by Zoe Chant
“They?” Catalina asked. “I only met one.”
“There have to be two of them. At least. Shifters are either born that way, or another shifter has to bite them. Since that guy went through the ultimate predator program, he was probably bitten by some other shifter at Apex.”
“Oh, right.” Her silky hair brushed against his skin as she nodded. “So someone bit you, huh? Could that person have bitten the guy I met?”
“No.”
“How do you know?”
He hesitated, but Catalina already knew he’d been in combat. And however unauthorized, that had sure as hell been a combat situation. “Because I killed him.”
Without missing a beat, she said, “I’m sure he deserved it.”
“He did.”
A hard current washed around Shane’s thighs, making him stagger. He held Catalina tight and dropped his center of gravity until he regained his balance. Then he set out again. His breath burned in his lungs, and his back and legs ached. Catalina was so short that despite her curves and solid build, she was no heavier than some packs he’d carried. But even with his shifter strength, it wasn’t easy to run for miles with a weight across his shoulders, then trudge and climb for miles more, thigh-deep in icy water.
Thick forest pressed in on the river, the overhanging branches blocking out most of the sun. Shane’s shirt was damp with sweat, but his legs were freezing. And Catalina, wearing only thin scrubs, was shivering. The water would wash away their scent, but they couldn’t stay in it forever. They’d risk hypothermia.
“How are you at climbing trees?” Shane asked.
“Fantastic,” she said, to his relief. “My sister used to tease me that I like cats because I am one.”
“Good. I’ll boost you up.”
He got on to a boulder covered by only a few inches of water, with a thick branch hanging overhead. Catalina climbed on to his shoulders, then stood up. She wasn’t quite tall enough to reach it, so he put his hands under her feet and slowly lifted her. She wavered, then grabbed on to the branch and held herself steady. He raised her overhead until she was able to scramble on to the branch.
“What about you?” she called down. “Turn into a panther? I could carry your clothes.”
“Nah.”
He handed the medical kit up to her. Shane crouched, then jumped upward. He caught the branch and pulled himself up, his muscles screaming with effort. Then he got a leg over and crouched beside Catalina, the bark rough under his palms.
“Let’s see how far we can get without touching the ground,” he said.
She sat at ease, unconcerned with the height or the rushing waters beneath her, and held out a hand in invitation. “Lead on.”
The forest was dense enough to make it possible for them to climb from tree to tree. There was something catlike about her confidence and grace as she caught and released handholds, occasionally leaping from one branch to the next.
The scent of pine and mist, her presence beside him, and her visible cheer made their journey feel more like a game than a desperate attempt at evading pursuit. His panther was content within him, enjoying the climb. And the farther they made it through the trees, the less likely it became that anyone would pick up their scent. A pursuer would have to search all along the riverbanks, think of climbing a tree, pick the exact right one to climb, and sniff right where they’d touched. It seemed unlikely.
To his surprise, Shane found that he was enjoying himself. He’d never before been with a woman who could keep up with him. In fact, once they were in the trees, he was the one trying to keep up with her. Though she lacked his upper-body strength, she could climb more freely than he could, able to stand on branches that wouldn’t take his weight.
Finally, they came to the end of the dense woods. They were still in a forest, but a sparser one, the mossy ground broken up by boulders and stretches of bare granite. Cave-pocked hills rose up beyond the woods, and Shane could hear a river rushing somewhere below them. They’d hiked and climbed all day; the sun was sinking over the mountaintops, gilding everything in rich golden light.
Catalina nudged him. “Should we try to work our way through more forest in a different direction?”
He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure we’ve lost them. And it’ll be night soon. We need to make a camp. We shouldn’t be wandering around the woods in the dark.”
“Yeah.” Catalina cocked her head at the river’s roar. “We might fall over a cliff. It sounds like there’s one nearby.”
Shane nodded. “I think this is bear territory, too.”
“Bear-bears? Or werebears?”
