Golden Eyes

CHAPTER 10

Aliyah woke with a sense of loss. The bed felt cold. Empty. She reached a hand to rest in the slight indention left when Duncan had gotten up to go into work.

She shivered and pulled the covers higher but quickly discarded them again when the material scraped over her skin like needles. Her body crawled with the need to shift. The cheetah rolled within her, protesting its captivity.

She got out of bed and paced in an effort to work off the nervous tension. A shower. She’d take a hot shower and hopefully it would soothe the savagery welling within her.

The water scorched her skin when she stepped under the spray a few minutes later. Still, she stood underneath the heat and turned her face up as the water ran over her body.

Duncan. She missed him already as absurd as it sounded. She didn’t look forward to an entire day without him again. She wasn’t even sure she could maintain her human form until he returned. And when he did, she was going to have to go out and give the cheetah free rein.

She tensed and fought against the images of the cheetah. Control. She could do this. It was imperative that she regain dominance.

Her chest heaving with exertion, she stepped out of the shower and quickly toweled off, wincing as the material abraded her skin. She walked naked into the living room, unable to stand the thought of anything touching her skin.

Dull coals glowed in the fireplace, and the charred remains of wood lay at various angles. She hastened to add more logs to the fire and watched as the flames licked over the dry wood.

The warmth reached out and wrapped around her body, caressing, soothing.

The cordless phone lay on the coffee table, and she stared at it as she eased onto the couch. Her mouth went dry, and her pulse pounded a little harder. Mama.

She lay her head down on the couch, and a hot tear slipped down her cheek and soaked into the cushion. She missed her family. Missed being with people that she didn’t have to hide her true nature from.

Even as well as Duncan had taken the fact she was a cheetah, she still caught him staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking. There was a mixture of awe and disbelief in his dark eyes.

She reached out with a shaking hand, slid the phone off the coffee table and drew it against her chest. Her thumb trembled over the on button and finally she pressed.

The dial tone sounded, loud in the silence. She stared for a long moment before punching the first number. The others followed in sequence. By the time she was finished, tears streaked silently down her cheeks.

She put the phone to her ear and listened as it rang. Four. Five. Six times. Her heart sank as it continued to ring. They weren’t home.

The lodge answering machine clicked on and gave the standard greeting in her mother’s cheerful voice.

Aliyah pulled the phone away from her ear and gently pushed the off button. Then she turned her face into the sofa as her tears soaked into the material.

Duncan folded the maps and stuffed them into his glove compartment before getting out of his truck. The helicopter landed fifty yards away, and a state wildlife officer hopped out and hurried in Duncan’s direction.

Duncan met him halfway and shook his hand.

“You ready?” Cal Stevens shouted over the noise.

Duncan nodded and followed him back to the helicopter. They climbed in, and Cal handed him a set of headphones. When Duncan slid them over his ears, Cal’s voice sounded.

“What are we looking at, Duncan?”

Duncan quickly explained his suspicions about the illegal poaching ring as well as his run-in with the hunters and the dead lion.

Cal’s frown deepened with every word. Cal had worked with the Colorado Division of Wildlife ever since Duncan had been old enough to hunt. He’d been a good friend of Duncan’s father and had often joined them during hunting season. The poaching ring would piss Cal off, and he’d be damn eager to break it up.

“Let’s see what we can find from the air,” Cal said. “If we can narrow the search area, we’ll have a much easier time of it when we go in on foot.”

Duncan nodded his agreement.

After several hours of sweeping the area surrounding Elk Ridge and the region where Duncan had first run across the hunters, they turned up nothing.

The pilot indicated that they were low on fuel and would have to head back in. Duncan stared down at the terrain in frustration. He’d hoped the air search would turn up something. Instead he’d wasted an entire afternoon with nothing to show for his efforts. He was no closer to finding the hunters now than he had been two days ago.

They landed, and Cal got out and walked with Duncan over to his truck.

“What’s your next move?” Cal asked. “What can I do to help?”

Duncan shook his head grimly. “I’m not sure yet. I’m going to have to get with Nick and my other deputies. Put our heads together and come up with a search plan. Those sons of bitches are out there.”

