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Hunter’s synapses fired in multiple directions. “We expected Kevin to want you back. What do you mean mostly human?”

“Not Kevin. Jordan. Kevin doesn’t need me anymore, but Jordan doesn’t want me to...” her eyes closed.

Hunter put his hand on her neck, feeling her pulse as he drove. “Racheal.”

He pulled over, hiding his SUV in the trees. He put his hand over her heart. His cat needed to feel its steady beat as much as he did.

Her hand covered his. His incisors lengthened at her touch. He leaned in, inhaling her sweet scent, as his teeth grazed her neck.

“Don’t force me.”

* * *

Her words stunned him and terrified his cat.

It backed down not wanting to traumatize its mate.

It wouldn’t wait forever. Its need to mark what was his - a primal instinct.

A need to warn away competitors. It would give Hunter some time to find out what had happened, however.

He prayed no one had touched her without permission because there would be no stopping his animals need for retribution.

He needed to find out what happened to her before marking her. There would be no way to hold his cat back at that point.

He got back on the road. He was less than an hour from the cabin and she would be out for hours due to her diminutive size.

He had just turned up the dirt road leading to his temporary home when she stirred, opening her eyes.

“Where are we?” she asked.

“A friend’s place. You shouldn’t be awake yet?” Her quick recovery concerned him. It had him thinking back to her previous comments.

“I told you I would burn through the tranq quickly,” she said quietly.

“Your metabolism shouldn’t work that fast.”

“I know.”

“Racheal,” he said in a low tone.

“I’ve been... altered,” she whispered.

“Motherfuck! Did Kallan have Cyril bite you?” Racheal shifted uncomfortably in her seat. He could feel the tension between them. “Look, Racheal, I don’t blame you...”

“Don’t excuse my behavior. You have no idea what happened or what I did while in the Kallans’ custody so you have no right to finish that sentence.”

Hunter’s teeth snapped together. “How about you tell me what happened. Did Cyril bite you?”

“No. I was injected with shifter DNA. Cougar mostly.” She replied.

“Mostly?” His heart slammed against his chest.

“Kallan has specimens from multiple species. He experiments with combining the DNA strands looking for the desired effect.”

“What is the desired effect?” he asked.

“I originally thought it was the cure for MS, but now I believe it’s more than that.”

“What species does he know about?”

“He has confirmed the existence of nine species, but doesn’t have samples from all of them.”

“He knows about most of the species then.” Hunter growled.

“Are there more than nine shifter species?” she asked, her interest peaked before turning away. “Never mind.”

“Yes, there are a few more," he said.

“Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know anything that can be used against you,” she said sadly.

He sucked in a breath. “Racheal. You’re never going back into enemy hands. I won’t let them use you again.”

“Don’t make promises you’re incapable of keeping... besides, I’ve made sure I won’t be used again,” she said coldly, turning to look out the window.

Hunter’s cat raged at him. It didn’t like the implication of her statement any more than he did. He could tell she didn’t want to talk to him. “Which species does he know about other than cougar and coyote?”

Racheal hesitated. “Wolf. Bear. Tiger. Panther. Lion. Hyena and Cheetah.”

Hunter was surprised. “Cheetah’s are extinct,” he blurted.

“He believes they still exist, but are rare. He doesn’t have a sample of their DNA.”

Hunter’s cat roared to the surface. He fought for control. “He has DNA samples from all of them?” he asked in disgust.

“He’s missing the cheetah and the panther.”

“He managed to track down all these species in a few years?” Hunter couldn’t believe it.

Racheal looked surprised. “A few years? He’s been hunting shifters for over two decades.”

“What? We thought that Razel sold us out. That wasn’t twenty years ago.”

“Who is Razel?”

“He’s a coyote who helped Kallan. He orchestrated the destruction of his entire lair.”

“Oh, that coyote. I didn’t know his name. Jordan laughed. How stupid he was. He said the coyote ability to sense emotions was a low priority. So, they gave him whatever he wanted in exchange for information on your species. Prior to Razel, they didn’t have info on the Cougars.”

“I used to hate coyotes, but I’ve recently met a few good ones.” He was hesitant to share the recent events at the coyote camp.

He saw Racheal’s eyebrows knit together. “That’s how he got the information on each species.”

“How so?”

“He would capture a species and torture them, but they wouldn’t give up their own before they... died.” She waited, watching Hunter’s face.

