Call of the Cougar (Heart of the Cougar Book 2) (12 page)

The mare paced and snatched small bites of hay, then paced again. Tracey hadn't been around mares ready to foal and she was afraid of what this meant.

Hal returned with a package in his hand, and his cell in the other. "Yeah, Doc. She's sweating and…" He paused to look at Misty pacing across the floor. "Pawing at the ground. She just laid down. Got back up. All right. See you as soon as you can get here."

Tracey frowned at Hal. "Don't tell me she's in labor."

He smiled and winked.

"She's in labor," Ted said. "I've never delivered one myself, but I've seen enough of them foaled."

"Why isn't the vet coming sooner?" Tracey asked.

"She's delivering another foal that's turned the wrong way, and she's an hour from here, but it will take a while with the other delivery."

Great. "You watched your grandfather deliver a foal, right?" Tracey attempted not to panic.

"Yes, but I was young. Then I was in the army. My grandfather died before I returned home. My father had sold off the ranch, figuring no one was here to run it, and he wasn't interested in ranching. He didn't know when I'd return home, or if I'd make a career of the military. I wasn't sure myself, and I still had an army obligation."

"So what do we do?"

Hal's brows lifted a bit.

"You…do know what to do, right?"

"I watched some YouTube videos, I went to a foaling class, and I've got a foaling kit." Hal began opening it up and seemed remarkably calm.

"And I'm here," Ted said.

She was worried stiff about everything turning out all right. "Can't the vet get here any quicker? Or can it take several hours for the mare to deliver like a human does?"

"Could be one to four hours."

"Okay, what do you want me to do?"

"How about you keep track of the time on each stage of her labor." He dug out a digital clock, marking pen, and foaling timesheet.

When he handed her the items, he was shaking a little. When she took them from him, she was too.

"I'll be right back. I'll get a bucket of warm water," Ted said.

Watching Misty closely, Tracey thought she saw the water bag, which was visible at the mare's vulva. "Uh, Hal? I think her water's ready to break."

He looked up from reading an instruction card. "Yeah, I see. This is the first stage of labor."

He joined Misty in the stall. She kept moving around, agitated. "She's having contractions."

"Better her than me." Tracey was really glad that she wasn't having a baby.

Hal glanced at her and grinned. Tracey was sure her face was beet red, as hot as it felt.

Ted brought him the pail of water and stayed with Hal and the mare. Hal took out a wrap, then proceeded to wrap the mare's tail.

For four hours, they watched her. She frequently urinated, kept switching her tail, and continued to eat erratically. Then the bag of water suddenly broke and a rush of about five gallons of fluid fell to the floor.

Hal, Ted, and Tracey just stared at the water before Hal read his instruction card again.

That done, he put on gloves, then washed the mare's vulva and hindquarters with the green soap, from the kit, that he added to the warm water. Then he rinsed her off thoroughly. He looked like he knew what he was doing. She swore her heart was racing faster than when she was shooting at the bad guys.

Strong contractions began and the mare laid down. Tracey thought the foal would be delivered at any moment. Then she witnessed the beginning of the miracle. The foal's front feet emerged as if diving, the foal's nose tucked between its legs, one hoof slightly in front of the other, soles down, the inner sac breaking. The foal was half out when the mare rested. Then fifteen minutes later, the foal was delivered the rest of the way.

"She still has to deliver the placenta," Hal said, as the mare stood and the umbilical cord broke.

The foal was a bay, reddish brown body, black mane, tail, ear edges and lower legs and an adorable white star on her forehead. A filly.

"What should we name her?" Hal asked.

Switching her attention from the filly to Hal, Tracey looked up at him, figuring he'd already have a name picked out for her. She was really honored that he'd asked her. "Annie?"

He smiled. "Annie, it is."

Bright and alert and just adorable, Annie was making attempts to stand, breathing normally, and she was beautiful. Misty was curious and attentive toward her foal, which looked to be a good sign. She began to eat and Annie finally managed to stand after an hour. She began to nurse and it was the most wondrous sight.