“You know you can count on me to help. I can get some of my guys together. I know you probably don’t want the feds crawling all over your mountains but whether you call them in to help apprehend your poachers or call them in after you’ve taken them down, one way or another, they’re going to be involved. Those sons of bitches have broken all sorts of federal laws with the shit they’re pulling.”

“Yeah, I know.” Duncan sighed. “I’d rather hold off as long as possible. If we can’t come up with anything by tomorrow, we’ll have to call them in. I don’t want to risk these assholes escaping, or worse, continuing to turn these animals out to hunt.”

Cal clapped a hand over his shoulder. “I’ve got to go. Pilot’s waiting on me. Call me if you need me.”

“Thanks, Cal. Will do.”

Duncan watched as the older man returned to the helicopter. As it lifted off, Duncan climbed into his truck to begin the drive back into town.

His mind was abuzz with what his next plan of action would be. It was getting dark, which prevented any further search today, but tomorrow he would resume. He could gather Nick, his deputies and call up Cal and some of his men and launch a ground search in the denser areas not able to be viewed from the air.

For now…he was going back to his cabin…and Aliyah.

First he stopped off at the small supply store on Main Street and chose sweats, a few shirts, and a pair of boots for her. The shopkeeper raised a brow but didn’t question Duncan’s purchases, a fact he was grateful for.

When the clothes were bagged and paid for, Duncan headed back out to his truck, ready to be home after another long day.

The eagerness in which he drove to his cabin was alien. It had been awhile since he’d felt such intensity toward a woman, and never quite this way.

Tonight, there was no hesitation when he walked into the door. He looked for her and found her pacing the kitchen, naked, agitation radiating from her.

“Aliyah,” he said softly.

She whirled around, her eyes flickering, the pupils fluttering and changing shape. She rubbed her hands up and down her bare arms in a clear sign of distress, and then with a small cry, she launched herself at him, wrapping her arms around his waist and burying her face in his chest.

He caught her against him and hugged her as he stroked his hand through her hair.

“Aliyah, honey, what’s wrong? Are you in pain?”

Unease prickled his neck. He pulled her away from him so he could look at her more closely.

She rubbed her hands up her arms again and shivered lightly. Tiny little goose bumps dotted her skin. “I need…I need to shift for awhile. I can’t control it for much longer.”

He was shaking his head before she ever finished. “No way. Aliyah, that’s crazy and you know it. There is no way we can risk it. There are poachers after you, not to mention you could be seen by a number of other people. Everyone around here is already uneasy because of the strange animals being spotted.”

She closed her eyes then reopened them and locked her gaze to his. “I know it’s insane but if I don’t get out soon, I won’t be able to control when and how I shift. I was hoping you’d know somewhere we could go where the chance of me being spotted was small if we went late, after dark, and I’d be careful. It’s just that I’ve spent so long in shifted form that the cheetah is dominant. I’m growing weaker, and I need the rejuvenation that being in my cheetah form will bring.”

“Aliyah –” He was still shaking his head. He couldn’t even get his protest out fast enough.

“I don’t need your permission, Duncan,” she said softly. “But I would like your support. And your protection. But if you refuse me both, I have no choice but to seek out a place on my own. It’s not smart. I know that. I could place myself in a lot of danger. I know that too. But I cannot prevent a shift for much longer.”

“Can’t you do it here?” he asked, sweeping his hand across the interior of the cabin.

“I need to run. I need to be free in a manner I haven’t been free in six months. I need to regain my strength. I grow more unstable by the minute.”

Fuck. He didn’t like this. Even while she made sense, he didn’t like it one bit.

“I’ll be careful.”

He blew out his breath in a long whoosh. “You’ll stay in the truck out of sight until we get out of town. I don’t want you anywhere near here when you do your cheetah thing. We’ll go south an hour or so.”

She wrapped her arms around him again as she nestled back into his embrace.

“Thank you,” she said as she squeezed.

He let his hands fall down her back, and he rubbed up and down before he placed one hand behind her neck, the other arm around her waist and held her close.

“First you’re going to get dressed. I picked up some clothes for you from town. Then we’re going to make this quick,” he grumbled. “This whole thing seriously freaks me out.”