Free Whispers of Darkness (The Deadwood Hunter Series) by Rachel M Raithby Page B

you?’”
    Lexia frowned at his question; she’d not really put much thought into what she meant by that. Her hand rubbed absently over the center of her chest. “Stop changing subjects! What does Caden mean by you don’t do well confined?” she glared at Lincoln and then Caden.
    Lincoln sighed, “I’ve never been able to live in cities long, keep from shifting long.”
    “But I don’t understand, Caden lives here and he’s a cat, too.”
    “Some shifters are closer to the nature of their beasts, Lincoln is one of them,” Caden answered.
    “What will happen if we stay here?”
    “Nothing, I’m fine,” said Lincoln. Lexia glared at him and looked at Caden.
    “He’ll lose control, it’s why he’s always lived in the forests and travelled. He’s just not made for the city .”
    “Then we’ll leave ; Lincoln you can’t sit here going mad until we decide our next move and we need to go anyway, I’m not hiding at Caden’s forever!”
    “No , Lexia, it’s too dangerous. We can’t just go running off without thinking things through, I can control it.”
    “ Can you? Seems to me it’s just as dangerous as sitting around here waiting for you to go panther and tear us to shreds,” Lexia said through clenched teeth.
    “I’d never-“ Caden cut him off. “You could just go away for a few days, I’ll keep her safe.”
    Lincoln growled, the sound reverberating off the walls. “Fine!” he said, folding his arms. “Now back to you feeling me inside of you!” Deadly panther eyes held Lexia’s and she gulped, trapped in a predator’s snare.
    “I didn’t mean anything by it... Just that I can feel you, so wound up and on edge,” she mumbled.
    “But you said you could feel me inside of you!”
    “What are you getting at? I love you, of course you’re a part of me.”Lexia felt confused, as if Lincoln was trying to ask her something but not being direct.
    “Can I just cut in?” Caden asked. When he only received silent glares, he continued, “I think what Linc is trying to ask you, Lex, is can you feel the mating bond?”
    “What do you mean ‘bond?’” Lexia mumbled.
    “You’re my mate,” Lincoln said, like that explained everything.
    Caden huffed, “Really, Lincoln, you should explain shifter ways more to Lexia instead of leaving her in the dark because you’re afraid of how she will react.”
    Lincoln snarled at his friend, pushed his chair away from the table and then started to pace.
    “Okay, now I’m completely lost. When he says I’m his mate, it’s more than just a shifter word for girlfriend?”
    Caden laughed, “It means far more than that, Lex. When a shifter mates, they mate for life. A bond is formed between the two and if either of them dies... Well, normally the mate left behind dies shortly after.”
    “Okay...” Lexia’s heart had started to pick up speed.
    “I think Linc always assumed that you couldn’t feel the bond because... Well, you’re not a shifter, you’re a Hunter and your DNA is something altogether new.”
    Lexia looked at Linc and thought about how to explain what she felt to him; yes she’d felt a bond between them from the first moment she’d laid eyes on the panther there had just been something that always stopped her from wanting to hurt him. Was that the bond? Was the way she always knew how he was feeling the bond? She’d just thought that they loved each other, that they were connected but not in a physical way.
    “I can always feel you, Linc. Inside of me, in my heart, this light, this love so strong it always brings me back from the dark, I know when you’re sad or worried, I just never thought more about it...”
    Lincoln stopped his pacing and turned, the wild edge of him soothed for a minute as he walked towards her and claimed a fierce kiss. “Mine,” he whispered, “you are mine.”
    But they couldn’t ignore the fact that his beast was getting too strong and so close to the surface. He was becoming a danger to those he