Page 22 of A Secret Crush Valentine's

He thought he heard some movement in the trees, but when he turned toward the sound, there was no one. Adjusting his bag, Damon scrambled over to Julia, who was getting up on all fours.

“Shift back,” he told her, “now.”

Ten seconds later, a very naked Julia lay at the foot of the tree. Under different circumstances, Damon might have taken his time admiring her inviting curves and rosy spots, but between the sight of her shivering and the fact that Collectors had just attacked them, he was too distracted to care about that right now.

He took some clothes from his bag and helped her shimmy into them. His voice was thick with concern as he said, “What the hell were you thinking?”

“You asked me to stay close to the ground,” she pointed out.

“You could have been hurt.” He pulled out another article of clothing and handed it to her. It was a blue windbreaker with gold lettering on the back.

She blinked, holding it up. “Is this… is this an FBI jacket?”

He shrugged. “I told you, Red, all kinds of people and items end up on Frost Mountain.”

“I’m guessing there’s a Frost Mountain Bureau of Investigation?”

He smirked. “If there is, I’d like to meet the agents someday.” The smile vanished from his face. “But not today, when we’re being attacked in the woods by men with weapons. You need to promise me you won’t shift again, at least not until we get to Caprichor.”

“Why? What’s the problem with…?” Her voice trailed off when she caught his stern look. “Fine, I promise.”

“Good.” The last thing he needed was to be discovered traveling across the mountain with Grim Jim’s latest prize. In human form, she’d be harder to spot. “Let’s go.”

They got up and left the clearing, moving as quickly as their tired legs would carry them.

“Who were those men?” Julia asked once they’d gotten far enough away to slow down.

“Collectors,” he replied before he could stop himself, hoping he hadn’t just made a mistake.

Her expression grew more troubled. “What could they possibly want from us?”

Not from us, from me.

“Whatever it is, we can’t afford to get discovered again,” he told her. “We need to move faster.”

She touched his arm, and he felt his pulse quicken.

How ironic, Damon thought.

Earlier, when they were surrounded, and he knew he’d have to fight, his heart rate had dropped steadily, and his respiration slowed. But when Julia was involved, it was a whole different matter. Damon couldn’t tell whether that meant that her presence was somehow more dangerous than an attack by Grim Jim’s Collectors.

He sucked in a deep breath. “Neither of us can shift, for now, Red. Flying is only going to give us away. And if we hope to get anywhere quickly, we’re going to need to take as many shortcuts as we can.”

When she looked at him, her eyes were wide. “What does that mean?”

“It means,” Damon said grimly, “that we’re going to have to cross that lake.”

Chapter Ten

On Thin Ice

“Look where you’re going, will you?”

Julia let out a gasp of dismay as the stack of books and papers fell from her hands and hit the floor. Her jade-green spectacles clattered onto the tiles. Suppressing a groan, Julia bent to pick up her things.

The problem was that someone was standing on one of the papers. It was the latest issue of her newsletter, theLaudville Letters. Julia registered that little detail before she raised her eyes to see who it was. He wore a brown winter jacket over baggy trousers. Clutched in his hand was a football.

A jock, Julia thought, feeling her stomach sink.

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