Nocturnal

NOCTURNAL By

Madelaine Montague © copyright August 2006, Madelaine Montague Cover art by Jenny Dixon, © copyright August 2006 ISBN 1-58608-937-4 New Concepts Publishing Lake Park, GA 31636 www.newconceptspublishing.com

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or events is merely coincidence. Chapter One Pain and fury filled Raphael as he raced through the dense brush in a mindless quest for freedom. Adrenaline drove him, else the pain from his wounds might have overwhelmed him. Fear ate at his mind, as well, but it was a distant voice, drowned by the frustration and anger because the fear wasn’t for himself. It was fear of failing. He had almost had the bastard! For months he had tracked the ring leader of the men that had killed his woman and their unborn child. Patience was not one of his virtues, but his rage had grown cold in the year since Concepcion’s death. His determination had hardened in the weeks he had lain fighting for his own life and the months after that that he had spent regaining his strength with an agonizing slowness that had been maddening while he chaffed at his quarry’s trail growing colder and colder. He had tracked him, though, halfway across two continents. His stupidity had nearly gotten him killed, but he had wanted the bastard to look in his eyes and know that he was going to die because of Concepcion. He hadn’t wanted to send the son-of-a-bitch to hell wondering.

He hadn’t expected to be interrupted, but he should have anticipated the possibility. If they hadn’t taken him completely off guard, he could’ve finished the bastard before he left. Now he was wounded again, pretty fucking badly, he thought, if the blood he was losing was any indication. He couldn’t stop to examine it, though, because he could still hear them following, could still hear a random shot from time to time as the trigger happy morons spied something they thought might be him and fired at it. The darkness and the thickness of the woods were his only allies and he had a feeling he was running out of allies. Almost on the thought he bounded from the woods and onto a narrow, two rut track. Tall weeds sprouted from the soil on either side and along the narrow center strip, but he was exposed and he bounded across the track and into the woods on the other side. He paused there to catch his breath because he couldn’t do anything else. The adrenaline that had kept him going thus far was rapidly draining away from him now and he could feel weakness seeping into every muscle in his body. Panting for breath, he tipped his head back to look up at the trees for cover. He tamped the impulse. He would be too exposed. If he had been stronger, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. It would give him a vantage to watch for the hunters. It would give him a strategic advantage if he was able to fight back, but he had a bad feeling he would come out the loser in his current state. Twisting his head to look back in the direction from which he’d come, he listened intently. Sure enough, within a few moments, he heard the hunters trampling through the brush in pursuit. Uttering a mental curse, he looked at the track again. It might just lead back to the compound, but he didn’t think so. He’d studied the area pretty thoroughly over the past few weeks and he was fairly certain that this track belonged to the woman he’ d spotted a few times in his surveillance. He didn’t trust the impulse that assailed him to seek her out, but he was pretty much out of options unless he wanted to just lie down and let them finish him off. A year ago, he would’ve almost welcomed it. Hell, even six months ago. He wasn’t ready to quit now, though. If he died, he meant to take that bastard with him to hell. Turning without even realizing he had made a decision, he began to head along the edge of the track as quickly as he could. He didn’t trust the woman, not enough to go to her for help, but she had several out buildings on her property. If he could just make it to one of them, he would have the chance to rest and see about his wounds. The wound on his shoulder seemed to have stopped bleeding. He was fairly certain that had been no more than a crease, deep enough to hurt like a son-of-bitch, and bleed like hell, but he was pretty sure the bullet had done no more than plow a furrow through him and out the other side. He was equally certain that he did have a bullet in his hip. He’d been favoring the leg, trying his best to keep from jolting it anymore than necessary, but each time he put even a little weight on that leg, agonizing pain ground through him and the leg threatened to buckle. Hobbling now that the adrenaline had abandoned him and the pain and weakness was threatening to lay him out for the kill, he gritted his teeth and kept moving as quickly as he could, hoping he could make it to the woman’s house and hide before he passed out. Her image rose in his mind and as it did he felt his heart rate speed up just a little. A flicker of desire burgeoned despite all reason, his body beginning to hum with warmth. Wryly, he concluded that he was still a ways from death if she could get any kind of rise out of him at the moment. But then again, he had wanted her from the first moment he spied her and no amount of reasoning with himself had banished that. She was as different from Concepcion as night from day. It didn’t matter.

More importantly, she was not one of the people. But that didn’t make any difference either. He’d tried to tell himself it did, but he knew better. Every time he looked at her cool, white skin, her light blond hair, her pale blue eyes, he thought of ice, hard, cold. And still he thirsted for a taste of her. He hadn’t stopped mourning for Concepcion and the babe. He still carried an ache that nothing could eradicate, not even his revenge. Having them wrenched from his life so abruptly and with such finality had been like having a part of himself torn away and he could never get that back, never get them back. He would see that they had justice, though, blood for blood, if it was the last thing he ever did. He had not intended that it be the last thing he ever did, though, because he had realized when he saw the woman that there was a reason to live, something to live for besides fulfilling the need for revenge. He didn’t trust her. She wasn’t one of the people, and she lived too damned close to his enemy for his comfort in an area that was so remote that the next neighbors were miles away. He couldn’t completely rid himself of the suspicion that it was more than a coincidence that her land bordered his, that her neat little house and farm was little more than two miles from his compound as the crow flew. But that didn’t matter either. In the back of his mind he knew that he had already decided that, once he had done what he had come to do, he fully intended to have her. * * * * The first gun shot woke Alaina. Still groggy with sleep, she lay still on the couch trying to figure out what the noise was. As it came closer it became clear what the loud popping noise was. Her heart skipped several beats. She glanced sharply at the clock on top of her TV set. “My god! It’s two in the morning! What the hell would they be hunting at this time of night?” Rolling off the couch, she scrambled on her hands and knees toward the phone, grabbed it up and dialed the sheriff’s office. It seemed to ring forever and finally switched over. He’d forwarded his calls. He was probably at home in bed! “Sheriff Wilson,” said a voice on the line just about the time she’d given up. “Hank, it’s me, Alaina. They’re out shooting up the woods again.” There was a momentary silence. “What the hell are they hunting at this time of night?” “Well, god knows, I don’t,” Alaina said sharply, “but it sounds like they’re moving in my direction. I’d just as soon not have any more bullet holes in my damned house!” “I’m about fifteen minutes from you. Stay on the floor.” As if she had any intention of getting up! The thought had barely formed in her mind when her wall exploded and then the couch as a stray bullet pierced the wall of the living room. Tufts of stuffing flew up in the air and drifted downward. Alaina gaped at it in stunned disbelief for a split second feeling cold wash over her as she realized she’d been lying within inches of that bullet only a few moments earlier. Adrenaline surged through her then and, instinctively she began to scramble on her belly toward the back of the house. “Shit! Oh shit!” she muttered, with no clear destination in mind beyond trying to get out of range. She’d never had a bullet actually enter the house! She’d heard shotgun pellets rain down on her roof like hail. She’d even found a couple of places on the outside walls where a spent bullet had cracked the siding, but she had never really believed she was in danger of actually getting shot in her own living room! She’d already gone out the back door and made a dash for the storage shed in the rear before it occurred to her that they might decide she was a deer or whatever it was they were hunting. They were on the front side of the house, though, which was why she’d thought of the shed to begin with, afraid that if they were close enough that a bullet had gone through the siding and into the

house, that the interior walls weren’t substantial enough to protect her. In the distance, she heard Hank’s siren. She heard another gunshot as she grabbed the door of the shed, however, and she yanked it open and dove inside, wondering if they were going to shoot the poor sheriff. The shed was black as pitch inside, but she crouched behind her washing machine, which was right beside the door, trying to reassure herself that it was substantial enough to stop a bullet even if they came right up to the house. “Those crazy bastards!” she gasped, wondering if they were drunk or stoned out of their minds. She’d complained about them trespassing at least a half a dozen times, but in the entire time she ’d been living in the house, the hunters had never gotten nearly this close. Trying to catch her breath and calm the frantic pounding of her heart, she listened as the siren drew nearer. After a few moments, she heard the engine of the car, the crunch of gravel beneath the wheels and then the sounds began to fade as the sheriff’s car passed her place, headed down the track. Tipping her head up, she listened for anything that might indicate that they were just crazy enough to shoot at the sheriff, wondering if it was safe to leave the shed. “I’m going to sue the bastard if Hank doesn’t arrest his sorry ass this time,” she muttered. She was shaking all over. She realized after a few moments that part of it, maybe, was due to the fact that she was sitting on cold concrete in her panties. She’d forgotten she’d stripped down to her panties and t-shirt when she’d sprawled on the couch to watch the movie she’d dozed off in the middle of. It was quiet outside now. She didn’t hear the sirens, the car engine, no shooting. She thought she could hear a low hum of voices, but the sound was too indistinct to tell for sure. Dragging in a shuddering breath, she was on the point of pushing herself upright when she saw something that froze her mid-motion. There was a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring straight at her from the darkness of the shed less than two yards from where she was sitting. Chapter Two Every muscle, tendon, and bone in Alaina’s body turned to pure water. She stared back at the glowing eyes, unable to blink, to breathe, even to think. The eyes stared at her unblinkingly for what seemed an endless time. Finally, slowly, they blinked. Too weak to act on instinct, and too terrified to think, Alaina stayed where she was until the sound of voices finally penetrated her chaotic mind. The eyes had moved at the sound. Whatever it was in the shed with her was staring at the door now. Almost as if that was all that was needed to break the frozen shell of shock that encased her, Alaina began to push herself slowly to her feet. The eyes, almost as if the animal could see her, shifted to her again. She froze. The animal didn’t move. Slowly, she lifted one arm, searching blindly for the light switch. The light blinded her when it came on. Blinking to focus, Alaina was almost sorry when her eyes finally did. A panther lay sprawled along the far wall of her shed. A black panther. She’d been staring at it in petrified horror for several minutes when it dawned on her that the panther hadn’t moved. He was still watching her, but there was nothing the least threatening about his body language. He had not growled, not made any sound at all. He was not crouched to spring. There was no indication even of tension in his body. He was lying on his belly with his hind legs tucked beneath him and his forelegs extended like a huge house cat lazing in the sun. As she stared at him, he flicked his long tail almost impatiently and then dropped his head to his

paws and used one leg to cover his eyes, as if the light was bothering him. Alaina’s fear began to drain away from her as she stood stock still, frowning now in puzzlement. Black panthers were not native to the area. The native panthers, which were pretty much gone now, were tan. Where had he come from and what was he doing in her shed? She saw the blood then. “They’re hunting you,” she whispered in sudden comprehension. He lifted his head at that, looked straight at her. The sound of voices outside in her yard distracted both her and the panther. The panther stiffened, tried to struggle to his feet. She held her hand out. “Be still,” she whispered. “I’m not going to let anybody hurt you anymore.” Shifting toward the door, she flicked the light off and went out, closing the door behind her. The sheriff, she saw, and another man she didn’t recognize were crossing the yard toward her. Rage instantly surged through her. It had to be the man that had scared the living shit out of her and nearly killed the poor cat hiding in her shed, “Did you see the hole they shot in my living room wall, Hank?” she demanded, stalking toward them. “Now calm down, Miss Alaina. This is Mr. Tom Calhoun, your neighbor.” “Is this the son-of-a-bitch that shot up my house?” Alaina demanded, ignoring the hand the man extended. “I want to apologize for that. A couple of friends of mine had a little too much to drink and took it into their head to go coon hunting.” Alaina gaped at the man. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! That is the lamest damned lie I have ever heard in my life! I didn’t hear any dogs. I may not be a hunter, but even I know people hunt coons with dogs.” Calhoun’s eyes narrowed. The false ‘friendly neighbor’ smile he had pasted on his face flat lined. “As I said, they’ve had a little too much to drink.” “You need to calm down,” Hank said shortly. “I need to calm down?” Alaina snapped, outraged. “I was asleep on my couch in my living room! There’s a hole the size of a fucking silver dollar not two inches from where I was laying before I called you!” When Alaina glanced at her neighbor again, she saw that he was staring at her shed speculatively. Her heart skipped a beat. It took an effort to keep from following his gaze, but she was fairly certain the panther was still in the shed. If he’d followed her out, she didn’t think either one of the men, who were facing the shed, would’ve still been standing in front of her looking thoroughly pissed off. Hank frowned and turned to look at the man. “Ms. McKinley is upset and I don’t think we’re going to be able to sit down together and resolve this issue. Mr. Calhoun, I’m going to ask you to go home now. I’ll be stopping by as soon as I’ve finished filling out a report here.” Alaina turned to the sheriff in disbelief. “You’re not going to arrest him?” Hank frowned, his lips thinning with irritation. “I’ve arrested the men that were shooting. They’ re sitting in the back of my patrol car. Mr. Calhoun didn’t even have a gun.” Alaina’s lips tightened with anger. “I heard you coming a mile off! He could have tossed it into the woods when he heard you coming.” She could tell from the look on Hank’s face that he’d already thought of that, but he wasn’t particularly pleased that she’d pointed it out. “Mr. Calhoun,” the sheriff said nodding dismissal and then turned to her. “Are you hurt?” “Thank you so much for asking!” Alaina said with false sweetness. “No! I’m not hurt, but that’s no thanks to them.” The sheriff glanced down at her and for the first time since she’d come out of the shed it dawned on Alaina that she was standing around in nothing but a t-shirt and panties. She crossed her arms over her chest.

“If you’ll just go on inside, I’ll be in to speak with you and get a report shortly.” The sheriff turned and walked Calhoun back toward the front of her house as another sheriff’s patrol car pulled up. Alaina watched them until they’d rounded the corner of the house. The panther was hurt. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out how he’d gotten hurt. He needed a vet, but she wasn’t going to be able to do anything for him until she could get rid of the cops, and her damned neighbors. She did not want to call Bobby! The son-of-a-bitch hadn’t been around since the last time they’ d fought and she didn’t want him coming around now. He was bound to take a call from her as an invitation to take up where they left off. It sucked that he was the only vet she knew. Maybe the cat wasn’t hurt that badly? He’d looked like he was in pain, though, and obviously he’d been weakened. He hadn’t even been able to get up when he’d felt threatened by the men’s voices. It seemed indisputable that, drunk or not, one of the hunters had managed to put a bullet in him and she certainly couldn’t get a bullet out by herself. If it had only been something that required bandaging, maybe, but he would need antibiotics and she needed somebody to tell her what to do for him. The panther had to be tame. He was hurt and he still hadn’t made any sort of threatening move toward her. There was no way a wild animal would’ve behaved as he had. If he’d been wild he would’ve attacked her the minute she went into the shed. Even if he hadn’t been able to attack, he would have growled or hissed. Besides, he wasn’t indigenous. Someone had imported him into the country, and not for a zoo animal. He wouldn’t have been so tame. He had to be a pet. Those stupid bastards had been shooting at somebody’s pet, tamed to believe that human’s were no threat, a cat that probably had never even been in the wild and had no idea how to take care of himself. Some damned sportsmanship! Reluctant to leave the poor thing without looking to see how he was doing, she nevertheless headed back toward the house. She knew he had to be tame, but the sheriff would probably call animal control at the very least. At the worst, he and his deputy might decide to ‘put him out of his misery’. Flipping on the kitchen light as she went in through the back door, Alaina headed for the living room and turned on the overhead light. Her jeans were lying beside the couch. Shimmying into them, she zipped and fastened them as she shoved her feet into her flip flops. Sheriff Wilson commenced to knocking on her door almost before she’d slipped her shoes on. Anger surged through her all over again. She was so damned sick of the ‘good old boy’s club ’! The damned realtor that had sold her parents the place had said there was a hunting club on the adjoining property, but she wasn’t all that familiar with hunters. She’d assumed they would stay on the hunting preserve, not constantly be chasing animals onto her property and shooting up her place. There had to be laws that had been broken! Why the hell had he let that bastard go? Unlocking the door, she pulled it open and glared at the sheriff. “You aren’t going to charge him with anything?” she demanded when he moved past her and into the living room. “You want to show me the bullet holes?” Pointing to the couch, she backed up and straddled the arm of the easy chair across from it, folding her arms over her chest and watching him sullenly while he studied the couch and dug into the hole in search of the bullet. **** Not surprisingly, Bobby was asleep when she called. A woman answered. It unsettled Alaina for a moment. “I need to speak to the vet,” she said finally. She heard the rustle of bed clothes and snuffling and yawning. “Yes?” Bobby asked in a

voice hoarse with sleep. “It’s Alaina. Alaina McKinley. I’ve got a cat in my shed that’s hurt really badly. I hate to bother you so late, but I don’t know if he’ll still be alive in the morning. I think he’s been shot.” There was silence for several moments. “Bring him over and I’ll have a look at him,” he growled finally. “I can’t. I need you to come out here and look at him.” “Why can’t you?” Alaina chewed the inside of her mouth. “It’s a really big cat and I don’t think I can move him without hurting him worse. Please? You know I wouldn’t bother you if I had options.” He uttered an irritated sound. “Fine. I’ll be over in about fifteen or twenty minutes.” It was more like thirty. Alaina paced the floor and watched the clock for fifteen minutes before it finally occurred to her that she could probably at least make the cat more comfortable while she was waiting. Going to her linen closet, she found an old throw and tossed it over her arm and then went into the kitchen to find something he could drink out of. They’d been chasing him. He was probably dying of thirst on top of everything else. She had reached the shed again when it dawned on her to wonder if getting out alive the first time had just been a fluke. Maybe the poor thing had just been in shock from the wound and weak and hadn’t been able to threaten her? Easing the shed door open, she peered inside. The two glowing eyes winked at her, but he didn’t move, and he didn’t growl. Opening the door wider, she flipped the light on and inched inside slowly, trying not to make any sudden moves he might consider threatening. He lifted his head and stared straight at the bowl, sniffing. Alaina swallowed against the pity that welled in her. Setting the bowl down, she slid it within his reach watching as he gulped the water down thirstily until the bowl was bone dry. “More?” He looked up at her when she spoke and she could see the pain in his eyes. Taking the bowl she refilled it at her laundry sink and set it down for him again. Apparently, he’d had all he needed at the moment, though, because he only drank a little before he settled again, his head drooping on his forelegs. Sliding the bowl out of the way for the moment, she took the throw and spread it over him. A rumbling, sporadic purr issued from his chest. Feeling a mixture of relief and pity, and encouraged by that sign to think he appreciated her efforts to comfort him, she moved closer, stroking his head soothingly. He butted his head against her hand, arching his neck so that she could stroke that too. She didn’t know why she was so surprised to see him behaving like an ordinary house cat, because he was a cat, but she was. She was also intrigued, and drawn to him. Settling with her back against the wall, she stretched her legs out in front of her and lifted his huge head onto her lap, stroking her hand over his beautiful, silky coat. He tensed slightly, but allowed it, resting his head in her lap, issuing a rumbling, broken purr from his chest from time to time. He seemed to enjoy her touch. After a few moments, he turned his head. She thought at first that it was because he wanted her to rub a different spot. Maybe that was why he turned his head, but he nuzzled his nose against her crotch in the process. Gently, she shifted his nose away from her crotch and continued to pet him, but she discovered fairly quickly that he’d gotten the idea in his head to love her back. He nuzzled his nose against her crotch again and began trying to burrow deeper. Not trying, doing. He pushed her thighs apart, running his nose right down her crotch. Goose bumps erupted all over her as his heated breath permeated the thick fabric of her jeans. Embarrassed and unnerved, she grabbed his head, trying to dislodge him. “What in the world do you think you’re doing?” she demanded with a shaky laugh mixed with consternation. He ignored her insistent pull for several moments, exploring her scent she supposed. God! Animals weren’t the least bit inhibited about such things, she thought wryly. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for him to learn her scent, though, she thought when he, thankfully, removed his nose and dropped his head to her lap again. She didn’t know what she was

going to do with him, but it seemed likely she was going to have him a while until she figured it out. The sound of a trunk door slamming brought her head up. It brought the panther’s head up, too. He stiffened. She caught his face between her palms. “It’s all right. It’s just Bobby. He’s a real asshole, but he’s a good vet and you need somebody to take care of that wound. I’m not going to let him hurt you.” The hinges on the door creaked as Bobby jerked it open briskly, placed one foot inside the shed and froze. The panther uttered a low, deep chested growl, tensing. Alaina felt her jaw sag in surprise and uneasiness at his sudden aggressive behavior. Her fingers tightened on him. “It’s all right. It’s just the vet.” “Jesus fucking Christ!” Bobby muttered in a hoarse whisper, dropping his medical bag from suddenly nerveless fingers. “You said it was cat.” Alaina looked at him. “He is a cat. He’s tame.” Bobby looked the animal over doubtfully, but she could see he was only standing in the doorway because he was afraid a sudden movement in any direction would precipitate an attack. “Why ’s he growling and looking at me like he wants to take my head off if he’s so fucking tame?” Alaina frowned. “Hunters were chasing him. It’s probably because he thinks you might be another one.” Catching hold of the throw she’d covered him with, she pulled it up until Bobby could see the panther’s hip. “Somebody shot him, I think. That’s why I called you. He’s so weak. He must have lost a lot of blood.” “I’m not coming near that damned thing,” Bobby snarled. The panther snarled back at him. Alaina leaned down, looping her arms around the big cat and rubbing her hands over him soothingly, though she seriously doubted, even as weak as he was, if she could hold him down if he decided to get up. “Shhhh. It’s all right boy. He’s going to make you all better. Come on, Bobby. You ’re here now. Look at him, at least. Tell me what to do for him. I don’t know what to do.” “Call animal control.” Alaina glared at him. “They’ll probably just shoot him.” “You’re damned right. He’s a dangerous animal. I can’t fucking believe you’re wallowing all over that damned thing!” “Because he is not a dangerous animal! You’re a vet, damn it!” Bobby glared at her, but after a moment he bent down very slowly and opened his bag, searching it for several moments. Finally, he pulled out a syringe and a bottle. “What’s that?” Alaina demanded suspiciously. “Something to sedate him.” She didn’t trust Bobby. “You won’t give him too much?” “I didn’t bring anything strong enough for a two or three hundred pound mountain lion, damn it! You said it was a fucking cat. I’m just hoping this is strong enough to keep him quiet while I have a look.” The panther shifted uneasily when Bobby approached him, but he didn’t try to break free of Alaina. He jerked when Bobby injected the sedative, glaring at Bobby through narrowed yellow eyes. Sweat was running down Bobby’s face when he drew back. After studying the cat for a moment, he slowly moved back toward the door. “I need to get him to my clinic to run x-rays.” “No,” Alaina said. It was a gut reaction, but even as she said it she realized she didn’t trust Bobby to take the cat to his clinic. “I’m not letting you take him anywhere.” Bobby stared at her in disbelief for a moment before he scowled at her. “The longer you stay way out here by yourself, the crazier you get. You know that? Whether you like it or not, this is a wild animal and you can’t keep him.” Alaina glared at him. “I’m not your girlfriend anymore. I don’t have to take orders from you. I

don’t doubt in the least that you thought this was some kind of ploy just to get you out here, you conceited asshole, but it wasn’t. I called you because you’re a vet. Now, take care of him and earn your pay, or get the hell off my place!” His lips tightened. She could see from his expression that she’d hit the nail on the head. He had thought she was just trying to get him out to her place. “It’s going to be a healthy bill. Surgery’s always expensive and I’ll have to charge you more for hazard.” “Fine!” His eyes narrowed, but after studying her a couple of minutes he got his bag and moved closer to the panther again. Alaina looked down at the cat. He wasn’t asleep, but she could tell that the sedative had knocked him for a loop, probably because he was already weak from the blood loss. Stroking him, she watched Bobby as he shaved the area, deadened it, and then began to fish around in the hole for the bullet. The cat tensed, but allowed her to hold him still. She was feeling woozy and downright sick to her stomach by the time Bobby extracted the bullet, cleansed the wound and pulled out another bottle. “What’s that?” “Antibiotics. I’m guessing he must be somewhere between two and three hundred pounds, but it’s just guess. I don’t know how much good it’ll do him. I’ll give you a bottle to dose him with,” he said absently as he injected the panther with the medicine and then placed a couple of sutures in it to close the wound, which was still bleeding sluggishly. When he’d finished, he tossed his supplies back into his bag. “I’ll bill you,” he said shortly, pushing himself up and leaving the building with the air of somebody shaking the dust. Alaina stared after him speculatively. “Asshole,” she muttered, looking down at the cat and stroking him. “He’s going to go straight to animal control. If there’s one thing I’ve learned to count on with Bobby, it’s that he can always be counted on to be a total jerk about everything.” Chapter Three Taking the panther into her house was probably one of the worst ideas she’d ever had, but Alaina knew she couldn’t watch him and keep him safe in the shed. She lifted the cat’s head and stared into his eyes, trying to determine how alert he was. “There is no way I can carry you. I doubt I could even lift your head if you weren’t helping. How am I going to get you inside where it’s safe?” The cat stared at her a long moment and finally began to struggle to get to his feet. Stunned, Alaina merely watched him for several moments. Finally, realizing he was getting up, she decided to try to lead him into the house. He hobbled, lurching forward and pausing to get his balance, but he followed her. As soon as they were inside the kitchen, Alaina locked the door and settled the throw in one corner for him to lie on. Leaving him in the kitchen, she went to check to make certain she had put the deadbolt on the front door. When she returned, the panther was lying flat out on his side on top of the throw. A jolt went through her. Moving to him, she watched his chest uneasily for several moments and finally stroked a hand over him soothingly. “You’ll be all right. I’ll take the best care you. I promise.” When she’d filled a bowl with water and set it close enough he could reach it without having to get up, she flicked the kitchen light off and trudged through the house turning off lights and checking the doors and windows. Finally satisfied, she went into her bedroom, kicked off her flip flops and peeled her jeans off, crawling into her bed and collapsing with exhaustion. She roused slightly some time later when she felt the bed dip. A few moments later a warm body curled up next to her. Sighing, she snuggled closer to the warmth and drifted away again. An authoritative hammering on her front door woke her from a deep sleep. Lifting her head with an effort, Alaina pried her eyes open and stared at the clock. It was about a quarter after ten. Closing her eyes again, she dropped her head back onto her pillow, willing whoever it was at her door to go away. It was Saturday, damn it! She didn’t have to work and she sure as hell wasn’t getting up. Movement beside her drew her attention and she rolled her head and found herself looking nose to nose with the panther. Her eyes widened. Frowning, she pushed herself upright. “What are you doing

in my bed?” she demanded. “Crazy cat!” she muttered, rolling off the bed when the hammering commenced again. Stumbling drunkenly from the little sleep she’d had the night before, she wove her way toward the door. “Who is it?” she yelled angrily. “Animal control.” Anger surged through Alaina. “What do you want?” “Can you open the door so we can talk, ma’am?” “No I can’t open the fucking door!” she snapped. “I’m not dressed. I was trying to get some fucking sleep. I was up half the night because the morons next door were running around with their little guns trying to shoot anything that moved!” Silence greeted that. “We had a report that there was a wild cat out here.” “Dickhead,” Alaina muttered under her breath. She’d known that asshole was going to report it. “Guess you should look around then,” she said. Turning, she headed back to her bedroom. The panther, she saw, eyeing him with disfavor, had taken up more than half the bed. After glaring at him for several minutes, she shrugged and climbed into the bed again. “If you’ve got fleas,” she muttered around a huge yawn, “you and I are going to have a little talk.” She’d almost managed to doze off again when the hammering on her door recommenced. “Damn it to hell!” she yelled, scrambling off the bed, stalking toward the front door and yanking it open. “What do you want now?” It was Sheriff Wilson. His eyes widened fractionally as she blasted him with her temper. “Feeling better?” he asked after a moment. “I thought I’d stop by and talk to you about the incident last night.” “I thought you were the animal control people,” Alaina said, embarrassed. “What do you want to talk about now? I filed the report. You dismissed it. I’m tired. I want to get some sleep.” His eyes narrowed. “The animal control people spotted some animal tracks around the house. Looked like a pretty big cat.” “And this concerns me how?” “They’re in your yard.” “I live in the country. Animals wander around. They don’t know they’re supposed to stay in the woods.” “Can I come in?” Alaina’s eyes narrowed. “Not unless you’ve got a warrant. I just told you I was trying to get some sleep. I was up half the night dodging bullets.” He studied her suspiciously for several moments and finally nodded. “I’ll drop back by later.” Alaina closed the door and locked it. “Fucking asshole. Won’t arrest those bastards for shooting up the place, but he can hassle me!” Realizing there was no point in trying to get back to sleep, Alaina trudged back into her bedroom and headed for the bathroom, peeling off her t-shirt and panties as she went and dropping them onto the floor. The panther, she saw when she glanced toward the bed, was watching her from beneath hooded lids. “They’re gone--for now anyway.” Going into the bathroom, she closed the door and took care of her morning ritual. She was standing at the sink brushing her teeth when she noticed the door knob turn. Her heart skipped a beat. She was frowning at it when the door opened and the panther stuck his head inside. Rinsing her mouth, she shook her head at him. “Inquisitive, aren’t you? Smart as hell, too. I knew you were somebody’s pet.” Placing her toothbrush in the holder, she moved to the shower and bent down to adjust the water. The panther rubbed against her bare ass, nudging her hard enough she almost fell into the shower. Sending him a glare over her shoulder, she squatted down and flicked water at him. He blinked, but he didn’t seem to particularly care. Shrugging mentally, Alaina switched from tub to shower and climbed in, reminding herself he

wasn’t a house cat, as much as he acted like one. Apparently panthers weren’t as ‘allergic’ to water as a house cat. Or maybe he was just used to it? That thought reminded her of her anxiety about fleas. He was bound to have picked some up living in the woods. She wondered if he’d been struggling to survive long and how he’d ended up out here anyway. Had he run away? Or had his owners decided he was more than they bargained for and decided to ‘set him free’? Or maybe they’d just, somehow, lost him? She discovered when she’d rinsed the soap off that the panther had nudged the shower curtain aside and stuck his head in to watch her. “You’re getting the floor wet,” she said in mild annoyance. “You are curious, aren’t you?” He was probably lonely, she realized after a few moments. If he was used to being around people and getting attention, he must have been miserable out in the wild by himself. Stepping out of the shower, she crouched down in front of him, catching his face in her hands. “Poor darling. As much as I hate to agree with the animal rights nuts, it’s criminally stupid to tame a wild animal and then expect them to get along in the wild.” He pulled loose from her hold and nudged his head against her chest. Fortunately, her back was against the tub wall. The push was still hard enough she fell back and had to grab for a hold to keep from falling on the floor as he nuzzled all over her breasts and then began to lick her. She was too stunned to react at first, but as he dragged his rough tongue over her breasts more enthusiastically and she felt her body react to the pleasurable sensations, she caught his head again. “Stop that you pervert!” she said with a shaky chuckle. “I bathed already. I don’t need you to bathe me.” His eyes were half closed as he looked up at her and a faint uneasiness moved over her. It hadn’t occurred to her to check to see what gender the animal was. She’d been calling the panther a ‘him’ because he was just so massive her mind had just immediately identified that powerful build with ‘male’. Pushing him away, she peered at his back side as he sauntered off and sprawled on the floor, flicking his tail and giving her that narrowed glare he’d bent on her when she pushed him away. Balls. And if that wasn’t indication enough, he leaned down to groom his wounded hip and she got a good look at the rest of his equipment. They hadn’t had him fixed! God! Had he gotten some idea in that cat brain of his that he’d found a mate? Shrugging the thought off, she pushed to her feet, grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself. He followed her back into the bedroom. Climbing onto the bed, he sprawled out watching her while she dressed. Trying to shake the uneasiness that he had some notion that she was prime pussy, she dressed as quickly as she could. “Hungry?” His head came up. It was almost unnerving the way he seemed to understand her when she talked to him. He followed her into the kitchen and lay down on the throw in the corner while she examined the contents of her refrigerator. Except for a half a pack of ground beef, she didn’t see anything that was likely to appeal to the panther. Shrugging, she took that out, looked around for a plate and dumped the raw meat out. He swallowed it in two gulps, and sat licking his lips and watching her. Dismayed, Alaina moved back to the refrigerator for another look and finally checked the freezer. She hadn’t bought groceries yet, though, and the freezer was almost as bare as the refrigerator. There was a small roast. She’d bought it with the thought that she could make several meals off it, roast beef and then stew. Shrugging, she stuck the package in the microwave and set it to thaw and fixed herself a cup of coffee and a piece of toast while she waited, stopping the microwave every few minutes to flip the package so it would thaw evenly. “I should think up a name for you,” she said, studying him meditatively. His brows drew together in a puzzled frown--she thought that was what it was anyway. “Blacky?”

