And I saw something in his eyes I wasn’t expecting: relief. Had he been worried about my safety? Or had he thought I was going to leave for good? Spending days and days traveling in the woods as a bobcat held no appeal for me. Not when a plane was coming next week. I didn’t know how to get to Detroit from here. I didn’t know where my sister was. I needed to be smart about this if I was going to help Sabrina, not run off blindly into the night.
Plus, the thought of leaving right now made that same, new non-heat related pressure resume in my chest.
“Hi,” I said, suddenly nervous. I’d never shifted in front of someone other than family, and wondered what he thought. “It smells fantastic in here.”
I closed the door behind me and walked toward him. He’d done something with my collar. The table was clear. If I never saw it again, it would be too soon. His death grip on the spoon didn’t ease. The byproducts of what he’d put in the pot lay on the kitchen counter: an onion skin, potato and yam peels, and an empty package that could have held meat. All was stacked in a neat pile beside a cutting board along with a chef’s knife.
When I stopped on the other side of the stove to peek inside the pot, Kane still hadn’t moved, a deer caught in headlights.Or a bear.
Thinking about his animal form made me shiver. I’d never encountered such a large beast before. I’d grown up around bobcats, my mom and sister, the cousins I saw occasionally. We hadn’t intermingled with other species a lot. I’d heard of larger communities of shifters, but we preferred to stay on our own. One of my mom’s old friends was a wolf, but I’d only met him a couple times and he’d never shifted in front of me.
Feeling awkward, I stared at Kane’s chest. The top three buttons of his plaid shirt were undone, revealing tanned flesh and a dusting of hair. I licked my lips. Our first encounter had been quick but satisfying. I wanted to get to know him better the next time. I wanted to find out what his skin tasted like. Could I convince him to a pre-dinner interlude? Because this close to him, the pulse between my legs increased in intensity with each passing second. My lips parted.
I lifted my eyes. His were shut, his jaw clenched. He leaned his weight back, like he was about to bolt.
He had to smell my heat. My shifting and run may have helped the craving a little, but he had to understand I was uncomfortable and needed release. But he seemed bent on ignoring me. Would I have to crawl onto his lap naked in order to get his attention? The thought had a cascade of fantasies rushing through my head. Ones where he fucked me in every position in every spot in the cabin.
I took a step back. I wasn’t going to throw myself at him. I had too much self-respect for that. But it wasn’t like I could hop on over to the next cabin to find someone more willing. Another truth followed close behind that one, startling me. I didn’twantto find someone else. I wanted Kane. No one else would do.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I backed away. I could leave. I could go for another run. I turned around, intent on at least doingsomethingto take the edge off, when I heard him move.
I glanced over my shoulder. He puttered around in the kitchen, taking bowls out of the cupboard, spoons out of the drawer, filling two glasses of water. A moment later, he was back at the pot, ladling out a healthy portion into each of the bowls. He set one in front of each chair at the table along with a glass, then sat.
He dug into his meal without looking at me.
Fine.If he could act like everything was normal, then dammit, so could I.
15
KANE
I releaseda slow breath through my teeth the moment Brooke decided to stay instead of go. As much as I needed to keep away from her, I didn’t want her to leave.
Her movements were stiff as she stepped up to the table, pulled out the chair, and sat.
I took another bite, not tasting the sausage and vegetable soup I’d been simmering for hours as I tried to breathe through my mouth as much as possible. As soon as she’d stepped inside the cabin, all the work I’d done to air it out went right out the window. The scent of her heat was too strong. When she’d moved closer, I’d been seconds away from taking her by the shoulders and bending her over the end of the bed.
“Did you have a good day?” Her words were garbled like she had trouble speaking. And she didn’t look at me when she asked the question, instead stirring the contents of her soup around and around.
What was she on about? My day had been torture. I’d gone after her a half dozen times, turning around again as soon as I realized what I was doing. The farther she traveled, the more insistent the pull became in my chest, the one that told me to find her and bring her back. But no matter how far she went, I was aware of her, that thin strand, a connection that kept spooling out but never breaking.
If she’d gone south, then maybe I would have panicked more, thinking she was headed home. Instead, I’d been an emotional mess, needing to follow but wanting to give her space—a tug-of-war inside my chest.
Only focusing on manageable tasks had kept me occupied. First it was building a fire outdoors, burning all those fuckers’ belongings and burying what didn’t turn to ash. I’d made sure none of their electronics were traceable, taking out batteries and using a hammer to destroy anything that might send a signal, including those metal bits from their necks, only keeping pieces for my tinkering station that were untraceable.
After that, I’d done some grooming I’d been putting off for months. Even as I trimmed my hair and beard, I’d told myself I wasn’t doing it for Brooke, that it was just time. Not much of me believed that lie.
The only other task that kept me occupied enough to not go after Brooke was to make this elaborate soup. Even then, as soon as she’d walked through the door, nearly all my control evaporated in a puff of steam. It was all I could do not to press her up against the wall and fuck her again.
To answer her question, I gave her one, short nod.
A brief, breathtaking smile, then it was gone as she concentrated on her soup. The space underneath my breastbone warmed. I wanted more of those smiles.
“I thought the forest was scary when I arrived,” she said after taking a bite. “But now I find it calming. Are there many predators in the area?”
I shook my head.
Another smile, and my heart rate accelerated. “They probably stay away from you.”
