Penny walked beside him to the truck. He opened the back door of the extended cab and set his grocery bags on the floor. Then turned and held out his arms for her bag. He put hers away and then escorted her across the recently plowed asphalt two lane highway to Douglas’s office. He and Carl were laughing about something when they walked through the door.
The office was plain. Tan walls. Brown carpet. Fluorescent lights buzzed overhead. A couple of desks were the only furniture. Maps of the area were tacked to the paneled walls. Two windows with blinds down let in no light. A hallway at the back led to a private office and a bathroom.
“Kann,” Douglas called out in greeting. “And you must be Penny.” He walked up and offered his hand. Penny took it and Kann had to wrestle to keep his lion from roaring in anger, because another man was touching his mate. In his head he knew it wasn’t anything to worry about. Handshakes were customary on earth. He’d shaken hands with men and women, but right now—seeing his mate touching another man—even in a platonic way. He hadn’t realized how hard it would be to see that.
Even though he hadn’t claimed Penny, she was his. Her soul glowed for his. They would be mates. It was just a matter of gently breaking the news to her.
“I am, yes. Do I need to fill out a rental agreement or anything? I can pay cash.” She opened her purse and rifled through it. “I’d actually rather not have anything on paper if I can avoid it.”
She glanced over at Kann and then back to Douglas. That fear was back, the kind that made people run. The kind that made people irrational. The kind that no one should ever have to experience. It wasn’t that she was scared of him or the other two men. It was more than that. It was like she knew she was prey and had to be forever on watch.
His lion flexed and stretched and snarled inside his head. Someone or something had his mate running scared. He wanted to end it.
“I don’t typically rent without personal information and a background, but Henrietta called a second ago and explained that you were trying to stay out of sight.”
Penny backed away from Douglas and Carl. Backed away from Kann too, toward the door. “I need to be off the grid and all of you just know everything about everyone. Who else in town is going to find out about me?” She shook her head and growled low in her throat. Kann’s lion nearly did a backflip at the aggressive sound coming from his mate. “I can’t do this,” she said. “Carl, I need you to take me somewhere else. There has to be another small town close by. Please. I’ll pay you.”
Douglas’ mouth was hanging open. So was Carl’s.
Kann stepped closer to her, moving his body between hers and the door. His throat tightened. His lungs were frozen, unwilling to allow more air inside. His heart was doing the same nervous pounding that came before a battle. She couldn’t leave town. He couldn’t lose her now, he’d go mad.
“You’re safe, Penny.” He kept his tone soft even though his whole body felt as though it’d been struck by lightning. “No one else is going to know. If you need to stay a secret, we can make sure that happens. You have to have a place to stay and you have to have groceries. And someone has to know where you are in case something happens.”
“I asked Henrietta not to say anything to anyone, but now you all know. And she said… she said she would remind Carl and Douglas…” Penny sighed and wiped her eyes with the back of her coat sleeve. “I’m sorry. I’m usually better at keeping myself together than this. It’s been a long day.” Her words said she was fine, but Kann could hear the raw choked back emotion threatening to cover her up like a mountain of snow, pressing down, suffocating.
He stilled his hands at his sides. She wasn’t his to hold yet. She wouldn’t let him.
“Hey there.” Douglas didn’t move from his place across the room, as if he knew any sudden movements would spook Penny like a startled deer. “It’s safer if a few of us know who you are. Then we can do a better job of directing anyone who comes looking, away. Plus letting the others know they should do the same, if someone should come calling,”
“Henrietta said you didn’t want to involve the sheriff. Are you sure?” Carl spoke up from where he stood next to Douglas.
Penny nodded.
Kann watched her from behind. Her shoulders were relaxing once more. Her breathing had evened out. The scent coming off of her wasn’t fear anymore. Perhaps sadness or relief? He couldn’t quite get a handle on it. Fear and arousal had distinct scents, but anything in between was a lucky guess.
