Grif (Tales of the Were - Redstone Clan) (22 page)

With a last look back at the dark window where crashing sounds could still be heard loud and clear, she followed the man named Freddy toward the edge of the roof. She wasn’t quite sure how she was going to get down, but she watched Matt jump from one level of the roof to another, then to the porch roof, Belinda right behind him. Lindsey did the same, but wasn’t quite ready to jump off the porch roof the way the cougars had. She’d probably break a leg if she tried that in her human form and she wasn’t comfortable enough as a cougar yet to try it either.

She sat on the edge of the porch roof, dangling her feet over the side. Looking down, it seemed much too far to the ground for her comfort.

Freddy touched her shoulder. “I’ll go first and catch you. All you have to do is slide down. I’ll grab your legs and take you the rest of the way.”

That sounded a lot better to her. Lindsey swallowed hard. “Thanks.”

Freddy squeezed her shoulder once before hopping off the side. He landed on his feet, his knees bent to absorb the shock. He made it look so easy, but he was clearly a shifter, and had been his whole life. Lindsey didn’t know what her newly-changed body could and couldn’t do just yet. She wasn’t about to chance jumping off a roof anytime soon.

She followed Freddy’s encouraging gestures and slid slowly off the roof. There was a scary moment where she was in freefall before the solid man caught her around the thighs and stopped her descent. True to his word, he lowered her carefully to the ground and she did her best not to let her knees buckle. She didn’t want to appear any weaker to these shifters than she already had.

“Where’s Belinda?” she whispered, aware of the dark shapes of people and animals all around them. There were many men carrying weapons and kitted out like commandos. She could only assume those were the guys Grif had called, finally showing themselves
en masse
.

“She’s with Matt, heading for the barn,” the man she knew as Freddy answered in a low, gruff tone. He pointed and Lindsey could easily see the small cougar in the shadow of the larger one, loping toward relative safety.

“What about Grif?” Her thoughts turned to the chaos she’d left inside Belinda’s bedroom.

She watched Belinda’s tail disappear into the dark opening of the barn door and breathed a sigh of relief, knowing she’d be safe for the moment. Then her gaze switched to the upper story of the house behind her. Grif was still in there. She looked over at Freddy and saw him touching his ear, probably to indicate he was listening in on whatever was going down inside. He had one of those little earpieces.

“They’re coming out now,” Freddy reported after a slight pause. “Target is subdued.”

A sigh of relief escaped her as she moved toward the house. She took Freddy’s words to mean they’d captured Timmons, not killed him. She thought that was the best result. Her new, inner cat wanted blood, but her human side was glad it hadn’t been spilled inside the house.

The front door opened and the man she’d only seen in shadow in the bedroom came out snarling. Grif and Steve were right behind him. They had each held one of his hands and one shoulder as they marched him out the door.

Lindsey stood watching and realized she’d made a big mistake as everything seemed to move into slow motion. She saw how close she was to the steps and tried to move back. Her movement must’ve captured the prisoner’s attention because his eyes locked with hers as he screamed. The scream started out human, but quickly morphed into the scratchy yowl of an enraged cougar.

He shifted shape faster than she’d ever seen anyone change, slipping free of both Grif and Steve’s holds. Even encumbered by the shreds of his clothing hanging off his body, he was able to launch himself down the stairs, crashing into Lindsey on his way down.

But she didn’t fall. She’d expected to be pinned under a cat. Instead, she was held in the hairy arms of a creature that was some kind of weird cross between a cat and a man. And it was larger and deadlier than either.

What the heck
was
he? She didn’t know enough about shifters to know what was happening. Until she’d changed into a cougar, she didn’t even know there were more than werewolves in the forest.

A massive, clawed hand wrapped around her throat as Timmons—in monster form—got behind her. Oh, dear lord, he was using her as a shield.

Time resumed its sickening tempo as Timmons backed away from Grif and Steve, left angrily holding air as Timmons slipped away from them. Her eyes met Grif’s and she saw the anger and pain in his gaze as he met hers. She wanted to reach out to him but the bastard behind her had her pinned.

