Unforgettable (2 page)

“Galen, Eden,” Rick began, clearly not knowing exactly what to say to defuse the situation. “I think you both started off on the wrong foot. Galen, this is Eden, my tenant. Eden, Galen is a friend of a friend. I’m sorry, my directions obviously weren’t clear enough and he ended up at your place instead of mine. Galen, I think we should leave Eden to go to work and go up to my house and talk.”

Neither Galen nor Eden looked his way, their attention focused on each other. The intent look in Galen’s eyes had her gulping even as her body blazed with heat. If he achieved that with just a look, what could he do with a touch? The thought was exhilarating and more than a little terrifying.

Rick spoke up. Loudly. “Galen, my place. Now. Eden, shouldn’t you be getting to work?”

Eden frowned at Rick. He sounded worried. She’d never heard Rick sound like that before. He was so self-assured that at times it made her grind her teeth. She often wished for just an ounce of his confidence. But right now he seemed stressed and out of sorts. She narrowed her gaze thoughtfully as she looked at Galen. Who was he? This didn’t add up. She wanted to know what the hell was going on.

“He knew my name.” Eden was sure that was what he’d been about to say earlier. And who addressed a stranger as ‘kitten’?

Rick stiffened, his eyes flashing, before her very own brick wall reasserted himself between them once again. But there was no blocking the tension in the air, an invisible web drawn tightly between the two men.

“I told Galen you were renting the cottage from me,” Rick explained. “That’s how he knew your name. Sorry, Eden, I should have told you he was coming.”

Sighing with frustration, she poked Galen in the back. He turned his head, giving her a quelling look. Eden folded her arms over her chest. “Get out of my way,” she demanded. When he continued to look at her, she sighed. “Please.”

He moved grudgingly.

Eden looked at Rick, trying to gauge his honesty. She hoped he was telling her the truth. Rick was the only person she could trust, if she couldn’t take him at his word then she was completely lost. His expression never changed as she stared at him.

“Eden? You listening to me, kid?” Rick asked. Eden came to with a start. An embarrassed blush heated her cheeks as she realized both men were staring at her in concern.

“S-sorry,” she stammered.

“You okay?” Rick’s voice was concerned, while Galen peered down at her in silent regard.

“Just trying to jog my memory. As usual, it’s too lazy to get up and moving,” she joked. Neither man smiled.

She sighed. “I’m not going to break. Seriously.” She looked back up Galen. So she didn’t know him. God, was she so desperate for some answers that she was imagining relationships with total strangers?

She massaged her temples as ice stabbed through her head. A low whimper of pain escaped her tightly-pressed lips. Once again, Galen reached out to support her. Frowning up at him as he crowded far too close, Eden found it hard to think clearly. His scent kept distracting her from her thoughts. “I have to get to work.”

“You shouldn’t drive with a headache,” Galen stated. “It’s too dangerous.”

“I’m fine. You should catch up with Rick.”

Galen glared down at her. “Go back to bed, you’re clearly not feeling well.”

“How would you know how I’m feeling? And you have no right to boss me around.”

A muscle ticked by his eyes, fascinating her. “Not hard to tell, kitten. You’re pale as a ghost and you have dark bags under your eyes. Plus you could use a few good meals.”

She flushed at his unflattering assessment of her. “Sorry, you find me so unappealing, I’ll just get out of your hair.”

Turning, her shoulders stiff, she only managed one step before he grabbed her shoulders, turning her back around. She stared up into his deep eyes, holding her breath.

Was he about to kiss her?

“Galen! Let Eden go. She has to get to work and we’re holding her up,” Rick demanded.

Licking her lips, Eden took a shaky step back, her body on sensation overload, screaming at her to step forward not back.

“Never think that I don’t find you utterly gorgeous,” Galen whispered.

Eden stared at him in shock. For four weeks she’d been fighting to regain her memories, now she wondered if her brain hadn’t tucked them away for a reason.

Maybe she was just better off not knowing.

Turning towards her car, she reached out to grab her door handle, but Galen beat her, opening the door for her. She slid by his large body, unable to prevent brushing against him, he was standing that close.

