PrimalFlavor (18 page)

He was having a heart attack. That was the only logical
explanation for the way it continued to pound despite the danger being long
past. Colette didn’t seem to have a problem putting her fall into the bayou
behind her. Probably because she hadn’t seen the fucking alligator slide into
the water from the far bank and head straight for her, he thought, his heart
once again jumping into his throat. His tiger had gone on instant offense,
roaring a warning at the fucking lizard threatening its mate. When her hand
broke the surface of the water, he hadn’t thought twice, just pulled her out.
And other than spluttering a little, she’d acted as though it wasn’t a big
deal.

“So what do you want to cook for me?”

He lifted his head at that, staring at her with a blend of
frustration, relief and pained love. The dip in the bayou had left her clothes
plastered to her body again. Her hair slicked over her delicate skull. Skin
glistening like wet honey, she looked like a mermaid. A mermaid who didn’t seem
to realize the danger she’d been in, or if she did, accepted it as a normal
part of her life.

“Zach?”

He blinked, realizing she was staring at him as though he
needed help. And maybe he did. If loving Colette was going to be this dangerous
and frightening, it seemed he hadn’t given her father enough credit for
surviving her youth. “Alligator,” he muttered as he lifted his ass to sit on
the bench in the center of the boat facing her. “I’m cooking alligator.”

“Sounds good,” she remarked with enough enthusiasm that he
could have cheerfully strangled her. His tiger rumbled at the thought. Okay,
maybe not strangle her, spanking her sounded better. “Do you need me to supply
the meat? ’Cause I have a few bags in my freezer from last season.”

She chattered on, pointing out all the spots she’d hunted,
where she caught this alligator, where she shot that buck, not in the least bit
shaky after falling into alligator-infested waters. Listening to her, nodding
when she seemed to expect a response, Zach pondered ways he could keep her
safe. There was no way he could take as much time off from the bakery as he had
lately. Emily had sounded as though she thought he was dying when he told her
to cover for him today. An absence of more than two days in a row would have
the place crumbling into ruin.

Logic told him Colette knew how to take care of herself, had
survived this long without him in her life, but that thought process was about
as helpful as tits on a bull because logic had nothing to do with how he felt
about this woman. His tiger was outraged that she held herself in so little
care. It wanted to wrap her in bubble wrap and put her on a shelf somewhere so
she didn’t get hurt.

Yeah, that would go over like gangbusters. She’d skin him
alive and use his pelt to wipe her feet every day. No, he’d have to trust that
she wouldn’t do something dangerous and get herself killed. Trust. The word
alone made his stomach sour and cramp.

“What’re you thinking about to make that face?” she asked
over the roar of the motor.

But before he could lie to her, his nose caught a scent that
snapped him out of his self-pitying thoughts. A look around showed they were
back to the fork in the bayous where they’d stopped before, but this time there
was a new, unwelcome scent all over the area. His tiger let out a subvocal
growl that traveled along the bayou, sending birds to the sky. The wolf. He
smelled that ball-licking, ass-sniffing wolf.

“Good Lord, you’d better hope the wind doesn’t change
direction, or your face’ll get stuck that way,” Colette teased as she brought
the boat around the curve in the bayou.

But the minute they cleared the trees, she killed the
engine. The expression on her face went from happy and carefree to a mask, the
smile dropping away as though the sun suddenly fell from the sky. Zach swiveled
on his bench, knowing what he would see before he even turned around.

Unfortunately, he was correct. The bastard wolf, also known
as the Wildlife Enforcement Agent, sat in a boat in the very center of the
bayou, his mirrored sunglasses hiding his wintry blue eyes. The tiger snapped
at Zach’s mind, wanting at the fucker for coming near his woman again, but the
gun on the dog’s hip stopped him from doing something stupid and leaving
Colette helpless.

