She looked there and spotted Ivy through the thick mass of trees that stole most of the swath of green from view.
Damn, she wanted to speak with Ivy again, needed to speak with someone about Storm and everything that was running through her mind, and through her heart.
She moved to the door, stood on the threshold and stared at her bare feet. She looked between them and the deck, back and forth so long she was sure her coffee had gotten cold by the time she made her decision.
She poured her coffee away and grabbed a fresh mug, and went back to the door, sucked down a breath and glanced around at the forest, and the clearing where both Rath and Storm had disappeared from view now. No one but Ivy was around, and maybe if Ivy saw her on the deck, she would come and speak with her.
Gabi stepped out onto the deck, wasn’t sure what she expected to feel as she tasted freedom for the first time in a week, but it was a profound sense of relief that hit her. She breathed deep, tasting the morning air, letting it fill her lungs. It was fresh, a little chilly, but it was sweet and she savoured it.
The deck was small, barely two metres deep, but it extended across the full length of the façade of the wooden cabin. She clutched her mug and ventured to the right, towards the clearing, and peered around the side of the cabin. The deck continued back to the rear of it, where the woods were thicker and began to rise up the mountain.
They were dark, ominous in a way, and she turned away from them, stepping back into the lighter area of the deck.
Ivy had come here to photograph bears, and it seemed ridiculous of her to be afraid of them more than she was afraid of the people who could transform into cougars, an animal far more dangerous than a black bear. But with Storm gone, she found herself afraid of her own shadow.
Foolish girl.
She glanced around the woods and the clearing, keeping still so she could hear if anyone was moving through them.
Maybe she was afraid of both the bears and the cougar shifters.
But did she really need to fear the latter?
From the things her brother had told her about shapeshifters, and the way Storm behaved, she knew that she was safe on the deck. Shifters were highly territorial. She doubted any of the ones who lived in the area would dare to cross into Storm’s territory and risk his wrath.
Besides, if any of them looked as if they wanted to eat her, she could lock herself in the cabin.
She settled in the wooden chair nearest the door, and when she couldn’t relax, she shuffled it right a little, so she could leap from the chair and straight into the cabin.
She tugged the small table towards her and frowned at the mug on it. Storm’s mug.
Why had he run from her again?
She wasn’t that much of a fool. She felt awkward around him, but he definitely felt more awkward. He had been snappish with her too, ordering her around. Because he feared something might happen to her?
Or because he feared she might run?
When Ivy showed no sign of coming to see her, she went back inside for a refill and grabbed one of Storm’s dog-eared paperbacks. Thrillers weren’t her style, but it was something to pass the time.
She moved back to the deck and settled on her chair again, and soaked up the faint heat as the sun rose higher.
For a moment, she felt at peace, more relaxed than she had in years, as if she was lazing on a beach somewhere on vacation.
But then someone walked out of the woods to her left, and she felt them look at her, her instincts telling her she was being watched.
She kept her nose in her book and sipped her coffee, acting casual when she wanted to dart into the house. She refused. No one would dare hurt her when she was on Storm’s deck, in his territory. She was sure of it and that meant she wasn’t going to let these people scare her.
She had every right to be on the deck, had been given permission, damn near booted onto it by Storm, and she had done nothing wrong. She hadn’t asked to be dragged here, had nothing to do with Archangel and had no interest in hurting these people. She had feared them when she had learned of their existence, but now she had come to know Storm, she could see they were just like her.
They just wanted to live their lives.
She drained the last of her coffee, set the mug down, and struggled to ignore the way two men stopped just a few metres from her, at the end of the path where it met the clearing.
Their eyes drilled into her and she kept hers locked on the pages of the book, but couldn’t focus on the words to read them. They swam in front of her eyes as she grew increasingly aware of the men.
She risked a glance at them, a brief one she had hoped they wouldn’t notice.
If the way the brunet man’s eyes narrowed hadn’t been a dead giveaway that he had noticed her looking, then the way he bared sharp canines at her was.
She averted her eyes, read a few words but fell back to just staring at the page as she struggled to tamp down the sudden burst of fear that had shot through her. She was fine. Safe. They wouldn’t dare hurt her.
Storm would be back soon.
Maybe he would tell her why he had been so short with her.
Maybe he would come back in a better mood.
She wanted to speak with him, but finding the words she wanted to say was going to be hard. She shut out the men and focused on thinking about Storm and figuring out what she wanted to say to him and finding the best way of putting it.
He didn’t like humans, women in particular, but maybe he had changed his mind about that and about her. Yesterday had been something. She knew it. It hadn’t been just an explosive moment brought about by their arguing, or the beer.
It had been something.
Something that had her nervous as hell about talking to him.
Maybe it had him nervous too.
Was that the reason he had run?
A woman walked past. The beautiful brunette that had been all over Storm. Her dark eyes narrowed on Gabi, a flicker of something in them that looked a lot like hatred and had that feeling returning, the sensation that she was in danger.
