Once the men had returned to the house to discover Keira gone, they would have instantly realized their location was no longer secure. That discovery would no doubt have triggered a pre-planned escape, including torching the house. But they couldn’t have disappeared without help.
Which meant cell phone calls. Bank transfers. New identities.
Things that he was certain were already being tracked down by the Geeks, the faction of Hunters who used technology to protect the Wildlands and to trace their enemies.
They were as dangerous as any warrior.
The various methods of locating the bastards shuffled through his mind even as his attention kept sliding back to the female who’d been so miraculously returned to him.
Christ, he’d mourned her for so long. It’d been a constant hole in his heart that he’d hidden beneath his image of a horny puma on the prowl.
Was it any wonder he’d been reeling since he’d found her in that cage?
One minute the overprotective part of him wanted to wrap her in cotton wool until he was convinced that she was completely healed, and the next his cat was snarling with the primitive urge to claim her so she would never, ever be taken from him again.
Scowling at the tangled emotions he hadn’t felt in twenty-five years, Bayon entered the Wildlands from the deepest part of the swamp and headed directly for the caves. Once at the entrance he paused to make certain that no one else had been in the area before crouching low enough to enter without banging his head. Then, with a feral smile, he followed the intoxicating scent of Keira to the back cavern.
She was seated near the waterfall, her fingers playing in the pool of water as the sunlight crept through the opening in the ceiling, bathing her in a golden glow.
The breath was wrenched from his lungs as he took in the dark satin of her hair that tumbled down her slender back and the delicate profile that was so painfully familiar. How often had he studied her striking beauty from a distance? How often had those female features haunted his dreams?
His gaze swept downward. She’d found her clothes that Parish had kept boxed in one of the caves, and was wearing a pair of low-riding jeans and a cropped top that offered a tantalizing glimpse of her slender waist.
His cat snarled in approval, the hunger that he’d kept tightly suppressed blasting through his defenses as he prowled forward.
Keira was home. Physically, at least, she was healing.
And she was his.
That was all his cat needed to know.
The man part of him would continue to worry about the bastards who’d stolen her. And why her memories refused to return. And why she feared revealing her presence to the others. But the cat…
Yes, he was satisfied.
Or he intended to be satisfied. Once he had Keira beneath him, screaming his name in pleasure.
Very, very soon.
Keira was lost in her thoughts, but her head jerked up as he crossed the smooth stone floor, her hand automatically lifting to catch the paper bag he threw in her direction.
“I thought you might be hungry.”
“Starving,” she admitted, peeking inside the bag before lifting her head to study him with a guarded expression. “You remembered?”
With one pounce he was on the ledge of the pool, not bothering to hide his arousal as the scent of her warm musk wrapped around him.
“Everything,” he admitted, no longer willing to pretend she was just an old friend who’d come home.
Her once-bold gaze was skittish as she pulled out one of the greasy burgers and consumed it in two bites.
“You said something about Parish being mated?” she asked.
Bayon smiled. He didn’t doubt her interest in her brother. Or his new mate. But he also recognized a distraction when it was thrown in his face.
“It’s recent.” He allowed his fingers to trail over her lower back. “Very recent.”
She demolished another burger, but she couldn’t disguise her shiver of pleasure. “Who’s the lucky female?” she choked out.
He traced the hem of her shirt. “Julia. A human doctor.”
Finished with her food, she tossed aside her bag and sent him a startled glance over his shoulder.
“Human?”
“Trust me, no one was more shocked than your hard-ass brother,” he admitted. “After…you disappeared, he blamed the entire human race.” His fingers teased the sensitive dip at her lower back. “For a while I thought I was going to have to cage him to keep him from going on a bloody rampage.”
The emerald starburst in the center of her eyes smoldered with a hunger that matched his own.
Not that she was about to admit the truth. Stubborn feline.
“Do you approve of this Julia?” she asked.
He shrugged. “We don’t know much about her, but she saved Ashe’s baby, so she’s got my vote of approval.”
“Ashe?” Keira frowned in confusion. “Baby?”
As concisely as possible, Bayon revealed the stunning news that Raphael had not only mated, but that Ashe was expecting the first Pantera babe in over fifty years. As well as the fact that they’d recently been attacked.
“A baby.” Her smile was filled with genuine joy. “Oh my god.”
“This child might be the savior of the Pantera, but only if we can protect the babe from our enemies.” His own expression was grim. “I was tracking the bastards who attacked Ashe when I found you.”
She turned so she was facing him. “Have they been captured?”
“Not yet.” He grimaced. “They torched the place and took off.”
Without warning, she surged upright, her cat eager to be on the hunt. “I’ll find them.”
Bayon reacted without thought. One minute he was perched beside the pool, and the next he had knocked Keira flat on her back and was lying on top of her rigid body.
“Like hell, you will,” he snapped.
A dangerous gold flared in her eyes as her cat reacted to his display of dominance. “Maybe you’ve forgotten that I’m the one who gives the orders,” she snarled.
He pressed a finger to her lips, halting her furious words. “Oh no, honey. There’s a new sheriff in town.”
She shook off his hand, her eyes narrowing. “What the hell does that mean?”
“I don’t take orders from you. In fact, for the next few hours I intend to give them.”
She snorted, unimpressed. “And you expect me to obey?”
His slow smile was filled with wicked intent. “I not only expect you to obey, I expect you to plead for more,” he explained.
If looks could kill he’d be dead on the spot.
“Don’t make the mistake of treating me like one of your bimbos,” she managed to warn between gritted teeth.
She was beautiful when she was jealous.
Eyes glowing with emerald and gold fire. Her hands pressed against his chest, her breasts heaving as her cat struggled to be released.
He held his upper weight on his elbows, allowing his hands to slide beneath the too-revealing shirt.
“What would you know about my bimbos?”
“They weren’t a secret.” Her voice became a low rasp as his fingers found the swell of her breasts. “There used to be bets placed in the dining hall about how long the latest would last and who would be next to crawl into your bed.”
“And it never occurred to you that maybe all those stories were more myth than truth?”
“Yeah, right.”
She tried to sound skeptical, but he didn’t miss her tiny groan of pleasure as his fingers grasped the nipples already beaded in anticipation. He tugged them with enough force to make her hiss with a growing hunger.
“I may not be a virgin, but—”
“Understatement of the century.”