Madison Layle - Falke’s Captive

“Seven, actually,” Kelan muttered before he lifted his glass of beer. “Six brothers, one sister. One set of quads and a younger set of triplets.”

“Wow. Two sets of multiple births. Your mother must be one heck of a woman.”

Both brothers smiled. Kelan nodded.

“Do all of your brothers work at the store?”

“Yep,” Reidar answered.

“What in the world do you all do there? I mean, how many salesmen do you need?”

“It’s more than that. We also run the guide service,” Reidar reminded her with a smile. She’d honestly forgotten that part of it with all the excitement the last couple of days. “We do white water rafting, guided hikes. We have a cabin up in the mountains near a lake where we take tourists fishing.

That kind of thing.”

“Trout?” she asked.

“Yes. Mostly trout up there. You fish?” Kelan asked.

She nodded. “Yes, and I love fresh grilled trout. But I haven’t been fishing since I started college an eon ago.”

“We’ll take you up there, if you like,” Reidar said, then glanced at Kelan and frowned.

“I’d love that. But I really don’t have the time now. There’s so much to do, and summer doesn’t last forever.” An idea struck her. “Do you ever take folks in on guided hunts?”

“No,” Kelan answered.

“Oh.”

“Why?” Reidar wanted to know.

“Just wondering if you might help me find a wild cougar or two. They’re hard to come by, and I’ve only a limited time to work on this project.” Maybe if they saw what she did, that she wasn’t out to harm any animals, they’d be more willing to let her have access to Falke.

“What, exactly, do you do?” Kelan asked, setting his beer down and leaning forward.

She hadn’t dated anyone not involved in studies similar to her own in a very long time, and she didn’t want to bore these two. But what the hell? He’d asked. “I’m collecting information to write my dissertation on animal genetics, specializing in cougars here in the northwest. I have a masters in genetics and a bachelors in animal behavior. When Professor Whitmore asked me to be his assistant for his field work this summer, I jumped at the chance.” She sipped her drink and eyed both brothers.

“What about the genetics are you studying? And why here?” Reidar asked.

She smiled. “The Wenatchee forest because there is a fairly high cougar population. With luck, we can tag and get samples from at least a half dozen cats this summer. With lots of luck, it might be more than that. And then, in the bigger lab back at the U, we’ll run DNA testing to check their family lines, see if they’re inbreeding, or if there’s fresh blood entering the lines.”

“Cougars don’t live in family groups, though,” Kelan said. “How are you going to find a half dozen around here? As far as we know, Falke is the only one nearby.”

She tipped her head. “We’ll be moving the lab about every two weeks or so. This was our first stop, and there’ll be times we’ll have to take the ATV or hike deeper. There’s thousands of acres of the Wenatchee to explore, and I figure it’ll take at least two weeks to scope out each grid I’ve developed. But you’re right. I’ve worried about Falke’s territory. Having his scent around here could chase off others, at least other males who roam so extensively.” She sighed. “Now that we moved the lab and have better access to the forest, I’m hoping your Falke hasn’t roamed that far, since he’s… domesticated .” She raised an eyebrow in question. “How far does he roam?”

“Where’d you move the lab?” Kelan asked.

“To a forest fire base camp about ten miles outside of town, to start. We’ll still have to hike farther into the forests to search for signs, but Tim said he found some scat this morning near the site.”

“He did?” Reidar seemed surprised by that.

“Well, there’s four million acres to explore.” Kelan smiled and slid a sideways glance at his brother. “I’m sure you’ll find someplace Falke hasn’t been.”

She didn’t share his humor. “Where does Falke roam?”

Reidar answered. “Everywhere we go. He goes with us when we guide, usually along Icicle River, to the cabin at Red Dog Ridge, and pretty much all over the Alpine Lakes Wilderness area. He can sense danger sooner than we can, and he’s saved our asses more than once.”

She frowned then shook her head. “He’s still a wild animal.”

“No, he’s not. He’s a domesticated house cat who happens to be a cougar.”

“Your sister said he was born in captivity. But if you take him out in the wild, what if he found a mate out there? A female in heat would trump your pampering. He could run off until he’d secured his line.”

The brothers were silent for a minute, but then Kelan chuckled. “He doesn’t pay much attention to other cats, other than to warn us of their presence.”

“Excuse me? He isn’t fixed. I know that much from the exam I did.”

Reidar found that statement hilarious, nearly choking on his beer, but Kelan groaned and swiped his hand through his hair.

“I’m serious,” she insisted. “Are you going to get him neutered?”

“God, no!” Kelan said.

Reidar damn near fell out of his chair laughing, but Kelan looked serious. Overly serious.

“You can’t keep an animal that’s wild by nature as a house pet,” she continued in spite of the looks Reidar’s amusement drew from other tables. “It won’t work. Eventually he’ll go off to spread his seed.”

“No. He won’t,” was Kelan’s response, and it made her roll her eyes.

“You are outdoor guides,” she said calmly. “You should know the nature of things. Even so-called domesticated dogs can go feral. We had a dog when I was little, one that my dad always claimed was part coyote. She was my pet, my first dog. We raised her from a puppy, but you know what she did when she got pregnant? Her ingrained genetics told her to go find a den to have them.

She came home to eat, but then left every time. By the time I was able to follow her and we found her pups, they were almost a month old and as wild as any forest creature.”

“That’s dogs,” Kelan protested.

“Apples to oranges,” Reidar added, his tone more amused than irritated.

“Animals to animals,” she corrected. “It’s all in the genetics. You can’t stop Falke’s true nature, no matter how you’ve raised him. Some day he’ll catch the scent of a female in heat, and there’s nothing you’ll be able to do about it.”

Kelan silently stared at her for a long time, his arms crossed over his chest, his eyes intense.

“Maybe his genetics are different than others.”

She hesitated. “True, you have me there, which is why I’d like to take a second blood sample—”

“Not gonna happen.” Kelan shook his head to emphasize his statement.

She pressed her lips together. Back to square one. “Stubborn.”

Kelan smirked.

“His line has been domesticated for almost a hundred years,” Reidar said, drawing her attention away from his brother. “Back to our grandfathers’ time.”

“What about the mothers’ lines? Were they domesticated?”

“More than you can imagine,” Reidar said. His humor had gone, and his expression was damn near as intense as Kelan’s.

“Where’re they from? A zoo? Heidi said you didn’t have any others in captivity.” And everyone knew zoo animals weren’t exactly domesticated. They were as dangerous as those in the wild. Often more so because they weren’t afraid of humans.

The waiter arrived with salads and Reidar’s soup and set them in front of each person at the table.

A small silver dish followed hers, filled to the brim with ranch dressing. Her stomach growled. She picked up her fork then looked at each of the brothers.