He had to fight his own nature and do something he’d avoided for many years—interact with others in the human world. The mere idea sickened him, creating overwhelming anxiety, but he would go into the city this one time and do what was necessary for his mate. When he was sure she’d receive the proper care, he’d walk away.
Chapter Five
“Rakahnja!”
The name was a breathy cry from her lips as Anita woke with sudden fear and longing. She scanned the unfamiliar surroundings, searching for him. Her heart slammed against her ribs with a rapid, erratic beat. She had to find him. Her life depended on it.
Sparse utilitarian furnishings were visible in the harsh, bright light of the very sterile, cold room. A metal pole stood next to the bed, clear bags of liquid dripping down the tubing and leaking into a vein in her arm. She attempted to lift her hand only to discover both wrists had been tied to the bedrails, which were raised on both sides, caging her in.
On a shelf above the bed, sat a monitor displaying various squiggly lines and numbers. Several wires ran from beneath her gown to the device, which issued the steady, annoying bleat of an alarm.
How she’d ended up restrained to a bed in the hospital was beyond Anita. Her mind was a jumble of hazy confusion. One important question filtered through the fog. Where the hell was Rakahnja?
A nurse rushed into the room, competent gaze assessing as she moved to silence the monitor. “Good to see you’re finally awake. Doctor Kenner will be in to check on you in a bit.”
The woman produced a small penlight from a pocket of her blue scrub top and pulled back Anita’s eyelids, checking her pupils. She asked a barrage of questions, most of which Anita felt she’d been able to give appropriate answers for. Things like what’s her name, who’s the president, and did she know where she was. Those were easy to answer. The one she seemed to have failed was the day and date.
“Officer Samartino went to get some coffee but should be back soon.” The woman shook her head, an exasperated expression crossing her features. “One or another of your officers from dispatch has been here around the clock since you were dropped off in the E.R.”
Dropped off in the E.R. By who? What on earth is going on? Anita cleared her throat. “What happened?” Her voice sounded weak and rusty from lack of use.
“You arrived here after a head injury, dehydrated and exhausted with a nasty infection in your right leg.” The nurse’s expression showed empathy for her situation, but she didn’t give Anita any real details.
“How did I get here?” She was desperate for answers.
The nurse just shook her head. “Best you just rest now. The doctor will explain everything when he comes to see you.”
Before Anita could form a response, the woman was out the door, leaving her just as mystified. Attempts to think back only resulted in brief, disjointed fragments of memories and a killer headache.
The haunting name, Rakahnja, echoed through her mind along with images of a dark, powerful man and a fierce black jaguar.
She leaned back against the pillow and gave up the struggle for answers, instead cataloging the state of her body. Her right leg ached from her toes all the way to her hip. The left arm, where the IV fluids entered her blood stream, was freezing cold. A bone-deep weariness made her feel as if she’d run a marathon and been hit by a truck.
“Well, it’s about time you woke up, sleepyhead.”
The familiar voice boomed from the doorway. Looking up into Bert Samartino’s strong face, she couldn’t help but smile, thankful to see a friend. Bert was one of several officers she worked with in her job as a police dispatcher.
“Bert,” she gasped. Anita tried to sit up, huffing in frustration when the restraints held her to the bed. “What the hell is going on? What happened?”
He moved into the room and perched on the side of the bed. “That’s what we’ve been waiting to ask you. Do you remember anything from your hiking trip or arriving here?” From his serious expression, Anita knew he’d switched over into cop mode.
Obscure impressions flitted through her head. There were fuzzy memories of setting out for a few days in the mountains to decompress from the stressors of day-to-day life. It seemed like years ago she’d had the argument with her boss. How long ago had that been? The whole incident was so distant and lacking in substance.
Fleeting images remained just out of reach. She remembered a misstep and tumble, but Anita was entangled in uncertainty.
“I remember hiking and falling down a slope.” When the heck was that?
A sudden, clear recollection hit her. Everyone at work had been riled because it was Friday the Thirteenth and a full moon. Her superstitious coworkers had declared such a paranormal double whammy would lead to an insanely busy day at the dispatch center.
“Everyone was giving me a hard time about going into the mountains alone on full moon Friday the Thirteenth. Like I believe in all that supernatural crap.” She laughed briefly.
There were mixed-up images of following a black jaguar through the mountains, but she knew it was impossible. Black jaguars did not exist in the Rockies. The name Rakahnja rolled through her mind again and she visualized a large, dark man with long black hair.
What the hell?
There were also memories of a threatening presence, but she shoved those to the back of her mind. She wanted to concentrate on remembering Rakahnja.
“There was a man who helped me.” Using her training, Anita tried to give as detailed a description as possible, leaving out superfluous impressions, such as how gorgeous and caring he was. She ticked off a factual list for Bert.
“About six-two, two-hundred pounds, shoulder-length black hair, cocoa-brown skin…” She fumbled over how to relate her other impressions. Eyes the color of golden amber jewels, and the fact the man and jaguar seemed to be one in the same.
“Do you remember eye color, distinctive markings, facial hair?” He was busy concentrating, writing everything in a small notebook.
