Ricky looked up at Hal with watery eyes. "I…I shot a cougar when he lunged for me. He…he bit me."
He was searching for answers, trying to explain what he'd seen and what he'd done.
"Yeah. We'll take care of everything. We just need to take care of you now and get you some medical attention for the bite wound. Let's go." Hal didn't want to say anything more to Ricky about the cougar not being a cougar. They had to discuss the business with others in their community. They didn't have one leader, but anything of this magnitude had to be discussed with the general shifter population. Not in a public venue, but secretly through a group email, the subject coded for cougar shifters only, in case anyone's email was hacked.
If Ricky had been turned, everyone had to know about it. If he hadn't been—that would be an entirely different matter altogether. Either they would have to convince him he hadn't seen what he thought he had, which usually wasn't an option, they had to turn him, or they had to eliminate him. Which was why the majority had to agree to it. As for who would turn Ricky if that was necessary? Dan would probably have the task, as sheriff.
"I'm going to carry you out of here," Hal said as he and Tracey helped Ricky to stand.
"I…I can walk." But Ricky really couldn't get far under his own steam.
He was shaking so hard from the adrenaline, fear, the bite wound, and killing his brother, Hal knew Ricky was in shock. As much as Ricky was leaning on them for support, they couldn't allow him to be all tough and macho and try to walk out of here on his own.
"Let Hal carry you," Tracey said, holding Ricky's arm. "You're shaking so hard, we'll never get you to his vehicle. We need to do this quickly. Believe me, if Hal had experienced the trauma you have, we'd have to be carrying him out of here."
Hal raised a brow in response to Tracey's comment, and she smiled. But her comment also coaxed a small smile out of Ricky, and Hal was glad she could lift his spirits a bit, despite the circumstances. He could see that she could be a real asset in any crisis.
They heard movement in the storage room and both he and Tracey set Ricky back down on the floor, gently, but quickly, and readied their guns.
"Just me," Stryker called out and stalked into the saloon. "Dan and a few of our men are here. They're at the south edge of town, but I wanted to let you know they're on their way."
"Good. Let them know what the situation is in here." Which meant Hal wanted Stryker to tell them they had a possible newly turned shifter on their hands. And all about the shifter that Ricky had killed and that it was Ricky's brother.
"Yeah. Gotcha." Stryker hurried outside to warn them.
With Tracey's assistance, Hal helped Ricky to his feet again, and then lifted him to carry him out of the saloon.
"Oh," Ricky groaned.
"Hang in there, buddy. We'll get this taken care of, you'll be back at the ranch, and riding horses before you know it."
Ricky groaned again, and Hal wasn't sure if it was because Ricky was still afraid of them, or if he was just in so much pain. Maybe a little of both.
Hal carried him out of the saloon, Tracey sticking close to him. Dan and Stryker stalked through the town to greet them, Dan's gaze on Hal and Ricky while Stryker spoke to Dan in private.
When Dan reached them, he said, "We'll have you in a hospital bed before you know it. We've got an ambulance on the way, but it can't drive over that rutted wagon trail."
"I'll carry him in that direction until the EMTs reach us."
"Okay. He'll be taken good care of. Doc's waiting for him at the clinic."
"Good." Hal wanted Ricky to live. He wanted him to have a normal life.
Changing any person could be problematic, whether he had a family or not. Sometimes, if they hadn't learned to behave as a cougar when they were young, adjusting as a new cougar when they were fully grown could be more than difficult. It could be impossible. If the shifter couldn’t be controlled? It wasn't a good ending, but their kind had no other choice. They had to keep their uniqueness secret at all costs.
"Hey, Dan, can you ask Mrs. Blasdell if she has a regular schedule for when she runs into town?"
"Already checked with her late last night. She goes into town on Fridays because they give free samples of food at the grocery store, and on Monday, she runs other errands—post office, drugstore, and the bank. So she regularly makes two trips into town at the very least."
"At a particular time?" Hal asked.
