Amber Eyes - Maya Banks Page 0,21
his gaze softening just a bit. “The hospital, Kaya. Your arm is badly broken. We have to get you care.”
“No!”
Her vehement exclamation startled the two men. Jericho frowned, and Hunter looked at her in bewilderment. Then he knelt down in front of the couch and took her uninjured hand in his.
“You’re badly hurt. We have to get you to the hospital. I don’t think you understand how bad that break is.”
She shook her head. “No. I won’t go. I can’t go. Please. Just let me stay here. I will be all right.”
“No, goddamn it, you won’t be all right,”Jericho bit out. “We’re tired of doing things your way. This time we’re not asking, and you’re damn well not going to talk us out of doing what has to be done.”
Desperation lent her strength. She couldn’t let them take her to the hospital. She would be found out. Fear lodged in her throat. What would they do to her? Lock her away in a cage as they once had? Take her away from Jericho and Hunter like she’d once been taken from her humans?
She struggled upward, out of the constraints of the blankets. Hunter and Jericho both reached for her, their hands firm as she fought against them.
“Let me up,”she gasped. “Please, this is important. There is something I must tell you.”
God, don’t let them turn away. The idea of trusting them with her secret terrified her, but how else could she make them understand that she could not go down the mountain?
“Kaya, stop. You’re going to hurt yourself,”Jericho said.
She stopped her struggles and met their gazes. She let all her desperation bleed into her expression as she pleaded with them.
“Please,”she finally whispered. “There is something I must tell you.”
Maybe the urgency finally got through to them, or maybe they realized she wouldn’t participate unless they listened. Their hands fell away, and Hunter let out a long sigh.
“Tell us, Kaya. Make it fast so we can take care of your injury.”
She struggled to her feet, ignoring their curses and their protests as they tried to keep her on the couch. Finally she broke free and put distance between her and them.
“Don’t even think about going out that door,”Jericho growled. “We won’t let you go this time.”
She shook her head in silent denial. That wasn’t what she planned. No, what she planned was to strip herself bare in front of these two men. To tell them what she’d never told another human being. And pray they wouldn’t reject her.
Chapter Eleven
It was all Hunter could do not to snatch Kaya up and haul her down the mountain. Only the knowledge that he had to tread carefully with her so as not to hurt her even more tempered his impatience.
He wasn’t convinced that there was no boyfriend, husband or lover. Maybe even an abusive father. Someone was hurting her, and he’d be damned if he let her go back.
She stood between him and Jericho and the door, her slight body trembling as she held her injured arm. There was stark vulnerability on her face as if something scared the hell out of her. She kept glancing from him to Jericho with nervous eyes.
“Promise me you won’t react,”she whispered. “To what I tell you, I mean.”
Hunter swore. Hell, was she afraid they’d hurt her?
“We promise,”Jericho said in a soothing voice.
She glanced at Hunter for confirmation, and he nodded, wishing she’d just get on with it so they could get her the hell out of here.
“It will be easier if I just show you.”
Hunter stifled his response and silently urged her to just do it.
She closed her eyes and tensed all over. To his shock, her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor in a heap.
“Kaya!”
He and Jericho both started forward at the same time. Hunter dropped to his knees when the unbelievable happened.
Her body arched, and a moan slipped from her lips. Her skin came to life, rippling in the low light. Instinctively he stood and backed away, unsure of what the hell was happening. He bumped into Jericho, and the two men stared in horror as Kaya’s body simply changed form.
Limbs reshaped and shrank upward into her body, becoming more compact. Her mouth opened in a snarl, and she shook her head as fur raced along her neck and down her back. Fur. God almighty.
Her long silken tresses, the color of the cougar fur, became the hide of the cat. Hunter blinked and the mountain lion lay before them panting softly, her eyes