Rescued Read Online Free PDF Page B

and ran deeper into the forest.
    No matter how fast he ran he couldn’t escape her image in his head. She was heavy on his mind. He had to have her. Had to make her understand what was in his heart.
    He stopped short on top of a rock that formed a cliff overlooking the valley below and inhaled, filling his lungs. Rose. Her scent enveloped him even from this distance. He closed his eyes and remembered her, last night, in his bed.
    The image replayed in his mind at least a thousand times today. She looked so peaceful as she slept beside him. Her chestnut hair feathered on his pillow, a slim hand curled under her chin. She reminded him of an angel. And those were the parts not covered; from what he saw when he tucked her in, the rest of her was just as heavenly.
    He’d longed to touch her. Wrap her in his arms and taste her kiss but the timing wasn’t right. Better to make the necessary introductions first.
    Being mates explained the fierce attraction and strong need to protect her. All his life he heard of the one event a male cougar waited for. A mate. Someone to share his life with. Children to carry his family name into eternity. A family of his own. And now, here was Rose.
    He needed to think this through. A gentle night breeze wafted through the trees as he settled down on the cool rock.
    Rose was furious . . . with herself. A mate? How did this happen? Okay, she knew how it happened. Fate, at some point in life, paired two people together. Humans called it falling in love; they were sometimes grossly mistaken, ending the union in a painful breakup or divorce.
    For her kind, it was different. Fate was definite. It was the kind of union distance could never break. A forever love. A second nature. No fears. No doubts. Each created to complete the other. Of course, one could deny it. Run from the inevitable. Hide. But the desire to be near your mate tugged at your heart and soul stronger than a train engine hauling a ninety-car load up a steep incline. Even after the death of a mate, the living partner mated again only in extremely rare cases.
    Now, out of the blue, fate announced her time had come, but she hadn’t made plans to share her life anytime in the near future. Her work was her life. Was she being selfish?
    She cherished her memories of her mother and father. The two were happiest when they were together. Their entire world revolved around their little family.
    Happy scenes danced through her head. The adoration glowing in her father’s eyes as he watched her mother preparing supper. Like a king gazing upon all his gold and riches. The smile on her mother’s face and the sparkle in her eyes when he took her hand in his, gently spun her from the kitchen sink, and two-stepped her around the kitchen to their own music.
    The sparks of electricity still shot through her from Marty’s touch at the bus station this morning. She wanted to kiss him . . . the right way . . . with all she had. Why hadn’t she? What would have been wrong with one little kiss? Given all she had learned in the past few hours and the desire gripping her insides at this moment, her willpower threatened to disappear. One kiss and she might have lost all control.
    Almost an hour later, Rose still walked in circles, asking herself the same questions, and kicking the ground as if it had done her an injustice. No closer to deciding how to deal with this idea of a mate, she weighed the pros and cons of each lifestyle, single and mated, but reached no acceptable conclusion. Her life would never be the same even if she never saw Marty again. He’d be forever on her mind.
    She needed to clear her head. If she was going to get a run in tonight, she had to get moving.
    Run. Run fast. Run hard.
    She stowed her clothes underneath a rock formation nearby and stretched down for the change into her inner animal. Marty’s scent hung heavy in the air but his location was several miles down toward the river. Her first inclination was to run in the opposite