* * *
Rebecca emerged from the bathroom freshly scrubbed and still damp. She felt cleaner than she had in almost longer than she could remember. Bathing in rivers and streams worked but it was cold and during the coldest part of the winter, most were frozen. She'd been lucky to find enough water to drink, much less bathe.
She looked up and down the hallway to be sure she was alone before moving quickly through the hall to the bedroom that Nick had told her to use, and quietly closing the door. The idea of being caught wearing nothing but a towel seemed somehow more intimate than when she'd been completely naked after shifting. She found a set of mismatched sweats sitting on the foot of the bed and slipped them on, wishing for a moment that she had underwear. She rubbed her wet hair with the towel to get as much of the moisture from it as she could before she hung towel over the back of a chair and went in search of her host.
She padded carefully on her bare feet into the living room of the small house, looking around for Nick.
"Hello?" she called tentatively.
"In here," Nick's voice came through another doorway.
She followed the sound and discovered that Steve and Nick, both dressed much to her relief, were in the kitchen. Nick was standing in front of the stove stirring a large pot while Steve sat at a round dining table to the side, watching him and drinking from a mug that never quite seemed to make it to the table surface. Steve seemed smaller than Nick, though it was hard to tell with him sitting. He had well-tanned skin and deep brown eyes that were hard to read. She couldn't tell from this angle if his hair was very short or pulled back tight against his head.
"Do you have a comb or brush I could borrow? I need to get these tangles out of my hair before it dries."
"Sure, I'll get you one. Have a seat, I'll be right back," Nick offered, leaving her alone with Steve. She stepped slowly into the room but didn't sit. She still wasn't sure of these men. Moments later Nick returned a small hairbrush in hand.
"Sorry, it's all I have." He held it out to her.
"It's great. Thanks. I'll be right back." Rebecca took the brush back to the bedroom and quickly detangled her light brown hair. Having no way to pull it up, she left it curling softly past her shoulders and down her back. When she finished with her hair, Rebecca went back into the kitchen, the smell of the food on the stove drawing her.
"I left the brush on the counter in the bathroom. I hope that's okay," she said, entering the room.
"That's fine, thank you." Nick continued to stir the pot without looking up. "Are you hungry?"
"Starving. Whatever that is, it smells divine."
"I can't guarantee how it'll taste. I'm not the best of cooks," he admitted.
"I can promise it'll be the best thing I've eaten in months." She inched closer to the men.
"How long have you been hiding?" Nick looked up, meeting her eyes.
"That depends. What's the date?" she asked in return.
"June third."
"Then it's been just over a year since I left my Chanat."
"Do you mind my asking why you left?" Nick asked quietly.
Rebecca shrugged, not seeing any reason she shouldn't tell them. The sooner she figured out how they felt about the situation and what they intended to do, the sooner she could make plans.
"I didn't want the arranged marriage my father was trying to force me into."
"An arranged marriage?" Steve asked, surprised. "I didn't think anyone did those anymore."
"Some do," she answered wryly. "But those that do, don't advertise it. Someone might put a stop to it. Unfortunately, no one in my Chanat was willing to defy my father and do that."
"Is your father the Khan?"
"No, he's the Kadri, but it was the Khan he'd arranged for me to marry. Anyone who wanted to stand up for me would have had to defy them both." The whole thing still disgusted her. "My only options were to accept the marriage or run. While he wasn't a bad guy, I wasn't going to be trapped with someone thirty years older than me for the rest of his life, even to be Karhyn. So I ran."
"I can't really say I blame you," Nick sympathized. "I assume you weren't potential mates?"
"No. At least he wasn't mine. If he were maybe I wouldn't have been so desperate to get out of there."
"So you ran, and you've been on the run for over a year now?"
"Pretty much. Every time I'd start to think I'd gotten away, they'd turn up again. I finally decided I had to disappear. So, I disappeared into the forest. I've pretty much kept to the mountains. I've been roaming the forest and living off the land for months now."
"How long were you out there before we found you?" Steve took another sip of coffee.
"I've only been in your territory for a couple of days. I knew I was in someone's territory and I planned to move on, but I needed to rest for a day or two," she said honestly.
"When did you go off the grid?" He wanted more details.
"Just before Thanksgiving."
"Where?"
"The last place they caught up to me was St. George. Where are we now?" She was curious. "Somewhere in Arizona I assume?"
"Utah? You've come all the way from Utah?" Steve couldn't seem to believe it.
"Yeah. Though I have no idea where here is," she hinted.
"We're in the White Mountains, outside of Alpine to be more exact. You’re only barely still in Arizona. A few more miles to the east and you’d be in New Mexico. St. George is more than 400 miles away." Nick let her know.
"Four hundred miles in six months. Not too bad, but not as far as I hoped. Not far enough that they won't be looking if I pop up," she reasoned.
"You think they'll still be looking after six months of nothing?" Nick asked.
"I've made the mistake of assuming they'd give up before. I won't do it again. Given the chance, they'll drag me back and force me to marry whomever my father wants. If it's not the Khan, then it'll be someone else." Something inside told her she could trust the Khan in front of her. She wasn't so sure about the other man but if Nick trusted him enough to guard his back, she figured she could probably trust him too.
