Duncan snorted in disgust. “Oh, believe me. If Cole and Lisa Franklin had been the ones to find you laying at the bottom of a hill in the middle of a State Park way off the trails, they would have been arguing to see who could get to you first.” He flipped the sheet up and studied her ankle. “Seriously sprained ankle, moderate concussion. What if you’d broken your neck? What if we hadn’t gone looking for you? You’re lucky to even be alive, Miz Franklin.”
Rolling her eyes, Kennedy shifted in the bed and fiddled with the control until the bed had her sitting a little more upright. “I’m aware of that, Sheriff. I assume you were there when I was found.”
“Yes. One of the park rangers found your truck on the final drive through before she would have left the park. You ruined her night, by the way. We had to call in the search and rescue team—any reason you wandered so far off the trails?” He narrowed his eyes at her and the odd golden color seemed to reflect light back at her.
Kennedy tried to give him a charming smile, but she suspected it fell flat. Shrugging, she said, “I was just trying to find some pretty places to snap pictures.” Pictures…oh, shit. Squeezing her eyes closed, she whispered, “My camera?”
Duncan arched a brow. “I ought to tell you it’s smashed beyond repair.”
She breathed out a shaky sigh of relief. “But it’s not, right?”
He shook his head. “Zane Matthews found it on the hill as we were moving you out. I didn’t mess with it, but it’s probably fine.” As he crossed his arms over his wide chest, the badge on his belt glinted at her. Another memory slammed into her brain. The last two times she’d seen him, that badge had been worn on his belt.
But he hadn’t been wearing it last night…had he?
Just a pair of jeans—she could even remember how those jeans had looked on him, slung low on his hips, a thin ribbon of black hair running down his flat belly, curling around his navel before disappearing under the waist of those jeans.
Just jeans…why was he there wearing just jeans… Then she shook her head. She’d probably dreamed that part. There was a soft little whisper, one she wished vainly she could shut up. How do you know you didn’t dream all of it?
Clenching her jaw, she forcibly shut that nagging voice up.
“So why were you wandering around?” he asked again.
Kennedy shrugged, fiddling with the nubby weave of the blanket thrown across her legs. “I told you—I wanted to take some pictures.”
“Three miles from the nearest trail. Hell, you were almost off state property and on mine.”
“Uh…” Three miles. She had known she was lost, but hadn’t realized she’d gotten that far off the trail. She dragged her tongue across her lips as she glanced back up to meet his eyes. “I guess I don’t have a very good sense of direction.”
He laughed, the sound short and harsh, echoing through the brightly lit emergency room. “If that’s all it is, I’ll say you’re sure as hell right. Do us all a favor and carry a compass—and for the love of God, take a guide.”
Narrowing her eyes, she crossed her arms over chest and glared at him. “I don’t need a damned babysitter.”
But even as she said the words, she winced. Before he could open his mouth to comment, she said, “Okay, maybe leaving the trail without a guide was thoughtless. I just wanted to go look around.”
Duncan turned away, sighing. He shoved a hand through his hair as he started to pace back and forth across the narrow cubicle. “Next time you feel the need to get close with nature, can you take a guide? It’s not smart for anybody to go out on a hike alone.”
“I’ll…I’ll be more careful,” she said, looking back down at her hands. But she sure as hell couldn’t promise she wouldn’t go out alone. Not now.
She was even more determined to find out something about these cats.
His piercing gaze felt like it was burning into her skin. Shifting on the bed, she grabbed the control and lowered the bed back down so that she was laying flat once more. Rolling onto her side, she said, “I’m tired.”
He didn’t say anything else, and for the longest time, it was silent. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes just a little. He was gone—hadn’t made a damned sound either.
A week later, Duncan found her at the library. She was seated at one of the old microfiche machines—the current librarian, Carly Banks, had finally gotten the money to update the old system, but there were years and years worth of articles that had to be added. It wouldn’t be complete any time soon.
