Free TherianPrey by Cyndi Friberg Page B

her eyes shut and braced for the worst, but her
startled scream still echoed off the walls. Pain radiated around his hand, and
it felt as if he were shoving the towels clear through her body. “Stop! Oh
God…”
    “I can’t, sweetheart.” He kissed her forehead and the
corners of her eyes. “I know it hurts. I’m sorry.”
    “What are you doing?” Ian’s angry voice cut through the
pain, but Quinn’s torturous pressure didn’t lessen.
    “Get Erin back here. Now!”
    The panic in Quinn’s tone sent dread rippling through the
agony. She was dying, and there was nothing they could do to stop it.
    “Look at me.” She forced her eyes to open and dove into his
velvet-black gaze. “You are not going to die. I won’t allow it. We have
unfinished business, you and I.”
    Deep within the throbbing pain a spark of hunger ignited.
The flicker sent soothing heat washing over her body, combating the harsher
sensations.
    “That’s right.” He kept his weight centered over the hand
pressing down on the towels, so he could touch her with his other. “Our journey
together has just begun. I have no intention of letting you go.”
    She whimpered, tears escaping the corners of her eyes. “I
need a hospital. A doctor, at least.”
    “You need a healer , and Ian went to find one.”
    “Erin is… Why am I…” A moan overtook her voice as a fresh
wave of pain burned reality away. It lapped at her skin and sank into her flesh
until she was a massive stinging flame, surrounded by the stench of death.
    * * * * *
    Gage stood beside his truck, hands clasped behind his back,
expressionless features masking his fury.
    Team Leader made no attempt to hide his anger. “How could
you let this happen?” His booming voice echoed in the empty parking lot and
Gage looked around. There were no surveillance cameras and no residential
buildings nearby, but it wasn’t like Team Leader to be careless even for an
instant. His voice dropped to a menacing whisper as he went on. “Why did you
take the shot when Carissa was so close to the animals?”
    He hadn’t been there, he hadn’t seen the look in her eyes
when the jaguar demon transformed into a man. “They meant to defile her. It was
clear. If I hadn’t acted, we would have lost her forever.”
    “Instead we get to wait and see if those creatures can save
her life! And they’ll be on guard now. And they’ll still try to defile her, so
how has our situation improved?” Team Leader’s voice rose again, growing louder
with each new point.
    “I’ll find a new vantage point and—”
    “You will do as you’re ordered.”
    Gage clenched his jaw and muttered, “Yes sir.”
    The small show of deference seemed to calm Team Leader. He
shoved his hands into his pockets and sighed. “Direct surveillance is too
dangerous right now. They’ll have patrols out combing the woods. We’ll have to
rely on my contact for updates. They can’t defile Carissa until she’s recovered
from this mess. That should buy us a couple of days at least.”
    “Yes sir.”
    “Go get some sleep. You look like shit.” Gage nodded and
turned toward his truck. “But don’t fool yourself for a minute, if Carissa
dies, Nehema will come after you.”

Chapter Four
     
    Tearing her gaze away from the bank of surveillance
monitors, Dr. Carly Ides glanced over her shoulder and motioned her partner
into the observation room. “You’re late.”
    “It was unavoidable,” Osric muttered as he closed the door
behind him. If his haggard appearance was any indication, his tardiness was the
least of his worries.
    She’d been an ambitious molecular biologist fresh out of
grad school when Osric approached her at a popular bistro in Boulder. Her
in-depth study of a rare genetic anomaly in the Rocky Mountain cougar
population allowed her to network with a select group of scientists Osric
needed to access. At first she’d thought he’d been hitting on her, but his
frequent requests for technical information and