His eyes narrowed. He flicked his tail. She pursed her lips. “You’re black as soot. I can’t very well call you snowball. And you don’t look like a ‘fluffy’. How about Ralphie?” she asked teasingly. To her surprise, he got up and moved toward her. Trying to decide whether it was because she had called him Ralph or because the microwave let out a ding at just that moment, she pulled the package out and unwrapped the meat. “I am not feeding you from my hand!” she said decisively, crossing the kitchen and dropping the roast on the plate that had held the ground beef. “I’m not sure you can tell the difference between edible and my hand!” she added, turning to peer out the kitchen curtains as soon as she’d put the meat down. There were men, she discovered, in her yard. Men with guns. “Shit!” She looked down at the panther, who’d already wolfed down the roast and had settled back on his haunches, licking his lips. “Where the hell am I going to hide you?” Assuming he would even cooperate with an attempt to hide him, he was huge. Sitting up, his head was breast high to her. And the house was tiny. There weren’t a lot of places to hide anything. “Come on,” she commanded him, striding purposefully toward her bedroom again. Getting down on her hands and knees, she examined the space under the bed. The bed was only a few inches off the floor, though. She doubted the panther could squeeze under. He seemed to agree with her. He’d hunkered down to examine the space, too, and when she glanced at him, he looked at her quizzically. Pushing to her feet, she moved to the closet. The floor was as full as the rest of it, but she shuffled boxes around and stacked them until she’d cleared a space big enough, she thought, for him to stand in. He wouldn’t be able to lie down, but she didn’t think she needed to hide him long. “Get in! And be quiet while I get rid of them.” He just looked at her. After a moment, though, he moved into the closet, turned around a couple of times and finally sat down. She put her fingers to her lips. “Shhh! Just be quiet, ok? I’ll let you out in a few minutes.” She closed the door firmly, but she doubted that would keep him in if he wanted to get out. He knew how to open doors. Hoping he would stay put, she headed to the kitchen again and went out, closing the door behind her. “What are y’all doing here?” she demanded. Bobby, she discovered, was one of the men wandering around her backyard and fury surged through her. He looked up when she yelled and started toward her briskly. “Where’s the panther?” he demanded tightly as he neared her. She glared at him. “Why do you want to know?” He pushed past her and grabbed the door knob. They tussled briefly, but he shoved her out of his way and went in. “You son-of-a-bitch!” Alaina exclaimed in outrage. “How dare you walk into my house like you own it!” “Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to bring that thing inside!” Alaina ground her teeth, grabbing at his arm. “Get out of my house! Right now, Bobby Culpepper!” He shook her off. “This is just a tranquilizer gun. I’m just going to take him to animal control so they can hold him until we find out who he belongs to.” “I’m going to call Hank if you don’t get out!” Alaina threatened, shoving past him and trying to block his way. “Go ahead. I already told him about the panther. He’ll support me on this. You can’t let dangerous animals roam loose. He’ll kill somebody. He already attacked some guy over there on the hunting reservation.” Doubt jolted through Alaina in a wave of cold, but in the next moment she dismissed it. “You’re lying or they’re lying! You saw him. The only blood on him was his!”

He ignored that, pushing past her again. They waltzed through the house with Alaina trying to block him and Bobby thrusting her out of his way and proceeding to search as if she wasn’t even there. Giving up after a moment, she headed to her bedroom and slammed and locked the door. “I mean it, Bobby!” she yelled through the door. “Get out or I’m going to call Hank and tell him you assaulted me again!” “I was drunk!” he growled. “You know I didn’t mean to. I told you I was sorry as hell about it. Now open the damned door!” “Get out of my house!” she screamed at him. He hit the door. She wasn’t certain of whether it was with his shoulder or if he was kicking at it, but she screamed with a mixture of fear and rage, looking for something to shove in front of the door. The door caved in, slamming back against the wall and rebounding. Bobby grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her off the floor, tossing her toward the bed. Fortunately, she landed on it. He glared around at the room and finally strode to the bathroom and peered inside cautiously. “Get out!” Alaina snapped angrily, trying to refrain from glancing at the closet. For all the good it did! After looking around the room, Bobby stepped toward it and grasped the knob. Alaina held her breath. Moving behind the door, Bobby opened it slowly. When nothing happened, he pushed the door closed again. “Where is it?” he asked turning to look at her again. “He was in the shed,” Alaina said tightly. “If he isn’t in there now, I don’t know where he is.” He cursed. “Do you have any idea how much one of those things goes for?” Alaina gaped at him in outrage. “That’s why you were looking for him? You son-of-a-bitch! You thought you could just march in here and take him and sell him? What the hell do you think gives you the right to come here like you own this house? Like you own me?” His eyes narrowed. With a strenuous effort, he regained control of his anger, or most of it. She could see he had only tamped it, however. His eyes still glittered with suppressed rage. “Who says I don’t own you, baby?” he murmured in an attempt to sound provocative as he moved toward her, setting his gun down on the floor and leaning the barrel on the edge of the bed. “There is the little matter of what you owe me from last night.” Alaina pressed her lips together in anger. “Which I told you I’d pay for!” He grinned. “We can take it out in trade,” he said, surging toward her abruptly and pinning her on her back on the bed. “Like hell!” Alaina growled, struggling to yank her hands from his grip. A low growl emerged from the vicinity of the closet. Bobby froze. Slowly, he turned his head to look back at the door of the closet. Chapter Four The panther was standing in the opening, crouched to spring, his golden eyes narrowed to little more than slits. A shiver went through Alaina. “Get off me, you bastard!” Alaina muttered through gritted teeth. Without taking his eyes off of the panther, Bobby slipped slowly and carefully onto the mattress beside her. The moment he did, Alaina sat up, grabbed the gun he had left by the bed and jumped between him and the panther. “Now,” she said, pointing the barrel at him. “Get out! And get off my property and don’t come back!” He studied her a long moment. “That’s a tranquilizer gun.” Alaina narrowed her eyes at him. “The cat’s hungry. Maybe I’ll just sedate you and let him chew your head off?” He eased himself into a sitting position. “That thing’s dangerous, you stupid bitch!” “Don’t call me stupid! I’m not the one looking down the barrel of my own gun.”

His eyes narrowed, but when he looked down he saw that the panther had moved to stand beside Alaina. “Shoot him, damn it!” Alaina gave him a look. “I’d rather shoot you.” She dropped a hand to the panther’s head. “Be a good boy, Ralphie. You don’t want to eat him. He’s nasty. You’d probably catch something.” Bobby stared at the cat nervously. “He’ll pounce the minute I try to get up.” “Not if you don’t try anything stupid, Stupid. Just get up slowly, and leave. And take your friends with you.” After staring at her and the panther for several moments, Bobby finally eased off the bed and straightened. The panther uttered a low, rumbling growl. Bobby’s eyes widened. With great care, he backed toward the door. Alaina followed him. The panther kept step with her. Reaching the kitchen, Bobby pushed the screen door open and backed out. Alaina followed him, grabbing the door and shutting it in his face and locking it. She pushed the curtain aside, watching as Bobby turned finally and stalked furiously across the yard, yelling at the men he’d brought with him and gesturing toward his truck. When the men had piled in and Bobby peeled off, throwing dirt and gravel into the air, she finally relaxed. Actually, she discovered she was shaking so badly, and so weak in the knees, that she wilted to the floor. Covering her face with her hands, she fought the urge to burst into tears. She felt the panther nudging at her hands and lowered them to look at him. “You were so good!” she murmured shakily, looping her arms around his neck and hugging him. “You shouldn’t have done it, though. I could have managed. Now he knows you’re here. And I don’t know how I’m going to protect you.” The panther studied her for several moments and finally lay down, dropping his head into her lap. She stroked him, wondering what she was going to do. He was so sweet! She didn’t want anything to happen to him. But now that Bobby wanted him, and knew he was in her house, she knew he wasn’t going to give up easily. She’d known it was a really bad idea to call him! He had acted as if he owned her since they had started dating several years earlier. It didn’t matter that they’d broken up--actually several times--the last time for good as far as she was concerned. He’d even started seeing other women, but the moment she showed any interest in another man, he became extremely, aggressively territorial. She hadn’t even managed to have one date with a guy since him. He always found out, and he always picked a fight with the guy and she just wasn’t that appealing. Nobody wanted her badly enough to deal with her ex. Obviously, from his most recent, outrageous behavior, he was still laboring under the impression that he owned her. Ralphie wasn’t safe in her house. And he wouldn’t be any safer if she sent him into the woods--assuming she even could. The neighbor wanted him, too. Between Bobby, Mr. Calhoun, the sheriff and the animal control people, they would be tracking him with dogs and either kill him or shoot him up with tranqs and dispose of him in a zoo--or worse. He was better, seemed to be getting around amazingly well considering Bobby had just dug a bullet out of him the night before, but she knew he had to be a long way from regaining all of his strength and his agility. She was miles from town. Even if she could depend on Hank flying out to help if she called him, it would take him a while to get to her. Bobby could do pretty much anything he damned well pleased and be gone long before any cops arrived. “I’ll think of something,” she muttered to herself after a few minutes. “But I’m going to have to go into town. There’s hardly any food in the house--nothing for you.” It made her uneasy to think about leaving him, but she finally decided that Bobby had been pissed off enough, and scared enough of the panther, that he wasn’t likely to come back any time soon, particularly since she had his tranq gun. “Fencing,” she decided, pushing the cat off her lap and getting to her feet. “I’ll get posts and barbed wire and run a couple of strands to keep the hunters from ‘accidentally’ straying onto my

property, which should also keep me out of their range, and some posted signs.” She frowned. “I’ll have to see if I can find somebody to do the fence, though. Or at least help me. I guess it’s only a matter of digging holes and sticking the posts in, but that would be a lot of holes.” **** Raphael watched the tail end of Alaina’s car disappear with a mixture of irritation and amusement. Most of the irritation was directed at himself for giving himself away when he was still too weak to put up much of a fight and needed to lay low. The bulk of his anger, though, was for not acting sooner. He’d wavered too long trying to make up his mind whether to interfere or not and it infuriated him that he had. The bastard had scared the hell out of Alaina. He was pretty sure that was all, but he didn’t like that. She hadn’t spoken as if she was afraid of the guy. She had spoken of Bobby as if she held him in contempt which had led him to the erroneous conclusion that Alaina was in no real danger---until the son-of-a-bitch had decided to rape her. His anger surged upward again at the thought, but he tamped it, trying to assess his situation. It wasn’t good. He’d felt himself shifting even as he’d collapsed in relief on the floor of Alaina’s shed, but he’d been too weak and in too much pain to give a great deal of thought as to whether he would be worse off or better off discovered in that form. He’d hoped he wouldn’t be discovered at all, that the hunters chasing him would think twice about chasing him right up to her door--unless she was a part of what was going on on the adjoining property. He hadn’t believed she was, but he had entertained enough doubt to keep his distance. Unless she was putting on a hell of a show for some reason that escaped him, it seemed pretty evident now that she was not affiliated with them in any way. Which meant he had put her in danger by coming to her place. And that was now compounded by her ex-boyfriend’s interest in capturing him. He’d dragged her into the middle of his war party. He had to think of a way to protect her. That thought brought back a flicker of the amusement that had filled him as he watched her leave. Wounded or not, he was far more capable of protecting himself, and her, than she was, but she was fiercely protective. He liked that about her. It was just one more thing that made her even more desirable. He couldn’t let her determination to protect him get her killed, he thought in the next moment. As much as he had enjoyed the liberties his current form had allowed him--and he had thoroughly enjoyed it--‘Ralph’ was going to have to play least in sight. It occurred to him after a moment that she might have given him the perfect opportunity to stay close, protect her, and be less of a threat at the same time. She meant to look for someone to work for her. All he had to do was figure out how to be in the right place at the right time--and be convincing. Leaving the window, he went into her room. Shifting was more of an ordeal that usual. He hadn’t realized how weak he still was until he tried it and he discovered that he had to rest afterwards and wait for the fiery pain in his thigh to subside. When he’d caught his breath, he limped to her closet and opened the door. He’d smelled the man when she’d told him to get inside. It had thoroughly pissed him off when he discovered it. It still pissed him off, but there was no denying that it was convenient, whatever reasons she had for still having them. It only took him a few moments to find what he was looking for. Bobby was roughly his size, slightly shorter, but his legs were long in proportion to his torso and Raphael discovered the jeans were a reasonably good fit--a little snug, but he could live with it. He was a good bit broader across the shoulders, in his upper arms and his chest than Bobby, and his arms and torso were longer. The cotton shirts were a bust. Dragging out a t-shirt, he pulled that on. Seams popped

when he shrugged into it and the sleeves felt like they were cutting off his circulation, but he pulled on it until it ceased to cord him. There was no belt, but the jeans were snug enough he didn’t see that as a problem. The boots he found with the clothes didn’t come close to fitting. Irritated, he gave up and flung them back into the closet. He had moccasins, but they were in the boot of his bike and his motorcycle was hidden deep in the woods. He didn’t have time to retrieve anything and still meet up with her in town. There was a cowboy hat. He eyed it for several moments and finally decided it looked like something a farm boy would wear. Unfortunately, it also looked like Alaina had taken out her frustrations on it. Shrugging, he shaped it with his hands the best he could and moved to her mirror to check the results. After some consideration, he pulled the hat off, tossed it onto her bed and gathered his long, black hair in his fist, looking around for one of Alaina’s stretchy hair bands. When he found one, he twisted it around his hair at the base of his skull and then placed the hat on his head again. Deciding he looked a little more reputable, he left the house and headed toward the main road. He’d been following the ribbon of asphalt for nearly thirty minutes when a car passed him, slowed, and then pulled off on the side of the road. He eyed it suspiciously as he approached it. The window came down as he drew even with the front of the car. “What happened to your boots, cowboy?” asked a feminine voice from the car. He bent down to look into the window. The woman driving looked to be about eighteen, which was probably why she thought it was a good idea to pull over and offer a ride to a stranger, Raphael thought wryly. He favored her with a slow grin. “I didn’t have time to grab them before I went out the window,” he said easily. Her face slackened with surprise and then she giggled. “Want a lift?” “Sure you trust me?” She looked him over in a frankly appreciative way, focusing on his crotch for several moments. “Baby, I can see you’re packing, but that don’t scare me none.” Chapter Five “I’ll be with you in a minute,” the clerk said, looking at someone over Alaina’s shoulder. Glancing idly over her shoulder to see who he was talking to, she saw there was a man standing directly behind her. The t-shirt he was wearing fit him like a second skin and the skin was lovely to behold. Without conscious volition, her gaze followed the hard, rolling hills downward. She caught a glimpse of swarthy skin between the hem of his t-shirt and his low riding jeans and dark hair arrowing downward from his belly button to form the beginnings of a happy trail. The package at the end of the happy trail, cupped snuggly by his jeans, sent a little jolt through her. It had been a while since she had seen a man built that impressively. Embarrassed when she realized she’d stared too long for it to be considered a mere glance, she faced the clerk again. “No problem. I was looking for work.” His voice was deep and gravelly and heavily accented, although she couldn’t place the accent. It sent a quiver of awareness through Alaina and she glanced back again, this time lifting her head from the broad, muscular chest to the swarthy face above it. A shockwave went through her like a jolt of electricity when she met his golden eyed gaze. He was wearing a battered cowboy hat pulled low on his forehead and she couldn’t see his hair, but she didn’t need to to guess his race. The exotic almond shape of his deep set eyes, the high, well defined cheek bones, the sharply angular nose and the hard, thin lipped mouth were pure American Indian. Feeling her face redden, she curled her lips in a polite smile and turned to the store clerk again.

“Can you run a fork lift?” Alaina blinked at the man, all at sea, and then realized he was talking to the stranger behind her. “Sure.” “They could probably use you in the yard. Sorry ma’am.” Blinking again, distracted because she was listening for the man behind her to leave and heard nothing, she merely nodded and glanced around again. He was barefooted, she saw as he sauntered toward the back of the building supply store. He looked good from the back, too, she thought musingly as she scanned him from head to toe, taking in the long, black pony tail that hung almost to his shoulder blades, the broad muscular back, his lean hips. Mesmerized by the movement of his hips, it was a moment before she finished her survey. Frowning slightly when she noticed he was favoring one leg, she wondered if he’d hurt his foot or if it was his leg that was injured. “Ma’am?” “Hmmm?” she asked absently. “Tomorrow morning ok?” The man disappeared out the back of the building. Alaina blinked, turning to look at the clerk blankly. “Tomorrow morning?” “To deliver the supplies.” “Oh. Sure. That’d be great actually. The sooner the better. You wouldn’t happen to know of anybody looking for work that would know how to put up fence?” He pointed her to a pail sitting on the counter that had a handful of business cards lying in the bottom and asked her for directions to her place. “It’s the McKinley place,” she responded absently. “Out by the Hunting Club?” The man nodded. “Got it.” Nodding, Alaina turned to head out of the store, trying to jog her mind for what she had intended to get at the grocery store. She paused just outside, digging around for her keys. When she finally found them and looked up, she noticed the ‘cowboy’ come around the end of the building. Taking up a position there, he propped is broad shoulders against the wall, crossed his long legs and folded his arms over his chest. The muscles in his arms bulged. Alaina’s belly clenched. Her car was parked just beyond him. She was going to have to walk by him and try to pretend she was completely unaware of him. She didn’t think she could pull that off. Maybe she could just glance at him and smile politely? She’d probably trip and fall off the walk. God what a gorgeous hunk a hunk!” Dragging in a deep breath, she headed down the walk that fronted the supply store. He glanced toward her, studying her unabashedly. Her heart tripped over itself, racing and sputtering like a defective car engine that was threatening to shut off. By the time she neared him, she was beginning to feel downright lightheaded. She managed to nod and smile politely as she passed him. Feeling weak and shaky from the ordeal, as she gripped her keys and headed toward her car several thoughts collided in her mind at once. It had been a long, long time--in fact never--since she’d seen a man that had that profound an effect on her. He was looking for work and by happy circumstance she needed somebody. He was stranger. She’d never seen him before and, if he was passing through, she wasn’t going to get the chance to find out if the magnetism was mutual, or maybe even just a fluke. If he couldn’t get work, it was for damned sure he was going to be passing through. She paused when she had her car door open, looking up at him. “No luck?” He turned his head to look at her questioningly.

“I heard you tell the guy inside you were looking for work.” He shrugged. “They said they could probably hire me on in a couple of weeks.” “So. In the meantime?” He seemed to consider it. Slowly, a wry grin dawned. “Loafing.” Alaina felt herself respond to that smile. Inside, she warmed. “I’m not just being nosey. I was looking for somebody to do some fencing for me. You know how?” “You got the equipment?” Alaina blinked. “Equipment?” she echoed. She thought she’d just bought what she needed. He pushed away from the wall and sauntered down the steps to the parking lot level. “A tractor with a post hole digger and something to pull the wire or fencing unless you want it sagging all to hell and gone.” Alaina frowned. “I could probably rent it. I’ve got an old tractor, but it hasn’t been out of the barn since my father died.” He leaned on the hood of her car. “I could have a look at your tractor and see if I could get it going.” Surprised, Alaina’s brows rose a fraction. “You’re a man of many talents then?” she said teasingly. His grin this time nearly bowled her over. “A few.” The jolt of awareness seemed to jog her mind and it dawned on her abruptly that she was just, mostly, standing around flirting when she had meant to rush through the chores in town and get back to her place. “I could use you if you’re interested.” “When will they be delivering the materials?” “In the morning.” He nodded. “I could come out now and check out the tractor.” Alaina bit her lip. “I was headed to the grocery store.” She glanced around, realizing abruptly that he seemed to be waiting. “You waiting for a ride?” He shrugged. “Mostly just trying to decide what to do next.” She frowned. “I really need to pick up some things at the grocery store before I go back.” Again, he shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. “I’ll hitch a ride to your place, then, in the morning. You want to give me directions?” Alaina sighed. “I really want to get that fence up. If you don’t have anything else to do and you don’t mind waiting, I’ll grab some things and take you out to look at the tractor. Then, if you needed parts or something, I might be able to get them this afternoon.” “Sounds like a plan.” He pushed away from the hood of the car and moved around to the passenger door. Alaina watched him, wondering if she’d lost her mind. He was drop dead gorgeous, but she didn’t know a thing about him. It occurred to her, though, after a moment that Ralph hadn’t let Bobby hurt her. She didn’t think she really had to worry about anything like that as long as he was around. Smiling more easily, she depressed the unlock button and climbed into her car. He had a little trouble folding his six foot plus frame into her economy car. The ceiling knocked his hat askew. Frowning, he took it off, revealing a thick head of blue black hair. Alaina looked at him a little wide eyed. Up until that moment, she hadn’t really realized just how big the guy was. He was muscular, but he was so tall she’d been thinking in terms of long and lean. Up close and personal, he looked less long and lean than just plain huge. “There’s a lever under the seat if you want to slide it back some.” He had to get out again to reach it. When he’d slid the seat all the way back, he climbed in again. “Where are you from?” she asked as she backed the car out of the parking space. “Argentina.” Alaina sent him a startled look.

He smiled faintly. “You thought I was Mexican?” “It hadn’t actually occurred to me you might be. I thought you were American Indian.” He looked surprised. “Most people here assume if you have an accent and look like I do that you’re Mexican. I am Indian. South American Indian--mostly.” Alaina reddened. It was the curse of the very fair skinned to show the least discomfort by lighting up like a Christmas tree. “I’m Alaina McKinley,” she said, taking one hand off the wheel as she braked at the street and extending it. He engulfed her hand in his dark one. “Raphael Doucette.” Alaina puzzled over that as she pulled out into traffic. “That doesn’t sound Spanish.” “Because it’s French?” “Oh.” Alaina tried not to feel snubbed, but there was no getting around the fact that it dampened her curiosity. She was relieved when she pulled into the parking lot of the grocery store. After driving around, she discovered a parking spot with a little shade and pulled into it. “I’ll be as quick as I can,” she said as she got out, wondering if she would discover he’d hot wired her car and taken off when she got back with her groceries. “No problem,” he murmured, tipping her seat back and placing his cowboy hat over his face. Alaina was in a sweat by the time she got to the check out counter from having raced up and down the aisles tossing things into her shopping cart. The butcher was kind enough to gather up some of the ‘trims’ from the back for her so she hadn’t had to buy quite as much as she’d thought she would need. She could see, though, that Ralphie was going to be an expensive pet--not that she meant to keep him. Thinking of him put her in mind of pet supplies, though, and she dashed down that aisle, as well. Contrary to his relaxed pose, which had led Alaina to believe he intended to nap while she was in the store, Raphael climbed out of the car and met her and the bag boy at the trunk. The bag boy sent a startled look at him and then carefully refrained from looking at him again, tossing the bags a little haphazardly into the trunk until Raphael grabbed one he’d just picked up and gave him a look. Turning a sickly hue, he handed the bags to Raphael there after. He looked relieved when he’d emptied the buggy. “Have a nice day!” Alaina glanced from the retreating bag boy to Raphael speculatively, realizing Raphael’s intimidation factor must be around a ten on a scale of one to ten--always assuming he had that general effect on other men. If he did, then there was going to be an added benefit to having him working around her place--besides the eye candy. And the work. “How did you get all the way up here if you’re from Argentina?” Alaina asked curiously. They were half way home and she’d grown increasingly uncomfortable with the silence since it seemed to leave way too much room for her awareness of the snug fit of his jeans and t-shirt. And the dark happy trail just peeking above the waist of his jeans. He slid a look in her direction. “I flew,” he drawled. “They have cars down there, too, paved roads, cities.” Touchy. Alaina cleared her throat. “You speak English well. Been in the U.S. long?” “A while. I also speak Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Araucanian.” Either he was just naturally reticent or he didn’t like her prying. She wasn’t certain which, but she decided to persevere. “But what brought you to this backwater place?” He shrugged, turned to stare out the window on his side of the car. “Katrina,” he said succinctly after a significant pause. “Oh! God! You were there?” He didn’t say anything. Obviously, he didn’t want to talk about it. And who could blame him? He’d probably lost every thing he had. A lot of people had. She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “You got a place to stay?”

He turned to look at her speculatively. “You offering?” Alaina reddened. She’d forgotten all about her ‘pet’. On the other hand, if Ralphie was determined to sleep in her room, and take up most of the bed, she thought she would probably be safe enough offering her spare room. “I’ve got a room,” he murmured, letting her off the hook. She let it drop, turning off the highway and onto the narrow track that led back to her house. She saw when she had parked the car behind the house that he was looking around the place curiously. “Nice place,” he murmured, getting out. Alaina got out, too, looking around and really seeing the place for the first time in a while. When had it gotten to looking so run down, she wondered? “Guess it’s not much, but I like it,” she said a little defensively. “My folks left it to me.” She saw he’d gone back to the trunk and was waiting for her to pop the lid. “I’ll just get the door first,” she said hurriedly, heading toward the back door. Her stomach clenched when she discovered it wasn’t locked. Forgetting every thing else on the moment, she pushed the door open and rushed down the hall. “Ralph? Ralphie!” There was no sign of the panther and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. “You all right?” Alaina’s head swiveled toward the deep voice with a jerk and she saw that Raphael had come into the kitchen with two armloads of groceries. Trying not to look as distressed as she was, she nodded, trying to remember if Bobby had had a key. She distinctly remembered changing all the locks, though, when she’d managed to throw him out of her house the last time. The door hadn’t been jimmied. It didn’t make her feel relieved, though. “Your boy friend?” Alaina looked at Raphael blankly. “What?” “Ralphie.” She blinked rapidly. “My … uh … cat.” “Maybe he’s under the bed?” Alaina received that suggestion with a good bit of doubt. She was fairly certain Ralphie couldn’t get under her bed if he tried. Trying to shrug off her anxiety, she helped bring in the groceries while she struggled against the sense of doom that was trying to overwhelm her. Leaving the bags for later, she walked Raphael out to the barn, pointed out the tractor and left him abruptly to search the house again. She knew he wasn’t in the house, but she looked anyway. She was fighting the urge to weep by the time she’d finished and had to accept that he was gone. He opened doors without any problem at all. Was it at all possible that he’d also mastered unlocking the door? Had he taken it into his head to go out? She checked all the doors and windows and found that, with the exception of the back door, nothing had been tampered with. Going outside again, she walked around the house, looking for prints--any kind of prints, but there’d been so many men tramping through her yard it was impossible to tell if anyone had been to her house while she was gone. The same was true of the tire tracks. Trying not to think about the possibility that Bobby, or that bastard neighbor of hers, or the animal control had come by while she was gone, she crossed the yard to the edge of the woods, calling to him and then waiting to listen, then calling again. “Here kitty, kitty!” she called finally. Raphael, who’d paused in his examination of the tractor and moved to the door of the barn to watch her, rolled his eyes. Kitty? Christ! Chapter Six Alaina gave up calling for Ralph after a while, certain that something must have happened to him.

Probably someone. She was sorely tempted when she marched back into the house to call Bobby and cuss him for every low down thing she could think of, but that wasn’t going to help and it might hurt. She didn’t know for certain that Ralphie hadn’t just taken off. If he had, and he was deep in the woods, he was fair game for anybody that decided to make a try for him. So she also couldn’t call her neighbor and demand to know if he’d done anything with her cat. She felt like crying when she finally set to work putting up the groceries and pulled out all the things she’d bought for Ralph. Visions of him lying dead in the dirt, or drugged and caged arose in her mind. When she’d put the groceries up, she realized she felt empty, not just depressed, and remembered she hadn’t even finished her toast and coffee that morning. Raphael hadn’t brought anything with him. He was probably hot, thirsty, and hungry by now. Too depressed to consider actually cooking, she looked around for sandwich fixings and made sweet tea, and then went out to the barn to invite Raphael in to eat. He was hot. Alaina was too after she got a good look at him. He’d stripped the t-shirt off. She got a fine view of a nicely muscular back and a very nice arm first, all bulging and rippling from working the wrench he held and gleaming with the moisture of his labors. He had tattoos, some sort of tribal looking emblems. “Are you hungry?” He continued rotating the crescent wrench until he’d tightened whatever it was he was tightening before he finally looked up at her. He didn’t look like he was in a very good mood. “I’m fine.” “I already fixed it.” His straight, thick black brows almost met over the bridge of his nose. “You didn’t have to do that.” Alaina smiled. “Like I could eat thinking about you out here working hungry. It isn’t much. I just fixed some sandwiches.” He glanced down at his hands and then his chest. “I’m dirty.” Alaina chuckled. “Yes, you are, but it’s my dirt. Guess I can live with it.” He still looked reluctant, but finally he put the wrench down and followed her out of the barn. Stopping at the spigot just outside, he made a stab at bathing off. The black grease, he quickly discovered, wasn’t coming off, though. “I’ve got some de-greaser and a towel inside,” Alaina called to him, heading into the house again, partly because she thought he was uncomfortable, but mostly because she was. She’d been so upset about Ralphie she’d put Raphael completely from her mind and it had given her a jolt all over again when she walked up on him and saw how pretty he was. Umm, umm, what a lovely man! She was scrounging under the sink for the de-greaser she’d promised when she heard him wiping his feet on the mat outside. Well trained too! She handed him the cleanser when he stepped inside, turning the sink on for him. While he washed, she took out ice for the tea and filled two glasses. Uncertainty filled her when she looked at the plates she’d set out. A sandwich was plenty for her, but he was a big man, and muscular. He’d probably down the sandwich in a couple of bites and be looking for more. Salad seemed a bit redundant, given that she’d already put lettuce, pickles and tomatoes on the sandwiches. Soup was good with sandwiches, except that it was a little warm to be thinking about hot soup. Finally, she dragged out a bag of chips, opened it and set it on the table. She could always make him another sandwich if one wasn’t enough.

