WereCat Fever (9 page)

“Your father’s out of town until tomorrow,” Thomas said. “Your brother is out at the ranch keeping an eye on things until he gets back. Tory may have more answers than your old man.”

“Then we better work fast. We can pressure Tory and the men before he gets back.” Bryan brushed himself off and took his beer off the table. “Thanks, Thomas. I’ll check back with you later and let you know how things went with Lacey.”

“You know where she’s going? Right?”

“Yeah. I know where she’s headed and why.” He emptied the drink. “I’ll give her a little time to cool off before I go after her.”

Lacey picked up her rifle when she heard the horses acknowledge each other at the mouth of the cave. The crunch of boots on leaves and gravel sounded familiar, but there were two of them.

She knew Bryan would come. The surprise was that he’d waited so long.

Smart man. She’d been mad enough to have shot him if he’d shown up sooner. He’d figured out that much. Or maybe it took him all this time to retrieve his balls.

Without turning around, she released the breath she’d been holding and sighed. He stepped into the dim light at the mouth of the cave.

“You a glutton for punishment, Bryan?” She put the rifle against the wall so as not to be tempted and refused to look at him. “What are you doing here?”

“I’m here for the reunion. I emailed you—”

“Yeah, got it,
old friend
,” Lacey snapped.

“Then you know why I’m here.”

She inhaled and turned, glaring at him with all the anger she could muster. Meeting his earnest, golden eyes leached the air from her lungs. Being near him never failed to turn her into a quivering mound of sexual need. Lust warred with anger and pain, and dammit…hope.

“You know what I mean. Don’t act dense,” she snarled between tight lips and ground her teeth. “Why are you here? At the grotto?”

At our place, she added to herself. She wanted to turn away before the sting of seeing him so close overwhelmed her, but she couldn’t. Only a full-frontal confrontation would do.

He didn’t answer or move. Instead, he shifted his attention, examined the walls, and searched until his glance touched the spot where their initials were carved in the rock wall inside a heart. Then, he turned to her.

“Why are you?” he asked. His hard gaze softened.

His ability to remain as still as the stone around them always disconcerted her.

“I asked first.”

“Maybe I wanted to revisit old times.” His quiet voice, even deeper than it had earlier, was mellower when he asked, “You, too?”

“No.” She snapped out the lie. “I’m over old times, old friend.”

“You came here yesterday, last night, and the night before—”

“You followed me? Watched me?” That’s why she thought about him before the email. She sensed him. “How dare—”

“It’s dangerous for you out here alone.” His eyes flashed golden flecks at her.

“Really? I’m touched by your concern. I’ve been coming out here alone for…” She stopped speaking. Damn him. She hadn’t intended to tell him that. Did he care? Had there been anyone else?

“You were the only one I ever came here with, Lacey.”

He answered as if she’d asked.

He’d grown into a powerful-looking man with a wide jaw, thick sinewy arms, and broad shoulders. The boy had filled out his tall, youthful frame with slabs of lean, heavy muscle. He’d become a man and, if possible, his presence affected her even more now than it had.

Yet behind the man’s eyes were the younger ones. The eyes of the boy she’d once loved with her entire being. Her heart opened after his hand touched hers, and the ice melted. Now her heart cried crimson tears of blood. Disregarding how he made her feel wasn’t going to be easy. Not when every emotion possible streaked through her, shattering her defenses. She closed her eyes and prayed for strength because, God help her, she wanted answers.

Where have you been? What have you been doing? Why didn’t you come back to me?

Too proud, she wouldn’t ask them. If he didn’t offer her answers, she’d bite off her tongue before she brought up the past. One question. She would risk one question.

“Why now?”

He moved with the grace of a large cat, raised his hand, placed it over their initials in the carving, and kept it there when he shrugged. “I discovered there is no turning back. It was time.”

It was time? Not the answer she expected. Anger returned, thank goodness. She shook her head. “It took you all these years to think about home, old times, old friends? Me?” she asked, the emphasis on his words.

The question tasted bitter on her tongue and more bitter in her heart. When she stared into his unblinking eyes looking for the truth, the only sign he gave that she’d made a direct hit was when his jaw clenched before he answered.

This time his words were an erotic whisper. “No, Lacey. Not a minute’s gone by without me thinking about you—us.”

She was about to give him credit for reining in his emotions when his eyes narrowed, taking her all in with a hunger she sensed to her core. Then his tone changed.

“I didn’t give a damn…don’t give a damn about anything else, but I did and still do about you.” His controlled pitch was a low growl.

At one time, their love had been so new, so bright, and beautiful—like a raging fire in the night. When it blinked out, the light disappeared. The dark dull contrast had been almost too much to bear. She squeezed her eyes shut, keeping hope out—unable to risk more pain. No, no—not again. The threads holding her together turned into ropes reaching out to him. The knot in her throat prevented her from screaming.

“I’m sorry, Lacey. I don’t know where to start. I didn’t know about your father—”

“Don’t,” her voice crackled like shattered glass, and her throat felt like she’d swallowed it. Holding her hand up to keep him from taking the step toward her, she stepped back.

“Lacey. You didn’t think… Tell me you don’t think I had anything to do with his death.”

She turned away, afraid he’d see the truth in her eyes. “You admitted the blackouts, told me about having blood on your hands. You disappeared. Within days, they found my father dead.” Mauled. “What do you expect me to think?”

“I’d never…” Bryan’s expression filled with horror. “I loved your father. He was more father to me than Cauldwell ever was.”

Her resolve wavered. “I didn’t believe you’d hurt him, but then, I never thought you would hurt me the way you did, either.”

