NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 


NOCTURNAL 


By 

Madelaine Montague 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

© copyright August 2006, Madelaine Montague 
Cover art by Jenny Dixon, © copyright August 2006 
ISBN 1-58608-937-4 
New Concepts Publishing 
Lake Park, GA 31636 
www.newconceptspublishing.com 

This is a work of fiction. All characters, events, and places are of the author’s 
imagination and not to be confused with fact. Any resemblance to living persons or 
events is merely coincidence. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter One 

Pain and fury filled Raphael as he raced through the dense brush in a mindless 
quest for freedom. Adrenaline drove him, else the pain from his wounds might have 
overwhelmed him. Fear ate at his mind, as well, but it was a distant voice, drowned by 
the frustration and anger because the fear wasn’t for himself. It was fear of failing. 

He had almost had the bastard! 

For months he had tracked the ring leader of the men that had killed his woman 
and their unborn child. Patience was not one of his virtues, but his rage had grown cold 
in the year since Concepcion’s death. His determination had hardened in the weeks he 
had lain fighting for his own life and the months after that that he had spent regaining his 
strength with an agonizing slowness that had been maddening while he chaffed at his 
quarry’s trail growing colder and colder. 

He had tracked him, though, halfway across two continents. 

His stupidity had nearly gotten him killed, but he had wanted the bastard to look 
in his eyes and know that he was going to die because of Concepcion. He hadn’t wanted 
to send the son-of-a-bitch to hell wondering. 

He hadn’t expected to be interrupted, but he should have anticipated the 
possibility. 

If they hadn’t taken him completely off guard, he could’ve finished the bastard 
before he left. Now he was wounded again, pretty fucking badly, he thought, if the blood 
he was losing was any indication. 

He couldn’t stop to examine it, though, because he could still hear them 
following, could still hear a random shot from time to time as the trigger happy morons 
spied something they thought might be him and fired at it. The darkness and the 
thickness of the woods were his only allies and he had a feeling he was running out of 
allies. 

Almost on the thought he bounded from the woods and onto a narrow, two rut 
track. Tall weeds sprouted from the soil on either side and along the narrow center strip, 
but he was exposed and he bounded across the track and into the woods on the other side. 

He paused there to catch his breath because he couldn’t do anything else. The 
adrenaline that had kept him going thus far was rapidly draining away from him now and 
he could feel weakness seeping into every muscle in his body. Panting for breath, he 
tipped his head back to look up at the trees for cover. 

He tamped the impulse. He would be too exposed. If he had been stronger, it 
wouldn’t be such a bad idea. It would give him a vantage to watch for the hunters. It 
would give him a strategic advantage if he was able to fight back, but he had a bad 
feeling he would come out the loser in his current state. 

Twisting his head to look back in the direction from which he’d come, he listened 
intently. Sure enough, within a few moments, he heard the hunters trampling through the 
brush in pursuit. 

Uttering a mental curse, he looked at the track again. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

It might just lead back to the compound, but he didn’t think so. He’d studied the 
area pretty thoroughly over the past few weeks and he was fairly certain that this track 
belonged to the woman he’d spotted a few times in his surveillance. 

He didn’t trust the impulse that assailed him to seek her out, but he was pretty 
much out of options unless he wanted to just lie down and let them finish him off. 

A year ago, he would’ve almost welcomed it. Hell, even six months ago. 

He wasn’t ready to quit now, though. If he died, he meant to take that bastard 
with him to hell. 

Turning without even realizing he had made a decision, he began to head along 
the edge of the track as quickly as he could. He didn’t trust the woman, not enough to go 
to her for help, but she had several out buildings on her property. If he could just make it 
to one of them, he would have the chance to rest and see about his wounds. 

The wound on his shoulder seemed to have stopped bleeding. He was fairly 
certain that had been no more than a crease, deep enough to hurt like a son-of-bitch, and 
bleed like hell, but he was pretty sure the bullet had done no more than plow a furrow 
through him and out the other side. 

He was equally certain that he did have a bullet in his hip. He’d been favoring the 
leg, trying his best to keep from jolting it anymore than necessary, but each time he put 
even a little weight on that leg, agonizing pain ground through him and the leg threatened 
to buckle. 

Hobbling now that the adrenaline had abandoned him and the pain and weakness 
was threatening to lay him out for the kill, he gritted his teeth and kept moving as quickly 
as he could, hoping he could make it to the woman’s house and hide before he passed 
out. 

Her image rose in his mind and as it did he felt his heart rate speed up just a little. 
A flicker of desire burgeoned despite all reason, his body beginning to hum with warmth. 

Wryly, he concluded that he was still a ways from death if she could get any kind 
of rise out of him at the moment. 

But then again, he had wanted her from the first moment he spied her and no 
amount of reasoning with himself had banished that. 

She was as different from Concepcion as night from day. 

It didn’t matter. 

More importantly, she was not one of the people. 

But that didn’t make any difference either. He’d tried to tell himself it did, but he 
knew better. 

Every time he looked at her cool, white skin, her light blond hair, her pale blue 
eyes, he thought of ice, hard, cold. 

And still he thirsted for a taste of her. 

He hadn’t stopped mourning for Concepcion and the babe. He still carried an 
ache that nothing could eradicate, not even his revenge. Having them wrenched from his 
life so abruptly and with such finality had been like having a part of himself torn away 
and he could never get that back, never get them back. 

He would see that they had justice, though, blood for blood, if it was the last thing 
he ever did. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He had not intended that it be the last thing he ever did, though, because he had 
realized when he saw the woman that there was a reason to live, something to live for 
besides fulfilling the need for revenge. 

He didn’t trust her. She wasn’t one of the people, and she lived too damned close 
to his enemy for his comfort in an area that was so remote that the next neighbors were 
miles away. 

He couldn’t completely rid himself of the suspicion that it was more than a 
coincidence that her land bordered his, that her neat little house and farm was little more 
than two miles from his compound as the crow flew. 

But that didn’t matter either. 
In the back of his mind he knew that he had already decided that, once he had 
done what he had come to do, he fully intended to have her. 
* * * * 

The first gun shot woke Alaina. Still groggy with sleep, she lay still on the couch 
trying to figure out what the noise was. As it came closer it became clear what the loud 
popping noise was. Her heart skipped several beats. She glanced sharply at the clock on 
top of her TV set. 

“My god! It’s two in the morning! What the hell would they be hunting at this 
time of night?” 

Rolling off the couch, she scrambled on her hands and knees toward the phone, 
grabbed it up and dialed the sheriff’s office. It seemed to ring forever and finally 
switched over. He’d forwarded his calls. 

He was probably at home in bed! 

“Sheriff Wilson,” said a voice on the line just about the time she’d given up. 

“Hank, it’s me, Alaina. They’re out shooting up the woods again.” 

There was a momentary silence. “What the hell are they hunting at this time of 
night?” 

“Well, god knows, I don’t,” Alaina said sharply, “but it sounds like they’re 
moving in my direction. I’d just as soon not have any more bullet holes in my damned 
house!” 

“I’m about fifteen minutes from you. Stay on the floor.” 

As if she had any intention of getting up! 

The thought had barely formed in her mind when her wall exploded and then the 
couch as a stray bullet pierced the wall of the living room. Tufts of stuffing flew up in 
the air and drifted downward. 

Alaina gaped at it in stunned disbelief for a split second feeling cold wash over 
her as she realized she’d been lying within inches of that bullet only a few moments 
earlier. Adrenaline surged through her then and, instinctively she began to scramble on 
her belly toward the back of the house. “Shit! Oh shit!” she muttered, with no clear 
destination in mind beyond trying to get out of range. 

She’d never had a bullet actually enter the house! She’d heard shotgun pellets 
rain down on her roof like hail. She’d even found a couple of places on the outside walls 
where a spent bullet had cracked the siding, but she had never really believed she was in 
danger of actually getting shot in her own living room! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She’d already gone out the back door and made a dash for the storage shed in the 
rear before it occurred to her that they might decide she was a deer or whatever it was 
they were hunting. 

They were on the front side of the house, though, which was why she’d thought of 
the shed to begin with, afraid that if they were close enough that a bullet had gone 
through the siding and into the house, that the interior walls weren’t substantial enough to 
protect her. 

In the distance, she heard Hank’s siren. 

She heard another gunshot as she grabbed the door of the shed, however, and she 
yanked it open and dove inside, wondering if they were going to shoot the poor sheriff. 
The shed was black as pitch inside, but she crouched behind her washing machine, which 
was right beside the door, trying to reassure herself that it was substantial enough to stop 
a bullet even if they came right up to the house. “Those crazy bastards!” she gasped, 
wondering if they were drunk or stoned out of their minds. 

She’d complained about them trespassing at least a half a dozen times, but in the 
entire time she’d been living in the house, the hunters had never gotten nearly this close. 

Trying to catch her breath and calm the frantic pounding of her heart, she listened 
as the siren drew nearer. After a few moments, she heard the engine of the car, the 
crunch of gravel beneath the wheels and then the sounds began to fade as the sheriff’s car 
passed her place, headed down the track. 

Tipping her head up, she listened for anything that might indicate that they were 
just crazy enough to shoot at the sheriff, wondering if it was safe to leave the shed. 

“I’m going to sue the bastard if Hank doesn’t arrest his sorry ass this time,” she 
muttered. 

She was shaking all over. She realized after a few moments that part of it, maybe, 
was due to the fact that she was sitting on cold concrete in her panties. 

She’d forgotten she’d stripped down to her panties and t-shirt when she’d 
sprawled on the couch to watch the movie she’d dozed off in the middle of. 

It was quiet outside now. She didn’t hear the sirens, the car engine, no shooting. 
She thought she could hear a low hum of voices, but the sound was too indistinct to tell 
for sure. 

Dragging in a shuddering breath, she was on the point of pushing herself upright 
when she saw something that froze her mid-motion. 

There was a pair of glowing yellow eyes staring straight at her from the darkness 
of the shed less than two yards from where she was sitting. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Two 

Every muscle, tendon, and bone in Alaina’s body turned to pure water. She stared 
back at the glowing eyes, unable to blink, to breathe, even to think. 

The eyes stared at her unblinkingly for what seemed an endless time. Finally, 
slowly, they blinked. 

Too weak to act on instinct, and too terrified to think, Alaina stayed where she 
was until the sound of voices finally penetrated her chaotic mind. 

The eyes had moved at the sound. Whatever it was in the shed with her was 
staring at the door now. 

Almost as if that was all that was needed to break the frozen shell of shock that 
encased her, Alaina began to push herself slowly to her feet. The eyes, almost as if the 
animal could see her, shifted to her again. 

She froze. 

The animal didn’t move. 

Slowly, she lifted one arm, searching blindly for the light switch. 

The light blinded her when it came on. 

Blinking to focus, Alaina was almost sorry when her eyes finally did. 

A panther lay sprawled along the far wall of her shed. A black panther. 

She’d been staring at it in petrified horror for several minutes when it dawned on 
her that the panther hadn’t moved. He was still watching her, but there was nothing the 
least threatening about his body language. He had not growled, not made any sound at 
all. He was not crouched to spring. There was no indication even of tension in his body. 

He was lying on his belly with his hind legs tucked beneath him and his forelegs 
extended like a huge house cat lazing in the sun. 

As she stared at him, he flicked his long tail almost impatiently and then dropped 
his head to his paws and used one leg to cover his eyes, as if the light was bothering him. 

Alaina’s fear began to drain away from her as she stood stock still, frowning now 
in puzzlement. 

Black panthers were not native to the area. The native panthers, which were 
pretty much gone now, were tan. 

Where had he come from and what was he doing in her shed? 

She saw the blood then. “They’re hunting you,” she whispered in sudden 
comprehension. 

He lifted his head at that, looked straight at her. 

The sound of voices outside in her yard distracted both her and the panther. The 
panther stiffened, tried to struggle to his feet. She held her hand out. “Be still,” she 
whispered. “I’m not going to let anybody hurt you anymore.” Shifting toward the door, 
she flicked the light off and went out, closing the door behind her. 

The sheriff, she saw, and another man she didn’t recognize were crossing the yard 
toward her. Rage instantly surged through her. It had to be the man that had scared the 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

living shit out of her and nearly killed the poor cat hiding in her shed, “Did you see the 

hole they shot in my living room wall, Hank?” she demanded, stalking toward them. 

“Now calm down, Miss Alaina. This is Mr. Tom Calhoun, your neighbor.” 

“Is this the son-of-a-bitch that shot up my house?” Alaina demanded, ignoring 
the hand the man extended. 

“I want to apologize for that. A couple of friends of mine had a little too much to 
drink and took it into their head to go coon hunting.” 

Alaina gaped at the man. “You have got to be fucking kidding me! That is the 
lamest damned lie I have ever heard in my life! I didn’t hear any dogs. I may not be a 
hunter, but even I know people hunt coons with dogs.” 

Calhoun’s eyes narrowed. The false ‘friendly neighbor’ smile he had pasted on 
his face flat lined. “As I said, they’ve had a little too much to drink.” 

“You need to calm down,” Hank said shortly. 

“I need to calm down?” Alaina snapped, outraged. “I was asleep on my couch in 
my living room! There’s a hole the size of a fucking silver dollar not two inches from 
where I was laying before I called you!” 

When Alaina glanced at her neighbor again, she saw that he was staring at her 
shed speculatively. Her heart skipped a beat. It took an effort to keep from following his 
gaze, but she was fairly certain the panther was still in the shed. If he’d followed her out, 
she didn’t think either one of the men, who were facing the shed, would’ve still been 
standing in front of her looking thoroughly pissed off. 

Hank frowned and turned to look at the man. “Ms. McKinley is upset and I don’t 
think we’re going to be able to sit down together and resolve this issue. Mr. Calhoun, 
I’m going to ask you to go home now. I’ll be stopping by as soon as I’ve finished filling 
out a report here.” 

Alaina turned to the sheriff in disbelief. “You’re not going to arrest him?” 

Hank frowned, his lips thinning with irritation. “I’ve arrested the men that were 
shooting. They’re sitting in the back of my patrol car. Mr. Calhoun didn’t even have a 
gun.” 

Alaina’s lips tightened with anger. “I heard you coming a mile off! He could 
have tossed it into the woods when he heard you coming.” 

She could tell from the look on Hank’s face that he’d already thought of that, but 
he wasn’t particularly pleased that she’d pointed it out. “Mr. Calhoun,” the sheriff said 
nodding dismissal and then turned to her. “Are you hurt?” 

“Thank you so much for asking!” Alaina said with false sweetness. “No! I’m not 
hurt, but that’s no thanks to them.” 

The sheriff glanced down at her and for the first time since she’d come out of the 
shed it dawned on Alaina that she was standing around in nothing but a t-shirt and 
panties. She crossed her arms over her chest. 

“If you’ll just go on inside, I’ll be in to speak with you and get a report shortly.” 
The sheriff turned and walked Calhoun back toward the front of her house as another 
sheriff’s patrol car pulled up. 

Alaina watched them until they’d rounded the corner of the house. 

The panther was hurt. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out how he’d 
gotten hurt. He needed a vet, but she wasn’t going to be able to do anything for him until 
she could get rid of the cops, and her damned neighbors. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She did not want to call Bobby! The son-of-a-bitch hadn’t been around since the 
last time they’d fought and she didn’t want him coming around now. He was bound to 
take a call from her as an invitation to take up where they left off. 

It sucked that he was the only vet she knew. 

Maybe the cat wasn’t hurt that badly? 

He’d looked like he was in pain, though, and obviously he’d been weakened. He 
hadn’t even been able to get up when he’d felt threatened by the men’s voices. It seemed 
indisputable that, drunk or not, one of the hunters had managed to put a bullet in him and 
she certainly couldn’t get a bullet out by herself. If it had only been something that 
required bandaging, maybe, but he would need antibiotics and she needed somebody to 
tell her what to do for him. 

The panther had to be tame. He was hurt and he still hadn’t made any sort of 
threatening move toward her. There was no way a wild animal would’ve behaved as he 
had. If he’d been wild he would’ve attacked her the minute she went into the shed. Even 
if he hadn’t been able to attack, he would have growled or hissed. 

Besides, he wasn’t indigenous. Someone had imported him into the country, and 
not for a zoo animal. He wouldn’t have been so tame. 

He had to be a pet. Those stupid bastards had been shooting at somebody’s pet, 
tamed to believe that human’s were no threat, a cat that probably had never even been in 
the wild and had no idea how to take care of himself. Some damned sportsmanship! 

Reluctant to leave the poor thing without looking to see how he was doing, she 
nevertheless headed back toward the house. 

She knew he had to be tame, but the sheriff would probably call animal control at 
the very least. At the worst, he and his deputy might decide to ‘put him out of his 
misery’. 

Flipping on the kitchen light as she went in through the back door, Alaina headed 
for the living room and turned on the overhead light. Her jeans were lying beside the 
couch. Shimmying into them, she zipped and fastened them as she shoved her feet into 
her flip flops. 

Sheriff Wilson commenced to knocking on her door almost before she’d slipped 
her shoes on. 

Anger surged through her all over again. She was so damned sick of the ‘good 
old boy’s club’! The damned realtor that had sold her parents the place had said there 
was a hunting club on the adjoining property, but she wasn’t all that familiar with 
hunters. She’d assumed they would stay on the hunting preserve, not constantly be 
chasing animals onto her property and shooting up her place. There had to be laws that 
had been broken! Why the hell had he let that bastard go? 

Unlocking the door, she pulled it open and glared at the sheriff. “You aren’t 
going to charge him with anything?” she demanded when he moved past her and into the 
living room. 

“You want to show me the bullet holes?” 

Pointing to the couch, she backed up and straddled the arm of the easy chair 
across from it, folding her arms over her chest and watching him sullenly while he 
studied the couch and dug into the hole in search of the bullet. 

* * * * 

Not surprisingly, Bobby was asleep when she called. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

A woman answered. 

It unsettled Alaina for a moment. “I need to speak to the vet,” she said finally. 

She heard the rustle of bed clothes and snuffling and yawning. “Yes?” Bobby 
asked in a voice hoarse with sleep. 

“It’s Alaina. Alaina McKinley. I’ve got a cat in my shed that’s hurt really badly. 
I hate to bother you so late, but I don’t know if he’ll still be alive in the morning. I think 
he’s been shot.” 

There was silence for several moments. “Bring him over and I’ll have a look at 
him,” he growled finally. 

“I can’t. I need you to come out here and look at him.” 

 “Why can’t you?” 

Alaina chewed the inside of her mouth. “It’s a really big cat and I don’t think I 
can move him without hurting him worse. Please? You know I wouldn’t bother you if I 
had options.” 

He uttered an irritated sound. “Fine. I’ll be over in about fifteen or twenty 
minutes.” 

It was more like thirty. Alaina paced the floor and watched the clock for fifteen 
minutes before it finally occurred to her that she could probably at least make the cat 
more comfortable while she was waiting. Going to her linen closet, she found an old 
throw and tossed it over her arm and then went into the kitchen to find something he 
could drink out of. They’d been chasing him. He was probably dying of thirst on top of 
everything else. 

She had reached the shed again when it dawned on her to wonder if getting out 
alive the first time had just been a fluke. Maybe the poor thing had just been in shock 
from the wound and weak and hadn’t been able to threaten her? 

Easing the shed door open, she peered inside. The two glowing eyes winked at 
her, but he didn’t move, and he didn’t growl. Opening the door wider, she flipped the 
light on and inched inside slowly, trying not to make any sudden moves he might 
consider threatening. 

He lifted his head and stared straight at the bowl, sniffing. 

Alaina swallowed against the pity that welled in her. Setting the bowl down, she 
slid it within his reach watching as he gulped the water down thirstily until the bowl was 
bone dry. “More?” 

He looked up at her when she spoke and she could see the pain in his eyes. 
Taking the bowl she refilled it at her laundry sink and set it down for him again. 
Apparently, he’d had all he needed at the moment, though, because he only drank a little 
before he settled again, his head drooping on his forelegs. 

Sliding the bowl out of the way for the moment, she took the throw and spread it 
over him. A rumbling, sporadic purr issued from his chest. Feeling a mixture of relief 
and pity, and encouraged by that sign to think he appreciated her efforts to comfort him, 
she moved closer, stroking his head soothingly. He butted his head against her hand, 
arching his neck so that she could stroke that too. 

She didn’t know why she was so surprised to see him behaving like an ordinary 
house cat, because he was a cat, but she was. She was also intrigued, and drawn to him. 
Settling with her back against the wall, she stretched her legs out in front of her and lifted 
his huge head onto her lap, stroking her hand over his beautiful, silky coat. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He tensed slightly, but allowed it, resting his head in her lap, issuing a rumbling, 
broken purr from his chest from time to time. 

He seemed to enjoy her touch. After a few moments, he turned his head. She 
thought at first that it was because he wanted her to rub a different spot. Maybe that was 
why he turned his head, but he nuzzled his nose against her crotch in the process. Gently, 
she shifted his nose away from her crotch and continued to pet him, but she discovered 
fairly quickly that he’d gotten the idea in his head to love her back. He nuzzled his nose 
against her crotch again and began trying to burrow deeper. 

Not trying, doing. He pushed her thighs apart, running his nose right down her 
crotch. Goose bumps erupted all over her as his heated breath permeated the thick fabric 
of her jeans. Embarrassed and unnerved, she grabbed his head, trying to dislodge him. 
“What in the world do you think you’re doing?” she demanded with a shaky laugh mixed 
with consternation. 

He ignored her insistent pull for several moments, exploring her scent she 
supposed. God! Animals weren’t the least bit inhibited about such things, she thought 
wryly. 

Maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing for him to learn her scent, though, she thought 
when he, thankfully, removed his nose and dropped his head to her lap again. She didn’t 
know what she was going to do with him, but it seemed likely she was going to have him 
a while until she figured it out. 

The sound of a trunk door slamming brought her head up. 

It brought the panther’s head up, too. He stiffened. 

She caught his face between her palms. “It’s all right. It’s just Bobby. He’s a 
real asshole, but he’s a good vet and you need somebody to take care of that wound. I’m 
not going to let him hurt you.” 

The hinges on the door creaked as Bobby jerked it open briskly, placed one foot 
inside the shed and froze. 

The panther uttered a low, deep chested growl, tensing. 

Alaina felt her jaw sag in surprise and uneasiness at his sudden aggressive 
behavior. Her fingers tightened on him. “It’s all right. It’s just the vet.” 

“Jesus fucking Christ!” Bobby muttered in a hoarse whisper, dropping his medical 
bag from suddenly nerveless fingers. “You said it was cat.” 

Alaina looked at him. “He is a cat. He’s tame.” 

Bobby looked the animal over doubtfully, but she could see he was only standing 
in the doorway because he was afraid a sudden movement in any direction would 
precipitate an attack. “Why’s he growling and looking at me like he wants to take my 
head off if he’s so fucking tame?” 

Alaina frowned. “Hunters were chasing him. It’s probably because he thinks you 
might be another one.” Catching hold of the throw she’d covered him with, she pulled it 
up until Bobby could see the panther’s hip. “Somebody shot him, I think. That’s why I 
called you. He’s so weak. He must have lost a lot of blood.” 

“I’m not coming near that damned thing,” Bobby snarled. 

The panther snarled back at him. 

Alaina leaned down, looping her arms around the big cat and rubbing her hands 
over him soothingly, though she seriously doubted, even as weak as he was, if she could 
hold him down if he decided to get up. “Shhhh. It’s all right boy. He’s going to make 


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you all better. Come on, Bobby. You’re here now. Look at him, at least. Tell me what 

to do for him. I don’t know what to do.” 

“Call animal control.” 

Alaina glared at him. “They’ll probably just shoot him.” 

“You’re damned right. He’s a dangerous animal. I can’t fucking believe you’re 
wallowing all over that damned thing!” 

“Because he is not a dangerous animal! You’re a vet, damn it!” 

Bobby glared at her, but after a moment he bent down very slowly and opened his 
bag, searching it for several moments. Finally, he pulled out a syringe and a bottle. 

“What’s that?” Alaina demanded suspiciously. 

“Something to sedate him.” 

She didn’t trust Bobby. “You won’t give him too much?” 

“I didn’t bring anything strong enough for a two or three hundred pound mountain 
lion, damn it! You said it was a fucking cat. I’m just hoping this is strong enough to 
keep him quiet while I have a look.” 

The panther shifted uneasily when Bobby approached him, but he didn’t try to 
break free of Alaina. He jerked when Bobby injected the sedative, glaring at Bobby 
through narrowed yellow eyes. 

Sweat was running down Bobby’s face when he drew back. After studying the 
cat for a moment, he slowly moved back toward the door. “I need to get him to my clinic 
to run x-rays.” 

“No,” Alaina said. It was a gut reaction, but even as she said it she realized she 
didn’t trust Bobby to take the cat to his clinic. “I’m not letting you take him anywhere.” 

Bobby stared at her in disbelief for a moment before he scowled at her. “The 
longer you stay way out here by yourself, the crazier you get. You know that? Whether 
you like it or not, this is a wild animal and you can’t keep him.” 

Alaina glared at him. “I’m not your girlfriend anymore. I don’t have to take 
orders from you. I don’t doubt in the least that you thought this was some kind of ploy 
just to get you out here, you conceited asshole, but it wasn’t. I called you because you’re 
a vet. Now, take care of him and earn your pay, or get the hell off my place!” 

His lips tightened. She could see from his expression that she’d hit the nail on the 
head. He had thought she was just trying to get him out to her place. “It’s going to be a 
healthy bill. Surgery’s always expensive and I’ll have to charge you more for hazard.” 

“Fine!” 

His eyes narrowed, but after studying her a couple of minutes he got his bag and 
moved closer to the panther again. Alaina looked down at the cat. He wasn’t asleep, but 
she could tell that the sedative had knocked him for a loop, probably because he was 
already weak from the blood loss. 

Stroking him, she watched Bobby as he shaved the area, deadened it, and then 
began to fish around in the hole for the bullet. The cat tensed, but allowed her to hold 
him still. 

She was feeling woozy and downright sick to her stomach by the time Bobby 
extracted the bullet, cleansed the wound and pulled out another bottle. 

 “What’s that?” 

“Antibiotics. I’m guessing he must be somewhere between two and three 
hundred pounds, but it’s just guess. I don’t know how much good it’ll do him. I’ll give 


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you a bottle to dose him with,” he said absently as he injected the panther with the 
medicine and then placed a couple of sutures in it to close the wound, which was still 
bleeding sluggishly. 

When he’d finished, he tossed his supplies back into his bag. “I’ll bill you,” he 
said shortly, pushing himself up and leaving the building with the air of somebody 
shaking the dust. 

Alaina stared after him speculatively. “Asshole,” she muttered, looking down at 
the cat and stroking him. “He’s going to go straight to animal control. If there’s one 
thing I’ve learned to count on with Bobby, it’s that he can always be counted on to be a 
total jerk about everything.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Three 

Taking the panther into her house was probably one of the worst ideas she’d ever 
had, but Alaina knew she couldn’t watch him and keep him safe in the shed. She lifted 
the cat’s head and stared into his eyes, trying to determine how alert he was. “There is no 
way I can carry you. I doubt I could even lift your head if you weren’t helping. How am 
I going to get you inside where it’s safe?” 

The cat stared at her a long moment and finally began to struggle to get to his feet. 

Stunned, Alaina merely watched him for several moments. Finally, realizing he 
was getting up, she decided to try to lead him into the house. He hobbled, lurching 
forward and pausing to get his balance, but he followed her. 

As soon as they were inside the kitchen, Alaina locked the door and settled the 
throw in one corner for him to lie on. Leaving him in the kitchen, she went to check to 
make certain she had put the deadbolt on the front door. When she returned, the panther 
was lying flat out on his side on top of the throw. A jolt went through her. Moving to 
him, she watched his chest uneasily for several moments and finally stroked a hand over 
him soothingly. “You’ll be all right. I’ll take the best care you. I promise.” 

When she’d filled a bowl with water and set it close enough he could reach it 
without having to get up, she flicked the kitchen light off and trudged through the house 
turning off lights and checking the doors and windows. Finally satisfied, she went into 
her bedroom, kicked off her flip flops and peeled her jeans off, crawling into her bed and 
collapsing with exhaustion. 

She roused slightly some time later when she felt the bed dip. A few moments 
later a warm body curled up next to her. Sighing, she snuggled closer to the warmth and 
drifted away again. 

An authoritative hammering on her front door woke her from a deep sleep. 
Lifting her head with an effort, Alaina pried her eyes open and stared at the clock. It was 
about a quarter after ten. Closing her eyes again, she dropped her head back onto her 
pillow, willing whoever it was at her door to go away. It was Saturday, damn it! She 
didn’t have to work and she sure as hell wasn’t getting up. 

Movement beside her drew her attention and she rolled her head and found herself 
looking nose to nose with the panther. Her eyes widened. Frowning, she pushed herself 
upright. “What are you doing in my bed?” she demanded. “Crazy cat!” she muttered, 
rolling off the bed when the hammering commenced again. 

Stumbling drunkenly from the little sleep she’d had the night before, she wove her 
way toward the door. “Who is it?” she yelled angrily. 

 “Animal control.” 

Anger surged through Alaina. “What do you want?” 

“Can you open the door so we can talk, ma’am?” 

“No I can’t open the fucking door!” she snapped. “I’m not dressed. I was trying 
to get some fucking sleep. I was up half the night because the morons next door were 
running around with their little guns trying to shoot anything that moved!” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Silence greeted that. “We had a report that there was a wild cat out here.” 

“Dickhead,” Alaina muttered under her breath. She’d known that asshole was 
going to report it. “Guess you should look around then,” she said. 

Turning, she headed back to her bedroom. 

The panther, she saw, eyeing him with disfavor, had taken up more than half the 
bed. After glaring at him for several minutes, she shrugged and climbed into the bed 
again. “If you’ve got fleas,” she muttered around a huge yawn, “you and I are going to 
have a little talk.” 

She’d almost managed to doze off again when the hammering on her door 
recommenced. “Damn it to hell!” she yelled, scrambling off the bed, stalking toward the 
front door and yanking it open. “What do you want now?” 

It was Sheriff Wilson. His eyes widened fractionally as she blasted him with her 
temper. “Feeling better?” he asked after a moment. “I thought I’d stop by and talk to 
you about the incident last night.” 

“I thought you were the animal control people,” Alaina said, embarrassed. “What 
do you want to talk about now? I filed the report. You dismissed it. I’m tired. I want to 
get some sleep.” 

His eyes narrowed. “The animal control people spotted some animal tracks 
around the house. Looked like a pretty big cat.” 

“And this concerns me how?” 

“They’re in your yard.” 

“I live in the country. Animals wander around. They don’t know they’re 
supposed to stay in the woods.” 

“Can I come in?” 

Alaina’s eyes narrowed. “Not unless you’ve got a warrant. I just told you I was 
trying to get some sleep. I was up half the night dodging bullets.” 

He studied her suspiciously for several moments and finally nodded. “I’ll drop 
back by later.” 

Alaina closed the door and locked it. “Fucking asshole. Won’t arrest those 
bastards for shooting up the place, but he can hassle me!” 

Realizing there was no point in trying to get back to sleep, Alaina trudged back 
into her bedroom and headed for the bathroom, peeling off her t-shirt and panties as she 
went and dropping them onto the floor. The panther, she saw when she glanced toward 
the bed, was watching her from beneath hooded lids. “They’re gone--for now anyway.” 

Going into the bathroom, she closed the door and took care of her morning ritual. 
She was standing at the sink brushing her teeth when she noticed the door knob turn. 

Her heart skipped a beat. She was frowning at it when the door opened and the 
panther stuck his head inside. Rinsing her mouth, she shook her head at him. 
“Inquisitive, aren’t you? Smart as hell, too. I knew you were somebody’s pet.” 

Placing her toothbrush in the holder, she moved to the shower and bent down to 
adjust the water. The panther rubbed against her bare ass, nudging her hard enough she 
almost fell into the shower. Sending him a glare over her shoulder, she squatted down 
and flicked water at him. 

He blinked, but he didn’t seem to particularly care. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Shrugging mentally, Alaina switched from tub to shower and climbed in, 
reminding herself he wasn’t a house cat, as much as he acted like one. Apparently 
panthers weren’t as ‘allergic’ to water as a house cat. Or maybe he was just used to it? 

That thought reminded her of her anxiety about fleas. He was bound to have 
picked some up living in the woods. She wondered if he’d been struggling to survive 
long and how he’d ended up out here anyway. Had he run away? Or had his owners 
decided he was more than they bargained for and decided to ‘set him free’? 

Or maybe they’d just, somehow, lost him? 

She discovered when she’d rinsed the soap off that the panther had nudged the 
shower curtain aside and stuck his head in to watch her. “You’re getting the floor wet,” 
she said in mild annoyance. “You are curious, aren’t you?” 

He was probably lonely, she realized after a few moments. If he was used to 
being around people and getting attention, he must have been miserable out in the wild by 
himself. Stepping out of the shower, she crouched down in front of him, catching his 
face in her hands. “Poor darling. As much as I hate to agree with the animal rights nuts, 
it’s criminally stupid to tame a wild animal and then expect them to get along in the 
wild.” 

He pulled loose from her hold and nudged his head against her chest. Fortunately, 
her back was against the tub wall. The push was still hard enough she fell back and had 
to grab for a hold to keep from falling on the floor as he nuzzled all over her breasts and 
then began to lick her. She was too stunned to react at first, but as he dragged his rough 
tongue over her breasts more enthusiastically and she felt her body react to the 
pleasurable sensations, she caught his head again. “Stop that you pervert!” she said with 
a shaky chuckle. “I bathed already. I don’t need you to bathe me.” 

His eyes were half closed as he looked up at her and a faint uneasiness moved 
over her. It hadn’t occurred to her to check to see what gender the animal was. She’d 
been calling the panther a ‘him’ because he was just so massive her mind had just 
immediately identified that powerful build with ‘male’. Pushing him away, she peered at 
his back side as he sauntered off and sprawled on the floor, flicking his tail and giving her 
that narrowed glare he’d bent on her when she pushed him away. 

Balls. And if that wasn’t indication enough, he leaned down to groom his 
wounded hip and she got a good look at the rest of his equipment. 

They hadn’t had him fixed! 

God! Had he gotten some idea in that cat brain of his that he’d found a mate? 

Shrugging the thought off, she pushed to her feet, grabbed a towel and wrapped it 
around herself. He followed her back into the bedroom. Climbing onto the bed, he 
sprawled out watching her while she dressed. 

Trying to shake the uneasiness that he had some notion that she was prime pussy, 
she dressed as quickly as she could. “Hungry?” 

His head came up. 

It was almost unnerving the way he seemed to understand her when she talked to 
him. 

He followed her into the kitchen and lay down on the throw in the corner while 
she examined the contents of her refrigerator. Except for a half a pack of ground beef, 
she didn’t see anything that was likely to appeal to the panther. Shrugging, she took that 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

out, looked around for a plate and dumped the raw meat out. He swallowed it in two 
gulps, and sat licking his lips and watching her. 

