Chapter Three

Kian

I steered around the crater-sized hole on the only street through what we called town. The damn thing had been appearing twice a year for as long as I could remember, causing much frustration. One of these days, we’d figure out a way to fill it for good instead of having it come back to wreak havoc on all our vehicles. For now, though, fixing that hole was about as far down on my priorities list as it could get. Hell, the list had disappeared, leaving me with nothing but a picture. An image.

The face of the woman who stole my breath.

All day, she’d been on my mind. When I woke up sweaty, hard, and desperate to get my hands on her. When I drank my morning coffee, ignoring the scenery outside to stare at the spot on my rug where she’d stood, shadowed by the fire at her side. When I took a shower, as my hand stroked my cock through my vivid thoughts of us in every position imaginable until I trembled through a release that made me roar. As I dressed, as I ate, as I drove, as I went fishing with two of the wolf shifters from town. All fucking day, her picture haunted me. Refusing to let me be.

I had to find her.

But first, I needed to talk to someone about this, which was why I was driving this road in the first place. Audrey’s Jeep sat outside the library. In reality, calling it a library was a stretch, but she’d missed the one from her hometown when she moved up here after mating with my brother, so we’d set her up in a small building next to the general store. She stocked books, read books, and recommended books all day long to the handful of people who came to see her. Though at that moment, hers was the only car parked on the street.

I parked my truck beside hers, gripping the wheel with sweaty hands. Audrey had a way of knowing things. Of getting to the root of a problem. As much as I wanted to keep my private business private, I was betting she’d know a way to help me figure out what was going on. Hell, she might even be able to help me find my mystery woman. But first, I needed to grow a set of balls and walk in there. Alone. Without my brother as a buffer to the woman I barely knew. Fuck me, dream girl had better be worth it.

My bear growled in my head, letting me know how he felt about the whole thing, telling me she was definitely worth it to him. The cranky old bastard.

The bell chimed as I opened the door a few seconds later, making me cringe. Nothing like announcing my presence to the world. Audrey grinned when she saw me, her wild, red hair pulled back in an even wilder bun, corkscrews hanging along the edges of her face where they’d escaped.

“Well, if it isn’t brother Kian. To what do I owe the honor of your company, sir?”

I shook my head, my lips pulling up into a smile as they always did around the impish little woman. There was just something so sweet about her enthusiasm, something that made you feel happy whether you wanted to or not. Everyone who met her loved her on sight. Especially my brother.

“I was just driving by on my way home and saw your car. Thought I’d pop in and see how you’re doing.”

She shrugged. “Same old, same old. Books, arguments with old Mr. Hackles over appropriate books, more books, and putting up with your brother’s brand of crazy.”

We both grinned at that one. My brother had a good heart, a great sense of humor, and was smart as a whip, but the man tended to get himself into trouble more often than not. Luckily for me, as soon as he and Audrey had bonded, she’d taken over getting him out of it.

I fingered the cuff of my shirt, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. I’d run the gauntlet and entered the building, now I needed to find the words to explain what I needed. Sadly, the words wouldn’t come. So I fidgeted, and I stalled.

Audrey cocked her head, eyes narrowing as she looked me over. “Looks like you need a cup.”

I gave her a slight bow, relieved for something to do with my hands. “I’d be much obliged.”

She nodded and hurried off to make me a cup of coffee. She and I shared a love for written words and deep, dark-roasted brews. Well, and my brother, though that thought bordered on a territory I didn’t want to visit. She was his mate, his partner, his lover…yeah, not going there. When she brought me a cup filled almost to the brim, I kept my eyes locked on the dark depths. Searching for words that were definitely not beneath the surface.

“Whit mentioned you’ve been having a little trouble sleeping.” She sat in the chair across from me, motioning for me to take the other, looking calm and open. Obviously ready to listen.

I sighed as I sat. A little trouble sleeping was the understatement of the year.

“Not really trouble sleeping, more trouble sleeping alone.”

Her eyebrows flew up toward her hairline. “Oh, well…”

“Not like that.” I sat back when she did, mimicking her motions as she took a sip of her coffee, not wanting her to feel awkward. “There’s this woman—”

“I figured.”

“Are you going to let me tell it?” I waited until she nodded, giving her a mock glare. “You get more like Whit every day.”

“Shut your mouth.”

I huffed a laugh. “You two are perfect for each other, you childish little thing.”

