DIMITRI SPED THROUGH the woods as soon as he heard Miles’ voice calling out to Lainie, scolding himself for allowing the two of them to be separated as they searched for her stalker. Now, he only prayed he could arrive in time.
“Lainie, stop!” Miles screamed, and Dimitri could hear how out of control the man was by the fury in his tone. “Don’t take another step. You need to shift back to your human form and join me. Keep coming toward me as your panther, and I’ll assume you’re still resisting. That would not be good on your part. Last warning.”
Don’t do it, Lainie. Dimitri prayed. I’m almost there. Just stall him. At least, he hoped he was almost there. He wasn’t even sure when Lainie and he became separated or for how long. Then, he finally heard his sister answer her stalker.
I’m not shifting, Lainie sent, loud enough for anyone else nearby to hear her and get a read on her location. I’m not joining you. We’re not going to be married. We’re not going to be anything. Go home, Miles, before you cross a line that will get you hurt.
She was to the east and a little south. Dimitri adjusted his direction and picked up the pace, his panther weaving among the pines and beech trees.
Everything went quiet for a moment, and Dimitri worried that Miles was planning something else. Then, Dimitri heard the other man’s voice again.
“That is not the right decision,” Miles yelled out. “I truly thought you were smarter than that.”
Oh, she is so much smarter than you or my father ever gave her credit, you pompous ass. Dimitri tried to get a bearing on Miles, but his voice seemed to come from a couple of different directions, floating on the late-morning breeze. Dimitri couldn’t detect the others nearby, but that wasn’t surprising. Bull Creek encompassed a huge area, and they tried to cover it all.
“I’m sorry, Lainie,” Miles said, and Dimitri almost hurled at the mock sadness in the other man’s voice. “I truly looked forward to making this merger work. It saddens me you remain unwilling to hold up your end of the bargain. I’m sorry that you refuse to do so.”
Where the hell are you, you son of a bitch? Dimitri kept following the sound of Miles’ voice, but in the woods, noises sounded as if they came from anywhere and everywhere. It remained impossible to get a solid location on the man.
Then Dimitri heard a gunshot followed by the roar of a bear. What the..? Lainie! Dimitri raced forward, aiming for the bear’s roar. It didn’t sound like Wes, but the bartender was the only bear in Bull Creek that Dimitri knew about. If not him, then who?
Another shot sliced through the air, and then Dimitri heard a man scream, Run!
A third shot ricocheted off a tree nearby, letting Dimitri know he was close. Lainie! he called out, panic straining his voice. Lainie, where are you?
He heard the others calling out, their friends coming to the rescue, but would they all be too late? He still had not found Miles. He needed to catch the bastard.
Another shot.
Lainie! Dimitri called out again, and then. Miles’ voice, eerie and calm, filled the woods.
“Hello, Lainie,” the man said, his deathly purpose evident in his tone. “Easy to get turned around in these woods, especially when you’re scared. You didn’t need to be scared, though. Not really. Not at all. All you needed was to join me, come to me so we could go home and fulfill the contract.”
Dimitri leaped over a fallen log and spotted Miles a few feet away from Lainie, a gun in his hand pointed right at her head. Dimitri arrived too late, too far away.
“But you couldn’t do it. Now, all that remains to do is to tear up the contract,” Miles said, sneering.
There was no way Dimitri could reach his sister before the bullet, no way he could reach Miles before the man pulled the trigger. Lainie! he screamed with his animal’s mindspeech.
Miles turned to face him, smirking as he started to ease back on the trigger. Lainie just stood there, frozen. Where would she go even if she could? Miles was too damn close. The bullet would catch her no matter how fast she moved.
Miles, you bastard, I swear if you…
A panther’s hiss filled the air, whipping Miles’ attention around just as Josh’s panther came springing from a branch just above Miles’ head, paws wide, claws out.
Miles tried to jerk the gun around to protect himself, to shoot the animal leaping at him, but he didn’t have enough time. Josh landed on him, the gun firing wildly into the air as they both hit the ground hard, tumbling over each other. Miles tried to roll back over and get to his feet, but Josh slashed out with his paw, catching the man in the shoulder and sending him spinning back to the ground. Josh pounced on top of Miles the moment the other man hit the dirt again, his claws ripping into Miles’ flesh as his panther hissed. You fucking bastard! How dare you think you could come here and threaten one of ours. Lainie is not some prize for you to win at her father’s carnival. He slashed again with his paw, his claws ripping more streaks into Miles’ chest. I’ll rip you to shreds you coward.
Josh! Stop! From behind Miles, a tiger and a wolf raced into the small area, too late to stop Miles, but just in time to keep Josh from killing the man who threatened Lainie. Get off him before you cross a line you don’t want to cross, Alanna snapped at him as she raced to his side.
Nathan just walked over to where Miles lay sprawled on the ground bleeding and sat down on his legs, his tiger’s tongue lolling. I’ve got him, he said. He won’t go anywhere until we’re ready for him to go.
Dimitri quickly went to his sister’s side. Lainie, are you all right? He couldn’t keep the worry from his voice. Several gun shots had rung out. She could be hit and her shock not let her know it.
She collapsed back onto her rump, her mouth open, tongue slightly out as she panted. I’m fine. Now. She glanced over at Josh who sat on the ground still growling at Miles. Alanna sat beside him, licking his neck as she continued to scold him about almost killing Miles, then praise him for his bravery, then scold him again. Those two are hard to figure out.
Dmitri rubbed his forehead along the side of her face. You scared the shit out of me. Are you sure you’re all right? No gunshot wounds you’re not telling me about?
Shit! The bear! Lainie shouted in everyone’s mind. Miles shot him. She turned and raced off in the direction she last remembered seeing the giant black bear. How could she have forgotten about him? The man saved her life.
Watch Miles! Dimitri called out to the others as he darted off after his sister.
It didn’t take long to get to the spot where she had left the bear, but when she arrived, he was gone. There was a small puddle of blood on the ground, but no bear. No human, either. Nothing. She sniffed around, catching his trail where he wandered off, blood dripping from his wound. She needed to go to him, to make sure he was all right.
If it’s who I think it is, he isn’t a real big fan of people, Josh sent to Lainie and Dimitri as he came out of the woods behind them.
You know who it is? she asked, turning to face Josh.
She felt Josh give a mental shrug. Know him? Nah, he wouldn’t permit that, even though I tried. He lives out by one of the small lakes and prefers his own company over a warm, dry bed. I offered him a cabin when I came across him while searching for Miles yesterday, but he refused and told me to get lost. From what I could tell from that brief visit, I’d wager he knows how to handle a gunshot wound.
Lainie stared out at the woods in the direction the trail seemed to lead. Why would anyone want to live out here like that?
She saw Dimitri step up beside her. That’s his business, not ours. Now, come on. We need to turn Miles over to Sheriff Einstein. Then, we can finally move on from what our father started.
Lainie turned and followed her brother back to where they had left Alanna and Nathan with Miles, Josh bringing up the rear. It seemed as if it was over, Miles no longer able to get to her, but with her father, one just could never tell. A closed door sometimes became a trapdoor, and she worried about falling into it.