Dismayed, Alaina moved back to the refrigerator for another look and finally 
checked the freezer. 

She hadn’t bought groceries yet, though, and the freezer was almost as bare as the 
refrigerator. There was a small roast. She’d bought it with the thought that she could 
make several meals off it, roast beef and then stew. Shrugging, she stuck the package in 
the microwave and set it to thaw and fixed herself a cup of coffee and a piece of toast 
while she waited, stopping the microwave every few minutes to flip the package so it 
would thaw evenly. 

“I should think up a name for you,” she said, studying him meditatively. 

His brows drew together in a puzzled frown--she thought that was what it was 
anyway. 

 “Blacky?” 

His eyes narrowed. He flicked his tail. 

She pursed her lips. “You’re black as soot. I can’t very well call you snowball. 
And you don’t look like a ‘fluffy’. How about Ralphie?” she asked teasingly. 

To her surprise, he got up and moved toward her. 

Trying to decide whether it was because she had called him Ralph or because the 
microwave let out a ding at just that moment, she pulled the package out and unwrapped 
the meat. “I am not feeding you from my hand!” she said decisively, crossing the kitchen 
and dropping the roast on the plate that had held the ground beef. “I’m not sure you can 
tell the difference between edible and my hand!” she added, turning to peer out the 
kitchen curtains as soon as she’d put the meat down. 

There were men, she discovered, in her yard. 

Men with guns. 

“Shit!” 

She looked down at the panther, who’d already wolfed down the roast and had 
settled back on his haunches, licking his lips. “Where the hell am I going to hide you?” 

Assuming he would even cooperate with an attempt to hide him, he was huge. 
Sitting up, his head was breast high to her. And the house was tiny. There weren’t a lot 
of places to hide anything. 

“Come on,” she commanded him, striding purposefully toward her bedroom 
again. Getting down on her hands and knees, she examined the space under the bed. The 
bed was only a few inches off the floor, though. She doubted the panther could squeeze 
under. He seemed to agree with her. He’d hunkered down to examine the space, too, and 
when she glanced at him, he looked at her quizzically. 

Pushing to her feet, she moved to the closet. The floor was as full as the rest of it, 
but she shuffled boxes around and stacked them until she’d cleared a space big enough, 
she thought, for him to stand in. He wouldn’t be able to lie down, but she didn’t think 
she needed to hide him long. “Get in! And be quiet while I get rid of them.” 

He just looked at her. After a moment, though, he moved into the closet, turned 
around a couple of times and finally sat down. She put her fingers to her lips. “Shhh! 
Just be quiet, ok? I’ll let you out in a few minutes.” 

She closed the door firmly, but she doubted that would keep him in if he wanted 
to get out. He knew how to open doors. 


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Hoping he would stay put, she headed to the kitchen again and went out, closing 
the door behind her. “What are y’all doing here?” she demanded. 

Bobby, she discovered, was one of the men wandering around her backyard and 
fury surged through her. He looked up when she yelled and started toward her briskly. 

“Where’s the panther?” he demanded tightly as he neared her. 

She glared at him. “Why do you want to know?” 

He pushed past her and grabbed the door knob. They tussled briefly, but he 
shoved her out of his way and went in. 

“You son-of-a-bitch!” Alaina exclaimed in outrage. “How dare you walk into my 
house like you own it!” 

“Don’t tell me you were stupid enough to bring that thing inside!” 

Alaina ground her teeth, grabbing at his arm. “Get out of my house! Right now, 
Bobby Culpepper!” 

He shook her off. “This is just a tranquilizer gun. I’m just going to take him to 
animal control so they can hold him until we find out who he belongs to.” 

“I’m going to call Hank if you don’t get out!” Alaina threatened, shoving past him 
and trying to block his way. 

“Go ahead. I already told him about the panther. He’ll support me on this. You 
can’t let dangerous animals roam loose. He’ll kill somebody. He already attacked some 
guy over there on the hunting reservation.” 

Doubt jolted through Alaina in a wave of cold, but in the next moment she 
dismissed it. “You’re lying or they’re lying! You saw him. The only blood on him was 
his!” 

He ignored that, pushing past her again. They waltzed through the house with 
Alaina trying to block him and Bobby thrusting her out of his way and proceeding to 
search as if she wasn’t even there. 

Giving up after a moment, she headed to her bedroom and slammed and locked 
the door. “I mean it, Bobby!” she yelled through the door. “Get out or I’m going to call 
Hank and tell him you assaulted me again!” 

“I was drunk!” he growled. “You know I didn’t mean to. I told you I was sorry 
as hell about it. Now open the damned door!” 

“Get out of my house!” she screamed at him. 

He hit the door. She wasn’t certain of whether it was with his shoulder or if he 
was kicking at it, but she screamed with a mixture of fear and rage, looking for something 
to shove in front of the door. 

The door caved in, slamming back against the wall and rebounding. Bobby 
grabbed her by her shoulders and lifted her off the floor, tossing her toward the bed. 
Fortunately, she landed on it. 

He glared around at the room and finally strode to the bathroom and peered inside 
cautiously. 

“Get out!” Alaina snapped angrily, trying to refrain from glancing at the closet. 

For all the good it did! 

After looking around the room, Bobby stepped toward it and grasped the knob. 
Alaina held her breath. Moving behind the door, Bobby opened it slowly. When nothing 
happened, he pushed the door closed again. 

“Where is it?” he asked turning to look at her again. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“He was in the shed,” Alaina said tightly. “If he isn’t in there now, I don’t know 
where he is.” 

He cursed. “Do you have any idea how much one of those things goes for?” 

Alaina gaped at him in outrage. “That’s why you were looking for him? You 
son-of-a-bitch! You thought you could just march in here and take him and sell him? 
What the hell do you think gives you the right to come here like you own this house? 
Like you own me?” 

His eyes narrowed. With a strenuous effort, he regained control of his anger, or 
most of it. She could see he had only tamped it, however. His eyes still glittered with 
suppressed rage. 

“Who says I don’t own you, baby?” he murmured in an attempt to sound 
provocative as he moved toward her, setting his gun down on the floor and leaning the 
barrel on the edge of the bed. “There is the little matter of what you owe me from last 
night.” 

Alaina pressed her lips together in anger. “Which I told you I’d pay for!” 

He grinned. “We can take it out in trade,” he said, surging toward her abruptly 
and pinning her on her back on the bed. 

“Like hell!” Alaina growled, struggling to yank her hands from his grip. 

A low growl emerged from the vicinity of the closet. 

Bobby froze. Slowly, he turned his head to look back at the door of the closet. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Four 

The panther was standing in the opening, crouched to spring, his golden eyes 
narrowed to little more than slits. 

A shiver went through Alaina. 

“Get off me, you bastard!” Alaina muttered through gritted teeth. 

Without taking his eyes off of the panther, Bobby slipped slowly and carefully 
onto the mattress beside her. The moment he did, Alaina sat up, grabbed the gun he had 
left by the bed and jumped between him and the panther. “Now,” she said, pointing the 
barrel at him. “Get out! And get off my property and don’t come back!” 

He studied her a long moment. “That’s a tranquilizer gun.” 

Alaina narrowed her eyes at him. “The cat’s hungry. Maybe I’ll just sedate you 
and let him chew your head off?” 

He eased himself into a sitting position. “That thing’s dangerous, you stupid 
bitch!” 

“Don’t call me stupid! I’m not the one looking down the barrel of my own gun.” 

His eyes narrowed, but when he looked down he saw that the panther had moved 
to stand beside Alaina. “Shoot him, damn it!” 

Alaina gave him a look. “I’d rather shoot you.” She dropped a hand to the 
panther’s head. “Be a good boy, Ralphie. You don’t want to eat him. He’s nasty. 
You’d probably catch something.” 

Bobby stared at the cat nervously. “He’ll pounce the minute I try to get up.” 

“Not if you don’t try anything stupid, Stupid. Just get up slowly, and leave. And 
take your friends with you.” 

After staring at her and the panther for several moments, Bobby finally eased off 
the bed and straightened. The panther uttered a low, rumbling growl. Bobby’s eyes 
widened. With great care, he backed toward the door. Alaina followed him. The panther 
kept step with her. 

Reaching the kitchen, Bobby pushed the screen door open and backed out. Alaina 
followed him, grabbing the door and shutting it in his face and locking it. 

She pushed the curtain aside, watching as Bobby turned finally and stalked 
furiously across the yard, yelling at the men he’d brought with him and gesturing toward 
his truck. When the men had piled in and Bobby peeled off, throwing dirt and gravel into 
the air, she finally relaxed. 

Actually, she discovered she was shaking so badly, and so weak in the knees, that 
she wilted to the floor. Covering her face with her hands, she fought the urge to burst 
into tears. She felt the panther nudging at her hands and lowered them to look at him. 
“You were so good!” she murmured shakily, looping her arms around his neck and 
hugging him. “You shouldn’t have done it, though. I could have managed. Now he 
knows you’re here. And I don’t know how I’m going to protect you.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

The panther studied her for several moments and finally lay down, dropping his 
head into her lap. She stroked him, wondering what she was going to do. He was so 
sweet! She didn’t want anything to happen to him. 

But now that Bobby wanted him, and knew he was in her house, she knew he 
wasn’t going to give up easily. 

She’d known it was a really bad idea to call him! He had acted as if he owned her 
since they had started dating several years earlier. It didn’t matter that they’d broken up-actually 
several times--the last time for good as far as she was concerned. He’d even 
started seeing other women, but the moment she showed any interest in another man, he 
became extremely, aggressively territorial. She hadn’t even managed to have one date 
with a guy since him. He always found out, and he always picked a fight with the guy 
and she just wasn’t that appealing. Nobody wanted her badly enough to deal with her ex. 

Obviously, from his most recent, outrageous behavior, he was still laboring under 
the impression that he owned her. 

Ralphie wasn’t safe in her house. And he wouldn’t be any safer if she sent him 
into the woods--assuming she even could. The neighbor wanted him, too. Between 
Bobby, Mr. Calhoun, the sheriff and the animal control people, they would be tracking 
him with dogs and either kill him or shoot him up with tranqs and dispose of him in a 
zoo--or worse. 

He was better, seemed to be getting around amazingly well considering Bobby 
had just dug a bullet out of him the night before, but she knew he had to be a long way 
from regaining all of his strength and his agility. 

She was miles from town. Even if she could depend on Hank flying out to help if 
she called him, it would take him a while to get to her. Bobby could do pretty much 
anything he damned well pleased and be gone long before any cops arrived. 

“I’ll think of something,” she muttered to herself after a few minutes. “But I’m 
going to have to go into town. There’s hardly any food in the house--nothing for you.” 

It made her uneasy to think about leaving him, but she finally decided that Bobby 
had been pissed off enough, and scared enough of the panther, that he wasn’t likely to 
come back any time soon, particularly since she had his tranq gun. 

“Fencing,” she decided, pushing the cat off her lap and getting to her feet. “I’ll 
get posts and barbed wire and run a couple of strands to keep the hunters from 
‘accidentally’ straying onto my property, which should also keep me out of their range, 
and some posted signs.” She frowned. “I’ll have to see if I can find somebody to do the 
fence, though. Or at least help me. I guess it’s only a matter of digging holes and 
sticking the posts in, but that would be a lot of holes.” 

* * * * 

 Raphael watched the tail end of Alaina’s car disappear with a mixture of 
irritation and amusement. Most of the irritation was directed at himself for giving 
himself away when he was still too weak to put up much of a fight and needed to lay low. 
The bulk of his anger, though, was for not acting sooner. 

He’d wavered too long trying to make up his mind whether to interfere or not and 
it infuriated him that he had. The bastard had scared the hell out of Alaina. He was 
pretty sure that was all, but he didn’t like that. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She hadn’t spoken as if she was afraid of the guy. She had spoken of Bobby as if 
she held him in contempt which had led him to the erroneous conclusion that Alaina was 
in no real danger---until the son-of-a-bitch had decided to rape her. 

His anger surged upward again at the thought, but he tamped it, trying to assess 
his situation. 

It wasn’t good. 

He’d felt himself shifting even as he’d collapsed in relief on the floor of Alaina’s 
shed, but he’d been too weak and in too much pain to give a great deal of thought as to 
whether he would be worse off or better off discovered in that form. He’d hoped he 
wouldn’t be discovered at all, that the hunters chasing him would think twice about 
chasing him right up to her door--unless she was a part of what was going on on the 
adjoining property. 

He hadn’t believed she was, but he had entertained enough doubt to keep his 
distance. 

Unless she was putting on a hell of a show for some reason that escaped him, it 
seemed pretty evident now that she was not affiliated with them in any way. 

Which meant he had put her in danger by coming to her place. 

And that was now compounded by her ex-boyfriend’s interest in capturing him. 

He’d dragged her into the middle of his war party. He had to think of a way to 
protect her. 

That thought brought back a flicker of the amusement that had filled him as he 
watched her leave. Wounded or not, he was far more capable of protecting himself, and 
her, than she was, but she was fiercely protective. 

He liked that about her. It was just one more thing that made her even more 
desirable. 

He couldn’t let her determination to protect him get her killed, he thought in the 
next moment. 

As much as he had enjoyed the liberties his current form had allowed him--and he 
had thoroughly enjoyed it--‘Ralph’ was going to have to play least in sight. 

It occurred to him after a moment that she might have given him the perfect 
opportunity to stay close, protect her, and be less of a threat at the same time. 

She meant to look for someone to work for her. 

All he had to do was figure out how to be in the right place at the right time--and 
be convincing. 

Leaving the window, he went into her room. 

Shifting was more of an ordeal that usual. He hadn’t realized how weak he still 
was until he tried it and he discovered that he had to rest afterwards and wait for the fiery 
pain in his thigh to subside. 

When he’d caught his breath, he limped to her closet and opened the door. He’d 
smelled the man when she’d told him to get inside. It had thoroughly pissed him off 
when he discovered it. It still pissed him off, but there was no denying that it was 
convenient, whatever reasons she had for still having them. 

It only took him a few moments to find what he was looking for. 

Bobby was roughly his size, slightly shorter, but his legs were long in proportion 
to his torso and Raphael discovered the jeans were a reasonably good fit--a little snug, but 
he could live with it. He was a good bit broader across the shoulders, in his upper arms 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

and his chest than Bobby, and his arms and torso were longer. The cotton shirts were a 
bust. Dragging out a t-shirt, he pulled that on. Seams popped when he shrugged into it 
and the sleeves felt like they were cutting off his circulation, but he pulled on it until it 
ceased to cord him. 

There was no belt, but the jeans were snug enough he didn’t see that as a problem. 

The boots he found with the clothes didn’t come close to fitting. Irritated, he gave 
up and flung them back into the closet. He had moccasins, but they were in the boot of 
his bike and his motorcycle was hidden deep in the woods. He didn’t have time to 
retrieve anything and still meet up with her in town. 

There was a cowboy hat. He eyed it for several moments and finally decided it 
looked like something a farm boy would wear. 

Unfortunately, it also looked like Alaina had taken out her frustrations on it. 
Shrugging, he shaped it with his hands the best he could and moved to her mirror to 
check the results. 

 After some consideration, he pulled the hat off, tossed it onto her bed and 
gathered his long, black hair in his fist, looking around for one of Alaina’s stretchy hair 
bands. When he found one, he twisted it around his hair at the base of his skull and then 
placed the hat on his head again. 

Deciding he looked a little more reputable, he left the house and headed toward 
the main road. 

He’d been following the ribbon of asphalt for nearly thirty minutes when a car 
passed him, slowed, and then pulled off on the side of the road. He eyed it suspiciously 
as he approached it. The window came down as he drew even with the front of the car. 

“What happened to your boots, cowboy?” asked a feminine voice from the car. 

He bent down to look into the window. 

The woman driving looked to be about eighteen, which was probably why she 
thought it was a good idea to pull over and offer a ride to a stranger, Raphael thought 
wryly. He favored her with a slow grin. “I didn’t have time to grab them before I went 
out the window,” he said easily. 

Her face slackened with surprise and then she giggled. “Want a lift?” 

“Sure you trust me?” 

She looked him over in a frankly appreciative way, focusing on his crotch for 
several moments. “Baby, I can see you’re packing, but that don’t scare me none.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Five 

“I’ll be with you in a minute,” the clerk said, looking at someone over Alaina’s 
shoulder. 

Glancing idly over her shoulder to see who he was talking to, she saw there was a 
man standing directly behind her. The t-shirt he was wearing fit him like a second skin 
and the skin was lovely to behold. Without conscious volition, her gaze followed the 
hard, rolling hills downward. She caught a glimpse of swarthy skin between the hem of 
his t-shirt and his low riding jeans and dark hair arrowing downward from his belly 
button to form the beginnings of a happy trail. The package at the end of the happy trail, 
cupped snuggly by his jeans, sent a little jolt through her. It had been a while since she 
had seen a man built that impressively. 

Embarrassed when she realized she’d stared too long for it to be considered a 
mere glance, she faced the clerk again. 

“No problem. I was looking for work.” 

His voice was deep and gravelly and heavily accented, although she couldn’t 
place the accent. It sent a quiver of awareness through Alaina and she glanced back 
again, this time lifting her head from the broad, muscular chest to the swarthy face above 
it. 

A shockwave went through her like a jolt of electricity when she met his golden 
eyed gaze. 

He was wearing a battered cowboy hat pulled low on his forehead and she 
couldn’t see his hair, but she didn’t need to to guess his race. The exotic almond shape of 
his deep set eyes, the high, well defined cheek bones, the sharply angular nose and the 
hard, thin lipped mouth were pure American Indian. 

Feeling her face redden, she curled her lips in a polite smile and turned to the 
store clerk again. 

“Can you run a fork lift?” 

Alaina blinked at the man, all at sea, and then realized he was talking to the 
stranger behind her. 

“Sure.” 

“They could probably use you in the yard. Sorry ma’am.” 

Blinking again, distracted because she was listening for the man behind her to 
leave and heard nothing, she merely nodded and glanced around again. He was 
barefooted, she saw as he sauntered toward the back of the building supply store. 

He looked good from the back, too, she thought musingly as she scanned him 
from head to toe, taking in the long, black pony tail that hung almost to his shoulder 
blades, the broad muscular back, his lean hips. Mesmerized by the movement of his hips, 
it was a moment before she finished her survey. Frowning slightly when she noticed he 
was favoring one leg, she wondered if he’d hurt his foot or if it was his leg that was 
injured. 

 “Ma’am?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“Hmmm?” she asked absently. 

 “Tomorrow morning ok?” 

The man disappeared out the back of the building. Alaina blinked, turning to look 
at the clerk blankly. “Tomorrow morning?” 

“To deliver the supplies.” 

“Oh. Sure. That’d be great actually. The sooner the better. You wouldn’t 
happen to know of anybody looking for work that would know how to put up fence?” 

He pointed her to a pail sitting on the counter that had a handful of business cards 
lying in the bottom and asked her for directions to her place. “It’s the McKinley place,” 
she responded absently. “Out by the Hunting Club?” 

The man nodded. “Got it.” 

Nodding, Alaina turned to head out of the store, trying to jog her mind for what 
she had intended to get at the grocery store. She paused just outside, digging around for 
her keys. When she finally found them and looked up, she noticed the ‘cowboy’ come 
around the end of the building. Taking up a position there, he propped is broad shoulders 
against the wall, crossed his long legs and folded his arms over his chest. 

The muscles in his arms bulged. 

Alaina’s belly clenched. Her car was parked just beyond him. She was going to 
have to walk by him and try to pretend she was completely unaware of him. 

She didn’t think she could pull that off. 

Maybe she could just glance at him and smile politely? 

She’d probably trip and fall off the walk. 

God what a gorgeous hunk a hunk!” 

Dragging in a deep breath, she headed down the walk that fronted the supply 
store. He glanced toward her, studying her unabashedly. 

Her heart tripped over itself, racing and sputtering like a defective car engine that 
was threatening to shut off. By the time she neared him, she was beginning to feel 
downright lightheaded. She managed to nod and smile politely as she passed him. 
Feeling weak and shaky from the ordeal, as she gripped her keys and headed toward her 
car several thoughts collided in her mind at once. 

It had been a long, long time--in fact never--since she’d seen a man that had that 
profound an effect on her. 

He was looking for work and by happy circumstance she needed somebody. 

He was stranger. She’d never seen him before and, if he was passing through, she 
wasn’t going to get the chance to find out if the magnetism was mutual, or maybe even 
just a fluke. 

If he couldn’t get work, it was for damned sure he was going to be passing 
through. 

She paused when she had her car door open, looking up at him. “No luck?” 

He turned his head to look at her questioningly. 

“I heard you tell the guy inside you were looking for work.” 

He shrugged. “They said they could probably hire me on in a couple of weeks.” 

“So. In the meantime?” 

He seemed to consider it. Slowly, a wry grin dawned. “Loafing.” 

Alaina felt herself respond to that smile. Inside, she warmed. “I’m not just being 
nosey. I was looking for somebody to do some fencing for me. You know how?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“You got the equipment?” 

Alaina blinked. “Equipment?” she echoed. She thought she’d just bought what 
she needed. 

He pushed away from the wall and sauntered down the steps to the parking lot 
level. “A tractor with a post hole digger and something to pull the wire or fencing unless 
you want it sagging all to hell and gone.” 

Alaina frowned. “I could probably rent it. I’ve got an old tractor, but it hasn’t 
been out of the barn since my father died.” 

He leaned on the hood of her car. “I could have a look at your tractor and see if I 
could get it going.” 

Surprised, Alaina’s brows rose a fraction. “You’re a man of many talents then?” 
she said teasingly. 

His grin this time nearly bowled her over. “A few.” 

The jolt of awareness seemed to jog her mind and it dawned on her abruptly that 
she was just, mostly, standing around flirting when she had meant to rush through the 
chores in town and get back to her place. “I could use you if you’re interested.” 

“When will they be delivering the materials?” 

“In the morning.” 

He nodded. “I could come out now and check out the tractor.” 

Alaina bit her lip. “I was headed to the grocery store.” She glanced around, 
realizing abruptly that he seemed to be waiting. “You waiting for a ride?” 

He shrugged. “Mostly just trying to decide what to do next.” 

She frowned. “I really need to pick up some things at the grocery store before I 
go back.” 

Again, he shrugged as if it didn’t matter to him one way or the other. “I’ll hitch a 
ride to your place, then, in the morning. You want to give me directions?” 

Alaina sighed. “I really want to get that fence up. If you don’t have anything else 
to do and you don’t mind waiting, I’ll grab some things and take you out to look at the 
tractor. Then, if you needed parts or something, I might be able to get them this 
afternoon.” 

“Sounds like a plan.” He pushed away from the hood of the car and moved 
around to the passenger door. 

Alaina watched him, wondering if she’d lost her mind. He was drop dead 
gorgeous, but she didn’t know a thing about him. 

It occurred to her, though, after a moment that Ralph hadn’t let Bobby hurt her. 
She didn’t think she really had to worry about anything like that as long as he was 
around. 

Smiling more easily, she depressed the unlock button and climbed into her car. 

He had a little trouble folding his six foot plus frame into her economy car. The 
ceiling knocked his hat askew. Frowning, he took it off, revealing a thick head of blue 
black hair. 

Alaina looked at him a little wide eyed. Up until that moment, she hadn’t really 
realized just how big the guy was. He was muscular, but he was so tall she’d been 
thinking in terms of long and lean. Up close and personal, he looked less long and lean 
than just plain huge. “There’s a lever under the seat if you want to slide it back some.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He had to get out again to reach it. When he’d slid the seat all the way back, he 
climbed in again. 

“Where are you from?” she asked as she backed the car out of the parking space. 

 “Argentina.” 

Alaina sent him a startled look. 

He smiled faintly. “You thought I was Mexican?” 

“It hadn’t actually occurred to me you might be. I thought you were American 
Indian.” 

He looked surprised. “Most people here assume if you have an accent and look 
like I do that you’re Mexican. I am Indian. South American Indian--mostly.” 

Alaina reddened. It was the curse of the very fair skinned to show the least 
discomfort by lighting up like a Christmas tree. “I’m Alaina McKinley,” she said, taking 
one hand off the wheel as she braked at the street and extending it. 

He engulfed her hand in his dark one. “Raphael Doucette.” 

Alaina puzzled over that as she pulled out into traffic. “That doesn’t sound 
Spanish.” 

“Because it’s French?” 

“Oh.” Alaina tried not to feel snubbed, but there was no getting around the fact 
that it dampened her curiosity. She was relieved when she pulled into the parking lot of 
the grocery store. After driving around, she discovered a parking spot with a little shade 
and pulled into it. “I’ll be as quick as I can,” she said as she got out, wondering if she 
would discover he’d hot wired her car and taken off when she got back with her 
groceries. 

“No problem,” he murmured, tipping her seat back and placing his cowboy hat 
over his face. 

Alaina was in a sweat by the time she got to the check out counter from having 
raced up and down the aisles tossing things into her shopping cart. The butcher was kind 
enough to gather up some of the ‘trims’ from the back for her so she hadn’t had to buy 
quite as much as she’d thought she would need. She could see, though, that Ralphie was 
going to be an expensive pet--not that she meant to keep him. 

Thinking of him put her in mind of pet supplies, though, and she dashed down 
that aisle, as well. 

Contrary to his relaxed pose, which had led Alaina to believe he intended to nap 
while she was in the store, Raphael climbed out of the car and met her and the bag boy at 
the trunk. 

The bag boy sent a startled look at him and then carefully refrained from looking 
at him again, tossing the bags a little haphazardly into the trunk until Raphael grabbed 
one he’d just picked up and gave him a look. Turning a sickly hue, he handed the bags to 
Raphael there after. 

He looked relieved when he’d emptied the buggy. “Have a nice day!” 

Alaina glanced from the retreating bag boy to Raphael speculatively, realizing 
Raphael’s intimidation factor must be around a ten on a scale of one to ten--always 
assuming he had that general effect on other men. 

If he did, then there was going to be an added benefit to having him working 
around her place--besides the eye candy. 

And the work. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“How did you get all the way up here if you’re from Argentina?” Alaina asked 
curiously. They were half way home and she’d grown increasingly uncomfortable with 
the silence since it seemed to leave way too much room for her awareness of the snug fit 
of his jeans and t-shirt. 

And the dark happy trail just peeking above the waist of his jeans. 

He slid a look in her direction. “I flew,” he drawled. “They have cars down 
there, too, paved roads, cities.” 

Touchy. Alaina cleared her throat. “You speak English well. Been in the U.S. 
long?” 

“A while. I also speak Spanish, French, Portuguese, and Araucanian.” 

Either he was just naturally reticent or he didn’t like her prying. She wasn’t 
certain which, but she decided to persevere. “But what brought you to this backwater 
place?” 

He shrugged, turned to stare out the window on his side of the car. “Katrina,” he 
said succinctly after a significant pause. 

“Oh! God! You were there?” 

He didn’t say anything. Obviously, he didn’t want to talk about it. And who 
could blame him? He’d probably lost every thing he had. A lot of people had. 

She cleared her throat uncomfortably. “You got a place to stay?” 

He turned to look at her speculatively. “You offering?” 

Alaina reddened. She’d forgotten all about her ‘pet’. 

On the other hand, if Ralphie was determined to sleep in her room, and take up 
most of the bed, she thought she would probably be safe enough offering her spare room. 

“I’ve got a room,” he murmured, letting her off the hook. 

She let it drop, turning off the highway and onto the narrow track that led back to 
her house. She saw when she had parked the car behind the house that he was looking 
around the place curiously. “Nice place,” he murmured, getting out. 

Alaina got out, too, looking around and really seeing the place for the first time in 
a while. When had it gotten to looking so run down, she wondered? “Guess it’s not 
much, but I like it,” she said a little defensively. “My folks left it to me.” 

She saw he’d gone back to the trunk and was waiting for her to pop the lid. “I’ll 
just get the door first,” she said hurriedly, heading toward the back door. 

Her stomach clenched when she discovered it wasn’t locked. 

Forgetting every thing else on the moment, she pushed the door open and rushed 
down the hall. “Ralph? Ralphie!” 

There was no sign of the panther and she suddenly felt sick to her stomach. 

“You all right?” 

Alaina’s head swiveled toward the deep voice with a jerk and she saw that 
Raphael had come into the kitchen with two armloads of groceries. Trying not to look as 
distressed as she was, she nodded, trying to remember if Bobby had had a key. She 
distinctly remembered changing all the locks, though, when she’d managed to throw him 
out of her house the last time. 

The door hadn’t been jimmied. 

It didn’t make her feel relieved, though. 

“Your boy friend?” 

Alaina looked at Raphael blankly. “What?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“Ralphie.” 

She blinked rapidly. “My … uh … cat.” 

“Maybe he’s under the bed?” 

Alaina received that suggestion with a good bit of doubt. She was fairly certain 
Ralphie couldn’t get under her bed if he tried. Trying to shrug off her anxiety, she helped 
bring in the groceries while she struggled against the sense of doom that was trying to 
overwhelm her. Leaving the bags for later, she walked Raphael out to the barn, pointed 
out the tractor and left him abruptly to search the house again. 

She knew he wasn’t in the house, but she looked anyway. She was fighting the 
urge to weep by the time she’d finished and had to accept that he was gone. 

He opened doors without any problem at all. Was it at all possible that he’d also 
mastered unlocking the door? Had he taken it into his head to go out? 

She checked all the doors and windows and found that, with the exception of the 
back door, nothing had been tampered with. 

Going outside again, she walked around the house, looking for prints--any kind of 
prints, but there’d been so many men tramping through her yard it was impossible to tell 
if anyone had been to her house while she was gone. The same was true of the tire 
tracks. 

Trying not to think about the possibility that Bobby, or that bastard neighbor of 
hers, or the animal control had come by while she was gone, she crossed the yard to the 
edge of the woods, calling to him and then waiting to listen, then calling again. “Here 
kitty, kitty!” she called finally. 

Raphael, who’d paused in his examination of the tractor and moved to the door of 
the barn to watch her, rolled his eyes. Kitty? Christ! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Six 

Alaina gave up calling for Ralph after a while, certain that something must have 
happened to him. 

Probably someone. 

She was sorely tempted when she marched back into the house to call Bobby and 
cuss him for every low down thing she could think of, but that wasn’t going to help and it 
might hurt. She didn’t know for certain that Ralphie hadn’t just taken off. If he had, and 
he was deep in the woods, he was fair game for anybody that decided to make a try for 
him. 

So she also couldn’t call her neighbor and demand to know if he’d done anything 
with her cat. 

She felt like crying when she finally set to work putting up the groceries and 
pulled out all the things she’d bought for Ralph. Visions of him lying dead in the dirt, or 
drugged and caged arose in her mind. 

When she’d put the groceries up, she realized she felt empty, not just depressed, 
and remembered she hadn’t even finished her toast and coffee that morning. 

Raphael hadn’t brought anything with him. He was probably hot, thirsty, and 
hungry by now. 

Too depressed to consider actually cooking, she looked around for sandwich 
fixings and made sweet tea, and then went out to the barn to invite Raphael in to eat. 

He was hot. 

Alaina was too after she got a good look at him. 

He’d stripped the t-shirt off. She got a fine view of a nicely muscular back and a 
very nice arm first, all bulging and rippling from working the wrench he held and 
gleaming with the moisture of his labors. He had tattoos, some sort of tribal looking 
emblems. 

“Are you hungry?” 

He continued rotating the crescent wrench until he’d tightened whatever it was he 
was tightening before he finally looked up at her. 

He didn’t look like he was in a very good mood. 

 “I’m fine.” 

“I already fixed it.” 

His straight, thick black brows almost met over the bridge of his nose. “You 
didn’t have to do that.” 

Alaina smiled. “Like I could eat thinking about you out here working hungry. It 
isn’t much. I just fixed some sandwiches.” 

He glanced down at his hands and then his chest. “I’m dirty.” 

Alaina chuckled. “Yes, you are, but it’s my dirt. Guess I can live with it.” 

He still looked reluctant, but finally he put the wrench down and followed her out 
of the barn. Stopping at the spigot just outside, he made a stab at bathing off. The black 
grease, he quickly discovered, wasn’t coming off, though. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“I’ve got some de-greaser and a towel inside,” Alaina called to him, heading into 
the house again, partly because she thought he was uncomfortable, but mostly because 
she was. 

She’d been so upset about Ralphie she’d put Raphael completely from her mind 
and it had given her a jolt all over again when she walked up on him and saw how pretty 
he was. Umm, umm, what a lovely man! 

She was scrounging under the sink for the de-greaser she’d promised when she 
heard him wiping his feet on the mat outside. 

Well trained too! 

She handed him the cleanser when he stepped inside, turning the sink on for him. 

While he washed, she took out ice for the tea and filled two glasses. 

Uncertainty filled her when she looked at the plates she’d set out. A sandwich 
was plenty for her, but he was a big man, and muscular. He’d probably down the 
sandwich in a couple of bites and be looking for more. Salad seemed a bit redundant, 
given that she’d already put lettuce, pickles and tomatoes on the sandwiches. Soup was 
good with sandwiches, except that it was a little warm to be thinking about hot soup. 
Finally, she dragged out a bag of chips, opened it and set it on the table. 

She could always make him another sandwich if one wasn’t enough. 

Hearing him turn off the water, Alaina took her seat and waited. He glanced at 
her when he’d dried his hands and set the towel aside and pulled out the chair opposite to 
her. 

He picked up a wedge of sandwich, examined it for contents and seemed almost 
to shrug before he bit into it. 

“How’s it going with the tractor? You think you can get it going?” 

“Maybe. Too early to tell.” 

Alaina nodded and focused on her food, unable to think of any other 
conversational gambits. 

He had nice manners, she noticed, more because she didn’t notice any bad table 
habits. 

Bobby’s table manners had taken some getting used to. He tended to gesture with 
his food when he was talking, and talk while he was chewing, which was not only 
disgusting but required a good bit more clean up after meals than it should have. 

It occurred to her abruptly to wonder if Raphael was married. He hadn’t said 
anything about a family, but he was a fine looking man and he looked like he must be in 
his early thirties. It seemed unlikely he hadn’t been married. 

He wasn’t wearing a ring. She didn’t even see a discoloration that indicated he 
had worn one before, but that certainly didn’t mean a thing. 

It didn’t matter either, she told herself irritably. He was working for her. She’d 
hired him because she needed help, not because she was hoping to get to know him 
better. 

Which was just as well, she thought wryly, because he didn’t seem too keen on 
getting to know her any better, or allowing her to know anything much about him. 

Or maybe he was being so cool and distant because he was married? 

“I can fix you another sandwich if that wasn’t enough,” she said when she saw 
he’d ignored the chips and polished off the sandwich. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He shook his head, draining the tea glass. “I’m good. I should get back to work 
on the tractor. You’ll need to order a rental if I can’t get it going.” 

Trying not to look as glum as she felt, Alaina nodded. “Just let me know if you 
need anything.” 

