Cougar's Mate

Her brother and his friends, including two of her prior boyfriends, had all been on the wrong side of the law for years, until her twin brother and each of her subsequent boyfriends had been killed in violent crimes in Florida. She’d run off, moved far away to a little town in Texas, and turned over a fresh leaf as far as who she associated with in her new life while she waitressed in a local diner. She’d taken wild runs at night in the Palo Duro Canyon, which is where she’d met Ted Kelly as a cougar, and he’d chased her down, but only after she finally let him.

And then she began dating the cop.

Except Ted hadn’t been right for her, either. Keeping secrets. Insisting she didn’t work. That he’d provide everything for her that her heart desired.

She thought he was seeing another woman, but something else was going on and she suspected it had to do with the illegal sale of drugs and that was the end of it for her.

The sound of the escalating, angry voices in the kitchen made her skin prickle with concern. She was certain Ted would attempt to stop her if she tried to leave him. If she’d known he would return home so soon, she would have left already. Why did it seem she was always on the run?

She hurried to slip on some clothes. She’d have to sneak out the bedroom window, get into her car, and leave now. Forget about waiting for morning.

He’d been so controlling, not allowing her to have a job, and she had liked that he had wanted to support her, but something wasn’t right. Something she hadn’t been able to put her finger on. Not since they’d met a month ago when she’d tried to erase her prior life. He hadn’t seemed to care about where she’d come from or anything else about her past. That had suited her fine. And he’d provided her with what little she’d wanted or needed. But the secretive calls at strange hours of the night, and his trips to who knew where didn’t seem right either, making her believe something else was wrong. And the time had come for her to go.

A crash sounded in the kitchen. Her heart jumped. She threw her handbag strap over her shoulder.

“I told you what I’d do if I caught you cheating on us,” Hennessey growled.

“I swear I gave you and the rest a fair cut of the profits. I had expenses, man.”

“You lying bastard. I knew you couldn’t be trusted.”

A drawer jerked open. Something banged into a cabinet.

“No!” Ted shouted. “God, man, no! I swear I’m telling the truth.”

Her heart thumped hard as she tried to open the bedroom window. No, no, no! It was stuck.

Her fingers cramping around the metal she tried again and again, shoving at it, but it wouldn’t budge. She had to chance slipping out of the house through the front door and pray they didn’t notice her. She opened the bedroom door as quietly as she could and crept down the hall. A short wall blocked her view of the kitchen and their view of her. But as soon as she had to make a dash through the living room for the front door, one or both of the men could catch sight of her.

Barely breathing, she couldn’t do anything else. She had to run, now.

Ted gasped for air, and she figured Hennessey had hit him hard and knocked the breath out of him. She glanced in the direction of the kitchen. Ted was sitting on the floor, holding his stomach, blood all over his hands.

Oh…my…God. Her breath hitched.

“Where is the damn money?” Hennessey growled.

Ted glanced at her, his breathing labored, his face turning gray. “Shannon,” he gasped, and in that instant she thought she saw regret—that now she would be murdered next. And he hadn’t wanted her to know… or to be a witness to this. Or to die.

Hennessey’s broad back was to her, but he turned, bloodied knife in hand, and stared at her—for just a moment. His blue eyes cold with fury, his black hair trimmed short—cop style—he made a dash for her. Everything happened in fractions of heartbeats. Everything blurred as tears filled her eyes.

Breathe! Move!

She bolted for the front door before she’d consciously thought of doing so. She hadn’t even considered that the door would be locked. She just twisted the handle and it opened. Thank God.

She threw the door open and ran outside into the still warm October night—the unsettled weather in the Texas Panhandle doing its usual highs and lows and everything in between.

She dashed for her car and saw a couple taking their small son and dog for a stroll down the sidewalk. The perfect family, she thought in that instant, and they could all be murdered if she let on what had happened inside the house. With a forced smile, she said hello, and hit the unlock button on her keypad.

They couldn’t know it, but they had saved her life. She jumped into the driver’s seat and saw Hennessey shrink back from the doorway, unable to come after her while wearing his brother’s blood on his hands, the knife, and his clothes.

The family had moved far enough away now that as soon as she started the engine, she threw the car into reverse, drove onto the street, gunned the gas, and then headed anywhere away from here.

She was on the run again. Only this time for her life.