Pet Rescue Panther

by Zoe Chant

  "Are you leaving town?" Melody whispered fiercely as soon as she was close enough. "You believe me now, right?"

  "I'm not coming in to work for the next couple of days. Ben is keeping me company."

  Melody opened her mouth.

  "No stupid innuendos," Tessa said quickly. "We're just friends."

  "I think you're a lot more than that," Melody said, and to Tessa's irritation, her friend winked at her.

  "Good grief, I know he's your brother, but knock off the matchmaking for one freaking—Oh, hold on a minute—"

  In the carrier at Tessa's feet, the kittens' wailing had increased in volume. Their little claws scrabbled on the fabric. Tessa moved the carrier behind her, and they settled down somewhat.

  "It's weird that cats hate you so much, when they love Ben," she remarked. Melody looked uncomfortable, and Tessa frowned at her. "Wait a minute. If Ben is—are you—"

  "Can we not have this conversation on a public streetcorner?" Melody hissed, looking around wildly as if she expected a whole crowd of eavesdroppers. In reality, there wasn't anybody nearby.

  "Are you a panther too?"

  "No!" Melody said. "Keep your voice down!"

  "Is this why you never talk about your family?"

  "What exactly has Ben told you?" Melody asked. "About his—about our parents."

  "Not much. We've only known each other for a couple of hours."

  Melody looked relieved. "Good. Look, just ... be careful, okay? I trust Ben to keep you safe, but you're still in a lot of danger."

  "Ben's a cop," Tessa said. "I'm sure he knows a lot about keeping people safe."

  "I know." Melody hesitated before giving her friend a quick hug. Tessa, surprised, hugged her back. Neither of the women were really the hugging sort, under usual circumstances.

  "Call me and let me know you're okay," Melody said into her ear. "I'm so sorry I can't help more."

  "I don't expect you to. You've helped a lot already, hooking me up with Ben." In more ways than one, she couldn't help thinking as she let her friend go.

  "I know, but—"

  A car pulled up to the sidewalk beside them. Tessa's first instinct was a flinch of fear, and she noticed Melody move subtly in front of her, which was touching even if Melody was about as threatening as a pillow. But it was just Ben's car, an unmarked, ordinary-looking sedan. With no handcuffed assassin in the back of it this time, Tessa was relieved to note.

  Ben got out wearing sunglasses, which was hot enough to make Tessa's knees go a little weak. Then he pushed the sunglasses up on his head and her knees stayed weak, so maybe it was just Ben.

  "Ready to go?" he asked her.

  She nodded and picked up the carrier, which squalled in protest.

  "Um," Ben said, "that's ..."

  "I can't leave them alone at the shelter without me," Tessa said quickly, reaching with her other hand for the bag of kitten supplies. "They're very unobtrusive, you'll never even know they're there—"

  The carrier helpfully provided a soundtrack of MewmewmewmewMWAAAAUUULLL—!

  "Tessa, we aren't—you can't—" Ben raised his hands and then let them drop. "Fine. Put it in the backseat."

  "Thank you," she said quickly, shoving the carrier and supplies into the back of the car before he changed his mind.

  Ben shoved his hands in his pockets and gave Melody a look that Tessa couldn't quite interpret. "Not going to offer to come with us?"

  "I feel like I'd be more help here, doing research like you suggested."

  "Probably," Ben said.

  "I'll do that, then. But call me if you need anything. I could be your supply drop."

  "I hope we won't be gone long enough to need it, but thanks. I'll be in touch."

  Melody hesitated, squeezed Tessa's hand, and then ran back across the street to the bookstore. Ben turned to Tessa.

  "Do you have a car, or did you take public transportation to work?"

  "I don't own a car. I just take the bus."

  "Good. That'll make it easier. Let me know how to get to where you live, so you can pack a bag."

  It was starting to feel real now. She clenched her hands to stop them from trembling. "So we really are going out of town?"

  "If you're okay with it," Ben said. "I have a place out in the woods. A cabin. It's not in my name. I guess you could call it a sort of bolt hole. There's no way anyone should be able to find us there. You'll be perfectly safe for as long as we like."

