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Caleb apparently intended to retain his human form, but Mary Katherine was reassured when he pulled a lethal-looking knife with a blade as long as his forearm from a sheath on his back. Before they left the forest, the bear looked over its shoulder to where she stood with its brother. The golden brown eyes that had appeared so menacing before now seemed to glow with tenderness. Mary Katherine ran over to it and leaned down to place another kiss on its furry head. “You'd better come back to me.” And as she stood to watch them approach the building, somehow she knew that it would.

Mary Katherine automatically turned toward the large body that joined her on the bed. Still half-asleep, she tried to puzzle out what she was doing in bed. When they'd returned from Hillsboro, she'd sat in the parlor with Matthew and Grace to wait for Jacob's and Caleb's return. Despite her best efforts to stay awake, the events of the past twenty-four hours had taken a toll on her, and she must have fallen asleep. Matthew and Grace had probably brought her up to Jacob's room. Even in the dimness of predawn, she could see the lines of exhaustion on his face and feel the tension in his arms as he pulled her close against his bare chest. She sank into his embrace, grateful for his safe return.

“What took you so long?” she asked, pressing a soft kiss onto his chest.

He drew back a bit to look down into her face. Then he tilted her head back before his mouth descended on hers. She didn't know what she'd expected, but not this soft, tender exploration. He kissed her as though it were their first time—and maybe it was. Finally he broke it off and answered her question. “We wanted to be thorough. There were more of them than we'd originally thought.”

Mary Katherine sighed. One thing they didn't need was
more
Thakathi. Knowing that they could simply take over a person's body and do what they pleased with it made her quake inside. “Do you think you got them all?”

“I'm fairly certain we got all the ones in this area, but there will be more.” He must have felt her involuntary shiver at the note of foreboding in his voice, because he drew her closer into the warmth of his body. “But that's not what I want to talk about.” He shifted around until his upper body was propped up against the headboard of the bed, then adjusted her so she was still lying against his chest. “You kissed the bear. Were you caught up in the moment, or—”

Mary Katherine sucked her teeth in irritation. “No, I wasn't caught up in the moment. Actually I was thinking more clearly then than I probably have our entire relationship.”

“Woman, you have no idea what that did to me. It was all I could do not to drag you off somewhere, Thakathi be damned.”

Mary Katherine smiled, glad to know she had such a strong effect on him. She rubbed the side of her face against his chest, enjoying the contours of his strong musculature. His taut skin was warm and vibrant under her head, redolent with his usual tangy scent and something a bit
more
. She'd smelled it on him before, but now she realized that he smelled like the bear. The notion only gave her brief pause. No matter what form he took, he was always Jacob. As his mouth took hers again and he pressed her down into the fluffy feather mattress, she was totally absorbed into all that he was, and that's exactly how she liked it.

Lisa G. Riley

Author Lisa G. Riley's work has been called “character and issue driven,” “exciting,” “passionate,” and “thought provoking.” The author of four novels and four novellas, Ms. Riley specializes in writing romantic suspense with erotic elements. She has also written paranormal pieces. She resides in Chicago where she is hard at work on her next project. Please visit her at
www.lisagriley.com
or at
www.lisagriley.wordpress.com

Roslyn Hardy Holcomb

Roslyn Hardy Holcomb was born in North Alabama and has had a disparate career and varied interests. Her lifelong devotion to needle arts led to a stint on the editorial staff of Oxmoor House, the publishing division of Southern Progress, Inc. Regular volunteer work and a passion for child welfare inspired her to leave that field to pursue an advanced degree and a career in social service. Shortly after her son was born, she decided to become a stay-at-home mother and pursue a writing career fulltime. Her first novel,
Rock Star
, was recently re-released in mass market.