Hagen

by Janice M. Whiteaker

  “So did I.”

  Rhea walked closer. “I’m so sorry to have interrupted your...” She looked around trying to find some clue as to what exactly he was doing here. Shirtless. With his pants undone.

  “What’s a matter Red?” Hagen walked toward her, his pants rocking along his hips with each step. She swore they were moving lower. Lower. Lower.

  If it wasn’t for the damn shadows.

  “Red.” Hagen stopped in front of her, the camera strapped to her chest keeping his body from getting closer. “Did you need something?”

  Hell yes she did. She needed a flashlight.

  But that wasn’t what he was asking. Naturally Hagen probably thought she was running away from something.

  “No, actually.” She stepped back. “We saw something in the woods and I was trying to catch it.”

  “I let you go out and you decide to chase something down?” Hagen stepped forward, taking back the space she just gained.

  Who in the hell did Hagen think he was? He let her go out? Her own father didn’t tell her what to do so this man sure as hell wouldn’t either. She narrowed her eyes at him. “I don’t know if you realize this but I am a grown woman.”

  Hagen’s eyes flashed. Slowly they drug down her body, catching on her breasts, the weight of his gaze almost as palpable as a caress. “Oh, I realize that Red.”

  Her breath rushed between her lips as the sensual heat of his energy moved over her flesh and burrowed into her core. Ignoring it was impossible, but this fight wasn’t over. Rhea swallowed hard and dug deep. “Then you should realize I am more than capable of being out here on my own.”

  “No one said you weren’t.” His voice was cool and calm as he reached up to twist a wild lock of hair refusing to be constrained by her braid.

  “Then why are you here?” She looked at his bare chest. “And why in the hell do you keep taking your shirt off?”

  One blonde brow rose. “Does it bother you?”

  “Yes.” She shook her head and closed her eyes. “No.” Rhea took a step back and turned around. “For the love of God put your shirt on.”

  His low chuckle vibrated across her already sensitized nerve endings, feeling like both a caress and fingernails on a chalkboard.

  The man was making her want to crawl out of her skin.

  And into his.

  But at least not having his nakedness in her direct line of sight made it easier to stay on track mentally. “Why are you out here?”

  “I came to rinse off.” Fabric rustled behind her. “Figured you and Stewart were okay out here and everyone else was asleep so I assumed I had some time to myself.” Hagen stepped beside her. “I guess I was wrong.” He looked around the woods, his brow lowering. “Where’s Stewart?”

  “He petered out up the hill.” Rhea pointed her camera in the direction she came from. “There he is.” She could see Stewart scooting on his butt down the incline.

  Hagen’s eyebrows came together. “He was supposed to stay with you.”

  “Don’t give him a hard time.” Without thinking Rhea rested her hand on his bicep. The width of hard muscle flexed under her palm. She looked up at him, letting her head tip toward one shoulder. “Did you really just flex?”

  He grinned. “Only a little.”

  “Re-Re?” Stewart’s voice was breathy.

  “I’m right here.” She started walking toward where her best friend was stopped, bent at the waist, his hands resting on his knees. Poor guy was probably ready to fall over. “I’m sorry I took off. I was really hoping I’d be able to catch it and figure out what in the hell it is.”

  Stewart didn’t respond.

  “Stewart?” Rhea started walking faster. “Are you okay?” She reached his side and rested her hand on his back as she bent beside him.

  Stewart slowly lifted one arm and pointed to the ground. “What is that?”

  Rhea turned on her camera’s light, illuminating the area at their feet. Clumps of light brown fur littered the ground, lying on top of the dead foliage covering the forest floor. “Holy shit.” She dropped to her knees and picked up a tuft, rubbing the coarse strands between her fingers.

  “It’s fur.” Stewart whispered as he stepped back with one hand covering his mouth. “It’s fucking fur.”

  “No.” Rhea turned to Hagen.

  “It’s hair.”

