Free Colin: McCullough's Jamboree - Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance (McCullough's Jamboree Book 1) by Kathi S. Barton Page B

under her breast, Lauren felt her heart rate triple. The moan that escaped her lips hummed out what she was feeling. Then the man in front of her laughed.
    “Pretty good setup you got here, Lauren.” Her body went from heated too cold in just that second. Grabbing Colin’s hand, she shoved him back and to the floor even as the man reached into his jacket. Her own gun was out and at his head before he cleared whatever he’d been reaching for. “I wasn’t gonna hurt you. I was sent here by Phillips. I was giving you my orders, ma’am.”
    She reached into his pocket where his hand was still resting and felt the gun even before he moved. He jerked his weapon out and was pointing it at her even as she kicked out. Pulling the trigger on her own weapon as they both moved only resulted in her wall being shot to fuck and the guy falling backward from the impact of her kick. His weapon went flying across the room just out of his reach as she tried to move without screaming in pain. Just as she was ready to fire again, Colin, as the big cat, was on the intruder’s chest with his mouth over his throat. Lauren slid to the floor, her knees suddenly too weak to hold her up.
    “Ma’am?” The voice behind her had her turning and firing again. The curse words that came from the other room might have been funny had she not still been running on pure terror and pain. The man had been there to kill her was all her mind could focus on, beyond how badly she was hurt again. “It’s Roger, ma’am. The man who you just saw on the porch. I’m a friend of Colin’s. A cat too.”
    “What the fuck do you want? Christ. Do you want to borrow a cup of sugar or some shit? Just so you know, I’m in no mood to be social.” She thought she heard him say no shit, but he spoke again before she could ask him.
    “Colin wants me to tell you what he’s saying so you can tell the fool under him. Not his words, mind you, but I can’t…you’re a ma’am even if you scare the crap nuggets out of me.” She looked back at Colin, who was still holding down the piece of shit who’d started this all. “I’m gonna come on in there. For the love of James and Sandra, please don’t be shooting me dead.”
    The younger of the two men came into the room with his hands way up over his head. Putting her gun in her lap but not letting it go just yet, she asked him who James and Sandra were.
    “My son and daughter. I just don’t want to leave them without a daddy too.” He moved completely into the room then, and she could see that the man was really afraid. Not that she blamed him. It had been pretty intense for those few seconds. “You gonna shoot me?”
    “Not if you don’t make me.” She nodded for him to put his hands down. “Tell me what he’s saying and we’ll go from there. Just don’t…please don’t make any kind of sudden moves. I’m running on low fuel for stupidity right now.”
    “Colin said thanks first of all. For not killing me when you had the chance. I’m real grateful for you not killing me too. Like I said, I got me a couple of kids at home, and they already lost their momma.” Lauren smiled but said nothing. “This man…Colin wants to know if he needs to have his throat ripped out. Colin said to tell you he’d do it, no problem. I’m pretty sure he’d do it too. Never seen him so pissed before.”
    The low growl from Colin had her looking at him again. Roger told her that he didn’t want him to elaborate, just tell her what he said. Again, she had the urge to laugh but only nodded.
    “His brothers are on their way. He said to tell you not to kill any of them either. His mom and dad are coming in the car, but they’ll be people, human looking I guess. They were headed out anyway and are on their way here to have a look around.” She asked him what they were looking for. “He wants to make sure there ain’t no more idiots around.”
    She took her cell phone out of her pocket and called Phillips. He answered the