Chapter 6

Ray leaned back against the rock and considered what his brother Jimmy was saying.

“Ray, we both know that Bobby will freak the fuck out when he finds out you shot that guy. And sooner or later, he’ll make a mistake or shoot off his mouth and then the law will be gunning for you. The only, and I mean only option we have to get out of this clean is to kill him.”

“We were friends more than twenty years, Jim.”

“I know. But which is worse? Doing Bobby or ending up in prison?”

Ray blew out his breath and nodded. As much as Ray hated to do it, he had no choice. He had to kill Bobby. With Bobby dead, there’d be no fingers to point at him. “So, what do you suggest we do?”

Jimmy finished loading his pack and crouched down beside Ray. “Knowing Bobby, he’ll sleep like a log through the night. We go back to the camp, knock him out and haul him into high ground. We put climbing gear on him, rig a line and toss him over. We wear the line on rock ‘til it breaks, and it looks like an accident. Plant the gun you used on him, but make sure you clean it, and we get his prints on it. When he’s found and they discover the gun, they’ll think he’s the one who killed those guys and you’re home free.”

Ray thought about it. Jimmy was right, and the plan was good. With Bobby dead and nailed with the murders he could go about his business, act shocked when he was told about Bobby and pretend to mourn.

“One thing,” he said. “I need an alibi.”

“No problem, bro,” Jimmy said with a smile. “We’ll head straight out to Fred’s place when we finish up with Bobby and stay there for a week. Fred said we could use it any time we want. Anyone asks, we been there since last weekend.”

“That should work,” Ray agreed. “Okay, let’s do it.”

Jimmy stood and offered Ray a hand, then pulled him to his feet. Together they headed out into the dark. Now the only problem Ray had was that tingling feeling on the back of his neck. For a while, on his way to meet up with Jimmy, he could have sworn he was being followed. He never saw or heard anything; it was just a feeling. He didn’t say anything about it but kept his eyes and ears sharp.

* * * * *

Scout grabbed the hand Cole offered as she pulled herself up over the edge of the rock. It had been a harder and longer climb than she’d anticipated. Lack of food and sleep was starting to take its toll. Had it not been for the constant sensation of suffering she felt coming from the cat, she would have stopped. But already she feared they were too late.

“This way,” she said to Cole and took off at a jog.

It was twenty minutes of dodging outcroppings, working their way up short ledges and more running before they reached the opening of the cave. Scout stopped and motioned for Cole to hold his position. “I need to go alone,” she said.

“No!” He grabbed her arm. “That’s a wounded cat. No telling what it’ll do.”

“I’ll be fine,” she assured him. “Please. I’ll let you know when to enter.”

“I don’t like this. I know you have experience with these animals and a…connection with them, but a wounded animal is dangerous.”

“Please,” she implored. “Trust me.”

Cole studied her eyes for a long moment then suddenly yanked her to him and covered her mouth with his. The kiss seared her, body and mind, speaking of passion unlike any she’d known and a promise of something more than mere desire. She wanted to lose herself in it. But the call of the cat in her mind had her pulling away.

Cole nodded. “Go.”

She approached the opening of the cave, speaking softly. “It’s me. I’m here. I’m coming in. Alone.”

A low growl sounded from within the darkness. Scout stepped inside and stood very still, letting her eyes adjust to the darkness. Eventually shapes began to materialize. She saw the cat. Lying on her side, her breathing labored, blood still seeped from the gaping wound in her side. A cub huddled up against her belly, mewling low and mournfully.

Scout hurried to her and put her hand on the animal’s side. There was so much blood everywhere. Her pants were wet with it as she sat beside the lion. Tears sprang from her eyes. She was too late. The lion had lost too much blood and from the sound of its breathing had punctured a lung.

Grief tore at her swift and hard, crippling her. She lay her head down on the lion, her arms circling the big body. With great racking sobs she cried, unable to stop it. How long she wept, she didn’t know. But in time a sound filtered in. The sound of Cole’s voice calling her.

“Can I please let him in?” she whispered brokenly.

Permission was granted and she called out softly. “Cole. Come in.”

She turned her attention back to the lion. “You are beyond my power to heal,” she said softly in the language of her ancestors, the Sioux. “How can I ease your pain?”

“What?” Cole asked from behind her.

“I’m speaking to her,” Scout replied. “Come, sit with me.”

