Tagging Her Lynx (Alaska Lynx Clan) (5 page)

The
room smelled fresh with a hint of spruce from the outdoors. She inhaled and
smiled. Her lower belly warmed at the familiar aroma. Granger's belongings
carried his scent.

She
walked over to the bureau, opened the top drawer, and found socks. Closing it,
she moved on to the second drawer. Rummaging through the neatly stacked
clothes, she pulled out a worn T-shirt and a pair of sweatpants. They'd be too
big, but anything was better than parading naked around the other shifters.

Shifters!

All
this time, and people who turned into animals—lynx—lived in the same area. She'd
never heard a word about them in town, but her once-a-year trip didn't make for
forming friendships. Heck, Granger was the first man who paid her any
attention.

"Chloe?"

She
hurried to slip the shirt over her head. "Just a minute."

The
extra-long pants tangled between her feet. She toppled over and landed on the
edge of the bed. She stuck out her lower lip and blew the bangs out of her
eyes. She could just imagine what she looked like—her hair hadn't seen a brush
all day, and she smelled of sex.

"Are
you okay?" Granger opened the door and stuck his head inside. "Need a
hand?"

She
snorted. "No."

"Come
out when you're dressed. I want to introduce you to someone." The skin at
the corners of his eyes wrinkled, and he scanned her body.

Chloe
pulled the elastic bottoms of the pants over her ankles, stood, and slid the
sweatpants over her hips. "I'm ready." I think.

"You
look beautiful."

She
rolled her eyes and slipped her hand into his. The contact warmed her insides.
With him supporting her, she'd find the courage to join his family.

A
dark-haired woman stood at the front door, staring in Chloe's direction. Chloe's
nails dug into the back of Granger's hand, leaving half-moon indentations along
the skin. The hair at the back of her neck bristled at the smell coming off the
other woman, and she snarled.

"Aningan!
Gain control over your lynx. The alpha is coming out and wants to dominate."

She
inhaled to relax, but the fear radiating off the other woman filled her
nostrils with a pungent odor. Forcing her lynx to quiet down and ignore the
smell, Chloe studied her. Despite the long hair shielding half her face, she
could see the woman form a hesitant smile. With her girl-next-door demeanor,
she didn't appear to challenge Chloe in any way.

"Chloe,
this is Gretchen. She's a shifter too." Granger squeezed her hand.

"Hello,
Gretchen. It's nice to meet you." Chloe didn't break her gaze.

Gretchen
smiled and bowed her head. "Hi. Granger called me over to help you get
settled in."

She
frowned and turned toward her life mate. "I don't need help. You're the
only person I need." She bit down on the inside of her cheek.
"Can't
you put on some clothes? I don't like that woman seeing what's mine."

"I'm
yours."
He ran his finger down the side of her
cheek.
"But it's natural for all of us to see each other's nude bodies.
We are shifters. It's hard to shift in clothes, as you know."

"I
need to go and make sure that all evidence from this morning's fight has been
cleaned up and that no one comes searching for you." He ran his hands down
the length of her arms. "You'll stay with Gretchen and get to know her.
That's an order."

"But—"

He
shook his head. "She understands your distaste and how your lynx wants to
dominate." He turned to Gretchen and smiled. "She looks forward to
having a female alpha here."

Chloe's
cheeks filled with air, and she slowly blew out. "I don't get this whole
alpha shit."

Gretchen
laughed. "I'll explain it all to you while Granger is gone. Watching you
try to understand your lynx is fascinating. I've always known that this was a
part of me. I can't imagine how you feel right now." She rubbed her
forehead. "I've also never met someone who isn't natural born, so you're
an oddity." She glanced over at Granger. "It's nice that our leader
has found his life mate. I hope…" She laughed. "I'm talking too much,
aren't I?"

Chloe
raised her brows. "No." She smiled, feeling more at ease. "Listening
to you makes me stop thinking about what happened to bring me here today."
She turned to Granger. "I'll be all right. Go, do what you have to do."

He
kissed her lips. "I won't be long."

Granger
slipped out the door and left the two women alone. Chloe raised her hands and
shrugged. This wasn't her house, and she didn't even know where to invite
Gretchen to sit.

"Why
don't we sit at the table?" Gretchen walked over to an oblong wooden table
in the corner of the room. "You're from this area, right?"

Chloe
cleared her throat. "Yes. Not far from here. My father…We ran a wildlife
refuge catering mostly to the state animal control department. They'd bring us
injured or orphaned animals, and we'd rehabilitate them."

"Wow!
And it doesn't bother you to be around the different species of animals?"
Gretchen shook her head in amazement. "I'd be snarling up a storm. I
prefer to keep to myself." She laughed. "Wait till you meet the
others. They are so eager to meet and get to know Granger's life mate. You're
all the talk around here today."

"But…"
She inhaled. "Granger found me this morning. How would—"

"Oh,
he let us all know after he shifted and told you the truth." She waved her
hand. "He has the ability to communicate with all of us over distance.
That's an alpha talent."

Chloe
nodded her head and gazed around the room. Gretchen might as well be speaking a
foreign language. She didn't understand how the hierarchy of the Lynx shifters
worked. Gretchen and Granger accepted things so easily, and here she sat,
confused and feeling out of place.

Gretchen
suddenly jumped up from her chair. "I know what we can do! I'll show you
around the area." She arched her brows and nodded. "I bet Granger has
extra boots and a coat that you can borrow."

Chloe
remained silent but let Gretchen lead her into the bedroom. She sat on the bed
and gazed at the woman. She certainly seemed to know her way around Granger's
closet. Chloe's eyes narrowed. A flare of jealousy rose within. Could she trust
this woman?

