Page 21 of Hunted

“Is it a big surprise?” I ask.

“It covers a large area,” he says enigmatically.

I scrunch my nose as I ponder what it could be. “So it’s a big toy for Thumper? Maybe a rocking chair?” I’m not sure whythat’s the first thing that pops into my head, but I can’t think of any other big toy for a child.

“Nope.” He kisses my nose.

“And the hotel? You won’t go alone, will you?”

“I’ll take Bennett. Chris was going to check out the hiking cabins with Warren and Colton, but I can take Chris too. Anyone would take one look at the size of Warren and Colton and leave Winter Lake.”

He’s right. They would. I relax, knowing he won’t be alone if something does go wrong. “Will you be careful?”

“I will.” He nods. “But I want to have breakfast with my beautiful mate first. Maybe we can talk about names because I’m getting pretty attached to Thumper.”

So am I.

“And will you kiss me before you go?”

A slow smile stretches across his face as his head dips. “Just a kiss?”

“Well…” I wind my arms around him. “Maybe notjusta kiss.”

8

MACK

Idragged out breakfast with Aerin for far longer than I should have. Eventually, I left the house with the memory of Aerin’s soft lips still fresh in my mind.

We’d made love before I’d gone downstairs to make breakfast for the both of us, and I’d called Bennett to find out when he was ready to check out the hotel.

I’d also called Helena and asked her to come over to the house to stay with Aerin while I was gone. What happened last night was probably nothing, but until I’ve confirmed that it trulyisnothing, I don’t intend to leave Aerin alone.

We’d had a lazy breakfast in bed until it was time to leave.

Leaving her hadn’t been easy. No. It had been downright painful. As I’d left the house, she was having tea with Helena.

I told her that I wouldn’t be gone longer than an hour. That I’d see if there were any suspicious new tourists, confirm that there wasn’t, and come right back home.

“You seem distracted,” Bennett says.

He’s driving. It made sense to go in his car since he drove to my house with Helena, dropped her off and picked me up.

“Just hoping this trip to the hotel is just a waste of our time,” I say.

None of us wants to find trouble.

Nodding, he pulls away from the house. “It should be. Colton and Warren didn’t find anything suspicious or noteworthy at the cabins, so I doubt we will at the hotel.”

I hadn’t thought Colton and Warren would head to the remote cabins so early, and they must have. As Bennett drives us into town to pick up Chris, he fills me in on his call with them this morning. Apparently, the cabins were fully booked, but Colton and Warren shifted and sniffed around the area. They hadn’t found the same scent near the cabins, so whoever wandered into our forest last night wasn’t a tourist staying in the cabins.

We pick up Chris on the way to the Winter Lake Hotel, the only place to stay in town. It’s situated close to the shops on Main Street, so the tourists who arrive on the one bus that comes through town once a week don’t have to wander far to see everything Winter Lake has to offer.

Other than a few cabins located in the forest that people can rent out for the weekend, there’s nowhere else for tourists to stay. It’s a quiet retirement town first, and the locals intend to keep it that way.

Fortunately for us, the hotel is small and any out of towners usually stick out. The cameras slung around their necks and their hiking boots usually give them away. The benefit of living in such a small, tight-nit community is that you can always spot trouble coming from a mile away.

We approach the two floor pale peach building that looks like more of a house than a hotel. Bennett parks in the parking lot just outside it, empty save for two cars that must belong to the hotel’s guests.

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