Chapter 3

Chapter 3

R

oxy started up the

all-terrain vehicle and took off, spinning the gravel in her hurry to leave.

Just who the hell did he think he was? She’d worked hard and fast to get the cabin ready, and for her trouble she got yelled at. If he were running for Mr. Largest A-hole in the Universe, he had her vote.

Ugh!

Where was that comeback when she’d needed it? Why could she always come up with a snappy retort when it was too late? Even if she walked back to the house, slammed back inside, and gave him a piece of her mind, she’d just look like a dorky jerk.

When she’d first awakened and saw him standing across the room, she’d actually thought him handsome—in a rugged kind of way. He had a decidedly feral look about him and looked like he could devour a person like a tasty snack. He had midnight-colored hair that curled around his ears and over the top of his neck and a dark beard trimmed tight to his face. However, his most striking feature were his eyes. They practically glowed an emerald green that seemed to look right through her to her very soul. She didn’t like the disconcerting sensation at all.

She ground her molars together hard as she steered with one hand, pushed the other into her deep coat pocket and made her way through the wooded area that separated the two homes. Other than position on the property, they were exactly the same, right down to every layout detail, and right now, she couldn’t wait to climb into the loft and sleep until this nightmare job faded into a bad memory.

Pushing her way through the brush to her cabin was made easier by the full moon and shining stars, but in Alaska, you had to be careful about more than getting lost. The mostly untamed land belonged to bears and moose just as much as it belonged to humans and supernatural beings who dared settle here. A surprise encounter could lead to an attack. At least her vehicle made a loud enough noise that the animals would most likely run off long before she came upon them. Yet, she got the distinct feeling she was being watched. The hair on the back of her neck stood up, and she slowed down to scan the area around her. Nothing stirred, but she knew someone was out there. Her feelings were rarely wrong.

One thing in which she could be confident, it couldn’t be an unfriendly paranormal. Her protections guarded the property against those who meant harm to her client. Perhaps it was a friend of the jerk. Either way, she was a clear target here and needed to get home as soon as possible.

She took off again, not looking back. Tomorrow morning, she’d carefully go back over the property to make sure she hadn’t missed something. She might have to talk to Major Douchebag again to see if he was expecting any visitors. She didn’t like the idea of speaking to him once more, but she welcomed another opportunity to put him in his place with just the right, snappy comeback, at just the right time. If she could just come up with it.

D

ONOVAN LIFTED THE

ax to split another log but stopped mid-motion as he heard the sound of an ATV coming over the ridge.

She was back.

His own personal Achilles Heel had come back to finish the job.

Wasn’t enough he’d had nightmares filled with her face all last night. Wasn’t enough he’d woken in a beastly rage, ready to pounce on anything within reach and rip it to shreds. Wasn’t enough that all the suppressed memories of his own parents’ twisted affair came rushing to the forefront of his mind. Things he’d rather forget.

Before the sun had even risen, he’d come out and picked up the ax from the storage cabinet on the side of the house. The woodpile was already tall enough to take him through this winter and possibly next, but he’d needed something to minimize his rage, to get the beast back into the cage. Though the struggle was real, the vigorous activity had been enough to take the edge off at least.

She pulled up next to the cabin and turned off the engine. He watched her dismount, a growl stuck in his throat as his traitorous body came to life the minute her hips swayed in his direction. It really wasn’t his style to ogle a woman, especially a virgin, but she was sexy as hell and was like no other maiden he’d ever encountered...and then avoided. He wanted to run headlong toward her, scoop her up, and see if she tasted as delicious as she looked. Unfortunately, that could be a literal consequence where a dragon was involved.

A few feet from him, she stopped and cocked her hip, resting one hand there while cupping the other one above her eyes to block the sun. It was a provocative pose that he felt with a tightening of his groin. Even though the air was cool, the sun shone brightly down on them, bathing their skin in a comfortable warmth, but it did nothing to alleviate the cold chills an eyeful of her gave him when he knew what losing control around her meant.

