Cougar's Mate (27 page)

And then she saw him. Hennessey, the bastard. He was outside wearing his cougar form and coming after her. She hesitated. She could either run away from the house, and she knew she couldn’t outrun him, or head back to the house and hope Chase or Hal had taken down the shooter. She darted back toward the house at a full run, leaping through the screen of cold, white flakes. She was certain Hennessey was chasing her, but she couldn’t hear his silent approach while the cold wind whipped the snow about.

Gunshots went off inside the house. Four.

And then a massive tan body slammed into her from behind and she rolled onto her back, unable to do anything else. Snarling and growling, she bit at the bastard as Hennessey tried to grab her throat. She kicked at his belly, claws extended, trying to keep him away from her throat.

The wind swept the white flakes around her as she was half buried in the soft snow, kicking and biting at the devil himself. He knew he had to kill her quickly if Chase or Hal were still alive. But then he wouldn’t learn where the money was, if he still believed she knew where it was.

She bit him in the leg and he snarled and hissed but before he could pay her back, another cat slammed into him and sent him into the bank of snow.

She jumped to her feet, panting from exertion, the snow clinging to her fur.
Chase
. He tore into the cat and she was torn between staying with him this time and going to see to the others. Hal had dropped like a rock when the first shot was fired, and she feared he might have been hit and was seriously injured or dead. And she worried about Dottie and the kids… But she couldn’t leave Chase.

Her heart pounded furiously, the adrenaline still rushing through her blood.

Had Dan really texted Rick and told him to ask Hal to pick up Dottie, or was he in the house hurt or dead?

She feared the latter. Hennessey had to have used Dan’s phone to text Rick so that they would come here.

Chase was just as viciously trying to kill Hennessey, and she couldn’t wait for Chase to be victorious any longer on his own. She had to see to those in the house. She whipped around in the deep snow, crouched, and sprang at least fifteen feet to where the two cats were fighting, raked her claws down Hennessey’s back, and took his rabid attention off of Chase for an instant.

He snarled and snapped at her, but Chase closed his jaws around Hennessey’s neck and clamped down hard. They waited until they no longer heard his heart beat and his breath no longer blew out puffs of frosty air. Then she dashed back toward the house and inside. Hennessey’s uncle was dead on the floor, shot twice. Hal was unconscious, his head bleeding profusely.

Chase joined her inside and shifted, then began getting dressed. “I’ll get your clothes,” he said, then he ran back outside, gathered up her things, and trudged back through the snow at a run.

When he reached the house, he dropped her clothes on the floor for her, and shut the door. “Dottie and the kids are tied up in the bedroom at the back of the house. You can free them. I’ve got to take care of Hal.”

She had already shifted and was throwing on her clothes. “Hal,” she said, tears in her eyes. She had caused this. By coming here, she could have caused so many deaths.

“Head wound, bleeds a lot. Bullet grazed him and he’ll have a hell of a headache when he comes to.” Chase stalked toward the bathroom.

Shannon got on the phone to Rick, telling him Hennessey and his uncle were dead as she raced down the hall to the bedroom where the door was closed. She threw it open.

Dottie was tied to a chair, her eyes red with crying. Dan was tied up on the floor, struggling to get free, a raised welt on his forehead, red and already bruising. Both Dottie and Dan had been gagged. The babies were on the bed, a quilt covering them, but her heart nearly stopped when she worried they were dead. She quickly checked them out and found they were just asleep.

“Everyone’s all right,” Shannon said, reassuring them. Then she put the phone on speaker as she untied Dottie’s wrists and said, “Hennessey and his uncle were here lying in wait to ambush us at Dottie’s house. Hal’s been wounded, but Chase said it’s not serious.” She sure hoped he was right. “Dan looks like he has been struck in the head, but he seems like he’s going to be all right.”

“I was worried when I couldn’t get hold of Dottie or Chase to learn why none of you had showed up here. I tried Dan’s number and I couldn’t reach him, either. I’m actually on my way there now. Stryker had gotten hung up on another car pileup. I’ll let him know what’s happened there. And we’ll get a clean-up crew out right away.”

“Thanks,” Shannon said, as Dottie untied Dan. The toddlers were still sound asleep on the bed. “See you soon.”

