“Hey, pretty boy. How are you doing?”
To her surprise, he jumped down and chuffed at her, making his friendliest call of greeting. She crouched by the outer fence, and Pangur came as close as he could. There was another fence that kept him at a safe distance from idiots with sticks and concession food, and he rubbed his broad forehead against it.
“Hi, baby. What do you think about this stuff today, hmm? Weird, right?”
He chuffed again and shifted his vocalizations to the kind of talking that her house cat did. He looked over her shoulder and made more sounds, as if he was literally trying to speak.
Eliza heard rustling in the bushes along the path, and she turned in time to see the puma bounding toward her. She cried out and curled into a ball, protecting her throat and stomach. Her heart was pounding in her ears so loudly that she could hardly hear it when Pangur started to yowl. She could only pray that Pete was seeing this on his cameras and could come to her assistance. She realized she might be dead before he came.
Huge teeth clamped onto the back of her neck, but it was biting to hold her in place, not to kill. The puma growled, and she froze. She knew she should have done something, to punch at its nose or gouge its eyes, but she was too terrified to move, afraid that if she did the wrong thing, it would just close its jaws and sever her spine. Its long teeth were just starting to puncture her skin, and a thin rivulet of blood ran down the side of her neck and onto her chest. She saw the scarlet bead running through the corner of her eye.
This is how I die.
The fence on Pangur’s enclosure rattled hard, and the puma started dragging her away. It put her down once, pressing her into the ground with all its weight on one huge paw. It yowled at the snow leopard, who was raising hell in his enclosure. She stole a look at Pangur and saw him throwing himself against the cage, trying to get through. The look in the gentle cat’s eyes was pure fury. He wanted to kill that puma.
She heard a truck speeding toward her. Pete was coming to the rescue. He slammed on the brakes fifty feet away and hurled himself out of the truck. The puma snarled and grabbed her by the neck again, but this time not over her spine. Its teeth sank into the meat of her trapezius muscle, and it started dragging her toward the fence.
A gun short made the cat flinch, and it lost its grip on her. Eliza took that opportunity to roll away, moving onto her back with her knees drawn up. If the cat came toward her, she’d get in one good two-footed kick before it was on her again. It might not be enough to free her, but it would slow him down so Pete could shoot him. She hoped he was using tranquilizers instead of real bullets.
Pete fired again, and the puma ducked, avoiding the shot. When he did, he shifted again. Where a cat had been, a man with piercing dark eyes now stood. He took one long look at her, his gaze boring into hers, and he pulled back his lips in a grin. Blood stained his teeth - her blood.
“I’m coming back for you,” he promised in a deep voice.
Pangur threw himself at the cage again, and it distracted the man/puma long enough for her to get into a better position. She kicked out at him, and she caught him hard in the side. He rolled but regained his footing quickly. He glanced at Pete, who was frozen in fear at what he was seeing, and then the man was running toward the fence. His naked form shifted again into the puma and leaped over the fence and was gone.
She curled onto her side, breathing heavily and trying not to cry. Behind her, Pangur yowled, and to her, it almost sounded like he was calling her name.
That’s impossible. I’m crazy.
Pete ran to her, recovering somewhat from his shock. “Let’s get you in,” he said, worried and anxious. “Can you stand?”
She nodded. He looped his arm around her and helped her to her feet. She looked at the snow leopard, and he looked so full of anxiety that she broke away from Pete and made her unsteady way to the wire wall.
“Thanks, baby,” she said. “You kept him off balance for me.”
The animal chuffed and mewled at her, and she wished that she could pet him. She was convinced that they both could have used the comfort. Pete was there, though, and he was putting his arm around her again to drag her back to the truck. She went this time, but as the vehicle pulled away, she watched Pangur in the side view mirror. He was watching them the whole way.
Chapter Two
Pete took her to the vet clinic. Dr. Sawyer was there at her desk, checking reports that had been emailed to her from a vet lab in Bismarck. He looked up in shock when they came in. Eliza was steadier on her feet, but she was still bleeding. Of the two of them, Pete was the one who was more panicky.
