Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(4)

She backtracked several times, trying to mess up the vivid prints she was leaving. And then, as the moon lifted higher in the sky, light snow began to fall, and she gave thanks to the Great Maker for the protection offered.

She stumbled back onto the familiar trail, numb with cold and fear. The adrenaline that had coursed so readily through her veins, lending strength and endurance, had rapidly diminished, leaving her nearly frozen, her feet clumsy and awkward.

The cougar stirred within her, restless and edgy, wanting freedom it was unused to being denied. It sensed the human was weak and in need of protection.

Kaya leashed the cat, using all her strength to ward off the shift. Not now. Not when she was open and vulnerable. Just a few more feet. She could make it. The wind picked up as the snow began falling harder. Bitter and unrelenting, it pierced her skin and the meager protection Jericho’s shirt offered.

She stumbled across the smooth rock outcropping and hovered precariously close to the edge. Below was vast nothingness, shrouded in darkness. A river, shrunk down to nothing, carved its way through the valley she stood above. In the spring, it would roar with the rains and melting snow.

Weakly, she walked, and when she fell, she crawled toward the entrance to the small cave etched into the rock. It faced south, protected from the fierce north winds. On hands and knees she forced herself those final few feet until she was out of the wind and snow and into the warmth offered by the cave.

She crawled to the innermost portion and huddled against the wall, exhausted and weak. She needed to shift. Needed the warmth of the cougar’s fur and much stronger body mass. But she couldn’t keep her eyes open long enough to allow the cat its freedom.

Chapter Three

“Where did the crazy bitch come from?”Jericho demanded as he and Hunter pulled on boots and coats.

Hunter grunted. “This was your idea. Just remember that.”

“We can’t leave her to freeze to death,”Jericho said patiently.

“Why not?”

Jericho stared balefully at Hunter’s solemn expression. “You can’t tell me that you’d doctor a wild cougar but leave a defenseless woman to certain death.”

Hunter shrugged. “I didn’t ask for her to invade our privacy. She let the cougar out. Nothing but trouble. And now you want to wade ass-deep through the snow so she doesn’t freeze to death. Here’s a newsflash for you, Jericho. She was half naked, and she took off into a snow bank. We’re not dealing with the brightest bulb.”

“She was scared to death,”Jericho said grimly. “And she was obviously hungry. She was way too damn skinny, and she was shoveling food into her mouth like there was no tomorrow.”

“You just happened to notice how skinny she was,”Hunter said dryly as he finished lacing up his boots.

“It was hard to miss. She was standing in the kitchen wearing only my shirt. She was a tiny little thing. It looked like a dress on her.”

“And you get on my ass about taking in strays? At least mine are the animal variety.”

“I just want to make sure she’s okay. These mountains are no place for a woman alone. Hell, she’s probably already frozen to death,”Jericho muttered. He didn’t want to stop and examine his reasons for the panic that idea instilled. If he could hurry Hunter’s ass out of the cabin, they could track her before the snowfall got too heavy.

Collecting the floodlights and backpacks, Hunter grudgingly followed Jericho off the back porch and into the deep snow.

Her vivid prints made for easy tracking for the first while. Then it became evident that she’d backtracked to try and hide her trail. Jericho frowned. What the hell was she hiding from? Did she have a death wish?

With several potential trails to follow, he and Hunter split up and scoured the area. Eventually they came back together, following a single trail higher up the mountain.

The eastern sky was starting to lighten, bathing the darkness in soft lavender. Soon it would be light enough to see without the flashlights, and since the snow had stopped an hour before, her trail would be easily followed.

The prints disappeared in front of a rock outcropping, and Hunter shone a light over the surface. A small hole was carved into the face, large enough for a person to gain access if they crawled.

“More like a cougar den,”Hunter said with a grunt.

“Or bear,”Jericho offered.

“You’re making me feel so much better.”

Jericho dropped to his knees outside the small cave and pointed his flashlight inside. Seeing nothing, he started in. Behind him, Hunter sighed and followed.

He cursed when he bumped his knee on a sharp protrusion, and before he could offer warning, he heard Hunter bite out a curse as well.

“This has got to be the dumbest idea you’ve ever come up with,”Hunter growled. “And you’ve come up with some doozies.”

But Jericho wasn’t paying attention to Hunter’s bitching. He was staring at a small woman huddled against the wall of the cave, her knees drawn to her chest and her arms clutched tight around her legs. His shirt swallowed her whole and was the only barrier she had to the biting cold.

“She’s here,”Jericho said.

Hunter directed his light toward the woman as well. “I’ll be damned. Fool woman. What the hell is she thinking? She’s probably dead.”

“She’s not dead,”Jericho said fiercely.