by Terry Spear
"So what kind of FBI cases have you been working on?" Ted asked Bill. He thoroughly enjoyed visiting with his twin brother, though with Bill's FBI work and helping their sister to run a quarter horse ranch out of West Texas, Ted didn't get to see him very often.
Ted was glad his brother had come out to visit. Ted usually was the one to return home to visit since they lived in the Panhandle of Texas—his sister and his niece, and her two children. And his nephew had just mated, so he had them to see too. And Bill, unless he was on a big FBI case, was always there too.
But for Halloween, this was the place to be. Bill had spent several days even helping with decorations for the big party, though he wasn't staying for it.
Bill had his thumbs hooked in his belt loops and said, "We had to track down a horse theft ring. They put me in charge of the case because I help our sister run the ranch."
"Sounds like a good thing. Did you catch them?"
"Yeah. And we were able to rescue all the horses. Good thing too because they weren't taking care of them. They were just looking for a new buyer for them when the first buyer backed out of the deal."
"Why?"
"The horse thieves killed a ranch hand while stealing the horses, and that wasn't part of the deal. We caught the original buyer, who had traded in horseflesh before. And he told us who he thought was buying the horses and where they might be holding them so we wouldn’t look into what he was up to these days. We were too busy trying to apprehend the murderers."
"Good thing you got them then."
Ted was going home to see his mom and sister and her kids for Thanksgiving this year. And he knew his sister would ask the question she always asked. When was he finding a mate, and why couldn't he work for her at her ranch instead of in Colorado? But Hal had hired him after he had worked as a ranch hand at another Colorado ranch when he couldn't work with his dad at all in Texas. His dad was dead, but Ted had been a foreman at the Haverton’s ranch for several years now and enjoyed the work, and the people he worked with. Not to mention the whole town was cougar run, so he had a lot of cougar friends here.
As to finding a mate, he would have much better success at finding one here and not in West Texas. Even his niece was having trouble finding a new mate, though having a couple of boys, aged five and seven, didn't help either.
"When are you going to retire from the FBI and take over as foreman of the ranch?" Ted asked Bill.
"A few more years. Though that may change if I meet a pretty cougar."
Ted smiled. "Yeah, I know what you mean. Then you'll want to settle down and start having kids."
"I don't know about the kids’ part, but I wouldn't mind finding a filly of my own. I thought you would be mated by now. You've got several choices here."
"Nah. I mean, yeah, I've dated some, but I haven't found anyone that I'm ready to settle down with yet." Ted knew his brother would build a house on the ranch in Texas if he settled down with a she-cat then and have a home near their sister’s place.
Out of the corner of Ted's eye, he thought he saw a flash of white. A shot was fired from a hunting rifle. Then another. He saw hunters then, three of them running through the tall grass, headed straight toward one of the red barns on the acreage, all three in camo gear, two with longish hair, the third man’s hair cut short, military style.
"Damn it to hell," Ted said, racing to get his rifle, his heart drumming.
Bill had his gun out. He was always armed. Now Ted was glad he was, if anyone ever came after Bill because of an FBI case he'd been working on. “Hold it there! FBI agent!”
"Get the kids inside, Tracey!" Ted shouted.
Larry had a gift of gab and was still talking to Tracey when the shooting began. He dropped his briefcase and grabbed up the two boys, one under each arm and ran for the house. Tracey was already grabbing the two girls’ hands and rushing the crying, terrified kids to the house while she shouted for the dogs, "Zula! Koda! Come!" She was a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Services special agent and could arrest the men, or Bill could. Ted knew she would be calling her mate too, who was a part-time deputy sheriff of Yuma Town also, working on a car theft case right now.
In fact, everyone from the sheriff's department, and the Cougar Special Forces special agents, would be here as soon as they could, once they heard about this.
Ted was glad Tracey had thought to take the dogs in the house. They had looked back at him to see if it was all right, and he had quickly motioned with his hand to command them to stay with the kids and their mom and Larry. The dogs were all shook up because they knew Ted and Bill were riled up and the kids were crying, so they hadn't known who to stay with.