He reached out, but she shook her head and recoiled. If he touched her, she’d dissolve, splinter, crumble. “You don’t owe me any explanations. We were kids. I just…”

No matter what, she believed his family always knew what happened to him because there were rumors of a falling out between the old man and Bryan the morning he left. Then nothing.

“You just what?”

“Nothing. Apparently, I didn’t know you as well as I thought.”

“…just what?” he repeated.

“I just wondered,” she said, finally finishing her sentence but not her thoughts.
I just…thought you were dead. Died myself a little when you didn’t show up.

Bryan heard the way she cut off her words and pulled back her emotions. The rest, his cat’s instincts heard with his mind even without her speaking.

Not touching her as the pain gathered behind her eyes was the hardest thing he ever did…with the exception of leaving her in the first place. Pain radiated off her and through him—the old pain he caused when he’d left her and this new raw pain his presence caused.

She wouldn’t admit how much he’d hurt her, but he suddenly understood. Being apart from her mate had hurt her as much as it had him. How would he ever make this up to her?

“You have to know if there was a way to return for you, I would have.”

“No. I didn’t know that. I was twenty, insecure…” Her eyes iced over and her quiet response stabbed right through him. “Your family was powerful. Your father and brother hated me because… I don’t know why. Maybe because I was the foreman’s daughter? Someone a Cauldwell slept with, not someone they married.”

“Don’t say that.” Bryan never cared. “I didn’t pay attention to what my family thought. I asked you, didn’t I? I planned to marry—”

“You didn’t come back!”

Bryan’s heart clenched. She sounded broken. “I wanted to.”

“What’s the real story, Bryan?”

His mother died when he was five and his father remarried. After Tory was born, Bryan was treated like an outcast. His father left him alone as long as he didn’t do anything to embarrass the impeccable family name. Bryan never belonged.

“Answer me, dammit. Was it amnesia? Just get out of prison or something?” Lacey leaned in and poked him in the chest for emphasis. “What keeps someone away for five years? Oh, yeah and let me add this…without a phone call, an email, or an effing card?” The finger dug in with each word, branding her fury on his chest.

He wanted to fold her in his arms but the anger rippling off her warned him to stay put. “I promise I’ll explain.”

Accepting and acclimating to who and what he was, then surviving in a world new to him had been a huge adjustment. He almost went mad when Hunter told him he had probably infected her the last time they were together. But when Hunter checked with Thomas, he said she was fine. So Bryan stayed away. In fact, he never intended to come back and put her through what he endured.

“If I had a choice, it would have been forever.”

Her gaze snapped to his and her eyes flashed with fire. “Don’t think you’re doing me any favors showing up now.” Her hands went to her hips and her anger overflowed, hitting him like a physical slap. “Go away, Bryan. I was doing just fine without you.”

“Lacey, I didn’t mean it like—”

“Look, I don’t want or need any explanations.”

“Yes, you do.” He took a step toward her.

Her eyes flashed the warning and both her hands went up in defense when he tried to take a second step in her direction.

“Don’t!” Lacey said, and her eyes blinked, shining with tears and something else.

He didn’t dare set off too much anger and risk her change coming on before they prepared her. He raised his hands and took a step back. She was too angry to approach.

“You left m–me.” Her voice cracked.

“I didn’t want you involved with my kind of life—”

“You made that pretty clear.”

“I meant problems.”

Lacey raised one eyebrow, waiting for him to finish. This wasn’t going well.

“I meant to say ‘…with everything that was going wrong.’ I told you about the blackouts. Lacey, I didn’t want you hurt.”

“I was.” Her chest rapidly rose and fell with each breath as she glared daggers at him—her body vibrating. “And I was alone after my father was killed…”

“I’m sorry. I thought I was doing what was best for you. I saw no other way…at the time.”

“Enough.” Lacey sighed, a tired, defeated sound. “Five years is a long time. Your reasons for not returning are your own. Mine, for not wanting to rehash old history, are personal. Let’s forget it.”

“I can’t. I have to explain, and you have to listen carefully.”

“I–I don’t have to do anything.” Her jaw clenched, and the pulse at her throat picked up pace. She released a low rumble of anger and growled, “You are so damned infuriating!”

She turned away, gathering her hair off her neck, rewound the thick blonde length into a bun, and clipped it up. In the time it took to accomplish the action, she collected herself and Bryan took the opportunity to admire her long, slim neck as she released another deep sigh. When she turned back to face him, she appeared composed.

“Look, let’s drop the past. Tell me how you’ve been,” she said.

“Sit down and I’ll show you.”

“I don’t want to sit—”

“Lacey, please. Just sit. Nothing I tell you will mean as much as a demonstration. You need to see something.”

“Hmmph.” She grunted before she complied. Picking a large boulder in the corner, she plopped down, crossing her arms across her chest and frowned.

Good. When Hunter came in she needed to be far enough away from the entrance so she couldn’t bolt, or they’d be chasing her down to explain.

“Hunter, come in.”

The huge mountain lion blocked the cave’s entrance.

“Oh no, Bryan. Back up,” Lacey shouted and jumped up.

He held up his hand to stop her. “Sit down and don’t move,” he warned.

Hunter wouldn’t purposely hurt her, but if she ran, his instincts might take over. Bryan trusted him to perform the initial demonstration more than he trusted himself. Hunter spent a lifetime controlling his instincts. Bryan had only five short years.

“He won’t hurt you. Just stay calm.”

“Calm?” She stilled and lowered her voice, but her words sounded tense. “You’re standing beside a large, male mountain lion. You do know that, right?”

“Yup. This is what kept me away from you and why I’m back.”