by Vonna Harper
Guessing he was watching, she headed down the valley floor until she reached a sloping canyon wall and started climbing it. Then, taking advantage of the cracks and crevices in the wall, she slipped out of sight. When she was certain he couldn’t see her, she started down again.
Just thinking about her true destination did unwanted things to her nerves, but she’d put off examining the summer-thin creek a half mile away long enough. Yes, the upper canyon held possibilities, but sooner or later, every living and once-living creature needed water.
The sheer number of creatures might make it impossible for her to sort through the din, but she wouldn’t be doing the job she’d been hired for if she didn’t give it her best shot. The creek had changed course over the hundreds or thousands of years it had been in existence, but she might be able to trace those changes. As for the reasons behind her hesitation—bottom line was that if anyone except her and Garrin was in Sani, that person or persons wouldn’t venture too far from the only water source around.
So what, she chided herself as the sun made the back of her neck itch. What did she think was going to happen? Just because she’d had the unsubstantiated feeling that someone or something had been following her—
That was it, wasn’t it? Alone she was vulnerable.
And alive, she admitted, as awareness of both her world and body spun through her. Wonderfully, excitingly, even frighteningly alive.
Placing her hand over her neck to protect it from the heat, she studied her surroundings. It took almost no imagination to fill the area with the ancient Navajo who’d once made this area their home. According to her research, the tribe had lived in harmony with this seemingly arid land. Not only had they kept livestock, they’d successfully planted the moisture-seeking corn that had been their staple food, and had developed a complex civilization. In contrast, modern people, even the Navajo, had little use for this area because of the minimal rainfall and remote location. Otherwise it would have been developed, or exploited.
Why was she faulting the generations that had come after the original Navajo? After all, Sani had remained a time capsule of sorts.
Chiding herself for allowing herself to get distracted, she turned her attention to the ground. She easily made out the prints left by birds in the sandlike soil, and unless she was mistaken, that meandering track had been the work of a snake. Birds and snakes. Who else were her fellow residents?
At the question, an unwanted possibility resurfaced. What if she was sharing the land with her stalker?
“Are you out there?” she called out, surprising herself. “And if you are, what are you waiting for?”
Surrounded by heat and the smell of sage, Hok’ee studied the woman below him. His senses had already told him that she was new to this land, and yet she carried herself as if she was accustomed to walking in the wilderness. Tochona didn’t yet love her, but the promise was there. Maybe that’s why she fascinated him, because she saw and felt things the handful of other outsiders who’d come here didn’t.
That wasn’t the only reason.
Muscles taut against the sex-beast that longed to claim his soul, he nevertheless risked his sanity by continuing to watch her. She’d been by herself before but never this far from the man, and he’d understood that she was leery of something.
Maybe him.
He needed her under his body and control, needed his hands on her, his cock buried in her.
What was it Anaba had told him as the two had watched her earlier—that if he fucked her, he might never be the same. He’d asked his companion, his friend, how he could say such a thing, and Anaba had replied that as Tocho, they needed to make their peace with solitude. Instead, the woman was making him question his solitude, even fight it. But it was a useless battle because eventually she’d leave.
Unless he kept her here.
Dropping to his haunches, he accepted the dark energy waiting at his body’s edges. Staying in human form took effort and eventually exhausted him, which was why he never spent more than a night or two away from Tochona. No matter how hard it was, he’d never allowed one of the city women he bedded to see the beast beneath the civilized façade.
Although he’d given into the beast long enough to hunt and kill last night, when he was done, he forced himself back into his human skin. All too soon he’d be spent, helpless. If she saw—
There, her scent sliding into him, making his cock stir once more.
Earlier he hadn’t bothered with clothing, and his nudity had given him an excuse to remain hidden, but this morning Anaba had handed him a pair of jeans in silent challenge. When he’d refused to take them, his friend had asked what he was afraid of.
Nothing, he’d retorted. His hand still extended, Anaba had ordered him not to lie, because they both feared their future. The question was if he had the courage to try to bring a woman into that future.
Running his hands down his thighs, Hok’ee acknowledged the age-softened denim covering them. He hadn’t bothered with a shirt, but boots meant he didn’t have to watch his footing. Several lengths of stolen rope lay curled in his pockets.
There was no reason not to approach her, nothing except that once he had, there’d be no going back, no more simply losing himself in Cougar-thoughts.
Shaking himself like an animal caught in a downpour, he stood and started down toward her. Keeping to the shadows, he refused to answer the question of what he intended to do once he’d revealed himself to her. He didn’t know, that was the hell of it. He didn’t know.
About to increase his pace, he stopped and studied what she was doing. She too was no longer walking. Instead of looking at her surroundings as she’d done countless times, she’d dropped to her knees and was digging at a boulder. The change from prey behavior surprised him. Only a few minutes ago, she’d exhibited the wariness of a deer or antelope. Now she seemed to have forgotten who and where she was.
