by Beverly Rae
“Yes, I am. Because I get the definite impression you know something more than I do about these dead cows. And I aim to find out what that is.”
She could easily outrun him, but should she? Maybe he could prove beneficial to her mission. Making her decision, Alex sprinted, eager to see if the persistent shifter could keep up with her.
Dirk was still on their heels two hours later. Werewolves weren’t as fast as werecats in short distances and he’d struggled to keep Alex and Conner in sight for the first mile. Or was it his imagination and she’d taken it easy, allowing him to stay close? If she had shifted, she would’ve left him choking in her dust. For whatever reason, once her initial burst of energy had passed, the staying power of his inner wolf had allowed him to catch up.
He ran through the intriguing idea of working with the werecats and watched the way her firm ass moved with each stride. The appealing bottom, however, was only part of her attraction. When she’d first turned toward him, ready to fight, he’d fallen straight into her fiery jade eyes and hadn’t been able to think straight since. How could he when her body was all toned desire, rounded, womanly and perfect for a man’s hands? The bobbing of her long reddish-hued hair, tugged back into a ponytail, kept rhythm with the sound of his boots striking the ground. He considered surging past her to see her full, perfect-for-his-hands-sized boobs but rejected the idea, opting to play it safe—for now.
He’d never had sex with a werecat but according to a couple of his pack mates the experience was one he’d never forget. Not only were the females eager for sex, they were wonderfully uninhibited in bed. Hell, in bed, in a car, in a cave—wherever sex could be had. Her butt cheeks jiggled, making him wish he could sink his teeth into her soft flesh. Maybe it was time he tried getting some real pussy. Swallowing, he concentrated on keeping one foot in front of the other.
Following the two werecats hadn’t been part of his strategy. But once he’d seen Alex, then gotten the definite impression that she knew more than she was saying, he’d changed his mind. The fact that she made his johnson rise to attention in under ten seconds was a bonus. Besides, he’d seen something in her eyes, a deeply rooted pain and vulnerability, that had tugged at him, enticing him to take care of her, keep her safe and protected. He puffed out a breath, ridding himself of the unusual thoughts, and paced himself, keeping a few yards behind the pair.
Attempting to get his mind back on business, he switched his attention to Conner. The male shifter stayed neck and neck with Alex, glancing over at her, a questioning expression on his face. Again, Dirk gave careful consideration to the possibility of her wanting him to stay close. He smiled, enjoying the idea. Could he help it if females, shifters as well as humans, found him irresistible and wanted to keep him around?
Then his smile faded. He wouldn’t kid himself. Alex Grayson was no ordinary female. If she wanted him around, it was because she wanted something from him. Something more than sex. Again, the idea of keeping her safe, locked in his arms, swept over him.
Maybe he could goad her into telling. “I bet the sex would be phenomenal.”
Alex slammed to a stop and confronted Dirk, shifting enough to bring out her fangs. Before he could react, her snarling lips were an inch from his face. Conner was by her side in an instant, imitating her partial transformation. “Dog, don’t get on my nerves.”
Her beauty intensified with her anger, making her green eyes flash. His balls ached just looking at her. Thinking on his feet, Dirk adopted an impromptu expression that was as fake as a three-dollar bill. “Who, me?” Once he saw her stern expression, however, he quickly gave up the pretense. “Look, we’re after the same thing here. We both want to stop the asshole who’s making trouble. Whoever this is has all the ranchers riled up and taking to the hills, shooting at any cougar or wolf they see. Hell, anything that’s big enough to have done the deed. I figure if we work together, we have a better chance of stopping him before any other innocents get harmed. Then both of our packs, er, peoples are safe.”
Something about the way she considered him told him she’d given the idea some serious consideration during the run. “I hate to admit it, but you may have a point.”
“Are you crazy? Do you want a damn werewolf slowing us down? Flapping his jaws and getting in our way?” Conner paced a few feet away, running his hand through his hair. “Come on, Alex, get real. What would the council say?”
“Who the hell cares what the council thinks? Do you see any of them lending a hand?” Alex’s tone left no room for argument.