He started to head her way, but a sketched image on the screen caught his eye. Shit…
Over the past two hundred years, the Pride had managed to stay mostly out of sight from others. But every once in a while… Fifty years ago, there had been a sighting of one of the Pride’s cougars.
It had been a youth, and like a lot of the males, he’d been careless. The man who had seen him had been the town sheriff—no question about whether or not the story had any credibility. For months, the men in the small city of Pride, Michigan had hunted for the mysterious giant cat.
There hadn’t been another sighting since and Duncan knew there wasn’t any reliable information. His father had gone through all of the information gathered, but still…now he was beyond uneasy.
Kennedy knew about them.
Duncan left without getting the books Carly had loaned from another library. They had a serious problem on their hands and until it was resolved, he wasn’t going to have time to read anything more than official business.
Hours later, he sat on the floor in his living, staring into the crackling fire and brooding.
Behind him, Zane and the others spoke quietly. There were three more members of the Pride—Glenna McGuire, Maria Suarez, and Samuel Pride, Duncan’s first cousin. The four of them had shown up at Duncan’s front porch without him even having to place a call. Duncan was the alpha but these four people were irreplaceable.
They shared a link with the Pride’s leader—a psychic alert of sorts. Duncan had known something was wrong, even before Glenna had made the phone call when she saw Kennedy’s truck. Zane had had the same feeling and was already on his way to Duncan’s.
So, it wasn’t really a surprise when the four of them showed up.
Not a surprise, but Duncan wished they’d leave him the hell alone as he tried to figure out what to do about this.
“We can call the Council—they have methods of dealing with this sort of thing.”
He heard Glenna’s comment and bit back a curse. Yeah, he knew the Council’s methods. He may have understood them, but he sure as hell didn’t like them. Kennedy didn’t need some vamp from the Council coming out here and blanking her mind.
Even the thought of it had rage sparking through him.
While the others voiced approval of the idea, Duncan stood up. Slowly, he turned and stared at his people. “No.”
Zane just closed his eyes, his head falling back on the edge of the couch. Glenna’s eyes widened a little while Sam said, “I don’t see that we have any other choice.”
Duncan simply stared at his cousin.
Maria wisely kept her mouth shut.
Duncan moved across the room, pushing the curtain away from the window as he stared out into the night. Sam rarely understood the concept of thinking before he spoke, but Duncan doubted it would have done any good. Even if Sam did think before he spoke, he’d probably still say whatever it was circling through his damned head.
“If you aren’t going to call the Council, what are you going to do?” Sam asked flatly. His tone demanded an answer, but Duncan wasn’t in any mood to give him one.
He just knew he wasn’t going to tolerate a Hunter coming into his land, and doing anything to his…
Duncan closed his eyes as the thought completed in his head. Shit.
Now this was bad.
Yeah, so what if he’d had a few dreams about her ever since seeing her again, leaning over the counter in her bookstore, twirling a shiny black cu
rl around her finger…a few dreams. Like almost every night.
He refused to think about the blistering rage that had ripped through him when he realized the twins had found Kennedy before he had.
“Damn it, Duncan. Would you stop standing there and brooding? We need a damned answer,” Sam growled.
Duncan spun around, his hands curling into loose fists at his side as he glared at his cousin. “I’ll handle it.” Striding past Sam and the others, he headed for the door.
Zane caught up with him just as Duncan grabbed the door. Duncan whirled around, snarling.
Zane backed away two steps, lifting his hands in front of him. “Calm down, Duncan. You want to handle this, you go ahead and do it.” His eyes were calm and Duncan suspected Zane knew exactly why Duncan wasn’t calling the damned Council.
“I just want you to think through…whatever it is you’re going to do. Okay?”
With a terse nod, Duncan turned around and stalked outside.
Think it through…hell, thinking it through wasn’t going to help. He could think it through fifty times and it would still be a bad idea.
But he was going to do it anyway.