“I can’t have the authorities involved. I just want…I need to be invisible.”
Douglas nodded and leaned to the side to look around her. “You’ll take her out to cabin four?” His gaze met Kann’s with concern.
“Yes.” Kann relaxed his stance. His lion wasn’t nearly as stressed now that his mate didn’t appear to be planning to flee out the door.
“How much do I owe you for the week?” Penny pulled a small wallet from her large bag.
Douglas rubbed his chin and relaxed his posture, taking his cue from Kann that the flight risk had lessened. “Just three hundred for the month. Not many tourists up this way during the middle of winter. Cabins just sit empty.”
“But if I have to leave—”
“Believe me, sugar,” Carl spoke up. “You won’t need to run. Not with Kann looking out for you.”
She looked over her shoulder and met his gaze. Kann breathed slowly, wanting desperately to touch her. To hold her and tell her she was safe. That she would never have to fear another person as long as she lived. As long as she stayed with him.
He needed her.
He hadn’t realized how the soul call would affect him. He’d just thought Col and Naomi’s bond was special, that they’d just fallen hard for each other. But part of it was magick. It was pure and desperate need for the other person. Devotion. Love.
He’d loved his parents. His family. He’d been loyal to his tribe. He was loyal to his new tribe, but within a few moments of seeing Penny, his life had changed completely. His world rotated around her now. Of course, he was still loyal to his tribe and would care for all of them the same, but Penny would be first now. Always.
No wonder Ava had wanted to wait. How had she known it would be this way?
“Kann?” Carl’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Put your tongue back in your mouth, son, and help her out to her cabin.” The old pilot’s voice was full of mirth.
Kann shot him a narrow glance before focusing all his attention back on Penny. She’d heard Carl’s comment but didn’t look surprised. She shouldn’t. He hadn’t hidden his interest.
“Cabin four has water stocked, so she’ll be good for a bit before you need to make a run to the pump station,” Douglas said. Penny dug in her purse and pulled out three one hundred-dollar bills. Douglas took them. “Thank you. Let me know if I can do anything else for you.”
“Thank you. I’m sorry for losing it.”
He shook his head. “No worries, we all gotta do what we think is best. Sometimes it’s hard taking help when you think it’s better for everyone to stay away. We’re just a bit stubborn up here and you seem like you needed adopting, so I’m pretty sure we all adopted you the second Carl brought you in.”
Kann nodded. “Your chariot awaits, Penny.” He bowed slightly and gestured to the door.
He followed her through the door and back across the street to the truck. The weather outside was still clear. Sunny. But there were grey clouds in the distance, rolling in from Denali. It would be an ugly night. Carl would leave and head back to Anchorage before it hit tonight, and he needed to get Penny settled and cabin four’s wood stove started for her.
“Thank you for the help. It’s strange for me to be outside of my routine. I’ve been on my own for so long. I just don’t,” she paused and stared at him, her blue eyes softer…more yearning than before. “I don’t expect kindness for no reason. People always want something in exchange. I don’t like to be in debt and now I feel like I owe everyone I’ve met.”
Kann opened the passenger door of the truck and gave her a hand as she climbed inside the cab. “You don’t owe us anything, Penny. There are nice people in this world. Carl and Douglas looked after me and my friends when we first got here. And Henrietta and her husband too. Helped us get on our feet. Build a life here. We’re just ‘paying it forward’ as Naomi would say.”
“But—”
Kann shook his head. “There are no buts. Well—” He drew out the last word. “I am rather fond of yours.”
Her mouth opened, but there was no response.
He shut her door and scooted around the truck to the driver’s side, climbed in next to her on the bench seat, and started the engine. The truck roared to life and soon they were rolling north on the George Parks Highway to the bridge across Spruce Creek.
