Golden Eyes (amber eyes )

by Maya Banks

He finished scrubbing and stepped out, grabbed a towel, and walked naked into the bedroom, scrubbing at his hair. When he pulled the towel away from his head, he glanced over to see Aliyah staring at him with sleepy eyes.

  Neither spoke. He quickly wrapped the towel around his waist then crossed the room and sat down on the edge of the bed.

  “I have to go into work,” he said, breaking the silence. “Will you be okay here…alone?”

  She studied him for a moment, her head cocked, her golden eyes lighting over his skin. “You’re really asking if I’ll still be here when you get back.”

  He stared at her for a moment then slowly nodded.

  She stared back, inclining her head as well.

  He reached for the sheet and pulled it down to bare her leg. The wound didn’t look as angry, but it was far from healed.

  “There’s food in the fridge. Help yourself to whatever you need. The number to the station is by the phone. If anything happens or you need me, just call. I’ll try not to be too long.”

  “Are you going after the poachers?” she asked.

  He nodded grimly. “I’m going to try.”

  “I could probably help,” she said in a low voice.

  “No,” he said, then realized he’d barked at her. “No,” he said in a lower voice. “I won’t put you at risk. I need you to stay here and inside the house. Don’t go out for any reason.”

  “Okay.”

  He leaned down and ran his finger down her cheek. “Take care of yourself while I’m gone.”

  He stood and went to dress. He could feel her gaze as he pulled on his clothing, and the warm hum of arousal heated his veins.

  He turned to her one more time as he prepared to leave the bedroom. “I’ll start a fire and stack some wood on the hearth so all you’ll have to do is add logs throughout the day.”

  She smiled, and he gave her one last stare before he walked out.

  Aliyah watched him go then laid her head back on the pillow with a confused sigh. She was free after six months in captivity. She should be going home as fast as she could, and yet, here she was, making promises to stay that she couldn’t keep.

  For the first time in several long months, she felt at peace. Calm. Her reprieve from the stress and edginess was hard fought but welcome.

  During the night she’d twitched and spasmed as she’d fought the urge to shift. Several times he’d come awake, his hands gliding over her body as he murmured comforting words. She’d loved the way his voice slid over her skin, a much-needed balm. She wanted more. She needed this man, and it frightened her.

  She threw back the covers and slid her legs over the side of the bed. She stood, testing the strength of her injured leg. Shaky and a little wobbly, but otherwise she could walk on it. It gave her a twinge as she made her way toward the door, but in another day or two, she should be well enough to travel.

  And that was the excuse she fed herself for staying. She needed to regain her strength before she attempted to return to her family.

  They probably thought she was dead, and that saddened her. In the six long months of her captivity, what had tortured her most wasn’t her fear or the terrible conditions she’d been forced to endure. It was the thought of her mother’s tears and her father’s grief.

  She wasn’t sure they could endure it again after losing one child so long ago.

  As she looked down at her naked body, it occurred to her that she had absolutely nothing to wear. With a frown, she went to Duncan’s closet and thumbed through the hangers until she found a flannel shirt. It would be warm and soft and hopefully wouldn’t irritate her skin. The more time she spent in human form, the more she’d adapt.

  She pulled it on and gathered it close, inhaling Duncan’s scent as it surrounded her. Spicy, a little like wood. Warm and masculine. Strong. Like him. It made her feel safe.

  She buttoned the shirt up but left her legs bare, not wanting to aggravate her wound. It felt a little odd to be walking bare assed through Duncan’s house, not because the immodesty bothered her, but because she was in a strange man’s house bare assed naked.

  Then she laughed because it wasn’t as though she hadn’t stuck that bare ass in the air in a clear invitation for him to ride her hard. Her cheeks warmed, and she closed her eyes against the embarrassment tightening her skin.

  He’d felt so good, though. So incredibly right. She’d never felt that way with a man. They could make her feel good. Any man with a modicum of know-how could make a woman get off, but Duncan …he knew how to love a woman. Knew just how to touch her, to kiss her. Sex with him had been… She shook her head. She couldn’t even come up with a descriptor that did it justice.