  The idea of being safe sounded great, but ... "That won't solve anything, though, will it? If they're after me now, they'll still be after me if I go into hiding."

  "Yes, but it'll buy us some time." He nodded to the car. "Get in. Let's talk on the way. We're racing a clock; Reive's going to be out of jail as soon as his lawyer can spring him."

  Tessa gave him her apartment building's address and clenched her hands in her lap as they drove across town. Ben was calm, at least outwardly, but between his warnings and Melody's, she was starting to see dragons behind every lamppost. The shadow of a building passing over the car made her jump.

  "Hey." Ben reached over and closed his hand over hers, comforting and strong. "It's going to be okay. I'll keep you safe. All right?"

  "All right," she whispered, lacing her fingers through his.

  ***

  At her apartment, Ben waited near the door, studying the mark on the doorframe, while she quickly shoved some clothes into a suitcase. "No cats?" he asked.

  "It's a no-pets apartment. Believe me," she said, managing a smile, "as soon as I find a place where I can have cats, I'm going to get one. At least one. Maybe two. Maybe twelve." She balled up some bras and underwear, shoving them into her bag. She hesitated over the box of papers from her parents, but decided to leave it. She'd lived without it all her life; she didn't need to carry a few old family photos around with her. "Okay. Let's go."

  "That's it? You can take longer, you know. Take whatever you want. There's room in the car."

  "I just needed a change of clothes. There's nothing here I care about." She shrugged. "When you grow up in foster care, you get used to traveling light."

  She didn't mean it to come out self-pitying. She was just stating facts! But there was an inescapable vestige of an old and deep pain; she could even hear it in her own voice, the echoes of a lonely child who had carried around all her belongings in a plastic garbage bag. She didn't dare look at Ben. Instead she turned away and took a mug from the sink, filling it with water for the cats.

  "Anyway," she said shortly, "let's get on the road."

  Ben picked up the suitcase without being asked and, at her nod, carried it down to the car for her. While he put it in the trunk, she leaned a knee on the seat beside the cats' carrier and unzipped the top just enough to get a hand inside. There was no built-in water dish and she realized too late that she'd forgotten to bring something from the apartment. "Do you have something back there I can water them with?"

  Ben supplied a plastic coffee-can lid, but the cats were far more interested in trying to crawl out over her hand. She gave up, took the water out to prevent it from spilling, and zipped them back in. "How far is it to this cabin of yours?"

  "A couple hours' drive. Will they be okay for that long?"

  "They'll be fine." The kittens mewled plaintively, making it clear they did not agree. "You don't mind having cats in your cabin, do you? I forgot to ask."

  "I don't mind at all. It's quiet out there with just me. I like quiet, but ..." He smiled at her, crinkling his eyes as they got into the car. "Sometimes you can use a little noise."

  She had to look away from the warmth of his eyes. "No pets of your own, right?"

  "No. Hard to take care of pets with a cop's hours. Or have a social life, really."

  "No girlfriend?" she asked, her throat dry at her own boldness.

  "No," Ben said, and smiled at her. "Not yet."

  Chapter Seven

  As they drove out of the city, apartment buildings gave away to suburban
houses with flowers in their front yards, which gave way eventually to trees and farms. Tessa was fascinated. She'd lived in several different cities and large towns as she bounced around between foster homes, but had rarely been in the country, though she had vague memories of having lived in a small town with her parents as a child, somewhere in the mountains.

  They didn't talk much at first. Ben turned the radio on, and Tessa watched the landscape roll past in a thousand shades of green, drinking in its beauty. At one point, Ben pulled off on a little gravel turn-out beside a stream. She looked at him in surprise.

  "Are we there already?"

  "No, it's just that I saw you looking around and this is one of my favorite places to stop and stretch my legs on the drive. I thought you might want to see it."

  The day was warm and still, the air filled with unfamiliar smells. It was so quiet that the rushing water seemed very loud. The traffic was light, only a few cars passing as Tessa knelt beside the stream to look at the rocks.

  "Do you really think we're safe from Reive following us?" she asked, looking up at Ben.