* * * * *

It finally dawned on Colette, as she was driving back to the
office, that Zach had been worried about her. He sat facing her on the bench in
the middle of the boat, a brooding expression on his handsome face. It was the
most adorable look ever, melting her heart in ways she really didn’t need right
now, not if she was going to keep her shit together. But seriously, how could
she resist? She was used to him being sexy. Demanding. Mischievous and even
charming. But worried and brooding? No, not so much. And he was that way
because he’d worried about her falling in the water. He’d run his hand through
his hair numerous times, tugging on the strands, eyeing her the same way her
dad had when he’d discovered she wasn’t his little tomboy anymore. Who would’ve
guessed Zach and her daddy had anything in common? But it appeared both men
thought she needed a keeper.

If it had been any other man, she would’ve disabused him of
that notion immediately and violently. Except she actually felt as though Zach’s
worry equaled care. It had to. You didn’t worry for someone if didn’t care for
them. Right?

She puzzled over that for most of the trip, making little
comments here and there, trying to figure out if Zach was worried for her in a
my
girlfriend and possible mate almost drowned kind of way
or a
I really
didn’t feel like dealing with a legal inquisition if she drowned
kind of
way. But all thoughts of how Zach cared for her, if he cared at all, were
pushed to the back of her mind when she saw that boat in the middle of the
bayou.

The weird sixth sense she relied on when she was hunting
returned with full force, warning her this wasn’t good. She had to tell her
fight-or-flight mode that she wasn’t doing anything wrong because every
instinct told her to swing the boat around and make a run for it. Her breath
caught in shock and a shiver worked its way down her spine. Fear, primal and
harsh, slammed into her.

Colette could have blamed her mom’s stories about her
great-great-grandmother being a famous mambo in Haiti for her sudden and
crippling belief that something bad was going to happen. She could have blamed
the old tales of voodoo her mother told her, but she didn’t. No, this agent
heralded something else.

Danger. But she didn’t run. Instead, she let the boat coast
up to the LDWF vessel, careful to keep a few feet between them. Unless the warden
asked for special permission to check out her boat, she wouldn’t make it easy
for him.

Zach’s head snapped around, drawing her attention. He
scented the air and his eyes flashed pale yellow, the tiger peeking at her from
his human face. That simple look helped calm her a little. She wasn’t alone and
no one would be dumb enough to take on a tiger shifter, even if that someone
was a wildlife agent. Right?

But the agent didn’t look the least bit worried about Zach,
ignoring the tiger shifter in favor of her. He was good-looking from close up,
yet he did nothing for her. Even when he flashed her what she supposed was a
charming, white-toothed smile, all she saw was a fox with a mouthful of
feathers.

“Y’all hunting today?” The drawled question was accompanied
by him whipping off his sunglasses.

“No sir.”

Those cold eyes trailed over her as far as they could, a
weird knowledge in them that left her feeling naked. Zach didn’t seem to
appreciate it either, a harsh, warning growl rumbling in his throat. The agent
glanced at the tiger shifter, seemingly unfazed by the obvious danger he was
in. The two men stared at each other, an unspoken challenge passing back and
forth.

Colette could almost see the pissing contest going on, but
she was left completely in the dark by their silence. All she knew was the
longer they stared, the tenser the men became until they resembled solid blocks
of stone.

Hoping to get the fuck away from him, Colette did something
her daddy said never to do. She engaged a warden in conversation. “Afternoon,
Agent Roscoe,” she said after a quick glance at his name tag. “We’re just doing
a little sightseeing. How can I help you?”

He looked away from Zach to give her another smile, this one
more playful than before. “Well now, you could help me by going out to dinner
with me.”

Her jaw dropped. She would’ve liked to say it was because in
all her years of running into agents, she’d never had one ask her on a date,
but the truth was, she’d never seen a man leap across a distance of five feet
without preparing for it the way Zach did. He landed in the agent’s boat,
rocking it with his sudden weight and launched himself at the other man like a
freight train hurtling off a cliff. The two men toppled over, disappearing from
her sight except for the occasional fist and foot as they fought. She didn’t
know whether to cheer for Zach or to haul ass. She couldn’t believe he’d done
that, even as she thought of ways to thank him with sexual favors for doing
something she’d always wanted to do.

“Hold it right there, jackass,” the low threatening growl
came accompanied with the ominous click of a hammer being cocked.

