Tagging Her Lynx (Alaska Lynx Clan) (6 page)

"Find
her!"

He
broke through the brush and headed west from the back of the cabin. She'd have
sought out this area because of the denser foliage. With fear driving her
forward, she'd not think ahead but run blindly, looking to flee to safety.

The
sweet, almost flowery scent of his life mate grew stronger. He picked up his
pace. A spot of blue lay on top of the white landscape.

At
finding his clothes that Chloe wore earlier scattered around, he let his jaw
drop and sucked in a lungful of air. He lowered his head. Chloe wouldn't stand
a chance out in these elements in her human form.

"Please."
Granger passed on every ounce of love in his body to his mate.

"Granger?"
Chloe's voice came back weak and soft.
"I can't…"

"Can't
what, baby?"
He slunk over the snow.

"Change."

Up
ahead, draped over a log covered white with a blanket of snow, lay Chloe. He'd
almost missed her. He burst over the distance separating them.

Her
arm hung over the side of the log, and he rubbed his face against her cold
fingers. It'd do him no good in this weather to change form and carry her home.
She'd traveled too far from the cabin, and already he could feel her heartbeat
slowing down.

"Concentrate
with me, Aningan."
Granger purred.
"I need to
get you into your lynx. You'll gain your energy back and be warm."

It
took all his power to start her transformation. His heart rate picked up the
second she landed on all four paws beside him. He arched his neck and swiped
the side of her torso. She crouched down in the snow and submitted.

"I'm
sorry."
Chloe trilled deep in her chest.

Granger
straddled her body and nipped at the fold of her neck.
"Don't. Ever.
Run away."

"You
don't understand. I can't go back with you."
She shook her head to get the snowflakes off her whiskers.
"The lynx
that bit me all those years ago is one of your people."

"How
do you know?"
He thrust down on her ass. She must
learn to obey.

She
pressed back against him.
"I don't know. I could just tell. You have to
believe me."

He
purred.
"I do. He sank his teeth into her fur and pulled. "You have
to trust me. We will go back to my cabin, and you will let me find this person.
I'll get to the bottom of this."

It
didn't take long to make their way back to the cabin. Once inside, he shifted
with Chloe and set about getting her more clothes. He didn't find her bag,
which Derrick had promised to bring back with him. That must have meant
business at the refuge was taking longer than they had hoped.

"Here.
Put these on." He thrust the clothes into her arms and hurried to dress
himself.

She
laid the pile on the couch and slipped her feet in the sweatpants. "Granger,
I'm sorry. I see how foolish it was to run." She reached over for a
sweatshirt. "All the different feelings, though…First Gretchen, and then
when I saw those two men walking toward us." She shook her head. "I'm
sorry."

Granger
knelt down in front of her. His hands cupped each side of her head, forcing her
to meet his gaze. He stroked the skin below her eyes with his thumbs, wiping
away all traces of the tears she shed earlier.

"I'll
take away your fears." He kissed eyelids. "Can I trust you to stay in
the cabin? You may lock the door. I'll knock when I come back."

Chloe
opened her eyes and nodded.

He
slipped out the cabin and ran to Gretchen's house. Pounding on the door, he
bounced on the balls of his feet to keep warm. He'd find out what set Chloe off
and fix the problem.

"Granger!
Come in." Gretchen stepped back. "I'm so sorry."

She
swallowed hard enough that Granger heard it. He waved off her apology. "Who
are the two men that came up to you on the walk with Chloe earlier?"

She
frowned. "Johnny and Darren, but they helped in the search. They did
nothing wrong. One minute Chloe was fine, and the next…whoosh! She was gone."

Granger
nodded. "Thank you."

He
turned to leave, but Gretchen grabbed his arm. He snarled and gazed down at her
hand clutching his wrist. She quickly let go.

"Honest,
Granger. They didn't do anything." A single tear trailed down her cheek.

The
click of the door shutting closed in the quiet of the evening echoed inside
Granger's chest. Chloe said the dark-haired man scared her. Johnny had blond
hair.
Damn it!

He
marched over to the cabin across from his, pounded on the door, and added a
swift kick in case it wasn't locked. "Open up!"

"I'm
coming, I'm coming. If your balls are freezing, hold on to them tighter."

The
door swung open. Granger hauled back his arm and drove his fist into the man's
jaw. He flew across the room and landed on his back. Granger stalked into the
cabin, ready to do more damage.

"What
the fuck is your problem, brother?" The man scrambled to his feet, his
hands up in front of his chest, letting Granger know he'd not get another free
shot in.

Granger's
lip curled. "Why would my life mate believe you bit her?"

"Fucking
hell?" He rubbed his jaw. "I haven't bitten anyone. I wouldn't, you
know that. I didn't even get a chance to meet her before she ran off."

Granger
stared him down, sighed, and stepped back to shut the door. Darren wasn't
lying.

"What's
going on? Why would she think I bit her?" Darren walked to the fridge,
lifted out two bottles of beer, and handed one to Granger.

Granger
took the beer and sat down at the table. "She's scared. Like I explained
earlier to everyone, she's not natural born, and her feelings… This is all very
confusing to her. Hell, she's an alpha, but she can't even shift on her own
yet. She almost killed herself earlier."

He
took a long swig of beer. "I found her butt naked and almost dead out in
this snowstorm."

"Damn."
Darren sat down across from him at the table. "She just needs time. She'll
come around, right?"

Granger
picked at the label on the bottle. "That's the thing. I don't know how
much time we have. The hunters know about her."

"Shit."