  "I don't see how he can. I swept the car thoroughly for bugs back at the station, just in case he might've tagged us somehow. And there's no straightforward way to trace the cabin to me. One of my dad's shell companies owns the land."

  "Shell companies?"

  Ben hesitated. "My dad has his finger in a bunch of different business interests. I figured I might as well take advantage of it for a change."

  That was ... cryptic. She decided not to ask about it at the moment; she sensed a lot of history there, and she didn't want to spoil the pleasant mood of the day. It seemed impossible that danger could intrude on this quiet, beautiful spot. When she held out her hand, Ben took it, lacing his fingers through hers. She leaned against him, a pleasant heat flooding her at his nearness.

  She hoped the cabin had a comfortable bed, because she had a feeling that by the time they got there, she was going to be aching with how much she wanted him. For a moment she entertained the pleasant fantasy of having him lay her down beside the stream—but no, as well as being right beside the road (and while there wasn't a lot of traffic, there was definitely some), she had a feeling that outdoor sex was more fun in daydreams than in bug-filled, rocks-and-sand reality.

  "Ready to go?" Ben asked quietly, and she nodded. He pressed a kiss to her temple and they got back in the car.

  Now, though the scenery was just as beautiful in the afternoon sun, she found it hard to stop thinking about that sharp-eyed stranger in the leather jacket and the threat he posed. "Did Reive tell you anything about why he's after me?"

  Ben shook his head. "No. All I got out of him is that his clan sent him, and only him. At least we only have one assassin to deal with."

  "One's more than enough. Do you think he's telling the truth?"

  "Dragons don't usually lie. It's not that they can't, it's just that they don't think it's honorable."

  Honor again. She wanted to spit on it. "And a clan, that's like a dragon family, or what?"

  "Yeah, basically, or a group of families united under a single leader. Dragon families are very close-knit, but also ..." His voice darkened with a bitterness that puzzled her. "—not very welcoming of anyone they don't consider part of the clan. They don't like outsiders. They don't like other dragon clans much, either. There are a lot of feuds."

  "So basically you're saying they're a scaly version of the Hatfields and McCoys."

  Startled, he laughed. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."

  He slowed and turned off the highway into a small town, its tidy brick buildings framed by the sharp blue peaks of nearby mountains. As they drove slowly through the picture-postcard downtown, Tessa noticed a small, independent bookstore with a GOING OUT OF BUSINESS! sign in the window, and made a mental note to mention it to Melody. She knew her friend enjoyed her job at a chain bookstore outlet, but daydreamed about opening a small used bookstore of her own. Space rent in the city was prohibitively expensive. Perhaps a small town like this, with a market niche left unfilled by the bookstore's closing, would be an easier place for Melody to realize her dream.

  "We're close now," Ben said. "This is the nearest town to my cabin. It's just a little way out of town, up in the hills." He pointed to a sign reading BROWN BEAR CAFE as they passed it. "My friends Derek and Gaby run that place. If we're here long enough, I'll take you there so you can try Gaby's amazing strawberry shortcake while it's in season. Best I've ever had. She gets the fruit from a local farm."

  "It looks like a nice place to live." Tessa heard the wistfulness in her own voice. She'd never craved small-town life, but she wasn't that fond of the city either, as much as she liked working at the cat rescue. She just wanted a place to belong. A home.

  "I like it out here," Ben admitted, turning out of town onto a small side road. "Derek's been trying to talk me into retiring from the force and moving out here to start a bodyguard business with him. He's been doing some security-guard work on the side, to keep himself from getting too bored helping Gaby bake cupcakes."

  "Are his cupcakes any good?"

  "Not as good as Gaby's strawberry shortcake."

  The town fell behind them, and trees closed around the road. It looked like the forest primeval. Serried ranks of pines lined the road, enclosing them in deep green shadows with occasional flickers of sunlight. Something about it tugged at her memory, evoking a faint echo of nostalgia. She might have lived somewhere like this with her parents, once upon a time.

  The cats would probably love it out here. She just hoped she could keep them from wandering too far and falling prey to owls or foxes or whatever else hunted these woods.

