You Had Me at Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 20

Chet, Bridget, and Travis arrived at the jail to find Nina and Stryker serving on guard duty and they greeted each other.

“Dan told us about the brother,” Stryker said. “And about Benny’s involvement in the last case you were on. Oh, and congratulations for moving here and joining the rest of us in Yuma Town.”

“Thanks, I’m glad to be here. And so is Mom.” Chet was afraid she would have had major heartburn over leaving Cheyenne for as long as she had lived there, but she was excited about having a daughter-in-law and nothing beat that.

“And we hear other congratulations are in order,” Nina said, smiling at Chet.

“Yeah. I couldn’t be happier.”

“They would be at it right now if it wasn’t for this,” Bridget said.

Everyone laughed.

“Then you better get to the business of interrogation.” Nina gave him a heartfelt hug. She would be his sister-in-law and he was glad for it.

Chet went in with Travis and Bridget to speak with Benny. Nina and Stryker remained in the office holding down the fort.

“Okay, tell us about your twin brother, Marty,” Chet said, ready to grill him all night, though he wanted to go home as soon as he could to be with Ava.

“I don’t have a twin brother.”

“So you want to go down for the murders he committed? Because we have you and we’re not releasing you,” Chet said. “You know what we do with cougars who commit murder. You can’t go to jail. Not when you’re a shifter.”

Bridget was quiet and Chet knew she was just reading Benny’s thoughts. Chet realized if he spoke to Benny about the other case he was involved in, Benny would know his goose was cooked. There would be no reason for him to implicate his brother in the other murders, if he wanted to save his life.

“He’s not going to squeal on his twin, no matter what we say to him,” Bridget said.

“All right. Benny goes down for the murders. It was his place, the photos were there, he’s the bartender who went home with the women, and they ended up dead. His scent is in every one of the murder victims’ homes. He has answered enough of the questions that tells me he was there and knew only details that the murderer would know,” Chet said.

“But his twin told him about the murders and that’s how Benny learned the details,” Bridget said.

“Benny said he doesn’t have a twin. That means Benny did them.” Chet was sure Marty had killed the women based on what Bridget had said. Chet had played this game with her on interrogations before. He hoped the twin, when they caught him, would confess and not let his brother take the rap for it. Though they were both dead men for the other murder Benny had committed.

Nina rushed in to join them, and Chet was afraid they had trouble out front.

“You have to come with me,” Nina said, and rushed back out of the confinement area.

“What’s wrong?” Chet asked.

“It’s my sister. I had a vision of a cougar chasing Ava. He’s not a cougar I recognize.”

“Where is she?”

“Headed for Rainbow Falls. Knowing Ava, she’s trying to hide her scent in the river if she can reach it in time.”

Chet rushed out of the sheriff’s office, but Travis hurried after him. “I’m coming with you. Bridget will be going home to the kids and is leaving Benny to stew further about the situation he’s in.”

“Let’s go then.”

“I called Dan and they’re meeting you over there,” Stryker said. “I wanted to go too, but Dan wants two of us to be here at all times, just in case Marty slips back this way.”

“Marty, hell.” If he hurt Ava, Chet would kill him. No bothering to question him about the murders. Did Marty think he could use her as a hostage to release his brother?

They couldn’t let either of the men go. Not if they were both murderers.

Travis drove them over to Ava’s condo, parked in her driveway, and then they jumped out of his car and raced to the front door. It was unlocked. Chet smelled that the shower had been running. She must have been in the shower when the guy broke in. Had he used lockpicks? Had to have been because there was nothing that indicated he’d broken the lock and Chet was certain Ava wouldn’t have just opened the door to a stranger. Not when she knew Marty was coming for his brother and could be dangerous.

Chet stripped off his clothes and Travis was doing the same. They found men’s clothes in the kitchen, and they smelled just like Benny’s scent.

“I don’t know how you feel about this, but I’m ready to kill him,” Chet said.

“Yeah, I’m with you there. He’s not going to hurt another woman if I can help it,” Travis said, and then they both shifted.

Chet bolted out through the cougar door and Travis followed.

They ran off, neck to neck, following Ava’s scent and the male cougar’s. He was aggressive and angry, and they had to get to him before he could reach Ava. They knew he was still trying to catch her because they were still running.

They finally reached the riverbank near the falls, but there was no one there. They sniffed at the bank and smelled both cougars’ scents. But the male’s scent continued along the bank of the river. They lost Ava’s scent and Chet was sure she was swimming, or maybe she had crossed the river and ran into the woods.

Chet began to swim across the water. He wanted to see if Ava had gone to the other side, meet up with her, and protect her. Instinctively, Travis stayed on the side where they had still smelled Marty and ran along the riverbank to track him. Chet continued along the opposite bank, trying to smell any sign of Ava, but it appeared she had swum downriver with the current for some time.

Wouldn’t Marty have joined her in the water? Maybe not if he could run along the bank faster to catch up with her and just wait for her to get out on the other side, swim across, and chase after her again.

Then Chet finally found her scent way downriver and snarled at Travis. Travis was sniffing around, but he shook his head. He’d lost Marty’s scent. He had to have crossed there.

Chet tore off into the woods after the two cougars. He couldn’t wait for Travis to reach him. Then he heard shouts off in the distance. Chase, Dan, Ricky, and Hal were on their way.

Out of his peripheral vision, Chet saw Blue headed toward him as if he knew what was going on. But Chet couldn’t stop to talk to the bear about it. Chet had to reach the cougar before he could hurt Ava.

Suddenly, he heard Ava snarling and Chet’s heart about gave out. He had to reach her now.