"They're shooting at the barn," Bill shouted, then called out to the hunters, again, pulling his badge out this time, "FBI agent. Drop your weapons. Hands in the air."
"No way in hell, man," one of the men shouted, as if it was all right for them to be shooting up private property in pursuit of their prey, when it was illegal as hell.
Ted was running with his rifle to join his brother and leveled his weapon at them. "Do as the agent says, now!"
"Listen, we’re tracking a wounded white cougar and we're doing you a big damn favor by killing it for you," the one hunter said.
"Down on the ground now!" Bill said again.
"Hell, they want the white cougar for their own," the one man said and spit on the ground.
Ted frowned. Was that the white flash of something he had seen out of his peripheral vision? But he was damned concerned that the cougar was so gravely injured, he might die on them. He thought the men had to be mistaken. Ted had never seen a white cougar in his life. Never even heard of one either. But was the cougar they shot a shifter or a wild cougar?
Tracey came out of the house, her gun and badge in hand. "I'm a special agent with the Wildlife Service. You picked the wrong property to shoot up while hunting illegally on our property and trespassing. Do as the FBI agent said. Put your weapons down and put your hands up." Without taking her gaze off the men, she said to Ted and Bill, "I've notified the sheriff and everyone's on their way. CSF special agents also." Though she didn't say what that stood for. Humans didn't have a clue, but the CSF special agents took down hunters who illegally shot cougars, and rogue cougars who were on their terminal list for crimes they'd committed. They couldn't go to jail. Not when they could shift into a big bad cougar in a jail cell.
"Hell," one of the men said, and carefully put his rifle down. He must have been the leader of the band because the others did the same thing.
"Move away from the rifles," Ted said, meaning to let Tracey or Bill say it since they had more authority. He had to get to the wounded cougar though at once.
And they had to get these men away from here. The problem was that the ranch was a way out from town. Tracey moved to Bill and handed him zip ties to confine the men. Ted knew she had to get back inside to her kids who were probably scared to pieces about what was going on. Their nanny had gone into town to buy groceries for Tracey.
Just then, Kolby, their other ranch hand came around the barn carrying a rope and his mouth gaped.
Ted turned to him and said for his ears only, "Go get a first aid kit from the bunkhouse. We've got a wounded cougar in the barn if these men are right and they haven't killed him."
"Yes, sir." Kolby dropped the rope and raced off.
Ted kept his rifle trained on the men while Bill zip tied their wrists.
Then Kolby returned with the first aid kit and handed it to Ted.
"Call the vet," Ted said as an afterthought.
"I already did."
"Good." Then Ted handed Kolby the rifle to watch the men. The kid was bright and had been a real welcome addition to the staff at the ranch.
Tracey said, "I'll be right back. Shoot them if they try to get away." She smiled at Bill, but it was more sinister than sweet and then she ducked inside.
Ted ran toward the building, and inside, he immediately smelled the scent of a female cougar and
fresh blood—presumably hers.
"Hell, man, do you want to get yourself killed? We told you it's wounded," one of the shooters said.
"No thanks to you." Ted shut the barn doors. The darkness didn't bother him. He could see well enough as a cougar at night. But he did worry that the cougar might be just a cougar. He couldn't take the chance that it would die on him before he checked her out though, if she was a shifter like they were. "I'm Ted Weekum, a cougar shifter, so if you're one too, you don't have to worry about my intentions. I'm the foreman for the horse ranch and all of us working here and in Yuma Town are cougars. I've got a first aid kit so I can take care of you until the vet comes. She's a cougar also. The men who shot you are human and are being taken into custody. You won't have to see them again. They'll be up on charges for shooting up the property and endangering the people on the ranch."