"Always in the mornings and she sometimes has lunch or goes to see a movie with her lady friends."
"So she's gone for several hours. Long enough for the traffickers to move stuff in and out of the place," Tracey said.
"Yeah. I would have asked her to vary her schedule, but I don't want her involved in this. Better that she's out of the area when they're moving the goods."
"But they've had the shootouts when she's been home. And she's called us when she's seen people moving about," Hal said.
"Except for New Year's Day. I could have used her call into the sheriff's office that day. I'm going with Hal and Ricky," Tracey told Dan as his gaze switched to her.
"Where do you want me?" Stryker asked.
"Hal and Tracey can watch the EMTs and Ricky make it into town. I need you here to help track down the other cougar. And we'll take care of…" Dan paused until Ricky was out of earshot, though the way Ricky was breathing, Hal thought he had passed out.
Halfway down the path, they heard men jogging on the wickedly rutted trail. The EMTs carrying a litter. They quickly took Ricky from Hal, put him on the litter, and checked his vital signs. Dark haired, Emmett Powell frowned. "He's been bitten by a…"
The EMT didn't have to ask if it was a shifter. His gaze met Hal and he nodded.
"All right. We'll take care of him from here."
"We'll give you a ride to the ambulance and provide protection on the drive back to town," Hal said.
"Sounds good," Emmett said, his partner, Fremont Gunnison, shaking his head, his green eyes glancing at Tracey as if she caused this calamity.
But then he gave her a smile, and Hal assumed it was more that he was interested in her. Hal growled, "Let's get moving."
It was a long hike to Hal's truck and Hal and Tracey were both armed and ready for a fight while the EMTs carried the litter. Suddenly, Tracey jerked her head to the side, stopped, and peered into the woods.
"Did you see something?" Hal stopped to look in the direction she was studying.
"Stay with Ricky. I'm going to check it out."
"No, you're not. What did you think you saw? Or heard?" Hal hadn't meant to sound that bossy, but she wasn't risking her life, running off into the woods by herself. Not with her track record around these men.
"I saw a cougar."
"He wouldn't come near us with all this firepower." Hal was quickly assessing their options, stay together, or split up with one of them providing cover for the EMTs and Ricky.
"Someone has to stay with Ricky and protect them." Tracey looked up at Hal, and he could tell that she was waiting for him to agree with her and make a joint decision.
"I'll check out what you saw."
Tracey narrowed her eyes at him, and he could tell she was warring with herself as to whether she'd agree or not. "You could be led into an ambush."
"Better me than you. You have to keep your gun ready and protect Ricky and the EMTs."
"All right, he went that way." She motioned in the direction she must have seen the cougar go. "And don't get yourself killed, or I'll never forgive you."
He smiled a little. "Hell, that sounds like a proposal in the making."
She grunted and took off to catch up with the EMTs and Ricky.
Hal watched her for a moment to make sure she caught up with the other men. He really thought she was beginning to see their relationship as going somewhere, then he headed into the woods. He had no idea what he was getting himself into with the wild cat, but he decided that she needed him in her life. For backup. And for anything
else she needed him for. He definitely needed her. He couldn't even imagine seeing a sunrise without her, or visiting the waterfall and not having her with him.
Mind focused where it needed to be, he went into tracking mode. But the cat was on the run and unless Hal shifted and took chase after the cat as a cat, he'd never catch up to him. And he probably wouldn't catch up to him now even as a cat. Hal might as well join Tracey and the others and head back to Yuma Town. Why had the cougar been watching them? Trying to determine if Ricky was dead? Or maybe trying to learn if they were hauling Ricky's brother out instead.
Watching for any sign of trouble, he hurried off to join Tracey and the others. "It's just me," he said, before Tracey or anyone else could see him. He didn't want her to shoot him, accidentally.
Relief shown on her face, and he smiled. He knew she cared about him.
"Did you learn anything?"
"No. I would have had to have shifted to catch up to him, if I could have caught up to him and—"
"You worried about us."
