Reidar glanced out the side window and tried to remember his first kiss. The only girl he could picture, though, was Beth. Her soft lips, her bright eyes, the way her mouth felt around his cock as she sucked…
Kelan turned the car sharply, and Reidar bumped his head on the window.
“What the—” Kelan slid the car off the rutted dirt road and onto an overgrown ATV trail used by hunters in the fall. “We’ll go in the back way, keep an eye on the place until it’s empty, then go in and do our thing.”
“Should’ve b-brought my pickup. This c-car wasn’t made for this,” Reidar complained as he bounced around at the jostling of the car.
Kelan didn’t disagree. How could he? Reidar hoped the axels held up through the ruts and bumps in the trail. He’d hate to have to foot it back to town. He winced when the right front tire hit a deeper hole and the bottom of the car scraped ground, but Kelan somehow kept his car going.
Until an eight-foot chain link fence stopped them a half mile up the trail. “When the hell did they put this up?” Kelan demanded.
“Remember last year when they had that group of kids coming up here trashing the equipment?”
Reidar said then snapped his fingers as if remembering something. “Wait, I forgot. You don’t bother to attend city council meetings.” He rolled his eyes and got out of the car. “We’ll have to go in au natural.”
Kelan dug into the glove box and pulled out a leather pouch that Reidar knew contained his B&E kit. His brother was right; he probably was the best at breaking and entering of anyone in the whole town of Leavenworth. The former lovers from which he retrieved his collar never complained, and his black-sheep brother had been caught only once as a teenager breaking into McClintock Liquor. Even though Kelan always left enough cash to cover what he took—a fact that helped keep him out of jail-one night Old Man McClintock had staked out his own store and caught Kelan red handed.
Reidar smirked. One of the few times he didn’t get the belt when his brother did. He’d been smart enough to have an alibi that night, far away from McClintock Liquor.
They quickly stripped out of their clothes and changed into catamount form. Kelan picked up the lock pick set in his mouth, and then they hopped the fence.
Just be careful, Reidar told Kelan through their telepathic connection. Remember they’re out here hunting cougars. Don’t get shot again.
I’m going to kick your ass one of these days, Kelan threatened as he took off through the forest toward a clearing about a hundred yards away.
You can try, Reidar said with a laugh.
They stopped at the edge of the woods and peered through the underbrush. Beth’s old, battered ragtop Jeep was pulling away as a slim, young man climbed the stairs to the trailer.
Who’s that? Reidar asked.
Tim, the sidekick. As the trailer’s door closed, Kelan lay down and rested his head on his paws.
Get comfortable, brother. It might be a long wait.
Chapter Eight
Kelan took a swipe at Reidar’s muzzle with his paw. Wake up.
Reidar snarled and bared his teeth at his brother, but he rolled into a seated position and shook the dried leaves from his fur.
When did another guy show up? Kelan had been keeping vigil on the semi trailer that housed Beth’s lab while his brother snoozed away the afternoon in the cool breeze drifting through the pine boughs. The side door had finally opened, and out stepped not only Tim, but a shorter, stout, bald man.
Dunno, Reidar said then yawned.
He wasn’t here when I was captured.
Reidar looked up at the sky, then at Kelan. How long have I been out?
All day. It’s damn near dinnertime. I’m starved.
I am too. We sure those two are the only ones in there?
Yeah, check it out. They’re locking up. Kelan stood, ready to get this expedition over with. Reidar kept saying it wasn’t right, that he didn’t like doing this because it hurt Beth, but his brother hadn’t had any problems sleeping. Kelan had tried to nap, but he couldn’t, despite the lethargy affecting his muscles. Any time he closed his eyes, he pictured Beth with her big innocent eyes and sweet smile. It tore up his insides that they were doing this, stealing from her.
Which disturbed him even more. Taking his own collar back was one thing, but this was different, even if it was his blood he wanted to retrieve.
Since when did a woman get inside his head like this? Never before had he felt guilt because of a woman. He’d always believed in the love ’em and leave ’em philosophy to which most lone catamount shifters aspired. So long as he left the women satisfied and smiling, what was the harm?
No, he didn’t believe in guilt. The only people in his world who could make him experience that particular emotion were his fathers. Now that the Falke boys were all adults, their dads had resorted to guilt trips when displeased. They must have figured the boys had all outgrown the belt.
No guilt. Regardless of his budding emotions toward Beth, Kelan had to do this for the family.
The conflict, however, nearly tore him up inside. Why did doing what was right for his family feel so wrong in his heart?
Tim and the other man got into the semi, which had been disconnected from its trailer. The presence of a third person meant someone else knew of the blood test anomaly. Damn, damn, damn!
After the truck pulled away, they waited a few minutes to make sure the scientists didn’t return, then carefully made their way out of the woods and into the clearing where the trailer sat by itself, hooked up via a thick cord to the electrical pole in the center of the fifty-yard diameter space.
All clear, Reidar said as they reached the trailer.
Kelan transformed into his human body and dropped the lock pick set into his hand from his mouth. “This isn’t the same door that was on here the other night,” he said as he examined the deadbolt. “Might take a little longer.”
Reidar stayed puma and glanced around. I feel like we’re sitting ducks. We should’ve waited until after dark.
“Too hungry.” Kelan’s stomach growled as if proving the point. He withdrew the tools to disengage the locks—not the easy push-button type that’d been on there before—but still not difficult.
When he was thirteen, a drifter had stopped in Leavenworth for a month or so, and Kelan had befriended the old guy. In that month, Pecos taught Kelan all sorts of interesting things—picking locks and jimmying car doors among them—and even gave him the lock pick set. He had to admit it came in handy now and then, even since he grew up and quit breaking the law…most of the time.
“Got it,” he said when the deadbolt snicked open. A brief flash from behind him signaled Reidar’s shift. Kelan turned the knob and pushed the door. Reidar followed him inside and headed straight to the bank of computers on the table while Kelan opened the little fridge.
Empty.
“Shit,” he muttered and started a thorough search for the blood sample.
“There’s no password protection on this computer,” Reidar said as he clicked keys. “Nothing’s encrypted. They weren’t too worried about security.”
“Uh-huh.” Kelan couldn’t care less about passwords, security software, or whatever other computer jargon Reidar spouted off about. What he needed to do was find the damn blood sample. He opened every drawer, cupboard, and container, but found no blood.