Lana landed in a crouched position right beside me. Gazing down at her footprints, I caught the pungent scent of adrenaline wafting off her.
“That was amazing.”
I nodded. “Just the beginning.”
“I was always a tree climber, and I kicked ass in my college self-defense classes. I could flip guys twice my size, but I just thought I was stronger than I looked. I never tried jumping…” She looked over at the water. “I can’t believe this.”
I caught her hand and gave it a squeeze. “Give it time.”
We sat on top of the boulder, and I worked on helping her recognize scents with her eyes closed, relying on her atrophied shifter senses. Seeing the joy on her face and knowing I had something to do with it… It didn’t suck.
A breeze brushed over us, and I closed my eyes, breathing in all the scents the air offered.
“Can you tell who is out on the boat?”
She took a deep breath. “I know it’s a man, and he’s probably older.”
Fast learner. “And how do you know that?”
“He’s wearing a thick layer of Old Spice aftershave. I don’t know anyone under fifty who splashes that on.”
“Nice.” I nodded. “You’ve probably been doing this your whole life without realizing you had heightened abilities. Like a person who doesn’t realize they’re losing their twenty-twenty vision.” She glanced my way, and I added, “You know, you can’t tell your senses are any different because you’ve always lived with them. Until someone points out your abilities, you don’t realize they’re there.”
She rolled her eyes and nudged my shoulder. “You’re just trying to make me believe I turned into a giant cat last night.”
“Well, there is that.” Her eyes hypnotized me, and I had to touch her. Taste her. My fingers ran along her cheek and into her hair. Her breath warmed my lips as the wind shifted.
I jerked back, instantly alert.
“What’s wrong?” she whispered. Then she smelled it too.
Blood.
Forcing myself away from Lana, I leaned over the edge of the boulder. I didn’t see anyone below, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t someone there. Eyesight wasn’t my strongest asset. Being a werewolf, I relied on my heightened senses of hearing and smell more than my sight.
A moan drifted up on the breeze and I froze.
I looked back at Lana and whispered, “Wait here.”
“No.” She got to her feet. “I’m going with you.”
I shot her a back-off glare. “I don’t have time to fight with you.” My eyes narrowed, trying to find any movement below. “Stay here.”
I didn’t wait for an answer. Leaping from the boulder, I managed a pseudo-silent landing. The scent of blood grew much stronger closer to the ground. My gut clenched in response. I prayed it wouldn’t grumble and reveal my location. Blood always made the wolf inside of me restless, with or without a full moon.
After making my way through the bright yellow mustard plants and sagebrush, I finally found what I searched for.
I rushed to Gabe’s side. Or what was left of it. Shit. What the hell happened to him? His entire right side was sliced up. I could see the white bone of his ribs in a couple of places, and his shirt was drenched in blood. My chest constricted. I needed to get him out of here. He couldn’t die. Not Gabe.
He’d been my Pack mate and my friend my entire life. What was he even doing out here? The Pack was supposed to be patrolling the city last night.
“Dammit,” I groaned, searching the area for his attacker.
“Adam?” His voice sounded raspy and…wet. “That you?”
“Yeah, I’m here, Gabe.”
He lifted a shaky hand to clasp my forearm in the traditional greeting of the Pack. “Jaguar. Edge of town. Tell the Pack.” He coughed and blood trickled out the corner of his mouth. A cold chill shot down my spine. A jaguar did this. While I’d been tracking Lana I thought I caught the scent of another jaguar. And I didn’t warn them. I should have made the fucking call.
This was my fault.
I didn’t have time to think about it right now while Gabe bled out. I pushed the thoughts from my mind and did my best to focus on my friend. “You can tell them yourself. We’ve gotta get you out of here. Jason will sew you up.”
He started to smile, then grimaced. His teeth were stained crimson. The scent of blood teased and disgusted me at the same time. Too much blood.
“Give me your shirt,” a voice said from behind me. I looked up to find Lana holding out her hand. I never heard her coming. I should have. “Come on, Adam, we’ve got to stop the bleeding.”
She knelt down beside me. Just having her close by made it easier to breathe and think clearly.
“We need your shirt,” she prodded again. “I did ride-alongs with EMTs for a couple of articles a few months back.”
I yanked it over my head and handed it to Lana. She wadded the fabric into a compress and pressed it against Gabe’s side, making him groan in pain.
Until he caught her scent.
Gabe’s eyes popped open wide, and he pointed at her with his other hand. “She’s a—”
“It’s okay, Gabe.” I tried to calm him, but he shook his head, struggling. “Gabe, this is Lana. She’s trying to help you.”
He caught her wrist, trying to pull her hand free, and shifted to turn away but the movement made him cry out in pain.
I reached for his shoulder. “You need to stay still.” His arms collapsed, and he turned his head, coughing up blood and clots of tissue. “Gabe, no!”
A final breath gurgled out of his mouth, and his eyes closed. I shook my head, praying he’d breathe again, but he didn’t make a sound.
Gabe was gone.
“Oh my God.” Lana shook my shoulder. “Call nine-one-one. Adam, he needs an ambulance.”
I shook my head.
“What?” She stared at me like I was nuts. She might be right. One of my closest friends just died because of a Jaguar attack. An attack that could have been avoided if I had followed through and done my part to keep the Pack safe. There had to be a second jaguar. A jaguar I should have been tracking. Fuck.
Instead of eliminating the danger to my Pack, I’d been tailing Lana, and while one of my best friends bled out, I’d been leaning in for a kiss. My chest tightened.
She yanked her cell phone from her pocket and flipped it open.
“I said, no!”
Her eyes narrowed. “He’s dying, Adam. We’ve got to call for help.”
“He’s already gone.” I closed my eyes, composing myself before looking over at her. “If we call nine-one-one they’ll want to perform an autopsy. They’ll find out he’s not entirely human. We can’t risk having our race exposed like that, remember?”
I watched her mulling it over. Tears filled her eyes, and she nodded slowly. She took a deep breath and pocketed her cell phone. “So, what do we do with…”
My shoulders tightened and my hackles rose. “His name was Gabe.”
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She winced as if I slapped her. “I’m sorry.”
I pursed my lips and carefully rolled Gabe onto his back, thankful when I noticed his eyes were already closed. “What could have done this to him?” Lana asked, inspecting his wounds.
“A jaguar.”
Lana paled. “How do you know?”
“He told me before you got over here. That’s why he panicked when he recognized your scent.”
The question hung in the thick silence between us.
“Did I…” A tear rolled down her cheek, and her voice trembled. “I didn’t.” She shook her head, crossing her arms. “I couldn’t have… I was far from here.” She paused and added, “When I woke up this morning I was clean. Blood would’ve been all over me if I did this, right?”
I didn’t think about it before, but she was right. When I picked her up, her clothes were clean. I would have caught the lingering scent of blood. “Yeah. It couldn’t have been you. I would’ve smelled the blood on you.”