Cougar's Mate (22 page)

Footfalls ran down the hall, two pairs. One of the men threw open the door to her guest bedroom and it banged against the wall just as she unlocked the sash to Chase’s window and shoved the window up. Thank God it wasn’t stuck like the one at Ted’s house. She felt a case of déjà vu all over again.

She shifted just as the bathroom door was thrown open and then the hall closet door was opened.

Tears collected in her eyes and she thought of leaving Chase behind, as she leapt through the window. Angry at herself for being upset now, she fought to keep a clear head. Adrenaline poured into her veins, boosting her ability to fight or flee. Not having a choice, she had to escape these men for now because she couldn’t make a stand alone. But realization dawned: she had to quit being the prey and become the hunter.

She, who had never committed a crime in her life—until she came here—had every intention of killing at least one of the three men if she could.
If
she could manage to get the advantage before they got her first.

***

Fearing for Shannon’s life and his own heart doing double time, Chase sped back to his cabin, only minutes away from his resort, still listening on the phone when he heard the glass breaking at his place. Shannon had quit talking to him, and he knew she had to be trying to save herself. He quickly ended the call and got hold of Dan, who would have Dottie call every cougar shifter who was a capable hunter in the area to join him at his place. Well, not exactly join him, but follow him. Because if Shannon managed to escape, she’d be gone, running as a cougar. And the men after her? They would have no choice but to shift to catch up to her if they intended to take her down.

With their longer legs and more powerful muscles, they would be able to catch up to her even if she had a head start.

He couldn’t lose her and his stomach twisted into knots as he felt he was reliving his wife and baby’s deadly ordeal—home invasion, three ruthless men, no one to protect his family in time.

“Three men,” Chase said, “and she said the one man was Hennessey.”

“I’ve got Dottie calling everyone. Everyone will be on their way in a heartbeat. They’re grabbing rifles and whatever other gear we need. Medical supplies, the works. I’m on my way. My deputy’s headed back from his vacation, saying there’s way too much excitement around here to bother soaking up the sun in Costa Rica any longer.”

He’ll be too late, Chase thought morosely. This was going to end now.

“I’m at my place now, black Humvee out front, living room window shattered, no smell of any of the three men in the vicinity. They have to be cloaking their scent with hunter’s spay.” Which made sense or they would have alerted Shannon they were here.

Chase unlocked the front door and raced through the cabin. All the doors were open except his bedroom door. “They couldn’t break through my solid oak bedroom door. She’s got to have gone out the window from there.”

He raced back through the cabin. He could have just stripped and shifted and run, but he had to discover if she’d managed to get away and if the men were in pursuit as cougars or humans. He had to let Dan know what they were up against so he could tell the rest of the hunters. Though he suspected Hennessey and the others were still chasing her or they would have returned to their vehicle and left already.

When he came around the outside of the house, he saw his bedroom window was open. He ran up to it and peered inside, ensuring she wasn’t lying in there wounded or dead. Shannon’s clothes were tossed every which way. “She’s running as a cougar,” he said to Dan.

Not that he’d had any doubts. Unless she’d had a gun and knew how to use it, she’d be better off with her cougar’s teeth and claws.

Then he ran a short distance into the woods and found where the men had ditched their rifles and clothes. “They’ve shifted, Dan. They’re going to kill her as cougars.”

“The hell they are,” Dan growled. “Be there in three minutes.”

“Okay, I’m stripping and shifting.” Not only would Hennessey and his men be after her, but so would every human hunter if they spotted her, looking to make their kill for the season. “Ready,” he said, now naked. “See you soon.”

Chase dropped his phone onto his clothes, shifted, feeling like one growly mountain lion ready to kill a bunch of males. He smelled her panicked scent and prayed she could hold out until he reached her.

He was feeling the same gnawing panic when he’d been too late to save his wife and baby. He couldn’t be too late
this time
.

***

Shannon headed to her old stomping grounds—at least it felt that way to her—the cave near the waterfall. She needed the height, the advantage of knowing the area, what was below her, and that they couldn’t get to her from up above without her seeing them first. She didn’t have much hope of killing all three of the men. Maybe not even one of them, unless she got damned lucky. But she had to give Chase a chance to reach her. She knew he’d let the others know and everyone who could, would be on their way to help her out.

