Page 46 of A Cougar's Kiss

“Jacques,” Bas whispered, and Keller continued to back away.

The very first time Cole Linden had spoken in that room at the medical facility, he’d whispered, “The Desert Cat is Jacques Germain.”

Every cat went still as Bas moved in closer.

“Jacques. That’s your name isn’t it?” Bas kept walking, his gray eyes glittering in the midst of the flames behind them and the shadow of the dark shifter in front of them.

It didn’t speak, but it did tilt its head as if looking at Bas with recognition.

“I thought you were dead,” Bas said. “The fire at Perryville all those years ago I thought you were dead.”

“You thought wrong,” the shifter finally replied, his voice like a man’s, but then not. There was an eerie crack at the end of his words, an ominous tone that filled the space with foreboding. “And now all of you will pay for that mistake!”

Jacques opened his mouth and roared like none of them had ever heard before and even though the roar was enough to break all the other windows on the first level, he shot more beams from his eyes, searing other parts of the wall and hitting someone who hadn’t shifted, someone who was near the doorway but not yet through it…

Her scream echoed throughout the air and ripped through Keller’s chest like a dagger. His cougar roared loud and charged across the room stopping when it saw her body lying on the floor.