The Catalyst Read Online Free PDF Page A

at the moment. She watched him slip through the opening in
the cave and out into the big bad outside.
    She followed his path as he disappeared from view.
He’d obviously done work on the stone, as the opening wasn’t a
natural one. From the main den, there was a narrow hallway that
opened to the outside. The opening was covered by some large,
natural plant life that grew in the hard earth next to it. Climbing
down looked treacherous, but it was no more than a couple of
stories to the ground. She imagined someone walking by would never
guess there was a cave in the rock. Well, except for the fireplace,
but Fiona guessed the chimney had been made to blend as well.
    She watched Z maneuver himself down to the ground and
shuddered to think how he’d gotten her up there while she was
unconscious. Perhaps he’d had help from the doctor. Once he reached
the ground, he pushed back a large stone to reveal another hewn-out
piece of rock large enough to house his motorcycle. He replaced the
stone and pushed the bike through the trees.
    The pup’s cold, wet nose pressed
under her elbow. He looked in the direction Z had gone, his tail
flapping fifty times a second.
    “Oh, no you don’t. You get out the door, and I can’t
chase you.” Saying it out loud sounded and felt ridiculous, and
once again she was reminded of what a silly and debilitating phobia
she had. Would she leave the pup to get hurt or be taken because
she couldn’t face going out into the forest? She hoped she never
had to find out.
     
    ***
     
    Once Z cleared the trees, he put on speed. He wanted
to get Fiona out of his mind, and there was nothing like the wind
in his hair from a fast ride to clear his head. If he were being
really honest, and he’d need to get pretty drunk to get that
honest, he’d admit that kidnapping her was twenty-five percent
about needing help with the pup. The other seventy-five percent was
his raging hormones and the desperation to mount something.
    But why had he brought her to his home, knowing she
might be there for awhile? He was not a domesticated breed.
Panthers didn’t settle down. They liked their privacy, their
tucked-away caves. They weren’t a breed that mated for life or
cared for young. The females of his kind often raised young alone
without the assistance of a male.
    Their jaded nature made it easier to walk away after
a quick coupling. But Fiona, she was different. She was dangerous.
She was a true innocent, and though Z told himself he wasn’t going
to sleep with her, he feared if he did, he wouldn’t be able to get
rid of her after the fact. He might not be able to get rid of her
anyway, given her peculiar phobia. And a virgin? Out of the
question. He wasn’t gallant enough to keep her, and he wasn’t brute
enough to use her innocence and throw her away. Or at least he
didn’t want to think he was.
    When he reached town, he parked his bike next to the
Java Junkie and went inside to feed his caffeine addiction. The
hardware store would be open for another hour still, and the longer
he could stay away from the tantalizing scent and sweet presence of
the witch in his cave, the better.
    His darker side kicked to the surface, tempting him
to stay out all night just to get rid of any charming notions she
might have in her head about him. He’d seen the way the witch
looked at him. If he started their association off by behaving like
a jackass, he might have some success in pushing her away before he
did something stupid. Because kidnapping her hadn’t been enough to
get the glazed admiration out of her eyes. He sighed and went into
the coffee shop.
    “Hey doll, double shot of espresso,” he said when he
reached the counter. He shoved a three-dimensional paper
jack-o-lantern out of the way and grabbed a handful of candy corn
out of the dish.
    The busty blonde smiled at him and winked. “Hey,
Z.”
    Her name was Cherry, but Z was almost certain that
wasn’t her real name. He imagined with that name and those