  ****

  Hagen pulled the last of their bags from the back of his truck and hauled them into the bed and breakfast. His mother stood at the top of the stairs smiling at him. “How was your trip?”

  “It was fine.” He set the bags down.

  She continued to smile at him as she descended the stairs. “Learn anything new while you were out there?”

  “I learned how big of a pain in the ass one guy can be.” Chauncey was on thin ice after whining at him all morning.

  His mom’s face fell. “Nothing else?”

  “Not a thing.” Hagen nodded to the stairs. “I’m sure she’s in the shower now. Why don’t you go find out for yourself?”

  His mother’s eyes went wide.

  “Yeah. Not as easy as you think it is.” He walked to the door. “I’m gonna go home for a bit before they come hunting me down.”

  His mother snorted. “Isn’t that why they’re here?”

  They didn’t know that anymore than any of the other hunters who came looking for the beast they called Bigfoot. Sasquatch. Holayela. Whatever they wanted to call it.

  Him.

  His family.

  “I’ll see you later.” Hagen pushed open the door and left. He needed to be alone. Think about what happened.

  Hagen hurried down the front steps and out to his truck. He jumped in and fired up the engine.

  “Hey.” Jerrik banged on his passenger side window, catching him just as his foot pulled off the break.

  Hagen growled and mashed his boot back on the pedal.

  Jerrik yanked open the door and jumped in. “I’ve been waiting for you to come back.”

  “Yeah?” Hagen pulled away from the B&B and down the narrow street. “Why’s that?”

  Jerrik leaned back in the seat and propped his elbow on the door, letting his fingertips hook under the trip at the top of the side window. “Notice anything odd about your lady friend?”

  “She’s not my lady friend.” Hagen stared straight ahead. “She’s not my anything.”

  “Huh.” Jerrik looked out the side window.

  Hagen glanced at his brother, waiting for him to elaborate. Jerrik stayed quiet. Jerrik was never quiet.

  “What does that mean?”

  Jerrik looked at him, eyes wide in feigned confusion. “What does what mean?”

  “Huh.” Hagen turned off the main road and onto the street he lived on, which could be described more as an unlined strip of asphalt than an actual roadway. “What the hell does huh mean?”

  Jerrik shrugged. “After what Magni said I figured she was your lady friend.”

  “What Magni said?” His uncle wasn’t one to say much of anything to anyone. He kept to himself, spending most of his time in a cabin he built up in the mountains crafting furniture, and the rest making sure the tourists kept coming back for more. “When did you talk to Magni?”

  “After he scared the hell out of Rhea in the woods.” Jerrik scratched at his chin. “Said he didn’t know how she saw him.”

  That was one of the things Hagen was hoping to think on while he regrouped today. Alone.

  “So?” Hagen pulled the truck into his driveway, put it in park and got out to walk straight to the side door he used for his personal coming and going. Jerrik jumped out and circled the truck, jogging to catch up.

  “He said she didn’t run.” Jerrik took the steps to the cement porch two at a time, stopping beside him as Hagen shoved his key in the deadbolt. “She yelled for you.”

  Hagen pushed open the door and stepped into his small kitchen. “Like I said, so? That’s what I’m supposed to be there for.”

&
nbsp; Jerrik leaned back against the laminate counter and grinned at him. “Yeah, but Magni said you came in like a bat outta hell and backed him down.” Jerrik wiggled his brows. “He said you were pissed at him.”

  “He was supposed to keep an eye on her not scare the shit out of her.” Hagen dropped his bag on the heavy wood table in the dining room adjacent to the kitchen.

  “How’s he supposed to do that when she can see him from twenty yards away?” Jerrik pushed off the counter. “In the dark.” He stepped into the dining room. “Through trees and brush.”

  Jerrik rested his hands on his hips. “How in the hell did she know he was there?”

  “How the fuck am I supposed to know?” Hagen rubbed one hand over his face. “Look. I’m tired. I stink. I don’t want to think about this right now.”