The rock weighed over a hundred pounds and was half-buried. What could she possibly want with it? Her behavior reminded him of a fox intent on uncovering a burrowing rodent, but even with the smells and sounds of food nearly within reach, a fox remains aware of his surroundings. In contrast, she risked breaking her nails as she worked to expose what he couldn’t imagine her having any interest in. She concentrated on one spot, digging deeper and deeper. When she stopped to wipe her forehead and work discomfort from her back, excitement brightened her expression. Then she went back to her task.
Struck by an idea, he descended until he’d reached the flat area she was on. Not giving himself time to change his mind, he closed in on her. Despite her hunched-over position and the dirt on her jeans and across her forehead, she was beautiful.
In his mind, he stepped behind her so he could rest his hands on the small of her back. Looking over her shoulder at him, she’d spread her legs and place both hands against the ground. All that was left for him to do was to unzip her jeans and pull them and her underpants down as far as they’d go. That accomplished, he’d drop to his knees and bury himself in her waiting hole. They’d fuck.
Something crunched under his boot. Tense, she straightened and scrambled around, looked at him. Surprise erased her earlier excitement. Then she fixed her gaze on his naked chest, and surprise turned into caution.
“What are you—I didn’t know anyone—who are you?”
He’d once had a human name, at least he must have, not that he remembered it. Although he could have lied and handed her one of the names he used when getting a woman to agree to have sex with him, he didn’t. “What are you doing?” He indicated the rock.
“I sensed—look, you must know you startled me.” Using the rock for leverage, she got to her feet. “I didn’t know anyone was around. How long have you been watching me?”
Time meant little to him, not that he was going to tell her that. After days and nights of watching and thinking about her, being this close shouldn’t have him so off balance. But not only couldn’t he think how he might answer, a s
tirring deep inside him served as a reminder of how unreliable his human form was.
“Even if you fully exposed that”—he indicated the rock—“you won’t be able to move it.”
“I’m sure it looks strange. But I’m serious, have you been watching me?”
More than you’ll ever know. “It’s been interesting.”
“I’m delighted you’re amused,” she snapped. “But it’s time for you to go back to whatever you were doing.” She frowned. “You’re a hiker? Where’s your backpack? No one goes hiking around here without—”
“I live here.” All his fantasies were behind him and here he was, not knowing what to say or do. Despite her small stature, her forearms were muscled, and from watching her walk, he knew the same was true of her legs. Good. His mate should be prepared for a physical life.
Mate? What was he thinking?
Another powerful and dangerous stirring in his core forced him to concentrate on remaining in the form she wouldn’t find terrifying. Once he had her under his control, it wouldn’t matter so much, but until then—
“We were assured there were no permanent residences in Sani, and I’ve certainly not seen anything that would change my mind.” She sounded as if she was accusing him of lying.
“Sani?”
Something more than puzzlement spread across her features. She ran her hands into her back pockets, her gaze fastened on him. Instinct told him she was a heartbeat away from running. For the first time, he noted that she carried a pistol. “The name given to this area,” she said slowly. “Surely you know that.”
“Not Sani, Tochona.”
One second became another as she remained frozen. At the same time, her expression deepened, almost as if she were looking inward. “Tochona,” she whispered. He sensed she’d heard or said the word before. “Land of the Mountain Lion.”
He’d been wrong to believe there was nothing between them. As for what that something was or could become, he couldn’t be sure, and clamping down on what he knew was insanity, he nodded. The inner power he had such little control over was locked in battle with the man he’d once been. That power, that beast, needed to fuck. Her.
“What?” she asked, her voice strangled. “You keep staring at me.”
He blinked, then went back to doing what she’d just accused him of. His sight was becoming keener, his ears more sensitive, and he had to struggle to think of anything to say. It was her woman-smell, the scent of sex.
And his animal hunger.
“I’m going to leave now,” she said.
Although he heard the words, they didn’t register until she took a step backward. The instant she did, muscles bred to stalk and attack woke. He wouldn’t let his prey escape. More comfortable in his skin than when he’d been trying to pass himself off as an ordinary man, he kept pace with her retreat. His fingers and toes tingled in anticipation of becoming claws. He wanted to close his fangs around her neck.
Then she pulled her hand out of her pocket, and her fingers curled around her weapon.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, although he wasn’t sure he could keep his promise.
“Sorry.” The pitifully small pistol held high and aimed at him, she backed away. “But I’m having a hard time believing you.”
A worthy opponent, countering with more than panic and foolish flight. He liked that; it challenged him. The longer he studied her, the more he became aware of feline possibilities. She might be woman complete with breasts made for his hands and mouth, but she was more than that. Given time and skill, maybe he could draw the animal inside her to the surface. Wrapping himself in the question of how he’d accomplish that, he lengthened his stride and cut down on the distance between them.
“I’m not alone. My companions—all I have to do is yell, and they’ll come running.”
“Not if I don’t let you,” he said, and sprang.
Turning his upper body at the same time, he slammed his shoulder into hers. She stumbled, struggled to regain her balance, stumbled again and fell.