Her breath caught in the back of her throat, warmth and desire swirling in her stomach and lower, tingling around her clit.

“Drive carefully,” he spoke softly as she settled into the seat. Then in a move that spoke of possessive concern, he reached in and belted her up. Eden sat back, too surprised to protest, all her concentration needed to prevent her body from leaning into his.

She shook her head. Was it just simple flirting? Perhaps he acted this way around every woman. Maybe she was being too suspicious, looking for past links where there were none. The sparks between them could just be lust; after all, he was a truly gorgeous man.

Thoughts continued to swirl in her head as she drove off. As she headed down the driveway, she glanced into the rearview mirror. She felt this curious wrenching, as though every cell in her body was begging her not to leave. She had to fight against every instinct she had not to turn her car around and go racing back into the stranger’s arms.

Chapter Two:

 “Are you mad? What were you thinking of, coming here without me? Are you deliberately trying to hurt her?” Rick Andrews asked him furiously.

Galen let out a low, vicious growl. His hands clenched into fists as he held the lion back. His beast wanted to charge after its mate, take her, hold her, never let her go. They’d been without her for too long, this last month had felt like a lifetime and this leopard dared to try and tell him what to do?

“I would never hurt her. I don’t know whether you’re brave or foolish but the only reason you’re still standing here is because you’ve protected her until now. But you do not need to protect her from me, and I will not stand for you coming between us.” His power lashed out, a clear reprimand.

The wereleopard was strong, but he was no match for the Alpha of the biggest and most powerful werelion pack in the USA. Andrews immediately dropped his head in submission, although his shoulders remained stiff with resolve.

“I need to follow her.” Galen turned, intent on doing just that.

Rick grabbed his arm.

“I take it you’re not fond of that hand,” Galen growled.

Andrews immediately pulled back, speaking quickly. “I know you just want to protect her, but she’s safe. No one knows who she is. Nobody but you and me, and we really need to talk first.”

After a moment of thought, Galen turned back, facing the wereleopard.

“She’s in pain.” Galen could hear the harshness in his voice, could see its effect as Andrews flinched. But the idea of her hurting ate at him. He’d lived in hell for the last four weeks, unsure where she was, if she was happy, healthy. Now he’d found her.

And she had no idea who he was.

The lion wanted to roar in fury and fear. Pain, unlike anything he’d felt before, surged through him. They’d finally found her again, only to have her look at him like he was a stranger.

Right now she should be in his arms; he should be taking care of her, protecting her. It had taken every ounce of control he had not to tell her exactly who he was. Her mate. Her lover.

Only his promise to Andrews here had stopped him from telling her exactly who he was. Andrews had refused to tell him where she was until he’d had Galen’s promise not to tell her anything before talking to him. Galen had given his word, reluctantly. Because once given, his word was law. However, he hadn’t been able to resist seeing her as soon as he’d arrived here.   

Just where the hell was she working? He never allowed his mate to go anywhere without being very sure of her safety. She was alone, unprotected.

Because I failed her. I failed to protect her and someone hurt her.

Galen clenched his hands into fists at the thought. His mate could have died and he’d just let her drive off alone. But, much as he hated to admit it, the wereleopard was right, they needed to talk first.

“She tries too hard to remember and it hurts her,” Rick told him quietly, as if sensing his inner turmoil. “She’s getting stronger every day. However, it’s a drip feed process and she needs time. She’s been traumatized by the memory loss. We can only imagine how she must feel, having no idea who she is.”

“You didn’t find any clues as to what happened to her?” Galen asked. He had the bare facts, that she’d been hit by a car in the early hours of the morning. Injured, robbed of her memories, she’d had to rely on strangers to care for her when he should have been there, protecting her.

Someone had taken her from him. Kidnapped her out from under his nose. It had to be someone in the pack. Someone had betrayed him.

“I believe she was running from someone,” Andrews told him. “She was disheveled and dirty. But unfortunately there was a heavy storm the night she was hit and it washed away all tracks. Do you have any idea of how she got here?”

“She was taken from pack grounds. Someone took her right out from under me. No one from the outside would have been able to get through my security, no unless someone helped them.”

