Wild Cat

CHAPTER FIVE

Cassidy heard Diego muttering behind her as she bounded up the path. He was slower than a Shifter, all humans were, but Diego was in good shape-admirably good shape. Diego had a honed, taut body and terrific reflexes, plus he moved with that fluidity she’d observed in him before. He’d make it.

He did make it, but he scowled at Cassidy as he crested the top of the hill and stopped next to her, breathing hard.

Cassidy wished he didn’t smell so good. She didn’t usually like human scents, but this man smelled of coffee, outdoors, soap, and a musk all his own.

She also scented his wanting. She’d have known Diego wanted her even if he hadn’t given her that burning look when she’d stood against him. To Cassidy’s shock and dismay, she’d been ready to let him take what he wanted.

Too soon. It’s too soon. But her body had other ideas.

Diego had pulled back. Humans who craved sex with Shifters usually made complete idiots of themselves, as did the groupies in the Shifter clubs. Diego only looked at Cassidy and kept his thoughts to himself.

He watched her now with dark eyes that were all about control. Diego might want her, but he wouldn’t violate his own rules and go for her.

“What did you want to show me?” he asked.

He’d slung the rifle over his shoulder, but Cassidy knew damn well he could and would shoot her with it in a heartbeat. Control.

Cassidy led him between the granite boulders that studded the hill and down into a little depression filled with thorny bushes. The moon shone hard on the dark rocks of the clearing and tall trees that ringed it, giving the place a beauty all its own.

It was a place she’d never forget.

Cassidy shifted back to human form, ending up sitting with her arms around her knees on one of the flat, black rocks.

“It was here,” she said. “One year ago tonight, this was where we found my mate’s body, shot by hunters.”

Diego crouched next to her, warmth in the darkness. “I know,” he said. “I’m sorry.”

Cassidy shivered, suddenly cold. “Donovan’s Collar was off when the rangers found him. We know the hunters stripped it from him after he was dead, but the hunters claimed they didn’t see a Collar and therefore thought Donovan fair game.” The anger of that boiled inside her. “The hunters claimed that Donovan must have taken the Collar off himself, and so they weren’t to blame. An innocent mistake, they said. Innocent, my ass.”

Diego listened with quiet sympathy. “Donovan couldn’t have taken his Collar off himself?”

“The Collars don’t come off. If Donovan had tried to pull off his Collar, he could have died from it. They’re programmed to shoot shocks and all kinds of crap through us when we’re aggressive, which includes trying to take the damn things off.”

“Shifter Division would have known that,” Diego said. “What did they say?”

“They conveniently ignored that detail,” she said, tasting bitterness.

“In other words, the humans got off, and nobody cared?”

“You got it, Lieutenant.”

“Call me Diego.” Diego sent a gaze down her body. “Seems like you should.”

Fire licked through her. Usually it amused Cassidy how hung up humans were about clothes, but right now she was very aware of being bare in front of Diego.

Shifters did understand the eroticism of naked human bodies. Cassidy had first gained Donovan’s interest when she’d flashed him in the dark parking lot outside Coolers. She’d pulled up her tight top, no bra beneath, and Donovan had decided right then to mate-claim her. They’d both been crazy, loving to dance and party and laugh. They’d laughed so much. The fact that, the night Donovan had gone out to die, he’d left in anger had haunted her to this day.

“It’s a warm night,” she said, forcing her tone to be light. “Maybe you’d be more comfortable if you shed some of your clothes.”

Diego flashed her a sudden grin. “Not out here where I can get thorns up my ass.”

“I’d make sure you didn’t.”

“You’re a tease, woman.”

She returned his grin. “Yeah, they all say that.” She hadn’t much felt like teasing anyone for a long time. “You know, Diego, you’re not bad for a human.”

“No? Damn, I’m flattered.”

She stopped smiling and studied him. “There’s a darkness in you, though. You told me that your partner, your best friend, died. I’m truly sorry about that.”

Cassidy sounded truly sorry. Like she understood.

“He got shot,” Diego said.

He’d never forget the horror of watching Jobe, a towering giant of a man, get to his knees and lay his pistol on the floor in front of ten guys armed with various pistols and shotguns. Then the greater horror of watching Jobe buckle as a bullet went into him, his blood bursting onto the white carpet of the hotel room.

“They shot me too,” Diego said, the words stiff. “I lived. Jobe didn’t. He was my closest friend, and I should have been taking care of him.”

The counselors were supposed to help Diego deal with his pain and guilt. They’d told him that he needed to see the shooting in a larger context, but Diego knew damn well that there was no larger context.

Diego hadn’t thought there were more than two men in that hotel room, had thought that he and Jobe could bring them in without much trouble. An easy bust.

He hadn’t known until he’d burst in, twenty steps ahead of Jobe, that the men who’d rented the penthouse had sneaked half a biker gang up there for a party. When Diego had entered by himself, one Sig to their arsenal, the bikers had decided to play the game of Hang the Stupid Cop off the Balcony.