She just had to manage by herself until then.

She had never wanted something so badly—a home with Chase, with these people who had made her feel so welcome, a chance to set down roots and never have to run again. And now it was all about to be taken away from her.

She’d reached the cave, but she stayed near the ledge where she laid down. A few golden grasses had managed to sprout up there and with her golden coloring, she was well hidden as long as she kept her head low. They wouldn’t have to see her though. Just smell her scent and follow it.

The cats could move so quietly and with the waterfall muffling any sound of their movement, she didn’t think she would hear them before it was too late. Just suddenly, three cats would leap into her space, and she’d have to decide which one to fight before the others lunged for her.

She envisioned that Chase had reached the cabin already and that he was in hot pursuit of the men. He might even reach one before they managed to find their way to her. Then she’d have only two to deal with.

On the other hand, she could see Chase getting himself killed over her. If he tackled one of the men, the others would return to help him out. They wouldn’t come after her then. Not until they finished him off. He would be the greater threat to one male.

She couldn’t allow it. He had to wait for the others to join him as backup. She’d never felt she was cursed, but what if she was? With three dead boyfriends to her name?

She stood up and snarled and growled and screamed in the way only a cougar could to tell Hennessey she was ready for him. She couldn’t allow the three of them to gang up on Chase and kill him.

***

As soon as Chase heard Shannon’s cougar calls, he felt ripples of chills run through his blood. She was alerting her pursuers where she was.

Why?

They would already know the way she had gone. She had to know that he would go after the men and be on his way so she didn’t need to alert him. She needed to be quiet and keep low.

She was silent for a moment, and then she began snarling again. It wasn’t a “
fight for a life
” sound, but an angry “
come and get it”
sound. As if she was tired of running, and she was ready to make a stand.

But she couldn’t. Not against even one hefty male cougar.

Chase leapt over fallen trees and moss-covered rocks, dove through the underbrush, no longer tracking her, but following the sound of her growly calls, which he thought were bouncing off the cave where she’d been before she saved the boy at the waterfall. He rushed to join her so they could make a stand together. He thought that at least one of the men would have reached her by now. But she wasn’t fighting for her life yet. Had her actions startled them? Made them regroup a bit? Trying to figure out what her ploy was?

If she was one thing—she was unpredictable.

And he loved that about her. Hell, he loved her for all her vulnerability, her sassiness, her caring, everything that made her the she-cat that she was.

Somehow, he would save her.

What he didn’t expect was to see a male cougar he didn’t recognize standing still up ahead. He was slightly overweight, which would make him harder to take down, but Chase could maneuver quicker. The cougar had a few gray hairs, so he was older, too. He probably wasn’t Hennessey then, but maybe his uncle.

He was just standing there, his ears twitching as he listened to Shannon’s calls, not moving an inch, wary, uncertain. Chase didn’t see any sign of the other two men in their cat forms, and lunged, jumping a good twenty feet to make the connection just as he heard Shannon’s snarls change to fighting posture. One of the men had reached her.

His chilled blood turned to ice in his veins as he bit into the cougar’s shoulder. He hoped to hell Shannon could hold out until he reached her. The cougar had seen Chase in his peripheral vision just before Chase had pounced, and attempted to swing around to face him head on. Which was why Chase had only bitten him in the shoulder and not the back of the neck where he could have made a quick and sudden killing blow.

He’d gotten in a few good scratches, trying to avoid tackling the bastard head on. With his weight, the other cat might be able to pin Chase down. But then the sound of men running through the brush stole his attention. Chase’s first thought was that the men were some of their kind, and would be armed with rifles and take out the cat he was fighting. It was already cougar hunting season though and Chase couldn’t be certain.

A shot suddenly rang out. The round nicked Chase’s ear and hurt like a son-of-a-bitch. Granted, he and the other cat clawed and snarled, and attacked, both trying to angle in the right position to get a killing hold on his opponent. So he understood it was hard to get a bead on the right cougar.

