Buck Naked Read online

  Samantha shrugged. “Maybe something in the water, some mineral or chemical, or a mixture of several substances working together. Probably the same thing that’s making all of you think you can turn into animals when the moon gets full.”

  Sadie sighed. “Sammie, everything I told you is true. I saw Mathis change with my own eyes.”

  “Into a huge prehistoric deer, right?” Samantha said flatly. She looked at Keller. “And what do you turn into? A hamster? A guinea pig? A giant asshole? Oh, no wait—you’re already that.”

  “My animal form is that of a Cougar from the Paleolithic era,” Keller said coolly. “If you’re lucky, you’ll get to see it tonight before your sister and I leave for our bonding.”

  “I’m not going to bond with you,” Sadie repeated stubbornly. “I meant what I said, Keller—I would rather die than be trapped in another loveless relationship.”

  He looked at her sharply through the bars of her cage.

  “You might get your wish. You do realize that, don’t you?”

  “Yes,” Sadie said quietly. “I do. And I’m not speaking lightly—there’s only one man I want in this town and it’s not you, Keller.”

  He frowned. “You’ve formed quite an attachment to Blackwell, have you? You do realize that even if I let you go to him right now he couldn’t help you? Oh, he might be able to breed you but the two of you wouldn’t be able to form a life-bond. You’d become one of the Unformed—is that what you want?”

  “Unformed?” Samantha frowned. “What the hell is that?”

  “When a female Shifter is mated, she’ll take on the animal form of her mate. An Unformed is a female Shifter with no animal form,” Keller said crisply. “She will feel the urge to change on the night of the full moon but she will have no form to change into. Either she will turn into a helpless, shapeless mass—easy prey for any predators that may be roaming the forest—or, if she has great strength of will, she will retain her human form. Staying human when Lady Moon is calling you, however, is extremely painful and can lead to death.”

  “So an Unformed is a woman who fails to become an animal during the full moon—in other words a normal person.” Samantha shook her head. “My God, this shared delusion is incredible. Do you see what you’ve done? You even have some elaborate explanation for what happens when someone doesn’t turn into an animal. Which must happen, oh, I don’t know—all the time, maybe?”

  “Unformed Shifters are mercifully rare.” Keller’s deep, silky voice was cold. “An Unformed female feels the pull of her breeding cycle and the mating urges brought on by Lady Moon as acutely as any normal Shifter. Yet, she is unable to do anything about them. She cannot Shift to ease her agony and she has no bonded mate to alleviate her urges, which means she must bear excruciating pain for the rest of her existence.” He shook his head. “It is not a fate I would wish on any female, especially not one as lovely as your sister.”

  Sadie felt herself go cold at his words. Fiona and Mathis had both said something about the Unformed but she hadn’t realized how serious the situation could be. Still, she didn’t want to take the safe and easy way out. Didn’t want to give in to Keller’s demands—or the demands of her own body—just to satisfy some mindless craving.

  “Leave me alone,” she told Keller. “If you’re not going to let us out of this cage, the least you can do is leave me alone and let me think.”

  “As you wish.” He nodded courteously and turned his back to speak to one of his men.

  “Sadie . . .” Samantha took her hand and squeezed it. “Honey, don’t let him get to you. I swear we’re going to get out of here and when we do, I’ll get you the best help. We’ll get you someplace safe and get you detoxed so we can get whatever is poisoning you out of your system.”

  Sadie sighed and raked a hand through her hair. Her head was pounding again, her temples throbbing with the now-familiar ache. Though she knew all she had to do to ease it was reach through the bars and touch Keller, she didn’t do it. She told herself she’d rather have the pain than give the big bastard the satisfaction of asking for his help. Plus, who knew if he might count it as another “gift” she had to pay back?

  “Sammie,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I told you, I’m not poisoned or hypnotized or anything like that. God, I wish I had that box of pictures I found at the cabin! I know if you saw all the evidence Mom left behind, you’d believe me.”

  “But we’re twins, Sadie. Fraternal, it’s true, but we had the same parents, the same genetic makeup. If all this is happening to you, then doesn’t it stand to reason it should be happening to me too?” Samantha demanded, spreading her hands. “But look at me—I’m still forty. And I’m not turning into any kind of animal during the full moon. I’m telling you, hon—there is no ‘Shifter Gene.’ It’s just something in the water or the air here that’s super good for your body and really bad for your mind and your sense of reality.”

  “That would be a really reasonable explanation if I hadn’t seen Mathis Shift last night,” Sadie said. “I’m sorry, Sammie, I know it’s hard for you to swallow. You’re a surgeon and a scientist—I get it. But you just have to believe me—I’m not crazy or deluded.”

  Samantha shook her head. “I just don’t see how—”

  And then a full-throated male roar came from the entrance of the bar, cutting her off.

  “All right, Keller, where is she?”

  Twenty

  The deep, angry voice from the direction of the bar’s front door made both women jump.

  Sadie looked up, heart pounding, to see Mathis striding into the Den. His black hair was wild, his forest-green eyes were blazing with rage, and he somehow looked twice as big as usual—which was pretty damn huge. Actually, he looked terrifying.

  She saw some of the other Shifter males step hastily away to give him space and she didn’t blame them. If she hadn’t known that Mathis was there for her, she would have been terrified too.

  Keller, however, didn’t seem in the least perturbed. He stepped up to Mathis so that they were eye-to-eye and gave the other man his coolest stare.

  “If you’re referring to my future mate, Sadie Becker, she’s in a safe place which is none of your business, Buck.”

  “I’m making it my business, Cat,” Mathis growled. “So you better fucking let her go if you don’t want me to skin you alive and hang your hide from the rafters of this damn shithole you call a bar!”

  “Mathis—in here! We’re in here,” Sadie called to him from the cage.

  He walked around Keller and came striding to the back of the Den where she was pressed anxiously against the bars.

  “You okay, sweetheart?” He looked Sadie up and down with obvious concern, as though checking for injuries. “Did he hurt you? Because I swear if he so much as fucking touched you—”

  “I’m not a monster, Blackwell,” Keller said sharply, coming up behind him. “I don’t wish to hurt her—just bond her to me—something we both know you cannot do.”

  For a moment Sadie thought Mathis would explode and tear into the other man then and there. Instead he closed his eyes tightly for a moment and took a deep breath. Finally he looked at her again, his green eyes filled with frustration.

  “He’s right, sweetheart,” he said heavily. “I can’t bond you to me.” He turned to Keller. “But I can damn well make sure Sadie winds up with the male she wants.”

  “The male she has chosen is me,” Keller insisted. “I have offered her three gifts—two of food and one of goods—and she accepted all three.”

  “Come to that, I gave her three gifts—two of food and one of shelter—which she also accepted.” Mathis glared at the other man. “Take a whiff of her, Keller—you’ll smell me all over her. She’s not for you.”

  “Did he just tell the other guy to ‘smell you’ to prove you’re his?” Sadie heard her twin mutter behind her. “God, this town just gets weirder and weirder.”

  “Now then, now then . . .” The light female voice somehow cu