“I wish we could lay around here all day,” she said, groaning inwardly at the steep grade of the grassy hill.
“Don’t worry about that. We have a lot of ground to cover and it’s my turn to stretch my legs. Dylan’s bringing your clothes and then he’ll meet us near the base of the mountain.”
As promised, Dylan returned quickly with her clothes, handing them over without taking his eyes off her.
“The pack isn’t heavy,” Dylan said. “Can you wear it so we can get back faster? As much fun as this was, we really have to get going.”
“Of course,” she said.
She turned to say something to Jacob, surprised that he was already mid-shift only a few feet from her. Her words died on her lips. She was still mesmerized by the process, even though she’d watched Dylan shift earlier in the day. It seemed like a lifetime ago that she watched his humanness transform and disappear into the face of a tiger. It was almost like a dream.
Except it wasn’t a dream. This was reality, and the reality was that it was time to get back to real life for the twins. Jacob lay down before her once he’d shifted completely, and she climbed onto his back. Dylan slipped the backpack over her arms and fastened the strap that held it tight to her waist.
“Are you good?” he asked.
“It’s not heavy at all, I’ll be fine.”
“Great. Hold on. Jacob isn’t as careful as I am.”
Jacob turned, growling low at his brother, unable to defend himself verbally from his brother’s ridiculous claims.
“What’s the matter, Brother? Cat got your tongue?”
Laughter bubbled up and out of Samantha.
“That was a pretty lame joke,” she said, still laughing.
“But you laughed, didn’t you?”
She smiled at him.
“I did. It was pretty funny, actually, but I don’t think he liked it.”
“He’ll get me for it later. I’ll see you two at the base of the trail. Hold on tight.”
He turned and ran into the woods, already starting to shift as he feet tore up the ground. He ran up a large, flat boulder that jutted out the side of the hill and dropped off into the forest below. He leaped into the air, finishing his shift as he sailed towards the trail below, bounding down the steep incline with reckless abandon.
“Show off,” Samantha muttered jokingly beneath her breath.
Jacob turned, massive tiger head tilted slightly so he could look at her.
“I swear, your eyes look like you’re laughing,” she said.
She leaned down, sliding onto his shoulders and grabbing his scruff. Bent over his ear, she whispered loudly, “Let’s go.”
Jacob didn’t need to be told twice. He took the easier route, letting his brother go down the steep incline and risk breaking his neck. Contrary to Dylan’s warning, Jacob was incredibly careful with her, putting on speed where the trails were flat and straight, and backing off when they curved and narrowed. She buried her head into his fur and breathed deeply. She felt like she was soaring. She felt so alive!
And she wanted to remember this feeling forever.
Too soon, Jacob’s pace slowed and the trail around her started to look familiar. They were less than a mile from her home, if that. Jacob stopped in a particularly dense area, laying down on the trail so that Samantha could slide off his back. She dropped the backpack to the ground, turning when she heard something in the woods to her left.
“I thought you guys would never get here,” Dylan said, stepping out of the trees, still completely naked.
He began rummaging around the pack, pulling out his clothes while Samantha watched him. His muscles bunched and rippled as he moved, his skin slightly damp after his run through the forest. She heard Jacob shifting behind her, but her eyes were locked on Dylan.
He caught her watching him and smiled.
“You know, this doesn’t have to be a one-time thing,” he said, pulling his shirt over his head and tossing the backpack to Jacob. “It might be no strings attached, but no one said it had to be a one and done kind of thing.”
“You mean you’ll come back?” she asked.
“Of course we will,” Jacob said. “We had a great time, and you’ve got a lot more going for you than just a pretty face and a voluptuous body. You’re adventurous and fun, and we rarely meet anyone who can keep up with us the way you did.”
Samantha’s head was spinning. Seeing them again? That would be perfect. She was starting to get excited when she stopped herself.
“But it would still be a no strings thing, right?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Of course,” Dylan said, shouldering the backpack and starting down the wide trail beside her. “We’re not really ready to settle down.”
“And our lives are super busy,” Jacob interjected, “so it’s almost impossible to have more with someone. This works for us, so you don’t have to worry about us trying to tie you down. It’s just fun and it’s just sex. No strings attached and you’re not committed to us in any way.”
Samantha nodded, but she didn’t trust herself to speak. They’d completely misunderstood her meaning, but it was probably for the best. It was better that they believed that she was worried about them trying to get her to commit and not the other way around.
But it didn’t really matter. She knew what she had to do. Bed buddies were fun and all, but she didn’t think she would call them again. The more time that they spent together, the harder the inevitable goodbye would be.
No, she wouldn’t draw this out longer than it had to be; they’d been clear from the beginning about what they were looking for and she had to respect that.
As much as she wanted more from them, it just wasn’t going to happen.
“I wish I knew where you just went,” Dylan said, head cocked, regarding Samantha.
“What do you mean?” she asked, hoping the slight tremble to her voice didn’t give her away.
