On the way to the airport, separated from the taciturn Jakes by a smoked-glass window, Samantha finally thought to dig her cell phone out of her purse. She’d left it in her room while she spent the night in Keller’s, so this was her first chance to check it. To her dismay, she saw she had fifteen voice messages, thirty texts, and about fifty missed calls—all from her sister, Sadie.

Though Samantha and Sadie were twins, they didn’t look anything alike. Sadie was taller and thinner with long, straight brown hair and big brown eyes. Samantha was what she liked to call “height challenged and fluffy,” with blond hair and blue eyes. But despite their dissimilarities, the sisters did share what some researchers had labeled a “twin sense,” which meant each knew when something was wrong with the other.

Looking at all the missed calls and frantic texts, Samantha knew her sister must have sensed her distress during the attack and then later felt her emotional upheaval after she’d rejected Keller. No wonder she was worried and upset!

Dialing Sadie’s number, she put the phone to her ear and was surprised when a deep, male voice answered.

“Hello?”

“Um, hello? I’m trying to reach Sadie Becker?” she said.

“Samantha?” The deep voice held a note of relief. “Are you okay?”

“Uh, yes. Wait . . . Mathis?” she asked cautiously.

“Yeah!” Her new brother-in-law to be sounded like he was grinning. “Damn, I’m glad you called! We were about to head to the airport—Sadie’s been nearly hysterical since last night.”

“Is she all right?” Samantha asked anxiously.

“She will be once she’s knows you’re okay. She kept saying you were in danger—that she could feel someone was hurting you.” His voice dipped to a lower register. “Is that true? You need some help out there? Because any kin of Sadie’s is kin to me, and we Bucks take care of our own.”

Samantha was touched by his offer of help and protection. It seemed her sister had found a real keeper.

“Thank you, Mathis,” she said warmly. “But I’m fine—really. Although I was in some danger last night, I made it through all right. I—”

“Mathis, who is it? Is it about Sammie?” a familiar voice asked in the background.

“It’s her—it’s Samantha—”

“Oh, thank God!” There were tears of relief in Sadie’s voice when she took the receiver. “Sammie, what happened to you? I had the worst feeling—like you were being killed!”

“Well, you weren’t far off,” Samantha said grimly, and proceeded to fill her sister in on the details of the attack.

“So this Hyena Shifter just came right in your room and went after you?” Sadie sounded horrified. “How did you get away?”

“I didn’t,” Samantha told her. “Keller heard me screaming and came in and chased the other Shifter away.”

“Keller? Wait—Liam Keller is there in Vegas with you? How is that possible when you just operated on him a couple of days ago? I thought he was at death’s door.”

Samantha shrugged. “He healed himself by Shifting—at least that’s what he told me. And I’m inclined to believe him. Shifters appear to have, uh, some pretty amazing powers of healing.” She cleared her throat. “He, uh, healed me too, after the attack last night.”

“He what? How?” Sadie demanded.

“By . . .” Samantha cleared her throat again. “By licking me actually. My, uh, throat and shoulder were pretty severely lacerated and today you can’t even see a scratch on me.” She wasn’t about to say anything about the other parts of her that Keller had healed—even with her twin, it was embarrassing to discuss.

“You’re kidding me—Shifters can do that? I mean I am one and I didn’t even know that.”

“Cougars can—the males, anyway. I don’t know about other Shifters. Also . . .” Samantha sighed. “A Cougar male apparently always knows his rightful mate—which in this case would be me. So that’s another superpower you can chalk up to team Shifter. Superhealing . . . super wife-finding ability . . . I mean, who knows what else they can do?” She gave a ragged little laugh that came out as half a sob.

“Okay, what happened?” Sadie could clearly hear the hurt in Samantha’s voice. “What did Keller do?”

“Oh, he’s just up to his old tricks—wanting somebody to have his baby. Only this time the somebody was me.” Samantha tried to keep her voice light, but suddenly she found herself right on the edge of tears. God, what was wrong with her?

“He wanted you to have his baby? The same way he wanted me to? What’s wrong with that guy?” Sadie demanded indignantly.

“To be fair, he didn’t just want me to have his baby—he also wanted to settle down and get married. I mean, I’ve barely known him more than a few days!” Samantha exploded. “Who does he think he is, wanting me to give up my career and my whole life just to be with him?”

“He wanted to marry you? He never asked me that, not even when he wanted me to have his baby.” Sadie sounded like she was frowning. “Are you in Rejuvenation now? Because the Juvie scent you put out during that time will drive guys crazy. I certainly learned that the hard way.”

“No, that’s the weird thing,” Samantha exclaimed. “I’m still forty. I haven’t changed a bit, and he still fell for me. Or at least he made me believe he did.” She pinched the bridge of her nose, trying to drive back the tension headache that was threatening. “I kept pointing out to him that I was too old for him, and I couldn’t give him a Shifter baby—or not one with an active Shifter Gene—but he didn’t seem to care.”

“Wow—sounds like he fell for you hard,” Sadie said. “And maybe . . . you fell for him a little bit too?”

Samantha sighed. Her twin always knew when she had something she wanted to hide—even if she was hiding it from herself.

“I don’t want to talk about that,” she said shortly.

“All right, I’m sorry.” Sadie sounded contrite. “It’s just all so strange. And after he told us he couldn’t love anyone and he didn’t want to get emotionally involved with anybody. That’s so weird.”

“I thought so too.” Samantha ran a hand through her hair. “Look, Sadie, I’m almost to the airport so I need to go. But I wanted to let you know I’m okay, and I’m headed back to Tampa.”

