It had been nearly six months since she’d last sent one to a major magazine, but who knew how long they kept portfolios on file? Heck, maybe she'd caught someone's attention back then. Maybe they put her on the short list for when something appropriate came up. The thought added to the rush of adrenaline pumping through her system. She very nearly preened.
"Where is it at? When do you leave?"
Of course Lauren wanted all the details. The accountant was obsessed with details. "I don't have all the info yet," she confessed. “All I know is that it’s in northern Colorado. I've got to call them and confirm that I'm interested."
On the other side of the line, Lauren paused. "Northern Colorado?"
Evie knew exactly where Lauren's mind was going. "It's fine. Colorado isn’t exactly a small state—I probably won't be in the same area. And even if I am, it will be fine." How many times had she said fine? Probably enough to show she wasn’t totally there yet. But she would be. This was her dream, and she wasn’t letting a little thing like a near death experience and a Twilight Zone-esque incident keep her from taking her shot.
“Well, you’re obviously fine,” Lauren said dryly. "Just be careful out there. The last time—crap, Evie, we almost lost you."
She swallowed hard, some of her exuberance tempered. Lauren spoke the truth. The last time she was in those cold, snowy mountains, she’d almost died. But she’d made it back to civilization in one piece. Because the sexiest man she'd ever met—before or since—had saved her life. Plucked her out of the snow, taken her to his rustic cabin in the woods, and fucked her so good she compared every man she'd met since against him.
And they'd all come up wanting.
But then he’d turned into a monster—or she had a mental breakdown. That part, she’d never confided in Lauren, or anyone else, for that matter. In fact, most of the time, she pretended that bit never happened.
That trip to Colorado had wreaked havoc on her love life. Had, in fact, pretty much brought it to a halt other than a few lackluster dates she’d had since then. But she’d get over it—she’d get over him. Hell, maybe a trip back to the area would help her finally let go of the man she’d met there.
"Promise. I'll be fine. I’ve built up my survival skills since then. Besides, it's spring."
"Yeah," Lauren deadpanned. "And freak snowstorms never occurred in Colorado in the spring. Especially not at whatever elevation I'm sure these whatever mountain foxes live at.”
"Rocky Mountain Snow Foxes,” she muttered. "Honest, I'll be fine. This is happy for me time."
Lauren took the hint. “Of course, I'm happy for you—this is the start of your dreams really coming true. I feel it. I just want you to be careful."
"Don't worry, being careful is on my to-do list."
Lauren laughed and shifted the conversation to the details of what Evie needed to pack.
Her mind wandered, settling on a single night three years gone. A night that had changed her life forever.
A night she’d never been able forget.
Chapter Two
Evie kept her eyes peeled for animals as she drove up the winding mountain pass. Inside her head, Lauren chanted, “I told you so.”
“Could have taken the car service they offered, but no, had to drive yourself,” she muttered. Evie wasn't brand-new to driving in the snow, but she was no expert. But the idea of being stuck on the mountain—being stuck anywhere, really—without her own transportation hadn't appealed to her. Never know when you might have to skedaddle, and that was tough without wheels.
Her boss hadn't been pleased, but Evie had boarded the plane anyway. Dana had finally agreed to one week—more than that, and Evie would lose her job. Hardly something she could risk given the fact that she might not even get a shot of the foxes. Even if she did, this was only a first step toward achieving her dream, not a guarantee of a new career. And she’d die before she proved her parents right by borrowing money from them to pay her rent.
Just the idea made her stomach lurch.
It was risky to piss Dana off, and the fact that she’d given her zero notice added to the guilt factor. But it was a chance she was willing to take. Besides, she had two weeks of vacation saved up, and Doug had been eager to get full-time hours while she was gone.
A long sigh of relief escaped her when a mid-sized, ramshackle building came into sight. A wooden sign proclaimed it Roy's Watering Hole. Not a place she'd ever been, even though this area was eerily close to where she'd almost lost her life in that snowstorm.
She shook off the thought and pulled into the parking lot. Beneath the spring snow, gravel ground against her tires. Only three other vehicles—all of them pickups—were parked in front of the building. No wonder Ms. Clark from the magazine had been so certain the guide would have no problem identifying her among the crowd.
That had been a weird conversation. For one thing, Ms. Clark had sounded younger than Evie’d expected, and she’d seemed almost flustered by her call. Of course, the magazine was apparently a startup ezine with limited print distribution. Maybe Ms. Clark was just getting her start, as well.
But the editor had assured her there would be a payday at the end of this—and most importantly, a credit in the magazine—if she managed to get a few good shots. They had foot the bill for her flight and rental car, which went a long way toward putting Evie’s mind at ease.
She hopped out of her rented SUV and headed into the restaurant.
The scent of frying hamburger mixed with bacon made her stomach growl the second she hit the door. Maybe her guide would be willing to stick around for another hour so she could get lunch. There hadn't been time to eat anything between her early flight and grabbing the rental car. The granola bar she’d put in her purse certainly hadn't stuck with her long.