“So I was right. You can use the help.” Dirk smothered the fuck-you expression he so wanted to shoot Conner. “And for the record, I was right on your heels. Maybe it’s you who’ll hold us back.”
As he expected, the shifter’s hackles rose. Conner pushed against Dirk, chest against chest. “Keep it up, you reject from the pound, and you’ll find your nose buried in the dirt hunting for your own leg bone.”
Instead of accepting Conner’s challenge, Dirk narrowed his eyes and glanced between them. “Hmm, that’s unexpected. I thought werecats rarely start a ruckus unless they have a dog in the fight, if you’ll forgive the expression.” He let a shit-on-you grin explode. “Oh, I get it. So you and Alex are a couple, is that it?”
He held his breath and hoped she’d deny it.
“No we’re not.” Alex winced at the intensity in her tone, then shot a “forgive me” look at Conner.
Conner backed away from Dirk to scowl at Alex. Relief and joy sprang to life in Dirk, but he kept his composure.
“Not yet.” But Conner’s tone didn’t sound confident.
If Dirk hadn’t wanted to take Alex to bed himself, he would’ve found the tension rippling between the two werecats amusing. As it was, however, he knew he’d have to tread carefully if he wanted to get her on her back. “Sorry, man, but it looks like she’s not interested.”
“Conner and I are really good friends. Close friends.”
Dirk grimaced. “Oooh, ouch, dude. You’re in the friend zone. Or are you friends with benefits?”
If anyone could be friends with benefits with Alex, he wanted to be that friend. A friend who could lie between her legs and lap up her fetching feline juices.
Conner took Alex’s hand, pulling her attention away from Dirk. “Alex, what the hell are we doing? Let’s keep searching and talk later.” He shot Dirk a glare. “Alone.”
“You mean before or after she gets with me?”
Dirk ducked, letting Conner’s swing stir the air above his head. Yet before he could execute a punch of his own, a shot rang out.
Chapter Two
“You two wanna get your hands off my butt?”
Crouched between Conner on her right and Dirk on her left, Alex stared straight ahead through the leaves of the bushes where they’d taken shelter. How they’d ended up with her in the middle and each man fondling her ass, she wasn’t sure. Not that it was an unpleasant feeling. It felt good. Really good.
Conner immediately took his hand off her. Dirk, on the other hand, squeezed her cheek. Hard.
“Watch it, Dirk.” She halfheartedly meant the menace in her warning. In fact, if she had her way she’d like his hand on another part of her body. She reached for Dirk’s hand, but didn’t get it in time.
Conner grabbed the shifter’s hand, knocking it away from her. Dirk stared at his hand, then chuckled. “Now how did that get there?”
She’d always been a sucker for a sense of humor. “Yeah. I wonder.” Alex snorted and scanned the trees surrounding them. “The shot wasn’t far off. But at least it was downhill of us.”
“I’ll bet it’s one of the humans out to bag a cat trophy for the wall above his fireplace.”
Conner tensed along with her. The werewolf was probably right. “No doubt.”
“It sounded like it came from the nearest ranch.” Worry gripped her, ridding her of the heated thoughts about Dirk. What if a hunter had shot her brother? They could easily mistake him for the kille
r in their zeal to shoot any unlucky cougar. She rose, her heart lodged in her throat, her jaw clenched. Holding on to her belief in Bryer’s innocence, she prayed he’d gone into the mountains and away from the turmoil surrounding the killings. Still, she couldn’t shake the fear clinging to her spine.
“Let’s check it out.” Dirk took a few steps, then realized they weren’t following. “Uh, troops, that’s your cue to fall in line.”
Alex and Conner glanced at each other and she sent him a silent plea. “I suppose we should. Check it out, I mean. You know, if only to ease our minds.”
“Ease your minds? I don’t understand. I thought we were tracking this menace.”
Conner turned away from Dirk’s scrutiny, apparently giving Alex the choice of telling him about her brother. But she wasn’t ready. Sure, Dirk was friendly and she was beginning to trust him, but she wasn’t ready to tell him such personal information. Not yet, if ever. “Never mind. Lead the way.”
