Stranded With The Snow Leopard: A Paranormal Shapeshifter Romance

by Jade White

  Keith loped after the rancid man as he raced through the woods. He wasn’t trying to go for the kill, but he did want to make sure he would never dream of coming back to harass Kim ever again. He nearly gagged as the wind picked up Smiley’s sour scent, causing his lip to curl in disgust. He could practically taste the man’s stench.

  He chased the man for a good thirty minutes before he decided Smiley had enough. He turned around and trotted back to his house, feeling pretty pleased with himself. His smug self-satisfaction was slightly marred by the fact Kim had seen him in his feline form. Hopefully, she only thought that he was just a wild cougar that got lost or something.

  He slunk through town to check on Kim, and saw she was nowhere to be found. Keith sniffed the ground where she fell and followed it a little ways. Oh, she went to the police station, he thought to himself.

  With that, he turned around and padded on home.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The door to the small police station burst open as Kim breathlessly charged in. Her hair was disheveled, and a foul odor lingered around her. She bent over to try to catch her breath after her adrenaline- fueled sprint to the station.

  Tony stood up from his desk, face full of concern. “Hey, what’s going on? You hurt?”

  Kim shook her head. “No... But Smiley... My ex... He tried to...then there was a cougar...then he ran off.”

  Tony arched his eyebrows in surprise. “Wait, start from the beginning.”

  Kim took a deep breath. “I guess I didn’t tell you, did I? Okay, I’m here to hide from my ex, Smiley Rockborne. He killed my parents, and wanted to kill me, too, but I managed to get away. He found me, though, and tried to take me away to kill me. At least that’s what he said he was gonna do before the mountain lion showed up and scared the shit out of him. It ran off after Smiley.”

  Tony’s eyes narrowed. “Why didn’t you tell me this before? The fact you have a dangerous crazy stalker that allegedly murdered your parents is something that the head of the band police should know about.”

  “Yeah, you’re right. I’m sorry,” Kim apologized sadly. “I just didn’t know how to handle it, that’s all. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

  “Well, how about ‘Hey, Tony, there’s a crazy jerk hole on my ass and I need some help.’ That usually works.” He knew about the case and how Smiley was at large, but he wasn’t impressed at how he was able to find Kim so easily. “You weren’t posting on any social media sites, were you?”

  “Oh, hell no. I shut all that down before I moved out here. I even bought a new cell phone before I moved out here. I really didn’t want him to find me.”

  Tony looked pensive. “What kind of phone, can I see?” he asked.

  “Sure,” Kim replied as she pulled her phone out of her back pocket. It was smashed from the impact when she fell on the road. “Heh, it looks like I need another one now,” she said glumly.

  “No kidding, eh?” Tony replied. “This model has a ‘find me’ mode. Like, if you lose it, you can log on to the manufacturer’s website and type in the phone number and voila, found phone. I think this is what did it. Not many people think of disabling that.”

  Kim looked crestfallen. “Oh. I didn’t think of that. I’m so sorry for putting everyone in danger. I’ll just-- I’ll go to the next town and get another U-Haul. I won’t stay.”

  “You’re not going anywhere,” Tony said, grasping her shoulders firmly. “You’re safer here than you’ve ever been anywhere else. I guarantee you that. We’ll catch this bastard, don’t worry.”

  Kim swallowed hard and nodded. Gratitude shone in her eyes as Tony’s handsome face looked directly at her. She found it strange that he didn’t think anything of the wild animal that was roaming around the town. “You know, there is a cougar out there, too. I don’t know how you handle nuisance animals around here, but it would be awful if it carried off one of the kids.”

  “Bah. Don’t worry about that. He won’t hurt a fly around here. Usually they come in, realize they’re lost and go back to the woods. There’s plenty of food for them out there.” Tony deflected quickly. She wasn’t quite ready to know about this town’s secret. It’s best that ol’ Rusty break the news to her, being the head shaman and all.

  “Yeah, that’s seems reasonable. Listen, I have to get home, do you need me to sign anything to make this an official complaint or something? Like, I do have a restraining order against Smiley, just to make double sure. So he did violate it.”