Another shot slammed into a nearby tree, missing him and the other cat. The one he fought snarled and leapt away into the woods to safety.

Chase didn’t wait to ensure the men were off to hunt the other cat down, but ran to save Shannon. Another round smacked into a tree near his rump. Damn! They weren’t some of his kind. They had to be cougar hunters. Not cougar shifters!

He was liable to lead them straight to Shannon, but he couldn’t help it. She was fighting for her life up in the rocks. He couldn’t deviate from taking the most direct path to her. The only good thing was he didn’t hear a second cougar fighting her. Just the one, which could mean he was waiting in the wings.

As soon as Chase saw the rocks up ahead, he suddenly felt an eerie bit of déjà vu. Except this time he wasn’t climbing the rocks as a human, Shannon was fighting a cougar, and hunters were hot on his tail. As soon as he began his ascent, he would be exposed to the woods until he could get far enough back on the ledge and out of the hunters’ sights. The good thing was that they would have to catch up to him, and he was running far too fast for them. Still, their boots tromped through the brush some distance back, and he wanted to turn his anger on them. But his focus had to remain straight ahead.

Once Dan arrived with reinforcements,
he
could stop the men from hunting the cougars even if they had the license to do so. He’d come up with a damn good reason why they suddenly couldn’t hunt in the area. Dan just had to get there in time.

What if a bunch of shifters in their cougar forms arrived to help Chase and Shannon? The hunters would be assured that there were plenty enough of them to kill. And then? All it would take would be for one cougar to die and turn into a human in front of the hunters.

Chase finally reached the rocks. He leapt onto one ledge, and then the next, getting closer to the growls and snarls of the two cats, Shannon’s and another’s. Before he could reach the cave ledge, he growled to let her know he was coming to her rescue and to warn the cougar fighting her that he had more of an opponent to battle, hoping Chase would garner all his attention. To Chase’s horror, Shannon, bloodied and injured, jumped off the cave ledge above him.

No ledge jutted out below her in that direction to afford her a safe way down. Only a seventy-five foot drop to the waterfall pool below existed. She plummeted to the water, her legs stiff, as if she was about to land on the ground. She plunged into the deep, cold water nearly giving him heart failure.

Desperately, he wanted to see her swim to the surface, but the cat she’d been fighting jumped onto the ledge where Chase stood. The cougar appeared to be about his age, as well muscled, but bleeding on his shoulder and leg. His mouth sported blood. Sickened to think the blood was Shannon’s, Chase tore into him. Chase had to end this quickly before the hunters saw two cougars fighting and shot them both. He had to get to Shannon. What if she had drowned? Or had injured herself badly? He couldn’t think of that now, not with the cat in front of him trying to rip out his throat.

A gunshot sounded and the round pinged off a rock to Chase’s right.
Hell.
Chase leapt onto the rock above him where he could fight the other cat nearer the cave and the hunters couldn’t see them.

For a moment, Chase didn’t think the cat was going to follow him. Had he decided to leave before he got shot, or had to face a male cat instead of a weaker female?
Bastard.

Without warning, the cat jumped onto the ledge. Before the cougar could get the first bite in, Chase pounced and took the advantage.

***

Forever Shannon swam toward the surface of the waterfall’s pool of water this time. She had been wrong about how deep it was. Thank God. The water was much deeper than ten feet, and she hadn’t killed herself as she feared she might. She couldn’t have fought Roger any further. When she heard Chase’s growl, she did the only thing she could do—she jumped—a last desperate chance to save herself.

Men were coming, their boots running through the brush as they searched for the cat that had jumped from such a height and landed in the pool. Was it Dan or his men? She couldn’t take the risk that it was if it was not. She had to do what her kind should never do. Not wet and in this cold weather. Not when the last the men had to have seen of her, she had been a golden cougar. If they found her, which was inevitable, and they were hunters, they wouldn’t hesitate to shoot and kill her. Their boots crunched through the fallen leaves, and if they were hunters, they’d be excited with the chase and the promise of a kill. Even if she was half dead already. Some mighty hunters that would make of them.