Therian Prize: 5 (Therian Heat) Read Online Free Page B

to run some more. When or why she’d decided to come to Aspen she honestly couldn’t say, but Jake was no stranger, so somewhere along the line this had become her destination.
    Pulling open the drain, she maneuvered her legs beneath her and carefully stood. She pulled the shower curtain closed then looked at the faucet assembly. It took a moment of fiddling to figure out how to trigger the sprayer but she soon had warm water streaming out. She slipped the sprayer back into the wall bracket and soaped her body with renewed determination. Dirt, sweat and manure coated her skin. The hunters had effortlessly followed her scent. She’d managed to stay ahead of them but she hadn’t been able to lose them. Until she spotted the fertilizer truck.
    She shampooed her hair twice then stood beneath the spray, enjoying the warm water as it flowed across her aching limbs. She couldn’t believe she was still alive. When she shifted the first time, the transformation had been spontaneous. Though she wasn’t sure how she’d done it this time, it hadn’t just happened. She’d searched within herself and found the strength to escape an impossible situation.
    What in the world should she tell Jake? How could she explain something she didn’t understand herself? She’d been trying to survive, desperate to avoid capture and the degradation of being raped. Somehow her body had just cooperated with her frantic determination.
    Someone tapped on the door.
    “You okay in there?” Jake asked.
    “Almost done.”
    “No hurry. I just wanted to make sure you were still with us.”
    She wasn’t fooled by his easy manner. Once he realized she’d brought danger to his door, he’d shove her back out into the night. And how could she convince him otherwise when the hunters were out there searching for her?
    Finally feeling clean again, she turned off the water and slid the curtain open. After drying her body, she wrapped the towel around her hair and slipped on the bathrobe. She pushed the bathroom door open and squinted into the light. Jake stood in the narrow hallway, arms folded across his broad chest. His knee was cocked, one boot heel resting against the wall.
    He was every bit as attractive as she remembered and just as dangerous. His jaw was shadowed with stubble, accenting his high cheekbones. Silky black lashes framed his eyes, making the color hard to determine. At times she’d thought his eyes were brown. Right now they looked dark-green. His hair was night-black, thick and shiny, ready for her fingers. And his mouth could only be termed sensual, with the distinctly arched upper and generously full lower lip.
    Standing here gawking at him like a lovesick schoolgirl was not going to help her case. “Do you have a comb or brush? I’ll never get the tangles out unless I do it while my hair’s still wet.”
    “Try the drawers.”
    He hadn’t given her a specific location. Wasn’t this his house? And if this wasn’t his house, then who was the female? Heather had presumed she was Jake’s significant other.
    She opened the drawers until she located a wide-toothed comb. Then she followed him into the living room and sat in the chair he indicated. He sat facing her on a matching sofa. The female was nowhere in sight. Though rather small, the apartment was nicely furnished, cozy, charming. Female touches were evident in the decorating. If this was the female’s home, then where did Jake live?
    Dragging her gaze back to her host, she found him watching her. “I know this is Aspen, but where am I exactly? How did you find me?”
    “I didn’t. One of my employees spotted you in the alley behind Toulouse Tavern. This is the owner’s apartment above the bar. My sister Enya lives here.”
    His sister. So he wasn’t romantically attached to the prickly female. Heather accepted his explanation with a nod and unwrapped her hair. The thick mass fell down around her shoulders and streamed across her face. She finger-combed the front back