Nodding, he left. 

When she’d cleaned up, she stood leaning against the counter trying to think if 
there was anyway she could find out whether anyone had been to her house and snatched 
Ralphie. Calling didn’t seem like a good idea. She couldn’t think of any subtle way to 
question any of them and she hadn’t admitted that she had the panther. 

Unfortunately, she didn’t know who Bobby was sleeping with at the moment, but 
if he followed true to form, he was living with the woman. She supposed she could drive 
by his clinic, but he was rarely there. Most of his ‘patients’ were farm animals, which 
required house calls. 

She knew where Calhoun was, though, and he’d been way more interested in her 
shed than she liked. The gunshot through her living room wall might have been an 
accident, but it had happened, she was certain, because they’d chased Ralphie onto her 
property and kept coming. 

Pushing away from the counter abruptly, she strode down the hall and out the 
front door. It would’ve been easier to take the car and go by the road, but then they 
would hear the car coming and it seemed she was less likely to find out what she wanted 
to know if they had warning of her arrival. 

She had reached the narrow track that ran along the boundary when she heard the 
tractor engine churning and then a backfire as it died again. She paused, wondering if she 
should wait until he was done and she’d taken him back to town. Finally, she decided 
that he would probably be occupied a while longer and headed down the track, looking 
for a trail or at least a spot where the underbrush wasn’t quite as thick. 

She stopped again when she found what she was looking for, listening intently to 
see if she could hear anyone in the woods. When she didn’t, she headed in, surveying the 
ground carefully for snakes and then scanning the woods for something she could use as 
a land mark to help find her way back. Distances could be deceptive in the woods, but 
she didn’t think the main house was too far from her own. 

Despite the fact that she’d picked a fairly clear area to push through, the going 
was pretty rough for a while, particularly since she was trying to make the least amount 
of noise she could. She didn’t want them to hear her coming and it was hard to break 
through thick brush without sounding like an elephant trampling through the bushes. 
Pausing periodically, she listened. For the most part, the woods were quiet. She’d made 
enough noise to startle off most of the wildlife--not but what she doubted there was a lot 
of animals still around. Depending upon the season, they had a hunt almost every 
weekend. Most likely everything that could, had already headed for less dangerous 
territory. 

She could hear twigs snapping around her, though, and little scurrying noises. 
Hoping it was bunnies and squirrels, not snakes or anything big with big teeth, like wild 
pigs, she moved steadily in the direction she had determined to be her goal. 

She had begun to wonder if she’d managed to get herself lost when she spied an 
area ahead of her that looked a lot clearer. Pausing, she listened again when she heard an 
engine. It sounded like a truck. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She stood perfectly still, wondering if the sound was coming from her place or the 
neighbor’s. It was impossible to tell. Sound had a way of bouncing from tree to tree in 
the woods. Finally, she decided that she was far closer to Calhoun’s place than her own 
and she might as well proceed. 

A few minutes later she heard men’s voices. 

Her heart did a little double step as it occurred to her to wonder if she’d managed 
to get right up on a hunting party that was about to burst through the woods with guns 
blazing. 

She wasn’t even wearing one of those hunting vest things. 

She sure as hell wasn’t going to whirl around and run. She couldn’t think of any 
surer way to get a bullet in the back if it was hunters. Instead, she forged ahead as 
quickly as she could. In a few moments, she caught a glimpse of a roof through the trees. 

The men’s voices were louder. 

Slowing, she began moving more stealthily until she could see the group of men 
she could hear. She still wasn’t close enough to pick up much besides the drone of their 
voices. They were standing beside a large, paneled truck, though, and it looked like 
they’d just taken some kind of delivery. 

Alaina frowned, wondering what they would have delivered in such a big truck. 
After a few moments, she began to pick her way slowly and carefully to a position that 
would allow her to see the side of the truck, to see if it had a logo. 

One of the men glanced toward the woods and she froze, wondering if he’d heard 
her. He returned his attention to the man facing him pretty quickly, however. Still, 
Alaina hesitated. When she saw one of the men move away from the others and reach for 
the door handle of the truck, she crouched down. It looked like they were about to move 
the truck anyway. She decided she might as well wait until they did and then she 
wouldn’t have to get closer to find out what they were having delivered. 

Irritation filled her when the man started the truck. Instead of pulling out again, 
he put the truck in reverse and began backing up. She’d just surged to her feet again 
when a hand clamped over the whole lower half of her face and an arm clamped around 
her body just beneath her breasts. 

Shock rippled through her, freezing the blood in her veins, making her muscles go 
rigid. It sent her mind scrambling to assess the situation, and identify whoever had 
grabbed her. She felt the heat of his breath as he leaned close to her ear. “Not a sound,” 
he said quietly, his voice emerging as a rumbling growl. 

It took her a moment to realize he’d relaxed his hold on her and was pointing. 
Following the direction of his finger, she stared blankly at the man standing near the edge 
of the woods not much more than twenty feet away. As she watched, the man, who’d 
been watching the truck, turned and scanned the woods. 

He was holding a gun, and it wasn’t a hunting riffle. 

Coldness swept over Alaina when she realized how close she’d come to 
blundering right into the man. 

The pressure over her mouth eased and she twisted her head to look up at the man 
that had grabbed her. A jolt of surprise went through her when she saw it was Raphael. 

He put a finger to his lips warningly. 

She nodded, hardly daring to breathe. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

After a few moments, he moved away from her, sliding a hand down her arm and 
gripping her hand firmly. Pointing to the ground, he placed one foot carefully and then 
the other. Uncomprehending at first, she realized fairly quickly that he was indicating 
that she should step where he stepped. 

Tense, wondering what in the world was going on, she focused on placing each 
foot very carefully for what seemed like an endless time. 

His hand was warm against hers, dwarfed it, but there was something very 
comforting about his hold on her. It made her feel safe, even though she knew that was 
absurd. He was unarmed. 

He led her unerringly through the woods and back onto the track. More than a 
little surprised, Alaina glanced around before she looked up at him. 

He was studying her with a mixture of anger and something else she couldn’t 
quite identify. 

“What were you doing in the woods?” 

They both asked the same question at almost the same moment and then stopped 
and looked at each other in surprise. Alaina looked at him with a mixture of amusement 
and irritation. “I was looking for my cat.” 

“I was looking for you--Good thing, too. Whatever they’re doing over there it 
doesn’t look like they would appreciate you snooping around.” 

Alaina’s amusement vanished. “I was not snooping!” she disclaimed indignantly 
and then realized that she had been when he’d come upon her. “I didn’t go to snoop, 
anyway,” she amended. 

“If you didn’t go with the intention of spying on them, then why is it that you 
went straight over there--more or less?” 

Surprise warred with outrage for several moments. “Were you watching me?” 

He looked annoyed. “I saw you go into the woods. I need to go into town to pick 
up some parts.” 

Alaina frowned. “So--you followed me?” 

“What’s going on over there anyway?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly. 

She hadn’t realized he was still holding her hand until he tugged on it, urging her 
to follow him. Apparently, he became conscious of that fact at about the same moment. 
He released her hand. 

“I don’t know. You dragged me away before I got the chance to see.” 

 “Something illegal.” 

Alaina’s heart skipped a beat with excitement. She’d been too stunned and 
unnerved to consider the situation, but she knew he was right. They’d had automatic 
weapons! Drugs! “I should call Hank,” she said, more to herself than him. 

 “Hank who?” 

She glanced at him. “The sheriff.” 

He grabbed her hand, drawing her to a halt. “You might want to reconsider that,” 
he said, his voice tight now with anger. 

Alaina blinked at him. “But … they’re doing something illegal over there! You 
said it yourself!” 

He let out an irritated huff of breath. “Lady, you live right next door. You think 
they aren’t going to figure out immediately that it was you that called the cops? And 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

what if they manage to hide everything before the cop gets there? Then they know, but 
he doesn’t have anything to arrest them for.” 

Fear and dismay filled Alaina as she stared up at him, realizing he was right. She 
frowned. “Well, I have to do something!” 

He studied her assessingly for several moments and finally glanced up at the sky. 
“It’s getting late. Probably too late to get the parts. I’ll see if I can rig it for now and get 
the tractor going.” 

“But … what about what’s going on over there?” Alaina asked, following him. 
“You’re suggesting I just pretend I don’t know something’s going on?” 

He shrugged, pausing to study her again. “You don’t know anything. You’re in 
way over your head, baby. And you aren’t getting paid to risk your neck. Let someone 
else handle it.” 

Alaina plunked her hands on her hips, glaring at his back as he sauntered back 
toward the barn. Easy for him to say! He wasn’t living on the doorstep of the criminals! 
And how was she to know they’d stay over there and not bother her! 

“Well,” she muttered. “I hired you to do the fence, not to tell me what to do!” 

He paused, turned to slide a narrow eyed glance at her. “You asked. And it’s my 
opinion they aren’t going to just let it slide if they catch you spying on them, or discover 
you’ve narced on them.” 

Her eyes widened. A jolt of fear went through her when it occurred to her 
abruptly that she had established a pattern of stray bullets hitting her house, because 
she’d already called Hank out on three separate occasions. 

If they decided she was a risk, they could probably get away with murdering her 
and pretending it was just a stray shot that got her! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Seven 

Alaina watched Raphael as he headed down the track toward the main road. She 
hadn’t felt comfortable about not giving him a ride back to town, but he’d refused her 
offer, saying he’d catch a ride. 

She found it doubtful very many people would be willing to offer him a lift, but if 
he was that hard headed it wasn’t her problem. 

It still bothered her. 

She finally decided she’d give him about an hour and then just head into town for 
something. If he was still walking, maybe then he’d be willing to let her take him the rest 
of the way into town. 

He was not friendly. 

She couldn’t quite put her finger on what he was besides not like anybody she’d 
ever known before, but he definitely wasn’t friendly and outgoing. He also wasn’t the 
least bit shy that she could tell, which one would’ve thought would be the opposite of 
‘friendly and outgoing’. 

He might well have saved her life and she wondered how many men in this day 
and age might have thought about it, and also been able to carry it off. One out of ten? 

She hadn’t considered it at the time. She’d been way more shocked to find herself 
in a bear hug with a hand over her face than she had been at the guard he’d pointed out, 
mostly because she had been nearly back to her own property before it had fully sunk in 
that the guy was a guard. 

Say what he liked, she didn’t feel safe now that she knew the neighbors were up 
to something illegal. 

On the other hand, that bastard had shot a hole through her living room wall and 
hadn’t even gotten arrested. 

Raphael was right. Most likely all that would happen if she called the sheriff was 
she would have an accident. 

Restless, still upset about the disappearance of the panther, she realized she didn’t 
particularly want to spend another Saturday night alone in front of her TV. Moving away 
from the window, she headed into her bedroom and began looking through the closet for 
something suitable for a night out. 

It wasn’t much of a choice, really. There was only one place in town that 
qualified as a singles bar and it was pretty low brow. Selecting a pair of jeans and a 
halter style top she went in to take a shower. 

An hour later, she left her house reeking of perfume, which she’d dabbed on her 
wrists, behind her ears and between her breasts--and perfumed cosmetics, perfumed 
shampoo and perfumed soap. She’d leavened it with scentless deodorant, but it could 
hardly compete. She had a headache by the time the air conditioner had cooled down the 
car and decided to drive with the windows down to try to tame the perfume before she 
got to town. 


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Her hair was going to look like she’d just rolled out of bed, but it was still damp 
and she figured she could tame it with her brush when she got to the parking lot. 

She passed Raphael about half way to town, lounging against a late model sports 
car that contained a late model blond. She whipped by too fast to get a good look at the 
girl, but she’d seen her before. 

It was her neighbor’s daughter and she couldn’t have been more than eighteen at 
the most. 

Depression and irritation hit at the same time. She supposed that was why he was 
so standoffish. She was too old to interest him. 

Trying to shrug it off, she headed for the bar as planned, but she’d lost most of her 
enthusiasm before she even parked the car. 

The place was packed. After locking her car, she had to stand in line for a good 
fifteen minutes to get inside. 

The red sports car pulled into the lot while she was standing in line and cruised up 
and down looking for a parking space. 

The blond got out alone and headed for the line. 

Feeling a good bit better, Alaina found once she’d gotten inside that she could at 
least look around like someone hoping and expecting to have a good time. She was in 
luck. She spied a friend at a table near the dance floor. 

Waving back, she held up a finger and headed to the bar first for a drink. She 
needed something to mellow out and chances were if she waited for a waitress she’d be 
ready to go home before she got anything. 

The first sip sent a shudder through her and a wave of dizziness. It was strong 
and she hadn’t had a drink in forever. 

“Girl! Where have you been keeping yourself? I haven’t seen you in a coon’s 
age!” 

Alaina smiled wryly and shrugged. “Working--you know how it is.” 

Marilyn made a face. “Do I ever!” She frowned. “I thought your folks left you 
in pretty good shape though? I was sorry to hear about the accident.” 

Alaina nodded. It had been a year and half. She’d come to terms with it, but she 
still didn’t like to talk about it. “How’ve you been?” 

Marilyn shrugged. “Can’t complain--Well, I could, but nobody wants to hear it!” 
she said, grinning. 

“You still seeing …?” 

“Nope! How about you?” 

“No.” 

“I didn’t think so. He’s here with some barely legal bimbo, by the way.” 

“Oh shit!” Alaina muttered. “And I was hoping to have a good time.” 

“She seems pretty possessive herself. I expect there’d be some real fireworks if 
he tried anything.” 

Alaina sipped her drink, watching as the dance floor filled. A man came over and 
asked her if she wanted to dance. Smiling, she shook her head and lifted her drink. 
“Maybe when I’ve finished my drink?” 

He glanced at Marilyn, who got up immediately and headed to the dance floor 
with him. 


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The song was still playing when a hand skated over her bare back and then a man 
leaned close. “What are you doing here?” 

A jolt of adrenaline went through Alaina and then anger. “What does it look like 
I’m doing?” she asked tightly. 

Bobby moved around the table and sprawled into Marilyn’s chair. “I was just 
surprised to see you. It’s been a while--and I figured you’d be home guarding the cat.” 

She wasn’t about to tell him the panther had run off. He’d be out hunting it 
before day break. 

She wondered where his girl friend was. She didn’t want to ask, because she 
knew the conceited jerk would instantly jump to the conclusion that she was jealous, but 
it made her uneasy to be sitting with him when Marilyn had said the girl was possessive. 
She didn’t want to get into a fight over a man, at all. And she sure didn’t want to get into 
anything over Bobby. “That’s Marilyn’s seat,” she said pointedly. “Weren’t you sitting 
somewhere else?” 

He got up abruptly, but he was looking toward the front of the building where the 
restrooms were so Alaina didn’t make the mistake of thinking it was anything she’d said 
that had that effect on him. With dread, she turned to look over her shoulder to see if the 
woman had spotted her with ‘her’ man. 

Her gaze was snagged by a man coming in the door, however. 

It was Raphael. He wasn’t looking at her, though. He was looking at Bobby and 
he didn’t look at all pleased. As his gaze flicked in her direction, Alaina shifted her gaze 
and found the new love of Bobby’s life coming toward them. Bobby had spotted her 
first, however, which was why he’d attempted a hasty retreat from Alaina’s vicinity, from 
the look on her face as she met Alaina’s gaze, not very successfully. 

They began to argue before Bobby had even reached her. Alaina couldn’t hear 
them over the loud music and everyone else’s conversation, but the expressions that 
flickered across the girl’s face were eloquent. 

Shrugging inwardly when she saw the girl was too occupied chewing Bobby’s ass 
to confront her, Alaina flicked a glance around to see where Raphael had gotten off to. 

He hadn’t gotten far. The Calhoun girl was wound around him like an anaconda. 

So much for thinking they hadn’t hooked up. Undoubtedly Raphael had only 
gone to bathe and change before rendezvousing with her here. 

Trying to shrug off the depression that settled over her, Alaina turned her 
attention to Marilyn again as she returned to the table breathless from the dance, and 
probably her partner, as well. 

He settled at the table with them. Recognizing it as the classic ‘breech and 
sweep’ move, Alaina looked around until she saw his buddy moving in and excused 
herself. She couldn’t remember the guy’s name, but she recognized him from a previous 
encounter and the most she could say for him was that he wasn’t as annoying as some of 
the guys she’d met. All the same, she thought she would be just as entertained with her 
TV set and she wouldn’t have to try to fend it off at the end of the evening. 

As luck would have it, she discovered as she headed toward the exit that Raphael 
and little miss were also headed in that direction. Pretending she hadn’t noticed them, 
she changed course abruptly and went into the lady’s room. Little miss was at the mirror 
when she came out of the stall. 


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Surprise and irritation went through her. It was uncanny the way people one least 
wished to see had a way of always being right where one couldn’t avoid seeing them. If 
she’d been paranoid, she would’ve thought the little bitch was following her around just 
to rub her nose in it. 

Ok, so she was paranoid. 

The girl flicked her a complacent smile in the mirror. 

Or maybe she was just admiring her own reflection? 

“You’re the lady that lives at that little farm next to my Dad’s place, aren’t you?” 

Alaina pasted a polite smile on her face. “And your dad is?” 

“Tom Calhoun. I’m Angie.” 

Alaina nodded. It was the closest thing she could manage to polite at the moment. 

“I heard there was some problem over at your place the other night?” 

Tamping the irritation that surfaced at that question, Alaina checked her own 
reflection in the mirror when she’d finished washing her hands. It wasn’t comforting. 
She had ten years on little miss, and she was sure she looked it. Cringe. Actually, 
probably more like fifteen, but who the fuck wanted to count? “Just a little,” she 
muttered non-committally. “Staying with your dad for the weekend?” 

Angie grinned. “I’m on break. A couple of weeks, anyway. Assuming I decide 
to go back to school next quarter.” 

Alaina was tempted to ask her if that was middle school or kindergarten, but there 
seemed no sense in pandering to the girl’s ego. She merely smiled and nodded. “I’m 
ducking out. Ran into my ex-bastard and I can’t stomach being in the same county with 
him. It was nice meeting you.” 

As she had more than half feared, Raphael was waiting outside the ladies room. 
She made a great show of digging in her pocket book for her keys, though, and managed 
to walk by him without ‘seeing’ him. She was pretty adept at avoiding people she didn’t 
want to talk to by pretending she didn’t notice them and at the moment she didn’t even 
feel like exchanging inconsequential pleasantries. She’d managed to make it all the way 
across the parking lot and to her car before Angie and Raphael exited the club. 

Bobby and his girl friend were having a loud argument a few cars down from 
hers. 

This, she thought in irritation, was why she hardly ever went out. There was a lot 
to be said for boredom when the alternative was high drama. 

Bobby’s girlfriend flounced into her car and peeled out of the lot about the time 
Alaina finally managed to find her keys and get her car door open. Nearby, she heard the 
loud, growling rumble of a motorcycle engine roar to life. The sound caught her 
attention and she glanced toward it just as Angie swung her tight little bottom onto the 
seat behind Raphael. 

Bobby distracted her, striding toward her even as the motorcycle began to pull 
off. “Hey! How about giving me a ride?” 

Alaina stared at him in outraged disbelief. “You can not be serious?” 

He tried for a cajoling smile. “C’mon, Lainie! It’s the least you can do since you 
pissed my girlfriend off.” 

She’d just thought she was outraged before. “You pissed your girlfriend off. 
Catch a cab.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He chuckled. “But it was because I was talking to you. C’mon, baby? Just to my 
truck? I left it in the clinic parking lot.” 

Alaina looked him over suspiciously. He’d been drinking pretty heavily, and 
Bobby on beer was way worse that Bobby straight. He was an asshole when he was 
stone cold sober. Alcohol only magnified his more unpleasant personality traits and had 
the added effect of making him think he was the persona of all the world’s greatest lovers 
rolled into one neat package. 

Translation: Bobby knew he wasn’t going to get laid if he expected any tail from 
his girlfriend and he’d decided to give her a try. 

The alternative was that she would have to be really ugly to run him off, because 
he was thick anytime and thicker when he was drunk, and then he’d get really nasty. 

“Just to your truck?” 

He favored her with a slow grin she knew was supposed to be calculated to melt 
her heart and set her cagels to clenching in desperate need. “Sure, baby--unless you had 
something else in mind?” 

“I didn’t,” she said flatly, favoring him with a tight smile and calculating the odds 
of getting into her car and locking the door before he could grab her. “I’ll take you to 
your truck.” 

As soon as he turned and started toward the rear of the car, she jumped in, 
slammed the door and locked it, shoving her key into the ignition. By the time he’d made 
it to the rear, she had the car started. Dropping it into reverse as he rounded the other 
side, she backed out of the parking space. 

Stunned by the move, he leapt out of her way, gaping at her as she braked. She 
managed to get the car in drive before he recovered enough to make a grab for the door 
handle and shot out of the parking lot. 

“Fucking cunt!” he yelled at her as she sprayed him with pebbles from the parking 
lot. 

She lifted a hand and shot him a bird as she braked at the road. 

After glancing quickly left and right, she pulled out and headed for home, hoping 
he was too drunk to hang on to his fury long enough to make it out to her place. 

She discovered she was shaking from the confrontation and driving way faster 
than she should. Mentally ordering herself to calm down, she eased off on the gas and 
unclenched her hands from the steering wheel, flexing her cramped fingers. After a few 
moments, a giggle escaped her at the memory of Bobby’s expression as she shot out of 
the parking space. Even the fact that she passed Raphael and his bimbo heading back 
toward the club didn’t dampen her amusement. She was still chuckling over it when she 
pulled into her yard and parked the car. 

It lightened her mood, but that didn’t outlast another search of the house and the 
discovery that Ralphie hadn’t reappeared. Locking up, she sat down to watch a little TV, 
one ear cocked for any sound of a truck. She wasn’t interested in what she was trying to 
watch, though, and when an hour had passed with no sign that Bobby was going to 
appear, foaming at the mouth furious because she’d ditched him, she got to thinking 
about the scraps she’d gotten for Ralphie. 

Deciding it couldn’t hurt to call him one more time, she went into the kitchen and 
heaped some of the scraps on a plate. After standing at the back door calling to him for a 


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few minutes, she stepped outside and began to walk around the house. “Ralphie! Here 
kitty, kitty! I’ve got you some nice beef scraps!” 

A rustle in the brush just off the yard in the edge of the woods caught her 
attention. Uneasiness moved through her. “Ralphie?” she called a little weakly. 

Two glowing eyes appeared in the brush. “Ralphie? Come here kitty! Kitty, 
kitty? Are you hungry?” 

Unable to shake the uneasiness that had crept over her, she stood stock still for 
many moments and finally moved a little closer. “Ralphie?” 

The cat leapt over the bush he’d been hiding behind and landed at the edge of her 
lawn. 

The problem was, this cat was a full grown, home grown, tan panther. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Eight 

Terror froze Alaina to the spot, the plate of bloody meat scraps still clutched in 
one hand. It took Alaina several moments even to unfreeze her eyeballs enough to flick 
them in the direction of the house and try to gauge the distance. 

Two bounds and the cat would be on her and she wasn’t even sure she could get 
her legs to cooperate if she tried to run. 

The cougar let out a low, rumbling growl. Crouched low, she saw it tense, 
preparing to spring. 

Alaina let out a blood curdling scream and pitched the place full of scraps at it. 
The heavy plate caught the cat on the forehead, startling him so that he jumped to one 
side. The bloody meat caught his attention, however, at least momentarily. 

Even as Alaina slid a hopeful glance toward the house, though, she saw the cat 
sniff at the meat and dismiss it. 

She also saw a black streak heading her way. 

The panther let out a challenging snarl before he reached her. 

The cougar jolted, flattened his ears back against his head and issued a counter 
challenge. They slammed together in a meaty thud, snarling and growling and rolling. 

As they rolled in her direction, it thawed Alaina’s frozen shock sufficiently that 
she backed away. She was still too shocked to think clearly, however, her fear for her 
own safety shifting to a fear for Ralphie as the two huge cats clawed and bit at each other. 

Backing toward the house, she abruptly remembered Bobby’s gun and whirled 
and dashed inside. By the time she’d grabbed it and raced to the door again, she saw the 
two cats had separated. They were circling one another, however, looking for a chance to 
tangle again. 

Fearful she’d hit Ralphie if she actually tried to aim the thing, she pointed it just 
above their heads and pulled the trigger. She hadn’t braced for the recoil and the gun 
bucked, throwing her off balance so that she staggered back a couple of steps. Both cats 
froze, hunkering low to the ground. Abruptly, the cougar whirled and charged toward the 
woods. Ralphie chased him. 

“Damn it! Ralphie! Come back!” 

Ignoring her, he chased the other cat, disappearing into the woods, as well. 

Reaction set in as she stood by the door, listening to the thrashing in the forest. 
The adrenaline pumping through her abandoned her so suddenly she thought for several 
moments she was just going to collapse. 

At least she knew Ralphie hadn’t been captured, she thought shakily, retreating 
into the house finally and closing the door. After looking around the room a little 
vaguely, she sat heavily in a chair. She was holding her face in her hands when she heard 
the door knob jiggle. Lifting her head, she stared as the knob turned and opened slowly. 

The panther’s golden eyes flickered over her as if he was checking her for injury 
and Alaina abruptly burst into tears. Surging out of her seat, she looped her arms around 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

his neck and buried her face against him. He sat on his haunches, nuzzling his head 
against her, a deep rumbling purr issuing from his chest. 

“You were so good!” she murmured. “You chased that bad old cat off, didn’t 
you, sweety!” she said finally, sniffing back her tears and leaning away to look at him. 

The rumbling purring stopped. He looked back at her through narrowed eyes. 

“God! I didn’t even think to check to see if you were hurt!” 

Moving away slightly, she examined him and discovered, to her dismay, that he 
had blood on his fur. Anger surged through her. “That damn cat bit and clawed the hell 
out of you!” 

She stroked his face. “I am so glad you’re all right! I’ve been worried sick about 
you all day, you bad old cat!” 

Ignoring the sulking glare he gave her, she got to her feet. “Come on. Let’s get 
you bathed off so I can see how bad your bobos are. Ok?” Pushing the door shut, she 
headed toward the bathroom. 

He was still sitting by the back door glaring at her when she looked around to see 
if he’d followed her, but as she reached to untie her halter top, his entire attitude changed. 
His head came up and his eyes went from narrowed slits to wide interest. Getting to his 
feet, he padded toward her. 

Satisfied that he meant to follow her instead of taking off out the door again, 
Alaina dropped the halter top onto the bed and moved to the dresser to find an old t-shirt 
to wear while she bathed him. When she’d shrugged into it, she unfastened her tight 
jeans and peeled them off, kicking her sandals off and hopping on first leg and then the 
other as she removed the jeans and tossed them toward the bed to join the halter top. 

She discovered when she looked at Ralphie again that his eyes had narrowed. She 
smiled at him. “Don’t sulk! You didn’t mind the water when I was bathing,” she 
murmured, heading into the bathroom and turning on the water in the tub. 

He stopped at the door, watching her suspiciously as she studied the bottle of flea 
and tick shampoo she’d picked up at the store, wondering if it would be a good idea to 
use it when he undoubtedly had open wounds. It would probably burn like hell if nothing 
else. She didn’t see anything on the bottle that said not to use it if there were open cuts, 
though, and if she had to bathe him in it, the medication was bound to be absorbed 
through his skin. 

If he was going to make a habit of sleeping in her bed, he was going to have to be 
de-fleaed. 

Shrugging, she leaned down to check the water. Deciding it was a comfortable 
temperature, she braced her shins against the side of the tub and leaned over to reach the 
stopper. She’d just managed to grasp it when she felt the heat of his breath on her ass. 
Before she could jerk up right, he shoved his snout between the cheeks of her ass, and 
licked her cleft. Even through her panties she felt the heat of his tongue. 

Yelping, Alaina slipped and went into the tub head first, scrambling to catch her 
balance on the slick surface. Before she could right herself, he licked her again, this time 
shoving his tongue beneath the leg of her panties and dragging that hot, rough tongue 
right down her cleft. Goose bumps erupted all over her as a jolt of sensation shot through 
her. 

“Damn it, Ralphie!” she gasped, struggling to hold herself with one arm and swat 
at him. “Get your nose out of my ass you perverted cat!” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Apparently, he liked the taste, though, and he wasn’t giving up easily. He shoved 
a shoulder between her thighs, throwing her further off balance, forcing her to shift her 
weight to one leg as he pushed under the other, lifting it from the floor. Her knee 
buckled, slamming into the side of tub as she tried to wiggle her butt out of his reach, 
slapping at him. 

Abruptly, she crumpled into the bottom of the tub with a splash that thoroughly 
drenched her and the cat. Stunned, trying not to think about the fact that that long, rough 
tongue had felt better than anything that had touched her in forty forevers, Alaina merely 
stared at him blankly for several moments. “God, Ralphie!” she muttered finally. “If 
you’re hungry, there’s food in the kitchen! If you’re horny, you’re just going to have to 
find another cat, damn it!” A shiver of reaction went through her. “Not that you aren’t 
good, Mr. Man--went right for the sweet spot, didn’t you, you horn dog--cat?” 

Thoroughly flustered by the experience, she finally gathered herself and struggled 
up onto her knees, glaring at him accusingly. He sat back on his haunches, licking his lips 
as he studied her through slumberous golden eyes. “Don’t look at me like that! I’m not 
that hard up! Guess you weren’t hurt too badly,” she muttered to herself as she swiped at 
the water that had plastered her clothes to her. 

Getting up finally, she shoved the stopper into the drain and climbed out of the 
tub shakily. Her clit was throbbing like a son-of-a-bitch. Trying her best to ignore it, she 
leaned over the tub and squeezed as much water out of her t-shirt as she could. “Guess I 
might as well wear it till I get you bathed.” 

Still shaken, she measured out the flea shampoo and poured some into the water. 
“Come on Ralphie. Into the tub.” 

He stared at her, his eyes narrowed again. 

Replacing the cap, she plunked her hands on her hips. “Don’t be difficult now! 
You are not sleeping in my bed until you’ve had a bath!” 

He studied her for several moments and finally climbed into the tub, sniffing the 
water suspiciously. Feeling weak kneed, Alaina settled beside the tub on her knees and 
began to wash him, searching him for bites and scratches. To her relief, she didn’t find 
anything that looked very serious. “You lucked out. I don’t know how you managed to 
come out of that fight with barely a scratch, but I’m glad you did. God! It scared the hell 
out of me when that thing jumped out! I’m lucky you were around,” she murmured, 
feeling weaker still as the realization sank in that she might be cat food now if Ralphie 
hadn’t shown up when he did. 

Ignoring the wet fur, she hugged him again. “Thank you for saving me, Ralphie. 
I was so scared.” He nuzzled her, lifting a paw and curling it around her shoulder almost 
as if he was hugging her back. Loosening her hold on him, she kissed him lightly on the 
nose. “I am going to be so miserable when your owner comes back for you. It’s too 
much to hope they won’t.” 

Sighing despondently, she finished bathing him and then pulled the stopper to let 
the water drain. Grabbing a towel, she scrubbed it over him to dry him the best she could 
and then tossed the towel toward the hamper. 

Now she needed a bath, she thought, mildly irritated when she looked down at 
herself. 

After glancing at Ralphie hesitantly, she turned the shower on again and peeled 
her wet clothes off when she saw he’d moved to settle in the door of the bathroom and 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

groom himself. Suspicion moved through her at his air of innocence, but she finally 
dismissed it and climbed in to bathe. Feeling a chilling breeze blow across her just about 
the time she got her hair lathered, Alaina blinked the soap from one eye and peered 
toward the shower curtain. “Don’t even think about it!” she snapped when she saw 
Ralphie had stuck his head in to watch her. 

He studied her face for several moments and finally left. 

“I’ll get you something to eat when I get out!” she called when she heard him 
leave the bathroom. 

Uneasiness moved through her as it occurred to her to wonder what the cat had 
thought he was doing. He hadn’t tried to bite her, but that wasn’t terribly comforting 
considering his enthusiasm in licking her. 

Her pussy, poor ignorant, deprived thing, was still clamoring for more because it 
couldn’t tell the difference even if she could. Tongue was tongue and as tongues went, 
Ralphie had by far the best that had ever stroked that particularly tender area. 

It didn’t make her feel any better to consider he might have thought it needed 
bathing. She’d bathed before she went out, she thought indignantly as the myriad of 
pussy jokes fluttered through her mind. She knew damned well it couldn’t have been the 
smell that had made him act like he’d just found a patch of catnip. 

Maybe she was just making too much of it? He was a panther, not a house cat, as 
much as she tended to think of him as being ‘just a cat’. She’d had cats before. 
Sometimes they just took the notion to groom their owner--hers had anyway. She’d 
never quite known what to make of it, but she thought it was just their way of showing 
affection. 

She would’ve been easier about it in her mind if (a) Ralphie wasn’t so damned big 
he could eat her if he took the notion and (b) he didn’t have the tendency to decide to 
groom her erogenous zones. He’d been way too interested in examining her crotch from 
the start. 

He’d undoubtedly been raised by humans, though. Maybe he identified with 
humans since he hadn’t been around any other cats? Maybe he thought he was 
romancing her? 

What a thought! If he decided to shove her down and bite the back of her neck 
she was going to be pushing up daisies! 

And that would be a hell of a way to go! She could just see the damned 
headlines! Cat woman and ‘pal’ get too rough! An Alachua woman died today when her 
pet panther apparently decided to mount her …. 

God! 

She was going to have to watch it around him. He must be in mating mode! 

When she’d dried off, she took an ankle length nightgown out of her drawer and 
pulled it on. She hardly ever wore the thing because it was just too hot to sleep in, but 
short of shoving Ralphie out the back door and locking it behind him, she thought it best 
to cover up as much as possible. 

He was examining the contents of the refrigerator when she made it to the 
kitchen. She stopped abruptly, torn between amazement, appreciation for his 
intelligence, and irritation. “Move! I told you I’d get it for you!” she said testily, 
shoving against him until he moved out of the way and pulling out the package. “I 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

imagine that cougar got that plate full I threw at it, but fortunately I only took enough 
outside to try to entice you back to the house.” 

Settling the package on the counter top, she took out a plate. Ralphie stood up, 
propping his forelegs on the counter beside her and watching. She glanced at him, 
discovering that, standing, he was taller than she was. A flicker of uneasiness went 
through her, but he hadn’t shown any tendency toward aggression--except that he’d 
whipped that cougar’s ass good fashion! 

Remembering that, she smiled at him and stroked his face. “Enough?” 

He tilted his head questioningly. 

“All right. A little more, but I’m not putting it all out. I know you can’t be that 
hungry! And you’ll want something in the morning! God! If I keep you around I’m 
going to have to get a freezer and buy meat in bulk.” She frowned. “I guess that’s better 
than letting you hunt when there are so many trigger happy hunters around.” 

That comment brought her thoughts back to the unpleasant encounter with the 
cougar. What were the odds, she wondered, that one would be just wandering around the 
area? 