Rick gaped at him. “You think someone in your pack betrayed you? Someone close to you tried to hurt her?”

Galen could understand the Sheriff’s amazement. A pack was family. The stuck together. Betrayal was rare and instantly punished.

 “They’ll never hurt her again.” Whoever had kidnapped his mate and robbed her of her memories, of her past, of her life, of him, was living on borrowed time. “I need to get her where I can protect her.”

“What? Take her back to your pack? Where someone hurt her in the first place? Yeah, that’s a smart idea,” Rick said sarcastically.

Galen glared at the wereleopard, letting his lion shine through his eyes, satisfied as both man and beast watched the leopard bow down under the onslaught of his power. This wasn’t rational behavior, he knew that. Andrews wasn’t his enemy, in fact he owed him. But when it came to his mate, his mate who had been missing for four weeks, his mate whom he had thought was dead, his control over his temper had become rather thin.

“I will find out who hurt her.” It was a vow, one he’d been making for the past month faithfully. “And in the meantime I will protect her how I see fit.”

“How you going to do that when she doesn’t know who you are?” Rick asked. “She’s safe here. I can watch over her until her memories return.”

Galen’s eyes seared the other man as he barely held his beast back from attacking in rage. The thought of this wereleopard ‘watching over’ his mate pushed every possessive instinct he had into overdrive.

“I thank you for taking care of Eden,” he forced the words out as politely as he could. “But she is mine and while she is vulnerable and unable to make fully-informed decisions, I decide what’s best for her.”

“You cannot tell her what you are!”

“She is mine,” he roared, sick of this leopard trying to tell him what he could and could not do. “She will come home with me. No one shall keep us apart any longer.” Someone had kept them separated long enough. Andrews questioning him only incited the savage fury that had been simmering since he’d first discovered his mate had disappeared.

“And how do you think she will react when you tell her what you are?” Andrews asked.

Galen had to admit it, Andrews was brave. Brave and very foolhardy, for Galen was very close to letting his beast have full control, and the lion wanted to tear the wereleopard limb to limb. Because he’d seen the affection in his mate’s eyes when she’d looked at the wereleopard, seen the way she’d relaxed slightly when Andrews had turned up. It should have been Galen she was turning to for help, him she was looking to for protection, not some pack-less leopard.

“I will not lie to my mate. If you knew anything about her, you would know how she hates lies.”

Andrews nodded. “But she is not who she was before. You don’t know how she would react were you to tell her your secret.”

“She is not as fragile as she looks.” Galen had to work hard to control his lion. The beast was impatient, had no understanding about why they were debating this with someone so beneath their notice. The lion was under no illusions about what they should do. Grab their mate, take her home, and never let her out of their sight again.

Right at that moment the beast and Galen were thinking totally as one.

“She handled it well the first time I told her.” Masculine pride filled his voice. His mate was strong. When he’d told her that he was a shapeshifter, an Alpha werelion, she’d been shocked of course. And frightened. But once he’d shifted and shown her that he wasn’t crazy or dangerous—to her—she’d become intrigued.

She’d had a hundred and one questions for him, he’d answered them patiently. When she’d finally exhausted her curiosity, he’d told her that she was going to be his mate. Forever.

Of course, she’d taken some exception to the fact that he told her rather than asked her.
Humans
. If he’d asked her, she might have said no.
Unacceptable.

“Eden wasn’t as fragile then as she is now, or so alone,” Andrews told him. “The doctor warned her not to try to force her memories, to let them come naturally. When she does try to force them it is incredibly painful for her. She’s confused, uncertain and afraid. Telling her what you are will only frighten her more. I’m sure it was hard enough for her to understand when you told her the first time, when she knew who she was and who you were. When she knew she loved you.” Rick’s voice was intent, serious.

Galen frowned. She did seem infinitely more fragile. His Eden had always been feisty, full of spirit and fun. She’d loved the outdoors, hiking, camping, running. She’d lost that healthy glow now, her skin pale, her long black hair had been cut to her shoulders and it lacked its normal luster. Shadows lurked in her dark blue eyes, where before they’d danced with happiness.