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Bayon fought for control

He was acutely aware of the woh the thickening shadows of Melton, the small town several miles north of the bayou where he&039;d tracked the bastards who&039;d attacked Ashe Keira needed hi into the nearby swa

Not acting like a raving lunatic anted to grasp her by the shoulders and demand to knohat the hell had happened to her

Holy shit

The memory of the day she&039;d disappeared was seared into his brain

Twenty-five years ago, she&039;d left the Wildlands to visit her hu

Her brother, Parish, had sensed she was in distress, but he hadn&039;t been able to reach her before she&039;d vanished off the face of the earth

Eventually they&039;d had to accept she was dead, and Bayon had secretly gone into athat had matched Parish&039;s Only his orse, because while Parish had received the sympathy of the entire Pantera corief shoved deep inside, pretending as if his life hadn&039;t co end on that day

Nownow, he didn&039;t knohat the hell to think

Keira was alive

But she wasn&039;t the same bad-ass female who&039;d been the leader of the Hunters

Once she&039;d stood tall and proud, her body lean but powerful Her dark hair had been threaded with hints of fire and her skin kissed with a deep honey tone

And her eyes had been a old with starbursts of emeralds in the center

Now her hair was linized her Even worse, her mind was obviously broken to the point she couldn&039;t even remember him

But she was alive

His cat snarled deep inside hi to reach out to the woman who&039;d once touched hierous brew of elation, shock, guilt, and overall athis exquisite wo hi he had as they traveled silently through wetlands surrounding Melton, the dusk turning to night as they left behind civilization and eventually arrived at the edge of the Wildlands Which explained why he hadn&039;t iical border, that she&039;d halted on the other side

Belatedly realizing she was no longer behind hie of their territory, that look of terrorthe beauty of her face

His heart twisted as he cautiouslyform He could sense her bone-deep weariness, but this wastormented by some inner demon

"Keira?" He kept his voice soft

"What is it, honey?"

She shook her head "I don&039;t

remember"

He reached out to stroke a hand over her dark head, only to yank it back

She&039;d asked him not to touch her

It was a request he intended to honor

"Reers twisting together as she stared at the lands that she&039;d once knoith the intimacy of a lover Her duty as the leader of the Hunters ht after night "No, that&039;s not right I have memories, but they&039;re like puzzle pieces I can&039;t put together" There was a long pause, her heavy breathing e not to bolt in terror "How long?" Bayon frowned "What?"

"How long was I gone?"

He grimaced This wasn&039;t a

conversation he wanted to have Not until she was stronger

"Keira-"

"How long?"

"Twenty-five years"

"Fuck"

He crouched beside her "It&039;s going to be all right"

There was a flash of fire in the dull eyes It was a painful reminder of the old Keira

"Don&039;t patronize me"

He bit back a curse Dammit They didn&039;t have time for this She was sick, and exhausted, and in dire need of shifting

"Keira, I don&039;t knohat the hell happened to you, but I can sense that your cat has been forced into hibernation The only way to heal you is to get you into the Wildlands" She licked her lips, her heart pounding so loudly he feared it would attract the natural predators of the swa the

proximity of his cat could offer co that bothers you?"

"It frightens me"

"I&039;ll take you to Parish," he pros had been closer than ether "No one will bother

-"

"I can&039;t" She reached out, her nails sinking into the flesh of his arm "Not Parish"

Bayon frowned "Do you re to come back, but it&039;s still fuzzy" She bit her lower lip, her fear palpable in the air "Please, don&039;t make me do this"

He tilted his head so he could hold her skittish gaze "Easy, Keira"

"Not Parish"

"Then a Healer"

"No" Her nails dug deeper, the scent of his blood filling the air "Only you"

"Honey, there&039;s no way I can keep your return a secret" He tried to cal hysteria

There was a choked sound, as Keira turned her head to hide her expression

"I don&039;t want anyone to seeshoved into his heart would have been less painful than those low, trau with emotion "Keira, you&039;re a miracle"

"That&039;s not what they&039;ll see They&039;ll want to try and fix me Or worse, they&039;ll lock me away"

"I would never let the" She shook her head

"Please, Bayon, I&039;m not ready" The brief flare of joy as his name unconsciously slipped fro plea

"Shit"

Bayon wasn&039;t modest He had any number of talents, not the least of which was the ability to directly connect with the inner cat of his people It was a rare skill that was particularly useful when dealing with a Pantera who&039;d gone feral

But he wasn&039;t a Healer Hell, his bedside manner would have him run out of the faction within the first day

Unfortunately, Keira was depending on hiiver

He glanced toward the Wildlands, knowing he had to get Keira into the ic of their home But how could he keep her presence a secret? Parish would scent her

Parish

Of course

"The caves," hethe Hunters, not to rimaced Parish had hauled all of Keira&039;s possessions to the caves where they&039;d played as children, refusing to dispose of them no matter how many years passed "No one will notice you&039;re inside unless they co intensity As if she were trying to determine if he could be trusted

"You&039;ll keep theave a slow nod Parish and the others would kick his ass when they discovered he&039;d kept the stunning truth fro Keira home so she could be healed

"Yes"

"You swear?"

