Page 35 of Born into Darkness

“Do you remember the way back to the caves?” he asked me. “To get blankets, water and food?”

Flipping hell.My mind still lingered on the panther hovering close by, tending to one of his kind, casting glances over at me. Phantom was not helping me concentrate one bit. What was wrong with me? Shaking my thoughts free of him, I wound my mind back to the way we’d come.

“I think so,” I told Teeny.

Teeny’s left brow arched, challenging me. “Think?”

“Yes,” I said, my gaze flickering to Phantom again.

“Maybe you should take your new friend with you.” Teeny’s voice held an edge of teasing to it.

Sea God!I couldn’t believe the dwarf had said that, and so loudly, in front of Phantom.

Face burning hot, I glared at Teeny, then rushed away in search of the resistance compound. Over the clomp of my boots up the rocks, I heard Teeny mumble something, and someone hurried after me, bouncing up the stone, falling into step beside me. Phantom. His long legs easily matched my pace.

“What are you doing?” I asked, jamming my foot in a wedge and lifting myself up a rock.

“The dwarf told me to ensure you got back to the cave safely,” he replied, his eyes ablaze with what I interpreted as delight to oblige Teeny.

My foot slipped, and I with it, and I crashed into the handsome panther. He wrapped me in his arms, holding me tight, and my breath wedged in my chest at how close we were, how close our lips were.

“I don’t need an escort!” I stepped back, composing myself, even though a giddy joy swept through me.

“Your friend seems to think otherwise,” Phantom said, his hand finding my behind and shoving me up the distance with ease.

I yelped at his boldness and slapped him across the face.

Rubbing his jaw, he smiled as if he liked the effect he had on me.

If I wasn’t careful, guarded, and alert around this young panther, I was headed for trouble.

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