“I wish it was werebears,” Shane said. “They all know each other. All I’d have to do is say I’m a friend of Hal Brennan, and we’d get dry clothes, a home-cooked meal, a warm bed, and a ride out of here. But I meant real bears.”
Catalina grinned. “I still can’t get over werebears and werepanthers and weredragons and all being real. Well, if a real bear turns up, you can turn into a panther and scare it off, right? Or could you just stare at it and scare it off? Does your fear power work on animals?”
“Got me. I’ve never tried.”
They climbed down from the tree, and Shane surveyed the hills. “Let me check out those caves. I’ll go as a panther, just in case any of them has a bear or mountain lion inside. Yell if you need me. I won’t go out of earshot.”
Catalina sat down on a flat rock. “Go for it.”
He undressed and handed Catalina his discarded scrubs. The wind was cold on his bare skin, but her open appreciation made him turn around slowly to give her a full view.
She applauded. “You naked against these hills... It’s like a pin-up calendar.”
“I’ll have to make you pose for my pin-up later,” he said with a grin. “Curvy Paramedics of the Woodlands.”
Then he turned his focus inward.
To stalk, to hunt, to climb into the foliage and lie in wait...
Shane became a panther. His thick coat protected him from the cold, and his sense of smell sharpened. He sat up, sniffing the air, but smelled no other humans. There were bears in the area, but the scent-traces were old. None were nearby. He could scent deer and rabbits, but no large predators.
He bounded up the hillside, his paws sinking into the mossy ground, and began exploring the caves. Some he discarded for being too easily seen from outside, and others were dank and musty, the roofs covered with red-eyed bats. Some were too shallow, barely more than hollows in stone, and others were too deep, leading far into the depths of the mountain where anything might be lurking.
Then he found a cave neither too deep nor too shallow, with a dry stone floor, no bats, and an entrance concealed by a boulder and a thicket of large shrubs. No one could see it from the outside. They’d even be able to build a fire. He took a last sniff around, making sure he didn’t miss anything, then ran back to Catalina.
She’d changed back into her jeans and T-shirt. She must have been freezing, but he regretted missing the sight of her naked. Catalina smiled as he approached and held out her hand, making an encouraging sound that he bet she used on her cats. He rubbed his head against her palm, and she scratched behind his ears. This time he wasn’t surprised when he felt himself begin to purr, and he didn’t rush to shift back, either.
A gust of wind sent dry leaves flying across the ground, and Catalina shivered. Shane shifted back. He knelt naked before her, with her hand on his head. She stroked his hair, and he turned his head to kiss her fingers. Shane heard her quick inhale as he ran his tongue over the smooth ovals of her nails and the soft pads of her fingertips. They were sticky with sharp-tasting pine sap.
Reluctantly, he pulled away to stand up, open the medical kit, and put his shirt and jeans back on. Catalina had replaced the security guard’s uniform in the kit, but Shane strapped on the holster and tranquilizer gun.
He took her hand. “I found us a new home.”
Shane led her up the hill, then past the boulders and
shrubs and into the cave. It was dark inside, lit only by a few scarlet rays of the setting sun.
“Cozy,” Catalina said, and seemed to mean it.
“Just wait.” Shane gathered dry branches and twigs from beneath the shrubs, took them to the back of the cave, and lit a fire.
Catalina held her hands over it. “You’re amazing. Too bad you can’t snap your fingers and conjure up marshmallows to roast. Though actually— and I can’t believe I’m saying this— I’m hungry enough that I’d rather have an MRE.”
“I’ll get us something better.” He pressed a quick kiss on to the top of her head. Her hair did smell good, wet or dry, with a warm and spicy scent. “Hold down the fort.”
He undressed, became a panther, and left the cave. Shane slipped into the nearest stretch of woods, climbed a tree, and lay on a low branch as the sunset faded to gray. It was the time of day when rabbits came out to feed. He waited until there were several nibbling away beneath him, then pounced, catching two with lightning-fast snaps of his powerful jaws. Shane picked them up and loped back to the cave, where he dropped them at Catalina’s feet.
