by Terry Spear
Yet he wasn’t giving up and Chet figured he planned to fight to the death. That he had nothing to gain by turning himself in, though they wanted him to confess to the crimes. Chet suspected Marty wasn’t going to do the honorable thing and confess either.
That was the way it was going to be. Marty would go to the grave with his secrets. He wasn’t getting off the cliffs alive.
Both Chet and Marty were bleeding and Travis leaped at Marty’s back and bit into his neck, killing him. Chet didn’t need the kill to feel satisfied that the cougar wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Ricky crested the top of the cliffs and just stared at the dead cougar, and glanced at Ava, but she appeared to be okay. Hal was up on top next to Ricky right after that.
Dan and Chase leaped onto the top of the cliffs at the same time, though it was getting a little crowded up there.
Dan shifted. “We’ll get his body down to the base of the cliffs and take him into town. You get yourself looked after, Chet.” He glanced at Travis.
Travis shifted. “I’m not injured.” Though his mouth was bloodied from biting Marty fatally. Then he shifted again.
Blue finally poked his head above the cliff and looked at all the cougars standing there. He shook his head. But Chet was grateful that he’d made the effort to come to his aid.
Ava was licking Chet, rubbing her face against him where he wasn’t wounded. He was afraid he was going to need to recuperate from this ordeal now too. But he was making love to Ava. Mating her. Showing her just how much he loved her.
He nuzzled her, telling her to go down the cliff and he’d follow her.
She started down it and poor Blue began the descent. It would take him a while.
As soon as Chet and Ava were at the bottom of the cliff, they ran toward the river. Travis was right behind them, and Chet figured he wanted to get to Ava’s home to call Bridget and tell her he was all right.
The others with the sheriff’s office would stay and take care of the body, while Blue? Chet had no idea what he was going to do.
They finally reached the river and swam across. Man, he was going to be sore tonight. Every muscle ached, and of course all the fresh claw marks and bite marks were burning like crazy.
They finally reached the riverbank and he stumbled. Damn it. He didn’t want Ava to think he couldn’t make love to her tonight. She nuzzled him, making sure he was all right. Travis was right there too, ready to carry Chet home if he needed to. Not that Chet needed that.
Then they loped upriver to where they would go back through the woods and head for her condo. Travis had to go with them because he’d left his clothes and vehicle at the house.
When they arrived at the condo, Ava went inside first, Chet following, and Travis bringing up the rear. Ava raced up the stairs to the bedroom and Chet assumed she was shifting up there and getting dressed.
Travis hurried to pull on his boxer briefs, then grabbed his phone and called Bridget right away. “Hey, sweetheart, I’m fine. Marty is dead. Chet’s a bit chewed up.” He glanced at Chet. “Yeah, he’ll live, but it looks like Ava will be taking him to the clinic. Ava is fine. Can you relay the message to Nina and Chet’s mother? Thanks. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He ended the call and finished dressing while Chet was trying to dress, attempting not to groan too much. But his wounds were beginning to really hurt.
“You’re going to see one of the doctors,” Ava said, hurrying down the stairs.
“I don’t need to. I’ll be okay.”
She frowned at him. “You’ll go or I’m not mating you.”
Chet smiled at her.
“I’m serious.”
Travis chuckled. “I’m getting out of your hair, and I’m heading home. In the morning, we can interrogate Benny further.”
“Yeah, sounds good, Travis.” Chet let out his breath. “Okay, so I’ll go to the clinic, Ava. But I’m not staying overnight there.”
“See you tomorrow,” Travis said, and headed outside.
Chapter 21
Ava was wiping down all Chet’s injuries, bandaging him, and then helping him get dressed. She knew he hated that she had to assist him in getting dressed when he wanted to prove he was the one who would take care of her. But he had taken care of her.
“How did you know that I was in trouble?” She hadn’t expected anyone to come after her like that. She was sure she had been on her own.
