by Piper Fox
I don’t like twiddling my thumbs over a skip.
Especially not one as interesting as Eranear.
Before I can settle at a table in my favorite diner, my cell phone rings, and I head back out into the early morning.
The number’s blocked.
With a scowl, I answer with a barking, “Atwood.”
“Sounds like someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.” The voice on the other end of the line sounds familiar, but it takes a minute to realize why.
“Gage. How did you get my number?”
“I have my ways.” I can practically hear the smirk in his voice. “I wouldn’t have tagged you as a morning person.”
“If you don’t let me get some coffee and grease-soaked breakfast, I’m going to hit you with a mug, next time I see your smug face.”
This time he laughs out loud. “You think your aim is that good? I’m pretty good at ducking and dodging. It’s gotten me far in life.”
And then, as if by some sort of magic, he steps out of the shadows, that smirk just as irritating as I remember.
He hangs up the phone, and when I don’t immediately do the same, he reaches up and pulls it, along with my hand, away from my ear. “Good morning.”
“I’ll give you morning. Good is still debatable.” I head back into the diner, needing coffee more than ever, if I have to deal with the unbalanced feeling I get in the pit of my stomach when he’s nearby. “What are you doing here? If you’re following me, just know that I have ways of making people disappear. They’ll never find your body.”
“I was just coming in for my usual morning cup of coffee. Didn’t think I’d see you. But I’m glad I did.” He leans in close as he pulls a chair out for me at the table. “I was pretty sure you were going to ghost me.”
“You can’t ghost someone who you’ve only had one conversation with. And finding my cell phone number and following me to my favorite breakfast place is stalking, not casually bumping into me.” I slip into the chair, not because I think the act is so chivalrous, but because I’m too caffeine deprived to care. “What do you want with me, Gage?”
He sits across from me, and I realize just how massive this guy is. His shoulders are broad, his chest strains against the tight confines of his t-shirt, and his knees bump into mine any time I shift under the table.
“You’re not used to guys just wanting to spend time with you, are you, Ryanne?” He picks up the menu, but his eyes don’t leave mine. “It’s not all that bad, letting someone in.”
I roll my eyes, not even bothering to hide the gesture. “How would you know? Maybe I let guys in all the time. Maybe I’ve got a line wrapped around the block of men who want a chance to take me out to fancy dinners, buy me jewelry and cars and whatever else.”
The waitress comes by and without asking, quickly fills two mugs with coffee. “What can I get ya?”
I order my usual, complete with buttery, greasy hash browns and extra bacon, and lean back, waiting for the inevitable comment from Gage. Something about my weight, or about how I can really put it away, or even a raised eyebrow at the caloric content of my breakfast.
Instead, he just orders the same.
Once the waitress leaves, I sip my black coffee, watching him carefully from the corner of my eye. I still can’t figure out how he’d found me, or why he would care.
“I hear you’re a bounty hunter.”
“What of it? It’s not like we did a lot of talking last night. If I remember right, you were the one deflecting at every turn.”
“I wasn’t deflecting. I was keeping things to myself in order to keep you safe. To keep you out of a mess you don’t need to be in.” He leans back in his chair and crosses his arms over his chest, making his t-shirt work even harder over his pecs.
Not that I’m looking at his pecs.
“If I kick your ass outside this diner, will you stop looking at me like I’m some damsel in need of protecting? I’ve been doing just fine on my own all these years. I don’t imagine that’s going to change anytime soon.”
“I believe you. But what you’ve always done doesn’t have to be how you spend the rest of your life. Believe me, I know better than most what it’s like.” He looks down, drinking more of his coffee, taking time to unwrap the paper around his silverware set. Anything to keep from meeting my eyes again.
Which just makes me want to press the issue. “You know nothing about me. So, don’t sit there on your high horse, acting like my life is so bad.” I raise an eyebrow at him. “Unless you’re going to spill all your secrets and let me in.”
“Spilling all my secrets on a first date isn’t my style, Ryanne.”
