Miss Taken (2 page)

THREE

Luke Lyen wiped the sweat off his brow with the back of his hand. He glanced at the pile of wood with satisfaction. A storm was quickly approaching and the last thing he needed was to be left in the cold with no firewood.

His cell phone buzzed in his pocket for the fifth time, but he ignored it. His friend, Bastien, had informed him that Rakida Construction was still trying to get in touch with them for an unwanted offer.

A low growl sounded in the back of his throat. He hated that the owner of that company didn’t get the hint. Neither Luke nor any of his friends were interested in selling their lands to allow Rakida to destroy their forest or displace the families under their care. They bought this place for the relative quiet and peace their animals needed. They could be themselves up here without interference from those who didn’t understand them.

He picked up a stack of wood and carried it to the shed behind his cabin. Unlike the ones Rakida wanted to construct, Luke’s cabin wasn’t a five-star hotel. He lived in comfort, but in a cabin meant for a family.

His wind chimes sounded.

“Hey, Luke? You out there?”

He dropped the load of wood on a neatly stacked pile several feet high. “Hey, Luna,” he called out to his stepmother. She’d been as close to a mother as he’d gotten through his life.

Footsteps stopped at his back and he turned to smile at her.

“Look at you,” she laughed. “You remind me of when you were a kid and hell-bent on doing everything your father did.”

He’d been a smart-mouthed kid, telling his father and stepmother he could do anything adults did.

“Why are you over here when a storm is brewing?” he asked, following Luna out of the shed and into the cabin’s kitchen. He dusted his hands and wiped his feet on the welcome mat, something she’d taught him at youth.

“I brought you stew. I didn’t want you spending the next few days holed up here with nothing to eat.” She proceeded to put a large pot on his stove and several containers next to it.

He raised a brow and met her gaze. “I’d hardly be without food. I have enough meat in my freezers to last months.”

He might die of restlessness though. His lion would need to get out and run. Hunt. He might even find himself needing female attention.

“Have you spoken to Melissa?” Luna asked.

Melissa. His ex-many-night stands had gotten too attached and he found himself having to break things off with her. She was going into heat soon. All the females were. Unlike the females, the men in Luke’s pride didn’t go into heat. But when the women were, it drove their need to mate and have sex to almost uncontrollable heights.

Melissa needed to stay away or he’d find himself in trouble. The last thing he needed was for her to see their relationship for more than it was. An arrangement. They’d been clear in the beginning. No strings. Both had been fine with that.

The height of his sexual arousal stage was coming up along with the females’ heat and the last thing he needed was to end up mated to Melissa driven by lust. He kept her at bay and hoped he could spend his time exercising his body in ways other than fucking. He’d already been working hard, doing manual labor like splitting firewood. Still, soon he would feel like he was losing control of his lion.

“Melissa needs to find someone who’s interested in being her mate,” he said, shrugging out of his shirt and wiping the sweat off his body with it.

“That isn’t you, huh?” Luna asked, offering a hand to take the dirty shirt.

He shook his head, not giving her the shirt, but dumping it in a basket of laundry he needed to wash. “She’s not the one for me.”

“Ah,” Luna sighed. “I’m sorry, son.” She smiled softly, her eyes crinkling at the corners. “I remember when your father asked me to be his mate.” She cleared her throat. “I had no idea what he was talking about. I just knew something drew me to him.”

Luke nodded. “You loved him. He made the best decision asking you.”

Luna’s eyes filled with tears. “Thank you, Luke.” She sniffled and glanced around his kitchen. “I’m making sure Bastien has enough food for this storm, too.”

He laughed at the idea that his friend Bastien, the big growly bear, wouldn’t have enough food. The guy’s pantry was the size of Luke’s cabin. “Most of Bastien’s pantry is filled with snacks. He’s got freezers full of cod and salmon.” He shook his head. “The only way he’d go hungry is if he had a house full of people during the storm. With as grumpy as he is, I highly doubt that.”

“You’re pretty anti-social yourself, mister.” Luna grinned. “Besides, he’s like my second child. I’m taking him stew, as well.”

Luke walked Luna to the door, stopping at the entrance to give her a hug. She held him tightly, well, as tight as she could for a human. Unlike some of his other friends, Luke’s biological mother hadn’t been his father’s true mate. They’d let her heat take control from them and she ended up pregnant.

As the pride leader, his father kept Luke and his mother left to find her own mate. He hadn’t seen her since he was a little boy. Luna had taken over being his mother when Luke was eight years old. For the past thirty years she’d been the best mother any kid could ask for.