“Go on,” he said encouragingly.

“He started asking about other species. He found that all shifters had at least one other species they weren’t fond of. With enough torture, they would give up their enemy.”

“So, our own animosity is our downfall,” he said in disgust.

“I’m sorry.”

Hunter didn’t have time to waste on petty differences between the shifter species. He couldn’t change the past. “What does he know about shifter abilities?”

He knows each species has a unique ability.

Bears have super strength. Lions heal faster.

Hyenae have superior hearing. Wolves have psychic abilities.

Panthers have superior night vision. Coyotes sense emotions.

Cougars have the longest lifespan and leopards have a more intense and faster mating cycle. "

“You’ve missed a couple.”

“He doesn’t know what the other abilities are,” she said.

Hunter went over her words. “I didn’t know about the leopard mating cycle. Is that somehow related to the serum he injected Cyril with?”

“Yes. Leopard DNA was used in the serum. It didn’t work on the canine species. You know what it does to other feline species.”

“Jesus.”

“I need to talk to Talen.” The thought of his brother brought Lucy to mind.

“Cyril bit Lucy. Talen’s mate. She’s pregnant. Will that compound affect her babies in any way?” he asked.

He saw the concern in her eyes. “I honestly don’t know.

They’ve only had one female shifter. She had already mated and she was the first shifter they had come across so they hadn’t perfected their interrogation techniques at that time.

She was a Tiger. They got her DNA, but nothing else before she died. ”

“They killed her mate or he would have come for her.”

“Yes. She was caged in her animal form. After a week of captivity, she shifted back to her human form. When Kevin told her, he would force her to give him everything on her species she lengthened her own claws and ripped her own throat out.”

“She protected her lair the only way she could.” Sadness squeeze Hunter’s heart.

He had never personally met a tiger shifter, but his brother Luca had.

He would do everything he could to find the woman’s lair and let them know what she’d done to protect them.

“Is there a test you can do to see if leopard DNA is present in Lucy?”

“I’ll give you the information you need to run the tests, but I won’t be the one doing it.”

Hunted sucked in a sharp breath. “You would turn your back on us? On Sarah?” He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

She closed her eyes. “Yes. I can’t help you.”

Hunter growled low in his throat before he got himself under control. He didn’t care what her reason was. She should be doing everything possible to help his species. Christ. To help Sarah. “What kind of person turns their back on a friend who was willing to die for them?”

* * *

Racheal’s gut tightened. “I would do anything for Sarah. I want to help. I wish I could do more to make up for the damage I’ve done, but I don’t have time to explain. I have to get away from you before it’s too late.” He would never know it was for his own protection.

Hunter growled. “I won’t let you turn your back on Sarah. Or me.”

Racheal replayed his words in her mind. “You’re already being affected. You have to let me go.”

Hunter slammed on the brakes, causing the SUV to skid to a stop in front of the cabin. He got out and walked quickly to her door, yanking it open. “Get out.”

She gave him a hard look. “No.”

Hunter undid her seatbelt and scooped her into his arms. He dropped his lips to her ear as she struggled in his arms. “Don’t push me, Racheal, I’m barely holding on.”

She was blaming him when she was the problem. She took a long deep breath to calm her anger, realizing her mistake as soon as his masculine scent hit her nostrils. Her nipples peaked. Her skin tingled. Sweat beaded at her brow. Her pussy clenched. No. No. Not now.

There had been a time when she wanted to feel aroused. Lust. Nothing. She had wished she could be normal. She was a genius. She didn’t act like other girls. Now she would do anything to take it away. Her treacherous body would get Hunter killed.

He stopped at the door of the cabin, placing her on her feet. “Racheal, you’re shaking. What’s wrong?”

She couldn’t speak. She crushed her arms to her chest, attempting to alleviate the pressure as memories of a time she wanted these feeling filtered through her brain.

The late nights. The breakthroughs. She had been so infatuated with his brain she never questioned why she wasn’t attracted.

She had betrayed her best friend. Herself. Her mate. He didn’t deserve that pain.

She pushed him hard, forcing him to take a surprised step back. “I can’t go with you.”

His eyes glowed. “Tell me how a woman who weighs a buck ten can push a shifter in his prime.”

Her tinted yellow eyes met his. “I’m infected.”

~ Continue reading Hunter’s Passion - Book 3 in the Cascade Cougar series . ~