Chapter 21 #2
He looked around the street, picking out houses that would work for that.
Something defensible and without toys in front.
Toys encouraged moms and their kids to visit.
The yard wouldn’t be ultra neat or gone to seed.
Something in the middle without any extra decoration.
No American flag, no bumper stickers on the car, and certainly a closed garage.
Elisabeth definitely wouldn’t want anyone to see inside her home. Curtains were a must.
There.
If he were trying to raise shifter kids in quiet, he’d pick that house. It was a few doors down on the opposite side of the street.
He crossed over, strolling with his hands in his pockets and his senses dialed up to maximum.
Not a lot of people out right then. It was dinnertime for most families, though he noticed a few houses with the kids still running around in the backyard.
He could smell a couple barbecues going and he was struck again with a longing that made his breath catch.
Kids in the yard playing fetch with the dog while he grilled and Tonya took care of the baby. God, it would be so perfect.
And then he smelled Elisabeth’s cousin. It was an acrid scent that brought back nightmares of his captivity. Chewing tobacco held too long. It poured out of the bastard’s skin, and Alan felt his hackles rise.
Unless he was confused. Unless it was some other guy who just liked chaw. But it sure as hell didn’t feel that way. Especially since suddenly his monster was flashing on all the ways the bastard had tortured him back when Alan had been locked in a cage.
He stalked forward, feeling his nails grow into claws. Fur sprouted on his forearms and his joints thickened. Muscles, too. He was familiar enough with the process now to not be revolted by it. Or maybe he was just too focused.
He slipped through the rusty gate into a fenced backyard. Weeds were thicker here as was the scent of cougar piss. This was a smell he knew well from tracking Johnny. Definitely the right place.
Suddenly, he was in full predator mode. His joints loosened, the muscles twitching as every movement became more fluid, more animal. Sight, sound, smell, even the texture of the air on his skin became a wealth of minute information fed straight to his monster brain.
His human side forced him to pause. He needed to text Tonya that she was at the wrong house. This had to be where Elisabeth was holed up. Unless this was just another shifter family. There could be an innocent cougar-shifter here. It was possible.
His predator side rebelled at the very idea, but his mind was in control.
At least for the moment. He had to know if this was really where Elisabeth was hiding out so he stalked forward.
He slipped around the corner and peered into windows.
He got enough of an angle on the kitchen to see Pepto-Bismol on the table and fiber-based cereal on the counter. That was enough proof for him.
Time to text. He started to pull out his phone, his hand shaking as he warred with the monster inside. It was literally screaming in his head, but he would not give in—
Wham!
Pain exploded in his shoulder as the world suddenly flew sideways. His mind splintered as the monster took over, prioritizing information that flew at him too fast too process consciously.
Bastard shifter man. Baseball bat.
Alan thrown sideways. Secondary impact on the air conditioner.
He used his claws, digging into the vents as he swung around midair. His feet hit the siding and pushed off.
Attack.
The human in him was scrambling to keep up. He recognized the stoic bastard from before. The one Julie had shot but who’d escaped. He had enough time to snarl, “Remember me?” before he landed on the thug.
The Arizona Diamondback ball cap went flying. So did the two of them, rolling past the concrete porch onto the patchy grass. He couldn’t let the bastard shift into a cougar. He was much less dangerous as a big man with a bat.
Total instinct now as his monster stink poisoned the air. Rapid swipes from Alan’s claws took out the muscles of the guy’s wrist.
Coppery smell. Bright color. Blood.
Good.
Bastard still barreled forward.
Impact. Grappling, their strength relatively equal. But bastard was bleeding, therefore weakening.
Unless there were more. Where was Elisabeth? Where were the kids?
Another quick attack. End it now.
Shit!
Sucker’s bet. Bastard had been ready.
Spun around. Choke hold!
His breath was cut off. Squeezed tight and nothing he did with his claws made any difference. So he poured everything he had into his scent. Let the bastard choke on it.
He did. To Alan’s utter shock, the man started gagging and his hold slackened.
Alan twisted the moment he felt the bastard’s first cough.
This time his claws did damage and—a scream cut through the air.
It was muffled, coming from the upper story, but with his shifter hearing, Alan identified it clearly.
Young male. Fury. Alan knew exactly what it meant. He’d raged just like that when he’d been the one in the cage.
He responded without thought, the need to get to the child overriding everything else.
He leapt away from bleeding asshole and headed inside.
His nose led him through the house. Past the kitchen, but not upstairs where he’d planned to go.
Instead, he pushed through a door that looked like a closet.
It wasn’t. It was actually a stairway to the garage attic.
More screaming. The boy. “Take her to the doctor, now!”
Alan raced up. His nose told him she was up there. Also the children, but he didn’t care. She was his only focus.
His nose and jaw lengthened, his vision narrowed, and when his claws wouldn’t work on the doorknob, he slammed his way through it.
Where was she?
There.
The bitch was standing over the children, her back to him. She wore baggy sweats, the kind she could shift out of at a moment’s notice. The girl was lying down, her face flushed with fever, her breath coming in short pants. The boy stood beside the cot, fury burning through his entire body.
All of them looked to him.
Alan wanted to launch himself at her. His beast screamed to attack, but he held himself back, though his belly quivered at the restraint. The children were too close. He couldn’t kill her while they were there so close.
Meanwhile, the bitch’s eyes suddenly widened. “The bear,” she said, her words almost a hiss. “Alan, right?” Her gaze ran over him, clinically detached in her perusal. It was just like when he’d been in a cage, and he felt filthy just from the memory. “You’re looking well.”
It was hard for him to form words, so much monster burned in his blood. But he forced the words out, using all his focus to keep some measure of control. “Get away from them.”
“No. They’re my children.” Her lips curled into a creepy smile. “Just like you are. And you won’t hurt your mother.”
His monster roared, but a scent filled the air.
Something strong and distinctly hers. What the hell was that?
It made his mind reel. Memories flooded him from when he’d been feverish and she’d sat beside his cage watching him.
How could he have forgotten that smell? It choked him until he felt like he was under water.
Focus!
It took all his will to push away the nausea. Part of him understood that this was just memory. Her scent bringing back the trauma of his captivity. All perfectly normal, maybe even expected. But he couldn’t let it win. He couldn’t let what she’d done to him cripple him now.
“You can’t hurt me,” she repeated, her scent and her words seeping into his consciousness. The monster in him went crazy. It flooded him with memories of what she’d done to him. Of fever and seizures that never ended.
No!
Pain real and remembered burned through his joints. His body at war with itself again. His knees weakened. His hands shook.
No!
His mind shoved forward. He wasn’t trapped in a cage. He wasn’t at her mercy. Not now. Not ever again.
“Get. Away. From. Them.”
He saw a grimace of distaste flash across her expression. Horror at the monster she’d created? Good. Because it was going to be the last fucking thing—
Her body shimmered and the air turned cold. The shape of a cougar superimposed on the woman, then solidified in the blink of an eye. Human clothes drifted to the floor as the cougar leapt free.
As she leapt at him.