Once the placenta was delivered Hal bagged it. Ted hurried to clean up the foaling stall, removed soiled bedding, and added fresh straw.

Then the two men just looked on in wonder, smiling, perspiration beading their foreheads, and she couldn't believe the marvel she'd just witnessed.

Tracey's phone vibrated in her pocket, and she set down the foaling chart and fished the cell out.
Stryker Hill.

Ohmigod, she'd forgotten all about Stryker and her supper date with him! It was a quarter past the hour when he was supposed to pick her up at her cabin.

She closed her eyes and opened them and said, "Hello, Stryker?"

Both Ted and Hal turned their attentions from the filly and mare to Tracey. Hal quickly said, "Tell him we just foaled a filly. He can come over and see her, and then we'll all have a barbecue in celebration."

Chapter 6

Hal couldn't help it. He'd just had the thrill of a lifetime—foaling his own filly, and sharing the experience with Tracey, who looked awestruck and pleased. He loved that she had named the filly too.

But now? He didn't want her going off to supper with Stryker.

The instinct was natural—a cougar's tendency to claim his territory, and the female in it. For humans, it might seem archaic, but for cougars, it was an inborn condition.

In the wild, and as full cougars, he would fight off another male that encroached on his territory. In this case, he had to come to terms with his cougar half. Though he still didn't want to give her up for the evening, he'd go halfway.

He was still watching her to see her reaction, knowing the way he called out the barbecue invitation, Stryker had to have heard it over the phone.

She looked up from the filly to him and said over the phone, "That would be great. She's really beautiful. See you in a little bit." Then she pocketed her phone and smiled, but it wasn't a sweet smile, more like she knew Hal had played a fast one on his friend.

Hal knew then, he'd won. Stryker would want to kill him for it later. In a good naturedly way, of course.

Unable to curb his enthusiasm, Hal grinned big time.

Ted slapped him on the back. "Way to go, man. Stryker is going to be…"

Hal gave him a quelling look.

"Thrilled to see the filly." Ted grinned. "Why don't you get cleaned up while I finish out here? Someone can call me when the food's ready."

"I'm going to take a shower," Hal told Tracey as he pulled off the gloves he'd used on the mare and foal, and disposed of them. He called the vet. "Everything's fine. No need to come out. The filly and mare are doing great."

"Okay, thanks. If you need me, just call. I'm still at Vander's Ranch."

"Bad case?"

"No, no, it's going to be all right. It's just going to take a little longer than we expected."

"Okay. I'll call if I need you." Hal ended the call and smiled down at Tracey.

"Wow, that was really beautiful. You did a great job."

"Thanks. Missy did all the work, really. I'm glad no complications arose. Do you want steaks? Chicken?"

"I'm all for steaks."

"You got it. I'll be just a minute if you want to make yourself comfortable. Grab something to drink, if you'd like." He walked with her into the house, feeling on top of the world.

"I'm going to sit on your deck for a while." She slipped outside, and he thought life couldn't be any better.

Who would have ever thought coming to a Special Agent's aid when she was in the middle of a gunfight would lead to this? She had to admit, she was having the time of her life.

Washed up and dressed in clean clothes, Hal headed out of the master bedroom when he heard Stryker pulling up outside. He must have assumed she was still at Hal's place when he couldn't get hold of her at the cabin and driven faster than the speed of a bullet to get here.

Hal headed Tracey off to get the door. Hal opened the door and let Stryker in.

Giving Hal a look that said Stryker would get him back for this, his friend said, "Thanks for the invite. I'll have to start calling you Slick."

Hal chuckled. "We've been meaning to have a barbecue out here since I moved in, but all of us have been busy. With the new foal's arrival, it seemed the perfect time to do so and celebrate at the same time."

"Yeah, like I said—Slick. Did you induce the mare?"

Hal laughed. "Come on. Let's get some drinks and have a barbecue."

When they settled to eat on the back deck, it couldn't have been more perfect. Unless, Hal had been enjoying the evening
alone
with Tracey. But given that she would have been out with Stryker tonight, this was great.

Even Stryker had to admit Annie was cute. And Tracey had been all smiles again.