Colette’s heart dropped to the pit of her stomach, all the
blood draining from her face as she realized the warden had pulled his gun.
“No!” she shouted, trying to reach out to the other boat to pull it or herself
closer. “Don’t shoot!”

The annoying drawl muttered something she couldn’t hear, but
seconds later Zach’s head popped over the edge of the boat. His face was stark
white, his eyes glittering dangerously as he moved to let the warden up. Both
men had red marks on their faces from the fight and the warden’s nose looked a
little bloody. But none of that mattered when she saw the gun in the warden’s
hand.

“Zach,” she said through numb lips, all the strength in her
body fading as she pictured the man she loved being blown away before her very
eyes.

“It’s okay, Colette.” While his face was pale and tight,
Zach’s voice was steady and sure. “The agent and I just had a little
disagreement. We’re cool now, right, Roscoe?”

The warden’s eyes raged with cold fire as he glared at Zach,
but he nodded. “We’re cool. Just get the fuck back in your boat, cat.”

Colette watched as Zach flashed massive fangs at the
wildlife agent before he casually leapt back into her boat, barely rocking it.
He sauntered closer, coming to stand beside her, his warmth pushing away the
chill that invaded her at the thought of him dying right then and there. She
shuddered, nausea crawling up her throat, but he threw an arm around her
shoulder, pulling her into his side.

The warden watched them, something calculating in his gaze
before he looked directly at Colette. “Y’all be careful now,” he said with a
smirk that threatened to destroy the cocoon of warmth Zach lent her. “I’ll be
seein’ you around, miss.”

With a shuttered glance at the tiger standing next to her,
the warden turned over the engine and drove away, the wakes of his waves
causing her boat to bounce. Still, Colette couldn’t speak. The only thing she
was capable of was throwing her arms around Zach and squeezing him tight.

Zach breathed in her scent, the underlying fear nearly
drowning out his markings. He closed his eyes and buried his face in her hair,
holding her close. Her heart pounded against his chest, but he couldn’t say or
do anything more than hug her, let her hug him. He’d never come so close to
dying before. Looking down the barrel of a gun with a cold-eyed shifter on the
other end gave him a new appreciation for how a deer felt.

And for the wolf to whisper, “It ain’t time for us to dance
just yet, pahdnah.”

He shook his head and tightened his hold on Colette. There
was something wrong with that wolf. Maybe he’d do a little snooping, talk with
Sheriff Picou when he got back to town, but whatever he did, he wouldn’t allow
that bastard to ruin what he and Colette had just shared.

“It’s okay,” he murmured against her crown, tenderness
crowding out some of his anger at the wolf. Colette had been genuinely worried
about him and he didn’t think it was the general empathy most people had for
each other. She cared about
him
. She had to, right?

“I thought he was going to kill you right in front of me,”
she whispered into his chest, her body shivering. She tilted her head back to
look at him, her eyes nearly swallowing her face. “I’m sorry, I just need a
minute, okay?”

He kissed her forehead before tucking her back against his
chest. “What’re you sorry for? You didn’t do anything wrong.”

Her small laugh was shaky at best, but some of the tension
left her. “I’m sorry for falling apart like this. I just…I don’t know, I’m
usually better at keeping it together.”

Zach allowed himself to smile, her hair hiding his
expression. She did care. His tiger liked the idea too, although it was
tempered by the arrogance only an apex predator could feel. There had been
nothing to worry about. The tiger had excellent reflexes and had scented the
wolf didn’t want to shoot him. There’d been something decidedly weird about the
way the wolf acted, as though he was following script. But he pushed the
thought to the back of his mind to think about later.

Right now, his mate needed the security of his embrace. A
purr rumbled in his chest at the thought of her finding solace with him for the
rest of her days.
Soon
, Zach told his tiger.
Soon she’ll come to us
for everything. But not until we know for certain it’s what she wants.

After several moments, her trembling stopped and she made as
though to move away from him. Zach wasn’t ready to let her go, though. When was
the last time someone worried about him? Had hugged him just because they had
to assure themselves he was safe? Never, that’s how long. His grandmother,
while she loved him in her own way, had been a tiger shifter. By the time he
showed up on her doorstep, he’d been a little too old for her to coddle in the
way of maternal cats.