“The only woman I’ve been around I picked up for trying to steal food from Margaret’s. She wouldn’t tell me her name or anything else for that matter so I held her at the station until Hunter came for her. Come to think of it, I still don’t know her name,” he added with a frown.
“Where is she now?” Aliyah demanded. “This is important, Duncan.”
“I suppose she’s with Hunter up at his cabin. He was the only one she’d talk to. Nick and I tried hard enough to get anything out of her. What the hell is going on, Aliyah? It’s not like you to get so freaky about a woman.”
Aliyah’s face was strained and worried, and she’d gone pale underneath the golden sheen of her skin. “Her scent, Duncan. I know it well. I should. It’s Kaya.”
His brow furrowed. “Kaya? Who the hell is Kaya?”
“My sister. Don’t you remember me telling you about her?”
“Yes, honey, but you said she disappeared years ago, when you were just a child.”
“Exactly. And now I smell her on you and you tell me a woman was in your jail, a woman who would tell you nothing of herself. She was probably frightened out of her mind.”
Understanding dawned. “Holy fuck. She’s a shifter? I know you told me she was a cougar, but are you sure this is your sister? I mean, honey, it’s been a lot of years. Are you certain you aren’t mistaken?”
“I’d know her smell anywhere,” Aliyah said quietly. “Take me to her, Duncan. I have to see her. I have to know if she’s my sister. I have to know what happened to her.”
Duncan sighed. “If it is her, it would explain a hell of a lot. Hunter’s protectiveness of her and why they were so damn secretive. You have to be prepared for the possibility that she won’t remember you and that they won’t welcome you asking questions.”
“I have to see her for myself,” Aliyah said fiercely.
“I know, sweetheart. We’ll go in the morning.”
“No. We go now. I won’t sleep until I see her.”
Duncan studied her in resignation. She was stubborn as hell when she set her mind to something, and if he didn’t take her, he knew she’d shift into a damn cheetah and take off without him. And that was going to happen over his dead body.
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “We’ll go now. But you have to promise me you’ll stay behind me until I say it’s safe. Do you promise?”
She nodded solemnly and then ran around to get into the passenger seat of his truck. Duncan blew out his breath and climbed back into the driver’s seat. So much for a nice evening at home and maybe some welcome home sex.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Kaya lay on the couch between Hunter and Jericho as a fire blazed in the hearth to ward off the evening chill. She was tired and wanted nothing more than to drift off to sleep surrounded by their heat and their love, but she didn’t want the night to end.
They’d talked long into the evening. Hunter and Jericho had told her about the days in the hospital. Hunter’s despair when it looked as though he wouldn’t walk again and when he thought Jericho was dying. And then Jericho waking to discover so many months had passed and his panic that Kaya wouldn’t be there when they got back.
They talked about the coming baby and how excited they were at the prospect of having a daughter to spoil and protect. Hunter and Jericho had a million questions about raising a child who could shift to an animal. How were they to prevent the same thing happening to their daughter as what happened to Kaya? The idea terrified them all, and Hunter had quickly changed the subject when he’d seen the upset it caused Kaya.
The room had grown quiet, and the fire had burned down to a glowing bed of coals when a knock sounded at the door.
Hunter went stiff as a board.
“What the hell?” Jericho bit out.
“Stay here,” Hunter ordered in a steely voice. “I’ll go see who it is.” He cast a look at Jericho, and Jericho nodded as the two communicated silently. As Hunter got up to go to the door, Jericho was already getting up and moving Kaya across the room toward the shadows of the kitchen and in proximity of the back porch.
Hunter retrieved his pistol from the mantel and went to the door. He opened it an inch and peered through the crack into the night.
“Hunter, it’s me, Duncan.”
Hunter relaxed but still kept the door as a barrier between him and the sheriff.
“What brings you up here at this time of night?”
Duncan sighed. “Can I come in?”
Reluctantly, Hunter opened the door and allowed Duncan inside. Jericho moved in front of Kaya, and Hunter positioned himself between Duncan and Jericho.
It wasn’t lost on Duncan.
“Look I understand your caution, but I’m not here for any trouble. I just need to ask you a few questions.”
“Like?” Hunter asked.
Duncan glanced over at Jericho who stood unsmiling in the shadows.
“About Kaya.”
Hunter frowned. “I’m pretty damn certain I never told you her name, and I know she didn’t say anything to you. Want to tell me how you came up with it?”
“I need you to answer some questions for me first. Actually I’d prefer it if Kaya would talk to me herself.”
Hunter shook his head even as Jericho bristled menacingly.
“Not going to happen,” Hunter said evenly.
