Shifters’ Captive(37)

Grant yowled in pain and surprise, a resounding cry that echoed across the valley. He shook his body, trying to dislodge the other cat, but its fangs sank deeper into the back of his neck. The unprovoked attack wasn’t natural. This was no fight over hunting grounds. The mountain lions tended to stay out of the shifters’ way and vice versa. Grant knew in his gut the panther, like the rockslide, was controlled by Janus.

He rolled onto his back, crushing the other animal’s body beneath his. The cat’s jaw loosened, and Grant ripped away, leaving a chunk of flesh behind. He twisted and landed on his feet. Claws extended, he leaped toward his opponent. If he could pin the other panther on the ground, his superior weight would hold it no matter how it twisted. Then all he had to do was bite its throat.

The other beast regained its footing, and they came together with a clash of claws and fangs. Grant became one with his animal side as he bit and ripped and growled in rage. They clashed, the smell of blood and fur rising. Locked in a lethal embrace the two cats rolled over the ground, still snapping and snarling.

Jagged stones stabbed Grant, and sharp claws tore into him.

They landed at the edge of a steep drop off with his attacker on top. Jaws open wide, the animal bit down on Grant’s throat. Fangs slipped through his thick ruff of fur and punctured his neck.

He shook his head, trying to break the animal’s grip again, but the cat clung like a burr. Grant’s vision grew hazy and dimmed around the edges. Bested by a common mountain lion? Not going to happen. With a mighty flex of his muscles, Grant twisted and rolled. His opponent loosened its jaws and Grant pulled free again. He slashed with razor sharp claws at the other panther’s belly just as the ledge of rock crumbled from beneath him.

Both animals plunged off the side of the mountain, down the steep slope.



John held Sherrie’s hand and pulled her up the rock face. “Not much farther to the top.” The hair on his nape prickled at the sense of the dangerous entity nearby. His body felt electrified as if a big thunderstorm was coming. Part of the feeling was the pending confrontation with the unknown enemy and part was the aftermath of the threesome with Sherrie and Perron. Yes, there’d been the purely pleasurable sensations of sex, but also an incredible energy flowing among them, magnified as if each were contributing to it. The power filled him still. How he could use it he had no idea, but it seemed their combined strength might be enough to defeat Janus. Why else would Sherrie have been indicated as the necessary element in their battle against him?

“We’re getting close. Can you feel him?” Sherrie panted as they reached the top of the rocks.

John nodded and clasped her hand tighter as he led her into a stand of trees. Through the branches, he glimpsed the dark, open maw of a cave in the side of the mountain. It abruptly dawned on him that he should’ve brought guns from the sports shop. Coming here unarmed except for some possible mystical powers suddenly seemed like a vastly stupid idea. Maybe he couldn’t kill their enemy for fear of hurting his victims, but there was no reason he couldn’t take him down with a shot to the leg.

He pulled Sherrie down behind a thick tree trunk. “You stay here while I run ahead and take a look.”

“Wait. What?” She grabbed for his hand and held on, stopping him from leaving. “I don’t think that’s a good idea. We’ve already lost Grant from him going off half-cocked. I think it’s important the three of us stick together.”

“That’s why I’m not going far. I’ll circle around to the other side of the cave where I can get a better view, but I’ll be right back.”

Before Sherrie could protest again, he tugged free from her grip and trotted through the brush, staying outside the clearing by a good distance. Even in human form he could move through the woods nearly silently, and his hearing was keen enough to catch the slight rustle of a bird flying from branch to branch.

He looked through the green fringe of leaves at the black mouth of the cave. Was this a man or something else? Where had he come from, what was his plan and why had he decided to target shifters?

John heard the snap of a twig a moment before he felt the crackling jangle of lightning enter his body.

His body jerked and his brain went numb as electricity fired through him. He spun around to catch a glimpse of his attacker.

You! Recognition crashed over him before another jolt of the taser stole his consciousness and sent him crashing to the ground.





Chapter Nine


Stupid men. Sherrie peered around the trunk of the tree, trying to catch a glimpse of anything other than foliage. The woods were silent except for the tiny rustles of chipmunks or birds and the shrill of tree frogs. A deerfly buzzed around her head and she swatted it, flattening it against her neck with a slap that stung her sweaty flesh.