A chill of fear raced down his spine.
Stavros frowned. It wasn’t his fear he was feeling.
Toni.
It struck him like a lightning bolt. It wasn’t his fear he was sensing, it was hers. He didn’t question his instincts. The connection he’d felt with her earlier was strong. Whatever was happening at this moment, Toni was afraid. He yowled, his cry sending a flock of egrets into flight.
Stavros raced toward the house where Toni was staying, praying to the goddess that he wasn’t too late. He should have been with her. In trying to be noble, he might have hurt her even more. If she died and he discovered Hades was responsible, he’d descend into Hell itself and kill the conniving god once and for all or die trying.
Toni crept into the bedroom. Her plan was to sneak out the window and hide in the bayou until those men were gone. She’d taken precious seconds to grab her memory cards and tuck them in her pocket. As much as it pained her to do so, she left her cameras and laptop behind. She could always replace her equipment. Her work, on the other hand, was irreplaceable. Her gun was tucked in the waistband of her jeans.
She pushed at the windowpane and swore when it stuck. She bent her knees and shoved with all her might. The window went up three inches, but not without making a loud creaking sound. She held her breath and waited. When there was no shout of discovery, she pushed again. The glass rose until it was about halfway open and then stopped.
It would have to be enough.
Toni threw one leg over the edge of the window and squeezed her body through the opening, thankful for once that she wasn’t all that big. She crouched by the side of the house and made herself as small as possible. Then she listened.
She didn’t hear anything at first. The night was quiet. Too quiet. The bayou was always alive with sound. Now it was still, the air heavy. A bead of sweat rolled down her back.
“Are you sure this is the place?”
Toni stilled at the whisper only a few feet away from her. She scrunched lower and kept her breathing shallow and light.
“That’s what he said,” answered another man.
He? Who was he? The only one she knew around here was Stavros, and he wasn’t the kind of man to send someone skulking around a woman’s home.
“Quiet.” This voice was lower, more ominous. “We need to get her and get out.”
Toni’s blood ran cold. Did they mean to kidnap her or kill her?
“Why does he have such a hard-on for this photographer chick?” the first man asked.
There went the idea that this was a case of mistaken identity. As far as she knew, she was the only photographer chick in the neighborhood. The men moved off to the side of the house and Toni crept to the corner, careful where she put her feet. The last thing she wanted to do was make a sound and alert them to her presence.
“Don’t know and don’t care.” This came from the last man, the one who seemed to be in charge. “Our job is to deliver her to him.” She couldn’t see any of them well, but this man was larger than the other two. “I don’t want him coming after me.”
Crap. Her would-be kidnappers were afraid of this mysterious man. That wasn’t good. Toni had no idea who would be after her or what she’d done to gain the attention of such a dangerous person. Not that it mattered. Not now. The only thing she had to concern herself with at the moment was getting away.
If she made it to the woods, she could hide until morning and then make a run for her car. If they were still here in the morning, she could walk to the nearest gas station, which was about ten miles away. She couldn’t even go to any of the neighbors for help. She had no way of knowing if one of these men was her neighbor.
Stavros popped in her head again, but she immediately dismissed him. She wouldn’t go to him for help. He’d walked away from her and was virtually a stranger anyway. For all she knew, he was behind this.
Even as she thought it, she knew that was wrong. Call it instinct. Call it foolish hope. She knew Stavros wouldn’t hurt her.
Not that he wasn’t dangerous, because he most certainly was. But not to her.
“I’ll go around back,” one of the men whispered.
She had to move. Now. If he came around the corner of the house, he’d see her. Toni came up out of her crouch and began to move as quickly and quietly as she could, heading toward a lone shrub about ten feet away. It wasn’t much cover, but she didn’t need it for long. As soon as the men entered the house, she was out of here.
She almost made it. Would have made it if it weren’t for an errant rock. She tripped and stumbled forward, barely catching herself before she fell. But the noise alerted the men.
A flashlight beam spotlighted her and she blinked against the sudden glare.
“Over here,” one of the men yelled.
Toni wasn’t waiting around to find out which one of them had spotted her. She took off toward the woods, praying she wouldn’t run into a tree and knock herself out cold. She had her hands out in front of her as she lurched over the uneven ground.
She was almost there when a blood-curdling yowl split the night.
Toni barely managed to avoid a tree. Grabbing the trunk, she held on to the scratchy bark, trying to orient herself. She heard a low growl that sent a shiver down her spine. It was a big cat, maybe even the cougar she’d seen earlier. And it was close.
Then she heard a man scream.
Stavros raced through the night at top speed. With his preternatural vision, he could see everything around him just as easily as he could in the daylight. He jumped over a fallen log without hesitation. He could smell the men now. Their bodies reeked of sweat and alcohol.
There was no doubt in his mind that Hades had sent them, but maybe he was wrong. Maybe they were drug dealers or running moonshine.
Whoever they were, they’d made the mistake of coming after his woman. Because whether she knew it or not, Toni was his.
