A Cougar Among Wolves (2 page)

“Then you’ll have the drink?”

“No.” She crossed her arms and lifted her chin.

Without warning, the man shot his right fist out over Klaya’s shoulder. A loud crack behind her was followed by a heavy thud on the floor.

A quick glance revealed her newfound friend out cold. “Are you kidding me?” She fired her left knee into the huge guy’s groin, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes, gripping his crotch and wheezing.

“I can’t leave you alone for a minute,” Griffith chuckled behind her.

Klaya swung around to find her brother lifting an unconscious Drew off the floor and slinging the lad’s arm over his shoulder.

“Well, are you gonna stick around for him to retaliate, or are you gonna help me get this guy out of here before he’s used as a mop for this filthy floor?”

“Now you take issue with the cleanliness?” she scoffed.

Still on his knees, Jimmy grabbed her wrist as she turned to follow her brother. She tugged out of his grasp, curled her fingers in and gave a hard pummel to his nose. Cro-Magnon man dropped flat on his back.

4

A thunderous crack rang out. A lightning bolt of horrendous pain splayed from her shoulder along the length of her spine from the impact of the bullet. Klaya dropped onto her stomach but forced herself to claw her way along the bed of dry leaves. A fierce growl escaped her lips. Multiple crunching footsteps echoed throughout the dreary forest, closing in fast.

“It went over there,” a hoarse voice called.

Crackles of branches and twigs echoed in her ears as the men traipsed through the trees. Their steps drew closer. She had to hide before they found her.

Ahead, she spotted a massive tree with overgrown roots protruding from the ground.

Light showed through the base of the tree, promising a hollow safe haven if she could make it there before they located her. Klaya scampered despite the searing pain of the gunshot wound. Shivering, she fought the overriding fatigue and blood loss and clawed under the roots to gain asylum.

She squeezed through the narrow hole and curled inside. Unable to maintain her form any longer, Klaya hitched her breath, desperate not to cry out during the change. Her claws retracted as did her tail. Her fur disappeared, and, in its place, her skin and hair materialized.

The voices drew nearer. “It’s close, but I’m getting interference with the signal. Must be the trees. Got a blood trail,” another man called out. “Bring in the hounds. It’s around here somewhere.”

Klaya stared through the hole. With no one in sight yet, she stuck her shaking hand out and dragged an armful of leaves toward her to shield her location. At the top of the pile, a tiny ray of light peered in and provided a line of sight she could spy through. She panted, her mouth grew dry, and she trembled from head to toe. An icy sting encased her upper back and spread through her limbs. The distant sound of barking rang in her ears. Not twenty yards from where she cowered, four men gathered with rifles, and even more heavy footsteps crunched toward her, rubber soles scuffing against exposed tree roots.

“Look, right there, two of them.” The man with dark hair and a beard took a single step back and snarled. “Son of a bitch, this is turning out to be a hell of a day, boys.” He 5

lifted his rifle.

Horror pumped through her as he aimed the gun in her direction. Klaya’s parched lips cracked and her throat stung from dryness. Leaves rustled outside her wooden shelter. A sudden bark beside her sounded, followed by vicious growls and bloodcurdling screams of terror. A blurred commotion of fur, crimson splatter, and ear-piercing gunshots ensued.

She sank into the cold dirt and faded into blackness.

Seth let out a deep growl and licked his curled lip. The fur on his neck spiked as he stood next to the tree, fearless in the face of the humans with their pitiful weapons.

Behind the men, his brother Rogue crept up. The hounds on chains went crazy. They barked and tried to yank away from their masters. Seth crouched in wait for the ambush.

Rogue vaulted onto the shoulders of the one pointing the rifle and knocked him to the ground. In a rage-filled frenzy, he ripped the jugular open and moved onto the next one who lifted his gun to aim.

Snarling, Seth tackled the last two assassins. Within seconds of ferocious bites and tearing of flesh, the four men lay in a bloody pile upon the ground. The hounds barked and advanced. Seth growled and towered over them. The inferior canines yelped and hightailed it out of the forest, leaving the slain humans behind.

His brother trotted to his side, licking the blood off his own lips, and growled.

Searching for signs of any more threats in the area, Seth lifted his head and sniffed the air. The powerful and alluring scent of cougar hidden in the confines of the tree dulled most other smells, but amid the odor of death, he sensed no further need for protection.