The interior of Roy's Watering Hole appeared how she'd expected. A dance floor on one side—a small one, to be expected given the tiny population in the area—and tables for meals on the other. Behind it all sat a long bar. No doubt the place served breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks after dark. A one stop shop for a town that likely had few, if any, other restaurants.
Two men, both sporting gray hair—one far more hair than the other, sat at a table together, drinking beers with their burgers. Neither of them looked fit enough to be the man guiding her up a mountain. In a shadowed corner of the bar area, one other man sat with his back to her. She took a few steps toward him.
Familiarity jolted her to a stop.
Her stomach twisted as she took in the broad shoulders and the large, muscled frame. It wasn’t him—it couldn’t be. A ghost from her past, her mind playing tricks, that’s all that was going on here. The knowledge that she was coming back to this place—so near to where they’d met—was making her see him in the image of strangers.
Then he turned. Familiar green eyes met hers.
Nicolas.
Her jaw dropped and she couldn’t manage to do anything but stare.
Nicolas didn’t have the same reaction. His mouth twisted into a familiar grin.
Holy shit. He’d been expecting her.
“Hey, city girl.” He approached her slowly, as if she might run.
She couldn't blame him—it wouldn't be the first time she ran from him. But this time, she wouldn’t be doing a weird walk of shame down a mountain.
At least he didn’t currently look like a tiger. Although, that could change pretty damn quick. She swallowed a hysterical laugh.
“What are you—I mean, how—” Body numb, her brain rattled with so many thoughts she couldn't even process them, let alone come up with something coherent to say.
He waved toward a table, and her body moving automatically, she sat. Thankfully, he didn’t try to pull out her chair. That might have tipped her over the edge and sent her out the door.
He sat across from her, his mouth twisted into a frown. “I'm sorry. I probably should've called you or something. Warned you that I was going to be your guide.” His grin reappeared w
ith a teasing edge. “But that would've been a lot easier had you given me your number before you ran out last time.”
After gaping at him for a long moment, she snapped her jaw shut. What was this? Some weird, twisted dream rolled up with an embarrassing nightmare? “Why are you here?”
She wished she could take the question back as soon as she said it. He’d already said he was her guide—but that didn't really explain anything, did it?
“I’m here to lead you to where those foxes have been sighted.”
“How?” The question escaped her lips, more incredulous noise than an actual word. “I know coincidences happen, but this—”
He threaded his fingers together and leaned back, placing his hands on his lap. Trying to appear harmless? Fat chance. She knew better than that.
“It's not totally a coincidence, you're right.” He signaled the lone waitress to bring them menus. Yeah. Like she was interested in eating now.
“I'm going to need a little more info than that, country boy.”
He snorted. “My family owns the land the foxes have been spotted on, and when there was talk of letting the magazine come and take pictures…” He shrugged. “I thought of you.”
“The last time we saw each other, I was a student. Why would you—”
“Your portfolio was among those we received.”
That kind of coincidence was tough to swallow. But what was the alternative? Sure, he might have known of her aspirations after a quick Facebook search. But that suggested…what? That he was checking up on her? It was the why of it that bothered her.
Maybe he wanted to make sure she was doing well. Her heart wanted to believe that. It would suggest…well…that maybe their single night together had meant something to him. But that didn't seem likely. This hunk of a man—hunk of more than a man, really—certainly hadn't spent nights thinking about her like she had about him. Right?
That she still thought of their time together wasn’t in any way reasonable. A single night. Sure, she gave herself a break. Had to, given the fact that he'd not only given her the best sex ever in the history of sex, but that he'd also saved her life. It was no wonder she was more than a little infatuated with him. That, and the fact that he turned into a frigging weretiger.
Those kind of shenanigans got a girl's attention.
His second nature should've cooled her infatuation. At least the lust. But damn her if his tigeryness didn't affect her feelings. She should have been afraid of him.
She was afraid of him.
But he'd saved her life. And looked at her with such tenderness that even the memory of it broke her heart a little.
She swallowed hard, hoping he couldn't see the direction of her thoughts on her face. “This just seems a little weird. A little too coincidental.”
Good God, what if he hadn't kept tabs on her because he cared, but because he was worried that she would reveal his secret? The thought startled her and made her heart race.
The waitress, fifteen if she was a day, popped her gum as she set the menus in front of them. After a long, far too obvious stare toward Nicolas, she wandered back behind the bar.
“Okay, I might have requested you specifically.” He shrugged, expression chagrined. “I’m not a stalker, but I have checked up on you once or twice. You have a lot on Facebook about your photography dream.”
She couldn’t help but grin. Her Facebook was slathered from top to bottom with wildlife pictures and posts about her progress and hopes. “I guess you wouldn’t have to look too hard to figure out my passion.”
His smile widened. “The digging was minimal. Don't tell me you've never looked up exes on Facebook just to see how they're doing.”
A nervous laugh escaped her. She hadn’t had any exes to speak of since him. Ridiculous. No way was she saying that. “Maybe once or twice. But I can guarantee you I was more interested in making sure they weren't doing well.”