“Look, I understand. Believe me, I understand. I wouldn’t allow Aliyah in this kind of situation either.”
“Who the hell is Aliyah?” Hunter asked.
Behind Jericho, Kaya stiffened and curled her fingers into Jericho’s shirt. He reached behind for her hand and squeezed reassuringly. Holding onto his hand, she moved from behind him to stare at Duncan. Duncan looked back at her expectantly, as if he were waiting for a reaction.
Hunter cursed and moved closer to Kaya, so that he and Jericho flanked her protectively.
“Aliyah is my wife,” Duncan said evenly. “Aliyah Carver was her name before she married me. Does that ring a bell, Kaya?”
“Why the hell should it?” Jericho snarled.
Kaya put a reassuring hand on Jericho’s arm and then moved forward into the light.
“Why are you asking me about this woman?”
“Do you remember her?” Duncan asked in a gentle voice.
Her brow furrowed. “Why should I remember her?”
“Damn good question,” Hunter muttered. “I don’t like this. Duncan, get to your point or get the hell out. I don’t want you upsetting Kaya. She’s already been through enough.”
“Because she’s like you,” Duncan said, ignoring Hunter.
Kaya froze and retreated behind Duncan and Jericho once more.
“Get out,” Hunter said in a dangerously low voice.
Jericho put both his arms behind him, pulling her against his back. She laid her cheek against his shirt, her breaths sticking in her throat. How had he known? What would happen to her now? Was he here to take her?
“Let me call Aliyah inside,” Duncan said evenly. “I’m not about to put my wife in danger any more than you’re going to place Kaya in danger. Aliyah wants to see her. It’s important, or believe me, I would’ve never allowed Aliyah up here.”
Without waiting for an answer, he went to the door. Kaya watched around Jericho’s arm, frightened and intrigued at the same time. He’d said his wife was like her. How could that be?
Duncan leaned out the door and motioned with his hand. A few seconds later, a beautiful young woman walked in, and like Jericho and Hunter had done with Kaya, Duncan tucked her behind him, his gaze wary as he looked over at Hunter and Jericho.
“Where is she?” Aliyah demanded.
Duncan pointed to where the two men stood, and before he could hold her back, Aliyah hurried forward. She stopped in front of Hunter, her expression pleading.
“I won’t hurt her. I have to see her, though. She’s my sister.”
Kaya gasped, and Hunter merely closed the distance between him and Jericho,
forming an impenetrable wall between the two women.
“If you’re her sister, you’ve already hurt her enough,” Hunter said darkly.
“What are you talking about?” Aliyah asked, hurt in her voice.
Kaya’s heart thundered against Jericho’s back. Was she telling the truth? She closed her eyes, reaching for the memory of the cheetah. A girl with long golden hair and golden eyes and a beautiful smile.
“Her family abandoned her,” Jericho growled. “We’re her family now. She doesn’t need you.”
“That’s not true!” Aliyah gasped. “Kaya, please, talk to me.”
Racing side by side and then the cheetah spurring ahead, leaving her as she raced across the Alaskan terrain. The two girls laughingly playing tag. The memories tumbled through Kaya’s mind. Was this her? The cheetah?
Tears formed, and Kaya swallowed them back. Slowly she pushed at Hunter and Jericho until she was visible in the space between them.
“I remember you,” Kaya said in a low voice.
Aliyah made a small sound of joy as the two sisters stared at each other. Duncan was right behind Aliyah, his hand protectively at her shoulder as he watched Hunter and Jericho warily.
And then Aliyah’s gaze fell to her belly. She rounded on Duncan, her eyes accusing. “You didn’t tell me she was pregnant! Duncan, how could you? She must have been so terrified. You know how our kind feels about cages.”
Duncan sighed patiently. “I didn’t know who she was, Aliyah. And I put her in a cell so she’d have a warm place to sleep and food to eat. She looked as if she was badly in need of both.”
Aliyah turned her accusing stare on Hunter and Jericho. “Why was that? Why haven’t you taken care of her?”
Kaya ignored everything but the woman standing in front of her. Tentatively she stepped forward, reaching out to touch a strand of golden hair. She inhaled deeply, allowing herself to be surrounded by this woman’s scent.
As she fingered the strand of hair, her sad gaze found Aliyah’s. “Why did you leave me?” she whispered.
“Oh, Kaya, we didn’t leave you.”
Impulsively, she hugged Kaya, wrapping her slim arms around her as she squeezed. Kaya closed her eyes as more buried memories roared to the surface. The two girls sitting cross-legged on the floor of a house. Trading dolls as they combed each other’s hair.