  She padded into the living room and stopped at the small French doors leading to the wooden deck at the back of the cabin. A light frost had kissed the earth, and when she touched the glass, it felt cold.

  Winter was coming. Her parents would be safely ensconced in their Alaska n cabin on one of the small islands off the coast of Kodiak. She closed her eyes and imagined herself there gazing out over the emerald green waters of the inlet where the cabin was nestled.

  Eagles flew regularly overheard, and often her mother would join them. Kodiak bears roamed freely over the island. She’d watched her father amble through the forest then stand to his magnificent twelve foot height, his brown fur glistening in the sun.

  They had made a great sacrifice in leaving their haven to take Aliyah to Africa. But after Kaya’s discovery and disappearance, they hadn’t wanted to risk the same happening to Aliyah.

  Kaya. Even now, so many years later, sadness gripped Aliyah when she thought of her sister.

  Kaya had also been a great cat. A North American mountain lion. The majestic cougar. Aliyah, though young when Kaya disappeared, could vividly remember staring into the beautiful amber eyes of her sister.

  Chilled from standing so close to the door, she stepped away and moved toward the fireplace. She allowed the heat to warm her front before turning her back to the flames.

  Her gaze flickered as it fell on the telephone sitting on the coffee table. She ached to call her mother, to let her know she was alive. She waged an inner war with herself over the need to talk to her parents and the desire to keep them and herself safe.

  She continued to stare at the phone, her gut churning, her eyes burning. She closed them as her mother’s face shimmered in her mind. Soft, gentle, so warm. There was nothing like a mother’s hugs and Aliyah had gone so long without them.

  She walked to the couch and sat down, staring at the phone. Should she do it? Call her parents and at least let them know she was alive and that she’d tell them more when she could? She didn’t even know where she was. Colorado. She knew that much. But it was a big state, and she had no idea how to tell her parents her location.

  Duncan could tell them. Her breath caught in her chest as indecision held her in its grip.

  Could she trust Duncan? Was he even now contacting the state or even the federal authorities? Who would you even call if you found a cheetah that happened to turn into a woman? If her secret was discovered, her people would be at a big risk. The government wouldn’t believe she was a freak occurrence. Surely where there was one there were others.

  She covered her eyes with one hand and massaged her temples. She should go. Leave now before he returned. She glanced down at her leg and knew she’d never make it in either human or cheetah form, not that she’d put the cheetah at risk. She had no money, no clothes, no identification. She was at the mercy of Duncan’s hospitality until her parents could come for her.

  When she took that into consideration, she didn’t have much choice but to wait for Duncan, bide her time, and heal. A good meal would be a great starting point. She was ravenous and looked forward to human food again instead of the raw scraps thrown to her by her captors.

  Even as she rummaged around the small kitchen, she found herself watching the clock and hoping Duncan would return soon.

  CHAPTER 7
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br />   Duncan sat in his office ready to bellow in frustration. It would figure that on a day where he needed to finish and get the hell out of the office, everyone and their mama decided they needed something.

  He hung up the phone and shoved back from his desk, prepared to bolt when Mrs. Humphreys stuck her head in the door.

  “Sheriff?”

  He managed to keep from sighing. Barely.

  “Mrs. Humphreys, come in. What can I do for you?”

  She offered a smile and gripped her purse in front of her as she walked in and sat down in the chair in front of his desk.

  “I wondered if you’d found anything about those hunters out behind my house.”

  Duncan twisted his lips and mulled how to best proceed. Bureaucratic BS usually seemed to work. “I’m working on it. I have a few leads I’m following up on. As soon as I know anything I’ll let you know.”

  She gifted him with another smile and reached up to smooth a few silvery strands of hair away that had escaped the bun. “Oh, well that’s good. I hate to think of those poor animals being shot at. I have to tell you, I was rooting for that cheetah, and I never heard shots so I’m hoping it escaped.”

  Duncan lunged forward in his seat, his hands flat on the desk. “What cheetah, Mrs. Humphreys? You never said anything about a cheetah.”

