by Golden Angel
Any hope that it was the skunks was teeny tiny. Not after they’d just been attacked by the dead wolf shifter now lying still under her claws or how every single house had been left empty.
Exchanging a look, both she and Brock quickly moved to the back of the house. She tried to pick up the bag of vaccines she’d dropped between her teeth, but Brock reached down to grab them for her. Even though he was still pale, he actually looked a little better.
The backdoor only took a moment to open and then they crept to the front so they could peer out the window from behind the curtains. Doc didn’t bother to change back now. Shifting could become tiring if she had to do it multiple times in a short time period and she’d rather have all her weapons—aka her teeth and claws—out and ready to go. Plus, she’d shredded her clothes when she’d shifted. Being naked right now didn’t sound very appealing.
“The Company,” Brock whispered, his voice barely audible. “It has to be.”
The massive jeep that had pulled up next to her car was packed with soldiers. They all hopped out and circled her car, three of them looking around. Two of them started undressing and both she and Brock tensed.
More shifters.
Crap…
“Let’s go. Into the woods,” Brock whispered, which of course kicked off her stupid brain into her favorite musical.
Into the woods
It’s time to go
It may be all in vain I know…
As they retreated, he swung into the kitchen and quickly shuffled through the cabinet while she stared at him in bewilderment. Grabbing something, he gestured for her to precede him. “Go! It’s not going to take them long to figure out where we are, we have to move.”
Into the woods
But even so
I have to take the journey…
Muscles stretching, her puma darted out the back door and into the trees, Brock hot on her heels, both of them moving as quietly as they could.
A wolf howled as the trees swallowed her and Brock up.
Into the woods…
Into the woods…
Into the woods…
And home before dark.
Unlikely. But hopefully they wouldn’t be dead.
Chapter 4
Even though Brock’s bugaboo was raging to be released, he held the creature back. Not yet. Not now.
It would just make a big, white, fluffy, easy to find target. Unlike Doc’s lithe and sleek puma, his bugaboo would leave more than just a scent trail. It was heavy and left some serious tracks. For right now, staying human was the better option. Especially because he still needed his hands.
Hopefully the time he’d taken to raid the skunk house’s spice cabinet would pay off, otherwise they were going to be in a fight for their lives instead of just running for them. Then his bugaboo would come in handy.
Snarling, it crouched in the back of his head like a malevolent force ready to be unleashed on the evil. But he couldn't just dive in and kill them all—he had to protect Doc. While she might be a ferocious mountain cat, Brock didn't doubt their pursuers probably had both silver bullets and tranquilizers. He wasn't taking any chances with her safety.
He'd been too young to do anything when he and his siblings had been kidnapped, too unsuspecting when his squad had been betrayed by one of their own, but he could do this. He could make sure Doc stayed safe.
And if he couldn't, he'd die in the attempt, because there was no way she was being killed on his watch, not as long as he was still breathing.
Doc moved much faster than he did, since she was in cat form, and she kept slowing down and looking over her shoulder at him. Keeping his ears perked behind them, for the sounds of pursuit, he waved his hands to shoo her forward. Until he saw a huge boulder and realized this was their chance to muddy the trail.
A howl back by the houses—full of anger—indicated they'd probably found the body of their dead comrade. Using hand signals, Brock pointed to the right, directing Doc to go behind the boulder. If a puma could look confused, she did. Pulling out the cayenne pepper he'd been able to find in the spice cabinet, Brock waved her a little farther along past the boulder and then he dumped the whole thing right across the path they were taking. Fortunately it wasn't windy, and the boulder should hide some of the scent.
It was something Meredith, his squad leader, had told him about before she'd been killed. Not only would it be extremely unpleasant for the shifters, it would affect how well they were able to follow a trail and they would also follow it much more slowly. Maybe give him enough time to set up more booby traps and slow them down even more.
At the very least, he and Doc should be able to move far enough ahead of them to rest a little bit and check in with Steele or Eli. They needed backup. His bugaboo tried to insist he could protect them all, but Brock wasn’t willing to risk it—and when he looked at Doc’s lithe form and thought about her having to battle it out with The Company’s soldiers, his bugaboo settled. Sulkily.
They went about fifty yards before Brock indicated they should leave the trail and head in the direction they'd originally been going. Doc's puma gave him a look, but followed his lead as they worked their way deeper into the woods.
They could hear the hunting call of a wolf, coming closer every time it sounded, and it was all Brock could do not to break into a run. But moving carefully and not leaving a trail was more important. Granted, he was still moving pretty quickly but they were definitely not running.
When Brock heard sudden howls—not those of a hunting predator, but those of two creatures in pain—he grinned. Sounded like he'd managed to hit both of the shifters with his little cayenne pepper booby trap. If he was really lucky, they wouldn't even be able to tell when he and Doc had changed direction again. They might even go back to the skunk's commune thinking that he and Doc might be looping back around to the car.
He could only hope.
The look Doc's puma gave him now was curious, but he shooed her on with his hands. When they got further away or managed to find somewhere sheltered from the wind, then he might try talking to her.