Slim to none. 

She didn’t profess to know a lot about the endangered species, but she hadn’t 
heard of any cougars being spotted in the area. She also hadn’t heard about them being 
‘reintroduced’ into the area like they’d done down in Florida. 

It seemed too far fetched to consider the possibility that the cat had migrated so 
far. Cats were territorial. Big cats tended to mark off a fairly huge chunk of territory, but 
she was hundreds of miles from Florida. 

The cougar was either native to the area, or it had been imported for some reason. 

And there was a hunting club right next door to her. 

That seemed almost more farfetched than the possibility that the cat had migrated 
so far. 

Struggling to dismiss the crazy idea that her neighbor had some sort of illegal 
safari service going on, she slid the plate toward Ralphie and rubbed his head absently 
before she bundled the rest of the scraps up and put the package in the refrigerator again. 

Ralphie stuck his head under the faucet the moment she turned it on and she 
waited until he’d drunk his fill before she washed her hands. Pulling a large pot out, she 
filled it with water before she shut the tap off. 

Leaving him to finish his food, she locked the back door and wandered into the 
living room, sprawled on the couch and flipped the TV on again. Her mind wasn’t on the 
screen, though, because she’d just remembered that she’d seen something on TV not too 
long ago that was about the black market for exotic animals that were being captured and 
sold to men who wanted the thrill of big game hunting. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Nine 

 It was excitement that made her heart race and the blood pulse through her in a 
heady rush, arousal that bridged the line between consciousness and unconsciousness. 
Drifting between total awareness and sleep induced fantasy, Alaina moaned, shifting 
restlessly, moving her legs apart to welcome the delightfully hot, faintly rough tongue 
rubbing over her clit. 

It felt so good. Her sleep and desire drunken mind, struggling to decipher the 
sensations, erected the shadowy image of a man between her thighs. Gasping, she 
dragged her feet up, splaying her thighs wider still. Weight settled on her thighs, pressing 
them toward the mattress as the mind sundering teasing grew more insistent. The 
pressure against her thighs brought her floating upward from the edge of consciousness, 
though, physical perception abruptly conflicting so sharply with the fantasy her mind had 
produced that she found it impossible to cling to the edges of sleep any longer. 

Still drunk with sleep, drunker still with the euphoric chemical of pleasure 
fogging her mind, Alaina groped blindly for the man’s head, trying to figure out who 
she’d brought to bed with her. 

His short cropped hair was silky beneath her finger tips. 

Her mind drew a blank. 

But then she was in no state to use her mind. It was fully occupied with the 
delightful sensations befuddling it. 

Gasping, digging her fingers into his scalp, she lifted her hips to meet him as he 
lapped her clit harder, pushing her closer and closer to release until she was moaning 
ceaselessly, twisting her head back and forth against her pillow. 

Her body seized abruptly as the first spasm jolted through her. Feeling the 
tremors of release running through her, he ceased to lick her clit and pushed his hot 
tongue into her passage, tongue fucking her. The sensation dragged a hoarse cry from 
her. The muscles along her passage clenched so hard her belly cramped and she cried out 
again, bucking against him until the spasms began, slowly, to dissipate. 

Limp in the aftermath of the paroxysms of rapture, Alaina lay gasping for breath, 
shuddering with each small aftershock that rippled through her as he continued to lap her 
until she felt completely drained. 

She lay drifting in sated bliss for several moments, but the word that had formed 
in her mind triggered a series of thoughts that tripped, one over another like falling 
dominos and a sensation of disbelief rolled over Alaina. Slowly, almost afraid to look, 
she lifted one eyelid a hair. 

In the early morning light filtering into the room, she saw that Ralphie was 
propped on her thighs, staring straight at her, his own golden eyes closed almost to slits. 
Blinking, certain the image would vanish, Alaina struggled up onto her elbows and stared 
at the cat, and then herself in stunned disbelief. Her panties were crotchless now, the lips 
of her sex gaping, the hair damp and slicked to her skin. 

From his tongue! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“Oh … my … God!” Alaina gasped. “Ralphie?” 

He eyed her for a long moment and finally pushed away from her. Landing on 
the floor beside the bed with a solid thump, he flicked his tail angrily and trotted out the 
door. 

Alaina gaped at the empty doorway for some time after he’d disappeared. 

She’d just been … molested by her cat! 

Still more inclined not to believe what she thought had happened than to believe 
it, Alaina transferred her attention to her panties again. They were still shredded, as if 
he’d caught hold of the crotch with his teeth and simply bitten that part of her panties off. 
Her nightgown was rucked up around her hips. 

She touched herself. Waves of sensation rocked her because her flesh there was 
still flushed with the blood that had rushed in to heighten sensation. 

Rolling off the bed, she stalked into the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, 
still too stunned to really feel anything but shocked. Images crowded into her mind and 
collided as she switched on the shower and climbed in, pictures she didn’t want to 
examine too closely. 

What kind of cat was he, anyway? 

A trained sex cat, her mind instantly supplied. 

He had waited until she was dead to the world and completely vulnerable to finish 
what he’d started the night before when she’d been trying to run a bath for him! 

She shook that thought off. That implied intelligence. She knew he was 
intelligent, but he was still a cat, for crying out loud! 

Whoever had raised him was crazy besides being a total pervert! No way would 
she allow, let alone entice something that dangerous to get amorous, but it seemed 
indisputable that he had known exactly what he was doing and the only way that she 
could see that he would have known was if he’d been trained to do it. 

Not that Ralphie seemed dangerous, but he was still a panther! He was still wild 
at heart and born wild always wild as far as she was concerned. There were plenty of 
incidents where idiots had raised wild animals and they’d still reverted to their wild side. 

The question was, what to do about it? 

It made her angry to think someone had screwed with his mind! Poor baby! He 
was so sweet, too! Gentle as a lamb! 

Perverted, but gentle. 

A shiver went through her, but she resolutely closed the door on her ‘experience’. 

God! She felt like such a pervert! As hard as she tried not to think about 
moaning and thrashing and climaxing, all those thoughts flickered at the edge of her 
consciousness, clamoring to deluge her in a guilt trip of epic proportions. 

She was going to have to quit walking around dressing, undressing, and bathing 
around him! Obviously, behaving that way had triggered his ‘training’. 

He was probably waiting in the kitchen for his ‘treat’. 

He wasn’t. When she finally dressed herself and peered into the kitchen timidly, 
she discovered the back door was standing open. Torn between relief and distress that 
he’d taken off again, she moved to the door. As she reached it, the rumble of a motor 
cycle reverberated against her ears and a few moments later Raphael appeared on the 
track leading to the main road. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

As luck would have it, she was still standing in the door when he parked the 
motorcycle in front of the barn and glanced toward the house. Irritated that she hadn’t 
closed the door the moment she heard the motor cycle, she remedied the situation, closing 
the door and heading toward the stove to heat water for coffee. She’d just poured the 
boiling water in her coffee cup when there was a tap at the back door. She jumped, 
spilling hot water all over the counter. 

Setting the pot down, she glanced toward the door and saw that Raphael was 
standing just outside. 

His gaze flickered over her face assessingly when she opened the door. 
Uncomfortable for no reason she could think of, she dropped her gaze to his lips. That 
didn’t help much, though, because he had a nice mouth and it made her stomach go all 
jittery. 

She frowned as a thought occurred to her abruptly. “Oh! I forgot about the 
parts!” 

“I’ve got the tractor going for now. Why don’t you just hold off on parts?” 

Confusion flickered through her. “Want some coffee?” 

“Sure. Thanks.” 

Alaina was so surprised she simply stood where she was for several moments. 
Finally, she moved back into the kitchen to allow him in. 

“Any idea when they’ll deliver the materials?” 

Alaina turned from the stove to look at him in surprise. “Uh--they just said 
‘morning’.” She frowned. “I guess if they haven’t brought them by the time you’re done 
with your coffee, I should walk you down and show you the line.” 

Duh! Like he could guess! Blushing faintly, she turned her back to him again. 
“You like cream in your coffee?” 

“Actually, I like it best when it’s all cream.” 

Alaina sent him a startled look. Crossing the kitchen, he took the pot from her 
hand and poured the water out. She just stared at him for several moments when he 
turned to look at her expectantly. Finally, realizing that she was between him and the 
refrigerator, she took the milk out and handed it to him, then topped off her coffee with 
canned condensed milk and moved to the other side of the kitchen, staring out the 
window in the kitchen door. 

“Any sign of the truck?” 

She glanced toward him, but saw he wasn’t looking at her. Instead, he was 
focused on mixing his coffee--boiled milk and instant coffee. She shrugged inwardly. 
She liked hers rich, too. It just hadn’t occurred to her to make it with milk instead of 
water. “Not yet.” 

“Would you like something to go with coffee? Breakfast?” 

He glanced at her but shook his head. “I thought I saw you at Bennie’s last 
night.” 

Startled, Alaina still managed to feign complete bafflement. She was surprised 
that he’d noticed--considering--and stunned that he’d mentioned it. She shrugged. “I 
met a friend for a drink.” 

He frowned, blowing on his coffee. “Tall skinny dude with blond hair? He your 
boyfriend?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Astonished, she didn’t even try to hide it that time. “Bobby? Good God, no! He 
was, but we broke up almost a year ago.” 

“You sure he knows that?” 

Alaina smiled wryly and then chuckled when she finally realized what he was 
talking about. “Ah! It’s his thing, you know? You probably saw him with his new 
girlfriend--who just happens to have blond hair like I do and is the same general height 
and build.” Except younger. 

His gaze flickered over her assessingly. “That wasn’t you sitting with him when I 
came in the door?” 

Alaina blinked. Considering she had been at pains to pretend she hadn’t noticed 
him, that was a seriously loaded question. She frowned thoughtfully. “He did stop by 
my table to talk for a minute. Maybe that was what you saw?” 

“He looked like he had more than ‘talking’ on his mind,” he said dryly. 

Alaina stared at Raphael blankly, wondering how in the world he’d managed to 
observe so much in such a small space of time. 

Why would he be interested anyway? 

“You want to show me the line?” he asked, changing the subject abruptly. 

“Sure,” she responded absently, setting her coffee cup down and leading the way 
outside. 

They’d just reached the track when the delivery truck turned off the main road. 
Changing directions, they moved just off the drive and Raphael left her to direct the 
driver on where to unload. It was just as well, because Alaina had time to consider the 
height of the weeds. Returning to the house, she got her metal detector and checked it to 
make sure it was working. 

By the time she got back outside the delivery truck had dropped the poles and 
wire. Waiting until the driver had climbed back in and turned out again, she headed 
toward the drive. Raphael met her, slowing his steps to match hers. 

When she neared the area where she knew the front pin had been set, she turned 
the metal detector on and began waving it over the dirt. She’d just given up and looked 
around to get her bearings when a car pulled off the road. 

Angie put her automatic window down. “Lose something?” 

Alaina, who’d looked up when the car pulled off the road, glanced at Raphael and 
then returned her attention to the metal detector. 

It was hard not to notice that he didn’t look all that pleased to see Angie and 
Alaina wondered if she’d failed to ‘put out’ or if there was some other reason he wasn’t 
particularly happy to see her. After a moment, he strode to the car and leaned down to 
look in at the window. 

“We’re looking for the corner pin,” he said, his voice unwelcoming. 

“You didn’t tell me you were working for Ms. McKinley.” 

Alaina refrained from snorting with an effort. Unless she’d done an about face 
from the time she greeted him at the door, she hadn’t looked like she was interested in 
talking. 

“Did you want something in particular, Angie?” 

“I was just surprised to see you here and thought I’d stop and say hi,” Angie 
retorted with a touch of petulance. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She didn’t get to hear Raphael’s reply to that because another car pulled up at just 
that moment. When she glanced up that time, she saw it was Calhoun. Anger 
immediately began to simmer just below the surface of her calm. She glared at him. 
Unfortunately, it was a wasted effort because he was focused completely on Raphael. 

He pulled his car alongside his daughter’s. “Car trouble?” 

“I just stopped to talk to Raphael. Raphael, this is my father.” 

Daddy and Raphael exchanged a long look. Alaina couldn’t see Raphael’s 
expression, but Calhoun’s was far from friendly. “You looking for work? Or passing 
through?” 

“At the moment, neither,” Raphael said coldly. “Later, Angie.” 

Straightening, he headed back toward Alaina just about the time she finally 
managed to hit pay dirt. Stopping when the buzzer sounded, she waved the detector in a 
tight circle and finally knelt to examine the ground. 

Dismissed, Angie peeled off, sending up a shower of dirt and rocks and then 
burning rubber as she hit the pavement with a squawk of tires. 

Calhoun pulled off to the side of the road, parked and got out, striding toward 
them. Alaina, who’d been digging for the pin which should be just below the surface of 
the dirt, looked up as he came to stand over her. “Need any help?” 

Irritation swept through Alaina. “I’ve got help, thank you.” 

 “The Mex?” 

Alaina surged to her feet angrily. “You’re standing on my property, Calhoun. 
Maybe I should be asking if I can help you?” 

He seemed to wrestle with his temper. “You putting up a fence?” 

She wanted to tell him it was none of this damned business, but he’d see soon 
enough and it seemed pointless to antagonize him beyond the satisfaction it would give 
her to tell him to go to hell. “As a matter of fact, yes. I figured that would be the best 
way to see to it your customers don’t ‘accidentally’ stray on to my property anymore.” 

He fought another round with his temper. “My offer still stands.” 

Alaina considered for a moment. “The one you sent that realtor with six months 
or so ago?” 

His lips tightened, but he nodded. 

“Did she forget to tell you I said you could shove your offer up your ass?” Alaina 
asked sweetly. 

She thought he might lose his grip on his temper for several moments. “It was 
above market value,” he ground out. 

“It’s below the value of the place to me,” Alaina shot back at him. “This place 
has been in my family for generations. You don’t have enough money to buy it.” 

After studying her in tight lipped silence for several moments, he transferred his 
attention to Raphael. “A word of advice--Stay away from my daughter. She’s underage 
and she doesn’t date Mexicans.” 

Raphael’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not sure what we did last night would constitute a 
date, but I’ll keep that mind.” 

It was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Calhoun uttered a furious growl and 
swung. Alaina ducked and scurried out of the way. Raphael caught the fist with his jaw. 
The blow snapped his head sideways and rocked him back on his heels, but he barely 
seemed fazed and the next three blows were from Raphael’s fists connecting with 


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Calhoun’s face. Calhoun staggered back at the first two blows and sprawled out on the 
ground at the third. 

Raphael’s golden eyes were blazing with fury, anticipation, and satisfaction as he 
stood over Calhoun, his hands balled into fists, his legs braced apart as if he was waiting 
for Calhoun to get up to go another round. “And I’m not Mexican you ignorant prick,” 
he ground out. 

Alaina, who’d watched the entire incident from a safe distance with her jaw at 
half mast, surged forward furiously. “Get off my property!” 

Calhoun flicked a glance at her before he returned his attention to Raphael. “This 
isn’t over,” he ground out, pushing himself to his feet and dusting his clothes off with 
hands. 

“You’re right. It isn’t,” Raphael said coldly. 

Alaina and Raphael watched as he strode to his car, got in, and peeled off like his 
daughter had. After glancing at Raphael a couple of times, Alaina knelt and resumed her 
search for the pin. 

“Was what you said true?” 

Alaina frowned. “Which part?” 

“About this place being in your family for generations?” 

Alaina bit her lip but finally smiled. “Two anyway. My father bought it. He had 
it in mind to do a little farming when he retired. It was something he’d always wanted to 
try.” Her amusement died. “He didn’t get the chance, though. He and my mother were 
killed in a plane crash last year.” 

His gaze flickered over her face and she saw sympathy in his eyes. “I’m sorry.” 

Nodding, Alaina carefully pushed it from her mind. “There,” she said in 
satisfaction, pointing out the pin at last. “I knew it was around here somewhere. Now all 
we have to do is find the one at the back corner.” 

After flattening the weeds around the pin, Raphael fell into step beside her. 

Alaina glanced at him a couple of times. “I don’t think she’s underage, whatever 
he said,” she finally said. “I don’t imagine it would be very pleasant if he filed charges 
against you, though.” 

He sent her a speculative glance and finally grinned. “I met her for a drink and 
gave her a ride on my bike. That was the extent of it.” 

Alaina’s brows rose in surprise. “Oh.” She thought it over a moment and a 
mixture of both amusement and concern filled her. “But you ….” She broke off. He 
sent her a questioning look and she bit her lip. “You implied ….” 

“I said I didn’t think it constituted a date.” 

Alaina chuckled, but shook her head. “Men! You wanted an excuse to rearrange 
his face! I guess that’s why you let him get in the first punch?” 

His good humor vanished. Instead of answering, though, he halted and turned to 
look down the drive. Frowning, Alaina stopped and turned, as well. They’d moved far 
enough from the main road by that time the entrance to the drive was no longer in view, 
but a moment later, she heard what she supposed he had. A vehicle had turned into her 
drive. 

Gunning the engine, the driver shot into view a split second later, heading straight 
for them. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Ten 

Alaina was still gaping at the truck heading toward them when Raphael snagged 
her around the waist, jerked her off her feet and leapt toward the edge of the woods. 

Bobby braked to a skidding halt beside them and shut off the engine. 

Alaina could see the moment he got out and stalked around the hood of the truck 
that he was thoroughly pissed off--not that she’d needed that ‘body language’ and 
expression to tell her. The fact that he’d nearly run her and Raphael down had clued her 
in even before than. 

“We need to talk,” he said tightly. 

Alaina studied him uneasily. “Not if it’s about last night,” she said flatly, and 
then thought it over. “Actually, unless it’s about the bill for the … cat, not at all.” 

He stared at her in tightlipped silence for a moment, fuming, and finally 
transferred his gaze to Raphael. “Who’s the Mex? And what’s he doing here?” 

 A jolt of surprise went through her as Raphael slipped an arm around her waist 
and dragged her back against him. “Who’s the gringo, baby? And what’s he doing 
here?” he murmured next to her ear. 

Alaina had to struggle to keep from laughing. Biting her lip, she placed one hand 
over Raphael’s at her waist and lifted her other hand to stroke his cheek. “This is Bobby 
Culpepper, the local vet. Bobby, this is Raphael Doucette.” 

Bobby’s brows snapped together. “That doesn’t sound Mexican to me,” he 
muttered suspiciously. 

“Because it’s not?” Raphael murmured coolly. 

Apparently, Bobby decided to ignore him and transferred his angry gaze to 
Alaina. “You damned near ran me over last night! What the hell was that all about? 
And, I might add, I got thrown in the fucking drunk tank because you took off in a snit 
and left me in the parking lot! I am pissed with you, girl!” 

Outrage ousted Alaina’s amusement. 

“Exactly what do your problems have to do with Alaina?” Raphael growled. 

Bobby glared at him. “Butt out. We’re talking here.” 

Raphael very calmly released Alaina and set her to one side. “Actually, you’re 
done talking. Get back in your truck and take yourself off.” 

Bobby looked taken aback for a moment. “You think you can make me?” he 
ground out. 

The fist Raphael planted in the middle of Bobby’s face rocked him backwards. 
Blood spurted from his nose. His knees wobbled and he sat backwards in the dirt. After 
studying him for several moments to see if he would get up again, Raphael moved behind 
Bobby, caught him under his arms and hauled him to his feet. Jerking one Bobbie’s arms 
behind his back, he walked him back around the truck. 

Bobby, holding his nose, staggered drunkenly, but put up no resistance to being 
led around the truck and shoved inside. Once he was inside, however, and had locked the 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

doors, he glared at Raphael over the hand he was still holding to his nose. “Boy! You 
have done seriously screwed up messing with me!” 

Raphael’s face hardened. “If you bother Alaina again, you’ll discover exactly 
what ‘screwed up’ means.” 

Alaina, who’d been too stunned by everything that had transpired to do anything 
but gape at the two men, was galvanized by the revving of the engine into darting behind 
the safety of a tree. After gunning the engine threateningly, Bobby jerked the truck in 
reverse and cut a swath through her lawn as he shot backwards in a tight circle. 

Raphael watched him for several moments and finally crossed the drive to where 
Alaina stood. Reaching her as Bobby, after grinding gears, finally managed to get the 
truck into first and the truck lurched forward in a hard turn toward the main road Raphael 
sent another stunning jolt through her by dragging her roughly against his length. 
Catching hold of the hair at the nape of her neck with one hand, he tugged, dragging her 
head back. “In case he needs more convincing,” he murmured, swooping toward her 
even as he spoke. 

An electrifying current sizzled along Alaina’s nerve endings as his mouth closed 
over hers. Instantly her body, so stunned by everything that it had cocooned her, focused 
on the heated connection, her senses expanding to acute awareness of every point where 
their bodies touched. The gentle suction of his mouth, the rake of his tongue across hers 
filled the void of sensation produced by her shock with so much stimuli so fast that, as 
brief as the kiss was, it threw her into complete chaos. 

She stared up at him blankly when he lifted his head to study her. Licking her 
lips, she asked hoarsely, “Is he gone?” 

His gaze flickered over her face and focused on her lips. “Not yet,” he murmured, 
closing the slight distance that separated them and fitting his mouth to hers again, this 
time almost roughly, with hunger that seemed to draw her entire body into a hard knot of 
tension, feeding off her life force until, within the space of seconds, weakness descended 
over her. She lost her grip on the metal detector, scarcely aware of it falling to the 
ground as she lifted a hand to curl her fingers into his shirt, struggling against the 
dizziness that engulfed her, trying to move closer to the source of pleasure as he explored 
her mouth with a restless caress of his tongue. 

Just as visions began to fill her head of tearing his clothes off and running her 
hands over his body, he began to withdraw, making one last foray with his tongue, easing 
the pressure of his mouth, sucking lightly at her lips before he broke contact and lifted his 
head. 

He was breathing raggedly. “I think he’s gone now.” 

Who? Alaina thought blankly before she remembered the kiss had been his idea 
of convincing Bobby that she was ‘taken’. “You think he was convinced?” she asked 
weakly, self-consciously uncurling her fingers from the tight grip she had on his shirt. 

His lips curled faintly. His golden eyes gleamed with a mixture of desire and 
amusement. “It convinced me.” 

She looked around a little vaguely when he stepped away from her and bent to 
pick up the metal detector. Handing it to her, he guided her back onto the leveler ground 
of the drive. Still thoroughly rattled, it took Alaina several moments to figure out what 
she was supposed to do with the metal detector. Dragging in a shaky breath as she finally 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

recalled she was supposed to be locating the boundary pins so that he could put up her 

fence, she threw one last glance toward the main road and headed away from it. 

“Thank you,” Alaina murmured after they’d walked in silence for a time. 

He threw her a startled glance and then a slow grin. “My pleasure.” 

Alaina reddened. She cleared her throat. “I meant for … uh … making Bobby 
leave.” 

He grunted. “I enjoyed that, too.” 

A frown of confusion flickered across her face as she looked up at him. “You 
don’t like Bobby either?” 

His dark brows rose questioningly and Alaina wondered if he would rebuff her if 
she pursued the questions in her mind. He had been pretty clear that he didn’t welcome 
any sort of probing into his background. “I had the impression that you particularly 
disliked Calhoun.” 

All traces of amusement left his features. “That’s a mild way to put it,” he ground 
out. 

There was violence simmering just beneath his surface calm and Alaina backed 
off, losing all desire to probe further. She was too addled still by what had happened in 
any case to pull her wits together enough to speculate. Fortunately, they located the back 
pin without too much difficulty and Alaina was able to retreat to the house and fall apart 
in private. 

It wasn’t even mid-morning, Alaina reflected wryly once she was inside, and it 
had already been a hell of a day. 

She didn’t know what to make of Raphael. 

She sure as hell didn’t know what to make of what had happened between them. 

Frowning thoughtfully, she cleaned up the kitchen and headed into the front room 
and plopped down on her couch. The man could kiss. God! She couldn’t recall anybody 
ever having that kind of effect of her with just one kiss! It might have been more 
understandable if not for the fact that she’d …. 

She broke off the thought. She wasn’t going there. 

It was sufficient to consider that she wasn’t nearly as needy now as she had been, 
not quite as ‘ripe’--or overripe. She hadn’t been with anyone since she’d broken up with 
Bobby and that had been ages ago. Mostly she hadn’t been with anyone because Bobby 
had a way of scaring off anybody that showed too much interest in her. She might have 
been more indignant about it except that she hadn’t met anybody she really had that much 
interest in--not before Raphael. 

But then she’d had the impression that Raphael’s interests lay elsewhere. 

He hadn’t seemed to be the least bit welcoming when she’d stopped by to flirt 
with him, though. 

Had she been mistaken, she wondered? Or was that just wishful thinking and 
maybe he’d behaved so coolly because he didn’t like to feel ‘chased’? Or maybe he had 
been cool toward her because he was trying to work and didn’t want to chance losing the 
job by taking time out to flirt when he was supposed to be working? 

She would’ve liked to think that the kiss was a definite sign of interest in her, but 
she wasn’t delusional. He might have been interested, but she had the distinct feeling 
that at least part of it had nothing to do with her at all. Part of it was hostility toward 
Bobby. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She thought part of it might also have been because she had at least seemed to 
take his part against her neighbor. 

Actually, she had, but then she also had another reason--she hated Calhoun. 

At least now she understood why Raphael was so touchy about his origins. It 
must be very irritating to have people constantly making assumptions about you based on 
the color of your skin. Of course she could see the other side of that, too. There were far 
more Hispanics of Mexican origins around than any other. And the vast majority of those 
who had migrated into the U.S. looked like they had Indian blood, because they did. 

There weren’t a lot of them that stood six feet tall, though. 

That was why she had assumed he must be American Indian and that was just as 
bad, she supposed, as assuming he was Mexican. 

She wondered if that was why Raphael had been so stand offish toward her, but 
dismissed it. It had certainly irritated him, but she’d had the sense even before that of an 
invisible wall. She had also had the sense that it was just the way he was--distant. 

That might not be entirely true, though. He’d said he had been living in the area 
devastated by the hurricane. She knew it must have been hellish for everybody because 
they had lost absolutely everything; their homes, their jobs, and in a lot of cases, loved 
ones, as well. 

That thought brought her up short and she wondered if that was why Raphael 
hadn’t wanted to talk about it--at all. Maybe that would also explain why he was so 
distant period? 

Dismissing her thoughts finally with the reflection that it just didn’t amount to a 
hill of beans because he wouldn’t be around that long anyway, Alaina got up and peered 
out the window to check his progress. She didn’t see him, but she heard the tractor and a 
few minutes later she saw him driving the tractor very slowly along the drive. Behind 
him, a strand of barbed wire was slowly unwinding from the roll he’d put on a bar he’d 
rigged on the tractor. She watched him until he passed the house and disappeared behind 
the trees. 

Her thoughts leapt to Ralphie then. 

She’d put him completely out of her mind after the ‘wake up’ call he’d given her 
that morning, too shocked and dismayed about it to want to think about it. 

She’d had trouble trying to decide what to do about the cat before he’d decided to 
get amorous. What the hell was she going to do with him, she wondered? She couldn’t 
bring herself to call anyone to cart him off. She supposed he belonged in a zoo, but she 
hated to think of caging him. 

She particularly hated to think of doing something like that to him because he’d 
done something ‘taboo’, when he had no way of understanding that he’d done anything 
wrong. He was intelligent. It was almost uncanny the way he seemed to understand her 
when she spoke to him, but he was still a creature of limited intellect. 

The alternative wasn’t all that bright, for that matter. He wouldn’t stay in doors. 
She couldn’t keep him in when he was so smart he could just open the door and go out 
whenever he pleased. And she was under no illusions that the barbed wire fence would 
keep hunters away from him. They’d just stand on the other side and shoot him if they 
set eyes on him. 

It if hadn’t been for that, she would’ve seriously considered just keeping him, 
regardless of his little identity crisis. He was very lovable--sometimes a little too lovable, 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

but he was also affectionate, good company, and protective, too. Except for his little 
problem with confusing her with a female cat, and the amount of food he consumed, she 
didn’t see a down side to keeping him for a pet. 

She was getting really attached to him very quickly. The longer she waited to do 
something, the harder it was going to be to do what was right for him instead of what she 
wanted. 

Maybe she could post something on the net about him? See if anybody had lost 
an exotic pet? 

She decided she’d have to give that some thought, exactly how to word it so that 
she would know when and if the right person responded. Maybe she could try placing 
something in the personal ads about him, too, although she was fairly certain that he 
could not have belonged to anybody local. It wasn’t a heavily populated area. People 
knew most everybody and all their business. It seemed unlikely that anybody local could 
have owned him without her having heard about it. 

Those thoughts depressed her. Since she convinced herself that she really needed 
to consider long and hard about how to go about it, though, she was able to put it from 
her mind and focus on housecleaning for a while. 

She’d just discovered her stomach was rumbling for lunch and decided to go out 
and check to see if Raphael had brought his lunch with him when she heard the old cop 
car ‘whoop’ that had a way of giving one heart failure. Certain it was a patrol car pulling 
someone over out on the highway, she turned to look for Raphael. 

He was sitting under the shade of a tree with his hat pulled down over his eyes. 
Angie had just parked her car on the driveway beside him and gotten out. She was 
holding some bags of take-out, which Alaina supposed answered the question of whether 
or not she should fix for two. 

Deciding to duck back inside before either of them spotted her, Alaina was 
distracted by the crunch of gravel under car tires and turned to see Hank pulling his patrol 
car down her drive. 

His lights were flashing. 

 Alaina’s stomach instantly knotted sickeningly. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Eleven 

“Damn cops!” Alaina muttered under her breath, feeling anger surge through her 
instantly. “Never around when you fucking need them and always around when they 
aren’t wanted!” 

Changing her mind about going inside immediately, she stalked across the yard 
toward the patrol car that had pulled up behind Angie’s sports car. Not for a moment did 
she believe the cop presence had anything to do with the little rich girl. By the time she 
reached them, Hank had gotten out of his car and approached Raphael. Standing with his 
legs braced apart and one hand on the butt of his pistol, Hank was glaring down at 
Raphael purposefully. “Get up and put your hands behind your back.” 

“What is going on?” Alaina demanded. 

Hank didn’t look at her, didn’t take his eyes off of Raphael even for a split 
second. “Go back in the house, Ms. McKinley. This doesn’t involve you.” 

Alaina stopped at the command in his voice--the threat to her. “He’s working for 
me. He’s on my property. You can at least tell me what this is all about!” 

His lips tightened, but he ignored her, focusing on Raphael as he pushed his hat 
back and then slowly got to his feet. 

Alaina looked at Raphael helplessly. She knew it had to be about his 
confrontation with Calhoun--or maybe Bobby. His expression was stony and unreadable, 
but she saw a dangerous gleam in his eyes. “Don’t do anything, or say anything,” she 
said, knowing there was a pleading note in her voice because she was afraid he would 
resist and only make things worse. 

Angie, who’d been stunned to silence up until that moment, abruptly found her 
voice. “This is all my father’s doing, isn’t it!” she demanded of Hank, who ignored her 
as he had Alaina. “I am soooo sorry, Rafe! I’ll get this straightened out. I swear it! And 
I’ll take care of your bail ….” 

“Not today, you won’t,” Hank said, satisfaction threading his voice as he locked 
the handcuffs around Raphael’s wrists. “The judge’s gone fishing. He won’t be 
arraigned before tomorrow.” 

“Prick!” Alaina muttered under her breath. Both Raphael and Hank glanced at 
her and she reddened. “Is there somebody you want me to call? A family member?” she 
asked Raphael as Hank pushed him into the backseat of his cruiser. 

Raphael sent her an indecipherable look. “I have no family.” 

There was something about the way he said it that sent a shockwave rolling over 
her. He hadn’t qualified it. He hadn’t said, none here. He hadn’t said he didn’t want 
them called, or he didn’t have close family. 

She supposed the empathy she felt was because she’d lost her own family, but 
whatever the case it made her ache for him. She bit her lip. “Don’t worry. If this is 
about Calhoun, I was there. He was the one that started this.” 

Hank had shut the door. She wasn’t even certain he’d heard her until she saw his 
gaze flicker to Angie. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Shifting out of the way as the sheriff put the car into gear and turned around in her 
driveway, Alaina found herself standing next to Angie. 

“Did he?” Angie demanded angrily. 

Alaina glanced at the younger woman. “I don’t honestly know what this is about, 
but, yes, if it’s about the fight, your father started it. He hit Raphael. Raphael hit him 
back.” 

“Daddy’s got money, though,” Angie said, stalking to her car and climbing in. 

Alaina stared after Angie as she turned her car around and peeled out, wondering 
if the girl always drove that recklessly or only when she was in a temper. 

She wasn’t entirely sure what Angie had meant by the comment--whether she was 
defending her father, or angry with him, but she’d hit the nail on the head. 

Justice, like everything else in the good old U.S. was for sale. Nobody admitted 
it, least of all the justice department, but it was true nevertheless if for no other reason 
than the fact that the poor couldn’t even afford representation. But it often didn’t stop 
there. There were plenty of cops and judges that didn’t mind taking a little bonus under 
the table to fix things up, because they’d already made up their minds who the bad guy 
was anyway. 

“Please don’t do anything stupid, Rafe,” she muttered, wondering if Raphael’s 
papers were in order or if they failed to charge him, they would turn around and hand him 
over to immigration and deport him. 

There were too many cops that thought that any dirty trick to ‘get their man’ was 
ok, the end justified the means, which was why fewer people trusted them all the time, or 
respected them. 

“Justice for all, my ass!” she muttered. “Where was my frigging justice the other 
night when they damned near blew my head off and me on my own damned couch in my 
own damned house?” 

Too angry to think of much besides the fact that she was at least partially 
responsible for Raphael getting arrested--because she had antagonized Calhoun herself 
instead of trying to diffuse the situation, she returned to the house finally. Her appetite 
had vanished. In too much turmoil to sit still, she flipped through the phone book to look 
up a lawyer. Unfortunately, she not only didn’t know anything about lawyers and their 
specialties, she hadn’t had any first hand experience with any. Instead, she called her 
family’s estate lawyer and got a recommendation from him. 

After expressing her concern for her ‘employee’ who was a foreign national and, 
she felt certain, completely unfamiliar with the U.S. justice system--she wasn’t, thank 
god, familiar with it herself on a personal level--he agreed to go down and make sure 
they didn’t question Rafe without a representative. 

She was embarrassed to tell him the circumstances of the two confrontations 
Raphael had been involved in, but she was certain that that had to be why he’d been 
arrested and, embarrassed or not, she wasn’t about to let Raphael get charged for assault 
when he was the one who’d been assaulted. 

Actually, he had assaulted Bobby, but she knew as well as Raphael obviously had 
that Bobby was working himself up to throw a punch. Raphael had just beat him to it. 

Anyway, she didn’t think Bobby had had anything to do with Raphael getting 
arrested. He preferred to steer clear of cops himself whenever possible. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Feeling a little better, she went into the kitchen to make herself a sandwich and 
then wandered back into the front room and sat down at her computer. 