The roads were graded nicely until they crossed the bridge and turned onto the trail road that led through Douglas’ property. He owned over a hundred acres outside the Mystery city limits. Had a dozen cabins for rent, some in town and five outside of town. Kann and the others from Reylea were contracted to build him a new one during the coming summer in exchange for him letting them stay for free in another one. They were also working odd jobs around town to earn money so that each of them would eventually be able to build and own their own place. Douglas had already agreed to trade each of them a few acres that butted up along the Denali National Park when they were ready.
Now that he’d met his mate, Kann could see the benefit of having space of his own.
5
“It’s beautiful out here,” Penny kept her voice soft and her eyes trained out the window at the passing scenery of white and evergreen. A few clumps of skeletal aspen trees showed here and there between the spruce trees, waiting for spring. Whenever that will be. She wondered if this frozen landscape ever truly melted. It would be better if it didn’t. Easier for her to keep hidden away. Jake would never think to come looking for her out here—in this.
She could hope. That was all she had now. The clothes on her back, the few things she’d tucked into her purse and hope.
The truck bounced along the icy snow-covered road in silence. She really appreciated Kann’s ability to just let her mind process and think. Most guys would’ve been cringing in the awkward silence. And as chatty as he’d been in the store, it surprised her even more that he was capable of silence. But…he had been the one that had pulled away to give her space without her even asking. He’d waited by the door until she’d been ready. No rushing. No hurrying or making her feel bad for taking the time she wanted.
He’d just waited. And smiled…he’d smiled every single time she’d looked in his direction.
Even now in the truck as they drove out to God only knew where, he smiled at her every time she stole a glance in his direction. She peered out the window as they crossed the bridge over a frozen creek. The town was behind them now. Only trees and road lay ahead and lots of snow. She watched the tree line…a herd of deer moved lazily from tree to tree eating and nibbling at the low-growing twig and aspen branches.
Kann’s rich confident voice broke through her thoughts. “Takes some getting used to, but it is beautiful. It’ll be strange to see it gone this summer. Curious to see what the land actually looks like.”
She turned to look at Kann in surprise. “You haven’t seen it in the summer?”
He shook his head. “I’ve only been here a month. Before this, I’d never even seen snow.”
Never seen snow. Wow. “Where were you from?”
“Far, far away.” He chuckled and kept his eyes trained on the barely visible road—more like two ruts in a wasteland of snow.
She smiled at his movie reference. “You must’ve been really far south to have never seen it even once.”
“All jungle and some desert.” He turned toward her, his eyes sparkling with heated attraction.
Kann was interested in her. She wasn’t making it up in her head. Am I? She was so bad with men. She never knew what they were thinking unless they were super obvious. Like being a jerk and groping her without permission. Been there done that. Flirting and signals and shit, she didn’t do that well. She was certainly attracted to him, but guys like Kann—men who looked like he did—they didn’t go for girls like her.
She’d been called plain and boring and nerdy her whole life. She’d given up trying after college when several attempts to date had landed her in the arms of multiple douchebags. She just made up her mind after that not to care. Her idea of makeup was mascara and some barely-there lip stain. Her hair was usually tied up in a bun and her head was typically buried in a book, behind a screen, or busy working out a new barrel or trigger design. There was always something that could be improved upon.
“Must’ve been a huge change.” The words sputtered out without cause. She didn’t know what to say or how to flirt back.
“Clothing has been an issue.” He threaded the truck between a grove of trees and then glanced over at her again. Her cheeks heated when she met his gaze. His blue eyes smoldered with the promise of everything she’d ever dreamed of wanting with a man. Definitely not imagining his interest.
“The sun here is nice and bright, but back home you could really lie out and enjoy it. I do have to admit though, I love the northern lights here. The colors are amazing. Peaceful.”
“There isn’t anything else like them on earth.” Her voice came out in a wistful breath. As cold as it was most of the time, Alaska was one of the most beautiful places she’d ever lived.
