Fall into Fire (Shamans of the Divide, Book 2)

Chapter Eleven

Cody had to leave eventually and I was honestly sorry to see him go. I wasn't sure I was ready to face the recent arrivals alone.

He grinned as he closed the door.

"Don't let them pick on you too bad," he said. "Just like a horse--the mean ones can sense fear."

That made me laugh and I stared at the door after it shut a moment longer, clutching Violet closer against me, as if my purple sloth could ward off Renn's obvious annoyance and Asha's extreme dislike.

At least with Asha, the feeling was mutual.

"Come sit with us, July," Leonard said, patting the chair beside him at the dining room table. Reluctantly, I sat.

And waited.

"So what brought you all here?" I got tired of waiting and broke the silence first. Like always.

Skye sat next to Asha, directly across from me.

"Well, I guess whatever Leonard told my dad last week got some folks worried," he said, still digging into leftovers. He was on to barbecue beans now. "Then Renn had his dream..."

I watched Asha turn to look at Renn on the couch. Without meaning to, I did the same. His back was toward us and he was leaning forward, elbows on knees.

"What was your dream?" I asked.

He didn't say anything at first and I was just about convinced that he was ignoring me.

Instead, he stood and walked to stand at the head of the table. It was then, in the light of the dining room, that I noticed his hair. His ponytail was gone. The hair on the side of his head and beneath where the ponytail had been had grown back and it was cut short all the way around, minus the longer hair on top that fell into his eyes.

"You cut your hair," I blurted out without meaning to. He looked gorgeous--but different. Very different. Everything about Renn, it seemed, had changed in the past few weeks.

I heard Skye chuckle.

"Asha likes it better that way," Skye said, but cut him a look that stopped him.

"I dreamed that you were in trouble," Renn said. "There was a lot of confusion in the dream. And fire..."

It sounded familiar.

"A river of fire?" I asked.

Renn narrowed his eyes at me before nodding.

"How did you know?"

He was leaning forward and put both his hands on the tabletop. I watched the corded muscles on his forearms flex. Moving my gaze up his arms, I noticed his shoulders and biceps strained against his t-shirt.

Renn had been working out these last few weeks. Forcing my eyes off his tan arms, I looked at his face.

"I had one just like it."

His jaw twitched and I expected more questions, but he looked at Asha and stayed quiet.

"Has everyone been introduced?" Billie asked, bringing a plate of cookies to the table.

"Sort of," Skye said.

I was so grateful he was there, honestly. The tension between Asha, Renn, and me could stifle any conversation like a bucket of water on glowing embers.

"Who's the cowboy?" Skye asked Billie, but Renn's eyes jumped to mine.

"Oh? Cody?" Billie shrugged a little. "His dad's been with us for years. We've known Cody since he was a baby. He takes care of the horses when he's home from college."