She found the griffins trying to dig their way into her pack, presumably for the sandwiches. She shooed them away, retrieved the water bottle and a sandwich, then got another one out for the dog. At this rate she was going through them fast. There had better be supplies at the cabin.
The man was sitting up when she returned. She laid the sandwich in front of the dog, who immediately snapped it up.The man looked around, squinting and blinking. “Oh—Rogue—is my dog all right?”
“He’s fine, I think.” She handed him the water bottle and sandwich. “Rogue is his name? Uh, is it a he?”
“I call him Rogue, and yes, I think so.” On that slightly cryptic note, he drank half the bottle of water and ate a huge bite of the sandwich. “Oh, God, that’s good,” he groaned. “You can’t imagine how tired I am of raw fish.”
“Have you been living out here?” Inga crouched on her heels, full of sympathy.
“Yeah, on a—” The man broke off sharply. “Island,” he muttered. “On an island. Where am I?”
“This is Newfoundland, so you’re still on an island, if you want to get technical about it. I don’t know what you were about to say, but if you’re worried about me finding out you’re a polar bear, I already know that. I’m a shifter too.”
He whipped around to give her an astonished look. Aside from the scrapes and obvious signs of ill treatment and rough living, he was very good looking, with sharply defined cheekbones and a strong chin under a grown-in scruff of beard.
“Shifter?” he said.
“Yes—what we are? You and me?” She didn’t understand why he looked so baffled. “I’m a bear, too.”
“You saw me,” he said slowly. “As a bear.”
He didn’t seem to be tracking very well yet, but that was unsurprising. She could see by his cracked lips and sunken eyes that he was dehydrated, no surprise if he’d been in salt water for a while. “Yes,” she said gently. “You were a bear when I found you. Your dog led me to you.” She reached over to rub at Rogue’s heavy black ruff. “He’s a good dog. How long have you had him?”
“I ... don’t know,” the man said.
He drank more of the water, then offered the last of it in his cupped hand to Rogue, who lapped eagerly before sniffing around for any remaining crumbs of sandwich.
“What’s your name?” Inga asked. She only belatedly realized she hadn’t shared hers, either; she was far too used to living in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. “Uh, I’m Inga Nilsson. Sorry, I forgot to mention that.”
There was a long pause before he said, with hesitation, “Luke.”
The poor man obviously wasn’t well, but who could blame him for being a little confused after the ordeal he had very clearly been through? Inga decided not to interrogate him any more for now. “Most of my clothes won’t fit you, but you can wear my slicker if you’d like, to keep the wind off. It’s actually one of my brothers’ anyway.” She offered it, and as he put it on, Inga looked up at the sky deepening into a slow purple dusk. “Do you think you can walk? My family has a fishing cabin near here, and I hope we can get to it before dark.”
She reached out an arm to help Luke to his feet. He swayed, holding onto her for a moment. Inga was acutely aware of the masculine firmness of his body pressing against her, and she had to remind herself that it wasn’t his fault she’d had a very long man-free dry spell.
As she steadied him, she thought she glimpsed something move out of the corner of her eye. But when she looked around, nothing was there except the rocks and the waves.
When she continued to look around, Luke asked blearily, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.” The last thing she needed was to start jumping at shadows.
And speaking of shadows, the blue shadows of dusk were quickly beginning to eclipse details on the beach. The sky was still light overhead, but it wouldn’t stay that way.
Her bear was reacting oddly, too—not jumpy exactly, but off balance.
What’s wrong?she queried that deep, instinctual part of her.
Her bear didn’t know. It thought there was something about this guy that intrigued it, but it couldn’t seem to tell her what that thing was.
You’re a lot of help,Inga told it.
She passingly wondered if it was possible he might be her mate, but dismissed the thought immediately. From what both of her brothers had said, you justknew. The certainty was part of it. This was more like mild confusion.
But there was definitely something about him that drew her. The mystery of him, if nothing else. Someone didn’t just end up on a deserted stretch of Atlantic coast for no reason.
LUKE
Luke couldn’t rememberthe last time he’d felt this bad. His head throbbed, his mouth felt parched and salt-caked, and his entire body ached as if he’d been beaten.
