Page 5

FIVE

MAYA

M aya eyed the turkey sandwich as if it might leap from the plate and bite her. Her stomach growled, betraying her body's true needs despite her mind's suspicions.

Before she could argue with Kieran any further, a shrill ring cut through the cabin's stillness. Kieran's expression transformed instantly as he pulled a cell phone from his pocket. His commanding demeanor cracked, revealing something Maya hadn't expected—fear.

"I need to take this," he said, his jaw tightening. "Eat your sandwich and drink the water. It'll help with the aftereffects of the sedative."

He crossed to the fireplace, his shoulders rigid as he turned his back to her. "Yes?" His voice lowered to a dangerous whisper, but in the small cabin, she caught fragments. "No, I said I'd handle it... You gave me until..."

Maya lifted the sandwich, inhaling the scent of smoked turkey and fresh bread.

Her stomach contracted painfully, reminding her she hadn't eaten since her granola bar at sunrise.

Kidnapping aside, scientific excitement had consumed her morning and early afternoon until this. .. situation... had developed.

She took a cautious bite, reasoning that if he'd wanted her dead, he wouldn't have bothered with the whole abduction routine. The flavors exploded on her tongue, reminding her body how desperately it needed sustenance.

While chewing, she analyzed her surroundings with renewed clarity. One small window, firmly sealed. One door. No convenient air ducts or secret passages—just a spartan, efficient space that somehow managed to feel like an extension of the man himself.

Think, Maya. What would an apex predator do?

Her gaze swept over the cabin's interior again.

Bookshelves lined one wall—first editions, based on their leather bindings.

Handcrafted wooden figurines stood sentinel on a rough-hewn mantle.

The half-carved wolf he'd been working on when she awoke caught her eye—the detail was extraordinary, capturing movement and power in static wood.

"I don't care what Alpha Alaric says," Kieran hissed into the phone, his broad back tense beneath his black henley. "That's not how I operate."

Alpha Alaric? Maya filed the name away, building her mental dossier. Knowledge was power, and right now, she needed every advantage.

Her scientific mind still rebelled at the reality she'd glimpsed on that video.

Men didn't turn into wolves. Except, apparently, they did.

And one of them had kidnapped her and was now feeding her sandwiches while having tense conversations about.

.. what? Her? The cameras? The fact that she had evidence that could upend scientific understanding and expose whatever secret community existed in these mountains?

The strangest part wasn't even the whole wolf thing.

It was her body's inexplicable reaction to him.

Even now, watching him from across the room, something electric hummed beneath her skin.

When he'd stood close, she'd caught his scent—pine and mountain air and something deeper and more primal.

It had sent heat spiraling through her core, a reaction so visceral and immediate it defied her normally rational nature.

It's just biology, she told herself firmly. He's objectively attractive, and your body is responding to pheromones. Nothing more.

But that didn't explain the strange pull she felt, as if invisible threads connected them across the room. She'd never experienced anything like it—not with colleagues, not with previous partners, not with anyone.

"I expect the Council to keep their word," Kieran's voice hardened.

Council? Maya's pulse quickened. So, there was organization and structure to whatever community he belonged to. How many were there? Was an entire shadow society of wolf-people living alongside humans, undetected by science?

The academic treasure trove this represented momentarily distracted her from her predicament. What a paper this would make—if she lived to write it.

Kieran's shoulders stiffened further. "That wasn't our agreement." His voice contained a rumbling undertone that raised goosebumps on her arms. "Tell Alpha Alaric I need more time. Tell him that she is proving difficult to find."

She. Difficult to find? But he already found her. A chill raced down Maya's spine. They were discussing her, and he was hiding information from them. But why?

Maya set down the half-eaten sandwich. The need to escape crystallized with sudden clarity.

Whether Kieran claimed this was "protective custody" or not, the phone conversation confirmed her instinct—there were others involved, others who had plans for her, plans Kieran might not entirely agree with but was bound to by some hierarchy.

Her eyes darted to the door. One exit. One very large, very fast, very not-entirely-human obstacle between her and freedom.

The sensible approach would be to gather more information, and to understand exactly what she was dealing with. But instinct screamed that time was running out. Whatever tenuous protection Kieran's "custody" offered might vanish with his next phone call.

Maya swallowed hard and reached for the water bottle, her mind racing through scenarios as she took a sip of water. Her hiking boots sat by the door, perfectly positioned for a quick grab. Her backpack with her research was on his desk—could she reach both in time?

"I told you, I'm going to handle this my way," Kieran growled into the phone, his back still turned.

Now or never.

Maya set the water bottle down without a sound and slid off the bed. Her sock-covered feet made no noise on the wooden floor as she crept forward, every muscle tense and her heart hammering in her chest. She'd spent countless hours stalking wildlife—now those skills might save her life.

Kieran's voice dropped lower, something guttural entering his tone as he argued with whoever was on the other end of the line. "I said I'd take care of it."

Six steps to the desk. Four to the door beyond it. Maya moved with the precise control of someone accustomed to fieldwork, where one misplaced footstep could scatter your research subjects.

Her fingers closed around her backpack strap. The worn leather was comfortingly familiar against her palm.

Another step.

"No, Damon?—"

Maya lunged for the door, yanking her backpack with her. Her fingers closed around the metal doorknob, cold against her sweating palm. She twisted it, feeling the mechanism give, a burst of triumph flooding her veins?—

A large hand slammed against the door above her head, holding it firmly shut. Heat radiated from the body suddenly pressed against her back, and Maya's breath caught in her throat.