His fear abated slightly when he caught a whiff of Toni’s sweet scent. Even though it was overlaid with the stench of fear, there was no mistaking it was her. She was outside the cabin, hiding among the trees.
He’d find her as soon as he dealt with these men. He growled and let it build into a fierce yowl.
One of the men screamed. Another whirled in a circle, and Stavros could see the gun in his hand. His anger turned cold inside him. These men had come to hurt Toni. He couldn’t allow that.
“What is it?” one man asked.
“Cougar,” the one with the gun replied.
“That doesn’t sound like a cougar,” the third man added. “I ain’t stayin’”. With that, the man started to run. The man with the gun calmly turned and shot his companion in the leg. The man fell to the ground and the scent of blood filled the air.
The man yelled and grabbed his leg. “I’m shot. Why the hell did you do that, Roy? Goddamn, that hurts. I’m bleeding like a stuck pig.”
“It’s only a flesh wound,” Roy replied, seemingly unconcerned. “And we can’t leave. Not without the woman.”
“You didn’t have to shoot me.”
“Shut up, Paul. I could have killed you. You’ll be fine.”
“The blood will attract the cat,” Paul protested.
“That’s the idea,” Roy replied. “When it shows itself, I’ll kill it. Then we’ll go get the girl.”
Stavros watched as the unnamed man went to Paul, stripped off his shirt and wrapped it around the wound. They thought they were the hunters.
They were mistaken.
They were now the prey.
Chapter Four
Toni shivered in spite of the heat. It was a hot Louisiana summer night, but she was chilled to the bone. Her thin cotton T-shirt stuck to her skin with sweat. She wrapped her arms around herself, desperate for some warmth.
The man with the gun had shot one of his companions. And
if he’d shoot his buddy, he’d have no problems killing her. She had to get out of here. But she didn’t know where to go. Here there were three men, at least one of which had a gun. And out there in the bayou were poisonous snakes, gators and a very large predator.
At this point, Toni figured she’d be safer with the cougar, gators and snakes.
The air behind her stirred and, before she could move, a hand was slapped over her mouth. She threw her head back against her attacker to try to throw him off while she brought her gun around. The safety was still on and she flicked it off with her thumb. She’d never shot an actual person before—paper targets didn’t count—but she knew she could do it if it meant her survival. She didn’t even get close before her hand was captured in an iron grip.
“Shh. You’re safe. It’s me.” His voice was little more than a toneless whisper.
His voice broke through her terror. Stavros. Somehow he was here with her. All the fight went out of her and she sagged against him like a balloon being deflated. He slowly released her hand but kept his palm over her mouth. After another second, he lowered that hand as well.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded. She kept her voice pitched low so the men wouldn’t hear her. Toni tried to turn around and face him, but he grabbed her shoulders and applied just enough pressure so she couldn’t move.
He pushed her down until she was crouched by the base of the tree. “Stay here,” he ordered, not bothering to answer her question.
She bristled at the command, but before she could tell him she had no intention of staying anywhere he put her, he was gone. She blinked, unable to believe a man as large as Stavros could disappear so easily, blend so quickly with the surrounding night.
The darkness had thickened in the last while, the slice of moon cloaked by the clouds. She swallowed hard and peered through the trees. Where was Stavros? What was he doing?
He was crazy to take on those men by himself. They needed to call the local police.
She shifted her weight and realized she was no longer shivering. Nor did she feel quite so afraid. Not with Stavros here. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. She’d never depended on a man before. But these were extenuating circumstances.
Her legs cramped and she moved, shifting her position for a better view of the yard. The three men were still there. One was lying on the ground with another one next to him. The third man, the one with the gun, turned slowly from side-to-side, watching the woods.
It occurred to her this would be a good time to run. With the men worried about the cougar, they wouldn’t be looking for her for the next while.
Stavros, the idiot, was out there with the wild cat and the gunmen. She didn’t even know if he had a weapon or any way to defend himself. No way could she leave him. Her hand tightened around her weapon and she forced herself to relax her grip.
No, she couldn’t leave Stavros. They were in this together.
She hunkered down to watch the small clearing, all the while cursing men in general and Stavros in particular.
Stavros was back in his jaguar form, sliding through the underbrush. The scent of blood filled his nostrils and he twitched his whiskers. The injured man might die from his wounds if they didn’t get the bleeding stopped soon. Not that he cared. They’d come to hurt Toni.
“Do you see him, Roy?” Paul asked. He was sweating profusely now and blood continued to seep from his wound.
“No. Now shut up and let me listen.” He swung his flashlight from side-to-side, sending its beam over the surrounding woods. Roy was nervous. Stavros could smell it. He had to take this man down first. He was the deadliest of the bunch, the most unpredictable.
Stavros launched himself from the shadows and leapt toward Roy, easily clearing twenty feet in one leap. He swiped at the gunman with his long, lethal claws. The gun in Roy’s hand jerked and his shots went wide.
