is to keep you safe.”
The moon was brighter here, away from the trees. Ranger Harris gestured for her to get into the car.
“I’ll take you to town, where you can get a room for the night,” he said.
“You, too?”
“Afraid not.”
Did he sound regretful about that? Skylar wished she could see his face more clearly.
“Should I trust you?” she asked. “We’re running from the unknown, but I don’t know you, either. Is it wise to get into a car with you?”
“True. I am a stranger to you. But at the moment, I solemnly promise you that I’m the lesser of two evils on this mountain.”
Cooperating, Skylar climbed into the vehicle. The worn leather seats smelled like the great outdoors. Like dirt and greenery and Ranger Harris.
She said, “Maybe I should have taken a closer look at that badge on your shirt.”
He pulled the badge off and tossed it to her as he slid into the driver’s seat. “Be my guest.”
Without a doubt, this guy could be infuriating. But what he had tossed her felt like a real badge. She’d seen a few in her time, so this probably meant Harris was one of the good guys.
Skylar closed her fingers over the metal as if it were a talisman to wield against things that went bump in the night.
“Anything you need we can pick up at the store,” he said. “I have an account there.”
“Does this store have alcohol?”
Harris turned the key and started the engine. “I’m sure it does.” After a pause, he added, “We don’t have to talk about what happened tonight if you’d prefer that.”
“You mean about what chased us, or what nearly took place in my bedroom?”
“Should I apologize for acting on that last one?”
“No.” Skylar closed her eyes briefly, listening to the familiar nuances in his voice that fanned her inner heat. “It wasn’t your fault.”
The car kicked up a spray of gravel as it moved. Skylar felt Harris’s attention on her.
“I needed a diversion,” she explained.
“From what?”
“The rest of my life.”
“Losing your father?”
“That’s the most recent blow.”
“Then I’m sorry we were interrupted, though it was probably for the best.” Harris sounded earnest.
“Yes. For the best,” Skylar agreed, leaning sideways as the car made a sharp left turn around a stand of pine trees. “It wasn’t really a wolf that made you run out on me, was it?”
Harris glanced in her direction without comment.
They rode in silence after that, which made the bumpy ride more uncomfortable. Eventually it became clear that the man beside her wasn’t going to offer anything resembling a decent explanation for what had happened in or around the cabin tonight. Then again, neither could she.
“You might want to pack your father’s things during the day and stay in town at night,” he suggested some time later.
“Being in town most of the time would be inconvenient.”
Again, Skylar felt the intensity of his silent appraisal.
“As a favor to me, then,” he said.
“Do I owe you one?”
“If not, you might humor me as the local law enforcement.”
Skylar winced. Because of Danny, the words law enforcement had a sour ring to them. In essence, she’d gone from one kind of cop to another without thinking. This was far better than the werewolf dream, though.
“Well, I can’t jump out of a moving car, so I guess tonight’s a done deal,” she said.
“Good.”
As they rounded another dark curve in the road, the soft glitter of distant lights appeared. Skylar supposed her safety would be assured down there among the masses, if safety was really an issue.
It was that rebel part of her—the part that had sent her traipsing up a mountain path after dark and had given her an appreciation for sensuous dreams, gorgeous werewolves and strangers with seductive voices—that told her to ignore this ranger’s plan after tonight and instead find out what the hell was going on.
Her dad had kept secrets, and that hadn’t ended well. The man beside her kept things to himself. She had to know who or what was out there, and whether being followed tonight had anything to do with her father’s death, less than two weeks ago. She had a hunch that it did.
With good old Donovan perseverance and a dash of stubborn determination, she vowed get to the heart of these mysteries if it was the last thing she ever did.
With or without the man next to her...in her bed.
Gavin read Skylar Donovan easily and checked his concerns. She was only his business up to a point. After that, his feelings for her couldn’t interfere with a task that was too weighty for distractions.
He’d seen the demon. Facing it again, he had survived. And that was one hell of a mystery.
The thing hadn’t attacked. If it had scented him and identified him as a Were—one it had created in a bloody mess of poisoned flesh—surely Skylar Donovan’s presence should also have piqued its interest. All that succulent ivory skin and her sweet, sweet perfume that right now made him want to look at her instead of the road.
The beast couldn’t have missed that.
No beast could have missed it.
Case in point was his own inexplicable longing for her. More than anything, he wanted to stop the car and show her he could maintain some control if he was allowed to have her.
It wasn’t only his vow to protect the public that made him want to see to Skylar’s safety. It was sheer, unadulterated greed. He wanted to save Skylar Donovan for himself.
She was the sum total of everything he’d lost when that beast attacked him, and so much more. She was lace and perfume, defiance and mystery in a slick feminine casing that escalated his need for those things. He’d be damned if he’d allow the monster to harm one hair on her beautiful head.
Despite this newfound possessiveness, he realized that Skylar really wasn’t his to keep. She was human, and he wasn’t. Oil and water didn’t mix. Neither should wolf and human DNA.
