The police were supposed to be the good guys, Shannon thought bitterly as she spent the fourteenth night, she thought it was, in the Colorado mountains after four weeks of running as a puma. She was more used to rural life than living in a skyscraper city. Rural—as in having a small town nearby to shop at, restaurants, movie theaters, the usual. Living like this was something she’d never bargained for. Not in her worst nightmares.
As soon as she had to struggle to survive, her puma instincts had come to bear, but this wasn’t the real her—a pure mountain woman—living as a puma—who survived off the land and craved that way of life. Shannon had ditched her car, clothes, and ID, and been on the run ever since as a wild cat, casting aside the raven-haired human part of the equation to meet the challenges of the rugged wilderness.
Had she run far enough? Hidden her tracks well enough?
She doubted it. Kill a cop and the whole world would be looking for her. But not everyone would be out to arrest her. At the very least, one of her kind wanted to kill her. To silence her. To make her the patsy for his crime. Others who would believe her accusers’ tale, would feel the same way—and want to end her puny existence to ensure no one knew what she truly was because if she went to prison and turned into a puma—well,… the notion was unthinkable.
She was a fighter, her brother having taught her some killing moves because of the crowd he ran with, until even he had to deal with badder ass men than him and had gotten himself murdered.
She sniffled, hating that she’d lost him, her only family. The one who had taught her how to endure in nearly any kind of conditions or she would never have survived even for this long.
She had no one to turn to. And no idea where to go to next.
Her tail swished back and forth as she leapt from one rocky ledge to another until she reached the cave she planned to sleep in for the night. She peered into the dark abyss high up in a rocky area, a waterfall cascading down one side into a deep pool of water below. Forest covered much of the area, giving her good cover when she was moving around below, but it also hid anyone from her view who might approach the rocky formation when she was up high above the treetops. The sound of a river rushing over rocks a couple of miles in the distance and the whoosh of the wind as it tossed about the kaleidoscope of colored leaves stole her attention. She breathed in the pine fragrance and smell of granite, of the fresh water spilling over the rocks. That was the part she loved about nature. If she hadn’t been running for her life and fearing what else she might chance to meet out here: bears, wolf packs, hunters, even another cat that didn’t appreciate her coming into the puma’s territory, she would have enjoyed a trip to the wilderness. Just a trip, not a new way of life.
She didn’t know exactly where she was and wouldn’t have even known this was Colorado if she hadn’t crossed a road where a sign marked the border between Oklahoma and Colorado a couple of weeks back. At least she thought it had been a couple of weeks ago. Lately, she’d been losing track of time. She had no idea if this was a Monday or a Sunday, or any day in between. She was certain it had to be November by now though.
Did they hunt cougars in this area? Crap. What if they did? What if the hunting season had already started? That meant she could be one of the ones hunted—not just by the police and the puma shifters, but by hunters looking to take down the big cats for trophies or the thrill of the hunt. Many areas did have legalized hunting seasons for cougars.
She studied the cave further, her ears perked, listening intently, her whiskers testing the cold night breeze, her nose twitching as she smelled for any sign of an inhabitant. Nothing. The cave was empty, thank God.
She still couldn’t believe it had come to this.
She had the propensity for dating the wrong guys. That’s how this had happened. She liked the cads. The bad boys. All because of her brother’s influence. And from associating with his wild friends. When her brother and two of her boyfriends had died on her—due to one fatal mistake or another—she’d changed her whole way of life.