She didn’t find Raphael in a people search. Shrugging it off, she went to a 
background check site and sat staring at the screen for a while, tapping her fingers on the 
desk. Finally, she dragged her credit card out and took the plunge. 

She pulled up a bunch that time, but after studying over the information she 
eliminated them one by one because of the age and area. She didn’t know his exact age, 
or birth date. She didn’t even know where he’d lived before. Katrina had cut a wide 
swath when it went through and affected a lot of people in a lot of states. 

Wondering if the cops would have any better luck, and if he had a rap sheet that 
was going to spell big trouble, she finally dismissed it and began to research Ralphie 
instead. 

Her stomach clenched when she discovered the black panther was indigenous to 
South America. 

Was it insignificant that a South American panther and a South American from 
the same general geographic area had wound up in the same general geographic area, 
thousands of miles from their origins at about the same time? Just a bizarre sort of 
coincidence? 

She shook her head. It must just be a coincidence. Ralphie wasn’t wild. No way 
was he straight out of a South American jungle. He’d probably been borne in captivity, 
at some zoo or other in the U.S. and wound up in private hands. He must have wound up 
in private hands, because a zoo wouldn’t have tamed him like he was. Ralphie had had 
close interaction with humans--from what she’d seen maybe a little too close--there was 
no doubt in her mind about that. 

Random thoughts flickered through her mind but didn’t quite gel and she finally 
dismissed them. 

She was about to do another search to see if she could find anything about exotic 
pet owners, maybe a chat group, when6 a couple of words snagged her interest. It was 
about myths surrounding the black panther. Purely out of curiosity, she decided to check 
it out. 

There was a belief in ancient times that demons or spirits inhabited the rain forests 
and assumed the forms of various animals--among them the black panther. Being demon 
spirits they could assume other forms, however, and it was believed they sometimes took 
on the form of humans to lure humans into the jungle to their death. The origin of the 
myths were attributed to an ancient Indian race, a fierce group likened to the north 
American Apaches--who’d successfully resisted the Spanish determination to colonize 
the areas for hundred of years. Unlike the Aztecs, however, descendents of the 
Araucanian Indians still lived in the southern areas of South America. 

She frowned. Raphael had said he spoke Araucanian, but then there must be a lot 
of descendants all over South America that still spoke the language. 

She wasn’t exactly certain of why it affected her the way it did, but the story gave 
her the shivers. 

Maybe because Ralphie had a way of seeming to understand a lot more than a 
dumb animal should? 

She was letting her imagination run away with her! 

He understood because he had trained! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Resolutely, she dismissed the uneasiness that settled in her belly and spent several 
hours more searching for anything that might help her find Ralphie’s owners. Finally, 
feeling a blind headache coming on from scrolling through one listing after another, she 
disconnected and went outside to clear her head. 

She was a little surprised to discover it was late afternoon. With no particular 
destination in mind, she walked the line to see what Raphael had managed to accomplish 
before he was hauled off to jail. It wasn’t much, but then he hadn’t had that much time to 
work on it. He’d set the front corner and braced it off, and the back corner, strung one 
strand of wire and then started back drilling holes for the posts. Most of the posts were 
lying on the ground beside the holes he’d dug. 

She considered calling Ralphie, but after that other panther had popped out of the 
woods at her, she decided against it, spurred by the reminder to hurry back to the house 
before dark. When she was safely inside her kitchen, she opened a window and called to 
Ralphie. He didn’t come and after a while she gave up and fixed her a solitary meal and 
sat in front of the TV for company to eat. 

Periodically, she went into the kitchen and called to him again but finally went to 
bed with no sign of him, worried that he’d run afoul of the hunters even though she 
hadn’t heard anything to indicate anybody was out hunting. 

The following day was a work day and she sat down at her computer with her 
coffee and set to work on the medical transcription she did for a living. When nine 
o’clock rolled around, however, she turned it off and headed for the phone to call the 
attorney’s office to find out when Raphael was scheduled for arraignment. 

Dismay filled her when she discovered that the earliest they were able to get him 
on the docket was early afternoon. He had been charged with assault, though, and it was 
Calhoun who’d filed the charges. The lawyer was certain that, with her as a witness to 
the altercation, they would be able to get the case dismissed. 

With mixed feelings, she returned to work. It sounded good, but one never knew. 
Even if it transpired that that was the case, he would have to go to court. And in the 
meanwhile, he had had to spend half the day before in jail, all night, and most of 
Monday. He was bound to be in a foul mood. She just hoped he could control his temper 
and didn’t head right straight to Calhoun’s place when he got out. 

Bobby would’ve, but then Bobby wasn’t terribly bright when it came to his 
temper. Or, more accurately, his brains took a hike when his temper got out of control. 

Raphael didn’t strike her as the sort of person who had problems with self-control. 

He’d hit Calhoun and Bobby, but he hadn’t behaved like anybody out of control 
with rage. 

He’d actually been pretty damned cool about it, now that she thought it over, 
almost calculating. Not that she thought he had any idea he would end up in jail over it, 
and she certainly didn’t believe he’d wanted to end up in jail, but she didn’t think he had 
just reacted. She thought he’d had a reason for doing it beyond the desire to rearrange 
Calhoun’s face for him. She just couldn’t figure out what the reason might be. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Twelve 

Alaina sort of got the ‘prince’ by default. She was a little uncomfortable when 
she arrived to post bail and discovered Angie had raced up to post bail, too--like they 
were vying for the opportunity to throw themselves at him. 

Angie, however, only had her credit card, which she had already maxed out and 
they wouldn’t take anyway, and then the dimwit artlessly informed them she couldn’t get 
the cash from the card and come back because it was maxed. Obviously unaccustomed to 
not getting her way, she tried flirtation next and finally stormed out in a fit of temper. 

Alaina was almost too embarrassed to go up to offer to post bail, but she 
swallowed her discomfort and did it anyway, only to discover that Raphael had had 
enough to post his bail. 

Feeling completely unnecessary, she had already started to leave when she saw 
them bringing him out. Since she was there anyway she figured she might as well wait 
and offer him a ride. 

He looked exhausted, on edge, and seething. Considering her previous 
experiences with men, she was more tempted than ever to slink off right then, just in case 
he’d thought it all over and decided it was her fault he’d ended up in jail. He spied her, 
however, as they brought him out and it seemed his expression lightened at the sight of 
her. 

He managed a faint smile when he’d gathered his belongings and joined her. 
“God I need a bed, a bath, and food, and I can’t decide which I need worse.” 

“It must have been awful,” Alaina murmured sympathetically. 

“Worse than that,” he muttered. “I’ve been in cages that were bigger.” 

Alaina threw him a curious look as they left the jail and headed toward her car, 
but finally decided if it wasn’t just a figure of speech she didn’t especially want to know 
what he’d meant by the comment. “Where to?” 

“My bike’s at your place.” 

“Oh.” 

He slid down in the seat and tipped his hat over his eyes as she left the parking 
lot. After glancing at him a couple of times, she decided he was obviously not in the 
mood for conversation of any kind and drove in silence. 

Either he wasn’t actually asleep or the slowing of the car alerted him to the fact 
that they’d reached the turn to her place, because he sat up as she turned in and pushed 
his hat back. Wondering if he was going to leap out of the car before it even stopped and 
rush to the motorcycle, Alaina glanced at him several times and finally decided to take 
the plunge. “You look exhausted. Why don’t you just take a shower here, let me fix you 
something to eat and sack out for a few hours at least? I hate to think of you trying to 
drive that thing when you’re so tired.” 

He studied her assessingly for a moment and finally a wry smile dawned. “That’s 
the best offer I’ve had in a while.” 

Alaina smiled back at him. She doubted it, but if it sounded good to him at the 
moment, that was good enough. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She hadn’t locked up when she left because she had hoped Ralphie would show 
up. The door was closed, though. Disappointed but not terribly surprised, she opened the 
back door and went in, glancing around just in case Ralphie was there and had been 
thoughtful enough to close the door behind him. “I’ll see what I can scrounge up while 
you take a shower.” 

Nodding, he trudged down the hall without a word and went straight into her bath. 

Alaina stared at the empty hallway for several moments after he’d disappeared 
feeling perfectly blank. 

He’d gone straight to the bathroom, without pause, without looking around, as if 
he knew exactly where it was. 

After a moment, hearing the shower, she dismissed it. It was small house. She 
supposed it didn’t take a lot to figure out which of the doors went to the bathroom. He’d 
probably just noticed which door she’d gone into when she’d gotten him a towel before. 

She’d gotten Ralphie a huge steak as a special treat, but he’d vanished before she 
had given it to him and, at any rate, she still had plenty of the scraps if he came back 
hungry. 

Taking the steak out of the freezer to thaw, she walked down the hallway. 

And discovered he hadn’t shut the door. 

A jolt went through her when she caught a glimpse of him through the shower 
curtain. Stepping back behind the wall, she asked him how he liked his steak. 

“Raw. No seasonings.” 

“Rare it is!” Agitated as she was over the glimpse of naked flesh she’d gotten, 
she was still vaguely miffed that he didn’t want her to do anything but brown it on both 
sides. There might not be much to cooking a steak away, but she would’ve liked to have 
shown off a little cooking skill. 

She’d just taken the steak out of the microwave when she heard the damp slap of 
his feet against the tile floor. When she looked up it was to discover him dripping water 
and two corners of a towel clutched in one fist at his hip that left one entire thigh 
exposed. 

She had thought he was built good from the way he looked in jeans and t-shirt. 
Her imagination had failed her, however. He was drop dead gorgeous--almost literally. 
Her heart seemed to fist in her chest as her gaze flickered over a body that was tautly 
muscular from neck to calve. His brown skin, gleaming with moisture, looked as smooth 
and flawless as silk. Except for the long, black hair slicked over his shoulders and 
bulging pecs, and the light patch of dark hair between them, the rest of his body was 
virtually hairless. Dark hair sprinkled his lower arms and his legs, and she caught a 
glimpse of a heavier patch around his genitals, but as nicely formed as his arms and legs 
were, the unfettered ‘package’ forming a bulge in the front of the towel completely 
distracted her from them. 

“I forgot to get a change of clothes out of the box on the bike.” 

Alaina blinked, slowly, coming out of her trance with an effort to discover she 
had frozen mid-turn, the dripping package in her hands, her jaw at half mast. “Clothes?” 
she echoed. 

He hadn’t actually done more than pause, however. As she watched, he stalked 
right out the back door and across her yard to his bike. She followed him to the door. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

When he reached his bike, he pulled the towel off, rubbed it over himself briefly and 
dropped it on the seat of the motorcycle while he rummaged through the box. 

A jolt went through her. Unfortunately, he was too far away for her to get a really 
good look at him. She could see, though, that his buttocks were as nicely rounded and 
taut with muscle as everything else, and only a few shades lighter in color than the rest of 
him--which wasn’t surprising if he made a habit of strolling around outside without any 
clothes. His genitals were a good bit lighter, or maybe they only seemed so because they 
were surrounded by a dark patch of hair. 

He was impressively hung--he impressed the hell out of her anyway. 

The view instantly recalled her to what she was doing. Skittering away from the 
door as he unrolled a pair of jeans and stepped into them, she slipped on the water he’d 
tracked through the kitchen and nearly busted her ass. Her heart was pounding 
unpleasantly fast as she reached the counter again--still holding the dripping package of 
meat. 

Setting it down, she rinsed her hands and set up the griddle, spraying it down with 
non-stick spray as it began to heat up. Leaving it to heat, she grabbed a mop and cleaned 
up the trail of blood drops she’d left across the kitchen and then mopped up the water 
from the back door to the bathroom and the bathroom floor. The smoke alarm went off 
as she straightened from rinsing the mop off, sending an electrifying jolt through her. 
Dropping the mop, she dashed back into the kitchen, tore the wrapper off the meat and 
tossed it onto the griddle. The slab of meat hit with a sizzle, sending up a cloud of smoke 
and steam. 

The smoke alarm was deafening her and as soon as she’d tossed the meat onto the 
griddle she grabbed a kitchen towel and rushed to it, fanning the towel back and forth 
across the sensor. 

She heard Rafe mutter a curse under his breath and the sizzle of meat as the 
smoke alarm finally stopped blaring and went back into the kitchen to discover that he’d 
flipped the steak with his fingers. He was sucking on the blistered tips and looking 
around for a plate when she reached him. Shooing him out of the way, she grabbed a 
meat fork out of the drawer in one hand and a plate with the other and rescued the steak. 

Blood bubbled to the surface the moment it settled and pooled around it. 

“Is that done enough?” she asked doubtfully. 

Grunting a sound she took to be an affirmative he moved to the kitchen table, set 
the plate down and sprawled tiredly in the chair he’d occupied the first time he’d shared a 
meal with her. “I didn’t have a chance to fix anything to go with it,” she said selfconsciously 
as she gathered a fork, steak knife and a napkin for him. “Would you like a 
salad and baked potato? It won’t take more than a few minutes to nuke a potato.” 

“This is fine, thanks,” he said, spearing his fingers through his damp hair and 
flicking it behind his shoulders. 

It was amazing, Alaina thought, that he could have such long hair and still look 
every inch a man. It suited him. She could almost picture him in a loincloth with eagle 
feathers in his hair and it was a sumptuous image. 

 “You’re not eating?” 

She was starving, but not for food. A little of him would do--if she couldn’t get a 
lot. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Mentally rolling her eyes, she went to the refrigerator to study it. Poor man! 
Obviously he hadn’t gotten any sleep in that place and was weak from lack of food, as 
well, and all she could think about was that hunk of meat she’d seen swinging in the 
breeze. 

Taking out salad fixings, she grabbed a freezer meal, glanced at the directions and 
stuck it in the microwave. She thought she saw disapproval in his gaze when she looked 
at him. She generally only cooked for one, though, and she didn’t particularly care what 
she ate most of the time as long as it was easy to cook and cleanup. 

Ignoring the look, since she wasn’t certain she’d interpreted it correctly anyway, 
she took out a bowl, hesitated and finally took out one for him, as well. He was halfway 
through the steak by the time she set the bowl down for him and went to the refrigerator 
for tea and salad dressing. 

He’d eaten most of the salad by the time she’d gotten tea glasses and sat down. 

It wasn’t that he was gobbling his food, or displaying disgusting table manners. 
He simply ate, chewed, and swallowed mechanically and steadily, as if it didn’t matter 
what it tasted like. She couldn’t think the steak tasted like much without any seasoning 
or the salad without dressing, but she couldn’t see that it bothered him. 

“Mr. Burton says he thinks he can get the charges dismissed,” she said after a few 
moments. 

He shrugged. “He told me.” 

She’d thought it was good news herself. She couldn’t decide whether he just 
didn’t care one way or the other, or didn’t believe it, or was just too tired to be in any 
mood to discuss it. Finally, deciding it was the latter, she got up when she saw he was 
finishing up his steak and went into the spare bedroom to make sure he had what he 
needed. 

He studied her assessingly when she took her seat again. “I checked the room. I 
think you’ve got everything you’ll need, but if you don’t, just let me know.” 

He nodded. “As long as it doesn’t stink of jail, I’m satisfied.” 

Alaina smiled faintly. “According to my detergent manufacturer, it smells like a 
spring breeze.” 

His lips curled, but the smile never reached his eyes, which flickered over her face 
and finally settled on her lips. “You’re not at all like I thought you would be,” he 
murmured thoughtfully. 

Alaina lifted her brows, but smiled faintly. “Uh oh. Sounds like bad news.” 

To her surprise, instead of smiling at the attempt at humor, his face hardened. He 
swallowed, dragging his gaze from her, his brows drawing together in a frown. “For one 
of us,” he muttered, pushing himself to his feet. “I hate to be rude, but I’m about to 
drop.” 

“Go!” Alaina said immediately. “You’re tired, I know, and I’m used to eating 
alone.” And she wasn’t especially hungry anyway. She’d only fixed the food because 
she didn’t want him to feel uncomfortable with her merely sitting across from him 
staring. 

She considered what to do with herself when she’d finished eating and tidied up 
the kitchen and finally decided to get a little more work done. She hadn’t gotten as much 
transcription done as she’d meant to because she’d taken the time off for Rafe. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He’d left the bedroom door open. She glanced casually into the room as she 
passed and ran into the wall on the other side of the hall. He’d stripped naked and was 
lying face down, sprawled all over the bed. 

Embarrassed, fearful she’d wakened him, she righted herself and rushed into the 
living room. 

The man had serious modesty issues--as in he had none whatsoever. Not being 
self-conscious was one thing but to be so completely blasé was down right disturbing--to 
her anyway. 

He didn’t like the feeling of being caged, she remembered as she sank weakly 
onto her chair and stared blankly at the computer screen. The man made her warm and 
fluttery when he was wearing his clothes. Glancing idly in her direction was enough to 
give her heart palpitations. She was going to be in serious trouble if he meant to stroll 
around in front of her buck naked--as in she was going to make a complete fool of 
herself. 

After a few moments, she managed to calm herself and adjusted the foot pedal, set 
her headphones over her ears and focused. It was tedious work, but she found it soothing 
most of the time because it required all of her attention and made it impossible for her to 
allow her mind to wander to things she didn’t want to think about. 

She had needed that badly after her parents had been killed when their small plane 
went down in a storm. She had needed it during her tumultuous relationship with Bobby 
and directly afterward when her nerves had been a complete wreck. 

She didn’t especially need it to survive. As her friend, Marilyn, had pointed out, 
her parents had left her fairly well set up. Her little farm was paid for and she had 
enough money in the bank she could live off the interest if she didn’t go wild. She 
worked because she needed to have something to do to feel as if she was accomplishing 
something with her life. 

Thirty five was breathing heavily down her neck and she had only had one brief 
excursion into wedded bliss, because there had been nothing blissful about it. He’d been 
almost as bad as Bobby in some ways, worse in others. 

She was lonely a lot of the time, but the alternative wasn’t something she had 
been particularly anxious to pursue--not after Bobby. He’d only actually hit her once, but 
that had been enough to convince her there would be more to come if she stayed with 
him. He could say he was sorry till doomsday, but she knew that, statistically, once a 
man went that far once, it was only going to go downhill from there. If he wanted a 
punching bag, he was going to have to look for it somewhere else. 

Her parents had had their fair share of arguments, some of them pretty heated, but 
her father always stormed out of the house to cool down if his temper threatened to get 
the best of him. 

That was scary, but not nearly as frightening as a man that exploded on top of 
you. 

A woman ought to have just as much right to voice her opinion in a relationship 
as a man did, without having to worry about being busted in the mouth if he didn’t like 
her views. 

She hadn’t felt safe to speak her mind at any time that she was with Bobby and 
the only time she had gotten angry enough to forget herself, he’d turned into a lunatic. 

She couldn’t live with that. She wasn’t going to. 


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But she didn’t feel particularly comfortable around her ‘friends’ either and rarely 
sought them out for any sort of companionship. Most of them were married, and she 
didn’t really want to listen to their marital woes, and those who weren’t married were 
divorced and either complaining about their financial problems or their boyfriend or their 
children. 

Up until Ralphie, and then Rafe had shown up, she had thought she was perfectly 
content to spend most of her time completely alone. She realized, though, that she’d just 
gotten very good at ignoring the things that were missing from her life. 

Realizing after a while that she was growing cramped from sitting so long, she 
tapped the pedal to stop the player and pulled the headphones off. The sun had already 
settled behind the trees, but there were at least a couple of hours of daylight left. Not 
wanting to disturb Rafe, she decided to go for a walk to work the kinks out of her 
cramped muscles. 

She saw no sign of Ralphie. Trying not to worry too much about it even though 
she was anxious because he hadn’t shown up since the day before, she called to him from 
time to time and finally gave up and headed to the house again. Resisting the urge to 
peak in on Rafe, she settled on the couch, turned the volume down to barely above a 
whisper and flipped through the TV channels until she found something she was willing 
to stare at. The show ended and another one had just started when she heard Rafe 
padding toward the front room. 

She twisted around to look at him and didn’t know whether to be relieved or not 
to see that he’d pulled his jeans on, mostly because he had only pulled them over his hips. 
He hadn’t bothered to fasten or zip them. Dragging her gaze from the dark hair she could 
see above the opening, she looked up at him. “Did I wake you?” 

Instead of answering, he moved around the couch and sprawled beside her. “How 
long did I sleep?” 

“A couple of hours.” 

He grunted. “I didn’t think it was long enough,” he muttered, turning and 
sprawling out full length on the couch and planting his head in her lap without a by your 
leave. 

A jolt of surprise went through her, but it didn’t occur to her to object as he 
shifted, seeking a comfortable position and finally curled one arm around her butt and 
draped the other across her thighs, hugging her to him as if she was a pillow. 
Disconcerted, she stared down at him for several moments and then tried to focus on the 
TV again. 

It wasn’t until he turned his head on her lap that she discovered she had been idly 
stroking his hair. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Thirteen 

“Don’t stop,” he murmured in a slurred, gravelly voice when Alaina stilled selfconsciously. 
“I like the feel of your hands.” 

Discomfited, it was several moments before she resumed, but his hair drew her 
touch. The long, blue black hair was as healthy and silky as Ralphie’s pelt and just as 
pleasurable to stroke. 

She was surprised he wanted her to. She would have been surprised if he had 
only allowed her to. None of the guys she’d ever been around before were keen on being 
stroked unless it was sexual and they especially didn’t like having their hair touched. 

She didn’t think Rafe liked it on a sexual level, though. He seemed more than 
half asleep, as if he found the stroke of her hand more soothing than arousing. That was a 
little disconcerting, too, but then she realized that although it was pleasurable to her, as 
well, it didn’t particularly arouse her only to stroke his head and shoulders. 

She didn’t think it did. It was actually a little hard to say because her blood 
tended to hum low in her veins any time she was in his proximity, as if she was poised for 
take off if he would only give her the least encouragement. 

Maybe he did find it soothing and needed that more at the moment? He’d looked 
almost--hunted--when she had picked him at the police station, wild to break free of the 
constraints of the place, as if he was holding himself in control only by a supreme effort. 

She didn’t think he would be able to stand being ‘caged’ if he had to spend time 
inside--which comforted her in a way because in the back of her mind she had worried 
that he might have done some jail time, particularly after that comment he’d made when 
he was released. 

She hoped the lawyer could get the charges dropped, or, if he couldn’t, he could 
get probation so he wouldn’t have to spend time in jail. 

It infuriated her that Rafe had been arrested at all. Hank hadn’t even asked her if 
it was true. Of course, she supposed the bastard had been sporting enough bruises to be 
convincing, but he still had a damned nerve filing charges when he had started the whole 
thing! 

It particularly angered her in light of the fact that the cops had just dismissed the 
charges against Calhoun and his customers, or buddies, when they’d shot up her place 
and endangered her life--and Ralphie’s. 

Realizing it was late and Ralphie hadn’t returned for the second night in a row, 
she finally eased out from under Rafe, turned off the TV, and went to look out the kitchen 
window to see if there was any sign of him. Disappointed when there wasn’t, but 
reluctant to take a chance on encountering the other panther, she went into the bathroom 
and showered and got ready for bed. She was tired, but not sleepy, not aroused exactly, 
but restless. 

It wasn’t because she was nervous about having a strange man the house, 
although she supposed she should have been when she hadn’t known him long. It wasn’t 
as if she was in the habit of meeting strange men and bringing them home with her even 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

though she knew a lot of women who did. Somehow, though, she felt a connection with 
Rafe. She couldn’t exactly put her finger on what it was, but he didn’t feel like a stranger 
to her. Aside from being hot for him, she was comfortable around him, far more so that 
she had been around Bobby, or even her husband, almost as if he belonged with her. 

Maybe that was because he behaved as if he was completely at ease around her, as 
if they weren’t strangers but companions? 

She didn’t know, but she did know that wasn’t the source of her restlessness, that 
it wasn’t uneasiness. She finally decided it was probably worry about the panther, 
because she was almost as concerned about him showing up and startling the hell out of 
Rafe, or threatening him, as she was about him being gone so long. 

After tossing and turning for hours, she finally drifted off. It seemed she had only 
been asleep for moments when she woke to the tug of a mouth at one breast and 
languorous, spreading warmth. Still floating at the edge of sleep, she released a heavy 
sigh that skated the edge of a moan as the tugging grew more insistent, churned heat 
through her body and made desire burgeon inside of her. When he lifted his head and 
took her other nipple into his mouth, she managed to open her eyes a slit. 

Rafe, she thought, feeling the warming flow of desire through her veins instantly 
take flame. She was thrashing restlessly beneath him by the time he released that bud of 
exquisite sensation and moved lower. His hands, skimming her body, hooked the edges 
of her panties and peeled them down her hips and then he caught one nipple in his mouth 
again, driving her to the intoxicating heights of pleasure until she began clutching at him, 
stroking his hair. 

He slipped down her body again, dragging kisses as he went, licking her, sending 
exquisite shivers of awareness through her. She moaned as he slipped her panties down 
to her knees, pushing her legs up at the same time until her soles were planted against the 
cool sheets, her thighs splayed wide. 

She dug her head into the pillow, arching as she felt the faintly rough texture of 
his tongue as he dragged it along her cleft and teased her clit. A jolt like an electric 
current sizzled through her. She caught her breath on a sharp gasp, reeling with the 
sensations. The muscles along her passage fisted, demanding his flesh, weeping for it. 

She wanted him inside of her when she came, desperately needed it. “Rafe!” she 
gasped pleadingly. “I need … I need ….” 

She couldn’t get the words out. Each time she tried to demand that he cover her, 
fill her, he suckled at her clit, sending her into mind blowing bliss, shooting her upwards 
toward the brink until she had to struggle to keep from pitching over the side. 

She pushed at his head, tried to close her legs. He ignored the first and pushed 
her thighs wider still, licking and suckling at her tender flesh so hungrily that she lost her 
grip on her control, letting out a sharp cry. He speared his tongue into her passage as she 
began to quake with release, probing her with a thrust and retreat that drove her higher 
even as her body convulsed with rapture until she was screaming mindlessly. 

Totally spent in the aftermath, she felt as if she melted against the sheets. 
Oblivion beckoned. Welcoming it, she slipped over the edge without a qualm. 

But she opened her eyes as felt herself sliding downward into darkness and met a 
golden, slumberous eyed gaze that didn’t look quite like Rafe’s. 

Drifting, struggling to figure out why what she’d seen that didn’t seem quite right, 
she felt the bed lurch, heard feet hit the floor heavily--four of them. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

The room was light when Alaina woke and she wondered for several moments 
after she’d achieved a semblance of lucidity exactly why it was that she felt--wonderfully 
relaxed and yet strangely uncomfortable. 

She puzzled over it a few moments, remembering the evening she’d spent with 
Rafe, and then she’d gone to bed, and dreamed. 

No dream, she realized, would have left her feeling quite this good. 

Reluctantly, she pushed herself up on her elbows and looked down. 

Her panties were no where to be found. The t-shirt she’d slept in was still under 
her arm pits. 

She collapsed onto her pillows, struggling to recall details of her ‘erotic dream’ 
when she wasn’t certain she wanted to. 

She remembered hands. She distinctly remembered hands! And a mouth, a 
human mouth! If it was Rafe who’d sneaked into her bed like a thief in the night, though, 
why had he done no more than satisfy her? Why hadn’t he demanded she satisfy him? 

She pushed herself up on her elbows again, this time looking around the bed and 
then the room. 

Her door was open. She distinctly remembered closing it before she went to bed. 

After listening for several moments to see if she could hear anything that denoted 
the movement of another person, she finally heard the distant sound of heavy equipment. 

Rafe was on the tractor, working. 

Sitting up, she examined her sex with her hand. The moment she touched herself, 
she knew she hadn’t merely imagined, or dreamed, any of what had happened. Her clit 
gave off a satisfied after shock of pleasure. 

Groaning, she rolled out of bed, wondering if she was losing her mind from 
spending too much time alone. My god! Was she fantasizing about Ralphie? 

Or, almost as bad, had she been fantasizing about Rafe and Ralphie had been the 
‘seducer’? 

Totally confused and more than a little distressed, she went into the bathroom to 
shower, wondering if she had just imagined the hands she’d felt stroking her body, 
tugging at her clothes. 

She wasn’t certain of anything anymore, but she couldn’t very well ask Rafe if 
he’d decided to sneak into her bed and snack on her pussy. 

His way of saying ‘thanks ma’am!’? 

She dismissed that. That made less sense than any of the rest of it. In fact, it was 
just plain impossible to accept that Rafe would have come into her room, thoroughly 
pleasured her, and left unsatisfied. Why would he do that? Why would he want to do 
that? 

The alternative really upset her, however. 

She’d locked the doors, she remembered abruptly! She remembered locking the 
doors before she’d gone to bed. 

Ralphie might well be able to unlock the back door if he was inside, because he 
was a smart shit, and it was a twist lock which he could get hold of pretty easily, but he 
didn’t have a frigging key! 

Shimmying into her clothes, she strode down the hall, opened the back door and 
examined it. He hadn’t broken in, not that door anyway. There were no scratch marks 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

and the door was whole, not splintered. Closing it again, she checked the front door and 
then the windows. 

Somehow, she wasn’t relieved when she discovered there was no sign at all that 
the panther had come in. 

Because that meant Rafe had pleasured her and she had imagined it was Ralphie? 

And because she still found it hard to believe Rafe would have decided to get her 
off and go back to bed horny? She’d been the next thing to unconscious after that 
horrendous climax, but there wasn’t a man in the world, she didn’t believe, who would 
have let that stop him from getting his own pleasure. 

Realizing finally that she wasn’t going to figure it out by herself, not without 
asking Rafe point blank, she tried to dismiss it and get to work. By lunch time, she was 
exhausted and frustrated. Her attention was shot to hell and she’d had to go back and 
forth over and over again to catch things she’d missed and had hardly gotten anything 
done. 

She’d just gotten into the kitchen to look for food when Rafe came in the back 
door with a ‘honey I’m home’ sort of attitude that threw her for a loop. He glanced at the 
table and then at her when she popped her head over the door of the refrigerator and 
peered at him. “I lost track of the time,” she murmured in answer to the question in his 
eyes, wondering even as she said it why she was responding as if she was supposed to fix 
his lunch. 

A faint smile curled his lip up at one corner. He sauntered toward her 
purposefully, almost like a cat stalking its prey. Catching her arm, he pulled her from 
behind the refrigerator door, shoved it closed, and dragged her up against his body. 
“Why don’t I take you to lunch?” he murmured, tugging on her pony tail and nuzzling his 
face against her neck when she yielded to the pressure and tipped her head back. 

Goose bumps erupted all over the place. Her heart stammered and chugged into 
over time as he nibbled his way upward to her chin and lifted his head to look down at 
her face. She lifted her eyelids with an effort, just in time to see him close in. The heat 
of his mouth on hers sent a jolt all the way through her as if she’d been hit by a bolt of 
lightening. Every nerve ending sizzled and smoldered with the first possessive rake of 
his tongue along hers, as his taste and scent filled her senses with him. 

Without a whimper of protest, she melted against him, twining her arms around 
his neck and kissing him back. Her tentative exploration of his mouth sparked a 
conflagration between them. Possessive from the first, his exploration became a conquest 
rife with hunger. 

He made a rumbling sound in his chest when he broke the kiss at last. “Maybe 
I’ll just eat you instead,” he murmured huskily. 

Dazed and confused, Alaina wilted weakly against the refrigerator behind her 
when he released her and headed down the hallway. She was still trying to get her sea 
legs under her when she heard the shower. 

After glancing around the kitchen a little dazedly, she plopped into a chair and sat 
staring at the far wall trying to figure out what had just happened. 

It occurred to her, forcefully, that she had been claimed. Everything about the 
way he behaved said ‘mine’. 

The problem was, she wasn’t exactly sure of when that had happened. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Feeling as if she’d missed something crucial, she thought it over, but she couldn’t 
remember anything that seemed significant enough to have given him the sense of 
ownership he obviously had toward her now--except the kiss when she had thought he 
was trying to warn Bobby off. 

Ok, so maybe he’d noticed she had the hots for him right off, she’d left him in no 
doubt at all after that steamy kiss, and he’d just decided to move in on her? 

Deciding after a few moments that she wasn’t making a lot of headway in 
untangling the puzzle, she tried to decide how she felt about it. 

That wasn’t hard. She couldn’t find an ounce of objection anywhere. 

He could have led her straight to the bedroom after that kiss and she would’ve 
relished every moment of it. 

She didn’t know a thing about him beyond the here and now. 

That meant no relationship. 

A guy that reticent about himself wasn’t planning on hanging around long. 

It was amazingly depressing to think that might be true. 

She pushed that from her mind. 

She wanted him. She had from the first moment she had set eyes on him. She 
wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth, even if it meant misery tomorrow or the 
next day or the day after that. 

He came out of the bathroom wearing a towel and headed for the bike in the yard. 

Alaina bit her lip. Maybe she should suggest he move his things inside before 
someone saw him dressing in the yard? 

Her amusement died when she heard the motorcycle rev to life. 

She moved to the back door. 

 “Ready?” 

Alaina’s jaw slid to half mast. “On that?” 

He slid a smoldering look down her length and up again. “You don’t like the idea 
of having a purring beast between your thighs?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Fourteen 

Live a little! Alaina chided herself in a sarcastic inner voice, clinging to Rafe for 
all she was worth as they shot down the highway straddling what felt more like a rocket 
than a purring beast. 

Exactly what had he meant by that comment anyway? It was a damned odd thing 
to say. 

But then the man was strange anyway. 

It would have been a serious understatement to say she’d never met anyone like 
him. She’d never known anybody even close. She’d attributed at least part of that 
‘strangeness’ to the fact that he was a foreigner. Now, she had begun to wonder if it was 
that at all. 

Some of it, she could understand. 

Four out of five cocky young American men would immediately have assumed 
that if they could make a woman scream like that in ecstasy, she was bagged and tagged. 
He was a proud man, very self-confident--damn fine looking and obviously knew it 
although she couldn’t say that he seemed the least conceited about it. She didn’t suppose 
foreign men were that different, which might explain why he had transformed in the 
space of a few days from wary and/or distant--to lover. 

He hadn’t admitted that he’d done it, though. 

Unless that was what he’d meant about that comment he’d made about the ‘beast’. 

Somebody had been in her bed. 

 Or something. 

It seemed to her, however ambiguous his comments had been, his behavior spoke 
for itself. He’d decided on a ‘sneak attack’ instead of coming right out and climbing into 
bed with her to start with. She must have imagined that Ralphie had been there. The fact 
that she hadn’t found any sign that the panther had broken in seemed to bear that up. 

But why sneak? An impulse? He couldn’t have had a lot of doubt about his 
welcome, and besides, he seemed pretty straightforward, very self-confident. That 
seemed out of character unless it had been an impulse. 

That still didn’t explain why he hadn’t followed up and satisfied his own needs. 

That bothered her--a lot. 

