Chapter 11

Ray Moss walked into the room he and his brother had appointed as their business office. Jimmy sat at the computer.

“So?” Ray asked.

“Everything seems to check out,” Jimmy said and leaned back in his chair to regard his brother. “But I still have a bad feeling about this one.”

“You’re just paranoid,” Ray replied. “And you just said it all checks out. Way I see it, it’s a fast 25k.”

“Doesn’t that seem a little high to you?” Jimmy asked. “We’ve never been offered that kind of money for a hunt.”

“You know how it is, Jim. This bastard has got more money than God and 25k to him is chump change. He sits behind a desk all day and gets to feeling like he’s missing out. Wants to do something to prove he’s a real man. Give him bragging rights at his club or on the golf course.”

“Maybe,” Jimmy replied. “Still, we need to be careful. Cover our asses. Like, for example, where are you planning on taking them? You can’t cross into the national forest, or you’ll run the risk of bringing the state boys down on us. And from what I found out when I hacked into the CAT system, over the last six months only three lions have been spotted outside the national forest area. Which means the chances of bagging one is slim unless we cross over into the forest.”

“So, we’ve done it before,” Ray responded. “Quit being an old woman. Now that the CBI has concluded their investigation, everything’s returned to normal. You know as well as I that we can avoid the patrols. Hell, we have their schedules and routes.”

Jimmy stood and stretched. “I know. Maybe you’re right. It’s just…well ever since Bobby, I’ve had this bad feeling.”

“Bobby got what was coming to him,” Ray snapped, then held up one hand. “Sorry, bro. You know I miss him too. But that’s water under the bridge. We got to look out for ourselves and this gig’s going to pay fat.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We’ll make it work. We always do.”

“You got it,” Ray said with a smile. “So, you have everything set up?”

“Yeah. Just need to make a run across the state line to pick up some ammo.” Jimmy grabbed his keys from the desk and walked across the room. “Long as we’re not purchasing in the state, we’re not gonna show up on the radar. Thought I’d head on out, maybe spend the night and come back tomorrow.” He stopped in front of Ray.

“Someone special you’re planning on paying a visit while you’re gone?” Ray asked with a lascivious smile.

Jimmy grinned. “Could be.”

Ray laughed and clapped him on the shoulder. “Ride’er hard.”

“Always,” Jimmy replied with a laugh. “See you tomorrow.”

Ray watched him leave then went to the desk and took a seat in front of the computer. He logged in under his password and called up a private file, one he was sure Jimmy didn’t know about.

He double-clicked on one of the files and a new window opened, displaying a grainy photograph.

Ray studied Scout Windrider. She was on her porch, her long hair blowing in the breeze. Her hands were propped on the porch rail, causing the tee shirt she wore to rise in the back, displaying her firm ass. One arm was raised, hand to her mouth.

He could see it in his mind, the way she waved and blew a kiss to the ranger as he pulled away down her driveway. Scout might be considered a world-class tracker, but she sure as shit wasn’t in touch with the world around her when that ranger was anywhere near. She’d had no idea he was on the ridge watching her through digital binoculars equipped with a camera feature.

He’d been keeping a close eye on her and the ranger. They were spending a lot of time together. Who she spent time with didn’t mean a damn. When the time came for him to get even with Scout Windrider, that ranger wouldn’t hold a hope in hell of stopping him.

That thought brought a smile to his face. With a sense of satisfaction at the coming day that his vengeance would be complete, he turned his attention to the matter at hand: relieving another city-slicker-sucker of twenty-five thousand dollars.

* * * * *

Scout rose from the floor of the cave where she’d been playing with the lion cubs. Cole sat on a rock, watching. They’d been coming to the cave almost daily to see the cub and the lioness. Scout and the lioness seemed to be doing a lot of communicating, but every time he asked about it, Scout said it was “girl talk.” He wasn’t sure he believed it, but he let it go.

“What do the lions think about you being a…skin-walker?” he asked.

