so half of those five miles were in the wrong direction. Bottom line, it was a wasted morning.”
As long as they were safe, Kendra was willing to deal with the delays, but she knew that all this hiding was driving Declan crazy. “Do you think we should try and go a little farther today or just hole up here?”
“My gut says to get out of here as soon as we can, so we can get a few more miles between us and the hybrids roaming this general area. But…”
“But?” she prompted.
“I’m worried if we head right back out, we’ll run right into the arms of that same pack of hybrids that chased us in here. It would probably be better to stay hidden until later—nightfall maybe—then try and slip out of here when they’re not expecting it.”
Kendra sure as hell wasn’t going to complain about resting for a while—she could use it—and this cave was the most secure place they’d stumbled on since this nightmare had started.
“How did you know this cave was here?” she asked.
Declan frowned and shifted on the poncho. “It’s kind of hard to put into words¸ but I always know whenever I’m near a place where I can hide or lay low for a while if I have to. It’s just this feeling I get. Like a sense of security. I know it sounds crazy.”
Actually, being a bear shifter who instinctively knew when a good hibernating place was nearby made perfect sense. The thing she didn’t understand was why having a talent like that seemed to disturb Declan.
She’d been evaluating Declan and his team for many years, and while they were certainly amazing in the field, she’d noticed that Declan depended on his natural shifter abilities the least of all the shifters at the DCO. She’d always thought it was because he didn’t have as much shifter DNA as they did, but maybe that wasn’t it at all. Maybe Declan didn’t use his shifter skills because he didn’t want to.
“It doesn’t sound crazy,” she told him. “Bears have to hibernate, so it makes sense that they have a natural talent for finding safe places to do it. You’re a bear shifter, so it makes sense that you have the same talent.”
“If you say so. It never seemed like a worthwhile talent to me.”
She gave him a smile. “It sure came in handy today.”
Declan grunted and reached for his pack. He pulled out another energy bar and split it, then handed her half. “I know you won’t eat unless I do, so I’m not going to waste my breath.”
“Good. If I have to eat these, so do you.”
She took a bite and slowly chewed, pretending it was a candy bar instead. If they ever got out of here, she was never going to eat another one of these dry, tasteless things again. To distract herself while she ate, she spent the time checking out Declan’s body. But she could only gaze at his fine-looking body for so long. It was like dreaming about dessert when you were on a diet; it only frustrated you in the long run.
She turned her thoughts back to why Declan didn’t embrace his shifter side instead. No doubt it had something to do with what had happened with Marissa.
Kendra put her chin on her T-shirt-covered knees and dragged her eyes away from those killer abs to focus on his beautiful blue eyes. “You mind if I ask you a personal question?”
He leaned back on his hands, showing off more of those perfect abs. “I suppose that depends on how personal the question is.”
“Fair enough,” she said. “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, but I sometimes get the feeling that you’re keeping your shifter nature under wraps.”
His eyes narrowed. “What do you mean?”
“I didn’t mean to offend you,” she said quickly. “It’s just that in all the time I’ve known you, I’ve never seen you cut loose and shift all the way. In fact, up until two nights ago, when I was telling you about Ivy being tortured by Stutmeir’s doctors, I’d never even seen your eyes glow red like they did. And just now, when I asked you how you found this cave, you seemed as if you were uncomfortable admitting it was one of your shifter talents. If I’m out of bounds here, just say the word, and I’ll drop it. But I really am curious.”
Declan closed his eyes. When he opened them again, they were filled