He swore both he and Blue ran even faster to rescue her. And then they saw her leap into a tree and Marty was about to jump up there and fight her. But then he saw Chet and Blue coming for him. At first, Marty just stared at the bear as if he couldn’t believe his eyes.

Then he must have figured he’d better get the hell out of there and he tore off away from the tree and deeper into the woods.

Chet wanted to take care of Ava, but he had to catch this bastard, or he might come after her again. Or any other woman too. And Chet knew the other law enforcement officers would follow and at least one would stay with her.

But the next thing he knew, Ava was running after them. He wished she would wait for the others to show up, but then again, she didn’t know anyone else was coming to aid them.

He was damn glad Blue was still hanging around the area.

Then he heard another cougar approaching. He glanced over his shoulder. Thankfully, his friend Travis was right behind him.

The sheriff and his deputies wouldn’t be able to catch up to them as humans, though he suspected one or two of them would shift to help out.

Then they were out of the woods and Marty was running full out to reach the cliffs. Chet would track him down to the very end. When he had a mission to do, he did it, though Benny was a surprise as far as being involved in that earlier case Chet had so he hadn’t completely finished that job.

Marty finally reached the cliffs and bounded up them.

Chet was right behind him and to his surprise, Blue was climbing the cliff after him. Though the bear wasn’t as fast as the cougars and Travis quickly passed him by. Blue grunted.

But when Ava jumped up onto the boulders and was instantly past him, Blue growled.

His heart thundering, Chet was on top of the cliffs and leaping from rock to rock after Marty.

He heard snarling below the cliffs and glanced down to see six more cougars on their way. The cavalry was here and if Marty thought he had a prayer of a chance to escape them, he was wrong.

Chet was nearly within leaping distance of the cat. He hadn’t expected the cougar to whip around and pounce on him instead, as if Marty thought taking out Chet would be the end of his troubles. Now Chet knew, as angry as the big cat was, that he couldn’t control his temper, and both tore at each other with claws and teeth.

Ava was trying to get around them on the narrow ledge, but she couldn’t easily, and he was afraid she would fall while trying, but she was pacing like crazy, wanting to help him. Then Travis leaped over them and landed on the back side of Marty. The two male cougars were no match for him.

Yet he wasn’t giving up and Chet figured he planned to fight to the death. That he had nothing to gain by turning himself in, though they wanted him to confess to the crimes. Chet suspected Marty wasn’t going to do the honorable thing and confess either.

That was the way it was going to be. Marty would go to the grave with his secrets. He wasn’t getting off the cliffs alive.

Both Chet and Marty were bleeding and Travis leaped at Marty’s back and bit into his neck, killing him. Chet didn’t need the kill to feel satisfied that the cougar wouldn’t hurt anyone else. Ricky crested the top of the cliffs and just stared at the dead cougar, and glanced at Ava, but she appeared to be okay. Hal was up on top next to Ricky right after that.

Dan and Chase leaped onto the top of the cliffs at the same time, though it was getting a little crowded up there.

Dan shifted. “We’ll get his body down to the base of the cliffs and take him into town. You get yourself looked after, Chet.” He glanced at Travis.

Travis shifted. “I’m not injured.” Though his mouth was bloodied from biting Marty fatally. Then he shifted again.

Blue finally poked his head above the cliff and looked at all the cougars standing there. He shook his head. But Chet was grateful that he’d made the effort to come to his aid.

Ava was licking Chet, rubbing her face against him where he wasn’t wounded. He was afraid he was going to need to recuperate from this ordeal now too. But he was making love to Ava. Mating her. Showing her just how much he loved her.

He nuzzled her, telling her to go down the cliff and he’d follow her.

She started down it and poor Blue began the descent. It would take him a while.

As soon as Chet and Ava were at the bottom of the cliff, they ran toward the river. Travis was right behind them, and Chet figured he wanted to get to Ava’s home to call Bridget and tell her he was all right.

The others with the sheriff’s office would stay and take care of the body, while Blue? Chet had no idea what he was going to do.

They finally reached the river and swam across. Man, he was going to be sore tonight. Every muscle ached, and of course all the fresh claw marks and bite marks were burning like crazy.

They finally reached the riverbank and he stumbled. Damn it. He didn’t want Ava to think he couldn’t make love to her tonight. She nuzzled him, making sure he was all right. Travis was right there too, ready to carry Chet home if he needed to. Not that Chet needed that.

Then they loped upriver to where they would go back through the woods and head for her condo. Travis had to go with them because he’d left his clothes and vehicle at the house.

When they arrived at the condo, Ava went inside first, Chet following, and Travis bringing up the rear. Ava raced up the stairs to the bedroom and Chet assumed she was shifting up there and getting dressed.

Travis hurried to pull on his boxer briefs, then grabbed his phone and called Bridget right away. “Hey, sweetheart, I’m fine. Marty is dead. Chet’s a bit chewed up.” He glanced at Chet. “Yeah, he’ll live, but it looks like Ava will be taking him to the clinic. Ava is fine. Can you relay the message to Nina and Chet’s mother? Thanks. I’ll see you in a few minutes.” He ended the call and finished dressing while Chet was trying to dress, attempting not to groan too much. But his wounds were beginning to really hurt.

“You’re going to see one of the doctors,” Ava said, hurrying down the stairs.

“I don’t need to. I’ll be okay.”

She frowned at him. “You’ll go or I’m not mating you.”

Chet smiled at her.

“I’m serious.”

Travis chuckled. “I’m getting out of your hair, and I’m heading home. In the morning, we can interrogate Benny further.”

“Yeah, sounds good, Travis.” Chet let out his breath. “Okay, so I’ll go to the clinic, Ava. But I’m not staying overnight there.”

“See you tomorrow,” Travis said, and headed outside.