She looked over her shoulder at him with a smile. “Our friend here has no problems with it and from what she tells me neither do any of the others she’s encountered in her hunts. You ready to go? The cubs are tired, and we need to get out of mama’s fur for a while.”

“I’m with you.”

She gave the lioness a parting embrace, and they left the cave. Once they’d made the descent to the forest floor, Cole took her hand. “Mind if I ask something?”

“What?”

“Can you tell me a little more about the skin-walkers? You’ve been talking to a lot of Indi…uh, Native Americans lately. You find out anything else?”

“A little. Still haven’t found anyone who knows a skin-walker, but some of the Elders I’ve spoken with know of them or someone who has known one.”

“So, what have you learned?”

“Well, to begin with, as we both know, the concept isn’t confined to Native American cultures. It’s something that appears in almost every culture on earth. Names are different as are the stories of the skin-walkers’ origins and the abilities they’re said to possess, but there are common threads.”

“You mean what we were discussing the other night about werewolves?”

“Yeah. But we don’t call them that. And skin-walkers don’t just assume the shape of wolves, although that is one of the shapes they can assume. Most all of the stories describe a skin-walker as being naked except maybe for a wolf or coyote skin. I think that goes back a long way to old myths and legends. Probably back to the time when clothing was made from natural skins.”

“Also, according to the Navaho, a yee naaldlooshii has the power to heal or kill with his thoughts and can transform into the form of any animal they choose, depending on what kind of abilities they need at the time.”

“That doesn’t exactly describe you,” he said then halted. “Does it?”

She shook her head. “So far I seem to be confined to shape-shifting into a lion.” She tugged on his hand to start walking again. “And I’m kind of hoping that I’m not typical to be honest. Most of the stories about shapeshifters are pretty negative. They’re described as evil or malevolent beings. I sure as heck don’t want to be something that would attack innocent people or kidnap children.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that,” he assured her.

“How can you be so sure?” she asked.

Cole stopped again and pulled her to face him. “Because I know you. I’ve had time to…to translate what I got from you during that joining and I know you’re a good, honest, decent woman, Scout. You’re the type that would let themselves be destroyed before you’d hurt an innocent.”

Tears pooled in her eyes at his words, and he felt a wave of love and gratitude pour from her and bathe him. It was a feeling he’d come to crave. It was quickly becoming as integral to his survival as nourishment or oxygen. She was with him constantly. When they weren’t together, he couldn’t get her out of his mind. It felt like everything else in his life was just a way of killing time until he was with her again.

He hadn’t expected it, and he’d spent the last month running like hell from it, but the fact was, he was in love with her. And that no longer made him uncomfortable. In fact, it gave him a sense of happiness he’d never known.

He’d planned on telling her. Had wanted to tell her. But he wanted to do it in a special way. Plan an evening out, or something. Only Scout wasn’t a go-out-on-the-town kind of woman. She’d rather get in the kitchen and cook, wearing only one of his tee shirts, than get all dressed up and go somewhere Sassy and expensive.

She was watching him, her cat eyes searching his. He knew she hadn’t tried to touch his thoughts. She’d promised never to do that again without his permission.

“It’s okay,” he said softly, suddenly wanting her to take a look.

“Are you sure?” she asked, her eyes widening slightly in surprise.

“Absolutely.”

“I don’t know if I can do it on purpose,” she said. “But here goes.”

She placed one hand on his chest, over his heart and closed her eyes. For a few moments they stood there, neither of them speaking. Cole was about to think that nothing was going to happen when suddenly he was catapulted into a swirling vortex of light.

He felt Scout with him. Felt her essence touch his. Merge with his.

And he saw what he’d never known he’d wished for his entire life. He saw his mate and her love for him.

Then suddenly he was back in the forest, with her hand over his heart, her eyes searching his, with tears streaming down her face.

“I love you, Scout,” he whispered, choking back emotion that threatened to overwhelm him.

“I love you, Cole,” she replied in a tearful whisper. “Forever.”

With tenderness swelling inside him, he took her into his arms. Their lips met in a kiss that was as gentle as the wings of a dragonfly, slow and sweet. Her arms circled his waist, her hands moving up his back to pull him closer.