"Going somewhere, Dr. Collins?" Kieran's voice was dangerously soft against her ear.

Maya spun around, her back pressed against the door, clutching her backpack against her chest like a shield.

Kieran's arms caged her, one palm flat against the door on either side of her head.

His silver-blue eyes had taken on an unearthly glow, his pupils slightly elongated in a way that wasn't quite human.

"Let me go," she demanded, but her voice betrayed her with a slight tremor.

"I can't do that." His gaze dropped to her lips, lingering there as something shifted in his expression—the predatory hunger tempered by something else, something almost vulnerable.

Maya's entire body hummed with an electricity she couldn't explain.

His proximity sent waves of heat cascading through her, awakening parts of herself she'd long ignored in favor of academic pursuit.

The scientific portion of her mind frantically cataloged responses—elevated heart rate, dilated pupils (both his and, she suspected, her own), shallow breathing—while another, more primal part simply registered— want .

"What is this?" she whispered, the question encompassing everything—her abduction, the wolves, the video, and most confusingly, the inexplicable magnetic pull between them.

Kieran's chest rose and fell against hers, his heart beating as wildly as her own. She could feel the rhythm of it, strong and fast, like he'd run miles instead of merely crossing a room. His scent enveloped her—pine and earth and that undefinable musk that made her knees weaken.

"I don't entirely know yet," he admitted, his voice rough. "I've never—" He stopped, seeming unable to finish the thought.

They stood frozen in tableau, their breaths mingling, neither advancing nor retreating, caught in a moment of perfect tension.

Maya's gaze traced the scar that ran down his face, wondering what battle had marked him.

Her fingers itched to touch it and to map the topography of his face with scientific precision—and something far less analytical.

A heartbeat passed. Two. Three.

Kieran stepped back abruptly, breaking the spell. The cool air rushed between them, and Maya felt bereft in a way that made no rational sense.

"Go back to the bed." His command held no room for argument, though something unsteady lurked beneath the authoritative tone.

Maya's feet moved before her brain caught up, carrying her back to the bed as if pulled by invisible strings. She perched on its edge, still clutching her backpack, watching as Kieran remained by the door, his broad shoulders taut with what looked like painful restraint.

"What are you planning on doing with me?" she asked, hating how breathless she sounded.

Kieran's jaw worked, the muscles there jumping with tension. "I haven't decided yet."

The metallic scrape of the key turning in the lock resonated through Maya's body like a death knell to her freedom.

Kieran dragged a small wooden chair across the floor, its legs scratching against the wooden planks, and planted it firmly in front of the door.

He sat down with deliberate slowness, crossing his arms over his broad chest, his eyes never leaving hers.

Maya held her backpack tighter against her chest, the familiar weight of her research journals and field equipment offering little comfort now. Her heart still hammered erratically from their encounter by the door—not from fear alone, but from something far more confusing.

"That was a spectacularly bad idea," Kieran said, his voice deceptively soft despite the steel underneath. "I wouldn't try it again."

Maya lifted her chin. "What do you expect? You've kidnapped me and locked me in a remote cabin. Of course I tried to escape."

"And yet..." His eyes—those impossible silver-blue eyes—narrowed slightly. "Your heart wasn't fully committed to leaving, was it?"

Heat flooded Maya's cheeks. He was right, and that was the most infuriating part. Even as she'd grabbed the doorknob, something inside her had hesitated, and had almost welcomed his intervention.

"That's absurd," she snapped, though the tremor in her voice betrayed her. "I don't know what kind of Stockholm syndrome you think you're inducing, but my biology degree tells me?—"

"Your biology degree." Kieran's laugh was low and rich, sending an unwelcome shiver through her. "Dr. Collins, there are things in these mountains your textbooks never covered."

Maya's fingers dug deeper into the worn leather of her backpack. "Like men who turn into wolves?"

A muscle in his jaw twitched. "Among other things."

The silence stretched between them, electric with possibilities. Maya's scientific mind scrambled for explanations, for categories and classifications to make sense of this new reality—and of her own inexplicable reactions to this man.

"This connection between us," she ventured finally, unable to stop herself. "Is that part of your... abilities? Some kind of pheromone or biological manipulation?"

Kieran's expression shifted, a flicker of surprise crossing his features before he masked it. "You feel it too."

It wasn't a question. Maya swallowed hard, her throat suddenly dry. "I'm trying to understand it scientifically."

"Some things exist beyond science." He leaned forward slightly, and despite the distance between them, Maya felt the movement as if he'd touched her. "What you're feeling—what we're both feeling—there's a word for it in my world."

"And what world is that, exactly?" Maya asked, desperate to steer the conversation toward facts, data, anything but the molten heat pooling in her body whenever his gaze lingered on her.

Kieran's lips curved into a smile that was both predatory and, somehow, sad. "A world you stumbled into by accident, and one that might not let you go."

Maya's breath caught. "Was that a threat?"

"No. A reality." He uncrossed his arms, his posture still alert but less rigid. "I haven't decided what to do with you yet because there are no good options. The Council wants—" He stopped abruptly.

"Wants what?" Maya leaned forward, her scientific curiosity momentarily overwhelming her fear. "To silence me? To make sure I don't reveal your existence?"

"They have traditional methods for handling humans who discover us." His voice was flat now, emotionless.

"And those methods are?"

Kieran's silence was answer enough. The implications sent a chill through her that momentarily doused the inexplicable heat their proximity generated.

"So why am I still alive then?" she whispered. "Why bring me here instead of... whatever it is your Council wants?"

Something raw and conflicted passed across Kieran's face. "Because the moment I caught your scent, everything changed."