“Your sister told us you were in trouble. She saw it in a vision. Travis and I dropped everything to come to your rescue. Marty has murdered so many women, we were worried sick about you. I’m just glad Nina had the vision of you. We would never have known what had happened to you otherwise, unless he had used you as a hostage so we would free his brother.”
“This was the vision I had over the July 4th holiday weekend.”
“Oh, then it’s done.”
“Yes. Let’s go. I called the clinic and Dr. William is on duty right now. He said he’s ready for us.”
“I really don’t need to go in.”
She knew he would say that. “If you got sick, it would be my fault because you came to my rescue, and I know you want to do other things. Which, in your condition, you might need to wait until tomorrow anyway.”
“No way.”
She smiled at him, then frowned. “Do you need to question Benny further?”
“I do. But like Travis said, we’ll do it in the morning while you’re at work. He and Bridget need to be home for the kids and when we question Benny, Bridget needs to be there to ‘listen’ in on the truth of what’s going on,” Chet said, walking out with Ava to his vehicle.
They drove the short distance to the clinic and parked, and then headed inside.
Mandy was the nurse on duty, and she took them back to an exam room. “Ricky told me what happened. At least Marty won’t be hurting anyone again. And congratulations you two on deciding to mate.”
“Thanks, Mandy,” Ava said.
“Yeah, thanks.”
Then Dr. William came in. “I hear you took the murdering bastard down. Good work.”
“Thanks.” Chet removed his shirt. Most of his wounds were bites around his neck where Marty tried to grab hold to kill him. Chet had bite marks on his shoulders also and claw marks where the cougar had dug into his shoulders for purchase to keep Chet from biting him back. A couple of bites were on Chet’s arms, but he’d kept his backside and legs relatively injury free, concentrating on Marty’s teeth and trying to get the advantage.
“I’m going to administer a shot, give you some antibiotics to take, and I’ll stitch up the worst bites.”
Chet opened his mouth to object, but Ava said, “Thanks, Doc. I need him back to normal as soon as possible and that will do it.”
Chet smiled then.
“Okay, well, I think that’s about it,” Doc said, finishing up the last of the stitches and then he gave him a bottle of antibiotics. “The shot will be good for tonight and you can take the medicine starting tomorrow afternoon.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
“Congratulations are in order for the two of you also,” Dr. Williams said.
Ava and Chet smiled. “Thanks.”
Then Chet’s mother hurried into the clinic and gave them both hugs. “Bridget called to tell me you’d been injured, Chet.”
“Yeah, we’re okay. I didn’t want to call you this late to tell you we’re all right, but then Bridget said she would.” Chet gave her a hug back.
Then they said good night to Doc and Mandy, gave his mother a hug, and then dropped her off at the safe house.
They drove home after that.
“You know,” Ava said, getting the door, “we’re only going to be getting about four hours of sleep.” Then she checked her text messages, hoping Florence might have gotten word about all the trouble they’d had, and that Ava would have barely any sleep before she had to work. She smiled when she saw the text message from her boss. “I have tomorrow off as a mating present.”
Chet laughed. “Good sh
ow.” He acted like he was going to carry her up the stairs, but she put her hand on his chest.
“Don’t even think of it. You are wounded, and if you don’t hurt too badly—unless you want to wait until later after we sleep and we can do it then—
“No way. I will never be too injured.”
She chuckled. “Then come on, let’s go to bed.”
She ran up the stairs and he raced after her. In the bedroom, he was pulling off her clothes as quickly as he could. She kicked off her sandals and he worked on her shirt, bra, jeans, then her panties.
She worked slower on removing his clothes though, not wanting to hurt him. Shoes were tossed, socks, jeans removed, boxer briefs. But when she came to his shirt, she unbuttoned it slowly, then pulled it carefully off his shoulders. He was trying not to moan, but he was tensing enough, she knew he was hurting.
They really should wait until later, but she didn’t want to wait, and she figured he didn’t want to either.