But his grin grew as he heard the sound of sneezing and loud, shouted curses. His bugaboo snorted in superiority.
They were far enough away he could barely hear the soldiers, even though they were very loud, and that made him feel even better. As long as he and Doc kept being quiet and didn’t start shouting, the others wouldn’t be able to track them by sound. So far, so good.
******
The sounds of their pursuers were dwindling quickly. Whatever Brock had done to slow them down, it was definitely effective, and Doc felt a little surge of triumph. Although her puma was a predator and Doc had no problem killing the bad guys after them, she didn't have the same kind of training as Brock did and they were heavily outnumbered. Sure she could fight, but she wasn't a soldier, and their pursuers definitely were.
It was very likely a losing proposition if they actually came face to face.
Fortunately, she was pretty sure they were putting quite a bit of distance between themselves and the group behind them. If the bad guys were even still on their trail. Brock seemed pretty cheerful.
They kept going, and the sound of the others completely disappeared, allowing Doc to relax somewhat. They still weren’t safe, but safer than they were was still good.
She let Brock set the pace, since he couldn’t move as fast as her.
About an hour later, he finally slowed, looking warily behind them. Doc slowed with him, cocking her head as she looked up at him. He wasn’t exactly short anyway, but in her current form he was so much taller than her that she couldn’t really make out his expression when she was this close to him until he looked down at her.
Pulling out his phone, even though they hadn’t heard any sign of their pursuers, he kept his voice low. “I’m going to try to get in touch with Steele or Eli to let them know what’s going on.”
Doc nodded, turning back to face the way they came and keep an eye and
ear out so Brock could keep his back to their pursuers while he spoke. He seemed tense, so she leaned against his leg.
Her puma shivered with happiness as his hand came down to scratch behind her ears and Doc would have rolled her eyes if she could have. Silly cat. But she had to admit… it did feel really good. Made it hard to suppress her rumbling purr, but she made sure not to make the noise anyway.
When Steele picked up the phone, Brock’s fingers stiffened. As usual, he didn’t mince words, talking low and fast even as Steele began to curse.
“It was a trap. Two shifters and three humans on our trail at least. I assume silver bullets. Doc and I are in the woods behind the community, we’re going to need backup.”
The growling fury in Steele’s voice when he responded sent a shiver down Doc’s spine.
“We’ll be there as soon as we can. Keep your phone on silent. I’ll send updates as I can…. Fuck. You know we’re probably not going to be able to make it there until the middle of the night at the earliest.”
“I know.”
“Fuck. Your sisters are going to kill me.” Steele hung up the phone. Doc shivered again. A whole night? On the run? This sucked.
Brock’s fingers massaged, soothing her a little as her fur rippled.
Nice. Her puma was practically sighing and melting under his touch now. The silly creature wasn’t nearly as bothered by the danger as Doc was. Then again, like any animal, her cat didn’t tend to think in terms of future threat. Right now they were safe though and she was having her ears scratched by a male she liked. As far as the puma was concerned things weren’t so bad.
“Alright pretty kitty, let’s keep going.”
Pretty kitty?
The flush of pleasure that went through Doc was almost like a hot blush. He thought she was pretty?
******
Brock could tell he was distracted, otherwise he would have never called Doc ‘pretty kitty’ out loud. The words had left his mouth before he’d really registered them. Now he was just pretending he hadn’t actually said them, keeping his face blank as he set the pace again.
There was no need to freak out about some words anyway. She probably hadn’t even noticed. They did have bigger things on their minds right now, after all.
Like finding somewhere to hide for the night.
They didn’t have food, but they did need to rest. Damn those betraying shifters. If it weren’t for them, Brock wouldn’t hesitate to shift and find both him and Doc some food. Plus, the two of them would have been able to outrun any humans. They might be able to do the same with the shifters, but it would use up a lot more of their energy, make them into much bigger targets, and they could easily go running headlong into another trap.
He wasn’t going to risk Doc that way. The tactics he might use on his own or with another soldier were different from what he felt comfortable doing with her.
We protect, his bugaboo agreed fiercely.
Just as the sun was beginning to set, they came across a small outcropping of rocks running alongside a stream. Signaling for a stop, Brock studied it, trying to decide if it was a good place to stop. As he tried to make the decision, Doc suddenly shifted beside him.
Holy fuck!
Brock snapped his gaze back forward, trying not to blush.
He and his siblings still weren’t quite used to the casualness with which shifters viewed nudity. Especially because… well… his body had an immediate and decisive reaction to Doc specifically being nude and right beside him.
Mount her?
Great. Just what he needed, a horny bugaboo to make this situation just totally FUBAR.
FUBAR was a term he’d learned at Lakewood from an extremely ornery gator shifter, it meant Fucked-Up-Beyond-All-Recognition. If that wasn’t the term for this exact situation of a mission gone to complete hell, he didn’t know what was.
“We should probably stop for the night if we can,” she said in a low voice, apparently completely unconcerned by him seeing her naked.