Hearing him turn off the water, Alaina took her seat and waited. He glanced at her when he’d dried his hands and set the towel aside and pulled out the chair opposite to her. He picked up a wedge of sandwich, examined it for contents and seemed almost to shrug before he bit into it. “How’s it going with the tractor? You think you can get it going?” “Maybe. Too early to tell.” Alaina nodded and focused on her food, unable to think of any other conversational gambits. He had nice manners, she noticed, more because she didn’t notice any bad table habits. Bobby’s table manners had taken some getting used to. He tended to gesture with his food when he was talking, and talk while he was chewing, which was not only disgusting but required a good bit more clean up after meals than it should have. It occurred to her abruptly to wonder if Raphael was married. He hadn’t said anything about a family, but he was a fine looking man and he looked like he must be in his early thirties. It seemed unlikely he hadn’t been married. He wasn’t wearing a ring. She didn’t even see a discoloration that indicated he had worn one before, but that certainly didn’t mean a thing. It didn’t matter either, she told herself irritably. He was working for her. She’d hired him because she needed help, not because she was hoping to get to know him better. Which was just as well, she thought wryly, because he didn’t seem too keen on getting to know her any better, or allowing her to know anything much about him. Or maybe he was being so cool and distant because he was married? “I can fix you another sandwich if that wasn’t enough,” she said when she saw he’d ignored the chips and polished off the sandwich. He shook his head, draining the tea glass. “I’m good. I should get back to work on the tractor. You’ll need to order a rental if I can’t get it going.” Trying not to look as glum as she felt, Alaina nodded. “Just let me know if you need anything.” Nodding, he left. When she’d cleaned up, she stood leaning against the counter trying to think if there was anyway she could find out whether anyone had been to her house and snatched Ralphie. Calling didn’t seem like a good idea. She couldn’t think of any subtle way to question any of them and she hadn’t admitted that she had the panther. Unfortunately, she didn’t know who Bobby was sleeping with at the moment, but if he followed true to form, he was living with the woman. She supposed she could drive by his clinic, but he was rarely there. Most of his ‘patients’ were farm animals, which required house calls. She knew where Calhoun was, though, and he’d been way more interested in her shed than she liked. The gunshot through her living room wall might have been an accident, but it had happened, she was certain, because they’d chased Ralphie onto her property and kept coming. Pushing away from the counter abruptly, she strode down the hall and out the front door. It would’ve been easier to take the car and go by the road, but then they would hear the car coming and it seemed she was less likely to find out what she wanted to know if they had warning of her arrival. She had reached the narrow track that ran along the boundary when she heard the tractor engine churning and then a backfire as it died again. She paused, wondering if she should wait until he was done and she’d taken him back to town. Finally, she decided that he would probably be occupied a while longer and headed down the track, looking for a trail or at least a spot where the underbrush wasn’t quite as thick. She stopped again when she found what she was looking for, listening intently to see if she could hear anyone in the woods. When she didn’t, she headed in, surveying the ground carefully for snakes and then scanning the woods for something she could use as a land mark to help find her way back. Distances could be deceptive in the woods, but she didn’t think the main house was too far from her

own. Despite the fact that she’d picked a fairly clear area to push through, the going was pretty rough for a while, particularly since she was trying to make the least amount of noise she could. She didn’t want them to hear her coming and it was hard to break through thick brush without sounding like an elephant trampling through the bushes. Pausing periodically, she listened. For the most part, the woods were quiet. She’d made enough noise to startle off most of the wildlife--not but what she doubted there was a lot of animals still around. Depending upon the season, they had a hunt almost every weekend. Most likely everything that could, had already headed for less dangerous territory. She could hear twigs snapping around her, though, and little scurrying noises. Hoping it was bunnies and squirrels, not snakes or anything big with big teeth, like wild pigs, she moved steadily in the direction she had determined to be her goal. She had begun to wonder if she’d managed to get herself lost when she spied an area ahead of her that looked a lot clearer. Pausing, she listened again when she heard an engine. It sounded like a truck. She stood perfectly still, wondering if the sound was coming from her place or the neighbor’s. It was impossible to tell. Sound had a way of bouncing from tree to tree in the woods. Finally, she decided that she was far closer to Calhoun’s place than her own and she might as well proceed. A few minutes later she heard men’s voices. Her heart did a little double step as it occurred to her to wonder if she’d managed to get right up on a hunting party that was about to burst through the woods with guns blazing. She wasn’t even wearing one of those hunting vest things. She sure as hell wasn’t going to whirl around and run. She couldn’t think of any surer way to get a bullet in the back if it was hunters. Instead, she forged ahead as quickly as she could. In a few moments, she caught a glimpse of a roof through the trees. The men’s voices were louder. Slowing, she began moving more stealthily until she could see the group of men she could hear. She still wasn’t close enough to pick up much besides the drone of their voices. They were standing beside a large, paneled truck, though, and it looked like they’d just taken some kind of delivery. Alaina frowned, wondering what they would have delivered in such a big truck. After a few moments, she began to pick her way slowly and carefully to a position that would allow her to see the side of the truck, to see if it had a logo. One of the men glanced toward the woods and she froze, wondering if he’d heard her. He returned his attention to the man facing him pretty quickly, however. Still, Alaina hesitated. When she saw one of the men move away from the others and reach for the door handle of the truck, she crouched down. It looked like they were about to move the truck anyway. She decided she might as well wait until they did and then she wouldn’t have to get closer to find out what they were having delivered. Irritation filled her when the man started the truck. Instead of pulling out again, he put the truck in reverse and began backing up. She’d just surged to her feet again when a hand clamped over the whole lower half of her face and an arm clamped around her body just beneath her breasts. Shock rippled through her, freezing the blood in her veins, making her muscles go rigid. It sent her mind scrambling to assess the situation, and identify whoever had grabbed her. She felt the heat of his breath as he leaned close to her ear. “Not a sound,” he said quietly, his voice emerging as a rumbling growl. It took her a moment to realize he’d relaxed his hold on her and was pointing. Following the direction of his finger, she stared blankly at the man standing near the edge of the woods not much more than twenty feet away. As she watched, the man, who’d been watching the truck, turned and scanned the woods. He was holding a gun, and it wasn’t a hunting riffle. Coldness swept over Alaina when she realized how close she’d come to blundering right into the man. The pressure over her mouth eased and she twisted her head to look up at the man that had

grabbed her. A jolt of surprise went through her when she saw it was Raphael. He put a finger to his lips warningly. She nodded, hardly daring to breathe. After a few moments, he moved away from her, sliding a hand down her arm and gripping her hand firmly. Pointing to the ground, he placed one foot carefully and then the other. Uncomprehending at first, she realized fairly quickly that he was indicating that she should step where he stepped. Tense, wondering what in the world was going on, she focused on placing each foot very carefully for what seemed like an endless time. His hand was warm against hers, dwarfed it, but there was something very comforting about his hold on her. It made her feel safe, even though she knew that was absurd. He was unarmed. He led her unerringly through the woods and back onto the track. More than a little surprised, Alaina glanced around before she looked up at him. He was studying her with a mixture of anger and something else she couldn’t quite identify. “What were you doing in the woods?” They both asked the same question at almost the same moment and then stopped and looked at each other in surprise. Alaina looked at him with a mixture of amusement and irritation. “I was looking for my cat.” “I was looking for you--Good thing, too. Whatever they’re doing over there it doesn’t look like they would appreciate you snooping around.” Alaina’s amusement vanished. “I was not snooping!” she disclaimed indignantly and then realized that she had been when he’d come upon her. “I didn’t go to snoop, anyway,” she amended. “If you didn’t go with the intention of spying on them, then why is it that you went straight over there--more or less?” Surprise warred with outrage for several moments. “Were you watching me?” He looked annoyed. “I saw you go into the woods. I need to go into town to pick up some parts.” Alaina frowned. “So--you followed me?” “What’s going on over there anyway?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly. She hadn’t realized he was still holding her hand until he tugged on it, urging her to follow him. Apparently, he became conscious of that fact at about the same moment. He released her hand. “I don’t know. You dragged me away before I got the chance to see.” “Something illegal.” Alaina’s heart skipped a beat with excitement. She’d been too stunned and unnerved to consider the situation, but she knew he was right. They’d had automatic weapons! Drugs! “I should call Hank,” she said, more to herself than him. “Hank who?” She glanced at him. “The sheriff.” He grabbed her hand, drawing her to a halt. “You might want to reconsider that,” he said, his voice tight now with anger. Alaina blinked at him. “But … they’re doing something illegal over there! You said it yourself!” He let out an irritated huff of breath. “Lady, you live right next door. You think they aren’t going to figure out immediately that it was you that called the cops? And what if they manage to hide everything before the cop gets there? Then they know, but he doesn’t have anything to arrest them for.” Fear and dismay filled Alaina as she stared up at him, realizing he was right. She frowned. “Well, I have to do something!” He studied her assessingly for several moments and finally glanced up at the sky. “It’s getting late. Probably too late to get the parts. I’ll see if I can rig it for now and get the tractor going.” “But … what about what’s going on over there?” Alaina asked, following him. “You’re suggesting I just pretend I don’t know something’s going on?”

He shrugged, pausing to study her again. “You don’t know anything. You’re in way over your head, baby. And you aren’t getting paid to risk your neck. Let someone else handle it.” Alaina plunked her hands on her hips, glaring at his back as he sauntered back toward the barn. Easy for him to say! He wasn’t living on the doorstep of the criminals! And how was she to know they’ d stay over there and not bother her! “Well,” she muttered. “I hired you to do the fence, not to tell me what to do!” He paused, turned to slide a narrow eyed glance at her. “You asked. And it’s my opinion they aren’t going to just let it slide if they catch you spying on them, or discover you’ve narced on them.” Her eyes widened. A jolt of fear went through her when it occurred to her abruptly that she had established a pattern of stray bullets hitting her house, because she’d already called Hank out on three separate occasions. If they decided she was a risk, they could probably get away with murdering her and pretending it was just a stray shot that got her! Chapter Seven Alaina watched Raphael as he headed down the track toward the main road. She hadn’t felt comfortable about not giving him a ride back to town, but he’d refused her offer, saying he’d catch a ride. She found it doubtful very many people would be willing to offer him a lift, but if he was that hard headed it wasn’t her problem. It still bothered her. She finally decided she’d give him about an hour and then just head into town for something. If he was still walking, maybe then he’d be willing to let her take him the rest of the way into town. He was not friendly. She couldn’t quite put her finger on what he was besides not like anybody she’d ever known before, but he definitely wasn’t friendly and outgoing. He also wasn’t the least bit shy that she could tell, which one would’ve thought would be the opposite of ‘friendly and outgoing’. He might well have saved her life and she wondered how many men in this day and age might have thought about it, and also been able to carry it off. One out of ten? She hadn’t considered it at the time. She’d been way more shocked to find herself in a bear hug with a hand over her face than she had been at the guard he’d pointed out, mostly because she had been nearly back to her own property before it had fully sunk in that the guy was a guard. Say what he liked, she didn’t feel safe now that she knew the neighbors were up to something illegal. On the other hand, that bastard had shot a hole through her living room wall and hadn’t even gotten arrested. Raphael was right. Most likely all that would happen if she called the sheriff was she would have an accident. Restless, still upset about the disappearance of the panther, she realized she didn’t particularly want to spend another Saturday night alone in front of her TV. Moving away from the window, she headed into her bedroom and began looking through the closet for something suitable for a night out. It wasn’t much of a choice, really. There was only one place in town that qualified as a singles bar and it was pretty low brow. Selecting a pair of jeans and a halter style top she went in to take a shower. An hour later, she left her house reeking of perfume, which she’d dabbed on her wrists, behind her ears and between her breasts--and perfumed cosmetics, perfumed shampoo and perfumed soap. She’d leavened it with scentless deodorant, but it could hardly compete. She had a headache by the time the air conditioner had cooled down the car and decided to drive with the windows down to try to tame the perfume before she got to town. Her hair was going to look like she’d just rolled out of bed, but it was still damp and she figured she could tame it with her brush when she got to the parking lot.

She passed Raphael about half way to town, lounging against a late model sports car that contained a late model blond. She whipped by too fast to get a good look at the girl, but she’d seen her before. It was her neighbor’s daughter and she couldn’t have been more than eighteen at the most. Depression and irritation hit at the same time. She supposed that was why he was so standoffish. She was too old to interest him. Trying to shrug it off, she headed for the bar as planned, but she’d lost most of her enthusiasm before she even parked the car. The place was packed. After locking her car, she had to stand in line for a good fifteen minutes to get inside. The red sports car pulled into the lot while she was standing in line and cruised up and down looking for a parking space. The blond got out alone and headed for the line. Feeling a good bit better, Alaina found once she’d gotten inside that she could at least look around like someone hoping and expecting to have a good time. She was in luck. She spied a friend at a table near the dance floor. Waving back, she held up a finger and headed to the bar first for a drink. She needed something to mellow out and chances were if she waited for a waitress she’d be ready to go home before she got anything. The first sip sent a shudder through her and a wave of dizziness. It was strong and she hadn’ t had a drink in forever. “Girl! Where have you been keeping yourself? I haven’t seen you in a coon’s age!” Alaina smiled wryly and shrugged. “Working--you know how it is.” Marilyn made a face. “Do I ever!” She frowned. “I thought your folks left you in pretty good shape though? I was sorry to hear about the accident.” Alaina nodded. It had been a year and half. She’d come to terms with it, but she still didn’t like to talk about it. “How’ve you been?” Marilyn shrugged. “Can’t complain--Well, I could, but nobody wants to hear it!” she said, grinning. “You still seeing …?” “Nope! How about you?” “No.” “I didn’t think so. He’s here with some barely legal bimbo, by the way.” “Oh shit!” Alaina muttered. “And I was hoping to have a good time.” “She seems pretty possessive herself. I expect there’d be some real fireworks if he tried anything.” Alaina sipped her drink, watching as the dance floor filled. A man came over and asked her if she wanted to dance. Smiling, she shook her head and lifted her drink. “Maybe when I’ve finished my drink?” He glanced at Marilyn, who got up immediately and headed to the dance floor with him. The song was still playing when a hand skated over her bare back and then a man leaned close. “What are you doing here?” A jolt of adrenaline went through Alaina and then anger. “What does it look like I’m doing?” she asked tightly. Bobby moved around the table and sprawled into Marilyn’s chair. “I was just surprised to see you. It’s been a while--and I figured you’d be home guarding the cat.” She wasn’t about to tell him the panther had run off. He’d be out hunting it before day break. She wondered where his girl friend was. She didn’t want to ask, because she knew the conceited jerk would instantly jump to the conclusion that she was jealous, but it made her uneasy to be sitting with him when Marilyn had said the girl was possessive. She didn’t want to get into a fight over a man, at all.

And she sure didn’t want to get into anything over Bobby. “That’s Marilyn’s seat,” she said pointedly. “Weren’t you sitting somewhere else?” He got up abruptly, but he was looking toward the front of the building where the restrooms were so Alaina didn’t make the mistake of thinking it was anything she’d said that had that effect on him. With dread, she turned to look over her shoulder to see if the woman had spotted her with ‘her’ man. Her gaze was snagged by a man coming in the door, however. It was Raphael. He wasn’t looking at her, though. He was looking at Bobby and he didn’t look at all pleased. As his gaze flicked in her direction, Alaina shifted her gaze and found the new love of Bobby’s life coming toward them. Bobby had spotted her first, however, which was why he’d attempted a hasty retreat from Alaina’s vicinity, from the look on her face as she met Alaina’s gaze, not very successfully. They began to argue before Bobby had even reached her. Alaina couldn’t hear them over the loud music and everyone else’s conversation, but the expressions that flickered across the girl’s face were eloquent. Shrugging inwardly when she saw the girl was too occupied chewing Bobby’s ass to confront her, Alaina flicked a glance around to see where Raphael had gotten off to. He hadn’t gotten far. The Calhoun girl was wound around him like an anaconda. So much for thinking they hadn’t hooked up. Undoubtedly Raphael had only gone to bathe and change before rendezvousing with her here. Trying to shrug off the depression that settled over her, Alaina turned her attention to Marilyn again as she returned to the table breathless from the dance, and probably her partner, as well. He settled at the table with them. Recognizing it as the classic ‘breech and sweep’ move, Alaina looked around until she saw his buddy moving in and excused herself. She couldn’t remember the guy’s name, but she recognized him from a previous encounter and the most she could say for him was that he wasn’t as annoying as some of the guys she’d met. All the same, she thought she would be just as entertained with her TV set and she wouldn’t have to try to fend it off at the end of the evening. As luck would have it, she discovered as she headed toward the exit that Raphael and little miss were also headed in that direction. Pretending she hadn’t noticed them, she changed course abruptly and went into the lady’s room. Little miss was at the mirror when she came out of the stall. Surprise and irritation went through her. It was uncanny the way people one least wished to see had a way of always being right where one couldn’t avoid seeing them. If she’d been paranoid, she would’ve thought the little bitch was following her around just to rub her nose in it. Ok, so she was paranoid. The girl flicked her a complacent smile in the mirror. Or maybe she was just admiring her own reflection? “You’re the lady that lives at that little farm next to my Dad’s place, aren’t you?” Alaina pasted a polite smile on her face. “And your dad is?” “Tom Calhoun. I’m Angie.” Alaina nodded. It was the closest thing she could manage to polite at the moment. “I heard there was some problem over at your place the other night?” Tamping the irritation that surfaced at that question, Alaina checked her own reflection in the mirror when she’d finished washing her hands. It wasn’t comforting. She had ten years on little miss, and she was sure she looked it. Cringe. Actually, probably more like fifteen, but who the fuck wanted to count? “Just a little,” she muttered non-committally. “Staying with your dad for the weekend?” Angie grinned. “I’m on break. A couple of weeks, anyway. Assuming I decide to go back to school next quarter.” Alaina was tempted to ask her if that was middle school or kindergarten, but there seemed no sense in pandering to the girl’s ego. She merely smiled and nodded. “I’m ducking out. Ran into my

ex-bastard and I can’t stomach being in the same county with him. It was nice meeting you.” As she had more than half feared, Raphael was waiting outside the ladies room. She made a great show of digging in her pocket book for her keys, though, and managed to walk by him without ‘ seeing’ him. She was pretty adept at avoiding people she didn’t want to talk to by pretending she didn’t notice them and at the moment she didn’t even feel like exchanging inconsequential pleasantries. She’d managed to make it all the way across the parking lot and to her car before Angie and Raphael exited the club. Bobby and his girl friend were having a loud argument a few cars down from hers. This, she thought in irritation, was why she hardly ever went out. There was a lot to be said for boredom when the alternative was high drama. Bobby’s girlfriend flounced into her car and peeled out of the lot about the time Alaina finally managed to find her keys and get her car door open. Nearby, she heard the loud, growling rumble of a motorcycle engine roar to life. The sound caught her attention and she glanced toward it just as Angie swung her tight little bottom onto the seat behind Raphael. Bobby distracted her, striding toward her even as the motorcycle began to pull off. “Hey! How about giving me a ride?” Alaina stared at him in outraged disbelief. “You can not be serious?” He tried for a cajoling smile. “C’mon, Lainie! It’s the least you can do since you pissed my girlfriend off.” She’d just thought she was outraged before. “You pissed your girlfriend off. Catch a cab.” He chuckled. “But it was because I was talking to you. C’mon, baby? Just to my truck? I left it in the clinic parking lot.” Alaina looked him over suspiciously. He’d been drinking pretty heavily, and Bobby on beer was way worse that Bobby straight. He was an asshole when he was stone cold sober. Alcohol only magnified his more unpleasant personality traits and had the added effect of making him think he was the persona of all the world’s greatest lovers rolled into one neat package. Translation: Bobby knew he wasn’t going to get laid if he expected any tail from his girlfriend and he’d decided to give her a try. The alternative was that she would have to be really ugly to run him off, because he was thick anytime and thicker when he was drunk, and then he’d get really nasty. “Just to your truck?” He favored her with a slow grin she knew was supposed to be calculated to melt her heart and set her cagels to clenching in desperate need. “Sure, baby--unless you had something else in mind?” “I didn’t,” she said flatly, favoring him with a tight smile and calculating the odds of getting into her car and locking the door before he could grab her. “I’ll take you to your truck.” As soon as he turned and started toward the rear of the car, she jumped in, slammed the door and locked it, shoving her key into the ignition. By the time he’d made it to the rear, she had the car started. Dropping it into reverse as he rounded the other side, she backed out of the parking space. Stunned by the move, he leapt out of her way, gaping at her as she braked. She managed to get the car in drive before he recovered enough to make a grab for the door handle and shot out of the parking lot. “Fucking cunt!” he yelled at her as she sprayed him with pebbles from the parking lot. She lifted a hand and shot him a bird as she braked at the road. After glancing quickly left and right, she pulled out and headed for home, hoping he was too drunk to hang on to his fury long enough to make it out to her place. She discovered she was shaking from the confrontation and driving way faster than she should. Mentally ordering herself to calm down, she eased off on the gas and unclenched her hands from the steering wheel, flexing her cramped fingers. After a few moments, a giggle escaped her at the memory of Bobby’s expression as she shot out of the parking space. Even the fact that she passed Raphael and his bimbo heading back toward the club didn’t dampen her amusement. She was still chuckling over it when she pulled into her yard and parked the car.

It lightened her mood, but that didn’t outlast another search of the house and the discovery that Ralphie hadn’t reappeared. Locking up, she sat down to watch a little TV, one ear cocked for any sound of a truck. She wasn’t interested in what she was trying to watch, though, and when an hour had passed with no sign that Bobby was going to appear, foaming at the mouth furious because she’d ditched him, she got to thinking about the scraps she’d gotten for Ralphie. Deciding it couldn’t hurt to call him one more time, she went into the kitchen and heaped some of the scraps on a plate. After standing at the back door calling to him for a few minutes, she stepped outside and began to walk around the house. “Ralphie! Here kitty, kitty! I’ve got you some nice beef scraps!” A rustle in the brush just off the yard in the edge of the woods caught her attention. Uneasiness moved through her. “Ralphie?” she called a little weakly. Two glowing eyes appeared in the brush. “Ralphie? Come here kitty! Kitty, kitty? Are you hungry?” Unable to shake the uneasiness that had crept over her, she stood stock still for many moments and finally moved a little closer. “Ralphie?” The cat leapt over the bush he’d been hiding behind and landed at the edge of her lawn. The problem was, this cat was a full grown, home grown, tan panther. Chapter Eight Terror froze Alaina to the spot, the plate of bloody meat scraps still clutched in one hand. It took Alaina several moments even to unfreeze her eyeballs enough to flick them in the direction of the house and try to gauge the distance. Two bounds and the cat would be on her and she wasn’t even sure she could get her legs to cooperate if she tried to run. The cougar let out a low, rumbling growl. Crouched low, she saw it tense, preparing to spring. Alaina let out a blood curdling scream and pitched the place full of scraps at it. The heavy plate caught the cat on the forehead, startling him so that he jumped to one side. The bloody meat caught his attention, however, at least momentarily. Even as Alaina slid a hopeful glance toward the house, though, she saw the cat sniff at the meat and dismiss it. She also saw a black streak heading her way. The panther let out a challenging snarl before he reached her. The cougar jolted, flattened his ears back against his head and issued a counter challenge. They slammed together in a meaty thud, snarling and growling and rolling. As they rolled in her direction, it thawed Alaina’s frozen shock sufficiently that she backed away. She was still too shocked to think clearly, however, her fear for her own safety shifting to a fear for Ralphie as the two huge cats clawed and bit at each other. Backing toward the house, she abruptly remembered Bobby’s gun and whirled and dashed inside. By the time she’d grabbed it and raced to the door again, she saw the two cats had separated. They were circling one another, however, looking for a chance to tangle again. Fearful she’d hit Ralphie if she actually tried to aim the thing, she pointed it just above their heads and pulled the trigger. She hadn’t braced for the recoil and the gun bucked, throwing her off balance so that she staggered back a couple of steps. Both cats froze, hunkering low to the ground. Abruptly, the cougar whirled and charged toward the woods. Ralphie chased him. “Damn it! Ralphie! Come back!” Ignoring her, he chased the other cat, disappearing into the woods, as well. Reaction set in as she stood by the door, listening to the thrashing in the forest. The adrenaline pumping through her abandoned her so suddenly she thought for several moments she was just going to collapse. At least she knew Ralphie hadn’t been captured, she thought shakily, retreating into the house

finally and closing the door. After looking around the room a little vaguely, she sat heavily in a chair. She was holding her face in her hands when she heard the door knob jiggle. Lifting her head, she stared as the knob turned and opened slowly. The panther’s golden eyes flickered over her as if he was checking her for injury and Alaina abruptly burst into tears. Surging out of her seat, she looped her arms around his neck and buried her face against him. He sat on his haunches, nuzzling his head against her, a deep rumbling purr issuing from his chest. “You were so good!” she murmured. “You chased that bad old cat off, didn’t you, sweety!” she said finally, sniffing back her tears and leaning away to look at him. The rumbling purring stopped. He looked back at her through narrowed eyes. “God! I didn’t even think to check to see if you were hurt!” Moving away slightly, she examined him and discovered, to her dismay, that he had blood on his fur. Anger surged through her. “That damn cat bit and clawed the hell out of you!” She stroked his face. “I am so glad you’re all right! I’ve been worried sick about you all day, you bad old cat!” Ignoring the sulking glare he gave her, she got to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get you bathed off so I can see how bad your bobos are. Ok?” Pushing the door shut, she headed toward the bathroom. He was still sitting by the back door glaring at her when she looked around to see if he’d followed her, but as she reached to untie her halter top, his entire attitude changed. His head came up and his eyes went from narrowed slits to wide interest. Getting to his feet, he padded toward her. Satisfied that he meant to follow her instead of taking off out the door again, Alaina dropped the halter top onto the bed and moved to the dresser to find an old t-shirt to wear while she bathed him. When she’d shrugged into it, she unfastened her tight jeans and peeled them off, kicking her sandals off and hopping on first leg and then the other as she removed the jeans and tossed them toward the bed to join the halter top. She discovered when she looked at Ralphie again that his eyes had narrowed. She smiled at him. “Don’t sulk! You didn’t mind the water when I was bathing,” she murmured, heading into the bathroom and turning on the water in the tub. He stopped at the door, watching her suspiciously as she studied the bottle of flea and tick shampoo she’d picked up at the store, wondering if it would be a good idea to use it when he undoubtedly had open wounds. It would probably burn like hell if nothing else. She didn’t see anything on the bottle that said not to use it if there were open cuts, though, and if she had to bathe him in it, the medication was bound to be absorbed through his skin. If he was going to make a habit of sleeping in her bed, he was going to have to be de-fleaed. Shrugging, she leaned down to check the water. Deciding it was a comfortable temperature, she braced her shins against the side of the tub and leaned over to reach the stopper. She’d just managed to grasp it when she felt the heat of his breath on her ass. Before she could jerk up right, he shoved his snout between the cheeks of her ass, and licked her cleft. Even through her panties she felt the heat of his tongue. Yelping, Alaina slipped and went into the tub head first, scrambling to catch her balance on the slick surface. Before she could right herself, he licked her again, this time shoving his tongue beneath the leg of her panties and dragging that hot, rough tongue right down her cleft. Goose bumps erupted all over her as a jolt of sensation shot through her. “Damn it, Ralphie!” she gasped, struggling to hold herself with one arm and swat at him. “Get your nose out of my ass you perverted cat!” Apparently, he liked the taste, though, and he wasn’t giving up easily. He shoved a shoulder between her thighs, throwing her further off balance, forcing her to shift her weight to one leg as he pushed under the other, lifting it from the floor. Her knee buckled, slamming into the side of tub as she tried to wiggle her butt out of his reach, slapping at him. Abruptly, she crumpled into the bottom of the tub with a splash that thoroughly drenched her and the cat. Stunned, trying not to think about the fact that that long, rough tongue had felt better than

anything that had touched her in forty forevers, Alaina merely stared at him blankly for several moments. “God, Ralphie!” she muttered finally. “If you’re hungry, there’s food in the kitchen! If you’re horny, you ’re just going to have to find another cat, damn it!” A shiver of reaction went through her. “Not that you aren’t good, Mr. Man--went right for the sweet spot, didn’t you, you horn dog--cat?” Thoroughly flustered by the experience, she finally gathered herself and struggled up onto her knees, glaring at him accusingly. He sat back on his haunches, licking his lips as he studied her through slumberous golden eyes. “Don’t look at me like that! I’m not that hard up! Guess you weren’t hurt too badly,” she muttered to herself as she swiped at the water that had plastered her clothes to her. Getting up finally, she shoved the stopper into the drain and climbed out of the tub shakily. Her clit was throbbing like a son-of-a-bitch. Trying her best to ignore it, she leaned over the tub and squeezed as much water out of her t-shirt as she could. “Guess I might as well wear it till I get you bathed.” Still shaken, she measured out the flea shampoo and poured some into the water. “Come on Ralphie. Into the tub.” He stared at her, his eyes narrowed again. Replacing the cap, she plunked her hands on her hips. “Don’t be difficult now! You are not sleeping in my bed until you’ve had a bath!” He studied her for several moments and finally climbed into the tub, sniffing the water suspiciously. Feeling weak kneed, Alaina settled beside the tub on her knees and began to wash him, searching him for bites and scratches. To her relief, she didn’t find anything that looked very serious. “You lucked out. I don’t know how you managed to come out of that fight with barely a scratch, but I’m glad you did. God! It scared the hell out of me when that thing jumped out! I’m lucky you were around,” she murmured, feeling weaker still as the realization sank in that she might be cat food now if Ralphie hadn’t shown up when he did. Ignoring the wet fur, she hugged him again. “Thank you for saving me, Ralphie. I was so scared.” He nuzzled her, lifting a paw and curling it around her shoulder almost as if he was hugging her back. Loosening her hold on him, she kissed him lightly on the nose. “I am going to be so miserable when your owner comes back for you. It’s too much to hope they won’t.” Sighing despondently, she finished bathing him and then pulled the stopper to let the water drain. Grabbing a towel, she scrubbed it over him to dry him the best she could and then tossed the towel toward the hamper. Now she needed a bath, she thought, mildly irritated when she looked down at herself. After glancing at Ralphie hesitantly, she turned the shower on again and peeled her wet clothes off when she saw he’d moved to settle in the door of the bathroom and groom himself. Suspicion moved through her at his air of innocence, but she finally dismissed it and climbed in to bathe. Feeling a chilling breeze blow across her just about the time she got her hair lathered, Alaina blinked the soap from one eye and peered toward the shower curtain. “Don’t even think about it!” she snapped when she saw Ralphie had stuck his head in to watch her. He studied her face for several moments and finally left. “I’ll get you something to eat when I get out!” she called when she heard him leave the bathroom. Uneasiness moved through her as it occurred to her to wonder what the cat had thought he was doing. He hadn’t tried to bite her, but that wasn’t terribly comforting considering his enthusiasm in licking her. Her pussy, poor ignorant, deprived thing, was still clamoring for more because it couldn’t tell the difference even if she could. Tongue was tongue and as tongues went, Ralphie had by far the best that had ever stroked that particularly tender area. It didn’t make her feel any better to consider he might have thought it needed bathing. She’d bathed before she went out, she thought indignantly as the myriad of pussy jokes fluttered through her mind. She knew damned well it couldn’t have been the smell that had made him act like he’d just found a patch of catnip.