  He did want to think about it but he sure as hell didn’t want Jerrik to think about it. Rhea wasn’t his business.

  His brother wasn’t taking the hint. “Did you ask her?”

  “No I didn’t ask her. How do I explain I know something’s there that she shouldn’t know is there?” Was he the only one thinking straight in this family? His mother thinks he can just magically get a woman to let him see her naked and Jerrik assumes he can ask Rhea strange questions and she won’t think anything of it?

  That one was especially stupid considering what he suspected she was.

  “You should talk to Christine.” Jerrik walked back to the kitchen and opened his fridge. “I bet she already knows.”

  Hagen looked up from his bag, a wad of dirty shirts in his hand. “How would Christine know?”

  Jerrik pulled out a plastic container of leftovers and pinched open the lid, sniffing the contents. “How old is this?”

  “It won’t kill you.” Hagen threw the shirts on the table. “How would Christine know if Rhea’s,” he searched for a word to describe the woman whose presence he already missed, “different?”

  “I can tell you that woman’s different.” Jerrik winked at him.

  The side of himself he used to be able to keep locked safely away pushed up through barriers that used to hold fast. A growl rumbled low in his chest. “I’ll kick your ass right now.”

  Jerrik opened the utensil drawer and fished out a fork. “Calm the fuck down. I’m not interested in your woman.”

  His woman.

  His.

  Hagen didn’t argue. The beast in him eased back, satisfied he’d finally allowed the claim to be staked.

  Rhea wasn’t what his mother and Christine thought. He was still confident of that. He also knew it wasn’t fair of him to want her.

  Unfortunately his beast disagreed.

  And it was ready to fight for her.

  11

  Rhea stood in front of the small Cape Cod-style house tucked at the end of a dead end road. She looked back the way she came at the strip of blacktop barely wide enough for a single car.

  Dead end driveway was more accurate.

  She shouldn’t be here. This was a bad idea. And considering she went running through the woods last night after an unknown creature with the full intent of catching it, the fact that Rhea thought this was a bad idea...

  That was saying something.

  And she was here anyway.

  Because she wanted to be here.

  That was the bad part.

  The house was nothing like she expected. The white wood siding was perfectly clean and bright against the deep blue shutters. It had a small covered front porch and an even smaller side porch. The front yard was neat and clean. The flowerbeds were empty except for a fresh layer of hardwood mulch spread over the surface.

  It was cute.

  And didn’t fit its owner in any way, shape, or form.

  Rhea walked up the driveway, past the truck parked by the side porch and up the steps to the small concrete square at the top and rapped her knuckles against the door. There was no window but she didn’t need one to know he was there, on the other side.

  Hagen pulled the door open, his face unreadable. But she needed his facial expressions as much as she needed a window in his door.

  “Hi.” The word came out low and husky, not at all the way she intended.

  The sultry sound wasn’t wasted on Hagen. Rhea could feel the vibration of his energy speed up even though he didn’t move a muscle.

  “What are you doing here Red?” His words were quiet and slow. Each one careful and measured.

  Like his energy was now. Controlled. Pulled tight like a bow.

  Maybe even ready to snap.

  It took her awhile to realize that even though Hagen’s emotions were stronger than anyone else she’d ever experienced, what she felt was only the tip of the iceberg. He was always in control, restrained. It made her wonder. What was Hagen like when he snapped? When the control he held onto so tightly broke loose?

  What would she be like if that same thing happened to her?

  Could she ever recover if it did?

  Did she care anymore?

  “Your mom sent me over to see if you could take me to the store.” A strong breeze pushed her hair around, a wayward curl catching on her lips. She tugged the strand free.

  Hagen’s eyes focused on the movement, watching the strand as it pulled free then lingering on her mouth. Was he remembering when whiskey made her kiss him?

  Because she was. Maybe she should have stopped to see Kari on her way, swallowed a couple shots of liquid bad decision to give her the courage to do what she wanted without thinking about all the possible ramifications.

