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Wolves. Lions. Bears…

  A strangled cry escaped her throat.

  Shifters.

  Not all shifters are bad, Tim had once said. But it’s very hush-hush, and we have to keep it that way.

  Her knees shook, and she felt faint. Hush-hush enough for him not to tell her?

  She whirled, looking from one part of the property to another, picturing Tim’s friends. Connor, Jenna, and Chase. Cynthia and little Joey. Could it really be?

  But they’d shown her every kindness. Had all that been some kind of ruse?

  There are good shifters who wouldn’t hurt anyone, Tim had said.

  But, God. How could she be sure?

  Still shaking, she tiptoed away from the house. She’d just spent the night in a bear shifter’s arms?

  Her skin crawled at the thought of those arms turning into bear legs and caging her in. Of his beautiful smile cracking into a grimace that showed off horrifyingly big teeth.

  She broke into a run, heading toward the barn. The keys to Tim’s pickup hung from a nail, and she grabbed for them, then abruptly stopped.

  The flower. The pure white plumeria he’d given to her was right where she’d left it. She stared, clutching the keys hard enough for them to cut into her palm. What the hell was she doing?

  Running, her mind screamed. Getting away.

  But running away didn’t go with Tim. Her body shook, rejecting the idea.

  On the other hand…lions. Bears. Wolves. Her rattled mind had no idea what to make of it all. So she slipped into the driver’s seat, appalled at herself. How could she steal Tim’s car? But then again, how could she possibly stay?

  When she turned the key, the engine sputtered to life, and she drove off quickly — too quickly — kicking up gravel as she went. Then she roared onto the main road and raced off, watching the rearview mirror as much as the road.

  Okay, so…a plan. She desperately needed a plan. Which had to be heading to the airport and flying the hell away. There was no alternative. She could leave the keys in the car. Once she was safely on her way, she would find a way to get a message to Tim so he could retrieve the vehicle.

  Her hands gripped the steering wheel harder. Could she really do that to him?

  Then her jaw grew tight with resolve. How could he not have told her about himself? He’d seen Lamar shift, and yet he hadn’t told her about himself. That made him a liar, right?

  She forced her mind back to forming a plan. If there weren’t a flight, she would go to the adjacent heliport, book a ride to Oahu, and take it from there. But, Jesus. Where could she go? It was bad enough to have Jonathan and the likes of Lamar tracking her down. What if Tim came after her, too?

  Don’t be ridiculous, a little voice insisted, speaking from her heart. Tim would never hurt you.

  That’s what she thought, but he’d lied to her all along. What other lies was he capable of?

  She drove, clutching the wheel so hard, her knuckles hurt. Too shocked to cry, too frightened to do anything but stomp on the gas pedal.

  “Damn it.” She thumped the empty spot on her chest. Her great-grandmother’s pearl. She couldn’t leave Maui without it.

  She stretched across the car, fiddling in the glove compartment for a map. Then she gave up on that and worked from memory. The house at Pu’u Pu’eo wasn’t much farther than the airport, right? And traffic was light this early…

  She leaned forward, egging the pickup on like an aging steed. Every few seconds, she’d peek back then jerk her eyes forward again. It took all her resolve not to exit for the airport instead of driving on the familiar road along Maui’s North Shore. Long lines of surf pounded the cliffs, an echo of the emotions roiling around her mind. Twenty minutes later, she swerved onto the turnoff for the well-hidden property and revved up the rocky road. Then she ran up to the house at Pu’u Pu’eo—

  She pulled up short, staring at the peaceful scene.

  An owl hooted. The wind whispered through the trees. Somewhere in the distance, the crash of a waterfall could be heard.

  She bit her lip. The six days she’d spent there with Tim had been the calmest and most peaceful of her life. How could it end like this?

  It doesn’t have to end like this, a little voice said.

  Slowly, she ascended the stairs and pushed open the unlocked door. Then she walked through the empty house, touching the walls. Sniffing. Wondering whether the faint hint of coffee and flowers was really there or just in her mind.

