Page 24 of Stray Cat

Lindsay trotted back to the circle of men and gazed up at Neal, hoping he understood her.

“Trail ends here,” Neal announced. He too tested the wind. “I think they drove back to the highway.”

AC balled his hands in frustration. “Youthink?” He switched his gaze to Lindsay. “Where did they go? Where are they, you useless bitch?”

He lunged at Lindsay and found himself staring down both a broadsword and a blunt, black taser. Neal and Xav had put themselves between Lindsay and AC. She contented herself with a warning growl.

“She’s got to keep looking,” AC all but shouted. “Make her go back out there. They must have taken my brothersomewhere.”

“We’ll continue the search at the DX offices,” Diego said calmly from somewhere behind Lindsay. “We can find out what kind of vehicles came to the campground in the last week or so, and which way they went.”

“How?” AC demanded. “Damn you, my brother could already be dead.”

He wasn’t, Lindsay knew. At least he hadn’t been when he’d left here.

“She says he’s probably alive,” Neal translated. “Shifters can’t follow the scent of someone who’s been taken away in a rapidly moving vehicle. Then we can only smell truck, and that smells like every other truck.”

MostShifters couldn’t, Lindsay amended to herself. One Shifter, called Tiger, could distinguish between various vehicles and even track them. But then, he had uncanny abilities that no other Shifter did. Diego could always ask if Tiger was available to help, though Tiger would come only if he wanted to.

“You mean that’s it?” AC was demanding. “They brought my brother to this campground in the middle of nowhere, but who the hell knows where he is now?” He pointed a blunt finger at Lindsay. “I’m not paying you for a whole lotta nothing.”

Lindsay lost her temper. She sprang at AC before she could stop herself, but Xav got in her way.

Lindsay pulled the leap, not wanting to hurt Xav, and ended up landing hard. Dust puffed around her and made her want to cough.

“Not worth it, Linds,” Xav said in a firm voice.

Lindsay had to dosomething. Her adrenaline was high, she was annoyed she’d lost Dean’s trail, and she was enraged at AC for being such a shit. His poor brother was probably in trouble, and she could do nothing about it.

Her wildcat refused to stand still and calmly wait for Diego to give orders. Fighting frenzy was taking over.

She let out a yowling growl, vaulted past Xav, and ran into the desert darkness.

CHAPTEREIGHT

Xav flashed his lantern into the darkness after the fast-moving cat. “Lindsay!” he called. “Wait!Dios mio.”

“She’ll be all right,” Neal said tightly. He still had the sword trained on AC, who eyed it warily. “Shifter lynxes were bred for this kind of terrain.”

“It’s not the terrain I’m worried about,” Xav said tightly.

The darkness could hold other dangers, from drug dealer exchanges to people in weird cults. Even an innocuous camper could shoot Lindsay because they’d think it cool to bag a giant wildcat.

Without another word, Xav started off after her.

“Want backup?” one of the DX men offered.

“I’ll shout if I need it,” Xav said without turning. Everyone had walkies if phones didn’t work, and Diego had put a new tracker on Xav. Big brother wasn’t risking losing little brother a second time.

Xav figured Lindsay was working off steam, like he’d done with his impromptu ski trip today. He also knew Neal was right—she’d probably be fine. But Xav couldn’t stop himself tramping out into the darkness, his heart hammering.

His flashlight soon picked her up. Lindsay was loping along, moving fast but not fleeing. Xav jogged toward her, choosing his footing carefully.

Moonlight caught Lindsay’s pale fur as she climbed a rise. She wasn’t hiding, which was good, because Xav knew he’d never find her if she didn’t want him to.

Lindsay finally halted halfway up the slope, putting a rock-strewn ridge between her and the view of the men gathered at the campground.

Xav’s breath came fast as he climbed the hill, and he collapsed onto a boulder next to where Lindsay waited.

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