Zarina’s heart was beating a hundred miles an hour. He’d never seen her get this upset before. Suddenly, a little bit of the weight he’d been carrying on his shoulders disappeared. He was still carrying an ass load of baggage, but by standing up to him and refusing to let him go it alone anymore, Zarina had somehow taken some of it herself.
He gave her a lopsided grin. “So, you care about me, huh?”
She seemed taken aback for a moment, eyeing him like she thought he was up to something. Or stupid. “Yes, but that should be obvious. I’ve chased you all the way across this very wide country and hiked alone through the wilderness to find you. Of course I care about you. You’re the most important person in the world to me.”
His inner lion let out a soft hum of contentment. “Then I guess I should admit one other reason I had for not taking the antiserum.”
“What’s that?”
“A part of me was worried you wouldn’t be interested in me if I wasn’t a hybrid anymore. That I wouldn’t be the same scientific challenge I am now.”
She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment. “Tanner, I’m interested in you because of who you are, not what you are. I thought that was obvious.”
He shrugged. “I’m a guy. Sometimes we miss the obvious stuff. It’s genetic.”
“I know for a fact it isn’t,” Zarina said. “You’re simply a stubborn man who would rather be alone than let a woman put herself at risk for you or share your pain. It’s time to let me in.”
Tanner suddenly realized the feelings he had for her weren’t one-sided—she felt the same way about him as he felt about her. It was insane to believe. She was a beautiful, intelligent woman who could have any man in the world, while he was an unemployed, damaged veteran with a moody personality and claws that came out at the worst possible time. He didn’t see the attraction on her part, but maybe it was time to accept it. That was why he stopped thinking so damn much and let instinct take over.
Cupping her face in his hand, he lowered his head and covered her mouth with his, kissing her like he’d wanted to kiss her since the day she’d swept in and risked her life to save his. Her taste nearly made him delirious, and he groaned in appreciation.
Zarina sighed and weaved her fingers into his hair, urging him to kiss her harder. He grasped her waist, tugging her close even as he pulled her ponytail holder off with his other hand and buried it in her silky tresses.
His body responded immediately, desire rippling through him as his tongue found hers, his cock hardening, his gums and fingers starting to ache. For once, he ignored the signs of a hybrid episode and simply lost himself in Zarina. This moment was exactly the way he’d dreamed it would be, even if he’d never imagined it would happen.
She glided her tongue along the tip of his, teasing it and making him chase her. Tanner pursued with a soft growl, fitting her more snugly against him. She was all womanly curves against the hard planes of his body.
He’d just about caught her tongue when she pulled away.
The move yanked Tanner out of the moment so quickly, it was painful. Breathing ragged, he gazed down at her, terrified he’d done something wrong. Pushed too fast. Nicked her tongue with his fangs.
But Zarina was regarding him with a drowsy, languid expression, a fire burning in her eyes so bright, he wondered if she possessed shifter DNA of her own.
“Maybe we should finish this back at the cabin,” she suggested.
He would rather have gone to someplace that had a big, luxurious bed made with soft sheets, fluffy blankets, and mountains of pillows. But the cabin would do just fine. Unless…
“Unless you think we should wait until later,” he said. “For a better time and place?”
Zarina went up on tiptoe to press a gentle kiss to his lips. “There will never be a better time or place to be with you.”
Stepping back, she took his hand and gave it a tug. He reached down and scooped up her pack, falling into step beside her and praying he was doing the right thing.
Chapter 8
It was already dark when they pulled into the driveway of Joanne Harvey’s secluded home on the northeast edge of the Scarborough city limits, and Chase was forced to slow down to almost a crawl on the curvy gravel road. Tate’s mouth twitched. That must have seriously irritated the former marine.
“Is it a law that every home up here has to be hidden in the woods at the end of a creepy driveway?” Tate asked.
Chase grinned. “Haven’t you ever read Stephen King? The man has spent most of his adult life convincing people this state is the scariest place in the world. We can’t go ruining all that work with a bunch of well-lit subdivisions sitting on perfectly manicured lawns. What’d be scary about that?”
Tate nodded. “Point taken. Maybe that should be on your license plates. Maine, the Scary State.”
The deputy seemed to consider that. “It could work, but I think the tourist association might have a problem with it.”
Tate chuckled. It was funny how well Chase was handling all this cloak-and-dagger crap. He’d expected the guy to hound him with nonstop questions all the way out here. What kind of research was Mahsood doing? Where was Brannon’s daughter now? How did anything Tate had told him explain the wounds that had killed Bell? But Chase had barely said a word, other than making an occasional comment on the how they might handle the impending conversation with Joanne. Tate was relieved as hell the deputy wasn’t asking questions he couldn’t answer yet.
Tate was just thinking that he was going to have to answer them eventually and about what the hell he was going
