Read NocC 017 - Caridad Pineiro - Night of the Cougar - Harlequin 2012-06 for Free Online

sensors deployed.”
    “But you saw something.”
    Relief filled him when he realized that she believed him. So far.
    “Like I said, I thought it might have been a person, but when I managed to drag myself out of the car, I saw a cougar. A big one. It was lying in the middle of the road, deathly still.”
    She made the connection quickly even though it was wrong. “The prints on the deck?”
    Yes, but not from the animal he had hit that fateful day.
    “I should have stayed in the car. Before I knew what was happening, the cougar got to its feet and stared at me. Its eyes were glowing this weird bright color.”
    “Cat’s eyes glow in the dark,” she offered.
    “It was daylight, Jamie. It wasn’t normal. The cougar wasn’t normal.”
    Jamie’s gaze drifted down to the pinkish scars along his ribs. “It did that to you.”
    He nodded and held out his arm, palm up, to display the other fresh scars along the inside of his forearm. “It raked its claws along my ribs and bit me, but then it dropped to the ground again. Its sides were heaving, and it was having trouble breathing.”
    “It was dying.” Jamie traced the scars on his forearm with her fingers, trying to soothe him.
    Nodding once more, he socked back another big gulp of the Scotch. “I think so. I crawled away from it, just in case, and then I passed out from the pain.”
    “And you think that made you…a were-cougar?” Jamie asked, certain that he believed it without hesitation. Not sure she could accept his words so easily.
    He shook his head and looked away, dragged his fingers through the already tousled strands of his longish strawberry-blond hair, clearly frustrated.
    She rose up on her knees, cradled his jaw and urged his face back until he was looking at her once again. “I know that you believe this, and I want to help.”
    “I’m not crazy, Jamie. It’s not safe for you to stay here tonight. But the road is impassable and with night coming so quickly at this time of year…”
    As his voice trailed off, she caressed his jaw gently. “I’m not hiking down the mountain, if that’s what you’re hinting at. I want to help you, Galen.”
    With a resigned sigh and nod, he said, “Then you’ll help tie me up later so I can’t hurt you.”

Chapter Six
    “Are you comfortable?” Jamie asked as she gave another tug on the straps of leather binding Galen to the four thick posts of his massive bed.
    Galen jerked powerfully against the ties, but they held fast. After their discussion late that morning, Galen had fashioned thick but flexible straps from an assortment of belts in his closet. Now he was bound and spread-eagled across the bed, his magnificent body bare.
    “They should hold, but just in case, some silver buckshot will help.” He jerked his head in the direction of the 12-gauge pump-action shotgun he had loaded earlier. “Just point and shoot. You don’t need to worry about aiming. That’s the beauty of a shotgun.”
    She sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her hand across his smooth chest. “I won’t shoot you.”
    He didn’t argue with her. Risking a nervous glance out the window to the darkening sky, he said, “It’ll happen soon. I can feel it inside me.”
    “Where?” she asked, and ran her hand down to his midsection, where the muscles in his core had begun to tremble.
    “There,” he acknowledged, and yanked at the ties, growing more agitated.
    She stroked one hand across his abdomen and the other along his chest, hoping that when nothing happened, she’d be able to convince Galen to get some help from a qualified professional. She had no doubt, after hearing his story, that the accident had not just injured his body, but his mind as well.
    “It’ll be fine,” she urged, but beneath her hand his body was almost violently shaking now.
    “Get away from me,” he warned, a low rumbly sound mixing with his voice.
    “Galen.” She ran her hand across his abdomen once more, but was surprised by the heat beneath