Part of it was the anxiety that there was nothing ‘in it’ for him and nothing to bind 
him to her, which was silly. Such a bond would be tenuous at best anyway. 

It still would have made her feel better to have something of some substance 
besides doubts. 

Either she gave something of her doubts away, or he had time to think it over and 
decided things were moving too fast to suit him. After spending a relatively 
uncomfortable lunch out together, while they tried to ignore the fact that everyone that 
walked by them stared, he not only did not spend the night at her house the following 
night, but he brought his own lunch the day after. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“Well, that was a very short …something,” Alaina muttered, peeking at Rafe 
through her kitchen curtains as he headed to his bike the second evening. “Not that I 
could call it a wam bam thank you ma’am since he didn’t get anything out of it.” 

They’d run into Angie on her way out of town when they’d gone to eat the day 
before and she wondered if there was some sort of connection between that and his 
abrupt reversal toward her--from lover back to stranger. As in, he’d wanted to ditch 
Angie and figured what had worked for her in getting rid of her headache--Bobby--would 
also work for him. 

He certainly hadn’t seemed upset about the fact that she was leaving. In fact, 
Alaina hadn’t gotten the sense that he was pleased with the way things had gone, almost 
as if he’d played father against daughter expecting the blow up that had sent her packing. 

He glanced toward the house as he started his motorcycle up. She had to fight the 
urge to duck, but she’d only opened the curtains a sliver. She didn’t think he could 
possibly see her peeking at him and if she let the damned thing go, he’d sure as hell 
notice the furtive movement. 

Maybe it was because of the way she’d behaved, she wondered? Maybe he was 
waiting for an invitation? 

She felt too unsure of herself to try it though. Actually it hadn’t occurred to her to 
invite him. She’d thought after the way he’d behaved a few days ago that it was settled, 
in his mind anyway. 

And she was certainly OK with it. 

What had that been anyway, she thought irritably? Thank you, lady, for finding 
me a lawyer and offering to testify on my behalf? Pity sex because she looked needy? 

Angry and upset, she moved away from the kitchen window after he’d gone. 

It was feast or feminine around her damned place these days. She hadn’t had any 
kind of companionship in forever, and then the panther had shown up, and then she’d 
brought Rafe home, and now both of them were snubbing her. 

She hadn’t seen Ralphie in days and feared the worst. 

Damned cat! She liked the independence of cats. Dogs were just too needy for 
her taste, always demanding attention whether you felt like giving it or not. But it was 
worrisome for Ralphie to disappear for so long. 

She wouldn’t have felt nearly as lonesome and depressed about Rafe if Ralphie 
would just come back. 

The more she thought about it, the more certain she was that her neighbor had 
something to do with Ralphie’s disappearance. They hadn’t had a hunt since the night 
they’d shot up her house, and she thought Calhoun had decided to lay low for a while 
because the sheriff had been out to investigate. 

That didn’t mean they hadn’t captured him for another hunt. 

Bobby would certainly have been willing to furnish them with darts if he was 
offered money for it. She hadn’t seen him around since the confrontation with Rafe, but 
that didn’t mean a thing. There was a thick patch of woods separating her place from the 
Calhoun place and another between her and the main road. A circus could have been in 
and out of the Calhoun place and she would never know it. 

The thought of that other panther rose in her mind, but cats were, mostly, 
nocturnal hunters and it wouldn’t be dark for a while. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Having made up her mind to sneak over to her neighbors and see if she could find 
out anything, she left the house and hurried across the yard to the drive. Rafe had put up 
about a third of the posts, she saw, but only one strand of wire so far. She supposed he’d 
put the first up to get a straight line to go by, but it was a reminder that the only hold she 
had on him at all was the work he was doing and he was going to be finishing it up by the 
end of the week, she felt sure. 

That meant he would disappear from her life the same way he’d appeared. 

Shrugging that depressing thought off, she followed the fence line until she 
reached the spot where she’d pushed through before. Ducking under the wire carefully, 
she picked her way to the vantage spot she’d used before, trying to calculate how much 
time it took her to reach it and how much time she had before it got dark. 

It would be dark in the woods and hard to see, probably, by the time the sun set. 
The light was already dimming by the time she reached a vantage point where she could 
see the Calhoun place. After searching for any sign that guards had been posted as they 
had been before, she crept a little closer. 

Calhoun had built a sprawling mansion that was private residence and hunting 
lodge rolled into one. There were a number of out buildings, mostly small buildings that 
she figured were for storage of one thing or another. There was a fairly sizeable barn, 
though. 

Deciding that, if he had caught Ralphie, the barn would be the most likely place 
they would keep him, she moved back into the woods and started making her way toward 
it. Either the distance was deceptive, or it just took her longer to reach it than she’d 
expected it to because she was forced to pick her way carefully through the brush. By the 
time she was as close as she could get, it was already getting hard to see. 

Settling again, she debated with herself. She’d miscalculated the amount of time. 
The sun had set and shadows were creeping over the Calhoun place and it was darker still 
beneath the trees. Go on? Or go back and try again another time? 

If they had captured Ralphie, he might not have much time. 

Besides, it wasn’t like she could just boldly stroll over in the bright light of day. 

There didn’t seem to be anyone around, but just as she was about to step out of 
the woods, it occurred to her to wonder if anyone from the house would be able to see 
her. After checking it out, she decided she would be too exposed to attempt it from 
where she was. Backtracking, she moved a little further, until she thought the barn itself 
would shield her from view. 

Pausing, she studied the open area carefully in the deepening gloom and finally 
darted toward the barn. Adrenaline shot through her with the short burst of running, not 
because it was that much excursion, but because fear of getting caught washed over her 
the moment she exposed herself. Flattening herself against the back wall, she put a hand 
to her heart, trying to calm the frantic beat and catch her breath. 

There was no sign of a door along the back wall. Mentally cursing, she tried to 
remember if she’d noticed one along the side facing the woods. She couldn’t. She’d 
been too busy looking at the house. Finally, she inched her way down the wall, and took 
a couple of quick peaks around the corner to be sure no one was around to see her and 
then hurried along the side nearest the woods. 

There was a door of some kind. She didn’t see a handle on it, though, and when 
she shoved against it, the panel didn’t budge. Stepping away from it, she looked the 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

opening over curiously and saw that the panel appeared to be set in some sort of track, 
rather like a garage door. A cattle chute? 

But Calhoun didn’t have cattle. He didn’t have any farm animals that she’d seen, 
not unless they were grazing in a field on the other side of his place. Why would he need 
a loading bay of the type used to move cattle from barn to truck? 

She heard the crunch of gravel under boots a split second before the voice. 
“Don’t move!” 

She froze, more from fear than because of the command. 

 “Turn around--slowly.” 

She had to command her feet to move. Slowly, she inched around until she could 
see the man holding a gun on her. She didn’t recognize him, but it didn’t take much 
thought to figure out he was one of the guards she’d seen before. 

The gun looked familiar. 

“Ain’t nobody ever told you curiosity killed the cat?” 

Alaina’s mouth and throat were so dry it took an effort to gather any moisture at 
all into it. “I was looking for my cat,” she managed to say shakily. 

His face was shadowy, but she saw his lips thin. “In Mr. Calhoun’s barn?” 

It was just as well she barely caught a glimpse of the shadowy figure that flew at 
the man from behind, otherwise she would have given him away. As it was, she was still 
gaping open mouthed when Rafe caught him around the head and gave his neck a sharp 
twist that made an nauseating sound. The man went limp instantly and crumpled to the 
ground. 

She was still staring down at him when Rafe strode toward her and caught hold of 
her arm. She resisted his tug, bracing her feet. He turned to glare at her. Without a 
word, he looped her arm around his neck and put his shoulder into her waist. His shoulder 
punched the breath out of her. By the time she managed to drag in a decent breath, they 
were beneath the trees and moving fast, fast enough that the movement when coupled 
with her oxygen starved brain made her head swim dizzily. “What are you doing?” she 
grunted out. 

“Shut up!” he commanded in a harsh whisper. “Or they’ll hear us and we’re both 
dead.” 

Fear closed her throat, not good sense, because she was too shocked to make any 
sense of what had happened. 

She wasn’t prepared for the leap. One moment they were rushing through the 
woods, the next Rafe seemed to jump straight upwards. She caught a glimpse of the 
barbed wire fence as they went over it, but nearly blacked out when they landed on the 
other side as the landing forced the air from her lungs. 

He was breathing harshly when he dropped her to the ground. “What the hell 
were you doing over there?” he growled. 

Alaina managed to catch her balance and gaped at him. “I went to look for 
Ralphie. Is that man … dead?” 

“What do you think he had in mind for you?” he ground out instead of answering. 

It was an answer, though, Alaina realized, feeling fear begin to penetrate her 
shock. The one thing her mind seized on, though, was his presence there when she had 
seen him leave. Hard on the heels of that she remembered that she’d dismissed his 
presence, and the panther’s, both of them from the same area of South America, as just 


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being a coincidence. Suddenly, it didn’t seem like a coincidence at all. It seemed like 
pieces of a confusing puzzle dropping into place. “You’re involved, somehow, in what’s 
going on over there, aren’t you?” she demanded shakily. 

His lips tightened. “Not the way you think.” 

“How do you know what I think!” she demanded, suddenly angry. She didn’t 
know what she thought! All she did know was that she was scared--afraid of what the 
consequences of Rafe’s actions were going to be to him. He’d killed a man because he 
thought she was in danger! “God, Rafe! What are we going to do with a body? They’ll 
be after you for sure now! They’ll lock you up and throw away the key! Or worse! We 
have to go back and hide it,” she said a little hysterically. “Why? Why did you do that?” 

He shook her. “Because I wasn’t going to let it happen again,” he growled. “I 
came to kill them. I tracked them from Argentina with every intention of killing them 
all.” 

Another shockwave went through her, stifling her rising hysteria. “Why?” she 
asked blankly. 

“Because they killed Concepcion and our unborn sons,” he ground out. 

Alaina thought for several moments that she was going to faint. Darkness swirled 
threateningly around her. “Your … wife?” Everything seemed to break over her head 
like a tidal wave as she realized finally why he had not wanted to talk about his past, why 
he had seemed so cold and aloof, and why he had fought with Calhoun. The wonder of it 
was that he’d stopped before he killed him then. Tears of empathy welled in her eyes. 
“Oh Rafe! I’m so sorry,” she murmured surging toward him, wanting to hold him and try 
to sooth his pain. 

He held her, resisting her attempt to move toward him. Finally, he released his 
bruising grip on her, but he stiffened as Alaina slipped her arms around his waist, 
hugging herself tightly to him and he made no attempt to enfold her in his arms. For 
several moments he seemed at war with himself. Abruptly, he caught a fistful of her hair 
and dragged her head back, opening his mouth over hers and kissing her with savagery. 

There was as much fury in the almost hurtful pressure of his mouth as there was 
passion, but the passion engulfed her in flame and the pain that spawned the anger she 
understood. Ignoring it, she kissed him back with longing, with empathy, feeding on his 
desire, fueling his as the heated need swept through her. 

As he pillaged her mouth with the demanding rake of his tongue, he cupped her 
buttocks, dragging her hips tightly against his erection, arching into her almost 
bruisingly. They swayed, staggered backwards several steps and came up against a tree, 
the first Alaina even realized that Rafe’s leap had not only cleared the fence, but the 
drive, as well. 

The rough bark of the oak dug into her as he pressed her against it, pinning her 
between the tree and his body. Ignoring it, she worked her hands beneath his t-shirt to 
feel his bare flesh. He broke the kiss, pulling away long enough to peel his shirt off and 
hers, before he pressed against her again, nipping at her lips briefly and then her throat 
and the upper slopes of her breasts. She felt a tug at her waist as he popped the snap of 
her jeans and shoved the zipper down, pushing his hand into her jeans to cup her sex. A 
tremor went through her as he found her clit with his finger, teased it until she was 
gasping for breath. 


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Dropping to his knees, he peeled her jeans and panties down her hips, past her 
knees. Catching her buttocks in his hands, he drew her to him, nuzzling his face against 
her belly, nipping at her tender skin with teeth, lathing her with his tongue. He pushed her 
legs apart, parted her nether lips with his tongue and began to lap at her. Every stroke of 
his tongue sent another hard shaft of keen, pleasurable sensation through her until she 
was moaning, grasping at his head to keep her balance as waves of intoxicating desire 
washed through her. 

The tension coiled tighter and tighter inside of her. She squeezed her eyes closed, 
her entire being focused on the currents of pleasure his tongue stirred in her, glorying in 
it, wanting it to last forever. 

As she felt her body climbing toward its peak, however, a desperation to feel him 
inside of her began to war with the reluctance to stop him from what he was doing. 
Finally, the need to have him inside of her won out. “Rafe! I want you inside of me 
when I come,” she gasped desperately. 

He ignored the hoarse plea, feeding off of her so hungrily she felt as if she would 
pass out from the heat and dizziness that coiled around and through her. It took all she 
could do to keep her knees locked to keep from wilting to the ground. 

 “Please.” 

He paused at that, lifting his head to study her face. Surging upward, he caught 
her face between his palms, tipping it up to his gaze. His breath was ragged. “You are 
not one,” he muttered finally, dipping his head to nuzzle her neck and then lower, teasing 
her nipples, sucking on first one and then the other. “God, I want to. Your scent drives 
me to distraction. Your essence isn’t enough. I thought it would be, but it isn’t.” 

He was saying no. She thought he was. Her head was spinning so that the words 
he murmured so feverishly were hardly comprehensible. Uttering a sound of frustration, 
he pulled away from her, stared at her a long moment and abruptly lifted her up from the 
ground, grinding his erection against her cleft as she kicked her jeans off and lifted her 
legs, wrapping them around his waist. 

She uttered a low moan, looped her arms around his neck and nuzzled her face 
against his cheek, nipping at his earlobe as he braced her against the tree at her back and 
reached between them, tearing at the fastening of his jeans, shoving his jeans down his 
hips. And then felt him, felt the rounded head of his cock pushing inside of her, 
spreading her flesh. Groaning, she sucked a love bite on his neck as he claimed her 
achingly hot, slick channel in probing forays, delving a little deeper each time until she 
felt him grinding his pelvis against her cleft. 

Wrapping an arm around her hips and one around her back he withdrew and drove 
into her again, setting a frantic pounding rhythm that bespoke his own desperation and 
drove her upward toward mindless ecstasy within the space of minutes. She cried out as 
her body began to convulse around his hard shaft, unable to contain the explosion of 
bliss. Uttering a guttural groan, he drove inside of her harder and faster until abruptly, 
his body seized, erupted. 

Shuttering, weak in the aftermath, they leaned together, clutching each other 
tightly, struggling to catch their breaths. Finally, he gathered her tightly to him, turned 
and went down on his knees, leaning down to lay her on the grassy shoulder of the drive. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Fifteen 

Sated, too weak to hold on any longer, Alaina allowed her arms to drop to the 
ground, smiling faintly as she felt his lips moving over her throat. He worked his way 
upward to her mouth, covering it, kissing her deeply. She curled her tongue and stroked 
it along his as he explored her mouth. 

Warmth blossomed inside of her again as he kissed her, languidly at first, and 
then with growing hunger. 

Against her belly, she felt his cock harden as he moved against her with more 
purpose. Lifting her arms, she stroked her hands over his head and down his back. He 
shifted, working his jeans down his hips and then his legs, and finally pushed them off so 
that they both lay naked, entwined. Nudging her thighs apart, he settled between them, 
probing her cleft until he found her passage and pushed inside of her again. 

He stroked her slowly, thrusting deeply inside of her until he was grinding his 
hips against her and then withdrawing. As she felt the tension coiling inside of her again, 
she bent her knees, lifting to meet him. 

Breaking the kiss, he withdrew from her completely, arching his back to reach her 
breasts, teasing first one and then the other with the stroke of his tongue, sucking, nipping 
at them with the edge of teeth until she was moaning, writhing against him. 

When he entered her again, the fever had already caught both them up once more. 
Within moments, the slow awakening had developed into feverish need and he quickened 
his pace, finally shoving his arms beneath her back and holding her tightly as he drove 
into her in hard, swift thrusts. 

She climaxed again, stunningly, so surprised by the intensity of it that it dragged a 
sharp cry from her as her body began to convulse with rapture. Her body milked him, 
dragging him over the edge within moments so that he stilled abruptly and then began to 
shudder and quake even as her own tremors began to dissipate. 

Ignoring the prickle of vegetation beneath her, she stroked his back soothing as he 
went limp, lying heavily on top of her. 

A bed, she thought vaguely, would’ve been far more comfortable, but who was 
she to complain about bark and splinters in her backside when he’d just thoroughly sated 
her twice? 

He came off of her so abruptly, it stunned her. One moment he was laying 
heavily on top of her, hardly conscious, the next he was on his knees, alert, every muscle 
in his body tensed. 

Then she heard it, too, the faint crackle in the underbrush. 

A low, rumbling growl emerged from the brush on the other side of the drive. 

Alaina’s heart clenched painfully at the distinctive feline growl. “Ralphie?” she 
murmured weakly. 

Rafe glanced at her sharply, drawing her gaze from the yellow eyes peering at her 
through the brush. Abruptly, his face and body contorted. Alaina’s heart seemed to stand 
still in her chest. Convulsions leapt into her mind. Seizure. 


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It wasn’t, though. As she stared at him in frozen shock, he changed from Rafe to 
Ralphie in the space of perhaps ten sluggish heartbeats. 

Uttering a challenging snarl, he leapt onto the road between her and the other 
panther even as the tan cat sprang through the brush. 

For another handful of seconds, Alaina’s shock paralyzed her. Then adrenaline 
kicked in, and instinct. She was on her feet before any thought of doing so had formed in 
her mind and racing toward her house as fast as her feet would carry her. Behind her, she 
could hear the furious growls and snarls, hissing. It only spurred her to run faster and 
faster until she lost her balance as she leapt from the drive onto her lawn and plowed the 
ground. She was on her feet again the moment she skidded to a stop, scrambling madly 
toward the closest entrance. 

Dashing inside, she bolted the door and slumped against it, trying to catch her 
breath. The hallway loomed before her, the lock on the other door leaping out at her. 
Shoving away from the door, she ran to the other end of the house and bolted that door, 
as well, and then checked ever window and finally scurried into her room and dove into 
the bed, pulling the covers up beneath her chin. 

She didn’t realize until then that she was muttering a chant. “Oh god, oh god! 
What is it? What was that?” 

Her teeth were chattering with reaction. Coldness had crept into her until she was 
shivering all over. She bundled more tightly beneath the covers, but it wouldn’t stop. 
Finally, nauseated from gulping for breath, she fled to the bathroom and threw up. She 
could hardly lift her head by the time she’d stopped heaving. 

Dragging herself up with an effort, she climbed into the tub and turned on the 
water, crouching in the bottom of the tub while the shower pelted her with steaming 
water until her skin was red all over. 

Slowly, as the coldness eased from her, the chaos of her mind began to settle. 
Random thoughts flitted through mind. 

You are not one, Rafe had said. He’d murmured it over and over, as if he was 
trying to convince himself of something. 

She hadn’t cared what he meant at the time. She’d hardly even been aware of 
what he was saying. You are not one. 

She wasn’t what he was. 

Whatever he was. 

A shudder went through her. Turning the water off at last, she grabbed a towel 
and wrapped up in it, drying herself haphazardly as she left the bathroom and crawled 
beneath her covers again. 

She wanted to think her mind had snapped and she’d imagined the entire thing. 
That was preferable to believing what she’d seen. 

Was that even possible, she wondered, that Rafe had the ability to change from 
human to animal? Had the sudden threat of the cougar been one shock too many? 

Her heart jerked at that thought, at the possibility that she’d simply abandoned 
Rafe to tangle with a two hundred pound cat. 

It hadn’t been the cougar that had terrified her, though. 

It had been full dark by that time, but there had been plenty of light to see the 
transformation from man to beast when Rafe had responded to the threat of the cat--the 
other cat. 


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Almost on that thought, she heard the door knob jiggle on the back door. It sent a 
shaft of renewed fear through her. 

“Alaina! Open the door!” 

Not by the hair of my chinny, chin, chin said the coward huddling beneath her 
covers. “Go away, Rafe--or Ralphie--or whatever you are!” she wailed. 

The response was the shattering of the glass pane on her back door. Alaina’s eyes 
widened to saucers. Leaping from the bed, she raced to her door to slam it and lock it. 

He beat her to it, catching the edge of the door with his hand as she put her 
shoulder against it and tried to shove it closed anyway. Her feet skidded across the floor. 

Giving up abruptly, she leapt away from the door and charged toward the 
bathroom. He caught her around the waist, swinging her in a tight circle and catching her 
against his length. She fought him in mindless terror, trying to pry his grip loose until 
she ran out of strength to fight him any more. 

Gasping for breath, she squeezed her eyes closed as he shifted her in his grip until 
she was facing him and tightened his arms around her again, lifting one hand to stroke 
her back soothingly. 

She went limp against him at the gentleness of his touch, bursting into tears. 

He held her for a time and finally leaned down and scooped her into his arms, 
carrying her to her bed and climbing into it with her. When he’d settled them both and 
pulled the covers over them, he pulled her against his length again. “I didn’t mean to 
scare you,” he murmured finally. “I couldn’t protect you in this form.” 

Alaina shuddered. Scare her? He’d terrified her, she thought indignantly! 

Sniffing, still in too much turmoil to think and exhausted from her struggles and 
her chaotic emotions, she found herself relaxing against his warmth against all reason. 
“Why?” she murmured. “I don’t understand why you … why did you deceive me?” 

“I did not set out to deceive you,” he said, his voice harsh. “I was shot, half dead. 
I couldn’t maintain this form.” 

She swallowed against the hard, painful knot in her throat. “You’re not human.” 

He hesitated. “No.” 

She pulled away from him after a few moments, rolling onto her other side and 
putting her back to him. His hand settled hesitantly on her shoulder and then slipped to 
her waist, pulling her back until she was nestled against his body. She stiffened, but after 
a moment, she relaxed against him. Slipping her hand into his, she pulled it up to cradle 
it against her chest and closed her eyes, allowing exhaustion to overtake her. 

The sound of the tractor woke her. 

In no great hurry to get out of bed, she rolled over and grabbed the pillow next to 
hers, cuddling it against her chest. A faint scent that she finally identified as Rafe’s 
teased her with each breath she took, spawning a current of warm contentment and 
warmer memories. She allowed herself to relive the moments when their bodies had 
been locked together in the pursuit of pleasure, remembering the feel of his flesh inside of 
her, the feel of his mouth. 

Reluctantly, she let the memories go and allowed herself to work at the tangle of 
chaotic events that had led up to their coupling, and the frightening revelation that had 
followed. 

She hadn’t really accepted that Rafe had killed the man who’d been holding her at 
gunpoint, she realized. It had all happened too quickly. As scared as she’d been, she 


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hadn’t really been able to accept that the man had meant to do her harm, for that matter, 
but people didn’t usually point an automatic weapon at someone unless they were 
prepared to use it. 

Had Rafe been right, she wondered? Would they have simply disposed of her just 
in case she’d seen something that might land them in jail? Threaten their lucrative 
enterprise, whatever it was? 

As difficult as it was to believe that people were willing to commit murder to 
prevent themselves from being charged with a lesser crime, it happened every day. 

They’d already tried to kill Rafe. He knew what they were willing to do, capable 
of. And, if he was right, they’d killed his wife. 

Why would they have murdered his wife, though? Had she seen something she 
shouldn’t? Threatened them in some way by being at the wrong place at the wrong time? 

She wasn’t human either, Alaina realized abruptly. Concepcion had been one of 
his people. 

What were his people? 

He’d said he had been half dead when she’d found him and unable to maintain his 
human form. The panther was his natural form? Were they like--werewolves, except 
their true form was animal and they changed into humans? 

That was pretty hard to accept, especially when she didn’t believe in such 
superstitions as werewolves and vampires and pixies and elves. 

How could she not accept, though, when she’d seen him change in front her? 

She frowned at that. He’d said he hadn’t set out to deceive her, and she could 
accept that, but he hadn’t made any attempt to enlighten her either. Whatever he said, 
he’d damned well taken full advantage of the fact that she’d had no idea he was anything 
more than an animal. His ‘affection’ took on a whole knew light now that she knew what 
he was. He’d gone right for the sweet spot at every opportunity. 

That was why he’d behaved as if they were lovers, she realized abruptly, because 
they were intimately acquainted. She just hadn’t realized it. 

And she supposed it had dawned on him when she was so uncomfortable that, 
from her perspective, he had no reason to feel possessive about her. 

Wide awake, she opened her eyes and stared musingly into space. 

He’d scared her half to death when he’d changed. He had to have known that 
would happen when she was faced with something she had never had any idea existed. 
Under the circumstances, she supposed she could understand why he hadn’t made any 
attempt to tell her. She wouldn’t have believed him if he had, and she doubted he trusted 
her enough to enlighten her. 

He had done it, though, the very instant he sensed a threat to her. And he had 
followed her, determined to soothe her fears and make sure she didn’t see him as a threat. 

How long, she wondered abruptly, had he watched her, prowled the area 
searching for an opportunity to strike his enemy? He’d told her before that she wasn’t at 
all like he had thought she would be. She remembered because she’d been worried he 
was saying he was disappointed now that he’d gotten to know her. But she hadn’t known 
Rafe that long at the time--she hadn’t even known Ralphie that long. 

He’d said her scent was driving him to distraction. Something told her that had 
been an admission that he’d been prowling around a good while before the night she had 


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found him wounded in her shed. He’d been hurt, half dead by his admission, and he had 
come to her place to find shelter. 

Of course, there weren’t any other farms as close as hers. She didn’t think he had 
had a lot of options. 

All the same, if he had been watching her he had to know she almost never went 
out to the barn, and the wash shed was not only the closest to the house, she went out 
there frequently. 

She shrugged that off. Very likely he had not been in any condition to do a lot 
reasoning. 

It dawned on her abruptly that he’d said he had been weak from loss of blood and 
had not been able to maintain his human form. 

He hadn’t been a panther when they had shot him! They had known they were 
hunting a man, or at least believed they were! 

She sat up abruptly, trying to summon a detailed memory of the fight between 
Rafe and Calhoun. Try though she might, however, she couldn’t recall anything that 
Calhoun had said or done, any expression, that indicated he recognized Rafe. 

It seemed to go without saying, though, that he suspected Rafe was the man 
who’d been there that night. 

The question was, what had brought Rafe to the decision to assume his human 
form and take up at her place? She had been the one to suggest it, but she’d been in the 
habit by then of talking to Ralphie because he’d seemed to understand her--and of course 
she now knew he had. She must have said something that had given him the idea that 
throwing himself in her path would lead to just what it had. 

He’d come up right behind her at the building supply place and said he was 
looking for work! 

It occurred to her that it would be a lot harder to explain ‘accidentally’ shooting 
two people than one. She’d been afraid after she had discovered there was something 
illegal going on over at Calhoun’s place that they might try to use the previous shootings 
at her place to cover her death if they decided they needed to get rid of her. 

Had Rafe figured that out before her? Was that why he’d decided it would be 
better to come out in the open? 

She was assuming he cared enough to make sure nothing happened to her, but 
was she assuming too much? 

She covered her face with her hands. He had said he snatched her away the night 
before because he would not allow it to happen again--Wouldn’t let them kill another of 
his women, she wondered? And did that mean anything beyond the fact that he’d 
claimed her? 

How could he feel the connection she wanted him to feel? They weren’t the 
same. He hadn’t even wanted to fuck her--well, he had wanted to, but he had been 
reluctant because they weren’t the same. He’d made that painfully clear. 

She could hardly quibble. If she had known before, she wasn’t at all sure she 
would have wanted to or allowed it. 

Who was she kidding? If she’d been as uninhibited as Angie she would have 
been all over him. 

She was seriously screwed up by all this. She was attached to both--or rather 
Rafe in both forms--really attached. As scared as she’d been, she’d still gone to try to 


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help Ralphie because she had felt like he needed her and she couldn’t bear to think of 
doing nothing and allowing harm to come to him. 

Obviously, Rafe didn’t really need her, not for protection, not even to get by, but 
she had still felt drawn to him because he was hurt and she felt that he needed her to help 
ease the pain of his loss. 

What she knew now didn’t really change that--it just complicated the hell out of 
things. 

She was angry. She felt used. She felt like she’d been suckered into caring when 
she was only going to get hurt. He’d known all along, after all. He’d been able to guard 
himself, distance himself. 

He’d come for a reason, one reason only, and he had not turned from that only 
because he had met her and desired her, against his better judgment, obviously, and all 
reason. She knew there was no way she could stop him from getting his revenge--she 
wasn’t even convinced that she should try--but once he had, he would leave. He would 
have to whether he wanted to or not, because the law didn’t make allowances for taking 
justice into one’s own hands. 

And she didn’t think he wanted it any other way. He wanted to go back and be 
with his kind. She could understand that. As unnerving as the thought was of living in 
another country, with foreign ways of doing things, and a different language, how much 
more difficult would it be to go and live among a different species? 

Whatever happened, he was going to leave. 

What was he anyway, she wondered abruptly? A catman? A demon, like the 
legends she’d read about? 

She would have laughed at that if she hadn’t seen him change the night before. 
Was it any harder to believe in demons than werefolk, though? 

He wasn’t evil. Maybe his people had seemed like their concept of the devil to 
the Indians in that area, being so different, but he had protected her. He had come to 
exact revenge for Concepcion and his sons because he had not been able to protect them. 
That wasn’t evil. She would’ve even gone so far as to call it admirable, to risk his own 
life to protect and failing that, to destroy those who’d taken the lives of his loved ones. 

There had been a time not long past when women had sought men for just reason, 
as protection against the world. 

Sighing, she got out of bed at last and bathed and dressed. Feeling a bizarre sense 
of unreality, she went out then to talk to Rafe. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Sixteen 

Alaina wasn’t entirely certain how she felt about Rafe anymore until she reached 
him and he glanced up at her. His expression was a mixture of wariness and tentative 
welcome, and it totally disarmed her. 

She found she couldn’t meet his gaze, though. “I was just thinking--in case the 
cops come--we should decide what we’re going to say.” 

His dark brows were drawn together when she glanced at him again. “They won’t 
come.” 

Alaina felt a tentative budding of hope at his certainty. “You think the guy’s 
alright?”

 “The guy’s dead.” 

A wave of cold washed over her. “Well then, the cops are bound to come,” she 
said a little faintly. 

He frowned, tamping the dirt around the post he’d just set. “They didn’t come 
when I killed the other two.” 

The second shock wave was harder than the first. Alaina looked around a little 
vaguely for a place to sit down as darkness seemed to close in around her abruptly. Rafe 
caught her as her legs seemed to turn into rubber and wavered beneath her weight. 
Shifting her to one arm, he slipped his other arm beneath her knees and hefted her against 
his chest. She dropped her head onto his shoulder dizzily. “I think I need to lie down,” 
she said through lips that felt as strangely rubbery and uncooperative as her legs. 

Crossing the yard, he dipped down to grasp the door knob and pushed the door 
open, striding down the hallway and into her bedroom. “What are you doing, Rafe? My 
god! You’re going to get yourself killed,” she muttered as he settled her on her bed. 

“I’m not easy to kill,” he murmured grimly. 

“Is that supposed to reassure me?” she demanded, her chin wobbling. 

He was silent for several moments. “I should not have told you,” he said finally, 
his voice flat, carefully devoid of inflection. 

As dizzy and disoriented as she still was Alaina felt a prick of fear at that, 
wondering if he now perceived her as threat. 

She supposed she was. She knew he’d killed a man--had heard him admit to 
killing two others. What was she supposed to do? Say nothing? 

“You know what I am,” he ground out. “Did you expect any different?” 

Alaina swallowed with an effort against the painful tightness in her throat, feeling 
the abrupt urge to tell him that he had completely misjudged the way she felt about him if 
he thought she looked down on him in any way. “What are you going to do?” 

“I think the question is, what are you going to do? Protect your own kind from 
the beast?” 

She looked up at him angrily. “I don’t deserve that.” 

He stared at her a long moment. “I just can’t fathom why,” he muttered finally. 

Alaina frowned. “Why what?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“Why I would matter to you. Why you would care what happens to me.” 

She looked at him a little helplessly. She wasn’t altogether certain why herself, 
except that she knew a part of it was that he made her feel needed. She thought, though, 
that he would hate that if she told him. He was hurt and angry and striking out as it was. 
She didn’t want him to push her away. She didn’t want to give him an excuse to do so, 
because she knew, suddenly, that he was looking for one. That was why he had told her 
so baldly. He wanted her to think the worst of him. He wanted her to turn against him so 
that he could convince himself that she wasn’t worth his time. He wasn’t worried that 
she could or would interfere with his plans. He knew very well that she wouldn’t tell 
anyone what he was, and she wouldn’t be believed if she did. “You know that I do, 
though?” she said finally. 

His lips tightened. He shook his head slowly. “Don’t ask it of me.” 

“It won’t bring her back.” 

“Nothing will bring her back! Or my sons! But they will not walk the Earth and 
breathe air they deprived my family of,” he snarled. 

“Then why haven’t you just done it?” she demanded. 

His eyes narrowed. He was silent for several moments, but she could see it 
wasn’t because there were any doubts in his mind about what he’d set out to do. He was 
simply deciding whether or not he wanted to tell her. “Because I’m hunting. They enjoy 
it so much, I thought I would allow them to find out what it felt like to be on the other 
side of the hunt. I leave my kills for them to find so that they know I’m coming for them. 
And Calhoun--I’m saving him for last. I want him to be looking into Concepcion’s dead 
eyes when I cut his heart out.” 

Alaina stared at him in horror. “What do you mean her dead eyes?” 

He tilted his head, studying her. “He saved her head as a trophy and mounted it 
over his mantel.” 

Alaina’s stomach abruptly revolted at the image that conjured in her mind. 
Clapping a hand to her mouth, she rolled off the bed and dashed for the bathroom. She 
didn’t know if it was better or worse that her stomach was empty. She still gagged until 
she felt like she was going to die and was afraid she wouldn’t. Finally, her stomach 
ceased to heave, though. Closing the toilet lid, she leaned her cheek against the cool 
surface, trying to gather the strength to get up. 

Rafe was gone by the time she managed to make it back into the bedroom. 

She wasn’t surprised. She was relieved actually, mostly because she had some 
hope that he hadn’t lingered to be disgusted by her retching. 

She snickered a little hysterically at that thought. He’d been talking about 
‘hunting’ and she was worried about disgusting him. 

Crawling into the bed, she cuddled a pillow to her chest and tried to empty her 
mind of any thoughts at all. She found it impossible. He had made it impossible. 

 She realized after some time that he had decided to be brutally honest to drive 
home the difference between them, not just between his people and hers, but between him 
and her. He knew she didn’t have a violent bone in her body, not even much in the way 
of instincts for her own survival. She was more than a little surprised that he didn’t seem 
to find that revolting. 

