She heard the others taunt him and heard some roughhousing, but if Dean could walk, his injuries couldn’t be too bad. She hoped.
“Tell me where we’re going,” she demanded.
Ted glanced at her but kept walking. “We’re meeting Lex where we agreed. Now how many of Quince’s cats are out there—and the pride? How many of them are coming?”
Jeremy answered, “Quince has no idea we’re here.”
She turned to him. “I thought you were supposed to be keeping an eye on me.”
“I was.” Jeremy grinned, the prick. “But I told Quince you and Dean were headed south. That you had a plan to trap Lex and had lied to him. He’s there with two dozen idiot cats, sitting ducks for Lex’s attack.” He smiled at her, his eyes flat, evil. “Oh, and don’t worry. Your family is being taken care of as we speak. After today, the Catamount Ranch will be under new ownership.”
Fear hit her hard. Joy, Melissa, Amy. Miles. And what about Rachel and Julia and their babies? The friendly pride who’d taken her in as family and offered her protection? She had brought this danger to them.
“Oh yeah. You might not care for the cat, but you sure as shit care about your family.” Jeremy nodded. “Lex was right about you.”
“I have something called loyalty.” She couldn’t help her throaty growl. “And I won’t hesitate to cut your throat and watch you bleed out when I’m free.”
Ted laughed. “Gee, Jeremy. I don’t think she likes you much.”
The other Hunters chimed in.
Jeremy’s mirth left him. “I don’t give a shit. She’s Lex’s problem. Not mine, or yours,” he warned.
Ted sobered and turned his pale gray eyes on Jeremy. “Don’t threaten me, boy. I’m here because I have a hankerin’ to kill. Just be glad I’m not aiming my rifle in your direction. Me and the boys don’t miss.”
The cats closed in to cage Jeremy. But were they offering protection or ganging up on him? Stacey didn’t care. She only knew she liked the dissent between Jeremy and Ted. Now how to use that to her advantage?
She could feel Dean staring at her, could feel his distress and wanted badly to end it. But she refused to give the others leverage over her. They would hurt Dean, and she’d crumble. Princess Stacey needed to be strong, because she knew Dean would risk life and limb to save her from harm. And she’d be damned if she’d lose him to this trash. She emotionally distanced herself to keep a clear head. Emotion muddied the waters, and she couldn’t afford the distraction.
She turned to Ted again. “So what is Lex offering you that I can’t better?”
He gave her a considering stare. “What have you got?”
Dean couldn’t believe the woman was ignoring him and trying to wheel and deal with the devil. He limped along, hurting like a son of a bitch, and she trotted next to a fucking Hunter, flirting and simpering over everything the bastard said.
He fumed, wishing like hell he didn’t have doubts about her. She had to be acting. Despite what she’d said about not caring about him, she didn’t want him hurt. He didn’t think.
God. How could he love the woman and not trust her? Hadn’t he admitted he’d always known she wasn’t telling the truth? Those flashes of vulnerability that hinted at the real woman beneath the glossy veneer were real. He’d seen them. She didn’t like his past with other women. She lit up like a firecracker when they touched. Physically, emotionally, they meshed. Hell, he still scented her all over him.
“I don’t know. She said he’s nothing, but they smell bonded,” one of the cats near him commented on a common Ac-taw pathway.
“Sex will do that. Come on. You really think she’d turn down Lex, our pride leader, for this dirtbag?”
The third cat, the one he’d wounded, agreed. “Look at him. He’s a piece of shit barely holding onto a touring company that caters to humans. Why would she want this when she could have Lex?”
A legitimate question, and one that hurt to think about. She’d made no bones about wanting to go back to Miami. And it would kill Dean to leave his home, everything he loved. But for Stacey, he’d try. He’d probably hate every second of it, but he’d pack up in a heartbeat for her. Dean had more going for him than jokes and the ability to track. He was smart. He’d never had the urge to see more than Cougar Falls. But for Stacey he’d travel. He’d help her, learn to dress right, try to fit in with her friends and family down South…
Fuck. Who was he kidding? Their relationship had been doomed from the start. And what relationship did he think they had? They’d fucked, and it had been brilliant beyond comprehension. But other than that, she hadn’t acted much like she liked him. Now in danger, she put distance between them, not wanting to be held back by him.
He fell into a blacker mood as they spent the morning walking through the forest. The cats continued to prod him, talking about her life in Miami with the hottest designers, the rich and famous. She’d apparently dated a movie star a few months ago. A few CEOs, some foreigners with money, rich assholes in Miami. Yet Lex put no stock in her human conquests because he knew she’d mate a cat, eventually.
Was that why she had no Ac-taw lovers? Not because she was lonely, but because she’d been forbidden by Lex? Had he completely misread the situation?
A Hunter motioned with his weapon for Dean to stop, but Dean didn’t feel like stopping. He wanted a reaction from Stacey, something to let him know she remembered he was there.
While she cozied up to Dr. Death and his Hunter buddies, he was nursing a bullet wound in his thigh and lacerations all over his bloodied body. Though he’d begun to heal, he’d need to shift back and forth to speed the process. And these assholes had made it clear he was to stay a cat.
“I said stop,” the Hunter warned.
Others watched him. Dean didn’t care. He waited for Stacey to turn away from dickhead Ted. When the Hunter near him aimed in his direction, he pounced.
He knocked the gun aside and raked claws down his face, enough to scar, but not kill. The cats shoved him on his ass and mauled him once more, but he tuned out everything but Stacey, needing to see her reaction.
She screeched, and everyone around them froze. Marching over to him, she stopped with her hands on her hips. “I am trying to have a conversation with Ted. Would you please shut the fuck up?” Then she kicked him, actually kicked him in the arm, the only spot not covered by a bruise, before turning back to Ted, muttering under her breath.
“I’m sorry,” she said when she reached him and curled her hand around his arm. “You were saying?”
Dean slumped under the angry felines clawing at him. How had he missed that she didn’t care? He knew she disdained the Hunter, but to survive and protect her family, she’d play nice. Dean wasn’t family, as she’d so unkindly reminded him. She’d kicked him.
Yet… He inhaled and still smelled her on his fur, under his skin, embedded in his heart and soul. Talk about a curse.
He let the others bat him around before succumbing to his wounds and unconsciousness once more. Apparently Stacey would have the last laugh, because the town man-whore had fallen for an icy princess way out of his league. But hey, if this kept up, she’d soon have her wish, and he’d be out of her life, permanently.
Stacey coolly flirted, keeping Ted at arm’s length as she discussed a monetary bribe and the possibility of hunting down Ac-taw she considered enemies. It took all her considerable skill and acting talent to keep her focus on Ted and not Dean. The scent of his blood had her back up, and she reminded her cat that they were playing with their prey right now. They had to string him along, enough so that he’d lower his guard. Then she’d kill him and the others without a qualm.