“So,” said Elaine, “I know you’ve probably met everyone from the Ursa, but I doubt you’ve seen them in their animal forms. Allow me to reintroduce you. You know, so that if one of them decides to tear your throat out, you’ll know who it is. Your boss Ryland is right over there. He’s the big brown bear, and he looks kind of hungry. For the record, I think I’m safe in speaking for Ryland when I say you’ve lost your job here. Isn’t that right, Ry?”
The brown bear lowered its head and growled.
“Have you met Ryland’s brother, Soren?” she continued. “He’s the polar bear. Huge sucker, isn’t he? You don’t want to get on Soren’s bad side. Of course you must know Bart, our head of security. He’s the wolf. Don’t even try to put anything past him. The tigers are Anton and Jani. I wouldn’t piss them off if I were you. The jaguar brothers are Killian, Byron, and Percy. Did you know jaguars have the most powerful bite in the animal kingdom? Interesting stuff, huh?” She patted the mountain lion. “Oh, and I think you already know Connor. He’s especially protective of me so be careful what you do next.”
“An ambush, huh? Doesn’t seem fair.”
“You cornered a lone woman in the woods. Do you really want to go down that road?”
He edged away, aware of the fact several bright eyes followed his every movement.
“By the way, John, I should warn you there are shifter police officers all over this island, and several of them have sniper rifles trained on you right now.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“No?” Elaine looked off into the trees and called out. “Drew, would you mind showing John what a good shot you are?”
A shot rang out over John’s head.
In the next heartbeat, Connor’s mountain lion stepped toward him, moving with deadly agility.
John’s bear didn’t even bother showing its face. It knew it was outnumbered. Damn, why couldn’t he make his hand stop shaking? His finger trembled against the trigger.
An aggressive hiss emanated from Connor’s great cat.
Not knowing what else to do, John squeezed the trigger.
The mountain lion pounced as the gun went off, but John had no idea if he hit anyone.
The last thing he saw was the open mouth of the cat, aiming for his neck.
* * * *
“Wake up.” Connor shook Page again, but the man lay unconscious, bound in his chair, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. “Wake the fuck up.”
“I think you bit him too hard,” commented Jani in a blasé tone. “He lost some blood.”
“He’s lucky he didn’t lose more.”
“You could have let the sharpshooters take him.”
“I wanted the pleasure. I should have killed him right there.”
“You did the right thing, my friend. We need information right now.” Jani put a hand on his shoulder. “Vengeance can come later.”
Connor gave Jani the side eye. “You know, I always thought you were a little dark. I’m glad you’re on our side.”
“I am happy to be of service.” Jani bent over at the waist, in imitation of a courtly bow. “Now we’re lucky Ryland persuaded Drew and his officers to give us a few minutes with this piece of shit, but they’ll want to take him away soon. Would you like me to wake him up for you? I know a number of ways that won’t leave marks.”
“Thanks, but I’ll handle it.”
“Because I would do it for you and Elaine. I like her. She’s tough like my Fleur, with lots of hidden depths. And I like you. You’re a good man, Connor. I can understand if you don’t want blood on your hands. As for me,” he said, shrugging, “mine were stained long ago.”
“I appreciate it, but as I said, I’d like to take care of this.”
Jani pretended to wash his hands. “I’ll leave you to it then. I’ll wait outside with the others. If you need reinforcements, just holler, as they say.” He exited the room, closing the door behind him.
The word “holler” sounded funny in Jani’s Hungarian accent, but Connor was in no mood to laugh.