He peered around the place. "If you don't believe me, I can strip and shift for you. Anything to reassure you were the good guys." That was if the cougar was a shifter like them. Otherwise, there was a big cat reserve he would take her to, once she was healed up and it was safe to leave her at the reserve.
Stella groaned as she lifted her head, her shoulder and her arm hurting like the devil, her leg where she’d been bitten by the rattler feeling numb and swollen. She wanted to shift, but when she hurt like this, it was like her brain short-circuited and she couldn't shift back. Which shot her whole plan to pieces because she had planned to turn into a human and then the men wouldn't shoot her. So if the man talking to her was a cougar shifter for real like her, then she was finally having a bit of luck.
She heard sirens in the distance, and she'd heard another man say that he was FBI and a woman say she was a special agent with the Fish and Wildlife Services outside the building Stella was hiding in. She knew that woman would protect her. She hadn't been sure about the FBI agent who would have probably wanted to put her out of her misery, but if they were all cougar shifters, that was a whole different story.
She snarled at Ted to let him know she was up in the loft, hiding behind some stacks of hay.
The police cars pulled close to the house, and then there were others shouting orders as Ted climbed the ladder to reach her. She was hoping her snarl hadn't sounded angry, but she couldn't seem to make any sound other than a hurt, growly one.
When he reached the top, he peered into the gloom, a little light coming through a few slats of wood and she saw a dark-haired man with blue eyes, and a concerned expression furrowing his brow. He was wearing a light-colored Stetson, a blue plaid western shirt, well-worn jeans, and a pair of scuffed-up cowboy boots. He looked like a real cowboy. If she wasn't so injured, she would have smiled at the sight. He would make for the perfect, handsome cowboy in a historical western. Well, or a modern cowboy. Yeah, riding the ranges, corralling cattle, and coming to take her out on a date. Maybe even teach her to ride a horse. But she wasn't sure he would be interested in a woman who couldn't ride a horse.
"Can you shift? It would be easier to bandage you," Ted said.
She wanted to shift. She wanted to tell him she had been bitten by a rattlesnake. Though when she'd had a German shepherd as a kid and the vet had told her mother that they didn't need to do anything, the dog would recover. Except they had to keep it calm, not like what she'd been doing, running to the barn. But now? She wasn't going to move a muscle. She was desperately trying to shift, but sometimes when wounded, injured, or sick a shifter couldn't easily shift from one form to another. This appeared to be one of those times and she should have thought of that too. She guessed she’d been too panicked to think clearly when she had been trying to find a safe spot to hide.
"Are you injured anywhere else?" Ted pulled bandages out of the first aid kit.
He was lucky she wasn't all cougar.
"Your shoulder," he said, answering himself since she couldn't. "And your arm. I'm going to apply a bandage to each wound to stop the bleeding. Dr. Vanessa Rugel should be here soon." He worked on her as gently as he could, but the pain was hitting all at once and she snarled at him because it hurt, and she instantly felt guilty. He was only trying to save her life. "Sorry. Do you have any other injuries?”
She lifted her hind leg a little and he went back to check on it. "Well, damn. The area on your leg is swollen, but there’s no blood from a bullet wound. Were you bitten by a rattlesnake? It has to be a snakebite. We'll have to get you an antidote. As a cougar, you'll be okay, staying quiet, but if you shift—we need to get you an antidote no matter what." He got on his phone and said, "Our cougar had been bitten by a snake." He glanced down at Stella. "Rattlesnake?"
She nodded.
"Yeah, rattlesnake," he told the vet.
"Okay, thanks." He ended the call and said to Stella, "The veterinarian, Vanessa Rugel, is calling someone at her animal clinic to pick up the antidote. She's already on her way here. She's going to patch you up before she takes you to the clinic. If you can hold off, don't shift until you have the antidote for the poison in your blood."
Then they heard another vehicle pull up. "That's the vet," Ted said.
Stella wanted to thank him and everyone else for taking care of her.
Then she heard the doors open to the barn and she was afraid for her life all over again. That the hunters got loose somehow and were going to shoot her for good.