"I swear" There could be no

ave a slow, hesitant nod Then, aze

"But once I release your cat, Parish will sense the bond The only way to keep your presence a secret is to io, a Pantera parent could deny a potential mate for one of their children

The elders had forbidden the practice, but in olden days the purity of bloodlines had been farto condemn their child to a life separated froree

Of course, a Pantera male desperate to claim his lover couldn&039;t be easily denied They discovered a way to smother the family bond with their own scent It was te enough to discover if they were truly meant to be mated

Over time it had developed into a declaration of love between couples eren&039;t yet prepared to becoed

She trembled, her face coated with a thin layer of perspiration She was on the edge of collapse which was no doubt the only reason she didn&039;t argue

"Fine"

He lowered his head until his face was buried against the curve of her neck, his lips teasing her silken skin

"Let me in, honey"

He stroked his lips to the pulse that thundered at the base of her throat, his tonguea quick swipe over the flesh Abruptly, his cat strained at the leash for more

More heat More skin More Keira

Christ How had he survived even a day without this wo until she&039;d tentatively relaxed beneath his touch, Bayon wrapped her in his arhtened his hold, allowing his musk to wrap around her It was the first time he&039;d tried to imprint himself on a female, but hishis male need to claim this woman

She made a sound deep in her throat

Not rejection But a low sound of hunger that tue of a cliff he hadn&039;t known he was standing on

Without warning his mouth widened and he sank his teeth into the flesh of her upper shoulder, saturating her in his scent

She grabbed his shoulders, sighing softly as the force of his clai her in a layer of protection Bayon licked the tiny wound on her shoulder as she collapsed against hientle as possible as he cradled her too-thin body in his arh him as he realized just how delicate she&039;d become Had she been starved? Beaten?

Sexually abused?

Daes andto roast the well away frouarded the borders, Bayon headed over the spongy ground toward the isolated caves at the far side of the Wildlands Since Parish had taken them as his home no one had dared to trespass Which meant there shouldn&039;t be any stray intruders

He could only hope the current leader of the Hunters was too occupied with his duties to return in the next few hours

Thecypress trees in silver as they reached the solid land, heading toward the low rise of hills where the entrance to the caves was hidden by the thick shrubs

Forced to bend low to keep fro rocks, Bayon shuffled forward until he at last reached the surprisingly large inner cavern with a high, do and a shallow stream on one side

The cool, thankfully dry air wrapped around them as he headed directly to the tunnels at the back of the cavern He felt Keira shiver and he pressed her closer to his chest, choosing the tunnel that led to the furthest end of the series of caves

He could hear the splash of the waterfall before he hit the circular end of the tunnel Then, stepping around the curve, he ca off the edge of a natural opening in the ceiling to pool in the deep basin in the center of the cavern

It was that pool that had attracted the young Pantera, their cats joyously cli into their human forrown up and there were no cubs darting through the droplets of water that shi boys tried to capture the interest of the girls

The thought abruptly reminded him that he had to contact Parish So the bastards who&039;d attacked Ashe and her baby

"I reaze on the waterfall as Bayon gently lowered her so she could stand beside the pool

Bayon tugged her to face hily dull lifted to aze

"What?"

"It&039;s time for e for her pale face "You won&039;t let anyone take ers cautiously cupping her chin "No one is ever going to hurt you again" Tilting her head back, he peered deep into her eyes and spoke the ancient words of power

A heat prickled in the air, thepower that slammed into Keira with a force that sent her to her knees, as a pained sound wrenched froe that he was forcing her into an involuntary shift It was a gift that he used when a Pantera was severely injured in their human form and needed to transform into their cat to heal Or if the cat had become feral, unable to recall their huhtly

Transformation was supposed to be a private, joyous event For hi a person&039;s free will

Keira tu colors, her hu and the fur coating her once smooth skin

Bayon continued to speak the loords of coloith power and the cat e-suppressed fury

Sheer relief flooded through hi the cat plenty of space After being forced into hibernation for so long there was no telling what she olden eyes studied hier, but clearly too weakened to pounce, she instead displayed herher beautiful head to her paws

Bayon backed out of the cave, giving the cat enough privacy so she could rest in peace, while reh that the huhty

He pulled a cell phone out of his front pocket He carried two One that was his private phone with all the bells and whistles And one a burner phone that couldn&039;t be traced

He chose the burner He didn&039;t want anyone realizing he&039;d returned to the Wildlands