The scent was stronger. His mouth watered, heat suffusing him, and he pivoted on his heel, was tracking the smell of berries before he realised what he was doing.
Saint dropped to his haunches when he spotted a lone figure ahead of him, near the frozen river.
A female.
He dragged down a breath, every inch of him locking up tight as he caught her scent.
Sweet berries and a hint of vanilla.
He scented something else on her too. She was cougar. Was she Ember? Did she belong to Cobalt?
Saint told himself to go, but found himself easing lower instead to observe her. Silent. A predator.
She tilted her head up as she turned, raised her gloved hand to cover her eyes as she peered at the canopy. Birds sang there but he paid them no heed, was too arrested by the sight of her.
Raven hair spilled from beneath her dark purple woollen hat, cascading over a form-fitting weatherproof coat in the same colour, and grey eyes with a strong hint of emerald sparkled as rosy lips curled into the semblance of a smile.
His heart started at a hard pace, drumming against his ribs as his blood heated.
She was beautiful.
A need to stand and go to her pounded inside him and he struggled to deny it, to remain where he was and merely observe her, studying everything about her. Like the fact she had to stand at least a foot shorter than his six-seven, and looked as if she weighed nothing more than a feather. There was a delicate sense of beauty about her, with her porcelain skin and the hint of pink on her cheeks, and he lost himself in watching her, the world around him fading away.
Until there was only her.
Her slender shoulders suddenly stiffened, her smile disappearing as she tensed and went still.
She had sensed him.
Saint lingered, wondering what she would do. Run away or stay?
Seconds seemed to stretch into an eternity as he waited, as her grey-green eyes slowly took in the forest.
Strange disappointment flooded him when she suddenly turned on her heel and walked in the direction of Cougar Creek, her pace brisk, boots chewing up the frozen ground beneath the pines.
Saint stared after her.
Driven to follow.
Chapter 2
Holly had come to Ember’s lodge for some company, but it didn’t look as if she was going to get it as her best friend slid an appreciative look down the back of her mate, Cobalt, where he worked in the kitchen to fix them both a cup of hot chocolate before he went out to work on clearing the snow. When Ember had convinced her to come to Cougar Creek for the winter wedding as her plus one, Holly had been excited and eager to escape her family over the holidays.
A time when her three older brothers, and even her parents, loved to tease her about another year passing without her finding a male she was interested in.
It had only been twelve years since she had matured at a century old, but her family were eager for her to find a male. Her transition into cougar shifter adulthood should have awakened her libido.
It had done nothing.
She still didn’t feel any spark whenever she was around men, whether they were cougar, human or other. Some of the ones she had tried dating were handsome enough, and she had expected to feel something when she had been with them, a tiny spark of passion.
But she had felt nothing.
Not even an inkling of desire.
She was beginning to think she was dysfunctional.
Escaping to Cougar Creek to avoid another holiday season filled with jibes and interrogations, daily inquests into her dead-on-arrival private life, had sounded like a great idea when Ember had suggested it.
Only Holly had forgotten to account for the fact she was sharing the creek with mated couples only, and it was driving her a little mad to say the least. Ember and Cobalt did their best to include her in things, but she felt like a fifth wheel, as if she was getting in the way of the newly-mated couple all the time. Rath and Ivy were inclusive too, and Storm and Gabi, the other couple who had come here to participate in the joint wedding ceremony and celebration, tried their best but they were normally too busy giving each other moon eyes to notice her.
She couldn’t remember the last time she had seen Flint and Yasmin. She felt twenty-percent sure she had seen them arrive, but since then, the two of them had