Here? With him?Sarah didn’t know what to say. She wanted to rest, to pretend someone cared about her. Yet what did she really know about Cullen Whitefeather? He’d saved her, yes. Great. But he was still a man, still a raptor. She didn’t have the best track record with that combination.
“I won’t hurt you.” His voice was thick, though decidedly gentle. “Those asshole raptors don’t know you’re here. With any luck, Jenny will have bled out from her wounds.”
“Ha. I wish,” she said glumly, then sighed. “I don’t really. It’s not her fault she’s such a bitch. Blame her mother and her dog of a husband.”
Cullen grinned, and Sarah felt as if she’d been blindsided. How had she neverseenhim before? He was in the Fox’s Henhouse nearly every day, if not for a meal, then for coffee.
“Come on, Sarah. It’s still cold as a witch’s ti—” He cleared his throat. “You don’t want to be traveling alone through a storm, do you?”
Hell.She didn’t want to be trapped in Cougar Falls, not after this disaster of a day. “I’m leaving town,” she said loudly, reminding herself. “I was packed and ready to go when Jenny and her friends showed up at my house.”
He didn’t say anything, and she felt the need to explain further.
“I’ve spent the better part of my years trying to belong. It’s finally clear to me that I don’t fit in and never will.”
He grunted.
“What does that mean?”
“The great raptor clan,” he said with disgust. “A damned pack of pecking hens.”
She’d often thought the same thing, but found it amusing to hear it from someone else. Comparing a raptor to a chicken was as bad as comparing a wolf to a dog, and by the sneer on his face, Cullen had no love for the clan. She wondered why his family hadn’t left when the rest of the eagles had, taking their people north. If she’d had family, she would have moved in a heartbeat.
Cullen shook his head. “The clan needs to be shaken up. The leaders don’t lead by example the way they used to. Why do you think my family and I don’t hang with the others? We don’t fit in either.”
At least you have a family.Sarah had never known her father. And when she was just sixteen, her mother had passed away, leaving her with only the clan for support. Sarah suddenly felt very much alone.
“You should stay,” he said bluntly. “My family went north to visit our Canadian cousins. The house is empty and business has been slow, thanks to this God-awful weather. I could really use the company.”
This from the taciturn man who visited the Fox’s Henhouse every day? Hell, she’d never imagined the man could converse in more than three-word sentences. Coffee, black. Waffles with bacon.Still, what were her options? A glance out the window showed he’d been telling the truth. She could barely see through the blanket of white pelting the windows.
“I’m not going back to the diner,” she warned.
“Okay.” He mesmerized her with his intensity. He hadn’t blinked in forever, focusing on her in a way that made her entire body tremble.
“I’m not an easy lay, if that’s why you want me to stay,” she said stiffly, uncomfortably aware of his maleness.
His eyes flashed like gold coins, and his lips curled. “I heard you rip into Mike, and I saw what you did to those raptors in the sky. Nothing easy about you, Sarah.”
His humor relaxed her. Far from threatening, Cullen soothed her bird’s ruffled feathers. He didn’t touch her, but she swore she could feel his comforting heat, even through the distance separating them. She wondered what he’d feel like skin to skin, if his chest was smooth or covered with dark, silky hair…
“I-I don’t have anything to wear.” Her lamest excuse yet, but she was losing her will to resist. Talk about the wrong time to find a man appealing. She was injured, on the outs with one of her clan leaders and probably half the clan by now, and preparing to step into the great unknown outside of Cougar Falls. She had no time for attraction, and especially not with a man who threw her emotions so out of whack.
Even if he was the most beautiful golden eagle she’d ever seen.
Mine.She inwardly winced at her animal spirit’s gleeful cry. Her eagle was already half in love with him, and Sarah had a bad feeling she could easily be led down the same path to ruin. The potential of another Will Shaw catastrophe was beating on her door. For all she knew, Cullen was married.
“Are you married?” she blurted and blushed.
“Nope. You?”
“No.”Everyone knew that, didn’t they?
“Look, I’ll get your things for you. Nobody knows you’re here, and nobody needs to until you’re ready to leave.” He paused and stood, then took a large step back. “I’m not like the others. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said again.
She wanted so badly to believe him. Her heart said to trust, but her mind wouldn’t let her forget she’d trusted once before. Yet she had nowhere else to go and nothing waiting for her but a bleak, empty recovery. She couldn’t travel through the snow in this condition. And it would be a few days, at the least, before she could protect herself from any raptor threats headed her way.
She considered him. Staring up at Cullen, she soon found herself lost in a strange haze of lust and comfort.What the hell. What can a few days under the radar hurt? If Cullen really wanted to harm me, he could have several times already.
Sarah sighed. “I’ll stay, but just until I’ve healed.”
He ran a hand lightly over her hair.
She gasped, not sure what odd fire had taken hold of her body.
“Drink your tea. I’ll be back later.”
Why his words felt like a promise of something more, Sarah couldn’t say. She watched him leave the room while the fire crackled next to her. Despite the heat, Cullen’s absence seemed to sap the warmth from her bones. She shivered in the chair, sipping her tea and wishing for answers she didn’t have.