He laughed, too. A sexy, dangerous rumble low in his chest. “I’ve never wished you ill, Evie. I understand why you left the way you did.”
Throat suddenly tight, she nodded. She'd worried she hurt him. But after a night of crazy, fantastic sex with a man who turned out to be a weretiger, her options had felt limited. She hadn't been afraid of him at that point—although she hadn’t exactly been unafraid of his tiger—but she'd had no idea what to say to him in the light of day. Thanks for saving my life? Thanks for the awesome sex? Thanks for guaranteeing nightmares by turning into a tiger and thus proving supernatural things are real?
Yeah, there was no way to make that anything less than super awkward. So she'd made her escape.
“This isn't some weird trick to get me on your mountain so you can murder me to cover up any…information I might of been privy to that night, is it?”
It was his turn to look shocked. “No.” Then he leaned forward, his eyes never leaving hers, and for a brief second, she glimpsed the intense man beneath the charming façade. “I would never hurt you, Evie. Never.”
She swallowed hard and nodded, throat too tight to form words. But she believed him.
His face relaxed, and he settled back in his chair. “Saving your life was a lot of work. I had to tromp through snow. Carry you back. Feed you.” He shook his head, expression put out. “Too much work to reverse it years later for no reason.”
She grinned behind her hand, but before she could tease him back, the waitress reappeared. She looked bored, expectant, pen and small notebook in hand. “You guys ready?”
“Give us five, Becky.”
The teen rolled her eyes and wandered to the other table where the men were finishing their burgers.
Nicolas didn't reach for his menu. Instead, again he leaned across the table toward her. “Look, I can understand if this is too weird for you and you don't want to climb a mountain with me. But I promise you, I will not let anything happen to you if you do. If you choose to trust me.”
She did trust him, and that was part of the problem. Granted, he'd never done anything to prove he couldn't be trusted—saving her life pretty much put him in the category of default trust—but his tiger had. Nicolas had bitten her during sex, and if his horror at his actions was anything to go by, it wasn’t something he’d done purposefully.
If the man hadn’t been weretiger…
But it didn't matter. No way was she letting this opportunity go. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Chapter Three
Evie was just as determined as he’d remembered. Just as witty and fun to verbally spar with. Just as beautiful.
She’d said he’d filled out—he’d heard the mutter under her breath as they walked outside after lunch. That might be true, but he wasn’t filling his clothing in the luscious way she was. When they’d met, she’d been a twenty-year-old, a young woman, still blossoming into the beautiful creature that stood before him today. Lush curves and as ass that wouldn’t quit made his jeans tight. And her breasts…damn.
It took every bit of willpower he could muster not to close the distance between them and claim her in that damn restaurant.
Yeah, buddy. That wouldn’t scare her or anything.
Even now, driving his truck while she trailed behind in her rented SUV, he was hard as a rock. Her scent lingered on his clothes.
The lie crawled under his skin—a living, breathing thing that would bite him in the ass eventually. Nicolas hated lying to her, even by omission. But it was necessary—and a hell of a lot less uncomfortable than not having her in his life. Based on her reaction to him when she saw him, he couldn't have it both ways. She hadn't seemed displeased to see him, not exactly. But he'd seen the sliver of fear behind her eyes before she’d covered it up. She wouldn’t have come up here willingly—not without a damn good reason.
So he'd given her one.
He couldn’t blame her. It had taken years for him to trust himself to be around her. His whole life, he’d had control issues with his tiger. He’d matured early—turning into a full tiger when he was
barely out of diapers. At that age, he’d been far too young to have any hope of controlling himself. He blacked out when the shift came over him, and although he’d had yet to hurt anyone, he couldn’t be permitted around weaker tigers or other children. Let alone humans. Even a young tiger could kill.
So his mother had squirreled him away—taking him to the edge of his father’s territory to keep him and everyone else safe. She’d left his brother behind to be raised by their father.
Even given his problems, he still figured he got the better end of the bargain than Erick. At least their mother had loved them, and had cared for Nicolas the best she could. Their father…well, he was a scary fucker. Strong enough to be prime—leader of their clan. He had given his royal heritage to his sons—the ability to turn into full tigers—but he hadn’t given them much else. Certainly never a kind word or any parental regard. He didn’t envy Erick, who was raised by him, while their mother spent her efforts keeping Nicolas safe.
Once he hit his teens, they’d gone back to live among the clan. His control had seemed better. Until he shifted in the midst of a rage and attacked his father.
He was lucky he hadn’t been killed.
But he’d been sent away. Essentially banished, although technically, he could have stayed, if he’d been willing to fight his father. Nicolas wasn’t sure that was a battle he could win. Even as he aged, his father was a tough, mean son of a bitch. And what would he do if he won? Challenge his older brother to see if he could kill him, too? Erick had never been warm, never been a real brother to him—how could he be when they were raised so far apart?—but he wasn’t cruel. He could lead their people someday. Nicolas, with so little command over his tiger, could never be anything but a danger to them all.
Prime Series Collection: (Broken Prime, Prime Desire, Mated Prime) Page 4
