She felt the hard ground beneath her and put out a hand to find a more comfortable position. When she did, her hand brushed something. Blindly reaching out her fingertips, she found what she thought might be a lamp, and her searching fingers soon found the matches lying next to it. It took a few minutes, yet the cave was soon filled with a soft light.
It was a small cave, though tall. She had been able to stand without the roof of the cave coming near her head. There were boxes near the back of the cave and even sleeping bags. This was definitely someone’s hideout with provisions for them to live for a while from what Cara could gather.
“Well, what do we do now? Wait or try to head back to the cabin? Should I try to make it to town?”
The wolf only stared back at her.
Cara began shaking, the adrenaline rush starting to wear off and the cold ground draining her energy. When her teeth began chattering, the wolf looked at her curiously before walking over to the sleeping bags, taking one in his jaws, and dragging it closer to her side.
“You’re a smart wolf.” Cara unfolded the bag and wrapped it around herself. The warmth was instantaneous, and she felt like crying in relief.
It wasn’t long before her eyes began to droop, and she yawned several times, attempting to catch herself from falling asleep. She soon lost the battle and slid sideways, burrowing farther into the warm bag.
The wolf knew she had fallen asleep, so he moved to adjust the bag until she was better covered. Then he sat back to wait, curious to find out how long it would take the human male to find her.
He had hidden her well. Only an extremely good tracker would find them, and the man, Jericho, was no experienced tracker. Then again, he did have a couple of advantages. One was his heritage; the other were his feelings for the woman. He had seen the man’s face when he had discovered Cara was being shot at. He hadn’t liked it one bit. He had stormed from the porch before he had seen Cara was running from him instead of to him, and fury had etched his face at that.
The girl was in deep trouble regardless of who found her.
He padded over to the sleeping woman who bore no resemblance to her stubborn aunt, which was a good thing in his book. The wolf made a smile, if such was possible, and lay down close to the sleeping woman. After all, he wanted to provide her with all the warmth he could.
How he wished he could see Destiny’s face at this turn of events. He would bet she was furious and even now seeking to rectify the situation.
The wolf laid his head on his front paws and closed his eyes. He was sure he wouldn’t have to wait long.
* * *
Jericho moved silently through the quiet woods.
When he had come back out from the cabin with a rifle, he had caught a glimpse of an SUV driving from the cover of the trees. Hopefully, the shooter had decided to leave. If not, then the maniac better stay out of his range. He wouldn’t hesitate to use the rifle if Cara was in danger.
Jericho’s mind still saw her running hell-bent toward the trees. At first, he couldn’t understand why she had not run to the safety of the cabin. After thinking further, though, he knew why. He had seen her expression when the gunshot had almost hit him, and that was when she had changed directions.
As he walked, he looked for signs of her passing through, and her trail wasn’t hard to find. Her headlong flight had left several signs even he had no trouble reading. It took a good half hour before all signs of her disappeared. He searched, but it was as if she had disappeared into thin air.
As he said the words to himself, a sudden, unnamed fear filled his stomach. What if the shooter had doubled back? What if her family had come for her? She had been unbelievably angry at him; would she leave without telling him, hoping a guilty conscience would bother him? The stupid woman must not have figured out that he didn’t have a conscience.
He would continue to search until either he found her, or there was evidence that she was no longer in the woods. He had already been searching for a couple of hours now and had gone quite a way from where he had lost her trail. He didn’t know what time it was, but the sun was high in the sky.
Jericho was about to search farther down a slope, thinking maybe she had lost her balance, when a sudden wind pushed him back, the strength of it pulling at his clothes. When he tried to go forward against the wind, it picked up, tugging harder. It was as if a storm was blowing with a clear sky. Knowing the abilities of Cara’s family, he decided to follow his intuition, so he turned in the direction the wind was tugging. As he felt the wind pushing him forward, he was sure he had made the right decision.
The wind led him deeper into the woods until a huge rock-covered hill blocked his path. One part was heavily covered with brush, and the wind tore at the foliage.
Frowning, he hunched down and saw that the brush pulled away from the rock, and there was an opening to a cave. The cave was on his property, but he had been unaware of its existence.
He crawled through the opening and sat back on his haunches in shock. Cara lay in a sleeping bag with a wolf standing beside her, who when he saw Jericho raise the rifle to his shoulder, padded softly past him and out of the cave. Jericho didn’t know why he didn’t pull the trigger other than he had felt no sense of danger from the animal. Still, relief flowed through his veins when he left without any trouble. He hadn’t wanted to fire the rifle in the small confines of the cave.
He sat down next to the sleeping woman and noticed the dark circles under her eyes. With a shaking hand, he reached out to Cara, and she immediately awoke with an expression of fear on her lovely face.
The whole time Jericho had spent searching for her, he had not allowed his mind to focus on the feelings he was developing for this mysterious beauty, yet staring down into her face, he was struck by a tidal wave of fury and lust—fury that she had run away to protect him and lust at the remembrance of the sex they had shared last night.
He had held back last night, knowing she had no experience, allowing her to set the pace. Today, Jericho realized that he wanted her again; except, this time, her innocence wouldn’t hold him back. She had wanted to have sex with him again last night, and he had walked away. Now, walking away was the last thing on his mind.
Jericho stood up and pulled his jacket off, laying the rifle within easy reach. Then he proceeded to remove his boots. He saw the drowsiness leave her eyes and desire replace it.
He bent down and opened the sleeping bag, noticing she was still wearing her jacket. Roughly, he removed it, and then her shirt and bra followed.
Cara felt like she was dealing with a different Jericho. Last night, everything about Jericho had been slow and gentle, almost detached. Today, it was as if he couldn’t rid her of her clothes fast enough, and there was nothing gentle about him. His normal, stoic expression was gone, his features drawn tight and fierce. Cara could see his Indian heritage and imagined his ancestors were once feared. If Jericho was anything like them, Cara could understand the terror they had inspired.