He must have seen the spark of fear I felt because he hurried on to explain.
“Becoming feral only happens underveryspecific circumstances. That’s not going to happen to you. Don’t worry about that, Cameron.”
“Do you know why this feral shifter has latched onto me? It’s like he’s huntingmespecifically. Is that something ferals do?”
“No,” he said with a shake of his head. “Not sure why he’s targeting you. One of our theories is that he has a type, and he’s going for that type. I’m not buying that. Otherwise, he wouldn’thave attacked you twice in two different locations. Itcouldbe that it’s random, and the second attack was nothing but wrong place, wrong time. It could be that he’s tracking you for some other reason. Hell, he could be bonded to you, for all I know, but I don’t know why he’d want to kill you if that was the case.”
“Wait,” I said, frowning. “What’s bonding? What does that mean?”
Nate leaned on the wall and nodded to a pair of older ladies in windbreakers speed-walking down the sidewalk. When they were out of earshot, he spoke again.
“Let’s go slow. Too much too fast might make your head explode.” He glanced at my outfit. “Going for a run?”
“Yeah,” I said, suddenly conscious of how dumb that was. Talking about this feral guy stalking me had shoved my earlier bravado aside.
“I’ll go with you,” he said. “I can answer all your questions while we jog.”
It was my turn to glance up and down his body. The faded blue jeans and heavy steel-toed boots didn’t look comfortable to run in.
“I don’t think you’ll survive,” I said with a smile.
He pointed across the street at his bike. “I’ve got shoes and some other clothes in the saddlebag. Give me five minutes.”
I smiled at him. “Hurry up. We’re wasting daylight.”
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, and strolled toward his bike.
The way he walked caught my eye. A confident stride, broad shoulders, strong and powerful. Everything about Nate exuded strength and safety. It didn’t hurt that he looked damn good in his jeans and leather jacket.
For the first time in as long as I could remember, I wondered if money and prestige weren’t the only ways to find security in life.
19
Cameron
Nate dug into the saddlebags strapped to the back of his bikes and pulled out a beat-up pair of sneakers and black athletic shorts. He tucked his leather jacket under an elastic strap on one side, then kicked off his boots and tucked them into the other bag. Then, to my horror, he yanked his jeans down.
“What the hell are you doing?” I gasped, glancing around to see who might be watching.
Nate grinned at me. “Calm down. Don’t be a prude.”
His boxer briefs leftverylittle to the imagination, and I turned my head as he pulled the shorts up and began to tie his shoes.
“You’re not a big fan of modesty, are you?” I asked.
He raised an eyebrow as he tied the strings of his shorts. “Do you want me to be modest?”
I tried to swallow, but it felt like a wad of cotton was stuck in my throat. Rather than answer that, I changed the subject.
“Let’s head over there. There’s a park that way where Lesley and I run together.”
“Lead the way,” he said.
We walked side by side in silence. Heat radiated from his body like he was on fire. My headache and nausea had vanished again. Was that because I was close to another person like me? But that didn’t make sense. I clearly remembered it being bad around Rick, and he was a shifter, too.
“Ready?” Nate said.
“Sure,” I replied.
