It was difficult for me to restrain from rolling my eyes. Catch his scent . Was that kind of lingo required when working for some kind of investigation unit? The man was a boulder in front of me, feet planted firmly, all crossed arms and bulging muscles. Nope, he definitely wasn’t going to give up.
I sighed and rounded the tree against my back. “Come on.”
I kept an eye out for anyone coming through the woods. Other than the couple who had already passed, the area seemed unoccupied. We reached the walkway that cut through the forested park, and I flicked a quick gaze at the marred surface. It was crazy that I had done that with a burst of energy from my hands.
I curled my hand against the buzzing in my left hand. It was like the reminder of that loosed energy had the power inside of me singing for release.
Quickening my steps, I left the path and started picking my way through the underbrush. Kael followed behind, something that left me uncomfortable. Just another reason to keep the knife in my hand . I had no problem threatening him with the weapon again if I needed to.
He was unnervingly quiet behind me, and I peeked over my shoulder frequently to assure myself he was still there. How could he move so quietly?
After getting turned around for a couple of minutes, much to Kael’s frustration, I finally picked my way through a patch of briars to the small clearing where I had buried the key.
“I buried it over there.” I raised my arm, pointing with the blade of my knife toward the little patch of disturbed earth.
Kael brushed past me. As he made his way forward, I stared at his back, a nagging feeling overcoming me again that I had seen him somewhere before. I worked to pull him from some forgotten memory but came up empty. I was fairly good with faces. Certainly I would have remembered his.
I shook my head against thoughts of his face—I didn’t care how handsome it was—and stepped across the brittle leaves to join him.
The PITO agent was squatting beside the hole, eyebrows lowered as he grumbled, “Burying the key. Brilliant idea.” He pulled at the dirt along the bottom of the dip in the earth, as if hoping to find it still in there. “Foolish. Completely foolish.”
My hands went to my hips, and I huffed loud enough for Kael to hear me. But if he had, he obviously didn’t care. He ignored me as he straightened. The grumbling continued as he walked around the area with quick steps. He wasn’t so quiet anymore, his footfalls snapping twigs and disturbing the litter of leaves.
After years of experience on digs around the world, I was accustomed to the careful search of clues. This was not how you went about it.
“You know,” I said, as Kael continued his assault on the forest floor with his hectic pacing. “You’re trampling all over any footprints or other evidence that man may have left behind.”
Kael growled and narrowed his eyes at me. I shrugged. It was the truth. He’d likely smashed any prints into oblivion under his worn leather boots. It certainly wasn’t my fault. After a moment, he glanced around, squinting through the trees.
“I’m going to try to track the mage.” His gaze swung back to me. “Try not to freak out. I don’t want your screaming to bring the attention of anyone here.”
I arched an eyebrow. “Scream? At what, exactly? Your serious lack of careful investigative skills?”
Kael’s lips curled back into a snarl. What was with this guy, always growling and grumbling?
His searing gaze fell, and then he was crouching to untie his boots. What was he doing? Did he have a twig poking his foot?
He pulled off the boots, then promptly followed with his shirt. I was too stunned to do more than stare. Luckily, he was nice to stare at, with his wide shoulders and hard muscles that made a great canvas for the occasional scars marring his slightly tanned skin. I always liked scars on men. They told a story, and likely not an easy one at that.
When he started unbuckling his belt, I was jerked from my ogling with a quickening pulse. It wasn’t until he started shucking off his pants that I finally found my voice.
“What the hell are you doing?” I didn’t know what this guy thought he was going to accomplish, but I was definitely out. It was like he was trying to get stabbed .
Two steps of retreat was as far as I got before my backward movement faltered. Energy flared from my hand in response to the abnormality happening before me. Kael’s body was jerking and folding in an impossible way. His bones cracked and broke at unnerving angles as his limbs twisted.
Kael had expected me to scream. I didn’t, but it was difficult when one moment I was staring at his disturbing, contorting body, and the next, a massive jaguar stood in his place.
His sides rose and fell with each breath, the spots patterned across his fur shifting slightly with the movement. The big cat’s head lowered, peering at me with pale yellow eyes.
I knew this massive jaguar. He was the same one I had encountered in the rainforest in South America. He was the same one that had tried to kill me.
My grip on my knife was slick with sweat. He pulled his unnerving stare from me and tilted up his head, whiskers flaring as he sniffed the air. Without another glance in my direction, he disappeared through the underbrush.
This is getting too weird.
The man had just changed into a jaguar. Letting the energy caressing my fingers wisp away, I turned and left. I hurried through the trees, not even bothering to be quiet. Kael would likely be angry at my retreat, but dude just shifted into an animal without warning me. What was I supposed to do? Stick around?
I needed to get out of the woods and get home.
As I broke from the trees and hit the pavement, an odd sense of déjà vu rippled through me. How many days had it been since I’d been fleeing under a swaying canopy with the large cat running nearby?
A few minutes later, I reached my house. I swept around to the back and went in through the door leading into the kitchen. The whole situation was crazy .
I dropped my bag on the floor and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. It was two-thirds gone in one go before I set it back. I leaned against the counter. The man had turned into a jaguar. Not just any jaguar, either, but the very one that had pursued me in the rainforest.
I wanted answers, but first I had to process this.
My stomach growled, reminding me I had other needs as well. Not feeling up to anything fancy, I set my knife on the counter and reached into the cabinet for a box of cereal. I turned back toward the fridge and gasped, dropping the cereal.
Kael was standing in my kitchen.
He was no longer a massive jaguar and was once again fully clothed. By instinct, I reached back and grabbed my knife. I pointed it toward him. How had he even come inside without me noticing? Did he retain some sort of jaguar stealth?
The man just shook his head. “Haven’t you already tried that?”
I scowled. “Get out of my house.”
The man had the audacity to ignore my request, and my weapon, and stride past me into the dining room. He pulled out one of the chairs and plopped heavily into it. He looked a bit winded as he leaned his elbows on the table.
I stalked after him. “What do you think you’re doing? You can’t just come in here and—”
“Do you have any water?”
I really wanted to bite back that no, I didn’t, but Kael did look like he was in desperate need of hydration.
His chest rose and fell rapidly with strands of hair slicked to his forehead. I snatched a bottle of water from the fridge and set it on the table a good two feet from him. Getting too close to him wasn’t something I was keen on after seeing him transform into a carnivorous wild beast.