I laugh. “Stalking someone to breakfast isn’t a date, Gage.”
He leans in close, and it almost seems like he’s smelling me. “If you really think I’m stalking you, why do you look so intrigued by me? Why are your cheeks flushed, and your pulse a little higher now than when we first sat down?”
“There’s no way you could possibly know what my pulse is doing.” I roll my eyes, trying to brush off his intensity. But I’m doing a piss-poor job of it, and I think he knows it. “Besides, a pulse can jump for a lot of reasons, not just arousal.”
“You admit you’re aroused?”
“Let’s go with curious.” I look him over, waiting to see if he’s going to lean back again. When he doesn’t, I say, “You have me at a disadvantage. You know I’m a bounty hunter. You know my last name. All I know is your first name.”
“Assuming Gage is my real name.” He smirks. “It’s actually my last name. I work in law enforcement. No one calls me Neil.”
I raise an eyebrow, but let it drop. He’s more of a Gage anyway. “You are a cop. Why couldn’t I find anything in the local databases?”
“I said law enforcement. Not cop.” He doesn’t elaborate. Instead, he changes the subject. “I do know you, Ryanne Atwood. I know that you grew up in the foster care system. Befriended a boy named Tyler Jackson, who you now work with. Who worries about you more than he lets on. Or more than you choose to recognize.”
I blink at him. “Excuse me?” Now my heart is racing. How the fuck could he know so much? “What the fuck do you know about Tyler?”
His eyes burn with curiosity, a brow raised, his lips in a neutral frown. “You’d be surprised at what I can find out about a person.”
The tension vibrates through my ramrod straight spine and steel shoulders. “You’re going to have to give me more than that.” I’ll never forgive myself if something happens to Tyler, because I got too familiar with the wrong asshole.
Gage remains relaxed, but he lets out a small sigh. “Relax, Ryanne. I know Tyler. He and I had a conversation last night.”
My eyes narrow in scrutiny, but I decide to relax a little. He doesn’t seem interested in Tyler…just me.
The rest of breakfast continues this same way, with him making cryptic comments, sounding like he knows more about me, about the cases I’m working on, than he’s letting on.
And the entire time, it feels like his hazel eyes are burning into me, into my soul, stealing more secrets than I care to share.
When the check comes, he snatches it up so fast, it hardly has time to touch the surface of the table.
“If you’re going to buy me breakfast, shouldn’t I at least get to know something personal about you? Something meaningful?” I purse my lips, expecting him to brush me off again. Or worse, to flat out say no.
“Fine. But not here. Not where people can overhear.”
“Where then?”
“I assume your office is secure?” He raises an eyebrow at me, as if it’s even a question.
“Tyler might be there. Since you seem to think you know everything about him, about us, that shouldn’t be a problem, right?” I smirk.
“Let’s go.”
As we head out, the waitress hands me a cup of coffee to go, just like she does every morning, and I grin at the surprise on Gage’s face.
<
br /> “I guess you don’t know everything about me, do you?” I sip the freshly brewed drink and let out a sigh. Perfect.
“Leave your car. I’ll drive you back later.”
Laughing, I just shake my head. “No fucking way am I getting into a car with a near stranger. I thought you knew everything about me. Why on earth would you think I’d take you up on that?” I head over to my Shelby and get into the driver’s seat before he can say another word.
As her engine rumbles to life, I consider Gage, the strange man who won’t seem to leave me alone. Who’s gotten under my skin more than I care to admit.
Maybe what this calls for is a quick roll on the office couch. Get him off, get him out of my head, so that I can focus on Eranear, on the suspect at hand.
At least then, maybe I won’t keep having sex dreams about him. One sleepless night was more than enough to last a lifetime, and I’m sure the real thing won’t even begin to measure up to my fantasies.
Real sex never has. I have no reason to think it’ll be any different with Gage.
Shaking my head to clear the thoughts away, I drive back to my office, back to my real life.