But someone outside was reading the men their Miranda rights, and then loading them up in a couple of cars.
"I've got one of them, Dan," one man said.
"I'll take that one, Dan," another man said.
"I'll take the last one. You stay here, Hal. Your mate will probably be shook up, or at least the kids will be. And, Ricky, if you need to be here for the family since you worked for them for so long as a ranch hand, you're welcome to stay."
"Thanks, Dan," one of the men said. "I'll go in and check on Tracey and the kids." So that had to be Hal.
Then three cars took off and another drove into the parking area while two men entered the barn.
"What did you find?" one of the men asked.
"An injured female cougar, a rare white, and I assume she's one of us, Bill. That's my brother Bill," Ted said for Stella's benefit.
She finally managed to lick Ted’s hand and he smiled at her.
"Can I see her?" another man asked.
"That's Kolby Jones, one of our ranch hands."
"Me too," another man said, that sounded similar to the first.
"Ricky Jones, his brother, a deputy sheriff now, but he used to be one of our ranch hands."
Bill said, "The vet's here."
"Once she sees to her, we can carry her down. I think she's in too much pain to shift," Ted said.
The woman came into the barn. "Where is the cougar?"
"Up here in the loft," Ted said.
"I don't usually climb into lofts to see my patients, but there's always a first time for everything." When the vet reached the loft, she said, "I'm Dr. Vanessa Rugel. We'll get you to the clinic right away."
She checked her heart rate and pulse. She gave her a shot for the pain and Stella felt like she was drifting on clouds. She still felt the pain, but it was duller, farther away, as if she could distance herself from it. Then the veterinarian climbed down the ladder from the loft so the guys could rig up something to carry Stella in and lower her down to the ground. Once they had moved her, they lifted her onto a stretcher and carried her out to a waiting ambulance.
Before the ambulance pulled out, another vehicle raced into the yard, a car door opened, and feet hit gravel. The doctor said, "Thanks!"
Then Stella felt a swipe of a piece of sterile cloth covered in the smell of alcohol and cold and wet against her skin, a sharp jab of a needle after that, and a liquid pouring into her body.
"It's the antivenom," the doctor said, "and it will take care of the poison in your blood."
Stella felt relief, hoping they'd caught the poison in time and counteracted it.
"If they don't g
et these guys on criminal charges, I'll file a civil suit on your behalf," a suited man said, moving in to speak to her, his kindly blue eyes looking down at her, his hand on her furry cougar head. "They won't get away with it."
"He's our town’s lawyer," Ted said. "Larry Pierce."
Ambulance chaser, Stella thought. She was drifting even more now, but she was surprised she was going for a ride in an ambulance. She figured she would be in a cage in a truck bed or something, but this was nice.
The next thing she vaguely remembered was being carried into an animal clinic and then she was out.
Chapter 2
Ted had a job to do here at the ranch, otherwise he wanted to check on the cougar. He told himself it was because he had taken care of her first. But it was more than that. He had to have closure, and he was praying she would make it through surgery all right. But his place was here at the ranch. He still had blood on his hands from when he had bandaged her to try and stop the bleeding. And some on his clothes even. He hoped she hadn't lost too much blood.
He hurried to wash the blood off his hands outside at the spigot.
Tracey was on her cell while Hal was watching the kids. "Okay, Vanessa." She glanced at Ted and Bill. "Do either of you have O negative blood?"
"I do," Bill and Ted said at the same time.
"Vanessa needs you to donate blood."
Ted was already headed for his pickup. Bill was going with him. "Probably only one of us needs to give her blood," Ted said to his brother.
"Yeah, I was thinking the same." But from the way he spoke the words, Bill intended to be the one who gave her his blood.
"I guess she can't have too much blood, if Vanessa needs more," Ted said.
"Right." Bill gave him a quirky smile as Ted drove them off the ranch.
They drove in silence for a while, then Bill said, "She might be too old for us."