Roy screamed, but the terrified yell was quickly cut off when Stavros sliced through his jugular without a moment’s remorse. Blood spurted from the wound and Roy fell to his knees and then backward, hitting the ground hard. The gun and flashlight dropped beside him. The flashlight rolled a couple of inches before stopping. The light created a pool of light around Roy, spotlighting his dead body.
The other two men yelled in terror as Stavros disappeared into the shadows and blended once again with the night. “What the hell was that?” Paul screamed.
The other man was crossing himself and praying. “That ain’t no cougar. That thing was huge.” He stumbled to his feet and backed away.
“Don’t leave me here, Billy,” Paul implored. “Help me.” His friend ignored him and ran, leaving Paul to his fate.
Stavros circled around and caught the fleeing Billy as he abandoned his friend. The man pissed his pants when he caught his first glimpse of the massive jaguar. Stavros wrinkled his nose at the pungent smell. The man held his hands out in front of him as though he could ward off Stavros, but nothing could save him from the jaguar’s wrath. Stavros raked his deadly claws across Billy’s throat. The wounded man clutched his shredded neck and fell to the ground, gurgling out his last breaths.
Stavros turned his back on Billy and silently padded back to Paul, who was valiantly trying to pull himself toward Roy’s body. Paul caught a glimpse of Stavros and whimpered as he dragged himself closer to the abandoned gun. Stavros beat him to the weapon and shoved it aside with one large paw. The illumination from the flashlight allowed the other man to see him perfectly.
He hunkered down next to Paul and stared at him, deliberately intimidating the man. He had questions and he wanted answers. He also didn’t want to waste time with a lengthy interrogation.
Paul whimpered and Stavros began to shift, intentionally keeping the process slow to add to the man’s terror. Paul was crying and calling out to his deity for help by the time Stavros was a man once again. Stavros could have warned him to save his breath. He suspected that Paul and his buddies had aligned themselves with a dark god who would never let them go.
They’d sealed their own fate.
“Who are you?” Paul asked. “What are you?” Tears ran down his face and snot ran from his nose.
“Who sent you?” Stavros asked. “And don’t lie to me.” He tapped the side of his nose. “I can smell a lie.”
Toni was hyperventilating. She only realized that startling fact when her vision started to dim. That was no cougar in the clearing behind the house. The cat was enormous. Too huge to be real. Yet it was very real. And its coat was black.
Jaguar.
She’d caught a glimpse when the moon had momentarily peeked out from behind the clouds, and another when the large cat settled in front of the light from Roy’s flashlight.
Impossible. Jaguars didn’t exist in this part of the world. And, as far as she knew, there were none as gigantic as this one.
The animal made quick work of two of the men. Toni cringed, feeling pity in spite of the fact these men had come to harm her. Dying at the hands, or rather the claws, of a big cat was a hard way to go.
The animal prowled closer to the injured man, hunkering down in front of him. Toni was surprised the beast didn’t just attack, especially because of the bloody wound on the man’s leg.
Toni blinked when the animal began to change. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand, unable to believe what she was seeing. There was no longer a large cat in the clearing, but a man. And not just any man. Stavros.
And he was stark naked.
She swallowed hard. Okay, she’d either just gone on a bad drug trip—and she’d never done drugs in her life—or she was hallucinating. There was no other explanation for a giant jaguar to become a man.
Then she remembered the jaguar tattoo she’d seen on Stavros’ back. That had to be it. Her mind was obviously manufacturing the connection. Toni pinched her arm and frowned when it hurt.
She
was awake. Stavros was still in the clearing with the injured man. And he was still naked.
Had it been Stavros all along? Had she created the jaguar to protect her out of her imagination? Toni was too scared and confused to make sense of any of this.
“Who sent you?” Stavros asked. “And don’t lie to me. I can smell a lie.” It was his tone more than his words that sent a shiver down Toni’s spine. Slowly, she came to her feet. The muscles in her legs protested after being in an uncomfortable position for so long. She inched closer to the men, unable to take her eyes away from the macabre scene unfolding before her. She kept her gaze averted from Roy’s dead body.
“A guy. I don’t know who he is,” Paul hurriedly added. “Honest. He asks us to do stuff for him from time to time.”
“And what do you get in return?” Stavros asked. His tone was calm, but Toni heard the underlying fury.
Paul shrugged and rubbed his hand across his face. He was trying to act tough, but even Toni could tell he was scared. His hands were noticeably shaking. “Money.”
“Money.” Stavros chuffed and it sounded exactly like a big cat.
Toni’s chest was rapidly heaving and she forced herself to breathe in through her nose, hold it for a second and then slowly release it through her mouth.
“For that you’d kill a woman.” Stavros raised his hand and it morphed into a giant black paw complete with razor-sharp claws.
Toni froze in place and blinked, but the image didn’t change. Her breathing quickened again.
“No. He didn’t want her dead. He just wanted her.” The man clutched at his leg and tried to pull himself away.
“What does this man look like?” Stavros asked. He didn’t move position, and his very stillness was intimidating. He was like a jaguar toying with his prey. Toni found the image unsettling.
Hades' Return Page 20
