Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

It occurred to her that they were all invested in being together; however, none of them had expressed a thought about what they truly wanted.

“I want to stay.” She couldn’t open her eyes for fear of seeing that they didn’t want her to. Even though all signs pointed to them needing that from her.

“Thank fuck.” Ace breathed a sigh of relief behind her.

“Don’t feel like you have to say that out of some sense of loyalty, Pepper.” Nick’s answer pissed her off. Her eyes popped open, and she glared at him before stomping away.

Stupid man.

Not realizing where she was going until she slammed the door to his office and turned around, she froze. What was she doing? She was running hot and cold, and it was driving her insane.

Talk about mixed signals, Pepper.

Sitting behind the desk, she turned the computer on, her rational mind in control. She had to find out who she was and where she had come from. She so wanted to stay with Nick and Ace, but first, she had to find out what was going on with her life. How she ended up left for dead at the bottom of a cliff.

“I can’t win,” Nick grumbled watching Pepper slam into his office. She was trying to bare her heart to them, and he practically stomped on it after pretty much begging her to stay himself.

“If you would keep your mouth shut, you could,” Ace supplied not so helpfully.

“Shut up,” he snapped back.

Before the other man could respond, Roxie began whining from the door, clearly needing out. Walking over, he patted her head and opened the door. She took off before it was fully open. “Roxie!” Nick yelled when she ran for the treeline. Something she never did unless someone was with her.

“I gotta go after her,” he told Ace as he pulled his boots and coat on. Sh

e might be a pain in his ass, but she was a good dog—smart, loyal.

“We’ll be here,” he heard Ace yell from the house as he moved across the yard.

By the look of her tracks, Roxie wasn’t just out for fun, she was chasing something. After nearly twenty minutes of running and calling for her, he finally found the dog just before a meadow where deer frequented. He didn’t visit there too often because he didn’t want to disturb the usually timid animals.

When Nick saw her sitting behind a tree, he was about to call her name when he heard the all too familiar growl of a cougar.

“It can’t be,” he mumbled as he approached Roxie.

Sure enough, right in the middle of the field, like royalty, were four Cougars cool as could be. He watched as they growled back and forth, the largest of them prowling around the three lazing in the snow. It was such an anomaly, he didn’t know what to do. The active one finally stopped, raising its head in the air as if sniffing. When it twisted its gaze to face where he and Roxie stood watching, he froze.

Those eyes.

He could swear it was the same group of cougars from years ago. But that couldn’t be, could it?

“Shit,” he grumbled. “Come on, Rox, nice and slow,” he told the dog, backing away gently and deliberately, not wanting to scare the beasts and make themselves targets.

For most of the trip back to the cabin, he walked backwards, not wanting to be attacked, as the dog watched the front of them. He was so shocked by what he’d seen that he hadn’t realized he was back home again until he heard the dog’s feet padding up the porch.

Cougars weren’t much for pack mentality in his neck of the woods, so to see one all those years ago, and then another one just now, he was completely dumb-founded.

Unless…

No, it wasn’t possible. And yet, those eyes.

His mind kept going back to the eyes. They spoke volumes. Just like the big cat from that night. They’d shown up when his town needed a savior. And now, when they were on the cusp of finding out what was happening to Pepper, they’re back? He had no logical reasoning for it.

“Nick?” he heard Ace behind him, but he was still lost in his own thoughts. Nick wasn’t a man to believe in guardian angels, or protectors, or any other spiritual mumbo. This was forcing him to exam it more closely, however.

When the killer had taken that baby, they were right where he needed them to be back then. Now, they were no more than five kilometres from his cabin and he could feel the same kind of tension in the air. Especially after finding that abandoned glove in the morning. Something that clearly didn’t belong to any of them.

“Shit,” he mumbled again.