Blue would just make them live to regret it.
“There better not be a bird in there,” she muttered, reaching for the knob.
When Blue opened the door, she was startled to find a man kneeling before her fireplace, lighting the kindling. The lanterns in her room provided sufficient light, and it wasn’t cold enough for a fire. Was Shepherd wearing a long wig, trying to pull a fast one on her?
No, the man was much taller.
His sleeves were loose and tattered, his clothes as brown as the mud on his boots. And his hair! It was as long as Niko’s but messy and unwashed, adorned with a random braid here and there.
Blue tiptoed to the desk on her right and stealthily lifted her tomahawk.
“You can’t sneak up on a Chitah,” he said softly.
The rich timbre of his voice raised the hair on the back of her neck. After he set the screen in front of the fireplace, the man stood and looked over his shoulder at her, a sideways smile inching up his face.
Blue squeezed the handle of her axe, her heart pounding against her chest. It was him—the Chitah who’d helped them in West Virginia. The one who carried her naked and bleeding body back to the cave after the lion attack.
The man she’d kissed to repay a favor Raven owed him.
As he approached her with a purposeful stride, she suddenly began to regret that kiss.
The Chitah folded one arm over his middle and bowed. “Matteo Leone, at your service.”
“I know who you are.”
He straightened his back and locked his golden eyes on hers. Matteo was tall like most Chitahs, but few had his dark hair, and he made no effort to hide it with its long length. Even his beard was long and sparse, bound with a few small elastic bands.
“Forgive the formal introduction, female. I assumed that your memory of me might be hazy.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my memory, but I think there’s something wrong with your head. What are you doing here? And I don’t just mean in Cognito but in my bedroom. Did you change your mind about a cash payment for helping us? I was under the impression that you accepted a guide job at the children’s sanctuary.”
Matteo took a step forward and held her gaze. “When a man reaches a fork in the road, he must choose his path. It’s an honor to help out those children, but I keep glancing at the other road, and I have to know if it’s worth traveling.”
“I don’t understand.”
He suddenly took her free hand and lifted it to his mouth before placing a lingering kiss on her knuckles. “Female, I’m here to court you.”
Chapter 4
Early that morning, I received a text from my father. He asked me to stop by before going to see Ren, but I had no intention of taking him with me. Crush needed to stay uninvolved in dangerous affairs, even if the Shifters were his friends.
After putting on ripped jeans and a maroon T-shirt, I stood in front of the latticed window in my bedroom and gazed down at the vast estate behind the mansion. Hunter was running as fast as he could down a grassy hill, holding a spool of string in his hands. Shepherd held the kite over his head. Neither of them looked like they knew what they were doing, but they were having fun. The estate behind the mansion, cleared of most trees except a few here and there, resembled a rectangular carpet that rolled out before us. There were patches of wildflowers, especially near the hill that sloped down. The outer perimeter was surrounded by trees that went on as far as the eye could see. My gaze skated off in the distance toward the far tree line on the right near the pond, and I noticed a man circling a tent. I squinted, but it was too far to make out any details.
“What the hell?”
Panicked, I grabbed my purse and flashed down the hall to the second floor. “Someone’s outside,” I said, flying into Wyatt’s office, out of breath.
Gem and Claude’s apathetic faces greeted me from the black L-shaped sofa, where they were snacking on miniature donuts.
“Didn’t you hear me?” I asked in disbelief. “There’s a strange man lurking out back on our property. I couldn’t see if there are any others, but he pitched a tent.”
Wyatt slowly swiveled his computer chair and yawned. “That’s Blue’s new boyfriend.”
My heartbeat slowed. “What?”
Blue peered over the beanbag chair in front of the TV and stared daggers at Wyatt. “What did I tell you about the jokes?”
Wyatt angled his chair to hide from her and gave me an exaggerated wink. “What I meant to say is that he’s courting Blue against her will.”
Claude dusted the powdered sugar off his hands. “That’s Matteo. Do you remember the man who helped us deliver the young to the sanctuary? I think they called it Wonderland.”
I jerked my head back. “That’s him? He came all this way just for Blue?” Matteo the mountain man must have been desperate for female companionship to travel all the way up to Cognito. On the bright side, at least he wasn’t here for me.
Gem practically swooned as her head fell against the back of the sofa. “I think it’s romantic.”
Blue stood. “There’s a fine line between romance and stalking.”
“Give him a chance,” Gem urged. “He’s a little dirty, but he’s amiable and brave. Claude told me all about what he did.”
Blue leaned against the vending machine and lifted her chin, daring anyone to challenge her. “I don’t want him inside the house. If he wants to camp out on private property, Viktor can deal with him. I’m dead serious. The last thing I need is a lovestruck Chitah following me around.”
“Courting is our way.” Claude crossed one leg over his knee, wearing nothing but grey sweatpants and a lazy grin. “I don’t know why Matteo would choose a Shifter when his kindred spirit could be out there, but don’t dismiss the seriousness of his intentions. This is how we prove ourselves the most worthy of all males. If he’s courting you, he’ll do it in the most honorable way.”
She folded her arms. “We’ll see how much honor he has left when he has to bathe in the pond.”
I hooked my purse strap over my shoulder and heaved a sigh. “Has anyone seen Christian?”
“Not since he left early last night,” Claude replied.
Wyatt rolled his chair around. “Maybe he’s cuddled up postcoital in the arms of a blond waitress, regretting his life choices.”
“If anyone sees him in the next hour, tell him to meet me at Crush’s house. If I’m not there, he can text me.”
Before leaving the room, I casually strolled over to the surge protector and stepped on the switch. All the electronics on Wyatt’s desk shut off.
“Hey!” Wyatt shouted as I left the room. “You’re worse than the spooks!”
Following a lengthy detour, I pulled my truck into my father’s driveway and parked behind his shiny red pickup. When I glanced at my passenger, I realized my father was going to murder me. After sleeping on it the night before, I decided that if he didn’t want one of his Shifter buddies babysitting him, I would find a suitable replacement. So I’d stopped off at the local animal shelter and found him a dog.
Well, more like a beast.
Aside from a rabbit he’d once given me, Crush had never owned a pet. Now that I knew about all his biker buddies, I understood why. Shifters generally weren’t fond of pets. It wasn’t that they didn’t like animals; they just didn’t like the idea of owning an animal that, in their mind, should be living free. As if poodles and basset hounds could ever run wild. They needed a master.