“I know I probably don’t say it enough, but I love you.”

Luna smiled and gave him another hug. “I know you do, and I love you, too.”

He waved good-bye, watching her hop into her jeep and take off along the rocky roads. Gray clouds engulfed the sky.

Time to light the fire. It was only a matter of hours before it started snowing. Before he locked himself indoors, he’d go for a final run.

FOUR

Kira shivered in her car. She turned the heat full blast and held the steering wheel in a white-knuckle grip. She should have listened to the weather reports. She’d been in such a rush to finally get to Raging Falls that she jumped into her car and forgotten all else.

“Fucking hell!” She slammed her hand on the steering wheel. At least she’d dressed warmly.

She eyed the road her GPS told her to turn on. Only it wasn’t a road. It looked like a tiny pathway that wouldn’t fit her car. She debated walking, but made the turn and drove slowly between the trees.

Daylight disappeared between the thickness of the evergreens. She squinted into the canopy. This was such a bad idea. She’d have to turn back. Finding whoever owned the land could wait another few days until the weather cleared.

She put her car in reverse and gasped when it shut off. Her heart pounded hard. What the hell? She glanced at the dashboard. Not a single light glowed in the vehicle. It was crazy. She didn’t know what to do.

Cars didn’t just die like that…did they? Dammit. She wasn’t a car expert. All she knew was to take it in for a check-up and make sure the tank was always full. She turned off the ignition then rotated the key forward. Nothing, not even a click. Totally dead.

She glanced at her dead cell phone plugged into the car charger also dead along with the damn car.

She picked up the black and white Google satellite map of the area Peter printed and highlighted for her. The nearest house was two miles away by her estimate. She glanced at the darkening road. No fucking way she was staying here. Her vehicle would turn into a freezer soon. She might as well walk and hope someone could help her.

With her coat, scarf, hat, and gloves on, she left the car after dropping her phone into her handbag and zipping it closed. Maybe she’d find a place to plug in later.

She thanked her common sense for wearing warm clothing and her most comfortable winter walking boots. Furry on the inside, they kept her feet dry and warm.

Carly would laugh her ass off when Kira told her about her car breakdown and the dead phone. In the woods. God, it sounded like the beginning of a horror movie.

She squinted, pushing branches out of the way and watching for uneven steps. Loud rumbling sounded from the sky. She couldn’t tell if it was rain or snow. Hell, at that moment, neither option sounded good.

She walked faster, feeling as if something was watching her. She was letting her imagination get the best of her. It was all Carly’s fault. Telling her she should be careful in that area. A lot of dangerous shifters made their home there.

Shifters. The big, angry, growly creatures that went from animal to human and nobody would know the difference. She’d never encountered a shifter. She wondered if they were nice. They sure as hell couldn’t be worse than Peter. That was a poor excuse for a human.

Anger swelled in her chest. She pushed off scouting the land as long as possible and he’d annoyed her with his incessant nagging, wanting a report as soon as possible. That day, he harassed her to no end, telling her to get her ass on the road and get the information he needed. Jerk.

A loud growl came from the trees. The sound reverberated around her, making her stop to do a full circle. She had no idea how long she’d been walking, but she had a great sense of direction. She stayed on the road and knew in two miles she’d make a left and find the house that would take her closer to whomever owned the property.

There were
No Trespassing
signs along the road, but she ignored them and kept moving. What was the worst that could happen?

Another snarl broke through her hazy concentration, just as the skies opened and stinging pebbles of rain poured over her skin. Peter had mentioned they were mad about him wanting to cut down a few trees, but perhaps he underestimated their anger level.

“Hurry up,” she said to herself. “All you need is to get eaten by a damn bear in the middle of BFE.” She wouldn’t make a good burrito all wrapped in her coat and gloves.

She stopped and glanced around, her glasses foggy from the cold and rain. The sound of a third growl, much closer than she would have liked, made her whirl in a circle. The hairs on her arms stood. Fuck. She wasn’t stupid. Even if she was in the middle of an empty road while it poured freezing rain and some wild animal was stalking her.

She started walking faster, her breath coming in pants. It took a moment to realize she was running. Running! There was little time to think about the miracle of her stubby little legs moving faster than zero miles per hour. Something was chasing her. She heard the breaking of branches behind her.

Don’t look back. They always said that in horror movies. It would do nothing but scare her; but she did anyway. Why? Because she was horrible at following her own advice. Twin golden spots stared brightly at her between the trees.

