Cougar Bait

by Evangeline Anderson

  “What the hell? I . . . I’m youthening,” Samantha muttered, staring at herself in the mirror.

  “No, you’re Rejuvenating,” a voice said behind her.

  She whirled around, her arms coming up instinctively to cover her nakedness.

  Eddie Lounds was standing there with a wide grin on his narrow face. But it wasn’t his face that drew her attention—it was his hand.

  He was holding a gun.

  “Eddie?” She stared at him blankly. “What are you doing here? What do you want?”

  “Some alone time with you, Samantha.” His smile became predatory under the pencil-thin black mustache. “But not here—this isn’t private enough.” He waved the gun at her. “Come on, we’re going on a little trip, just the two of us.”

  * * *

  Keller stared at the phone in his hand in disgust. It was the fourth time he’d called Samantha in the past two days and she still hadn’t answered. Instead, her phone kept going to voice mail. He supposed she thought he was calling to try and persuade her to give him another chance, but she could at least have the common decency to tell him to fuck off personally instead of just ignoring him.

  On the phone, he heard her recorded voice telling him to leave a message. Should he bother? She hadn’t answered his first few messages, but he supposed all he could do was try again.

  “Samantha,” he said into the phone. “This is Liam Keller. As I told you in my previous messages, I am not trying to reconnect with you romantically. I do, however, need to speak to you about the night you were attacked. Please call me soon.”

  He sent the message and hung up. Looking out the window of his Manhattan office, he surveyed the city skyline, which was lighting up as the sun set and the sky went dark. The lights reminded him a little of the view of the Vegas Strip he’d had from his hotel room. Which in turn reminded him of being with Samantha, holding her in his arms . . . What was going on with her? Why wasn’t she answering his calls? It worried him, although more from a personal point of view than a professional one.

  Keller would have been more concerned if the compound they’d found in the syringe had been dangerous. But though it proved to have a complex chemical composition with some of the same additives he himself had experimented with, the mixture was essentially inert. In other words, it didn’t matter how much of the stuff the Hyena Shifter had injected Samantha with—it couldn’t hurt her. Still, he thought she ought to know that she’d been injected with a foreign substance, even if that substance was essentially harmless.

  “Mr. Keller? Mr. Keller!” There was an excited rapping at his office door, and then Brody Peals dashed in without waiting for an invitation. “Mr. Keller,” he exclaimed, hurrying over to Keller’s desk, his white lab coat flapping. “Sir, there’s something you have to see.”

  “Hello to you too, Brody,” Keller said dryly. “Thanks for knocking before you came barging in.”

  “Oh, you’re welcome.” Brody nodded—clearly Keller’s sarcasm had gone right over his head. “Mr. Keller, sir, you have to see this. You’re not gonna believe what I found!”

  Keller frowned at the young scientist, but honestly, he couldn’t stay mad at Brody for long. Like Keller himself, Brody had gained early admittance into MIT and was considered one of the brightest students in his class. Keller had spoken at his alma mater, and afterward, Brody approached him with a complicated question about a paper Keller had written. Seeing the boy’s promise, Keller had snapped him up, bringing him to work at Keller Biotech and Robotics the day after he graduated.

  He gave Brody a lot of leeway and allowed him to pick his own projects, but he’d had the boy drop everything to help him analyze the orange compound Samantha had been injected with. Brody had been disappointed when they didn’t find anything significant, and Keller had authorized him to go back to whatever else he was working on at the moment.

  He supposed now that Brody was excited about some new formula or chemical compound he’d discovered. Though Keller was usually very supportive, right at the moment, he didn’t feel like being amazed or excited. He just wanted to sit at his desk and brood over Samantha.

  “Brody,” he said. “I’m really not—”

  “It’s about that compound you gave me—the orange stuff you found in the syringe at that con you attended?”

  “Yes?” Keller’s head jerked up. “I thought we decided it was inert.”

  “It is—at first. But look at this!”

  Reaching into the pocket of his lab coat, Brody pulled out something small and fluffy and set it carefully in the center of Keller’s vast steel-and-glass desk.