“What happened?” Dr. Sawyer asked, jumping up to her feet. She helped Eliza sit down.
“There was a puma in the zoo,” Pete said. “I don’t know how it got in, but it attacked her when she was at Pangur’s enclosure.”
The veterinarian went to her supplies while Pete grabbed the first aid kit from the wall. She wasn’t supposed to treat humans, but anybody could do emergency triage. She unwrapped a roll of sterile gauze and used it to apply pressure to the two bite wounds.
“These aren’t as bad as they could be,” she told Eliza, “but they’re bad enough. You’re definitely going to have to get to the hospital. You’ll need at least a few stitches, and this wound needs to be irrigated to prevent infection.”
“Can’t you just…” she started. Dr. Sawyer gave her a firm look, and she relented. “I just don’t want anybody to know. I don’t want a hunting party going after this puma.”
The veterinarian shook her head. “I don’t know how a puma could have gotten in over that electric fence, but if he’s in here hunting humans, we can’t have that.”
“No. We can’t.” Pete said, “I shot at him to get her off, but I missed.”
“You can’t hit the broadside of a barn,” Eliza said, smiling. She tilted her head to give Dr. Sawyer better access to the bites.
“Yeah, and you’re a real Annie Oakley, yourself.”
“I can shoot. I always shoot the tranq guns when we have to work on Christopher.”
“Christopher’s not a fast mover. He’s an old lion and he’s not exactly a small target,” Pete objected. “Is it still bleeding?”
Dr. Sawyer gingerly examined the wound. “Yes, but I don’t think it hit any arteries, which is a blessing. If it had grabbed you just a little deeper and a skosh more to the side, you’d have bled out by now.”
Her formerly khaki shirt was now red and sodden with blood as it was. “I think I’m bleeding pretty well anyway.”
“Agreed.”
Dr. Sawyer pressed a folded handful of gauze to the neck wound. “Pete, call 911.”
He dropped the first aid kit and pulled out his phone. He was acting like he’d been hit in the head, but Eliza knew that he was in shock. So was she, and not just from the puma bite.
A big cat had turned into a man in front of her. Not just that, it spoke. But it did more than speak. It - he - had threatened her.
“I’m coming back for you.”
She shuddered. Dr. Sawyer said reassuringly, “It’s okay, Eliza. You’re going to be okay. Are you cold?”
She nodded, and when Pete finished talking to the dispatcher, the vet sent him to get a blanket. He raced to do as she asked, and he draped it around her shoulders. His eyes were still wide.
“You look as pale as I feel,” she teased weakly.
“Well, I’m sure it’s not every day he sees his coworker being attacked by a mountain lion,” Dr. Sawyer said drily.
The ambulance arrived quickly with blaring sirens and its lights flashing. Two EMTs swept in and put Eliza on a gurney, then whisked her away to the nearest hospital. Pete followed in his own car, and once she was admitted to the emergency room, he stayed with her in the relative quiet.
“Did you see it?” she asked when they were alone, waiting for the physician to come in.
He nodded. There was no panic in his expression now, just hollow resignation. He h
adn’t found a way to deny what his own eyes had seen, and he was having difficulty adjusting to the new way of the world. She knew exactly how he felt.
Eliza almost didn’t want to say it, because it would make the truth too real, but she told Pete, “He spoke to me.”
His mouth dropped open for a second. “What did he say?”
“He said he’d be coming back for me.”
Pete’s jaw set. “Oh, no. That is not happening.”
The conversation was interrupted by the arrival of the doctor, who addressed her wound. While he cleaned and closed the bites, Eliza couldn’t stop replaying the attack in her mind, and the threat by the shape-shifting man had her completely unnerved. Pete saw the look on her face and took her hand, squeezing it in comfort and encouragement. She smiled for him and tried to hold still while the doctor finished his work.
