Falke’s Captive

our side, and loves us.”

“Fuck yeah.” Everything would be fine.

“Now we just have to tell our big brother we fell for the trigger-happy scientist.”

“Fuck…”

“Yeah.”

Chapter Eleven

Kelan…Beth smiled as she drove to the lab. Slowly, because she just couldn’t rush this morning.

She’d wanted to stay and savor the moment. The day. The miracle that had been given her. Reidar…

Not just what they were, but that they loved her as much as she loved them. They loved her enough to entrust her with their biggest secret for safekeeping.

Her heart melted into a gooey puddle in her chest every time she remembered Kelan, sitting at her feet as a huge, beautiful cougar but looking at her with eyes as intelligent as her own. Eyes full of trust and love. He’d been so gentle, so tender in his explanation, and then so hard and demanding in the shower. She grinned as a tingle raced down her arms at the memory.

Reidar she adored for his softer side. He liked to cuddle, hold hands. He had an inherent tenderness about him that made her want to snuggle. Only in that brief moment when he wouldn’t let her call the police had he frightened her, but she realized now he’d acted out of his own fear, not anger. He wasn’t truly a threat to her, only to her heart. His smile alone could make her heart palpitate.

Kelan…She could spend the next eighty years with him and probably never know what his next move would be. Sweet and gentle or unmovable like granite. His eyes went from tender and loving to brittle with demand in an instant.

Oh, did that ever turn her on.

No wonder the men had such strong animal magnetism. They took having a wild side to a whole other level.

Almost giddy with excitement, she squealed and then laughed at herself. Whoever would’ve thought it? Beth “Bookworm” Coldwell had two men—two shape-shifting catamount men—who rocked her world.

She grinned as she turned onto the short gravel road and saw the big, white University of Washington trailer sitting in the middle of the clearing. She parked, turned off the Jeep and grabbed her laptop and purse. Schooling her features, hoping she didn’t look like a woman who’d been well and truly fucked, she walked up the steps and reached for the doorknob.

A mountain lion yowl had her pausing only an instant before she shoved the door open. In the cage was a big, angry puma. It hissed, yowled, growled and paced the small confines. And when it saw her, it got louder and took a swipe at her through the bars, missing by more than a foot.

“About damn time you showed up, Elizabeth,” Professor Whitmore said, anger in his tone. “Did you find out who broke in here?”

When she turned toward the desk where Whitmore sat, she saw one of the Falke collars sitting in front of a monitor, and her gut clenched. She glanced at the furious cougar again, then back to Whitmore.

“Well?” The professor’s agitation was obvious.

“Uh…no. No, I didn’t.” She shut the door and forced her voice into casual conversation, but raised it enough to be heard over the growling, spitting cougar. “You captured another cougar. Where was this one?”

Whitmore scowled at her as she approached the desk and ignored her question. “You didn’t find out who did it? It’s been hours since I called you.”

She laid her laptop case on the desk and unzipped it. “Yes, sir. I had to check all the video, hours of it. I’m sorry. But I found nothing.” She pulled the laptop out and opened it. “Are you sure the files weren’t corrupted or something?”

“Don’t be an idiot. One file, maybe, but five files don’t just vanish. Besides, I found evidence of a shredder program being run to record over the data with fucking gibberish. It’s irretrievable, and that doesn’t happen by accident. I told you that.” He grabbed the laptop and turned it toward him. “Show me the video.”

She reached over and clicked on the LabCam icon, hoping Reidar had been more careful this time in covering his tracks. She hadn’t realized the professor knew much about computer software. “Um… there’s every hour since Tim installed the software.”

She glanced at the cat, who now batted at the door latch, and she realized Professor Whitmore hadn’t used the padlock Tim purchased for the cage. Don’t do it. Don’t do it. I’ll get you out.

He didn’t seem to hear her though. Could they hear thoughts? She hadn’t asked. She could hear theirs, when they wanted her to, but did it go the other way? Wouldn’t they know more about what was in her head if they did?

Professor Whitmore stared at the computer, clicking through the files. Beth opened her desk drawer and pulled out a Sharpie and a yellow legal pad she used to take notes. “So,” she said to Whitmore as she moved a bit behind him and uncapped the marker. “What are the plans for today?”

Still watching the computer screen, Whitmore said, “We’re moving the lab. You and Tim will start the fieldwork in that northern section of the forest.”

As he spoke, she wrote in huge letters, I’ll get you out.

“Okay. Why are we moving the lab so soon?” she asked, and held the notepad behind her back so the cat could see it. When a growl ended with an uptick that almost sounded like a question mark, she gave a silent sigh of relief. This truly was a Falke brother.

Then it hissed.

“We have this cat from here. We need to move.” He still gazed intently at the computer screen.

She wrote, Trust me. Your name? And held it behind her back again.

“When did you get this cougar? He looks an awful lot like the Falke brothers’ pet.”

Sindre. My name’s Sindre, and you’ve got to get out of here. Get help!

“It is,” Whitmore said.

“Have you taken his blood yet?” She scribbled as she spoke, You’ll be okay. I’ll take care- “What are you doing?”

She looked up from writing to see Whitmore staring at her. “Nothing.” She flipped the page and began writing again. “Just taking notes on what needs to be done today. We’ll have to check out of the hotel. Give the key to the gate here back to the forestry department—” Whitmore snatched the legal pad from her hand and flipped back. “What the hell?”

She backed toward the door.

Run! Get out now. Sindre’s warning was loud enough to make her flinch.

Whitmore lunged out of the chair and grasped her arm. “Where do you think you’re going?”

She shook her head. She didn’t know what to say. “Ow, Professor. You’re hurting me.” His grip loosened, but her attempt to twist free failed. “What’s gotten into you?”

He still held the notepad in one hand and was staring at what she’d written. “Do you think that cat can read?”

She shook her head even harder. “That’s insane, Professor. Cats can’t read.”

He pulled her toward the desk and shoved her into a chair. “Then explain this.”

Her face heated as she read the last words she’d written for the cougar. “Look, I was just doodling.”

“That’s not doodling.”

“It’s starting lines.”

“What?”

Trying to think fast, she rolled her eyes and said, “I’ve been toying with an idea I have to write this…um… fictional story, you know, inspired by some of the things I’ve seen in this forest. I knew you wouldn’t understand, so I lied—about taking notes, I mean.”