Prologue
The male had made a home in this canyon, where his tawny fur blended with the sand, where the night
could freeze you and the day bring your blood to a boil.
Werecougars, at least the few Callie knew of, usually chose to live farther north, but perhaps this one
had been born here. After all, his animal counterpart, the cougar or puma, used to range throughout
North America.
Callie placed one large paw after the other, intent on this trail, on her path forward, studiously ignoring
the fact that she was being stalked by the one she sought. Exactly as they’d planned. She’d even
screamed earlier to attract his attention. No male would ignore a female screaming.
If he was at all clever, he would stop and ask himself how she had arrived here so suddenly, alone. (For
she was not alone.) But they weren’t clever, these feral males. And while she sometimes felt a pang for
their stupidity, it was generally overridden by the vicious and brutal way they slaughtered their prey. This
one had killed six humans, including a five-year-old boy, and that she couldn’t forgive.
He was close now, approaching from the right, and her heart rate sped up. Perhaps he wouldn’t even be
curious, perhaps he would simply attack. She almost hoped he would. Put an end to this job she had
taken up four years ago and regretted every day since, and yet could not bring herself to leave.
She slowed down, willing him to pounce. She wouldn’t mind a good fight, wouldn’t mind going out in a
blaze of glory. That was only her puma self speaking, but at the moment she didn’t care.
Instead of an ambush though, the feral waited for her. Just before she could round the corner that would
take them into the clear, he stepped in front of her and hissed, a question in the sound. She froze at the
sight of him, her heart rising to her throat, for he was smaller than she was, which meant he was young,
too young.
She didn’t kill children, even murderous ones. She’d told Trey that when he’d hired her on.
Maybe this one is salvageable.Despite how this job had eroded all hope of saving one of her own
kind, that thought took hold, and she could not turn away from it.
It wasn’t her call to make. At this point, she had a protocol to follow, orders to carry out. She was the
hired help.
But to find such a young male was a new development. To date, the killers had all been older, adult.
Callie refused to treat this puma like the others. Trey would just have to deal with her executive decision
to change the plans.
The male’s tail wasn’t even twitching, and he chirped, trying to speak to her. At least he was aware
enough to realize she, like him, was a shapeshifter. A couple of the males, too far gone in their cougar
heads, hadn’t seemed to notice anything but that she was potential prey.
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