She shook her head. “No. I won’t go. I can’t go. Please. Just let me stay here. I will be all right.”
“No, goddamn it, you won’t be all right,” Jericho bit out. “We’re tired of doing things your way. This time we’re not asking, and you’re damn well not going to talk us out of doing what has to be done.”
Desperation lent her strength. She couldn’t let them take her to the hospital. She would be found out. Fear lodged in her throat. What would they do to her? Lock her away in a cage as they once had? Take her away from Jericho and Hunter like she’d once been taken from her humans?
She struggled upward, out of the constraints of the blankets. Hunter and Jericho both reached for her, their hands firm as she fought against them.
“Let me up,” she gasped. “Please, this is important. There is something I must tell you.”
God, don’t let them turn away. The idea of trusting them with her secret terrified her, but how else could she make them understand that she could not go down the mountain?
“Kaya, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself,” Jericho said.
She stopped her struggles and met their gazes. She let all her desperation bleed into her expression as she pleaded with them.
“Please,” she finally whispered. “There is something I must tell you.”
Maybe the urgency finally got through to them, or maybe they realized she wouldn’t participate unless they listened. Their hands fell away, and Hunter let out a long sigh.
“Tell us, Kaya. Make it fast so we can take care of your injury.”
She struggled to her feet, ignoring their curses and their protests as they tried to keep her on the couch. Finally she broke free and put distance between her and them.
“Don’t even think about going out that door,” Jericho growled. “We won’t let you go this time.”
She shook her head in silent denial. That wasn’t what she planned. No, what she planned was to strip herself bare in front of these two men. To tell them what she’d never told another human being. And pray they wouldn’t reject her.
Chapter Eleven
It was all Hunter could do not to snatch Kaya up and haul her down the mountain. Only the knowledge that he had to tread carefully with her so as not to hurt her even more tempered his impatience.
He wasn’t convinced that there was no boyfriend, husband or lover. Maybe even an abusive father. Someone was hurting her, and he’d be damned if he let her go back.
She stood between him and Jericho and the door, her slight body trembling as she held her injured arm. There was stark vulnerability on her face as if something scared the hell out of her. She kept glancing from him to Jericho with nervous eyes.
“Promise me you won’t react,” she whispered. “To what I tell you, I mean.”
Hunter swore. Hell, was she afraid they’d hurt her?
“We promise,” Jericho said in a soothing voice.
She glanced at Hunter for confirmation, and he nodded, wishing she’d just get on with it so they could get her the hell out of here.
“It will be easier if I just show you.”
Hunter stifled his response and silently urged her to just do it.
She closed her eyes and tensed all over. To his shock, her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor in a heap.
“Kaya!”
He and Jericho both started forward at the same time. Hunter dropped to his knees when the unbelievable happened.
Her body arched, and a moan slipped from her lips. Her skin came to life, rippling in the low light. Instinctively he stood and backed away, unsure of what the hell was happening. He bumped into Jericho, and the two men stared in horror as Kaya’s body simply changed form.
Limbs reshaped and shrank upward into her body, becoming more compact. Her mouth opened in a snarl, and she shook her head as fur raced along her neck and down her back. Fur. God almighty.
Her long silken tresses, the color of the cougar fur, became the hide of the cat. Hunter blinked and the mountain lion lay before them panting softly, her eyes glazed with pain.
“Holy fuck,” Jericho breathed.
Hunter was speechless. It was his cougar. And suddenly he understood so much and so little all at the same time. The memory of what he’d done dropped him to his knees.
He crawled forward, his hand outstretched in agony and regret.
“God, I didn’t know,” he whispered as his hand touched her head. “I didn’t know, Kaya.”
The cat raised pain-glazed eyes to meet his gaze, but she lacked the strength to keep her head up. She dropped it to her paws.
He locked onto her shattered front foreleg. “I did this to you. I’m so sorry. I had no idea. I wouldn’t have hurt you for the world.”
He felt sick to his soul. She’d given them her trust first as the cougar and only then had she come to them as a human, and he’d betrayed her when he’d turned against her. He’d shot at her. In his mind he couldn’t separate the fact that he was only trying to protect Kaya. Now that he knew they were one and the same, it killed him that he’d been the one to cause her fear and injury.
“Hunter, what the fuck?” Jericho demanded. “This doesn’t make sense. It’s not possible.”
But Hunter was more willing than Jericho to accept what was so clear. So much made sense now. Everything fell into place with stunning clarity.
He turned to his friend who looked as though he were about to keel over.
“I don’t know how or why or even how it’s possible,” Hunter said calmly. “But would you deny what’s in front of our noses? You saw what I saw, Jericho.”
“But Jesus Christ, this is crazy. This shit only exists in the movies. How can you be so goddamn calm!”
