Free Damned and Desired by Kathy Kulig Page B

before or after they were married.
    His father noticed that Brad seemed drawn to the leopard fur and had told him that one day he would give that skin to him. The shapeshifting abilities of Eigi Einhamr descendants developed around the time of puberty. Brad’s mother probably hoped that her sons had not received the rare Norwegian gene. Brad and his brother rarely saw their father shift into his favored animal form—the wolf—because their mother was so freaked out by it. Jake was the one who snuck out of bed and saw their father shift into wolf form and also saw him shot by a hunter. His brother never accepted this gift as Brad had and they grew apart after their father was killed.
    “Was your father a hunter? Did he kill that leopard?” she asked, as they continued down the road, picking up speed.
    He didn’t understand why she wanted to know so much about the fur. His mind was foggy and he couldn’t stay focused. Not good. “No, my father wasn’t a hunter. He was killed by a hunter in a hunting accident.”
    “How did that happen?”
    “An illegal hunter at night thought my father was an animal.”
    “I’m sorry.” She winced. “What do you do in Sedona?”
    “I work as a physician’s assistant at the Hilltop Health Clinic. What about you?” He paused for a moment to see her reaction. Would she finally reveal something about herself?
    She sighed. “I bartend, waitress.”
    He nodded. Valdon didn’t offer any information about what he did and Brad didn’t ask. It still didn’t give him a clue as to why she and her friend were out in the middle of the desert at this hour. Just driving by? He didn’t believe that for a second. Well past midnight, there wasn’t a soul out on the road. His instincts told him to keep his guard up. He’d been taught that innocent looking people could be the most deadly. “You okay?” he asked her. His voice low so that maybe the big guy wouldn’t hear.
    “Sure. I’m fine.” She glanced at him, looking down at his groin area covered in fur.
    “Really fine.”
    46

    Damned and Desired
    “Good. Turn here.” He pointed to his street. Valdon made the turn and drove up the winding road, past single story houses. Most of the houses on this street were adobe style with white stucco and red barrel tiled roofs.
    Glancing sideways at her, Brad’s focus drifted down to her breasts for an instant.
    He rubbed his head with his hand. Looking out the front window, he pointed. “This is me on the right.”
    When they pulled up in front of his white stucco ranch house, Brad got out and balanced against the car. “Thank you. I really appreciate your help.” He hated leaving his bike out there but they were right, he was in no condition to drive. He started staggering to his door, when Sakari and Valdon hopped out of the car carrying his helmet and clothes.
    He saw Valdon glaring at the woman, giving her some silent message.
    Before he had a chance to consider what had passed between them, Brad’s thoughts shifted to images of him drawing her across his lap, his warm mouth pressing to hers in a kiss that had them clinging to each other.
    He’d thought about kissing her hard like that, he’d reach under her tee shirt and squeeze her breast, then slip beneath the bra to cup smooth, warm flesh.
    He tried to push the thoughts away but his mind continued to get right back on track. Was he that horny or delirious? All he knew was that he wanted nothing more than to pleasure her and he didn’t give a damn if her companion stood on the sidelines and cheered. He wanted to touch her breasts, stroke between her legs. Overcome with the possibilities of what he could do to her, he was heating up inside, aroused and hard.
    Sakari rushed up behind him. “You’ll need help with all those scratches. Some of them are pretty bad.”
    “No, I’m fine. I work at an emergency clinic. I can handle it.” He stumbled as he pulled his keys out of his boot and tried to open his front