Chapter Four
She woke to total silence, but Kennedy knew she wasn’t alone. Her heart slammed into her throat as she lay on her side, staring into the darkness of her room, straining to see something beyond the blackness.
Nothing—just shadows upon shadows.
But there was somebody else in the room.
Fear choked her for a minute and she tucked herself into a tight ball, praying she’d just go to sleep and realize this was just a dream.
She heard a soft whisper of sound, a sigh. Coming from near the door. She swallowed and nearly choked on the knot in her throat as a deep rumbling voice said quietly, “Don’t be so afraid. I’m not here to hurt you.”
Unable to pretend it was just her imagination any more, Kennedy sat up and turned to stare in the direction of the door. It was so damned dark in there—she could barely make out the dark shape standing in the shadows.
His eyes, though…she could see his eyes, flashing at her in the dark. Golden, glowing, eerie as hell—
“The cats you’ve been looking for—why?”
Kennedy blinked. She hadn’t said a damn thing to anybody. How in the hell did he know?
“I…ah—I’m not looking for any cats,” Kennedy said and cursed as she heard how wobbly her voice was, how weak and pathetic she sounded.
“Don’t give me that. I saw you in the forest—I know you’ve been looking for them. Why?”
Ooookay… Kennedy licked her lips as she shifted on the bed. “Do you mind turning on the light?”
“Yes.”
Narrowing her eyes, she demanded, “Okay, how about telling me who in the hell you are and how you got in here?”
“I picked the lock.” She thought for a second she heard the slightest bit of humor in that deep, grumbly voice. The sound of it made shivers run up and down her spine, but she didn’t really feel afraid. Not any more.
“And…?”
“And what?”
“Who in the hell are you?” she snapped, exasperated. She sure as hell couldn’t place that gruff voice and it was too damned dark for her to see—although his eyes, they continued to gleam at her.
Cat’s eyes…
“If I wanted to tell you who I was, I would have made an appointment, sweetheart.”
He moved forward, but kept to the shadows, avoiding the faint light that shone in through the window as he neared the bed. “Now…why don’t you tell me what I want to know?”
She caught her lower lip between her teeth as she tried to figure out if there was even any point to playing dumb. It hadn’t worked so far. Blowing out a sigh, she pushed a hand through her hair. It tangled in the curls and she absently started to finger comb the knot away. “I saw them before. I…I just wanted to know if I really saw them. Wanted to know more about them.”
“What exactly do you want to know about them, Kennedy?”
The sound of her name on his lips made her quiver. An odd heat moved through her and she shifted on the bed, drawing her knees to her chest as the heat spread and turned into an ache. “Just…just more. They’re big for cougars—and I didn’t think cougars liked people.”
“They don’t.”
Kennedy scowled at him. “I was attacked fifteen years ago—these cougars saved me. They sure as hell didn’t mistake me for a cub.”
A low chuckle came out of the dark. Kennedy narrowed her eyes, trying to see him better.
“No, they didn’t think you were a cub.”
He moved a little closer and Kennedy froze as he bent over the bed. Close…so close she could feel his body heat, smell the warm earthy scent of his skin. Her heart lodged in her throat and she kicked free from the blankets, rolling away from him and out of the bed. Standing by the window, she glared at him. “I answered your question—now why don’t you get the hell out?”
“You’re awful brave for a woman alone in a house with a man she doesn’t know.”
The fear choking her threatened to bubble out in hysterical screams, but she desperately swallowed them down. Damn it, I will not freak out. Tossing her hair back, she said coolly, “If you were going to hurt me, wouldn’t you have done it already?”
“Maybe…or maybe I wanted to hear what you had to say first. Besides, seeing you standing in the moonlight wearing nothing but a t-shirt…” His voice trailed off into a soft laugh. “You look nice in the moonlight—I imagine you’d look even better if you weren’t wearing that t-shirt.”
