by Abby Wood
"Listen to my voice. You'll be okay. I'm here to help you, protect and care for you. Never again will you have to travel through life alone now that I'm here. I'm your life mate, Granger. My clan lives north of here, out in the bush where no one can find us. We guard our area and protect everyone so that our kind can go on living. We have a few women. I think you would enjoy meeting them. We can help you understand."
The hand holding hers trailed up to stroke the inside of her wrist. Her shoulders relaxed, and she grew warm inside her outer clothes, but she didn't want to move and undress in case the voice left. He brought a sense of belonging to her that she hadn't felt since before…before the incident.
"I would love to come in, talk to you, but as you know, I'm in my cat form, and I don't have any clothes to put on. I can promise that no harm will come to you. I think inside you know this too, Aningan, even though no one has ever told you before what you're hearing now. I can help you come to terms with who you are, to celebrate our uniqueness."
"Oh God." She swallowed. "Can you really hear inside my head? And why did you call me your life mate?"
"Yes. I've shown myself to you. From now on, we will never be apart. A continent can separate us, but here, inside our heads, I'm only a second away. You'll never be alone again. Paired lynx have a special bond from the very start. Our hearts beat as one. That only happens between life mates. You know you feel the difference." He purred. "Listen to your lynx, Aningan. She's telling you that we belong together."
Wondering why he called her a by different name, she walked through the living room, down the hall, and entered the master bedroom where her father slept when he was alive. Unable to deal with going through his things and throwing out the belongings she no longer needed, she kept the door closed since the day she buried him. Out of sight, out of mind—she wasn't ready to open the wound that had begun to scab.
Opening the middle dresser drawer, she removed a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. On the way back to the living room, she tried to wrap her head around everything this lynx—this supposed man—told her this morning. She never realized there were others like her, but it brought a sense of excitement to know she wasn't alone.
"I'm putting the clothes beside the front door and unlocking it. I'll be in the kitchen. Please let me know when you're dressed, and go sit on the couch afterward. Stay on that couch, or I'll kick you out. Understood?" The words spoken aloud, she bit the inside of her cheek at how stupid she sounded.
"Thank you."
She hurried out of the room. For a flashing moment her curiosity won out, and she turned back to peek around the corner, but his soft laughter in her head stopped her cold.
"I'm sorry. You may look. I won't laugh anymore."
She tried to not imagine what kind of man lived inside the lynx. Yet whoever he was, he made her feel more alive than she'd felt the last few weeks mourning her dad. Something about him excited her, and it went beyond his voice, his soothing manner, or the idea of kinship with someone that turns into a lynx like her. Granger was right. She did feel the magnetic pull toward him.
Growing up in the bush of Alaska, she lived a more sheltered life than others did. She understood that most people lived with neighbors, television, phones. Not here, though. She lived without modern conveniences and with no electricity. Once a year she traveled into Fairbanks, and even doing that turned into an all-day trip if she picked up groceries and supplies.
After she started shifting, she avoided those trips with her father. Now alone, she relied on a family who lived about ten miles farther north to stop by and offer to bring her back supplies. She didn't want to chance a transformation while in the presence of others.
Powerful fingers crawled up her spine and spread warmth throughout her body. Flustered, she realized that she still wore her outside clothes and quickly shed them. The warmth didn't leave with her clothes. Lush tingles of delight washed over her breasts, and she crossed her arms.
She was not a stranger to her own desires, but nothing about this day should have had her craving a private moment on her bed with Mr. Finger. She glared down at her clothes sprinkled on the kitchen floor. Somewhere between the fight outside and inviting the lynx inside her house, she lost control.
"I'm dressed and sitting on the couch, Aningan."
The idea of meeting the first person who claimed to live with the same affliction she did made her anxious and nervous. She glanced down at the clothes she was still wearing and groaned. She stood in a pair of white long johns with tiny pink flowers and an oversize T-shirt with the logo "Bears do it in the woods" that used to belong to her father.
She ran her hands through her hair, trying to remember if she had brushed the usual rat's nest that she woke up with each morning before heading out and doing morning chores. Feeling self-conscious, she licked her lips and ran her hands down the front of her shirt to try to stretch it farther down to cover more of her legs.
"Come on out. It does not matter what you have on. When I'm near you, I sense every curve of your body, your scent, your moods. I know you inside and out like I know my own body. Anything that you wear will please me."
"Ugh, I'm not worried about what you'll think of me." She sighed and muttered, "Pig."
She stepped out of the kitchen.
That was as far as she walked. Rooted to one spot, mouth open, she stared. Whatever she expected was not what sat on the couch.
Dark-skinned, he resembled the Inuit people of the area. His hair hung past his shoulders in one full, thick length. The corners of his mouth lifted in a knowing smile, and his eyes…his eyes shone darker than the Alaskan sky in the wintertime and danced with amusement.
"Come, sit down. We will talk." He hadn't put on the sweatshirt she left out for him, but he did put on the sweatpants. His bare feet even brought an uncomfortable…no, an unsettling sensation to her lower stomach.
"Breathe. Nothing is going to happen. I just want to talk with you."
