Before Wade could go after the hunter, a growl from his left flank warned him that another cat was nearby. The deepness of the growl meant it was male.
Wade swung around to face the jaguar, just as he got a whiff of his scent and Bettinger attacked. Jaws clashing, claws slashing, snarling like wild cats, they came to blows with Wade fighting as he never had before.
While Wade battled the jaguar, George took off after the hunter armed with the rifle in the vehicle.
Lightning illuminated the forest in an eerie, ghostly way as the water poured from the dark heavens.
The two cats broke off, snarling and hissing. Another shot was fired. Damn it.
Wade was waiting for the cat to make a fatal move, but Bettinger seemed to be of the same mind. Wade had thought Bettinger would be eager to chase after Maya and kill her. But maybe Bettinger would take even greater pleasure in killing Wade first and then going after the she-cat.
Wade sprang with his powerful legs and landed on the jaguar’s right side as Bettinger scrambled to get away. He bit into Bettinger’s flank.
Bettinger swung his paw at Wade and missed, then stood partially on his hind legs, claws extended, and scratched at Wade.
Wade swung away, leaping out of the path of Bettinger’s claws, and circled him, tail swishing.
A crash in the distance caused both cats to look in the direction of the noise. The ATV was no longer moving, but the engine was still rumbling.
Wade pivoted to face Bettinger before his focus returned to the fight. Wade jumped at Bettinger’s back, tearing at his spine with his massive canine teeth and powerful jaws. The jaguar’s preferred target was the skull for larger animals—the quickest way to bring down their prey. This would have to suffice.
Bettinger attempted to shake Wade off, trying to get out from under the attacking cat, but Wade was relentless, sinking his claws deep into the other cat’s flesh like oversized fishhooks. He had to end this now. To get to Maya.
Bettinger collapsed on his belly, and Wade struck the fatal blow: one growl, a bite into the back of the neck, and a hiss as a final adieu. He waited as Bettinger shifted from his cat form into his human one.
They’d have to return for his body later. Wade took off, following the sounds of another ATV still in pursuit of a cat, and heard more gunfire. He roared for Maya.
No responding roar from Maya. His heart stuttered as he raced in the direction of the moving vehicle. Then she roared back.
Thank God she was still all right. He ran through the trees, sure she’d stick to them to be shielded from the hunter in the vehicle.
The rain was still pouring down. Streaks of sharp, white light striking the ground in the distance alternated with voluminous sheets that blanketed the whole sky for a second or two like a light switch turned on and then off.
Resounding booms shook the earth.
He saw movement, heard a low growl, and stopped, glancing to his left. A female jaguar was sitting in a tree. Not Maya. He hoped the cat would stay there until this was all over. He again ran off to where he’d heard gunfire and saw an ATV smashed into a tree, the engine rumbling, but no sign of the hunter. Wade was surprised the hunter hadn’t suffered serious injuries, considering how bad the wreck looked. At least Wade was glad the hunter was now on foot. They didn’t want to kill the human hunters, though. Well, they would have liked to just because they were trying to kill the cats. But they couldn’t without causing problems for the jaguars.
Wade heard a low growl and saw George standing some distance from Maya. She was growling at George, not knowing he was on their side. Wade nudged George in greeting to show Maya he was friend, not foe, and then ran to join her. They quickly nuzzled each other, rubbing their bodies together, sharing their scent—two big, wet cats.
Maya was panting and purring, and he wanted desperately to get her to safety.
The second ATV had stopped somewhere nearby, tires spinning angrily, engine revving loudly, but the vehicle wasn’t moving from it’s current location. Wade and George exchanged looks. Then Wade growled and the two took off to disable the machine and the driver. Another hunter was on foot out there somewhere after he’d crashed his ATV into the tree, and was still a possible danger to them. Unless he was running as fast as he could back to the safety of the ranch.
Half hidden in the trees, Wade and David saw the hunter’s vehicle was stuck in mud. The hunter was behind the vehicle, attempting to pile dead sticks underneath the tires to get traction. His rifle wasn’t on him.
George moved in from the north and Wade from the south as if they were a couple of wolves on a hunt instead of cats. The hunter must have seen George out of the corner of his eye because he ran for the ATV. Too late. Never run from a cat.
George and Wade were on him in a heartbeat. The hunter was screaming and crying out, terrified.
Maya watched as Wade took care of the hunter. She heard heavy breathing nearby and the sound of boots squishing through the mud as the other hunter sneaked closer to his prey. The hunter who had crashed his vehicle while he was chasing her. His forehead was bloodied, the rain mixing with the blood still pouring out of a head wound.
Wade and George were concentrating on the man Wade had pinned down when the other hunter raised his rifle, not seeing Maya. She was certain he thought to rescue the other hunter and kill a couple of jaguars while he was at it.
She leaped, thinking only of saving the other jaguars and not knowing if she’d be shot.
She slammed into the hunter, and his gun went off, the explosion so close that it was deafening to her sensitive ears. A startled cry escaped his throat; a hiss and a growl came from hers. A burning sensation at the tip of her ear made her growl, and her ears were stilling ringing as she pinned him down in the mud.
Wade swiped at the hunter he’d pinned to disable him. The hunter cried out, then was silent. Not dead. Just knocked out. Stunning their prey into inaction was just as useful as killing it with a fatal blow.
A bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, snapping it in half, and then a second lightning strike hit another tree only a foot away.
Crack! The first pine keeled over with a snap, the top landing with a thud as it broke from its base and fell to the ground. Crack! The second pine toppled, flames erupting at the break in the massive trunk, heat filling the water-laden air, and the vibration from the two strikes making the ground and air tremble. Maya leaped out of the second tree’s path, but the hunter was not so lucky.
The man was pinned under the massive trunk, his breathing labored, his face pained. Broken ribs?
She hoped.
Maya padded over to check him out. His flushed face turned ghostly pale. She should have growled at him, put the fear of the wild jaguar into him. Instead she pawed at him, claws retracted, making sure he was going to live. His eyes were so wide that his Adam’s apple was moving up and down. He couldn’t have been any more frightened. Then she licked his face and smiled so that he got to see all her big, sharp teeth. She smelled the odor of human urine.
Thunder continued to rumble throughout the area, though the rain was quieting from the torrential downpour to a steady patter.
Across a grassy plain she saw lights on in a ranch house. She was thinking about the steaks Bettinger and Gunther had cooked on the grill last night, and then she heard chaos.
Wade hurried to join Maya, licking her face and urging her away from the injured hunter.
Shouts outside then inside the ranch house made Wade believe the cavalry had arrived.
They had to leave. They couldn’t be found out here in their jaguar forms.
They headed for the lake with George. Wade hated having to leave the other female jaguar behind, but someone would soon recapture her and then they could reunite her with the zoo.