Blood Trails

by Alianne Donnelly

  The man shook his head. “Don’t.”

  “Try and stop me,” she retorted, and her voice was a growl. Her claws dug into his arms and he released her but she had fangs now and was dying to use them. He’d keep coming back. She had to scare him off.

  She let the beast break free…

  The snarl woke her but Hailey was too far already to stop herself. She saw her own clawed hand tear at the locks on the door, and then her body broke and shifted, folding in on itself, tearing her insides apart and rearranging them into something else.

  Her paws still hurt when she touched down on all fours but the pain was nothing now. She was free! Her scream-roar rose to the sky and echoed between the buildings. The leopard took off running for open space. For the beach.

  In the back of her mind the very human Hailey watched and wept as the beast possessing her body threw caution to the wind.

  Nothing would stop her now.

  Chapter Four

  Jeremy sat straight up in bed and had to pound his chest a few times to gasp in a breath of air. He was reaching for his pants before he’d even wrestled free of the sheets and he hopped to the door pulling them on, then stabbed his feet into shoes. Without thinking he went out into the night, breathing hard.

  Jeremy knew where she was heading. His feet took him after her and he ran, wincing when he tripped on his laces. He stopped only for as long as it took him to tuck them into the sides of his shoes, then kept going, pumping his arms for speed, propelled by a fear he couldn’t shake: that Hailey would hurt someone.

  He’d fucking blown it. Jesus Christ! You’re not Hunt! Jeremy shouldn’t have even made contact. But he’d just found her again this afternoon after having lost her three times over the last couple of weeks—the woman had some serious stealth—and he couldn’t let an opportunity pass him by. Amelia was on Torrey, anxiously awaiting news. He’d wanted to actually have something to tell her the next time he called.

  He’d needed to gauge Hailey’s state of mind.

  What he’d found was a woman on edge. She’d pushed herself almost to the limit. Hailey had been mostly going without sleep, catching only an hour at a time because she was afraid she’d shift in her sleep. Her mind had been so preoccupied that even when Jeremy had made contact, she hadn’t noticed. And he’d gotten lost in her thoughts, unable to tune in to her senses to see through her.

  Now he knew there was a boundary between Hailey and her animal side, and she had to stay alert all the time to keep the animal contained. Even so, she only managed to suppress its will, not its senses or … personality.

  Being in her mind had wearied him so much he’d felt what she felt. For both their sakes, when Hailey sat down to meditate, Jeremy had helped her along, keeping the beast separate so she could just think for a few minutes.

  It had worked, too.

  Until Hailey fell asleep and dragged him into her dreams. She must have felt him there, an intruder. Having never done anything like this before, Jeremy’s focus had slipped. He’d lost control of himself and the beast he’d been holding at bay, and it broke free with a vengeance.

  Coming up on her apartment, Jeremy saw that the security door had closed behind her but her apartment door hung wide open. As he passed, he caught a glimpse of the inside of her room through the bars. He stumbled but kept going, making a mental note to come back here and take a closer look. Had that been writing all over the walls?

  Three blocks down, one over, and one more down, and then the streets opened up onto a beach. In this part of town, it was covered in trash, the water murky with something Jeremy had no wish to identify.

  There was no sign of Hailey.

  It was dark with only the moons’ glow to illuminate the beach. He couldn’t make out any tracks and he hadn’t thought to bring a flashlight. The sea hissed in and out in big sighs while Jeremy searched the night, catching his breath.

  Damn it, where are you?

  In his mind, something stirred. It wasn’t a thought or a presence, just … a faint sense. He couldn’t see Hailey, but somehow he felt her raise her head, ears pricked forward. Had she heard him?

  “Hailey?” he tried tentatively.

  An impression of a half snarl was his answer.

  Jeremy pushed for a direction and found himself turning left to go farther along the beach. For all he knew, he could be heading toward a very angry, very hungry big cat. And he hadn’t brought anything remotely useful for self-defense with him.