"Let's not worry about that right now, kitten," Nick said, spooning stew out of the pot and into bowls. "Sit down, have a bite to eat. We've got plenty of time to decide what we're going to do. We won't make any decisions tonight." He pulled spoons from a drawer and set the bowls on the table.
Rebecca sat down at the table, still undecided about what she was going to do.
When he’d finished eating Steve excused himself and left the small house. Rebecca assumed he had a place of his own nearby, but didn't ask.
"Why don't we go in the living room and sit down. We'll be more comfortable in there," Nick suggested. She followed him into the larger room. When he offered her first choice of seats, she sat on one end of the sofa curling her bare feet under her.
"Where are you from?" Nick sat on the sofa close to her but not actually touching.
"I'm not sure I want to tell you that." She hesitated.
"You've already given me enough information that with a little investigation I could find out easily. I don't want to have to do that, I want you to trust me enough to tell me what I need to know, but I won't push you to right away."
"Thank you."
"I'd like to give you as much time as you need to learn to trust me." He gestured with his hands as he spoke. "But the urge to do this is strong, it's hard to resist. If you don't want it, say so. Tell me to stop and I will." He leaned toward her, slowly dipped his head, giving her time to stop him before he settled his mouth over hers.
He kissed her gently at first, careful not to push too fast. Coaxing her mouth open, he swept his tongue inside, tasting her. He brought one hand up to her shoulder, sliding it along her neck and up to her face, stopping only when it cupped her jaw. Unable to stop himself, he wrapped his other arm around her, pulling her close against him as he deepened the kiss. His tongue danced with hers as they both lost themselves in each other's taste. He inhaled her scent, savoring the aroma of caramel that was uniquely hers.
Rebecca was so caught up in his kiss that she barely noticed when she wrapped her arms around him. It wasn't until the muscles in his back flexing under her hands pulled her roughly back to her senses. She pulled away, gasping from the intense, unexpected sensations his kiss had wrought. She backed away from him on the couch, moving until she no longer touched him. Nick moved away as well, trying not to crowd or scare her.
"I didn't mean to scare you," he said.
"No, you didn't scare me. The intensity surprised me, but I'm not afraid of you."
"I'm glad you're not afraid, but I still shouldn't have."
"It's all right, I enjoyed it."
"Still, I shouldn't have. I want you to learn to trust me and pushing myself on you isn't the way to earn that."
"My instincts are telling tell me I can trust you. I've second-guessed everything and everyone for so long that I've even started to second-guess my instincts. I know better."
"I'm relieved you've decided to follow your instincts, and that they tell you I can be trusted. But I still shouldn't have done it." He stood up and started to pace back and forth across the small room. "I should be finding out as much as I can about you and your situation so I can protect you."
"Why do you feel like you have to protect me?" She tilted her head to one side as she waited for his answer.
"You just told me you know better than to question your instincts, right? Well, so do I. Right now they're screaming at me to protect you, at all costs." He tried not to frighten her by going into the details of what his instincts were telling him. She could be his mate, could rule his Chanat by his side, but only if she agreed.
I can't lie to him anymore, she thought. "I have a confession to make," she admitted reluctantly.
"Oh?" He stopped pacing and stood in front of her, watching, waiting.
"I lied. My name's not Rachel."
"I know." He resumed pacing, unconcerned. He seemed to be trying to burn off some kind of extra energy with the pacing.
"You know." She repeated, clearly surprised. "How?"
"I sense lies. I knew you lied when you told me your name was Rachel, but I didn't want to push. I wanted you to trust me enough to tell the truth without being forced to." He stopped again. "You may not have noticed, but I never used that name."
Rebecca was silent for a moment, considering. He was right, he'd never called her Rachel he'd always called her kitten. She hadn't realized it until he pointed it out but now it seemed obvious. She looked up at him, speechless.
"Do you want to tell me your real name or should I just keep calling you kitten?" He watched her.
"Rebecca, my name's Rebecca," she said quietly. "But kitten is okay too."
"Rebecca," the way his voice caressed her name sent warmth deep inside her. "Such a pretty name. Do people call you Becca or Becky?"
"No, just Rebecca,"
"Thank you for trusting me with your name, Rebecca." He went down on one knee in front of the sofa and took her hand, as if offering a vow. "I'll do everything I can to keep you from regretting it." His tone sincere he released her hand. He stood and resumed pacing. "I need to know as much as you can, or are willing to tell me. I'd like to know where you're from?" Nick asked again.
"Idaho. I'm from a small town in northern Idaho," she admitted, nervous. Not because it was him, but because she hadn't told anyone the truth about where she was from since she'd fled over a year ago.
"Thank you. I'll tell you know, I'm gonna do some research. I'm not contacting your Chanat but I need to see what I can find out about them. I'll be discreet. I don't want them to know I'm asking about them. But I need to know what we may be up against, what to prepare for."
"I understand. No good Kahn would want to lead their Chanat into what could be a dangerous situation blindly. I wouldn't want you to, but trust is hard for me. I haven't had anyone I could trust in a long time."
He stopped pacing again and looked at her, meeting her eyes. "You're not alone anymore, kitten. Try to remember that." She only hoped he meant it.
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