“How was your run today?” she asked casually.
His eyes caught a last flare of light as he looked at her. “Good.” He glanced down the drive to where it turned a bend through the woods. “Your visitor hasn’t arrived yet?”
“Visitor?”
“I heard a truck,” he said, and as if to illustrate his words high beams splashed into the clearing, accompanied by the growl of an engine.
“It’s probably Julie—” she began. But it wasn’t. The truck was unfamiliar, and there was enough light to see that it had rental plates from Duluth.
Alex didn’t know why her chest tightened or her breath suddenly came short. She felt Kieran move closer to her when the truck door swung open; a tall figure, clearly male, stepped out.
He took a few steps forward and the truck’s headlights washed over the man’s features, turning them golden and as distinct as a statue’s. Blond hair, stylishly cut; finely chiseled features, pale eyes.
Familiar. Handsome. Almost unchanged over the years.
Alex would never have believed seeing him again could still hurt so much.
“Peter,” she whispered.
* * *
The name she spoke held a wealth of hidden meaning, and her voice a lifetime of hurt.
Kieran watched the intruder with narrowed eyes and searched his memory of the past two days. The man was unfamiliar, not one of those from the town, from the store or cafe. Yet Alexandra knew his name.
Every instinct told Kieran she knew far more than that, And the stranger—the intruder—clearly knew her. He stared at Alexandra, smoothing a palm over impeccably, groomed hair.
“Who is he?” Kieran asked softly.
She looked right through Kieran for a moment, her gaze unfocused. “Peter,” she repeated. “He’s… someone I used to know.”
More than that. Far more. Kieran let his senses take him, those wolf senses Alexandra wanted so badly to encourage. Something was definitely wrong. “Why is he here?”
She blinked, flexing her small hands into fists. “I don’t know. I haven’t seen him in…” She trailed off, shaking her head. Kieran had no need to rely on the subtle shifts in her scent and posture to recognize what she felt. He could no more shut off his ability to feel her emotions than he could shift his shape on a whim.
She did not want to see this man, whoever he was. “Someone I used to know,” she’d said. Someone who had shared some part of Alexandra’s past.
A part of her past Kieran knew nothing of. A part she didn’t want back.
Kieran’s stomach clenched. Until Alexandra saw the intruder, she had been happy. She’d looked at Kieran without fear, accepted his friendship. For a few days there had been only harmony between them. And hope.
He knew what he felt now was not rational. It was the beast in him, still close to the surface after his shifting when he’d rescued Tracy. It was the beast who looked on another male and saw a rival.
Deny it.
He breathed deeply and pushed his hands into his pockets. Peter came closer, and Kieran stared into the man’s eyes—a lighter color than Alexandra’s brilliant blue—that wouldn’t meet Kieran’s own. Peter was almost as tall as he was, but more lightly built. There was poise in his movements, a certain pride in the way he held himself. In a fight he would be—
“Alex?”
Peter’s greeting severed Kieran’s dangerous train of thought.
“Peter,” Alexandra acknowledged. Her voice was not quite steady.
“It’s been a long time, Alex,” Peter said.
Alexandra’s body jerked, as if she were laughing without sound, or crying without tears. “What are you doing here, Peter?”
“I guess that’s the only welcome I deserve, isn’t it?” He dropped his gaze. “Alex—”
“How did you know where to find me?”
Peter lifted his hand toward Alexandra as if he wished to touch her. Kieran moved closer to Alexandra and let his arm brush hers. Her warmth sent the blood singing through his veins.
Curling his fingers, Peter let his hand fall again.
“It wasn’t easy, Alex. I’ve been hunting you down for the past two weeks. I came out here as soon as I arrived in town.”