Several stitches later, she was sent home with strict orders to rest. They walked out together, both of them still lost in their own thoughts. The silence was heavy with things they were struggling not to say.
“Are you hungry?” Pete asked her once they were in his car.
She smiled. “Starving. The cats got breakfast, but I didn’t.”
“Well, it’s lunch time now. It’s on me.”
They went to a local diner. Eliza was relieved to see that the “seat yourself” sign had been put by the door. She led the way to a corner booth, far away from other diners. She didn’t want anyone staring at her bandages, and she didn’t want their conversation to be overheard. Pete slid into the booth across from her and pulled out his phone.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“I downloaded the video from the cameras to the cloud while we were waiting for the ambulance.” He turned the phone around and put it in front of her so she could see the screen.
The security cameras had clearly recorded the puma’s attack, and they were still filming when the cat had become a man. Seeing the video made Eliza feel sick, but she couldn’t look away. When it was over, she said, “Play it again. Please.”
Pete complied, and they watched it again. She could feel the teeth in her flesh again just from watching the images. The waitress came with glasses of water and menus, and Eliza took a drink, her hand shaking. Pete hid his phone with his hand, and Eliza wished she could have something stronger. When they were alone again, she took the phone and watched the video once more.
“I just… I can’t believe this is real. But you saw it, too, so I know I’m not crazy.”
“That’s sort of what I keep telling myself, too.” He shook his head. “I’m just… stunned. There is absolutely nothing in any biology, anatomy or physiology that I’ve ever learned that covers what we’ve seen. I mean… how? How does this happen? And why was he there, and why is he after you?”
“I wish I knew.”
She ran the video again, but this time she was watching Pangur. The snow leopard wasn’t afraid of the strange predator near his enclosure. He was desperately trying to get out, his eyes locked on her as she struggled with the creature. She isolated Pangur in the video and showed it to Pete.
“Look at him.”
He took the phone and watched. “Wow. He wanted to protect you.”
“You think?”
“Oh, yeah. He was totally trying to get at that… whatever the hell it is.” He scratched his head. “None of this makes sense.”
“I know.”
Their food was delivered, and he put his phone away. They ate in silence for a long while, but she could tell that Pete had something that he wanted to say. Finally she pushed her plate aside.
“Out with it.”
“I… I don’t think you should be alone in your apartment. And I’m not trying to be weird. I just… if he says he’s coming after you, you should stay with me.”
“Pete…”
“No, just hear me out. I know we’ve got, well.. history.”
“We dated. And we broke up.”
“Because I was an idiot, yes,” he agreed. “And I’ve been sorry every single day since I said I wanted to take a break.”
Eliza crossed her arms. “I don’t do second chances.”
“Yeah, I know. And I wish that wasn’t the case, believe me. But… this isn’t about that. This is about me wanting to protect you.”
She looked into his eyes, remembering when they’d been so much more than coworkers. If she was honest, she had to admit that she missed him, too, but she would be damned if she let down her guard with him again.
“I don’t know.”
“I’m not talking about having you move in permanently, and I’m not going to say we should share a bed or anything. I’ll sleep on the couch. I just…” He took a deep breath. “If he’s looking for you, and if he has your scent like a regular predator would, it’ll be way easier for him to find you at your place where everything smells like you.”
There was a certain inelegant logic to what he was saying, and she nodded. “Okay. Thank you. But if he does show up, do you know what to do to make him leave?”
“I have a pistol,” he told her.
“Since when?”
“Since… it’s not important since what. But I’ve got one. And I’m way better with a pistol than with a rifle.”
“I hope so,” she teased. She reached across the table and clasped his hand. “Thank you, Pete. I appreciate it. I really don’t want to be alone right now, and you’re the only one who understands what’s going on.”
He smiled at her and squeezed her fingers gently. “We’ll figure this out somehow.”
“I just don’t even know how to react.”
