Read Hunting the She-Cat for Free Online Page B

naturally want what Gald
earns. Her sacrifice will be made worthy when Gald is in full
power.”
    A chill went through Zeff as there was
an odd, admiring, nearly worshipful, light in his eyes when Sneal
spoke the name, ‘Gald’.
    “Maybe she’s had better nurture here on
this backward world. Intervention. Positive focus.”
    Sneal shook his head and smiled a strip
of snarl. Zeff swore he saw bared fangs. “Idealism. You’re a damn
romantic dreamer, Harro. Straighten up.”
    He shrugged and smiled a friendly
smile. “Maybe I am.” Didn’t like the way the Sneal eyed him. He’d
need to back off and keep his mouth shut now. Said more than enough
already. Learned exactly what he needed to know.
    The console pinged. “There we go,” Zeff
said. “Got a reading on the location of the commander’s
transporter.”
    “Good. Steady then. Keep him on our
screen,” Sneal snapped.
    “South fifty kilometers.”
    “Good. Match the heading to his. Tail
him. Keep us in his blind spot. Back off enough to be beyond his
scanners.”
    “Don’t like spying on our
Commander.”
    “Suck it up. Can’t take the chance he
gets soft on the female. We need a backup plan.”
    “Hah. Would not like to fight the
Commander either.”
    “It will not come to that. However if
it does, we will prevail.”

Chapter Five

    Misha settled in, deeply and
irrationally relieved to be in the sanctuary of her mountain home,
deep in the woods with the high cliffs to her back. After stashing
some food supplies, she was on the sofa, knees up with a cup of
green tea and an old patchwork quilt over her shoulders. It was
unseasonably cool today. Her uncle’s small black and white Boston
Terrier lay on the sofa by her side, every bit of him snuggled
under her quilt.
    “Some tough guard dog you are, Gixie,”
she said. “Relaxing on the job.”
    She closed her eyes. What was it Lugar
had said to her with his exotic green eyes so serious? ‘I came for
you’. That was it. “I came for you, female.” All imperious and
bossy. She shivered a bit as she remembered his commanding
voice.
    From out beyond her windows she heard a
wild cat call. Her old friends knew she was here and welcomed her
back with joyous cries.
    Pushing the blanket aside, she went to
the window. Night was falling. Did she dare transform and take a
quick run? Blood bubbled in her veins at the thought.
    But she was here to hide, to lick her
wounds, to lay low until the big monster, Lugar, gave up and took
his cat self back to whatever nut house he came from.
    “But he’s right, Gix. I am a shifter. A
she-cat,” she whispered. He was not crazy about that much. She
flexed her shoulders and neck, resisting the overpowering urge to
shift shapes now and leave the safety her cabin walls, to explore
the beloved woods and trails of her childhood.
    Another invitation came from the lynx
pride. She closed her eyes and sighed.
    “What the hell?”
    She grabbed Gixie and took him to the
safety of his little crate in the mud room off the kitchen. “Sorry,
bud. I’ll be back ASAP.” He whined a protest until she tossed him a
treat. “Uncle would say I spoil you.”
    Once on the back porch, she locked the
door behind her. She launched herself up to the railing and shifted
in midair. A little dramatic and foolish but she felt wild and
foolish tonight.
    A full, white moon climbed the starlit
sky, outshining the stars.
    Misha called back to her friends and
ran, galloping over fallen logs and through the deep woods,
exhilarated, her vision so much better in this form. Her sense of
smell enriched ten thousand times over.
    The freedom and the exertion of the run
was blood-pounding good. She’d held herself in human form so
rigidly without a shift for over two years. The risk of being
caught, even here, grew each year with high-value vacation homes
being built in these hills where the land was once hers
alone.
    Also, she’d never felt total control in
she-cat form, as heavenly tempting as it was. She