  “What’s this?” Keller leaned down and frowned at the little creature that was sniffing around a pile of paperwork. “Why are you showing me a guinea pig?”

  “Not just any guinea pig—a baby guinea pig,” Brody emphasized. “One that appears to be only a few weeks old.”

  “All right,” Keller growled. “Why are you showing me a baby guinea pig, then?”

  “Because it didn’t used to be a baby!” Brody exclaimed. “That’s Celia—one of the pigs we genetically engineered to have that special Gene you’ve been working on for so long.”

  “Oh yes?” Keller felt his heart starting to pound. As Brody wasn’t a Shifter himself, Keller had never gone into an in-depth explanation of the Shifter Gene. The young scientist was under the impression that the Gene was linked to an antiaging study Keller wanted to conduct.

  “So,” Brody continued. “After we analyzed your mystery compound, I made up a batch of the stuff and decided to use some of it. Celia here was handy, and also she was getting pretty old—well, for a guinea pig. They don’t usually live much past four or five years, you know.”

  “So . . .” Keller began to feel numb as the implication sank in. “So you’re saying this guinea pig was old and then you injected the compound and it . . . it rejuvenated back to youth?”

  “Yeah. I injected her two days ago and nothing seemed to happen except I noticed Celia was kind of sluggish and lethargic. But she usually is—I mean, she’s like, a grandma guinea pig, you know?”

  “Yes, I know,” Keller said tightly. “So when did you first start noticing the changes?”

  “Just now, when I went to feed her,” Brody said. “Well, I mean I was feeding all of the pigs, but when I got to her cage, I noticed that Celia was kind of trembling and shaking. Then she started scratching and clawing at herself all over. I was afraid she might hurt herself, so I took her out and as I was holding her . . .” His eyes widened behind his glasses. “She started changing.”

  “Changing? Changing how?” Keller demanded.

  “I dunno—her eyes got brighter and she started getting friskier. And then she started shrinking—all right while I was holding her in my hands!” Brody held out his cupped hands, as though to demonstrate. “When she finally stopped, she looked like that.” He pointed at the tiny furry creature on Keller’s desk again. “And I realized she had somehow gotten younger. Like, way younger.” He shook his head. “That stuff in the orange compound, it doesn’t seem like it would do anything, but I guess it’s time release or something. Or maybe it reacts to that special gene once it gets inside the host’s body. But for whatever reason, that’s the result—instant youth. Well, instant after a couple of days, anyway.”

  Instant youth . . . Rejuvenation!

  Keller stared at the tiny guinea pig blankly. Was the chemical the Hyena Shifter had injected Samantha with meant to bring on Rejuvenation in a female with a latent Gene?

  “No,” he muttered to himself. “It can’t be—it’s impossible.”

  He knew it was impossible because he had worked for years himself, trying to discover such a compound—a chemical cocktail that would bring a latent Shifter Gene to life. It had been his hope that Rachel would agree to take it after he perfected it. That she would agree to spend her life with him.

  But that was before. Before she—

  Keller pushed the old pain aside—it
was irrelevant. Right now Samantha could be in serious trouble, and all because he’d been an arrogant fool and hadn’t researched the mystery compound as thoroughly as he should have. Somehow whoever had created this formula really had done the impossible, and now Samantha would pay the price if he couldn’t get to her in time.

  As he thought about Samantha, a bad feeling swept over him—a foreboding so strong he would have staggered if he hadn’t been sitting down. As it was, he put a hand to his head, feeling momentarily dizzy.

  Danger—our mate is in danger, the Cougar inside him growled. Though he didn’t know how, Keller knew it was true. Maybe it was the partial bond he’d formed with her the night he healed her, but the certainty that Samantha was in trouble filled him with a possessive rage so strong, he had to fight not to Shift right then and there. His Cougar was angry and concerned for their female—he wanted to come out and track Samantha down.

  Not now, Keller told the other half of himself desperately. Shifting now won’t do a damn bit of good! We have to find her scent trail first—then you can come out and track her.

