rescue.
She glanced up to see the female jaguar in a tree. Maya growled at the cat, but she didn’t move and just twisted her ears back and forth, watching Maya. Jaguars called to each other when they wanted to mate or growled over territory or called as males fighting over a female. Maya had no way of telling this jaguar she wasn’t safe where she was. Then again, if the hunters chased Maya, maybe the jaguar would be secure up there.
Glad to see that the other jaguar was still alive, Maya loped away from the jaguar’s hiding place. The problem was Bettinger. He could track the other cat by smelling where her scent led.
The sound of two ATVs, a pop of gunfire, and a resounding crack as the bullet slammed into a tree only inches from Maya’s nose made her dash deeper into the shelter of the woods as her heart skipped beats.
The sky was beginning to lighten some with the approach of daylight while dark thunderclouds still stretched across the area as Wade, David, George, and a tranquilized Candy arrived at the sprawling ranch. The grasslands were dotted with mesquite and oak, with the forest of mostly pine rising nearly a hundred feet above them. Wade noted the high fences, twelve feet tall. They’d have to cut through them.
“Wire cutters?” Wade asked George, his heart thundering.
George shook his head.
“We can’t go in the front entrance. Not until we have backup.” Wade contacted Martin. “We’re here. No wire cutters.”
“I’ve finally reached more of our people, and the men are on the way. They’ll be there in a half hour. Get in any way you can.”
“All right.”
Wade told David, “You wait here for the other guys and coordinate their actions. And have someone take charge of Sleeping Beauty.”
“Will do.”
Wade turned to George. “You and I are going to shift and look for another possible way in. With the remoteness of the ranch, we should be good to go. But it’ll be full daylight soon.”
“Okay.” George started stripping and so did Wade. Within seconds, the two had shifted into their jaguar form.
David turned off the car’s overhead light, then opened the door for Wade and George. “Good luck,” David said to Wade and nodded to George, wishing him the same.
Wade and George took off running along the fence, searching for a way in.
A mile beyond where they parked the car, they found that the fence was stretched across a lake. Cats wouldn’t normally dive below the wire mesh. But as long as the fence didn’t reach the bottom of the lake, Wade and George should be able to swim underneath it.
Wade took a breath, then dove. The mesh was only sunk two feet deep, and Wade quickly swam underneath it and up to the other side. If he could locate Maya, he’d bring her here where she could swim to safety.
When he surfaced, lightning flashed and a boom of thunder struck overhead. The rain came down in a torrent.
George came up beside Wade, and they paddled toward shore. Wade spied a body floating facedown in the water. One of the hunters? Maya must have had some luck. He was glad there was one less hunter to worry about, though he had hoped the hunters would be arrested for their crimes.
Once on the grassy bank, Wade and George shook off the excess water. That was useless with the rain pouring down, but it was a natural instinct they couldn’t curb. They ran straight into the woods surrounding the lake, and Wade roared for Maya. If his calls brought the hunters down on him, so much the better. He’d distract them from her.
Maya’s responding call sounded like the sweetest music to his ears. But the report of a rifle firing near her location forced his adrenaline to run hot through his veins. He and George leaped into action and headed for the distant sound of a rifle firing again and a man yelling, “Woo-hoo! Almost got you!”
The sound of an ATV’s engine was headed away from Wade and George as the hunter tried to run down the jaguar he’d spotted.
Before Wade could go after the hunter, a growl from his left flank warned him that another cat was nearby. The deepness of the growl meant it was male.
Wade swung around to face the jaguar, just as he got a whiff of his scent and Bettinger attacked. Jaws clashing, claws slashing, snarling like wild cats, they came to blows with Wade fighting as he never had before.
While Wade battled the jaguar, George took off after the hunter armed with the rifle in the vehicle.
Lightning illuminated the forest in an eerie, ghostly way as the water poured from the dark heavens.
The two cats broke off, snarling and hissing. Another shot was fired. Damn it.
Wade was waiting for the cat to make a fatal move, but Bettinger seemed to be of the same mind. Wade had thought Bettinger would be eager to chase after Maya and kill her. But maybe Bettinger would take even greater pleasure in killing Wade first and then going after the she-cat.
Wade sprang with his powerful legs and landed on the jaguar’s right side as Bettinger scrambled to get away. He bit into Bettinger’s flank.
Bettinger swung his paw at Wade and missed, then stood partially on his hind legs, claws extended, and scratched at Wade.
Wade swung away, leaping out of the path of Bettinger’s claws, and circled him, tail swishing.
A crash in the distance caused both cats to look in the direction of the noise. The ATV was no longer moving, but the engine was still rumbling.
Wade pivoted to face Bettinger before his focus returned to the fight. Wade jumped at Bettinger’s back, tearing at his spine with his massive canine teeth and powerful jaws. The jaguar’s preferred target was the skull for larger animals—the quickest way to bring down their prey. This would have to suffice.
Bettinger attempted to shake Wade off, trying to get out from under the attacking cat, but Wade was relentless, sinking his claws deep into the other cat’s flesh like oversized fishhooks. He had to end this now. To get to Maya.
Bettinger collapsed on his belly, and Wade struck the fatal blow: one growl, a bite into the back of the neck, and a hiss as a final adieu. He waited as Bettinger shifted from his cat form into his human one.
They’d have to return for his body later. Wade took off, following the sounds of another ATV still in pursuit of a cat, and heard more gunfire. He roared for Maya.
No responding roar from Maya. His heart stuttered as he raced in the direction of the moving vehicle. Then she roared back.
Thank God she was still all right. He ran through the trees, sure she’d stick to them to be shielded from the hunter in the vehicle.
The rain was still pouring down. Streaks of sharp, white light striking the ground in the distance alternated with voluminous sheets that blanketed the whole sky for a second or two like a light switch turned on and then off.
Resounding booms shook the earth.
He saw movement, heard a low growl, and stopped, glancing to his left. A female jaguar was sitting in a tree. Not Maya. He hoped the cat would stay there until this was all over. He again ran off to where he’d heard gunfire and saw an ATV smashed into a tree, the engine rumbling, but no sign of the hunter. Wade was surprised the hunter hadn’t suffered serious injuries, considering how bad the wreck looked. At least Wade was glad the hunter was now on foot. They didn’t want to kill the human hunters, though. Well, they would have liked to just because they were trying to kill the cats. But they couldn’t without causing problems for the jaguars.
Wade heard a low growl and saw George standing some distance from Maya. She was growling at George, not knowing he was on their side. Wade nudged George in greeting to show Maya he was friend, not foe, and then ran to join her. They quickly nuzzled each other, rubbing their bodies together, sharing their scent—two big, wet cats.
Maya was panting and purring, and he wanted desperately to get her to safety.