  He studied the animal’s reactions as he approached. She was standing still, poised in the darkness, waiting for her prey to appear. She felt a long way off but Jeremy kept his pace slow. He had no idea how much of him Hailey was picking up and the last thing he wanted to do was spook her.

  In another block street lamps began to illuminate the boardwalk in regular intervals. It was enough to allow Jeremy to see two blocks on all sides of him and twenty or so feet onto the beach. He watched for any kind of movement but couldn’t even see a tail twitch.

  The animal stirred in his mind again, turning in his direction.

  He stopped.

  She stopped too, but then moved tentatively in his direction. A slinking step, no more.

  Jeremy took a step.

  The animal mirrored him.

  He had no idea how this game worked. His gut told him that having a big cat stalking him was not a good thing. He was relieved she wasn’t running farther. Another step, then one more.

  The animal slid forward more, then sat up, tail swishing left and right. She was curious. Didn’t recognize his shape in her mind.

  Jeremy was close enough now that he could better sense where she was. He turned right, stepping off the boardwalk and onto the beach at an angle. There was a pile of jagged rocks up ahead, close to the water’s edge. She would be there somewhere.

  His shoes filled with sand instantly but he didn’t take them off.

  “Hailey, can you hear me?”

  The animal tilted her head. She didn’t understand. She knew words from before but didn’t remember what Hailey meant.

  “Hailey is your name.”

  He was coming up on the rocks now but still couldn’t make out any movement.

  The animal scented his approach. She bristled to have her territory invaded by what she perceived was a dominant male. The small—but feisty, she wanted him to know—female didn’t like it at all.

  Jeremy couldn’t help smiling at that. She was warning him but wasn’t engaging. It almost felt like … flirtation. But he wasn’t taking any chances. Most big cats were fickle beasts. If they got bored or irritated, they could lash out without warning. Females especially tended to be fierce around males, even during mating season.

  But the males could usually hold their own. Jeremy didn’t have their claws or fangs and there was nothing to protect him from Hailey’s. He was beginning to regret not having put on more clothes before he’d left the hotel.

  The animal became aggravated at his stalling. As Jeremy came closer a big projectile of white fluff dropped down from the rocks nearly on top of him. The impact was soft; the animal … strange. Her tail was like a thick, fluffy snake attached to the end of her spine, her paws flat and almost as big as her face. She had white fur, with dark gray spots and patterns. The fur was so thick it gave her the appearance of a fluffy stuffed toy but her eyes were sharp and intelligent. Some sort of … panther. But one that seemed adapted to cold climates. When she was still, she was nearly indistinguishable from the rocks, and her white paws blended in with the sand. On a jagged, snowy rock face she’d be invisible.

  Snow, she thought. She knew snow. Missed it. Too hot here, and she hadn’t seen another of her kind anywhere. Her inquisitive gaze looked him over, up and down, side to side. She came close to sniff his pants, making Jeremy go very, very still.

  Not like me, she thought. But close enough. She rubbed her face against his thigh, then brushed her body against him like a domestic cat; circled him completely. Jeremy wasn’t sure h
e liked where this was going.

  When she lay down in front of him, he knew he didn’t.

  There she lay, tail swishing, waiting.

  There he stood, dumbfounded, staring.

  She looked over her shoulder at him, impatience written in every spot and line on her feline face, as if to ask what he was waiting for.

  Aw, damn. He had to get Hailey out here, ASAP.

  The leopard showed him her very big teeth, impatience turning to annoyance. Probably not the best idea to piss off a hundred and fifteen pounds of killing machine. She might be small but Jeremy had no illusions about who would win if this ever turned physical.

  He looked around for a distraction, searched the stars for an idea. They had to get out of sight. Fast.

