Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(9)

“Dig in,”Hunter said as he speared a slab of ham and dragged it onto his plate.

She started by taking a piece of the ham as Hunter had, but then she quickly got into the spirit and spooned eggs, grabbed two biscuits and took some of the sausages as well.

There was no delicacy in her table manners. She dug in with almost scary zeal. Jericho exchanged a glance with Hunter. When was the last time she’d eaten?

He wanted to ask her questions, but he wasn’t about to interrupt the killing going on in her plate.

When she’d tucked the last morsel away, she sat back with a contented sigh. “Thank you. That was wonderful.”

Then to Jericho’s amazement she pushed from the table and stood. “I should be going now.”

He and Hunter bolted up at the same time. Hunter was less subtle than Jericho planned to be.

“You’re not going anywhere,”Hunter said with a growl.

Jericho wasn’t sure who was most surprised by that declaration. Him, Kaya or Hunter himself.

She edged backward, her posture defensive. “I can’t stay. Truly. I appreciate the clothes and the food.”

“Where the hell do you think you’re going to go? Back to that cave?”Jericho burst out.

Confusion darkened her eyes. “Well, maybe not that one.”

Hunter was evidently through talking. He closed in on Kaya and herded her toward the living room before she could even launch a protest. Jericho followed, shaking his head at Hunter’s inability to make up his mind whether he wanted the woman to stay or go.

Hunter was about to park her on the couch when he picked up her hand and turned it over. “What happened to your hand?”

Jericho got closer and noticed that there was a still-raw-looking wound in the crease of her palm. There was no blood and it was obviously healing, but it had been one hell of a gash.

She curled her fingers into a fist to hide the injury. “It’s nothing.”

“Seems to be your week for strays with wounded hands,”Jericho taunted Hunter.

Hunter shot him a quelling look and then returned his gaze to Kaya. “Have a seat. There are some questions I need answered before I let you just walk out that door.”

Kaya stared back at him in horror. He looked so…determined. “You can’t keep me here if I want to go.”

“Oh yeah? Watch me.”

Her gaze flitted to where Jericho stood a few feet away, but the resolve framing his jaw was no less than Hunter’s.

“Where the hell do you live?”Hunter asked.

“I live here,”she said simply. Then she realized how that sounded. “Not here, I mean here. I live in the mountains. This is my home.”

“Is there any reason you broke into our cabin then?”Jericho asked.

She twisted her fingers nervously in front of her. “I was hungry.”And lonely. Desperate for human contact. Not just any, but theirs.

“So wherever it is you live, you obviously have no food,”Hunter said grimly.

“There’s food,”she said truthfully. The cougar enjoyed the occasional wild game, but she’d long gone without hot, cooked food that humans enjoyed.

Hunter and Jericho exchanged frustrated glances. Then Jericho turned back to her. “Are you alone? Do you live with anyone else? I’d feel a whole lot better if I knew you weren’t wandering around these mountains by yourself.”

Her brows came together. “But I’m always alone. There’s no crime in that.”

Hunter let out a sigh, and then he leaned down, framing his hands on either side of her legs as he faced her. Their noses were just inches apart, and she blinked as she stared into his green eyes.

“Let me make myself clear, Kaya. You’re staying. Until you can come up with some answers that make sense and you can convince me that you’ll be okay, you’re not budging from this cabin. Are we clear?”

Fear fluttered into her throat, and deep within, the cat snarled and hissed its displeasure. She wanted her freedom.

“You can’t do that,”she whispered.

“We’ve already covered this,”he said in a bored tone.

Her gaze flew to Jericho, a helpless plea for him to understand. It was like meeting with a stone wall.

“Please. I have to go.”

“Why?”Jericho demanded. “You look like you’re about to crawl right out of your skin. We’re not going to hurt you, Kaya. We want to help you.”

“I don’t need your help. I can take care of myself.”

“What are you hiding?”Hunter asked bluntly.

The blood drained from her face. “N-nothing.”

“Bullshit.”

“What do you care?”she shot back. “Let me go.”

Something odd flickered in Hunter’s eyes for a moment. Then he backed away, slowly straightening. He shoved his hands in his pockets and glanced at Jericho.

“She’s right. We can’t keep her against her will.”

“What?”Jericho exploded. “Are you shitting me? You know we can’t let her wander off in the snow again.”

Kaya inched forward, her hands curling around the edge of the couch. Jericho jerked around to glare at her and pointed a finger in her direction.

“You don’t move.”

She swallowed as she watched the two men square off in front of her.