“His eyes were an, um…deep gold color.”
She stopped talking as Bert’s serious blue gaze snapped up to study her face. His brows drew together, lines fanning out across his forehead. “Gold?”
“Yeah. Like the chunk of amber on my desk.”
From the look of disbelief in his eyes, there was no way she could tell him about the jaguar. He’d never believe her, chalking it up to her head injury.
Thankfully, the doctor chose that moment to walk into the room, breaking the heavy silence hanging between them. The compact, studious man was a whirlwind of motion.
“Ah, you’re finally awake. Good, good,” he nodded. “I’m doctor Kenner.” He glanced at Bert. “If you wouldn’t mind, officer, I need to examine my patient now. There will be plenty of time for your questions later.”
Bert stood and left the room without another word. Anita knew he’d stay close, trying to listen in case she revealed any more details to the doc. Having him nearby was both reassuring and unnerving. There was no way she’d be able to discuss the jaguar-man with the doctor while Bert listened in.
“We were rather worried about you, young lady. It’s very lucky your friend brought you in when he did.” He lifted the blankets to examine her legs. His bony fingers felt cold against her skin, but Anita remained still. She wanted to let the man spill as much information as possible.
“You had a bacterium in your body, which was harmless until you fell. When that happened, it entered your bloodstream through a vein in your ankle. Had it been any longer before we got antibiotics into your system…” He stared into her eyes for a moment. “Well, you might have lost your leg. Your friend saved your limb and very possibly your life by getting you to us in time.”
Anita gasped, jerking against her bonds. “Why am I restrained? Please untie me.”
“Ah, that was for your safety. You were rather combative due to your head injury, and we didn’t want you to cause further harm.” He released the ties from her wrists, gently ru
bbing the circulation back into her limbs for a moment.
“You’ve been mumbling about black jaguars, caverns and such since they brought you in. We’ve been giving you IV fluids to fight the severe dehydration and broad-spectrum antibiotics for the infection.”
She interrupted, needing to know more detail. “What about the head injury?”
“The CT scan revealed a small amount of bleeding in your brain. A subdural hematoma, which when coupled with dehydration can result in a lack of memory or a confusion of events and reality.”
A confusion of events and reality.
Well, she certainly did feel confused, but Anita had little doubt as to what she’d encountered out here. The longer she was awake, the more she remembered. A jaguar-man had taken care of her injuries. He’d also made love to her.
She knew very well what she’d seen and experienced, believed in her heart he existed, and had every intention of finding him once again. What he was didn’t matter. Who he was—the strong, loving soul she’d discovered—was all she cared about.
The doctor patted her hand. “Your amnesia to your injury and the days that followed will likely remain.”
“Days,” she gasped. “How many days? What day is it?”
“Today is Saturday, dear.”
Saturday? How could it have only been one day?
Looking down at his watch, Kenner mumbled, “The twenty-first.”
Her head swam with dizziness and her stomach clenched into a tight knot of dread. Long after the doctor left, Anita sat trying to sort through her memories. Eight days. She’d lost eight whole days.
Bert came back in for a while. He told her she’d been brought into the hospital on the evening of the eighteenth, and had been comatose since then with the exception of her fevered mumblings.
Everyone had considered the things she’d said to be a result of the head injury, but Anita would not believe it was the case. There was no way she’d survived six days on the mountain without help. Yet the investigations of her officers into the mystery man who’d brought her to the hospital had turned up nothing.
Well, she certainly did feel confused, but the more she relaxed her mind, the more she remembered.
She vividly recalled the jaguar. In his feline form, Rakahnja had been magnificent. Lean muscle covered by a shimmering black pelt with silver undertones, and dark golden eyes, both fierce and captivating. Those eyes seemed to have the ability to pierce her flesh and gaze into her very soul.
The mere thought of him brought her nipples to firm peaks and caused her breasts to swell with excitement.
No words did justice to describing Rakahnja in his human form as she remembered him. Supremacy and power oozed from every fiber of the large man. Each feature of his utterly masculine face was chiseled perfection. Jet black hair flowed in scintillating waves down over the broadest shoulders, and miles of cocoa-brown skin covered ripped sinew. His chest, forearms and legs held a spattering of soft black hair.
In every image of him running rampant through her head, he stood tall and confident, completely comfortable with his nakedness. He fit into his surroundings perfectly, no matter which form he took. She remembered his captivating face hovering above her own in the darkness, watching his pupils thin and elongate to feline slits within a human face.
It surprised her to not be bothered by his differences, but somehow the strange attributes made him that much more attractive to Anita and she accepted who Rakahnja was with shocking ease.
Arousal flushed her skin at the remembered weight of his large body pressed against her from shoulder to ankle. She’d luxuriated in the warmth of the skin-to-skin contact and the impressive erection cradled by her hip.
Her blood heated, rushing through her body, swelling her breasts and pussy with undeniable desire. Just thinking of the virile man stirred a carnal need in her belly and sent a gush of hot fluids sliding down the quivering walls of her pussy. Everything about Rakahnja from the primitive domination and control she’d read in his expression, to the very tender and gentle way he’d cared for her created needs she’d never even contemplated.