Maybe she was just making too much of it? He was a panther, not a house cat, as much as she tended to think of him as being ‘just a cat’. She’d had cats before. Sometimes they just took the notion to groom their owner--hers had anyway. She’d never quite known what to make of it, but she thought it was just their way of showing affection. She would’ve been easier about it in her mind if (a) Ralphie wasn’t so damned big he could eat her if he took the notion and (b) he didn’t have the tendency to decide to groom her erogenous zones. He’d been way too interested in examining her crotch from the start. He’d undoubtedly been raised by humans, though. Maybe he identified with humans since he hadn’t been around any other cats? Maybe he thought he was romancing her? What a thought! If he decided to shove her down and bite the back of her neck she was going to be pushing up daisies! And that would be a hell of a way to go! She could just see the damned headlines! Cat woman and ‘pal’ get too rough! An Alachua woman died today when her pet panther apparently decided to mount her …. God! She was going to have to watch it around him. He must be in mating mode! When she’d dried off, she took an ankle length nightgown out of her drawer and pulled it on. She hardly ever wore the thing because it was just too hot to sleep in, but short of shoving Ralphie out the back door and locking it behind him, she thought it best to cover up as much as possible. He was examining the contents of the refrigerator when she made it to the kitchen. She stopped abruptly, torn between amazement, appreciation for his intelligence, and irritation. “Move! I told you I’d get it for you!” she said testily, shoving against him until he moved out of the way and pulling out the package. “I imagine that cougar got that plate full I threw at it, but fortunately I only took enough outside to try to entice you back to the house.” Settling the package on the counter top, she took out a plate. Ralphie stood up, propping his forelegs on the counter beside her and watching. She glanced at him, discovering that, standing, he was taller than she was. A flicker of uneasiness went through her, but he hadn’t shown any tendency toward aggression--except that he’d whipped that cougar’s ass good fashion! Remembering that, she smiled at him and stroked his face. “Enough?” He tilted his head questioningly. “All right. A little more, but I’m not putting it all out. I know you can’t be that hungry! And you’ ll want something in the morning! God! If I keep you around I’m going to have to get a freezer and buy meat in bulk.” She frowned. “I guess that’s better than letting you hunt when there are so many trigger happy hunters around.” That comment brought her thoughts back to the unpleasant encounter with the cougar. What were the odds, she wondered, that one would be just wandering around the area? Slim to none. She didn’t profess to know a lot about the endangered species, but she hadn’t heard of any cougars being spotted in the area. She also hadn’t heard about them being ‘reintroduced’ into the area like they’d done down in Florida. It seemed too far fetched to consider the possibility that the cat had migrated so far. Cats were territorial. Big cats tended to mark off a fairly huge chunk of territory, but she was hundreds of miles from Florida. The cougar was either native to the area, or it had been imported for some reason. And there was a hunting club right next door to her. That seemed almost more farfetched than the possibility that the cat had migrated so far. Struggling to dismiss the crazy idea that her neighbor had some sort of illegal safari service going on, she slid the plate toward Ralphie and rubbed his head absently before she bundled the rest of the scraps up and put the package in the refrigerator again. Ralphie stuck his head under the faucet the moment she turned it on and she waited until he’d drunk his fill before she washed her hands. Pulling a large pot out, she filled it with water before she shut

the tap off. Leaving him to finish his food, she locked the back door and wandered into the living room, sprawled on the couch and flipped the TV on again. Her mind wasn’t on the screen, though, because she ’d just remembered that she’d seen something on TV not too long ago that was about the black market for exotic animals that were being captured and sold to men who wanted the thrill of big game hunting. Chapter Nine It was excitement that made her heart race and the blood pulse through her in a heady rush, arousal that bridged the line between consciousness and unconsciousness. Drifting between total awareness and sleep induced fantasy, Alaina moaned, shifting restlessly, moving her legs apart to welcome the delightfully hot, faintly rough tongue rubbing over her clit. It felt so good. Her sleep and desire drunken mind, struggling to decipher the sensations, erected the shadowy image of a man between her thighs. Gasping, she dragged her feet up, splaying her thighs wider still. Weight settled on her thighs, pressing them toward the mattress as the mind sundering teasing grew more insistent. The pressure against her thighs brought her floating upward from the edge of consciousness, though, physical perception abruptly conflicting so sharply with the fantasy her mind had produced that she found it impossible to cling to the edges of sleep any longer. Still drunk with sleep, drunker still with the euphoric chemical of pleasure fogging her mind, Alaina groped blindly for the man’s head, trying to figure out who she’d brought to bed with her. His short cropped hair was silky beneath her finger tips. Her mind drew a blank. But then she was in no state to use her mind. It was fully occupied with the delightful sensations befuddling it. Gasping, digging her fingers into his scalp, she lifted her hips to meet him as he lapped her clit harder, pushing her closer and closer to release until she was moaning ceaselessly, twisting her head back and forth against her pillow. Her body seized abruptly as the first spasm jolted through her. Feeling the tremors of release running through her, he ceased to lick her clit and pushed his hot tongue into her passage, tongue fucking her. The sensation dragged a hoarse cry from her. The muscles along her passage clenched so hard her belly cramped and she cried out again, bucking against him until the spasms began, slowly, to dissipate. Limp in the aftermath of the paroxysms of rapture, Alaina lay gasping for breath, shuddering with each small aftershock that rippled through her as he continued to lap her until she felt completely drained. She lay drifting in sated bliss for several moments, but the word that had formed in her mind triggered a series of thoughts that tripped, one over another like falling dominos and a sensation of disbelief rolled over Alaina. Slowly, almost afraid to look, she lifted one eyelid a hair. In the early morning light filtering into the room, she saw that Ralphie was propped on her thighs, staring straight at her, his own golden eyes closed almost to slits. Blinking, certain the image would vanish, Alaina struggled up onto her elbows and stared at the cat, and then herself in stunned disbelief. Her panties were crotchless now, the lips of her sex gaping, the hair damp and slicked to her skin. From his tongue! “Oh … my … God!” Alaina gasped. “Ralphie?” He eyed her for a long moment and finally pushed away from her. Landing on the floor beside the bed with a solid thump, he flicked his tail angrily and trotted out the door. Alaina gaped at the empty doorway for some time after he’d disappeared. She’d just been … molested by her cat! Still more inclined not to believe what she thought had happened than to believe it, Alaina transferred her attention to her panties again. They were still shredded, as if he’d caught hold of the crotch with his teeth and simply bitten that part of her panties off. Her nightgown was rucked up around her hips. She touched herself. Waves of sensation rocked her because her flesh there was still flushed

with the blood that had rushed in to heighten sensation. Rolling off the bed, she stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, still too stunned to really feel anything but shocked. Images crowded into her mind and collided as she switched on the shower and climbed in, pictures she didn’t want to examine too closely. What kind of cat was he, anyway? A trained sex cat, her mind instantly supplied. He had waited until she was dead to the world and completely vulnerable to finish what he’d started the night before when she’d been trying to run a bath for him! She shook that thought off. That implied intelligence. She knew he was intelligent, but he was still a cat, for crying out loud! Whoever had raised him was crazy besides being a total pervert! No way would she allow, let alone entice something that dangerous to get amorous, but it seemed indisputable that he had known exactly what he was doing and the only way that she could see that he would have known was if he’d been trained to do it. Not that Ralphie seemed dangerous, but he was still a panther! He was still wild at heart and born wild always wild as far as she was concerned. There were plenty of incidents where idiots had raised wild animals and they’d still reverted to their wild side. The question was, what to do about it? It made her angry to think someone had screwed with his mind! Poor baby! He was so sweet, too! Gentle as a lamb! Perverted, but gentle. A shiver went through her, but she resolutely closed the door on her ‘experience’. God! She felt like such a pervert! As hard as she tried not to think about moaning and thrashing and climaxing, all those thoughts flickered at the edge of her consciousness, clamoring to deluge her in a guilt trip of epic proportions. She was going to have to quit walking around dressing, undressing, and bathing around him! Obviously, behaving that way had triggered his ‘training’. He was probably waiting in the kitchen for his ‘treat’. He wasn’t. When she finally dressed herself and peered into the kitchen timidly, she discovered the back door was standing open. Torn between relief and distress that he’d taken off again, she moved to the door. As she reached it, the rumble of a motor cycle reverberated against her ears and a few moments later Raphael appeared on the track leading to the main road. As luck would have it, she was still standing in the door when he parked the motorcycle in front of the barn and glanced toward the house. Irritated that she hadn’t closed the door the moment she heard the motor cycle, she remedied the situation, closing the door and heading toward the stove to heat water for coffee. She’d just poured the boiling water in her coffee cup when there was a tap at the back door. She jumped, spilling hot water all over the counter. Setting the pot down, she glanced toward the door and saw that Raphael was standing just outside. His gaze flickered over her face assessingly when she opened the door. Uncomfortable for no reason she could think of, she dropped her gaze to his lips. That didn’t help much, though, because he had a nice mouth and it made her stomach go all jittery. She frowned as a thought occurred to her abruptly. “Oh! I forgot about the parts!” “I’ve got the tractor going for now. Why don’t you just hold off on parts?” Confusion flickered through her. “Want some coffee?” “Sure. Thanks.” Alaina was so surprised she simply stood where she was for several moments. Finally, she moved back into the kitchen to allow him in. “Any idea when they’ll deliver the materials?” Alaina turned from the stove to look at him in surprise. “Uh--they just said ‘morning’.” She frowned. “I guess if they haven’t brought them by the time you’re done with your coffee, I should walk you down and show you the line.” Duh! Like he could guess! Blushing faintly, she turned her back to him again. “You like cream

in your coffee?” “Actually, I like it best when it’s all cream.” Alaina sent him a startled look. Crossing the kitchen, he took the pot from her hand and poured the water out. She just stared at him for several moments when he turned to look at her expectantly. Finally, realizing that she was between him and the refrigerator, she took the milk out and handed it to him, then topped off her coffee with canned condensed milk and moved to the other side of the kitchen, staring out the window in the kitchen door. “Any sign of the truck?” She glanced toward him, but saw he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was focused on mixing his coffee--boiled milk and instant coffee. She shrugged inwardly. She liked hers rich, too. It just hadn’t occurred to her to make it with milk instead of water. “Not yet.” “Would you like something to go with coffee? Breakfast?” He glanced at her but shook his head. “I thought I saw you at Bennie’s last night.” Startled, Alaina still managed to feign complete bafflement. She was surprised that he’d noticed--considering--and stunned that he’d mentioned it. She shrugged. “I met a friend for a drink.” He frowned, blowing on his coffee. “Tall skinny dude with blond hair? He your boyfriend?” Astonished, she didn’t even try to hide it that time. “Bobby? Good God, no! He was, but we broke up almost a year ago.” “You sure he knows that?” Alaina smiled wryly and then chuckled when she finally realized what he was talking about. “Ah! It’s his thing, you know? You probably saw him with his new girlfriend--who just happens to have blond hair like I do and is the same general height and build.” Except younger. His gaze flickered over her assessingly. “That wasn’t you sitting with him when I came in the door?” Alaina blinked. Considering she had been at pains to pretend she hadn’t noticed him, that was a seriously loaded question. She frowned thoughtfully. “He did stop by my table to talk for a minute. Maybe that was what you saw?” “He looked like he had more than ‘talking’ on his mind,” he said dryly. Alaina stared at Raphael blankly, wondering how in the world he’d managed to observe so much in such a small space of time. Why would he be interested anyway? “You want to show me the line?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly. “Sure,” she responded absently, setting her coffee cup down and leading the way outside. They’d just reached the track when the delivery truck turned off the main road. Changing directions, they moved just off the drive and Raphael left her to direct the driver on where to unload. It was just as well, because Alaina had time to consider the height of the weeds. Returning to the house, she got her metal detector and checked it to make sure it was working. By the time she got back outside the delivery truck had dropped the poles and wire. Waiting until the driver had climbed back in and turned out again, she headed toward the drive. Raphael met her, slowing his steps to match hers. When she neared the area where she knew the front pin had been set, she turned the metal detector on and began waving it over the dirt. She’d just given up and looked around to get her bearings when a car pulled off the road. Angie put her automatic window down. “Lose something?” Alaina, who’d looked up when the car pulled off the road, glanced at Raphael and then returned her attention to the metal detector. It was hard not to notice that he didn’t look all that pleased to see Angie and Alaina wondered if she’d failed to ‘put out’ or if there was some other reason he wasn’t particularly happy to see her. After a moment, he strode to the car and leaned down to look in at the window. “We’re looking for the corner pin,” he said, his voice unwelcoming. “You didn’t tell me you were working for Ms. McKinley.”

Alaina refrained from snorting with an effort. Unless she’d done an about face from the time she greeted him at the door, she hadn’t looked like she was interested in talking. “Did you want something in particular, Angie?” “I was just surprised to see you here and thought I’d stop and say hi,” Angie retorted with a touch of petulance. She didn’t get to hear Raphael’s reply to that because another car pulled up at just that moment. When she glanced up that time, she saw it was Calhoun. Anger immediately began to simmer just below the surface of her calm. She glared at him. Unfortunately, it was a wasted effort because he was focused completely on Raphael. He pulled his car alongside his daughter’s. “Car trouble?” “I just stopped to talk to Raphael. Raphael, this is my father.” Daddy and Raphael exchanged a long look. Alaina couldn’t see Raphael’s expression, but Calhoun’s was far from friendly. “You looking for work? Or passing through?” “At the moment, neither,” Raphael said coldly. “Later, Angie.” Straightening, he headed back toward Alaina just about the time she finally managed to hit pay dirt. Stopping when the buzzer sounded, she waved the detector in a tight circle and finally knelt to examine the ground. Dismissed, Angie peeled off, sending up a shower of dirt and rocks and then burning rubber as she hit the pavement with a squawk of tires. Calhoun pulled off to the side of the road, parked and got out, striding toward them. Alaina, who’d been digging for the pin which should be just below the surface of the dirt, looked up as he came to stand over her. “Need any help?” Irritation swept through Alaina. “I’ve got help, thank you.” “The Mex?” Alaina surged to her feet angrily. “You’re standing on my property, Calhoun. Maybe I should be asking if I can help you?” He seemed to wrestle with his temper. “You putting up a fence?” She wanted to tell him it was none of this damned business, but he’d see soon enough and it seemed pointless to antagonize him beyond the satisfaction it would give her to tell him to go to hell. “As a matter of fact, yes. I figured that would be the best way to see to it your customers don’t ‘ accidentally’ stray on to my property anymore.” He fought another round with his temper. “My offer still stands.” Alaina considered for a moment. “The one you sent that realtor with six months or so ago?” His lips tightened, but he nodded. “Did she forget to tell you I said you could shove your offer up your ass?” Alaina asked sweetly. She thought he might lose his grip on his temper for several moments. “It was above market value,” he ground out. “It’s below the value of the place to me,” Alaina shot back at him. “This place has been in my family for generations. You don’t have enough money to buy it.” After studying her in tight lipped silence for several moments, he transferred his attention to Raphael. “A word of advice--Stay away from my daughter. She’s underage and she doesn’t date Mexicans.” Raphael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure what we did last night would constitute a date, but I’ll keep that mind.” It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Calhoun uttered a furious growl and swung. Alaina ducked and scurried out of the way. Raphael caught the fist with his jaw. The blow snapped his head sideways and rocked him back on his heels, but he barely seemed fazed and the next three blows were from Raphael’s fists connecting with Calhoun’s face. Calhoun staggered back at the first two blows and sprawled out on the ground at the third. Raphael’s golden eyes were blazing with fury, anticipation, and satisfaction as he stood over

Calhoun, his hands balled into fists, his legs braced apart as if he was waiting for Calhoun to get up to go another round. “And I’m not Mexican you ignorant prick,” he ground out. Alaina, who’d watched the entire incident from a safe distance with her jaw at half mast, surged forward furiously. “Get off my property!” Calhoun flicked a glance at her before he returned his attention to Raphael. “This isn’t over,” he ground out, pushing himself to his feet and dusting his clothes off with hands. “You’re right. It isn’t,” Raphael said coldly. Alaina and Raphael watched as he strode to his car, got in, and peeled off like his daughter had. After glancing at Raphael a couple of times, Alaina knelt and resumed her search for the pin. “Was what you said true?” Alaina frowned. “Which part?” “About this place being in your family for generations?” Alaina bit her lip but finally smiled. “Two anyway. My father bought it. He had it in mind to do a little farming when he retired. It was something he’d always wanted to try.” Her amusement died. “He didn’t get the chance, though. He and my mother were killed in a plane crash last year.” His gaze flickered over her face and she saw sympathy in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” Nodding, Alaina carefully pushed it from her mind. “There,” she said in satisfaction, pointing out the pin at last. “I knew it was around here somewhere. Now all we have to do is find the one at the back corner.” After flattening the weeds around the pin, Raphael fell into step beside her. Alaina glanced at him a couple of times. “I don’t think she’s underage, whatever he said,” she finally said. “I don’t imagine it would be very pleasant if he filed charges against you, though.” He sent her a speculative glance and finally grinned. “I met her for a drink and gave her a ride on my bike. That was the extent of it.” Alaina’s brows rose in surprise. “Oh.” She thought it over a moment and a mixture of both amusement and concern filled her. “But you ….” She broke off. He sent her a questioning look and she bit her lip. “You implied ….” “I said I didn’t think it constituted a date.” Alaina chuckled, but shook her head. “Men! You wanted an excuse to rearrange his face! I guess that’s why you let him get in the first punch?” His good humor vanished. Instead of answering, though, he halted and turned to look down the drive. Frowning, Alaina stopped and turned, as well. They’d moved far enough from the main road by that time the entrance to the drive was no longer in view, but a moment later, she heard what she supposed he had. A vehicle had turned into her drive. Gunning the engine, the driver shot into view a split second later, heading straight for them. Chapter Ten Alaina was still gaping at the truck heading toward them when Raphael snagged her around the waist, jerked her off her feet and leapt toward the edge of the woods. Bobby braked to a skidding halt beside them and shut off the engine. Alaina could see the moment he got out and stalked around the hood of the truck that he was thoroughly pissed off--not that she’d needed that ‘body language’ and expression to tell her. The fact that he’d nearly run her and Raphael down had clued her in even before than. “We need to talk,” he said tightly. Alaina studied him uneasily. “Not if it’s about last night,” she said flatly, and then thought it over. “Actually, unless it’s about the bill for the … cat, not at all.” He stared at her in tightlipped silence for a moment, fuming, and finally transferred his gaze to Raphael. “Who’s the Mex? And what’s he doing here?” A jolt of surprise went through her as Raphael slipped an arm around her waist and dragged her back against him. “Who’s the gringo, baby? And what’s he doing here?” he murmured next to her ear.

Alaina had to struggle to keep from laughing. Biting her lip, she placed one hand over Raphael’s at her waist and lifted her other hand to stroke his cheek. “This is Bobby Culpepper, the local vet. Bobby, this is Raphael Doucette.” Bobby’s brows snapped together. “That doesn’t sound Mexican to me,” he muttered suspiciously. “Because it’s not?” Raphael murmured coolly. Apparently, Bobby decided to ignore him and transferred his angry gaze to Alaina. “You damned near ran me over last night! What the hell was that all about? And, I might add, I got thrown in the fucking drunk tank because you took off in a snit and left me in the parking lot! I am pissed with you, girl!” Outrage ousted Alaina’s amusement. “Exactly what do your problems have to do with Alaina?” Raphael growled. Bobby glared at him. “Butt out. We’re talking here.” Raphael very calmly released Alaina and set her to one side. “Actually, you’re done talking. Get back in your truck and take yourself off.” Bobby looked taken aback for a moment. “You think you can make me?” he ground out. The fist Raphael planted in the middle of Bobby’s face rocked him backwards. Blood spurted from his nose. His knees wobbled and he sat backwards in the dirt. After studying him for several moments to see if he would get up again, Raphael moved behind Bobby, caught him under his arms and hauled him to his feet. Jerking one Bobbie’s arms behind his back, he walked him back around the truck. Bobby, holding his nose, staggered drunkenly, but put up no resistance to being led around the truck and shoved inside. Once he was inside, however, and had locked the doors, he glared at Raphael over the hand he was still holding to his nose. “Boy! You have done seriously screwed up messing with me!” Raphael’s face hardened. “If you bother Alaina again, you’ll discover exactly what ‘screwed up’ means.” Alaina, who’d been too stunned by everything that had transpired to do anything but gape at the two men, was galvanized by the revving of the engine into darting behind the safety of a tree. After gunning the engine threateningly, Bobby jerked the truck in reverse and cut a swath through her lawn as he shot backwards in a tight circle. Raphael watched him for several moments and finally crossed the drive to where Alaina stood. Reaching her as Bobby, after grinding gears, finally managed to get the truck into first and the truck lurched forward in a hard turn toward the main road Raphael sent another stunning jolt through her by dragging her roughly against his length. Catching hold of the hair at the nape of her neck with one hand, he tugged, dragging her head back. “In case he needs more convincing,” he murmured, swooping toward her even as he spoke. An electrifying current sizzled along Alaina’s nerve endings as his mouth closed over hers. Instantly her body, so stunned by everything that it had cocooned her, focused on the heated connection, her senses expanding to acute awareness of every point where their bodies touched. The gentle suction of his mouth, the rake of his tongue across hers filled the void of sensation produced by her shock with so much stimuli so fast that, as brief as the kiss was, it threw her into complete chaos. She stared up at him blankly when he lifted his head to study her. Licking her lips, she asked hoarsely, “Is he gone?” His gaze flickered over her face and focused on her lips. “Not yet,” he murmured, closing the slight distance that separated them and fitting his mouth to hers again, this time almost roughly, with hunger that seemed to draw her entire body into a hard knot of tension, feeding off her life force until, within the space of seconds, weakness descended over her. She lost her grip on the metal detector, scarcely aware of it falling to the ground as she lifted a hand to curl her fingers into his shirt, struggling against the dizziness that engulfed her, trying to move closer to the source of pleasure as he explored her mouth with a restless caress of his tongue.

Just as visions began to fill her head of tearing his clothes off and running her hands over his body, he began to withdraw, making one last foray with his tongue, easing the pressure of his mouth, sucking lightly at her lips before he broke contact and lifted his head. He was breathing raggedly. “I think he’s gone now.” Who? Alaina thought blankly before she remembered the kiss had been his idea of convincing Bobby that she was ‘taken’. “You think he was convinced?” she asked weakly, self-consciously uncurling her fingers from the tight grip she had on his shirt. His lips curled faintly. His golden eyes gleamed with a mixture of desire and amusement. “It convinced me.” She looked around a little vaguely when he stepped away from her and bent to pick up the metal detector. Handing it to her, he guided her back onto the leveler ground of the drive. Still thoroughly rattled, it took Alaina several moments to figure out what she was supposed to do with the metal detector. Dragging in a shaky breath as she finally recalled she was supposed to be locating the boundary pins so that he could put up her fence, she threw one last glance toward the main road and headed away from it. “Thank you,” Alaina murmured after they’d walked in silence for a time. He threw her a startled glance and then a slow grin. “My pleasure.” Alaina reddened. She cleared her throat. “I meant for … uh … making Bobby leave.” He grunted. “I enjoyed that, too.” A frown of confusion flickered across her face as she looked up at him. “You don’t like Bobby either?” His dark brows rose questioningly and Alaina wondered if he would rebuff her if she pursued the questions in her mind. He had been pretty clear that he didn’t welcome any sort of probing into his background. “I had the impression that you particularly disliked Calhoun.” All traces of amusement left his features. “That’s a mild way to put it,” he ground out. There was violence simmering just beneath his surface calm and Alaina backed off, losing all desire to probe further. She was too addled still by what had happened in any case to pull her wits together enough to speculate. Fortunately, they located the back pin without too much difficulty and Alaina was able to retreat to the house and fall apart in private. It wasn’t even mid-morning, Alaina reflected wryly once she was inside, and it had already been a hell of a day. She didn’t know what to make of Raphael. She sure as hell didn’t know what to make of what had happened between them. Frowning thoughtfully, she cleaned up the kitchen and headed into the front room and plopped down on her couch. The man could kiss. God! She couldn’t recall anybody ever having that kind of effect of her with just one kiss! It might have been more understandable if not for the fact that she’d …. She broke off the thought. She wasn’t going there. It was sufficient to consider that she wasn’t nearly as needy now as she had been, not quite as ‘ ripe’--or overripe. She hadn’t been with anyone since she’d broken up with Bobby and that had been ages ago. Mostly she hadn’t been with anyone because Bobby had a way of scaring off anybody that showed too much interest in her. She might have been more indignant about it except that she hadn’t met anybody she really had that much interest in--not before Raphael. But then she’d had the impression that Raphael’s interests lay elsewhere. He hadn’t seemed to be the least bit welcoming when she’d stopped by to flirt with him, though. Had she been mistaken, she wondered? Or was that just wishful thinking and maybe he’d behaved so coolly because he didn’t like to feel ‘chased’? Or maybe he had been cool toward her because he was trying to work and didn’t want to chance losing the job by taking time out to flirt when he was supposed to be working? She would’ve liked to think that the kiss was a definite sign of interest in her, but she wasn’t delusional. He might have been interested, but she had the distinct feeling that at least part of it had

nothing to do with her at all. Part of it was hostility toward Bobby. She thought part of it might also have been because she had at least seemed to take his part against her neighbor. Actually, she had, but then she also had another reason--she hated Calhoun. At least now she understood why Raphael was so touchy about his origins. It must be very irritating to have people constantly making assumptions about you based on the color of your skin. Of course she could see the other side of that, too. There were far more Hispanics of Mexican origins around than any other. And the vast majority of those who had migrated into the U.S. looked like they had Indian blood, because they did. There weren’t a lot of them that stood six feet tall, though. That was why she had assumed he must be American Indian and that was just as bad, she supposed, as assuming he was Mexican. She wondered if that was why Raphael had been so stand offish toward her, but dismissed it. It had certainly irritated him, but she’d had the sense even before that of an invisible wall. She had also had the sense that it was just the way he was--distant. That might not be entirely true, though. He’d said he had been living in the area devastated by the hurricane. She knew it must have been hellish for everybody because they had lost absolutely everything; their homes, their jobs, and in a lot of cases, loved ones, as well. That thought brought her up short and she wondered if that was why Raphael hadn’t wanted to talk about it--at all. Maybe that would also explain why he was so distant period? Dismissing her thoughts finally with the reflection that it just didn’t amount to a hill of beans because he wouldn’t be around that long anyway, Alaina got up and peered out the window to check his progress. She didn’t see him, but she heard the tractor and a few minutes later she saw him driving the tractor very slowly along the drive. Behind him, a strand of barbed wire was slowly unwinding from the roll he’d put on a bar he’d rigged on the tractor. She watched him until he passed the house and disappeared behind the trees. Her thoughts leapt to Ralphie then. She’d put him completely out of her mind after the ‘wake up’ call he’d given her that morning, too shocked and dismayed about it to want to think about it. She’d had trouble trying to decide what to do about the cat before he’d decided to get amorous. What the hell was she going to do with him, she wondered? She couldn’t bring herself to call anyone to cart him off. She supposed he belonged in a zoo, but she hated to think of caging him. She particularly hated to think of doing something like that to him because he’d done something ‘taboo’, when he had no way of understanding that he’d done anything wrong. He was intelligent. It was almost uncanny the way he seemed to understand her when she spoke to him, but he was still a creature of limited intellect. The alternative wasn’t all that bright, for that matter. He wouldn’t stay in doors. She couldn’t keep him in when he was so smart he could just open the door and go out whenever he pleased. And she was under no illusions that the barbed wire fence would keep hunters away from him. They’d just stand on the other side and shoot him if they set eyes on him. It if hadn’t been for that, she would’ve seriously considered just keeping him, regardless of his little identity crisis. He was very lovable--sometimes a little too lovable, but he was also affectionate, good company, and protective, too. Except for his little problem with confusing her with a female cat, and the amount of food he consumed, she didn’t see a down side to keeping him for a pet. She was getting really attached to him very quickly. The longer she waited to do something, the harder it was going to be to do what was right for him instead of what she wanted. Maybe she could post something on the net about him? See if anybody had lost an exotic pet? She decided she’d have to give that some thought, exactly how to word it so that she would know when and if the right person responded. Maybe she could try placing something in the personal ads about him, too, although she was fairly certain that he could not have belonged to anybody local. It wasn’ t a heavily populated area. People knew most everybody and all their business. It seemed unlikely that

anybody local could have owned him without her having heard about it. Those thoughts depressed her. Since she convinced herself that she really needed to consider long and hard about how to go about it, though, she was able to put it from her mind and focus on housecleaning for a while. She’d just discovered her stomach was rumbling for lunch and decided to go out and check to see if Raphael had brought his lunch with him when she heard the old cop car ‘whoop’ that had a way of giving one heart failure. Certain it was a patrol car pulling someone over out on the highway, she turned to look for Raphael. He was sitting under the shade of a tree with his hat pulled down over his eyes. Angie had just parked her car on the driveway beside him and gotten out. She was holding some bags of take-out, which Alaina supposed answered the question of whether or not she should fix for two. Deciding to duck back inside before either of them spotted her, Alaina was distracted by the crunch of gravel under car tires and turned to see Hank pulling his patrol car down her drive. His lights were flashing. Alaina’s stomach instantly knotted sickeningly. Chapter Eleven “Damn cops!” Alaina muttered under her breath, feeling anger surge through her instantly. “Never around when you fucking need them and always around when they aren’t wanted!” Changing her mind about going inside immediately, she stalked across the yard toward the patrol car that had pulled up behind Angie’s sports car. Not for a moment did she believe the cop presence had anything to do with the little rich girl. By the time she reached them, Hank had gotten out of his car and approached Raphael. Standing with his legs braced apart and one hand on the butt of his pistol, Hank was glaring down at Raphael purposefully. “Get up and put your hands behind your back.” “What is going on?” Alaina demanded. Hank didn’t look at her, didn’t take his eyes off of Raphael even for a split second. “Go back in the house, Ms. McKinley. This doesn’t involve you.” Alaina stopped at the command in his voice--the threat to her. “He’s working for me. He’s on my property. You can at least tell me what this is all about!” His lips tightened, but he ignored her, focusing on Raphael as he pushed his hat back and then slowly got to his feet. Alaina looked at Raphael helplessly. She knew it had to be about his confrontation with Calhoun--or maybe Bobby. His expression was stony and unreadable, but she saw a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Don’t do anything, or say anything,” she said, knowing there was a pleading note in her voice because she was afraid he would resist and only make things worse. Angie, who’d been stunned to silence up until that moment, abruptly found her voice. “This is all my father’s doing, isn’t it!” she demanded of Hank, who ignored her as he had Alaina. “I am soooo sorry, Rafe! I’ll get this straightened out. I swear it! And I’ll take care of your bail ….” “Not today, you won’t,” Hank said, satisfaction threading his voice as he locked the handcuffs around Raphael’s wrists. “The judge’s gone fishing. He won’t be arraigned before tomorrow.” “Prick!” Alaina muttered under her breath. Both Raphael and Hank glanced at her and she reddened. “Is there somebody you want me to call? A family member?” she asked Raphael as Hank pushed him into the backseat of his cruiser. Raphael sent her an indecipherable look. “I have no family.” There was something about the way he said it that sent a shockwave rolling over her. He hadn’t qualified it. He hadn’t said, none here. He hadn’t said he didn’t want them called, or he didn’t have close family. She supposed the empathy she felt was because she’d lost her own family, but whatever the case it made her ache for him. She bit her lip. “Don’t worry. If this is about Calhoun, I was there. He was the one that started this.” Hank had shut the door. She wasn’t even certain he’d heard her until she saw his gaze flicker to