“Promise to call the minute the plane touches down,” Sadie demanded. “I want to know you’re safe. You don’t know how scared I was for you last night, Sammie.”

“I can imagine—I was scared for me too,” Samantha said dryly. “But as it turns out, I’m fine.”

“Your body might be fine, but it sounds like your heart is a little bruised,” Sadie murmured. “Are you sure you don’t want to come back and stay with me and Mathis for a little while?”

“And interrupt the nonstop nookie and baby-making festival the two of you have going on?” Samantha snorted laughter. “Not likely.”

“Oh, come on—we’re not that bad. Well . . .” Sadie stifled a laugh. “No, that’s a lie. We’re pretty much at it all the time. In fact, I see Mathis eyeing me now. I was too upset last night, so it’s been a while since we . . . you know.”

“What, like six or seven hours since you boarded the nookie train? You poor thing!” Samantha snorted again. “Well don’t let me hold you back.”

“I’m just glad you’re all right. Please be safe and call me when you get to Tampa.” A note of anxiety crept into Sadie’s voice. “You don’t think that awful Hyena Shifter would try to follow you there, do you?”

“Keller seems to think they operate almost exclusively out of Vegas,” Samantha said. “Besides, how would he find me? I’ll be at the other end of the country.”

“I guess you’re right.” Sadie sounded a little more relaxed. “Okay, love you, Sammie. Call me when you touch down.”

“Will do.” Samantha blew her a kiss and they hung up just as the limo pulled into the airport.

As they drove through a private entrance up to a sleek jet parked on the tarmac, she wished briefly that Keller were there with her, that they were taking a trip together just for the hell of it. If only he hadn’t pushed so hard and wanted too much too soon! She might have been willing to date him casually for a while and see where things led. But to propose marriage and babies on the first date was just scary!

Put him out of your mind, Samantha, she advised herself. You’re going to go back to your life in Tampa and forget all about him.

Right. Forget all about him.

Samantha sighed. There was no way in hell.

* * *

Keller waited an hour to be certain Samantha was gone before going back up to her room. There was much to do, and he wanted to see to it himself, though he certainly could have had an underling manage it. But this was personal.

Taking the DO NOT DISTURB sign off the doorknob of Samantha’s room, he stepped inside and took a deep breath. Under the reek of the Hyena Shifter and the coppery smell of blood was Samantha’s scent—light and fresh and devastatingly feminine.

Keller shook his head, trying to ignore the subtle perfume of her skin and hair. Her smooth skin . . . her silky hair . . . her gorgeous, lush, full curves . . . No! He had to stop this. Had to snap out of the lovesick trance he’d somehow fallen into and get on with business.

Lifting his chin, he went into the bedroom and surveyed the blood-splattered sheets and pillows littering the bed. It would never do to leave them there—they would cause questions he didn’t have time to answer. Besides, he wanted to have the sheets analyzed at one of his labs. If the Hyena Shifter had left even the smallest trace of DNA, Keller might be able to track the son of a bitch down. And if he did . . .

“He’s dead,” he growled, speaking the threat aloud. He could still remember the abject terror in Samantha’s eyes when he’d come rushing into the room the night before. He could still hear the panic in her voice when she begged him to save her from the beast that was savaging her.

God—how could any male do that to a helpless female? Even in his Cougar form, Keller knew, he would never be capable of such an offense. Females were to be protected and cared for—not tortured and mauled. Whoever the Shifter was, he was some kind of psychopath who needed to be put out of commission. And Keller was going to see that he was—personally.

Quickly, trying not to remember the fear in Samantha’s eyes, he began bundling up the bloodstained bedding. There were a few spots of blood on the mattress itself, but he flipped it over, knowing that the cleaning staff would almost certainly not get around to flipping it again for ages.

He stuffed the sheets and pillows into a large plastic garbage bag he’d brought with him and was just about to go when he felt something hard under his shoe. Frowning, he bent down by the side of the bed and looked at the object he’d stepped on.

It was a hypodermic.

Uttering a low curse, Keller fished another, smaller plastic bag out of his pocket, and picked the syringe up carefully. An errant beam of sunlight coming through the blinds struck it just right, and the long needle attached to it glittered silver in the light.

Keller held it up to get a closer look. Inside the plastic barrel was a small amount of some dark orange liquid. He looked down at the cream-colored carpeting, but there was no corresponding orange spot on the floor. Clearly whatever the liquid was, most of it had been injected.

Injected into Samantha!

In his mind’s eye, Keller saw the small pinprick wound on her upper arm. His heart began to pound as a surge of protectiveness overcame him. What the hell was this orange liquid and what was it intended to do to her? How might it hurt her? She’d seemed completely healthy—if not very well rested—the last time he’d seen her. So whatever it was hadn’t had any effect . . . yet.

Keller frowned and studied the hypodermic some more. Had the Hyena Shifter broken in and staged the attack to hide the fact that he’d injected Samantha with some kind of medicine? If so, why?

He weighed the syringe in his hand. Just in case, he would have the orange liquid analyzed. And he would have to call Samantha to make sure she was all right and let her know what was going on.

Well, that was going to be a fun phone call, Keller thought grimly. If she’d even answer the phone when she saw his number. She’d probably think he was still pursuing her, but Keller wouldn’t stoop to that. He knew how to handle rejection and move on, he told himself. He’d learned it the hard way in the past.

Still, she had to be warned. Even if it was painful to hear her sweet voice again when he was trying to forget her, Keller would make the call.

He had no choice.