Jennifer Ashley - Wild Cat

“What’s this alpha’s name?” Diego asked. “And what kind of Shifter is he?”

“He’s a bear. Calls himself Miguel. He said he chose the name of one of the humans’ archangels. Thought it was funny.”

“Sounds like a smart-ass. Where is this factory?”

“Five miles west of here. There’s only one road that goes there. Hard to miss.”

“You’re being very open about it.”

The bartender shrugged. “What have I got to lose? The dealers used my place as a base, and then the Shifters laid siege to them here. They killed my brother and took my daughter.”

“Did you all try to fight back?”

“Sure. The dealers left a pile of weapons. But the Shifters were too fast, too strong. We held out for a while, then…” He shrugged, a man defeated. “If you’re thinking of fighting them, you won’t last long. Get out while you can-just some friendly advice. Go back to America where you can be rich and safe.”

Diego had never considered himself rich, and he knew just how “safe” the streets of his city were. Everything was relative, he supposed.

Diego walked outside in the night to make another phone call, but he couldn’t get through to Eric. Shifters were allowed to have cell phones, but they had old models without much power. Or maybe Diego’s sat phone wouldn’t connect with them for some reason.

Shane came out after him. He wore a pair of jeans that looked too small-a gift from the bartender. “You should get out of here, Diego, and let me take care of this. Have Marlo fly you back home.”

“And leave Cassidy and my brother? No way in hell.”

“I understand how you feel, Diego, but these are ferals. You have no idea what you’re fucking with. One, you might be able to handle. A group of them, you can’t.”

“What does feral mean exactly-they didn’t take Collars?”

“More than that. Even a Collared Shifter can go feral, but it’s rare. The Collar usually stops the violence. Feral means a Shifter living by his animal instincts, suppressing the human ones. It usually starts with giving up bathing.”

“Yeah, I smelled them.”

Shane rubbed his lip. “But these are different from other ferals I’ve seen. Most of them run off on their own and eventually die. This is a group of ferals, different species living together. That’s weird. We hated each other in the wild, couldn’t get along. We barely get along now.”

“Whatever they are, I’m not leaving. Cassidy went with them to protect Xavier. I’m not abandoning either of them.”

Shane regarded Diego quietly for a moment, then nodded. “I see that. I’m glad.”

Diego assessed the dark street. Aside from the few lights in the cantina behind him, the town was unnaturally silent and dark. He imagined it had been lively at one time, with the townspeople emerging from their houses at night, enjoying the cool evenings before having to face the heat of the day once more.

He slung the shotgun on its strap over his shoulder and loaded his pistol with a fresh magazine. The Shifters would know he was coming-Shane was right about that.

But like hell he’d let these Shifters do to Xavier and Cassidy what the drug runners had done to Jobe. Same situation, different place.

“What now?” Shane asked.

“We go find them.”

Shane looked surprised. “You’re not going to wait for Eric?”

“I can’t reach Eric. I’ll have Marlo start trying to get him, but we need to scout, find Cassidy and Xavier’s exact positions, and figure out a way to extract them.”

“I get that. But, like I said, we can’t sneak up on them. This Miguel will have trackers everywhere, and these Shifters are going to be more animal than human.”

“If they’ll see us coming, we can use that. Do you want to shoot or shift? I need you in the best shape, so which one will least likely set off your Collar?”

Shane shrugged. “I’ve never shot anyone, so I don’t know. I can only fight a few minutes with the Collar, and the hangover is a bitch.” Shane already looked pretty green now.

Diego handed him the extra shotgun. “Then you shoot. Aim for the chest-think of it as a triangle from shoulders to groin, and aim for the middle. Doesn’t really matter if you’re a dead shot. We just need to take them down long enough to get Cassidy and Xav out of there.”

Shane took the shotgun, holding it gingerly. “I’ll try.”

“If you think it’s better you ditch it and shift, you do it.”

Shane eyed the weapon. “Got it.” Diego suspected he’d be ditching and shifting.

“We’re getting her free, Shane,” he said.

Shane nodded, giving Diego a look of new respect. “Damn right we are.”

Cassidy didn’t sleep. Xavier woke up, saw Cassidy next to him in leopard form, raised his head, and opened his mouth to speak.

Cassidy put a heavy paw on his chest and fixed him with a stern look. Whether Xavier understood her signals or simply was smart enough to realize that keeping quiet was best, he lay back down and said nothing.

The night dragged on. The Shifters were restless, going in and out of the building, fading in and out of the darkness. A female bear came in to see Miguel. She glanced over at Cassidy lying quietly with Xavier, and quickly looked away, but Cassidy smelled her fear. The female was worried that Cassidy would displace her.

Don’t worry, honey. I am so out of here.

Diego would have contacted Eric by now. Help would be on the way.

Cassidy held on to that hope as night slid into day. The sun came up and things began to warm.

Miguel came to her as a sunbeam sliced down on her from a crack in the ceiling. “About time I made good on the mate-claim,” he said.

Cassidy didn’t bother shifting back to human. She gave Miguel a disdainful look from her cat’s eyes and lowered her head to lick one paw.

Miguel laughed. “I like them with sass. Tastier when they go down.”

Dangerous games. Forcing the mate-claim was against Shifter rules, but rules didn’t always stop a Shifter in a mating frenzy, and Cassidy knew that in this place, Miguel made his own rules. However, making Miguel focus on the mate-claim would distract him from Xavier. If Miguel fixed on his frustration with Cassidy, Xavier might have a chance to run. Tricky, but it might work.

Cassidy yawned, putting every bit of nonchalance into it she possibly could. A female not very impressed with a male. She started grooming her paw again, and Miguel chuckled.

“Oh, it’s going to be so good with you, sweetheart. So damn good.” Still chuckling, Miguel walked away. Only when he was all the way across the room again did Cassidy let herself shudder.

Never with you, asshole. Not only are you an idiot, but, Goddess, you stink.

Diego managed to get the jeep running by dawn. He gave the drug runners their greatest wish when he and Shane loaded them into the jeep, and Diego drove back to the airstrip.

He shackled the bikers under a wooden awning just off the dirt runway and left them to be looked after by Marlo’s friend. Marlo cheerfully got the plane running and he, Shane, and Diego took off, heading north and west.

They located the half-finished factory west of the village, right where the bartender had said it would be. A couple of walls had been built and part of a roof, but the rest of the building looked skeletal or had started to fall apart. No Shifters were in sight, but Diego knew they’d hear the plane.

After a few passes, Diego directed Marlo to take them back to the airstrip.

Shane was gloomy as they disembarked. “There’s no cover at all,” he said. “We can’t sneak up on them, and even if we wait for dark, they’ll smell us and hear us. Plus Shifters can see in the dark way better than you can.”