first flame caught and began to spread, she was beginning to feel at ease again.
Holly pushed to her feet and wriggled her toes as they steadily warmed, stared at the flames dancing across the logs and lost herself a little in them. In the silence. It was bliss.
She pulled down a deep breath.
Smelled cedar and snow, and wanted to growl. She lifted the left side of her T-shirt, pressed the material to her nose and breathed deep of that earthy scent. Her eyes slipped shut, calm flowing through her to chase the chill from her skin and the ache from her heart.
Saint.
Tears lined her eyelashes as she saw him fighting, as she saw him take a bad hit and watched crimson roll down his side.
Holly opened her eyes, not wanting to relive that moment, and hurried from the fire, heading for the sleek, modern kitchen. She opened the cupboards, looking for hot chocolate.
And found Cobalt’s whiskey.
Well, it would certainly warm her up.
She grabbed it instead and a glass from another cupboard, and carried them to the grey couch that faced the fireplace. She sank into it, uncorked the bottle and poured herself a glass. Sniffed it and grimaced as her nose stung. She had never been one for drinking, but she had never been one for a lot of things before.
Like feeling attracted to someone.
Wanting someone.
Holly shuffled into a more comfortable position on the couch and tucked her feet beside her. She stared at the fire as she nursed the glass of whiskey, sipping it, and then sighed as she clutched it to her chest. Her thoughts turned to Saint again. She was sure she should be glad to be home with her pride, but she missed the brute.
She worried about him.
For the first time in her life, she had found a male who had awoken feelings in her, needs that had been strong.
Were still strong.
She mulled over everything the brothers had said about him, trying to see in him what they did and weighing it against what she knew herself.
What she felt.
Was she like those people who fell for their captors, because they had grown accustomed to them and had been shown glimmers of kindness by them?
Saint had been kind to her at times, but she hadn’t exactly been held by him long enough to grow accustomed to him at all or view him through rose-tinted glasses. He had his rough edges, could be savage just as the brothers had painted him.
Holly sipped the whiskey again, enjoying the burn.
Thought about her time with Saint.
Right back to when he had grabbed her in the woods.
She could have escaped him then if she had shifted. Some part of her was deeply aware of that. Why hadn’t she? She frowned as she remembered why. She hadn’t wanted to shift. Something about Saint had made her not want to fight him.
Something about him had made her feel other things too.
Wicked things.
And things that had been frightening at the time.
Like an uncontrollable need to dominate him.
And a powerful desire to protect him.
That need had been unmistakable when the brothers had attacked him, when she had seen him desperately fighting them and had felt sure he had been afraid of losing her. A need had run through her.
A need to shift and defend him.
Holly poured another glass of whiskey and thought about how the brothers acted around their females. How Ember acted around Cobalt.
She swallowed it in one gulp as something dawned on her.
There was one reason she might be feeling possessive and protective of Saint.
The big gruff bear might be her fated mate.
Holly set the glass down and stood.
She needed to know for sure.
Chapter 14
Holly left at daybreak, refreshed from a night of fitful sleep and slightly worse for wear from a few too many whiskeys. The coffee she had downed had done nothing to wake her up, had only made her more jittery, so on edge that she hadn’t been able to eat anything.
It had been a fight to convince herself to wait for dawn before heading to Black Ridge, a trial that had taken its toll on her, had allowed horrific images of Saint bleeding out to sear themselves on her mind and fear to make a home for itself in her heart. There was no purging it now, not without seeing him.
She glanced off to her right as she hurried from the cabin, a war erupting inside her. She didn’t have time to talk to the brothers, and knew in her