She grinned, bright and wide. The girl knew exactly how perfect she was for my brother and him for her. Their love was effortless.

“Anyway,” I started again. “There’s this woman, and she keeps showing up when I’m sleeping.”

Her brow puckered. “Like, breaking in to your cabin?”

“No, like walking right into my dreams. Every night, the same thing. She appears, but when I try to talk to her, it’s like she can’t hear me or something. And then bam, gone.”

“Maybe a ghost.”

I thought about that possibility. Hell, I wouldn’t knock anything out of the running if it would explain who she was. “Doubtful. She throws shadows.”

“Huh.” Audrey stood and walked to a bookshelf at the back of the room. “When I was a little girl, my great-grandma from Scotland used to tell me family legends of strange and magical things our ancestors could do. All these really tall tales about throwing flames and manipulating lightning” —she dropped a heavy book on the counter beside me— “but my favorite were the dreamwalkers.”

“Dreamwalkers?”

“Legend has it that some women from way back in our family line had the ability to walk into other people’s dreams as they slept. They could see their thoughts and memories through the host’s eyes and interact with the person as if they were awake.”

I frowned. “She doesn’t interact with me.”

“Not yet.”

I ran a hand over my face, tired and worn out from all the crazy floating around me.

“Look, maybe that’s what this is. She’s a dreamwalker come to drive me insane. I just wish she’d interact with me…talk to me. Tell me something about herself so I knew who the hell she was and why she’s there. I can’t handle all this secretive shit.”

Audrey’s eyebrow cocked. “That’s funny coming from you, mister bear shifter living in a secret village in the middle of nowhere so humans can’t find you.”

I glared for real this time. “That’s different.”

She reclaimed her seat, coffee in hand, eyes intentionally wide. “Oh, please. Inform me how her secret stuff is so very different from your secret stuff.”

“I thought you were going to help me.”

She laughed, which didn’t help my mood. “I’m trying, but you’re not giving me much to go on here.”

“You want something to go on? Fine. Figure out what this means. That’d be a huge help.” I held up my hand and bent my fingers into a shape I remembered from the night before. Audrey watched me, pursing her lips. And then she shrugged.

“Why.”

“Exactly. Why? Why does she keep showing up, and why won’t she talk to me?”

“No, dumbass.” She used her finger to trace a shape in the air. “Y. That’s the letter Y in sign language.”

I stared at my hand, remembering the way hers had seemed to dance in the air. Fingers tracing points I couldn’t see. Hands gesturing.

“Well, shit.” I tucked my thumb under my first two fingers, making a sort of fist. “What about this one?”

“I believe that’s an N.”

“And this.” I placed my hand flat against my chest and rubbed in a circle a couple of times.

“I think that means please.”

My jaw fell. “How do you know this stuff?”

She shrugged. “I had a friend in school whose brother was deaf, and I remember a few things he taught me. Please and thank you were some of the first signs I learned along with the alphabet. Sort of a basic way of communicating.” Her eyes grew as big as mine had to be as we put the pieces of the puzzle together. “That’s why your mystery woman acts like she doesn’t hear you and doesn’t speak. She’s deaf.”

I nodded, searching my memory for more symbols. I held my hands with two fingers extended, tapping my right on my left at the knuckles. “What about this?”

“I don’t know that one.” She jumped up and ran to the front wall of the shop. “Hang on, I think I have a book that might help us up here somewhere. If not, we can fire up the computer and head on out to the Internet for some research, though the satellite connection tends to suck at this time of day. God, what I wouldn’t give for my old cable Internet.”

I jumped up and grabbed her notepad off the counter. I was writing notes and drawing pictures, trying to remember every letter and symbol I could from the night before, when Audrey squealed. I spun just in time to see her rushing over with a large, blue book.

“Ta-fucking-da. Go ahead, tell me how helpful I am.” She slammed the book down, gesturing over it like some kind of red-haired Vanna White. The first word I saw on the cover was Dictionary. The second and third Sign and Language.

“Audrey, if you weren’t my brother’s mate and about the closest thing I’ve ever had to a sister, I’d kiss you.”

She grinned and raised an eyebrow. “And then I’d slug you.”

“Fair enough.” I grabbed the book and flipped through the pages, looking at drawings of hand gestures and finger placement for each word listed. Reading, watching, learning, all as an idea formed for a way to communicate with her. If she couldn’t hear me, I’d just have to find another way.

I had never in my life been more excited to go home and study so I could go to bed early.