“Because I’d met you.”
She stumbled over a hidden branch, her heart slamming against her ribs at his simple, absolutely perfect explanation.
Damn but the cat knew how to make a woman melt.
“You—”
His brows lifted as she struggled for words. A once in a lifetime occurrence.
“What?” he prompted.
“Astonish me,” she said softly. She lifted her hand to touch his face, only to come to a sudden halt as she realized they’d reached a familiar gate that was now rusted and nearly hidden beneath a tangle of clinging ivy.
She frowned, studying the thick layer of moss and cow lilies that covered the ground. “There was a path here.”
Bayon kicked the gate, watching it tumble to the ground. “It looks abandoned.”
“I want to get closer.”
He placed a hand on her shoulder, his expression tight with concern. “Let me scout the area first.”
She leaned forward to nip his bottom lip. “You go left, I’ll go right.”
He released a rough sigh before pressing a frustrated kiss to her lips. “Stubborn.”
Yep. She was stubborn as hell. But she was beginning to realize that Bayon was the one man who possessed enough self-confidence to allow her to be powerful, while refusing to let her bully him.
The perfect combination.
With a short nod, he turned to melt into the shadows, his movements as silent as hers as they swiftly searched the dense foliage that surrounded the rapidly decaying cabin.
Finding no sign of recent activity, she returned to the front of the cabin, studying it with a growing sense of familiarity.
The tin roof was rusted, and the paint peeling from the wooden planks, but she had a vivid memory of the small wooden structure with its white shutters and shallow, wraparound porch.
“It’s clear,” Bayon murmured as he moved to stand at her side, his brows drawing together at her obvious preoccupation. “Keira?”
“I remember,” she said softly.
“Remember what?”
“Coming to this place.”
She shivered as she had the mental image of walking up the once-cleared pathway, her mind distracted by thoughts of the next week’s rotation of guards she’d been working on rather than her surroundings.
There hadn’t been any premonition of danger.
Not until too late.
Another shudder racked her body, threatening to steal her fragile courage until a warm arm wrapped around her shoulders, tugging her against a solid male chest.
“I’m here,” he promised in low tones. “And I’m not going anywhere.”
Absorbing the strength he offered, Keira sucked in a deep, steadying breath and allowed the memories to flow through her mind.
“I was early. I’d gotten Parish to cover my duties.” Her head tilted back to study the thick canopy of trees that nearly blocked out the sky. “The moonlight was just beginning to peek through the leaves as I walked up the steps.”
Still holding her tight, Bayon led her up the sagging steps, his gaze scanning the darkness for hidden dangers.
“Did you smell anything?” he asked.
“Yes.” She gave a sharp nod. “Humans. But that wasn’t unexpected. The cabin was used by the local gator hunters.” Her nose flared as she abruptly recalled the weird, sour scent that had surrounded the cabin. “And the same stench I’d caught on Sean the night before.”
They stepped past the door that had rotted off its hinges and into the cramped kitchen. Bayon frowned as he moved across the floor to study the interior of the cabin. There wasn’t much to see. On one wall was a row of rotting cabinets that hung at a drunken angle. Below the cabinets was a short countertop that was chipped and covered in layers of dust with a sink at the end. On the other side was a sofa and chair that had been invaded by a growing population of rodents. In the middle was a kitchen table, and at the far back a door opened to a bedroom that was barely big enough for a narrow cot.
Bayon turned back to stab her with a narrowed gaze. “Show me where he was waiting.”
Keira pointed toward a spot directly in front of the empty doorjamb. “Here.”
“That close to the door?” he pressed.
She paused, shuffling through her memories. She’d walked across the porch and yanked open the door. She’d been startled to discover Sean standing directly in her path.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
She frowned at her mate’s persistence. “I don’t understand.”
“He wasn’t expecting you until later.” Bayon waved a hand around the cramped interior of the cabin. “Why was he standing at the door? Did he hear you arriving?”
Oh. Keira paced the floor, struggling to clear away the murkiness that made it nearly impossible to recall exactly what had happened. The door had opened, and Sean had been standing there…
Wait. He hadn’t just been standing there, he’d been pressing against the door.
“He tried to keep me out,” she muttered.
“Because there was something he didn’t want you to see?”
She continued to pace, her heart suddenly lodged in her throat, and her palms damp with sweat as she pressed past the fog in her mind.
Yes. She’d shoved open the door and then forced her way past Sean, more annoyed than worried by his strange behavior. And then…
Then she’d been overwhelmed by the strange smell. It’d assaulted her nose until she’d nearly vomited.
That was when the back door had opened and two men and a woman had stepped from the bedroom.
One male had been a human. He was large, with a bald head and a tattoo of a raven in front of a full moon on his neck.
But the other two…
She hissed in pain, dropping to her knees as the memory slammed through her.
“No. Not something,” she forced past her gritted teeth. “Someone.”
Chapter 6
Bayon crouched down, wrapping his arms around his mate’s trembling body. “Keira, are you hurt?”
With an obvious effort, she lifted her head to reveal her too-pale face and golden eyes dark with some inner torment.
“Pantera,” she managed to rasp.
“What?”
“There was another human here with Sean,” she said, shivering as she struggled to share the memory that had clearly traumatized her. “And two Pantera.”
Bayon frowned. “They were being held hostage?”
She slowly shook her head. “No.”
“They weren’t…” He grimaced. “Dead?”
“They were alive,” she assured him. There was a pause before she managed to spit out the words. “And working for the humans.”
Bayon sucked in a startled breath, his cat roaring in protest. For over fifty years the Pantera had been battling an unseen enemy, but never once had they considered the possibility that the rot might be coming from within the Wildlands.
“Shit.”
“It was the Pantera who overpowered me,” Keira said, her eyes as dull and bleak as when he’d first found her in the cage.
“Traitors,” he growled in disgust, inwardly promising to destroy the bastards who’d been willing to torture one of their own people for personal gain. “Did you recognize them?”
“Vincent and his mate, Savoy.”
It took a second for Bayon to place the names. Then he made a sound of surprise as he recalled that the two Pantera had worked with his mother.
“They’re both Nurturers, aren’t they?”
Her jaw tightened. “Yes.”
“This makes no sense,” he muttered. The two were gentle creatures who’d devoted their lives to caring for the Pantera young. “Why would they join with our enemies?”
With a sudden surge, Keira straightened and turned toward the door. “I intend to ask them.”