Angie. Shifting out of the way as the sheriff put the car into gear and turned around in her driveway, Alaina found herself standing next to Angie. “Did he?” Angie demanded angrily. Alaina glanced at the younger woman. “I don’t honestly know what this is about, but, yes, if it’s about the fight, your father started it. He hit Raphael. Raphael hit him back.” “Daddy’s got money, though,” Angie said, stalking to her car and climbing in. Alaina stared after Angie as she turned her car around and peeled out, wondering if the girl always drove that recklessly or only when she was in a temper. She wasn’t entirely sure what Angie had meant by the comment--whether she was defending her father, or angry with him, but she’d hit the nail on the head. Justice, like everything else in the good old U.S. was for sale. Nobody admitted it, least of all the justice department, but it was true nevertheless if for no other reason than the fact that the poor couldn’t even afford representation. But it often didn’t stop there. There were plenty of cops and judges that didn’t mind taking a little bonus under the table to fix things up, because they’d already made up their minds who the bad guy was anyway. “Please don’t do anything stupid, Rafe,” she muttered, wondering if Raphael’s papers were in order or if they failed to charge him, they would turn around and hand him over to immigration and deport him. There were too many cops that thought that any dirty trick to ‘get their man’ was ok, the end justified the means, which was why fewer people trusted them all the time, or respected them. “Justice for all, my ass!” she muttered. “Where was my frigging justice the other night when they damned near blew my head off and me on my own damned couch in my own damned house?” Too angry to think of much besides the fact that she was at least partially responsible for Raphael getting arrested--because she had antagonized Calhoun herself instead of trying to diffuse the situation, she returned to the house finally. Her appetite had vanished. In too much turmoil to sit still, she flipped through the phone book to look up a lawyer. Unfortunately, she not only didn’t know anything about lawyers and their specialties, she hadn’t had any first hand experience with any. Instead, she called her family’s estate lawyer and got a recommendation from him. After expressing her concern for her ‘employee’ who was a foreign national and, she felt certain, completely unfamiliar with the U.S. justice system--she wasn’t, thank god, familiar with it herself on a personal level--he agreed to go down and make sure they didn’t question Rafe without a representative. She was embarrassed to tell him the circumstances of the two confrontations Raphael had been involved in, but she was certain that that had to be why he’d been arrested and, embarrassed or not, she wasn’t about to let Raphael get charged for assault when he was the one who’d been assaulted. Actually, he had assaulted Bobby, but she knew as well as Raphael obviously had that Bobby was working himself up to throw a punch. Raphael had just beat him to it. Anyway, she didn’t think Bobby had had anything to do with Raphael getting arrested. He preferred to steer clear of cops himself whenever possible. Feeling a little better, she went into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich and then wandered back into the front room and sat down at her computer. She didn’t find Raphael in a people search. Shrugging it off, she went to a background check site and sat staring at the screen for a while, tapping her fingers on the desk. Finally, she dragged her credit card out and took the plunge. She pulled up a bunch that time, but after studying over the information she eliminated them one by one because of the age and area. She didn’t know his exact age, or birth date. She didn’t even know where he’d lived before. Katrina had cut a wide swath when it went through and affected a lot of people in a lot of states. Wondering if the cops would have any better luck, and if he had a rap sheet that was going to

spell big trouble, she finally dismissed it and began to research Ralphie instead. Her stomach clenched when she discovered the black panther was indigenous to South America. Was it insignificant that a South American panther and a South American from the same general geographic area had wound up in the same general geographic area, thousands of miles from their origins at about the same time? Just a bizarre sort of coincidence? She shook her head. It must just be a coincidence. Ralphie wasn’t wild. No way was he straight out of a South American jungle. He’d probably been borne in captivity, at some zoo or other in the U.S. and wound up in private hands. He must have wound up in private hands, because a zoo wouldn’t have tamed him like he was. Ralphie had had close interaction with humans--from what she’d seen maybe a little too close--there was no doubt in her mind about that. Random thoughts flickered through her mind but didn’t quite gel and she finally dismissed them. She was about to do another search to see if she could find anything about exotic pet owners, maybe a chat group, when6 a couple of words snagged her interest. It was about myths surrounding the black panther. Purely out of curiosity, she decided to check it out. There was a belief in ancient times that demons or spirits inhabited the rain forests and assumed the forms of various animals--among them the black panther. Being demon spirits they could assume other forms, however, and it was believed they sometimes took on the form of humans to lure humans into the jungle to their death. The origin of the myths were attributed to an ancient Indian race, a fierce group likened to the north American Apaches--who’d successfully resisted the Spanish determination to colonize the areas for hundred of years. Unlike the Aztecs, however, descendents of the Araucanian Indians still lived in the southern areas of South America. She frowned. Raphael had said he spoke Araucanian, but then there must be a lot of descendants all over South America that still spoke the language. She wasn’t exactly certain of why it affected her the way it did, but the story gave her the shivers. Maybe because Ralphie had a way of seeming to understand a lot more than a dumb animal should? She was letting her imagination run away with her! He understood because he had trained! Resolutely, she dismissed the uneasiness that settled in her belly and spent several hours more searching for anything that might help her find Ralphie’s owners. Finally, feeling a blind headache coming on from scrolling through one listing after another, she disconnected and went outside to clear her head. She was a little surprised to discover it was late afternoon. With no particular destination in mind, she walked the line to see what Raphael had managed to accomplish before he was hauled off to jail. It wasn’t much, but then he hadn’t had that much time to work on it. He’d set the front corner and braced it off, and the back corner, strung one strand of wire and then started back drilling holes for the posts. Most of the posts were lying on the ground beside the holes he’d dug. She considered calling Ralphie, but after that other panther had popped out of the woods at her, she decided against it, spurred by the reminder to hurry back to the house before dark. When she was safely inside her kitchen, she opened a window and called to Ralphie. He didn’t come and after a while she gave up and fixed her a solitary meal and sat in front of the TV for company to eat. Periodically, she went into the kitchen and called to him again but finally went to bed with no sign of him, worried that he’d run afoul of the hunters even though she hadn’t heard anything to indicate anybody was out hunting. The following day was a work day and she sat down at her computer with her coffee and set to work on the medical transcription she did for a living. When nine o’clock rolled around, however, she turned it off and headed for the phone to call the attorney’s office to find out when Raphael was scheduled for arraignment. Dismay filled her when she discovered that the earliest they were able to get him on the docket

was early afternoon. He had been charged with assault, though, and it was Calhoun who’d filed the charges. The lawyer was certain that, with her as a witness to the altercation, they would be able to get the case dismissed. With mixed feelings, she returned to work. It sounded good, but one never knew. Even if it transpired that that was the case, he would have to go to court. And in the meanwhile, he had had to spend half the day before in jail, all night, and most of Monday. He was bound to be in a foul mood. She just hoped he could control his temper and didn’t head right straight to Calhoun’s place when he got out. Bobby would’ve, but then Bobby wasn’t terribly bright when it came to his temper. Or, more accurately, his brains took a hike when his temper got out of control. Raphael didn’t strike her as the sort of person who had problems with self-control. He’d hit Calhoun and Bobby, but he hadn’t behaved like anybody out of control with rage. He’d actually been pretty damned cool about it, now that she thought it over, almost calculating. Not that she thought he had any idea he would end up in jail over it, and she certainly didn’t believe he’ d wanted to end up in jail, but she didn’t think he had just reacted. She thought he’d had a reason for doing it beyond the desire to rearrange Calhoun’s face for him. She just couldn’t figure out what the reason might be. Chapter Twelve Alaina sort of got the ‘prince’ by default. She was a little uncomfortable when she arrived to post bail and discovered Angie had raced up to post bail, too--like they were vying for the opportunity to throw themselves at him. Angie, however, only had her credit card, which she had already maxed out and they wouldn’t take anyway, and then the dimwit artlessly informed them she couldn’t get the cash from the card and come back because it was maxed. Obviously unaccustomed to not getting her way, she tried flirtation next and finally stormed out in a fit of temper. Alaina was almost too embarrassed to go up to offer to post bail, but she swallowed her discomfort and did it anyway, only to discover that Raphael had had enough to post his bail. Feeling completely unnecessary, she had already started to leave when she saw them bringing him out. Since she was there anyway she figured she might as well wait and offer him a ride. He looked exhausted, on edge, and seething. Considering her previous experiences with men, she was more tempted than ever to slink off right then, just in case he’d thought it all over and decided it was her fault he’d ended up in jail. He spied her, however, as they brought him out and it seemed his expression lightened at the sight of her. He managed a faint smile when he’d gathered his belongings and joined her. “God I need a bed, a bath, and food, and I can’t decide which I need worse.” “It must have been awful,” Alaina murmured sympathetically. “Worse than that,” he muttered. “I’ve been in cages that were bigger.” Alaina threw him a curious look as they left the jail and headed toward her car, but finally decided if it wasn’t just a figure of speech she didn’t especially want to know what he’d meant by the comment. “Where to?” “My bike’s at your place.” “Oh.” He slid down in the seat and tipped his hat over his eyes as she left the parking lot. After glancing at him a couple of times, she decided he was obviously not in the mood for conversation of any kind and drove in silence. Either he wasn’t actually asleep or the slowing of the car alerted him to the fact that they’d reached the turn to her place, because he sat up as she turned in and pushed his hat back. Wondering if he was going to leap out of the car before it even stopped and rush to the motorcycle, Alaina glanced at him several times and finally decided to take the plunge. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you just take a shower here, let me fix you something to eat and sack out for a few hours at least? I hate to think of you trying to drive that thing when you’re so tired.”

He studied her assessingly for a moment and finally a wry smile dawned. “That’s the best offer I’ ve had in a while.” Alaina smiled back at him. She doubted it, but if it sounded good to him at the moment, that was good enough. She hadn’t locked up when she left because she had hoped Ralphie would show up. The door was closed, though. Disappointed but not terribly surprised, she opened the back door and went in, glancing around just in case Ralphie was there and had been thoughtful enough to close the door behind him. “I’ll see what I can scrounge up while you take a shower.” Nodding, he trudged down the hall without a word and went straight into her bath. Alaina stared at the empty hallway for several moments after he’d disappeared feeling perfectly blank. He’d gone straight to the bathroom, without pause, without looking around, as if he knew exactly where it was. After a moment, hearing the shower, she dismissed it. It was small house. She supposed it didn’ t take a lot to figure out which of the doors went to the bathroom. He’d probably just noticed which door she’d gone into when she’d gotten him a towel before. She’d gotten Ralphie a huge steak as a special treat, but he’d vanished before she had given it to him and, at any rate, she still had plenty of the scraps if he came back hungry. Taking the steak out of the freezer to thaw, she walked down the hallway. And discovered he hadn’t shut the door. A jolt went through her when she caught a glimpse of him through the shower curtain. Stepping back behind the wall, she asked him how he liked his steak. “Raw. No seasonings.” “Rare it is!” Agitated as she was over the glimpse of naked flesh she’d gotten, she was still vaguely miffed that he didn’t want her to do anything but brown it on both sides. There might not be much to cooking a steak away, but she would’ve liked to have shown off a little cooking skill. She’d just taken the steak out of the microwave when she heard the damp slap of his feet against the tile floor. When she looked up it was to discover him dripping water and two corners of a towel clutched in one fist at his hip that left one entire thigh exposed. She had thought he was built good from the way he looked in jeans and t-shirt. Her imagination had failed her, however. He was drop dead gorgeous--almost literally. Her heart seemed to fist in her chest as her gaze flickered over a body that was tautly muscular from neck to calve. His brown skin, gleaming with moisture, looked as smooth and flawless as silk. Except for the long, black hair slicked over his shoulders and bulging pecs, and the light patch of dark hair between them, the rest of his body was virtually hairless. Dark hair sprinkled his lower arms and his legs, and she caught a glimpse of a heavier patch around his genitals, but as nicely formed as his arms and legs were, the unfettered ‘package ’ forming a bulge in the front of the towel completely distracted her from them. “I forgot to get a change of clothes out of the box on the bike.” Alaina blinked, slowly, coming out of her trance with an effort to discover she had frozen mid-turn, the dripping package in her hands, her jaw at half mast. “Clothes?” she echoed. He hadn’t actually done more than pause, however. As she watched, he stalked right out the back door and across her yard to his bike. She followed him to the door. When he reached his bike, he pulled the towel off, rubbed it over himself briefly and dropped it on the seat of the motorcycle while he rummaged through the box. A jolt went through her. Unfortunately, he was too far away for her to get a really good look at him. She could see, though, that his buttocks were as nicely rounded and taut with muscle as everything else, and only a few shades lighter in color than the rest of him--which wasn’t surprising if he made a habit of strolling around outside without any clothes. His genitals were a good bit lighter, or maybe they only seemed so because they were surrounded by a dark patch of hair. He was impressively hung--he impressed the hell out of her anyway. The view instantly recalled her to what she was doing. Skittering away from the door as he

unrolled a pair of jeans and stepped into them, she slipped on the water he’d tracked through the kitchen and nearly busted her ass. Her heart was pounding unpleasantly fast as she reached the counter again--still holding the dripping package of meat. Setting it down, she rinsed her hands and set up the griddle, spraying it down with non-stick spray as it began to heat up. Leaving it to heat, she grabbed a mop and cleaned up the trail of blood drops she’d left across the kitchen and then mopped up the water from the back door to the bathroom and the bathroom floor. The smoke alarm went off as she straightened from rinsing the mop off, sending an electrifying jolt through her. Dropping the mop, she dashed back into the kitchen, tore the wrapper off the meat and tossed it onto the griddle. The slab of meat hit with a sizzle, sending up a cloud of smoke and steam. The smoke alarm was deafening her and as soon as she’d tossed the meat onto the griddle she grabbed a kitchen towel and rushed to it, fanning the towel back and forth across the sensor. She heard Rafe mutter a curse under his breath and the sizzle of meat as the smoke alarm finally stopped blaring and went back into the kitchen to discover that he’d flipped the steak with his fingers. He was sucking on the blistered tips and looking around for a plate when she reached him. Shooing him out of the way, she grabbed a meat fork out of the drawer in one hand and a plate with the other and rescued the steak. Blood bubbled to the surface the moment it settled and pooled around it. “Is that done enough?” she asked doubtfully. Grunting a sound she took to be an affirmative he moved to the kitchen table, set the plate down and sprawled tiredly in the chair he’d occupied the first time he’d shared a meal with her. “I didn’t have a chance to fix anything to go with it,” she said selfconsciously as she gathered a fork, steak knife and a napkin for him. “Would you like a salad and baked potato? It won’t take more than a few minutes to nuke a potato.” “This is fine, thanks,” he said, spearing his fingers through his damp hair and flicking it behind his shoulders. It was amazing, Alaina thought, that he could have such long hair and still look every inch a man. It suited him. She could almost picture him in a loincloth with eagle feathers in his hair and it was a sumptuous image. “You’re not eating?” She was starving, but not for food. A little of him would do--if she couldn’t get a lot. Mentally rolling her eyes, she went to the refrigerator to study it. Poor man! Obviously he hadn’t gotten any sleep in that place and was weak from lack of food, as well, and all she could think about was that hunk of meat she’d seen swinging in the breeze. Taking out salad fixings, she grabbed a freezer meal, glanced at the directions and stuck it in the microwave. She thought she saw disapproval in his gaze when she looked at him. She generally only cooked for one, though, and she didn’t particularly care what she ate most of the time as long as it was easy to cook and cleanup. Ignoring the look, since she wasn’t certain she’d interpreted it correctly anyway, she took out a bowl, hesitated and finally took out one for him, as well. He was halfway through the steak by the time she set the bowl down for him and went to the refrigerator for tea and salad dressing. He’d eaten most of the salad by the time she’d gotten tea glasses and sat down. It wasn’t that he was gobbling his food, or displaying disgusting table manners. He simply ate, chewed, and swallowed mechanically and steadily, as if it didn’t matter what it tasted like. She couldn’t think the steak tasted like much without any seasoning or the salad without dressing, but she couldn’t see that it bothered him. “Mr. Burton says he thinks he can get the charges dismissed,” she said after a few moments. He shrugged. “He told me.” She’d thought it was good news herself. She couldn’t decide whether he just didn’t care one way or the other, or didn’t believe it, or was just too tired to be in any mood to discuss it. Finally, deciding it was the latter, she got up when she saw he was finishing up his steak and went into the

spare bedroom to make sure he had what he needed. He studied her assessingly when she took her seat again. “I checked the room. I think you’ve got everything you’ll need, but if you don’t, just let me know.” He nodded. “As long as it doesn’t stink of jail, I’m satisfied.” Alaina smiled faintly. “According to my detergent manufacturer, it smells like a spring breeze.” His lips curled, but the smile never reached his eyes, which flickered over her face and finally settled on her lips. “You’re not at all like I thought you would be,” he murmured thoughtfully. Alaina lifted her brows, but smiled faintly. “Uh oh. Sounds like bad news.” To her surprise, instead of smiling at the attempt at humor, his face hardened. He swallowed, dragging his gaze from her, his brows drawing together in a frown. “For one of us,” he muttered, pushing himself to his feet. “I hate to be rude, but I’m about to drop.” “Go!” Alaina said immediately. “You’re tired, I know, and I’m used to eating alone.” And she wasn’t especially hungry anyway. She’d only fixed the food because she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable with her merely sitting across from him staring. She considered what to do with herself when she’d finished eating and tidied up the kitchen and finally decided to get a little more work done. She hadn’t gotten as much transcription done as she’d meant to because she’d taken the time off for Rafe. He’d left the bedroom door open. She glanced casually into the room as she passed and ran into the wall on the other side of the hall. He’d stripped naked and was lying face down, sprawled all over the bed. Embarrassed, fearful she’d wakened him, she righted herself and rushed into the living room. The man had serious modesty issues--as in he had none whatsoever. Not being self-conscious was one thing but to be so completely blasé was down right disturbing--to her anyway. He didn’t like the feeling of being caged, she remembered as she sank weakly onto her chair and stared blankly at the computer screen. The man made her warm and fluttery when he was wearing his clothes. Glancing idly in her direction was enough to give her heart palpitations. She was going to be in serious trouble if he meant to stroll around in front of her buck naked--as in she was going to make a complete fool of herself. After a few moments, she managed to calm herself and adjusted the foot pedal, set her headphones over her ears and focused. It was tedious work, but she found it soothing most of the time because it required all of her attention and made it impossible for her to allow her mind to wander to things she didn’t want to think about. She had needed that badly after her parents had been killed when their small plane went down in a storm. She had needed it during her tumultuous relationship with Bobby and directly afterward when her nerves had been a complete wreck. She didn’t especially need it to survive. As her friend, Marilyn, had pointed out, her parents had left her fairly well set up. Her little farm was paid for and she had enough money in the bank she could live off the interest if she didn’t go wild. She worked because she needed to have something to do to feel as if she was accomplishing something with her life. Thirty five was breathing heavily down her neck and she had only had one brief excursion into wedded bliss, because there had been nothing blissful about it. He’d been almost as bad as Bobby in some ways, worse in others. She was lonely a lot of the time, but the alternative wasn’t something she had been particularly anxious to pursue--not after Bobby. He’d only actually hit her once, but that had been enough to convince her there would be more to come if she stayed with him. He could say he was sorry till doomsday, but she knew that, statistically, once a man went that far once, it was only going to go downhill from there. If he wanted a punching bag, he was going to have to look for it somewhere else. Her parents had had their fair share of arguments, some of them pretty heated, but her father always stormed out of the house to cool down if his temper threatened to get the best of him. That was scary, but not nearly as frightening as a man that exploded on top of you. A woman ought to have just as much right to voice her opinion in a relationship as a man did,

without having to worry about being busted in the mouth if he didn’t like her views. She hadn’t felt safe to speak her mind at any time that she was with Bobby and the only time she had gotten angry enough to forget herself, he’d turned into a lunatic. She couldn’t live with that. She wasn’t going to. But she didn’t feel particularly comfortable around her ‘friends’ either and rarely sought them out for any sort of companionship. Most of them were married, and she didn’t really want to listen to their marital woes, and those who weren’t married were divorced and either complaining about their financial problems or their boyfriend or their children. Up until Ralphie, and then Rafe had shown up, she had thought she was perfectly content to spend most of her time completely alone. She realized, though, that she’d just gotten very good at ignoring the things that were missing from her life. Realizing after a while that she was growing cramped from sitting so long, she tapped the pedal to stop the player and pulled the headphones off. The sun had already settled behind the trees, but there were at least a couple of hours of daylight left. Not wanting to disturb Rafe, she decided to go for a walk to work the kinks out of her cramped muscles. She saw no sign of Ralphie. Trying not to worry too much about it even though she was anxious because he hadn’t shown up since the day before, she called to him from time to time and finally gave up and headed to the house again. Resisting the urge to peak in on Rafe, she settled on the couch, turned the volume down to barely above a whisper and flipped through the TV channels until she found something she was willing to stare at. The show ended and another one had just started when she heard Rafe padding toward the front room. She twisted around to look at him and didn’t know whether to be relieved or not to see that he’d pulled his jeans on, mostly because he had only pulled them over his hips. He hadn’t bothered to fasten or zip them. Dragging her gaze from the dark hair she could see above the opening, she looked up at him. “Did I wake you?” Instead of answering, he moved around the couch and sprawled beside her. “How long did I sleep?” “A couple of hours.” He grunted. “I didn’t think it was long enough,” he muttered, turning and sprawling out full length on the couch and planting his head in her lap without a by your leave. A jolt of surprise went through her, but it didn’t occur to her to object as he shifted, seeking a comfortable position and finally curled one arm around her butt and draped the other across her thighs, hugging her to him as if she was a pillow. Disconcerted, she stared down at him for several moments and then tried to focus on the TV again. It wasn’t until he turned his head on her lap that she discovered she had been idly stroking his hair. Chapter Thirteen “Don’t stop,” he murmured in a slurred, gravelly voice when Alaina stilled selfconsciously. “I like the feel of your hands.” Discomfited, it was several moments before she resumed, but his hair drew her touch. The long, blue black hair was as healthy and silky as Ralphie’s pelt and just as pleasurable to stroke. She was surprised he wanted her to. She would have been surprised if he had only allowed her to. None of the guys she’d ever been around before were keen on being stroked unless it was sexual and they especially didn’t like having their hair touched. She didn’t think Rafe liked it on a sexual level, though. He seemed more than half asleep, as if he found the stroke of her hand more soothing than arousing. That was a little disconcerting, too, but then she realized that although it was pleasurable to her, as well, it didn’t particularly arouse her only to stroke his head and shoulders. She didn’t think it did. It was actually a little hard to say because her blood tended to hum low in her veins any time she was in his proximity, as if she was poised for take off if he would only give her the

least encouragement. Maybe he did find it soothing and needed that more at the moment? He’d looked almost--hunted--when she had picked him at the police station, wild to break free of the constraints of the place, as if he was holding himself in control only by a supreme effort. She didn’t think he would be able to stand being ‘caged’ if he had to spend time inside--which comforted her in a way because in the back of her mind she had worried that he might have done some jail time, particularly after that comment he’d made when he was released. She hoped the lawyer could get the charges dropped, or, if he couldn’t, he could get probation so he wouldn’t have to spend time in jail. It infuriated her that Rafe had been arrested at all. Hank hadn’t even asked her if it was true. Of course, she supposed the bastard had been sporting enough bruises to be convincing, but he still had a damned nerve filing charges when he had started the whole thing! It particularly angered her in light of the fact that the cops had just dismissed the charges against Calhoun and his customers, or buddies, when they’d shot up her place and endangered her life--and Ralphie’s. Realizing it was late and Ralphie hadn’t returned for the second night in a row, she finally eased out from under Rafe, turned off the TV, and went to look out the kitchen window to see if there was any sign of him. Disappointed when there wasn’t, but reluctant to take a chance on encountering the other panther, she went into the bathroom and showered and got ready for bed. She was tired, but not sleepy, not aroused exactly, but restless. It wasn’t because she was nervous about having a strange man the house, although she supposed she should have been when she hadn’t known him long. It wasn’t as if she was in the habit of meeting strange men and bringing them home with her even though she knew a lot of women who did. Somehow, though, she felt a connection with Rafe. She couldn’t exactly put her finger on what it was, but he didn’t feel like a stranger to her. Aside from being hot for him, she was comfortable around him, far more so that she had been around Bobby, or even her husband, almost as if he belonged with her. Maybe that was because he behaved as if he was completely at ease around her, as if they weren ’t strangers but companions? She didn’t know, but she did know that wasn’t the source of her restlessness, that it wasn’t uneasiness. She finally decided it was probably worry about the panther, because she was almost as concerned about him showing up and startling the hell out of Rafe, or threatening him, as she was about him being gone so long. After tossing and turning for hours, she finally drifted off. It seemed she had only been asleep for moments when she woke to the tug of a mouth at one breast and languorous, spreading warmth. Still floating at the edge of sleep, she released a heavy sigh that skated the edge of a moan as the tugging grew more insistent, churned heat through her body and made desire burgeon inside of her. When he lifted his head and took her other nipple into his mouth, she managed to open her eyes a slit. Rafe, she thought, feeling the warming flow of desire through her veins instantly take flame. She was thrashing restlessly beneath him by the time he released that bud of exquisite sensation and moved lower. His hands, skimming her body, hooked the edges of her panties and peeled them down her hips and then he caught one nipple in his mouth again, driving her to the intoxicating heights of pleasure until she began clutching at him, stroking his hair. He slipped down her body again, dragging kisses as he went, licking her, sending exquisite shivers of awareness through her. She moaned as he slipped her panties down to her knees, pushing her legs up at the same time until her soles were planted against the cool sheets, her thighs splayed wide. She dug her head into the pillow, arching as she felt the faintly rough texture of his tongue as he dragged it along her cleft and teased her clit. A jolt like an electric current sizzled through her. She caught her breath on a sharp gasp, reeling with the sensations. The muscles along her passage fisted, demanding his flesh, weeping for it. She wanted him inside of her when she came, desperately needed it. “Rafe!” she gasped pleadingly. “I need … I need ….”

She couldn’t get the words out. Each time she tried to demand that he cover her, fill her, he suckled at her clit, sending her into mind blowing bliss, shooting her upwards toward the brink until she had to struggle to keep from pitching over the side. She pushed at his head, tried to close her legs. He ignored the first and pushed her thighs wider still, licking and suckling at her tender flesh so hungrily that she lost her grip on her control, letting out a sharp cry. He speared his tongue into her passage as she began to quake with release, probing her with a thrust and retreat that drove her higher even as her body convulsed with rapture until she was screaming mindlessly. Totally spent in the aftermath, she felt as if she melted against the sheets. Oblivion beckoned. Welcoming it, she slipped over the edge without a qualm. But she opened her eyes as felt herself sliding downward into darkness and met a golden, slumberous eyed gaze that didn’t look quite like Rafe’s. Drifting, struggling to figure out why what she’d seen that didn’t seem quite right, she felt the bed lurch, heard feet hit the floor heavily--four of them. The room was light when Alaina woke and she wondered for several moments after she’d achieved a semblance of lucidity exactly why it was that she felt--wonderfully relaxed and yet strangely uncomfortable. She puzzled over it a few moments, remembering the evening she’d spent with Rafe, and then she’d gone to bed, and dreamed. No dream, she realized, would have left her feeling quite this good. Reluctantly, she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked down. Her panties were no where to be found. The t-shirt she’d slept in was still under her arm pits. She collapsed onto her pillows, struggling to recall details of her ‘erotic dream’ when she wasn’t certain she wanted to. She remembered hands. She distinctly remembered hands! And a mouth, a human mouth! If it was Rafe who’d sneaked into her bed like a thief in the night, though, why had he done no more than satisfy her? Why hadn’t he demanded she satisfy him? She pushed herself up on her elbows again, this time looking around the bed and then the room. Her door was open. She distinctly remembered closing it before she went to bed. After listening for several moments to see if she could hear anything that denoted the movement of another person, she finally heard the distant sound of heavy equipment. Rafe was on the tractor, working. Sitting up, she examined her sex with her hand. The moment she touched herself, she knew she hadn’t merely imagined, or dreamed, any of what had happened. Her clit gave off a satisfied after shock of pleasure. Groaning, she rolled out of bed, wondering if she was losing her mind from spending too much time alone. My god! Was she fantasizing about Ralphie? Or, almost as bad, had she been fantasizing about Rafe and Ralphie had been the ‘seducer’? Totally confused and more than a little distressed, she went into the bathroom to shower, wondering if she had just imagined the hands she’d felt stroking her body, tugging at her clothes. She wasn’t certain of anything anymore, but she couldn’t very well ask Rafe if he’d decided to sneak into her bed and snack on her pussy. His way of saying ‘thanks ma’am!’? She dismissed that. That made less sense than any of the rest of it. In fact, it was just plain impossible to accept that Rafe would have come into her room, thoroughly pleasured her, and left unsatisfied. Why would he do that? Why would he want to do that? The alternative really upset her, however. She’d locked the doors, she remembered abruptly! She remembered locking the doors before she’d gone to bed. Ralphie might well be able to unlock the back door if he was inside, because he was a smart

shit, and it was a twist lock which he could get hold of pretty easily, but he didn’t have a frigging key! Shimmying into her clothes, she strode down the hall, opened the back door and examined it. He hadn’t broken in, not that door anyway. There were no scratch marks and the door was whole, not splintered. Closing it again, she checked the front door and then the windows. Somehow, she wasn’t relieved when she discovered there was no sign at all that the panther had come in. Because that meant Rafe had pleasured her and she had imagined it was Ralphie? And because she still found it hard to believe Rafe would have decided to get her off and go back to bed horny? She’d been the next thing to unconscious after that horrendous climax, but there wasn’t a man in the world, she didn’t believe, who would have let that stop him from getting his own pleasure. Realizing finally that she wasn’t going to figure it out by herself, not without asking Rafe point blank, she tried to dismiss it and get to work. By lunch time, she was exhausted and frustrated. Her attention was shot to hell and she’d had to go back and forth over and over again to catch things she’d missed and had hardly gotten anything done. She’d just gotten into the kitchen to look for food when Rafe came in the back door with a ‘ honey I’m home’ sort of attitude that threw her for a loop. He glanced at the table and then at her when she popped her head over the door of the refrigerator and peered at him. “I lost track of the time,” she murmured in answer to the question in his eyes, wondering even as she said it why she was responding as if she was supposed to fix his lunch. A faint smile curled his lip up at one corner. He sauntered toward her purposefully, almost like a cat stalking its prey. Catching her arm, he pulled her from behind the refrigerator door, shoved it closed, and dragged her up against his body. “Why don’t I take you to lunch?” he murmured, tugging on her pony tail and nuzzling his face against her neck when she yielded to the pressure and tipped her head back. Goose bumps erupted all over the place. Her heart stammered and chugged into over time as he nibbled his way upward to her chin and lifted his head to look down at her face. She lifted her eyelids with an effort, just in time to see him close in. The heat of his mouth on hers sent a jolt all the way through her as if she’d been hit by a bolt of lightening. Every nerve ending sizzled and smoldered with the first possessive rake of his tongue along hers, as his taste and scent filled her senses with him. Without a whimper of protest, she melted against him, twining her arms around his neck and kissing him back. Her tentative exploration of his mouth sparked a conflagration between them. Possessive from the first, his exploration became a conquest rife with hunger. He made a rumbling sound in his chest when he broke the kiss at last. “Maybe I’ll just eat you instead,” he murmured huskily. Dazed and confused, Alaina wilted weakly against the refrigerator behind her when he released her and headed down the hallway. She was still trying to get her sea legs under her when she heard the shower. After glancing around the kitchen a little dazedly, she plopped into a chair and sat staring at the far wall trying to figure out what had just happened. It occurred to her, forcefully, that she had been claimed. Everything about the way he behaved said ‘mine’. The problem was, she wasn’t exactly sure of when that had happened. Feeling as if she’d missed something crucial, she thought it over, but she couldn’t remember anything that seemed significant enough to have given him the sense of ownership he obviously had toward her now--except the kiss when she had thought he was trying to warn Bobby off. Ok, so maybe he’d noticed she had the hots for him right off, she’d left him in no doubt at all after that steamy kiss, and he’d just decided to move in on her? Deciding after a few moments that she wasn’t making a lot of headway in untangling the puzzle, she tried to decide how she felt about it. That wasn’t hard. She couldn’t find an ounce of objection anywhere.