  “Oh, yeah sure, let me get the proper form out here. This is probably the hardest I’ve worked at my job since I’ve gotten it. Except taking in the occasional drunk off the street. Might take me a bit to find it.”

  Kim looked at her shattered phone that lay on Tony’s desk and pulled up a chair to sit down. At least she had a job so she could get a new one. The adrenaline had worn off and her legs were beginning to tremble and buckle underneath her. She looked over at Tony who was bent over the filing cabinet. She couldn’t help but appreciate the view of his taut butt that was framed nicely within his black police pants. She shifted a little in her seat as the initial tingles of lust started to awaken in her body. She eyed his slim legs and waist dressed in the neatly tailored police uniform as he rummaged through the filing cabinet to find the forms she needed to fill out. She shook her head, what the hell was she thinking? She slept with Keith just yesterday, now she was drooling over his cousin? What the hell is coming over her? This was completely out of character.

  “Ah, there we go,” Tony said. “Found it. Now just fill this out with all the info it asks for and I’ll file it first thing in the morning.”

  “Sweet.” Kim grabbed the pen. She looked at the form and it seemed straightforward enough. She spent a few minutes filling out the proper fields as Tony studied her without her knowledge.

  He smelled Keith on her. It was faint, but there among the cinnamon from her soap and the stench from Smiley, there was no denying that they had lain together the day before. Tony smiled to himself, maybe she wasn’t as standoffish as she put herself out to be.

  He studied her fine face. Pointed chin, delicate nose, high cheekbones, and raven hair. Her eyes were what set her apart from most. They were a brilliant blue. He had never seen such a color before. Almost a cross between the sky and a robin’s egg. That was the only hint in her physical makeup that she had a white father. No wonder Keith was smitten with her. She was a very beautiful lady indeed. She had strength deep inside her, Rusty said earlier.

  Her white blouse was spotted in places from her tussle with Smiley. Kim pushed a stray hank of hair behind her ear as she filled in the complaint form; her brow was furrowed in concentration. Tony didn’t say a word to her as she wrote down the information. He pressed his hands together as he thought up a plan.

  “Hey, I have an idea,” he said to Kim. “I live right next door, I can come over and check on you to make sure Smiley doesn’t come around. If anything, I’ll be able to arrest him when he shows up.”

  She nodded. He said when, not if. Tony was certain Smiley would return. “That seems like a great idea,” Kim replied. She hoped Keith wouldn’t mind. Wait, why was she bothering to care about what he felt? Not like they were an item. Ugh. Too many complications.

  “Well, I’ll walk you home, then,” Tony said as he got up from his desk. “I’ll keep my sidearm with me tonight and until we catch that guy. I usually leave it locked up here at the station.”

  Kim felt relieved at the prospect of an armed officer being very close by to guard her. Maybe soon they could actually get her psycho ex behind bars, where he belongs.

  Tony opened the door for Kim and showed her the way out. As they walked together in the darkness, she didn’t notice the feline smile that crept across his lips. Maybe, just maybe, he might have a chance with this beautiful stranger. Settling down wouldn’t be so bad, he thought. Not if he had someone like Kim around.

  They walked together in silence. They both knew that talking might draw Smiley ba
ck, if he survived the encounter with the cougar. The less noise they made the better, so they walked side by side down the vacant street toward Kim’s home.

  The frog song had ceased for the evening and a few crickets picked up the chorus. Tony walked along side of Kim keeping an eye out, in case Smiley was stupid enough to come back. He picked up the lingering stench of the man as well as his cousin’s scent. Seems like Keith had a bit of fun chasing the asshole away, he thought.

  The stars lit up in the night sky and the waning moon sat low against the jagged peaks on the horizon. The night seemed almost magical, but Tony didn’t want to press his luck tonight. Not after the scare Kim had earlier.

  They eventually reached Kim’s doorstep. “Hey, thanks for the escort, Tony,” Kim said quietly.