  The leopard growled; it seemed to be the loudest noise she could make. The sound was almost more menacing because it was so soft. This creature had no need for overt shows of dominance. She would stalk her prey in complete silence and it would die never knowing she’d been hunting it to begin with.

  No, he would not be pissing this one off.

  Jeremy took a step back, keeping her in sight, but retreating. “Not here,” he thought to her, projecting a dislike for their surroundings.

  She was confused. This felt the most like home to her around here.

  His next move would either get them inside or get him mauled. He projected a small wave of patronizing amusement, the sense of a memory. Then he turned and started walking away from her, looking back to encourage her to follow. He would lead her someplace better.

  She perked up and after a moment was on her big feet, padding after him. “A den?” her big eyes questioned silently.

  Jeremy’s step faltered but he recovered and kept moving. Shit!

  He couldn’t take her to her place because the security door had shut. He didn’t have the key. And the hotel manager would probably frown upon a guest leading an animal into his establishment. What was it that Hunt had said about projecting? Make them not want to look.

  It was the middle of the night. Surely there wouldn’t be that many people around, would there?

  Two blocks from his hotel—he’d taken them the long way around, not willing to risk her getting shocked out of this shape at the sight of her apartment—Hailey growled again, showing her teeth. “Many ahead.” She sensed he was leading them toward a crowd. And she wasn’t happy about it.

  Jeremy sent her gentle reassurance and kept going. As long as they didn’t stop they might have a chance in hell of getting inside soon, before someone noticed a half-naked guy walking a wild beast down the street.

  But when they turned the corner Jeremy stopped dead in his tracks. It looked like the entire hotel was gathered outside on the sidewalk. There was no way he could get them through that crowd. What the hell happened? He put a hand on Hailey’s head to stop her. She looked surprised at the gesture but he didn’t have time to answer her.

  He spread his senses out over the crowd, picking up their surface thoughts like a lint brush. Someone had tripped the alarm, woke the whole hotel, and the staff had evacuated everyone to search for the possible emergency. They’d been standing out there for a while now and so far it seemed to be a false alarm.

  The hotel wasn’t one building; it was a series of bungalows that took up three blocks on both sides of the street. Jeremy’s bungalow was two blocks down. They’d have to go around again.

  He looked down at Hailey to let her know about the detour and found her crouched low to the ground, watching the crowd like the predator she was. In a flash, she rolled onto her back, squirming like a playful domestic cat, then rolled onto her paws again, that same sharp look on her face. “What was that about?”

  She didn’t answer, her mind completely focused. Jeremy picked up reflections of his own sense of threat in her thoughts. She’d gone into hunt mode because of him. When he looked for why, her answer was wry, and loosely translated to, “Big male senses threat, female’s got to get down to business.”

  “No hunting,” he told her sternly.

  A mewling pout was her response. She was still grumbling when he started walking again but at least she was following. Shaking herself out every few steps as if her fur itched, but following.

  Jeremy managed to get them across the street from his bungalow without any contact with the crowd. The last few feet, though, were about to get problematic. Hailey’s tail slapped the backs of his knees, nearly making them buckle. That thing was all muscle.

  He sent her a reprimand.

  Just to make a point, she did it again.

  They glared at each other then looked back toward the bungalow at the same time.

  Hailey growled, eyes narrowing on a target. “Move,” she said, and before he could stop her—as if he could—she slipped forward into the street, keeping low to the ground. She was so quiet no one seemed to notice. They were too busy returning to their beds and complaining about the midnight wake-up call.

  Jeremy made himself part of the crowd, turning attention away when he felt someone notice him. He kept his pace slow, kept his gaze away from the ghost-white cat sitting in shadow at his door, but couldn’t smooth out the tension in his face. Every time someone’s voice rose in agitation he thought they’d be caught.

  The door worked on a biometric lock and opened as soon as he came within range. Hailey preceded him inside, curiosity propelling her to examine and sniff everything in sight. Jeremy closed the door and locked it, posting an electronic Do Not Disturb sign for good measure. Okay, genius. Now what?

