Chapter 171 Chapter 171
Kobie had found four places the men’s scents crossed paths, and twice where Calum had followed them. She paused and looked up. Would they have put it in a tree? That would hardly be fair, but she wasn’t putting anything past them. She was near the furthest border of the property by this time. She could make out the decaying smell of the pelt, but the fresh rain was messing with her picking the exact location. Stopping, she inhaled slowly and processed everything that came back to her.
Rage moved through her, and she froze. That scent. She would never forget it. The last time she smelled it was on the bodies of their loved ones when she’d found them dead. Spinning, she inhaled again. She had to find Calum—had to warn him.
Catching a hint of his cat’s scent, she took off in that direction, paying no heed to any obstacle that was in her way. As she ran, she filtered through the other scents, trying to see if there were any others in this area that were out of place or didn’t belong to one of the clans that had been out here.
Spotting Calum, she leaped over a small ditch and then changed direction to cut him off before she lost him again. She moved fast and silent as she jumped over a downed tree and then took a quick right. This should put her right in his path.
When she could smell him closer, she crouched down and debated if she should just leap on him. If she ran for him, he may think she was just looking for the pelt and trying to weigh lay him. Too late to decide, she made out his dark fur on the other side of the ferns growing. Bounding over them, she landed in front of him—later she’d do a victory cheer that she’d been able to startle him as he crouched down, his ears lying flat. Straightening, she bumped her head into his shoulder and then turned and visibly showed him she was scenting the area. She emitted a low yowl so he would hopefully understand.
She looked back to him, he was standing straight again, sniffing the air.
Calum shook his head, then moved over to bump against her and then turned to look in the house’s direction.
Kobie took off. She hoped like hell he’d been telling her to go get backup because that’s exactly what she was planning on doing. Bounding over a mucky area, she caught the scent of the pelt. Later, she told herself she’d come to get the prize and win that. Right now, she needed to get help and get all those she loved hidden away safely.
She jumped over the fence and heard cheering as everyone thought she was bringing the pelt back.
Blair stepped out of the small crowd when she was almost to them. “Something’s wrong.”
Kobie slid to a stop in front of him, then went back to the corner of the house and looked out in the direction she knew Calum to be, then growled for all to hear.
“Fuck.” Blair ran over and stood with his back to all the other shifters. He inhaled slowly. Then glanced down at her. “Someone’s out there.”
“Shit.” Gage was already pulling his shirt over his head. “Kelsey, you get the women in the house and lock all the doors.”
Devin started to take off his shirt when Gage shook his head, “You’re staying, watch over your dad and kill anything that comes near the house.”
Devin didn’t look happy but turned back to usher the others to the house.
“Cale,” Blair called out as he kicked off his boots, “you get on that roof with a loaded rifle.”
Kobie watched Cale run for the truck.
“Noah, you’re with us. Jake, you and Gary stand guard here.” Gage said quickly, then unzipped his jeans.
“Take us to him, babe,” Blair said as he pulled down his jeans.
Kobie turned and waited until three tigers were standing beside her instead of three naked men. The size of Noah momentarily shocked her, then shook it off and took off in the direction she’d come. She didn’t plan to run straight for Calum. The odor of the intruders wasn’t leading toward him. There were two scents now, possibly three, the rain was covering their presence like it had the pelt.
Skidding to a halt, she turned to see the men had no problems keeping up with her. She lifted her chin and inhaled slowly, then made a slow movement with her head to show them the directions she was picking up scents.
Noah didn’t wait for any further instruction, he bound off in the direction she’d started with.
Gage went to their left, leaving her and Blair to go down the center.
Calum was straight ahead, and she wasn’t sure if he was stalking them or waiting for backup. They were smart, she had to give them that, they weren’t sticking together to make it easy to be found.
Blair kept pace with her and didn’t even hesitate when she’d deviate around something in their path, he was letting her lead, and not making it more work for him to stay with her. She respected that he wasn’t trying to send her back to the house now that they knew what they were looking for. Their cats were in synch with each other. That was something she’d had to work for before, even with her own twin.
The scent of blood filled the air, Kobie stopped quickly and listened to pinpoint a direction. She could barely make the sounds of frenzied movement, but it was enough to show them where to go. Twisting, she turned and ran in that direction as fast as she could. They couldn’t kill these men, despite her cat thinking they should, they might have information about the rest of her clan, and that had to be her main objective.
Clearing a small grouping of trees, Blair and Kobie came to a fast stop to see a naked Calum standing there with a naked, bleeding man on the ground. Around the man’s neck was a thick leather collar. That would prevent him from being able to shift. Kobie didn’t even care that Calum was naked. With some cord in his hand, he zipped the pack back up and motioned to a tree. “I’m going to tie him to that.” He dragged the man by his arm to the tree, then looked at Kobie. “You can bring the guys here for him after we get the other two.”
Kobie made a soft prusten to let him know she would before moving closer to look at the man. She didn’t recognize him, nor his scent. He wasn’t one of the men that had killed her clan members. She snuffed at him, then turned away.
Calum was back in cat form. He swung his head and looked at her, then looked to their right.
Kobie inhaled and checked to confirm the other two scents of their intruders were both in that direction. She didn’t wait to see what they were planning on doing, just took off running. She needed to get to them before Noah or Gage killed the one that had killed her clan members.
No animals were making a sound with this many predators present. It wasn’t hard to find the other two, the sounds of fighting traveled easily in the quiet bush. As Kobie burst through the foliage, her heart pounded when she saw a body on the ground. She trotted over to it and inhaled. It wasn’t the one that had been on their land back home. Turning, she saw the flash of orange through the trees and took off toward it.
Calum and Blair were already there, circling with Gage as Noah took on a large tiger. He couldn’t kill him, she relayed to her cat, so she’d ignore the scent of blood. When Noah pinned him to the ground, his teeth clamped under the other cat’s jaw, Kobie sprung in that direction and flew at him. She hit Noah hard, causing him to release the other animal. Scrambling to her feet, she stood over the injured animal and growled low, ears flat.
“We need him alive,” Blair said loudly from behind her.
Kobie stared at the tiger and hissed at him, demanding he shift.
His animal cried out in pain and ended with a man screeching as he finally lay there on the ground in skin and not fur.
“I got him.” Calum was there, wrapping his shirt around the man’s bleeding neck. He glanced behind them. “Noah, go get help and bring that body back to the house.”
Kobie looked to see Noah take off into the trees.
“Blair, Kobie, go get that other guy,” Calum said.
Gage, wearing his jeans again, walked over and squatted down beside Calum. “I got this one.” He glanced at Calum, “you go find out how the fuck they got on this land without us knowing.”
Calum stood up. “It might take a while. I’m going to have to go around the entire perimeter, that team of Dev’s missed something.”
Blair came over to Kobie and rubbed along her side, giving her a gentle nudge. They had to track back and get that one that was tied to a tree.
Bumping her head against him, she turned and took off back into the trees.