Cole settled down on the ground beside her. She lifted the cub and cradled it for a moment then handed it to him. The lion raised her head and gave a warning growl. Scout put her hand on the lion’s face. “He will protect your child,” she continued to speak in the tongue of her people. “Tell me how to ease your pain, my friend. How to make recompense for what my kind have done to you?”

A whisper appeared in her mind. “Human female, you bear no fault for what has befallen me. I see your spirit. You walk in the world of humans, and yet you are of my kind as well. Care for my cub so that she grows strong, and I will leave this life in peace.”

“I promise,” Scout whispered. “No harm will come to her, and when she’s old enough I’ll bring her back and introduce her to her own kind.”

“Then I may leave,” the voice whispered. “But first, you must know. I have encountered the human who hurt me before. His scent is familiar and known. He kills not to live but to feed an evil that grows inside him. He killed the old one many moons ago.”

“The old one?” Scout’s chest clenched. “You mean my grandfather?”

“He was one of us,” the voice replied. “Like you, he valued life and honored the earth. His life was taken by the same one who ends mine.”

“Please, tell me what you know of him,” Scout pleaded. “I will see that he’s made to pay for what he’s done.”

“He smells of the burning leaf human’s suck, is tall and dark of hair. His eyes are cold and dead. The color of winter bark. He travels with a man who is small, and hair is the color of grass in the coming time of the cold. There is no peace inside him.”

“Thank you,” Scout whispered. “I promise you I will not rest until I see him pay.”

“I believe you.”

“I’m sorry,” Scout said through tears that started flowing down her face. “I want to save you. Is there nothing I can do?”

There was a long silence. “You may allow me to walk within you.”

A shiver danced down Scout’s spine. Jed had told her stories of such things, but she’d attributed it to myth. “Is that possible?” she asked.

“If you consent, we will live as one.”

Scout didn’t stop to consider. “Yes. How?”

“Step out of the shell that holds you and let your spirit join with me.”

Scout closed her eyes and let the Sight take her.

Jed had taught her how to surrender to the Sight when she was a child. It was a release of sorts. She released her hold on her mortal body and allowed her spirit to rise, escaping the bounds of flesh and blood.

While the Sight had her, she saw and heard things she could not sense in her body. People’s thoughts and feelings were revealed to her. She could see their essence and touch their spirits.

Joining with another spirit was not something she’d ever attempted. Jed had not prepared her for that. In this she was on her own.

One moment she was in the cave and the next she was spiraling in an endless swirl of light. She felt a presence with her. It was comforting and inviting. She opened herself to it, embracing it. A feeling of warmth flooded her. She felt new life within her. Vital and strong.

“We are one,” a voice rang in the light and suddenly Scout was in the cave, slumped over the lion’s body with Cole shaking her.

“Scout?” His voice carried so much concern that tears ran down her face.

She pushed herself up and turned to him.

“Christ!” he gasped.

She didn’t understand the shock on his face or in his voice.

“Your eyes.”

“What’s wrong with them? I see clear as day.”

“Scout…you…damn. What happened? Your eyes look like a cat.”

She smiled at him. “Let’s just say that I feel filled with new life.”

“What does that mean?”

She shook her head, watching him stroke and soothe the cub in his arms. How gentle he was with it. How caring. He did it without thinking, giving love and compassion to the tiny life that had had its mother taken from it. Quite unprepared for the onslaught of emotion, a sound between a whimper and a purr emerged from her lips. Love exploded inside her, nearly overwhelming her. Along with love came longing, strong and deep. What was happening? The strength of it scared her.

Then she felt the answer from the cat within. Here was the mate she’d longed for, dreamed of. With that knowledge came a hunger unlike any she’d ever known. “I want you,” she whispered.

“Now?” he asked in surprise.

“Yes. Here. Now.” The desire was hers and quite genuine but was fed by another strength that now dwelled inside her. The mating need of the feline was not simply a matter of desire. It was a primal need that demanded.

“I-I don’t understand. First, you’re crying like you just lost your best friend, then you go catatonic and now you want to—”

“Yes. I do.” She moved closer, putting her hand on his arm, and running it up to his shoulder, then to his neck. Her nostrils flared, taking in his scent. Male. She licked her lips, remembering the taste of him.