"Stop doing that. You're right in front of me. There is no reason to get inside my head and hear my thoughts." She sat in a chair across the room from him. "I don't want you to do that. Can I do something to keep you out of my head?"
"We are life mates, Aningan. From now on, we will be with each other no matter where we are. You have only to reach out to me, and I'll be with you. My lynx has claimed you. It's the way of the Lynx." He nodded and waited. "I see you don't believe me, but you will learn. I know this is all new to you." His tongue slipped out to wet his full lips. "Can I ask how long you have been transforming?"
"How do you know that?" She rubbed her temple. "No one knows that I do that."
She tried not to grimace, but this part of her life only caused her great shame and embarrassment. She wanted to stop transforming, not learn about it.
"I know you have no control over when you shift, and it scares you. You have no more need to worry about that. As your mate, I'm able to control it for you and teach you how to use your lynx."
She jumped up from the chair. "Stop it!"
She rubbed the back of her neck. Warmth from his hand massaged the tight muscles at the back of her head. She moaned. "I…I don't… Stop touching me for a minute."
The pressure from his touch left immediately, and she inhaled a deep breath. Her hands shook, and she ran them through her hair.
"I can't think when you touch me. My body… Oh God! It's like you morphed and your soul is inside of me…comforting me." She rubbed her arms. "I don't understand any of this. How you talk to me, how you can touch me when you're on the other side of the room. This isn't normal!"
"It's normal. Give it time. You'll see." She didn't see him move, but his arms wrapped around her and held her to his chest.
All the fight inside her fled, and she succumbed to his caress. Every worry and troubling thought vanished. It was as if Granger absorbed them all, freeing her from her burdens, and deep inside her soul, her lynx purred.
She laid her cheek against his chest. He strok
ed her hair, and her eyes drifted closed. He whisked her back to the couch, and cradling her in his lap, he never dropped his secure hold on her.
She floated in a dreamlike fog, knowing what was happening but not caring enough to get up or argue with him about what he did. This man—this stranger—somehow connected with her, but she didn't know how.
She snuggled against his bare chest, then lifted one hand and laid it to rest over his heart. She was amazed that his heartbeat matched the rhythm of hers, and at that moment, she knew he spoke the truth. She recognized something deep inside of him. Unable to speak, she lay basking in the glow this strange man gave her.
With gentle hands, he caressed her. His fingers lingered over the curve of her shoulder, the slope of her neck, and followed the waves of her messy hair down her back.
"Granger?"
He kissed the top of her head. "Yes, Aningan?"
"I don't understand any of this. Why can't I run from you? My head tells me I should be afraid, but my body wants to curl up around you and never leave." She sniffed. "I'm scared."
"Chloe." He pulled her up and helped her sit next to him on the couch. "There, that will help. It's our body's way of celebrating our finally coming together." He gathered her hand in his. "I don't mean to frighten you, but what happened today pushed me to come for you. I was going to wait for you to heal from you father's death."
Her head came up, and she stared at him. "How do you know about that?"
"I've been watching you." He smiled. "I found you out running in the woods one day in your lynx form, and couldn't understand why I was attracted to an animal." He laughed at the way her mouth fell open. "I had to know more about you."
"You've been spying on me?" She sat up straighter but did not pull her hand from his grasp.
He chuckled and shook his head. "No, I've been watching over you. There is a difference." He grinned. "You're a submissive to my alpha status. You don't have control over shifting or the capabilities to protect yourself yet. I can help you with that."
"Can you stop it?" She squeezed his hand. "I don't want to shift."
Granger shook his head. "No. You're a shifter of the Lynx." He cocked his head to the side. "Do you remember how or when you changed?" He caressed the side of her face with his knuckles. "Seldom do we find one of our own living alone." He brushed a wayward strand of hair from her face. "All this time, and I had no idea my mate lived so close by."
She swallowed and nodded. "For many years I've wondered and worried over how I'm different. The one thing I keep going back to is the bite I suffered from an injured lynx when I was eleven years old." She caught her lower lip between her teeth and tilted her head back to gaze up at Granger. "That doesn't make sense, though. People don't turn into an animal because of a bite. Think of how many dog shifters the world would have if it happened that way."
"You're right. A bite must come from a shifter. A regular animal doesn't have the ability to infect." He swept the hair back off her forehead. "It's possible that the lynx that bit you came from the Lynx family."
Her brows came down. "But, I didn't shift until after I turned thirteen years old. That was two years after I got bit."
Granger smiled. "Tell me, did you start your period around the same time?"
Chloe's eyes widened, and she sat up even straighter. "Yes."
"People who are not born shifters don't get their full power to change until they go through puberty." He chuckled. "The need to go into heat plays havoc with someone young and inexperienced. I imagine it took you by surprise each time you shifted, yes?"
She nodded. "That means the lynx at the refuge wasn't a true animal."
"Yes." He let her get off the couch, but his gaze followed her across the room. "I believe that is what happened to you. Although, I thought I knew every lynx shifter in the area." He shrugged. "So many years ago… The person who infected you is probably long gone."
