Amy Blankenship - Night Light

Warren heard the tightness in Quinn’s voice. “After the fight at the warehouse, I’m not that surprised.” His phone buzzed causing both men to jump and realize just how tense they were. He pulled the cell phone out of his jeans pocket.

“Hello,” Warren said into the cell phone and then nodded after a moment. “Okay, we’ll go check it out.” He hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket. “That was Nick, seems they found an underground tunnel under the church.”

“We should go check it out,” Quinn stated trying to ignore the fact that his skin was crawling with adrenalin and he hadn’t a clue where it had come from.

The distinct scream of a jaguar pierced the quiet night making both men freeze in their tracks. They turned their heads in the direction of the sound before looking at each other.

“Kat!” they exclaimed in unison.

Warren immediately removed the cell phone from his pocket and placed it in an elastic holster around his ankle.

There was no hesitation and a few seconds later the two men had shifted and were racing down the street. People screamed and ran to get away from the huge cats, causing quite a commotion. Quinn took the lead and ran out into traffic causing a car to slam on its brakes. The car behind it crashed into the first one from behind, creating a chain reaction.

Warren leapt onto the hood of the first car and glanced in to make sure the people were all right before chasing Quinn across the roadway.

The driver of the car was shaken by what just happened and picked up his cell phone.

*****

Jason was bored out of his mind. Nothing had really happened for the last few days and with Tabby and Envy out of town, he was going stir crazy.

When the phone rang he nearly jumped out of his skin and quickly reached over to answer it.

“Ranger station,” Jason said in a dull voice.

“Yes,” a shaky voice answered. “I’d like to report something unusual.”

Jason mentally sighed and grabbed a pen and paper. “Okay, tell me what you saw, sir.”

“The damnedest thing I’ve ever seen,” the man said breathlessly. “I just saw a cougar and a jaguar running loose in the middle of town. I slammed on my brakes when the cougar ran out in front of me and a jaguar appeared on the hood of my car, looked at me, and then took off after the cougar.”

“It’s probably another escape from the zoo,” Jason said, even though that was a lie they told the public to hide the fact that the city seemed to be teaming with dangerous wildlife these days.

“No,” the man exclaimed. “The jaguar had a cell phone strapped to its hind ankle.”

Jason looked up at the other ranger in the office with him, Jacob Savage.

“So you’re saying the jaguar had a cell phone strapped to its leg?” Jason asked.

Jacob nearly choked on his coffee and set the cup down, wiping his nose indicating that some of the liquid had gone up into it.

“That’s exactly what I’m saying!” The man shrieked loud enough for Jacob to hear it.

Jason nodded, “All right sir, calm down. You said it ran off, so you’re safe. Thank you for calling, we’ll look into it.”

Jason hurriedly hung up the phone and stared at it for a moment like the device was going to jump up and eat him.

“Alrighty then,” Jacob managed after he cleared up his coughing fit.

*****

Warren finally caught up with Quinn just as they neared an alley were Kat’s scent was the strongest. Rounding the corner, they were just in time to witness Kat rip the throat out of one vampire and an enormous bear drive its huge claws through the chest of another. The bear claw came out the backside of the vampire, clutching the vampire’s bloody heart before squeezing it like a water balloon.

Kat blinked, realizing somehow during the fight… the vampires had multiplied. She barely had time to take a breath before she was attacked by one of the remaining vampires. She released a primal scream when the sharp fangs dug into her flank. Her claws pierced the back of the attacking vampire trying to pry him off. Suddenly, the weight on her side was gone and she fell over, passing out from pain, blood loss, and exhaustion.

Quinn saw the vampire attack Kat and felt rage well up in his chest. He ran down the alley not caring if Warren was with him or not. Tackling the vampire to the ground, he snarled menacingly in its face before ripping into its neck with his sharp teeth. He could feel its claws digging at him in panic but he didn’t care as he kept ripping. Tossing the head aside, he turned back to Kat and growled.

Trevor had made short work of the last vampire, ripping it apart until there was nothing left but a headless, limbless torso. He looked up when he heard Kat scream then saw a cougar pounce on the vampire attacking her. When she transformed back into her human form, Trevor moved to stand over her nude and unconscious body, hunching down to protect her from further attack.

A deep growl caught his attention and he met the gaze of a very angry cougar stalking toward him with a very obvious intent to kill… Quinn Wilder.

Due to the fight, Trevor was tired and that made his reflexes slow. He wasn’t able to drive Quinn off and took the full force of the attack in the side. Trevor was knocked across the alley and into the brick wall for the second time that night.

Trevor growled and was able to stand up on his hind legs for a total of two seconds before he leaned back and slid down to the ground. Quinn was coming closer and he didn’t want to shift back in front of the cougar but knew he had to. Kat would eventually tell them anyway… so what did he have to lose? Unable to see his wounds under all the fur, he slowly shifted back and tried once more to rise to his feet.

Quinn paused when he saw the human male from the bar… Warren had called him Trevor. He hissed when his sense of smell told him that Trevor wasn’t a normal shifter… or at least not any kind he’d ever run across. Not knowing what he was up against didn’t do much for easing his temper.

He took another step forward but Warren strode into his line of sight and approached Trevor, shifting back to human form as he did so. When Trevor swayed, Warren grabbed him by the arm and brought it over his shoulder. He hadn’t seen a reason to let Quinn kick a man while he was down.

Trevor looked up at Warren and smirked when he realized their predicament. “Fine mess, now were all naked,” he murmured and promptly passed out.

Warren shook his head and couldn’t help but grin because Trevor had a very good point. It was times like this he was glad he brought his cell phone with him and carried it in the fashion he did. He gently set Trevor against the wall and was about to get the cell phone when he heard Quinn start growling.

Quinn had shifted and was looking over Kat’s unconscious form. Her clothes were a few feet away, shredded by her transformation and not wearable. Deciding to think on that later, Quinn started examining her wounds and paused when he saw the blood still oozing from her inner thigh.

Moving her leg just enough to examine where the blood was coming from, he froze when he saw a mating mark. The growl erupted from his throat before he could stop it. Someone had mated Kat, given her the mark and abandoned her.

Quinn felt jealousy rise up deep inside and leaned close to sniff her skin to see if the scent still lingered. That only infuriated him even more… she didn’t smell like another man, she smelled wonderful.

Looking up at the other man Warren was crouched in front of, Quinn wondered if the mating mark was given to her by the blonde bearshifter.