Secrets of the Lynx Read Online Free PDF

deliberately keeping his heart out of reach, and there was some truth to that. He didn’t trust relationships. Promises made in the night didn’t last when exposed to the light of day.
    He’d only had one relationship that had stood the test of time, the one with his former partner, Judy Whitacre. The reason was plain. Though they’d cared deeply for each other, the job had always come first to both of them. They’d worked together for three years, and although gossip within the ranks had suggested otherwise, they’d never acted on their feelings. They’d both known that crossing that line would have jeopardized their working partnership.
    Paul heard the faint rustling of something moving through the brush outside. Although that type of sound usually indicated the presence of an animal, he’d have to check it out. Seeing Kendra was still sound asleep, he slipped noiselessly out the back door.

Chapter Three
    Paul moved silently around the outside perimeter of the house, pausing often to listen while searching the trees just beyond.
    He’d made his way to the front corner of the house when he saw the source of the sound.
    Paul smiled as the lynx took a step forward, almost as if in silent greeting. The last time he’d seen his spiritual brother had been during a particularly low point in his life—his rehabilitation process.
    He’d been wandering aimlessly around the canyon during a long, sleepless night, his shoulder a throbbing reminder of the challenges ahead. Anger and pain, his constant companions in those days, had conspired to undermine him at every turn.
    Struggling to find the courage to face what still lay ahead for him, he’d stood alone, waging his solitary battle, when he’d heard the low, throaty growl of the cat. Lingering in the shadows, unwilling to come out into the open, was a lynx.
    In the animal’s caution, one born of fear, he’d seen his own inability to move forward, and realized then that life was all about choices. His days as a U.S. Marshal were over, but he was still very much alive. He could choose to let his injury define him or build a new future for himself.
    Facing the best and worst in himself that night had given him the ability to go on. A few months later, he’d opened his own private investigations firm.
    Tonight, as he looked down at the cat and saw the kill the creature had just made, Paul realized that the animal’s focus was his meal. The moment was all that mattered to him.
    He, too, wanted to live in the present and stop looking to the past. Yet the sound of Judy’s startled gasp as the bullet passed through his shoulder and into her body continued to haunt him. Until her killer was caught, he’d never be able to move on.
    He clutched the lynx fetish in his hand until the wood bit into his skin.
    “Don’t move!” Kendra snapped from right behind him.
    The animal disappeared in an instant. As it always had been, the cat showed himself to no one except him.
    Having recognized Kendra’s voice, he turned around. “Relax—”
    She reacted automatically, raising her gun.
    Instinct kicked in, and he countered without thinking, sweeping her gun hand, twisting her around, and pulling her back against his chest. With her gun hand pinned to her side, he held her steady, his arms locked around her.
    “It’s me,” he repeated, dodging a kick to his instep.
    She relaxed instantly. “Paul? I told you to tell me if you left the house. I thought you were in another room and that someone was tampering with the vehicles—or worse! What the heck are you doing out here?”
    “I came to see an old friend,” he said, noting that she wasn’t trying to break free.
    “Where?” she asked, trying to wriggle out and look around.
    Reluctantly, he let her go, noting she had fit just right against him. “Not a person, an animal.”
    “You feeding the coyotes or something?”
    He shook his head. “No, it’s more complicated than that.”
    She searched the area trying to see