Certain it was clear, he tucked his head down and allowed the transformation to begin.

He dug his nails into the earth and braced his shoulders as the sting of shifting took over from his ears to his paws. Rogue followed and turned as well. Once the shift was complete, he got up from his hands and knees. The adrenaline still coursed through his veins; his body quaked with the residual power of the shift.

A little slower to recover, Rogue rested on his knees and inhaled a deep breath. He raked his fingers through his mangy hair.

The scent of copper wrapped around him. “I can smell the blood. She’s hurt bad.” Seth scrambled to the base of the tree.

6

His brother clambered to his side, and they worked fast to dig a wider opening at the base of the tree.

“Jesus.” Seth reeled back, his breath caught in his throat. “She’s covered in blood….”

“Never mind. She’s hurt.” Rogue cleared out the hole under the tree.

The brothers reached in and took hold of her limp arms. A lightning bolt of energy stabbed through Seth’s hands.

“What the hell?” He recoiled. “Did you see that?”

“I didn’t just see it. I felt it.” Rogue shook his hand. “What happened?”

“I don’t know, but it was weird. Are you okay?”

“Yeah, it stung a little, but now it’s a warm buzz crawling up my arm.”

“Me, too.” Seth inspected his hands. Static shock tickled the pads of his fingers and his palms. “Try again? We have to get her out of there.”

Rogue nodded.

This time, they reached with caution and made contact with her skin. Nothing happened. “Okay.”. They carefully dragged the woman out.

“She looks like hell.” Rogue placed his palm on her forehead. “Her body temp is high.”

“They shot her close to the spine. It looks pretty bad.”

“Man, she’s gorgeous.” Rogue rested on his knees and stared at her face.

“Focus, buddy. We have to get her to Los Lobos.” Seth grazed his fingers over the puncture wound as blood seeped out.

“Are you crazy? We can’t show up with an outsider. Ryker would kick our asses. So would Drew!”

“Bastian’s a doctor. We’ll go to him.”

Rogue’s eyes filled with worry. “He’s governed by pack law, too. Anything we do has to go through Ryker or Drew. You know this, and we’re wasting time discussing it.”

“The park ranger station is about fifteen minutes on foot. I will carry her, but you shift and run ahead to give Wyatt the heads-up, and call Ryker and Bastian, ask them to meet us there. I’ll bring her to the ranger station.”

“Either way, if the enforcer doesn’t already know she’s here, he will soon, and he’ll want to know about those guys.” Rogue gestured to the massacre.

7

“They had more friends with them. I’m guessing they’ll return for their buddies, or for payback,” Seth concurred. “At least, there, Ryker won’t tear us a new one for bringing her into town and the hunters that were after her.”

“I can’t let her see me like this.” Seth motioned to his naked body. “She might wake up.”

“We weren’t planning on mingling. We didn’t bring any clothes.” His brother fired him a curt glare.

“She’s bleeding to death. We don’t have much time. Forget the clothes,” he snarled.

“Good point, but we need to bandage her wound.” Desperate to slow the bleeding, Seth stripped a coat and T-shirt off one of the dead guys. The brothers tore the cotton shirt into strips and did their best. They tied the remainder of the black cloth to hold the makeshift bandages in place. As Seth draped a jacket over the naked woman, a glimmer caught his eye. He spotted a silver collar around her neck, holding a metal charm a quarter size of his palm. He held it and studied it. Celtic knotwork was embossed in the metal, and words he couldn’t read. Were they Gaelic? Time continued slipping away. He rested the charm against her chest then scooped up her frail body.

“Go now. I’ll be close behind.” He nodded to Rogue.

Rogue completed the shift in seconds, faster than usual, and then bolted off toward the south.

Adrenaline coursed through Seth’s veins, he glanced down at the mysterious redhead.

“I hope you make it.” He raced after his brother.

8

The muscles in his thighs strained as Seth climbed the steps to the ranger station. The warm buzz from his first contact with the mysterious woman had spread from his arms to his chest and down his sternum. A deep-seated ache took hold in the race to get her to safety.

The screen door flew open, and Bastian rushed out to meet him. “I came as soon as I got the call. Is she breathing?” He glanced over her quickly.

