Wild Cat

He’d never forget the horror of watching Jobe, a towering giant of a man, get to his knees and lay his pistol on the floor in front of ten guys armed with various pistols and shotguns. Then the greater horror of watching Jobe buckle as a bullet went into him, his blood bursting onto the white carpet of the hotel room.

“They shot me too,” Diego said, the words stiff. “I lived. Jobe didn’t. He was my closest friend, and I should have been taking care of him.”

The counselors were supposed to help Diego deal with his pain and guilt. They’d told him that he needed to see the shooting in a larger context, but Diego knew damn well that there was no larger context.

Diego hadn’t thought there were more than two men in that hotel room, had thought that he and Jobe could bring them in without much trouble. An easy bust.

He hadn’t known until he’d burst in, twenty steps ahead of Jobe, that the men who’d rented the penthouse had sneaked half a biker gang up there for a party. When Diego had entered by himself, one Sig to their arsenal, the bikers had decided to play the game of Hang the Stupid Cop off the Balcony.

Jobe had called for backup, but instead of waiting for them, he’d tried to rescue Diego himself, terrified for his partner. Jobe had paid the price.

Diego had expected to get dismissed from the force, but even after the department’s investigation into what had happened, the police chief decided to turn Diego and Jobe into heroes. Jobe deserved it, yes, but Diego didn’t. The counselors could placate Diego all they wanted to, but Jobe was dead because of Diego, and Diego knew it.

“It pains you,” Cassidy said. “I know this pain. What happened to the ones who shot you?”

“They got away.” Diego tasted bitterness. “They ran off while Jobe and me were bleeding to death in the hotel room.”

“Did you try to go after them?”

Hell, yes. “By the time I was out of the hospital and could function again, they were long gone, to Mexico or Central America. I was taken off the case and ordered to stop looking.”

Cassidy rested her head on her knees and looked at him. “But you didn’t.”

“No. I never will.”

“Good for you.”

Her approval ignited a spark in his heart. Diego had kept it to himself that he was still tracking the men who’d killed Jobe, because he’d get all kinds of hell for it. The department had told him firmly to leave it alone.

The fact that this Shifter woman approved of what Diego did made him feel strangely warm, but there wasn’t much normal about Cassidy Warden.

No, strange was sitting next to a beautiful naked woman in the middle of the woods. She had amazing eyes, the green in them changing with her emotions. Her lashes were dark, but her hair held the light of sunshine.

Diego wanted to see her hair spread over his pillow, wanted to open his eyes in the morning and look into her green ones while she smiled at him. Maybe when her probation was over, he could take her to the Mount Charleston cabin a cop friend let him borrow from time to time, where they could drink hot toddies under blankets. He’d bet she’d look good snuggled up with him under a blanket.

Cassidy inhaled, and her eyes softened. “You want me.”

Diego’s heart beat faster. “It’s that obvious?”

“You throw off pheromones like crazy.” Cassidy touched his shoulder, the lightest brush. “You smell good.”

So did she. Her hair was warm, so near his lips. Her body moved against his. Diego could lift her hair in his hands, feel the warmth of the back of her neck, kiss the lips that turned up to him so readily.

He touched her cheek…

Cassidy jerked away, but not because of Diego. She riveted her attention to the trees, her body completely still.

“What is it?” he whispered.

Cassidy noiselessly rose in front of him. Diego got a great view of her tapered back, fine ass, and long, strong legs as she scanned the night.

“Can you smell that?” she asked.

Diego sniffed, but all he caught was pine, damp earth, and Cassidy’s warmth. “No.”

She gestured, keeping her hand close to her body. “Something in those rocks down the hill. Not the trackers, not Eric.”

Diego lifted his rifle. He had a starlight scope on it; nothing too high-tech, but there was enough moonlight out here to help him pick things out pretty clearly.

At the bottom of the hill and about twenty yards to the right was the outcropping of jagged rocks they’d climbed around to get up here. Diego trained his scope over it, picking up the movement of a rabbit, the flutter of an owl.

And something upright and human-shaped. “Got him,” Diego said. “It’s not a Shifter?”

At the same time Cassidy said, “No,” Diego knew it wasn’t.

The silhouette didn’t have the bulk of any of the Shifters he’d seen so far, and it moved too smoothly. It also burned bright hot, showing vivid green through the scope. Something with a temperature warmer than a human’s, maybe hotter even than a Shifter’s.

The man rose, turned, and raised his arms in a stance Diego recognized.

“Down!” He grabbed Cassidy and was on top of her, both of them facedown, as a bullet pinged on the rock she’d been standing next to.

“Sharpshooter,” he whispered into her ear. “He the same one from the construction site?”

“I don’t know.” Cassidy wriggled against him as she tried to raise her head to look.

Diego pinned her with his weight. “Stay down.”

“Let me shift.”

“He can shoot you in your animal form as fast as he can shoot your human form.”

“Yes, but I move better as a cat. You shoot at him, keep him looking your way, and I’ll get around behind him.”

“Screw that, Cassidy. No way am I letting you get anywhere near him.”

Cassidy turned her head to look at Diego. The rocks had scratched her cheek, and her face was smeared with dirt and blood. “Then what are we going to do? Lie here all night?”

“No, we’re going to lie here while I call for backup.”

Cassidy’s look turned to a glare. She thought that backup meant police.

“Screw you, Diego.”

She started to shift. It was bizarre being on top of her naked back as her body contorted into the lithe, furry one of the wildcat. Diego felt strength pour into Cassidy’s limbs, then he toppled off her as Cassidy scrambled to her feet.

“Damn it, Cassidy. Stay here.”

Cassidy snarled. Her ears went flat on her head, teeth bared-long, sharp, scary-looking teeth.

Another bullet pinged next to Diego’s shoulder. Cassidy leapt on Diego, sending him down to the dirt. Now she was on top of him. Her snarl softened, sounding admonishing rather than angry.

Staying close to the ground, Cassidy stepped off Diego and flowed away from him. She slunk down the hill, moving rapidly, and was almost instantly lost to sight.

Diego lifted the tranq rifle. The rifle shot only one dart at a time, and its range wasn’t great, but it had a scope. Otherwise, Diego couldn’t see a damn thing out here.

Diego drew his Sig, keeping the rifle on his shoulder at the same time. He found the shooter through the scope, the man still holding whatever powerful weapon he had. Diego brought up his pistol over the rifle’s barrel. He knew he didn’t have a chance in hell at hitting his target with the Sig, but maybe the noise and flying bullets would keep the shooter distracted. He shot.

The report was loud, and the shooter ducked. Two seconds later, another bullet chipped rock somewhere above Diego’s head.

He started to swear in Spanish, his preferred language for venting. No one could vent like Diego’s mother, and