"You're damn right I did." He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, gun still in his hand in case he had to use it, then leaned down to kiss her.
"You know when we're on guard duty…"
"No kissing allowed?"
The two EMTs glanced back at them and smiled a little.
Tracey bumped Hal with her hip in a playful way that said she knew just why he'd said it loud enough for the other men to hear.
The EMTs carried Ricky the remaining three miles to the truck, then put him in the back seat, while one of the men stayed with him and the other rode up front with Tracey and Hal.
"He should sleep for a while," Emmett said. "Doc will stitch him up and give him a blood transfusion."
"I wish we could have checked to see if he was healing any faster," Tracey's voice was filled with worry.
Hal knew it wasn't just because she was worried about his injury. She was concerned about whether or not Ricky was now one of them.
"We'll know soon enough. I don't think we've met." Emmett smiled at Tracey in that primal way that said he was interested in Hal's cat.
Hal was dying to say she was his, back off, but he was afraid that might not go over too well with Tracey since she hadn't quite agreed to anything that said they were committed to one another. Instead, he gave Emmett a growly look to back off. Emmett smiled knowingly back at him. Tracey shook her head. Hal hadn't thought he'd growled at all, well, not loud enough for anyone to hear. But maybe he had.
When they reached Mrs. Blasdell's house, and the location of the ambulance at the end of the trail, they hurried to transfer Ricky into the ambulance. As late as it was, Mrs. Blasdell's house was dark, and it appeared she must have gone to bed and was sleeping.
"You mentioned you'd tell her when everything was fine," Tracey said as Hal and she climbed back into the truck.
"Dan is here now. He'll take care of it so we can stay with the ambulance."
"I can't believe that Ricky's brother had been turned. What will happen to Ricky?" she asked.
"He's going to have to be watched 24-7. Ted will have to keep an eye on him. Me too. If he has been turned, it all depends on him—whether he can handle being one of us or not."
"Have you ever known anyone who was newly turned?" She hadn't. She couldn't even imagine the trouble that could cause.
"Yeah. Two brothers. One took the change fine as well as could be expected. The other didn't. He ended up committing suicide. Not everyone can handle the differences well."
"Were they living here?"
"No. We have a great support network here. Everyone will become Ricky's new family, if he turns out to be one of us."
"What about his brother? Ricky is feeling really bad about that. Can you imagine shooting a cougar, knowing the big cat is going to kill you, but then learning the cat is a man? And not any man, but your own blood brother? If his brother had tried to kill him when in human form—Ricky probably would have hesitated to shoot him. But not when it was a wild animal."
"He's going to be hurting emotionally all right. We'll all be there for him."
"Who's going to watch over Ricky tonight at the hospital?" Tracey asked as they followed the ambulance into Yuma Town.
"Dan will have men deputized to stand guard. Ricky will be well protected. If he's now one of us, his wounds might heal faster. It's hard to say. It depends on how quickly his body accepts the change. Depending on the individual's immune system, he might not even be changed."
"Okay, so if he is, then what? Return him to the ranch? He can't go into a safe house in protective custody. Not if he has been changed. Besides, someone needs to be with him who knows him. You, me, Ted. Someone he feels comfortable with. Even Stryker because he had dinner with us. Ricky is going to be scared and confused. And so upset that he killed a cougar who turned out to be his brother. That his brother tried to kill him as a cougar. What a nightmare."
"That's why they thought they had to eliminate you. You're a cougar on this case. You could eventually I.D. them through your enhanced sense of smell. It's one thing to keep ahead of the rest of your agents, but you had too great of an advantage."
"How would Mooney have known to hire these guys?"
"What if they have been helping him with his guiding operations already? What if Ricky was wrong about his brother never hunting? Hell, that's something else we can check into. See if he had any hunting gear. If he did, then Mooney learned Benny and Kolby were really great animal trackers. So he hired them. But the reason they're so good at it is because of their cougar senses. Though, of course, Mooney knows nothing about it. Then again, he might be a cougar too. They learn you're a cougar shifter and tracking Mooney, and ultimately them. So they have to eliminate you."