He could have led her straight to the bedroom after that kiss and she would’ve relished every moment of it. She didn’t know a thing about him beyond the here and now. That meant no relationship. A guy that reticent about himself wasn’t planning on hanging around long. It was amazingly depressing to think that might be true. She pushed that from her mind. She wanted him. She had from the first moment she had set eyes on him. She wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if it meant misery tomorrow or the next day or the day after that. He came out of the bathroom wearing a towel and headed for the bike in the yard. Alaina bit her lip. Maybe she should suggest he move his things inside before someone saw him dressing in the yard? Her amusement died when she heard the motorcycle rev to life. She moved to the back door. “Ready?” Alaina’s jaw slid to half mast. “On that?” He slid a smoldering look down her length and up again. “You don’t like the idea of having a purring beast between your thighs?” Chapter Fourteen Live a little! Alaina chided herself in a sarcastic inner voice, clinging to Rafe for all she was worth as they shot down the highway straddling what felt more like a rocket than a purring beast. Exactly what had he meant by that comment anyway? It was a damned odd thing to say. But then the man was strange anyway. It would have been a serious understatement to say she’d never met anyone like him. She’d never known anybody even close. She’d attributed at least part of that ‘strangeness’ to the fact that he was a foreigner. Now, she had begun to wonder if it was that at all. Some of it, she could understand. Four out of five cocky young American men would immediately have assumed that if they could make a woman scream like that in ecstasy, she was bagged and tagged. He was a proud man, very self-confident--damn fine looking and obviously knew it although she couldn’t say that he seemed the least conceited about it. She didn’t suppose foreign men were that different, which might explain why he had transformed in the space of a few days from wary and/or distant--to lover. He hadn’t admitted that he’d done it, though. Unless that was what he’d meant about that comment he’d made about the ‘beast’. Somebody had been in her bed. Or something. It seemed to her, however ambiguous his comments had been, his behavior spoke for itself. He’d decided on a ‘sneak attack’ instead of coming right out and climbing into bed with her to start with. She must have imagined that Ralphie had been there. The fact that she hadn’t found any sign that the panther had broken in seemed to bear that up. But why sneak? An impulse? He couldn’t have had a lot of doubt about his welcome, and besides, he seemed pretty straightforward, very self-confident. That seemed out of character unless it had been an impulse. That still didn’t explain why he hadn’t followed up and satisfied his own needs. That bothered her--a lot. Part of it was the anxiety that there was nothing ‘in it’ for him and nothing to bind him to her, which was silly. Such a bond would be tenuous at best anyway. It still would have made her feel better to have something of some substance besides doubts. Either she gave something of her doubts away, or he had time to think it over and decided

things were moving too fast to suit him. After spending a relatively uncomfortable lunch out together, while they tried to ignore the fact that everyone that walked by them stared, he not only did not spend the night at her house the following night, but he brought his own lunch the day after. “Well, that was a very short …something,” Alaina muttered, peeking at Rafe through her kitchen curtains as he headed to his bike the second evening. “Not that I could call it a wam bam thank you ma’am since he didn’t get anything out of it.” They’d run into Angie on her way out of town when they’d gone to eat the day before and she wondered if there was some sort of connection between that and his abrupt reversal toward her--from lover back to stranger. As in, he’d wanted to ditch Angie and figured what had worked for her in getting rid of her headache--Bobby--would also work for him. He certainly hadn’t seemed upset about the fact that she was leaving. In fact, Alaina hadn’t gotten the sense that he was pleased with the way things had gone, almost as if he’d played father against daughter expecting the blow up that had sent her packing. He glanced toward the house as he started his motorcycle up. She had to fight the urge to duck, but she’d only opened the curtains a sliver. She didn’t think he could possibly see her peeking at him and if she let the damned thing go, he’d sure as hell notice the furtive movement. Maybe it was because of the way she’d behaved, she wondered? Maybe he was waiting for an invitation? She felt too unsure of herself to try it though. Actually it hadn’t occurred to her to invite him. She’ d thought after the way he’d behaved a few days ago that it was settled, in his mind anyway. And she was certainly OK with it. What had that been anyway, she thought irritably? Thank you, lady, for finding me a lawyer and offering to testify on my behalf? Pity sex because she looked needy? Angry and upset, she moved away from the kitchen window after he’d gone. It was feast or feminine around her damned place these days. She hadn’t had any kind of companionship in forever, and then the panther had shown up, and then she’d brought Rafe home, and now both of them were snubbing her. She hadn’t seen Ralphie in days and feared the worst. Damned cat! She liked the independence of cats. Dogs were just too needy for her taste, always demanding attention whether you felt like giving it or not. But it was worrisome for Ralphie to disappear for so long. She wouldn’t have felt nearly as lonesome and depressed about Rafe if Ralphie would just come back. The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that her neighbor had something to do with Ralphie’s disappearance. They hadn’t had a hunt since the night they’d shot up her house, and she thought Calhoun had decided to lay low for a while because the sheriff had been out to investigate. That didn’t mean they hadn’t captured him for another hunt. Bobby would certainly have been willing to furnish them with darts if he was offered money for it. She hadn’t seen him around since the confrontation with Rafe, but that didn’t mean a thing. There was a thick patch of woods separating her place from the Calhoun place and another between her and the main road. A circus could have been in and out of the Calhoun place and she would never know it. The thought of that other panther rose in her mind, but cats were, mostly, nocturnal hunters and it wouldn’t be dark for a while. Having made up her mind to sneak over to her neighbors and see if she could find out anything, she left the house and hurried across the yard to the drive. Rafe had put up about a third of the posts, she saw, but only one strand of wire so far. She supposed he’d put the first up to get a straight line to go by, but it was a reminder that the only hold she had on him at all was the work he was doing and he was going to be finishing it up by the end of the week, she felt sure. That meant he would disappear from her life the same way he’d appeared. Shrugging that depressing thought off, she followed the fence line until she reached the spot

where she’d pushed through before. Ducking under the wire carefully, she picked her way to the vantage spot she’d used before, trying to calculate how much time it took her to reach it and how much time she had before it got dark. It would be dark in the woods and hard to see, probably, by the time the sun set. The light was already dimming by the time she reached a vantage point where she could see the Calhoun place. After searching for any sign that guards had been posted as they had been before, she crept a little closer. Calhoun had built a sprawling mansion that was private residence and hunting lodge rolled into one. There were a number of out buildings, mostly small buildings that she figured were for storage of one thing or another. There was a fairly sizeable barn, though. Deciding that, if he had caught Ralphie, the barn would be the most likely place they would keep him, she moved back into the woods and started making her way toward it. Either the distance was deceptive, or it just took her longer to reach it than she’d expected it to because she was forced to pick her way carefully through the brush. By the time she was as close as she could get, it was already getting hard to see. Settling again, she debated with herself. She’d miscalculated the amount of time. The sun had set and shadows were creeping over the Calhoun place and it was darker still beneath the trees. Go on? Or go back and try again another time? If they had captured Ralphie, he might not have much time. Besides, it wasn’t like she could just boldly stroll over in the bright light of day. There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but just as she was about to step out of the woods, it occurred to her to wonder if anyone from the house would be able to see her. After checking it out, she decided she would be too exposed to attempt it from where she was. Backtracking, she moved a little further, until she thought the barn itself would shield her from view. Pausing, she studied the open area carefully in the deepening gloom and finally darted toward the barn. Adrenaline shot through her with the short burst of running, not because it was that much excursion, but because fear of getting caught washed over her the moment she exposed herself. Flattening herself against the back wall, she put a hand to her heart, trying to calm the frantic beat and catch her breath. There was no sign of a door along the back wall. Mentally cursing, she tried to remember if she ’d noticed one along the side facing the woods. She couldn’t. She’d been too busy looking at the house. Finally, she inched her way down the wall, and took a couple of quick peaks around the corner to be sure no one was around to see her and then hurried along the side nearest the woods. There was a door of some kind. She didn’t see a handle on it, though, and when she shoved against it, the panel didn’t budge. Stepping away from it, she looked the opening over curiously and saw that the panel appeared to be set in some sort of track, rather like a garage door. A cattle chute? But Calhoun didn’t have cattle. He didn’t have any farm animals that she’d seen, not unless they were grazing in a field on the other side of his place. Why would he need a loading bay of the type used to move cattle from barn to truck? She heard the crunch of gravel under boots a split second before the voice. “Don’t move!” She froze, more from fear than because of the command. “Turn around--slowly.” She had to command her feet to move. Slowly, she inched around until she could see the man holding a gun on her. She didn’t recognize him, but it didn’t take much thought to figure out he was one of the guards she’d seen before. The gun looked familiar. “Ain’t nobody ever told you curiosity killed the cat?” Alaina’s mouth and throat were so dry it took an effort to gather any moisture at all into it. “I was looking for my cat,” she managed to say shakily. His face was shadowy, but she saw his lips thin. “In Mr. Calhoun’s barn?” It was just as well she barely caught a glimpse of the shadowy figure that flew at the man from

behind, otherwise she would have given him away. As it was, she was still gaping open mouthed when Rafe caught him around the head and gave his neck a sharp twist that made an nauseating sound. The man went limp instantly and crumpled to the ground. She was still staring down at him when Rafe strode toward her and caught hold of her arm. She resisted his tug, bracing her feet. He turned to glare at her. Without a word, he looped her arm around his neck and put his shoulder into her waist. His shoulder punched the breath out of her. By the time she managed to drag in a decent breath, they were beneath the trees and moving fast, fast enough that the movement when coupled with her oxygen starved brain made her head swim dizzily. “What are you doing?” she grunted out. “Shut up!” he commanded in a harsh whisper. “Or they’ll hear us and we’re both dead.” Fear closed her throat, not good sense, because she was too shocked to make any sense of what had happened. She wasn’t prepared for the leap. One moment they were rushing through the woods, the next Rafe seemed to jump straight upwards. She caught a glimpse of the barbed wire fence as they went over it, but nearly blacked out when they landed on the other side as the landing forced the air from her lungs. He was breathing harshly when he dropped her to the ground. “What the hell were you doing over there?” he growled. Alaina managed to catch her balance and gaped at him. “I went to look for Ralphie. Is that man … dead?” “What do you think he had in mind for you?” he ground out instead of answering. It was an answer, though, Alaina realized, feeling fear begin to penetrate her shock. The one thing her mind seized on, though, was his presence there when she had seen him leave. Hard on the heels of that she remembered that she’d dismissed his presence, and the panther’s, both of them from the same area of South America, as just being a coincidence. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like a coincidence at all. It seemed like pieces of a confusing puzzle dropping into place. “You’re involved, somehow, in what’s going on over there, aren’t you?” she demanded shakily. His lips tightened. “Not the way you think.” “How do you know what I think!” she demanded, suddenly angry. She didn’t know what she thought! All she did know was that she was scared--afraid of what the consequences of Rafe’s actions were going to be to him. He’d killed a man because he thought she was in danger! “God, Rafe! What are we going to do with a body? They’ll be after you for sure now! They’ll lock you up and throw away the key! Or worse! We have to go back and hide it,” she said a little hysterically. “Why? Why did you do that?” He shook her. “Because I wasn’t going to let it happen again,” he growled. “I came to kill them. I tracked them from Argentina with every intention of killing them all.” Another shockwave went through her, stifling her rising hysteria. “Why?” she asked blankly. “Because they killed Concepcion and our unborn sons,” he ground out. Alaina thought for several moments that she was going to faint. Darkness swirled threateningly around her. “Your … wife?” Everything seemed to break over her head like a tidal wave as she realized finally why he had not wanted to talk about his past, why he had seemed so cold and aloof, and why he had fought with Calhoun. The wonder of it was that he’d stopped before he killed him then. Tears of empathy welled in her eyes. “Oh Rafe! I’m so sorry,” she murmured surging toward him, wanting to hold him and try to sooth his pain. He held her, resisting her attempt to move toward him. Finally, he released his bruising grip on her, but he stiffened as Alaina slipped her arms around his waist, hugging herself tightly to him and he made no attempt to enfold her in his arms. For several moments he seemed at war with himself. Abruptly, he caught a fistful of her hair and dragged her head back, opening his mouth over hers and kissing her with savagery. There was as much fury in the almost hurtful pressure of his mouth as there was passion, but the passion engulfed her in flame and the pain that spawned the anger she understood. Ignoring it, she

kissed him back with longing, with empathy, feeding on his desire, fueling his as the heated need swept through her. As he pillaged her mouth with the demanding rake of his tongue, he cupped her buttocks, dragging her hips tightly against his erection, arching into her almost bruisingly. They swayed, staggered backwards several steps and came up against a tree, the first Alaina even realized that Rafe’s leap had not only cleared the fence, but the drive, as well. The rough bark of the oak dug into her as he pressed her against it, pinning her between the tree and his body. Ignoring it, she worked her hands beneath his t-shirt to feel his bare flesh. He broke the kiss, pulling away long enough to peel his shirt off and hers, before he pressed against her again, nipping at her lips briefly and then her throat and the upper slopes of her breasts. She felt a tug at her waist as he popped the snap of her jeans and shoved the zipper down, pushing his hand into her jeans to cup her sex. A tremor went through her as he found her clit with his finger, teased it until she was gasping for breath. Dropping to his knees, he peeled her jeans and panties down her hips, past her knees. Catching her buttocks in his hands, he drew her to him, nuzzling his face against her belly, nipping at her tender skin with teeth, lathing her with his tongue. He pushed her legs apart, parted her nether lips with his tongue and began to lap at her. Every stroke of his tongue sent another hard shaft of keen, pleasurable sensation through her until she was moaning, grasping at his head to keep her balance as waves of intoxicating desire washed through her. The tension coiled tighter and tighter inside of her. She squeezed her eyes closed, her entire being focused on the currents of pleasure his tongue stirred in her, glorying in it, wanting it to last forever. As she felt her body climbing toward its peak, however, a desperation to feel him inside of her began to war with the reluctance to stop him from what he was doing. Finally, the need to have him inside of her won out. “Rafe! I want you inside of me when I come,” she gasped desperately. He ignored the hoarse plea, feeding off of her so hungrily she felt as if she would pass out from the heat and dizziness that coiled around and through her. It took all she could do to keep her knees locked to keep from wilting to the ground. “Please.” He paused at that, lifting his head to study her face. Surging upward, he caught her face between his palms, tipping it up to his gaze. His breath was ragged. “You are not one,” he muttered finally, dipping his head to nuzzle her neck and then lower, teasing her nipples, sucking on first one and then the other. “God, I want to. Your scent drives me to distraction. Your essence isn’t enough. I thought it would be, but it isn’t.” He was saying no. She thought he was. Her head was spinning so that the words he murmured so feverishly were hardly comprehensible. Uttering a sound of frustration, he pulled away from her, stared at her a long moment and abruptly lifted her up from the ground, grinding his erection against her cleft as she kicked her jeans off and lifted her legs, wrapping them around his waist. She uttered a low moan, looped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face against his cheek, nipping at his earlobe as he braced her against the tree at her back and reached between them, tearing at the fastening of his jeans, shoving his jeans down his hips. And then felt him, felt the rounded head of his cock pushing inside of her, spreading her flesh. Groaning, she sucked a love bite on his neck as he claimed her achingly hot, slick channel in probing forays, delving a little deeper each time until she felt him grinding his pelvis against her cleft. Wrapping an arm around her hips and one around her back he withdrew and drove into her again, setting a frantic pounding rhythm that bespoke his own desperation and drove her upward toward mindless ecstasy within the space of minutes. She cried out as her body began to convulse around his hard shaft, unable to contain the explosion of bliss. Uttering a guttural groan, he drove inside of her harder and faster until abruptly, his body seized, erupted. Shuttering, weak in the aftermath, they leaned together, clutching each other tightly, struggling to catch their breaths. Finally, he gathered her tightly to him, turned and went down on his knees, leaning down to lay her on the grassy shoulder of the drive.

Chapter Fifteen Sated, too weak to hold on any longer, Alaina allowed her arms to drop to the ground, smiling faintly as she felt his lips moving over her throat. He worked his way upward to her mouth, covering it, kissing her deeply. She curled her tongue and stroked it along his as he explored her mouth. Warmth blossomed inside of her again as he kissed her, languidly at first, and then with growing hunger. Against her belly, she felt his cock harden as he moved against her with more purpose. Lifting her arms, she stroked her hands over his head and down his back. He shifted, working his jeans down his hips and then his legs, and finally pushed them off so that they both lay naked, entwined. Nudging her thighs apart, he settled between them, probing her cleft until he found her passage and pushed inside of her again. He stroked her slowly, thrusting deeply inside of her until he was grinding his hips against her and then withdrawing. As she felt the tension coiling inside of her again, she bent her knees, lifting to meet him. Breaking the kiss, he withdrew from her completely, arching his back to reach her breasts, teasing first one and then the other with the stroke of his tongue, sucking, nipping at them with the edge of teeth until she was moaning, writhing against him. When he entered her again, the fever had already caught both them up once more. Within moments, the slow awakening had developed into feverish need and he quickened his pace, finally shoving his arms beneath her back and holding her tightly as he drove into her in hard, swift thrusts. She climaxed again, stunningly, so surprised by the intensity of it that it dragged a sharp cry from her as her body began to convulse with rapture. Her body milked him, dragging him over the edge within moments so that he stilled abruptly and then began to shudder and quake even as her own tremors began to dissipate. Ignoring the prickle of vegetation beneath her, she stroked his back soothing as he went limp, lying heavily on top of her. A bed, she thought vaguely, would’ve been far more comfortable, but who was she to complain about bark and splinters in her backside when he’d just thoroughly sated her twice? He came off of her so abruptly, it stunned her. One moment he was laying heavily on top of her, hardly conscious, the next he was on his knees, alert, every muscle in his body tensed. Then she heard it, too, the faint crackle in the underbrush. A low, rumbling growl emerged from the brush on the other side of the drive. Alaina’s heart clenched painfully at the distinctive feline growl. “Ralphie?” she murmured weakly. Rafe glanced at her sharply, drawing her gaze from the yellow eyes peering at her through the brush. Abruptly, his face and body contorted. Alaina’s heart seemed to stand still in her chest. Convulsions leapt into her mind. Seizure. It wasn’t, though. As she stared at him in frozen shock, he changed from Rafe to Ralphie in the space of perhaps ten sluggish heartbeats. Uttering a challenging snarl, he leapt onto the road between her and the other panther even as the tan cat sprang through the brush. For another handful of seconds, Alaina’s shock paralyzed her. Then adrenaline kicked in, and instinct. She was on her feet before any thought of doing so had formed in her mind and racing toward her house as fast as her feet would carry her. Behind her, she could hear the furious growls and snarls, hissing. It only spurred her to run faster and faster until she lost her balance as she leapt from the drive onto her lawn and plowed the ground. She was on her feet again the moment she skidded to a stop, scrambling madly toward the closest entrance. Dashing inside, she bolted the door and slumped against it, trying to catch her breath. The hallway loomed before her, the lock on the other door leaping out at her. Shoving away from the door, she ran to the other end of the house and bolted that door, as well, and then checked ever window and

finally scurried into her room and dove into the bed, pulling the covers up beneath her chin. She didn’t realize until then that she was muttering a chant. “Oh god, oh god! What is it? What was that?” Her teeth were chattering with reaction. Coldness had crept into her until she was shivering all over. She bundled more tightly beneath the covers, but it wouldn’t stop. Finally, nauseated from gulping for breath, she fled to the bathroom and threw up. She could hardly lift her head by the time she’d stopped heaving. Dragging herself up with an effort, she climbed into the tub and turned on the water, crouching in the bottom of the tub while the shower pelted her with steaming water until her skin was red all over. Slowly, as the coldness eased from her, the chaos of her mind began to settle. Random thoughts flitted through mind. You are not one, Rafe had said. He’d murmured it over and over, as if he was trying to convince himself of something. She hadn’t cared what he meant at the time. She’d hardly even been aware of what he was saying. You are not one. She wasn’t what he was. Whatever he was. A shudder went through her. Turning the water off at last, she grabbed a towel and wrapped up in it, drying herself haphazardly as she left the bathroom and crawled beneath her covers again. She wanted to think her mind had snapped and she’d imagined the entire thing. That was preferable to believing what she’d seen. Was that even possible, she wondered, that Rafe had the ability to change from human to animal? Had the sudden threat of the cougar been one shock too many? Her heart jerked at that thought, at the possibility that she’d simply abandoned Rafe to tangle with a two hundred pound cat. It hadn’t been the cougar that had terrified her, though. It had been full dark by that time, but there had been plenty of light to see the transformation from man to beast when Rafe had responded to the threat of the cat--the other cat. Almost on that thought, she heard the door knob jiggle on the back door. It sent a shaft of renewed fear through her. “Alaina! Open the door!” Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin said the coward huddling beneath her covers. “Go away, Rafe--or Ralphie--or whatever you are!” she wailed. The response was the shattering of the glass pane on her back door. Alaina’s eyes widened to saucers. Leaping from the bed, she raced to her door to slam it and lock it. He beat her to it, catching the edge of the door with his hand as she put her shoulder against it and tried to shove it closed anyway. Her feet skidded across the floor. Giving up abruptly, she leapt away from the door and charged toward the bathroom. He caught her around the waist, swinging her in a tight circle and catching her against his length. She fought him in mindless terror, trying to pry his grip loose until she ran out of strength to fight him any more. Gasping for breath, she squeezed her eyes closed as he shifted her in his grip until she was facing him and tightened his arms around her again, lifting one hand to stroke her back soothingly. She went limp against him at the gentleness of his touch, bursting into tears. He held her for a time and finally leaned down and scooped her into his arms, carrying her to her bed and climbing into it with her. When he’d settled them both and pulled the covers over them, he pulled her against his length again. “I didn’t mean to scare you,” he murmured finally. “I couldn’t protect you in this form.” Alaina shuddered. Scare her? He’d terrified her, she thought indignantly! Sniffing, still in too much turmoil to think and exhausted from her struggles and her chaotic emotions, she found herself relaxing against his warmth against all reason. “Why?” she murmured. “I

don’t understand why you … why did you deceive me?” “I did not set out to deceive you,” he said, his voice harsh. “I was shot, half dead. I couldn’t maintain this form.” She swallowed against the hard, painful knot in her throat. “You’re not human.” He hesitated. “No.” She pulled away from him after a few moments, rolling onto her other side and putting her back to him. His hand settled hesitantly on her shoulder and then slipped to her waist, pulling her back until she was nestled against his body. She stiffened, but after a moment, she relaxed against him. Slipping her hand into his, she pulled it up to cradle it against her chest and closed her eyes, allowing exhaustion to overtake her. The sound of the tractor woke her. In no great hurry to get out of bed, she rolled over and grabbed the pillow next to hers, cuddling it against her chest. A faint scent that she finally identified as Rafe’s teased her with each breath she took, spawning a current of warm contentment and warmer memories. She allowed herself to relive the moments when their bodies had been locked together in the pursuit of pleasure, remembering the feel of his flesh inside of her, the feel of his mouth. Reluctantly, she let the memories go and allowed herself to work at the tangle of chaotic events that had led up to their coupling, and the frightening revelation that had followed. She hadn’t really accepted that Rafe had killed the man who’d been holding her at gunpoint, she realized. It had all happened too quickly. As scared as she’d been, she hadn’t really been able to accept that the man had meant to do her harm, for that matter, but people didn’t usually point an automatic weapon at someone unless they were prepared to use it. Had Rafe been right, she wondered? Would they have simply disposed of her just in case she’d seen something that might land them in jail? Threaten their lucrative enterprise, whatever it was? As difficult as it was to believe that people were willing to commit murder to prevent themselves from being charged with a lesser crime, it happened every day. They’d already tried to kill Rafe. He knew what they were willing to do, capable of. And, if he was right, they’d killed his wife. Why would they have murdered his wife, though? Had she seen something she shouldn’t? Threatened them in some way by being at the wrong place at the wrong time? She wasn’t human either, Alaina realized abruptly. Concepcion had been one of his people. What were his people? He’d said he had been half dead when she’d found him and unable to maintain his human form. The panther was his natural form? Were they like--werewolves, except their true form was animal and they changed into humans? That was pretty hard to accept, especially when she didn’t believe in such superstitions as werewolves and vampires and pixies and elves. How could she not accept, though, when she’d seen him change in front her? She frowned at that. He’d said he hadn’t set out to deceive her, and she could accept that, but he hadn’t made any attempt to enlighten her either. Whatever he said, he’d damned well taken full advantage of the fact that she’d had no idea he was anything more than an animal. His ‘affection’ took on a whole knew light now that she knew what he was. He’d gone right for the sweet spot at every opportunity. That was why he’d behaved as if they were lovers, she realized abruptly, because they were intimately acquainted. She just hadn’t realized it. And she supposed it had dawned on him when she was so uncomfortable that, from her perspective, he had no reason to feel possessive about her. Wide awake, she opened her eyes and stared musingly into space. He’d scared her half to death when he’d changed. He had to have known that would happen when she was faced with something she had never had any idea existed. Under the circumstances, she supposed she could understand why he hadn’t made any attempt to tell her. She wouldn’t have believed

him if he had, and she doubted he trusted her enough to enlighten her. He had done it, though, the very instant he sensed a threat to her. And he had followed her, determined to soothe her fears and make sure she didn’t see him as a threat. How long, she wondered abruptly, had he watched her, prowled the area searching for an opportunity to strike his enemy? He’d told her before that she wasn’t at all like he had thought she would be. She remembered because she’d been worried he was saying he was disappointed now that he’d gotten to know her. But she hadn’t known Rafe that long at the time--she hadn’t even known Ralphie that long. He’d said her scent was driving him to distraction. Something told her that had been an admission that he’d been prowling around a good while before the night she had found him wounded in her shed. He’d been hurt, half dead by his admission, and he had come to her place to find shelter. Of course, there weren’t any other farms as close as hers. She didn’t think he had had a lot of options. All the same, if he had been watching her he had to know she almost never went out to the barn, and the wash shed was not only the closest to the house, she went out there frequently. She shrugged that off. Very likely he had not been in any condition to do a lot reasoning. It dawned on her abruptly that he’d said he had been weak from loss of blood and had not been able to maintain his human form. He hadn’t been a panther when they had shot him! They had known they were hunting a man, or at least believed they were! She sat up abruptly, trying to summon a detailed memory of the fight between Rafe and Calhoun. Try though she might, however, she couldn’t recall anything that Calhoun had said or done, any expression, that indicated he recognized Rafe. It seemed to go without saying, though, that he suspected Rafe was the man who’d been there that night. The question was, what had brought Rafe to the decision to assume his human form and take up at her place? She had been the one to suggest it, but she’d been in the habit by then of talking to Ralphie because he’d seemed to understand her--and of course she now knew he had. She must have said something that had given him the idea that throwing himself in her path would lead to just what it had. He’d come up right behind her at the building supply place and said he was looking for work! It occurred to her that it would be a lot harder to explain ‘accidentally’ shooting two people than one. She’d been afraid after she had discovered there was something illegal going on over at Calhoun’s place that they might try to use the previous shootings at her place to cover her death if they decided they needed to get rid of her. Had Rafe figured that out before her? Was that why he’d decided it would be better to come out in the open? She was assuming he cared enough to make sure nothing happened to her, but was she assuming too much? She covered her face with her hands. He had said he snatched her away the night before because he would not allow it to happen again--Wouldn’t let them kill another of his women, she wondered? And did that mean anything beyond the fact that he’d claimed her? How could he feel the connection she wanted him to feel? They weren’t the same. He hadn’t even wanted to fuck her--well, he had wanted to, but he had been reluctant because they weren’t the same. He’d made that painfully clear. She could hardly quibble. If she had known before, she wasn’t at all sure she would have wanted to or allowed it. Who was she kidding? If she’d been as uninhibited as Angie she would have been all over him. She was seriously screwed up by all this. She was attached to both--or rather Rafe in both

forms--really attached. As scared as she’d been, she’d still gone to try to help Ralphie because she had felt like he needed her and she couldn’t bear to think of doing nothing and allowing harm to come to him. Obviously, Rafe didn’t really need her, not for protection, not even to get by, but she had still felt drawn to him because he was hurt and she felt that he needed her to help ease the pain of his loss. What she knew now didn’t really change that--it just complicated the hell out of things. She was angry. She felt used. She felt like she’d been suckered into caring when she was only going to get hurt. He’d known all along, after all. He’d been able to guard himself, distance himself. He’d come for a reason, one reason only, and he had not turned from that only because he had met her and desired her, against his better judgment, obviously, and all reason. She knew there was no way she could stop him from getting his revenge--she wasn’t even convinced that she should try--but once he had, he would leave. He would have to whether he wanted to or not, because the law didn’t make allowances for taking justice into one’s own hands. And she didn’t think he wanted it any other way. He wanted to go back and be with his kind. She could understand that. As unnerving as the thought was of living in another country, with foreign ways of doing things, and a different language, how much more difficult would it be to go and live among a different species? Whatever happened, he was going to leave. What was he anyway, she wondered abruptly? A catman? A demon, like the legends she’d read about? She would have laughed at that if she hadn’t seen him change the night before. Was it any harder to believe in demons than werefolk, though? He wasn’t evil. Maybe his people had seemed like their concept of the devil to the Indians in that area, being so different, but he had protected her. He had come to exact revenge for Concepcion and his sons because he had not been able to protect them. That wasn’t evil. She would’ve even gone so far as to call it admirable, to risk his own life to protect and failing that, to destroy those who’d taken the lives of his loved ones. There had been a time not long past when women had sought men for just reason, as protection against the world. Sighing, she got out of bed at last and bathed and dressed. Feeling a bizarre sense of unreality, she went out then to talk to Rafe. Chapter Sixteen Alaina wasn’t entirely certain how she felt about Rafe anymore until she reached him and he glanced up at her. His expression was a mixture of wariness and tentative welcome, and it totally disarmed her. She found she couldn’t meet his gaze, though. “I was just thinking--in case the cops come--we should decide what we’re going to say.” His dark brows were drawn together when she glanced at him again. “They won’t come.” Alaina felt a tentative budding of hope at his certainty. “You think the guy’s alright?” “The guy’s dead.” A wave of cold washed over her. “Well then, the cops are bound to come,” she said a little faintly. He frowned, tamping the dirt around the post he’d just set. “They didn’t come when I killed the other two.” The second shock wave was harder than the first. Alaina looked around a little vaguely for a place to sit down as darkness seemed to close in around her abruptly. Rafe caught her as her legs seemed to turn into rubber and wavered beneath her weight. Shifting her to one arm, he slipped his other arm beneath her knees and hefted her against his chest. She dropped her head onto his shoulder dizzily. “I think I need to lie down,” she said through lips that felt as strangely rubbery and uncooperative as her legs.