  “Not a problem. I’ll meet you bright and early to walk you to work tomorrow, is that okay?” Tony asked. “Like, just as a police escort until Smiley is caught.”

  “Oh sure, not a problem,” Kim replied. “Police escort to go to work at a grocery store.”

  “Yeah, well, I take my job pretty seriously.” Tony smiled. “Anyway, you go get some sleep. I’ll see you in the morning.”

  “Thanks,” Kim replied as she unlocked her door. “You take care.”

  Tony nodded as he saw her inside. He waited until she closed the door behind her and walked off towards his house, whistling a happy little ditty.

  *

  Over the next few days, to Keith’s displeasure, Tony escorted Kim to and from the general store. The man looked overly smug at the fact he was providing an armed escort to the woman that he wanted so badly.

  Tony noted that whenever he went to pick Kim up at her house, Keith was scowling in his living room window right before he snapped the blinds shut. Tony chuckled to himself. He had never seen his cousin so jealous over a female before. He was just doing his job as a police officer, nothing more. Well that’s what he liked to tell himself, anyway. The conversations they had centered on life in the little remote little band. He figured that the sooner he could help her adjust to life here, the sooner he could let her in on the real reason they had isolated themselves from the rest of the world.

  As Kim happily chatted during one of their walks, Tony noticed a strange blue pickup truck driving through town.

  “So, the other day, Junior dropped a huge bag of flour all over the floor. It took forever to clean up and Rusty was pissed,” Kim prattled on.

  Tony nodded as his eyes locked on to the vehicle. He reached for his side arm and unsnapped the holster in one smooth motion. He did it smoothly, so as not to alert Kim to the potential danger.

  The truck pulled into the gas station and out stepped a short, powerfully built man in a pair of jeans and a plaid shirt. He was an older gentleman with white blonde hair and deep smile lines around his eyes and mouth. He had a closely cropped white beard around his jaw line and his skin looked pretty weathered. The man popped the hood to the beat up old truck and steam rose from the vehicle.

  Just another rancher from out of town, Tony thought to himself. Not good for his truck though. Oh well, Mike can fix it. He can fix damn near anything in the town. Mike was the mechanic of Predator Springs. Just like his dad before him and his granddad, Mike was the resident grease monkey. Could fix everything from lawnmowers to eighteen-wheeler logging trucks.

  Tony felt himself relax as he realized the man in the truck wasn’t Smiley. The guy wouldn’t be so bold as to come back in broad daylight, what the hell was he thinking?

  Kim reached into her purse as she felt it vibrate against her chest. Tony picked her up a new phone the previous day and made sure all tracking had been disabled, as well as paid to make the number completely unlisted. She had no friends or family to give the number to, so she wondered who could be sending her a text.

  She pushed the home button to wake up the phone, her face went pale and she began to tremble. Tony looked at her sharply. “Who is it? Let me see the phone.”

  Kim gulped and looked wide eyed at Tony as she handed him the phone, with the SMS open. “It’s...” she tried to say.

  Tony cursed. It was that bastard, Smiley. The text had two words, “You’re next.” Nothing else. He took a screenshot of the text, took Kim by the arm and led her directly to the police station. “You stay here. I’m gonna let Rusty know you won’t be in today.” With that, he left the station and jogged to the general store.

  Kim shook her head, unable to say a word. She sat down and stared at the threatening text wondering how Smiley had figured out this number. She was beyond frightened at this point.

  Tony came back after a few minutes. “He understands why you won’t be in. I told him you weren’t feeling very well. I figure it was a less complicated explanation than a psycho ex coming to kill you.” Honestly, he thought to himself, Rusty knew more was up but he didn’t ask. No one could slip anything past the old shaman, but out of courtesy, the old man didn’t pry.

  Kim smiled at Tony. “Thanks so much. I mean, you didn’t have to lie for me.”

  “Not a big deal,” Tony replied. “First I’m going to send an email out to the RCMP officer in charge of this case to let him know what’s going on, then we can get you back home.” Tony began to type on his keyboard. “I think I’ll hang around just in case. Do you have a couch I can crash on? Smiley’s getting bolder so I wouldn’t put it past him to try to break in next.”