"I'm
going to have to scale back on helping the men and put Chloe through training.
The faster she learns her alpha skills, the better I'll feel." Granger
chugged back the rest of his beer. "I need you to come over to the cabin
with me. She needs to see that you're not the man she believes bit her."

"Sure.
Anything." Darren finished his beer, collected Granger's bottle, and
dumped them into the recycle bin. "Let me grab a coat."

***

The
wind blew the door out of Granger's hand. He ducked his head to protect his
face from the pelting snow. The northern winds blew like a bitch, and by
morning there would be another couple of feet of snow on the ground.

At
his cabin door, Granger grabbed Darren's coat sleeve and leaned over. "She's
not expecting you. Try to look friendly so you don't scare her more."

Darren
flashed his white teeth and nodded. "By the way, congratulations on
finding your life mate. You're a lucky son of a bitch."

Granger
shook his head. His brother dallied with Gretchen, but somewhere out there was
Darren's mate; he had yet to find her. Until he found Chloe, Granger had no
idea there was a difference between sex with a female and sex with his life
mate.

"Remember,
put on your happy face." Granger narrowed his eyes. "I don't want her
bolting again." Then his expression softened, and he said in a low voice, "I
can't lose her."

Darren
grinned. "Fuck dude, you've fallen hard. I never would have dreamed I'd
ever hear you say something like that about a woman." He laughed. "You're
so tagged!"

Chapter
Six

The
clomping on the floor roused Chloe from her nap. She opened her eyes, smiled,
and squirmed to sit up on the couch. Granger stood inside the doorway, covered
in snow, his long hair windblown and heat in his eyes.

Another
person stepped out from behind him, and she screamed. Shrinking back into the
corner of the couch, she hugged her arms to her chest and squeezed her eyes
shut. Why did he bring back that man? He'd harm her again, or worse, he'd hurt
Granger.

She
opened her eyes, threw off the blanket, and launched herself at the man with
her fingers spread out, ready to claw him to death. Granger caught her by her
middle and hauled her back.

"Let
me go!" She swung her arms, trying to do some damage, but Granger picked
her up. "He's the one who bit me, you dumbass!"

"Settle
down, Aningan. He is my brother." He carried her to the couch and sat
down, keeping his arms wrapped tight around her to prevent her from trying to
attack the man again.

"I
don't care. He's dangerous. Look what he did to me!" She pulled up her
sleeve and showed him the ugly thick scar where the infection festered after
she was bitten. "Tell me he's not dangerous now."

"Sh…"
Granger rested his head beside Chloe's and looked at his brother. "Sit
down. Let's get to the bottom of this."

The
man sidestepped over to the chair on the other side of the room, never turning
his back on them. Chloe stopped thrashing about but glared at the man. No way
in hell would she trust him to not come after one of them.

"Chloe,
this is my younger brother Darren." Granger leaned his head back. "Darren,
my life mate, Chloe. Years ago she was bitten at her family's wild animal
refuge by who we think is a rogue shifter."

Darren
shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"Go
to hell!" Chloe snarled. "You know exactly what happened that day. I
opened the cage to pet you, and you attacked me! I almost died afterward."

"I
think you can understand why she is so upset." Granger let up on the
pressure around her waist. "She was very young. Innocent. Then, to go
through the transformation…" He shook his head and pulled Chloe back to
his chest. "You've got to realize that none of the people here would ever
do that to a child." He raised his gaze toward his brother. "Right,
Darren?"

No
response. Granger repeated, "Darren?" His tone was laced with a trace
of urgency.

Granger's
brother stared at her, inhaled, and held his breath. She narrowed her eyes.
Guilt played all over his face. Why couldn't Granger see it?

"Shit."
Darren rubbed both hands over his face.

Granger's
hands tightened against her waist. "Darren? Tell her it wasn't you."

His
brother raised his chin. His jaw muscle twitched. "I can't."

Granger
tossed her off his lap and hurled himself against Darren. He barely had time to
stand up when Granger slammed him against the log pilings of the cabin wall.
She stood, unsure whether to help Granger in case the man turned on him or to
flee for her own safety.

"Don't
move!"

She
froze.

"You
better start explaining…" Granger slammed Darren's head against the logs
again. "Now!"

"I
will!" Darren hung his head. "I will," he said again, his voice full
of remorse.

Granger
gave him one more slam against the side of the cabin. "Spit it out or so
help me, I'll kill you myself."

He
walked backward to Chloe and wrapped his arms around her. Granger shook with
anger. Chloe found herself stroking his back, trying to calm the rage building
up inside her mate. She frowned.

He'd
spoken the truth. Granger would kill his own brother for her. She sensed it
deep inside.

"It
was back when I lost Shawn." Darren sank down against the wall, his arms
limp at his sides. "I had just watched them kill Mom and Dad. The hunters
got hold of both of us, but Shawn escaped, and they shot him down not thirty
feet away from me."

Granger
stiffened. She glanced back and forth between the two brothers. The pain in the
room was palpable.

"Go
on. Chloe needs to hear what happened."

Darren
wiped his face. "I just wanted to go home. I wanted to find Granger to see
if I had any family left." He squeezed his eyes shut. "I didn't mean
to hurt you. I just wanted to go home." He opened his eyes and stared right
at Chloe. "In my head, I imagined Shawn waiting for me, but my nightmare
really happened." He sniffed. "I never meant to hurt you, but I had
to go home."

Granger
turned Chloe around and held her by the arms. "Darren and Shawn were
twins." His facial muscles flinched. "Two identical lynx, only eight
years old. Younger than you at the time of your infection."

Understanding
dawned, and she gasped. She pulled away and sat on the edge of the couch. She
shook her head at the recollection Darren shared. He was just a baby, and he
had lost the most important things in his life.