Page 2 (1/2)

Instead of swearing in defeat, Clay bared his teeth in a ruthless grin, knowing so that turned his pursuit froht react on instinct, but the hu just fine As the driver would be discovering right aboutnow!

The Jeep screeched to a halt, probably avoiding the rubble blocking the road by bare centio Usually DarkRiver would have already taken care of it, but because another small landslide had occurred in alo, this one had been left until it - and the affected slope - could be assessed by experts If she’d been inside the bar, she’d have heard the announcement and known to take a detour

But she hadn’t been in the bar She’d been hiding outside

By the ti to back out But she kept stalling, her panic causing her to overload the computronics that controlled the vehicle He could smell the sharp, clean bite of her fear, but it was the oddly fa scent under the fearhard but not truly winded, he ca her to run hiet away He didn’t knoho the hell she was, but she sly like Tally and he wanted to knohy

Fiveto restart the car Dust settled, revealing the vehicle’s rental plates The birds started singing again Still he waiteduntil, at last, the door slid open and back A slender leg covered in dark blue deniround

His beast went preternaturally quiet as a hand eed to close over the door and slide it even farther back Freckled skin, the barest hint of a tan A s itself out of the Jeep Even fully out, she stood with her back to hi to force her to turn, didn’t ressive sounds Instead, he took the chance to drink in the sight of her

She was unquestionably sth in the straight line of her spine, but also a softness that promised a cushion for a hard male body The woman had curves Lush, sweet, curves Her butt filled out the seat of her jeans perfectly, arousing the deeply sexual instincts of bothhis fists, he stayed in place and forced his gaze upward It would, he thought, be easy to lift her up by the waist so he could kiss her without getting a crick in his neck And he planned to kiss this wo that she was his and, right this second, he wasn’t feeling civilized enough to argue That would cohost Until then, he would drown in the rush of wild sexuality, in the familiar-yet-not scent of her

Even her hair was that saold streaked with chocolate brown A mane, he’d always called it Akin to the incredible variations of color in a leopard’s fur, so that outsiders often missed To a fellow leopard, however, those variations were as obvious as spotlights As was this woman’s hair Beautiful Thick Unique

"Talin," he said softly, surrendering completely to the madness

Her spine stiffened, but at last, she turned

And the entire world stopped breathing

Chapter 2

"Hello, Clay"

Air rushed back into his body with the force of a body blow A roar built in his throat, but he didn’t release it, violently aware of the acrid fear scent co off her in waves

Son of a bitch! Tally was scared of hiht as well have taken a knife to his heart "Cohs, shook her head "I came to talk to you, that’s all"

"This is your way of talking tooff?" He told himself to shut it, to not snarl at her This was the first conversation they had had in two decades But it felt as if they had spoken yesterday, it was so natural, so effortless Except for her fear "Were you going to stop the car anyti to talk to you at the bar"

The leopard had had enough Moving with the preternatural speed of his kind, he was an inch from her before she could draw in the breath to screae inside of hi years to ferment Ferment and spread until it infused every vein in his body "They lied to me"

"Yes, I knowI knew"

He froze in sheer disbelief "You what?" All this tihost, he’d been absolutely certain that he had been lied to, and without Talin’s knowledge It had destroyed hi he’d broken his promise to return to her Never once had he considered that sheparticipant

Eyes the color of storm clouds met his "I asked them to tell you I was killed in a car crash"

The knife twisted so deep, it carved a hole in his soul "Why?"

"You wouldn’t let me be, Clay," she whispered, tored by a thin band of a to live a normal life" - her lips twisted - "or as normal as I kne to live But I couldn’t relax I could feel you hunting me the second you left juvie Twelve years old and I didn’t dare close my eyes in case you found me in my dreams!"

The leopard who lived inside of hirowl "You were mine to protect!"

"No!" She fisted her hands, rejection writ in every tense line of her body "I was never yours!"