“Finally. But since it’s getting dark, I suggest we shift and investigate in our animal forms. That way we’ll have our night vision. Plus, we’ll get in and out faster.”
She had to admit the werewolf had good ideas. Too bad her own brain wasn’t functioning on high speed. “Agreed.”
“Good. Then let’s get going. We can leave our clothes under these bushes.”
She’d undressed many times in front of Conner and other werecats, shifting whenever they’d wanted to run in the woods. But, strangely, the idea of changing in front of Dirk left her embarrassed. What if he didn’t like her body? Either her naked human body or her cougar form? The cat inside her reared its independent head, ratcheting up her stubborn streak. What was she worried about? About how a werewolf would see her? Besides, she’d had plenty of men tell her she had a great body. But still she had to wonder. What was it about this man that made her so self-conscious and yet ready to rumble in a sexual romp? Annoyed, she nonetheless placed her back to Dirk. Undressing as quickly as she could, she started the transformation before all her clothes were off. By the time she was nude and ready to run, all four paws were on the ground.
Conner, in his dark brown cougar body, snarled at the still fully clothed Dirk. She added a snarl and swished her tail at him. Why hadn’t he changed?
“Oh, sorry. I was so mesmerized watching you get naked that I flat forgot to take off my clothes. But can ya blame a guy? You, sugar, are smokin’.”
She couldn’t help it. She preened. Flattery, especially from a handsome stranger, was always a welcomed treat. The next snarl came from Conner.
Sporting that sexy grin, Dirk unabashedly shucked his shirt, boots and jeans in quick succession. Still in human form, he hid his clothes next to theirs under a pile of leaves, then stood up and stretched, giving her the full picture.
If she was smokin’, this man was on fire. She raked her gaze along his body, taking in the scars lining his back and highlighting his firm torso, the slight curve of his waist and the touch-me roundedness of his buttocks. The sudden urge to run her tongue down the crack of his ass overwhelmed her and she padded forward. If Conner hadn’t put his body in her path, she would’ve flattened her tongue against that tanned human flesh. Dirk turned, giving her a front-row seat to the steel-like mounds of his chest, and her legs suddenly went wobbly. A spattering of dark hair highlighted the rippling muscles and played tour guide to the flat abdomen. Her gaze fell on his prize and her mouth dried up. His cock, so big, so thick, so amazing, curved all the way to the perfect end. She tilted her head, inhaled slow and long. If he was that big without an erection… She couldn’t help it. She licked her lips.
Surprised at the intensity of her lust, she heeded Conner’s warning and, as difficult as it was, averted her eyes from Dirk’s manhood.
Dirk, however, caught her gaze and shot her a knowing look that said, “It’s okay to look. But wouldn’t you rather touch?” With a short chuckle, he let his inner animal take over. Muscles lengthened, bones creaked and snapped as the change swept over him. Dropping to the ground, he gritted his teeth together until fangs replaced them. Smooth human skin quickly disappeared under brown fur and a bushy tail sprouted. In less than a minute, Dirk the human had shifted to Dirk the powerful werewolf.
She wanted to rub against his silky fur, nuzzle his ear. Anything to touch the huge wolf staring at her. Recognizing the sexy lift at the corners of the werewolf’s mouth, she smiled.
Dirk yipped at them, flicked his tail and started down the trail leading into the valley and to the ranch. They let him take the lead and followed, keeping first to the trees, then the brush. At last, the open field spread out before them and they ran toward the ranch house and barn. Ducking under the fence marking the outlying boundary of the ranch, the three shifters slid toward the pasture where cattle lazily fed.
Dirk led the way, keeping to the shadows of the falling light. Hearing angry human voices ahead of them, he veered to the left along with the two werecats and took shelter behind a broken-down lean-to. He crouched next to Alex and lowered his tail.
Four ranch hands stood around a dead bull. One man hunkered next to it, examining the body.
“It’s definitely the work of a big cat. Nothing else could’ve taken Thunder down. Not this easily. But what I don’t get is the why of it. Why is this thing killing but not feeding?” The older man stood and wiped his hands on his jeans.
