When she’d first arrived in Kodiak Point—waking in an actual bedroom with its own three-piece bath instead of a cage—she was little better than a wild animal, barely remembering how to be human. She’d refused to switch out of her lynx, snarling and snapping at Reid every time he came into her room. He never harmed her. He would just stand for a second and say, “You’re safe here. I will protect you.”
As if she’d believe him.
The food he brought—along with utensils— surely was a ploy. But she still ate it.
Belly full, she eyed the shower. It had been…too long since she’d had one. Or seen a bar of soap.
Not that she dared use them. She couldn’t let anyone see what she was. Bad things would happen.
As the first two days out of her captivity passed, she waited for Reid to abuse her. Make demands. Threats.
He didn’t do a thing. Just kept bringing her food. She refused to talk, staying in her lynx form, which proved challenging when it was time to go to the bathroom. Gripping that toilet wasn’t the highlight of her day. Yet, it was the start of finding her humanity again. Her will to live. To be…herself.
That wakening awareness was when she realized she might be able to trust Reid. Not only had he not harmed her, she wasn’t a prisoner. The door to her room wasn’t locked.
Exiting into a hallway as mundane as her room, with its scuffed wood floors and neutrally painted plaster walls, she’d sniffed. She still remembered being overwhelmed by scents, Reid’s being the strongest. But there were others too. With that special tang that meant they were different, like her.
She slipped silently down a staircase and prowled into the living room, a slinking shadow that clung to the walls while a woman played with a small child. A baby who lay on its back, kicking feet and hands. Gurgling.
The sight stopped her in her tracks. Reid had brought her to his home. Trusted her around his mate and child.
Bit by bit, she returned to herself, but she was unable to stem her nightmares.
Reid tried, but ultimately, he didn’t understand. Only Boris comprehended the difficulties with PTSD.
There was a time Rilee doubted she’d ever get over what happened. After her time in the cage, she couldn’t tolerate hardly anyone around her at first. Reid, with his calming presence and commanding voice, helped her stave off more than one panic attack. Boris became acceptable, mostly because she saw how the man catered to his tiny wife, Jan, and he treated Rilee like a daughter. The kind of gruff father who didn’t hug or say, “I love you,” but offered to kill people on a regular basis if they might have offended her. It was one of the nicest things anyone ever said to her.
They helped her heal from her ordeal. Boris especially knew how to sit quietly in a corner of her room when she woke screaming from her nightmares. Never said anything. He didn’t need to because he understood what happened inside her head. How the past refused to stay buried.
But eventually it didn’t consume her every waking moment. She learned to leave the house. To even tolerate other people. What she couldn’t stand were small spaces or being touched. When she first decided to move out, she’d worried her cabin might remind her too much of the cage she’d lived in for too long. For the first few days, she’d kept the door open whenever she was inside.
More than three years later, she could keep it closed, and even shutter her windows if the drafts got too bad.
However, she still didn’t like being touched. And Mateo obviously got that point because he’d stalked out of her home. He’d been angry, but not because she rejected him. No. If she read him correctly, he was mad because she’d been scared of him.
Now that he knew she would never look at him like he wanted her to, he wouldn’t return.
Probably for the best.
So why did it make her so sad?
Chapter 5
The moose man tried to stand in Mateo’s way, but he wasn’t about to be stopped. He lifted Boris and set him aside, which caused Jan, Boris’s wife and the receptionist of the day, to let out silvery peals of laughter.
When the moose huffed through his nose, Mateo shook his finger. “Later we will play. Right now, I need to speak to the alpha. About Rilee.”
“What about Rilee? What did you do?” Boris bristled, his fists clenching.
“I didn’t do shit. But someone obviously did,” he snarled.
Jan sounded surprised as she said, “She told you?”
“No!” he barked. “But you just confirmed my suspicions. I want to know who. And most importantly, are they dead?”
Boris couldn’t have frowned harder if he tried. “It’s not that simple.”
“Meaning they aren’t.” He glowered. “I want a name.”
“I can’t—”
He grabbed hold of the big man and had him on the floor in a second. Boris didn’t fight back, which was kind of disappointing.
Then again, he didn’t have to. Jan and her gun stood behind him. “Let Boris go.”
“You wouldn’t shoot me.”
“Hurt my hubby and you’ll find out,” she said much too sweetly.
“Does your wife always fight your battles?” Mateo asked.
“All the time.” Boris snorted. “I’ve given up on explaining that it’s emasculating when she tries to protect me.”
“Oh, be quiet. You know you love it. Now, if we’re done discussing my awesomeness, get off my husband.”
“Fine,” Mateo huffed.
“What the fuck is going on?” growled Reid, the door to his office suddenly open.
“Pretty boy is all bent out of shape on account he figured out Rilee had some trouble in her past,” Boris declared.
“She told you?” Reid asked with a surprised arch of brow. He also juggled a child in his arms.
“No, she didn’t, but it’s pretty fucking obvious someone hurt her.”
“Yeah. Someone did. And badly,” Reid said in a low, grave tone.
“Tell me about it.”
When Reid hesitated, Jan intervened. “It’s not like it’s a secret.” She glanced at Mateo. “When she got here, she was messed up. Given she was prone to running, we had to tell people about her. Especially since no one could touch her in the beginning.” Her lips pressed into a tight line. “I swear, if we ever find the bastard who hurt her, I’ll put a bullet in his head myself.”
“Get in line,” Reid muttered. “And I guess there’s no harm in giving you warning about Rilee.”
Jan held out her arms. “Give me the boy. He shouldn’t hear this kind of thing.”
Jan took the child, and Reid led Mateo into his office. “Have a seat.”
Mateo did, mostly so he wouldn’t pace. He got the feeling he wouldn’t like the story.
It took Reid a moment to start. “I found Rilee about five years ago.”
“Found? Was she lost?”
“Yes. In more ways than one. It started when I got a report about a wild cat terrorizing campers, destroying campsites. Before they could send someone out to shoot it, I paid a visit.”
“You knew it was a shifter?” Mateo asked.
Reid shook his head. “No, but there was something deliberate in the attacks that made me wonder. I went to the national park where the trouble was and tracked down the cat causing the ruckus.”