ROMANCE: SHIFTER: Shifter to the Max Collection (Dragon, Bear, Wolf and Panther Shifter Romances) (Paranormal Fantasy Romance Collection) (61 page)

              The panther had been in the recovery ward for a week now, and today was the first time they were letting him out into the wild cat enclosure. He’d be joining two female leopards, one with regular gold and brown colouring and another with excess melanin pigment, so she was almost as dark as the rescue panther.

              Felicia had named him
Shadow;
she felt it fit not only his black as night colouring, but also the mystery surrounding his arrival and his origins, both of which were still to be understood.

              She hadn’t left his side the night they brought him back to the zoo. After various operations administered by herself and the zoo’s on call veterinary surgeon, Shadow was placed on a make-shift futon in the recovery ward, and Felicia had stayed up throughout the night watching his breathing grow stronger, and gently caressing him. She had eventually fallen asleep in the early hours of the morning, curled up by his side.

              Ben had lost his temper on seeing her there the next morning, reminding her sternly that he was a wild animal and they didn’t know what kind of diseases he might have had, nor his temperament. He could have knocked her unconscious with one swipe of his paw. 

              Felicia knew that to be true, but secretly doubted that Shadow would ever harm her. Since that first night the two had continued to bond in the recovery ward, the majestic creature lying languorously as she pet his stomach, deep purrs reverberating throughout his body when she reached up to scratch him behind his ears.

              Most of the staff had gathered to watch Shadow enter the enclosure. The zoo was closed to ensure that he wasn’t disturbed; Felicia had insisted on that – the bonding process between cats and their habitat was a vital and almost sacred activity; they needed to feel instantly comfortable if they were ever going to feel at home.

              Shadow’s behaviour on entering the enclosure was bizarre. Without fail, every cat that Felicia had ever seen walk into a new space would immediately start stalking around its edges, sniffing everything in sight. Instead, Shadow gracefully walked in, but he seemed resigned somehow, as if the area held no particular interest to him.

He had looked around, ignoring the two female cats Felicia had thought he’d pounce on, and went and sat under a shady tree. He yawned, stretched, and looked directly at her, as if, somehow, he was expecting her to join him. The staff had tittered a little at that, but Felicia had felt slightly unnerved – it was such a strange, almost human-like attitude to take.

What was also unnerving was her own complete willingness to join him. She desperately wanted to go and sit down with him, doze in the afternoon sun and continue to stroke his silken coat.

              When the crowd had dispersed, and Ben had gone to check up on the amphibian sanctuary, Felicia made a beeline for the enclosure, taking three steaks with her to sate the appetites of the animals, thus allowing her a few moments spent with Shadow.

She entered slowly. The two females had smelled the meat a mile off and came to make friends instantly, mouths salivating as they waited for their food. Felicia provided their feast, and did a quick check-up on their oral hygiene and eye colouration as she did so – they both looked completely normal and healthy, which made it even stranger that Shadow was staying away. He hadn’t shown the slightest bit of interest in either of them all day.

              Shadow was looking at her. Following her movements as she fed the felines, cocking his head slightly as he waited for her to approach. Felicity didn’t sense that he was in predator mode, but she made her way toward him cautiously even so, not making any sudden movements.

              As she got closer, Shadow swished his tail so it curled inward, leaving a space for her beside him, as if he was inviting her to come and sit down.

“Okay then, Shadow. I’m going to join you.” She smiled at him, and he shook his body in response. Before sitting down, she placed the meat carefully before him, as a peace offering. He sniffed it, nodded his approval regally, and then ignored it.

              “I don’t think you like being in captivity, do you?” she gently scratched him behind the ears, and he began purring in response. “I don’t blame you.” She sighed and closed her eyes, facing the sunshine and feeling the cool breeze as it tickled the stray strands of her hair across her face. “I wish you could tell me where you’ve come from. Everyone wants to know, but me most of all.” She yawned. The heat from the sun was making her feel drowsy, and in her jacket she felt too warm. She removed it, and placed it down behind her, wrapping it up to act as a cushion for her elbows as she leant back further.