She tracked the woman with her gaze, but it stuck on the two men as the woman sailed past them, her chin tipped up and a sway to her hips. Both men stared after her, hunger written across their faces.
And then the black-haired one growled and slammed a right hook into the brunet’s face. The man instantly responded, and Gabi shot to her feet as a brawl broke out, her eyes wide as she backed towards the cabin door and her pulse jacking up. She caught a flash of Alexander fighting Rath and Storm, a flicker of Storm attacking the other two men her half-brother had brought with them, and then she was back with the two shifters in the present.
They tangled, grappling with each other, growling and snarling as they landed blows. Blood streamed down the black-haired one’s lips from his nose as he staggered backwards, swiftly dodging the fist flying at his face again. The brunet snarled and lunged forwards, managed to grab the other man and brought his knee up into his gut. The black-haired one doubled-over, grunted and wheezed as the man shoved him away. The grunt became a growl as he lifted his head and fixed bright golden eyes on the brunet.
Brunet didn’t have a chance to block. The black-haired man was on him in a flash, pummelling his face as he gripped the back of his neck, holding him in place.
“Fucking break it up,” a third man barked as he appeared between them. He landed a solid right hook on brunet and slammed a fierce uppercut into the jaw of the black-haired one, causing both to stagger away from each other.
He held his hands out at his sides and held his ground between them as they gathered themselves, head whipping left and right as he kept an eye on both combatants.
“What the fuck is this about?” His black overlong hair brushed the collar of his dark grey fleece as he switched his head back and forth, watching the two men, and her eyes widened as she recognised him from the scar that ran over the left side of his lips.
Storm’s other brother.
She expected the two men to mention the woman, but the brunet looked right at her.
“Settle something for us,” he snarled. “You with Archangel?”
Before she could answer, the black-haired one he had been fighting said, “She needs to be dealt with.”
Flint’s reply left her cold. “Storm’s handling it. He’s talking to Rath about it now.”
Gabi backed into the cabin, her blood like icy sludge in her veins and her heart aching as his words rang in her ears. He pushed the two men away from her, and she sank onto the arm of the couch as she hit it, staring blankly through the open door as she drew a terrible conclusion.
She shook her head, not wanting to believe it.
Tears burned the backs of her eyes as her mind whispered it was true.
They were going to kill her.
After everything she had been through with Storm.
She buried her face in her hands and gritted her teeth as the ache in her heart turned to fierce stinging that birthed an emotion that swamped the other ones colliding inside her.
Anger.
God, she had been an idiot.
Storm had accused her of trying to use him, and in the end, he had been the one using her. He had seen a chance to screw her and he had taken it, had used her like he did the other women, taking what he wanted and then pushing her aside.
It explained his coldness this morning, and the way he had treated her. Gone was the tender lover. Back was the brute.
Well, she wasn’t going to stick around for him to finish his little chat with his brother. She wasn’t going to wait for the inevitable end of her little stay in his cabin.
She was going to take a leaf out of his book.
She was going to run.
She grabbed a pair of his socks to give her feet some protection and cursed his name again over the fact he had taken her shoes and hidden them. She wouldn’t let it stop her. She could cut her feet to ribbons and she wouldn’t stop running.
Not until she was far away from him and this wretched place.
Gabi peered out of the door, scanned the path in both directions and pulled down a deep breath as her heart ached again. Staying wasn’t an option. She didn’t want to end up buried in the woods like her bastard half-brother. He had deserved that end. She bloody well didn’t.
She looked both ways again.
Which damned way had the helicopter come?
Which way was home?
She hadn’t been paying attention during the flight. Damn it.
She looked right, towards the clearing. Heading that way meant passing Storm, and if he caught her, it didn’t bear thinking about.
So she ran in the opposite direction, veering off the path as soon as she was able. It was a matter of seconds before she was deep in the woods, flinching with every twig and rock that bit into the soles of her feet. The tears burning her eyes spilled onto her cheeks as she broke past the last of the cabins and ran down the hill, heading towards the river, sure she could follow it back to civilisation.
To her freedom.
Ahead of her mountains loomed through the trees and the sun sparkled, bright against the clear blue sky.
She found a faint track a few metres from the river and followed it, her pace slowing as fatigue caught up with her and her vision blurred from the tears. Damn him. She sniffed them back and wiped them away as she slowed to a walk. Bastard. She couldn’t believe him, not after the moment they had shared. She was such a fucking idiot. She had allowed herself to get caught up in him, to believe everything was real.
Gabi blew out her breath.
Something near to her did the same.
She froze and lifted her head, stilled right down to her heart as she stared ahead of her.
At the enormous brown bear looking right at her.
CHAPTER 11
Rath pushed the door of his cabin open and led the way inside. Storm followed, flexing his fingers at his hips as he fought the nerves rising inside him. As a male of solitary nature, it had always been difficult for him to share feelings and shit with others. Even his brothers. Rath was the most human of them, able to bring himself to talk about things, and damn, he was probably the most well-adjusted because of it. It was time Storm took a leaf out of his big brother’s book and learned to share, because he felt sure that the maelstrom of feelings whirling inside him would rip him apart if he didn’t speak to someone about them.