“Chopping more wood? Because you don’t have enough to burn down the whole forest already?” Had her voice quivered some? He was having trouble concentrating on anything except her shapely curves.

Smart-mouthed too.

Just the kind of thing he found too attractive for his own good.

“Something to do.”

She seemed to take a calming breath and scanned the area. “Does stay pretty quiet. Usually. Think you can handle the speed of life here? ‘Bout as fast as an oak grows.”

Cynicism forgotten for a moment, he gave a grudging smile. “I’ll make it as long as I need to.”

She nodded, a pensive look on her face. Her tongue popped out and rested temptingly on her top lip as she stared him down before asking, “And exactly how long do you plan

to need

to be here?”

He set the ax-head on the ground and propped the handle against the pile he’d stacked already this morning, leaning his weight against it. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to get rid of me already.”

She laughed low, and the womanly sound struck him like a punch to the gut. When her teeth began to nibble on her lip, he forced himself to look away from her plump mouth before he did something stupid, like try to nibble on it himself.

“We didn’t exactly hit it off last night, Mr. Warren.”

“S’alright. I’m not looking for more friends.”

She remained silent a few extra seconds before a sly smile crossed her lips and the hand blocking the sun from her eyes joined the other on her hip to add a little more sass to her stance. “Interesting. Didn’t take you for the friendly type at all. But now that you mention it, that’s kind of why I’m here. Has anyone else shown up? Are you expecting others?”

Finally, he could get down to the business of kicking some witchy ass with the help of the only men in the world he trusted. “No one’s shown up yet. Kind of surprised they didn’t beat me here, but about three others were supposed to arrive.”

A look of confusion covered her face. “But they didn’t show last night?”

“No. Why?”

“Probably nothing. But, someone...or something...was in the woods last night. I sensed whoever or whatever it was when I was on my way to my cabin. Guess it could’ve been an animal, but it felt different. I checked all the protective magic surrounding the property and didn’t find any weaknesses, so I don’t believe it was a dangerous paranormal.”

“No one showed up here. Have you checked the woods this morning?”

“Thought I’d check with you first.”

Donovan’s gaze swung toward the trees surrounding the clearing where the cabin stood. Could Lisada have a way past Roxy’s magic? Was she even now waiting for Campbell Reid and the fledgling vamp he was protecting to arrive?

He glanced at Roxy, doing his best to ascertain just how panicked she was. If she were truly worried, she wouldn’t have come to check with him. She’d be wielding magic to battle whatever it was. Until he knew for sure, he needed to play it cool.

“No one arrived last night. I’m sure it was just the wildlife. These forests are full of bears and Sitker blacktail deer, right?”

She shrugged and twisted that beautiful mouth of hers as she rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. “To be perfectly honest, the wildlife usually stays away whenever the safehouse is active. They’ve kind of learned it can be dangerous. But, it has been awhile since the property was used.”

“I’ll check it out later.” Without her. Even standing this close to her was driving him crazy. “I’m sure it’s nothing. Probably worth a shot to check all your protections though. We can meet up and compare notes after.”

Her brow wrinkled, and he understood she was hesitant to agree. Yet, he wouldn’t do well to be near her right now. Even now, he could feel the strong urge to release his wings to protect her from whatever threats might be in the vicinity, be they animal or paranormal being. It was damn dangerous. The best thing that could happen would be Campbell, Achak, and the others arriving so they could strategize and hit back hard.

Finally, she nodded, but she looked thoughtful as she said, “Sure. That sounds like a plan. I’ll come back by later.”

She started up her ATV and spun around, leaving a trail of dust behind her.

He breathed a sigh of relief as she faded into the distance. The need to follow her raged inside him. He was all kind of messed up, as, he was sure, someone intended. Without a doubt, he needed to do something to get his head on straight right now before he totally lost all ability to think logically.

Someone was playing Global Thermonuclear War, ala Wargames, and Donovan was hitting his limit. He was about to drop from a DEFCON 2 to a DEFCON 1. No one should be anywhere in the vicinity to him when that happened.