“You won’t get away with this, Timmons,” Steve growled, pacing closer while Grif held back, watching and clearly both angered and worried by developments.

She’d ruined this for him. She’d been in the wrong place at exactly the wrong time, taking what should have been his triumph over the bastard that had killed his sister away in one moment of stupidity.

Dammit! She wasn’t going to let this end badly. She’d screwed up, but maybe she could fix things. Somehow. She grasped for ideas but came up empty.

“I’ll rip her throat out,” Timmons growled too close to her ear. She tried to shy away but the claws at her throat pierced the skin slightly, drawing blood. She could smell the tang of it in the air. Dammit. She had to think!

“Don’t do it,” Grif warned in a low, deadly voice.

He was seething with anger and she thought maybe he was up to something. He was hanging back, letting Steve take point. But could she wait for him to do whatever it is he was planning? Or could she help in some way?

“You lower yourself to lie with a human?” Timmons seemed appalled, judging by the tone of his growl. She could see his teeth and they weren’t normal human teeth. They were pointy, sharp, two inch-long fangs. Damn.

Grif didn’t answer, only mirroring Timmons as he backed toward the trees, dragging her with him. Steve followed, only a few paces away.

Steve shifted as he walked, but didn’t turn into the cat she was familiar with. Instead, he stopped halfway—sort of—and became like the monster who held her. It was scary as hell. Steve was a big son of a gun when he was in human form. In this half-shifted monster shape, he was absolutely terrifying.

He stalked them, matching Timmons move for move as he continued backing toward the trees. She tried to see Grif, but Steve was blocking her view. What was he
doing
? Why wasn’t he doing
something
?

Chapter Fourteen

Lindsey realized then that this was all part of the strategy. The brothers were working together. Steve was presenting a clear threat so Timmons would focus on him, but Grif was still in the background. Still in human form. Still dangerous.

But for whatever reason, they were hesitating to act. Probably it had to do with the way Timmons had her by the throat. She had to do something to alter her position… And then it came to her. She was thinking like a human, but she was a shifter now and apparently Timmons didn’t realize it.

She wasn’t sure why he couldn’t smell it on her, but maybe he just assumed any cat scent he picked up around her was from one of the Redstones. That had to be it.

If she shifted, she’d have to do it faster than she’d ever done it before. She had to take Timmons completely by surprise. Could she do it? Lindsey thought maybe she could, but it would take all her courage to try. Still, she had to. She had to give Grif an opening to take down his sister’s killer. She’d messed this up by being in the wrong place at just the wrong time. She needed to fix it.

She tried to catch Grif’s eye, but Steve was most definitely in the way. She settled for winking at Steve, hoping he’d figure out what she intended and somehow let his brother know.

Lindsey gathered herself and sought the change, almost begging for it to take her fast this time. Fast like lightning. Faster than Timmons could close his claws on her shifting throat.

And just like that, she dropped to the ground, on all fours. She bounded away and a split second later, she heard shots ring out and a dull thud behind her. Her cat eyes looked for Grif and she found him standing with his legs spread, his handgun smoking in his grip. She looked back to where Timmons had been and he was on the ground, the sharp scent of his blood wafting stronger by the moment through the still night air. Grif had shot the bastard and he wasn’t moving. Thank goodness.

Her legs threatened to give out, but she needed to be strong. Her little nightshirt was bunched around her furry body, but she didn’t care. She padded up to Grif and rubbed her head along his legs until he bent down to caress her head with his hands. The scent of spent gunpowder tickled her sensitive nose, but she did her best to hold back the sneeze that threatened.

Grif wrapped his arms around her and lifted, carrying her to the porch as dark-clothed soldiers moved in on Timmons’ body. He sat on the steps with her in his arms and she could feel the tremors running through his body. It wasn’t obvious to the casual observer, but he let her feel how deeply affected he’d been by the past few minutes.

“Change back,” he whispered in her ear and the raw emotion in his gravely voice would not be denied.

She shifted, not really caring if she flashed everyone. They were shifters. They were used to seeing each other naked, she was sure. But she needn’t have worried. Her stretchy sleep shirt fell back into the right place when she resumed her human form with a few tugs from Grif’s big hands.

