Shepherd's Moon (27 page)

“I didn’t think it would be this crowded,” he lied.

I shook my head and stared out the window.

“He’s lying,” Daniel whispered in my ear.

“You know, we could always drop the stray here off at the pound,” Billy mumbled.

Daniel hissed softly — the first time I’d ever witnessed any aggression in the chimera.

“Knock it off,” I warned both of them. The last thing I needed was a coyote and a chimera fighting while I sat between them in a crowded vehicle.

Daniel scooted away from me, and I shot him a warning look. He was still in uncharted territory. He didn’t have to accept me as a Pack Leader yet, but it was in good form if he did. Billy, on the other hand,
was
obligated. His skin rippled at Daniel’s unspoken threat, but a touch on his arm refocused his anger.

“He doesn’t understand how things work, Billy.” My voice was gentle, but firm. “You need to be patient with him.”

“Just keep a leash on your precious kitty,” He mumbled under his breath.

With traffic at a crawl, it took nearly an hour to reach the far side of campus with the slower pickup truck trailing behind us. We approached the golf course from the West, and once we hit the greens, I touched Billy and pointed towards the pro shop.

“Circle around.”

I noticed a heaviness in the air, the sort of thickness that signifies you’re being watched. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end and my arm tickled with goose bumps.

Something was definitely on the move and I was betting it was our rogue mountain lions. I had the distinct impression that they knew we were here.

Stepping out into the darkened golf course parking lot, I circled the truck as Brock pulled beside us with the large cargo truck. He and Billy got to work removing the canvas top and dropping the gate to expose the traps.

“Did you ever get hold of Bren?” I asked, taking a cursory look around as I readjusted the dragon skin I wore. The body armor I had promised Richard I would wear was cumbersome and awkward, no matter what anyone said. But, it did stop angry cat claws and just about anything that could be discharged from a gun — assuming they hit me in the chest or back. Luckily, most of the bad guys couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn, let alone make an accurate headshot.

Both he and Billy shook their heads. “He’s not answering and he’s not at any of his favorite haunts.”

“You tried the Half Moon?”

Brock nodded.

I just shook my head. What else could I do? I wouldn’t even know where to start in disciplining a vampire. Capital punishment sort of defeated the purpose. Besides, it wasn’t my style—unless the vampire was a threat. Not to mention, he was Brock’s brother. Bren could recover from just about anything I could throw at him. The worst I could do was take away his money, but if I did, he would just compel someone into giving him more. Frustrated, I cleared my mind and focused on locating some type of animal energy because right now, I wasn’t feeling any. And that just didn’t feel right.

Bren would have come in handy this night. If anyone caught us moving these cats, or we needed to remove anyone from the golf course, Bren was the person you wanted doing it. He was the only person who
could
do it.

We would just need to figure it out on our own this time.

Brock and Billy joined me in my unsuccessful search. In the parking lot at least, neither one of them could find a spore of cougar scent. Worse, I wasn’t even picking up the brain pattern of a squirrel, let alone two cougars. The notable absence of any domestic animals within the immediate area was a good sign that we were in the right place to capture these cougars, but not so great news about their intentions. Obviously these cats were hunting whatever they could get their paws on. I glanced at Brock as he opened a bottle of water and nodded, understanding my concern.

The guys all busied themselves as I tapped into the feel of the surrounding area.

I would have settled for the brain signature of one cat, but what I really needed was physical proof.

The events from the crime scene of two nights ago entered my thoughts. The memory felt surreal, dream-like — and that bothered me on more than one level. The Handler that I was supposed to be searching for and the scene tonight were related somehow. I didn’t know exactly what the connection was, but I could feel it in my heart.

Frustrated, I kicked at a rock, watching it fly over the course and land unharmed near a sprinkler and halted mid-stride. Of course! If I were an animal in the city, what would be the first thing I would look for besides an easy source of food?

Water…

I walked to the rough and scouted the area. The smell of fresh cut grass and cool clean water wafted through the air, and I knew no cat could resist this temptation. A cougar’s sense of smell could never approach that of a wolf or coyote, but they weren’t exactly helpless in that area either. Big cats are difficult to locate when they are cooperating. When they didn’t want to be found, they wouldn’t be found. Hound dogs were the only truly successful method of locating wild cats, and even they failed nearly half the time.

I may not have hounds, but I do have a wolf and a coyote.

“We’ve still got employees on site,” Brock said as he walked up on me.

I nodded. “I’ll handle them. Take Billy and walk up to the 9th and 16th holes to see what kind of activity we have.”

Sending them off to see if they could pick up the cougars’ scents, I walked over to send the night attendants home. A quick flash of my badge convinced them to leave, and after ensuring they really had headed out for the night, I climbed back into the warm car with Daniel as we waited on Billy and Brock.

Thirty minutes later, all of us were standing near the 9th hole at the small, manmade lake — still close to campus, but very near the second sighting of the twin cats. Two sets of tracks were in the short, green grass. Billy squatted down beside me, running his fingers over the imprints.

“They’re fresh,” he mumbled distractedly. “It hasn’t been long since they came this way.”

“Just remember that they’re ambush predators,” I said, glancing around.

“That’s a little hard to forget about.” He motioned towards the East. “I picked up their trail half a mile back and followed it through brush, up trees, over boulders. If they haven’t moved, we’re still looking at a twenty-minute walk.”

He said the words for my benefit.

“I know I’ll slow you down, but I need to be there.” I adjusted the vest again, mumbling. “Geez — I’m twenty pounds heavier with this thing.”

Daniel shifted uneasily, then lifted his head and pushed his long blonde hair behind his ear. Deep blue eyes stared down at me. “I think I can carry you.”

