Dark Panther (BBW Paranormal Shifter Romance) Read Online Free

he’d fled in. She stood there, her mind reeling, for a long moment. Then she peered down at her blood-soaked hands, and then at the tree. Her shoulders slouched, and she shook her head slowly and sighed.
    She returned to the cave and eased her aching body onto the bed of furs. Her mind began to race, but her aching body eventually pulled her into a deep sleep.
     
    *****
     
    Lucy awoke to a luscious scent. Her mouth began to water immediately, and she rubbed her eyes and sat up. Across the room, Logan had something sizzling in a pan, his back turned to her.
    “Do I smell coffee?” she asked incredulously.
    “You do indeed,” he said. “I don’t drink it myself, but I happened to have some on hand that I found unopened at an abandoned campsite a few months ago. I don’t have any sugar or anything, though.”
    “Oh, that’s fine,” she said. “I prefer mine dark.”
    “How about some wild boar bacon?” he asked. “I smoked it myself.”
    “Bacon?” she gasped. “I love bacon.”
    She glanced at Logan’s hands, expecting to see them bloody and mangled, but her eyes widened when she noticed they looked perfectly normal.
    “Your hands!” she cried.
    “Hmm?” he asked absently, glancing down at them. Then he said, “Oh, that. I heal much faster than humans.”
    It took a moment for that to sink in. Lucy realized, truly, for the first time that Logan wasn’t entirely human. He looked human. He even acted human. But somehow, he wasn’t. At least, not in the traditional sense.
    How could anyone react to such a revelation? The fact that she’d gone through so much in such a short time should have been enough to drive her crazy, but somehow adjusting wasn’t nearly as bad as she might have thought.
    In fact, Lucy wasn’t even eager to go home. No one was even likely to notice she was missing, at least not for a while. She has no boyfriend because she’d vowed not to date again after being hurt by a string of abusers, cheaters, liars and thieves. She hardly ever talked to her parents, because they had never been the best parents. She didn’t even have that many friends to speak of. She really had nothing to go home to. All she had was a crummy job she hated anyway and a run-down apartment she couldn’t wait to get away from.
    She watched Logan as he flipped bacon in a heavy cast iron pan over the fire. His muscles rippled and twitched over his shoulders. Her heart fluttered, and she smiled slightly.
    Then she shook her head and frowned. No , she thought, not again . After all the trouble she’d had with a strong of bad boys and broken hearts, she wasn’t about to make that same mistake again!
    “I need some air,” she said, and she ignored Logan as he called after her while she made a hasty retreat.
    The morning air was crisp, and the scent of damp leaves was comforting. Lucy leaned against the outer wall of the cave and breathed in heavily, absorbing the woodsy smell.
    “Are you alright?” Logan asked, peeking out of the cave.
    “I’m fine,” she said, staring absently into the distance.
    “You don’t look fine,” he commented.
    “I said I’m fine!” she snapped, and Logan jumped, startled. Filled with contrition, she immediately added, “I’m sorry. I just… I don’t know, I guess I’m a little stressed.”
    Logan nodded and said, “I understand. This has been a crazy three weeks.”
    “You got that right,” she muttered.
    “Come back in and have breakfast,” Logan said. “I think you’ll enjoy it.”
    Lucy lingered for a moment, then she sighed and followed him back inside. Her stomach was gnawing pitifully, and the bacon had smelled incredible.
    Logan pulled a chair out at his small, handmade table and Lucy accepted it. The whole cave smelled like her favorite diner, and she began to salivate immediately. He set a hand carved wooden plate in front of her that was filled to the brim with all kinds of deliciousness.
    “Logan!” she gasped. “Where did you get all