Lynn frowned at the letter taped to the door of Willa and Matt’s singlewide. It was constructed of cut-out magazine letters that had been glued to a piece of computer paper. If she was confused about it being a ransom note before, the title If you want your tacos, do what I say across the top cleared that right up.

 

Scavenger hunt, my little woodland diddlers. I have stolen four beers from Creed and a flask of whiskey from Clinton at great risk to myself. Help me drink them. First stop, Beaston’s Treehouse. Or as we were calling it lately, Crazy Lynn’s treehouse. I don’t think you’re so crazy anymore, ya lil scrapper. Use the four-wheeler. It probably has gas in it. Put some pants on.

Green M&Ms, Orange M&Ms.

Jathan, don’t fuck this up. Your girl needs some fun in her life.

Willawonka

 

Lynn finished reading first so she was able to see the curve of Jathan’s smile.

He murmured, “Hell yes to this. You do need some fun.” And then he folded up the paper, shoved it in his back pocket, and pulled her by the hand toward a four-wheeler that sat in the yard, right on the edge of the porch light.

“I haven’t ridden one of these in a long time,” she said, tugging at the hem of Jathan’s oversize T-shirt she was wearing.

Jathan hopped on and started the ATV. Standing with his legs locked, he revved the engine and waggled his eyebrows. “Get on, and you get to play with my abs.”

Lynn snorted. “Cocky boy.”

“Cocky man.” He sat down and said, “Now get on this thing before I drag you, caveman style.”

Well okay, that was actually sexy. Lynn climbed on behind him and slid her arms around his waist, and then they were off. Like with his Harley, Jathan wasn’t a slow driver on ATVs either. Lynn left her stomach somewhere back in the Grayland Mobile Park as he blasted up the mountain toward her treehouse. She hadn’t even adjusted to the speed before they were there. Two canned beers sat on the bottom stair of the treehouse with a folded piece of paper fluttering in the breeze between them.

Excited, Lynn hopped off and bounded over to the next clue. She read it out loud. “Lynn, take this opportunity to put some pants on. Your hoo-hah is showing. The Barns men like granny panties best—

“We actually don’t,” Jathan argued. “I like lacy see-through thongs or nothing at all.”

With a giggle, Lynn finished reading it. “Shotgun these and find your next drinks at the top of Bear Trap Falls.” Lynn frowned up at Jathan. His smile was stunning as he watched her. “What’s shotgunning?”

“You’ve never shotgunned a beer before?”

“Nope.”

Jathan leaned over, picked up a beer, tossed it in the air, and caught it on the third spin, then pulled a knife from God knew where and stabbed the can. “Make a seal with your lips and suck like you’ve never sucked before.” He looked so naughty right now as he made the hole bigger with his knife and pushed in the sharp edges of the blue Bud Light can.

“I have to suck it all at once?”

“Fuck yes. It’s practice for when you suck my d—”

“Okay, I get it!”

Jathan handed it to her carefully on its side so it wouldn’t spill, stabbed his own, then showed her how to tilt her head back and pop the top to relieve the pressure. Lynn was belly laughing so hard, she couldn’t do it. She had to take a few breaths before she brought the can to her lips.

“Ready,” Jathan said, smile bright white in the night shadows. “Steady… Go!”

Lynn popped the top and chugged, but it took her way longer than Jathan. For a second, she felt bad until he started cheering her on. She had to stop once because of laughter and spilled a little on the ground, but she finished it. Sure, it was silly, but she was kind of proud of herself. Especially with Jathan lifting her up and spinning her in a circle like she’d just won a damn Olympic game.

He kissed her and then licked her chin with the tippy tip of his tongue. “You have beer on your face.”

“You’ve seen me worse,” Lynn deadpanned.

“I didn’t say I didn’t like it. Fiery, redheaded, badass panther shifter who tastes like beer? Hell yes to all that. Next clue. Get on my quad.” He jerked his chin toward the four-wheeler.

“You make everything sound filthy.”