And the sex… Oh, the sex.
She remembered the ecstasy of his tongue lapping at her juices, along with fevered bouts of primal fucking, and long, slow sessions of making love. Indescribable bliss and pleasure beyond belief. She’d found paradise, a beautiful haven, within Rakahnja’s embrace.
The strong, sure, forceful way he fucked her was something she’d always yearned for, even asked for, but the men she’d been with had never delivered. Mmm…how he’d provided, both capturing and setting Anita free.
There is no way he was a figment of her concussed mind, some deluded fantasy. No way to easily explain away the time she remembered spending with him. Rakahnja was real and she would find him.
While the feline had touched her heart, the man had touched her soul, leaving an indelible imprint of a love she refused to let slip away without putting up one hell of a fight.
It didn’t matter what being with a shapeshifter involved. She was willing to do whatever it took in order to be with the man-beast who held her heart.
If only she could find him again…
Chapter Six
How did one go about attracting a shapeshifting jaguar-man?
Anita didn’t know the answer to the all-important question, but she was determined to figure it out. Her memories had wreaked havoc on her normally well-ordered life ever since waking up in the hospital a few weeks ago. Not to mention what they’d done to her libido. Her dreams were filled with heated, carnal sex and wild, untamed fucking.
While she’d read a few fantasy novels about creatures who were able to change from one form to another, those types of stories were just not her thing. Most of the time she went for suspense or thrillers, a few horror novels thrown in for variety. Had she read a few more fantasies, she just might be better equipped for the task at hand.
Her resolve to find him had not lessened. She’d taken a leave of absence from work and headed out into the mountains. As she hiked, her thoughts focused on him—Rakahnja. The name played through her head, along with images of a stunning and powerful animal-human.
“Where are you?”
Her dreams had brought so much of it back to her. Waking up feeling as if she’d tumbled down a flight of stairs. Wandering aimlessly in unfamiliar territory. Through a process of elimination, Anita had pinpointed an area in the Rocky Mountains to focus her search.
On her trek, she thought about her life. For the past thirty of her forty-one years, Anita had hiked alone in the vast Colorado wilderness. None who’d tried were able to convince her against going out alone. Of course, she hadn’t wandered much farther than the limits of her grandparents’ property when she was a young girl, but she still spent most of her time hiking and camping.
Her work as an emergency services dispatcher was how she supported herself—her day job, something she had to do. During her free time, that’s when she really lived and unleashed her passion for being one with the world. Being far away from the city and surrounded by all the things she loved made her feel vital, alive.
It had been her grandparents who had raised her and taught Anita to love and respect nature. She missed their gentle, easygoing ways. Since they’d passed away, she had not been able to find anyone she could tolerate hiking with. People always wanted to fill the quiet time with ceaseless, meaningless chatter. The experience was much more serene when she was alone with all the wild things.
From what she remembered, the terrain had been rocky with sparse vegetation. Closely surveying her surroundings, she had no idea if she’d come to the right area or not. She let her mind wander, thinking back to her memories of the fateful hike, waking up battered and bruised, trying to find her way down off the mountain but instead heading to higher elevations.
Anita had sensed and seen the presence of a dark and mysterious predator shadowing her every movement. He’d seemed as real as everything else around her, o
nly incredibly more vivid, larger-than-life and absolutely captivating. No matter where she’d been, the big cat had remained at the center of her awareness.
Surprisingly enough, he’d eased her fear. Lost, dehydrated and recklessly wandering through the wilderness with a very large predator stalking her every movement and Anita had only felt a quiet sense of curiosity and arousal. Something about the jaguar stroked her senses, made her very aware of herself as a feminine being.
At least some of the things she recalled had to have happened. She needed them to be true. The memories were so rich in detail. Her fingers itched at the remembered sensation of stroking thick, silky fur. And those haunting amber eyes that seemed to glow from within. Both the jaguar and the man had shared the same beautiful eyes.
Then there was the way she’d burned in his arms. No way had she imagined such mind-blowing sex. How was is possible for her mind to come up with the feel of soft fur against her legs while a lengthy, somewhat abrasive tongue reached deep into her pussy to stimulate nerve endings never before awakened. Or the comforting sensation of a man’s weight and warmth over her as he thrust a gloriously long, thick cock into her drenched channel.
There were a few details she was certain were pure imagination though. Like the way the head of his cock had swelled, locking him deep inside her. The wonderful tentacles that had caressed and pulsed against her G-spot. She had doubts concerning those memories.
She was getting wet just thinking about her wild, fevered fantasies. And whether fantasy or reality, here she was searching for Rakahnja, her mysterious man-jaguar. While afraid to have her recollections proven to be merely wild imagination, she was equally terrified to find her dream shapeshifter existed—knowing deep within her soul it would change everything.
Although her life had never been exciting, Anita had felt completely out of place over the past weeks. Nothing seemed to fit right anymore. Not her job, car or apartment. Not even her coworkers, who she used to think of as friends but now realized were nothing more than casual acquaintances. She didn’t really share anything in common with them, and they rarely socialized outside of work.
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