He gave her a T-shirt—oh God, it was completely dry—then sat down in front of her. She felt silly sitting there with her wet boots in his lap, but Declan got the laces undone much faster than she would have been able to. He had her boots and socks off in seconds instead of minutes.
While Declan spread out a poncho for them to sit on, Kendra turned her back and shucked her wet T-shirt. She pulled Declan’s on and almost laughed when it fell all the way to her knees. She imagined she looked a little goofy, but who cared? She was warmer already.
It took a bit of work to get her pants off, but thankfully Declan didn’t ask if she needed help with those. That would have been too embarrassing.
She arranged all her wet clothes on the rocks littering the cave floor, then went back to dig a pair of her panties out of Declan’s pack. It wasn’t too hard to work those on under his big T-shirt, and a few minutes later, she was seated comfortably on Declan’s poncho.
“You think we’re safe here for a while?” she asked.
“Yeah, I don’t think there’s any way for the hybrids to track us through the stream, and I doubt they’re going to stumble on this cave.”
Declan had pulled off his T-shirt, pants, and boots, and was sitting across from her in nothing but his boxer briefs, facing the cave entrance. His crossed-legged position gave her a nice view of rippling abs, defined pecs, and bulging thighs. And speaking of bulging, those tight underwear looked like they were hiding a serious bulge of their own. She’d never seen this much of him before and he looked good—really good.
Kendra tried not to stare at all that nakedness, but he caught her. “You don’t mind, do you? My stuff is soaked, too, and the T-shirt you have on is the last dry thing I had in my bag. I can put my clothes back on if it bothers you.”
She shook her head, forcing herself to focus on anything other than all that exposed skin. “No problem. You’re fine.”
Yeah, you’re fine all right.
She pulled her knees up to her chest and tugged the bottom of the shirt down to her ankles. The thing was so big on her it was like wearing a bathrobe. “Sorry to steal your last dry shirt.”
He chuckled. “Don’t be. It looks better on you than it does on me.”
Andyoulookbetterwithoutit.But she kept that to herself.
As they settled into a comfortable silence, Kendra wanted to laugh. Here she was, sitting half-naked in a cave while a gorgeous, equally naked guy sat only a few feet away. This would have been a sexy scenario if it wasn’t for two simple facts: one, Declan wasn’t interested in her, and two, there were dozens of hybrids out there right now who would love to come charging in here and tear them apart. It was difficult to focus too much on sexy thoughts with things like that hanging over her head.
Chapter 8
She pulled out her ponytail holder and ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it out around her shoulders. “How far do you think we got today?”
Declan snorted. “With the early start, I thought we’d get at least ten miles in, but we barely made five. Worse, we’ve been driven way off course, so half of those five miles were in the wrong direction. Bottom line, it was a wasted morning.”
As long as they were safe, Kendra was willing to deal with the delays, but she knew that all this hiding was driving Declan crazy. “Do you think we should try and go a little farther today or just hole up here?”
“My gut says to get out of here as soon as we can, so we can get a few more miles between us and the hybrids roaming this general area. But…”
“But?” she prompted.
“I’m worried if we head right back out, we’ll run right into the arms of that same pack of hybrids that chased us in here. It would probably be better to stay hidden until later—nightfall maybe—then try and slip out of here when they’re not expecting it.”
Kendra sure as hell wasn’t going to complain about resting for a while—she could use it—and this cave was the most secure place they’d stumbled on since this nightmare had started.
“How did you know this cave was here?” she asked.
Declan frowned and shifted on the poncho. “It’s kind of hard to put into words¸ but I always know whenever I’m near a place where I can hide or lay low for a while if I have to. It’s just this feeling I get. Like a sense of security. I know it sounds crazy.”
Actually, being a bear shifter who instinctively knew when a good hibernating place was nearby made perfect sense. The thing she didn’t understand was why having a talent like that seemed to disturb Declan.
She’d been evaluating Declan and his team for many years, and while they were certainly amazing in the field, she’d noticed that Declan depended on his natural shifter abilities the least of all the shifters at the DCO. She’d always thought it was because he didn’t have as much shifter DNA as they did, but maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe Declan didn’t use his shifter skills because he didn’t want to.
“It doesn’t sound crazy,” she told him. “Bears have to hibernate, so it makes sense that they have a natural talent for finding safe places to do it. You’re a bear shifter, so it makes sense that you have the same talent.”
“If you say so. It never seemed like a worthwhile talent to me.”
She gave him a smile. “It sure came in handy today.”
Declan grunted and reached for his pack. He pulled out another energy bar and split it, then handed her half. “I know you won’t eat unless I do, so I’m not going to waste my breath.”