Cole knew then that his bachelor days were over. He’d found his woman.

* * * * *

Scout watched Cole’s SUV disappear down the driveway, and then returned inside the house, smiling to herself. It was still a little hard to believe that she’d found someone like Cole. Someone to love. Someone who loved her. Despite the unease the skin-walker status still gave her, she was happy, excited about the present and the future.

She’d planned on heading over to the Center to go over data from the latest study, but figured she had time for one more cup of coffee. Just as she was pouring it, the phone rang.

“Windrider,” she answered.

It was Jonas. “We need to meet.”

“When?”

“Now?”

“Where are you?”

“Turning onto your driveway. Be decent. I have my team with me.”

“I’ll put on more coffee,” she said and hung up the phone.

Fifteen minutes later, she was sitting at the kitchen table with Jonas and three of his team, all with fresh mugs of coffee in front of them.

“Okay, this is how it’s going to play out,” Jonas said. “I met with Ray Moss last week. He knows me as David White, a wealthy executive with a petroleum company, who wants a trophy for his wall.”

“Mr. White and his party, Mr. Black,” he gestured to the man seated next to him, a man Scout knew as Rick Blackwell. “Mr. Green,” Jonas indicated the next man, Scott Grier. “And Mr. Brown,” he indicated the final man, Mike Billings. “Will arrive via private Gulfstream and be met at the airport by a limo. They will be transported directly to the location designated by Ray Moss.”

“No Mr. Yellow?” Scout could not resist the tease. “Ray isn’t stupid, you know.”

“Trust me, he won’t be paying attention to our surnames. He’ll be counting his money.”

“You’re the expert,” she said with a shrug. “So, what happens next? You traveling by vehicle, horse, or foot?”

“Don’t know,” Jonas replied. “Regardless, you’ll be able to track us. A tracking beacon will be in my wristwatch. You’ll have a locator in case we’re transported by vehicle. Just in case, I want you at the designated location ahead of us.”

She nodded. “Okay, what’s the plan after that?”

Jonas took a sip of coffee and Rick spoke up. “The plan is to nail Ray for poaching, and if possible, for murder.”

“How do you plan on accomplishing that?”

“Incentive,” Jonas answered. “Scott will work on Moss. Convince him that Mr. White is worth a lot of money. Now, as the husband of Mr. White’s only child, Mr. Green stands to inherit millions if something unfortunate should befall Mr. White.”

“He won’t go for it,” Scout said. “He kills Mr. White, then he takes the rap and Mr. Green walks with millions. No real incentive unless it’s cash up front and there’s no way you’ll make it believable to show up with cash.”

“Agreed,” Jonas said. “But we’re not going at it in a direct line. First, we have Mr. Black and Mr. Green have a falling out. Mr. Green shoots Mr. Black and asks Moss for help to make it look like an accident. He spills his guts about the inheritance and that Black found out what he’d planned and threatened to rat him out. Now Moss has the goods on Green, so the footing is more equal.”

“A little drinking and bragging and he might let something slip about the murders,” Mike added. “If not, then that’s the breaks. We get him for conducting an illegal hunt and poaching.

Scout looked down at her cup and said nothing. “Okay, let’s have it,” Jonas prompted after a few moments.

She looked up at him. “Maybe it’ll work, but I wouldn’t count on it. Ray’s not dumb. Don’t let the looks fool you. He hasn’t dodged the law this long by being stupid. And even if he does fall for it, it’s entrapment. How do you think it will ever hold up in court?”

Jonas pinned her with a hard look. She didn’t flinch or look away. “It’ll hold up,” he stated. “You have my word on that.”

“Okay,” she agreed. She knew Jonas well enough to know that he never made promises he couldn’t keep. “But where do I play into all this?”

“Backup,” Jonas replied. “Just in case something goes wrong, I need to know we have someone out there we can count on. Someone who won’t make a blunder and get discovered.”

“Fine, then we play it the way you have it written. When does this go down?”

