by Andrews, Jo
Ian had shifted out of cat and was reaching for the clothes he had flung there before the battle. Sierra turned away hurriedly from that beautiful naked form.
“Looks like I’ve got more embroidery work to do,” muttered Doc, glancing at him in the rearview mirror.
Ian was ripped up again. But then so was Arrhan. Sierra had caught sight of some vicious claw marks on the lion’s belly and sides. Arrhan might outweigh Ian twice over in lion form, but any leopard was a wickedly lethal fighter.
She slid open the rear window as Ian pulled his tee on, covering up the slashes. “You’re hurt!”
He shrugged that away. “Just cuts, not internal injuries. Doc can stitch me up and it’ll all be gone by tomorrow. You shouldn’t have interfered.”
“Two against one wasn’t fair! They’d have killed you.”
“I wouldn’t have let them.”
“Yeah, right.”
“You’ve gotten yourself involved now.” He rubbed a hand despairingly over his face.
“I was already involved.”
“Not the way you are now! Before, you were just some human who had the bad taste to help out. Now you’ve killed one of them. Now it’s personal.”
“Them,” said Doc. “It’s not just one lion. There’s more.”
“Yeah. I’ve got to tell Kurt. There could be a whole pride out there. We don’t know how many. It isn’t just some ambitious male trying to seize the lordship. It isn’t just the usual power grab. It’s something more.”
“We should have guessed there was more than one,” Doc muttered. “Those Shifter homes were all fired ’round about the same time. One man wouldn’t have been able to do it. We didn’t think.”
“Too fazed. This kind of thing has never happened before. Sure, there have been wars between prides and packs over the centuries. Territorial disputes are as common as mating fights. But we always keep below the radar as far as humans are concerned. Don’t want them to know we exist. This madman doesn’t care. Setting so many homes on fire, which makes the cops think of arson and gets them investigating those affected. Attacking in lion shape in full daylight where any human passing by might have seen. He’s a danger not only to us, but to every Shifter in this world.”
Kurt Lowe agreed. Sierra gathered that when she came into the ranch office as Ian was speaking to him over the phone. Ian glanced past her to check that she was alone, then went on with the conversation. Sierra was pleased that he trusted her as much as he did Doc, who was busy stitching him up while he spoke to Kurt.
It seemed Kurt had hoped in the beginning that talking to Arrhan would make the man see sense. That had changed to a kill-on-sight order to his pride after Arrhan had attacked the other cat species in Wade County. Now the word was going out to every pride, pack or clan existing—Arrhan and his people were to be considered dasari.
“Rabid,” translated Doc in an undertone, seeing her puzzled face.
Outcasts, even outlaws, he explained, were accepted by Shifters, who were outcasts from human society themselves. A Shifter who broke the law or harmed other Shifters was dealt with by the friends or relatives of their victims. Dasari, however, were threats to the race and every Shifter’s hand was against them.
“Is it any good my telling you to rest for today as well?” Doc grumbled, scowling at the latest patchwork of hatch lines on Ian’s hide as Ian hung up the phone and pulled a fresh tee over his head.
“Yeah, I will.” Ian yanked the tee down to hide the stitches on his torso, then put on a shirt as well. He left that open and hanging, but it did cover up the claw marks on his arms. “Don’t have a cow, Doc. You know I’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
“You’re still not really recovered from the first attack.”
“So I’ll rest. Didn’t I say I would?”
“I know you,” growled Doc.
Ian ignored that. “Kurt’s sending over one of his people. You don’t go anywhere without that guy beside you. Hear me?”
“Yeah,” Doc sighed, heading out of the room to wash his hands.
“And that goes for you too, Sierra,” Ian said, glancing over to where Sierra was standing, frowning at him. “You don’t go anywhere unless I’m with you.”
“Any one of your ranch hands…”
“No. It has to be a Shifter. Humans can be taken out too easily. I’ve told Taylor and Annie there’s a crazy after you. As long as you’re on the spread, there’s gonna be people around looking out for you. Too many for Arrhan to be able to sneak past. Of course, that will count for nothing if he decides to make a full-scale attack, but I don’t think he will.”
“Surely Kurt’s the one he wants.”
“Yeah, but you and me, we’ve just made number two on his hit list, right after Kurt and before even any of the others of the Lowe pride. If he gets a chance at either of us, he’ll take it, and you’re vulnerable when you leave the spread. I wish Simon and Neal were here. They could have helped bodyguard you. But they’ve got their own problems and I can’t call them back from that.”
“I don’t want you to!” Sierra exclaimed. “I think you’re overreacting as it is!”
Ian shook his head grimly. “You have no idea how vicious a pride war can get. You’re not going anywhere without me. You want to go someplace, you wait ’til I’m free and can come with you.”
Sierra opened her mouth to object. Then she remembered the malignant hatred that had been in Arrhan’s eyes and closed it again.
“And don’t go sneaking out for some dumb reason. Everyone’s been told that you don’t step out of this house without me. They’ll just stop you.”
Sierra glared at him. “So I’m your prisoner?”
He spread his arms. “Is this a prison? Don’t you like your room?”