I offered him a patient smile. “I’ve seen you shift, Daniel, and I’m fairly certain you couldn’t carry me.”

He sat down on the ground, a sudden confidence filling him as he pulled off his shoes, then continued to disrobe until he was standing naked and shivering in the cool evening air. “I’ve been practicing.”

The magic came over him suddenly, glimmering in the ascending moonlight, pulled at him, reshaped his body in a blur of shifting tissue and bone until the only thing left was his long blonde hair, which became the long, blonde mane of a sorrel stallion.

“Damn…” Billy’s mouth fell open as we all stood and stared at the chimera.

I nodded in agreement, doing my best not to look as astonished as I felt. Daniel lowered his large head and snorted softly, pawing at the ground — then tossed his head, ears high and neck outstretched, as he caught a scent.

Pulling the backpack that contained clothes, snacks and weapons over my shoulders, I stroked the horse’s neck. “Pretty damned impressive, Daniel.”

This was a distinct and unexpected advantage.

Grabbing a handful of his long mane, I pulled myself onto his long back, holding tightly as he reared slightly at Billy’s approach.

With a grin, I leaned over Daniel’s neck and whispered, “Let’s move,” then squeezed my thighs as he pushed away with his powerful hindquarters.

It took a few minutes for Brock and Billy to catch up, but once they did, Daniel allowed them to run point. We followed close behind, keeping an eye out for any students or any Game and Fish officials who may have ignored the request from Richard and came out to hunt the big cats anyway.

The thickness of the air shifted as we moved closer to the back nine, until it finally felt like we were enclosed in a bubble of something acrid and stale. Billy wrinkled his nose as I waited for the horse to come to a stop, then dropped from Daniel’s back.

“What the hell is that smell?” Trying to identify it, I moved away from the group.

A hospital.
The air held that distinct lab scent of antiseptic and illness.

It was a scent decidedly out of place and a feeling of wrongness permeated the air. Something was going on around here… Something bad.

Brock glanced at me and I shook my head in answer to his silent query as he circled around the back of the pond, disappearing into the shadows. Dropping my backpack near a Mesquite, I hoped the flowering tree would mask its scent.

Right now, I had to focus on locking in the cats’ locations. Daniel nervously pawed the ground, waiting for me to give him the word to shift back to human. I balked on giving the order. Being a horse was dangerous around these particular cats, but being human — a vulnerable one at that — could be even more dangerous. If I couldn’t get a lock on the cats, it would be too dangerous to walk in as bait.

Then again, a horse would be perfect prey for a large cat. I sighed indecisively, then finally told him to shift back, standing just close enough to feel the magic whisk around me. Billy followed suit.

“What’s up?” Billy kneeled down beside me and leaned in close, speaking in hushed tones.

“I don’t know. Something…” I chewed on my lip, nervous for the first time. “I can’t get a lock on them — on anything, really. But something’s close.”

A small lizard scrambled up the tree behind me and I jumped back, drawing my gun in one rapid movement.

Billy glanced at me, obviously perplexed by my actions. “You can’t even sense the wildlife around here?”

I shook my head, pulling the extra set of clothes out of the pack for Daniel and turned away as he got dressed, retracing my steps. “Call Brock back over here. Something’s going on.”

Billy cupped his hand to his mouth and yipped loudly. “We could send your cat or horse or whatever the hell he is in. Maybe we just need better bait.” He turned to Daniel. “Can you become a rabbit?”

“Can you?” Daniel challenged, finding a hidden confidence I didn’t really know he had. While I was proud that he was defending himself, his actions made me a little leery as well. Obviously I needed to do a little more research into our new friend.

“Knock it off, Billy.” I knew where he was headed with this and I didn’t like it. “We aren’t sending anyone in until we know what we’re dealing with and have some control over the situation. We are obviously a far cry from that.”

He threw up his hands, frustrated and ready for action. “Then send me. I can handle a couple of cats.”

“Those
cats
are 200 pounds each and can clear 40-feet from a standstill,” I hissed. “What can you do?”

He turned away, emitting a low growl from deep within his chest.

“We can’t trap what we can’t find, and we won’t be able to control them if we don’t know exactly what we are dealing with.” On top of that, we had no equipment that could actually kill anything. In the middle of considering our problem, I abruptly realized it had just solved itself…

Panic rose, swift and sudden, as a shiver ran down my spine. The air stirred behind me.

Turning slowly, I realized it was indeed I who had inadvertently been cast as bait. There was not even enough time to shout a warning before the attack came from above.

The cougar had been perched on a tall branch directly above us. By the time I saw him, a second cougar had taken his place as the first leapt through the air.

Falling backwards, I dropped and rolled, absorbing the blow even as I brought my leg up into the beasts belly and kicked off. The first cat flipped over the top of me, gaining momentum and screaming as it tumbled against the hard ground. Rolling down the hill, it quickly regained its footing then lunged back at me in one smooth move. But this time, I sensed hesitation in the creature.

Rather than try to scramble to my feet, I relegated myself to defeat and braced for the inevitable impact.

“A little help, guys?”

Even I could hear the fear reflected in my voice, but I was beyond caring. My ego could wait until I wasn’t under attack.

The cat snarled and pounced, landing square on my side as I frantically rolled to the side. The cat’s long back claws dug into my thigh as it scrambled to position itself for the kill. I choked back a scream as the razor sharp claws raked through tender flesh, spilling the coppery scent of blood into the air.

Daniel stood in stunned silence, reacting instinctively when Billy tossed him the gun before tackling the second cougar. Reacting purely on instinct, Daniel caught the gun and scrambled up the hill towards me. What none of us had anticipated was Daniel becoming the person we needed to count on.