Bending Steele (7 page)

“Steele, you good?”

“Fine.”

Jacks sank low, crouching, instantly swinging
his rifle around until it fit comfortably in place. Ready.

Snow crunched, followed by a rustle of fabric
and then more sharply, “I’m fine.”

The woman drew in a shaky breath, belying her
words, and Jacks scanned the shadows for the source of movement and
sound.
There
. Just a shade darker than the trees. The pair
of them stood close together, male and female. Jacks licked his ice
chapped lips. This high into the mountains he couldn’t think of a
reason for anyone else to be up here… Anyone except the leopard
shifters.

A thrill darted down his spine. He’d thought
he’d hit the jackpot before. Eyeing them through the scope, there
was a large chance he wouldn’t be able to kill both... Not without
the other fleeing. And he’d waste a pelt if he shot them now. Human
skin didn’t sell at all.

And Jacks hated to waste shit worth more than
the average house.

Besides, there was no guarantee they were
shifters. He’d never heard of so many of these cats in one spot.
The only shifter family he’d ever heard of doing mass gatherings
were certain packs of werewolves on a full moon, but their pelts
were fairly common. These cats though? He’d hunted for years to
find his first, going off myths and legends. Even this time, Jacks
had scouted terrain and maps for months before choosing this place.
He’d studied the habits of wild snow leopards, looked at the type
of area he’d found his first one in...and used up a whole lot of
luck.

The chances of finding four cats in one
night? More than astronomical.

A frustrated sigh sounded in the dark. Then,
“Let’s just find this bastard.”

But if they were...

No. There was no way. There had to be another
explanation. Jacks shouldered his rifle and waited for them to
pass. They didn’t so much as glance his way in the swirling wind. A
leopard would have caught his scent, surely even as distracted as
they were.

With a huff into the now silent dark, Jacks
continued after his prey. One predator after another.

***

Steele pulled away, angling herself so her
back was to Hexe. Damn him. How had he managed to get that
confession out of her? She blew out a shaky breath and stepped away
from him, moving around a shadowy pine tree. She needed space.
Time.

A chance to figure out why the hell she’d
kissed him.

That was the true stumper. Except she knew
the answer. After months of trying to get her to let him in, of
trying to befriend her, after four days of sharing his home with
her…he was finally beginning to win. She was beginning to care.
Steele closed her eyes briefly against the knowledge. This was a
dangerous slope, one that could so easily lead to hurt.

“Steele?”

“I’m fine.”

She curled the familiar hardness around her
like a blanket and huddled into the wind-tossed snow, just
breathing. Trying to get a hold of herself again. She had a poacher
to catch and analyzing whatever she might have felt for Hexe when
he’d been all comforting and shit, that just wasn’t on the
menu.

Steele scented the air, but the wind wasn’t
in her favor. The temperature had dropped too, ice prickling her
nose as she inhaled too much, trying to force it. Damn. “I’m going
to check the trail.”

Hexe caught her by her arm and held fast. She
turned her head back only to find him stepping closer, his eyes
fierce. He caught her under her chin and tilted her head back.
Steele stiffened. “Now’s not a good time.”

His lips flexed in a small smile. “It
probably never will be.”

Hexe dropped his head a notch and Steele
thought about fighting him, but she didn’t want to. It had nothing
to do with winning, or strength, or being a coward if she ran. It
had everything to do with the fact that Hexe understood her. Had
probably for months, but right now, she wanted to taste his kiss
even if it was just once. She couldn’t let herself love him, but
one kiss…she could give herself that.

Steele leaned forward, stretching up on the
balls of her feet. Her chest tightened, unsure, but the slow smile
that finished curving Hexe’s lips staved off the fear. His lips
brushed hers in a gentle touch, fleeting. As soft as a snowflake
gracing her mouth, over and over again, before Hexe pulled her
tighter. He released her chin, only to slide one hand behind her
neck and hold her to him.

Probably to keep her from running.

He didn’t have to worry. On a shudder, Steele
reached for him, her hands fisting in the thick padding of his
parka. She dragged him flat against her, opened her mouth and
swallowed him down. If she were only going to have one kiss, than
damn it, she was going to kiss him with everything she had.

