She staggered to her feet and over to him, heart pounding. Crouching by his side, she wiped rubble and blood off his face.
His eyes opened and fixed on hers. "You all right?"
"Yeah. What about you?" She dabbed at a wound on his temple, and her fingers came away smeared with the blood that welled from the deep gash.
John knelt beside her. Taking off the pack that had miraculously remained on his back, he pulled out a bottle of water and a spare T-shirt. He moistened the cloth and wiped Grant's face, patting the open wound carefully. The other man hissed and grabbed the shirt from him to take over the job himself.
Sherrie sat back on her heels and looked around. The sheer face of the mountain rose on either side of them. The path they'd climbed toward the caves was cut off by boulders, and the way into the crevasse was sealed behind them with more rocks. They were hemmed in on all sides in a natural stone prison. Perhaps in their animal form either John or Grant might have the strength to clamber over the rock fall, but Sherrie doubted it.
"We're trapped." She stated the obvious as she craned her neck to look up the wall of rock.
Somewhere at the top was the cave where their nemesis lived. Was this avalanche a coincidence or had he meant to kill or capture them?
John moved around the perimeter, pacing the limits of their enclosure. Perron got to his feet, tossing the bloodied T-shirt aside and scaled a pile of stony rubble. He attempted to climb over the boulder that had nearly crushed him.
"Damn it!" he roared in frustration as he fell back and landed on his feet.
"I told you rushing into this was a bad idea," John said. "Now we're trapped. I'm sure it's no accident."
Grant scowled and started to take off his shirt. "You can stand here and complain about being stuck.
I'm shifting and finding a way out."
Without another word, Walker followed his example, quickly stripping. Once again their bodies rippled. Charged static electricity lifted Sherrie's hair and made her arms prickle. Suddenly, she longed fiercely to be able to shift too. Into what form she had no clue, but the idea of releasing the primitive animal inside her to howl and run was deeply seductive.
She pressed back against the stone as the two wild beasts ranged around the pen in a similar way to their human counterparts. The wolf nosed the ground and whined as he searched for a break in the rock pile big enough to squeeze through. The big cat gathered its weight and sprang with a powerful thrust of his hind legs, but the leap carried him only halfway up the boulders. His nails scrabbled on stone before he fell back into the debris with a howl of rage, tail lashing.
There's no way out, but feed me their energies and I'll release you. The voice sounded in Sherrie's head as clearly as if she wore headphones. She clapped her hands to her ears. It was one thing to receive silent communications in a dream, but shocking in her waking life.
Join me, and together we can have limitless power.
Get out of my mind! She shook her head, clearing it of the seductive haze that had settled over her like morning mist. She was beginning to understand how this guy worked-a chance meeting, mesmerizing eye contact and next thing he was inside your mind, manipulating it. Well, she was too strong to give in to that.
Besides, her animal companions were starting to squabble. Perron brushed past Walker in his furious pacing to and fro, and the wolf bared his teeth and growled. In response, the giant cat roared. The pair faced off, hackles raised, their bodies tensed to attack.
"Hey!" Sherrie shouted. "Stop it!"
They ignored her and continued to stalk in a circle around each other, gazes locked together. John's menacing growl rumbled louder. Grant's ears were laid flat. He hissed and sprang at John, his huge body bowling him over. They wrapped around each other, teeth flashing, claws ripping, tumbling over and over.
The wolf managed to grip the cat's throat and pin him for a moment, but a heartbeat later, the much bigger panther was on top.
"Shit!" Sherrie could see John was going to get the worst of it since Grant outweighed him and had razor sharp cat-claws. She scooped up a rock and threw it at the fighting animals. It didn't slow them down.
They continued to bite and claw at each other with a ferocious noise that made gooseflesh rise on her skin.
Sherrie picked up a larger rock and heaved it at the panther's head. It crashed into his shoulder and knocked him sideways. The panther released his opponent and turned toward her, showing sharp fangs. Her heart pounded. At that moment, she was terrified for her life. These were two dangerous animals who might not remember their human side in the heat of battle.
"Stop fighting," she yelled. "This isn't helping."
The wolf crawled from beneath Perron's body and staggered to his feet, whining and shaking his head. One ear was bent and bleeding. The panther backed off, still hissing, before turning to lick his wounded flank.
"We have to work together to get out of here. Stop acting like idiots." She felt like the idiot, talking to a pair of animals as if they'd understand her. She wondered how much of their intellect was functioning.
Moving closer, she held out a hand toward each beast, palms open. She touched John's muzzle, the top of Grant's head, and stroked both soothingly. Soft fur caressed her palms and, once again, an electric charge entered her from contact with the two shifters. Lust, power, strength and awareness flowed through her.
Almost simultaneously, the two beasts began to change to human form. She felt the vibration, the twisting beneath her hands, and pulled away to watch while skin replaced fur and animal features became human once more.
Given their situation, she shouldn't have had a lustful thought to spare at the sight of their nude bodies, yet her body seemed to have a will of its own. One glimpse of John's dark-haired chest and groin and his semi-rigid cock made her stomach flutter. He bent his head to examine the clawed flesh on his side, and she longed to kiss his wound better. Grant looked just as sexy with his rumpled blond hair, one hand rubbing a band of tooth marks around his throat. An image of the pair of them locked together, not in combat, but in a sweaty sexual clinch, flashed in her mind. Liquid heat bloomed between her legs.
"Are you two quite finished?" she demanded, using anger to distract her from the mounting urgency of her desire. She threw a pair of jeans at Grant, and he caught them, but didn't put them on. They dangled from his hand as he stood like a glorious statue and examined their rocky prison.
"Maybe we could boost you up," John said. "You could find your way back to the Blazer and drive to town for help."
Sherrie stared at the imposing height. "I think we're pretty well trapped." She had a growing sense this was playing out exactly as it must and they'd find it impossible to escape their cage even if she was able to reach the top of the rock. They were trapped here together for a reason. Deep inside, she felt something was about to happen between her and these two men-a union that couldn't be stopped. It both frightened and excited her, but it was undeniable. Only together could they free themselves and overcome their enemy.
Chapter Six
Grant was near panic, although he'd never let the others know it. He hated being caged with a fiery passion. His palms were slick with sweat, and his breathing was shallow, but damned if he'd have a panic attack in front of Walker. He'd turned his fear into rage and directed it at the wolf. Rolling around on the ground biting and scratching had been better than falling apart. Now he scanned the top of the cliff wall and the morning sky overhead. Somewhere up there was the asshole who was playing with them like marionettes.
"Hey." Sherrie was suddenly beside him, offering a bottle of water from the knapsack. "You look really pale. Sit down and rest." She pressed her hand on his shoulder, and the warm contact distracted him from his apprehension. In two seconds flat, he went from near panic at the idea of being trapped to wanting her with a bone-shaking desire. His libido always ran hot, but his instant reaction to this woman was abnormal. More magic like the dream travel.
Grant stared down into her light green eyes then at her plump lower lip that beckoned him to kiss it.
Obeying his instinct, he dipped his head to cover her soft mouth with his. Potent energy passed between them. He closed his eyes and drank it in-until a hard hand thumped his shoulder, pushing him away.
"Hey!" Walker stood between them, fists clenched.
Sherrie grabbed his arm. "It's all right." She put her hand on his cheek, drawing his attention to her face, and repeated softly, "It's all right."
Rising on her toes, she kissed the wolf, a light peck at first that soon became a deep, searching kiss.