  All that was good, the little voice said. Like Tim. Honest. Trustworthy.

  She stopped in the doorway to the room Tim had used, recalling how he’d rubbed his shoulder against the frame.

  He protected you when you had nowhere to go.

  A lump big enough to choke her formed in her throat, and no amount of gulping forced it down.

  She moved to the bedroom in the back and reached under the mattress. The pearl immediately warmed her hand, and she found herself sinking down to sit on the mattress.

  Please help me, she wanted to beg the pearl. Please tell me what to do.

  A silent minute passed, and she snorted. What was a pearl going to say or do? She had to stop waiting for help and find the power within herself to decide her own fate.

  The house was painfully quiet, but her memories were so vivid, it was almost surreal. Hailey rocked on the mattress, looking up at the hook where she’d always left her pink Aloha cap at night. The cap Tim had bought for her. Somehow, leaving that behind hurt as much as the thought of leaving her pearl. But the cap was back at Tim’s house…

  A stab of pain went through her. Was she really ready to leave Tim?

  She slipped her necklace on, paced back through the house, and stood in the middle of the yard, listening as an owl hooted sadly from the trees.

  Hoo. Hoo.

  She looked up. The bird might as well have called, Why? Why was she running from Tim, who’d never done anything but protect her?

  The hallway was unpainted. The gazebo just an image in her mind. The kitchen devoid of laughter and warmth. There was so much they hadn’t gotten around to doing. So much she hadn’t said.

  She looked around, then swallowed hard. Her grandfather had always told her to listen to her heart, but damn. Did that apply when bears were involved?

  She chewed that one over as she drove back down the road, much more slowly than the rush in which she’d arrived.

  Let’s say someone you know was a shifter, and you didn’t even know it, Tim had once said. A person you trusted. Worked with. Laughed with. Shared meals with. Everything.

  Her heart wept. Had he been trying to tell her?

  Someone who was always there and you never thought twice about. Let’s say you suddenly found out they were—

  “A werebear,” she whispered. Tim had been trying to explain. It was she who hadn’t been listening.

  It wouldn’t matter, because you know who they really are and what they’re like. That they’re good inside.

  A single tear trailed down her cheek. Tim wasn’t good inside. He was golden. But she…

  She looked in the mirror, finding too much that resembled her mother. The curve of her eyebrows. The suspicion coded into her pursed lips. The greedy, I want more sheen of her eyes.

  Hailey blinked a few times. Was that really her?

  She was about to pull over and think — really think — when a car passed her on the left, coming much too close. More than close, in fact. With an ear-splitting thump, the cars collided, side to side.

  “Watch it!” she yelped, fighting the car back under control.

  Instead of racing ahead or pulling over, the SUV remained in the oncoming lane. It jerked over again, smashing Tim’s pickup a second time.

  Hailey yelped, battling the wheel with stiff, outstretched arms. Was that driver crazy? The right tires of Tim’s pickup rattled along the narrow shoulder, kicking up gravel.

  “Stop!” she screamed, glancing left.

  But the SUV didn’t stop. It kept up th
e pressure until she had no choice but to swerve down a gravel road with a Do Not Enter sign. Bad choice, because the minute she flew out of sight of the main road, another SUV cut in beside her. One panicked glance showed Hailey the face at the driver’s wheel — a face straight from her nightmares.

  Lamar.

  “No—”

  Her scream turned into a gasp when the first vehicle banged Tim’s pickup from behind, forcing her onward. The dirt road was barely meant for one vehicle, let alone three, and she wrenched the wheel from side to side, avoiding boulders and trees.

  “Oh God…”

  Straight ahead, the forest thickened, and there was no way through. She hit the brakes, jumped out of the car, and ran. Behind her, brakes squealed, doors slammed, and footsteps pounded. She raced through the trees and scrambled over a dune. Then she shot out onto an open beach pounded by surf so wild, there was no way to wade in and swim away. She whirled around just as a group of men crested the dune above her.