"Possibly. I keep wondering if Mooney was there, watching the whole setup from the first. I can't imagine he wouldn't have been."
"What if you hit him with a stray bullet? If his wound is still giving him trouble, that could be another reason he's after you. The first time ever that he's been hunted, wounded, and then chased further on the hunt."
Tracey smiled. "That would be a good one." She sighed. "I watched him walk into the café after the first battle. He seemed all right, but then that was six months after the shootout. He might have been wounded, still having some discomfort, but hiding it from me to ensure I wouldn't notice."
"Certainly a good possibility. I suppose you're going to want to take first watch after Ricky gets out of surgery. He'll have a private room, but another bed will be in the room, and you can use that to sleep in until he wakes."
"Thanks, Hal. I wasn't certain how your clinic was set up."
"It's mainly for our people. If we get a case of a human who needs care, we send him to the next town to the hospital. Are you sure you want to stay in the room with him? Maybe I should." Hal wasn't certain she could handle Ricky if he were to shift into a cougar in the middle of the night and go crazy.
"He's injured and will be knocked out for the pain. Besides, he knows me. I'm sure I'll be fine with him if he wakes during what's left of the night."
Hal pulled her into a hard embrace, kissed her on the forehead, and held her tight as they waited for Ricky to get out of surgery. "He should be all right." He couldn't help worrying about him, and Tracey looked up and smiled at him. "What?" he asked.
She snuggled against him. "You're as bad as Chase is about his wife coming in—"
In a rush, Chase ran inside the clinic, his face flushed, but before Hal had a chance to ask what was wrong, it dawned on him. Chase was going to be a dad. Chase grabbed a wheelchair and headed back to the door.
Hal and Tracey hurried after him.
"Is Shannon having contractions?" Tracey hurried outside to open the truck door for Shannon.
"Too close together." Chase sounded flustered.
Hal nearly smiled, only he'd been feeling as anxious about Ricky. And still was.
Tracey held onto the wheelchair as Chase and Ha
l helped Shannon into it. She was clutching her belly, groaning, and her face was flushed.
Chase turned the wheelchair around and raced up the sidewalk to the clinic. Hal wanted Chase to slow down. He couldn't see why Chase needed to panic so, and he could only make things worse for his mate.
"Get Doc," Chase ordered as he headed for the birthing room.
"She's in surgery, but we'll help you get Shannon into the birthing chair," Hal said. They usually didn't have a couple of emergencies at the same time.
"Her water broke. The babies are coming."
Now Hal felt panicked. He rushed off to the surgery room, then paused and returned to help Chase with getting Shannon onto the birthing chair, while Tracey took off, hopefully to let the doc know they had a couple of babies on the way.
A nurse came in to help take charge of the situation as Hal waited for the doc to show up, not that he could do anything, but he planned to stay there to help out if they needed him.
"Dr. Parker's coming," Tracey said. "Ricky's in the recovery room now. She just finished with him."
"We're okay here," the nurse said to both Hal and Tracey.
Hal let out a big sigh of relief and headed out of the room with Tracey. She smiled at him. "Birthing a foal was enough for one week, right?"
He smiled down at her. "Yeah. I didn't have an instruction card for birthing cougar babies."
They checked on Ricky, and he was sound asleep, his neck and shoulder bandaged, his expression sweet and peaceful.
"He'll be all right," Hal said and wrapped his arm around Tracey's shoulder.
"He will. Given time."
After an hour, the nurse moved Ricky into his room, and Hal helped her move him onto the bed.
"Come on. Why don't you get some rest? We were kind of busy half the night. I'll serve guard duty first. Someone else can spell me in a while." Hal rubbed Tracey's arm.
She kissed Hal's lips, hugged him, and nodded. "I'm exhausted and if I don't get any sleep, I'll be worthless the rest of the day."
"Not to me." He kissed her again, and then left her alone to pull guard duty outside the room.