A Cougar Among Wolves (3 page)

“Some. The Goldspark clan is on the other side of the mountain.” Ryker shook his head. “I don’t think she’s one of them.”

“Why would she be here then?” Seth pursed his lips and stared at the slumbering enigma. Why would this incredible creature be all alone in the woods? And when did they put a tracker in her arm? Was it some kind of sick catch-and-release hunt? The pieces didn’t add up and dread flooded him. The risk the situation posed to the pack amplified with every question and he couldn’t shake off the burden of failure.

“Good question.” Bastian nodded.

“Secure her. Find me when she wakes.” The enforcer pursed his lips.

“Hey, Doc?” Seth faced Bastian. “When we first tried to pull her out, we both got shocked. Would the tracker have been electrified or something?”

The bowl filled with debris remained on the table. Bastian studied the pieces of the device. “No, but even if it were, it was embedded in her skin. There’s no way it could 11

shock you without direct contact.”

Seth shook his head. The obscurity of the cougar woman’s attempted assassination remained unsolved.

***

Terror shot through her as she catapulted for the forest. Griffith followed her. Bullets
zinged past her head, and he hollered. She swung around to find her brother on the
ground bleeding.

“Run, Klaya, run,” he roared.

Klaya bolted upright and screamed, but she wasn’t in the forest anymore. She was in a room, surrounded by white, glass-doored cabinets filled with medical supplies. A stabbing pain in her shoulder jarred her, and she collapsed onto her back with a painful thud. She gripped her left forearm, the sting shot up to her shoulder, and grogginess filled her weary head. Perspiration saturated her face and body as the fever burned deep inside her. Parched, she tried to swallow.

“You okay?” A strange voice sounded from the doorway.

“Who the hell are you?” She tried to sit up. Her heart pummeled against her chest as she panted for air.

“It’s okay. We’re here to help. We found you in the forest.” A tall man with dark hair approached her bedside, his hands up in the air. “I swear, I’m not gonna hurt you. My name is Seth.”

Something about his deep-brown eyes, however, held a gentle kindness. He didn’t look familiar, but he wasn’t one of
them
. “Where am I?”

“Los Lobos, in the doctor’s office.” The stranger—Seth—spun around and headed toward the door but stopped at a water cooler. He tugged a paper cup from the dispenser on the side and poured some water.

“Los Lobos? How did I get here?” She swallowed hard against the dry lump in her throat.

The man returned and handed her the cup. She stared at the water, mulling over the 12

risk of what it may contain, but then slurped it down anyway to quench her thirst.

“My brother, Rogue, and I found you. We brought you here so our friend could help.

You got shot.”

“Griffith?” Tears welled as flashbacks of him hanging in chains in the cellar flooded back. The horrific torture he’d endured at the hands of their captors, and their relentless efforts to force him to shift. The final moment he told her to run, and the bloody butchery as she escaped, leaving him behind. At first, she’d refused to leave her brother there, but he’d sacrificed himself to save her. There was no other choice; stay and fight at his side and they would both die, or do what he said and run. Instinct took hold. It happened so fast, she didn’t have time to regret. Now, he was gone, all because of her.

White-hot tingles of shock radiated through her chest as her memory flooded back and she dropped the empty cup over the edge of the bed. “They killed him.” Bursting into tears, she grasped the sheets and clutched them to her chest with trembling fingers.

The man stood beside her, helplessness filling his deep-brown eyes. “I’m so sorry.”

The pain overpowered her and darkness took hold.

The cougar slept soundly with shallow breaths as Seth remained seated in the metal chair, watching her with both intense dread for her injuries and fascination with her beauty and the mystery surrounding her arrival. Despite her paleness from her trauma and blood loss, she was exquisite. Luxurious, long, red hair settled around her head and shoulders on the white pillow case .Her porcelain features and sumptuous lips beckoned him. It took every ounce of self-control he had to resist his need for proximity to her.

What was this strange compulsion he had to be near her?

“Did she say anything?” Ryker called from the doorway, with Rogue at his side.

Seth approached them and spoke in a low voice. “She said they killed…Griffith?”

“Who is Griffith?” Rogue looked to Ryker.

The enforcer slumped his shoulders with a heavy exhale. “Dammit.”