There was no way he was going to be able to concentrate when she was standing next to him with all that smooth, pale skin showing, her dark pink nipples puckering in the wind, the neatly trimmed curls on her mound which were a darker shade of red than the hair on her head…
Stripping off his shirt and handing it to her was completely self-defensive. Or at least, necessary for his own mental sanity. Not to mention the way his cock was now throbbing.
“Put this on,” he said gruffly.
The bemused smile on her face as she tugged his shirt over her head made him scowl. He didn’t see what was so amusing. Unfortunately, even clothed she didn’t become less attractive or distracting. Her hair was waving around her face in disarray and now she was wearing his shirt, which fell to her upper thighs and made her look like she’d just finished a night in his bed. The sight just turned him on even more than when she’d been naked if that was possible.
It also made his bugaboo oddly, possessively satisfied. An emotion Brock didn’t quite understand.
Doc wasn’t his.
So why did he like her looking like she was his?
“Are we stopping here?” she asked, uncertainly, and he realized he was staring at her face while dealing with his burst of surprising emotions.
He cleared his throat, trying to cover his discomfort. Hopefully she wouldn’t look at the front of his pants and realize why he was so distracted.
“Maybe. Let’s see if we can find a good spot.”
Fortunately the rocks weren’t gravely and there was plenty of packed down dirt for Doc to walk on as they explored. There were no caves or overhangs, which was what Brock had been hoping for, but on the other side of the outcropping was a really nice willow tree with drooping branches and lots of soft grass underneath.
Not as good as a fortress, but it would be fairly comfortable, and Brock was pretty certain they’d lost their followers at least for now. The woods were big after all and they’d need their own backup. Plus, they didn’t actually know who they were looking for. He bet they were more interested in the vaccines than anything else. If he was really lucky, they wouldn’t realize one of The Company’s prime targets was the one running around with the vaccines.
“Is it safe to stop?” Doc asked nervously even as she sat down on the soft grass, looking exhausted.
“Safe enough,” Brock said. “We can’t keep moving all night. We’ll exhaust ourselves and not be able to fight. If they do catch up to us, at least we’ll be rested and they won’t be.”
“That’s a good point.” Doc flopped onto her back and Brock looked up at the branches above him. The hem of his shirt was tantalizingly close to her gorgeous pussy again and he was really struggling with the physical desire running through him.
Mount!
He ignored the voice.
“Try to sleep. I’ll keep watch,” he said, turning around so he didn’t have to keep looking at her laying back on the soft grass in a far-too-inviting position.
******
The grass was actually pretty comfortable and it was a nice warm night, but Doc couldn’t quite let go of her nerves. It didn’t help that Brock was still standing.
Rolling over, she rested her head on her arm as she observed him. Facing outward, his shoulders were tense. Her eyes traveled over the exposed muscles of his back. There were some scars, probably from before he’d been made into a shifter, but they didn’t at all take away from his physical attractiveness. Might even add to it.
He also had a damn fine butt.
The purr of her puma signaled agreement. The cat liked how protective he was. It had also liked being called ‘pretty kitty.’ Doc had to admit, she liked it too.
She was starting to really understand why so many women had been jumping into his bed and ignoring his lack of social skills. The strong, silent thing didn’t normally appeal to her, but it looked good on Brock. At least, it did now; maybe because she felt like she knew him a little better than she had before.
&n
bsp; As if he could feel her staring, he suddenly turned and looked at her over his shoulder. When she jerked her gaze upwards, blushing, he raised his eyebrow at her. Oops. He totally knew she’d been checking out his butt.
“Go to sleep.” His voice was low.
Doc sighed. “I can’t. I’m too wound up and tense because I can sense you are. Maybe… come sit next to me? Relax a little?”
“I don’t want to relax,” he said, but he moved over to stand next to her and slowly lowered himself into a sitting position. Doc sat up and he scowled at her, which she ignored.
It was different from when she’d ignored him before though. Before she used to ignore his grumpy demeanor because she thought she’d eventually work past it. Now she ignored it because it didn’t actually bother her, it was just part of who he was. She didn’t take it personally, because she was pretty sure he liked her.
In more ways than she’d realized going by the bulge he was trying, unsuccessfully, to hide.
“I thought if I sat down, you’d sleep,” he said, his scowl deepening.
“If you laid down and slept with me I might be able to,” she said truthfully. “I can’t just fall asleep when you’re standing up alert and on guard.”
“And I can’t fall asleep when I need to be alert and on guard,” he retorted, although without the bite he used to have in his voice when he countered something she said. “We can’t be sure we lost them.”
“What was it you put down on our trail?” she asked.
“Cayenne pepper.”
She stared at him.
Blinked.
Giggled.
Giggled some more. For some reason she couldn’t stop giggling even though it wasn’t that funny… but remembering the frantic cursing they’d heard earlier, it kind of was. But Brock was staring at her like she was crazy and so she tried to make the giggles bubbling up in her throat stop, but the more she tried the harder it was.
And then she snorted.
Which made Brock start laughing.