Hunter's Need by Shiloh Walker

bunch of strangers. She kept her normal shields up but even through those shields, it made her skin itch and her head throb.
    She needed a break.
    Needed some peace and quiet to clear her head.
    A few hours earlier, on the drive back to Anchorage, she’d swung by Eklutna Lake, looking to do just that—ease her raw nerves. She’d walked the quiet paths, listened to kids playing down on the lake’s edge and let her tired brain rest.
    As sore as her body had been, as much as she wanted the comfort of her bed, she had needed to soothe ragged edges of her mind more. After her miserable attempts at playing psychic Nancy Drew, she’d desperately needed it.
    But now it was like she hadn’t ever had that quiet time.
    And of course, she didn’t really have much time to unwind since she had to be back at work in the morning. She hitched her purse higher up on her shoulder and took the handle of her small carry-on, wheeling it along behind her as she walked the two blocks home.
    Her muscles strained and screamed at her with every step. Too much walking and hiking. Ana was active enough, something that had been drummed into her head back at Excelsior. But being able to run a couple of miles on the treadmill and some strength training on the weights wasn’t enough to prepare her body for the past few days.
    With her eyes and her heart heavy, she turned down the gravel drive and trudged toward her apartment. She kicked a small rock and sent it flying. Absently, she lowered her gaze, watched as it came to a stop a few inches away. Kicked it again. Again—
    A pair of booted feet appeared in her line of vision and a hand caught her arm. Hissing out a breath, she reacted instinctively, jabbing toward the neck with her free hand and lifting her foot. But before she could smash it down on the man’s instep, he moved.
    Moved too quick—
    She found herself whirled around, her back pressed up against a hard male body. Panic welled.
    “Ana!”
    That voice—
    She stilled, sucked in a breath. As she did, the panic inside her started to ease, her body relaxed, before she even realized why.
    It took a minute for her head to catch up.
    She could smell him . . . and she knew that smell.
    Licking her lips, she whispered, “Duke?”
    He let her go, quick, as though he couldn’t stand to have his hands on her, and she figured he probably couldn’t. Instinctively, she tightened her shields, unwilling to pick anything up from him. Even if she deserved to have his disgust filling her head, she’d rather not, thanks very much. Edging away, she turned and looked at him.
    The sight of him hit her straight in her core, a punch of heat that left her legs weak and her skin tight and itchy. She let go of her carry-on and folded her arms across her middle. “What are you doing here?”
    “Whatever in the hell the problem is, it isn’t important enough to keep you from taking off for a weekend?” He glanced down at the carry-on and then up at her face.
    Ana narrowed her eyes. “You’re the damn Hunter, not me. Playing avenging angel, guardian angel, that’s your business, not mine.” Exhaustion, unrequited lust and fear were sheer hell on a person’s willpower, she realized, clamping her mouth shut before she could say anything else.
    “So you don’t see an issue with calling across the country and claiming there’s some sort of problem and then just disappearing for a weekend getaway?” he drawled, his voice caustic.
    “You told me to handle it myself, if I recall correctly.” She almost said something else, but decided against it. Almost told him that she’d tried and utterly failed.
    It didn’t matter. He was here now; he could handle it. Hooray for him. No reason for her to sink another couple hundred dollars into this mess, no reason to take off personal time and try to handle something that was way beyond her reach, no reason to lay awake at night, afraid to sleep because she feared the nightmares.
    Let him deal with this bullshit.