“Then I’ll leave the flights to you.” She turned away from him.
“There’s just one more thing.” One thing that might send her running away from him forever. He had to handle this carefully, he couldn’t let her freak out.
Hannah turned to face him. “Yes?” She looked unsure and moistened her lips. Damn if he didn’t want to grab hold of her and kiss her.
“There’s something I need to tell you. Or, I guess, show you might be better. Easier.” He smiled apologetically. “I’m making a mess of this.”
“Whatever it is, you can tell me.” Her mouth turned up at one corner. “I’m not easily shocked.”
“This might be an exception to that rule.” He leveled his gaze at her. Perhaps he should ask her to meet him somewhere private so that he could shift in front of her.
We moved to Cougar Ridge for a reason, his cougar told him.
“Of course,” he muttered under his breath.
“Of course, what?” Hannah asked, looking more unsure.
“Let’s go outside.” He went to the bar door and pulled it open, holding it for her. “What I’m going to show you might be a little shocking. Just know that I won’t hurt you.”
“You’re a shifter.” Hannah tilted her head to one side. “Now who looks shocked?”
“How did you…” O’Malley closed his mouth since it wasn’t an attractive look to stand in front of his mate opening and closing it.
“Karl told me. He said he saw you shift one night when you were on patrol. It was near the end of the time you served together. There was an attack on your unit at night and you shifted into a large cat of some kind.”
“A cougar,” O’Malley confirmed.
“A cougar. That’s what he thought.” She inhaled a shuddering breath, her skin pale as she continued. “He saw you jump through the window of a building and attack the insurgent who was firing on your unit.”
“Ah, and I thought that went unseen.” He was grateful to Norton for not exposing his secret to everyone. The guy could have freaked out but instead, he’d confided in his sister.
Doesn’t fate work in mysterious ways? His cougar was happy and a little relieved their mate already knew he was a shifter.
It does, O’Malley agreed, knowing that if Hannah had freaked out then his cougar would have felt to blame if they lost her.
“And you’re cool with that?” O’Malley asked.
She let out a long breath. “Honestly, part of me thought Karl was making it up.” She looked over O’Malley’s shoulder. “But since I arrived in Cougar Ridge, I’ve seen a woman shift into a cougar and a guy shift into a bear and give his kids a ride on his back.”
“Baptism by fire.” O’Malley nodded and rubbed his sweaty palms on his jeans.
“You look relieved.”
“I was worried that you might freak out and make a run for it.” He was about ready to deliver his next piece of shifter information. Namely, the news that they were going to ride on the back of a dragon.
“I’m okay with it.” Her gaze rested on the ground before she looked him squarely in the eye. “Honestly, it’s one of the reasons I came to find you. I figured that if anyone had a chance of finding my brother, it was you.”
“I will do my best,” O’Malley told her. “But I can’t promise.”
“Your best will be enough,” Hannah told him. As she walked away, O’Malley wasn’t sure she believed that.
But he sure planned on making it the truth.
Chapter Four – Hannah
Hannah left O’Malley and walked back to her car on shaky legs. She carefully focused on putting one foot in front of the other, afraid that her knees might give out and send her sprawling across the sidewalk.
It was true. O’Malley could turn into a cougar. When Karl had told her what he saw, she’d figured it might be a result of PSTD. That her brother had imagined seeing a man shift into a large cat because it helped him put together the fragmented pieces of what happened in the attack. An attack where he’d frozen. Only for an instant, but it was enough to leave Karl guilt-stricken, full of blame and self-loathing.
Karl had never told their father. As far as Hannah was aware, he’d never told anyone else. Hannah was the person Karl trusted most in the world. That was why she had to find him.
Karl had always told her that if he was ever in a tight spot, trapped in a corner, O’Malley was the person he’d depend on to save him.
Karl had just omitted to mention that he and O’Malley were not friends.
So, why had the cougar shifter agreed to help her? Why risk his new business and drop everything to travel halfway across the world to help a man he barely liked?
Because that was what heroes did. And Karl had always said that O’Malley was a hero. Willing to risk his life for anyone.
Yet there was something else. Unless she’d imagined it, there was something in the way he looked at Hannah. A connection, a spark between them.
Or maybe she had imagined that, too. Perhaps she was just fooling herself because she longed for a deeper connection with another person.
But ex-Army? After living with her father and her brother all her life, did she really want to start a relationship with another ex-soldier?
Her mother had told her that you never really had a choice as to who you fell in love with. Love just happened. Sometimes it crept up on you, sometimes it hit you like a lightning bolt. But when it happened, it was hard to deny.
O’Malley would be hard for her to deny. There, she’d admitted it. Hannah had learned to be honest with herself. Since her family was experts at being dishonest with their thoughts and feelings.
Hannah unlocked her car and slipped into the driver’s seat. She planned to drive to Bear Creek, get something to eat, and grab some gear from the hiking store before she returned to O’Malley’s. He’d promised to have everything taken care of including their flight by this evening when they would leave. Hannah had given him the coordinates of the town Karl had last been seen.
She braced herself for the flight. The town was in a mountainous region. If they were going to land close by, they would need to travel in a small plane. A very small plane. Hannah wasn’t great with planes of any size. But for Karl, she’d do it. Of course, she’d do it. Hannah would do whatever it took to get her brother home. Alive.
He was alive. O’Malley had warned her that Karl might be dead and that would explain why he hadn’t made contact with anyone. Deep in her bones, she knew that wasn’t true. At least she believed it wasn’t true.
Whenever her dad or her brother were away from home, she worried about them, but she’d always stayed positive. Until she got news otherwise, firm concrete news, she always believed they were alive and well. When your family was in the Army, there was no other choice unless you wanted to go crazy thinking of all the scenarios when they might not be okay.
Hannah could thank her mom for instilling that in her.
Hannah could thank her mom for a lot.
She covered her mouth and stifled a sob. In that moment, she missed her mom more than anything in the world. She missed not being able to talk to her. She missed her reassurance that everything would turn out just right.