“Hold on.” Cole readjusted the cub in the crook of one arm and took Scout’s hand away from his neck, holding it firmly. “This is just weird. Either you tell me what the hell’s going on or I’m calling for medivac. You’re acting…strange.”

Scout was trying to make sense of it herself. When she accepted the spirit of the lion, she had no clue what to expect. She’d given it no thought. But she did understand the species. When a female cat was in heat, it was a demand that was uncontrollable and primal. There was no reasoning. It was the demand of nature. The demand to procreate, continue the species. It was the most primitive and strongest biological demand in nature.

The scientist inside her recognized that. The woman had no idea how to deal with it. She’d never felt such need. It was almost maddening.

“Something…I…” She fought to find the right words to explain it. “I wanted to make it up to her. For what was done. She said we could…join.”

“Join?”

“Spirits. That if I allowed the Sight to take me, we could become one.”

“That’s crazy!”

“An hour ago, I would have agreed. Cole, my grandfather used to tell me stories about this. I thought that’s all it was. But it’s not just a myth. I’m living proof. I can feel her with me. “

He shook his head and squeezed her hand. “That’s…hell, I don’t even know what to say to that. It’s just not…possible.”

“But it is,” she insisted. “And I can prove it.”

“How?”

“Make love to me.”

“What will that prove?”

Scout felt an irrational anger flare inside her. Without thinking, she jerked her hand away and jumped to her feet. “Forget it!” She paced to the mouth of the cave. Great Spirits, her senses were alive. Super-tuned. She could see things she’d never been able to see before in darkness and her sense of smell was magnified as well.

“Scout, listen to me.” Cole came up behind her with the cub still held in one arm.

She whirled on him. “I know this sounds insane. But it’s true. She’s in me. And the desire I feel for you threw her into heat or something and it’s stronger than me, Cole. I feel like I’m on the verge of madness. I can smell you, feel the vibrations of your voice like a physical touch and I’ve never wanted anything as much as I want you.”

Embarrassed by her outburst, she looked away. Cole reached up to put his fingers under her chin and lift her face. “I don’t know what to believe right now, but this I do know. I want you too. Just not here. Not in the midst of death, Scout.”

“Then come with me,” she said and took his hand.

He let her lead him past the body of the cat, deeper into the cave. They wound through what seemed a labyrinth to him and emerged in a circular room of stone. A single light shaft from high above gave a spotlight of illumination.

Scout turned to face him. He gently set the cub down then moved to her. He raised both hands and cupped her face. She sighed, feeling a flush spread out over her skin. Heat simmered in her belly, burned her nipples.

“Please,” she breathed as he drew near enough that his breath mingled with hers.

His lips met hers, slow and soft. Her lips parted and a purr escaped her.

Nothing had ever hit him as hard as that sound. It was beyond description. All he knew was that the moment the sound emerged from her lips, he was consumed with a need so strong that it erased all traces of reason and civility from his mind.

What had started as a gentle kiss turned into a rape of her mouth. He took. Feeding until both of them were breathing hard and fast. His hand tore at her clothing, mindless of everything but having her naked.

When she stood nude before him, he marveled at her strength and beauty. His hands moved up her sides, lifting both arms to pin her wrists with one of his hands behind her head.

Her neck arched back as he licked the hollow of her throat. Her taste was intoxicating and sweet. “You’re delicious,” he murmured as he moved his lips down her neck.

Scout purred in pleasure, forgetting about death and danger. Nothing else existed but the smell and taste and touch of him. Eager to feel his flesh against hers, she worked his clothes off amid the kisses and caresses.

All time slipped away as they explored each other with their hands. Cole slid his fingers into the wet folds between her legs. Scout’s body quivered when his finger slowly slid into her, drawing out juice. He spread her lips and moistened her clit. While his fingers explored between her legs his tongue slowly circled her nipple, flicking across the hardening flesh.

He fueled her passion even higher with his caresses. Scout opened herself up and rode the waves of sensation his hands and mouth created. Her body was his to manipulate, his to explore. His mouth moved from her nipple to the underside of her breast, causing her to arch towards him as she sighed. He ran his tongue up her cleavage to the base of her neck. There he feasted, fueling both their passions, making her wetter and more needy by the moment. She wanted him inside her and knew he was aware of her need. But he was in control, keeping the movement of his hands slow and rhythmic.

