Free Mating Hunt by Bonnie Vanak

them, closing the door halfway.
    He followed her to the dining table, made her sit as he cleared the table and set the dirty dishes and brandy glass into the sink. Kyle joined her at the table, taking her hand.
    “You were right all along. The young were on the mountain. If you hadn’t caught their scent, we’d never have found them. Good job.”
    He gave her a warm, approving smile, but it failed to chase away old horrors.
    “Ari.” His voice was gentle. “Why did you faint?”
    Dry-mouthed, she shook her head, her stomach churning.
    “Sweetheart, you must tell me.”
    No, she must not. The memories remained firmly shut behind a thick door. “Please. I can’t talk about this.”
    “Ari? Do you remember anything? Anything that can help them?” His warm hands settled on her tensed shoulders.
    “No.”
    He regarded her with his keen gaze. “You okay here for a while?”
    At her nod, he continued, “I’m checking our perimeter, then going hunting for fresh game. Those Skins could be searching for the little ones. They’d better pray I don’t find them.”
    As the door closed behind him, tears pricked behind her eyelids. They splashed, one by one, onto her lap like raindrops.

Chapter 8
    T HE NIGHT FLOODED his senses.
    Paws scrabbling over rocks and dirt, Kyle clambered up the pathway behind the cabin leading into the woods. He ran for a long while, scenting the frightened creatures hiding in their burrows. He threaded through pine and oak, sniffing for intruders. Satisfied none were present, he hunted for prey.
    After a while, hunger satisfied, he shifted into Skin form. But his Satyr blood surged, renewing his anger. Kyle selected logs from the wood pile. He relished the hard pull of muscles with each crack as he split the wood with the ax.
    After, he carried a few logs into the living room and started a fire. Staring into the crackling flames, he jabbed the burning logs with the fireplace poker. Arianna came downstairs and sat on the leather sofa. Her intoxicating and delicate scent wove through the air, tightening his body with sheer male need. He set the poker back into the iron stand.
    “We got to them in time, Kyle. They’re going to be okay.”
    “The bastard who wants to experiment on them has to be an OtherWorlder.”
    “An OtherWorlder with a lot of power,” she said in a faint voice. “Someone so powerful, no one dares to stop him.”
    “I will. After I hunt down and exterminate the Skins threatening Lupine young.”
    A distant, haunted look entered her gaze as Arianna stared into the flames. “You can’t. Because if a Lupine shifts into wolf and attacks the Skin stealing his young and the Skin shoots the wolf, no one will arrest him. No one will do a damned thing.”
    Hellfire. Kyle’s heart dropped to his stomach. “Is that what happened to you, Ari? Is that why you’ve forgotten about your pack and your parents?”
    Arianna paled. Without words, she ran across the room, grabbed his jacket and headed outside.
    The past was a heavy weight on Arianna’s chest.
    Beneath a pale of gray moonlight, the lake sparkled like diamonds as water licked the stony shoreline. She stood at a ribbon of shoreline, selected a smooth, round pebble and skipped it over the lake. More memories surged. Tossing rocks, going for hikes, doing most things kids enjoyed. A normal childhood.
    But your life was never normal. Not since the day Mom and Dad left the pack, took you far away, so far away...
    Huddling deeper into Kyle’s sheepskin jacket, she inhaled his rich, spicy scent wrapping around her like two protective arms. But for too long he’d sheltered her. How could she have a life if she didn’t face what frightened her? It wasn’t sex.
    It was the nameless, faceless beast haunting her dreams, the bad man who wanted to hurt her. The bad man who’d done terrible things to her beloved parents...
    The cutting wind slapped her face. Her memories were far colder. She was too afraid to cull them out of the dark