“I had a theory about a firefighter and a beautiful woman.” Zach stood, pulled his gray cable knit sweater over his head, and then removed his teal blue, long-sleeved T-shirt. She was about to ask what he was doing, but his powerful body took away all thought.
He then turned his back to her. “Look familiar?”
He knew what she’d done. But how had he figured it out? It was too late now to deny her role in saving him. Lying would only make things worse. As much as she wanted to trace a finger along the outline of his scar, she wouldn’t. She didn’t dare. This overwhelming attraction was the last thing she needed.
And here, she thought she believed she’d never feel again after the emotional damage caused by Doug. “That was you?”
He turned around and put his clothes back on. “Yes.”
The fire crackled, and the heat suddenly became overpowering.Say something.
CHAPTERTHREE
“I’m really glad you healed,” Cassidy Evans said.
“Dude, we found her! I can’t believe it,”Mike telepathed.
“Yes, but why is she so leery of me—or rather us?”Zach shot back.
“Ask her.”
Zach planned to, but he didn’t want to scare her any more than she already appeared to be. While she’d answered his questions, she had watched her words. “Me, too, but I’m curious. Did you have help dragging me into the cave? In all honesty, I remember very little.”
“No. Just me. When I saw you bleeding to death, I guess adrenaline flooded my system.” Cassidy set down the arrow and returned to her place in front of the fire.
“I opened my eyes and saw you, but then I must have passed out.”
Mike leaned closer. “We checked the cave this morning. That passageway was full of rocks. How did you drag him that far?”
“I carried him, but it wasn’t easy.” She looked over at Zach. “You are anything but fat, but you do weigh a lot.”
Cassidy was at least five feet nine inches, which helped, but he was six feet three. “Werewolves tend to weigh more than regular humans.” He shook his head. “I still can’t believe you were able to do that.”
“Like I said, my clan members are farmers. We work hard. It is probably why I make a good firefighter. I’m strong.”
“Cassidy, why didn’t you call for help?” Mike asked. “Zach was in really bad shape.”
“I know. I should have, but I didn’t know who to trust. Someone was out to kill Zach. I tried to convince myself that since he was a werewolf, he’d heal. Not only that, I didn’t have my phone, and no one else was around to lend me theirs.”
“That makes sense.”
“I knew I had to get him to safety. I had the feeling that whoever did that to Zach was unaware how to kill our kind. I bet they thought he was dead. I did too until I felt for his pulse. If they learned he was alive, they might come after him again.”
Zach huffed out a laugh. “We all thought that. It was why I had to remain in hiding until those who shot me were caught. But you’re wrong about one thing. They knew very well how to kill me. Lucky for me, my twin sister and I have hearts that are located more to the right than most. They shot me twice but missed my heart each time. I was lucky.”
“I’ve never been shot, but I’ve been told that while it hurts a lot, it won’t incapacitate you—assuming it doesn’t nick your heart.”
He explained that the bullets had been coated with a paralyzing agent. “Humans shot me, but they were led by a bad werewolf clan, so we are guessing they knew exactly what chemical to use.”
She closed her eyes for a moment. “I know all about bad werewolves.” Pain radiated off her.
“What happened to you, Cassidy? Why are you really here?” Zach asked as gently as he could.
She tilted her head, probably deciding how much to tell them. “I needed to get away from a bad situation.”
That answered his question, but it was too general to satisfy him. “What kind of situation, if I may ask?”
She bit down on her lip. “I’m not ready to say.”