Gage is already waiting when I park and get out of the car.
“I think you should stay out here. Let me go in first.” His eyes are intense, and he somehow seems bigger now than he had in the restaurant, like his body is seething. With what though? Anger? Or fear?
“It’s my office. I don’t need some pretty boy cop-not-cop checking it out for me.” I brush past him, ignoring the way my body seems to tingle from the simple touch.
Gage is hot on my heels as I get to the office door, almost as close as my own shadow.
Fuck. The door’s ajar, and it looks like it’s been kicked in. Shards of wood hang around where the locks used to nestle into the frame.
Voices filter out into the hallway.
“Go call the cops. I’ll detain them.” Gage’s voice is almost like a growl, and when I look up at him, his eyes almost seem to be glowing, more green than the hazel they were before.
“Fuck that. This is my office.” I surge forward, even though I know the smart thing would be to hang back, to call the cops.
It’s probably just some punk kids, looking for things they can sell for drugs, or an old skip come back looking for a little revenge.
Nothing I can’t handle. Nothing I haven’t dealt with before.
The hulking black panther striding into my office past me, teeth exposed in a snarl, however…is a new one.
I swallow down the scream that threatens to bubble from my throat I get my brain to do more than flash red lights and warning alarms that there’s a giant feline that is much bigger than it should be and not in a zoo either. I manage a breath, and then another as the cogs unclench and I’m able to get a grip on myself. I inch forward, trying to figure out what the fuck a panther is doing in my office building. Is the damn thing with the intruders?
One of the voices from deeper in the room growls out, “Gage. We should’ve fucking known you’d be with this bounty hunter bitch. Always did have a soft spot for weak women.”
Weak? Oh, fuck that. I burst into the room, making as much noise as I can manage. I’m sure I sound like a crazy person, but all the better if whoever dared to break into my office thinks I’m insane.
I round the corner just in time to see a couple of skips I got locked up for breaking and entering charges a few months back. They both look like they’re strung out on something, with dark circles under their eyes and their skin hanging off them like they’ve lost too much weight too quickly.
“Hey, Billy. Max. What the hell are you doing here?”
Billy moves first, his lips pulling over his teeth in a lecherous smile. “Looking for you.”
I put my hands up in a calm down fashion. “You don’t want to mess with me, guys. Just get gone and I’ll let it slide.” Except, I wouldn’t, but they don’t need to know that.
“Actually, bitch, that’s exactly what we want to do. You stole months of our lives. Do you know what it’s like, being locked in a cage, with a wild animal inside you, trying to claw its way out?” Billy’s eyes look crazed as he steps toward me. “Nowhere to run, nowhere to be free? Bastards didn’t even ever let us get close enough to the walls to get out. Not until she appeared.” He cackles, a laugh that almost sounds like a hyena.
The panther lunges, and in a blink, Billy and Max’s bodies seem to rip apart and knit themselves back together again, in a new order. It couldn’t take more than a few seconds, but as shreds of tattered clothing drift to the floor, a hyena and a jackal stand on all fours where Billy and Max had stood.
Both looking deranged and hungry for blood.
The panther, who I’m now letting myself believe is probably Gage, puts himself between me and the wild animals, snarling and snapping at the scavenger beasts.
My heart’s pounding so hard I’m worried I’ll pass out. If I do, what happens to me? Would Gage keep me safe? Or would Billy and Max make a feast out of my body?
Fuck, I’m so not prepared for this.
Pulling the taser out of my purse, I flick the safety off and point it toward the hyena. Toward Billy. “Don’t do this, guys. Get out of here, and no one has to get hurt.”
The beasts cackle at me, and Gage’s paw swipes out, claws extended. They slice through Max’s throat quickly, sending blood spurting out. It’s not enough to stop the jackal.
Max flings himself on Gage, teeth bared, trying to get a bite of scruff.
My real gun’s locked in my desk drawer, out of reach. If I use the taser on Max, the jolt would take down Gage too.
