Leap of the Lion (The Wild Hunt Legacy #4)(30)

Her jaw relaxed. “You’re right. I’m sorry for holding up the lessons.” Without further ado, she stripped quickly, folded her clothing, and set everything on the shelf next to Gawain’s pile.

She apologized? Owen watched her simply getting on with the task at hand…and it took him a minute to recover.


Owen was watching her with dark green eyes sharper than any emerald, and Darcy felt like a mouse facing a hawk. Because she was naked.

He was naked. Gawain was naked. Feeling the heat in her face, she stared at the floor.

Feet appeared in her field of vision, and she jerked her head up. Owen stood in front of her. When his hand came up, she flinched. Just a little. Hardly at all.

But more than enough for the observant cahir. “I’m not going to hit you, female,” he growled. “No male would hit a female.”

She snorted, thinking of the beatings and canings she’d endured.

Gawain cleared his throat. “Unlike with humans, it’s extremely rare for a shifter male to hurt a female. The shifter would have to be crazy.”

“We did have a crazy one, once,” Owen muttered. “When Calum found out, he sent the male straight back to the Mother.”

Back to the Mother. Calum had killed a shifter? For hitting a female?

Owen set his fingers against her ribs over the healed bullet gouge and pressed. “Does this still hurt?”

“No, it’s good.”

He went down on one knee and curled powerful fingers around her right calf, just below the healed bullet wound. His hand was warm—but when she tried to move away, his grip tightened to steel.

She stared down at him.

The cahir’s shoulders and arms were so powerful and ripped; she could see each striation of the muscles. He was sleekly lethal and yet strong. Not a lightweight sports car, but a streamlined SUV, capable of…anything.

Gawain pulled her attention away as he walked around her to unlatch the door. He was even more muscled than Owen. Probably not as fast, but she’d bet he’d plow through any obstacle like a military tank.

The two of them were a bit scary.

Owen traced a finger around the pink area on her calf and told Gawain, “It’s healing, but we’ll have to keep this lesson short.”

“Aye.” Gawain’s voice sounded…odd. Dark and angry.

Darcy looked over her shoulder.

As Gawain stared at her back and shoulders, his every exhalation held a growl.

After a second, she realized he’d seen the spattering of scars on her back.

His gaze lifted to meet hers. “Those scars aren’t from claws.”

“No.” Her laugh sounded as if she was choking. “Humans don’t have any claws worthy of note.”

Owen joined his brother and ran one finger over her scapula. “From a whip?”

“Cane. The prìosan guards used them to keep the hostages obedient.”

Owen’s growl was as deadly as his brother’s. “I look forward to meeting these guards.”

“As do I.” Gawain patted her arm and then gave his brother a rough shove. “Let’s be away. I need to run.”

With a shoulder, Owen pushed him back and walked out the door first. “Look around, Darcy. See how private it is?”

She could see how the tiny clear spot outside the door was enclosed by tall evergreens and head-high underbrush. “Yes.”

“If you don’t have anything as private as this, then the tavern has a portal through caves beneath it. Everyone in town is careful to shift only in designated areas—or they hike well into the forest before stripping and trawsfurring. The Cosantir is very strict about this.”

Even as she nodded her understanding, she felt sick to her stomach.

“A shame other Cosantirs aren’t as strict. In Mt. Hood Territory, the Daonain are pretty careless, and our mother is one of the worst offenders.” Gawain shook his head.

Owen was silent, and his face had gone expressionless.

After a glance at him, Gawain winced. “Let’s get moving.” He frowned at Darcy. “What’s wrong, catling?”

“That’s how they found Dogwood.” She pushed the words past the nausea in her throat. “I heard Director. The Scythe use wilderness areas to train their human forces and had a camp near Dogwood. Some soldiers spotted a few new teenaged cubs shifting and followed them back to Dogwood. They did surveillance on the village and figured everything out. And later, attacked.”

Owen’s expression was grim. “I wondered how it had happened.”

“Yes.” She shook her head. “Everyone in the village was Daonain, so…they weren’t as careful as shifter-human towns are.”

“That was…an ugly price to pay for carelessness,” Gawain said softly. He glanced at Owen.”

Oh, it had been.

“Shift, Darcy.” Owen glanced at his brother and nodded.

Gawain grinned at her, and a second later, he was a cougar.

She stared. He had to be close to two hundred pounds, and his feline body was as thick with muscle as his human one. As with most panthers, his throat and chest were white, and his muzzle stripes, the fur behind his ears, and the tip of his tail were black. She smiled because his tawny pelt was the same color as his beard.

Setting a giant paw on her foot, he rubbed his jaw and cheek over her bare leg, marking her with his scent.