With swift but gentle force, he pulled her down to the ground. His body settled above her, and his hardness pressed against the aching wetness of her sex. Her sex throbbed with another stab of longing. It was almost more than she could bear, and such an unfamiliar sensation. She’s never wanted a man so much.

Needing to touch him, feel him, her hand traveled down his hard chest and stomach. She stretched her fingers in the tight hair that surrounded the base of his shaft. She stroked his length with her fingertips, circling the pulsing head. Her rhythm of caresses matched his. As their mouths met and connected, they pleasured each other with their hands, lovingly stroking one another.

Cole leaned down to capture her lips with his. Scout gave herself eagerly to the kiss but wanted more. She needed him inside her. “I need you…in me,” she whispered in his ear after her tongue traced his lobe. Her hand guided him into her as he positioned his body between her legs. Her body quivered as he entered her. She moved her hand from his shaft, letting her fingers feel him enter her.

He sank in slowly savoring the feel of his dick entering her warm, wet core. He felt her muscles quiver around him making his erection pulse in answer to the call of her body.

Scout kept her fingers between them, rubbing herself to his rhythm. The first orgasm had her whole body tightening around him, nearly robbing him of control. She seemed to sense it and wrapped her legs around his waist, stopping his motion.

Her cat-like eyes met his. “Join with me,” she whispered in a voice rough with desire.

He nodded, unsure exactly what she asked for but wanting to give her anything she desired and more. Cole realized that her need was more important to him than his own. He needed to give her pleasure beyond anything she’d ever known, to bind her to him body and soul.

With her eyes never breaking contact with his, she began a low chant in her native tongue. Cole had no idea what she said, but within seconds felt the effect of the energy that accompanied the release of her words. Light swam in her eyes like glowing coals in a fire, sending tiny shards of light rocketing around them. Each tiny pinpoint of light was like a minute charge of energy, enervating his skin, penetrating to the marrow of his bones, into the depths of his soul.

For a brief moment he lost touch with reality. All that existed was a feeling of completeness, of being part of something far larger than himself. It was a sense of belonging so strong that when reality started to reassert itself, he fought it, wanting to remain in that other realm.

But reality won, and with its victory it brought a hunger so intense that it took his breath. He saw an answering hunger in Scout’s eyes, the call of a female ready and willing to surrender. To be taken.

It was an invitation he could not have refused had he wanted to. He began to move faster and harder in her. She pulled her legs up, giving him deeper access, rocking her hips to meet him. The primal lust took control and Cole gave in to the demand.

“Scout, I need you on your knees.” His voice was husky, a low sexy rasp. It struck a part of her she didn’t know existed—she wanted him not just to make love to her, she wanted him to take her, to fuck her.

She rolled over and got on her hands and knees. Cole went to his knees behind her and buried his face in her. He ran his tongue from her opening to her clit. He lapped at the nub until it hardened. Scout whimpered, arching her back and pressing into his tongue. Just as she was tightening to climax, Cole rose and pushed the length of his erection inside her. He rode her climax, letting her push against him as he drove into her. Flesh slapped flesh. No sooner had the waves subsided and her muscles grew lax, he started again, driving the pace faster and harder.

She cried out, arching up on the ground, her arms stretched above her head in surrender, taking all he had to give. Her body moved in concert with his, moving to meet each stroke.

Time and again he took her over the edge, savoring the feel, the scent of sex permeating the still air and the sight of her writhing in abandon beneath him. It was a heady mix of lust and power, the power to make her body quiver and quake beneath him, elicit small cries, deep purrs, and gasping screams as he took her over and over.

In time it eroded his tenuous control. He could hold back no longer. As a pulsing began in his balls, his hands tightened on her hips. An orgasm claimed him, allowing him to drive one final time into her before stars exploded behind his closed eyes.

Feeling his orgasm, Scout used her body to stroke him, plummeting one final time into the chasm of sensation. She felt him lay his chest on her back. His arms encircled her gently, holding on until his pulsing stopped.

Scout flattened out on the ground, letting his weight settle on her, feeling the rapid pulse of his heartbeat against her skin. For a time, they didn’t move, then Cole eased off her and rolled over onto his back, pulling her so that she was spooned against his side, her head on his broad chest.

She closed her eyes, feeling the woman purr in concert with the cat within. Just as sleep started to claim her, she felt the cub behind her. Scooping him up, she put him on Cole’s belly, leaving her hand on him. Within moments all three were asleep.