The burly cowboy next to him shifted his rifle to the crook of his arm. “We must’ve interrupted its meal when we ran it off, Ben. But Luke here got a good shot at it.”
Dirk sensed Alex cringe, but didn’t turn quickly enough to catch her full reaction. A flash of anger darkened her features and then, suddenly, her face was a neutral mask. The only remaining evidence of her rage was the hard look in her eyes. He studied her, trying to understand her. Wanting to understand her.
“Jim’s right. But I missed, goddamn it.” Luke spat a wad of tobacco.
“Seems like the thing’s slaughtering cattle for the fun of it. Like it’s personal or something.”
“Yeah, right, Ben. The cougar’s mad at you for not taking it to the dance.”
Unlike the others, Ben didn’t find the joke amusing. “Damn it all. This is the fourth one I’ve lost this week. We’ve got to do something.”
“We need to send out a hunting party like the other ranchers did, that’s what. Sooner or later, someone’s gonna bag the beast.”
Now it was Dirk’s turn to cringe. He hated to think of how many innocent werecreatures, not to mention forest animals, were going to end up dead before this was over.
“And wind up killing some stupid camper, Jim?” Ben shook his head. “No thanks. I’ve already heard about a couple of accidents and I don’t intend to have my head blown off trudging around those hills.”
“Then maybe we should put out some traps? They’re not as effective as a bullet to the brain, but at least we’d get the damn thing.” Jim toed his boot into the side of the dead bull. “And if we get really lucky, it’ll die a slow agonizing death.”
Dirk couldn’t help letting a small whine escape him. And immediately heard Conner scoff. He silently answered, lifting the edges of his mouth to show his fangs.
“Maybe.” Ben muttered a few expletives. “We’ve had predators before, but this one’s got me stumped. It’s almost as though it can think like a human and stay two steps ahead of us.”
“Maybe it’s one of those creatures people say live in the mountains.”
“Yeah, right. You’ve heard too many spook stories, Jim.”
“I’m just saying, is all. So what do you want to do with Thunder, boss?”
“Leave him. I’m not paying someone to come out this far and haul him off. Let’s head back to the main house and put our heads together.”
Staying low to the ground, Dirk started backing up. Alex matched his movements, creeping alongside him. Conner, however, whipped around, flashing his tail from behind their barrier.
“Look! There it is!”
“Shoot it!”
A shot shattered the night. Without thinking, Dirk threw his body in front of Alex, blocking her from the hunters. Conner yowled and jumped into the air, twisting like a sidewinder snake, then landed on his side several feet away.
Alex snarled, turning toward her friend, but Dirk blocked her from going to Conner. Letting out an urgent bark, Dirk pushed her ahead of him, forcing her toward the safety of the trees and growled his words. “I’ll get him. Now go!”
Once she was off and running, he rushed over to Conner, putting his body in between the injured werecat and the hunters.
“Move, cat-man, move!”
Conner scrambled to his feet, snarling his pain, then dashed after Alex. Another bullet whizzed past Dirk’s ear, too close for comfort. He hunched down, digging into the dirt for traction, and raced after the werecats.
They kept running until, at last, they arrived at the same location where they’d hidden their clothes. Dropping to the ground, Dirk panted, exhausted but relieved to see that Alex was unharmed. She fell to the ground beside him and changed.
Dirk shifted, all the while keeping his gaze on the beautiful woman. Her long body, taller than any woman he’d ever known, glistened with sweat. Stretching to rid herself of the after-shift aches, she lifted her arms to the moonlit sky, reminding him of a forest goddess he’d once seen in a movie. Her full breasts perked higher, tempting him with brown areoles and taut nipples. He swallowed and followed a bead of perspiration as it trailed between her breasts, over the flat stomach and down to the curly patch of hair below. His mouth dried up and he desperately wanted nothing more than to quench his thirst by drinking her sweet juice.
“Why did you do that?”
He lifted his head to peer at her. “Do what?”
She stared back at him. “You know what I’m talking about. You threw yourself in front of me. You shielded me, kept me from getting shot.”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? I didn’t want that pretty hide of yours riddled with gunshot holes.”