She’d know the taste of him, so when she
walked away, she’d know exactly what she was leaving behind.

Except, Hexe wasn’t going to be that easy to
forget. His kiss was ravenous, devouring, like a starved man
finally getting what he’d wanted all along. His hands tightened
around her, unyielding. The pressure of his mouth drew a soft groan
from her, his lips and tongue demanding, dominant.

There was nothing about him that would be
denied and for the first time, Steele didn’t want to hold back. She
crushed herself against him, her tongue running along the length of
his. A groan rose in his throat, a feral, desperate sound. Hexe
stepped into her, hard, and Steele stumbled back, slipping in the
snow.

He caught her before she hit the ground, but
it was enough to break the kiss. He towered over her, breath
ragged. Hanging above the ground, held by nothing but his hands, it
made her feel vulnerable. Weak. Steele started to struggle and
Hexe’s hands turned hard, holding her tighter. The erotic tinge to
his gaze darkened with hunger.

She remembered the rigid length of his
erection pressed against her after their fight and swallowed. Hexe
was a warrior. A fighter. Strength seemed to call to him, and a
good fight no doubt turned him on. Steele went still. “I think we
should get back to the hunt.”

Silence stretched between them as he stared
at her, his cat eyes unblinking. The flames in his gaze not at all
banked by her words. Then, slowly, Hexe hauled her up to her feet
and let her go. With one, stiff jerk of his head, he backed off.
“Then let’s get to work.”

Steele didn’t wait to see if he’d change his
mind. She headed for the redhead’s path to Hexe’s house, hoping to
pick up a scent, despite the rising winds and the angry roar as it
blew through the trees. They didn’t have long. She’d moved through
the forest, senses on high, as she headed diagonally in the
direction of the path. She was less than ten feet from it when she
scented it...him.

Male, human. Gunpowder and silver thick on
him. As was the blood. Definitely her poacher. Steele stifled the
urge to hiss and sank down into the snow, staying low and hoping
the twirling gusts of snow would hide her. Hexe crouched down
beside her, head tilted slightly as his nostrils widened, inhaling.
A growl rumbled low in his chest, a vibration that shook them both,
but he silenced it.

Steele leaned closer to the trail, sniffing
harder, only to freeze as a realization curled like a fist in her
gut. He’d been right here, just minutes ago. Close enough to have
seen them, heard them. Shot them.

“Fuck,” Hexe whispered, the curse sharp
despite the hush to his voice.

Steele’s shoulders stiffened as a second
realization dawned on her.

He hadn’t just been close enough to have seen
them. He was still following that redhead’s trail. Straight for
Hexe’s house.

“We have to go, now.” Steele reached back to
haul him up, but Hexe jerked her down, flattening her face first
into the snow. The hard length of his body suddenly stretched over
hers and she felt a growl rising out of her, dark and fierce. She
would not be squished into the ground like an invalid. She was not
a child this time.

“He’s heading for your house!”

“And we’re not running after that bastard
without a care in the world. He’s packing silver, Steele. He’ll
kill you with a shot. He’s already killed one of us tonight.”

“I don’t need your protection.”

Hexe’s hand flexed over the back of her neck.
“No. But whether you like it or not, I’m your partner in this. We
do this together or you don’t do this at all.”

“That is not your call.” Steele struggled to
flip him, but Hexe wedged a knee between her thighs, leaning more
pressure onto her shoulders and neck.

“I will knock your ass out and tie you to a
tree, Steele. We work together or I do this on my own. You feel
me?”

She thought about arguing, but Hexe hadn’t
backed down once when it came to a fight. He’d hold to his word,
and since he already had her pinned... Steele huffed but went lax
beneath him. She’d play it his way. “Fine.”

“Then we stalk him. Slowly. I want to kill
this bastard without a silver bullet in the chest.” His fingertips
played along her hairline. “And I’m not so sure I can trust you not
to get me shot.”