Somehow, I feel more comfortable with the panther on his feet, ready to fight.
Instead, I send an electric current soaring into Billy’s hide. I have no idea if it’s going to do any good from this distance, through an animal’s fur, but I have to do something. I have to try and balance out the odds a little.
Even if I just feel like a liability. Maybe I should’ve listened to Gage. Maybe I should’ve stayed downstairs.
Billy jerks and twitches as the taser does its job, but it’s not enough to fully take him down.
I need a better weapon, and fast.
As I skirt around the edges of the office, I watch Gage and Max grappling with each other across the room, rolling, snapping, and biting at each other with a scary ferocity.
The damn hyena lunges at me just as I make it to my desk.
There’s not enough time to unlock the drawer, to pull out the gun.
Instead, I grab whatever office supplies are in reach. A stapler and a letter opener.
Gripping the stapler tight, I bring down the plastic and metal device into the side of Billy’s head, hoping to hit something of enough importance to at least stun him.
His paw swipes out at me. The claws aren’t anywhere as ferocious looking as Gage’s, but I still don’t want to get hit with them. Instead, I thrust the letter opener forward.
A voice in my head seems to whisper, “Ryanne never misses”.
Wild Kingdom
RYANNE
When the searing pain doesn’t come, I blink my eyes open slowly. And find the letter opener is jammed up through Billy’s lower jaw, all the way up into his skull. Blood splatter drips down from the gaping wound and I shove the hyena off me, groaning against his weight. There’s no way Billy the man weighed as much as Billy the beast, but I hardly have time to think about it, as I hear a yelp from the jackal and the panther fight going on next to me.
With Max distracted, I fumble to unlock my desk drawer and pull out the Springfield Hellcat .9mm I keep in there.
Blood streaks stain the carpet, but I can’t tell which animal is hurt. Or if it’s both. God, if Gage hadn’t come in, would they have stayed men, people who could’ve been reasoned with, or taken down more easily? Or was it their plan all along to shift, thinking they’d have the upper hand on me here, in private, in my office?
Another yelp, and I ra
ise my gun.
“Gage, move.” I shout at the tumble of fur and claws, trying to get them separated enough that I can get a bullet into the brain of the jackal.
Gage is faster. He pins the beast beneath him and bites down hard on Max’s neck, ripping and tearing through flesh, sinew. Crushing his windpipe.
I sink down into my office chair, panting hard as I stare at the mess left behind. Would Billy and Max shift back into men, like werewolves do in old movies after they’ve been killed? Or will they stay like this, leaving me with more trouble than I know how to explain away?
Gage slowly rises, completely naked, with a gnarly gash in his side.
“Fuck, this isn’t how I wanted to share this particular secret, Killer.” He leans against the wall, breathing hard. His eyes don’t leave mine.
“You’re…a panther.” I watch him carefully, looking for the lie. Looking for some explanation beyond three supernatural human-animal creatures tearing up my office.
“A panther shifter, yes.” He nods, and slowly walks around my desk, favoring his injured side. “Is that a dealbreaker?”
I let out a weak laugh, shaking my head. “How? I mean…” I swallow a couple times, trying to come up with more of a question, a more logical explanation. “How?”
He grabs Tyler’s chair and wheels it over, sitting in front of me, our knees just barely touching. “Can I explain after I heal? You need to go. Get home, get cleaned up. Try to forget about what happened here, at least until I can explain.”
“I can’t leave you here. Not with two dead wild animals. Not with this mess. You’re bleeding.” I shake my head again.
“So are you.” He gestures down to my stomach.
I didn’t even feel Billy cut me. “Fuck. How am I going to explain this at a hospital?”
“They’re not deep enough to need stitches. Bandage them up. Go home. I’ll find you there. Tell you everything.” He reaches up and cups my cheek. “You were fierce, Killer. A warrior, if ever I saw one. But this, these animals, this is my world. Let me take care of them. Let me clean this up.”