  ... which, come to think of it, might include Ben as well. "I hope this isn't rude," she said. "But I was wondering if you ... uh ... go hunting out here? As a panther, I mean."

  The question sounded terribly odd to her, but Ben smiled. "Sometimes," he said. "It's one of the benefits of coming out to the woods, being able to shift at will without anyone seeing me."

  "Are there many other people like you?" she asked. Now that she'd raised the topic, questions tumbled through her mind. "How does it happen? You weren't, like ... bitten by a panther, or something?"

  "No," he said with a smile. "I was born this way. And there are other people like me, but not very many. Like being a dragon, it runs in families."

  He stopped abruptly as he finished the sentence, but Tessa's mind had already jumped ahead to the inevitable conclusion. "Melody told me she wasn't a panther. Is that right?"

  "It's true," Ben said. "She's not a panther."

  There was something a bit strange about the way he said it, as if Melody might not be a panther, but she was something else. Before Tessa could ask about that, though, he made a sharp turn onto a road that was little more than two ruts. She clung to the handle on the inside of the door as they jolted over ruts. Branches scraped the sides of the car.

  "I need to get a chainsaw and brush this out," Ben remarked. "I haven't been up here this summer as much as I'd like."

  The road, driveway, or whatever it was made a few sharp turns, and then suddenly they came out of the dark, dense trees into a clearing flooded with the soft golden light of afternoon. Ben parked and turned off the engine.

  "Home sweet home," he said, and the glance he gave her was oddly shy.

  He really likes it here, she thought. He wants me to like it too.

  But before she could do more than grasp at the thought, Ben opened his door and got out. Sweet-smelling, warm afternoon air flooded the car. After a moment, she followed suit, stretching beside the car.

  The cabin was picturesque as a photo in a calendar, two stories tall with a high, peaked roof that had something like a cupola at the top. It stood alone in the center of a meadow. Tessa turned, shading her eyes with her hand, looking across the tall grass, dotted with wildflowers, sweeping away to smoke-blue shadows under the trees. Somewhere nearby, she could hear water rushing in a
brook.

  "This is the most beautiful place I've ever seen," she said, and meant it.

  Ben straightened up from getting her suitcase out of the trunk, smiling. "I'm glad you think so," he said.

  His sincerity struck her right to the heart. She wasn't used to having anyone look at her like that, as if her opinion really mattered.

  "Anyway," he added, "you can get the cats out of their carrier, and I'll make us some lunch. Or more like dinner now, I suppose."

  Lugging the cat carrier with its squirming, uncooperative burden, she followed him up the porch and waited while he unlocked the door.

  "I haven't been out here in a while, so it might be a little musty inside," he said, opening the door. "Just leave this open to let some air in. I'll throw the windows open too."

  "The cats," she began.

  "Oh, damn. Sorry. I forgot about that."

  "No, it's better if we don't give them the run of the house at first." She looked around the room she'd stepped into. It looked like a combination living room and kitchen, with a fieldstone fireplace and squashy, comfortable-looking couches and chairs. A loft with a railing overlooked the downstairs. There was a sawhorse in the living room, and the whole place smelled of sawdust.

  "Sorry about that." Ben shoved the sawhorse against the wall. "I've been doing some work on the place, repairs after we had some issues last summer, and it's still kind of a construction zone. Anyway, there are two bedrooms downstairs." He opened the bedroom doors as he spoke, giving her a glimpse of small rooms with stripped-down mattresses on wooden bedframes. "A third bedroom upstairs is where I normally sleep. And here's the bathroom ..."

  Following him, she glanced inside. It was small but clean, with an old-fashioned, claw-foot tub and a shower enclosure.

  "You can either put the cats in the bathroom, or one of the bedrooms. I'm not sure which would be better."

  "Bedroom, I think. That way we don't need to open the door except to feed them. I'll let them into the main house later, if you're okay with that?" She waited for his affirming nod before she went on. "But right now they're going to be freaked out and probably just want a quiet place to hide. Also, er ... another reason not to give them the run of the main house just yet is that they're still pretty young and might not be fully litter-trained yet in a new environment. Speaking of which, I brought litter with me, but I also need some kind of shallow tray or pan."