“Ten minutes tops.”

In about twenty minutes, owing to the weather, Stryker and Rick arrived along with another couple of men that she didn’t know in three different vehicles. Hal was lying on the sofa with his head bandaged. Dottie was packing up the kids and Dan, though he was normally in charge of an operation, wanted to get her and the kids out of there because of the dead men, and Hal being injured. Everyone assured him they’d take care of everything. Dottie, Dan, and Chase had wanted Shannon to go with them. But she wasn’t leaving Hal or Chase behind.

Shannon worried about Dan having been knocked out also. But he assured everyone he was fine.

Once the clean-up crew arrived to take the two men to the morgue, Chase drove Hal’s truck while he stretched out in the back. And Shannon sat up front.

“Doc’s going to be angry you didn’t go in to have your head looked after,” Chase said.

“It’s Thanksgiving. She doesn’t need to have to come in for stuff like this. She already had to set that kid’s broken nose.”

“Stryker looked upset that you didn’t ride with him,” Chase said.

“Hell, I have to watch the way you’re driving my truck in this weather.”

Chase chuckled.

Hal was lying down in the backseat and couldn’t see anything. “Besides, where you and Shannon go, that’s where all the action is. Already Stryker’s complaining that he missed out again.”

“At least no one’s going to say you got shot changing a light bulb,” Chase said.

Shannon smiled.

“No, they’re going to say I didn’t duck fast enough though.”

“Good thing or the guy would have shot Shannon.” Chase looked over at her.

She took a deep breath. “All of this was my fault.”

“No, it was Hennessey’s fault,” Hal said harshly. “The bastard was a cop, too.” Then he said, “Hell, as soon as I arrive at the feast, I’m going to be smelling like a dog.”

Shannon and Chase chuckled.

Once they arrived at Rick and Yvonne’s house for the Thanksgiving feast, the whole place smelling of turkey and pumpkin and pecan pies, and chocolate cake, Shannon felt relief and ready to share this truly special holiday with Chase and friends.

She kissed Chase, wanting more, but not here in front of everyone else, and though he appeared to want to hold onto her longer, she smiled and said, “I’ve got to frost the cake.”

His arms still wrapped around her, he said, “I can’t wait for dessert.”

The glint of the devil in his eyes and the way his mouth curved so wickedly, she was sure he wasn’t talking about the cake. He released her then, and while she mixed up the frosting, Chase opened a bottle of wine, and Yvonne set the dishes of food on the dining room table.

But just as Shannon finished frosting the cake, Chase was standing beside her, catching her at doing what she’d always done as a little girl helping her mother to frost a cake—sliding her finger around the inside of the bowl to catch the remaining ribbons of chocolate, then licking it off.

The next thing she knew, he was licking her fingers, her mouth, kissing her as if no one else in the house existed.

Yvonne finally finished pouring the wine and asked, “What exactly happened? We need the full details of what went down.”

Shannon gave Chase one more chocolaty sweet kiss, then they washed up to join the others, though she was thinking about just how much fun sharing chocolate with Chase could be—when they were alone.

Dan was sitting on the couch with Hal, neither of them looking really great. Dottie was taking care of feeding her toddlers. Stryker acted like he didn’t know quite what to do, his hands shoved in his pockets as he watched everyone else work. Rick began to carve the turkey.

Then they all sat together at the dining room table.

“I finished talking to the two kids who had gotten into a fight, then spoke with their parents. After that, I called Dottie and told her I was on my way to her place and that we should be able to make it in time to Rick and Yvonne’s place. I’d told her that Shannon was with Chase and Hal and they had been delayed getting there, too,” Dan said and passed the bowl of potatoes. “And I said that Stryker was still dealing with the traffic accident, but that he’d join us as soon as he could.”

“So they were monitoring your conversation using a scanner,” Shannon said.

“Yeah, they had to have. I was on the phone to Stryker about the car accidents when I entered Dottie’s house. When I stepped into the place, I didn’t even have time to call out that I was there or get a chance to smell Hennessey or his uncle’s scent. Though I realize now they were wearing that damned hunter’s spray again. The ape hit me in the head with something and I went down. I don’t remember anything after that until I woke up in Dottie’s bedroom and we were both tied up and gagged. I was trying to get myself free when I heard Shannon on the phone coming for us. I guess the bastard used my phone to text Rick,” Dan said.

