Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(11)

“And what was your first clue?”

“Maybe she just wanted company for a while. If she does live up here, there aren’t a lot of folks around.”

“Yeah, but where does she live? I don’t know of another cabin or dwelling within miles,”Hunter said. “And there’s the fact that we dragged her out of a cave in the dead of winter. At first I thought she was a few boxes short of a full load, but she seems okay, if a little odd.”

“For someone who didn’t seem to want anything to do with her, you sure were quick to tell her she couldn’t leave.”

Hunter scowled. “She’s your stray.”

“And you can’t make up your mind whether you want her or not, am I right?”

Hunter’s eyes flickered as he caught Jericho’s gaze. “What exactly do you mean?”

“Just what I said. You seem to battle over whether or not you’re going to admit you want her. One minute you’re all but holding the door open for her to leave and the next you’re threatening to tie her to a chair.”

Hunter’s scowl deepened. “If she wants to leave, I can’t stop her.”

“But you want to stop her.”

“Shut the f**k up, man. It doesn’t matter what we want.”

Jericho acknowledged that with a nod. “That’s true.”

“She couldn’t stay anyway,”Hunter continued on. “We’re likely to be called away any time, and she sure as hell can’t go with us.”

Silence fell over the living room. Hunter stared broodingly into the fire while Jericho focused his attention on nothing in particular.

“Do you ever think about giving it up?”Jericho asked.

Hunter’s head whipped around. “Give what up?”

“The job. What we do.”

“That’s a dumbass question. We promised Rebeccah.”

“Maybe we shouldn’t have,”Jericho said quietly. “And we didn’t promise her that we’d keep running ourselves to death. We promised to support her cause. We’ve earned enough money for two lifetimes. When are we going to slow down and have a life?”

“You’re saying you want to quit?”Hunter asked in disbelief.

“Maybe. I don’t know. There has to be more to life than what we’re doing. Rebeccah is gone. We can’t bring her back by killing ourselves.”

Hunter closed his eyes and reclined his head until he faced the ceiling. “You want to know why I keep going?”

Jericho didn’t say anything.

“Because I can’t remember what she looks like sometimes. I get away from the kids, the camps, and she starts to fade, but when I’m there, I can see her. Smiling and laughing. I don’t want to forget.”

The last was said with a note of raw agony that cut Jericho to the core.

“I loved her too,”he said in a low voice. “But she’s gone. We can’t bring her back.”

“No, but we can keep her memory alive by helping the kids she loved more than anything.”

“There are ways to do it other than the way we’ve gone about it,”Jericho said carefully.

Hunter didn’t reply, and Jericho didn’t chase it further. He’d said enough. Planted the idea in Hunter’s head. He’d have to make the decision on his own.

***

Kaya woke after only a few hours. She was used to fractured sleep, taking what she could when she could. For a moment, she snuggled deeper into the covers and inhaled the firm, masculine scent that permeated the bed.

Hunter’s smell was so different from Jericho’s, and yet both told of powerful, strong men.

How she wished she could stay, but she couldn’t go much longer without shifting. She simply hadn’t spent enough time as a human over the years. The cougar was strong within her. Willful and protective. It was too easy to let the cat have her way. Already she’d been denied longer than she was used to.

Her hand slid over the pillow. “I will miss you,”she whispered as if Hunter lay there next to her.

Reluctantly she rose and glanced out the window. Dawn was still a few hours away. If she were fortunate, she would be able to leave before Hunter and Jericho awakened. It would be easier that way, and she wouldn’t have to offer further explanation or answer their probing questions.

She peeled away the shirt and the sweats and laid them carefully over the bed. Then with a shiver, she turned to go.

Her feet slid soundlessly across the floor with the stealth of the cougar. When she reached the living room, she spared a quick glance at the couch where Hunter slept. Then she turned to look in the direction of Jericho’s bedroom.

“I will come back,”she whispered.

Soundlessly she hurried to the back door and eased it open. In seconds she was through the screen door of the porch, and the bitter cold engulfed her. She stepped into the snow, wincing as the wet slush stung her feet.

She braced herself and struggled through the drifts until she was away from the house. Then she turned her face upward, eyes closed, to embrace the shift.

Chapter Seven

A week. It had been an entire week since they’d awakened to find Kaya gone. It had become habit to look out the window every time he passed. Some ingrained hope that she’d show up again.

Jericho shook his head and started to turn away when he saw the mountain lion appear from the trees on the right side of the cabin. He watched for a moment as the cat approached on stealthy feet. She was cautious, stopping every few feet to sniff the air.