Lexia (The Deadwood Hunter Series) (5 page)

She never heard her dad approach the front door and as her hand started to stretch out to touch, to feel, he opened the door knocking her forward. The panther snarled, lashing out with its paw slashing its claws through her skin. She heard her father scream and he tried to pull her inside but she needed to touch the cat, to feel its soft fur. The panther still held her gaze so intensely, calling her, then it turned, disappearing into the trees and the spell broke.

Shaking her head she looked up at her dad, his face a mix of anger and worry, then back to the forest. The cat had vanished into the trees. Lexia spotted her knife on the porch floor and snatched it quickly, sliding it into the back of her jeans as she stood to face her dad.

“What the hell were you doing, Lexia? It’s a wild animal, a panther...”

“I—I don’t know.” What had she been doing? The panther had been following her, it had tried to kill her and she wanted to stroke it! She got up and walked into the house, ignoring her dad’s harsh words. He stormed in after her but when he noticed the claw marks, he immediately shut up.

“Oh god, Lexia, do you need stitches? You must be in agony!”

Lexia looked down at her arm, noticing now the pain from the deep slash marks.

“It’s fine dad, not that deep.”

She went to retrieve some medical supplies and started to wrap a bandage around her arm.

“What are you doing? Let me see.”

Lexia sighed and sat on an old wooden chair at the table in the middle of the kitchen.

“I cannot believe that was a black panther; you realize you could have been killed! I’m going to have to call someone about it; we can’t have that animal running around attacking people.”

“Dad, no! Please just leave it alone, I would have been fine if you hadn’t knocked me over.”

“Honestly, Lex! What has gotten into you lately? I... I can’t believe you have only a few cuts, I mean that animal can kill someone with a single swipe.”

Her dad grew silent as if in thought and Lexia worried about the train his thoughts had taken; had he noticed how quickly her arm was healing? It had already stopped hurting and as he finished, her skin tingled as if being knitted back together.

If she was honest, the fact that she now healed at an incredible rate was freaking her out big time and she was also beginning to panic at the way her dad was now looking at her. His eyes seemed to see far more than they should and Lexia stood quickly knocking the bowl with all the dirty clothes stained red with her blood onto the floor.

“Shit,” she muttered, bending to retrieve them.

As she stood to walk to the trash can, her dad stood in her way and Lexia had a sudden urge to defend herself. She could feel her mind suddenly going into defense mode, preparing to attack, and it took all her resolve to rein herself in.

“Excuse me,” Lexia snapped.

“Just leave it, Lex, let me cleanup.”

“Dad, I have it in my hands.” She stepped around him towards the trash can and then felt the sting of her dad’s hand clasping her arm.

“I said I would clean it up.” Lexia gasped, stunned at his sudden anger.

“Dad, you’re hurting me!” She could feel the power slowly pulsating through her, every instinct told her to attack, he was hurting her, being aggressive, and this new side of Lexia hated it, any minute she was going to lose control. But then he looked down at his hand gripping onto her bandaged arm and seemed to suddenly snap back into his normal self.

“Oh god, sweetie, I’m so sorry.”

Lexia squeezed the bowl in her hand as she tried to get her anger under control, it cracked and fell to the floor, smashing into a thousand tiny pieces. Turning abruptly, Lexia ran from the room.

She could feel the panic slowly start to eat away at her insides. Running up the stairs two at a time, Lexia slammed the bathroom door shut. Standing at the sink she splashed cold water over her face then looked into the mirror to see gold eyes staring back at her.

“Oh god,” she whispered and sank to the floor crying.
Was I really going to attack my dad?

Chapter 7

Her morning classes dragged on, her thoughts switched between her dad’s weird behavior over the blood-covered clothes and the panther. His beautiful velvet fur, his intelligent gold eyes, the way he twisted his head slightly when she talked like he knew what she was saying.

She was calling the panther a he now, the more she thought about him the more she was certain the panther was male. He had a cocky masculine air about him. In fact as the day went on she started to get the feeling the panther was far from an ordinary animal, but what she didn’t understand was what the cat wanted. One minute he stalked her through the woods, the next she sat stretching out her hand to touch him.