  “Mr. Keller?” Brody’s voice sounded thin and uncertain. With an effort, Keller looked up at him.

  “Yes, Brody?” His voice came out inhumanly deep, and he had to clear his throat and try again. “Yes?”

  “Are . . . are you okay?” Brody was looking at him with a mixture of fear and awe on his boyish face. “Your eyes—”

  “What about my eyes?” Keller demanded.

  “They . . . for a minute they almost seemed to be . . . to be glowing.” Brody shook his head. “That’s crazy, right?”

  “Must be a trick of the light,” Keller said. “Listen, Brody, I have some urgent business I have to attend to so—”

  Just then his cell phone rang.

  Keller snatched it up and answered without looking to see who it was.

  “Samantha?” he asked eagerly.

  “No, but I’m hoping you know where she is,” a gruff masculine voice answered him.

  “What? Who is this?” Keller demanded.

  “It’s me—Mathis. And before you ask, I’m not calling to stir the shit with you,” the Buck Shifter growled. “Sadie just had a terrible feeling that something’s not right with her sister, and Samantha hasn’t answered her phone. Last time she talked to Sadie, she told her you were with her in Las Vegas. Is she with you now?”

  “Unfortunately not.” Keller looked up and noticed that Brody was still watching him with wide eyes. Irritated, he scooped the baby guinea pig off his desk and thrust it at the young scientist with a curt nod at the door.

  Brody took the hint and left the office quickly, shutting the door behind him with a muted clatter.

  Relieved to have some privacy, Keller turned his attention back to the phone, where Mathis was already talking again.

  “I know you’ve got your sights set on Samantha,” the Buck Shifter was saying. “But you need to know right here and now that I consider her under my protection. She’s Sadie’s closest kin, which makes her my responsibility. So if you’ve hurt her in any way—”

  “Why would I hurt her?” Keller snapped. “God damn it, I love her.”

  There was a long pause on the other end of the phone, and Keller had time to curse himself for being an emotional fool. He hadn’t meant to speak his feelings aloud—in fact, he hadn’t even been completely aware of them himself until the words came out of his mouth. But now that they were out, he knew it was true. He was in love with Samantha Becker—a woman who had no interest in ever returning his feelings.

  A woman who was in terrible danger.

  I have to find her—have to help her, Keller thought urgently, and his Cougar roared within, seconding the impulse fiercely.

  “Keller?” Mathis’ voice on the other end of the line sounded uncertain. “Are you—”

  “Look, Blackwell, that didn’t come out exactly right,” Keller said. He ran a hand through his hair and blew out a breath. “What I meant to say is, well, I formed a partial bond with her the other night. When I healed her.”

  “You did?” Mathis sounded surprised, but not incredulous. Forming an early or partial bond before a female’s first Shift was rare, but not completely unheard of.

  “I did,” Keller affirmed. “And now she’s in danger—I can feel it.”

  “Sadie feels it too,” Mathis said grimly. “She and her sister have some kind of connection—I don’t know what—but they can tell when the other one is hurting or something’s not right.”

  “When was the last time she heard from Samantha?” Keller asked urgently.

  “She texted when her plane touched down in Tampa to say she’d gotten home safe,” Mathis said. “That was two days ago, and she hasn’t called or answered her phone since.”

  “I haven’t been able to get her on the phone either,” Keller said. “But I only got the sense that she was in danger just now.”

  “Sadie too,” Mathis muttered. “So she must have gotten home okay and something happened to her recently.”

  “Then her house is the place to start.” Keller was already rising from his desk, gathering his things. “I’ll need to sniff around and see if I can find her scent trail.”

  “Sadie and I will meet you there—do you know the address?”

  “Send it to me,” Keller said grimly. He paused for a moment, then made himself say, “It’s . . . good you’re coming, Blackwell. The more Shifters we have scenting for her, the better chance we have of finding her. Sadie can help too.”

  “Uh . . . I don’t think she’d better risk Shifting right now,” Mathis said. “It might . . .” He cleared his throat. “Might be bad for the baby.”