  Hailey was by his bed now, sniffing the sheets that had spilled to the floor, tilting her head curiously. One giant paw touched on it, claw catching the fabric. She pulled, trying to free her claw, and tugged the sheet all the way to the floor. When she was free she lay down on it and rolled onto her back again the way she’d done outside.

  But she lost interest soon enough and jumped onto the bed itself. The sight of her gave a whole new meaning to the phrase an animal in bed.

  Jeremy shook his head. This was going too far. He picked up the sheet, keeping it close at hand and nudged Hailey’s mind to pay attention to him.

  The leopard turned to him instantly, big eyes almost feverish, waiting for him to get to it.

  “Hailey,” he said aloud, hoping his physical voice would register better than his mind-touch. “Can you hear me?”

  The leopard huffed and turned away, uninterested.

  Jeremy pulled her back mentally and put his hands on her face to keep her still. When her gaze met his again, no matter how uncomfortable it felt, he refused to let her look away. “Hailey, fight this. Come back.”

  He felt consciousness stirring, lost and confused. The leopard bucked, trying to escape his grasp but he dug his fingers into her fur and held on.

  Jeremy sent out a mental call creating a beacon for Hailey to follow, and spoke again, guiding her with his voice. “Hailey Samantha Chase. You were born December fifth, 3005, in a big hospital on Earth. You got lost among all the other babies in the nursery. Your sister, Amelia, found you by the noise you made when you cried. You graduated from Westin High School with honors and got a degree in hospitality management from your community college.”

  The leopard reared, fighting him. Claws caught his arm, but stopped just before they pierced skin. Good, Hailey. That’s it.

  Jeremy held on. “How you got into biochemistry I have no idea but—”

  “Stole Amelia’s chemistry set. She didn’t need it anymore, had her own lab by then.” That last was imbued with enough sadness to give him pause but Jeremy pulled his thoughts back on track, making a mental note to investigate that later.

  “Good, that’s good,” he praised. “Keep going. Come on, Hailey. It’s your body. Control it.”

  The leopard lashed out with its paws again but at the very last second the claws retracted and all he suffered were minor scratches on his arms. Didn’t even break the skin. He knew when the battle between woman and beast began i
n earnest. The leopard growled loud and the sound turned into a hiss. Apparently she couldn’t roar. Jeremy released her fur and stepped back as she fought herself, pawing at her head and shaking herself out as if to rid herself of something unpleasant.

  The transformation was painful to watch. Her fur receded into pale skin but the patterns remained like faint tattoos. He heard joints pop and bones crack and hoped to Christ that she would heal. Her hair was pure white, momentarily obscuring her face, which still had a faint feline shape to it. By the time her body was human again she was shaking, barely able to hold herself up. The tail was the last to go and by the rough, pained noise she made, it wasn’t comfortable.

  Jeremy covered her with the sheet. He grasped her shoulders to turn her over to lie flat but let go immediately when she cried out in pain. Her left shoulder was poking out at an awkward angle, dislocated.

  He didn’t know what to do, how to help her. “Should I call a doctor?”

  Hailey’s head was down, her hair hiding her face. She shook it slowly in negation. “Set it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

  Was she crazy? “I … don’t have any medical training. I could hurt you worse.”

  She looked up at him and the blood tracking from her eyes like tears made him cringe. Her eyes were still silver, cold. And the half smile she gave him did nothing to soften them. “I’ll live,” she said. When he still hesitated, she added, “No other choice, right? Unless you get off on seeing women in pain.”

  Jeremy winced at how hoarse her voice sounded. “Okay. Okay, I’ll try.”

  He took hold of her arm and she cried out again. Her arm could be broken. “Higher!”

  “Right.” One hand on her shoulder, the other holding her upper arm, he searched her face. “You ready?”

  “God, just do it already,” she said, her voice quivering.