Shock? Regret? Disgust over the fact that he’d caused her serious injury? His and Jericho’s bewilderment didn’t seem important in light of what needed to be done for Kaya. She trusted them still. He didn’t know why. They hadn’t earned it or deserved it, but she trusted them when it was clear she trusted no one else. Never again would he betray that trust.
When he turned back to the cougar, she was valiantly trying to gain her footing. Her ears were slicked back and a sort of crazy wildness shone in her eyes. Even as he started forward, she backed away, her gaze never leaving Jericho.
“You’re scaring her,” Hunter growled. “Goddamn it, Jericho, get it together or we’re going to lose her forever. She won’t come back this time. We’ll never see her again.”
“That never seemed to bother you before,” Jericho muttered as he moved forward, his hand outstretched in a placating gesture.
Still, Jericho obviously had no desire for Kaya to leave. Despite the reluctance of the cougar and her defensive posture, Jericho reached out to touch her. He let his fingers trail over her fur. At the first touch, the cougar hissed and withdrew, but Jericho persisted, delving his hand further into the thickness of her fur.
“I’m sorry,” he murmured. “You knocked me on my ass, Kaya. It is Kaya, isn’t it? You can understand me? I get why you were so reluctant and secretive, and I understand why you couldn’t trust us. I hope that’s changed now. We’ll take care of you, sweetheart. Can you come back to us now? You have to be in so much pain. Let us help you.”
The soothing timbre of Jericho’s voice seemed to calm the savage beast. She relaxed, going limp on the floor as Jericho continued to stroke her with steady hands.
She let out a low growl and then her body shook and spasmed. Both men rocked back on their heels and watched in astonished horror as it happened all over again. This time, though, she went from beast to beautiful human.
Within seconds, she lay curled on the floor, naked and shivering, soft moans of pain escaping parted lips. Her arm hung broken and useless at her side, and Hunter could only imagine the agony her shift caused.
Not wasting a moment, he gathered her gently in his arms and stood, holding her close to his chest. Her pain-filled gaze focused unsteadily on him as he walked back to the couch. Ther
e was question along with fear and uncertainty.
Carefully he lowered her to the cushions and knelt in front of the couch.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop,” he ordered. “We’re stunned. Even wondering a little about our sanity, but we’re not going to turn you out.”
“But will you tell?”
Jericho growled and settled onto the couch at her head. His hand brushed across her silky locks and smoothed over her cheek.
“Of course we’re not going to give away your secret, Kaya. You can trust us.”
But would she offer them her trust again? Hunter was afraid to have the answer to that question. All he could remember was shooting over the cougar’s head and how she ran, fear and adrenaline lending her incredible, reckless speed.
“I hurt,” she whispered.
Hunter’s chest tightened, and he leaned forward. “Tell us how to help you, Kaya. You should be in a hospital, not here with us.”
Her eyes flashed, and she looked at him in panic. “No! I can’t go. They’d know. They’ll take me away.” She struggled even as the words spilled from her lips.
“Hunter, goddamn it,” Jericho swore. He reached down and carefully pulled Kaya against his chest, his arms tightening around her to keep her still. “Listen to me, honey. We’ll figure this out, okay? No one’s going to take you anywhere you don’t want to go. Now talk to us, and tell us how to help you.”
Slowly her struggles diminished, and she lay limply against Jericho, her face creased in pain. Hunter stood. He could do nothing right when it came to this woman. He pulled her close and pushed her away, never said or did the right thing. It was better to leave her to Jericho.
Jericho glanced at Hunter as he turned away. He could damn near see the shutters closing as Hunter withdrew. Hot and cold. Hunter didn’t know what the hell he felt for Kaya, and he was fighting it tooth and nail.
With a shake of his head, he turned his attention back to the woman in his arms. He was horrified by her arm. Swollen, bruised and misshapen. It looked to be a clean break, but then how could he tell? His medical training was limited, though he’d seen enough bloodshed to last a lifetime. But that was different, somehow more distant. This was here and now, and he was frantic over how to fix it.
“Tell me what to do,” he whispered. “How do I help you?”
“I have to set it,” she said in a shaky voice that vibrated with pain. “If it’s set, then it will heal quickly. My kind does.”
Across the room, Hunter swore and turned back around, his eyes brooding. “She can’t set her own arm.”
Kaya nodded wearily. “You’ll have to do it for me.”
Jericho closed his eyes. God, he didn’t want to hurt her, and there was no way to set a break like this without causing her agony.
“Just do it, please,” she begged softly. “I’m so tired, and I need rest.”
Jericho blew out his breath and then eased out from underneath her slight body. When he was sure she was comfortable on the couch, he strode toward Hunter, his expression tight.
“You have to help with this,” he said when Hunter met his gaze. “It’s going to hurt like a bitch. You can hold her or you can do the setting. Which is it?”