The bell rang; Lexia pushed her thoughts away into the corner of her mind and tried to concentrate on what Alice was now saying to her as they walked into the cafeteria.

“He’s going to ask you out! He’s so hot, Lex. Jealous!”

“What! Who?” Lexia asked stunned.

“Seriously, Lex, what’s with you lately? Dan is…” Alice waited for a reply but got nothing. “Lexia! Are you listening? Dan wants to go out with you! What you going to say?”

“Erm ... Am not sure, I suppose.”

“God, what is wrong with you? For months you’ve been obsessing over him and now he has finally dumped Alicia and you’re not sure!?”

Yeah, what is wrong with me? Why aren’t I squealing and excited?
Lexia felt confused by her response. When she first heard Alice say Dan’s name she immediately thought of the panther. She needed to do something about the cat; he was definitely not normal and obviously doing something to her.

Alice’s excited voice broke through her thoughts; Lexia snapped her head up just in time to see Dan crossing the cafeteria towards them.
Shit, what do I say?

Dan sat across from the girls and Lexia smiled at him taking in his features; he was good-looking, a pretty boy, she thought. With his refined features and pale blue eyes, his blond hair hung in soft waves to his jaw line giving him a surfer-boy look. Dan was always polite and friendly; the kind of guy to look after a girl. She should say yes but her life was kind of crazy right now.

“So, Lexia, can I take you out for a drink later?” Dan had a soft, warm voice and Lexia found herself thinking how it would be real nice to spend an evening with a nice guy who wasn’t planning on killing her.

“I’d love to, Dan, but I have to work tonight, sorry.” And she really was sorry.

“Well, what time do you start? We could grab a quick drink before your shift.”

“Six.”

“I have to look after my sister till five but I could meet you there about five thirty?”

“Ok, that’ll be great.”

When Dan left a little while later, Lexia found she was quite excited about seeing Dan later, and the panther and her new abilities were at the back of her mind.

“Oh my god, Lexia! Everyone is going to be so jealous of you!”

“It’s coffee, Alice. Chill.”

“Come on, Lex, seriously what’s wrong with you? You always liked Dan and now you’re not interested?”

Lexia looked at her friend’s concerned face. She was right, they always talked about boys and she’d never been shy about liking Dan. Lexia knew she had to tell Alice something or she’d never stop asking what was wrong. But how did she tell her everything that was bothering her, how she didn’t want to even think about dating when things had gone so wrong.

“Yeah, it’s just... I have a lot on my mind at the moment and am not sure I have time for him.”

“Bullshit, Lexia.”

“Okay! Me and Dad are fighting; he has hardly spoken to me lately and this morning he went mental at me over something silly. I am not quite sure what I’ve done wrong and why he’s acting so weird.”

“Aww, babe, why didn’t you just say so? You two never fight but really don’t worry, normal people fight with their parents all the time.”

“So I’m not normal now? Thanks,” she laughed.

“Ha, in all the time I’ve known your dad I don’t think I’ve ever heard him mad. That’s not normal; how many times you heard my parents yelling at me?”

“Too many to count, but maybe I’m just an angel!”

“Yeah yeah, those puppy dog eyes may work on Mike but not me! You were definitely not channelling your good side the other night.”

“Shut up! I’m trying to block that from my memory!”

“Oh yeah? And that sexy-ass bad boy, too?”

“Alice!”

The girls were laughing as they took their seats for English. Lexia wiped the tears from her eyes as she tried to control herself. Her gaze passed Dan for a second a few rows in front and she smiled to herself
, maybe things will be okay after all.

The day passed quickly after lunch and before she knew it five thirty had arrived. Lexia hadn’t gotten too dressed up because she had to work after but she’d put on her best skin tight jeans that enhanced her every curve and a top that hung low framing her cleavage. Her hair hung loose, her natural curls cascading loosely over her breasts and she’d just applied a bit of lip gloss to finish her natural look.

