Sometimes late at night she fantasized about dancing on stage with nothing but sequins and a few feathers covering her nipples and butt. Man, that would burn his ass. Tuck Delamatre’s daughter on a stage flaunting herself half naked for a bunch of strange, horny men.
She’d dyed an inch wide streak in the underside of her hair a deep burgundy three weeks before. A tiny rebellion. Unless the sun hit the strands just right, no one could tell. Rhiannon loved the idea of having secret hair color her daddy didn’t know about. He’d call her wild and wicked and didn’t that give her a thrill all its own?
Her daddy hadn’t seen wild yet. She snorted out a belly laugh.
Just wait till she hooked up for good with Kit as a shifter’s mate. Oh, he wouldn’t know what hit him then. Somehow, being with Kit erased all the hateful words and confining restrictions her daddy heaped on her.
The second they’d rolled into town she’d gotten a tingle on her arms and a weird drop in her stomach like when she drove down hilly back roads so fast the truck shook.
Kit thought he saw her first, but that wasn’t true. She’d seen him strolling down the sidewalk with a confidence that screamed shifter. He’d turned his head to the left and that was it. The line of his profile might as well have struck her dead.
Tomorrow her mama and daddy would head back to Montana without her. Shifters mated for life, and there was no way Kit would refuse her. She’d pull out all the stops.
He’d mark her.
He had to.
***
Perched on the limb of an ancient evergreen with the scent of pine needles and sap in his nose, Kit observed the intersection below. They’d agreed to meet ten minutes from now at an old logging access road, but he’d given into his cougar’s urges and climbed this tree to watch for Rhiannon.
A silver pick-up slowed at the corner, oxidation turning the hood and tops of the fenders an ugly grey. Rhiannon messed with her hair, pulling curls free from her pony tail to drape around her face and lower jaw.
She’s our mate. His cougar stretched inside him, more vocal than ever since he’d met Rhiannon.
Kit’s stomach soured. What to do? She left tomorrow for home—only one state away. But it might as well be the moon. She’s human. I can’t—
She’s ours. Take her. Mark her.
The cougar didn’t care about things like mortgages or college or the fury of a disapproving father. If something threatened them, the cougar would resort to fangs and claws. If the cougar hungered, it hunted. Shelter could be found in the woods.
There were no good reasons his cougar could see to prevent them from taking their mate.
A belt squealed on the old truck’s engine and the brakes released a low grating noise. Rhiannon rolled forward through the stop sign, on her way to their secret meeting place.
He shouldn’t go. With his cougar yowling and close to out of control, if he didn’t want to ruin Rhiannon’s life he needed to leave her alone. Stand her up tonight, she’d be gone tomorrow, and he could beg for forgiveness later. Explain to her why he hadn’t come.
But Kit knew she felt the connection between them too, and wouldn’t want to hear his rational reasons for denying their mating. She had an impulsive, fearless streak he both admired and dreaded. Two days ago she’d jumped into a mountain stream and almost drowned when the shock of the water temperature hit.
A girl from Montana should have known better, but she’d been hot and sweaty and wanted to cool off.
No, he couldn’t stay away from her. Not tonight. Losing her tomorrow would be soon enough.
***
She slowed to navigate a turn and Kit leapt into the bed of the truck. Rhiannon slammed the brakes and twisted in the driver’s seat, a laugh on her lips and her eyes lit up.
“Kit! You scared the crap outta me.” She fumbled with the flimsy lock on the slider window behind her, her heart skipping beats. She shoved her right arm through the opening, gripped his shirt, and tugged. “Come ‘ere.”
The breeze had mussed his hair and a pine needle stuck to the collar of his shirt. “What have you been doing? Climbing trees again?”
“I like being in the woods.” He let her drag closer and stuck his head through the opening. “I thought PDA was out. What if your dad finds out you’ve been making out with a shifter?”
His tone was light, but he had a point. She’d been the one to insist on secrecy. The threat of her father’s rage kept her scared her into quiet submission or outright defiance tinged with fear most of her life.
Today she’d leave her daddy and his cruel grip on her heart behind.
She’d be fierce and strong. Growling under her breath, she slanted her mouth across his and bit his lip before releasing him.
A strange sound—almost a purr—slid from his lips as he smiled.
Did he see her love for him?
Kit pecked her on the lips once-twice-three times before she pushed him back.
“Hurry up and get in here.”
He couldn’t fit his shoulders through the tiny window, so he jumped out onto the road. Rhiannon leaned across the bench seat and flung the passenger door open for him.