by Lane, Soraya
“We need to hurry.”
She gave up and hurried along beside him. Trying to ignore his touch. She’d wondered what his muscles felt like all day, wanted to press her fingers against his skin, smell him, touch him. But now she was tucked under his arm it terrified her. And thrilled her.
He was so strong, so powerful. And she felt safe.
“What’s going on?” Riley asked him.
Riley wanted the light, fun feeling they’d shared on the beach. This was far too serious. She wanted to just enjoy him, to play like before.
“Leopards. They’re near and they know you’re with me.”
A shiver sent goose pimples across her skin. “Other shifter leopards?”
He nodded; the set of his mouth grim. “You need to stay close. I don’t want one of them trying to snatch you.”
“Snatch me?” Her voice stuttered. If he was trying to scare her, he’d succeeded.
He stopped, for a heartbeat, and looked into her eyes. His fingers rose to push the hair from her face, so gently she almost didn’t believe he was touching her.
“I don’t have any claim on you yet. They know that.” His breath crossed her skin. Riley felt her body quiver. “You’re beautiful, Riley, and I’m not the only alpha around here.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“Come on, they won’t touch you at Sophia’s house,” he said.
“Why not?”
“Because she’s the matriarch of the entire state.”
Riley stopped abruptly but he just tugged her along. Was he serious?
“She’s about as powerful as it gets, and you’re her only descendant. Believe me when I say I’ll be fighting for you.”
Riley leaned into his hold. Suddenly Hunter was no where near as frightening as the rustling in the forest. “Why didn’t we just stay changed?”
He hurried with her at his side. “They’ll like you as a human, but they’ll fight until the death for you as a cat.”
She’d had two boys at school fight over her once. As in they argued and there had been a few shoves. But it had never come to anything because she just hadn’t been that interested. Not like she was now. Not with stakes this high.
“Would you do that for me?” Her voice was barely a whisper.
He didn’t stop. But he did pull her closer, tighter against his hard body. “It’s not a matter of if Riley, it’s when.”
She didn’t understand. What did he mean when?
“The longer you take to accept me, the more I’ll have to fight.”
“Why?” she asked.
“You’re the prize, Riley. There isn’t a single leopard around here who would walk past you without challenging me.”
“By single you mean unavailable?”
He nodded. He let his hold go, just an inch.
But she didn’t want to pull away. Before, she’d been desperate to put distance between them. To fight what she felt for him. Now, she needed his comfort, the safety of his touch. It was like being surrounded by a pack of fighting dogs who wouldn’t let another touch her.
When he’d said he’d fight until the death for her, she believed it. There was something about him that drew her in. A kindness. An openness. But there was also that feeling that he was tough. A fighter. That if he had to kill someone or something, he would do it without hesitation.
“Come on, we can talk later.”
“Are they coming?” she whispered. “Can they see us?”
“They’re close.” His nostrils flared, eyes darting back and forward.
“Should we run?”
“We’re predators, Riley. I’m trying to avoid a confrontation for your sake, but we don’t run. Not ever.” He reclaimed his hold on her, this time sliding his arm around her waist to enable them to walk faster. “Besides, if we run, it’s game on.”
Riley didn’t like the sound of that at all.
CHAPTER SIX
Seeing Sophia’s house was a relief. Her eyes drank in the sight of it. She fought the urge to run.
“They’re just behind us. Riley, call out to her,” Hunter told her.
“Sophia,” she yelled, trying to keep her voice calm but failing. “Sophia.”
Sophia was at the door faster than Riley could call her name again. She must have seen the look on her face, seen how fast they were approaching the house.
Riley didn’t want to think what could happen, would happen, if they didn’t make it back in time.
Within seconds she was standing at the foot of the porch. “Come here, my dear.”
Sophia’s sharp eyes roamed the forest behind her as she took her hand. It was the first time Riley had noticed how keen her gaze was, how alert her gran was.
Now it all made sense. Sophia was more than just her gran, she was a leader.
“I’m not expecting visitors.” Sophia said, her voice even, loud. “You two come inside. You’re just in time for dinner.”
Riley watched as Hunter exchanged a glance with Sophia. She felt safe. Protected.
For now.
Maybe knowing that Sophia had chosen this man for her, this leopard, as her partner, wasn’t so bad after all. It meant she could unquestionably trust him, with her life, without worrying about his intentions, that he might use his strength to overpower her. Or hurt her.
“Thank you, Hunter.”
As he stepped onto the porch she paused and looked at him, almost as tall as him on the step above.
He shrugged. “It’s nothing.”
“You’re wrong.”
She watched as Sophia walked off and around the edge of her garden. A stranger would think she was admiring it, but Riley knew better. She was warning off the leopards that had followed them. A current, an alarm, seemed to vibrate through the air.
Riley reached out one hand, the other hanging at her side, and traced her fingers up the smooth planes of Hunter’s arm.
He stayed still. Deathly still.
