The Shifter and the Dreamer by Crissy Smith Page A

there was enough of it to point him in the right direction. The bond he shared with Katy did the rest.
    They might not have mated, but they were connected. He’d marked her with his teeth. He had left behind his claim that anyone like himself would recognise.
    At the time, he had just been warning everyone else away. Now he was glad he’d done it. That pull was what was going to get him to her.
     
    Katy glared at the man who stood over her. In her experience, the worst people didn’t look like killers. This man was no different. He was quite ordinary. Dull, brown hair, average build, probably in his forties. If it wasn’t for his wild brown eyes and the hack saw he was stroking, she wouldn’t have felt such terror. Well…that and if she wasn’t tied up, unable to defend herself.
    “I thought you would give me more trouble,” he taunted. “It was just so easy.”
    “Well then, why don’t you untie me and we’ll see how easy it is,” she said. It was all false bravado, but he didn’t need to know that.
    He clucked his tongue unhappily at her. “We both know I’m not going to do that.”
    Deep breaths , she repeated over and over in her mind. Talk to him . “What are you going to do?” she asked. It wasn’t the best question in the world but it was all she could think of at the moment.
    “You know what I’m going to do. You know how he will find your body,” he answered.
    “He who?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
    He laughed again. “You know very well who.”
    His reaction pissed her off and pushed some of the fear aside. “Do I?” she taunted. “If you’ve been following me around then you know my love life is pretty complicated.” Okay, so it wasn’t really, but she wondered how long he had planned her abduction. And she needed to keep him talking.
    He frowned at her. “That rich rancher means nothing to you. It wasn’t him you gave yourself to in your kitchen.”
    Katy swallowed hard. Shit, he had been watching her for a while. Before she could comment, he continued.
    “You’re no better than all of those other whores,” he spat at her. “You just want an attractive guy and then you fall all over yourself for him, never giving one thought about anyone else who might be better suited for you.”
    Finally! Insight into his mind .
    “Is that what happened to you? Someone rejected you?” She lowered her voice and added as much care as she could.
    His reaction wasn’t what she expected. He smiled. “Can’t you do better than that? I was rejected—scorned by a woman, so I kill others that remind me of her?”
    Katy would have shrugged if she could have.
    “I’ll tell you this, Sheriff… I kill because I’m good at it. I like it.”
    “Okay,” she agreed. “How do you pick your victims?”
    “They call to me,” he told her, his eyes sparkling. “I see them and know.”
    Katy bit her lip to keep from snapping at him. She knew better than to taunt the psycho, but God! He just saw them? That would explain the different victim types but made it even harder to protect the women out there.
    “Why me? Why did you come here?” she questioned.
    For the first time since he’d entered the room, he moved closer to her. Katy tried to back away but really, where was she going to go?
    He didn’t stop until he stood next to her. Katy was beginning to think he wouldn’t answer, until he started to stroke her hair and replied with a soft voice.
    “You are more special than any of the others. I was so intrigued by the man who hunted me. For the first time I had a worthy opponent, so I studied him as he did me. That is how I found you.”
    Katy’s stomach clenched and her mouth went dry. How long had this man been after Cameron? It scared her that Cameron had been just as much in danger from this man as she was.
    “I wasn’t with Cameron when you started killing in Dallas,” she told him.
    He continued to stroke her. “You were always a part of him. Therefore you are a part of