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Rory couldn’t figure out what went wrong. There had been no shifters on the ferry. He’d walked the entire boat with Siofra under the guise of showing it to her so that he could be sure there were no unexpected riders.
She clamped her fingers in his hand hard and smelled of fear.
Turning toward her so he faced the coastline, he leaned down smiling and said, “When I point, be sure to look excited.” He lifted his arm to indicate a flock of birds. She turned on a smile that wouldn’t fool anyone up close, but would do, and nodded as if he’d shared something important.
He took that opportunity to scan behind them, but saw no one. Standing back up, he tugged her to the left when he saw an entrance to the wooded area. While the northern half of the island had more neighborhoods, the homes on this end tended to be scattered along the coast road, which left a large chunk of forest.
The predator following them stayed in the edge of the woods. He probably thought it gave him an advantage to remain hidden until he attacked or maybe he was just collecting intel for someone else.
Rory would bet on intel. Shifters in the northeast had been careful not to create problems. An incident on this island would be all over the news, which any local packs would not want.
If their tail belonged to the Black River pack, even better, because they didn’t attack except as a pack and Rory had scented only one.
Either way, if he allowed this shifter to get off the island with information about a white-haired woman and a shifter, this wolf’s pack might have an alert to find Siofra.
Rory would make the wolf meet him on Rory’s terms. He gave Siofra’s hand another squeeze and said in a calm voice, “We’re going into the woods ... now.”
He took a hard left and walked quickly toward the tree line while watching for any humans who might see them. They’d passed a few people outside, but being a Thursday, the tourists were sparse at this end of the island.
When he saw no humans nearby, Rory made his move as quickly as he could without pulling Siofra off her feet. He towed her through the woods until he found a lake, probably a pond, he recalled from a map of the island, which he’d taken a moment to review at the ferry office.
What hadn’t been on the map was whether there were any suitable trees near the water, but the one he spied now was perfect.
Turning to her, he kept his voice barely audible. “See that tree just ahead? I’ll hoist you up, then you climb as far as you can.”
Her eyes got big and she started shaking her head. “I told you ... ”
He kissed her to silence her words. Yes, she’d explained how she was terrified of heights and particularly of being up in a tree, but she was tough.
“I don’t like asking you to do this, baby, but you made it through that helicopter ride. You can do this.”
She jumped into his arms, clinging to him.
Ah, hell, he already hated himself for asking her to climb the tree. Kissing her firmly, he eased her back down and said, “Listen, Siofra. I know this scares you, but don’t look down. You trust me, right?”
“Y-yes.”
“I’ll come for you and I’ll keep you safe, but I need you out of the way while I deal with this shifter. We can’t leave the island until I find out who he is and what he wants.”
“Let me stay with you. I’ll help,” she pleaded.
“You’re going to be a terrific help. He’ll follow your scent to this tree and I’ll step in as soon as he shows up. Please, hurry and get up there.”
Backing away, she wrung her hands and stared up at the limbs going up, up, up and looked lost, but being the little badass she was, she turned and put her hands on the trunk.
She grumbled, “Hurry up, before I change my mind.”
Rory gave her a boost to the first limb. She pulled herself up and carefully got to her feet, then climbed another level up and glanced down, moaning.
He waved for her to keep moving. “Don’t stop. Don’t look down.”
Without replying, she turned her head to face upward and nervously worked her way higher.
Damn, he was proud of her.
Ferrell sent him a picture of ripping a wolf to pieces.
Rory muttered, “We don’t know who he is yet.”
That pissed Ferrell off. His cat had been so happy and content, Rory hadn’t even thought about him, but the jaguar battered his insides now.
Rory hissed at the pain and silently warned, Stop it, dammit, or you’ll get Siofra killed.
Never had his cat behaved so quickly.
Ferrell demanded, Protect.
That had been the most selfless word Ferrell had ever given him while agitated. Usually, his jaguar wanted to maim and murder, which was all about making Ferrell happy.
Rory took a couple of breaths to get past the internal pummeling the damn cat had given him and said, Yes. We will protect her if you work with me.
Ferrell calmed, but grudgingly.
With one last glance up to see that Siofra had reached the highest point she could safely climb, Rory cursed himself one more time for asking her to face a personal fear. He had no other choice with no one to help but an island full of humans.
Neither could he shift to fight where a human might see him. It would only cause chaos. The only exception to that rule was if a Gallize shifter needed his animal to survive.
He headed toward the center of the island where the backside of the road loop he’d been walking with Siofra would have returned them to the docks.
When he reached a spot he felt would be far enough away to draw the wolf in, Rory would then backtrack to catch the shifter as he sniffed at the tree.
Hopefully, the wolf would believe Rory had left Siofra alone so that he could move faster without her.
Never happen.
Rory rushed along the bank of the water until he disappeared into the woods. He ran fifty strides and did a wide U-turn to double back when his boot plunged into a hole covered by branches. The forward motion of running threw all his weight against his leg and snapped his ankle.
