Amber Eyes - Maya Banks Page 0,2

at him as he lowered his hand. Then to his surprise, she licked his palm and bumped her head against him.

An unexpected smile softened his irritation. She continued to rub against his hand, and he allowed his fingers to dig into her soft fur.

A low growl rumbled from her throat when Hunter swabbed at her paw, but she didn’t make any aggressive moves. Her body tensed under Jericho’s fingers, but she remained still.

“Hurts, doesn’t it, girl?”Jericho murmured.

Hunter gave him an amused look, and Jericho returned it with a sour gaze. Yeah, he’d given Hunter hell, but here he sat talking like a damn pussy to the animal.

While Hunter meticulously cleaned and applied the ointment to the inflamed wound, Jericho continued stroking her head. After a while, her eyes closed, and she went limp. She looked to be exhausted, and who knew how far she’d come through the snow to their cabin.

Hunter rocked back and stood from his crouch in front of the cat. “That’s about all I can do for her.”

“What was it?”Jericho asked.

Hunter shrugged. “Looks like she got it caught in a trap. Or could be she got into a fight with another animal. Hard to tell. Her paw is pretty mangled, though.”

Jericho watched through narrowed eyes as Hunter started for the door. “You’re not going to leave her locked up in here, are you?”Jericho didn’t like the idea of locking her in the porch. She might go nuts trying to get out once she figured out there wasn’t a way to escape.

“If I don’t, she’ll leave,”Hunter said with a shrug. “She doesn’t need to leave yet. She’s hungry and injured. We can help her.”

“Yeah, well, you’re cleaning up the mess when she goes ballistic,”Jericho said as he followed Hunter inside.

Chapter Two

The cougar waited patiently until the cabin went dark and all sounds within were silenced. Hunger gnawed at her belly, and pain was her constant companion. She needed food. She needed to shift.

Her eyes glowed in the dark as she stared, alert and listening for movement. It was time.

There on the floor, the golden brown fur rippled and blurred. Pink skin replaced animal hide. Long, honey colored hair, feminine tresses, flowed down her neck as the eyes of the cat became human.

Fingers curled and dug into the hard floor, and a human gasp of pain hovered in the room as her injured hand protested the change.

Never before had she attempted to shift when she was so close to humans. But she needed food, and she needed the rejuvenation her human form would bring. It had been too long since the cat had made a kill. Game had been scarce.

Now that she was human again, the raw meat of her prey was no longer enticing. Her mouth watered and her stomach growled at the thought of cooked food. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d enjoyed such a luxury.

She picked herself up and stood, wavering on unsteady legs. Chills chased up and down her naked skin, causing an uncontrolled shiver to quake her spine.

“I am Kaya,”she whispered as she stared down at her human form. It was a reminder, one she gave herself on the few occasions she embraced her humanity. Over the years, her memories had become fuzzy, and it was hard to separate what was real from what was fantasy.

She had been forgotten by the humans, but she wouldn’t let herself forget her past or her heritage.

On silent feet, she crept toward the cabin door, testing the lock. To her relief, it opened easily, and she slid inside the much warmer interior. After so long spent seeking what warmth she could in dens and small caves, the heated interior of the cabin was as close to heaven as she would ever come.

For a moment she simply stood there, soaking in the warmth, allowing her insides a slow melt. Then, remembering that she was no longer the cat, she hurried forward. It wouldn’t do for the two men to discover her.

Jericho and Hunter.

She didn’t know why she’d been drawn to them or what possessed her to seek them out each time they returned to their cabin. Maybe it was her own loneliness and a desire to be around other humans even when she herself was not in human form.

A large shirt lay carelessly over a chair as if thrown there without thought. She reached out and caressed the soft material. She inhaled, scenting the male who’d worn it last. The one called Jericho.

She loved his smell. His and