“Thank you for coming to my rescue again,” Ava said, then kissed him soundly on the mouth, savoring the softness of his lips.
He kissed her back, entrapping her with his arms, giving her a warm hug, and intensifying the kiss. “I love you, Ava. It probably would have taken me forever to finally decide to pack up and move to join the team here in Yuma Town, until I met you. You were all the incentive I needed to convince me to make the change.”
She laughed. “I wasn’t happy I had to take you in, but that weekend I spent with you was the best time I’d ever had, and I knew then that I was missing so much in my life without you in it. I love you too.”
He continued to kiss her, his hands cupping her face with tenderness, and she felt lost in his love.
Their hearts were pounding wildly, and their pheromones were out of control. Blazing hot passion erupted between them. She was enraptured by the feel of him as he moved his hot naked body against hers, rubbing, titillating. She brushed her leg between his and then he lifted her onto the bed and joined her.
His cock was already full aroused from rubbing against her and she loved the feel of his hard body pressing against hers. His mouth moved from hers to her breasts and he kissed one and licked and sucked her nipple. She caught her breath with the delicious sensation.
He licked a path to her other breast and began sucking again, arousing her to the nth degree. And then he was kissing her mouth again. His hand swept over her body, down, lower, until his fingers found the center of her and began rubbing her aroused nub, building the pressure, stroking faster. She was so ready for him, wet with need.
And then he was stroking her to completion, and she felt so good, like she was on a runner’s high. She suddenly peaked, the climax rippling through her, making her feel wondrous. In the same moment, he slid his arousal into her, and his penetration felt amazing. He was filling her, expanding her, the intimacy between them so special, she thoroughly loved him.
The urgency of his kisses made her feel as though he was about ready to explode into her, and she was ready for it too. She hoped he was okay, that his injuries were healing all right, but as long as he wanted this as much as she did, she wouldn’t have stopped this for anything.
And then he was coming, pumping into her like a cougar possessed with a mission, and then he filled her with his seed.
“Holy…, ah, man, you are the only she-cat for me,” he said, his voice drenched with lust. He collapsed on top of her and hugged her tight.
“Yeah, you better believe it. And you’re the only one for me.” She hugged him back, loving how he felt heavily pressed against her.
Then they kissed and he moved off her.
“How are you feeling?”
He smiled and kissed her. “The bite and claw marks hurt.”
“Aww, honey. Well, no more of this until you’re feeling better.”
“No way.”
She smiled and hoped by tomorrow he would be feeling better. For now, it was time to snuggle and sleep.
Chet and Ava were nestling together and had fallen asleep when his phone rang from the floor where he’d tossed his pants. At this hour, it had to be important. He got out of bed and fished his phone out of his jeans pocket. The caller ID said it was Dan and he knew it was trouble. Now what?
“Yeah, Dan?”
“A woman came into the jailhouse sobbing, saying her daughter had been taken from her at the service station at gunpoint. As soon as Nina grabbed a phone to call an alert, the woman tased her and Stryker and freed Benny. They took off in light blue Tahoe.”
“Hell.” Chet started yanking on a pair of boxer briefs.
“Dr. William is taking care of Nina and Stryker and we’re putting all our law enforcement officials on alert to search for Benny and the woman. Nina heard the man call her Xenia.”
“Hell. Where do you want me to go?” Chet asked.
Ava was getting out of bed and pulling on her panties.
“Since Ava was targeted before, you stay there,” Dan said. “Watch over her.”
Ava frowned. “He’s here,” she whispered. “In the house. Downstairs.”
Chet couldn’t believe it. He hadn’t heard a thing. Then again, he and Ava had fallen asleep. “Ava says he’s here.”
“We’re on our way.”
“All right.” Chet left the phone line open and set his phone on the bedside table so Dan would hear what was going on if they ended up in a fight with Benny.
“What are we going to do?” Ava whispered.
“That woman, Xenia, who was with Benny when we caught him broke him out of jail.” Chet grabbed his gun.