“Hidden talents, Lynn. I’m gonna make you fall in love with me.”

Ha. Too late.

Lynn rushed upstairs, pulled on a lacey thong, a pair of jeans, and a tight T-shirt she hadn’t felt good enough to wear in a long time. She did a quick tie of her hiking boots, and then she jogged down the stairs back to her Knight in Shining Holey Jeans.

Jathan squeezed her ass hard as she got on the ATV. She giggled the entire way up the trail to Bear Trap Falls, and when they ended up at the beach by the river, right by where the water dropped off the cliff, she thought maybe this was the best night of her whole life. The moon was full and bright, the stars speckling the sky, not a cloud in sight, and even though the breeze was chilly, she was flushed with the adventure and didn’t feel the cold. There were two more beers on a flat rock with a letter squeezed in between them. Lynn scrambled for it.

“Last clue,” she read aloud as Jathan shut off the four-wheeler behind her. “Time to take a leap of faith, little scrapper. Down this beer and jump. Your dinner is under the falls. Also, Jathan wet the bed until he was ten, is terrible at sharing food, and had reoccurring dreams about chickens chasing him until he graduated high school. Ask him what his biggest fear is.”

“Chickens,” Jathan muttered without hesitation as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on her shoulder. “They freak me out.”

Lynn belted out a laugh and finished reading. “Are you sure you still want to deal with all of that? Just making sure. Your tacos are probably soggy. Maybe it will make Jathan not suck at sharing. Sorry for earlier. I wanted you to remember how to fight. I wanted you to live. Willa.”

Lynn swallowed a few times to try to control her emotions. They were swinging so far and wide right now. Jathan stabbed the beers, made the holes bigger, and they shotgunned their second blue cans. She did better this time and was feeling buzzed.

“Ready?” Jathan asked, stripping out of his shirt and kicking out of his boots. He left his jeans on, so she did the same. No shirt, but the pants and lacy bra stayed.

“Ready,” she said.

“Thata girl,” Jathan said quietly before he pulled her to his chest. For a few moments, he searched her eyes before he leaned down and kissed her. Giant, dominant, tatted-up bad boy who turned gentle with a touch for her. He was the most surprising man she’d ever met. As he sipped at her lips, such a strange sensation took her. It was butterflies in her stomach and an unfamiliar ache in her chest. And the more he kissed her, the sharper the pain in her heart became until she gasped and flinched back.

“Hurts,” Jathan said, head still angled like he would kiss her again. His eyes were on her swollen lips, and he was smiling.

“Yeah.”

Jathan frowned slightly. “All this time, I thought it didn’t exist.”

“What didn’t?” she whispered, gripping onto his strong arms to stay steady.

He pressed his lips against her forehead, let them linger there for the span of three breaths, and then he released her and ran for the edge of the falls. As he jumped over the side of the cliff, he spun in the air to face her and called out, “The bond, Lynn.” And then his smiling face disappeared.

She ran to the edge just in time to see him sink into the waves below. He’d probably jumped off this cliff a thousand times. The bond? Lynn pressed the flat of her palm against her chest and shook her head. Couldn’t be…could it? She’d never felt this with Brody. She ran her fingertips over the healing claiming mark, tracing Jathan’s bite. And it hit her. Tonight had been so up and down, so emotionally draining, and then they’d gone right into the scavenger hunt. This was her first moment alone when she could come to grips with everything that happened.

He’d claimed her. She was his and he was hers. And where was Monster? Where was the blinking and losing time? Oh, she wasn’t cured. She was still messed up and probably always would be, but she was standing here, present, smiling like a lunatic, tracing a claiming mark from someone she loved. Really loved.

Her life had flipped so fast it had stolen her breath away. And right now, she wanted to revel in this moment of freedom and not worry about anything. Not tomorrow, or the pressure, or the work that lay ahead. She wanted to eat dinner with her mate—her mate—under a waterfall and pretend they were both normal and undamaged for just one night. Because with Jathan, he made her feel…okay.

