“Reidar thinks it’s all over now that the woman knows the cougar isn’t a threat to the civilians of Leavenworth.” Neither he nor Reidar shared the events that took place after Beth left Catamount Outfitters.
“Axel does too. He made it pretty clear,” Reidar added, “that we wouldn’t look the other way if she didn’t take her pistol and lab and go elsewhere to find her four-legged science experiments.”
Kelan’s heart stuttered at the thought of Beth leaving, pulling out of town. But that was a subject he was definitely not ready to broach with their dads. Besides, why would he? She was just a hot piece of ass.
Yeah, right. He clenched his teeth. It was right. He had to convince himself—and Reidar—of that. He’d avoided his brother’s every attempt to discuss what happened last night between them and Beth, but Kelan didn’t know how long he could bury his head in the sand. Something happened to him, something deep, and he didn’t know how to deal with it. Reidar insisted Beth was the one. All he would accept right now was that she was attractive and dangerous.
Kelan waited for an eruption from their dads, while Reidar fidgeted beside him.
Burke sipped his drink and glanced at Fridrik. “That explains the new jewelry.”
“Shit,” Kelan muttered. He’d forgotten he’d been wearing the damn thing.
Reidar snickered.
Jerk.
What’d I do?
“If it’s truly over,” Fridrik began, his gaze narrowed on Kelan, making it obvious he’d heard his sons’ telepathic exchange, “then it’s safe to say we’ve dodged a bullet, if you’ll pardon the expression.”
“Yes, sir,” Kelan agreed, because they expected him to. But it was far from over. He had to figure out why Beth made him feel this way—unsettled and unsure; edgy with a possessiveness he’d never in his adult life experienced.
“Not exactly.”
Kelan turned at the sound of Axel’s voice to see him, Gunnar, Dakota and Heidi walk in. “Ax?
What’s going on?”
“Heidi has something you need to hear.”
Heidi was frowning. Axel and Gunnar stood protectively on either side of Dakota, who looked at Kelan with worried eyes. His gut clenched. This didn’t sound good.
“That scientist of yours—”
“She’s not mine,” he interrupted through gritted teeth.
“Whatever! She came to my office today asking for permission to withdraw a second vial of blood from Falke.”
“A second?” Son of a bitch.
Heidi nodded. “She must’ve taken the first sample while you were unconscious at the lab. What’s worse is that she’s already tested what she’s got. She brought the karyotype to my office. She knows the cougar she tested has an abnormally high number of chromosomal pairs.”
“Tell us,” Fridrik ordered, and Heidi recapped everything that had happened at the clinic.
“Do you think your threat of prosecution will work?” Burke asked.
“I don’t know, Dad. I doubt it. The problem is she already has a sample to work from. If she has a large enough sample and the right equipment to do more in-depth testing…”
“We can’t let that happen,” Burke said.
“We won’t.” Kelan stood and looked from his fathers to the rest of his family. “I said I’d handle it, and I will. Whatever it takes, I swear that woman and her sidekick won’t be able to threaten this family anymore.”
“Kel,” Reidar said in a warning tone.
Kelan growled under his breath as emotions warred within him. He didn’t want to hurt her, but no way in hell could he let her expose their family’s secret. “You and I are going to make damn sure she doesn’t have any evidence to test or use against us. Her lab’s behind the hotel, a semi trailer with a simple doorknob lock. Should be easy to get in. We can go in when it’s dark, destroy the evidence and get out before anyone even knows we’re there. No harm, no foul.”
Reidar raised a challenging eyebrow. “And I have to go why?”
“You’re the computer whiz.”
“Oh.”
“Boys?” Fridrik said, making them turn to face the family patriarchs. “Be careful.”
“We will, sir.” As Kelan and Reidar left, Kelan stopped by Axel and glanced at Dakota. “We’ll take care of it. I promise.”
Axel nodded and then closed the door after the pair walked out.
Outside in the hall, Kelan stopped Reidar.
What?
Kelan eased closer to the door and held up one finger. Just a minute…wait for it.
“About damn time you told us!” Burke’s voice boomed.
Reidar grinned. Kelan was happy for his brothers, but they had a lot to protect, and they’d damn well do it.
Let’s go.
Beth opened the door to the lab and stepped inside. Professor Whitmore, seated at the computers, turned around and looked at her. “Well?”
“Sorry, Professor, bad news.”
“Tell me.”
Beth walked over and sat in the other office chair, setting her laptop case and purse on the floor beneath the desk. “As it turns out, the town vet is sister to the brothers who own the cat.” She wouldn’t get into the whole no one owns him thing with her scientific-minded professor. She didn’t really understand their strange attachment to the animal. Professor Whitmore definitely wouldn’t. “They are all very antagonistic toward me when it comes to that cougar, but even trying to talk to Heidi who is a scientist herself didn’t produce any results. They’re protecting that cat with everything they have, including threats to have us thrown out of town.”
Professor Whitmore leaned back in his chair, tapped his lips with his index finger and nodded. “I can see why they’d be protective. I would too.”
Beth frowned. “I don’t understand.”
“I’ve used a portion of the original sample to re-run the tests and verify your findings. My conclusions are identical to yours. This cat is a genetic anomaly. This cougar could be the answer to future generations, a super cat that could save future species.” He grinned.
She shared his smile. Cougars weren’t on the endangered species list, which was why they’d chosen to study them—a perfect transition between domesticated felines and the big cats at risk of extinction. If they could gather the right data, engineer the perfect DNA profiles through cloning, they had a promising chance of saving a variety of big cats in the wild for centuries to come. This was her dream, to be on the cutting edge of scientific discovery and most importantly help preserve the genera of felidae for all mankind.
“This cougar could put us on the map. This is…huge!” He sat forward and tapped her knee with his finger. “Don’t you see? After all these years of research, I’ve finally found something special.”
An inkling of unease snuck into Beth’s brain. He hadn’t discovered this; she had. He said it could put us on the map, but that he’d found something special.
“We need that cat or at least another blood sample, Elizabeth,” the professor continued. “Any way we can, we’ve got to get one, because we have to duplicate the original findings with a second round of tests. I’ve checked the sample for impurities and can’t find any, but without duplicating the test we have no proof.”
We. Beth pushed her emotions aside and brought forth the professional scientist. The professor would be sure to share any accolades. More research funding. Papers published in international scientific magazines. She grinned as she envisioned their pictures, side-by-side, in Scientific American with an article detailing the tremendous discovery of a super cat living in the Wenatchee National Forest.