"How
long have you known Granger?" Her hands balled the hem of her shirt.

The
other woman turned, her arms laden with clothes. "Forever. His parents and
mine played a big part in finding this area for us."

She
tossed the clothes on the bed and turned back to dig through the shoes. "We'll
have to stuff some socks in the toes of his boots, but I think you'll manage to
walk okay in them."

Gretchen
returned and sat on the edge of the bed. "Anyway, our parents are all gone
now. They fought the good fight, created a safe haven for the Lynx, and now
Granger is the alpha." She smiled, leaned over, and bumped shoulders with
Chloe. "Along with you, my alpha friend."

"How
do you know that?" She snorted. "Is it kind of like having loser
painted on my forehead?"

Gretchen
laughed. "No, it's instinct. You feel it too. You just don't recognize the
signs. That's why you're fighting with wanting to talk to me and pulling my
hair out one at a time for daring to speak about Granger."

It
didn't take long for her new friend to bundle her up and push her outside.
Lifting one heavy boot at a time, she trudged along behind Gretchen. Her breath
billowed puffs of white mist in front of her face. By the time they'd finish
walking around, she'd be ten pounds lighter and dead to the world.

"That's
my cabin over there." Gretchen stopped.

Chloe
halted, lifted her head, and gazed in the direction she pointed toward. "I
bet it's beautiful in the summertime with all the birch trees scattered around
the cabins."

Gretchen
nodded. "Here come Johnny and Darren."

Chloe
backed up the closer the men came. "I…I don't—"

Her
gaze locked on the darker-haired man. She shook her head in denial. Her body
hummed from recognition, and the need to shift pricked at the back of her
spine.

In
her haste to kick off Granger's oversize boots, she tumbled in the snow and
scrambled to rise. She ran back in the direction they had walked from. Her need
to escape from the dark-haired man was much stronger than her desire to shift
somewhere in private.

"Chloe!"

She
continued to run, ignoring the way her stockinged feet picked up clumps of snow
and slowed her down. Intent on finding somewhere to hide, she fell against the
door of Granger's house and struggled to turn the knob with Granger's mittens
still on her hands.

"Come
on, come on." She glanced over her shoulder.

All
three shifters headed toward the cabin. She opened the door, closed and locked
it, and hurried to open a window at the back of the house. Throwing off the
many layers of clothes, she barely removed her shirt as her body morphed into
her lynx.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

She
whipped her head toward the door, bared her teeth, and snarled.

"Chloe!
Open up!"

In
one leap, she bound through the window and into the woods, her paws finding
traction over the snow and taking her farther away from the danger than she'd
ever achieve in her human body.

"What's
wrong?"

She
slowed down, stopped, and turned around. The others hadn't caught up with her
yet. She had to keep going.

"Chloe.
Answer me."
Granger's voice grew deeper in her
head.
"Are you in trouble?"

A
low mew came from her throat, and she realized her ability to speak aloud was
gone. She concentrated.

"Granger?"
She hunkered down in the snow.
"Don't go back to your house."

"What's
happening? I can sense your fear."

Spotting
a fallen log that stuck out from the snow, she crawled over and squeezed below
it.
"One of your people is the lynx that bit me."

"That's
not possible."

"I
don't lie!"
Chloe left the confines of the log.
"I
won't wait around for that thing to hurt me worse."

"Chloe!"

Snowflakes
fell the farther Chloe traveled away from the area Granger called home. Her
tail twitched, and the pace she set for herself dropped. Nerves along her
fur-covered back quivered. She searched for somewhere to hide. Nothing but the
flat lands of Alaska where the trees grew scarce met her gaze, and her options
dwindled.

"Oh
God, not now. I can't shift out here."
Her bones
stretched and grew heavier. Unable to move, she willed the process to stop.

"Aningan.
Concentrate."

The
freezing temperature and blowing snow bore into her skin to chill her marrow.
Hot flames shot up from the soles of her feet, burning the skin in seconds. She'd
never make it back to the cabin with no clothes on. Even if she did, that man
waited there to hurt her again.

"Damn
it, Chloe. Hold on, I'm coming."

One
precarious barefooted step at a time, she worked her way over to the fallen
tree. She attempted to brush the snow off the log. Leaning over on the wood, she
pulled her feet out of the snow and lay across the makeshift platform,
exhausted. Shivers racked her body. Unable to pull her legs up into a fetal
position to form a ball of warmth with her body, she waited for Granger.

Chapter
Five

Granger
inhaled through his nostrils and kept his mouth pressed firmly shut. The
adrenaline spiking in his veins gave him an extra boost of protection against
the weather. His legs flew over the powdered snow. He ran on automatic pilot
because his mind screamed for Chloe to pay attention.

She
had stopped communicating with him, and the need to find her drove him forward.
He still had five more minutes, give or take, before reaching the cabin. He
hoped to hell she hadn't wandered too far away.

He
didn't understand her fear over the distance that separated them. The shifters
took harming a human seriously. They either killed the offender or left him to
live alone. There was no middle ground.

To
harm a child was unthinkable. They'd certainly never leave one alone all these
years to suffer through the changes and mystery of their new life without
helping in some way. Did Chloe have flashbacks of the attack in her childhood?

"Aningan,
please answer me. I'm coming up on my cabin now. Where are you?"
Granger didn't bother going inside the cabin, but called throughout the area
for Gretchen.
"Where is my woman?"

"Johnny
and your brother are with me. We are searching in the northeast woods, about
two miles out. None of us can pick up her scent."
Gretchen
panted
"I'm so sorry, Granger. I didn't—"