Dan seemed pleased to see her when he walked in. They ordered drinks and chatted about finishing school and college. Lexia liked Dan; he was nice and listened to everything she said with great interest but after a while she thought that maybe that was the problem. He was good-looking and nice but he didn’t make her heart race, and when he reached out and clasped her hand, she felt nothing. Her thoughts started to wander to the night she got drunk and danced with the guy with the strange eyes. He wasn’t as sweet as Dan or as polite but when he touched her there were fireworks, every nerve ending coming to life.

By six she was ready to say goodbye and start her shift. Dan kissed her on the cheek as he left and as she thought, she felt nothing.

Lexia said her goodbyes and started to serve customers. Jan usually worked with her but she ended up calling in sick so Lexia found the night flying by as she rushed around serving everyone. At ten thirty Lexia collapsed in a booth with a cup of coffee; her feet throbbed from all the walking she’d done.
Roll on eleven!

The door chimed and Lexia sighed, getting up when a familiar voice said, “Don’t get up, love, I’ll get it.”

Before she could protest he’d got his coffee and was sitting across from her. “What are you doing here?”

“Having a coffee with you.” He smiled sweetly at her but his eyes glinted with mischief.

“Really? Just like you happened to be to be in a women’s clothes shop?” Sarcasm dripped off every word.

He just laughed at her, his golden-brown eyes sparkling in a way that made her heart skip a beat.

“Well, if you’re going to keep stalking me you might as well tell me your name.”

“Stalking! Really, you don’t think much of me, do you? It’s your dance moves, you got me hooked.” He grinned again. “It’s Lincoln, darling, or Linc, whichever you prefer.”

“Do you really think talking to me like that will get you anywhere?”

“Probably not but I’m sure my amazing good looks will.”

How does he say that with a straight face?

“What do you want?”

“Just a coffee with you.” His eyes said more but she found herself smiling at his attempt to keep an innocent face. “Well okay, maybe another dance, but come on, Lexia, can’t blame a man for wanting another feel of your sexy body.”

“Enough! You want to have a coffee with me? Stop reminding me of how stupidly drunk I was. And in my defence it had been a bad day.”

“Really, want to share?”

“Nope.” She smiled back.

He said nothing just held his hands over his heart with a hurt look on his face. She couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her lips.

Lincoln cocked his head to the side slightly and she suddenly had a strange sense of déjŕ vu; an image of a black panther tilting its head to the side floated across her mind. Lexia shook her head trying to clear her mind of the panther. It worried her how much she was drawn to the beautiful cat, the way he stared at her with his golden cat eyes like he was calling to her soul. Maybe he was? Or maybe he was something other than a cat and he was making her lose her mind.

Lexia realized too late that Lincoln had asked her something. “Sorry?”

“I said what are you thinking about?”

“Erm, nothing important.”

“Come on Lex, give a bloke a chance,” he said with a smile.

Lexia felt her anger grow at this man whom she hardly knew; why did he think a simple smile would have her spilling her every secret? He was so sure of himself, but if Lexia was honest she’d admit that she was angry at herself for wanting to fall for his charms. He was nothing like Dan, but maybe that was the appeal? Lexia snapped at him anyway, “I don’t even know you, why would I tell you my problems?”

For a second she thought she saw a flash of hurt flitter across his eyes before he said, “Fair enough, love, but maybe you should get to know me?”

Lexia looked at him and wondered if there was really more to this stunning, arrogant guy. She should tell him she wasn’t interested but he made her forget all the crazy and he also made her heart race with his charming smile. And those eyes, at first glance they looked light brown but when she really looked, Lexia noticed they actually had gold shot through them; it circled his pupil and then bled out to the edges. His eyes were so striking and unusual but the way he stared at her now was so familiar.

“
How I wish I could read your mind,” he laughed.

“Sorry I keep spacing out on you, don’t I? I was just admiring your features,” she smiled.

“So I take it you’re giving me a chance?”

“For now,” she murmured, but then she glanced at her watch and shot up. “Shit, I should have locked up twenty minutes ago! You’re such a bad influence.”

To Lexia’s surprise he got up and started helping her. Ten minutes later Lexia locked the doors and turned to walk home calling, “Bye and thanks for the help,” over her shoulder. She didn’t want any awkward goodbyes or worse still, Lincoln trying to kiss her, but much to her dismay he caught up to her easily.