“It must be a writer thing,” Jacob said. “It’s like you get lost inside your head for a second, and I wonder if you’re even hearing us.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to do it. I think it’s from living up here alone all year.”
“It’s kind of cute,” Dylan said.
“Definitely cute,” Jacob said.
“I’ll try not to let it happen again,” she said.
She took the trail to the left, walking a little slower with each step. She could almost see the trailhead and the end of the fantasy. Reality was looming, and Samantha didn’t think she’d ever be ready.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Mabel crouched in the bushes, waiting patiently for whoever was in the trees just beyond Samantha’s property to get close enough for her to see them. If it wasn’t Samantha, surely it was a lost hiker or two. If that was the case, she would redirect them, and make sure they headed towards the public trails and back to their vehicles.
The forest itself was open to the public, but Barnes Point and the other surrounding communities each had their own private access to the forest beyond. Like Samantha, Mabel had a plot large enough to afford her two separate entrances into the woods beyond, though she never used them. Usually, Samantha would take the long way to her house if the weather was nice, adding an extra mile to the distance and coming up right behind Mabel’s garden.
The only other use the trail saw was from Grant, who occasionally used her section of the woods to run in the dark in werelion form. The one thing his part of the family fortune hadn’t been able to buy him was enough land to keep that part of him private.
The forest behind Mabel’s house gave him room enough to stretch his legs, and the privacy he craved. He gave Mabel grief about joining him pretty much every time he came up to the mountain to run, but Mabel refused.
She wasn’t anything like Grant. He was pushy and full of himself, and never once had he struggled to fit in with the “normal” kids at school. Shy and awkward, Mabel had spent her formative years trying to hide the very
thing that made her unique, desperately doing everything she could to keep the fact that she was a werelioness a secret.
When Samantha had expressed not only acceptance of her kind, but attraction to shifter men, Mabel had been elated. It was the first time in her life that she didn’t feel like hiding and denying who and what she was.
There was movement across the field, and Mabel stared at the mouth of the trail that opened onto the east end of the property. She could see dark hair in the distance, and she was certain that she was looking at Samantha. She let out a sigh of relief. At least it wasn’t a lost hiker, or worse.
Another body materialized from the dense woods. From this distance, it was hard to see Samantha and the person behind her clearly. Who was with her?
Samantha stepped out of the woods and into the field, her companion close on her heels. Mabel gasped and her eyes grew wide, hands flying up to cover her mouth in shock.
This wasn’t good.
Jacob and Dylan Locke were known weretigers. What was worse, they were also known playboys, floating from one woman until the next, leaving a trail of broken hearts behind. Not that Mabel had experienced it firsthand, but that’s what she’d heard at least. Rumors aside, she knew enough about them to know that they were bad news.
And what about Grant? she wondered.
Had Samantha led him on, or had Grant been less than honest with her? It had to be the former, because she knew her brother, and he’d been quietly excited after having lunch with her. Sure, he wasn’t prone to outbursts of happiness as some people were when in love, and she doubted she’d find him jumping around on any couches declaring it at the top of his lungs. But, something about him had been different, and she knew without a doubt that Grant was fully and completely in love with Samantha.
And she knew Samantha. She was a straight shooter, with a no nonsense approach to life. If she didn’t have feelings for Grant, or at least think that they had a chance, she would tell him right then and there. There had to be something else going on, or some other logical explanation for their being there.
“Maybe she’s doing research for her next book,” she said aloud.
She nodded, though there was no one around to see the gesture. That was it, she was sure of it. Samantha was writing a book and for whatever reason, she was interviewing the Locke twins to get what she needed for the next storyline.
As much as she wanted to believe it, she wasn’t convinced. But she held onto the lie, assured that it was the only plausible explanation.
Her legs were starting to shake beneath her, her muscles tired from the mad dash across the field and then squatting in the bushes for so long. But she was afraid to move. Like werelions, weretigers were known to have exceptional eyesight no matter which form they were currently in.
Samantha wouldn’t see her from this distance, even if she jumped up and down flailing her arms. But it was possible that the twins would see any move she made. So she stayed still, focusing on the scene before her and pushing her discomfort to the back of her mind.
The men walked on either side of her, laughing and talking as they made their way down the path that ran through the center of Samantha’s property. Samantha’s hair hung loose, whipping around in the breeze wildly, her hands moving as she chattered away. Mabel still couldn’t make out the words they were saying, but it was obvious from their posture that the three of them were comfortable with each other. She could hear Samantha’s laughter from far across the field.
One of the twins playfully shoved the other and the trio laughed at whatever was going on. They were getting closer now, close enough the Mabel could clearly see everyone’s faces. When Samantha turned and said something to one of the twins, the look on her face was unmistakable. Samantha was in love.
Grant must be confused, or he had outright lied to her. It had happened before, but she was sure he was a changed man. He’d been hell on wheels when they were younger, but he had been a completely different person for years. Still, Mabel couldn’t figure out how a woman who looked at those men the way Samantha was could have possibly given Grant the idea that she was interested in him romantically. She had to call him. She had to get to the bottom of this.