Chloe paced the living room floor. Pausing at the fireplace mantel, she straightened the picture frames lining the rock shelf. A sense of understanding came with someone else giving her the answers she sought all this time. She was a freak of nature, but at least she understood that it happened to others too.
She ran her finger along the wooden picture frame of her father smiling for the camera. His hair hung down to his shoulders, and his eyes lit up his face. She'd teased him to get the shot of him holding a newborn bear cuddled to his chest. He'd carried the animal around for weeks, waiting for it to gain enough strength to go without food for more than a few hours at a time.
"What're you thinking?"
Chloe glanced over her shoulder. "I thought you could read my thoughts."
"No." The corners of his mouth lifted. "I can hear your thoughts toward me, but you're deep in thought and far away at the moment. What is it that makes you appear so sad?"
She turned back to gaze at the picture again. "My father. He is…was the only person I had in my life. My mother passed away soon after I was born."
"He'll always be a part of you, Aningan."
"What does that mean? Aningan? You call me that, but I've never heard that word before." She turned and crossed her arms.
"It's a term of endearment. The Inuit part of my ancestry has a myth about the moon god. She is beautiful, caring, and soothes even the restless soul." He rose from the couch and approached Chloe. "To me, you're Aningan. You bring peace and tranquility to my life."
"You don't know me." She uncrossed her arms and shook her head.
He picked up her hand, placed it over his heart, and then positioned his hand over her heart. "We're life mates, Chloe. Feel how our hearts beat together. Tell me you feel the connection running through our veins. Can you deny what you feel beneath your fingertips?"
She pulled her hand away and stepped back. Disoriented, she turned to break away from the hold Granger placed on her. This wasn't how things worked. People met, dated, and then fell in love. She scoffed. Life mate?
Chapter Three
Keeping a wide berth, Chloe walked past Granger and sat in her dad's recliner. She pulled the afghan off the back and held it bunched up in her arms, tight against her chest. Did she not get a choice about her life anymore? What did he expect her to do? Go with him and give up the refuge?
"Breathe. I'm sorry for rushing all of this at you. I didn't want it to come to this."
"But…?" Her gaze never broke away from Granger. "You're not telling me everything. Why now? What happened to make you approach me today? Was it the men who brought me the wolf cub?"
"Yes." He moved over to the coffee table, sat, and forced her to turn in his direction. "I believe the men are involved with a larger group that is trying to get rid of my people."
A chill moved through her body. "Your people? The other shifters?"
"Yes." He leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. "They are wounding animals on purpose to either gain entry into your refuge or to get a hold of you. I'm not sure which yet."
"Me?" She shook her head. "I don't understand."
Granger stood. "There's a group of men that have found out about the Lynx clan. We've kept them away from our area with guards stationed around the perimeter twenty-four-seven, but we've heard their conversations and have stopped their attempts to capture us."
He bent down on one knee. "That's how I found out they'd murdered your father."
She shook her head. "My dad died from a sudden heart attack. I found him inside the enclosure."
"I'm sorry." Granger stroked her leg. "I wish I could tell you differently, but one of our men heard a few of their men talking about using a Taser gun on him when he refused to hand over the shifter. Since I had already learned of your existence when I found you running through the woods, I knew their ultimate goal…was you. Finding out you ran a refuge made everything click. I've been watching out for you ever since."
She shook her head wildly. "No, that isn't true. The doctor said he'd died instantly from a heart attack." She wiped away a
tear that escaped her eye. "Why are you lying to me?"
Granger stood up and backed away. She glared. The doctor told her he'd died a few hours prior to her finding him. She'd even asked for an autopsy, but he'd refused based on her father's age and health records.
"He always forgot to take his high blood pressure medicine. I told him all the time that he needed to take care of himself." She sobbed. "It was a heart attack."
Granger came back to her and settled at her feet. "Sh…"
She lifted her head. "It's true, isn't it? You're telling me the truth."
Staring in his eyes, she believed him.
He nodded. "I didn't find out about it until afterward, or I would have stopped them. The best thing I could do was protect you from a distance in the meantime."
"Me?" She cocked her head. "Maybe one of the animals here is the shifter they are after. No one knows about me. M-my dad was the only one who knew."
He shook his head. "I've already gone through all the animals. There are no shifters among them."
The silence in the room pounded in her ears. Her hands fell to her lap at the realization that she'd caused her father's death. She stared into Granger's eyes, absorbing everything he'd told her.
"Oh God." She scooted out of the chair, slapped the hands that came out to hold her, and ran out of the room, covering her mouth.
She barely made it to the toilet before losing the contents of her stomach. She bent over and retched. Cool hands gathered her hair away from her face. Struggling to inhale, she gagged.
"Inhale through your nose, Aningan. I'll help you. You're no longer alone."
She coughed and fought for breath. "I killed him."
"No! It's not your fault. This should not have happened. If you must blame someone, blame the men who are causing all the deaths and damage." Granger removed a towel from the rod on the wall.
He turned on the pump that ran the water and wet the towel. Patting her face, he wiped her mouth and calmed her stomach. "Now that you know the truth, I'd like you to come home with me. I can guard you better if you're under my care."
