“Are you all right?” John’s dark brows were drawn together. He reached out and stroked her hair back from her forehead.
“Yeah.”
“Did you find out anything new?” If Grant was in cat form, his tail would be lashing with excitement.
“I learned his name, but I don’t think it’s his real name. He said ‘I call myself Janus’ and claims to have a secret to tell me about my connection to him.”
“Janus, like the Greek god, the gatekeeper in charge of beginnings and endings.” John took her hand and pulled her to a sitting position while Grant offered her a bottle of water.
Sherrie drank deeply then wiped her mouth on the back of her hand. “Janus. Isn’t that the one with two faces? That could mean something. If this man lives somewhere other than a cave in the physical world, he’d show one face to the people around him and keep the other hidden.” Grant’s hand rested on her leg. John’s pressed against her back, completing the circuit. The low-grade power thrummed among the three of them. Between their touch and the liter of water, her battery had been recharged.
“I don’t understand what special connection we have, but he wants me to go to him without you two. I think I should do it. You could hide nearby and, after I get him talking and distracted, you can rush in and capture him.”
John was already shaking his head. “No way you’re facing him alone.”
“I’m not saying that. You’ll be close, ready to attack. We’ll find a way to subdue him then figure out what has to be done to free the people he’s holding captive.”
“If he’s capable of causing an avalanche, who knows how much power he possesses,” John argued.
“What’s your plan, Walker?” Grant snarled. “Sit back and wait until he’s wiped out both our clans?
We have to make some kind of move and soon.”
“I’m merely suggesting a little reconnaissance first. Scope out the area and get a visual on Janus before we send Sherrie in unarmed and with no real plan.”
“Fine. I’ll go ahead.” The panther turned on a dime, conceding the point. “I’m faster. I’ll check him out and report back to you. Maybe I can even take him down without involving Sherrie at all.” He was already stripping down, ready to shift into animal form. Sherrie had often been told she was impulsive. Grant Perron made her seem unwaveringly stable.
“Wait. I think the three of us should stick together as long as possible,” she protested. “Splitting up now wasn’t what I had in mind. The combination of the three of us seems to be an important part of this.
We haven’t even discussed what happened in the ravine.”
“We shared power. And I’m ready to use my share of it.” Grant’s naked body began to shimmer; his face grew long and catlike.
“How do you even know where to go?” she called.
“Fucking cats!” John cursed as Grant loped away. “They never listen and they never plan ahead.” Sherrie watched the mountain lion’s tawny body bounding from rock to rock as it disappeared up the slope. She shivered, and a feeling of dread filled her. Intuition told her splitting up was the wrong thing to do. Evidently, Grant’s intuition said something else.
Time would prove which of them was right.
Chapter Eight
It felt good to stretch his muscles and push his body to its limit. Grant raced uphill, finding precarious footing on the slippery shale before leaping away as it crumbled beneath him. The usual sense of power he experienced while in animal form was even stronger now, enhanced by the sex he’d shared with Sherrie and Walker. The compounded energy had given him a jolt like a caffeine fix. Now he wanted to use that energy to rend Janus limb from limb. Whatever he was, whoever he was, he was going to pay for what he’d done to Marina and the others.
He counseled himself to use caution. Killing the man before they learned the extent of his power over the individuals in comas was not the plan. But knowing that didn’t ease the bloodlust pumping through Grant’s veins.
Reaching the top of the ridge, he padded along with his nose to the ground, inhaling all the delicious aromas of the forest. He was starving. The gopher snack earlier hadn’t stuck with him, but there wasn’t time to hunt now. He could feel his target getting closer. In his subconscious, the dream traveler guided him where he needed to go, his own innate knowledge sending him along the ridge toward the caves that honeycombed this part of the mountain.
Janus’s dark aura drew him. Grant wanted to see him face to face, needed to see he was solid and real, a being with a body that could be mauled and shredded. He was so focused on his goal he didn’t register his attacker until the other panther leaped on him from its perch on higher ground. Claws raked his back, and teeth dug into his neck before he could twist around to fight. It was a full-blooded wild animal, not a shifter, and therefore smaller than him, but that didn’t make its bite any less lethal.