“I’m going to miss our chats, Shadow, now you’re out here. You’ll probably be relieved not to hear a crazy lady having a one-way conversation about her failed love life and her too-long abstinence from any kind of male contact.” She looked at him and laughed. His eyes seemed mournful in that moment, as if he truly understood what she was saying. He went to nuzzle her, reaching his head over to her breasts, and giving her a small nudge.

              As he did so, she heard a short growl come from the other side of the enclosure. The two females were standing, intently watching the exchange.

Felicia immediately realised her mistake, human or not, she had been spending too long and getting too cosy with their only potential mate. Felicia jumped to her feet and swiftly bent down into a crouching position with her arms stretched outward, to show her deference to the two females. 

              Shadow leapt in front of her, close to the ground, ready for attack. He roared fiercely back at the females, his hackles rising on his back. His tail swished in agitation. Felicia could feel her heart hammering in her chest - she couldn’t believe how stupid she’d been, how carried away by Shadow that she’d forgotten the dangers of dropping her guard in a wild cat enclosure.

              The two females, faced with the primal aggression of the male, backed down with small little yelps. They weren’t happy, but there was nothing they could do, or attempt to do, when the male was so ferociously apposed to their threats.

              Grateful and ashamed at her disregard for the rules of her job, Felicia beat a hasty exit, collapsing behind the cage door as she caught her breath. That was too close. She vowed then to never re-enter the sanctuary. She would ask her assistant to attend to the feedings from now on.

              Jackson sat in his office watching the grainy images on the computer screen in front of him. With everything that had happened, he’d forgotten that he’d asked the central security manager to send the tapes over at Caleb’s request.

              He’s been through hours of footage with nothing suspicious looking, but as soon as he’d loaded up the parking lot feed, it had become a different story.

The parking security guard, Derek, could be seen letting Sheila in via the back entrance of the building. So far he’d seen her arrive twice, and then the two of them would go into Derek’s office. There wasn’t any footage of what happened once they were inside, but considering the time spent in there, the huge grin on Derek’s face and the touchy-feely behaviour he exhibited toward Shelia when they eventually exited, it was pretty obvious.

Fast forwarding the tapes to the day of the car accident, Jackson saw Derek open up the car hood of the Venom and retrieve a small tool kit from his office. He was under there for a good twenty minuets, continually looking around the empty lot in a shifty manner.

Jackson couldn’t see exactly what went on behind the hood of the car, but it seemed pretty clear that Derek had somehow sabotaged the vehicle, and that the catalyst for his mind-numbingly stupid action was most definitely Shelia.

Jackson couldn’t work how they’d known Caleb would be driving that particular car, it would have been about a one in nine chance. Either they weren’t fussed about the day the accident happened, just that it did. Or, worse, they had someone working with them who was privy to all of Caleb’s personal and business decisions. 

“Shit, Jackson, look at this,” the youngest member of the pack came busting into the office, proffering an iPhone at Jackson, “it’s on my Twitter feed.” Jackson glanced down at the screen, and then grabbed the phone to get a closer look. It was an image of a panther with unmistakable majesty and ferocity. He looked at the accompanying text.

“What the
hell
is Caleb doing in a zoo?” he roared. On seeing that Caleb looked alive and well, relief swiftly replaced his anger, “Follow the link, I want to know what’s going on,” he commanded the young cub.

              “It says that they’re unveiling him to the public tomorrow, and that he’s a rescue animal, found on the interstate. He’s been recovering with them since the day he went missing,” the cub scrolled through the text as quickly as he could, not wanting to aggravate Jackson further, “they’re calling him Shadow.”

              Jackson swore, loudly. They would need to wait till night-time to break him out, and it would have to be tonight – there was no way he wanted their pack leader being presented to a bunch of gawping tourists. He was also aware how vulnerable Caleb was in a place like that – if Shelia, and whoever else was behind the accident, knew his location then he’d be a caged target.

              Jackson reached for his cell. “Hey Jake, is Sheila around?” he kept his voice low in the hope his brother would do the same.

“She’s in the washroom, what’s up?”

“Caleb is in Lincoln Park Zoo.”

“The zoo!” his brother practically yelled down the phone.

“Keep quiet! Jesus, kid. I don’t want Shelia to know. I want you to try and keep her away from all news and technology - just till this evening.”

“What?” Jake sounded panicked, “that’s kind of impossible, bro – remember this is a tech company?”