She inhaled deeply, blew her breath out twice, and then let out a whoop as she ran for the edge. She threw her arms out and flew for a few breathtaking seconds, before she put her hands together and dove into the water. She wanted to cry and laugh and yell with elation because she’d never in a million years thought she could feel this again—joy.

She swam for the surface and broke the waves with a gasp. And Jathan was there, grinning so big she wanted to kiss him just to taste that smile. He inhaled deeply, then sank below the waves, and she followed. Streaks of blue moonlight striped the water, and it sparkled when the light hit tiny pieces of sediment. Jathan led them to the waterfall where billions of bubbles were racing toward the surface from where the river above pounded into the river below. He swam deeper under the falls and disappeared, and for a second, she panicked. Her breath was almost gone, and she didn’t know whether to go back up or keep following him.

She trusted Jathan though, so she pushed on, and right on the other side, she kicked upward and found the surface. Breath heaving, she made her way to the edge of a rock shelf where she’d spent hours talking with the kids from Damon’s Mountains when her foster parents brought her here for visits. This place was full of happy memories. They echoed in her mind—children’s laughter, her laughter.

Jathan stood in his soaking jeans, abs flexing with every breath, longer dark hair on top messy and dripping, skin glowing blue where the moonlight crept in the sides of the waterfall. He was stunning, but it wasn’t the muscles or tattoos or the height. It was the way he looked at her, like she was important. Like she really was redeemable.

“Are we really bonded?” she asked, gripping the edge of the rocks and kicking against the current.

Jathan bent down and pulled her out of the water, settled her on her feet, and brushed wet tendrils of hair out of her face. “Your hair is always wild. I like it because it’s so…you.”

Did he not hear her question?

Jathan’s gaze dipped to her lips, and his eyes went serious. “Brody told you that you two were bonded, right?”

She dipped her chin once.

“So me telling you we’re bonded isn’t the answer you need. That is something you need to feel for yourself.”

“I do feel different. There’s something in my chest. In my heart. I feel steadier, like you are pulling the darkness from me and calming Monster.”

Jathan ran his hands up and down her arms quickly, as if trying to warm her, but she hadn’t even noticed her gooseflesh until he did that. “Date number two and three. An almost dinner with my crazy parents, and soggy tacos and whiskey. You’re a lucky woman, Lynn.”

“I know you’re being sarcastic, but I really am lucky. And also hungry.”

There were three battery-powered lanterns on a blanket, and in the middle was Clinton’s flask, two paper plates, and a bag of food. Best date ever.

Jathan was talking about how he was glad they included extra hot sauce, but a breeze lifted the soaking ends of her hair and the scent of something familiar hit her nose. When she turned, the back of the waterfall wavered and changed. It morphed to the clearing of the cabins in Red Havoc Territory. She could hear crying on the wind, just the softest sob, and then Lynn saw her. Eden. Her bird. Her best friend. The albino falcon shifter who had been so determined to save her. She was sitting on the front steps of Lynn’s old cabin, staring off into the woods, crying.

Lynn didn’t know how she knew, but Eden was crying for her.

Two cabins down, Barret, the panther she’d dragged into that lion war, was standing with his shoulder propped on the side of his cabin, watching Eden cry. He looked like he hadn’t slept in weeks, and his eyes were full of ghosts. Such a bone-deep feeling of homesickness hit Lynn right in the gut.

Her people were hurting while she was here.

Firm hands gripped her shoulders, and the mirage wavered to the back of the waterfall again.

“Lynn. Lynn, talk to me. Stay with me.”

With a frown, she gave her attention to Jathan.

“Are you still here with me?” he asked, worry pooling in his dark eyes.

“Yes, I’m still here.”

He huffed a sigh of relief and pulled her against his chest, hugged her up tight. His heartbeat banged against her cheek as she stared at the waterfall and remembered the tone of Eden’s heartache.

Lynn was still here with him for now.

But soon…very soon…if she really wanted to get better, she would have to go home and face the crew she’d left behind.