Cassidy turned her head to look at Diego. The rocks had scratched her cheek, and her face was smeared with dirt and blood. “Then what are we going to do? Lie here all night?”
“No, we’re going to lie here while I call for backup.”
Cassidy’s look turned to a glare. She thought that backup meant police.
“Screw you, Diego.”
She started to shift. It was bizarre being on top of her naked back as her body contorted into the lithe, furry one of the wildcat. Diego felt strength pour into Cassidy’s limbs, then he toppled off her as Cassidy scrambled to her feet.
“Damn it, Cassidy. Stay here.”
Cassidy snarled. Her ears went flat on her head, teeth bared—long, sharp, scary-looking teeth.
Another bullet pinged next to Diego’s shoulder. Cassidy leapt on Diego, sending him down to the dirt. Now she was on top of him. Her snarl softened, sounding admonishing rather than angry.
Staying close to the ground, Cassidy stepped off Diego and flowed away from him. She slunk down the hill, moving rapidly, and was almost instantly lost to sight.
Diego lifted the tranq rifle. The rifle shot only one dart at a time, and its range wasn’t great, but it had a scope. Otherwise, Diego couldn’t see a damn thing out here.
Diego drew his Sig, keeping the rifle on his shoulder at the same time. He found the shooter through the scope, the man still holding whatever powerful weapon he had. Diego brought up his pistol over the rifle’s barrel. He knew he didn’t have a chance in hell at hitting his target with the Sig, but maybe the noise and flying bullets would keep the shooter distracted. He shot.
The report was loud, and the shooter ducked. Two seconds later, another bullet chipped rock somewhere above Diego’s head.
He started to swear in Spanish, his preferred language for venting. No one could vent like Diego’s mother, and she’d taught her sons well.
They needed backup, and Diego didn’t have the faintest idea how to alert Eric and his trackers, or even where they were. The shooter had a hell of a silencer, good cover, and a decent rifle. The man could sit in those rocks all night and pick them off one by one.
Fuck that.
Diego lay down flat, pulled out his cell phone, hit number one on his speed dial, and hoped he wasn’t out of range of every cell tower in the region.
He got a phone ringing, to his relief. Come on, pick up. Pick up.
“Hey, hermano,” a deep voice said on the other end. “What’s up?”
“Xavier,” Diego croaked.
The ever-present cheerfulness left Xavier’s voice. “Seriously, what’s up?”
“I’m pinned down in the mountains by a sniper, and I need firepower.”
Xavier knew Diego wasn’t joking. “Shit. Did you call it in?”
“No. We’re not calling it in. Just get here.” He told Xavier exactly where he was, GPS coordinates and all.
“You got it,” Xavier said. The phone clicked, and he was gone. Another thing Diego loved about his little brother was that Xavier acted first, asked questions later.
Diego calculated that it would take Xavier half an hour to load up and get out here, and that was if he hurried. Meanwhile…
The hunter was still in the rocks. Diego shot at him again, rewarded with another bullet whizzing by him. When Diego dared lift his head again, he used the rifle scope to scan the area.
He saw a slinking form of one wildcat approaching the rocks from the left, but he couldn’t tell which wildcat it was. The scope picked up another slinking form, closing in on the hunter from the other side. This wildcat was larger—possibly Eric. Then a giant, hulking form of a bear. Damn, it was big.
A couple more wildcats and then a wolf crept out of the shadows to join them. The animals circled the outcropping in a perfect pincher move, coming at the shooter from all sides to pen him in. Diego let fly another shot to keep the hunter busy.
The wildcats, bear, and wolf moved in beautiful formation. The animals couldn’t communicate in words, had nothing to go on but instinct and visual cues. Yet they maneuvered like a well-oiled team, exactly anticipating each other’s moves. Diego could work like that with Xavier, had been able to work like that with Jobe.
Eric and the wolf slunk the last ten yards and lowered themselves, disappearing from Diego’s sight. The bear moved slowly behind the rocks and it too disappeared. The cats moved in the other direction, hugging the ground, readying themselves to spring.
Diego trained the scope on the hunter again. The heat signature around the guy had grown larger, much larger. A second person? Diego saw no sign of anyone else, just the man with the rifle who suddenly seemed very hot.
The heat bubble exploded, flooding green through the scope. Diego jerked away, blinking. At the same time, the animals let out snarls—the bear roaring—and charged.
Diego gave up his cover and scrambled down the hill. He’d have to stop the Shifters from ripping the guy apart, though Diego would be happy to slap cuffs on whoever it was in there. He’d charge him with illegally hunting Collared Shifters, assault with a deadly weapon, shooting at a police officer, and—if this was the same hunter that had been at the construction site—tranqing Jemez and Hooper and nearly causing Diego’s death. This would be fun.
The deep roar of the bear boomed up and down the mountain and vibrated the moonlit sky. His roar was answered by the deep growls of a wildcat and the howl of a wolf. Diego ran faster.
He reached the outcropping the hunter had been using as a blind, took cover behind a massive boulder, and trained his pistol on the interior. “Drop your weapon, and get on the ground. Now.”
Nothing happened.
The wildcats came out from behind the rocks, Cassidy with muzzle pressed to the ground, sniffing, sniffing. The bear shambled around from the side of the outcropping, the biggest damn grizzly Diego had ever seen.
Eric’s head was up, his leopard eyes white with rage. Sparks chased around the Collar on his massive neck. The wolf sat on his haunches, looking angry.
Diego risked a look inside the rock shelter. It was empty, the mud inside smooth, no sign of anyone having been there.
CHAPTER SIX
Xavier came roaring up in his F-250 as Diego climbed down to the road. Dirt and gravel shot into the air as Xavier braked, then he leapt out of his truck. Xavier spied Diego flanked by two wildcats and a bear, and stopped, a shotgun resting loosely in his hands.
“All clear,” Diego said as he hiked the last few feet to the road.
Xavier didn’t raise the shotgun, but he kept it handy and looked hard at the Shifters.