A gasp lodged at her throat. She swirled face forward, and found she had veered to the steep shoulder drop-off. She dodged a branch, but caught a rock, twisting her ankle painfully. She screamed. Her body lurched forward, tumbling and hitting the ground hard. There was no stopping. Her glasses went flying and rocks bit into her body. The incline felt never-ending. An intense pain zinged through her head and darkness took over.

FIVE

Luke heard a scream. He had just slipped into his clothes after his run when the sound reached him. He ran toward the female voice. His keen hearing gave him the location: Gill Cut ridge, the only vehicle route on this side of the forest.

His gut told him to hurry. No-one in his pack was unusually dangerous; there were a few who hated strangers wandering the property. To the extent that they wouldn’t hesitate scaring the trespasser into doing something stupid, like running and falling down the cliff incline.

Reaching the base of the ridge a mile from his cabin, he glanced around the wet grass trying to find a body through the sheets of rain. Thunder crackled, shaking the ground. Lightning flittered through the sky, lighting the growing darkness.

Fuck! He inhaled deeply, bypassing the scents of wet earth and nature to search for something, anything, unfamiliar.

It hit him with the force of a freight train. He rushed to the limp body hidden by a massive tree. She was soaked and covered in layers of clothing. A giant cut covered her cheek. Her eyes were closed, but he heard her breathing.

With as much care as he possessed, he lifted and carried her to his home. There, he laid her on his bed and stripped her of the frozen, wet clothes.

He ignored the lion inside, roaring over her injuries. He got her down to underwear and covered her in a heated blanket he kept for Luna when she stayed over.

She groaned in pain and lifted a hand to the side of her head before passing out again. There was a large bump covering her left temple. He sensed no immediate danger, but knew she ached from the fall. He had no idea what she was doing on his land. Other than getting lost, there was no acceptable explanation. She snuggled into the warm blanket, no longer shaking with every breath.

He picked up her wet clothing and took it to his laundry room for washing. They were full of dirt and mud. The purse, still hooked around her arm when he found her, had all its contents zipped inside. He never would’ve found everything spread out down the hill in this weather.

Luke pulled out the wallet for a peek at her driver’s license, then shoved it back in. He saw her phone. He could call the last person she talked to, to tell them she was injured, but the cell wouldn’t turn on. Must be a dead battery. He didn’t see a charger in the purse and his charger had a different end than her phone’s input port. It now sat on his shelf waiting for her to wake.

Her name was Kira Ardan. That’s as far as he knew. He refused to go through her stuff. That was a breach of privacy and as a private person himself, he wouldn’t do to her what he hated done to him.

He picked up his phone and debated on calling Luna. As he stared at the screen, it rang. It was her. She did this to him all the time. Reading his mind from far away. He would never get used to it.

“Mom. What’s wrong?”

She took an audible breath. “Son, someone’s been hurt near you. Can you see if you can find her?”

He frowned. His mother had a gift he didn’t question. “If I find this person, what do you want me to do with her?”

He glanced at the curvy female on his bed. The sight of her curled up in his blankets filled his lion with a possessive drive. It was clear. His lion wanted her. Her scent tugged at his most basic of instincts. The need to mate. To take. To own. He tamped down the urge to free his animal demanding they mark the woman as theirs. She drove his already heightened arousal through the roof.

“She’s injured so take care of her. I can sense her head and foot are in pain. The foot is the worst. I think she hurt her ankle pretty bad.”

He marched to the bed and pulled the blanket from under the woman’s feet. Sure enough, a massive purple and blue bruise ringed her ankle along with a lot of swelling.

“Okay.”

“And, son?” she said before hanging up.

“Yes?” he asked softly, to not waken the female.

“Don’t scare her by being all growly.”

“I’ll talk to you later, Mom.” He hung up and went about wrapping warm bandages on her leg. Every sound of pain she made tore at his heart. He wanted to stop hurting her, but knew this was the only way to ensure the swelling went down.

He didn’t know who Kira was as a person, nor did he care. It was enough he felt the instant connection to her so deeply in his chest, he’d destroy anyone who threatened her. It was simple, really. Kira was his.

He sat next to the bed and touched her hand. She was warm, soft. Being this close to her soothed some of the anxiety his lion felt. She grabbed his hand in her sleep. Her fingers tightened around his and didn’t let go.

He felt her pain deep in his bones. She wasn’t even awake and a connection between them flourished like a double rainbow after a hurricane. Completely unexpected.