Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(43)

Hunter glared at Duncan as he passed, but he didn’t try to walk out of the station. The sooner they got this over with, the sooner he could take her back home where she belonged.

Once in Duncan’s office, he eased Kaya into a chair. “Comfortable, honey?”

She nodded, but her eyes were still sad and wary. And very frightened.

Hunter stood and met Duncan at the door. “Any conversation we have will be outside this office. I won’t have her upset any more than she is.”

Duncan raised one brow but backed way and allowed Hunter to shut the door.

“Now suppose you tell me what the hell is going on here?”Duncan said when the two men were alone.

“Why is she in jail?”Hunter asked, ignoring Duncan’s question.

“I caught her stealing food. Truth is I had no intention of holding her. I wanted to help her, but she wouldn’t say a word, hasn’t said a word since I brought her in. No name, no nothing. I couldn’t in good conscience let a pregnant woman go when she’d been desperate enough to steal food. She doesn’t even have shoes, for God’s sake.”

He looked accusingly at Hunter as he said the last.

Hunter closed his eyes and sighed. “It’s a long, complicated story. One I’m not at liberty to divulge. Jericho and I left her in our cabin when we went on our last assignment. There was plenty of food to last the amount of time we thought we’d be gone. But a bomb changed our plans. As a result, we’ve been gone several months. We didn’t know she was pregnant when we left or we’d have never gone for any reason. But we’re back now, and we’re not going to leave her again.”

“Okay, let me get this straight. This woman is in a relationship with you? Why the hell wouldn’t she just tell me that? Why didn’t she just ask for help if she’d run out of food? There is something extremely fishy about this, and my bullshit meter is beeping like a motherf*cker.”

Hunter sighed. “She’s different, Duncan. She’s been alone most of her life. She doesn’t trust anyone. She hasn’t had much contact with other people. She doesn’t understand the rules.”

Duncan’s eyes narrowed. “You didn’t take advantage of that, did you, Hunter?”

Hunter stiffened. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t ask that. All you need to know is that that is my woman in there, and she is pregnant with my child. If you aren’t pressing charges, I’m taking her home with me right now.”

“Hell no, I’m not pressing charges,”Duncan said in disgust.

“Then we’ll be on our way.”

“Fine. But buy her some damn shoes, for God’s sake.”

Hunter walked back into Duncan’s office and carefully approached Kaya. She stared up at him, uncertainty written on her face. His heart ached at the loss of trust. Before she’d given herself and her trust with no reservation. Now he and Jericho were going to have to work damn hard to get it back.

He knelt on the floor in front of her and took her cold hands in his. “Are you ready to go home, honey?”

“Where is Jericho?”

There was a fearful look in her eyes, as if she was afraid that Jericho hadn’t come back for her.

He cupped her cheek in his hand, rubbing tenderly. “He’s at the cabin. We’ll explain everything when we get there. I swear.”

Slowly she nodded.

“But first we’re going to go buy you some decent clothes and shoes.”

She glanced down at her bare feet. “Okay.”

He took her hand in his and carefully helped her to her feet. “Come on, honey. Let’s go home.”

Chapter Twenty-Four

The drive back up the mountain was silent and tense. Hunter had a thousand questions burning his brain, but he owed it to Jericho to wait so he could hear it all as well. He was impatient to get Kaya back to the cabin. Jericho had been out of his mind with worry, and he was still badly in need of recovery time.

As they neared the cabin, Hunter reached over and took Kaya’s hand in his. The touch was more to reassure him than her. How close they had come to losing her. If Duncan hadn’t stashed her in the jail, no matter how terrifying for her, they likely wouldn’t have ever seen her again.

The back of the truck was filled with food and clothing. He hadn’t taken much time with the shopping. He’d grabbed what they needed immediately and left an order to be filled with Margaret. He’d go back to get the rest. From there, he’d gone to the small clothing store and grabbed everything off the rack he thought would fit Kaya. And shoes. He’d sized her small feet and bought tennis shoes, slip-ons and a pair of boots.

As they pulled up to the cabin, Jericho stepped onto the porch, leaning against the railing for support. Kaya stiffened, her hand going to her mouth as a gasp escaped.

Jericho strained to see the inside of the truck, hoping against hope. When Hunter stepped out, his heart sank. He closed his eyes as despair swept over him. Where was she? Was she alone? Afraid? Hurt or in trouble?

Hunter walked around the front of the truck and to the passenger side. Jericho’s breath caught and held, swelling in his chest, when Hunter opened the door and reached inside.

Seconds later, Kaya stepped from the truck, tucked into Hunter’s protective hold. The two figures went blurry in his vision, and he quickly scrubbed at his eyes with the back of his sleeve.