“How do you speak English so well? I can’t tell what your accent used to be.” She racked her brain, trying to think of a country near the equator with all the things he described.
“It’s a gift.” He flashed her another wide smile and pointed ahead, out the windshield. “That’s where my friends and I are living right now—cabin three.”
She followed the direction of his hand and spied a large cabin tucked behind a clump of spruce trees. A large man with blond hair, and a very similar build to Kann was outside splitting logs. He turned and waved as Kann stopped the truck.
The man buried the ax in a large stump and marched through the snow toward them.
“You’re in four, which is just over the next ridge.” Kann rolled the window down as the man approached. A gust of bitter wind made Penny’s eyes water. She just wanted to get to her cabin, curl up with a thousand blankets, and enjoy a few moments before she had to run again.
Or die. There was always that option too. Jake was coming. She knew it in her gut.
“I really don’t need to meet everyone.” The fewer people that knew her, the fewer people involved. She didn’t want anyone else to get hurt and she certainly didn’t want people going up against Jake and his company on her behalf. There would be another bloodbath. And this time it would be her fault.
“You can trust my people.” Kann’s tone was deeper than it had been earlier.
“I don’t know them,” Penny said.
He glanced at her. His blue eyes shone and flickered with specks of gold. She leaned forward just slightly, trying to get a better look. She’d never seen coloring like that before. There was something about it that pulled her in, like a moth to a flame, and she didn’t care if she got burned.
“Trust me.” His voice turned breathy as she leaned closer. “What are you doing?” He asked, his lips quirking into a smile that made her insides go all flibbertigibbet.
“Your eyes. They look…” She shook her head and settled back into her seat. “It’s nothing. Probably just a reflection of something. Sorry, I didn’t mean to invade your space or make you uncomfortable.”
“You can invade my space whenever you like. All of my space.” His eyes twinkled again, and she caught another flash of gold. This time even more. But just for a moment. And then it was gone.
The realization of what he’d said settled in her belly like a burning coal. Heat radiated up body, up her neck, all the way up to her cheeks. Direct. Which was
refreshingly pleasant. She hated guessing. Hated not knowing.
Leaving her phone and her calendar had probably been the hardest two things not to take with her when she’d fled her home—that and her collection of guns. She’d taken her favorite. The SIG was carefully stowed in its holster at the bottom of her big purse, along with a spare magazine and an entire box of ammo.
The other man had reached the window and was waiting with a rather impatient expression. Kann lowered his window and tipped his chin toward the large male. And he was big. Just as tall as Kann, possibly even taller. He was a few years older maybe, the lines around his eyes hinted that he’d seen more than his fair share of hard times. And laughter wasn’t the mainstay of his personality either, not like it was for Kann. This guy was solemn and stoic. Probably military.
“Saul, meet my soulmate, Penny. New neighbor.”
Saul nodded, his eyes widening just a sliver. If she hadn’t been watching, she might not have even seen the reaction. He reminded her of a Navy SEAL—she’d trained with enough of them—which made her trust him a little bit more while at the same time have a healthy fear of what he was probably capable of. “Of course. Penny it is good to meet you.”
“I’m not his soulmate.” Penny spoke up, but neither man acknowledged her claim.
“She’s hiding from something bad, so let the others know to keep an eye out for anything or anyone fishy,” said Kann.
“Fishy?” Saul cocked his head.
“Strange. Threatening. Out of the ordinary,” Kann continued. Then he whispered a few words in a language she didn’t understand. One of the words in the middle was shuarra, but that didn’t compute with anything. And she could speak five different languages.
“What are you saying?” She leaned toward Kann again. “I’m right here, and I don’t appreciate being cut out of the conversation.”
“We will keep you safe.” Saul’s voice was soft and filled with finality. No arguing with him. His blue eyes did the same gold flecking thing she’d seen Kann’s do. What the hell was going on with these guys?
I'm Not Lion To You_Soulmate Shifters World Page 4
