Cougar Bait Read online

  “Son of a bitch,” Mathis growled. He was standing by the foot of the bed with one long arm wrapped protectively around Sadie, who looked pale with fear. She had one hand on her lower belly, which was already beginning to swell with the baby inside.

  Before Keller could say anything else, Fiona ShadowTree, Cougarville’s resident pharmacist-slash-wise-woman, came sweeping into the bedroom from the adjoining bathroom.

  “Ah, my dears—I fear this is bad,” she murmured.

  Today Fiona was dressed in a flowing peacock-blue caftan with chunky gold-and-crystal jewelry, and her auburn hair, shot through with veins of purest silver, was swept into an elegant updo at the top of her head. The whole effect was one of a Gypsy queen in exile.

  It had been a surprise to Keller to see her getting out of the rental car with Mathis and Sadie. However, Mathis had taken him aside and explained in an undertone that the wise woman had appeared at their front door while they were leaving for the airport and demanded to come along.

  Keller didn’t know why she’d wanted to be here, but he didn’t blame Mathis for bringing her. When Fiona turned the force of her large, dark eyes on someone, they somehow almost always found themselves doing what she wanted.

  “I believe the one who took Samantha must be the same male who attacked her earlier. This Hyena has been stalking Samantha—I can feel traces of his energy. They are . . . most troubling,” she said.

  “Fiona’s right,” Keller said. “He was in human form here, but there’s no mistaking his scent.”

  “But what will he do with her? How did he find her? Where did he take her?” Sadie burst out, questions pouring out like anguished prayers. “Poor Sammie! What are we going to do?”

  “We’re going to find her,” Keller said with more certainty than he felt. “She’s still alive—I can feel it, can’t you?”

  “I guess so.” Her big brown eyes brimmed with tears. “But she’s in terrible danger. I can feel that too—and the feeling just keeps getting worse, getting stronger.”

  Keller had to agree with her. The feeling that Samantha was in peril was growing all the time, like a ticking time bomb at the back of his mind.

  “I can answer one of your questions at least,” he told Sadie. “I know what he wants with Samantha.”

  “What do you mean? Is this the ‘news’ you were talking about on the phone?” Mathis demanded.

  “It is.” Keller nodded. He explained briefly about the Rejuvenation serum Samantha had been injected with, and the effects the same serum had had on the guinea pig.

  Fiona’s eyebrows rose higher and higher as Keller spoke.

  “So he’s forced her into Rejuvenation?” she burst out, sounding uncharacteristically upset. “He’s perverted the will of Lady Moon and manipulated a female she has chosen in ways which were never meant to be!”

  “I don’t know about Lady Moon,” Keller growled. “But yes, I have reason to believe that if the serum works on Samantha the same way it did on our test subject in the lab, she’ll be deep in Rejuvenation right now. In fact . . .” He sniffed the air. “I think I can smell traces of her Juvie scent.”

  “It gets stronger in the bathroom,” Mathis reported, moving in that direction. “Damn, I thought I smelled Juvie scent earlier, but I wasn’t sure.”

  “She was just beginning the Rejuvenation process though, right?” Sadie looked up at her mate hopefully. “Doesn’t that mean she has until the next full moon before she Shifts?”

  “I don’t think so,” Keller admitted reluctantly. “If the serum was able to jump-start her latent Gene, it’s reasonable to assume that the need to Shift . . . along with, um, all the urges that go with it, will also be accelerated.”

  “Oh, poor Samantha! She’ll be stuck all alone with that horrible man who attacked her, and then she’ll start feeling the . . . the breeding fever! She . . .” Sadie started crying and couldn’t go on.

  “C’mere, baby.” Mathis drew her close to his broad chest, soothing her as best he could. “It’s gonna be okay,” Keller heard him murmur as he stroked her trembling shoulders and long brown hair. “I don’t know how, but it will.”

  “Yes, it will,” Fiona said unexpectedly.

  “W-will it? H-how?” Sadie turned toward the wise woman, wiping at her eyes. Clearly she was trying to get control of herself. “I’m sorry,” she said, sniffing. “I’m just so . . . so emotional right now.”

  “It’s the pregnancy hormones, my dear,” Fiona said comfortingly. “Shifter pregnancy hormones are twice as intense as human ones, because the pregnancy only lasts half as long. Now then . . .” She clapped her hands together and looked at Keller. “Mathis told me that you formed a partial bond with Samantha while you were healing her after the attack—is that correct?”

  “It is.” Keller frowned. “But I don’t see how that will help. I can feel that she’s in danger, but I can’t feel where she is.”

  “You will be able to shortly. We’re going to use that partial bond to get to Samantha before it’s too late.” Fiona nodded confidently. “I thought this might be a possibility, which was why I had Mathis stop by my shop before we flew down here.”

  From the flowing folds of her caftan she drew out a small, blue-glass bottle. To Keller it looked like a miniature wine bottle. Its cork was sealed with red wax.

  “Here.” Fiona broke the seal and handed the bottle to Keller with a flourish. “Drink.”

  “What is it?” Keller eyed the small bottle uncertainly but didn’t take it from her hand. Though he knew many of the Shifters in his home town relied on Fiona’s expertise at compounding medications, an undergrad degree in chemistry meant he himself had always been leery of trying them.

  “It will strengthen your connection to Samantha.” Fiona didn’t look in the least perturbed about his hesitance to drink the homemade medicine. “You’ll be able to use the bond as a natural compass to guide you to her.”

  “What? But how is that even possible?” Keller frowned, still not taking the bottle.

  “Oh for God’s sake, if he won’t take it, I will!” Sadie exclaimed, reaching for the bottle.

  “No, no, my dear!” Fiona held the bottle away from her, an alarmed look coming into her eyes. “I’m afraid that wouldn’t be good for your baby at all.”

  “Then I’ll take it,” Mathis growled. But Fiona shook her head.

  “It will only work for Liam, I’m afraid.” She nodded at Keller. “He is the only one with a partial life-bond to Samantha.”

  Keller knew she spoke the truth. Though he was still reluctant to take her homemade medicine, which had God only knew what ingredients in it, he didn’t exactly have any other good options.

  “Here,” he said, taking the blue bottle from her and pulling out the cork. He upended it into his mouth and drank.

  The stuff inside had an oily texture and a flavor that was bitter and sweet at the same time—like burnt marzipan. Although it was extremely strange, Keller drank it all, hoping for the best but prepared for the worst. At least the stuff didn’t immediately poison him—but he didn’t feel much different either, except for the lingering taste in his mouth.

  “Well?” he said, looking at Fiona expectantly.

  “Just a moment. Give it a moment, dear.” She patted his arm and took the bottle back from him.

  Keller frowned impatiently.

  “I don’t feel . . .” He trailed off because a strange sensation was growing in him. A tugging feeling, like he was a ship tied to a distant anchor located miles and miles away. Slowly, he turned in a circle. When he got to a certain point, he felt the tugging strengthen to a more steady pull.

  “South,” he heard himself saying. “She’s farther south somewhere.”

  “I knew it! He took her out of Tampa!” Sadie exclaimed excitedly. “Come on—we have to go find her!”

  Fiona shook her head. “I’m afraid, my dear, that Liam must also be the one to track down Samantha.”

  “What are you saying? That Mathis and