  “Now what, sweetheart?” Lamar sneered. “Out of places to run?”

  Hailey took two steps to the right, but another man appeared and cut her off.

  “Miss me, honey?” he said with a self-satisfied grin.

  She blanched. “Jonathan.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Tim woke slowly, smiling before he even opened his eyes. His bear hummed lazily, still celebrating the experiences of the previous night. He tightened his arms and hugged Hailey closer, but she’d slipped out of his grasp. So he reached a little farther and opened his eyes.

  Rays of golden morning light sliced through cracks in the weathered cabin walls, illuminating everything but Hailey. The kettle on the stove shone, begging to be put to use. Sunlight glinted off the copper plate of the old-fashioned coffee grinder, and the brown-and-purple colors of the braided rug on the floor were richer than ever.

  But Hailey was nowhere in sight.

  He closed his eyes and twitched his nose, engaging his keen bear sense of smell. Still no Hailey.

  His eyes snapped open, and his heart revved. Where was she?

  He stood quickly and pulled on the jeans he’d discarded the night before. It couldn’t take long to find Hailey. Then he could sit her down with a mug of coffee and finally spill all. He had to, because there was no way he could let her go without trying to explain.

  Outside, the air was still, the plantation quiet.

  “Hailey?” he called softly.

  Had she gone to the beach? He sniffed again. Hailey’s honeysuckle scent hung in the air, but intertwined with it was…fear?

  He froze, concentrating on his nose, teasing apart the thousand different scents in the air.

  “Hailey,” he whispered, looking around.

  Panic was an unfamiliar emotion, and it rose in him like a wave, making it hard to think.

  There were two scent trails that matched Hailey. One led toward to the beach and felt calm. The other was tinged with fear and headed uphill. He forced himself to walk slowly, looking at the ground.

  “Crap.”

  He stared at his own footprint — a grizzly print, clear as day in the soft soil around the water pump. He hadn’t thought of that the previous night when he’d gone out. His bear had been so excited about having Hailey close that he’d had to shift and amble around, satisfying the urge to rub up against every stump and fencepost, marking his turf and everything in it — including Hailey — as his.

  Not far from the huge grizzly print were the marks of Hailey’s flip-flops. The angle and impression showed that she’d gone from strolling to stopping to…

  He looked up, feeling sick. She’d started running for her life.

  “Hailey.” He wanted to call for her, but it came out a choked whisper instead.

  Seconds later, he raced up the hill and into the barn, where he screeched to a stop. The pickup was gone. Hailey was gone.

  His first instinct was to race after her. The second was utter defeat. If she had figured out he was a shifter, there was no way she would ever trust him again.

  I told you to explain to her before, his bear cried.

  Before meant before sleeping with her, and his soul ached, knowing he’d never get to go to bed or wake up with her again. He stared out the open doors of the barn, ready to drop to his knees and yell. Or better yet, to drop and die. Why live if he couldn’t have his mate?

  He tried pulling a curtain over his mind to shutter away the emotions. Logic was better, and it didn’t hurt. And for a short time, he even succeeded. But then his bear piped up.

  Can’t let her go.

  All the pain rushed back in, and he really did drop to his knees.

  But what was he going to do — chase after Hailey and force her to stay? That would make him no better than Jonathan.

  Which was when it hit him that Jonathan was still out there. Lamar, too. Would they pressure Hailey when they discovered she was no longer under the protection of the Hoving clan?

  Anger welled up in him, overriding the pain, and he sprinted for Connor’s motorcycle. Even if he couldn’t have Hailey, he had to keep her safe. Seconds later, he was racing down the road, doubling the speed limit, desperate to track her down before she left the safety of Maui.

  He headed for the airport, because that seemed like the logical place for her to go. And that felt right, too, up until the last turnoff, where his inner compass pointed onward.

  Focus, damn it, he told himself. The airport made more sense.

  But his inner compass insisted, and at the last second, he swerved back onto the main road. Soon, he was on Highway 36, the road to Hana. A mile or two later, he pulled over, ready to roar in frustration. It made no sense. Why would Hailey go that way? All that lay in that direction was the house at Pu’u Pu’eo.

