Page 42 of Handcuffed to the Bear

“Oh yes, I am. What do I need to get?”

“We’re up against a whole pride of lion shifters, Hollen.”

“Yeah, and you’re leaving one of your heavy hitters behind to guard the lion shifterhere. You need all the bodies you can get. And you know I can handle myself just fine in the field.”

Eva planted her fist on her hip. “All right,” she said. “But I’m point on this one. You come with me, you’re part of my team. If that means I decide you stay in the chopper for backup, that’s what you do.”

“Agreed.”

“As for what you need, we’ve got the usual arsenal on board, but you better grab a rain slicker.” Eva smiled, and for a moment Avery glimpsed the killer whale lurking beneath the human skin she wore. “We’re gonna get wet.”

CHAPTER12

Once Casey had warmed up enoughthat she was no longer helplessly shaking, she sat up on her lynx haunches.

She wished she could tell how badly Jack was hurt. She smelled blood all over him, but couldn’t see anything through his heavy, shaggy fur.

Restlessly, she paced to the mouth of the cave. Rain was still coming down outside, though not as hard as it had been. She could see a long way down the mountainside. Runnels of water coursed between the stones, tiny streams born as quickly as they would die when the rain stopped.

There was no sign of the lions ... yet. She was afraid to turn her back on the mouth of the cave. She couldn’t shake the fear that as soon as she did, they’d spring on her from behind. Even sniffing the air and smelling no sign of them was not enough to calm her nervousness. Heavy rain could kill scents, beat them right out of the air. And after the rain passed, the wet ground would hold their smell for days; they couldn’t go anywhere without being found.

Her face burned. She pawed at it again, even knowing it wouldn’t help. The yellowjackets had stung her on her ear and cheek and, most unpleasantly, the inside of her mouth.

At least now I know I’m not allergic.

She put her head out in the rain for a minute, closing her eyes. The cold water helped soothe the sharp pain in her face. When the comfort started to be overwhelmed by the unpleasantness of the cold, she pulled her head back in and shook the water off.

It was wonderful to be able to turn into a lynx again. She’d never spent much time in her lynx form, but it had still felt like having half her soul locked away. Now she could keep warm; she could run; she could find food.

If it weren’t for the homicidal maniacs hunting me, I could live very well out here ...

She turned to look at Jack. In the gloom under the cave’s overhang, he was nothing but a shaggy mound of fur like a pile of old carpets, lifting and settling slowly as he breathed.

It was probably best to let him sleep. He’d heal better that way.

She began to prowl around the cave, exploring. The handcuff on her wrist was a bother, dragging along on the ground. After biting at it uselessly, she shifted back to her human form and refastened the second cuff above the first one on her wrist. It still jingled a bit, but at least now it wasn’t constantly snagging on things.

She eased back into her lynx skin, and the shivering discomfort of her wet, naked human body was replaced by the comfort of a furry predator who was in her element here. The enticing scents of small rodents tickled her senses. There were a lot of them, small living creatures who had lived their entire lives here, even leaving their bones behind when they died.

She flushed a tiny vole and ate it in two snaps of her teeth before she really had time to think about it. She was probably going to feel weird about that when she shifted back, but as a lynx she had no problems with it.The world is full of food; what of it?

She began to hunt more carefully, but the rodents were wise to the predator in their midst now, and had retreated to their burrows. Eventually she managed to successfully stalk a ground squirrel, and this she took to Jack, laying it beside his nose where he would find it when he woke up.

Besides rodent colonies, the other thing the cave had a lot of was moss. Casey dug a bunch of it up with her claws and then shifted to human form, carrying it armload by armload to drop beside Jack. When he woke up, it would give him something to lie on.

Ugh. My mouth tastes like vole.

But the work kept her warm, even in her bare human skin. She knew she should probably lie down and rest, but the way everything ached, she was afraid if she did, she wouldn’t be able to get up again.

When we get out of here, I’m going to sleep for a week. No, a month.

When ...

She stopped and tipped her head to the side. At some point it had stopped being “if” and started being “when.” She was starting to believe Jack’s assurances that they might get out of this.

Don’t get ahead of yourself, Casey.

But her confidence was higher than it had been since she’d woke up last night with Jack handcuffed to her wrist. Maybe, she thought, it was just the contrast between the desperation of the past few hours and the comparative safety of their current location. Not that they were anything likesafe, not yet, but it was the first time they hadn’t been outside and running. Now they could stop, take stock, and rest a bit. And she was able to shift again, and had something in her stomach for a change. Even if itwasa vole; ugh ...

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