“Yeah,” Seth huffed.

“Wyatt isn’t here. He’s out on park business. The table is set up in the office over there,” he directed.

The last of the strength in Seth’s arms and legs waned as he carried her to the door behind the front desk and placed her on the portable steel table covered in white linen.

Upon releasing her, the warm tingles subsided and were soon replaced by the ache of stiff muscles from the rush through the forest to get her to safety.

The pack doctor lifted her lids and shone a small light in each eye then held her wrist and studied his watch. “Her stats aren’t the greatest, but she’s steady for now. I need to see her wound.”

Rogue helped Seth position her on her side to give access to her gunshot.

Scissors in hand, Bastian snipped off the makeshift bandages. He grabbed gauze and a bottle of antiseptic to clean the injuries.

“Okay, boys, fill me in.” Doc worked away.

“Does Ryker know yet?”

“He does,” a stern voice answered from the doorway.

“Ryker.” Rogue sighed. “You’re fast.”

A dull ache filled Seth’s chest as he stared at the unconscious redhead. “We were on a run around the perimeter of the territory and caught this incredible scent.” He sucked in another breath and savored the luscious aroma. “It was so….”

“Provocative,” Rogue finished for him.

“We smelled humans nearby and heard yelling and gunshots.” Seth recounted the events.

9

“Is she human?” Bastian cocked his head and inspected the patient with arched brows.

“No,” Rogue answered, tension in the single syllable. “She’s a cougar. Her scent was so powerful.”

“Continue,” Ryker prompted.

“A pack of hunters were tracking her, like a deer. They shot her from behind, the cowards,” he snarled. “She burrowed into a hole under a huge oak tree to hide.”

“Any survivors? Witnesses?” The enforcer maintained his cold stare.

“No witnesses, but….” Rogue confessed.

“But?”

“Their buddies took off. We could smell them, but they weren’t in our sights. Three more.” Unease coursing through his veins, Seth approached Ryker. The enforcer wouldn’t have hesitated about pursuing the other hunters and the threat would have been eliminated right then and there. The choices he and his brother made put the rest of the pack at risk and Ryker and Drew would see they had failed them. The prospect of disappointing them tied his stomach in knots.

“What direction?” His dark eyes narrowed.

“They headed east. We didn’t have time to hunt them down. She would have bled to death.” Seth gritted his teeth, his guilty conscience warring with his need to defend his actions.

Thankfully, Rogue gripped his arm, silencing him. “What do you want us to do about it?”

Pausing, Ryker stared at the woman. “Nothing.” Then, he switched his attention to Bastian. “Is she gonna make it?”

“I think so.” Bastian dug into her flesh with long metal prongs. “I have to get her over to my office and test her blood type. I hope I have the right kind. I’ve got the bullet.” He drew the small, cylindrical metal slug out and dropped it into the pan on the table with a clink. He scanned her bloodied body, lifted her left arm, and inspected another wound.

Blood oozed along her forearm, and Bastian wiped it down, but it kept bleeding. “This isn’t a gunshot, but there’s something in there.” He dug the surgical tool into her forearm at the point of entry and gripped then pulled it out. He held a thin square up in the air.

The pack doctor steeled his back and faced Ryker. “We have a bigger problem than 10

hunters on the edge of our territory.” Bastian took the metal prongs and crushed the square into tiny pieces. “The first one was a bullet. And this little item”—the debris crumpled and pinged as he dropped it into the metal pan—“appears to be a tracking device. My guess is, her run-in was more than being on the wrong end of fun and games.”

Ryker furrowed his brows. “Can they still track it?”

“I don’t think so. The chip is destroyed. They won’t be able to track the signal,”

Bastian responded.

Jaw muscles tightening in a moment of silent deliberation, Ryker nodded once. “I’ll inform Drew.”

“I’ll patch her up. I’ve got my Jeep here. We can get her to my office where I can take better care of her.”

“She doesn’t get near Drew if there’s any risk of them coming after her.” The enforcer turned to the brothers. “Why her?”

“I don’t know,” Seth replied. “I don’t think they were hunting wolves. We saw her before she shifted.”

“She’s a cougar.” Ryker stared at her.

“Cougars don’t run in packs. They’re solitary.” Rogue glanced down at her, confusion filling his expression.