Kennedy swallowed, folding her arms protectively around her middle. Maybe she should scream. A dry cynical voice in her head whispered, Maybe you should have done that like five minutes ago…
“If it will make you feel better, go ahead and scream. Nobody will hear you. And I meant what I said—I’m not going to hurt you.”
“Then what are you doing here?” she demanded.
“You need to forget you saw those cats, Kennedy. They don’t concern you.”
Slowly, she shook her head. “I can’t. I’ve tried to forget about them for the past fifteen years. I have to know.”
“What do you have to know?”
Tears clogged her throat, burned her eyes but she finally forced the words out. “Why they saved me.”
For a minute, he thought his heart was going to break.
Duncan waited until she looked away and then he moved, sliding up until he stood right next to her. He spun her around and wrapped his arms around her waist, covering her hands with his. Kennedy stiffened at his touch and he rubbed his thumb against the back of her hand.
“Hush…I won’t hurt you…”
Shapeshifters could use fear—the more powerful ones could exude an aura of it that could freeze people in their tracks. There was a flipside to that power though. They could also learn to use it to calm fear. That was what he did now, reaching out and trying to calm the fear that had wrapped itself around Kennedy.
“They are not normal cougars, Kennedy…they aren’t even cougars at all. They resemble them, especially from a distance, but they aren’t cougars. And they saved you because it’s what they do. Make no mistake…they are predators, but they prey on those who’d prey on others.”
Slowly, he reached up, touching one hand to her disheveled hair, smoothing it back from her face. “There’s nothing more I can tell you about them. But you need to leave them be. There are some things in life that just can’t be explained. This is one of them.”
He could see the pale oval of her face, reflected in the mirror. He kept his head ducked low to keep her from being able to see any of his features—it was for the best, he knew.
But part of him wanted…no…part of him needed to see her in the light, to let her see him.
Duncan hadn’t ever wanted a mate. His mother had died in childbirth and his father had spent the rest of his life missing her. Zane—he’d lost his mate young a
s well. Giving your heart seemed to do little more than open you to pain.
“If it can’t be explained, then how come you know so much about them?” Kennedy asked huskily.
Sliding his hands up her arms, he laid them in the curve between her neck and shoulder. He could feel the pounding of her pulse against his fingertips. Duncan lowered his head and murmured in her ear, “Maybe I’m another one of those things that can’t be explained.”
He flexed his hands against the satin of her skin, reveling in the soft, smooth warmth. Then he stepped back, reaching out to trail one hand down her hair. It was every bit as soft as her skin and smelled like honeysuckle. “Good-bye, Kennedy.”
Hours later, Kennedy lay in bed, staring out her window as the sun crept over the horizon. She hadn’t gone back to sleep.
Everything felt disconnected, distorted.
Fifteen years. She’d waited fifteen years and had gotten so close. Part of her whispered, Nothing has changed…whoever he was, he can’t stop you.
But the larger, more logical part of her brain said otherwise. There had been an implacability to his words that warned her—she had to let this go.
She sighed, turned her face into her pillow. “You need to just go back to Detroit.”
And do what?
Kennedy couldn’t go back to social work.
There had been a crack in her heart caused by what she’d lived through before she went to the Franklins. The love she’d known there had healed that crack, but it had been ripped violently back open when she had she had gone to Marisa Armstrong’s house to find out why she had missed her appointment and found the teenage girl swinging from a noose made of sheets.
She’d been dead for more than a day—and probably would have continued to hang there for several days, unnoticed, if Kennedy hadn’t gone looking for her. Even though she had been returned to her mother’s care, Marisa might as well have lived all alone for all the attention she received.
Tears leaked out from under her closed lids and she took a deep, shuddering breath. “What am I going to do?”
Coming back here had seemed so right at the time. Even beyond trying to find out more about the cougars… They aren’t cougars. That deep rumble of a voice echoed in her head. Her lids drooped shut as she tried to block the memory of his voice out.
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