She sat on his lap, his arms around her. She turned, wrapping him in her embrace as well.

“I’m sorry I almost screwed everything up. I shouldn’t have been so close to the steps,” she whispered, wanting to come clean and clear the air between them.

He drew away and looked into her eyes, seeming to be surprised by her words.

“Sweetheart, this was all my fault. I should have anticipated what he’d do once we got outside. If not you, he’d have grabbed the first vulnerable person he saw. He gave up too easily inside. I should have realized he had something else up his sleeve. Can you forgive me?”

She cupped his stubbly cheek and smiled. “Oh, Grif. There’s nothing to forgive. Let’s just forget all about it, okay? I definitely don’t blame you and I’m just relieved you don’t blame me, but you can be sure I’ve learned a valuable lesson here tonight.”

He leaned in and kissed her. His kiss tasted of desperation as well as gratitude and when he moved back and let her up for air, his trembling had ended. So had hers, as a matter of fact. They had helped each other over the rough spot and were ready to move on…together. As it should be.

“You were amazing, Lindsey. I’ve never seen you shift so fast. I doubt any natural born shifter could have done better.” His praise made her feel even better.

Steve was tugging on his shirt as he approached them. He’d been over by Timmons’ body for a while but since he wasn’t moving and nobody was fussing over the guy, Lindsey figured he was a goner.

“Nice shot, bro,” Steve said with a grim smile.

“Thanks.” Grif didn’t sound pleased, but she would have been appalled if he’d been happy about killing someone. The Grif she knew valued life. He shouldn’t take it lightly.

“Timmons will never bother us again. He’s dead,” Steve stated, looking from Grif to Lindsey. “You did good for a beginner, Lindz. I wouldn’t have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself. You’re cool in a crisis and that makes me even gladder to know you’re part of the family now. We don’t look for trouble, but just lately, it’s been finding us all too often. It’s good to have someone at Grif’s side to ease his many burdens who can also be relied upon to be cool under pressure.”

Wow. That’s the most she’d ever heard Steve say at one time. She felt the weight of his approval and it felt good. Grif squeezed her waist and she took it as agreement with his brother’s words.

“Thanks. I’m just glad it worked.” She would have said more, but she was at a bit of a loss. Arlo’s arrival next to Steve saved her from having to figure out what to say.

“We’ll clean up if that’s agreeable to you, Alpha,” Arlo offered.

“I’d be obliged. Can you send his remains to Las Vegas? I’ll send him on from there to his home Pack, but I want our priestess to take a look at him first. We’ve had dealings with mages recently and I want her to check him for magical taint.”

“Can do. I can also ask Millie to take a look. She might sense something. She’s the Pack’s new tracker.”

“She’s the one who tracked Timmons here, right?” Grif asked and Lindsey could hear the curiosity in his voice.

“The very same.” Arlo looked behind him and signaled toward the barn.

A moment later, a woman emerged from the structure, Belinda at her side wearing a man’s very large T-shirt. The woman was beautiful, even at a distance. She had black hair, light eyes and a figure that made Lindsey feel a pang of instant envy.

Matt walked behind them, clad only in what had to be borrowed pants that were a little short on his lanky form. Both were barefoot, but the woman was dressed stylishly in a black cat suit and soft soled black boots.

Grif let Lindsey move off his lap. If she was going to meet a woman who looked like that, she didn’t want to do it from such a compromising position. She was strong. She had to
be
strong in front of all these badass shifters.

She took a seat at Grif’s side and she liked how he reached out for her hand, closing his big fingers over her smaller ones and drawing it to his side. He seemed disinclined to let her hand go and she didn’t mind one bit. After what they’d all been through that night, she needed the contact probably way more than he did. That he’d realize that and see to her need without being asked or told meant a lot. He was one helluva guy. And he was all hers.

She tried not to feel too smug about that, but she was proud to have him at her side. In her life. In her bed.

“Millie,” Arlo made the introductions as the woman neared. “This is the Redstone Alpha. Grif, this is Millie, our Pack’s new tracker.”

The woman reached out her hand and Grif took it for a businesslike shake. He then turned to Lindsey and introduced her before they went any further.