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bowl in his cage, snarled, then laid his head on his paws. Lone catamounts might be willing to feast on raw meat, but he had a domesticated palate. With any luck, they’d be gone soon and he could make his escape.
    About thirty minutes later, his chance arrived. As if by silent, mutual agreement, they shut down the computers, turned off all the lights except one small one and headed for the side door.
    Beth stopped by his cage and looked inside. “Hey, baby. We’ll be back first thing in the morning.” She glanced at the untouched hunk of meat. “I know it’s not venison or rabbit, but it’s good. I promise. Eat.”
    Not a chance. He liked his beef at least seared, not still mooing.
    Bravely, she touched the bars on the cage as if she wanted to reach in and stroke him. He wouldn’t have minded that. She smelled so damn good, and it was apparent she hadn’t meant him harm. He’d have to find her when he was human again and give good buddy Tim a run for his money. Perhaps she’d let him put her in the cage for a while.
    He began to purr.
    “Night, night.” She shrugged out of her lab coat, placed it on a hook by the door, then followed Tim outside. She had an awesome backside, nicely rounded hips and butt encased in denim.
    He caught a glimpse of the sky when they exited. Still light out. He estimated maybe an hour ’til sunset, so he’d give it an hour then make his escape.
    He passed the time in the cage, just to make sure they didn’t return, and let his thoughts stray to Beth. A shame she’d turned out to be a scientist who studied wildlife. As much as he toyed with the idea of seeing her again, he knew that brief glimpse of her backside as she left would be his last. He stared at the bars surrounding him and at the lab equipment nearby while queasy sensations churned in his stomach—not from hunger so much as revulsion.
    This could be his dreary future if he wasn’t more careful.
    When he thought nightfall had come, he transformed into his human body, reached through the bars and unlatched the door. He slipped out of the cage, stretched, then moved to the side exit. It was locked, but luckily from the inside. When he cracked the door open and peered outside, he instantly knew where he was. Right behind the Bavarian Inn at the far end of the back parking lot. The same hotel he and Reidar had walked Beth to the other night. He closed the door and glanced around the mobile lab.
    He pulled Beth’s lab coat from the hook and tried to put it on. Though tall, she didn’t have wide enough shoulders, and he couldn’t get it on. He glanced around for something else to cover his nudity, but saw nothing.
    Okay then.
    He looked back at the cage. No way could a wild puma reach through the bars as he had and open the door. He had to make his escape look plausible. With a groan, he crawled back into the cage, shut the hatch, and then thanking the heavens that she hadn’t used a padlock, kicked at the door until the slide bolt bent enough for him to jimmy it open. She might be stunned to think a cat could force its way out by breaking the latch, but that beat the alternative of opening it undamaged.
    Free of the cage once more, he studied the trailer’s exits. The double doors were no good because their locking mechanisms were on the outside. But the single one on the side offered an opportunity for escape because it didn’t have a deadbolt, just a simple push-button lock on a brass lever handle.
    Transforming into catamount form, he clawed at the door several times to leave obvious markings behind and then pawed the handle.
    He felt a momentary twinge of guilt for not closing the door with all of the expensive-looking lab equipment inside, but a cougar wouldn’t push it shut behind him, so he left it as is and leaped down the steps, darting into the darkness beneath the trailer. Within moments he was off and running through the bushes, headed for home.
    It didn’t take him long to cut across the woodland, down