“Starving. You need to feed me.”
She scoffed. “Me? You’re a big boy, feed yourself.”
Slinging my arm around her shoulders as we walked back to the clearing, I said, “I made you breakfast. It’s your turn to make me lunch.”
She laughed as we gathered our things and strolled through the woods toward the cabin, my arm still holding her close to my side.
Just before we emerged from the tree line, I stopped her. “Someone’s at the cabin,” I whispered. We were upwind of the little house, which was why I hadn’t smelled them earlier, but I saw a vehicle parked in the driveway.
“It’s Darrell’s SUV,” she explained.
Something about the situation struck me the wrong way, but I couldn’t put my finger on it.
Before we could discuss it further, the screen door to the cabin flung open and Darrell came outside, his head turned toward the trees where we were hidden.
“Are you two coming in or what?” he hollered. “I brought lunch and the food is getting cold.”
“Shit,” Chloe mumbled. “I don’t like this.”
“Just stay alert and don’t hesitate if things go wrong.”
“You too,” she directed.
We stepped out of the cover of the trees, my eyes moving quickly around the perimeter as I looked for any men who might be with Darrell. He appeared to be alone, which surprised me.
Since the note was left in the truck, Chloe and I had checked the area surrounding the cabin twice a day for any visitors who might be watching, but there was nothing.
It made the skin between my shoulder blades itch. If Darrell really knew why we were here, the fact that he hadn’t sent someone to keep an eye on us seemed suspicious.
Darrell grinned when he took in our rumpled state as we skirted his car in the drive. “Been out for a run?” he asked.
Chloe nodded. “I’m glad you brought lunch. We’re both starving.”
Internally, I applauded her intelligence. Her words sounded friendly but didn’t require her to lie, an action Darrell might smell. Lies had a distinct perfume and it had been my experience that the dishonest were the most adept at picking it up.
“I also brought visitors,” Darrell explained, looking chagrined. “I know I should have called first, but they insisted it should be surprise.”
As we followed him up the steps, I caught a scent that made my back snap straight. They couldn’t have come at a worse time.
Inside the cabin, I saw Brian and Brayden Kirkpatrick sitting on the couch. Brian looked relaxed and pleasant, just as he had in Dallas. Brayden, however, scowled fiercely, his eyes trained on the bed.
When Darrell opened the screen door, allowing Chloe and I to enter first, Brayden’s gaze snapped toward us. When his eyes met mine, I saw the barely restrained rage burning in them and the white-hot hatred. I half expected him to lunge at me then, but he clenched his fists tightly in his lap and held back.
I forced myself to focus on the words coming from Darrell’s mouth.
“I’m working on an alliance agreement with Brian and when I mentioned my niece, Chloe, was visiting, he realized it was you and wanted to say hello.”
Darrell and Brian both grinned at Chloe and I marveled at how easily the two of them lied. A tendril of foreboding curled inside me. Though I smelled no duplicity on either of them, everything about this situation seemed wrong.
I did pick up the dark, stinging scent of Brayden’s rage and hatred. It filled the small cabin.
Once again, Chloe handled the situation perfectly. “How unexpected to see you, Brian,” she said, stepping forward to shake his hand. “How are you doing?” Her gaze shifted to Brayden. “Hello, Brayden.”
Her words were the truth, since neither of us expected to see the Kirkpatrick’s, but she said them in such a friendly tone that they seemed warm rather than offensive.
“I’m fine, Chloe,” Brian answered. “Though I have to say I was surprised to hear you mated.” His eyes drifted down to her shoulder and his brows lifted at the absence of my bite mark on her skin.
She laughed. “Lachlan has a lot of work to do before I’ll take him as a mate, Brian.”