Crossing the yard, he dipped down to grasp the door knob and pushed the door open, striding down the hallway and into her bedroom. “What are you doing, Rafe? My god! You’re going to get yourself killed,” she muttered as he settled her on her bed. “I’m not easy to kill,” he murmured grimly. “Is that supposed to reassure me?” she demanded, her chin wobbling. He was silent for several moments. “I should not have told you,” he said finally, his voice flat, carefully devoid of inflection. As dizzy and disoriented as she still was Alaina felt a prick of fear at that, wondering if he now perceived her as threat. She supposed she was. She knew he’d killed a man--had heard him admit to killing two others. What was she supposed to do? Say nothing? “You know what I am,” he ground out. “Did you expect any different?” Alaina swallowed with an effort against the painful tightness in her throat, feeling the abrupt urge to tell him that he had completely misjudged the way she felt about him if he thought she looked down on him in any way. “What are you going to do?” “I think the question is, what are you going to do? Protect your own kind from the beast?” She looked up at him angrily. “I don’t deserve that.” He stared at her a long moment. “I just can’t fathom why,” he muttered finally. Alaina frowned. “Why what?” “Why I would matter to you. Why you would care what happens to me.” She looked at him a little helplessly. She wasn’t altogether certain why herself, except that she knew a part of it was that he made her feel needed. She thought, though, that he would hate that if she told him. He was hurt and angry and striking out as it was. She didn’t want him to push her away. She didn’t want to give him an excuse to do so, because she knew, suddenly, that he was looking for one. That was why he had told her so baldly. He wanted her to think the worst of him. He wanted her to turn against him so that he could convince himself that she wasn’t worth his time. He wasn’t worried that she could or would interfere with his plans. He knew very well that she wouldn’t tell anyone what he was, and she wouldn’t be believed if she did. “You know that I do, though?” she said finally. His lips tightened. He shook his head slowly. “Don’t ask it of me.” “It won’t bring her back.” “Nothing will bring her back! Or my sons! But they will not walk the Earth and breathe air they deprived my family of,” he snarled. “Then why haven’t you just done it?” she demanded. His eyes narrowed. He was silent for several moments, but she could see it wasn’t because there were any doubts in his mind about what he’d set out to do. He was simply deciding whether or not he wanted to tell her. “Because I’m hunting. They enjoy it so much, I thought I would allow them to find out what it felt like to be on the other side of the hunt. I leave my kills for them to find so that they know I’m coming for them. And Calhoun--I’m saving him for last. I want him to be looking into Concepcion’s dead eyes when I cut his heart out.” Alaina stared at him in horror. “What do you mean her dead eyes?” He tilted his head, studying her. “He saved her head as a trophy and mounted it over his mantel.” Alaina’s stomach abruptly revolted at the image that conjured in her mind. Clapping a hand to her mouth, she rolled off the bed and dashed for the bathroom. She didn’t know if it was better or worse that her stomach was empty. She still gagged until she felt like she was going to die and was afraid she wouldn’t. Finally, her stomach ceased to heave, though. Closing the toilet lid, she leaned her cheek against the cool surface, trying to gather the strength to get up. Rafe was gone by the time she managed to make it back into the bedroom. She wasn’t surprised. She was relieved actually, mostly because she had some hope that he hadn’t lingered to be disgusted by her retching. She snickered a little hysterically at that thought. He’d been talking about ‘hunting’ and

she was worried about disgusting him. Crawling into the bed, she cuddled a pillow to her chest and tried to empty her mind of any thoughts at all. She found it impossible. He had made it impossible. She realized after some time that he had decided to be brutally honest to drive home the difference between them, not just between his people and hers, but between him and her. He knew she didn’t have a violent bone in her body, not even much in the way of instincts for her own survival. She was more than a little surprised that he didn’t seem to find that revolting. They were polar opposites. He was wrong about her, though, if he thought that would make her despise him. It didn’t. It unnerved her, but she thought she had sensed his strength from the first and his willingness to use that force whenever he felt it was necessary. Just as she had sensed that he would not abuse his superior strength, that he was too brave and noble to use it against anyone or anything weaker than he was. She thought it was one of the things that had drawn her to him to begin with, maybe the main thing. Physically, she found him extremely attractive, but the wildness, the exotic, the danger, and the protectiveness were all part of that physical appeal, as evident in the way he moved and spoke as it was in his well honed muscles and the chiseled features of his face. It scared the hell out of her to have to face the reality of what deadly force actually entailed, but she wasn’t a child. She knew there was a price for everything. In a very real sense, she supposed, even while she was drawn by her empathy to the pain she sensed in him and his need for gentleness to sooth it, she had been instinctively seeking his strength in exchange, giving what she had to give in hopes of receiving what she needed. Bobby had been the bane of her existence since he had come into her life. He hadn’t thought twice about unleashing his superior strength against her. He had gloried in it, she thought, enjoyed being able to exert his will on someone else. She had needed someone to shield her from him. And Rafe had not hesitated even for a second to do so. She got up after a while, realizing that she was scared to death because she was afraid something would happen to Rafe, not because her conscience was killing her over his brand of justice. Rafe knew who had killed his family and it didn’t matter that they hadn’t seen anything wrong with it because they’d thought Concepcion was ‘just’ an animal. She might not be much for defending herself, but she had enough southern running through her blood that she still believed in an eye for an eye. The law, she knew, was designed to create order and prevent chaos. If everyone sought their own justice, there would be plenty to abuse it, plenty who took offense at nothing and used deadly force in retribution--they already did. Someone had to referee, but the referees weren’t really doing their job anymore and the bullies were winning. The meek were inheriting six feet of Earth while the strong were preying on them, beating them down, killing them, stealing everything they worked for, or forcing them to reinforce their homes with bars and bolts, living in jails while the lawless enjoyed freedom. Going into the kitchen she looked through the refrigerator and freezer to find something to fix for lunch and, once she’d settled on it, she went into the front room to work. She didn’t get much done because she kept stopping the recorder every time she got a glimpse of Rafe from her window. When she walked down to where Rafe was working at noon, he stopped and looked at her with the same mixture of surprise, wariness and tentative welcome as before. Tightness closed around her throat, but she felt a surge of hopefulness, too, that she’d been right. He didn’t really want to push her away. He wanted acceptance of him as he was. “I made lunch. Hungry?” His gaze slipped over her hungrily, making her belly tighten with anticipation and her pulse quicken. Nodding, he followed her back to the house and went into the bathroom to wash up while she set out the food and iced tea. He paused in the doorway to watch her when he returned, a question in his eyes. She dragged in a deep breath. “I was thinking … you might as well stay here … with me.” Something flickered in his eyes but was quickly tamped. He swallowed thickly. “I don’t belong

here, Alaina.” Her throat closed at the finality of that. She’d guessed wrong after all, and he wasn’t going to allow her the luxury of lying to herself. Maybe he did need her in a sense, but he knew the situation was hopeless and would not allow her to pretend it wasn’t. Tears welled from no where, making his image dance and waver. She blinked them back, forced a smile. “I know. And I do belong here. And never the twain shall meet.” He surged toward her abruptly, dragging her against his length. For a moment, he merely held her tightly against his chest and then he caught her face between his palms, tipping her head back. The hunger he’d promised with his eyes was in his kiss. It was rough and wild, and infinitely appealing, shooting her libido through the roof. From the moment his mouth covered hers in gentle suction, with the first demanding stroke of his tongue along hers heat surged through her, dizziness, desirous tension. She clutched at his waist, tugged his shirt from his jeans, slipping her hands beneath the fabric to stroke the taut, silky flesh of his back and then downward, delving beneath his jeans and digging her fingers into his buttocks. He broke the kiss, got his bearings and began to waltz her toward the bedroom, pausing and drawing away to pull his t-shirt off over his head, and pulling her close to nuzzle his face along her neck and explore the shell of her ear. She came up against the wall. He lifted his head, grasped her shirt and peeled it over her head, then caught her waist and guided her down the hall again. “Too many clothes, woman,” he muttered, amusement threading his voice as he struggled with the opening of her jeans. “You want me to walk around naked?” she teased, nipping at his lips and then his chin as she worked on the opening to his jeans. “I’d like that, yes,” he murmured, catching her waist and lifting her up until she’d locked her legs around his waist. Slipping an arm beneath her buttocks and one around her back, he negotiated the short distance to the bedroom, crossed the room to the bed and sprawled on the mattress with her, covering the tip of one breast and sending fire flooding along her nerve endings with his mouth and tongue. She gasped, arching to meet him, clasping his head to her. Releasing her after a moment, he grabbed the waist of her jeans and pulled her pants and panties down at the same time, almost dragging her off the bed in the process. Chuckling huskily, she grabbed two fistfuls of bedding to catch herself, breaking off with a choked gasp when he dropped to his knees beside the bed and buried his face against her mound, parting her nether lips with his tongue and dragging a slow, hot, caress along her cleft until he found her clit. Her entire body went taut with the electrifying current that jolted through her. She gasped his name as he palmed her knees and pushed her legs up and then spread her thighs wide for his caresses. Pleasure and anxiety warred within her, that he would tease her until she lost control and deprive her of giving to him, of feeling him inside of her as his cock stroked her deeply and brought her to ecstasy. She discovered she needn’t have worried. He teased her until she was gasping for breath, writhing with the exquisite torture, and then surged over her. Dragging her up the bed, he settled his hips between her thighs and arched his hips, butting the head of his cock against her cleft, driving her wild as he slipped back and forth for several moments, teasing her clit and then her opening. Frustrated, frantic, she slipped her hand between them and gasped his turgid flesh, guiding him to her opening. Uttering a husky sound of satisfaction, he surged toward her as their bodies connected, wedging the head of his cock firmly in her passage, supporting his weight on his arms and levering himself up to watch her face as he claimed her. She felt his gaze, but she was too enthralled with the thrill of feeling his flesh pressing against hers to even attempt to open her eyes. She wanted to hug the sensation to her, focus all of her senses on the heated stroke of his cock along her passage. She opened her eyes when he had delved as deeply as he could go, feeling her passion soar at the passion that tautened his features.

She felt more than that, though, felt a warm constriction settle in her chest. She knew at once what it was even though she had never felt anything quite like it before. Lifting her hand, she stroked his face lovingly with her gaze and the tips of her fingers and then threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging to pull him down to her. Something flickered in his eyes at her expression. His face contorted as if with pain. Abruptly he yielded to her tug, shoving his arms beneath her and covering her lips with his as he arched his hips and drove into her almost painfully deep. She gasped into his mouth, groaned as he withdrew almost as swiftly and drove into her again, his strokes as hard and aggressive as his kiss until the sheer force of his thrusts broke their desperate kiss. She arched her head back on a long, low groan, feeling her body begin to quake at his rough caress, reveling in his fierce passion, in his savage possession of her senses. A choked cry broke from her lips as her body abruptly seized, every muscle seeming to contract at once before the tension abruptly broke and they began to quake with pleasurable release. Chapter Seventeen Alaina stroked Rafe’s back and shoulders until his own tremors ceased and he lay heavily against her, breathing harshly. She chuckled huskily, though, when he nuzzled his face against her chest and sought one breast, sucking the tip into his mouth. “I brought you in for lunch.” He sucked the nipple he held hard before he released it. “And it was good. I’ll have seconds,” he murmured, amusement threading his voice. “And it was fabulously filling for me,” she teased him back, nudging her mound against his belly for emphasis, “but I doubt it’ll cure your hunger pains.” Kissing her briefly, he rolled off of her reluctantly and got off the bed, adjusting his jeans, which she saw he’d only shoved down his hips. Feeling a flood of warmth along with a dose of irritation and amusement that he hadn’t waited to undress, she rolled off the other side of the bed and went to clean up. He was waiting at the table for her when she came out. He caught her around the hips as she started past him, dragging her back and nuzzling his face beneath her shirt. His hot breath on her belly sent a flurry of goose bumps over her. She stroked his mussed hair, wondering if hers looked as wild after their roll on the bed. Dragging the band from his hair, she smoothed it, gathered his long dark hair again and replaced the elastic band. He pulled away when she’d finished, giving her an indecipherable look as he released her. Feeling snubbed for no reason she could fathom, she settled in her chair to eat. “I should be finished by this weekend,” he said as he took his sandwich from his plate and began to eat. Alaina’s belly clenched, immediately rebelling against her food. Mentally chiding herself, she tried to eat with at least an appearance of interest. “I should go to the bank Friday then and get cash,” she said, trying to pretend he was talking about the fence she’d hired him to build. Something flickered in his eyes but he didn’t correct her. Relief filled her, not because she thought she was right and that was what he’d meant, but because he allowed her the little lie. She preferred it that way, actually, needed it. It was how she’d dealt with the loss of her parents. Inside, she’d felt crushed and alone and abandoned, but she’d allowed herself to pretend, at least part of the time, that they weren’t really gone. They were just away. As long as she allowed herself to pretend she could call them if she wanted to or drive over to their place to see them, she could manage to keep from falling completely apart. She could release the grief in shorter, more manageable bursts, like opening the flood gates of a dam to allow the excess to flow. And in between she could go about the business of life with a semblance of calm. She’d found she had to. The pain was just too much to bear all at once. The temptation to simply yield to it and let her whole world fall apart had not been something she felt she could allow

herself. Being alone meant that there was no one else to deal with the things that had to be done. She’d had to find the strength somewhere. She’d find it again, but she didn’t want to cross that bridge till she had to. Rafe had never actually said whether he would stay with her or not, but late in the afternoon, when he quit for the day, he went to his bike and pushed it into the barn. When he came out again, he was carrying a bundle of clothing. Delight rushed through Alaina, who’d watched him surreptitiously until he came out of the barn again, and she hurried to her room to empty a drawer for him. He frowned when he saw what she was doing, opened his mouth as if he meant to say something and then closed it again without a word. Leaving him to settle his things and bathe, she went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for two. After they’d eaten, they went for a walk so he could point out his progress on the fence. All things considered, Alaina didn’t particularly care if the fence was finished or not, but she was pleased nevertheless to see how neat his work was, each post evenly spaced and level, forming an arrow straight line. “Daddy wasn’t particularly handy with such things, bless him,” she murmured when he looked uncomfortable and irritated by her praise, as if he considered it a backhanded compliment. “He was very good at what he did for a living, but not at all handy at constructing things.” She thought it over. “Actually, he wasn’t very good at anything except his work. He was a brilliant engineer, but terribly absentminded--always had his mind on equations, I suppose.” She pointed to the overgrown field behind the house where young trees were growing now. “He tried planting a few times, but he never really grew much. He said it was because he just didn’t have the time to devote to it while he was working and that, once he retired, it would be a different matter altogether, but I’m not at all sure it would’ve been.” It was nearly dark when they returned to the house. To her relief, he went in with her and settled on the couch to doze while she finished up her work for the day. She felt surprisingly content just to have him nearby, but she had to resist the temptation to curl up with him. He roused the moment she turned off her system and got up, making her wonder if he had actually been asleep at all, and made room for her to join him. She smiled at him, but shook her head. “After I take a shower.” Discarding her clothes, she went in to adjust the water, leaving the door open in silent invitation. Vaguely disappointed when he didn’t follow her, she shrugged it off after a moment and bathed. She’d just lathered her hair when a cool breeze wafted over her. Squinting through the stinging soap, she watched as Rafe climbed in, pulling the band from his hair so that it hung loose around his shoulders. Anticipation instantly set her heart to beating a little faster. He plucked at her nipples as she tipped her head back beneath the spray to rinse the soap from her face and hair, making blood surge into the tips to engorge them. Catching hold of her just beneath her breasts, he pulled her closer, leaning down to suck at first one tip and then the other until her knees threatened to buckle from the sensations cascading through her. He lifted his head when she began to shake with the weak tremors running through her, slipping one arm around her and pulling her water slickened skin against his so that their wet bodies clung at every point where they touched. Covering her mouth, he slipped his free hand down her belly and parted the lips of her flesh with his fingers, stroking her. She was so wobbly she could hardly stand alone when he pulled away at last, and stepped from the shower. Shutting the water off, she followed him. He grabbed her up even as she grabbed a towel and hefted her against his chest as he strode toward the bed. “We’ll wet the sheets,” she protested weakly as he tumbled her onto the bed and followed her. “They’ll dry,” he murmured, plucking at one pert nipple with his lips and then sucking it into his mouth, and driving all thought from her mind as tingling sensation cascaded along her nerve

endings, intoxicating her with desire. With little preliminary, he pushed her thighs apart, entering her, but her body was already humming with need from their foreplay in the shower and she was slick and moist for him. He moved slowly once he’d sheathed himself fully inside of her, holding his upper body braced on his arms, watching her face, watching their joining as he stroked her channel. For a time, she watched, as well, enraptured by the sight, feeling the tension building slowly but surely until she reached a point where she was drawn to focus inwardly. She closed her eyes then, lifting to meet him, encouraging him to move faster. Dropping to his elbows, he increased the pace. She teetered on the brink for what seemed like forever, close, dizzy with the height, struggling to hold onto the pleasure just a few moments longer. When it caught her, it was blindingly explosive and deeply satisfying, dragging hoarse cries of delight from her that seemed to send him over the edge. Gasping for breath in the aftermath, he kissed her with gusty enthusiasm that set off pleasurable aftershocks through her, and finally rolled onto his side, carrying her with him. Utterly contented, Alaina succumbed to the soothing stroke of his hands and drifted away. The contentment lasted until she woke sometime later and found herself completely alone. She knew even before she got up and searched the house that Rafe was gone, but she looked anyway, hopeful that she was wrong. He’d gone out to hunt. Trying not to think about it, she went into the bathroom to relieve herself and bathe off the stickiness from their lovemaking. She thought of it as lovemaking anyway. She didn’t really know how he felt about it. She dozed only fitfully after that, rousing later to find a pair of golden eyes watching her. Relieved, she dropped her head to the pillow and drifted away again, smiling to herself as she cuddled against the warm body that lay down next to her. The next day Rafe finished setting the last few posts and strung two more strands of barbed wire, pulling them taut and then working his way down the long length of posts setting the staples to hold the wire in place. Alaina did her best to ignore the fact that he was, just as he’d said, finishing up. She focused so determinedly on her work that afternoon that it wasn’t until she heard the tractor start up and saw Rafe driving it toward the barn that she remembered she was low on groceries. She was too used to buying for one and even though she’d gotten extra meat for Ralphie, there wasn’t much left and she didn’t particularly want to try to figure out how to cook the unidentifiable chunks of meat anyway. It was already growing dark as she drove into town, but she recognized Calhoun’s truck as she neared the farm supply store. Glancing from the truck to the store, she saw Calhoun and two other men emerge. The two men were carrying a large cage-like contraption. She was still pondering over that, wondering what they would need with a cage that size, when she reached the store. It occurred to her to wonder as she freed a buggy from the buggy train it was a trap rather than merely a cage. She hadn’t gotten that good a look at it, because of the poor lighting and the fact that she’d been driving by, but there had been something about the thing that hadn’t looked just right if it was no more than a cage. Hunting dogs, maybe? They hadn’t used hunting dogs before, though. He couldn’t have had any, she realized, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to get within a hundred yards of the place without the dogs alerting everyone to her presence. Maybe that was it, though? Rafe had made several excursions to wreak havoc with them. Or they thought they were going to trap the panther. Uneasiness slithered over her, but she dismissed it. If they thought that, they would be disappointed. As wily as real panthers were, Rafe, even in panther form, retained a keen intellect, probably more than the three men had between them.

She was checking out when it finally dawned on her what there was about the ‘picture’ that had been really disturbing her. She hadn’t recognized the men with Calhoun. She hadn’t known the men who’d worked for him before, but she’d seen them around. She knew it wasn’t the same men. She should’ve realized that instantly, because she had been there when Rafe had taken one of the others out. She almost forgot to grab her bags of groceries in her rush to get out of the store and get home. The trap wasn’t the trap! The trap was two new hunters that she very much feared Rafe knew nothing about and wouldn’t be expecting. She got pulled over for speeding before she managed to get out of the city limits. It took every ounce of acting skills she could summon to make it through the process of lecture and citation without yielding to hysterics. He dragged it out. They always did, just to make sure that you were late for whatever it was that had had you in a lather to get someplace to start with. Because they were assholes! It took more patience that she’d thought she had at the moment, to pretend to take his lecture to heart and pull out onto the road again and creep down it at snail’s pace until the dick finally turned off. Immediately suspicious that the jerk only meant to pull around and come back to catch her, she ground her teeth and kept her foot easy on the gas pedal with an effort. The moment she passed the city limits sign, however, she floored it. Rafe was gone when she reached the house. When Alaina had searched the house and found no sign of Rafe, she dashed out to the barn. His motorcycle was still parked there, which was less comforting than it would’ve been otherwise--because she knew if he was gone and had left the motorcycle he hadn’t actually left. He’d gone over to Calhoun’s. Had he gone, though, while Calhoun was in town? Would he have seen them return and know about the new men Calhoun had hired? He would be furious with her if she went stumbling through the woods trying to find him, because she couldn’t see at night like he could and she would sound like a herd of buffalo thrashing through the woods and alert them long before she got close enough to tell Rafe about them. She might succeed in doing nothing more than distracting him and getting him killed. She was still pacing the floor debating whether to try it or not when she heard a vehicle pull up outside. Fearful it might be the police, she was more tempted to hide when she heard someone knock forcefully on her door than going to open it. She had just decided she might as well answer it because her car was parked in plain view by the very door they were beating on when something slammed against the door. Instantly, her mind leapt to Rafe in cat form, trying to get in, perhaps running from someone with a gun. She had already reached the kitchen when the door gave way and slammed back against the wall. She skidded to a halt when she saw the stranger standing in her doorway, but it was too late run, he had an automatic leveled on her. He could cut her down before she could even whirl around to flee. “Mr. Calhoun needs bait,” the man said grimly. “You’re it.” Chapter Eighteen Alaina had only thought the night she discovered Rafe and Ralphie were one and the same was the most terrifying event in her life. She supposed it had been up until that point, but she’d forgotten the rule--No matter how bad something is, it can always get worse. In spite of everything Rafe had told her, though, Alaina had not really accepted that her neighbor was a cold blooded killer. The man who had kidnapped her at gunpoint explained the whole while his companion was driving them over to Calhoun’s that they didn’t intend her a bit of harm. They knew she had been feeding the panther, however, and that he would come to her. All they wanted to do was ‘ recapture’ him. He was one of the exotic animals that Calhoun imported for zoos as a sideline to his

hunting club. It sank into Alaina then with blinding clarity what was going on at Calhoun’s that they were willing to kill to protect. He imported exotic, possibly endangered, species for ‘safaris’ for men who wanted the opportunity to hunt big game when they didn’t have the time, money, or inclination to pay for a real safari. She had considered that before, but she had dismissed it as just being too farfetched. That was why they’d taken Concepcion--for a hunt. The panther she’d seen that shouldn’t have been wandering around her woods had probably been brought in, too, in that paneled truck she saw. Either it had escaped, or they had let it go, hoping to use it to capture the black panther that had been stalking them and picking them off one by one. Maybe they’d even hoped it would take care of her so that they would have one less thing to worry about. They weren’t going to let her go. She’d seen both men. They hadn’t made any attempt to hide their identity from her, which could only mean that she wouldn’t get the chance to identify them. As scared as she was, though, she thought she was more afraid for Rafe. She knew he was far too intelligent to be trapped as a wild animal could be--which they obviously did not know--but using her as bait might draw him out. It might not, too. She was almost certain that he would try to help her, but he had his own agenda. Would he be willing to sacrifice his need for vengeance to protect her when she wasn’t even one of his own people? Before she’d actually been facing the possibility of death she’d been certain that he would. Now she wasn’t nearly as certain as she needed to be. And at the same time, she was afraid that he would get himself killed for nothing, that he wouldn’t be able to help her. She was too scared to even try to think of something she could do. Certainly she had no chance at all of doing anything at the moment. She realized almost the moment they arrived that she had no options. The huge cage she’d seen the men loading earlier was a trap. And she was the cheese. Beyond the blinding glare of the floodlights they’d set up to work by, the woods loomed deep and dark and scary. Alaina had the unreal sense of being a player in a dramatization of an actual crime--where the victim was forced to dig their own grave. Except there was no hole, and no shovel, just the cage, and darkness all around them as if they were miles and miles from civilization in any direction. She might as well have been, because it wasn’t at all likely that anyone would ‘happen by’ that could call for help, or help her. They tied her up before they shoved her into the trap and then one of the men climbed inside with her and secured her wrists to the wire at the back of the cage to make certain she couldn’t spring the trap before the cat entered it. “I have to pee,” she said a little desperately as the man knotted a rope around the metal bar and looped it through the rope already cutting off the circulation to her hands. He ignored it. “I really, really do have to pee,” Alaina said plaintively. “So do it!” he growled. “I doubt the cat will mind. The scent might actually draw him a little quicker.” She glared at him, her fear temporarily forgotten. “Run, Ralphie!” she screamed. “There’s three ….” She didn’t get the last out. The man backhanded her so hard her head slammed into the back bars of the cage. Her head swam sickeningly. Her mouth filled with blood from biting her tongue. “ …men with guns!” she finished, but she barely managed to get the words out at all. She was in no condition to yell.

“Gag her! She’s yelling to that damned Mexican,” Calhoun growled. “The fucking cat can ’t count.” Alaina spat the blood out of her mouth. “He isn’t a Mexican you stupid bigot! He’s ….” She broke off when the man inside the cage with her pulled a knife, flinching as he grabbed her shirt. She was almost relieved when he merely used it to cut a tear in the t-shirt--until he ripped it off of her and shredded it, using her t-shirt to gag her. The man looked her over when he’d finished tying the gag. “Nice tits. It’s almost a shame.” “Shut up, you moron and get out of there before the cat catches the scent of her blood.” He didn’t need any more prodding than that. When he’d scrambled out, they set the trap and disappeared beyond the ring of light. She tried not to think why they’d left the light on. Flexing her fingers as soon as they’d moved far enough away that she couldn’t hear them any longer, she twisted her hands as far as she could and began trying to pick at the rope binding her to the cage. She was afraid they were watching her from whatever perch they’d chosen to ambush Rafe, but she knew damned well it wasn’t going to do her a bit of good to appear completely cowed and simply wait for them to come back and let her go. Whether they managed to get Rafe or not, she wasn’t going to see tomorrow. The strain of twisting her wrists and fingers into such an awkward angle was sheer torture. Every few minutes she was forced by the pain to stop and ease the pressure for a few moments respite. She continued to work at the knot doggedly, however, fighting her frustration and the sense of hopelessness that slowly worked its way into her as her body became more and more cramped and numb from the lack of blood circulation. The snap of a twig in the woods made her freeze. A moment later, she heard the faint rumbling growl of a big cat. Almost on top of it, she heard a man scream and gunfire. Cringing, she curled into as tight a ball as she could manage, expecting any moment to feel a bullet tear through her. The screaming didn’t stop for many moments. Shivers chased along her spine at the sound she tried to close her mind to. It stopped abruptly. The silence was almost more frightening than the snarls of the great cat and the man’s screams had been. Neither of the other two men had raced to the rescue of the screaming man, she noticed. She had no idea whether it had been Rafe fighting the man, or the panther that had tried to attack her twice, but she hoped it wasn’t the panther, because she was going to be what was for dinner if it was. Galvanized by that fear, she began to struggle with the knot again, almost weeping with frustration when she couldn’t seem to budge it at all. Going limp after fighting the thing as long as she could stand the screaming of her muscles and joints, she struggled to drag a descent breath of air in. If she gave in to the urge to weep, she was going to suffocate. She could barely get enough air through her nose to keep from passing out as it was. The thought brought her to the realization that her teeth would’ve been far more effective on the knot that her cramped, nearly useless fingers. For a second, she regretted the impulse to scream that had resulted in the gag, but she quickly dismissed it. Very likely Rafe hadn’t needed the warning and she’d risked it unnecessarily, but she had no way of knowing. If she hadn’t screamed the warning, he might not have realized Calhoun had brought in more men. After studying the problem over for several moments, she began to struggle to shift positions. The gag was too tight, she thought, to have any luck using her shoulders or even the bars to try to rub it down. She thought there might be enough strength in her fingers, though, to pull on the stretchy material until she could get it out of her mouth. She had to stop and rest twice before she managed to maneuver her mouth close enough to her fingers to catch hold of the fabric. The first half dozen tries resulted in failure, but she could feel the fabric stretching and hope pushed her to keep trying. Finally, she managed to tug hard enough to pull the fabric from her mouth, but she quickly discovered she couldn’t stretch it over her chin and every

time she tried to grip the rope with her teeth, the fabric kept popping back up and frustrating her attempts. She couldn’t remember whether her nose stuck out further than her chin or not, but the tip was cartilage. It would yield some. Her chin wouldn’t. After dragging in several shaky breaths, she leaned down to catch the gag again, pushing her face down this time instead of straining upward. The report of a gun made her jerk all over. She lost her grip on the shirt but she’d managed to drag it over her nose by that time. Panic seized her for several moments until it finally dawned on her she could still breathe through her mouth. Several more gunshots followed the first in rapid succession and then Alaina heard the scream of a panther. Fear shot through her. She froze, listening intently. She heard the pounding of running feet then, coming directly toward her and whirled toward the sound, trying to pierce the darkness and identify who it was running toward her. Calhoun appeared just as she heard a terrified scream from somewhere in the woods and more shots. Wild eyed, Calhoun raced straight toward her. She thought for several moments when she saw the knife he held that he meant to cut her throat. Instead, he sliced her hand as dropped to his knees and cut the rope she’d been struggling with for what seemed like hours. “Get out!” he roared as the rope snapped, freeing her. She stared at him blankly as he shoved the barrel of his gun through the cage and put it to her head, too stunned to move, too stunned even to feel any pain as blood dripped from her cut hand. “Now! Or I’ll blow your head off!” Galvanized, Alaina struggled to crawl out of the cage. With her wrists and ankles bound, however, and much of her body already numb from the restriction of blood flow, she didn’t make enough progress fast enough to suit him. The explosion of the gun so close deafened her made her jerk all over and freeze. Dirt and grass flew into her face from the bullet he shot into the ground inches from her. “Stay back! I’ll kill her! I swear to god, I will.” His voice seemed to come from far away because her ears were ringing, but the gist of his threat penetrated her shock and she blinked the dirt from her eyes, trying to see. In the darkness, perhaps twenty feet beyond the ring of light, she saw Rafe or thought she did--she thought she saw the glow of his eyes for a second before they winked out. She didn’t know if Calhoun had seen or not, but she began to struggle toward the entrance to the cage again. He squatted at the opening, glanced around a little wildly and finally grabbed her by her bound wrists, dragging her out. He nicked her ankles and feet as he sawed through the rope around her ankles, but her feet were so numb she couldn’t feel that either. When he’d finished, he grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. She tried to walk when he pulled on her, but her feet were completely uncooperative and her lower legs not much better. She couldn’t lock her knees and her feet felt as if they weren’t there at all, as if she was walking on stumps. Uttering a furious growl, Calhoun shifted his hold on her. Wrapping one arm beneath her breasts, he shoved the barrel of his gun beneath her chin. “Quit sandbagging, bitch, or I’ll kill you here.” She didn’t bother trying to tell him she wasn’t trying to be difficult, that it was the best she could do. If she’d had enough wit about her to try, she might have, but the gun barrel beneath her chin was goad enough to dismiss any such idea. He had to hold it at an awkward ankle to get it under her chin and she was afraid if either one of them tripped it would go off. She quickly discovered she couldn’t have walked if she tried, though. Aside from the stiffness of her feet and legs, he held her with her back against his side, dragging her backwards. She focused on trying to stay on her feet, wondering where he was taking her. He didn’t care whether she was dead or not, she realized, and he wouldn’t mind killing her at all, but he was trying to keep Rafe at bay by holding her. It wasn’t much leverage, but it was something to help beat back the fear that began to seep through her shock. Chills began to wrack her. She was naked from the waist up, but although the night air was cool against her skin, she thought it was the shock and fear that was making her so cold.

