Her Wild Hero

Declan had pulled off his T-shirt, pants, and boots, and was sitting across from her in nothing but his boxer briefs, facing the cave entrance. His crossed-legged position gave her a nice view of rippling abs, defined pecs, and bulging thighs. And speaking of bulging, those tight underwear looked like they were hiding a serious bulge of their own. She’d never seen this much of him before and he looked good—really good.

Kendra tried not to stare at all that nakedness, but he caught her. “You don’t mind, do you? My stuff is soaked, too, and the T-shirt you have on is the last dry thing I had in my bag. I can put my clothes back on if it bothers you.”

She shook her head, forcing herself to focus on anything other than all that exposed skin. “No problem. You’re fine.”

Yeah, you’re fine all right.

She pulled her knees up to her chest and tugged the bottom of the shirt down to her ankles. The thing was so big on her it was like wearing a bathrobe. “Sorry to steal your last dry shirt.”

He chuckled. “Don’t be. It looks better on you than it does on me.”

And you look better without it. But she kept that to herself.

As they settled into a comfortable silence, Kendra wanted to laugh. Here she was, sitting half-naked in a cave while a gorgeous, equally naked guy sat only a few feet away. This would have been a sexy scenario if it wasn’t for two simple facts: one, Declan wasn’t interested in her, and two, there were dozens of hybrids out there right now who would love to come charging in here and tear them apart. It was difficult to focus too much on sexy thoughts with things like that hanging over her head.





Chapter 8


She pulled out her ponytail holder and ran her fingers through her hair, shaking it out around her shoulders. “How far do you think we got today?”

Declan snorted. “With the early start, I thought we’d get at least ten miles in, but we barely made five. Worse, we’ve been driven way off course, so half of those five miles were in the wrong direction. Bottom line, it was a wasted morning.”

As long as they were safe, Kendra was willing to deal with the delays, but she knew that all this hiding was driving Declan crazy. “Do you think we should try and go a little farther today or just hole up here?”

“My gut says to get out of here as soon as we can, so we can get a few more miles between us and the hybrids roaming this general area. But…”

“But?” she prompted.

“I’m worried if we head right back out, we’ll run right into the arms of that same pack of hybrids that chased us in here. It would probably be better to stay hidden until later—nightfall maybe—then try and slip out of here when they’re not expecting it.”

Kendra sure as hell wasn’t going to complain about resting for a while—she could use it—and this cave was the most secure place they’d stumbled on since this nightmare had started.

“How did you know this cave was here?” she asked.

Declan frowned and shifted on the poncho. “It’s kind of hard to put into words? but I always know whenever I’m near a place where I can hide or lay low for a while if I have to. It’s just this feeling I get. Like a sense of security. I know it sounds crazy.”

Actually, being a bear shifter who instinctively knew when a good hibernating place was nearby made perfect sense. The thing she didn’t understand was why having a talent like that seemed to disturb Declan.

She’d been evaluating Declan and his team for many years, and while they were certainly amazing in the field, she’d noticed that Declan depended on his natural shifter abilities the least of all the shifters at the DCO. She’d always thought it was because he didn’t have as much shifter DNA as they did, but maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe Declan didn’t use his shifter skills because he didn’t want to.

“It doesn’t sound crazy,” she told him. “Bears have to hibernate, so it makes sense that they have a natural talent for finding safe places to do it. You’re a bear shifter, so it makes sense that you have the same talent.”

“If you say so. It never seemed like a worthwhile talent to me.”

She gave him a smile. “It sure came in handy today.”

Declan grunted and reached for his pack. He pulled out another energy bar and split it, then handed her half. “I know you won’t eat unless I do, so I’m not going to waste my breath.”

“Good. If I have to eat these, so do you.”

She took a bite and slowly chewed, pretending it was a candy bar instead. If they ever got out of here, she was never going to eat another one of these dry, tasteless things again. To distract herself while she ate, she spent the time checking out Declan’s body. But she could only gaze at his fine-looking body for so long. It was like dreaming about dessert when you were on a diet; it only frustrated you in the long run.

She turned her thoughts back to why Declan didn’t embrace his shifter side instead. No doubt it had something to do with what had happened with Marissa.

Kendra put her chin on her T-shirt-covered knees and dragged her eyes away from those killer abs to focus on his beautiful blue eyes. “You mind if I ask you a personal question?”