  A puzzled frown creased her face. “Oh, but I’m sure I did.”

  Duncan shook his head. “No, ma’am. You said lion. Not a mountain lion, but a lion.”

  “Well, there was a lion too. Before the cheetah. Oh dear, maybe I forgot to mention the cheetah.”

  Fuck. Now he had someone else who had seen Aliyah. Could it get any worse?

  “Tell me about the cheetah,” he said, directing her back to the matter at hand.

  “Well, it was early, and I’m always up early. I went out back to feed Riley, and I saw two SUVs driving across the back boundary of my property. The stopped at the bottom of the first switchback and started unloading a bunch of stuff. So I went inside to get the binoculars.

  “I saw that they carried rifles and bows. And then, one of them opened the back, and they lifted out a cage. I couldn’t really see what kind of animal it was until they turned it loose. Now I wouldn’t swear in court, mind you, but it certainly looked like a cheetah. I’d just watched a documentary the night before on Animal Planet.”

  Duncan blew out his breath and dragged a hand through his hair. “Did you get a good enough look at the men to be able to give a detailed description? And would you know them again if you saw them?”

  “Oh my, I just don’t know. Maybe?”

  He smiled kindly at her. “It’s all right, Mrs. Humphreys. You’ve been very helpful. I think you should keep this information to yourself, though. We don’t want people to get the idea that a bunch of wild animals are roaming around our mountains.”

  The last thing he needed was a bunch of hot to trot good old boys armed with high powered rifles mounting a search for dangerous animals. It would be more fun than the town of Elk Ridge had had since old man Hildebrandt swore he saw Bigfoot.

  “Of course,” she said.

  They were interrupted when Nick stuck his head in the door. “Duncan, I need a minute when you get time.”

  Mrs. Humphreys rose from her seat and turned to smile at Nick. “That’s all right, young man. I was just going.”

  Duncan rose. “Thanks for coming by, Mrs. Humphreys. I appreciate the information, and I want you to know, we’re doing all we can to make sure those poachers are found and arrested. In the meantime, if you see anything else, you call me immediately.”

  She nodded and headed out the door as Nick walked in to plot in the chair she’d just vacated.

  Duncan stared at Nick and tried not to let his impatience show.

  “So what’s going on?” Nick asked.

  Duncan blinked. “Going to give me an idea of what you want to know? Or do you want a detailed accounting of my entire morning?”

  Nick’s brow arched. “Someone piss in your cereal? I’m talking about yesterday. You going looking for hunters, then calling dispatch and tell them to contact local hospitals to see if anyone showed up with injuries. Yet, you come out alone, don’t file a report other than you have suspicions of illegal hunting. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out something’s fishy as hell.”

  Damn. He hadn’t even stopped to think about what asking dispatch to notify the local hospitals would imply. He took a deep breath and quelled his agitation. Nick was his friend and a damn good cop. He didn’t deserve Duncan’s impatience.

  “I think one of them was injured,” he said slowly. “They were tracking a kill.”

  “So you saw blood. What made you think it wasn’t the animal’s blood?”

  “It was an idea,” Duncan said shortly. “I’m covering all the bases.”

  Nick stared suspiciously at him. “You’re holding back on me, man. What’s that shit?”

  Duncan nearly groaned. He and Nick went way back. Both had grown up here and felt a deep loyalty to the town and to the mountains. No, he hadn’t ever held out on Nick. There had never been a need. But he wasn’t ready to share Aliyah with anyone. And who the hell would believe him anyway?

  Duncan grabbed for the phone in relief when it rang. After a few moments, he hung up and looked back up at Nick. At least now he could do something besides sit here while Nick stared him down like a bug under a microscope.

  “Looks like their kill has been found. Locals out scouting found a dead lion about a mile up the mountain at the Turner Creek crossing.”

  “A mountain lion?”

  “No. A lion,” Duncan said evenly.

  “You mean a fucking lion as in Lion King?”

  Duncan nodded.

