by Meg Ripley
“So, I’m guessing you have no computer?” he asked. “Wi-fi?”
“I don’t even know what that is.”
He whistled. “That explains a lot.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re so secluded. You must really be a pain in the ass if you scared everyone away.”
“Ha ha.”
“Your life is really just hunting?”
“I have a garden, too. But I like to keep it simple.”
“There’s so much out there that you’re missing, Britt. It’s not even just about having fun. It’s life. There’s so much to experience, and you’re not experiencing any of it.”
“And I’m just fine with that.”
“Don’t you want more?” he asked. “Don’t you want to see the world? Taste weird foods, see beautiful sights, meet all sorts of people and animals, do everything life has to offer you?”
“Nah.”
“The Everglades is amazing. But there’s a lot more to the world than just this little chunk of Florida.”
“I don’t think about it like that. This is my world. It’s all I need.” I paused, not sure I wanted to say it out loud. “Until…”
12
Ezra
I held my breath waiting for her to finish the sentence. Until…she gets older? Until…she wants to settle down? Until…she met me? But before she answered, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
“One sec, it’s Mason calling.” I tapped the screen to answer and walked out to her porch for better reception. “What’d you find?”
“The scents match, so we’re looking for a serial. I was hoping you had something more.”
“No. I’m with Britt at her cabin.”
“Oh.” Long pause. “Good. Is she up for helping?”
“Definitely.” She was inside, but she could hear me talking. “We’re just waiting until it’s clear so we can run.”
“Until it’s clear? What do you mean?”
“Um…” How could I say this without Britt finding out? “When it’s safe for panthers to be in the woods?”
“You’re keeping her home to keep her safe.”
“Of course. That’s my job.”
“Uh huh… Then I guess I’ll let you know when we know more.”
“Thanks, man. Stay safe.”
He snorted a laugh. “You too, man. You, too.”
I went back inside and found Britt waiting for me, looking anxious.
“Anything?” she asked.
“He just called to make sure we were both okay. They’re a caring bunch, my clan.” I smiled. “He’ll call when they know something.”
“It seems like it’s taking a long time. Let’s run over to where the body is at least. I want to know if it’s the same guy or not. He didn’t know if it was the same guy?”
“Oh…” I scratched the back of my head. Why hadn’t I foreseen this? “He didn’t say.”
“He didn’t say.” She leveled her gaze at me. “He does know the scent of the first killer, right?”
“Right.”
“And he’s there now at the second body?”
“Uh…I think he’s there. He didn’t say. Maybe he’s still at the station.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Don’t you think that’s kind of important?”
“Well, yes, sure. But right now, they have to gather evidence. Find fingerprints, footprints, fibers, that sort of thing. DNA, you know?”
“We don’t need any of that! We need to get out there.” She stood and headed for her gun again.
“We have to wait. There are a lot of cops over there right now. Non-shifter cops. Mason said once they’re done, the shifters will move in. It’s complicated, I guess, being on the force where some are shifters and some aren’t. They can’t give up the secret, so they have to let them do things the human way.”
“The human way is going to get more panthers killed.”
“You know, maybe we should have your clan come over here and hang out. Until we know it’s safe.”
She huffed. “Kat has a family and a gator farm to run. Dezi is out fishing, as always.”
“Do they know what’s going on? Did you use that”—I pointed to the ancient phone on the wall—“to call and tell them?”
“I didn’t use the phone, but they know. I gave them the scent. Can’t pass a scent through the phone.”
“Good point,” I said. “Got a deck of cards?”
“For what?”
“To play?”
“There’s a killer running around, panthers are in danger, and you want to play cards?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “That’s how you stay safe. He’s not going to come into your cabin and kill you. Not with all your guns and me here. Maybe we can lure him close and get him.”
Her head whipped to me as if she had a sudden thought. “The second panther was a pure panther, right? Not a shifter?”
“Not a shifter.”
She visibly relaxed.
“Call your friends,” I suggested.
She stared off into space for a moment. “Yeah…”
She went into the kitchen and made two calls, returning much sooner than I’d thought she would. When she returned to the living room, she looked distraught. I wanted to pull her into my arms and hold her, but I wasn’t sure if that would be okay. After our night together and the way it had all happened, I didn’t know where we stood, if anywhere.
“You okay?” I asked.
“Sure.” She dropped a pack of cards on the table.
“You updated your friends?”
“Yup.”
I shuffled the cards and dealt. She sat across from me at the kitchen table, but seemed to be lost in her own world.
“So, you do care about something,” I said.
“Of course, I care about something!” she snapped.
“Well, you act so tough all the time, like you don’t need or want anyone, like nothing bothers you.”
“I don’t need anyone. What are we playing?”
“Texas Hold ’em?”
“Fine.”
I dared to ask, “So, do you care about me?”
“I care about beating you.” Her mouth quirked into a half smile.
“I’ll take it.”