“I know – I don’t care what you do, get her on a date, wine and dine her, whatever – just keep her interested in something other than what’s happening in the city.”  Jackson heard Jake sigh down the phone, and could practically see him scratching his head as he tried to come up with a plan.

“Okay, I’ll think of something,” he promised.

“Thanks. I’m going to get a team together to bust him out tonight. I’ll call you when it’s done.” Jackson hung up and turned back to the younger cub who was waiting for his command.

“Get everyone, and I mean
everyone
. We meet back here in an hour exactly.”  

              As soon as she heard Jake hang up the phone, Shelia allowed a small smile to spread across her face as she leant her head against the door of the washroom.
This is just way too easy
. She smirked at herself in the mirror and arranged her hair. She might as well look good for her faux-date with Jake.  

              It hadn’t been a good day. Sleets of rain had chucked down all afternoon, and Felicia had busied herself in the humid office sorting through various pieces of admin in anticipation of tomorrow’s public reveal of Shadow.  She was dreading it. It was times like this that she hated working in a zoo. She loved animals, not just cats, but all of them – she loved working with them, discovering the nuances of their behaviour, and had spent years at veterinary school gunning for the very position she currently had, but there were times when the idea of wild animals in captivity utterly depressed her.

She had been thinking this past week that perhaps she should apply for a job in a safari or a conservation area in Africa or India. Perhaps she would sleep better knowing that the animals she helped went on to freedom, to live the lives they were meant to. Never again would she see something as majestic and primal as Shadow caged in a city.  

              She had broken her own pact today, and found herself wandering around the wild cat sanctuary. Shadow was sitting beneath a make-shift pavilion at the far end of the enclosure, avoiding the rain. As she approached he had turned toward her abruptly, as if he could sense her coming. She was pleased to find that he was looking healthy and fully recovered, but his mournful look almost undid her. She fought the desperate urge to join him, turning abruptly and walking away.

“Damn it” she muttered under her breath. Arriving at her apartment she realised she’d forgotten her house keys. She rummaged in her purse, holding it up to the entrance light outside her block. Nothing. Felicia realised she’d left them in the office at the zoo; she’d have to drive all the way back and find them. This really
wasn’t
a good day.

              When she arrived back at the zoo it was deserted. Felicia let herself in and made her way to the office, adjacent to the cat enclosure. She walked through the zoo’s main pathway in near darkness, hearing the screeches of nocturnal mammals getting worked up by an unknown presence.

              She entered her office and saw the keys resting on top of a bunch of filing. She grabbed them, relieved. Back outside, she locked the office door, and then froze in the middle of the pathway. A few yards away a man stood completely naked, in the middle of the cat enclosure.

              Felicia’s first instinct was to duck down below the wall of the walkway and pull her knees in close; she could feel the blood draining from her face in fear, leaving it ghostly pale. Her body began to shake with fright at the discovery of the man, and it took her a second to understand who she should be feeling afraid for – it certainly wasn’t herself. She had been startled, but it wasn’t
her
life in danger.

              She hauled herself to her feet and leant over the railing. The man was still standing at the crest of the hill in the habitat below her. She thought he had turned to face her, though with light of the moon glowing on his bare back, she couldn’t be sure.

              “Hey!” she shouted. The figure didn’t move, which was probably a good thing, she thought, any sudden movement was sure to attract the notice of the nocturnal cats. She shuddered, recalling the threatening stances of the two felines. She couldn’t believe they weren’t already prowling around him like he was their next meal.

              “Are you drunk? You need to get out of there,
now
!” Felicia didn’t wait for a response. She picked up the purse she had dropped on the ground next to her, and ran down the walkway to the enclosure’s feeding entrance. Her hand shook with adrenaline as she fished down the front of her blouse for her keycard; she popped a button loose in her haste, but eventually located the card and swiped it clumsily on the access pad. The door slid open and she hurried down the darkened hallway.

              She entered one of the sterile equipment rooms toward the end of the hallway block, unlocking and pulling open an enormous cooler. If she was going to enter the enclosure, she was going to enter it armed. Felicia snatched up a bucket and started loading it with slabs of raw meat, shovelling as many steaks in as she could. She grabbed a towel from the back of the door before leaving the room, and then took off back down the hallway at a run. She busted through the last door, and was out in the open.