What was not to like? The room she had been given was huge and beautiful, with every possible luxurious amenity provided. The whole sprawling ranch house was the same way—an eclectic mix of comfortable old furnishings and the new high-tech toys that guys liked to play with. But what it spoke of was wealth. Maybe unobtrusive and taken for granted, but still wealth. She was conscious of it now as she had never been before, because she had tried so hard never to think about Ian Raeder.
His home, his family, his heritage made her acutely uneasy. They were so out of her league.
Old money accrued through generations of hard work on the land. No wonder Ian would rather die than be driven out. The Raeder assets were in the house, the land and the livestock, none of which were something they could just pick up and take with them to another state.
She couldn’t ignore all of that. The Raeders kept their heads down and didn’t make with the fancy clothes, cars or bling, cash flow always being a problem with ranchers. But it was still a long way from the Wallaces. Sierra’s dad had been in construction. Her mom had been a healthcare worker who had worn out her heart fighting to keep a roof over their heads and food on the table. Sierra herself was just barely making ends meet with her pottery. This place only stressed the gulf between her and Ian that Sierra had started to forget about back at her place.
But maybe it was a good thing to be reminded of that gulf. It was another reason why letting herself become involved with Ian Raeder would be a huge mistake.
“The room’s just fine,” she muttered and knew she sounded ungracious. “It’s very big.”
“It used to be the master, but none of us had the heart to move in after Mom and Dad died, so we turned it into a guest room.”
“How did they die?” She’d left Castleton before that had happened and had only heard they were gone when she returned.
“Semi skidded on an icy road and T-boned their car. They were both killed outright.”
No time for the healing fever that might otherwise have saved them. She could see from the darkness in his eyes that he had been as affected by their deaths as she had been by her own mother’s.
“I’m so sorry, Ian.”
“It was no one’s fault, really. These th
ings happen.” He changed the subject quickly. “Let’s see. Annie’s a wicked cook, so I don’t think you’ll mind the food. There’s a sunroom at the back that nobody’s been using since Mom died. It’ll make a perfect studio. I’ll have a couple of the hands bring over your stuff tomorrow and we’ll get everything set up for you. You won’t have to stop working even temporarily.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that.”
“You said you had orders to fill. Bad enough that your life’s in danger because you’ve been dragged into our war. I don’t want you to lose out in any other way.”
He looked so determined that she gave in, reluctantly. “Okay. I’ll come and show you what I need.”
“You’re not going anywhere near your place! It’s too dangerous. Make a list of the things you want and we’ll find them.”
“You don’t have to do all this, Ian. It’s too much.”
“Sierra, if it wasn’t for me, you wouldn’t have been driven out of your home. But I was too groggy to realize what I was doing in coming to you for help, and now look! You made a bad enemy when you shot that lioness. You’ve saved my life twice over. The least I can do is give you the protection you need until all this is done.”
She shoved her hair back, giving him a helpless glance. Ian could see from the dazed expression on her face that it was all too much for her. It had come at her too fast and she hadn’t had time to cope.
“Look,” he said gently. “Don’t think about things right now. Just go day by day. Read a book, watch TV, catch your breath, yeah? You can worry about everything tomorrow.”
“You take it easy too,” she said, abruptly stern. “Doc said you should rest. I will if you will.”
“Deal.”
“But I don’t want to just hang around doing nothing. Can’t I help Annie?”
“You don’t have to earn your keep, Mouse.”
“Yes, I do. I want to.”
To him, she was a guest and it didn’t seem right to have her working. But maybe having something to occupy her would make things seem ordinary and give her some structure. It would also be good for her to be with Annie, who was supremely normal and had no clue about Shifters or weird, unnatural occurrences.
He was amazed by her. These last few days couldn’t have been easy for her. Most people would have had a nervous breakdown just learning about Shifters. Sierra had not only managed to surmount that, but hadn’t flinched when a savage battle between big cats had erupted right in front of her. She had even killed one of his attackers and Ian suspected she had never killed a single living creature before today. Her inner strength and fortitude awed him.
“You do whatever you like,” he said. “Just don’t go out of the house without someone beside you or off the ranch without me. Otherwise, this is the all-free zone, okay? Just try to think of it as home.”
She gave him a sideways glance that said, “Don’t make me laugh.” Then she nodded obediently and went off toward the kitchen and Annie.
That obedience scared him to death. Mouse was at her most dangerous when she seemed meek. It meant all sorts of things were going on in her head.
He made sure the hands understood that she was not to go anywhere alone or be allowed to leave the homestead without him beside her. Most of the hands knew her at least by sight, while Taylor and Annie had been friends of her mother’s. It turned out that Taylor was the one who had taught her to shoot and taken her out hunting. All Ian had to do was tell them some nutcase was targeting her to trigger their protective reaction without having to go into detail.
He came back into the house to hear her talking to Annie. It sent a shiver down his spine and a kind of helpless weakening behind his breastbone. He didn’t know how often he had dreamed of Sierra being under his roof.
