WereCat Fever Read Online Free PDF

month’s blood tests were due back any day.
    The AC was on and blowing, but her forehead and upper lip still felt warm and damp. When she checked, the filter was clear. So, she pressed her hand over the AC vent. Yup, sure enough the force was strong, but not cool enough.
    Kirk would take a look and correct anything that he found needed fixing. Normally she went to Thomas for help, but his brother was much handier with mechanical stuff. Thomas didn’t normally like getting his hands dirty. He was more suited to the chain of nightclubs he owned in Denver, Dallas, and Austin. He ran the operations from Wilding’s Plain while Kirk ran their cattle ranch. Their parents were still living, but moved to Arctic, Colorado after their father suffered a serious heart attack three years ago. Lacey still missed having them around for support.
    Without the darn AC working up to snuff and with the dust from the drought blowing outside, she longed to find a cool place where she could rest in a safe spot outdoors. Sometimes her small ranch house felt too confining at night. Last month, she’d gone into the hills. Maybe she’d sleep in the old cave tonight. The cool damp mountain air would be a reprieve from the oppressive August heat, and she could soak off the day’s dust along with a few aches and pains in the mineral spring out back.
    Those unusual tracks she’d seen out there kept her in the mountains more than usual. Spending her days tracking undocumented animal prints for her book was a priority, but she had to admit the springs would feel good.
    Before she could leave, there were a few things to wrap up with the committee before the town’s diamond jubilee celebration. Damn Thomas for getting her involved. She had to check emails for additional, last-minute reservations to the country club gala and prepare the list for her friend, Donna, the Jubilee chairperson. As much as she wanted to ignore this celebration, her friends had dragged her in so deep there was no way of bowing out. Lacey was resigned to do her job and get this over with. Then she’d focus on her work and getting well.
     
    * * * *
     
    Sitting astride his horse, Bryan Cauldwell watched the ranch house with mixed emotions. The only woman he’d ever loved should be reading his email by now, and he couldn’t help wondering how it was affecting her. If she ever felt anything for him, her insides would be as churned up as his were.
    Suddenly, there was the sound of a loud crash, followed by some unladylike cursing, a thud, and something else shattering. Then he heard more cursing and silence.
    “I guess she got the message,” Hunter thought. The mountain lion sat as still as stone with only his tail flipping back and forth effortlessly. Then Bryan’s brother stretched, yawning, bored.
    “I guess so.”
    “Are we going to head down there?” Hunter asked.
    “I’d rather give her a few minutes to digest the message before I walk into her fist.”
    Hunter’s huge canines flashed in the sunlight. “ Good thinking .” He expressed the thought with a little humor that Bryan didn’t miss. “ So, I take it you don’t think she’ll be glad to see you now that she knows you’re still alive and well. She is your mate, after all.”
    “Uh, she doesn’t know that, yet. I’m going to have to do some pretty fancy talking to convince her she belongs with me. I have five years to make up to her.”
    “I told you to return after I found out you were infected.”
    “Is this the time for ‘I-told-you-so’s’? Really? I wasn’t ready to condemn her to the risks and a life she knows nothing about.”
    “No. You were the one who wanted to play hero and save her from herself. Too bad it didn’t work out that way. Instead, you left your mate to fend for herself.”
    “I was sick for three months—totally out of it. I didn’t know those rogues stayed behind or anything about what happened to her father.”
    “You would have if you hadn’t been so stubborn. You