“You said it was about Gabriella?” Rath made a beeline for the small kitchen area to the right of the cabin door, next to the stairs that led upwards to his loft bedroom.
He paused at the picture window and stared out of it, and Storm didn’t need to look over his shoulder to know the direction of his brother’s gaze.
Ivy.
“Yeah.” Storm scrubbed a hand around the back of his neck as a need to return to Gabi went through him, a need to lay eyes on her again and know she was safe.
His brother shook his head, offered an apologetic smile as he roused himself from stalking his mate, and twisted to plant his backside against the polished wooden counter as he folded his arms across his bare chest.
“Have you discovered anything?” Rath frowned at him, his dark brown eyebrows dipping low over eyes that held a faint glimmer of gold as his brother’s curiosity got the better of him.
Had he ever.
“Yeah.” Storm sank onto his ass on the arm of Rath’s beige couch, feeling the heat of the log burner set against the wall to his right washing over his side, soaking into his black jumper.
His eyes drifted to the world beyond the door of the cabin opposite him, his thoughts taking a left to the female probably lounging on his deck right now. A female who had been wearing his clothes just minutes ago, and had his scent stamped all over her.
He looked to his brother, unsure where to begin, how to get the conversation rolling. He was half-tempted to ask for pointers, because he was beginning to feel ridiculously awkward as Rath stared at him, waiting.
Expectant.
“You going to maybe fill me in on what you discovered?” Rath canted his head to his right, gave him a half-smile that didn’t mask the look that asked what had gotten into him today.
“Yeah.” Storm was starting to hate the sound of that word in his ears, but he was damned if he could untangle his thoughts enough to find the end of the string to follow in order to get this conversation going.
Rath pushed away from the counter, his arms falling to his sides and his expression turning serious, and concerned. “That’s a lot of yeahs. You okay?”
He nodded.
Shook his head.
Sighed and shoved fingers through his hair as he was tempted to respond to that question with another damned yeah.
“Did something happen with Gabriella?” Rath edged towards him.
Storm laughed, practically snorted as a single word left his lips. “Yeah.”
And he didn’t know how to deal with it, wasn’t equipped to figure this shit out for himself because Gabi had been right about one thing—whenever things got too serious, he bailed.
Things couldn’t get more serious than what was happening between him and Gabi.
But gods, he didn’t want to run this time. Not away from her at least.
He wanted to run towards her.
Rath laid a hand on his shoulder, concern washing across his face now. “Talk to me, Storm. What’s got you tied in knots? Is Gabriella involved with Archangel?”
His eyes zipped up to lock with his brother’s. “No. No, she isn’t. Gabi isn’t a threat. I honestly believe she has nothing to do with Archangel.”
“So we can let her go?”
Storm fell silent at that, but inside he reacted fiercely, was restless with a need to make her stay, to keep her at his side where she belonged, even when he didn’t have the first clue about making a relationship work.
Or how to make her fall in love with him.
Rath had managed that with Ivy and his previous fe
male. Maybe his brother could give him pointers on what he did that the females had liked.
He cringed.
Rath probably hadn’t fought with them and locked them in his cabin for days on end, holding them captive and treating them like the enemy.
“She isn’t a threat,” Storm murmured, battling the swift tide of his emotions as they battered him, crashing over him so violently that he struggled to hold his head above the surface and stop himself from slipping back into silent contemplation of all the ways he had seriously fucked up with Gabi.
“What aren’t you saying, Brother?” Rath waited for him to look up at him again before he continued. “You’re throwing off pheromones that say you want to fight.”
Just like that everything drained out of him as if Rath had pulled the plug and he felt suddenly empty.
“I can’t let her go,” he whispered, “and I’m terrified of fucking things up.”
He sucked down a hard breath to fill himself with something other than the numbing emptiness and stared up at his brother, searching his eyes for the answers, desperate to find them.
“I can’t let her go and I came here because I’m not sure what to do about it. You won Ivy… how the fuck did you do that?” Storm’s eyebrows furrowed as he waited to hear the answer, sure his brother would be able to help him.
Rath sobered. “Gabriella means something to you. You feel something for her.”
Storm swallowed hard and croaked, “Yeah… yeah I do… I think I fucking love her.”
No. He didn’t think he loved her. He knew he loved her. It screamed in every fibre of his being.
Last time he had been close to a human, she had broken his heart because he had thought he loved her. He had been so convinced of it at the time.
But, fuck, as he sat there looking at his brother for the answer, as he sat there restless with a need to just see Gabi again, he knew that he hadn’t loved that female.
This was love.
It was consuming, confusing, and seriously terrifying. Damn near paralysed him whenever he thought about it, or about Gabi, or was in her presence. Had him afraid of messing everything up by saying or doing the wrong thing.
Captured by her Cougar (Cougar Creek Mates Shifter Romance Series Book 2) Page 9