Belonging to him. Being in his bed. That was one of his long-time fantasies—how she would be in his bed, how she might respond to him. And now he’d had a taste of it. Now he knew what it might be like. He knew the inner shape of her mouth and the fire of it and the way her hands moved over him and how her body felt crushed against his.
He stopped the thought right there. He wouldn’t abuse her trust. She was in his care, vulnerable here, and he didn’t want to hurt her in any way. But it was sweet to be near her, to share his home with her and be able to pretend just for a little while that it would always be that way.
He and his brothers normally ate breakfast and lunch with the hands, but dinner was usually just the three of them, talking over the day’s work and planning the next. Family time, laughing, joking and sharing things. He was looking forward to spending that kind of time with Sierra.
Except it didn’t go the way he hoped. Dinner turned out to be a stiff, awkward affair, with Sierra never once lifting her gaze from her plate and saying not much more than yes, no or thank you. Where was his Mouse, all snark and defiance? He would have been happier if she’d gone back to flinging insults at him.
“Sierra, what’s wrong?” he asked at last in desperation.
“Wrong? Nothing’s wrong,” muttered Sierra, avoiding his eyes. “Why should anything be wrong?”
Even to Sierra that sounded lame. But she felt totally fazed right now. Her life had been turned upside down, a lunatic was targeting her and she didn’t know which way was up. But worse than all of that, for her, was this violent craving she felt for Ian.
She just didn’t want to be alone with him. She had stiffened up the minute she had been ushered into the dining room. She would have much preferred to be eating with the hands in the middle of their raucous friendship and teasing. She was comfortable with them. She was not comfortable with Ian or the ambience of this elegant dining room with its flowers, subdued lighting and the crystal and silverware that Annie insisted upon. It made her feel as if she should have dressed for dinner, not be sitting here in faded blue jeans and a pink chambray shirt. It didn’t matter that Ian hadn’t changed either and was just wearing his usual black jeans and tee, with that black shirt hiding the gashes on his arms. Sierra still felt completely out of place.
“Do you always eat dinner like this?” she asked edgily.
“Oh, yeah. Mom insisted. It was the one time of the day when we boys had to act civilized.” He grinned crookedly at her. “Annie is determined to keep up the tradition even though things have kind of lapsed now Mom’s gone. Neal tends to eat with a book propped up in front of him, and Simon and I are always pushing paper back and forth. Annie hates that.”
“I wouldn’t mind if you did that. The paperwork, I mean.” Being treated casually or even being ignored would have been so much better than having to dredge up polite chitchat.
“Annie would be scandalized if I behaved like that with a guest.”
“Right.”
The conversation lapsed again. Sierra couldn’t think of a single thing to say.
“I’ve always wondered why your parents called you Sierra,” Ian remarked. “I’ve never heard of anyone named that before.”
Ian kept trying. She had to give him that. He wanted to be a good host and it was a shame she was such a disappointing guest. But she couldn’t relax and respond to his conventional gambits. Small talk had never been her forte.
“They were going to take a trip to the Sierra Nevadas, then they found out Mom was pregnant and they needed to put the money toward that. They named me for the mountains they’d missed.”
“It suits you.” He slanted her a provocative glance. “All sharp and prickly.”
She smiled involuntarily. Before, she had resented his teasing. Now it was a relief to be back on that old familiar ground, trading insults back and forth. But they would never really be able to recover that comforting, antagonistic dynamic. They had moved past that. Kissing him had changed everything.
She was far too aware of him. Even with her gaze fixed on her plate, she was aware of that intense green stare watching her. She wished he would stop looking at her. But then, she couldn’t stop looking at him either. Even t
hough she kept her eyes fixed on her plate, in her peripheral vision she was aware of the precise movements of those strong, sensitive hands, found herself remembering how they had felt moving across her body, wanted them back upon her again. She could see the curve of his hard, beautiful mouth, remembered how it had tasted, how his tongue had thrust and slid against hers, could see that supple, ripped body and couldn’t help wanting it on her, in her.
God, she was insane! He was bad news. She knew that, had always known that. But she hadn’t known, hadn’t even suspected the way he could make her feel. The violence of the hunger he could arouse in her. He was everything that was wrong for her, everything she shouldn’t have—and everything she wanted.
She was relieved when dinner was finally over and she could retreat to her room. But he put out a hand to stop her. She jerked back without thinking.
His eyes widened and his hand fell without touching her. “Sierra…”
“I…I’m a little tired,” she said desperately. “I’d rather go to bed early.”
So much had happened in the last twelve hours. She had been swung wildly between extremes of shock and passion and terror. She was exhausted, both in mind and body, just couldn’t take any more right now.
“You’re afraid of me. You’ve never been afraid of me before, Mouse.”
“I’m not afraid of you.”
But she was. Afraid of what he made her feel.
“I’d never hurt you. I swear it, Mouse.”
“I know that, Ian.”
He would never hurt her physically. But he could emotionally. She didn’t dare let him. She shook her head helplessly. She couldn’t even explain, because that would give away too much. What could she say? You’re too much of a temptation. I want you desperately and it scares me to death?
“I’m sorry. I’m just…”
“Tired, yeah,” he said, his lips tight, and stepped back to let her pass.