She actually relaxed a little as we played. I don’t know if it was the beers or if she was getting comfortable with me. She seemed to laugh more, and every time she did, it lit me up inside. I felt myself falling—try as I might to resist it. And I thought, just maybe, she was starting to like me, too.
I thought about kissing her. Or even starting simpler and just taking her hand. I didn’t want to move too fast, but we had already slept together, so was it moving fast at all? I didn’t know how to handle it, and I didn’t want to mess it up.
As I was considering whether I should try to beat her or let her win the game, we heard a noise outside; a rustling of leaves and twigs. Our heads snapped to attention at the same time, then I looked at her. “Doesn’t sound big.”
“No, it doesn’t.” She narrowed her eyes.
“Probably just a coon. If you hunt them often, they’d smell it and come around. They come around here a lot, don’t they?”
“No, they don’t. I have several small game traps set. Something small as a coon shouldn’t make it within fifty feet of this cabin.”
“Guess we’d better check it out then.”
We walked out onto the front porch and listened. The rustling stopped for the moment, and I could have sworn I smelled a raccoon.
She pulled off her top and dropped it on the porch, then stepped out of her shorts. Just like that. I took off the clothes she gave me and followed. There’s no way I’d let her shift and run off by herself. She roared into her panther form, and I leapt into my bear, showing off with a twist mid-air.
She glanced at me, rolled her eyes, and began to run.
13
Britt
I took off running, looking behind me to see how cl
ose he was. A coon. So what if there was a damn coon out there? I laughed to myself. He’d fallen for it. I just wanted to get out and run, so I came up with the perfect excuse. They didn’t bother me none; it was probably just stuck in my trap.
I wanted to mess with him, so I stopped short and ran in the opposite direction. He seemed confused, but came running after me, leaping like the goofball he was as he went. We were running parallel, and without warning, I darted to the side, crashing into him. He tackled me as payback and I let him—but only for a moment. I used my strong back legs to push him off me, then bolted again.
I almost forgot about the raccoon. It was fun, running and playing around like that, but of course, I kept my nose on alert at all times. I didn’t want to be taken off guard. But running with Ezra meant I had backup, something I didn’t usually have. Not that he was the sharpest shifter around, but he was another set of paws and claws, should it come down to that. And really, he wasn’t as dumb or slow as I’d thought initially. The more I got to know him, the more comfortable I became—and the more I’d respected him.
It was strange to feel this way; I’d never had this happen before. Not even with Kat and Dezi did I have the desire to just play around. It wasn’t something I did as an adult, which was made even more obvious by all his damn questioning of me. Maybe he had a point. My entire life had been 100% ‘Glades, all day every day. Was I missing out on the world? On relationships? I sure never thought I’d enjoy being around someone like Ezra, a goofy, blonde-streaked bear.
I fell back slightly to put him in front of me. When he was ahead, probably thinking he was beating me, I dashed forward and grabbed hold of his little nub of a tail with my teeth, causing him to whirl around in shock. I let go immediately, but it was enough to get his attention.
He jumped on me and pinned me to the ground. I started a laugh, which I’d never even attempted in panther form before, and it came out like a barking rumble. He licked up the side of my face, and I tried to move out of the path of his long tongue, but it was no use. He licked me all over, and when he was through and let me up, I rubbed my wet face against his coat.
He was much softer than I thought he’d be. He was warm and humming, making a sound similar to a cat’s purr. Comforting.
He stuck his nose in the air and sniffed. Right. The coon. We’re out here to get the coon, I reminded myself. Nothing else was around at the moment.
I dashed back toward my cabin to where the trap was, and sure enough, he was in there, struggling to get free. I sat back and gestured at the coon with my paw, letting Ezra have it, and he tore it free from the trap with his teeth. The coon was dead in a second in his strong jaw; he shook it back and forth and then set it down at my feet.
The action filled me with a sense of…I didn’t know what, exactly. It felt warm, and I appreciated the kind gesture.
I put my paw on the coon and sank my teeth into its body, pulling so I could tear it in half. I gave him the bigger piece. He’d earned it. Plus, that boy needed to gain a few pounds. He worked out a few times a week? With what, jump ropes and wrist weights? I’d have to show him what a real workout was like. My body grew hot at the thought of us sweating together, and as excitement flooded through me, he looked up at me.
Damn pheromones. He must know what’s on my mind. I had to keep my emotions in check unless I wanted to broadcast to the world that I wanted him.
I finished off my snack and took off running again, wanting to clear the air of my scent—and clear my head—while I was at it. I decided to do a perimeter run, circling the cabin. I did this at least once a day just to stay familiar with what was going on. If I detected any new scents, I’d investigate them so I didn’t have any surprises popping up.
I ran light and easy. I even added in a little bouncy skip now and then, just to feel my paws’ pads press into the earth then leave it. I realized then what that new feeling was. Happiness. I never even realized I wasn’t happy before, but now that I had that warm glow about me, now that I was enjoying myself in new ways and with this bear, I liked it. It felt good and I wanted to be around him. And right then, I made my decision.