  His insides twisted. Turning back to the airport was the logical thing, but instinct kept insisting he should follow the coastal road.

  Logic, his mind insisted. Less painful that way.

  But a little voice kept begging him to listen. That way. Trust me.

  That inner battle, that push-pull, was something he’d never experienced before. Not even in the most desperate moments of his military career or the most lethal shifter fights he’d been dragged into. Why was it happening now?

  Because she’s our mate, you fool. Our destiny, his bear cried.

  If he could have reached out and kicked destiny, he would have. What was the point of finding his mate only to lose her?

  With a curse, he peeled off again, racing down the coastal highway instead of turning back to the airport. It would kill him to find out his hunch had been wrong, but hell. He leaned into every curve, driving at breakneck speed. Then the inner compass twitched again, and he eased off the throttle. Pu’u Pu’eo was another couple of miles down the road, but the compass pointed toward the coast.

  An unmarked road with a Do Not Enter sign flashed by on the left, and he whipped his head around. The side road was fifty yards behind him before he recognized the scent carried by the wind.

  Wolf shifter. And not Chase, nor their friend Boone.

  “Lamar,” he grunted.

  Throwing his left foot down, he dragged the motorcycle through a skidding 180-degree turn and raced back the way he’d come. With every sense on high alert, he bumped down the side road. Beneath the Do Not Enter sign was a smaller sign marked with an ominous, Dangerous surf. Beach closed. Lamar was out there, and so was Hailey. He could tell by the scent. Jonathan, too.

  Tim’s heart leaped into his throat when he spotted his pickup standing with its door open, surrounded by three SUVs. The driver’s side showed several huge dents, and his pulse soared. What had those bastards done to Hailey?

  He jumped off the bike, letting it drop as he took off on foot through the trees. Fast at first and then slower, with his shoulders hunched to remain concealed. The onshore wind was in his favor, keeping his scent from the other shifters, but it also brought him the acrid scent of Hailey’s fear.

  He sn
uck over the last few yards and peered out from behind the last tree. Before him, the dunes dropped off to the beach. Lamar and Jonathan were there, boxing Hailey in.

  Those two are about to die, his bear growled.

  Tim fought off the urge to sprint in and let his grizzly rampage. Hailey would think him a monster, and there were at least four other shifters to consider — three wolves and a bear, if his nose was right. They must have flown in to Maui covertly that very morning, because they certainly hadn’t been on the island last night.

  Wait. Think. Plan this out, he ordered himself. Hailey was unharmed — for now. He had to turn off the emotions roiling around his gut and think.

  To his surprise, his frantic bear — the beast who always rebelled when it came to matters of the heart — quieted and let him organize his mind.

  Hailey. Four shifters plus one human. Basically, the kind of hostage situation he’d trained for, and he had the element of surprise.

  Connor, he called through his mind.

  His brother was miles away, across the island, but Connor’s deep dragon growl sounded in his head.

  What the hell is going on? Why did you rush off? And where the hell is my bike?

  Tim didn’t bother to answer. Lamar and a couple of his cronies have Hailey cornered out here. I need backup. Fast.

  He couldn’t name the location, but Connor would be able to track him as clearly as Tim had been able to track Hailey down.

  Crap. Hold your position, Connor ordered. We’re on our way.

  Tim gnashed his teeth and crept closer. Normally, bears were among the most patient shifters, but that was Hailey out there, and his world was upside down.

  “No, I did not miss you, you jerk,” Hailey barked at Jonathan.

  Her face was a patchy color, showing the white of fear and red of anger. Tim forced himself to take in other details of the scene — the position of each man, the angle of a long-abandoned lifeguard tower, and the distance to each end of the deserted beach that terminated in rocky outcrops. Lamar was clearly alpha among the four shifters, and the others were on edge, watching for some cue from their boss.

  Jonathan tsked and touched Hailey’s hair, but she smacked his hand away.