Jobe had called for backup, but instead of waiting for them, he’d tried to rescue Diego himself, terrified for his partner. Jobe had paid the price.

Diego had expected to get dismissed from the force, but even after the department’s investigation into what had happened, the police chief decided to turn Diego and Jobe into heroes. Jobe deserved it, yes, but Diego didn’t. The counselors could placate Diego all they wanted to, but Jobe was dead because of Diego, and Diego knew it.

“It pains you,” Cassidy said. “I know this pain. What happened to the ones who shot you?”

“They got away.” Diego tasted bitterness. “They ran off while Jobe and me were bleeding to death in the hotel room.”

“Did you try to go after them?”

Hell, yes. “By the time I was out of the hospital and could function again, they were long gone, to Mexico or Central America. I was taken off the case and ordered to stop looking.”

Cassidy rested her head on her knees and looked at him. “But you didn’t.”

“No. I never will.”

“Good for you.”

Her approval ignited a spark in his heart. Diego had kept it to himself that he was still tracking the men who’d killed Jobe, because he’d get all kinds of hell for it. The department had told him firmly to leave it alone.

The fact that this Shifter woman approved of what Diego did made him feel strangely warm, but there wasn’t much normal about Cassidy Warden.

No, strange was sitting next to a beautiful naked woman in the middle of the woods. She had amazing eyes, the green in them changing with her emotions. Her lashes were dark, but her hair held the light of sunshine.

Diego wanted to see her hair spread over his pillow, wanted to open his eyes in the morning and look into her green ones while she smiled at him. Maybe when her probation was over, he could take her to the Mount Charleston cabin a cop friend let him borrow from time to time, where they could drink hot toddies under blankets. He’d bet she’d look good snuggled up with him under a blanket.

Cassidy inhaled, and her eyes softened. “You want me.”

Diego’s heart beat faster. “It’s that obvious?”

“You throw off pheromones like crazy.” Cassidy touched his shoulder, the lightest brush. “You smell good.”

So did she. Her hair was warm, so near his lips. Her body moved against his. Diego could lift her hair in his hands, feel the warmth of the back of her neck, kiss the lips that turned up to him so readily.

He touched her cheek…

Cassidy jerked away, but not because of Diego. She riveted her attention to the trees, her body completely still.

“What is it?” he whispered.

Cassidy noiselessly rose in front of him. Diego got a great view of her tapered back, fine ass, and long, strong legs as she scanned the night.

“Can you smell that?” she asked.

Diego sniffed, but all he caught was pine, damp earth, and Cassidy’s warmth. “No.”

She gestured, keeping her hand close to her body. “Something in those rocks down the hill. Not the trackers, not Eric.”

Diego lifted his rifle. He had a starlight scope on it; nothing too high-tech, but there was enough moonlight out here to help him pick things out pretty clearly.

At the bottom of the hill and about twenty yards to the right was the outcropping of jagged rocks they’d climbed around to get up here. Diego trained his scope over it, picking up the movement of a rabbit, the flutter of an owl.

And something upright and human-shaped. “Got him,” Diego said. “It’s not a Shifter?”

At the same time Cassidy said, “No,” Diego knew it wasn’t.

The silhouette didn’t have the bulk of any of the Shifters he’d seen so far, and it moved too smoothly. It also burned bright hot, showing vivid green through the scope. Something with a temperature warmer than a human’s, maybe hotter even than a Shifter’s.

The man rose, turned, and raised his arms in a stance Diego recognized.

“Down!” He grabbed Cassidy and was on top of her, both of them facedown, as a bullet pinged on the rock she’d been standing next to.

“Sharpshooter,” he whispered into her ear. “He the same one from the construction site?”

“I don’t know.” Cassidy wriggled against him as she tried to raise her head to look.

Diego pinned her with his weight. “Stay down.”

“Let me shift.”

“He can shoot you in your animal form as fast as he can shoot your human form.”

“Yes, but I move better as a cat. You shoot at him, keep him looking your way, and I’ll get around behind him.”

“Screw that, Cassidy. No way am I letting you get anywhere near him.”

Cassidy turned her head to look at Diego. The rocks had scratched her cheek, and her face was smeared with dirt and blood. “Then what are we going to do? Lie here all night?”

“No, we’re going to lie here while I call for backup.”

Cassidy’s look turned to a glare. She thought that backup meant police.

“Screw you, Diego.”

She started to shift. It was bizarre being on top of her naked back as her body contorted into the lithe, furry one of the wildcat. Diego felt strength pour into Cassidy’s limbs, then he toppled off her as Cassidy scrambled to her feet.

“Damn it, Cassidy. Stay here.”

Cassidy snarled. Her ears went flat on her head, teeth bared-long, sharp, scary-looking teeth.