There was no reason to fight it. If I liked being with him, fine. If the sex was great, even better. If he wanted to hang out with me and enjoyed himself while doing it, then okay. I had no plans or expectations. It wasn’t like I was saying I was in love or anything. In ‘like,’ maybe, if that was a thing. I just knew I didn’t mind his company.
He stopped running and called out a little bark to get my attention. I circled back to him and he changed.
“This would be so much easier if we had a mind link like I do with my clan,” he said.
I shifted back, too. “Something going on?”
“Yeah. I was just talking to Mason. He says they’re going after the guy.”
“The killer? They found him?”
“Kind of. They identified him. Some local guy trying to stir up trouble against the panthers, claiming all sorts of attacks and things. I guess they’re going to get him now.”
Something wasn’t right. “So, was it the same guy or not?”
“Oh.” His face fell into surprise for a moment, then he recovered. “Oh, yeah. It’s the same guy.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “Did you know that already?”
His face turned red and his eyes widened. “Didn’t we all assume it was?”
“Stop fucking around. Did you know for sure it was the same guy who killed both panthers or not?”
He hung his head. “I did. I just thought if I told you, you’d go out trying to find him.”
“Obviously! He needed to be found. Why would you lie like that?”
He raised an eyebrow at me. “Why? You don’t know why?”
“I can only imagine what sort of logic goes through your little pea brain. Why don’t you spell it out for me?”
I thought hurt flickered across his face, but I wasn’t sure. “I wanted to protect you. I didn’t want you to be running around, trying to find the guy on your own. I thought if we went out together, that’d be okay, but then if we didn’t find him, you might go when I wasn’t around. I’ve been worried about you.” He held up a hand before I could protest. “I know you can take care of yourself and you don’t need me to protect you. But that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t worry something might happen.”
I pressed my lips together. “Well, now what?”
“They know who it is. I guess someone recognized the scent. Right now, they’re all going to arrest him. They had to find some kind of evidence so they could. You can’t just stroll up to a human and tell him you sniffed his scent at a crime scene.”
“Yeah. Sometimes, our secret’s a little inconvenient. Most times not, though.”
“Right. So, I guess that’s it. It’s over.”
“Now I’m allowed to run around without you worrying about me?”
“I would never stop you. But you can’t stop me from worrying, either.”
I sighed. “Okay, whatever. I could use a long run. You up for it? We’ve been cooped up inside all day.”
“All day?” He laughed. “It was a few hours.”
“It seemed like all day. Come on!”
I shifted back and took off, and he was right behind me. I ran hard. This was more for exercise than anything else. I didn’t know what to feel about the killer being found. It was a relief, but I was slightly disappointed I hadn’t gotten to help at all. I felt responsible as a member of the same species to pay this guy back for what he’d done to my fellow panthers, shifters or not. As long as they got the guy and he paid for what he did, I couldn’t be too upset. At least the park was safe again and Ezra wouldn’t have to worry.
I tried not to feel smug that I’d made him worry. It was sweet. He had lied and that pissed me off; he’d better not do that shit again, but at least he had a good reason. It wasn’t a lie to cover up something slimy he did; he was only trying to protect me. Couldn’t be too upset about that, either. It seemed
that things were kind of coming together, in a way I’d never expected. But new doesn’t have to be bad, I reminded myself. This is all new to me, but as long as it’s enjoyable, I’ll go with it.
As I ran, a familiar scent hit me like a slap in the face. I stopped so abruptly that the ground shifted and piled under my paws. Ezra bounded past me, then halted and spun to double back. He moved his nose, sniffing the same scent.
He shifted to human. “It’s fine,” he explained. “This is one of the trails they followed to get the killer.”
I shifted back, too, so I could talk to him. “You sure? It’s pretty fresh.”
He nodded. “I checked with Mason before shifting back. He says the area is clear. The killer wasn’t at home, but they have information on his location.”
“So, he’s still at large. He could be anywhere.” I looked around as if he’d come walking out of the woods behind me.
“Nah. So many people are looking for him, and there are patrols all over the park. He’s human, so it’s not like he could just run by someone who didn’t know. Every vehicle coming or going is being checked.”
I raised an eyebrow. “You know just as good as me that there are plenty of other ways into this park.”
He pressed his lips together. “Maybe we should go back then. Just to be safe until they have the guy behind bars.”
“It felt good to run while we could.”
“Yeah,” he agreed. “We’ll get to run back.”
“Care to race?”
He chuckled. “No. You run faster than me all the time. It’s not a fair contest.”
I pulled my mouth to the side. “Okay, then. Let me prove that I can have fun.”
He tilted his head. “I’m listening.”
I let the playfulness show in my eyes. “A game of shifter hide and seek?”
He grinned. “You’re on.”
“Close your eyes and count to five.”
“Five? How about like ten or twenty, at least.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Didn’t you just say how fast I was?”