The air was still warm enough, and the food and chardonnay, absolute perfection, the company and conversation, even better.

Then Tracey got a call and all conversation stopped.

She quickly answered her phone, glanced in Hal and the other men's direction, and said to the caller, "Anton? How are you doing?"

"Her partner," Hal told Ted, since Stryker would already know who he was.

All of them were watching her facial expression and body language. She was tense, her posture stiff. She was probably concerned about Anton's health and why he would be calling her.

"Just a minute." She said to Hal and his friends, "Do you mind if I take this in the house? The breeze is making too much static on the line and he can't understand me."

"Sure, go ahead." Hal hoped everything was all right. She seemed serious, but not anxious, so he suspected everything was okay. He was thinking of asking everyone if they'd like to run in their cougar coats tonight. Not into the rocks though. He'd love to take Tracey there alone—to show her his special spot.

As soon as she went inside and shut the door, Stryker turned to face Hal, "I'm taking her home tonight."

Hal wanted to object, but what could he say? She was supposed to be eating out with Stryker tonight, and he would have taken her home after his date with her otherwise. Plus, Hal was home. Stryker wouldn't have to make much of a detour to take her to Chase's resort. No matter how much he tried to come up with a way that would work, he knew Stryker had outmaneuvered him this time.

"Did everyone want to take a run as cougars tonight?" Hal hoped Tracey would want to. Not that he wanted Stryker along for the run. Ted would say he'd stay to watch Annie. But he figured Stryker would say yes, just to ensure he was able to take Tracey home tonight.

"Sure, if Tracey wants to run again," Stryker said. "I'm game."

"I'll watch Annie." Ted looked highly amused at their antics.

They all looked back at the glass door. Hal hoped everything was all right, concerning the call Tracey had received, surprised it was taking so long, and hoped her partner wasn't giving her word about the case so that she could look into it.

***

Frowning furiously, Tracey wanted to kill the informant who had led them into a trap. She hoped Hal and the others really believed she was talking to Anton. She didn't want anyone to get wind of the fact that she had every intention of working this case if she could get some clues. With Ricky calling her, she hoped that's where the conversation would lead.

"Okay, tell me your version of what happened." She bit back the urge to call him every vile word she could think of. She could have lost her partner! Not to mention she had been damn lucky when Hal had showed up.

"I didn't have nothing to do with it. You know. I didn't call you. Someone else did. I don't know who."

"What do you mean you didn't call me?" She couldn't believe he'd come up with such a ludicrous lie. Of course, it had been him. She'd talked to him a number of times, and she would recognize his voice anywhere. "He sounded just like you."

"Hell, anyone can copy anyone else's voice over the phone. It wasn't me. You pay me good money, you know. Why would I screw that up?"

She had to admit that was true, and it was possible, she supposed. Anything was in this business. "Okay, let's say you're telling me the truth. They have to realize you're informing on them. It's the only way they would think to contact me, if they believed you were talking to me about them."

Silence.

"Ricky?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm thinking, you know?" She heard him pacing around on gravel. "Okay. I've got a brother, you know? Kolby's twenty-one—three years older than me. I always looked up to him. But I'm thinking he heard something about what I've been doing. And then he might have set me up."

"You talked to him!"

"I didn't tell him. Not to his face. Maybe he overheard me talking to you. Maybe he got hold of this Mooney character, and he offered to pay him some big bucks to impersonate me and send you there. I swear I didn't know anything about it. When I saw the newspaper story that said that you had been ambushed in the old saloon in the ghost town, I figured it was some other case you were working on. So I didn't call you. But then a new story got out and it said your informant set you up. I got to thinking about it…believing it was some other informant because
I
didn't call you. And then I got to wondering more and more. Did you think it was me? I didn't know how you could because it wasn't me. But if you did, I wanted to straighten you out. I had nothing to do with it."

"All right. So what do you know?"

"Well, since my brother, Kolby, thinks I'm still clueless about who your informant was, because I
was
until you said you thought it was me, I believe he's the one who did this. We do sound a lot alike."