  Like giving herself to a man with the potential to ruin her.

  “I need some supplies and she said you were the only one who could help me.” It was a lie. Rhea knew it as the words left Gail’s mouth. His mother was a hell of a liar though. Anyone else would have believed what she said as the God’s honest truth.

  Rhea went with it anyway. Because it was what she wanted. An excuse to see Hagen.

  The wind kicked up again. This time a few small drops landed on her cheek.

  He leaned against the doorway and looked up at the darkening sky. “I don’t know that you need anything just yet.”

  A deep rumble of thunder carried on in the distance and a few more specks of rain landed on her skin.

  Hagen’s blue eyes studied hers as they stood silently. She could feel his emotions as they pushed and pulled, some strong, some stronger. A standoff of sorts, with himself. Finally, she felt him relax a little. “I think you should come inside.”

  Rhea hesitated just a second. This was what she wanted. Why she was here. To be near him. Alone.

  To see if she could figure out exactly why he felt different. Why he made her feel different.

  The trick would be not making things worse.

  She stepped inside.

  The house didn’t look like him. She never would have picked it out of a line up. But it felt like him. The warmth. The strength. The familiarity.

  It was all here. In the air, in the walls. Everywhere.

  Rhea rested her hand on the counter top and let the house speak to her. It was something she’d never done before. Because it never occurred to her a building could speak. But this one did.

  “Have you lived here long?” She stepped past him, letting her hand run across the smooth surface.

  “No.” Hagen followed close behind her, his eyes not missing a single move. “I lived at the B&B until the spring.”

  Rhea stepped into the dining area. A large, heavy, wood table fit perfectly in the space. She brushed her fingers over the top. “This is beautiful.” She could feel the care that went into making it. The pride at its completion. “Who made this?”

  “My uncle.” His eyes narrowed in question but to his credit Hagen didn’t ask why she was being weird.

  Rhea yanked her hand off the table. She was being weird. She turned to him and smiled, trying to act like a normal person instead of the kind of woman who shows up at a man’s house uninvited and starts touchin
g all his stuff so she can read its energy. “I’m sorry. It’s just very pretty.”

  Hagen didn’t smile back. He loomed over her, his hair loose on his shoulders. “Rhea.”

  “Yes.” She gripped the table behind her as he stepped closer.

  “Can I ask you something?”

  She nodded as her heart pounded.

  “Do you feel things you can’t see?”

  Her racing pulse screeched to a halt and her stomach dropped. “What do you mean?”

  “I’m asking if you are...” He paused, as if he didn’t know exactly how to ask what he wanted to know. His eyes dropped for a second, then slowly moved back to hers. “Are you sensitive?”

  “Are you asking if I’m psychic?” In her whole life she’d only explained what she could do to one person. The person she trusted more than anyone in the world because she knew he would never use what she was against her.

  “Yes.” Hagen watched her closely. He was gauging her reaction. Trying to read her expressions. The way most people tried to figure others out.

  Rhea shook her head. “No.”

  Hagen studied her face for a second longer. Finally, he gave a single nod and stepped back, his eyes dropping.

  He thought she was lying. She wasn’t. Not entirely.

  His energy moved away from her, pulling back, leaving her feeling almost empty.

  Alone.

  “I’m an empath.” Her whispered words were a knee-jerk reaction to his withdraw.

  Hagen stared at her for a long minute. “You can feel other people’s emotions. Isn’t that what that means?”

  Rhea nodded.

  “Can you feel mine?”

  She chewed her lip. How would it make him feel to know she could? And had. And would again. That’s why she didn’t tell most people. Anyone. Because it was an invasion. One she couldn’t help, but still.

  Hagen’s energy crept back around her, the intensity building as it pushed against her, into her. She closed her eyes, letting it happen, taking in everything he offered.

  “Red.” His voice was deep and a little dark with a sharp edge.