She discovered the destination he had in mind a few minutes later when they reached the barn she’d tried to get in to before. He dragged her along the side and around to the front. After pausing for several moments at the door, he opened it just enough to allow them through and dragged her through the opening. She heard a click and then, just as she was expecting to feel nothing else, lights flickered to life all over the barn. “What’s he got?” Alaina didn’t answer because she had no clue what he was talking about. He shoved the barrel more tightly against the underside of her jaw until she couldn’t even swallow without an effort. “What has he got, god damn it!” “Who?” Alaina asked blankly. “Don’t play stupid with me, bitch. Your boyfriend. That was no panther out there.” It had just jelled in her mind that he’d realized the behavior of the cat was far too clever to be a cat when a window shattered near the door and a huge, black panther crashed through it, landing on the dirt floor of the barn less than ten feet from where she stood with Calhoun. Instinctively, Calhoun jerked the gun from beneath her chin and pointed it at Rafe. The moment he did, Alaina slammed her arm against the barrel. The move was instinctive. She had no time to think it over. The gun went off, blowing a hole through the side of the barn and sending splinters in every direction like shrapnel. Uttering a growl of rage for her interference, Calhoun tossed her away from him with almost super human strength, sending her flying. She slammed into the wall of the barn, hitting it so hard she ricocheted off the wall and hit the dirt almost as hard as she had the wall. Stunned, she lay where she was, trying to figure out where she was hurt. Dimly, she became aware of the sounds around her of a life and death struggle between Rafe and Calhoun, of Calhoun’s screams of fury and fear and pain, and the furious snarls of the panther ripping him apart. Even as she managed to lever herself up and look around, though, the fight ended. Calhoun, she saw, was barely recognizable. He lay flat of his back. Rafe, in panther form, was crouched on his chest. As she watched, Rafe shifted from beast to man. Calhoun’s eyes widened as the face above his changed from panther to man. He struggled to speak, but only managed to choke blood. “An eye for eye,” Rafe ground out. “My mate sends her regards.” When he was certain Calhoun had heard him and was no longer a threat, he glanced toward Alaina. He looked down at Calhoun again. “Pray she isn’t heard badly, you son-of-a-bitch. Or I’ll be back to rip your balls off and shove them down your throat.” He came up off of Calhoun then, kicking the rifle across the floor before he moved to kneel beside Alaina, examining her carefully with his hands. “Poor, my baby,” he said soothingly, pulling the t-shirt/gag off that was still knotted around her head and stroking her tangled hair out of her eyes. “Are you hurt badly?” Alaina’s chin wobbled. “I don’t think so,” she wailed. He glanced around and finally rose and returned to Calhoun. Taking the knife out of his belt, he studied the man still struggling to cling to life dispassionately for several moments and finally, apparently satisfied, returned to Alaina and carefully cut the rope around her wrists. Flipping the knife in his hand, he caught the blade tip and hurled it across the barn. It struck a wooden column on the other side and dug in with a dull twang. Catching her wrists then, he placed her arms around his neck and shoved an arm beneath her knees and one behind her back, lifting her. “What … are … you?” Calhoun gasped out with a tremendous effort. Rafe glanced at him. “Argentinean,” he said succinctly and strode toward the barn door with Alaina, pushing through it and heading toward the woods at a rapid pace. Chapter Nineteen The sensation returned to Alaina’s hands and feet with a vengeance as Rafe moved quickly

through the woods. She bit her lip against the pain, holding onto Rafe more tightly as enough sensation returned to allow a firmer grip. It seemed they traveled through the darkened woods for an endless time before Rafe bounded forward and then sprang upwards. Bracing herself for the landing, she managed to keep from biting her tongue. She discovered when she opened her eyes again that they were on the drive in front of her house. Crossing the lawn, Rafe entered the house through the back door, which was still standing wide, and carried her down the hall to the bathroom. Settling her on the toilet seat, he knelt to examine the cuts and finally turned on the water in the shower, adjusting it. He helped her to her feet when he was satisfied with the temperature and removed her jeans and panties. Instead of standing beneath the shower spray once they’d stepped in, though, he sat down and pulled her onto his lap, urging her to lean back against his chest as he held her hands up to rinse the blood from them and examine the abrasions on her wrists and the cut on her hand. Alaina dropped her head back against his shoulder. The raw skin around her wrists and ankles hurt far more than the cuts. He settled her hands on her lap after he’d examined them thoroughly and tightened his arms around her. “I should have considered the possibility that they would think about using you as lure,” he murmured. Alaina twisted around so that she could loop one arm around his neck and burrow her face against his neck. “You couldn’t have known they’d try anything like that,” she said tiredly. He stroked his hand along her back. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to get you in the thick of it.” “I’m all right,” she assured him. She wasn’t certain that she was, but she thought she would be all right--eventually. There was no sense in Rafe blaming himself over it regardless. They were the ones who’d decided to involve her, not Rafe. And she wasn’t certain, even if he hadn’t been staying with her that it would’ve been any different. In fact, she knew it wouldn’t have. They’d known he had come to her for help after they’d shot him. They’d taken her to draw in Ralphie. It wasn’t until he’d sprung their trap on them that it had occurred to Calhoun he wasn’t just dealing with a wild animal. He’d realized he was dealing with something far more intelligent. He just hadn’t realized what he was dealing with. “Is he dead?” “Don’t think about it,” Rafe said sternly, rising when the water began to cool and helping her from the tub. Handing her a towel to dry off with, he grabbed one for himself and rubbed it briskly, if haphazardly over himself. Tossing it aside after a moment, he led her into the bedroom and climbed into bed with her, wrapping them both up in the covers and pulling her snuggly against his length. The warmth of the shower had chased much of the cold of her shock. The warmth of his body banished the remainder and the soothing stroke of his hand eased the tension from her slowly but surely until her exhaustion from her ordeal overcame her. Rafe was gone when she woke. In vain she listened for any sound that indicated he was anywhere in the house, and then any sounds that might suggest he had gone outside to work. Slowly, the thoughts she had worked so hard to keep at bay the night before crept insidiously into her mind and her chest tightened painfully. He had returned to his people and the place where he knew he belonged. She allowed herself to cry awhile because she couldn’t seem to prevent the tears that leaked from her eyes and clogged her throat painfully. When she had exhausted the supply of tears, she got up and went into the bathroom to perform her morning ritual, comforted by the familiarity of it. When she finally got into the front room to try to work, she found a thick envelope on her desk. Her heart skipped several beats and then commenced to hammering overtime. She didn’t recognize the dark scrawl across it, but she knew it had been Rafe who’d left it. Her hand was shaking as she tore into it. A stack of bills fell out. She stared at the money blankly for a split second before she saw the

sliver of paper. I hope this will help you out so that you won’t need to work so hard, baby. I’m sorry I didn’t have more to leave you, but I needed money to get me home. Alaina’s chin wobbled. She clamped her lips tightly together but it didn’t prevent the tears from starting again. He was worried about her having enough money to get by. It still hurt that he hadn’t said he loved her. She knew he had to care, at least a little, or he wouldn’t have worried about her. But he hadn’t said it and now she couldn’t get rid of the doubts. Now she couldn’t help but wonder if it was just Rafe, still trying to protect her because that was how he was. Struggling against the desire to rush back into her room and fling herself on the bed and cry until she was exhausted, she picked the money up and pushed it back into the envelope with the note he’d written her. She took it back into her room then and pushed the envelope to the bottom of her lingerie drawer. When she’d mastered the crying, she washed her face again. The cops were certain to be nosing around trying to find out what had happened next door. If they thought she was involved at all, she would be in a hell of a mess, and there was always the possibility if they took her in to question her that they would wear her down until she said something stupid, something that might implicate Rafe. She had to keep her wits about her. She couldn’t afford to indulge her need to grieve, not yet. Calmer after a while, she realized her busted door was likely to arouse suspicions and went into the kitchen to study it. The man that had kicked it in had left a boot print on the door itself, and knocked a chunk of wood from the frame. Leaving the house, she went to the storage building to look for some glue. After examining several different glues--fortunately her father, not being handy, had made certain he had a good variety of glue on hand--she found one she thought would hold the piece in place and returned to doctor up the door frame. When she’d carefully pushed the chunk into place and held it long enough for the glue to set, she got spray cleaner and removed the boot print from the door. There were muddy boot prints on the kitchen floor, too. She mopped. After examining the kitchen critically for any other signs of a struggle, she went outside and examined the yard carefully. Rafe had left prints in the drive way. She didn’t think they could make much of that, but since they were leading from Calhoun’s place to hers, she scrubbed them out with her foot. Rafe’s motorcycle was gone. She didn’t know when he’d left, but she felt certain that he would be well out of the state, and probably out of the country before the bodies were discovered. She hoped she wasn’t going to end up having to report it. She wasn’t sure she could pull that off. The urge to go and check Calhoun’s place for anything that might point to Rafe was almost overwhelming, but she fought it. The worst thing she could do, she thought, was to be caught at Calhoun’s--destroying evidence. Comforting herself with the realization that Rafe had been in cat form and wouldn’t have left much in the way of tracks besides that, she went back into the house to examine herself. The cuts had closed. Shoes and jeans would cover the marks on her feet and ankles. She couldn’t think of anything to do about the bruises and abrasions on her wrists. After glaring at them for several moments, a thought abruptly occurred to her and she smiled. If they came before the bruises cleared up she’d just tell them her and her boy friend had been ‘ playing’ rough. No doubt she’d blush like a flashing neon sign, but she thought that would only make the lie more convincing. The cops didn’t show up at her door until late the following day. They’d given her just enough time to feel as calm as she was going to, and not enough to give her a false sense of having escaped altogether. Hank’s face was grim when she opened the door. He tipped his hat at her. “Afternoon,

Ms. McKinley.” Alaina tensed immediately, but managed a polite smile. “Afternoon, sheriff. What can I do for you?” He frowned. “I had a few questions to ask you.” She nodded, waiting, trying to keep her face devoid on any expression beyond curiosity. “What kind of questions?” she finally prompted when he seemed more interested in studying her than coming to the point. “Have you seen or heard anything … that seemed out of place in the past couple of days?” Alaina lifted her eyebrows and then pretended to think it over. “Not that I can recall.” Hank turned and studied her fence over and Alaina felt a cold wave waft through her. “What happened to that Mexican that was working for you?” Alaina immediately felt defensive, but she dismissed it. All the better, she decided, if they thought they were looking for a Mexican. They could alert the Mexican authorities, and check papers until they were blue in the face. They wouldn’t find him if they were watching the Mexican border. She shrugged. “He finished the fence and moved on.” “When was that?” Here was the question she’d been dreading. She’d debated over it long and hard, whether to say he’d left before he could possibly have done mayhem on Calhoun and his hired killers, or if it would be better to say he’d stuck around afterwards. “Thursday,” she said firmly, deciding she’d rather he wasn’t a suspect at all. “He told me he’d called home and there was a problem and he had to go.” “What kind of problem?” She shrugged. “I didn’t like to pry and he didn’t say, but I went ahead and paid him and he left. He’d finished most of the fence anyway,” she added. “I’m going to have to finish stapling the wire, or get somebody else, but I don’t think I’ll have to worry about the hunters wandering onto my place now.” His face hardened. “No. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” he muttered. “You sure you didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary last night, or the night before?” She frowned at him, but finally shrugged. “I heard them shooting next door, but there isn’t anything unusual about that.” He looked pissed off, but he merely nodded. “Thank you for your time.” “What’s this about?” she asked as he turned and headed back toward his cruiser. He ignored the question. She debated whether it would seem more ‘natural’ to pursue it, or to let it drop and finally decided to let it go at that. Closing the door, she returned to her work, but she felt weak all over from the experience and finally moved to the couch and sprawled out on it until the faintness passed, going over the interview in her mind to search for anything she might have missed. Hank had been grim throughout, but she couldn’ t recall noticing anything in his expression to indicate he was the least bit suspicious. Returning to her work at last, she entered data until late in the afternoon and then drove into town for a newspaper and to pick up a few groceries. She’d been so upset and worried about Rafe she’d forgotten the groceries she’d gotten that night and most of it had ruined. Deciding to go to a different grocery store instead of the one where she usually shopped, just in case they noticed that she’d deviated from her normal patterns, she picked up some freezer meals and headed home again, trying not to be depressed over the fact that she was buying for one again. The whole front page of the newspaper was devoted to the horrendous massacre at the Calhoun residence. The biggest story focused on the discovery by a local man of maimed bodies ‘all over the place’ that had been mauled by a wild animal. Relieved, Alaina ignored the details and moved to the story about the ‘black market exotic animal trade’ and then she read the speculation regarding Calhoun and his involvement. The journalist who’d written the piece apparently liked the irony of Calhoun and his men being killed by the animals

they’d brought into the country illegally to hunt. He repeatedly referenced the irony of the hunters becoming the hunted. She had to agree. It was poetic justice, just not the way they thought. Feeling infinitely better as the certainty grew in her that Rafe was safe, she dismissed her grief over him the best she could and struggled to pick up her life of before. It wasn’t easy. Every day she had to make herself get out of the bed. She had to force herself to work, even though once she started, it was soothing in its way. She had no interest in food, but she ate anyway, counting the days. A month after Rafe had left, she went into her bathroom and took down the kit she’d been saving. Removing the test, she read the instructions carefully, and did as instructed, and then settled to wait, watching the little window, holding her breath. Disbelief filled her when she saw the strip test positive. For many, many minutes, all she could do was stare at it while it slowly sank home that it really was positive. A sob escaped her. She clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling joy bubbling inside of her. “You didn’t leave me alone,” she finally murmured, bursting into tears and hugging herself and rocking. “Oh Rafe! Thank you! Thank you!” When she’d calmed herself a little, she placed a hand over her abdomen, grinning from ear to ear. “Daddy didn’t want to give you up, sweety! I had a hell of a time convincing him.” She was so excited she could hardly contain it. It took a tremendous effort to tamp the urge to dance through the house, and dash out to a store to look for baby things. She didn’t want to jinx it, though. She wasn’t far along at all, even though she’d waited a full month to make certain her test results would be accurate. She might have complications. That dampened her spirits a good bit more than she’d wanted them quashed, but she chided herself. She and Rafe were different. She had to accept the possibility that it just wouldn’t work. She also had to accept the possibility that her baby might be a lot different than what she’d envisioned. She thrust that thought aside. She’d accepted Rafe. She loved him. She didn’t care what he was. If her baby looked more like Ralphie than Rafe, she’d adjust to that, too. It would be bizarre, but she’d be a mother and that was all that mattered. If dogs could raise kittens and pigs as their babies, and other animals could adopt a baby of a different species, she’d manage. In any case, she knew Rafe was part human whatever he’d said to the contrary. Their baby might have his ability to shift, but she thought it unlikely she was going to have a kitten. And his mixed parents had bred him without any problem. She didn’t see why she would have any trouble. Those thoughts brought home a problem she hadn’t considered, though, when she had allowed unprotected sex, hoping against hope that she would have his baby if she couldn’t have Rafe. Rafe wasn’t the same as she was, and the chances were probably very good that a doctor would spot the ‘abnormality’ right away. He would want to run tests. He might want to abort based on the information when the baby could be perfectly healthy. That scared her. She was old to be a first time mother. She really, really needed to be under a doctor’s care. Finally, she decided she would seek a doctor in another city. She could even give him a fake name and address. It wasn’t like they were going to try to identify her. It would get complicated, though, if he wanted medical records and so forth. She shook that thought off. If she was examined and the doctor didn’t find anything ‘ strange’ she could always go to another doctor and give her real name and address and stay under a doctor’s watchful care. The first available appointment was nearly two months off, but Alaina went ahead and made it. Deciding to do her best to simply ignore her condition until she felt more secure about it, and more certain that she wasn’t going to lose it, she discarded the idea of immediately setting to work remodeling

her spare room into a nursery. It would be hard enough to accept if she lost it. There was no sense in making things harder on herself by anticipating something that might never come to pass. She knew the moment the doctor came into the room after he’d run tests on her that he’d found something. He was trying very hard to be professional--which translated to cold and business-like, but she could see he was struggling. After explaining all the risks she was facing considering becoming a mother when she was already in her thirties and had never had a baby, he told her he wanted to run more tests to look for possible abnormalities. That cinched the matter. Alaina allowed them to schedule another appointment and left the doctor’s office, going directly to a bookstore to gather up everything she could find about pregnancy and babies and went home. She was scared to death, but she wasn’t going to let anybody stop her from having Rafe’s baby. She couldn’t tell them it was a hybrid. They wouldn’t believe her, and if they did, they’d probably still think it was too risky for her. She felt like, if there was anything actually wrong with the baby then it would self-abort. It wouldn’t be able to survive and thrive. She knew that, in most cases, that was what happened--unless a doctor intervened. Leaving it in the hands of natural selection wasn’t terribly appealing. She would have much rather gone to a doctor and gotten medical help to make sure she managed to carry the baby, but life being what it was, she tried to accept what she couldn’t change. When she managed to reach her mid-term without any problems and felt the baby stir to life, she allowed herself a little hope, enough to begin to prepare. Chapter Twenty Submerging herself in nesting, Alaina discovered, was the best medicine for what ailed her. Despite her anxieties about the baby, and her grief over losing Rafe, she found that she was happy much of the time--at least when she was working in the baby’s room, or shopping for the baby, or studying over her baby name book. She would’ve liked to know what it was. She didn’t particularly care whether it was a boy or a girl as long as it was healthy, but if she’d known the gender, she could have gone all out decorating. It wasn’t nearly as much fun having to select neutral colors and decorations and furniture when what she would’ve liked to do was either go wild on blue, or pink and frilly. Everyone stared at her whenever she was in town. She knew speculation was rife about the baby ’s father. She’d even had a few nosy old biddies ask her point blank. She’d told them. She didn’t see any reason not to. If the baby took after Rafe, they were going to figure it out. She was fair. Bobby was fair, and for that matter there wasn’t anyone in the county that was dark like Rafe, who looked far more Indian than anything else--traits that were very distinctive in a predominantly black and white community. She far preferred for them to know it was Rafe’s than for them to wonder if the baby belonged to her ex. Bobby acted as if she’d contracted a communicable, fatal disease, though, and carefully kept his distance. She decided she was probably going to have to home school the baby, at least until he was old enough to be able to defend himself. She didn’t know much about Rafe, or the race he descended from. She had decided to compile a little journal for the baby, though. If it transpired that the baby took after its father, a lot, she wanted to be able to explain whatever she could. She found a mid-wife in the last trimester. As many books as she’d read, she was still afraid to go through it alone. The mid-wife was two counties over, which meant a long drive when she went into labor, but she was afraid to go to anyone closer--just in case the baby was more werefolk than human and presented in its nonhuman form. She was relieved when she entered her eighth month, because she hadn’t been able to let go of

the fear that she would go into labor early and her and/or the baby have complications. She wasn’t nearly as relieved by the time she passed the date she’d expected his arrival. Beginning to feel as if she was going to be pregnant forever, she began taking walks a couple of times a day, hoping to bring her labor on. She was so miserably uncomfortable she didn’t think she could stand being pregnant much longer. She was on the point of heading out for her afternoon walk, nine months and eight days into her pregnancy, when she heard a vehicle pull up in her drive. Dread immediately seized her. No one ever came to her house unless it was bad news--or they were bad news. Bobby hadn’t bothered her since the day Rafe rearranged his face, but Rafe had been gone a long time and she couldn’t shake the fear that it would be him when she went to check who’d come. She was so stunned when she pushed the curtains aside to look out and came face to face with Rafe that she couldn’t even move for several moments. His expression was harsh, but she could see it was because he was uncertain of his welcome. Collecting herself, she jerked the door open. Uttering something midway between a laugh and a sob, she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Apparently stunned by his reception, he was slow to react. She’d already begun to pull away, acutely conscious of the fact that he’d lacked enthusiasm, when he wrapped his arms around her tightly almost squeezing the breath out of her. As his grip eased, he caught hold of her pony tail, dragging her head back for a kiss. His mouth was hot, and sweet, and tasted like heaven. Full fledged desire boiled through her the instant she felt the welcome thrust of his tongue between her lips, tasted him on her tongue. She had hungered for the feel and taste of him forever, it seemed. She kissed him back with fervor, reacquainting herself with the feel of his body, stroking his silky hair, his shoulders. He met her feverish need with an eagerness that matched or surpassed hers, waltzing her backwards into the kitchen until he had pushed her against the wall and pressed his body against hers. A jolt went through him as he did so, however, and he broke the kiss, pulling away from her to look down at the wriggling mound beneath her shirt. Guilt and doubt clouded his expression when he looked up at her again. Alaina swallowed with an effort. “Don’t stop,” she said pleadingly. His gaze flickered over her face. “You’re sure?” She released a pent up sigh. “I’m sure.” Scooping her up, he carried her into the bedroom and settled her on the bed, watching her as Alaina, abruptly self-conscious, shucked her pants and panties. A faint smile curled his lips when he saw her clinging to the top to cover her rounded belly. Pushing it up, he traced a path of light kisses over the mound. “My baby is so beautiful,” he murmured when he lifted his head to look at her face. Alaina smiled a little uncertainly. “You haven’t seen him yet.” Amusement danced in his eyes as he shifted up the bed and pressed the tip of his nose to hers. “I meant you,” he murmured huskily, covering her mouth again. In a matter of moments, Alaina felt the rush of need she’d felt before, felt desperation move through her. She didn’t want to wait. She was too needy. She’d yearned for his touch, his possession of her body, so long the need for him was painful. Slipping her hands downward, she popped the snap of his jeans, and tugged the zipper down. He was hot and hard and ready for her and the realization sent her senses reeling as she closed her hand around his cock, massaging the turgid flesh. He broke the kiss. Pulling away long enough to discard his jeans and t-shirt, he moved between her thighs, studied the mound for a moment and shifted onto his side at an angle to her. Propping on one elbow, he aligned his body with hers and thrust, engaging flesh with flesh. She gasped, tried to arch to meet him, anxious to feel him deeply inside of her. Catching her hand when he saw the position was too awkward for her, he pulled her up, rolling onto his back and guiding her onto her knees. Any other time she might have felt self-conscious at being so plainly displayed, but she was far

too desperate by that time to care overmuch about anything except sheathing him within her body. Closing her eyes, she bore down, feeling heat and tension coil more and more tightly inside of her as she felt the stroke of his cock along her passage. When she had taken him inside of her completely, she lifted and bore down again. Keenly pleasurable sensation coiled inside her, but so, too, did discomfort. Ignoring the discomfort with an effort, she focused on the pleasure, struggling to achieve a pace that would carry her to completion. He grasped her hips, helping her until she began to pant for breath. Tipping her onto her back again, he pushed himself up on his arms, increasing the tempo, watching her face carefully, she knew. For many moments she felt herself hanging suspended, struggling against the growing discomfort to reach climax. Abruptly, her body began to quake. She cried out as she felt the first tremors, arching to meet him, gasping, groaning. Rafe, gasping hoarsely, shaking with his own needs, stopped. “Don’t stop, baby,” she said on a breathless gasp. He lifted his head to look at her, his face contorted with his painful need. Abruptly, he shuddered, pressed deeply inside of her and held himself there for a long moment. Uttering a breathless groan, he thrust into her until his body ceased to shutter and finally exhaled a long, drawn out sigh of relief. Easing from her, he dropped weakly to the bed beside her and dragged her up against him. Content, Alaina rolled onto her side and threw an arm across his chest, caressing him. “God, I’ ve missed you!” she murmured after a moment. “Did you?” he asked, pulling away from her slightly and scanning her face searchingly before his gaze moved down to her full breasts, and lower. He swallowed audibly as he stared at the huge mound between them. “Mine?” She felt a twinge of irritation that he’d had to ask, but dismissed it. She could see from his expression that he was only asking for reassurance. She forced a smile. “Yes. Yours.” Lifting a hand, he stroked her cheek. “I thought you might throw something at me,” he said wryly. Wrapping his arms tightly around her abruptly, he pulled her closer, burrowed his face against her neck. “I knew as soon as I left that it was a mistake, but I kept telling myself it was better for you--all the way home. And when I got there, I realized I didn’t belong there anymore. I felt like--I couldn’t stay away.” He uttered a short, humorless laugh. “I left you all my money and I had none to come back. I think that’s partly why I did it, because I didn’t want to leave even then, and I thought I couldn’t be strong about it. If I had a way to come back, I would, and if I didn’t then I would have time to get used to not seeing you before I could possible do anything stupid. “It took months to save up the money to come back and more months to get my papers. And then I was here and all I could think was that you would probably just look at me and demand to know what I was doing here. Or take a gun and shoot me. “I didn’t know--I swear to you it never crossed my mind that I’d--that we’d. I wouldn’t have left you if I’d known. You would have had to throw me out.” Alaina stroked a hand along his black hair lovingly. “You came to stay?” she asked tentatively. He lifted his head. “It was a crazy idea, right?” he asked uncomfortably. “But … you’re having a baby. You’ll need me.” Alaina swallowed against the hard knot of emotion in her throat. “I’ve always needed you. I just didn’t know it till I met you.” He studied her seriously for several moments before a faint smile curled his lips. “You think you can handle living with one of the people?” She smiled back at him, caressing her belly. “I’d already planned on living with one of the people.” He swallowed painfully. “Two of the people.” She met his gaze evenly. “I’d like nothing better,” she said a little shakily. “If you want to

stay.” He leaned toward her, nipping at her lips with his. “I love you--so much, baby. It’s been hell.” Alaina swallowed, squeezing her eyes tightly. “I love you, too--but I think you already knew that.” He didn’t deny it. Instead, he placed a hand on her belly, stroking it. “When will the baby get here?” “Probably in a couple of hours,” Alaina said wryly. He jerked his hand back, glancing at her sharply. “Don’t scare me like that!” he said with a mixture of amusement and irritation. Alaina bit lip. The pleasurable contractions from their lovemaking hadn’t actually stopped. It had just become a different sort of contraction, and there was nothing at all pleasurable about the discomfort she felt now. “I wasn’t trying to scare you. I think I’m in labor.” Rafe leapt out of the bed as if he’d been pitched out, uttering a string of profanity, she suspected, although she couldn’t say for sure since it wasn’t English. “I knew I should not have … done anything!” Alaina glared at him, mostly because she felt guilty. She’d known the possibility was strong that having sex would bring on her labor. She had wanted Rafe, desperately, but she couldn’t deny, to herself at least, that she’d also hoped the activity would make the baby come--finally. “He’s past due anyway! And you haven’t touched me in months and months and I knew if I didn’t do it now I’d have to wait weeks more, damn it!” She struggled up with an effort. “I really do think it’s coming,” she said a little uneasily. Rafe, she could see, was struggling with the urge to decamp. “What do I need to do?” “Call the midwife and tell her we’re coming. The number’s by the phone,” she called as he strode from the room. When she’d bathed, taking care to eliminate any evidence of what she’d been doing when she went into labor--she didn’t want the midwife to know the moment she examined her--she got dressed and went to get the little suitcase she’d packed. Rafe, returning at that moment, snatched it out of her hand. “She’s expecting us.” “I don’t think she’ll be expecting to see you like that!” Alaina said testily. He looked down at himself in surprise, as if he had no clear idea of how he’d come to be naked. “Sit down!” he growled, grabbing up his clothes and dressing himself jerkily. When he’d slipped the leather moccasins on his feet that he habitually wore, he handed her the small case. Surprised, Alaina took it. She let out a yelp, however, when he scooped her off the bed. “I can walk.” “You’re not going to though, because I will have a heart attack if that baby drops out!” Alaina glared at him. “What the hell do you mean by that? Drops?” He reddened. “You know what I mean,” he growled irritably, trying to negotiate the narrow hallway without slamming her head against the wall. “No! I don’t think I do!” He ground his teeth as he stalked through the kitchen and out the back door. Once he’d settled her in the front seat of her car, he grabbed a handful her hair and kissed her on the mouth, hard. “Shut up, baby. You’re making me crazy. Where’s the keys?” Alaina frowned. “In my purse--I think.” Uttering a long suffering sigh, he dragged her out of the car again and ran around to the other side--to the car he’d driven. Alaina looked the car over doubtfully, but although it was older than her car, it looked to be in excellent shape. The engine turned over promptly when Rafe finally managed to get the key in the ignition. Relaxing, Alaina fished around for the seat belt and fastened it. He looked outraged when he discovered the midwife was nearly two hour’s drive from them. She gave him an indignant look, but she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of explaining her reasoning to him and after a very little thought, decided against it. “She was the closest I could find.”

“There are no hospitals here?” She gave him a look. “He’s--the doctor thought--Rafe!” He looked at her angrily. “You were afraid it would not look--normal to your people?” “I wanted to protect him,” she said. He turned to study her for a long moment. Finally, some of the tension left him. “I’m sorry, my baby.” His lips twisted wryly. “We will have to learn to get along, huh?” Alaina managed a smile. “We get along just fine.” To Alaina’s relief, despite his obvious anxiety about getting to the midwife before he had to deliver the baby himself, he drove carefully and observed the speed limit. There was no doubt in her mind, however, by the time they pulled up at the little clinic that the baby was well on his way. She didn’t object when Rafe helped her out of the car and carried her inside. She didn’t think she could’ve walked even a short distance. Ordering Rafe to wait in the waiting room until she’d been examined and settled comfortably, the nurse whisked her away. “He’s in a hurry,” the nurse muttered the minute Alaina had settled and she had the chance to examine her. Alaina looked at her questioningly. “He’s crowned. We’re going to have to rush. What’s your man’s name?” “Rafe,” Alaina murmured, feeling a thrill of pleasure go through her despite the pain at the reference to Rafe as ‘her man’. He sidled in the door behind the mid-wife, who pointed him toward the bed and ordered him to stay out of the way. Looking very much as if he would’ve preferred to be in another room, or maybe the next county, he caught Alaina’s hand tightly in his. It comforted her to feel his hand gripping hers, but she lost awareness fairly quickly of anything but pain. It seemed to take an eternity to Alaina, but the midwife assured her it was a record –at least for one of her deliveries. She was so exhausted from the pain and struggle that the moment the pain ceased she lay back against the pillows weakly, her mind rambling near the brink of oblivion. The gusty cry roused her. A few moments later the midwife settled him on her belly and Alaina got her first look at Joshua. “He’s beautiful,” she breathed happily, glancing up at Rafe for approval. Rafe, she saw, was grinning--shaky, pale, but obviously proud, and as thrilled with the beautiful baby they’d made together as she was. The midwife threw a glance at them. “He looks just like his father.” Chapter Twenty One Rafe, Alaina saw when she went out to call him in to lunch, was pulling a stump in the field where her father had once planned his garden that he never got to grow. Smiling, she waved when he glanced up, almost as if he sensed her gaze. He waved back, but continued to ease forward on the tractor until the small stump came free of the ground. Switching the tractor off, then, he strode quickly toward her. He came at her in a rush when he neared her, catching her around the waist and lifting her above his head. Laughing at the startled look she sent him, he lowered her, allowing her to slide down his length until she could almost reach the ground with her toes. “How is my beautiful baby?” he asked, nuzzling her neck. Alaina smiled, looping her arms around his neck. “He’s fine.” He chuckled, setting her on her feet finally and kissing her. “I meant this beautiful baby,” he murmured against her lips. “Madly in love with her man,” she responded. He quirked a dark eyebrow at her as he pulled away, draping an arm across her shoulders and walking her back into the house. Kicking the door closed as they stepped into the kitchen, he caught her hips and waltzed her backwards until they came up against the refrigerator. “Your man loves you,” he murmured, kissing her neck while he delved beneath her shirt and

skated his hands upward to cup her breasts. She caught her breath as warmth spread through her. “Your lunch will get cold.” He grunted. “I’ll live with it. My woman’s warm.” She chuckled huskily. “Your woman’s hot--Race you to the bedroom!” Ducking beneath his arm, she raced down the hallway and dove into the bed. He followed at a more leisurely pace, but then he was naked by the time he arrived and Alaina was still struggling out of her clothes. Propping against the doorframe, he watched her through slumberous, golden eyes. Alaina felt her blood warm at the look. Discarding the last of her clothes, she gave him a sultry look and crooked a finger at him. “Here kitty.” His lips quirked at their private joke. He’d aggravated the hell out of her about wandering around the woods calling ‘kitty’. He supposed it was his turn. Or maybe not. Pushing away from the door, he dropped to all fours and shifted, leaping up onto the foot of the bed. Alaina drew her knees up, eying him warily as he stalked her, uttering a low, deep chested growl. Pushing his way between her thighs, he placed a foreleg on either side of her and leaned low to nuzzle against her neck. She shivered. “Rafe!” Ignoring the demand to shift back, he dropped his head and dragged his tongue across her pebbled nipples. Alaina gasped at the rough stroke of his tongue, trying to ignore the electric sparks it sent through her. Knowing it was useless to protest, she put her hands behind her head, watching him, trying to pretend she didn’t find his attentions titillating in the least when he was in cat form, that she preferred his manly form--at least when they were in bed together. He was patient. He teased first one nipple and then the other until she was flushed, breathing in little pants and then he moved lower, caressing the soft, sensitive skin of her belly until her flesh pebbled all over in reaction. She tried to put her knees together when he nudged her nether lips, parting them with his tongue and dragging a long, slow lick along her cleft. Pushing her knees wide, he settled to explore that particularly interesting area of flesh thoroughly. Alaina gasped, grabbed his head. He ignored the silent demand to stop, however, and in a very few moments she didn’t want him stop. Fire poured through veins, melted muscle, tissue, and bone into a quivering mass of raw nerve endings. Her body barreled toward climax. She gasped, stiffened as she felt herself hovering on the brink. The moment she did, he shifted his attentions lower. Her hips seemed to come up off the bed of their own accord when she felt his tongue probe her, raking along the inner wall of her channel and sparking an explosive release. A cry escaped her as hard spasms ripped through her. She bit her lip, trying to contain the explosive ecstasy, so rocked by it that when her body finally stopped seizing, darkness crowded in around her. With an effort, she lifted one eyelid as she felt Rafe move over her. He’d shifted again. His cock, without any guidance whatsoever, connected with her opening as if it knew the way home, and he surged against her, forcing his way past the tightly clenched muscles of her passage. Letting out a long sigh of joy at their union, she slipped her arms around his neck, lifting to meet him while he sought his own pleasure. She caressed him when he finally ceased to shutter with release and leaned weakly against her, enjoying the aftermath of their lovemaking almost as much as the act itself. “What doin’?” Groaning, Rafe grabbed blindly for the sheets and dragged them over his bare ass. Alaina looked down at the pair of wide, bright blue eyes peering at her from the side of the bed. “What are you doing here, young man? You were supposed to be napping!” “Waked up,” he said reasonably. Grabbing the edge of the bed, he tried unsuccessfully to lift his short leg up high enough to climb up. When that didn’t work, he dropped to all fours, shifted and leapt up onto the bed, walking across Rafe’s back and plopping down on the other side to study them.

“You are such a smart boy!” Alaina complimented him. He shifted back to a little boy, grinning at her for a moment before he looked his father over. “What daddy doin’?” Alaina giggled. Rafe lifted his head at last, gave her an irritated look and glanced at Joshua. “We were discussing whether or not you needed a little brother,” he growled teasingly, rolling off of Alaina, grabbing Joshua and tickling him until Joshua was giggling breathlessly. “But I’m thinking that isn’t going to happen because you are too nosy!” “Actually,” Alaina murmured, rolling onto her side and smiling at both of them. “He is--or maybe a sister.” Rafe glanced at her sharply. “He is?” She studied his face. “Yes.” He set Joshua on the bed beside him and rolled to meet her, pressing his face against hers and then kissing her. “Did I tell you today I love you?” She thought it over. “You showed me.”

The End