She started to open her mouth and tell him
she was every bit as good of a fighter as he was, when Hexe leaned
down and laid a kiss against her shoulder. “It’d be a nice way to
have death part us.”

She winced a little at the memory. Oh yeah.
That. She didn’t think she could watch him die, not anymore. Four
days and Hexe suddenly seemed real. Someone the
world—
she
—might miss when he was gone. She wasn’t going to
let him get shot by a poacher.

“There’s no fun in letting him kill you,” she
said, trying to sound like she didn’t care.

“I wish that were reassuring.”

Steele heard his soft sigh, the sadness
lingering in his voice. Hell. Fine. “I don’t think I want you
dead.” She swallowed.

Hexe knew more about her now than anyone
else, at least since her mother’s death. She’d let him know things
about her no one knew. He was going to be a hard man to walk away
from.

“I don’t want you dead,” she whispered.

“Good. I don’t want you dead either.” He
pressed another kiss against her shoulder and eased off, settling
into a crouch beside her.

Steele slowly got her feet up under her and
scented the wind again. Ice scored down the back of her throat. The
frigid scream of the storm was getting closer, and she couldn’t see
more than a few feet ahead of them. Tracking would be easier on all
fours, but she didn’t dare shift. “We’re no good to him dead as
humans. But I guarantee you he’ll take a shot if one of us
shifts.”

Hexe jerked his head in a nod. “Then stay
human.”

He edged forward first and Steele followed.
They eased over the snow like moving shadows, the howl of the wind
masking any noise they made from the snow crunching under foot. It
also wiped away any footprints left behind. The only trail they had
left to follow was the scraps of scent tossed around on the wind,
and the knowledge that the poacher was probably heading straight
for Hexe’s home.

Steele lost track of how long they walked,
one slow step after the other, stalking through the darkness side
by side. The cabin had to be close, but she couldn’t see it. “Any
idea how far we got?”

The words came out a whisper, but Hexe heard
them, and said just as softly back, “No. But we’re close.”

They inched on, the muscles in her thighs
starting to ache from her low, crouching walk, when a scream sliced
through the roar of the storm. Panicked, desperate. There was no
gunshot, no second cry. If Hexe hadn’t frozen too, she’d have
thought she’d heard nothing at all. A growl rumbled up through him
and Steele reached out to lay a hand against his back. Through the
thick coat she felt his muscles bunch, fighting the urge to
run.

“If I have to stay calm, so do you,” she
whispered.

They moved forward together just as the crack
of a gunshot split the air. It lifted the hair down her arms and
raised goose bumps over her flesh. Steele bit back a roar as the
sudden silence stretched through the forest. There was only one
reason he’d have pulled the trigger. One. And he’d get exactly what
he wanted now.

Chapter
Seven

Hexe grabbed Steele’s coat and hauled her
flat into the snow again. She snarled up at him, but there was no
missing the pain in her eyes. The sudden flare of defeat. He shook
her coat, but Steele jerked free. “I wasn’t going to run, she’s
already dead.”

He almost laughed. “No. We’re going to haul
ass here, Steele. We need to catch him before he finishes skinning
her, you got it?”

She blinked at him, but Hexe waved off any
questions she might have had. “Stay low, stay quiet.”

Hexe let her go and then leapt into a low
run. Blindly, he ran in the direction of the gunshot. Even his
inner leopard couldn’t see much in the whirlwind of snow as the
storm closed in around them. Frost chilled his lungs as he ran,
burning down his throat. He didn’t wait to see if she followed, he
knew she would. Steele would be at his side, every bit the warrior
he knew she was. He was sure of that much at least, long before
he’d gotten her to admit it.

She’d played the cold bitch for so long he’d
wanted to hear it from her. That she didn’t want him dead.

Hexe darted amongst the trees, his eyes
straining to see, but it was his nose that caught the coppery tang
of blood first. Then light from his house flashed into view and he
ran for it. The door lay open, revealing a splatter of blood in the
snow. Large cat prints just outside his door. Shit. Steele stumbled
up behind him and froze, pivoting in place as she too tried to find
where the poacher had disappeared. There wouldn’t have been time
for him to skin her...