“Which was my fault,” Dottie said, passing the gravy to Dan. “They forced me to verify that Shannon and Chase were going to Rick and Yvonne’s for Thanksgiving. I said that I didn’t know where they were going, but the older man said I didn’t have to confirm it was so, but that he’d kill either one of my kids or the sheriff and see if that might help me to remember. He said they weren’t going to hurt any of us—“

Dan snorted.

“I agree. He said they just wanted the money Shannon had stolen from them,” Dottie said. “I didn’t believe them about the money or that they didn’t want to hurt anyone. I told them that they nearly killed Shannon the last time, and Hennessey said she wasn’t supposed to be hurt, but she fought Roger and didn’t just go along with them. That they just had to convince her they meant business.”

“Ha!” Shannon said. “Well, maybe that’s why Roger didn’t kill me. He could have. Maybe he figured he’d injure me enough, and then they’d force me to tell them what they wanted to know. But he would have killed me afterward.”

“Just my thought,” Dottie said. “I wanted to be the one to make the call to Rick so I could say something that would alert everyone that something was wrong, but the older man just texted Rick, pretending to be Dan and must have said he couldn’t reach my house in time to pick us up. They knew about the traffic accidents and that Dan had been at the clinic. I suspected Hal might be driving because he has a heavier truck, but I didn’t say anything. I hoped if they asked if Chase would come and get me, Rick might figure that something was up.”

Rick shook his head as he served more wine to everyone. “I didn’t give it a thought. My only concern was that everyone was late getting in. I had never considered Hennessey and his uncle might be there. We thought it was a case of you getting stuck somewhere in this snow.”

“How did they know to go to your place? Even if they were monitoring Dan’s calls, how did they know who you were exactly? And where you live?” Chase asked.

“You know that reporter? Carl Nelson? He learned of the accidents and was still wanting more information about those cougar sightings,” Dottie said.

Dan grunted. “Hell, he was pestering me at the clinic right before I left to see you. I heard him tell his boss that he was checking out an accident that Stryker was working and that he’d gotten nothing from me about the cougars as he hurried out of the clinic.”

“Hennessey said something about usually hating reporters, but they got lucky with that one in town. Since the reporter isn’t a shifter, he wouldn’t have been suspicious of them asking him about me. So that’s how Hennessey and his uncle learned just where I lived,” Dottie said. “They must have talked to him, and left town right afterwards before Dan departed the clinic. Only a few minutes after they arrived, Dan parked out front.”

“We were just lucky Carl hadn’t come around to your house about that time or what a mess that would have been,” Dan said.

“Agreed,” Chase said. “I don’t think any of us want him to join our exclusive cougar club.”

Shannon explained how she’d run out of the house, stripped, and shifted so she could draw one of the men away and give Chase a chance to get the advantage inside.

Chase took a deep breath and looked at Hal, who was forking out a potato onto his plate. “When Hal fell beside me, I was certain he was dead and that Shannon and I were next. I saw her dash back outside and I dove for the couch. I had my gun out and came around the corner of the couch to shoot the shooter, but he had dashed toward the hall, and I knew he intended to grab a hostage to use as a shield. I fired a couple of shots and took him down. Then I heard Hennessey and Shannon fighting in the snow and I quickly stripped and shifted and took off after them. I’d briefly thought of trying to shoot him, but I believed I’d have a better chance killing him in my cat coat than if I took a chance shooting at the two cats fighting.”

Everyone was eating in earnest when Hal cleared his throat and said to Shannon. “So… where is the money?”

“Like
I
should know.”

“Did he have a safety deposit box?” Rick asked.

“I wouldn’t know. He paid the bills. I still had my own personal checking account, but once I stopped working, I didn’t have any more money coming in that I could call my own.”

“Did he spend a lot of extra money on stuff?” Chase asked. “Maybe he spent it all.”

“He said he had expenditures, but Hennessey didn’t believe him. He was certain he’d lied about it.”

“Did he garden?” Yvonne asked.