  “Holy fuck. So maybe Mrs. Humphreys wasn’t off her rocker when she said she saw a cheetah.”

  Alarm prickled up Duncan’s spine. “You heard that?”

  “Yeah, came in on the tail end of the conversation. What the hell is going on, Duncan?”

  Duncan sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head. He trusted Nick. There was no doubt about that. No, he didn’t want to tell him about Aliyah, but that had more to do with the possessive need crawling through his veins. The need to keep her to himself, sheltered from the rest of the world.

  But the rest, he could trust Nick with. “It would appear that our poachers are importing exotic animals into the states and turning them out to hunt here in Elk Ridge. Why don’t you head out with me, and I’ll catch you up to speed on what I know.”

  Duncan got up, collected his jacket, and walked out of the office, Nick on his heels. They climbed into Duncan’s truck and headed for Turner Creek.

  They rode in silence for a long time. Frustration edged up Duncan’s neck and gripped his jaw. The longer it took him to run down leads, the longer Aliyah was left alone in his house. He was in a hell of a fix. He couldn’t have her with him while he worked to try and track down the men who’d hunted her, but he felt uneasy about leaving her alone for such a long period of time, which left her without his protection.

  “You okay?” Nick asked.

  Duncan glanced over at his friend. “Yeah, I’m good. Just tired. Wagged my ass all over the damn mountain yesterday looking for those damn poachers.”

  Nick’s expression darkened. “I want them out of our mountains, Duncan.”

  Duncan nodded. “You and me both. Last thing we need is a bunch of outsiders shooting up the damn woods and losing animals like lions. The locals get wind of this and they’ll posse up and go after the poachers themselves.”

  As they neared the Turner Creek crossing, they saw two trucks parked a quarter mile up the road. Duncan pulled in behind them and hopped out.

  He and Nick walked over to where Heath Barnes and his son, Michael, stood with Sam Crenshaw. They looked up.

  “Sheriff,” Heath said with a nod.

  Duncan looked down at the dead lion. Large adult male. Gunshot wound behind
the left shoulder. Rigor had set in and the body temperature was cool, no warmth when Duncan touched the stiff body. Probably shot late yesterday or possibly early this morning.

  He looked up at the three men who gathered round the fallen lion. “You fellows see anyone around?”

  They shook their heads.

  “What’s going on, sheriff?” Sam asked. “What’s a lion doing around here?”

  Duncan rose and rubbed a hand through his hair. “I wish I knew. Looks like we have a poaching ring.”

  The men’s faces twisted in anger.

  “It’s bad enough we have to put up with so many damn out of state hunters every fall,” Heath muttered. “Now they’re running illegal animals?”

  Duncan sighed and pulled out his cell phone to check his signal. One bar. A call might go through. He dialed Doc’s number, hoping this time he’d actually get a hold of the man.

  After the fourth ring, Doc’s gravelly voice bled through the line.

  “What can I do for you, Duncan?” Doc asked. “Sorry I didn’t get back to you last night. It was damn near two a. m. before I got in. Had a difficult delivery out at the Bransons.”

  “No problem. Look Doc, if you aren’t busy, I could use you.”

  “Sure, what’s up?”

  “I need you to do an autopsy…on a lion.”

  “A mountain lion? Whatever for?”

  “No, Doc, a lion. African lion. I’ve got a dead one at Turner Creek. I need you to preserve what evidence you find, recover any bullet fragments and give me a detailed report of your findings.”

  “You bringing it in or do you want me to come get it?”

  “I’ll have my deputies bring it to you,” Duncan said.

  “I’ll be waiting. Oh, and Duncan, what was it you needed last night? You sounded distracted.”

  Duncan paused. «Nothing. It wasn’t important.”

  Doc grunted. “Whatever. I’ll be at the clinic.”

  “Thanks, Doc.”

  Duncan hung up and glanced over at Nick. “Can you handle things here?”

  Nick nodded. “Where are you off to?”

  “I need to go back to the office and run over some maps. If I can get a chopper out tomorrow morning we can do an aerial recon of the area. See if we get lucky.”