Another bullet pinged next to Diego’s shoulder. Cassidy leapt on Diego, sending him down to the dirt. Now she was on top of him. Her snarl softened, sounding admonishing rather than angry.

Staying close to the ground, Cassidy stepped off Diego and flowed away from him. She slunk down the hill, moving rapidly, and was almost instantly lost to sight.

Diego lifted the tranq rifle. The rifle shot only one dart at a time, and its range wasn’t great, but it had a scope. Otherwise, Diego couldn’t see a damn thing out here.

Diego drew his Sig, keeping the rifle on his shoulder at the same time. He found the shooter through the scope, the man still holding whatever powerful weapon he had. Diego brought up his pistol over the rifle’s barrel. He knew he didn’t have a chance in hell at hitting his target with the Sig, but maybe the noise and flying bullets would keep the shooter distracted. He shot.

The report was loud, and the shooter ducked. Two seconds later, another bullet chipped rock somewhere above Diego’s head.

He started to swear in Spanish, his preferred language for venting. No one could vent like Diego’s mother, and she’d taught her sons well.

They needed backup, and Diego didn’t have the faintest idea how to alert Eric and his trackers, or even where they were. The shooter had a hell of a silencer, good cover, and a decent rifle. The man could sit in those rocks all night and pick them off one by one.

Fuck that.

Diego lay down flat, pulled out his cell phone, hit number one on his speed dial, and hoped he wasn’t out of range of every cell tower in the region.

He got a phone ringing, to his relief. Come on, pick up. Pick up.

“Hey, hermano,” a deep voice said on the other end. “What’s up?”

“Xavier,” Diego croaked.

The ever-present cheerfulness left Xavier’s voice. “Seriously, what’s up?”

“I’m pinned down in the mountains by a sniper, and I need firepower.”

Xavier knew Diego wasn’t joking. “Shit. Did you call it in?”

“No. We’re not calling it in. Just get here.” He told Xavier exactly where he was, GPS coordinates and all.

“You got it,” Xavier said. The phone clicked, and he was gone. Another thing Diego loved about his little brother was that Xavier acted first, asked questions later.

Diego calculated that it would take Xavier half an hour to load up and get out here, and that was if he hurried. Meanwhile…

The hunter was still in the rocks. Diego shot at him again, rewarded with another bullet whizzing by him. When Diego dared lift his head again, he used the rifle scope to scan the area.

He saw a slinking form of one wildcat approaching the rocks from the left, but he couldn’t tell which wildcat it was. The scope picked up another slinking form, closing in on the hunter from the other side. This wildcat was larger-possibly Eric. Then a giant, hulking form of a bear. Damn, it was big.

A couple more wildcats and then a wolf crept out of the shadows to join them. The animals circled the outcropping in a perfect pincher move, coming at the shooter from all sides to pen him in. Diego let fly another shot to keep the hunter busy.

The wildcats, bear, and wolf moved in beautiful formation. The animals couldn’t communicate in words, had nothing to go on but instinct and visual cues. Yet they maneuvered like a well-oiled team, exactly anticipating each other’s moves. Diego could work like that with Xavier, had been able to work like that with Jobe.

Eric and the wolf slunk the last ten yards and lowered themselves, disappearing from Diego’s sight. The bear moved slowly behind the rocks and it too disappeared. The cats moved in the other direction, hugging the ground, readying themselves to spring.

Diego trained the scope on the hunter again. The heat signature around the guy had grown larger, much larger. A second person? Diego saw no sign of anyone else, just the man with the rifle who suddenly seemed very hot.

The heat bubble exploded, flooding green through the scope. Diego jerked away, blinking. At the same time, the animals let out snarls-the bear roaring-and charged.

Diego gave up his cover and scrambled down the hill. He’d have to stop the Shifters from ripping the guy apart, though Diego would be happy to slap cuffs on whoever it was in there. He’d charge him with illegally hunting Collared Shifters, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at a police officer, and-if this was the same hunter that had been at the construction site-tranqing Jemez and Hooper and nearly causing Diego’s death. This would be fun.

The deep roar of the bear boomed up and down the mountain and vibrated the moonlit sky. His roar was answered by the deep growls of a wildcat and the howl of a wolf. Diego ran faster.

He reached the outcropping the hunter had been using as a blind, took cover behind a massive boulder, and trained his pistol on the interior. “Drop your weapon, and get on the ground. Now.”

Nothing happened.

The wildcats came out from behind the rocks, Cassidy with muzzle pressed to the ground, sniffing, sniffing. The bear shambled around from the side of the outcropping, the biggest damn grizzly Diego had ever seen.

Eric’s head was up, his leopard eyes white with rage. Sparks chased around the Collar on his massive neck. The wolf sat on his haunches, looking angry.

Diego risked a look inside the rock shelter. It was empty, the mud inside smooth, no sign of anyone having been there.