They were polar opposites. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He was wrong about her, though, if he thought that would make her despise him. 
It didn’t. It unnerved her, but she thought she had sensed his strength from the first and 
his willingness to use that force whenever he felt it was necessary. Just as she had sensed 
that he would not abuse his superior strength, that he was too brave and noble to use it 
against anyone or anything weaker than he was. She thought it was one of the things that 
had drawn her to him to begin with, maybe the main thing. Physically, she found him 
extremely attractive, but the wildness, the exotic, the danger, and the protectiveness were 
all part of that physical appeal, as evident in the way he moved and spoke as it was in his 
well honed muscles and the chiseled features of his face. 

It scared the hell out of her to have to face the reality of what deadly force 
actually entailed, but she wasn’t a child. She knew there was a price for everything. 

In a very real sense, she supposed, even while she was drawn by her empathy to 
the pain she sensed in him and his need for gentleness to sooth it, she had been 
instinctively seeking his strength in exchange, giving what she had to give in hopes of 
receiving what she needed. 

Bobby had been the bane of her existence since he had come into her life. He 
hadn’t thought twice about unleashing his superior strength against her. He had gloried 
in it, she thought, enjoyed being able to exert his will on someone else. 

She had needed someone to shield her from him. 

And Rafe had not hesitated even for a second to do so. 

She got up after a while, realizing that she was scared to death because she was 
afraid something would happen to Rafe, not because her conscience was killing her over 
his brand of justice. Rafe knew who had killed his family and it didn’t matter that they 
hadn’t seen anything wrong with it because they’d thought Concepcion was ‘just’ an 
animal. She might not be much for defending herself, but she had enough southern 
running through her blood that she still believed in an eye for an eye. 

The law, she knew, was designed to create order and prevent chaos. If everyone 
sought their own justice, there would be plenty to abuse it, plenty who took offense at 
nothing and used deadly force in retribution--they already did. Someone had to referee, 
but the referees weren’t really doing their job anymore and the bullies were winning. The 
meek were inheriting six feet of Earth while the strong were preying on them, beating 
them down, killing them, stealing everything they worked for, or forcing them to 
reinforce their homes with bars and bolts, living in jails while the lawless enjoyed 
freedom. 

Going into the kitchen she looked through the refrigerator and freezer to find 
something to fix for lunch and, once she’d settled on it, she went into the front room to 
work. She didn’t get much done because she kept stopping the recorder every time she 
got a glimpse of Rafe from her window. 

When she walked down to where Rafe was working at noon, he stopped and 
looked at her with the same mixture of surprise, wariness and tentative welcome as 
before. Tightness closed around her throat, but she felt a surge of hopefulness, too, that 
she’d been right. He didn’t really want to push her away. He wanted acceptance of him 
as he was. 

“I made lunch. Hungry?” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

His gaze slipped over her hungrily, making her belly tighten with anticipation and 
her pulse quicken. Nodding, he followed her back to the house and went into the 
bathroom to wash up while she set out the food and iced tea. 

He paused in the doorway to watch her when he returned, a question in his eyes. 

She dragged in a deep breath. “I was thinking … you might as well stay here … 
with me.” 

Something flickered in his eyes but was quickly tamped. He swallowed thickly. 
“I don’t belong here, Alaina.” 

Her throat closed at the finality of that. She’d guessed wrong after all, and he 
wasn’t going to allow her the luxury of lying to herself. Maybe he did need her in a 
sense, but he knew the situation was hopeless and would not allow her to pretend it 
wasn’t. Tears welled from no where, making his image dance and waver. She blinked 
them back, forced a smile. “I know. And I do belong here. And never the twain shall 
meet.” 

He surged toward her abruptly, dragging her against his length. For a moment, he 
merely held her tightly against his chest and then he caught her face between his palms, 
tipping her head back. 

The hunger he’d promised with his eyes was in his kiss. It was rough and wild, 
and infinitely appealing, shooting her libido through the roof. From the moment his 
mouth covered hers in gentle suction, with the first demanding stroke of his tongue along 
hers heat surged through her, dizziness, desirous tension. She clutched at his waist, 
tugged his shirt from his jeans, slipping her hands beneath the fabric to stroke the taut, 
silky flesh of his back and then downward, delving beneath his jeans and digging her 
fingers into his buttocks. 

He broke the kiss, got his bearings and began to waltz her toward the bedroom, 
pausing and drawing away to pull his t-shirt off over his head, and pulling her close to 
nuzzle his face along her neck and explore the shell of her ear. 

She came up against the wall. 

He lifted his head, grasped her shirt and peeled it over her head, then caught her 
waist and guided her down the hall again. “Too many clothes, woman,” he muttered, 
amusement threading his voice as he struggled with the opening of her jeans. 

“You want me to walk around naked?” she teased, nipping at his lips and then his 
chin as she worked on the opening to his jeans. 

“I’d like that, yes,” he murmured, catching her waist and lifting her up until she’d 
locked her legs around his waist. Slipping an arm beneath her buttocks and one around 
her back, he negotiated the short distance to the bedroom, crossed the room to the bed 
and sprawled on the mattress with her, covering the tip of one breast and sending fire 
flooding along her nerve endings with his mouth and tongue. 

She gasped, arching to meet him, clasping his head to her. 

Releasing her after a moment, he grabbed the waist of her jeans and pulled her 
pants and panties down at the same time, almost dragging her off the bed in the process. 
Chuckling huskily, she grabbed two fistfuls of bedding to catch herself, breaking off with 
a choked gasp when he dropped to his knees beside the bed and buried his face against 
her mound, parting her nether lips with his tongue and dragging a slow, hot, caress along 
her cleft until he found her clit. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Her entire body went taut with the electrifying current that jolted through her. 
She gasped his name as he palmed her knees and pushed her legs up and then spread her 
thighs wide for his caresses. 

Pleasure and anxiety warred within her, that he would tease her until she lost 
control and deprive her of giving to him, of feeling him inside of her as his cock stroked 
her deeply and brought her to ecstasy. She discovered she needn’t have worried. He 
teased her until she was gasping for breath, writhing with the exquisite torture, and then 
surged over her. Dragging her up the bed, he settled his hips between her thighs and 
arched his hips, butting the head of his cock against her cleft, driving her wild as he 
slipped back and forth for several moments, teasing her clit and then her opening. 

Frustrated, frantic, she slipped her hand between them and gasped his turgid flesh, 
guiding him to her opening. Uttering a husky sound of satisfaction, he surged toward her 
as their bodies connected, wedging the head of his cock firmly in her passage, supporting 
his weight on his arms and levering himself up to watch her face as he claimed her. 

She felt his gaze, but she was too enthralled with the thrill of feeling his flesh 
pressing against hers to even attempt to open her eyes. She wanted to hug the sensation 
to her, focus all of her senses on the heated stroke of his cock along her passage. 

She opened her eyes when he had delved as deeply as he could go, feeling her 
passion soar at the passion that tautened his features. 

She felt more than that, though, felt a warm constriction settle in her chest. She 
knew at once what it was even though she had never felt anything quite like it before. 
Lifting her hand, she stroked his face lovingly with her gaze and the tips of her fingers 
and then threaded her fingers through his hair, tugging to pull him down to her. 

Something flickered in his eyes at her expression. His face contorted as if with 
pain. Abruptly he yielded to her tug, shoving his arms beneath her and covering her lips 
with his as he arched his hips and drove into her almost painfully deep. She gasped into 
his mouth, groaned as he withdrew almost as swiftly and drove into her again, his strokes 
as hard and aggressive as his kiss until the sheer force of his thrusts broke their desperate 
kiss. 

She arched her head back on a long, low groan, feeling her body begin to quake at 
his rough caress, reveling in his fierce passion, in his savage possession of her senses. A 
choked cry broke from her lips as her body abruptly seized, every muscle seeming to 
contract at once before the tension abruptly broke and they began to quake with 
pleasurable release. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Seventeen 

Alaina stroked Rafe’s back and shoulders until his own tremors ceased and he lay 
heavily against her, breathing harshly. She chuckled huskily, though, when he nuzzled 
his face against her chest and sought one breast, sucking the tip into his mouth. “I 
brought you in for lunch.” 

He sucked the nipple he held hard before he released it. “And it was good. I’ll 
have seconds,” he murmured, amusement threading his voice. 

“And it was fabulously filling for me,” she teased him back, nudging her mound 
against his belly for emphasis, “but I doubt it’ll cure your hunger pains.” 

Kissing her briefly, he rolled off of her reluctantly and got off the bed, adjusting 
his jeans, which she saw he’d only shoved down his hips. Feeling a flood of warmth 
along with a dose of irritation and amusement that he hadn’t waited to undress, she rolled 
off the other side of the bed and went to clean up. 

He was waiting at the table for her when she came out. He caught her around the 
hips as she started past him, dragging her back and nuzzling his face beneath her shirt. 
His hot breath on her belly sent a flurry of goose bumps over her. She stroked his 
mussed hair, wondering if hers looked as wild after their roll on the bed. 

Dragging the band from his hair, she smoothed it, gathered his long dark hair 
again and replaced the elastic band. 

He pulled away when she’d finished, giving her an indecipherable look as he 
released her. 

Feeling snubbed for no reason she could fathom, she settled in her chair to eat. 

“I should be finished by this weekend,” he said as he took his sandwich from his 
plate and began to eat. 

Alaina’s belly clenched, immediately rebelling against her food. Mentally 
chiding herself, she tried to eat with at least an appearance of interest. “I should go to the 
bank Friday then and get cash,” she said, trying to pretend he was talking about the fence 
she’d hired him to build. 

Something flickered in his eyes but he didn’t correct her. 

Relief filled her, not because she thought she was right and that was what he’d 
meant, but because he allowed her the little lie. 

She preferred it that way, actually, needed it. 

It was how she’d dealt with the loss of her parents. Inside, she’d felt crushed and 
alone and abandoned, but she’d allowed herself to pretend, at least part of the time, that 
they weren’t really gone. They were just away. As long as she allowed herself to 
pretend she could call them if she wanted to or drive over to their place to see them, she 
could manage to keep from falling completely apart. She could release the grief in 
shorter, more manageable bursts, like opening the flood gates of a dam to allow the 
excess to flow. And in between she could go about the business of life with a semblance 
of calm. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

She’d found she had to. The pain was just too much to bear all at once. The 
temptation to simply yield to it and let her whole world fall apart had not been something 
she felt she could allow herself. 

Being alone meant that there was no one else to deal with the things that had to be 
done. She’d had to find the strength somewhere. 

She’d find it again, but she didn’t want to cross that bridge till she had to. 

Rafe had never actually said whether he would stay with her or not, but late in the 
afternoon, when he quit for the day, he went to his bike and pushed it into the barn. 
When he came out again, he was carrying a bundle of clothing. 

Delight rushed through Alaina, who’d watched him surreptitiously until he came 
out of the barn again, and she hurried to her room to empty a drawer for him. He 
frowned when he saw what she was doing, opened his mouth as if he meant to say 
something and then closed it again without a word. 

Leaving him to settle his things and bathe, she went to the kitchen to prepare a 
meal for two. After they’d eaten, they went for a walk so he could point out his progress 
on the fence. All things considered, Alaina didn’t particularly care if the fence was 
finished or not, but she was pleased nevertheless to see how neat his work was, each post 
evenly spaced and level, forming an arrow straight line. 

“Daddy wasn’t particularly handy with such things, bless him,” she murmured 
when he looked uncomfortable and irritated by her praise, as if he considered it a 
backhanded compliment. “He was very good at what he did for a living, but not at all 
handy at constructing things.” She thought it over. “Actually, he wasn’t very good at 
anything except his work. He was a brilliant engineer, but terribly absentminded--always 
had his mind on equations, I suppose.” 

She pointed to the overgrown field behind the house where young trees were 
growing now. “He tried planting a few times, but he never really grew much. He said it 
was because he just didn’t have the time to devote to it while he was working and that, 
once he retired, it would be a different matter altogether, but I’m not at all sure it 
would’ve been.” 

It was nearly dark when they returned to the house. To her relief, he went in with 
her and settled on the couch to doze while she finished up her work for the day. She felt 
surprisingly content just to have him nearby, but she had to resist the temptation to curl 
up with him. 

He roused the moment she turned off her system and got up, making her wonder 
if he had actually been asleep at all, and made room for her to join him. 

She smiled at him, but shook her head. “After I take a shower.” 

Discarding her clothes, she went in to adjust the water, leaving the door open in 
silent invitation. Vaguely disappointed when he didn’t follow her, she shrugged it off 
after a moment and bathed. She’d just lathered her hair when a cool breeze wafted over 
her. Squinting through the stinging soap, she watched as Rafe climbed in, pulling the 
band from his hair so that it hung loose around his shoulders. 

Anticipation instantly set her heart to beating a little faster. 

He plucked at her nipples as she tipped her head back beneath the spray to rinse 
the soap from her face and hair, making blood surge into the tips to engorge them. 
Catching hold of her just beneath her breasts, he pulled her closer, leaning down to suck 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

at first one tip and then the other until her knees threatened to buckle from the sensations 
cascading through her. 

He lifted his head when she began to shake with the weak tremors running 
through her, slipping one arm around her and pulling her water slickened skin against his 
so that their wet bodies clung at every point where they touched. Covering her mouth, he 
slipped his free hand down her belly and parted the lips of her flesh with his fingers, 
stroking her. 

She was so wobbly she could hardly stand alone when he pulled away at last, and 
stepped from the shower. Shutting the water off, she followed him. He grabbed her up 
even as she grabbed a towel and hefted her against his chest as he strode toward the bed. 

“We’ll wet the sheets,” she protested weakly as he tumbled her onto the bed and 
followed her. 

“They’ll dry,” he murmured, plucking at one pert nipple with his lips and then 
sucking it into his mouth, and driving all thought from her mind as tingling sensation 
cascaded along her nerve endings, intoxicating her with desire. 

With little preliminary, he pushed her thighs apart, entering her, but her body was 
already humming with need from their foreplay in the shower and she was slick and 
moist for him. He moved slowly once he’d sheathed himself fully inside of her, holding 
his upper body braced on his arms, watching her face, watching their joining as he 
stroked her channel. 

For a time, she watched, as well, enraptured by the sight, feeling the tension 
building slowly but surely until she reached a point where she was drawn to focus 
inwardly. She closed her eyes then, lifting to meet him, encouraging him to move faster. 

Dropping to his elbows, he increased the pace. She teetered on the brink for what 
seemed like forever, close, dizzy with the height, struggling to hold onto the pleasure just 
a few moments longer. When it caught her, it was blindingly explosive and deeply 
satisfying, dragging hoarse cries of delight from her that seemed to send him over the 
edge. 

Gasping for breath in the aftermath, he kissed her with gusty enthusiasm that set 
off pleasurable aftershocks through her, and finally rolled onto his side, carrying her with 
him. 

Utterly contented, Alaina succumbed to the soothing stroke of his hands and 
drifted away. The contentment lasted until she woke sometime later and found herself 
completely alone. 

She knew even before she got up and searched the house that Rafe was gone, but 
she looked anyway, hopeful that she was wrong. 

He’d gone out to hunt. 

Trying not to think about it, she went into the bathroom to relieve herself and 
bathe off the stickiness from their lovemaking. 

She thought of it as lovemaking anyway. She didn’t really know how he felt 
about it. 

She dozed only fitfully after that, rousing later to find a pair of golden eyes 
watching her. Relieved, she dropped her head to the pillow and drifted away again, 
smiling to herself as she cuddled against the warm body that lay down next to her. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

The next day Rafe finished setting the last few posts and strung two more strands 
of barbed wire, pulling them taut and then working his way down the long length of posts 
setting the staples to hold the wire in place. 

Alaina did her best to ignore the fact that he was, just as he’d said, finishing up. 

She focused so determinedly on her work that afternoon that it wasn’t until she 
heard the tractor start up and saw Rafe driving it toward the barn that she remembered 
she was low on groceries. She was too used to buying for one and even though she’d 
gotten extra meat for Ralphie, there wasn’t much left and she didn’t particularly want to 
try to figure out how to cook the unidentifiable chunks of meat anyway. 

It was already growing dark as she drove into town, but she recognized Calhoun’s 
truck as she neared the farm supply store. Glancing from the truck to the store, she saw 
Calhoun and two other men emerge. The two men were carrying a large cage-like 
contraption. 

She was still pondering over that, wondering what they would need with a cage 
that size, when she reached the store. It occurred to her to wonder as she freed a buggy 
from the buggy train it was a trap rather than merely a cage. She hadn’t gotten that good 
a look at it, because of the poor lighting and the fact that she’d been driving by, but there 
had been something about the thing that hadn’t looked just right if it was no more than a 
cage. 

Hunting dogs, maybe? 

They hadn’t used hunting dogs before, though. He couldn’t have had any, she 
realized, otherwise she wouldn’t have been able to get within a hundred yards of the 
place without the dogs alerting everyone to her presence. 

Maybe that was it, though? Rafe had made several excursions to wreak havoc 
with them. 

Or they thought they were going to trap the panther. 

Uneasiness slithered over her, but she dismissed it. If they thought that, they 
would be disappointed. As wily as real panthers were, Rafe, even in panther form, 
retained a keen intellect, probably more than the three men had between them. 

She was checking out when it finally dawned on her what there was about the 
‘picture’ that had been really disturbing her. 

She hadn’t recognized the men with Calhoun. 

She hadn’t known the men who’d worked for him before, but she’d seen them 
around. She knew it wasn’t the same men. 

She should’ve realized that instantly, because she had been there when Rafe had 
taken one of the others out. 

She almost forgot to grab her bags of groceries in her rush to get out of the store 
and get home. The trap wasn’t the trap! The trap was two new hunters that she very 
much feared Rafe knew nothing about and wouldn’t be expecting. 

She got pulled over for speeding before she managed to get out of the city limits. 
It took every ounce of acting skills she could summon to make it through the process of 
lecture and citation without yielding to hysterics. He dragged it out. They always did, 
just to make sure that you were late for whatever it was that had had you in a lather to get 
someplace to start with. 

Because they were assholes! 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

It took more patience that she’d thought she had at the moment, to pretend to take 
his lecture to heart and pull out onto the road again and creep down it at snail’s pace until 
the dick finally turned off. 

Immediately suspicious that the jerk only meant to pull around and come back to 
catch her, she ground her teeth and kept her foot easy on the gas pedal with an effort. 
The moment she passed the city limits sign, however, she floored it. 

Rafe was gone when she reached the house. 

When Alaina had searched the house and found no sign of Rafe, she dashed out to 
the barn. His motorcycle was still parked there, which was less comforting than it 
would’ve been otherwise--because she knew if he was gone and had left the motorcycle 
he hadn’t actually left. 

He’d gone over to Calhoun’s. 

Had he gone, though, while Calhoun was in town? Would he have seen them 
return and know about the new men Calhoun had hired? 

He would be furious with her if she went stumbling through the woods trying to 
find him, because she couldn’t see at night like he could and she would sound like a herd 
of buffalo thrashing through the woods and alert them long before she got close enough 
to tell Rafe about them. She might succeed in doing nothing more than distracting him 
and getting him killed. 

She was still pacing the floor debating whether to try it or not when she heard a 
vehicle pull up outside. Fearful it might be the police, she was more tempted to hide 
when she heard someone knock forcefully on her door than going to open it. She had just 
decided she might as well answer it because her car was parked in plain view by the very 
door they were beating on when something slammed against the door. Instantly, her 
mind leapt to Rafe in cat form, trying to get in, perhaps running from someone with a 
gun. She had already reached the kitchen when the door gave way and slammed back 
against the wall. 

She skidded to a halt when she saw the stranger standing in her doorway, but it 
was too late run, he had an automatic leveled on her. He could cut her down before she 
could even whirl around to flee. 

“Mr. Calhoun needs bait,” the man said grimly. “You’re it.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Eighteen 

Alaina had only thought the night she discovered Rafe and Ralphie were one and 
the same was the most terrifying event in her life. She supposed it had been up until that 
point, but she’d forgotten the rule--No matter how bad something is, it can always get 
worse. 

In spite of everything Rafe had told her, though, Alaina had not really accepted 
that her neighbor was a cold blooded killer. The man who had kidnapped her at gunpoint 
explained the whole while his companion was driving them over to Calhoun’s that they 
didn’t intend her a bit of harm. They knew she had been feeding the panther, however, 
and that he would come to her. All they wanted to do was ‘recapture’ him. He was one 
of the exotic animals that Calhoun imported for zoos as a sideline to his hunting club. 

It sank into Alaina then with blinding clarity what was going on at Calhoun’s that 
they were willing to kill to protect. He imported exotic, possibly endangered, species for 
‘safaris’ for men who wanted the opportunity to hunt big game when they didn’t have the 
time, money, or inclination to pay for a real safari. 

She had considered that before, but she had dismissed it as just being too 
farfetched. 

That was why they’d taken Concepcion--for a hunt. The panther she’d seen that 
shouldn’t have been wandering around her woods had probably been brought in, too, in 
that paneled truck she saw. 

Either it had escaped, or they had let it go, hoping to use it to capture the black 
panther that had been stalking them and picking them off one by one. 

Maybe they’d even hoped it would take care of her so that they would have one 
less thing to worry about. 

They weren’t going to let her go. 

She’d seen both men. They hadn’t made any attempt to hide their identity from 
her, which could only mean that she wouldn’t get the chance to identify them. 

As scared as she was, though, she thought she was more afraid for Rafe. She 
knew he was far too intelligent to be trapped as a wild animal could be--which they 
obviously did not know--but using her as bait might draw him out. 

It might not, too. 

She was almost certain that he would try to help her, but he had his own agenda. 
Would he be willing to sacrifice his need for vengeance to protect her when she wasn’t 
even one of his own people? 

Before she’d actually been facing the possibility of death she’d been certain that 
he would. Now she wasn’t nearly as certain as she needed to be. 

And at the same time, she was afraid that he would get himself killed for nothing, 
that he wouldn’t be able to help her. 

She was too scared to even try to think of something she could do. Certainly she 
had no chance at all of doing anything at the moment. 

She realized almost the moment they arrived that she had no options. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

The huge cage she’d seen the men loading earlier was a trap. 

And she was the cheese. 

Beyond the blinding glare of the floodlights they’d set up to work by, the woods 
loomed deep and dark and scary. Alaina had the unreal sense of being a player in a 
dramatization of an actual crime--where the victim was forced to dig their own grave. 
Except there was no hole, and no shovel, just the cage, and darkness all around them as if 
they were miles and miles from civilization in any direction. 

She might as well have been, because it wasn’t at all likely that anyone would 
‘happen by’ that could call for help, or help her. 

They tied her up before they shoved her into the trap and then one of the men 
climbed inside with her and secured her wrists to the wire at the back of the cage to make 
certain she couldn’t spring the trap before the cat entered it. 

“I have to pee,” she said a little desperately as the man knotted a rope around the 
metal bar and looped it through the rope already cutting off the circulation to her hands. 

He ignored it. 

“I really, really do have to pee,” Alaina said plaintively. 

“So do it!” he growled. “I doubt the cat will mind. The scent might actually draw 
him a little quicker.” 

She glared at him, her fear temporarily forgotten. “Run, Ralphie!” she screamed. 
“There’s three ….” 

She didn’t get the last out. The man backhanded her so hard her head slammed 
into the back bars of the cage. Her head swam sickeningly. Her mouth filled with blood 
from biting her tongue. “ …men with guns!” she finished, but she barely managed to get 
the words out at all. She was in no condition to yell. 

“Gag her! She’s yelling to that damned Mexican,” Calhoun growled. “The 
fucking cat can’t count.” 

Alaina spat the blood out of her mouth. “He isn’t a Mexican you stupid bigot! 
He’s ….” 

She broke off when the man inside the cage with her pulled a knife, flinching as 
he grabbed her shirt. She was almost relieved when he merely used it to cut a tear in the 
t-shirt--until he ripped it off of her and shredded it, using her t-shirt to gag her. 

The man looked her over when he’d finished tying the gag. “Nice tits. It’s almost 
a shame.” 

“Shut up, you moron and get out of there before the cat catches the scent of her 
blood.” 

He didn’t need any more prodding than that. When he’d scrambled out, they set 
the trap and disappeared beyond the ring of light. 

She tried not to think why they’d left the light on. Flexing her fingers as soon as 
they’d moved far enough away that she couldn’t hear them any longer, she twisted her 
hands as far as she could and began trying to pick at the rope binding her to the cage. 
She was afraid they were watching her from whatever perch they’d chosen to ambush 
Rafe, but she knew damned well it wasn’t going to do her a bit of good to appear 
completely cowed and simply wait for them to come back and let her go. Whether they 
managed to get Rafe or not, she wasn’t going to see tomorrow. 

The strain of twisting her wrists and fingers into such an awkward angle was 
sheer torture. Every few minutes she was forced by the pain to stop and ease the pressure 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

for a few moments respite. She continued to work at the knot doggedly, however, 
fighting her frustration and the sense of hopelessness that slowly worked its way into her 
as her body became more and more cramped and numb from the lack of blood 
circulation. 

The snap of a twig in the woods made her freeze. A moment later, she heard the 
faint rumbling growl of a big cat. Almost on top of it, she heard a man scream and 
gunfire. 

Cringing, she curled into as tight a ball as she could manage, expecting any 
moment to feel a bullet tear through her. 

The screaming didn’t stop for many moments. Shivers chased along her spine at 
the sound she tried to close her mind to. 

It stopped abruptly. 

The silence was almost more frightening than the snarls of the great cat and the 
man’s screams had been. 

Neither of the other two men had raced to the rescue of the screaming man, she 
noticed. 

She had no idea whether it had been Rafe fighting the man, or the panther that had 
tried to attack her twice, but she hoped it wasn’t the panther, because she was going to be 
what was for dinner if it was. Galvanized by that fear, she began to struggle with the 
knot again, almost weeping with frustration when she couldn’t seem to budge it at all. 

Going limp after fighting the thing as long as she could stand the screaming of her 
muscles and joints, she struggled to drag a descent breath of air in. If she gave in to the 
urge to weep, she was going to suffocate. She could barely get enough air through her 
nose to keep from passing out as it was. 

The thought brought her to the realization that her teeth would’ve been far more 
effective on the knot that her cramped, nearly useless fingers. For a second, she regretted 
the impulse to scream that had resulted in the gag, but she quickly dismissed it. Very 
likely Rafe hadn’t needed the warning and she’d risked it unnecessarily, but she had no 
way of knowing. If she hadn’t screamed the warning, he might not have realized 
Calhoun had brought in more men. 

After studying the problem over for several moments, she began to struggle to 
shift positions. The gag was too tight, she thought, to have any luck using her shoulders 
or even the bars to try to rub it down. She thought there might be enough strength in her 
fingers, though, to pull on the stretchy material until she could get it out of her mouth. 

She had to stop and rest twice before she managed to maneuver her mouth close 
enough to her fingers to catch hold of the fabric. The first half dozen tries resulted in 
failure, but she could feel the fabric stretching and hope pushed her to keep trying. 
Finally, she managed to tug hard enough to pull the fabric from her mouth, but she 
quickly discovered she couldn’t stretch it over her chin and every time she tried to grip 
the rope with her teeth, the fabric kept popping back up and frustrating her attempts. 

She couldn’t remember whether her nose stuck out further than her chin or not, 
but the tip was cartilage. It would yield some. Her chin wouldn’t. After dragging in 
several shaky breaths, she leaned down to catch the gag again, pushing her face down this 
time instead of straining upward. 

The report of a gun made her jerk all over. She lost her grip on the shirt but she’d 
managed to drag it over her nose by that time. Panic seized her for several moments until 


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it finally dawned on her she could still breathe through her mouth. Several more 
gunshots followed the first in rapid succession and then Alaina heard the scream of a 
panther. 

Fear shot through her. She froze, listening intently. 

She heard the pounding of running feet then, coming directly toward her and 
whirled toward the sound, trying to pierce the darkness and identify who it was running 
toward her. Calhoun appeared just as she heard a terrified scream from somewhere in the 
woods and more shots. 

Wild eyed, Calhoun raced straight toward her. She thought for several moments 
when she saw the knife he held that he meant to cut her throat. Instead, he sliced her 
hand as dropped to his knees and cut the rope she’d been struggling with for what seemed 
like hours. “Get out!” he roared as the rope snapped, freeing her. 

She stared at him blankly as he shoved the barrel of his gun through the cage and 
put it to her head, too stunned to move, too stunned even to feel any pain as blood 
dripped from her cut hand. 

“Now! Or I’ll blow your head off!” 

Galvanized, Alaina struggled to crawl out of the cage. With her wrists and ankles 
bound, however, and much of her body already numb from the restriction of blood flow, 
she didn’t make enough progress fast enough to suit him. The explosion of the gun so 
close deafened her made her jerk all over and freeze. Dirt and grass flew into her face 
from the bullet he shot into the ground inches from her. 

“Stay back! I’ll kill her! I swear to god, I will.” 

His voice seemed to come from far away because her ears were ringing, but the 
gist of his threat penetrated her shock and she blinked the dirt from her eyes, trying to 
see. In the darkness, perhaps twenty feet beyond the ring of light, she saw Rafe or 
thought she did--she thought she saw the glow of his eyes for a second before they 
winked out. 

She didn’t know if Calhoun had seen or not, but she began to struggle toward the 
entrance to the cage again. He squatted at the opening, glanced around a little wildly and 
finally grabbed her by her bound wrists, dragging her out. He nicked her ankles and feet 
as he sawed through the rope around her ankles, but her feet were so numb she couldn’t 
feel that either. 

When he’d finished, he grabbed her arm and hauled her to her feet. She tried to 
walk when he pulled on her, but her feet were completely uncooperative and her lower 
legs not much better. She couldn’t lock her knees and her feet felt as if they weren’t 
there at all, as if she was walking on stumps. 

Uttering a furious growl, Calhoun shifted his hold on her. Wrapping one arm 
beneath her breasts, he shoved the barrel of his gun beneath her chin. “Quit sandbagging, 
bitch, or I’ll kill you here.” 

She didn’t bother trying to tell him she wasn’t trying to be difficult, that it was the 
best she could do. If she’d had enough wit about her to try, she might have, but the gun 
barrel beneath her chin was goad enough to dismiss any such idea. He had to hold it at an 
awkward ankle to get it under her chin and she was afraid if either one of them tripped it 
would go off. 

She quickly discovered she couldn’t have walked if she tried, though. Aside from 
the stiffness of her feet and legs, he held her with her back against his side, dragging her 


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backwards. She focused on trying to stay on her feet, wondering where he was taking 
her. 

He didn’t care whether she was dead or not, she realized, and he wouldn’t mind 
killing her at all, but he was trying to keep Rafe at bay by holding her. It wasn’t much 
leverage, but it was something to help beat back the fear that began to seep through her 
shock. 

Chills began to wrack her. She was naked from the waist up, but although the 
night air was cool against her skin, she thought it was the shock and fear that was making 
her so cold. 

She discovered the destination he had in mind a few minutes later when they 
reached the barn she’d tried to get in to before. He dragged her along the side and around 
to the front. After pausing for several moments at the door, he opened it just enough to 
allow them through and dragged her through the opening. She heard a click and then, 
just as she was expecting to feel nothing else, lights flickered to life all over the barn. 

 “What’s he got?” 

Alaina didn’t answer because she had no clue what he was talking about. 

He shoved the barrel more tightly against the underside of her jaw until she 
couldn’t even swallow without an effort. 

“What has he got, god damn it!” 

“Who?” Alaina asked blankly. 

“Don’t play stupid with me, bitch. Your boyfriend. That was no panther out 
there.” 

It had just jelled in her mind that he’d realized the behavior of the cat was far too 
clever to be a cat when a window shattered near the door and a huge, black panther 
crashed through it, landing on the dirt floor of the barn less than ten feet from where she 
stood with Calhoun. Instinctively, Calhoun jerked the gun from beneath her chin and 
pointed it at Rafe. The moment he did, Alaina slammed her arm against the barrel. The 
move was instinctive. She had no time to think it over. 

The gun went off, blowing a hole through the side of the barn and sending 
splinters in every direction like shrapnel. Uttering a growl of rage for her interference, 
Calhoun tossed her away from him with almost super human strength, sending her flying. 

She slammed into the wall of the barn, hitting it so hard she ricocheted off the 
wall and hit the dirt almost as hard as she had the wall. Stunned, she lay where she was, 
trying to figure out where she was hurt. 

Dimly, she became aware of the sounds around her of a life and death struggle 
between Rafe and Calhoun, of Calhoun’s screams of fury and fear and pain, and the 
furious snarls of the panther ripping him apart. Even as she managed to lever herself up 
and look around, though, the fight ended. 

Calhoun, she saw, was barely recognizable. He lay flat of his back. Rafe, in 
panther form, was crouched on his chest. As she watched, Rafe shifted from beast to 
man. 

Calhoun’s eyes widened as the face above his changed from panther to man. He 
struggled to speak, but only managed to choke blood. “An eye for eye,” Rafe ground out. 
“My mate sends her regards.” 

When he was certain Calhoun had heard him and was no longer a threat, he 
glanced toward Alaina. He looked down at Calhoun again. “Pray she isn’t heard badly, 


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you son-of-a-bitch. Or I’ll be back to rip your balls off and shove them down your 
throat.” 

He came up off of Calhoun then, kicking the rifle across the floor before he 
moved to kneel beside Alaina, examining her carefully with his hands. “Poor, my baby,” 
he said soothingly, pulling the t-shirt/gag off that was still knotted around her head and 
stroking her tangled hair out of her eyes. “Are you hurt badly?” 

Alaina’s chin wobbled. “I don’t think so,” she wailed. 

He glanced around and finally rose and returned to Calhoun. Taking the knife out 
of his belt, he studied the man still struggling to cling to life dispassionately for several 
moments and finally, apparently satisfied, returned to Alaina and carefully cut the rope 
around her wrists. 

Flipping the knife in his hand, he caught the blade tip and hurled it across the 
barn. It struck a wooden column on the other side and dug in with a dull twang. 
Catching her wrists then, he placed her arms around his neck and shoved an arm beneath 
her knees and one behind her back, lifting her. 

“What … are … you?” Calhoun gasped out with a tremendous effort. 

Rafe glanced at him. “Argentinean,” he said succinctly and strode toward the 
barn door with Alaina, pushing through it and heading toward the woods at a rapid pace. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Nineteen 

The sensation returned to Alaina’s hands and feet with a vengeance as Rafe 
moved quickly through the woods. She bit her lip against the pain, holding onto Rafe 
more tightly as enough sensation returned to allow a firmer grip. It seemed they traveled 
through the darkened woods for an endless time before Rafe bounded forward and then 
sprang upwards. Bracing herself for the landing, she managed to keep from biting her 
tongue. 