She gingerly picked them up. “Very nice. My cats bring me treats like this all the time. Only not so big. And usually they bite the heads off first.”
Shane became a man and said, “Aren’t you glad I can catch bigger prey than mice?”
“I’ll be even more glad if you know what to do with them.”
“As a matter of fact, I do.”
He put his clothes back on. Then he used the Swiss Army knife to clean and dress the rabbits, while Catalina watched and made admiring remarks. Shane collected some small branches, split some to use as holders and used others to skewer the rabbits, then set up the meat to roast over the fire.
He sat down, leaning against the rough stone of the cave wall, and beckoned to Catalina. She settled down in his lap and leaned against his chest. He closed his arms around her. For the first time, it sank into him that he’d succeeded. His plan had worked. They weren’t out of the woods yet, literally or metaphorically, but they weren’t locked up on the base, either. He and his mate were free.
He leaned back, relaxed and content. Catalina was warm in his arms, and the fire was warm on his skin. The rabbits sizzled over the flames, and the tempting smell of grilled meat filled the cave.
When the rabbits were done, Shane pulled them off the fire. For lack of anything better, he set them on top of the medical kit. “At least it’s clean.”
“You always make me such fancy gourmet meals,” Catalina said, then ate a chunk of meat. “Oh, hey, this is actually really good. Try it.”
She pulled off another chunk and held it to his lips. He opened his mouth, taking the bite of rabbit from her fingers. It was good, tender and juicy. His hunger awakened. They devoured the rabbits, nibbling the bones free of every scrap of meat, and washed them down with bottled water.
“Just pretend there’s wine and candles,” said Shane.
“You can treat me to the real thing when we get back home.” Catalina snuggled back into him. “How long do you think that’ll take, by the way?”
He shrugged. “Well, there’s a base with employees, and a paved road. We can’t be that far from civilization. If we head west, eventually we’ll get out of the mountains. Could be a day, could be a week.”
“I’ll think of it as a hiking trip.” She yawned so widely that he heard her jaw pop. Shane wasn’t surprised. He too was tired from fighting and hiking and climbing, not to mention the built-up tension of his capture and imprisonment.
He thought about keeping watch or having them trade off watches. But they’d be more conspicuous and easily scented if they left the cave than if they stayed in it. And if all they could do was listen, he might as well sleep. He’d wake up at the slightest noise.
“Let’s get some rest,” Shane said.
They spread out their scrubs on the floor, then lay on top of them, still in their clothes. She fit so easily into his arms, her head pillowed on his shoulder as if they’d been made to fit together. He inhaled the scent of her hair and listened to her breathing deepen as she drifted off.
But despite his weariness, even despite having his mate in his arms, sleep eluded him. Shane lay awake, unable to move without waking Catalina and unable to shut off his restless thoughts. The peace he’d felt earlier slipped away, leaving him edgy and wired.
You should be more relaxed, not less, he told himself. You escaped. You won. Soon you and Catalina will be safe and home.
And then...
Catalina turned in her sleep, nestling even closer to him. She trusted him so completely. Would that change when— if— she learned the truth about him?
You’re free now, a voice whispered within him. Who’s going to tell her? She never needs to know.
That voice didn’t belong to his panther. It was pure Shane— the worst part of Shane.
I can’t lie to my mate, he told the devil on his shoulder. I’ll tell her everything... once we’re out of the woods. If I tell her now, she might not want to stick with me, and she needs me to bring her safely home.
The vow of honesty brought him no more peace than the impulse to lie. He lay awake for what felt like hours, thinking of every wrong thing he’d ever done and picturing Catalina turning her back on him and walking away. Forever. Finally he succumbed to sheer exhaustion, and slept.
***
“Shane...” Justin’s grip was weak in Shane’s hand, his fingers cold. His skin was drained of color. It made his copper hair look brighter than ever.
