So Far Gone in You(Primal Heat 2)(7)

“Just give it another thirty minutes, and I’ll call in about the coyotes again,” the second man said.

Coop and Karidon glanced at each other. From his friend’s expression, Karidon was just as confused as Coop.

Coop shrugged. There was only one way to find out what those guys wanted. He stood and cleared his throat. “I hear you gentlemen are looking for me.”

The two strangers spun, their eyes slightly widened before the large one without the moles started forward.

Karidon hopped to his feet and waved. “Heya, fellas.”

The mole guy started forward then.

Coop calculated what he would have to do in order to take the big one down when the guy pulled a gun. Fun over. Coop wasn’t carrying. He ditched to the right when the large stranger shot at him.

Karidon dropped as well but dodged to the left. They both scrambled to stay low and get away. If Coop made it to Karidon’s Jeep, he was going to get the shotgun under the seat and blast their fool heads off.

Who in the hell were they, and why were they targeting him and Karidon?

Another shot rang out. Coop ducked, but he didn’t get out of the way in time. He gritted his teeth as he clutched his arm. They’d drawn blood.

“Coop!” Karidon shouted.

The guy knew better than to make any noise when enemy was around. Did Karidon have a death wish? Coop removed his hand and looked at the wound. He’d just been grazed.

That didn’t mean it hurt any less. His arm throbbed painfully. He hadn’t expected to run into men with guns. Coop and Karidon had come here for a coyote problem.

He pressed his back into the thick tree he’d hidden behind. Coop glanced around and spotted Karidon. He was in leopard form. All sleek muscles and as quiet as a mouse. The leopard was moving in on the two guys, his head low, crawling forward.

This was about to get really bloody. But Coop had to stop Karidon from killing them. Dead men didn’t talk, and he wanted answers.

The wind shifted, and the two men scented the air. Their heads snapped around, and they found Karidon right behind them. The leopard attacked the one with the gun first. Coop dashed from behind the tree and grabbed the fallen gun before the mole guy could get it.

“Don’t kill him!” Coop shouted at Karidon. “We need to question him.”

He winced when the pain in his arm reminded him that it was there. How could I forget? He raised the gun at the shorter man, making sure the bastard stayed still.

Karidon backed off but stayed in his pose, ready to strike.

“Who sent you?” Coop asked with a snarl.

The guy on the ground barked, “You’re both dead men!”

Karidon moved forward and clamped his mouth over the man’s neck.

Coop turned to the other guy. “Okay, since he’s useless, you better tell me what I want to know, or I’ll put a bullet between your eyes.” Coop prayed he didn’t have to make good on his promise. He hated killing. He still hadn’t gotten over having to take down the last guy, and that had been two months ago.

But Coop never let anyone know what he was going through. Those were his burdens to carry.

“Talk,” Coop snapped.

“T–there’s a contract out on both of you.” The guy whistled out his words. “Big payout if we bring you in. Even bigger payout if we bring you both in dead.”

It took a minute for Coop to process what the guy had just told him. A contract? Who would put a hit out on him and Karidon? It didn’t make any sense.

“You’re not going to really kill me, are you?” His voice came out small and choked.

Coop glanced at Karidon. “I need you to shift.”

When Karidon was back in his human form, Coop said, “Grab your shirt and tie this one up by his wrists. Bind him to a tree.”

Coop swung around and aimed the gun at the large man lying on the ground. “Don’t get up.”

After the smaller guy was tied up, Coop handed the gun to Karidon and proceeded to question the talkative man further. “Who put the hit out?”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” the large prone man shouted.

Whistle man winced and then glanced at Coop. “Don’t know. The contract is real, but we heard about it through the grapevine.”

“They’re McBride leopards,” Karidon said after hefting the large man from the ground and making him hug the tree. He tied the second guy’s wrists and then turned to Coop. “We need to get out of here. If what they’re saying is true, then we’ve got big problems.”

Yeah, they’d have not only McBride leopards coming after them, but their own as well—if the payout was as big as these men claimed. Coop scratched at his beard as he tried to figure out what he’d done to deserve such attention.