“Sadie? Can you come and get me?” Samantha heard the sob in her own voice, but she couldn’t seem to help it. The night she’d just been through had been fraught with emotion and danger, and she was worn out to the point of exhaustion.
“Samantha? Oh my God—I’m so glad to hear your voice! You’re okay! You are okay, aren’t you?”
“Kind of,” Samantha whispered, and felt a tear drip down her cheek. This was no good—if she started crying, she would never stop. Straightening up, she tried to make her voice stronger. “I mean, now I am. I’m at a diner right off of Alligator Alley.”
Alligator Alley was what the locals called I-75. It was a long, barren stretch of highway with a single lane going each way and marshland on either side. The stops along the long road were few and far between, but Samantha had managed to find one—a diner called Mimi’s—as she staggered along in the early morning light after finally taking her human form again.
A kind waitress, opening the place for early breakfast service, had seen her limping, naked and battered and bruised, to the front door, and had taken her in. She’d assumed Samantha had been attacked and had offered to call the police, but Samantha had declined. While it was true she’d had some rough sex, it certainly hadn’t been nonconsensual—thanks to her stupid new Shifter hormones and urges. The waitress hadn’t pushed the subject. Instead, she’d given Samantha an old waitress’s uniform to wear, a hot cup of coffee, and the use of her cell phone.
Which was how Samantha came to be sitting at the counter of an old-fashioned malt shop-type diner wearing a pink checked dress with a white frilly apron while she called her twin sister for help.
“Tell me everything,” Sadie begged. “I was so worried about you—I could tell something was wrong. Did Keller find you?”
“Oh, he found me all right,” Samantha said grimly. “Look, we can talk later, but could you please come get me first? I know it will probably take you a while to get all the way down here from North Carolina but—”
“Actually, we’re in Miami—Mathis and I,” Sadie clarified. “We came down to Tampa to meet Keller and see what had happened to you in the first place, and then Fiona—she came with us—said I couldn’t Shift to help find you. I mean, it’s fine in the beginning of the pregnancy—the first Shift won’t hurt the baby. But after that, when it gets more advanced, it’s better to stay in human form.”
“You’re pregnant?” Samantha asked blankly.
“Oh, that’s right—I never got to tell you!” Sadie took a deep breath. “Yes, I am. I know I’m babbling. I’m just so glad to hear from you! Anyway, Fiona wanted us to stay away and leave finding you up to Keller because of the partial life-bond you two had—”
“Not so partial anymore,” Samantha said, and shivered, thinking of the strange way the big Shifter had been able to actually talk directly into her mind. That couldn’t be normal, could it?
“What was that?” Sadie asked. “Did I hear that right? Did the two of you bond?”
“Yes,” Samantha said shortly. “But only because he wanted me to have his baby. That’s all he cares about—all he’s ever cared about.”
She couldn’t help remembering the light in Keller’s eyes when he’d talked about the baby—about how he would take care of it if she couldn’t manage. She was still more than half convinced he’d been working with Lounds all along. It all made sense when she thought about it—the fact that the attack had happened in Vegas in a hotel room he had rented for her, the way he’d been there to comfort her and pick up the pieces afterward, both times Lounds had hurt her, the way he’d managed to win her confidence, even her affection and then . . .
Then he used it against me. He waited until the breeding fever was on me so strongly I couldn’t help myself—waited for me to beg him to breed me! The thought made her sick. Sick and angry and scared and shaky. A bad combination of emotions that swirled inside her like muddy water.
“Samantha, honey, I really don’t think that’s true—” Sadie began, but Samantha didn’t want to hear it.
“I don’t want to talk about it right now. Don’t want to talk about Keller ever again,” she cut her sister off.
“I don’t understand. What happened?” Sadie persisted. “Didn’t he find you? Didn’t he help you?”
“Just come get me,” Samantha said. She rattled off the address of Mimi’s Diner from the menu in front of her, which boasted specialties like mudpuppy stew and deep-fried gator tail. “And please hurry.”
Sadie knew when not to push.
“On my way,” she said simply. “I love you, sis.”
“Love you too,” Samantha said, softening a little. “I can’t wait to see you.”
“Can’t wait to see you either, Sammie. Mathis and I are coming for you.”
She hung up and Samantha was left to study her cup of coffee and wonder what she was going to tell her sister. And what the hell she was going to do with her life if she did indeed turn up pregnant.
* * *
Keller watched from across Alligator Alley, hidden deep in the tall grass and scrub bushes, still in his Cougar form. He’d been shadowing Samantha all night, making sure she didn’t run into trouble during her first Shift. Her female Cougar was beautiful, with sleek fur and sharp fangs—the perfect complement to his own Shifted form.
Too bad she didn’t want a damn thing to do with him.
If Keller could have sighed and run a hand through his hair, he would have. Of course, that was impossible in his animal form, so he simply growled mournfully.
How could he have gotten things so damn wrong?
In his defense, it had seemed like Samantha was finally coming around to the idea of being his mate—at least while the breeding fever was on her. She had been through Rejuvenation and her body was young and fertile—not only that, she had begged him to give her his seed. Keller had been hoping that she had realized they belonged together—that she was his true mate and the female destined to bear his children.
No such luck. She didn’t want him or his child any more than Rachel had.
Was there something wrong with him? Something defective that drove away the women he loved?
Such philosophical questions were complicated in his Cougar form, which was more basic than his human one. Still, though many Shifters reverted to pure animal instinct during a Shift, Keller had always managed to retain his sharp intellect, even when he lost the rest of his humanity. He suspected that Samantha had retained hers as well, which was why Shifting made her more upset rather than calming her down.
Now she’s stuck with her animal form and all the complications that go with it, he thought grimly, watching her with his sharp Cougar’s gaze as she sat in the diner and stirred her coffee morosely. Stuck with a bond to me . . . and to the monthly needs that will start manifesting soon.
If she wasn’t already pregnant, that was.
Was she? The question gnawed at Keller, but he knew he could do nothing about it either way. Samantha wanted nothing more to do with him, and she wasn’t interested in explanations or excuses. Basically, she wanted her old life back, before she’d found out she had the Shifter Gene and her whole existence had been turned inside out.
Well, he couldn’t take away her knowledge of the Shifter World or give her back the worldview she’d had before she understood her true heritage. But he could give her back her old life—at least Keller thought he could.
As he watched, a rental truck drove up to the diner, and Mathis and Sadie got out. Sadie, whose belly was bulging even more than the last time he’d seen her, went rushing into the diner and threw her arms around her sister. There was a tearful reunion, and he saw both of them were crying—Samantha shaking her head while Mathis looked helplessly on, watching as his mate comforted her sister as best she could.
Keller was careful not to intrude mentally on her, but he couldn’t help picking up the emotions she was putting out loud and clear. There was no joy in her mating to him and no excitement in the idea that she might be pregnant. There was only fear, uncertainty, and doubt.
Samantha was miserable, and he, Keller, was the author of that misery.
She hates me, he thought. Wants nothing to do with me. God, how could I screw things up so badly?
A rush of sadness and loss ran through Keller in a flood. If he’d been a Wolf instead of a Cougar, he would have thrown back his head and howled his sorrow. But he couldn’t howl. Couldn’t do anything but give Samantha what she seemed to want more than anything else—her freedom from him and the whole Shifter World.
Satisfied that she was in safe hands, he turned and loped off into the scrub brush at the side of the road. He had to get back to his rented Porsche, and from there back to his jet, so he could return to his lab in New York.
He had a lot of work to do before he could talk to Samantha again . . . for what would doubtless be the last time.