Shane held his hand tight. “Hold on, Red. You’re going to be all right.”
“I can’t... breathe.” Justin’s voice was not only choked but frightened. He parachuted into combat with a grin and a joke. Nothing scared him.
Hands gripped Shane’s shoulders, trying to pull him away from Justin. Shane hung on. If he let go, Justin would die.
Then he wasn’t holding Justin any more, but Catalina. Her brown skin had gone ashen. She too looked frightened.
“Shane...” she whispered. “I can’t...”
“Shane?”
He sat bolt upright, gasping, his heart pounding. Instinctively, he snatched for a weapon, but his fingers closed on empty air.
The fire had burned low, but cast a flickering light. Catalina was sitting up, beside him but not touching him. It was still dark outside.
His hair was damp with sweat, his throat raw, his muscles painfully tense. He didn’t trust himself to speak.
Catalina’s fine, he told himself. She hasn’t done the process. It’s not too late. You saved her.
But he hadn’t saved Justin. And they weren’t yet out of the woods. And she still didn’t know who she was traveling with.
“What were you dreaming about?” Catalina asked.
Tell her, hissed his panther, startling him.
“I don’t remember,” Shane said, much too late to be convincing.
“Bullshit,” she said crisply. “Don’t lie to me.”
“I...” Shane fished for something to say that wouldn’t be a lie. “If I tell you now, it might put you in danger.”
“I call bullshit on that, too.”
He was too taken aback to argue. No one flat-out contradicted him like that, unless you counted his panther.
His panther gave a huff of approval. He agreed with Catalina.
You would, thought Shane. You don’t think we did anything to be ashamed of.
Catalina went on, “I don’t mind your little white lies about the shower. I knew you weren’t telling me everything, but you had a reason for that and I agreed to it. But I don’t agree to being lied to now. If it’s too painful to talk about, just say so.”
He sat in silence, his arms wrapped around his chest. Despite the fire, he felt chilled. But Catalina was right. What sort of mate could he be to her if he couldn’t tell her the truth?
“It is too painful to talk about,” he said at last. “But I will anyway. I dream
ed of my best friend dying. He said he couldn’t breathe, and then he passed out and died. That really happened. And then I dreamed that it was you. It was you, dying in my arms.”
“I’m so sorry, Shane.” Catalina reached out to put her arm around his shoulders.
The chill went right down to his bones as he raised his hand, warding her off. “Don’t touch me.”
“Are you sure? You’re shivering.”
“I have to tell you something first. You should know before you touch me again. I wasn’t just imprisoned by Apex. I worked for them. I was an assassin.”
She didn’t recoil in horror. She didn’t walk out. She didn’t even look surprised. “I know.”
He stared at her, baffled. “You know? Did Dr. Elihu tell you?”
“He didn’t have to. I figured it out.” With a touch of impatience, she said, “You told me yourself, Apex is a black ops agency. What else would they want you for?”
“Black ops just means illegal and secret. I could’ve been a spy or a saboteur or— or anything.” Then his thoughts caught up to his mouth. “You knew all along? But—” He couldn’t quite bring himself to say, “But you said you loved me.”
“Shane, you were kidnapped. This wasn’t something you chose to do. How could I hold it against you?” Catalina’s face, which gave away everything she felt, showed nothing but honesty and acceptance and touch of sadness— sadness for him.
He swallowed, unable to speak. Deep in his heart, he’d always believed that their relationship was real but temporary— that once Catalina knew what he’d done, what he was, she’d leave him. But she’d known all along, and she hadn’t gone anywhere.
She hadn’t left him, and she didn’t fear him. She was sitting right there, one hand raised slightly as if she still wanted to put her arms around him. But he’d told her not to touch him.
He reached out to her, catching her hand and tugging her toward him. Catalina slid over without a second’s hesitation, pressing her side against his and wrapping her arms around him. She picked up his hands and rubbed them. “You’re freezing.”