Her eyes followed her fingers, inching slowly up his skin. She stopped at his shoulder, clasping her fingers over it. She leaned forward, just. He still didn’t move. She’d never had to make the moves before. Never been the one to initiate contact with any guy. Let alone Hunter. Someone she was so drawn to in a way she couldn’t explain.
Riley moved her face closer to him, her lips inches from his. She could feel his breath now, whispering over her skin.
Then he kissed her. Closed the gap before she could. Touched his mouth over hers, gently, so she almost couldn’t feel it.
But as fast as he’d kissed her, he pulled away.
“Not yet.” His words came out as a whisper.
She pressed her lips together and stepped back. So much for rebelling against the arranged marriage. She was acting like she was desperate for him.
“There’s something I need to tell you.”
Riley watched him. Saw the pain in his face.
“I don’t want you to think I’m joking here, okay? You have to trust me,” Hunter said.
She nodded. Riley did trust him. She might not have yesterday, but everything was starting to make sense, as much as it could anyway, and she trusted him now. Absolutely. He didn’t need to ask her.
“Your sister is alive,” he whispered, mouth close to her ear.
What?
Hunter reached out to hold her, to keep her from toppling straight over. She rocked back and forth, unsteady, reeling.
“Claudia?” She could barely force out her sister’s name.
“She’s different, I mean, you can’t just see her like normal, but she’s here.”
What? It didn’t make any sense. No sense at all. Blood was rushing to her head, ringing in her ears. Claudia was alive? “She’s here? Claudia, my sister, is actually here?”
Hunter pulled her close, wrapped his arms around her. Drew her body into his. “Shh,” he said. “Claudia is going to be a big part of your life again, you just need to trust me to teach you, to show you the way, and I’ll lead you to her when
I can.”
Riley would have said yes to flying to the moon if it meant seeing her twin again. There was nothing she wouldn’t do.
“Does Sophia know?”
“I wasn’t meant to tell you, okay? Not before you understood everything. Not until you were ready.” Hunter looked down at her and smiled. “But I can’t keep it secret from you, not if I want you to trust me.”
Riley’s arms shook, her whole body numb.
“I need you to promise not to ask me, or Sophia, about her? You need to wait until I ask you. Until you’re ready.”
Riley nodded. She didn’t’ want to agree with him, but right now she didn’t have any other options.
“Just trust me.”
They sat out on the porch after dinner. Riley felt a closeness to Hunter that she’d never experienced with anyone else before. Except for with Claudia. Like something existed between them that was natural, that she couldn’t have denied even if she wanted to.
Riley pushed her sister’s name from her mind. She wasn’t thinking about her again. For now. Because if she did, she’d just start questioning Hunter, or wanting to, and that wasn’t fair. He’d told her what he could, given her hope, and now she just had to wait. And trust him.
Because the look on his face when he’d told her had been deadly serious, his words clear. She couldn’t say anything within earshot of Sophia, to risk her hearing.
“Have you always known you were a shifter?”
Hunter smiled over at her. The sadness of his lips haunted her. Made her sad.
“My parents were both leopard changers. My brother too.”
She gulped. “When you say were…”
He changed his position, leaning heavily against the timber, kneading his fingers against the handrail. “I always knew what I was, but I didn’t change for the first time until I was thirteen.”
“And your parents?” she asked.
“Killed. When I got back home one day, I found my little brother hiding beneath the floorboards. We both knew where the safe place was; only I’d never had to hide there before.”
She wanted to reach out to him, to comfort him, but the hard set of his mouth made her stay still. He needed to get this out. And she needed to know.
“They’d been killed, by our enemy. The soul sucking vermin.” A dark, possessed look crossed Hunter’s face.
Riley didn’t understand who they were, but she got the gist of it.
Hunter grimaced and turned his face away. “I had to get my brother, before they realized we were alone and came back for us. We had to escape.”
“And you came here?”
He nodded. “We travelled for days. I had already learned how to change, but I hadn’t had much practice because I was so young. I did it and put him on my back then ran, hour after hour, day after day.”
This time she did reach for him. Not just because she was attracted to him, but because she cared about him. He’d kept her safe today, been patient with her, and she’d had no idea what he’d been through.
She’d thought no one could understand how she felt. No one back home had, but here? Sophia and Riley both knew the pain of losing someone they loved.
Riley leaned forward and laced her fingers with his, squeezing both his hands in her own, shuffling her body closer so their knees almost touched.
He braved a smile, but it was touched with sadness.
“Sophia found us. She scooped my brother up and helped me limp to her house, bloody paws and all. She raised us, like her own, before she sent me and then my brother off to train with our army in the north.”
“And you returned?”
“For you.” He watched her, his eyes floating over hers, searching her out. “I did my time in the army, proved myself as a soldier. As a trained fighter and leader. Now, I’m here for you and Sophia.”
“So you’re, like, the head guy?”
He nodded. It made her feel even safer.
Riley went to release his hands, to scoot back away, but he changed the grip and kept her still. Immobile.
