Axel, you have your family to protect. Javier is with me. He’s healthy, and so am I. We can protect each other.”
She hung up and stared at the road ahead as she drove home...and ignored the big snarling cat beside her.
Lev studied the lock at the back of the animal clinic and decided he didn’t give a shit about finesse.
The clinic had been open an hour before, but now it was closed. He cursed himself for the impatience that had led him to enter the clinic. Montero must have scented him and raised an alarm. Still, all was not lost. He knew Montero well enough by now that he’d bet the fortune in his Swiss bank account that the arrogant shifter wouldn’t hide behind a woman’s skirts.
Lev forced the door open and looked for any evidence of a security system. Finding none, other than some kenneled, yappy mongrels and a very annoying bird, he went through the place unhindered and easily found what had to be the vet’s office.
He took a deep breath and hissed when he caught the scent of the shifter who’d become his biggest liability the past couple of years.
The old lady had lied. There was a big cat being treated at the clinic after all. The scent left no doubt to the cat’s true identity, but he wasn’t present now. And there was much more than a lingering jaguar’s aroma.
Leave it to Montero to stumble across more shifters.
Did Javier know them? Doubtful. More likely their encounter was mere coincidence.
He picked up a picture of a female—the veterinarian he assumed—kneeling beside a collared puma.
“How adorably domesticated.”
No relation to the Montero family, obviously. They were not of the same race, his nemesis and these American shifters.
How many? At least one or perhaps two males. He’d picked up on a mix of old scents during his earlier visit—faint and difficult to distinguish amid those of all the animals at the clinic. But there was a feminine scent, stronger and uniquely shifter in nature, that he found the most astonishing. It had to belong to the absent veterinarian since it permeated the room.
The scent of other shifters threw a wrench into his plans, but Montero would more than likely want to distance himself from them as well. And yet, the man’s honor would demand he first make sure the vet who’d helped him was safe. That might prove to be his undoing. If Lev could find them, catch them alone...
The woman might know about shapeshifters, might have shifter blood in her veins, but she was still a mere woman. Montero, even injured, was the true threat...and target. He could not have recovered fully, not if he was still here in this village in the wilds of Washington State.
“After I take care of Montero, I’ll enjoy some time with you,” he told the woman in the photograph.
In all his travels, Lev had never encountered a female shifter, although he’d heard rumor of their existence. The stuff of legend and fantasy, he’d thought, until now. As a lone male, he would definitely make the effort to get better acquainted with her as soon as he’d handled the other nuisance.
Turning toward the desk, he browsed an appointment calendar. Mostly business-related notations, nothing of vital interest, until he thumbed through several stacks of papers and envelopes. On a couple of unopened letters, the address was different than that of the clinic.
Heidi Falke.
Smiling, he pocketed one of the envelopes.
The big house was eerily silent. It wasn’t often that no one was home. The silence was even worse when fear rode her hard. Heidi locked the door then made the rounds, checking all outside doors and windows, especially those on the second floor where Kelan, to this day, liked to sneak in when he’d been out and up to no good in the middle of the night. The boy would never grow up.
Heidi came back downstairs to find Javier posted at the dining room window overlooking the driveway. His right ear twitched when she passed him, but he remained vigilant. She headed for her fathers’ den. Normally, she would never enter without their permission. This had been her dads’ private domain her entire life, probably since they built the house. Only her mother had enjoyed free access to their sanctuary.
But today was different. Today, the life of the man she loved was in danger. She crossed to the massive safe on the far wall and used the combination she’d memorized as a kid. The door clicked open and she tugged the heavy steel to reveal an array of firearms. Everything from a tranquilizer gun to a rifle with enough power to drop a half-ton bull moose in its tracks. She opted for the .357 Smith and Wesson revolver, because it was hers, a gift from her dads for her sixteenth birthday. She’d spent endless hours becoming a crack shot with it. She was better with the handgun than any of her brothers, who preferred shotguns and large caliber rifles. They teased her about being Dirty Harry, or Dirty Harriet as Kelan liked to call her. She reminded them every time that Dirty Harry used a much larger weapon.
She loaded the revolver and the extra cylinder, then put the spare in her jeans pocket. She checked that the safety was on, and was about to shut the gun safe when she decided to leave it open, just in case.
What do you think you are going to do with that? Javier demanded when she entered the dining room.
She didn’t answer, just set it gently on the table, pulled out a chair and lowered herself into it. Her stomach fluttered. She had no doubt she could shoot anyone or anything who endangered Javier. Her brothers went hunting every fall, bringing home enough venison to fill the freezer for the year. She fished. That was all. Cold, slimy fish.
But she’d never actually shot a living, warm-blooded being of any kind. This man who’d killed Javier’s family was a shifter. One of her kind, not just human. Until a few days ago, she hadn’t known others like them existed. Today she was in love with one and contemplating the murder of another.
Heidi? Javier padded near her. He looked at her with those beautiful eyes. This is not your fight. I must fight him myself.
“And if he shows up here armed? You said he’s a coward, so why do you think he’d give you a fair fight?”
He believes I am injured. He would not seek me out otherwise. He has been running for two years.
“You are injured.”
I am healed.
“You’re as stubborn as my damn brothers.” She shoved up from the chair and paced to the window.
“You wouldn’t sit back and let me be killed.”
A car is coming. He shoved her away from the window with his big head and peered outside.
Heidi grabbed her weapon and flipped off the safety.
It is your brothers.
Resetting the safety, she pointed the handgun down. When the doorknob rattled, she let Axel and Gunnar in.
Axel glanced at her weapon and shook his head. “Go to the den.”
Gunnar shut and relocked the door as she glared at her oldest brother.
“No.”
“Go!” He pointed down the hallway.
“Fuck you, Axel. I’m not leaving Javier’s side.”
Both her brothers stared at the weapon, obviously trying to decide if they wanted to disarm her or not.
“Don’t even think about it,” she said between gritted teeth. “You know I know how to use it, and if you think—” He is here.
Heidi’s gut tightened, and cold prickles popped out on her skin.
Open the door for me.
“No.” She jumped in front of the solid wooden door, spreading her feet in a shooter’s stance, the