She discovered when she opened her eyes again that they were on the drive in 
front of her house. Crossing the lawn, Rafe entered the house through the back door, 
which was still standing wide, and carried her down the hall to the bathroom. Settling her 
on the toilet seat, he knelt to examine the cuts and finally turned on the water in the 
shower, adjusting it. He helped her to her feet when he was satisfied with the 
temperature and removed her jeans and panties. 

Instead of standing beneath the shower spray once they’d stepped in, though, he 
sat down and pulled her onto his lap, urging her to lean back against his chest as he held 
her hands up to rinse the blood from them and examine the abrasions on her wrists and 
the cut on her hand. 

Alaina dropped her head back against his shoulder. The raw skin around her 
wrists and ankles hurt far more than the cuts. 

He settled her hands on her lap after he’d examined them thoroughly and 
tightened his arms around her. “I should have considered the possibility that they would 
think about using you as lure,” he murmured. 

Alaina twisted around so that she could loop one arm around his neck and burrow 
her face against his neck. “You couldn’t have known they’d try anything like that,” she 
said tiredly. 

He stroked his hand along her back. “I’m so sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to get 
you in the thick of it.” 

“I’m all right,” she assured him. 

She wasn’t certain that she was, but she thought she would be all right-eventually. 
There was no sense in Rafe blaming himself over it regardless. They were 
the ones who’d decided to involve her, not Rafe. And she wasn’t certain, even if he 
hadn’t been staying with her that it would’ve been any different. In fact, she knew it 
wouldn’t have. They’d known he had come to her for help after they’d shot him. They’d 
taken her to draw in Ralphie. It wasn’t until he’d sprung their trap on them that it had 
occurred to Calhoun he wasn’t just dealing with a wild animal. He’d realized he was 
dealing with something far more intelligent. 

He just hadn’t realized what he was dealing with. 

“Is he dead?” 

“Don’t think about it,” Rafe said sternly, rising when the water began to cool and 
helping her from the tub. Handing her a towel to dry off with, he grabbed one for himself 
and rubbed it briskly, if haphazardly over himself. Tossing it aside after a moment, he 


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led her into the bedroom and climbed into bed with her, wrapping them both up in the 
covers and pulling her snuggly against his length. 

The warmth of the shower had chased much of the cold of her shock. The 
warmth of his body banished the remainder and the soothing stroke of his hand eased the 
tension from her slowly but surely until her exhaustion from her ordeal overcame her. 

Rafe was gone when she woke. In vain she listened for any sound that indicated 
he was anywhere in the house, and then any sounds that might suggest he had gone 
outside to work. 

Slowly, the thoughts she had worked so hard to keep at bay the night before crept 
insidiously into her mind and her chest tightened painfully. 

He had returned to his people and the place where he knew he belonged. 

She allowed herself to cry awhile because she couldn’t seem to prevent the tears 
that leaked from her eyes and clogged her throat painfully. When she had exhausted the 
supply of tears, she got up and went into the bathroom to perform her morning ritual, 
comforted by the familiarity of it. 

When she finally got into the front room to try to work, she found a thick 
envelope on her desk. Her heart skipped several beats and then commenced to 
hammering overtime. She didn’t recognize the dark scrawl across it, but she knew it had 
been Rafe who’d left it. Her hand was shaking as she tore into it. 

A stack of bills fell out. She stared at the money blankly for a split second before 
she saw the sliver of paper. 

I hope this will help you out so that you won’t need to work so hard, baby. I’m 
sorry I didn’t have more to leave you, but I needed money to get me home. 

Alaina’s chin wobbled. She clamped her lips tightly together but it didn’t prevent 
the tears from starting again. He was worried about her having enough money to get by. 

It still hurt that he hadn’t said he loved her. She knew he had to care, at least a 
little, or he wouldn’t have worried about her. 

But he hadn’t said it and now she couldn’t get rid of the doubts. Now she 
couldn’t help but wonder if it was just Rafe, still trying to protect her because that was 
how he was. 

Struggling against the desire to rush back into her room and fling herself on the 
bed and cry until she was exhausted, she picked the money up and pushed it back into the 
envelope with the note he’d written her. She took it back into her room then and pushed 
the envelope to the bottom of her lingerie drawer. 

When she’d mastered the crying, she washed her face again. 

The cops were certain to be nosing around trying to find out what had happened 
next door. If they thought she was involved at all, she would be in a hell of a mess, and 
there was always the possibility if they took her in to question her that they would wear 
her down until she said something stupid, something that might implicate Rafe. She had 
to keep her wits about her. She couldn’t afford to indulge her need to grieve, not yet. 

Calmer after a while, she realized her busted door was likely to arouse suspicions 
and went into the kitchen to study it. The man that had kicked it in had left a boot print 
on the door itself, and knocked a chunk of wood from the frame. Leaving the house, she 
went to the storage building to look for some glue. After examining several different 
glues--fortunately her father, not being handy, had made certain he had a good variety of 
glue on hand--she found one she thought would hold the piece in place and returned to 


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doctor up the door frame. When she’d carefully pushed the chunk into place and held it 
long enough for the glue to set, she got spray cleaner and removed the boot print from the 
door. 

There were muddy boot prints on the kitchen floor, too. She mopped. 

After examining the kitchen critically for any other signs of a struggle, she went 
outside and examined the yard carefully. Rafe had left prints in the drive way. She 
didn’t think they could make much of that, but since they were leading from Calhoun’s 
place to hers, she scrubbed them out with her foot. 

Rafe’s motorcycle was gone. 

She didn’t know when he’d left, but she felt certain that he would be well out of 
the state, and probably out of the country before the bodies were discovered. 

She hoped she wasn’t going to end up having to report it. She wasn’t sure she 
could pull that off. 

The urge to go and check Calhoun’s place for anything that might point to Rafe 
was almost overwhelming, but she fought it. The worst thing she could do, she thought, 
was to be caught at Calhoun’s--destroying evidence. 

Comforting herself with the realization that Rafe had been in cat form and 
wouldn’t have left much in the way of tracks besides that, she went back into the house to 
examine herself. The cuts had closed. Shoes and jeans would cover the marks on her 
feet and ankles. She couldn’t think of anything to do about the bruises and abrasions on 
her wrists. 

After glaring at them for several moments, a thought abruptly occurred to her and 
she smiled. 

If they came before the bruises cleared up she’d just tell them her and her boy 
friend had been ‘playing’ rough. No doubt she’d blush like a flashing neon sign, but she 
thought that would only make the lie more convincing. 

The cops didn’t show up at her door until late the following day. They’d given 
her just enough time to feel as calm as she was going to, and not enough to give her a 
false sense of having escaped altogether. 

Hank’s face was grim when she opened the door. He tipped his hat at her. 
“Afternoon, Ms. McKinley.” 

Alaina tensed immediately, but managed a polite smile. “Afternoon, sheriff. 
What can I do for you?” 

He frowned. “I had a few questions to ask you.” 

She nodded, waiting, trying to keep her face devoid on any expression beyond 
curiosity. “What kind of questions?” she finally prompted when he seemed more 
interested in studying her than coming to the point. 

“Have you seen or heard anything … that seemed out of place in the past couple 
of days?” 

Alaina lifted her eyebrows and then pretended to think it over. “Not that I can 
recall.” 

Hank turned and studied her fence over and Alaina felt a cold wave waft through 
her. “What happened to that Mexican that was working for you?” 

Alaina immediately felt defensive, but she dismissed it. All the better, she 
decided, if they thought they were looking for a Mexican. They could alert the Mexican 
authorities, and check papers until they were blue in the face. They wouldn’t find him if 


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they were watching the Mexican border. She shrugged. “He finished the fence and 

moved on.” 

“When was that?” 

Here was the question she’d been dreading. She’d debated over it long and hard, 
whether to say he’d left before he could possibly have done mayhem on Calhoun and his 
hired killers, or if it would be better to say he’d stuck around afterwards. “Thursday,” 
she said firmly, deciding she’d rather he wasn’t a suspect at all. “He told me he’d called 
home and there was a problem and he had to go.” 

“What kind of problem?” 

She shrugged. “I didn’t like to pry and he didn’t say, but I went ahead and paid 
him and he left. He’d finished most of the fence anyway,” she added. “I’m going to 
have to finish stapling the wire, or get somebody else, but I don’t think I’ll have to worry 
about the hunters wandering onto my place now.” 

His face hardened. “No. I don’t think you’ll have to worry about that,” he 
muttered. “You sure you didn’t hear or see anything out of the ordinary last night, or the 
night before?” 

She frowned at him, but finally shrugged. “I heard them shooting next door, but 
there isn’t anything unusual about that.” 

He looked pissed off, but he merely nodded. “Thank you for your time.” 

“What’s this about?” she asked as he turned and headed back toward his cruiser. 

He ignored the question. 

She debated whether it would seem more ‘natural’ to pursue it, or to let it drop 
and finally decided to let it go at that. 

Closing the door, she returned to her work, but she felt weak all over from the 
experience and finally moved to the couch and sprawled out on it until the faintness 
passed, going over the interview in her mind to search for anything she might have 
missed. Hank had been grim throughout, but she couldn’t recall noticing anything in his 
expression to indicate he was the least bit suspicious. 

Returning to her work at last, she entered data until late in the afternoon and then 
drove into town for a newspaper and to pick up a few groceries. She’d been so upset and 
worried about Rafe she’d forgotten the groceries she’d gotten that night and most of it 
had ruined. Deciding to go to a different grocery store instead of the one where she 
usually shopped, just in case they noticed that she’d deviated from her normal patterns, 
she picked up some freezer meals and headed home again, trying not to be depressed over 
the fact that she was buying for one again. 

The whole front page of the newspaper was devoted to the horrendous massacre 
at the Calhoun residence. The biggest story focused on the discovery by a local man of 
maimed bodies ‘all over the place’ that had been mauled by a wild animal. 

Relieved, Alaina ignored the details and moved to the story about the ‘black 
market exotic animal trade’ and then she read the speculation regarding Calhoun and his 
involvement. The journalist who’d written the piece apparently liked the irony of 
Calhoun and his men being killed by the animals they’d brought into the country illegally 
to hunt. He repeatedly referenced the irony of the hunters becoming the hunted. 

She had to agree. It was poetic justice, just not the way they thought. 

Feeling infinitely better as the certainty grew in her that Rafe was safe, she 
dismissed her grief over him the best she could and struggled to pick up her life of before. 


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It wasn’t easy. Every day she had to make herself get out of the bed. She had to 
force herself to work, even though once she started, it was soothing in its way. 

She had no interest in food, but she ate anyway, counting the days. 

A month after Rafe had left, she went into her bathroom and took down the kit 
she’d been saving. Removing the test, she read the instructions carefully, and did as 
instructed, and then settled to wait, watching the little window, holding her breath. 

Disbelief filled her when she saw the strip test positive. 

For many, many minutes, all she could do was stare at it while it slowly sank 
home that it really was positive. 

A sob escaped her. She clapped a hand over her mouth, feeling joy bubbling 
inside of her. “You didn’t leave me alone,” she finally murmured, bursting into tears and 
hugging herself and rocking. “Oh Rafe! Thank you! Thank you!” 

When she’d calmed herself a little, she placed a hand over her abdomen, grinning 
from ear to ear. “Daddy didn’t want to give you up, sweety! I had a hell of a time 
convincing him.” 

She was so excited she could hardly contain it. 

It took a tremendous effort to tamp the urge to dance through the house, and dash 
out to a store to look for baby things. 

She didn’t want to jinx it, though. She wasn’t far along at all, even though she’d 
waited a full month to make certain her test results would be accurate. She might have 
complications. 

That dampened her spirits a good bit more than she’d wanted them quashed, but 
she chided herself. She and Rafe were different. She had to accept the possibility that it 
just wouldn’t work. 

She also had to accept the possibility that her baby might be a lot different than 
what she’d envisioned. 

She thrust that thought aside. She’d accepted Rafe. She loved him. She didn’t 
care what he was. If her baby looked more like Ralphie than Rafe, she’d adjust to that, 
too. It would be bizarre, but she’d be a mother and that was all that mattered. If dogs 
could raise kittens and pigs as their babies, and other animals could adopt a baby of a 
different species, she’d manage. 

In any case, she knew Rafe was part human whatever he’d said to the contrary. 
Their baby might have his ability to shift, but she thought it unlikely she was going to 
have a kitten. And his mixed parents had bred him without any problem. She didn’t see 
why she would have any trouble. 

Those thoughts brought home a problem she hadn’t considered, though, when she 
had allowed unprotected sex, hoping against hope that she would have his baby if she 
couldn’t have Rafe. 

Rafe wasn’t the same as she was, and the chances were probably very good that a 
doctor would spot the ‘abnormality’ right away. He would want to run tests. He might 
want to abort based on the information when the baby could be perfectly healthy. 

That scared her. She was old to be a first time mother. She really, really needed 
to be under a doctor’s care. 

Finally, she decided she would seek a doctor in another city. She could even give 
him a fake name and address. It wasn’t like they were going to try to identify her. 

It would get complicated, though, if he wanted medical records and so forth. 


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She shook that thought off. If she was examined and the doctor didn’t find 
anything ‘strange’ she could always go to another doctor and give her real name and 
address and stay under a doctor’s watchful care. 

The first available appointment was nearly two months off, but Alaina went ahead 
and made it. Deciding to do her best to simply ignore her condition until she felt more 
secure about it, and more certain that she wasn’t going to lose it, she discarded the idea of 
immediately setting to work remodeling her spare room into a nursery. It would be hard 
enough to accept if she lost it. There was no sense in making things harder on herself by 
anticipating something that might never come to pass. 

She knew the moment the doctor came into the room after he’d run tests on her 
that he’d found something. He was trying very hard to be professional--which translated 
to cold and business-like, but she could see he was struggling. After explaining all the 
risks she was facing considering becoming a mother when she was already in her thirties 
and had never had a baby, he told her he wanted to run more tests to look for possible 
abnormalities. 

That cinched the matter. Alaina allowed them to schedule another appointment 
and left the doctor’s office, going directly to a bookstore to gather up everything she 
could find about pregnancy and babies and went home. 

She was scared to death, but she wasn’t going to let anybody stop her from having 
Rafe’s baby. She couldn’t tell them it was a hybrid. They wouldn’t believe her, and if 
they did, they’d probably still think it was too risky for her. 

She felt like, if there was anything actually wrong with the baby then it would 
self-abort. It wouldn’t be able to survive and thrive. She knew that, in most cases, that 
was what happened--unless a doctor intervened. 

Leaving it in the hands of natural selection wasn’t terribly appealing. She would 
have much rather gone to a doctor and gotten medical help to make sure she managed to 
carry the baby, but life being what it was, she tried to accept what she couldn’t change. 

When she managed to reach her mid-term without any problems and felt the baby 
stir to life, she allowed herself a little hope, enough to begin to prepare. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Twenty 

Submerging herself in nesting, Alaina discovered, was the best medicine for what 
ailed her. Despite her anxieties about the baby, and her grief over losing Rafe, she found 
that she was happy much of the time--at least when she was working in the baby’s room, 
or shopping for the baby, or studying over her baby name book. 

She would’ve liked to know what it was. She didn’t particularly care whether it 
was a boy or a girl as long as it was healthy, but if she’d known the gender, she could 
have gone all out decorating. It wasn’t nearly as much fun having to select neutral colors 
and decorations and furniture when what she would’ve liked to do was either go wild on 
blue, or pink and frilly. 

Everyone stared at her whenever she was in town. She knew speculation was rife 
about the baby’s father. She’d even had a few nosy old biddies ask her point blank. 

She’d told them. She didn’t see any reason not to. If the baby took after Rafe, 
they were going to figure it out. She was fair. Bobby was fair, and for that matter there 
wasn’t anyone in the county that was dark like Rafe, who looked far more Indian than 
anything else--traits that were very distinctive in a predominantly black and white 
community. 

She far preferred for them to know it was Rafe’s than for them to wonder if the 
baby belonged to her ex. 

Bobby acted as if she’d contracted a communicable, fatal disease, though, and 
carefully kept his distance. 

She decided she was probably going to have to home school the baby, at least 
until he was old enough to be able to defend himself. 

She didn’t know much about Rafe, or the race he descended from. She had 
decided to compile a little journal for the baby, though. If it transpired that the baby took 
after its father, a lot, she wanted to be able to explain whatever she could. 

She found a mid-wife in the last trimester. As many books as she’d read, she was 
still afraid to go through it alone. The mid-wife was two counties over, which meant a 
long drive when she went into labor, but she was afraid to go to anyone closer--just in 
case the baby was more werefolk than human and presented in its nonhuman form. 

She was relieved when she entered her eighth month, because she hadn’t been 
able to let go of the fear that she would go into labor early and her and/or the baby have 
complications. She wasn’t nearly as relieved by the time she passed the date she’d 
expected his arrival. 

Beginning to feel as if she was going to be pregnant forever, she began taking 
walks a couple of times a day, hoping to bring her labor on. She was so miserably 
uncomfortable she didn’t think she could stand being pregnant much longer. 

She was on the point of heading out for her afternoon walk, nine months and eight 
days into her pregnancy, when she heard a vehicle pull up in her drive. Dread 
immediately seized her. No one ever came to her house unless it was bad news--or they 
were bad news. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Bobby hadn’t bothered her since the day Rafe rearranged his face, but Rafe had 
been gone a long time and she couldn’t shake the fear that it would be him when she went 
to check who’d come. 

She was so stunned when she pushed the curtains aside to look out and came face 
to face with Rafe that she couldn’t even move for several moments. His expression was 
harsh, but she could see it was because he was uncertain of his welcome. 

Collecting herself, she jerked the door open. Uttering something midway 
between a laugh and a sob, she threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Apparently 
stunned by his reception, he was slow to react. She’d already begun to pull away, acutely 
conscious of the fact that he’d lacked enthusiasm, when he wrapped his arms around her 
tightly almost squeezing the breath out of her. 

As his grip eased, he caught hold of her pony tail, dragging her head back for a 
kiss. His mouth was hot, and sweet, and tasted like heaven. Full fledged desire boiled 
through her the instant she felt the welcome thrust of his tongue between her lips, tasted 
him on her tongue. She had hungered for the feel and taste of him forever, it seemed. 
She kissed him back with fervor, reacquainting herself with the feel of his body, stroking 
his silky hair, his shoulders. 

He met her feverish need with an eagerness that matched or surpassed hers, 
waltzing her backwards into the kitchen until he had pushed her against the wall and 
pressed his body against hers. 

A jolt went through him as he did so, however, and he broke the kiss, pulling 
away from her to look down at the wriggling mound beneath her shirt. Guilt and doubt 
clouded his expression when he looked up at her again. 

Alaina swallowed with an effort. “Don’t stop,” she said pleadingly. 

His gaze flickered over her face. “You’re sure?” 

She released a pent up sigh. “I’m sure.” 

Scooping her up, he carried her into the bedroom and settled her on the bed, 
watching her as Alaina, abruptly self-conscious, shucked her pants and panties. A faint 
smile curled his lips when he saw her clinging to the top to cover her rounded belly. 
Pushing it up, he traced a path of light kisses over the mound. “My baby is so beautiful,” 
he murmured when he lifted his head to look at her face. 

Alaina smiled a little uncertainly. “You haven’t seen him yet.” 

Amusement danced in his eyes as he shifted up the bed and pressed the tip of his 
nose to hers. “I meant you,” he murmured huskily, covering her mouth again. 

In a matter of moments, Alaina felt the rush of need she’d felt before, felt 
desperation move through her. She didn’t want to wait. She was too needy. She’d 
yearned for his touch, his possession of her body, so long the need for him was painful. 

Slipping her hands downward, she popped the snap of his jeans, and tugged the 
zipper down. He was hot and hard and ready for her and the realization sent her senses 
reeling as she closed her hand around his cock, massaging the turgid flesh. 

He broke the kiss. Pulling away long enough to discard his jeans and t-shirt, he 
moved between her thighs, studied the mound for a moment and shifted onto his side at 
an angle to her. Propping on one elbow, he aligned his body with hers and thrust, 
engaging flesh with flesh. She gasped, tried to arch to meet him, anxious to feel him 
deeply inside of her. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Catching her hand when he saw the position was too awkward for her, he pulled 
her up, rolling onto his back and guiding her onto her knees. 

Any other time she might have felt self-conscious at being so plainly displayed, 
but she was far too desperate by that time to care overmuch about anything except 
sheathing him within her body. Closing her eyes, she bore down, feeling heat and tension 
coil more and more tightly inside of her as she felt the stroke of his cock along her 
passage. When she had taken him inside of her completely, she lifted and bore down 
again. Keenly pleasurable sensation coiled inside her, but so, too, did discomfort. 
Ignoring the discomfort with an effort, she focused on the pleasure, struggling to achieve 
a pace that would carry her to completion. 

He grasped her hips, helping her until she began to pant for breath. Tipping her 
onto her back again, he pushed himself up on his arms, increasing the tempo, watching 
her face carefully, she knew. 

For many moments she felt herself hanging suspended, struggling against the 
growing discomfort to reach climax. Abruptly, her body began to quake. She cried out 
as she felt the first tremors, arching to meet him, gasping, groaning. 

Rafe, gasping hoarsely, shaking with his own needs, stopped. 

“Don’t stop, baby,” she said on a breathless gasp. 

He lifted his head to look at her, his face contorted with his painful need. 
Abruptly, he shuddered, pressed deeply inside of her and held himself there for a long 
moment. Uttering a breathless groan, he thrust into her until his body ceased to shutter 
and finally exhaled a long, drawn out sigh of relief. 

Easing from her, he dropped weakly to the bed beside her and dragged her up 
against him. 

Content, Alaina rolled onto her side and threw an arm across his chest, caressing 
him. “God, I’ve missed you!” she murmured after a moment. 

“Did you?” he asked, pulling away from her slightly and scanning her face 
searchingly before his gaze moved down to her full breasts, and lower. He swallowed 
audibly as he stared at the huge mound between them. “Mine?” 

She felt a twinge of irritation that he’d had to ask, but dismissed it. She could see 
from his expression that he was only asking for reassurance. She forced a smile. “Yes. 
Yours.” 

Lifting a hand, he stroked her cheek. “I thought you might throw something at 
me,” he said wryly. Wrapping his arms tightly around her abruptly, he pulled her closer, 
burrowed his face against her neck. “I knew as soon as I left that it was a mistake, but I 
kept telling myself it was better for you--all the way home. And when I got there, I 
realized I didn’t belong there anymore. I felt like--I couldn’t stay away.” 

He uttered a short, humorless laugh. “I left you all my money and I had none to 
come back. I think that’s partly why I did it, because I didn’t want to leave even then, 
and I thought I couldn’t be strong about it. If I had a way to come back, I would, and if I 
didn’t then I would have time to get used to not seeing you before I could possible do 
anything stupid. 

“It took months to save up the money to come back and more months to get my 
papers. And then I was here and all I could think was that you would probably just look 
at me and demand to know what I was doing here. Or take a gun and shoot me. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

“I didn’t know--I swear to you it never crossed my mind that I’d--that we’d. I 
wouldn’t have left you if I’d known. You would have had to throw me out.” 

Alaina stroked a hand along his black hair lovingly. “You came to stay?” she 
asked tentatively. 

He lifted his head. “It was a crazy idea, right?” he asked uncomfortably. “But … 
you’re having a baby. You’ll need me.” 

Alaina swallowed against the hard knot of emotion in her throat. “I’ve always 
needed you. I just didn’t know it till I met you.” 

He studied her seriously for several moments before a faint smile curled his lips. 
“You think you can handle living with one of the people?” 

She smiled back at him, caressing her belly. “I’d already planned on living with 
one of the people.” 

He swallowed painfully. “Two of the people.” 

She met his gaze evenly. “I’d like nothing better,” she said a little shakily. “If 
you want to stay.” 

He leaned toward her, nipping at her lips with his. “I love you--so much, baby. 
It’s been hell.” 

Alaina swallowed, squeezing her eyes tightly. “I love you, too--but I think you 
already knew that.” 

He didn’t deny it. Instead, he placed a hand on her belly, stroking it. “When will 
the baby get here?” 

“Probably in a couple of hours,” Alaina said wryly. 

He jerked his hand back, glancing at her sharply. “Don’t scare me like that!” he 
said with a mixture of amusement and irritation. 

Alaina bit lip. The pleasurable contractions from their lovemaking hadn’t actually 
stopped. It had just become a different sort of contraction, and there was nothing at all 
pleasurable about the discomfort she felt now. “I wasn’t trying to scare you. I think I’m 
in labor.” 

Rafe leapt out of the bed as if he’d been pitched out, uttering a string of profanity, 
she suspected, although she couldn’t say for sure since it wasn’t English. “I knew I 
should not have … done anything!” 

Alaina glared at him, mostly because she felt guilty. She’d known the possibility 
was strong that having sex would bring on her labor. She had wanted Rafe, desperately, 
but she couldn’t deny, to herself at least, that she’d also hoped the activity would make 
the baby come--finally. “He’s past due anyway! And you haven’t touched me in months 
and months and I knew if I didn’t do it now I’d have to wait weeks more, damn it!” She 
struggled up with an effort. “I really do think it’s coming,” she said a little uneasily. 

Rafe, she could see, was struggling with the urge to decamp. “What do I need to 
do?” 

“Call the midwife and tell her we’re coming. The number’s by the phone,” she 
called as he strode from the room. When she’d bathed, taking care to eliminate any 
evidence of what she’d been doing when she went into labor--she didn’t want the midwife 
to know the moment she examined her--she got dressed and went to get the little 
suitcase she’d packed. 

Rafe, returning at that moment, snatched it out of her hand. “She’s expecting us.” 

“I don’t think she’ll be expecting to see you like that!” Alaina said testily. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He looked down at himself in surprise, as if he had no clear idea of how he’d 
come to be naked. “Sit down!” he growled, grabbing up his clothes and dressing himself 
jerkily. When he’d slipped the leather moccasins on his feet that he habitually wore, he 
handed her the small case. Surprised, Alaina took it. 

She let out a yelp, however, when he scooped her off the bed. “I can walk.” 

“You’re not going to though, because I will have a heart attack if that baby drops 
out!” 

Alaina glared at him. “What the hell do you mean by that? Drops?” 

He reddened. “You know what I mean,” he growled irritably, trying to negotiate 
the narrow hallway without slamming her head against the wall. 

“No! I don’t think I do!” 

He ground his teeth as he stalked through the kitchen and out the back door. 
Once he’d settled her in the front seat of her car, he grabbed a handful her hair and kissed 
her on the mouth, hard. “Shut up, baby. You’re making me crazy. Where’s the keys?” 

Alaina frowned. “In my purse--I think.” 

Uttering a long suffering sigh, he dragged her out of the car again and ran around 
to the other side--to the car he’d driven. 

Alaina looked the car over doubtfully, but although it was older than her car, it 
looked to be in excellent shape. The engine turned over promptly when Rafe finally 
managed to get the key in the ignition. 

Relaxing, Alaina fished around for the seat belt and fastened it. 

He looked outraged when he discovered the midwife was nearly two hour’s drive 
from them. 

She gave him an indignant look, but she wasn’t comfortable with the idea of 
explaining her reasoning to him and after a very little thought, decided against it. “She 
was the closest I could find.” 

“There are no hospitals here?” 

She gave him a look. “He’s--the doctor thought--Rafe!” 

He looked at her angrily. “You were afraid it would not look--normal to your 
people?” 

“I wanted to protect him,” she said. 

He turned to study her for a long moment. Finally, some of the tension left him. 
“I’m sorry, my baby.” His lips twisted wryly. “We will have to learn to get along, huh?” 

Alaina managed a smile. “We get along just fine.” 

To Alaina’s relief, despite his obvious anxiety about getting to the midwife before 
he had to deliver the baby himself, he drove carefully and observed the speed limit. 
There was no doubt in her mind, however, by the time they pulled up at the little clinic 
that the baby was well on his way. She didn’t object when Rafe helped her out of the car 
and carried her inside. She didn’t think she could’ve walked even a short distance. 

Ordering Rafe to wait in the waiting room until she’d been examined and settled 
comfortably, the nurse whisked her away. “He’s in a hurry,” the nurse muttered the 
minute Alaina had settled and she had the chance to examine her. 

Alaina looked at her questioningly. 

“He’s crowned. We’re going to have to rush. What’s your man’s name?” 

“Rafe,” Alaina murmured, feeling a thrill of pleasure go through her despite the 
pain at the reference to Rafe as ‘her man’. 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He sidled in the door behind the mid-wife, who pointed him toward the bed and 
ordered him to stay out of the way. Looking very much as if he would’ve preferred to be 
in another room, or maybe the next county, he caught Alaina’s hand tightly in his. 

It comforted her to feel his hand gripping hers, but she lost awareness fairly 
quickly of anything but pain. It seemed to take an eternity to Alaina, but the midwife 
assured her it was a record –at least for one of her deliveries. 

She was so exhausted from the pain and struggle that the moment the pain ceased 
she lay back against the pillows weakly, her mind rambling near the brink of oblivion. 
The gusty cry roused her. A few moments later the midwife settled him on her belly and 
Alaina got her first look at Joshua. “He’s beautiful,” she breathed happily, glancing up at 
Rafe for approval. 

Rafe, she saw, was grinning--shaky, pale, but obviously proud, and as thrilled 
with the beautiful baby they’d made together as she was. 

The midwife threw a glance at them. “He looks just like his father.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

Chapter Twenty One 

Rafe, Alaina saw when she went out to call him in to lunch, was pulling a stump 
in the field where her father had once planned his garden that he never got to grow. 
Smiling, she waved when he glanced up, almost as if he sensed her gaze. 

He waved back, but continued to ease forward on the tractor until the small stump 
came free of the ground. Switching the tractor off, then, he strode quickly toward her. 

He came at her in a rush when he neared her, catching her around the waist and 
lifting her above his head. Laughing at the startled look she sent him, he lowered her, 
allowing her to slide down his length until she could almost reach the ground with her 
toes. “How is my beautiful baby?” he asked, nuzzling her neck. 

Alaina smiled, looping her arms around his neck. “He’s fine.” 

He chuckled, setting her on her feet finally and kissing her. “I meant this 
beautiful baby,” he murmured against her lips. 

“Madly in love with her man,” she responded. 

He quirked a dark eyebrow at her as he pulled away, draping an arm across her 
shoulders and walking her back into the house. Kicking the door closed as they stepped 
into the kitchen, he caught her hips and waltzed her backwards until they came up against 
the refrigerator. 

“Your man loves you,” he murmured, kissing her neck while he delved beneath 
her shirt and skated his hands upward to cup her breasts. She caught her breath as 
warmth spread through her. “Your lunch will get cold.” 

He grunted. “I’ll live with it. My woman’s warm.” 

She chuckled huskily. “Your woman’s hot--Race you to the bedroom!” Ducking 
beneath his arm, she raced down the hallway and dove into the bed. He followed at a 
more leisurely pace, but then he was naked by the time he arrived and Alaina was still 
struggling out of her clothes. 

Propping against the doorframe, he watched her through slumberous, golden eyes. 

Alaina felt her blood warm at the look. Discarding the last of her clothes, she 
gave him a sultry look and crooked a finger at him. “Here kitty.” 

His lips quirked at their private joke. He’d aggravated the hell out of her about 
wandering around the woods calling ‘kitty’. He supposed it was his turn. 

 Or maybe not. 

Pushing away from the door, he dropped to all fours and shifted, leaping up onto 
the foot of the bed. Alaina drew her knees up, eying him warily as he stalked her, 
uttering a low, deep chested growl. Pushing his way between her thighs, he placed a 
foreleg on either side of her and leaned low to nuzzle against her neck. 

She shivered. “Rafe!” 

Ignoring the demand to shift back, he dropped his head and dragged his tongue 
across her pebbled nipples. 

Alaina gasped at the rough stroke of his tongue, trying to ignore the electric 
sparks it sent through her. Knowing it was useless to protest, she put her hands behind 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

her head, watching him, trying to pretend she didn’t find his attentions titillating in the 
least when he was in cat form, that she preferred his manly form--at least when they were 
in bed together. 

He was patient. He teased first one nipple and then the other until she was 
flushed, breathing in little pants and then he moved lower, caressing the soft, sensitive 
skin of her belly until her flesh pebbled all over in reaction. 

She tried to put her knees together when he nudged her nether lips, parting them 
with his tongue and dragging a long, slow lick along her cleft. Pushing her knees wide, 
he settled to explore that particularly interesting area of flesh thoroughly. 

Alaina gasped, grabbed his head. He ignored the silent demand to stop, however, 
and in a very few moments she didn’t want him stop. Fire poured through veins, melted 
muscle, tissue, and bone into a quivering mass of raw nerve endings. Her body barreled 
toward climax. She gasped, stiffened as she felt herself hovering on the brink. The 
moment she did, he shifted his attentions lower. Her hips seemed to come up off the bed 
of their own accord when she felt his tongue probe her, raking along the inner wall of her 
channel and sparking an explosive release. A cry escaped her as hard spasms ripped 
through her. She bit her lip, trying to contain the explosive ecstasy, so rocked by it that 
when her body finally stopped seizing, darkness crowded in around her. 

With an effort, she lifted one eyelid as she felt Rafe move over her. He’d shifted 
again. His cock, without any guidance whatsoever, connected with her opening as if it 
knew the way home, and he surged against her, forcing his way past the tightly clenched 
muscles of her passage. 

Letting out a long sigh of joy at their union, she slipped her arms around his neck, 
lifting to meet him while he sought his own pleasure. She caressed him when he finally 
ceased to shutter with release and leaned weakly against her, enjoying the aftermath of 
their lovemaking almost as much as the act itself. 

 “What doin’?” 

Groaning, Rafe grabbed blindly for the sheets and dragged them over his bare ass. 

Alaina looked down at the pair of wide, bright blue eyes peering at her from the 
side of the bed. “What are you doing here, young man? You were supposed to be 
napping!” 

“Waked up,” he said reasonably. Grabbing the edge of the bed, he tried 
unsuccessfully to lift his short leg up high enough to climb up. When that didn’t work, 
he dropped to all fours, shifted and leapt up onto the bed, walking across Rafe’s back and 
plopping down on the other side to study them. 

“You are such a smart boy!” Alaina complimented him. He shifted back to a little 
boy, grinning at her for a moment before he looked his father over. “What daddy doin’?” 

Alaina giggled. 

Rafe lifted his head at last, gave her an irritated look and glanced at Joshua. “We 
were discussing whether or not you needed a little brother,” he growled teasingly, rolling 
off of Alaina, grabbing Joshua and tickling him until Joshua was giggling breathlessly. 
“But I’m thinking that isn’t going to happen because you are too nosy!” 

 “Actually,” Alaina murmured, rolling onto her side and smiling at both of them. 
“He is--or maybe a sister.” 

Rafe glanced at her sharply. “He is?” 

She studied his face. “Yes.” 


NOCTURNAL Madelaine Montague 

He set Joshua on the bed beside him and rolled to meet her, pressing his face 
against hers and then kissing her. “Did I tell you today I love you?” 

She thought it over. “You showed me.” 

The End