“Fuck.” He fell forward on his hands and yanked his leg. Pushing himself up, he clamped his teeth against the pain of grinding bone on bone and twisted his leg. He pulled the foot out with the boot still on it, then hurried to stand up.
He took a step and his ankle turned to the side in a sickening shift.
Ferrell roared, Mate!
Rory couldn’t hop fast enough to reach Siofra in time, but Ferrell could on three legs. With no other choice, Rory jerked his shirt over his head and shed his clothes.
Every second he wasted left Siofra in danger.
He called up his jaguar and the hard shift pushed his attention away from the miserable ankle. When his jaguar stood in his place, his animal had to hold his rear leg up and let the paw dangle.
But Ferrell didn’t hesitate to go after Siofra.
Rory reminded him, If you take control and start killing, we’ll lose Siofra.
Mate, was all Ferrell said, but that was enough to let Rory know his jaguar understood they had to work together. He might feel bad about leaning on the way Ferrell felt about Siofra to control his animal, but his jaguar was privy to Rory’s thoughts.
They both had her best interest at heart.
When the tree came into view, that fucking wolf shifter had started climbing in his human form.
How Ferrell ran as hard as he did on three legs amazed even Rory, but the adrenaline rush overshadowed any pain. That joint would have healed by now if his jaguar was not suffering from damage Rory had caused. Rory had to figure out how to fix them, and soon.
Ferrell roared a deep sound from his chest.
The wolf shifter, wearing only shorts, had just reached the first limb and jerked around at the sound. He could go up, but he’d be at a serious disadvantage once Ferrell started climbing.
Rory couldn’t hear Siofra. She wasn’t making a sound. He hoped she would hold on and not panic.
Taking his only choice, the wolf shifter leaped to the ground, bursting into his wolf form on the way down. He hit and rolled, coming up on his feet and snarling. Saliva dripped from his jaws.
Ferrell would be on him in seconds. He said, Kill.
Rory argued, Not yet. Let’s find out if there are more looking for Siofra.
Kill.
Guess using Siofra as a control word would go only so far.
The wolf didn’t wait for the battle to reach him. He ran forward hard and jumped at Ferrell with claws out and fangs ready to rip into skin.
Rory’s jaguar went up on one leg, which threw him off balance. When the wolf hit him, Ferrell went over sideways, clawing and biting at the wolf.
But his jaguar was on the bottom. Bad place to be in this fight.
The wolf knew it, too. He attacked viciously, trying to get to Ferrell’s throat. Rory’s jaguar clamped down on the wolf’s muzzle and held on. For a minute, wolf claws slashed and fought, but Ferrell closed his mighty jaws harder until Rory heard bone crack.
He told his jaguar, You’ve won. The wolf is down. Let me change back so I can question him.
Ferrell growled and shook the wolf’s head.
Dammit, Ferrell. Let go of his head. He’s done.
His jaguar breathed hard a couple times then opened his jaws and shoved the wolf off of him.
Shifting back was going to suck big time. Ferrell had won, but his sides and neck were ripped up, plus the busted back leg. But in spite of all that, Ferrell relinquished control and allowed the slow, painful shift to happen.
Dying had to be easier than this.
Ferrell actually whimpered once, and he had never made a sound of pain.
When Rory lay on the ground breathing hard and smelling of fresh blood, he rolled over to his knees. Two strides away, the wolf was returning to human form.
Rory winced at the mangled head. Would that shifter be able to talk?
Struggling to his feet, Rory hopped over to the now human-looking shifter and dropped to his knees. He checked the man’s pulse, which he could barely feel. Blood leaked from multiple holes in his neck where Ferrell’s sharp teeth had made deep punctures, but one rip had blood pouring.
Ferrell had hit one of the carotid arteries.
Shit.
He asked the guy, “Who are you? Who sent you?”
The shifter’s mouth tried to work, but one side of his jaw had been broken. Still, Rory heard what sounded like, “Fuck you.”
“Not me, asshole,” Rory said, then snapped the wolf’s neck, leaving dead blue eyes staring up at the sky.
Searching the shifter’s body, Rory found a Black River Pack tattoo.
This guy couldn’t have known he was going to bring Siofra here, so he had to have been tracking Rory through the city. If that was the case, he might have only been a patrol watching for any unknown shifters in his area.
Rory mentally searched the ferry trip.
People had been out in kayaks and boats, traveling between the mainland and the island. This shifter could have followed the ferry and gotten onto the island unnoticed until now.
“Rory?” a pitiful voice called out.
Hell, he had to get Siofra out of that tree. Hopping all the way to the tree, he looked up. “You okay, baby?”
“No. I just watched your jaguar almost get killed.” She hugged the tree like it was her best friend.
“Nah, he can handle a wolf if it’s not jacked up on drugs.”
“Why was he limping? And why are you hopping?”
“I’ll tell you when I get you down.”
“How are you going to help me when you can’t even walk?”
He didn’t have an answer for that.
