Chapter 1

She arched against him, crying out as an orgasm claimed her. He rode her, refusing to let the swell of sensation abate, stretching out the pleasure until her cry was but a long wordless scream of pleasure. She writhed against him, wanting it to go on and on.

Then the alarm rang.

Scout cursed at the offending sound that jolted her from the dream and checked the time on the clock. Five a.m. Quickly silencing the noise, she sat and swung her legs over the side of the bed, shoving thoughts of the dream aside.

Today she’d step into the ring, so to speak, to defend the family honor. For the past five years, the US Geological Survey-Fort Collins Science Center on the Mountain Lion Ecology, had sponsored a hunt. They invited the top hunters and trackers in the world to team up with rangers and specialists with the Center to tag mountain lions for the ongoing study. It was a no-kill competition, yet a fierce one.

This was the first year she would be the only member of her family in the competition, and she fully intended to win. Even if it meant physically dragging whoever she was teamed with the entire way.

That was the real challenge for the hunters and trackers. The specialists from the Center were trained in animal biology, behavior, and group dynamics, but were not necessarily skilled outdoorsmen. The rangers were normally more skilled in surviving the wilderness, but generally not that knowledgeable about the species itself.

Scout had never participated in the competition. Even though she’d signed up last year, she had to drop out. Her reputation may have been as one of the best trackers in the country, but she also specialized in tracking big cats. There were not a lot of trackers who wanted to hunt the big cats. Not everyone had the patience for it. And not everyone had been trained by Jededia Windrider, the legendary tracker and backcountry survival expert.

Scout had not only been trained by Jededia, but she was also his granddaughter, raised by him after her parents were killed in an auto accident when she was five days old. She only knew her parents from old photos and barely remembered their faces from those faded images, but Jed’s face would be etched into her mind forever. He had been father and mother to her, as well as teacher and friend.

His death last year had left a hole in her heart that nothing would ever fill. His passing left her alone. No family and few friends. Scout felt like something of an anomaly—comfortable in the wild, and a fish out of water in mainstream society.

Not that it bothered her. At least not often. There were times when loneliness crept up on her, but when it did, she accepted that as long as she lived the life she had chosen, loneliness would be a factor. Maintaining a relationship when you were gone most of the time was impossible. She knew. She’d tried. And she’d failed. And resolved not to make that mistake again.

Since the end of her short-lived marriage, she’d focused on work. Her first job was with the IUCN. Six months later, thanks to her contributions to a study on the Mountain Lion Ecology in Rocky Mountain National Park and Northern Colorado, she was approached by CAT, the Cat Action Treasury, the IUCN Species Survival Commission’s specialist group tasked with producing action plans representing species-specific knowledge.

Now Scout was considered one of the foremost authorities on the cat family, with a specialty in the Puma concolor, most commonly referred to as the cougar or mountain lion. She was happy to have earned a good reputation but could have cared less about the political and bureaucratic aspects. She left that to the people who were adept at such matters and focused her energy and attention in the area she was best suited. Namely the wild. It made her happy being out in the wild. It didn’t matter if she was tracking or just taking a solitary hike. When she was outside, away from people, she could breathe.

This morning she contemplated the event before her. Last year she’d been scheduled to participate, as had Jed. It was to be their first time competing against one another. Scout was hesitant, but he had insisted. He was growing old, he’d told her, and needed to know that she’d learned all he’d tried to teach her. If she had, then her youth should give her the edge to beat him.

His death a week before the competition had knocked her for a loop. The fact that he was murdered had filled her with rage and a need for revenge. She’d spent six months trying to solve the mystery of who had killed him. Neither she nor the state law enforcement had been able to find the guilty party. This told Scout that whoever it was, he was a skilled hunter. Sneaking up on Jed would have taken a great deal of skill—the kind of skill only people who entered the competition possessed. She intended to pay close attention to all the participants before and after the hunt.

And she intended to win. She’d prove to Jed that she hadn’t let him down. That she’d learned what he’d taught. That he could be proud of her.

Within the hour, she was navigating the twisting roads, watching a shroud of fog that crept in fingers across the blacktop. It was still a few hours before dawn, and the temperature was hovering right at fifty degrees. A good day for a hunt.