When the three of them were finally near the back door, Mabel ventured along the tree line, heading towards the winding drive at the north end of the property. She didn’t want Samantha to catch her skulking about in the woods. She might have a logical explanation, but nothing she could come up with sounded good. If it didn’t hold water in her head, she doubted that Samantha would find it believable.
She was about to step out of the safety of the woods when she heard an engine rev on the other side of Samantha’s house. She ducked down, heart pounding in her ears as they passed close to her hiding place in the brush.
The windows were down in the car, and pair was talking to each other. Mabel couldn’t make out much, but she did hear one thing that caught her attention. She swore she heard one of them say that they couldn’t wait until “next time”.
Mabel stayed where she was until the car disappeared around the bend and the engine noises faded away. A thin line of saplings ran along the outer edge of the drive, hiding the neighbor’s property from Samantha’s view.
Mabel decided to take her chances, slipping through the dense tree line and walking down the neighbor’s driveway. She caught glimpses of the front of Samantha’s through the leaves, but she was confident that Samantha wouldn’t look out the window or step onto the porch and accidentally catch sight of her.
The gaudy array of flowers still sat on the porch, tucked out of the sunlight so that they didn’t wilt. Mabel considered grabbing them, but tossed the idea as quickly as it popped up. She still didn’t have all the facts about the presence of the two men at Samantha’s house.
Maybe the beautiful flowers were exactly what Samantha needed to give her a gentle shove towards Grant. If not, Grant was a grown man. If he wanted to send a woman flowers after having lunch with her once, it wasn’t really Mabel’s concern.
She picked up a light jog, rounding the corner, her body flooding with relief when her house came into view. She was far from a super spy, or a private detective in the middle of a jam like so many characters in Samantha’s books that she envied, but the events of the last hour had her nerves on edge. Sleuthing definitely wasn’t for Mabel.
Pushing through her door, she made a beeline for the phone. She had to talk to Grant now, or she might lose her nerve.
It was one ring away from going to voicemail when he finally picked up.
“She loved the flowers, I take it. I knew she would. They were really expense-”
“Grant, I need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“I’m sorry, Sis, I’m busy.”
His tone was harsh, dripping with distaste of her interruption. He’d gone from jovial to angry in a half a second. This was the brother she used to know, and she was terrified of him. Still, she pressed on. She had to tell him what was going on. He had to know so that he didn’t get his heart broken. Or worse.
“It’s about Samantha,” she said with a tone of finality that wasn’t lost on him.
“What about her?” he asked.
His tone has softened almost instantly. Mabel felt a twinge of regret that she was going to be the one to tell her brother the bad news. If it was news at all. She still wasn’t sure what she’d seen, but she knew one thing; if their roles had been reversed, she would want her brother to tell her what he saw.
“I went to her house today, to drop off vegetables. She wasn’t home, but there was a car there, and I thought maybe you’d spent the night. I was so happy, I knocked on the door and when I found it open, I went in. I was expecting to see you there, but the house was empty. There were clean dishes in the sink and-”
“Sweet lord, Mabel, just get to the damn point.”
She took a deep, ragged breath.
“There were three place settings, so I knew it wasn’t you that she had breakfa
st with. I left the house, and I was hiding in the woods when-”
“Why were you hiding in the woods, Mabel?”
“The flower delivery man startled me. I thought whoever was with her had come back. Anyway, before I could leave the woods and head home, I saw Samantha come in from the forest like she always did, but they were with her. I watched them for a while and they were really cozy, like they’d been friends for a long time. I’m sorry Grant, I don’t want to hurt you but I think you should know.”
“Know what, exactly?” he ground out.
“She was with the Locke twins. And they were very, familiar with her.”
“The weretigers?” he sneered.
“Yes. Jacob and Dylan.”
“Are you sure it was them?”
“Completely sure.”
“And what, you think she is sleeping with the pair of them?”
“What? No. But they were definitely being affectionate towards her; touching her hair and stuff when they talked to her. They weren’t strangers.”
“So, what do you hope to gain by telling me this?”
“Gain? Nothing. I just thought you should know so you didn’t get your heart broke.”
He cut her off, laughing in her ear.
“Get my heart broke? Did you think I didn’t know about the twins?”
“You knew?”
She was shocked. If he knew, why had he even gone out with her?
“Of course I knew. She was seeing them sporadically before you realized how good we were for each other. After lunch yesterday, she realized that she had to let them down easy so that she could date me exclusively. You know how the Locke twins are; I’ve told you before that they leave a wake of broken hearts as they pass through.”
“So you weren’t worried about Samantha’s heart being broken?”
“Of course not. Samantha is smart; she was using them just like they were using her. She’s no fool. They already had plans scheduled for today, and she didn’t want to be that kind of girl, just canceling on them at the last minute. I was kind of hoping that she would get the flowers while the two of them were there. That way, they would know that she had a man, one man that was there to treat her right. She doesn’t need them anymore. The sooner they realize that the sooner they can move on.”
Her Tiger Twins Page 7