“What is it?”

Ryker turned to leave. “Seth, stay with her in case she wakes up again.”

“Is it okay if I come with you?” Rogue pleaded.

13

“Let’s go.”

***

The clouds rolled over, and the sky grew dim as Rogue followed Ryker down the road to The Den. Cold rain started to patter down. Rogue knew better than to question the enforcer. The fact he allowed him to tag along was surprise enough.

They ducked inside the bar as the downfall intensified.

“Lovely day, ain’t it, gentlemen?” Kayden, the bartender, wiped the countertop.

“Beer?”

Ryker shook his head. “Where’s Gee?”

“He’s in the kitchen. I’ll get him.” Kayden headed to the door behind the bar. “Gee, you’re wanted out here.”

Crashes and clatters resonated out of the kitchen, followed by a few select curses.

“Kayden, take care of this….” Gee emerged from the door, wiping his hands on a towel.

“Don’t worry, boss. I’ve got it.” Kayden disappeared into the kitchen.

“What?” The six-foot-seven, three hundred pound man made of pure muscle approached the bar.

“We’ve got a problem.” No emotion touched Ryker’s tone or his scent. He could have been discussing the weather.

“What’s up?”

“Griffith is dead.”

“No.” The towering bar owner’s eyes reddened. His previous cheerful demeanor shifted to a solemn frown. He sighed, resting his forearms on the counter. “When?”

“Today, far as I can tell.”

“How?”

“No details. His sister is in Doc’s office, shot.”

“Who did it?”

“Hunters. Pretty boy here and his bro found her.”

Gee glanced to Rogue. “Details?”

Tension filled his jaw and his stomach churned as the visions of her bloodied body 14

rolled through his head. He ground his teeth. “She was being tracked, got shot on the edge of our territory. She had a tracer in her arm.”

The brutality these monsters put her through made his blood boil. If there had been a moment to spare at the time they rescued her, he would have hunted the rest down and torn them apart. Those bastards that escaped got off easy.

“Is she gonna live?” The bear arched his brows.

“Bastian thinks so.” Rogue shifted his stance. He’d never seen the big guy get emotional over bad news before.

“What did she say?”

“Not much. She’s pretty messed up. But the attackers were in camouflage gear, had rifles, and…Seth and I killed four of them.”

Gee shook his head. “There were more of them, weren’t there?”

“We think maybe three more on-site.” Rogue studied their difficult-to-read expressions. “Who is she? And who was Griffith?” How come he’d never heard of the cougar or her brother before?

The bear straightened. “Join me out back.”

Once outside, Gee continued. “When Drew was banished by Magnum and lived outside of the pack, he got to know some other folks. Nonhuman folks. Griffith and his sister, Klaya, were a few of them.”

“Her name is Klaya?” The name rolled off his tongue, unique and alluring, just like her. The vision of the mysterious redhead haunted him. Rogue was desperate to learn everything he could about her. A strange need to return to her side clawed at his insides.

“She and Griffith left their clan decades ago and ran solitary. Short story, they saved one of our wolves’ lives a few years ago.”

“Who did they save?” They’d saved a wolf and he’d never heard of them? Of course, Magnum hadn’t been big on sharing, so maybe that was why.

Gee furrowed his brows. “It’s not important right now.” He exhaled. “They had a little cabin outside our territory, near Keystone.”

Who tried to hurt her? Why had they killed her brother and hunted her down like prey? He gritted his teeth, refraining from the surging impulse to slam his palm on the picnic table and demand the answers they avoided giving him. Being a beta was nature’s 15

cruel joke on him. His underlying aggression and need to challenge went against the very grain of a less dominant rank in the pack.

Rogue was the protective, impulsive one who acted on instinct first, regardless of the potential consequences. Seth, on the other hand, was the logical brother who deliberated most actions before taking steps. He always needed to seek out direction from their alpha, and even the enforcer. Seth was cut out for the beta role in the pack. One of the hardest lessons Rogue had to learn was to keep his mouth shut and embrace the patience he lacked. A significant genetic abnormality, as far as he was concerned.

“My guess would be the same guys who tried to kill a wolf from our pack years ago.”

Ryker grumbled.

