Page 2 of Hunted and Kept
My jaw drops and my eyes widen. “What? Why were you here yesterday?”
“I was walking by, and I noticed a guy. You were having a heated discussion. Who is he?”
I gasp. “Youarefollowing me! I knew it. You—”
“Following you?Following implies this is a habit, little girl. It’s not. I saw something yesterday on my way back to my truck is all.”
“And the other day at the diner? And at the bakery?”
“It’s a small town.”
I can’t help but laugh. “Are you serious?”
He stares back without a word.
Okay, now I’m freaked out.“You should go.”
He leans in, bringing the woodsy scent of the forest with him. “Not until you tell me who that man was.”
I roll my eyes and back away, though the subtle aggressiveness of all this has my clit throbbing like some wall licking, mental patient. “If you were so concerned about it, why didn’t you come in and ask?”
“You seemed to have yourself handled. I waited until he was gone before I left.”
“So… you are watching me?”
He smiles and rolls the map up in his sandpaper hands, tapping the edges on the counter to even the twist. “You’re funny. Take care, little girl. You shouldn’t let assholes talk to you like that. You ever need help getting rid of him, call me.” He walks out the door, wide and strong, tall and sure of himself. But above all else, arrogant as fuck.
My thighs ache and my nipples grow hard.What the actual hell just happened?
Chapter Two
Hudson
I should be hunting the bear. Instead, I’m hunting Ruby. Usually, she gets off work, grabs dinner at the diner, and heads home, though sometimes she does stop for pizza instead. Tonight, she evaded me somehow.How the hell did I let that happen? How can I pride myself in being the best tracker in the north if I can’t even track a predictable woman? Maybe that was my downfall. I assumed she was predictable.
I drag in a deep breath as I sit behind the row of trees near her cabin and watch. She has to show up at some point. If she doesn’t, I’ll know the piece of shit that was hollering at her in the library had something to do with it. If this were my town, I’d have taken him out right then and there. But it’s not, and the people here already hate my brothers and I. It’s time to play the long game. Take it slow, draw the asshole out, and get him to start something so I can finish it.
My phone buzzes on the dashboard and I reach up to answer. It’s my father, Sergei, and he’s not a patient man. No, this man is more the militant type. I’d love to say he adopted the behavior after some horrible accident or tragic life event, but the man was born with a chip on his shoulder and I’m pretty sure he’ll die that way.
“Yeah.”
“You’re not here, and we need those maps.” His tone is low and gruff.
“I’ve got a thing to handle. I’ll be back by morning.”
“Morning?” he scoffs. “We’re not here to fuck bitches and cause trouble. We’re here to catch a bear, Hud. Get your ass back here. We need to map the plan for tomorrow.”
Well, I never thought I’d hear my old father say ‘fuck bitches and cause trouble’but there it is.
“The plan is to run the bear off West Canyon Road and into the forest behind that. If he’s not there, we’ll reassess.”
He coughs before he speaks. “What makes you think he’s on West Canyon Road?”
“Rowan said he saw him last on the ice out at the lake, moving west. There are caves all along the property line by the mines. It’s logical that he’d end up there with a full belly. Like I said, I’ll be back by morning.”
My father laughs under his breath sarcastically. “Boy, I don’t know what the hell you’re doing, but I swear if you cause this family anymore trouble here, you’re in for it.”
My brothers and I are here with my father on a mission to hunt this grizzly. We aren’t being paid and there’s no barter. This hunt is solely because my father enjoys the thrill of a good hunt. He’s known all over the country as the man who could hunt Ghost, an elusive mountain lion causing damage to property out in California. The cat even killed two men.