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“Who are you?” she asked as he approached.
He shook his head, ensuring the dark hoodie obscured his face. Saying nothing, he set the package containing clothes, footwear, and god knew what else down on the floor. He scurried away so as not to be seen or caught. Reaching his truck, he got inside the cab and breathed heavily. He’d done it. He’d done the Master’s bidding. The rest was up to Nora.
CHAPTER14
NORA
She watched the dark figure as he approached, leery that the Master had sent someone to kill her. She readied the knife up her sleeve in case she needed it. Without a word, the person put down the bundle and left. All she could tell was that it seemed male, but nothing more. He’d been hunched over and dressed in baggy clothes, making telling his height and even his basic body shape difficult to discern.
Quickly she unwrapped the package, revealing a note:
Change of plans. Lundy Island is too dangerous.
Stay close to Mystic River but stay in hiding.
Let no one see you. We are moving to
strike at the resistance, including Reynolds.
Clothes, weapons, food, and a map are in the package.
Await my orders.
No signature, but the tone made it clear the note was from the Master. She couldn’t just disobey him. If she had returned to her former obedient self, she would never have done so. She’d make her way back to Windsong and Hutch. That wasn’t the worst thing to happen. They could reconvene come morning.
Silently she picked the cell door lock with the lock pick that had been taped to the handle of the Glock that had been included. It wasn’t her customized SIG, but it was a good weapon, nonetheless. She peeked into the sheriff’s office. All was clear. She crept out of the side door into the alley and made her way to the forest beyond. Once she was sure she could not be seen, she called forth her clouded leopard, allowing the swirling mist to make her feel revitalized and alive once more. Picking up the bundle of clothing she had set aside, she began to make her way to Windsong.
It had been an emotionally exhausting day. Having to even fake kill Hutch had taken a toll on her. She knew she’d executed the faux stabbing flawlessly, but still she would breathe easier, and her nerves would be less jangled when she was able to see him again.
She made her way over the hills and streams that wound through the countryside, keeping to the shadows where she wouldn’t be spotted. The cold beneath her feet was unpleasant. Unlike the big cats that had adapted to snow and icy climates, clouded leopards had not. Their pureblooded brethren inhabited dense forests from the foothills of the Himalayas through India, Bhutan, Southeast Asia, and southern China. They might occasionally encounter cold climates and snow, but nothing compared to a harsh Alaskan winter.
Jumping to the top of the wall surrounding Windsong gave her the most elated feeling. She was going home. Home had ceased to be a place. Home was her mate, and she would be with him shortly.
She galloped over the land that encompassed Colby’s estate. The place was enormous, and while it was well-protected, she could see lots of places where an intruder could make his or her way to the mansion without being easily spotted. She wove around the grassy knolls so that she could approach their room at the back of the house. Gathering speed, she charged toward the balcony, jumping up as hard as she could, but failing to meet her goal. The balcony was just outside her leaping ability. Knowing she would fail, she landed, absorbing the hit with her body, rolling away from the house. Retreating to a spot behind a large boulder, she bade her clouded leopard to retreat.
Once again in human form, she noted again how cold and harsh the Alaskan climate was. She ran to a place below the balcony where she would be difficult to spot and heaved the package up and over the railing, landing it on the other side. She made her way to the vine-covered trellis and began to climb. Hand-over-hand, followed by foot-after-foot, she made her way to the side of the balcony and stepped over the railing to land lightly on the balcony floor.
* * *
HUTCH
Hutch slept soundly as it had been an exhausting day—not so much physically as mentally and emotionally. Even though he’d only felt it for the briefest piece of time, he missed being able to reach out to her along the link. He came awake quite suddenly and would have been concerned about what could wake him from a dead sleep when he felt the link flowing from her. Nora was here.
Rolling over, he saw her standing naked on the balcony, her nude body clothed in nothing other than the soft moonlight. She looked to him to be some ancient warrior goddess come to take her prize. That he was her prize was just fine with him. She wasn’t supposed to be here, but he trusted if she was, something unexpected had happened, and she had come home. He recognized the use of that term was flowing down the link. He was her home. He was her safe harbor, the one place to which she’d always return.
He rolled off the bed and wordlessly held his arms out to her. She moved as if she were walking on the very air itself. She made no sound, but came to him, wrapping her arms around him and rubbing her cheek against his bare chest.
“I received a note from the Master. He wants me to stay in place. He says they mean to strike at the heart of the resistance. He told me to wait for his instructions. We should wake—”
“Shhh,” he soothed her. He could hear the jangled nerves in her voice. “If he told you to wait, it wouldn’t be tonight. How’d you get the note?”
“Someone—a figure in a dark hoodie—brought me a bundle of clothing and other items. The note was on top. The person, whoever it was, never said a word. Didn’t even make a sound. It was kind of spooky.”
“It will wait for morning. If they meant to strike tonight, either you’d still be in jail or he wouldn’t have told you to wait for orders. Where does he want you to go?”
“He included a map.”
“It could be a trap.”