“What wolf?” The same wolf she and her brother saved? Someone else? “I’ve never heard this story before.”

Gee and the enforcer stared at each other for a moment, as though reading each other’s thoughts. Then Ryker shook his head and cleared his throat. “If they tracked her until Doc smashed the chip, they will come looking for her here. She can’t be near Drew until it’s safe.”

“We need to hide her someplace outside of town,” Gee agreed.

Ryker nodded.

“Where can we hide her?” Rogue folded his arms.

“There’s a cave up in the mountains, Ryker. Amethyst Falls.” Gee said. “It’s on the edge of Black Hills Territory. You can only get there on foot. It has a freshwater spring inside it, plenty of wild game for food. And it’s a good place for healing. If we send provisions, they could hide her there until we get this mess sorted out and are sure there’s no risk to the pack.”

“They.” Rogue lowered his arms. “Who are
they
?” His stomach dropped. Were he and Seth being relegated to babysitting?

Ryker turned with a stern glare. “You and Seth found her. You’re responsible for her.”

“Come on, you’re gonna send us off like fugitives?”

The enforcer let out a quiet growl. “You expect her to stay up there on her own, assuming she can make the trip?”

Rogue pictured the gorgeous redhead. The allure of her scent sparked a sense of 16

adventure deep inside. “You’re right, Ryker.” Being alone with the mysterious beauty hardly seemed like banishment or even work. It would be a chance to get to know her.

What was this strange pull he felt toward her? He wasn’t much for spending time in town among the locals anyway. The cave held an intrigue that increased his eagerness to leave, the more he thought about it.

“Remember,” the enforcer warned, his voice a cold, deadly rasp, “she’s protected and a cougar. Not your latest conquest or your brother’s.”

The weight of his command slammed against his chest like a ton of bricks. “I get it.”

Rogue held his palms up in defense. “No funny business.” He was known as the town playboy. This woman was different, though. He hadn’t even seen her conscious, yet, and concern for her well-being like he’d never experienced before settled in his bones.

“In the meantime,” Gee jumped in, “we need to meet with the rest of the pack and prepare for unwanted company, so I’ll get to it.” He got up and headed inside the bar, followed by more crashes and clunks and a few additional swear words. “Kayden?” he bellowed.

“I’ve got it, boss,” Kayden’s muffled voice called out.

No one ever toyed with Gee, but his massive hands and long limbs provided several opportunities over the years for Rogue to razz the big guy. Today was a serious matter.

There was no room for banter.

17

The cool metal seat offered no solace as Seth sat against the wall. Racked with anxious anticipation, he bit his bottom lip as Bastian lifted open Klaya’s left eyelid and inspected her pupil. Worry tightened his chest. What were the chances she would recover from her injuries?

The pack doctor proceeded to remove the bandages from her arm. “Damn, she’s a fast healer. Look.” He showed Ryker who stood at his side. “Let’s check the gunshot.” Ryker helped turn her unconscious form onto her side. Bastian covered her hips with the sheet and lifted the hospital gown off her back to snip the bandages off. “She’s doing great.”

He cocked his head. “If I hadn’t treated her myself, I would have said this wound happened three weeks ago.”

“Will she be able to walk?” Wearing his usual somber expression, Ryker crossed his arms.

“The impact was close to the spine. We’ll have to wait until she wakes up again to know for sure, but I’m a betting man, and I’d put my money on her.” Bastian smoothed his hand over the forming scar. “No infection. She’s lucky.”

“I don’t know how lucky I’d classify myself,” a soft voice replied.

Seth’s heart skipped a beat. “She’s awake.” He abandoned his chair to join them at her bedside, desperate to
see
her. Bright amber eyes held the warmth of the sunrise. Some color had returned to her pale face, and her full luscious lips were a dark, delectable pink compared to the almost white he witnessed when she nearly bled to death. “Hey, Klaya, do you remember me?”

“I got shot in the back, not the head,” she grumbled. “Can I lie down again and cover my business?”

Seth stepped away as an ache filled his belly. After slaughtering the hunters and carrying her to safety, he had hoped to gain some favor from the beautiful stranger. It never occurred to him, she would respond with animosity, but, she was injured and alone in a strange place. If he had his way, she would never be alone again.