  “Yeah, I’ve been slowly putting things together after work,” she replied quietly. She wasn’t sure about having Tony over. The more she hung around him the more she felt attracted to him. Sometimes while they walked, his hand brushed hers, sending tingles of desire through her body. She usually was able to shake it off. She didn’t know how she could cope with him living with her full time. Well, it was just temporary until Smiley was caught, so she could try to deal with it. “Just try not to peek at me in the shower, eh?”

  Tony looked at her in mocked offense. “Me? I’d never do that.” He started to laugh. “Seriously though, you don’t have to worry. I can keep my paws to myself, if that’s what you want.”

  Kim sighed in relief. At least he was good for it. She would have a difficult time, though. Both Tony and Keith exuded some kind of magnetism that made them extremely difficult to resist. The magnetic attraction overrode her common sense once. She didn’t want it happening again with Tony.

  Tony finished his email and stood up from his desk. “Okay, that’s done, let’s go,” he said curtly. “I hope you don’t mind, but I’m still going to keep my sidearm. I know guns might weird you out, but...” he trailed off.

  “Yeah that’s fine. You’ll be sleeping in the living room anyway, so you’ll be the first one he sees if he kicks in the front door.” She grinned at the thought of Smiley barging in on the fully armed Tony.

  He really didn’t need the gun, to be honest. He could just jump into his feral form and pin the guy to the ground, but the RCMP wouldn’t really approve of that tactic. For one, they would find it pretty unbelievable, and another, he didn’t want Kim finding out just yet.

  They walked out of the police station together and through the bountiful fruit orchard. Tony reached up and gently pulled a heavy branch full of peaches down to eye level and examined one of the bright fruit. They still felt hard to the touch so they weren’t ready to harvest quite yet, yet the sweet intoxicating aroma they gave off caused the mouth to water.

  “Hey, I just realized I don’t have much in the way of food for two people,” Kim said. “I’ve been living off of TV dinners for the past couple of weeks because they were cheap at the general store.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll run over to my place and grab some stuff. I don’t want you leaving your home unless absolutely necessary,”

  “You have a point. I hope I don’t lose my job over this.”

  “Nah, don’t worry about it. Rusty is good people. He likes you, he won’t fire you because of this. It’s not the city.”

  “Sweet,” Kim said as
she unlocked her door. “I’ll go tidy up in here and drag out a spare pillow and blanket while you go over to your place and find some food.”

  “Great idea,” Tony said with a grin. “You don’t mind game meat do you? That’s mostly how we get our meat around here, we hunt it.”

  “Nah, I like it. Keith made me a nice baked stew the other day and it was delicious,” she said with a fond smile.

  “Yeah, he always knew how to cook. He’s the one who absorbed all that talent in the family. I’m lucky not to burn water.”

  “Well, I’m able to cook pretty decently so you don’t have to worry. Anyway, come on over when you’ve scraped up enough food.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” Tony scoffed as he headed off to his house. He flashed a quick grin back at Kim as he crossed the yards.

  Kim closed the door and sighed to herself. What on earth had she gotten herself into? Keith would be livid if he found out Tony was sleeping over, even if it was just on the couch. Well, livid wouldn’t be the right term for it, hurt. He would be deeply hurt. She still didn’t know why she cared what he felt. It wasn’t like they were in a real relationship. They had sex once, that was it. She kept trying to fool herself about the feelings she had, but it wasn’t working very well.

  She picked up the used TV dinner trays from the coffee table and put them in a garbage bag. She then dug around in one of the boxes that was marked as linens, and found a white pillow and another white duvet. That should keep him comfortable, she thought.

  Her couch was a bare bones futon from a discount furniture warehouse, so at least he won’t be all cramped. A tall guy like that wouldn’t be comfortable on a couch, that’s for sure.

  She scrambled to tidy up her kitchen a little. Boxes were still strewn everywhere so it was difficult to find things. She might as well get Tony to help her unpack while he was here. All the drama and work had kept her from getting everything put away.