“What? She was terrified that Benny might have killed all those women. Bridget told me so.”
“Evidently, Xenia changed her mind. Is she in the house too?” Chet asked.
“No, she’s waiting in the getaway car. But when I saw her house number in the earlier vision, I also saw her blue Tahoe. Benny wants revenge for you killing his brother,” Ava said, her voice hushed.
“Travis killed Marty.”
“You were in charge of the investigation. He blames you.”
“We’ll stay here and—”
“Okay, by me.” Ava yanked off her panties. “I don’t have a gun so if he gets past you, I’ll take him down as a cougar.” She shifted into her cougar.
Chet hadn’t expected that, though it was a good idea. He thought of throwing on some more clothes, but then he heard the one stair creak—at the same place where Chet had made it creak before.
Ava tensed.
Was Benny in his cougar form or his human? Had Xenia armed him with a gun? Hell, if they’d knocked out both Stryker and Nina with tasers, they could have their guns.
“Good night, honey, pleasant dreams,” Chet said as a ruse to see if he could draw Benny out before the troops arrived.
Ava had to shift back to her human form, gave Chet an annoyed look—and he figured it was because she hadn’t wanted to shift to speak to him—but to continue the charade, she said, “Night, sweetheart. I love you.” Then she shifted back.
It seemed as though they waited forever before Benny made a move though Chet knew they hadn’t. Benny might have wanted to wait for them to fall fully asleep, but he had to assume the deputies would come to soon and alert everyone there had been a jail break.
Then as if Benny couldn’t hold off any longer, he rushed for the bedroom, his paws nearly silent on the carpeted hall floor, but Chet could make out a cougar’s four footfalls not a human’s two.
Chet yanked off his boxer briefs and shifted. He wanted to rush forth and take on the big cat, but he held fast, waiting for Benny to move into the bedroom and give the other officers a chance to get here.
Chet suspected Bridget was right. That Benny didn’t really have it in him to kill without being forced to do it. But this time he wanted revenge.
Suddenly, Benny flew into the room and landed on the bed, but Ava was near the bathroom and Chet was by the closet, waiting for Benny to make his appearance.
Benny pawed at the bed, evidently so sure Chet and Ava had been in it that it took him a minute or two to register they weren’t in bed.
Then Benny turned his fluorescent gaze on Ava and before he could attack her—if he planned to—Chet tackled his flank, knocking Benny off the bed.
Benny snarled and rounded on him, his actions reminiscent of his twin brother’s movements in Chet’s fight with Marty, most likely because they’d play fought with each other over the years and practiced the same attacks and counterattacks.
To Chet’s surprise, he heard Xenia calling out from the front door, “Benny, did you do it?”
Kill them?
Ava looked like she wanted to confront Xenia, but she not in her cougar coat.
Chet was having enough trouble fighting Benny because of his recent wounds from his earlier fight tonight with Marty.
Ava shifted and pulled on her jean shorts and a T-shirt.
Chet didn’t want her going anywhere near the woman. What if Xenia tased Ava? What if she was carrying a gun?
But then Ava dashed around Chet and Benny and grabbed Chet’s gun off the bedside table. She waited, ready to shoot at Xenia if she entered the room.
Couldn’t the woman hear the snarling cats and know how dangerous confronting them would be?
They heard Xenia’s footsteps as she ascended the stairs and stepped on the creaking one. Ava ran out of the room and down the hall to the stairs.
Chet couldn’t turn his back on Benny or open himself up to a fatal attack. But he damn well didn’t want to leave Ava on her own with the woman either.
Shots were fired from midway down the stairs and more shots rang out from the top of the stairs, this time from Chet’s gun.
Then everything was deathly quiet.
“Ava!” Chet wanted to shout. He bit at Benny’s muzzle, digging his claws into the cat’s shoulder, trying to reach his throat.
He heard car doors slam out front, but he worried about Ava most of all. He would never forgive himself if she were dead.