She landed on her buttocks, hands back, slamming against the ground. Her weapon flew free. Before she could reach for it, he stepped on it. Her mouth opened, and her throat worked. Intent on what had to be done, he dropped to his knees, closed both hands around her neck, and pushed back until her arms collapsed under their joined weight. As her face reddened, he considered choking her into unconsciousness, but what if he was too strong, or the beast took over?
Measuring his self-control in seconds, he released her neck only to clamp a hand over her mouth. She flailed at him, punching and scratching, twisting so violently he wondered if she didn’t care whether she injured herself. Maybe she was too terrified to think.
For a cougar, taking advantage of a prey’s panic meant doing what needed to be done while the prey was paralyzed with fear. Ignoring her attempts to wound him, he grabbed her shoulders and flipped her onto her belly. Keeping her face-down prevented her from screaming while he pulled rope out of a front pocket.
She continued to fight, her breathing quick and loud. When he tried to grab a wrist in preparation for pulling her arm behind her, she yanked it free. She kept trying to lift her head. Even with his own breathing matching hers and his head roaring, he made his decision. The next time she lifted her head, he was waiting with the rope. It pressed against the underside of her nose, prompting him to tug it lower so it settled into her open mouth. Quickly knotting the strand behind her, he looped it around her head two more times until her mouth was filled with it.
Silenced. Trying to bite her gag.
Victory surged through him to swallow more of the man. Another cotton length landed in his left hand, his right clamping down on a small wrist, forcing her arm up and against her back. Switching his hold to her forearm gave him the necessary leverage to secure her wrist. That done, he used the loose end to hold her arm in place while he captured her other arm.
Hissing, she struggled to turn over, prompting him to straddle her hips. His knee landed on her water bottle, popping the lid and spilling water on the thirsty ground. The hot feel of her battle ran into his cock. His world started turning red; his skin was becoming too small.
Hurry, hurry, he ordered as he lashed her wrists together, one over the other so her elbows remained deeply bent. He could barely see her wrists under the multitude of strands, but he liked it like that. The sense of power was like being drunk, and alive. More alive than he’d been since his awakening.
A quick, sharp blow to the small of his back reminded him that her legs were capable of inflicting damage, albeit minimal. Besides, he had to immobilize her while he still had hands and not claws.
Spinning around, he snagged a jeans cuff and pulled it toward him, keeping her leg bent while placing a loop around her ankle. Her boots were so short they didn’t get in the way, and her socks assured he wouldn’t cut off her circulation. He thought she’d give up once he’d knotted the ankle restraint, but she didn’t, prompting him to grab the other jeans cuff and bend that leg toward him.
Clamping an arm around both limbs and pressing them against his chest while roping her ankles in place ate up what remained of his ability to plan and execute. Even when he was sure the knots were adequate, he added another. Then, shaking almost as much as she was, he let her go.
She bucked under him, shuddered. Then, making a sound he’d never heard, her legs dropped to the ground. Much as he wanted to get off her so he could truly see what he’d accomplished, he remained with his buttocks against the small of her back. Her crack was mere inches away, her cunt separated from him only by their clothing. He started to lick his lips, only to bite down on the lower one in an attempt to distract himself from the ever expanding creature just beneath his surface.
He’d done it. Captured her.
She was his.
6
Her head felt like it was about to explode, and if he didn’t get off her, she wouldn’t be able to get enough air into her lungs.
&
nbsp; Funny how she could focus on the minute details when her world had been turned upside down, Kai thought, even as her mind banged into one barrier after another. She’d never once in her life been unable to move. A stranger to hospitals, even laughing gas at the dentist’s office, she’d taken control of her body for granted. Now she no longer had that, and what—her brain had quit?
Rope was jammed in her mouth, making her drool, her wrists were crisscrossed at the small of her back, and her legs had been forced together. Most of all, the stranger who’d done those things to her was sitting on her.
Stranger?
Not entirely. The thought slid away into the swirling mass of her mind, only to resurface again. She’d known what he was going to call Sani before he’d said the words because, damn it, because she’d dreamed—
No! Not just a dream. Something more.
Making no sound other than his ramped-up breathing, he slid off her. Her back sighed in relief. Not considering what she was risking, she turned her head so her face no longer pressed into the ground and she was looking at him.
Not a stranger, not completely. She’d seen him before. In her dream.
That’s what she needed, for it to be night with her in her sleeping bag, bits and pieces of impressions mixing as dreams usually did. She didn’t want these details, or to be watching the way his chest lifted and fell as he breathed. Most of all, she needed use of her arms and legs, to be able to speak, to yell at the top of her lungs.
Those things weren’t happening.
She’d never been studied with such intensity. But maybe—maybe noting what she looked like wasn’t what he was about. After all, he could have simply asked to take her picture.
Immobilized. Rendered helpless by some man who’d carried the necessary ropes to make that possible.
A man who’d told her his name in her dream.
Hok’ee, The Abandoned One.
Feeling even more overwhelmed, she closed her eyes. The moment she did, she knew she’d made a mistake. What if he tried to do something she didn’t want done?