“Neither do I.” Pete fell into thought, and she could see him wrestling with more things that he wanted to say but wasn’t certain if he should. He reached a decision and hesitantly asked, “There’s something I wanted to talk to you about…”
Whatever the problem was, it sounded serious. She nodded. “Of course.”
“It’s about Dr. Armstrong.”
Eliza frowned. “What about him?”
“He’s got us doing daily injections to Pangur, Raja and Chance. But I checked, and those injections aren’t in their medical files, and Dr. Sawyer didn’t know anything about them.” He tapped his finger on the table top. “I just don’t know what he’s doing.”
“The cats get vet care all the time. Those three all came from private collectors. Maybe they have some sort of vitamin deficiency or illness that he’s treating.”
“But why not work through Dr. Sawyer?”
She had to admit that it was strange, but she wasn’t quite ready to throw their boss under the bus. “He’s a vet, too, and a Ph.D. in biology. I think he knows what he’s doing. Those three cats are in terrific health right now, but we have no idea what kind of circumstances they were in before they came to us. Private owners usually don’t do a very good job of taking care of big cats, and if they had them when they were babies, they might have some sort of developmental abnormality. Why don’t you ask him?”
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
He was nearly twitching, he was so nervous. “He’ll fire me.”
“Over a question like that? We’re responsible for the care of these cats. I’d think it’s our job to ask about the drugs we’re giving them. What medication is it?”
Pete took a deep breath. “It’s not a drug. It’s something that someone is brewing up at home.”
She couldn’t believe it. “That’s not possible. Dr. Armstrong would never use home remedies on these cats.”
“Then I’ll show you. I’m telling you, something is very, very wrong at that zoo.”
Eliza put her aching head in her hand. Until today, her life had been relatively orderly, with the zoo being her anchor of reality. The daily routine to which they rigidly adhered helped her stay sane when her personal life had gone haywire. The day Pete asked to break up, she had thought he was going to propose, and she had every intention of saying yes. His su
dden attack of cold feet came out of left field and left her stunned. She’d had to move out of the apartment they shared and figure out how to work with someone who had broken her heart. It hadn’t been easy, but the zoo and Dr. Armstrong’s calm, solid leadership had been her lifeline. Now everything was coming unglued again, and like before, Pete was in the middle of it.
“How are you going to show me?”
“Tomorrow morning, when you come in, I’ll show you the vials. They’re in a refrigerator in Dr. Armstrong’s office.”
Eliza gasped. “You were searching our boss’s office? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I’m looking out for the cats!” He leaned forward. “You know that the wellbeing of those animals is what I care about. I live for my cats! Whatever he’s doing, it’s sketchy, and it could harm them, and I don’t want to allow it.”
She sat back. “All right. I’m sorry. I know how much you love the animals. I do, too. But… what you’re talking about sounds crazy.”
“So does a ghost cat turning into a dude and back again, but here we are.”
Ghost cat. It was an alternate name for the mountain lion, which had what seemed like a thousand other names: puma, mountain lion, cougar, catamount, panther. But ‘ghost cat’ seemed the best name for the creature she had tangled with that morning. It had come out of nowhere, did supernatural things, and then vanished the way it had come. She realized with a sickening certainty that if the ghost cat wanted to come back for her, there was precious little that she or Pete could do about it.
“Look, we have to get back to work. The cats won’t wait, and you know we have things we have to do this afternoon, too.” She stood. “Just drive me back, and we’ll get back to work… and you can show me this vial or whatever.”
“The doc said you should rest,” he objected, standing up and putting money on the table for the waitress’s tip.
“I can rest tonight when I get home.”
“You’re coming to my place.”
“No… I’m not.” He started to argue, and she held up her hand. “Look, I get it. You want to protect me, and that’s very sweet. But we both know that if this thing really does come back for me, then we’re both dead. We’re not fighters. We don’t know how to fight something like this.”
Falling for Shifters: A Limited Edition Autumn Shifters Collection Page 33