling another prawn. `Anybody would think you hadn't eaten one for yonks.'
`Haven't,' he mumbled with a mouthful. `I, ah, I didn't have much need or desire for food. For so long eating became more about survival than enjoyment.'
His prawn-stained grin made her flashback a few years, the last time they were on the island. Just before… `Wine and prawns, Mason; the two must go together.' She pushed the ugly images from her mind.
`Yes, dear,' he drawled, bowing slightly. `I shall fetch the wine immediately.'
She rolled her eyes at him. It had been so long since he had made her smile, let alone scream like he had in bed last night. The thought made her skin tighten. `Well hurry, man, my lips are parched and require moisture before we move on to dessert.'
`Understood.'
Ruth peeled and ate a prawn as he slipped inside. They were good. Even better, sharing them with Mason. It was a ritual they'd had for more than twenty years. First day on the island: wine, prawns and then a massage. She had missed that; Mason's hands on her, massaging away the tension. She had never found another who could do it like him.
`Here we go.' He poured the red wine into her glass, releasing its fruity aroma and making her head swim. Everything had intensified since Mason had come home. .
`We'd better hoe in while we can. The boy will turn up soon enough. He won't forget about the prawns.'
`Maybe.' Ruth sipped her wine. Sally was a powerful distraction. `Remember the year he ate so many he was sick? Took him years to eat them again.'
`Yeah,' Mason chuckled. `It was strange eating them without him around. Except now.'
`Perhaps.' Ruth ate a prawn, savouring the double delight; its flavour and the fact Mason had peeled it for her.
Mason sat up straight, eyes glazing over for a second.
`What?'
`I need to get something.' He stood up, prawn in hand, and ducked inside. She shrugged, wondering what he had to do that was so urgent. Ruth reached behind her, undoing her top, a surprise for Mason.
`Hey Mum.'
She let the bikini string go just in time, scratching at an imaginary itch, respecting the fact that Wilson had become quite uncomfortable about the whole nudity thing.
`Hey you.' She smiled as Wilson sat down, his towel landing heavily on the table. Mason rustled around inside. She felt a twinge of disquiet and tried to ignore it. `Why aren't you with Sally?'
`Believe me I would be, but… Something has come up.'
`That's meant to happen, Wil.' she teased, stealing a prawn out of his hand.
`Jeez, Mum.' He blushed and grabbed another prawn from the dish. `Don't do that, please. It's kind of weird.'
`Sex is very natural. We all do it.'
`Yeah, but not everyone talks about it like the weather.'
`That's the problem.' She sat back and sipped her wine, savouring the taste. `If they did, things would be much easier.'
`Yes,' he said, eyeing her as he ate. `You and might I have, but now you're talking to Sally about it. It's a problem, Mum, when she does something new and all I can think is that you've had a hand in it.'
`Sorry to disappoint you but Sally is very creative herself. All she asked me about was birth control. That's it.'
`Oh.'