Riley refused to look back up at him, until he gave up hold of one of her hands to tilt her chin.
“Sophia told me about you for years. I’ve had more time to get used to the idea, that’s all. I don’t mean to make you uncomfortable.”
She couldn’t even mumble a response.
“I was her strongest leopard. She trained me to fight. To protect.”
“For me?” she croaked.
That made him smile. “For you. And for the greater good of our pack. I’m the highest ranking soldier we have now. She said she knew I was the one when she found me, but I still had to prove myself.”
Her body shook. She couldn’t stop. “We have a pack?”
“You’ve got a lot to learn, kitty.”
Her eyes darkened, she could feel the heat within them.
Hunter raised both his hands in defence. “No offence intended.”
She denied the growl, letting it die in her throat.
“That’s a good girl.”
They sat still. She wasn’t ready to go back inside yet. They were safe here, or at least not far from safety, and it was good to just sit and talk to him, to understand. To hang out.
“Have you always known what I looked like?”
“Yup.” He tucked his knees up to his chin and rested his head. Eyes locked on hers. “But you’re even better in real life.”
“How can this be so… easy for you?”
“I want you.” He shrugged. “I’ve been waiting for you, fighting to be strong enough to be your equal, to be your teacher.”
He didn’t say more, but she could tell what he meant. He knew he was, one day, going to be her mate. Is that what they called it here? He knew exactly what he wanted, what his destiny was, which meant he was the complete opposite of her.
Geez. “And you’re okay with this, uh, arrangement?” she asked.
Hunter leaned forward, slowly, his face suddenly inches from hers. He blew softly on her skin, before dropping a kiss to her jaw. Hunter trailed a featherlight trail of kisses down her throat, stopping, waiting, before nipping oh so gently at her collarbone.
Her hand snapped up, catching him around the throat, her grip stronger than she’d ever known it could be.
His smile only deepened, like he liked it. Riley watched the glint of his eye, thrilled in the strength she’d found.
Hunter just laughed. A belly deep rumble that made her release him.
“I am.”
She knew he’d pushed her, provoked her into playing back.
And she liked it.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Riley left the house before Sophia had even woken. She knew that today was the day she could quiz her grandma, but she was more interested in finding Hunter. In seeing him again, in learning from him.
There was time for questions later. Like why she was here, why she could shift, what she was preparing for. And who the soul suckers he’d talked about were.
But right now, what she was most interested in was Hunter himself. And why he’d told her her sister was still here. Why she wasn’t supposed to known yet… and why she believed him. Too many questions that had kept her awake all night.
Riley hurried over to the horses, feeling bad for ignoring them, but they seemed content grazing. She threw them each a couple of apples over the fence.
Riley almost felt guilty. No, she did feel guilty.
All her life, up until a few weeks ago, she’d been a twin. Wherever she went, her sister had gone too. Whenever she thought something, her sister had seemed to read her mind.
Now, she was alone. Or at least she had been.
Until she’d somehow stumbled upon Hunter. And he’d taken her mind off everything. She’d gone to bed and remembered his touch, the way he looked, what they’d talked about.
Then she’d woken up and he was still in her mind. When Hunter was gone, it was like she was lost all over again.
And she hated it. B
ecause never, not once, had she ever felt like this over a guy before.
But then Hunter was different. So different that she was starting to wonder if her mind had been captured during a dream and not let out.
Riley thought about going for a ride, but given the last few attempts she thought her riding life might be over. The horses were on edge when she went into the field with them, nostrils flared, snorting at the slightest movement in the forest.
At least she knew they were safe here, happy so long as she stayed on this side of the fence.
For now. So long as Hunter was sure his daily injections were going to keep working that was.
But Riley didn’t have any other option besides trusting Hunter. Aside from the fact that he seemed to be marked as her teacher, not to mention her future husband, he had promised her the potion and rubdowns would keep the cats away.
Besides if she sent the horses home, put them on a truck or called for her parents, it would only alert them that something was wrong. And she was struggling just to come to terms with what was happening to her. What her life was turning into and she didn’t need to deal with worried parents too.
But if she couldn’t ride, what else could she do?
Riley didn’t want to admit it, but she was unsettled. Her fingers were fidgeting, feet itching to move, to do something, anything.
What she wanted was to see Hunter.
She wanted to change again. To thrill in the excitement of it, to be close to him. To learn more. To forget about everything else.
“Hey.”
Her head whipped sideways. There he was. Speak of the cat and he appeared. Riley took a deep breath to calm herself.
“Hey,” she said back.
He looked cool, leaning against the tree. It was where he’d appeared yesterday, body folded against the thick trunk. But today he was waiting for her to decide. He’d told her yesterday. Now he knew she could change, that her mind was as strong as her body, he had to wait for her. Needed to know that she’d accepted what she could do.
Yesterday, she’d wanted to rebel against his wishes, against Sophia’s wishes, but today? She gulped, nervous as he watched her so unashamedly. Last night, out with him on the porch, her mind had changed.