“Tomorrow. I need you to meet me tonight at the lodge we used last year so we can familiarize you with the tracking device. The lodge is only an hour’s hike from the meeting point. You can make the hike in and be in place in the morning.”

“Okay,” she agreed.

All the men stood, said goodbye and left. Jonas was the last one to the door. He paused and turned to her. “Look, I know you want to nail Moss for Jed’s murder. If we can make this work, then we can nail him.”

“I have to be honest with you,” she said. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

“Which is why I’m depending on you,” he replied.

“I won’t let you down, Jonas. You know that.”

“Indeed, I do,” he replied and clapped his hand on top of her shoulder. “See you tonight.”

Scout closed the door behind him and leaned back against it. Cole was due back around the time she needed to leave. Should she call him and tell him just to wait until she returned? And what would she tell him she was returning from?

She battled with herself the rest of the day, picking up the phone a dozen times, then hanging up before she made the call. She’d never been caught up in indecision and it wore on her as the day ticked by.

Unable to sit still, she went to visit the lions. She didn’t think to take her cell phone. When she returned to the house, she discovered a message from Cole. He was patrolling a high-country trail and would be late. And the reception was bad so his cell probably wouldn’t pick up a signal.

With the decision taken out of her hands, she gathered her things and put them into her truck, then went back into the house, sat down at the kitchen table, and penned a note to Cole, telling him she had a tracking gig and would return in three to four days. She left it propped against an empty cup on the table.

After one final check to make sure she hadn’t forgotten anything, she left.

* * * * *

Disappointment rose when Cole pulled up in front of Scout’s house and saw that her truck wasn’t there. He’d rehearsed his speech all day to get the words right and was eager to sit her down and say all the things he’d been practicing in his head.

He’d talked to his family earlier in the day and had told them about Scout. He wanted them to meet her. They were all surprised but excited. Particularly the women. When he’d told his sister-in-law Ana that he was going to ask Scout to marry him, she’d whooped and hollered like crazy, and he had no doubt that she and his stepmother Clara were already busy planning a wedding.

Cole had never taken a woman to meet his family. It made him a little nervous. Not that they wouldn’t love Scout, but that maybe she wouldn’t like them. He didn’t quite know how to handle the feeling. He’d been anxious to tell Scout about it all day but hadn’t wanted to do it over the phone. So, he’d rehearsed how to ask her to meet his family, and also how to ask her to marry him.

Since she wasn’t there, it looked like he would have a little more time to rehearse. He let himself in and headed straight for the shower. Once he was clean, dressed in a pair of loose jeans, he padded into the kitchen to see what there was to fix for dinner.

That’s when he saw the note propped on the table. He picked it up and unfolded it. Anxiety took hold in his gut as he read.

“Cole, there’s something I have to do. Something that might help catch Jed’s killer. I’ll be gone a few days. Don’t worry. Check in on the cats and I’ll be home as soon as I can. I love you. Scout.”

Cole put the note down on the table and wandered into the den, rubbing absently at a knot that had formed along his trapezius. What was she doing? And where could he go to find her?

It wasn’t that he didn’t believe in her ability to take care of herself. His fear was what might happen if she got into a situation that prompted a transformation. Should anyone discover that she was a skin-walker, it would be a real problem.

A sudden inspiration had him sprinting for the phone. He called directory assistance for the number and placed a call to the CBI. He asked for Jonas Roberts and was told that Jonas was not reachable for the next week, but if it was an emergency he could be put through to another officer.

Cole gave his thanks and hung up. Now what? He didn’t have a clue. After a half hour of pacing and coming up with nothing to go on, he went back into the kitchen and fixed himself a sandwich.

He ate in front of the television, had a couple of beers, and tried Scout’s cell phone every half hour. Each time he tried he got her voice mail. Finally at midnight, he gave up and went to bed, telling himself he just had to believe that everything was fine. Scout was capable. She could handle herself. She didn’t need him standing guard over her every minute of every day. Now if that gnaw in his gut would just go away.