  “She’s pregnant? Already?” Keller had to fight down a surge of jealousy. That Blackwell should have what Keller himself had always wished for—a mate he loved and a child to raise . . .

  If only I could have that with Samantha.

  But he knew it would never happen. Even if they found Samantha and saved her from whatever danger she was in, she would never have an interest in him that way. She’d made herself perfectly clear on that point.

  “We just found out,” Mathis said. “It was fast—even for a Shifter.”

  Shifter pregnancies progressed more rapidly than regular human ones, so a pregnant female Shifter often knew within a week of conception if she was with child. Not long after that, the baby began growing at an increased rate of speed, so most Shifter pregnancies lasted only four and a half to five months, rather than the human gestation period of nine months.

  Mathis gave a gruff chuckle. “Fiona says it’s because Lady Moon wants to replenish the Shifter population. She’s predicting a whole wave of Shifter babies coming soon.”

  “That’s all well and good,” Keller said. “And I’m happy for you both. But right now my priority has to be finding Samantha.”

  “That’s our priority too,” Mathis said. “I’m just telling you why Sadie can’t Shift to help us track her. Do you have any idea what might have happened to Samantha though? Any clue at all?”

  Keller frowned. “Well, my driver Jakes did tell me there was a strange Shifter sniffing around her right before he took her to the airport, but Samantha said she knew him. Jakes got the impression she just didn’t know he was a Shifter.”

  “Could he have followed her to Tampa?” Mathis asked.

  “I didn’t think so, but now I’m not so sure.” Keller swore. “Jakes didn’t get a name—he just said the guy was getting too close to Samantha for comfort.”

  “Might be a dead end, but it couldn’t hurt to ask your driver if he remembers anything else. We’ll probably find out more by going to Samantha’s house,” Mathis said. “We’ll get on a plane and meet you there.”

  “I’m on my way,” Keller said grimly. “And she’d better not be harmed in any way when we get to her. Whoever touches her in anger will find death by my jaws if it takes a thousand moons to hunt them down.”

  On the other end of the
phone he heard Mathis suck in a breath. Keller had sworn an ancient Shifter oath that was not lightly given.

  “You really do love her,” the Buck Shifter murmured.

  “I do,” Keller said shortly. “She doesn’t return the feeling, but that’s my problem. I’ll see you in Tampa.”

  “I’ll tell Sadie we’re going to meet you. She’s, uh . . .” Mathis cleared his throat. “She’s really upset. We were just about to call Samantha and tell her the good news when she got the bad feeling.”

  “I had just gotten some rather surprising news of my own before I felt her danger.” Keller thought of the Rejuvenation serum that had seemed inert at first. The Hyena Shifter must have injected Samantha and then waited until he knew the serum had time to work before coming after her.

  I’ll kill him, whoever he is, he swore to himself. If he so much as touches a hair on her head, I’ll gut him from throat to crotch and empty him like a fucking piñata.

  “What news did you get?” Mathis asked, sounding like he was frowning.

  “I’ll tell you when I see you,” Keller said grimly. “It involves Samantha, but I think it would be better for me to tell Sadie face to face.”

  “All right. I won’t say anything about it for now. She’s got enough on her plate as it is.”

  “Agreed. See you in Tampa,” Keller said again, and hung up. His next call was to get his jet ready. He had to get to Tampa fast and find out what had happened to Samantha.

  Sammie, I’m coming for you. Hang in there, baby! he thought. And please, please be all right.

  Chapter 12

  “Where is this place, anyway?” Samantha demanded, looking around the sterile lab. “Some kind of secret Pfizer facility?”

  “Hardly.” Lounds laughed. “Or rather, Pfizer is paying for it, they just don’t know it.”

  “How’d you manage that?”

  Samantha would have put a hand on her hip and glared at him incredulously but she couldn’t—her hands were tied in front of her as they had been for the entire road trip from Tampa to Miami. Although, actually, she thought they were somewhere past Miami now. She didn’t know how far past exactly, because Lounds had stopped on the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis and put a blindfold on her before resuming their journey. He’d only taken it off once they got inside the lab—wherever it was.