Please, God, let him listen.

If it had been her alone, she would have stayed to fight. But Dan's life was in her hands right now, and damn, it felt precious. She'd do whatever it took to get him out of harm's way. And once she did? These sons of bitches wouldn't have to come looking for her again.

She would find them.

She launched herself from the passenger's side door out into the damp grass, eyes glued to the sky, nostrils flaring to catch the scents of her enemies.

If they had expected Dan to crash a mile back after the first rock had struck, then it would take the big cat another minute or two to cover the distance. The eagle, though small, was a formidable, vicious predator. But once they hit the forest just a few yards away, the canopy of trees would hamper its movements. Dan, with his military training, actually had a shot at fighting the thing off with only minor injuries if he played his cards right. That would leave her with the mountain lion shifter. She wasn't the biggest or even the fastest of the shifters, but she prided herself on being among the most cunning.

One on one, hand to hand, she'd bet on herself every time.

She just wished she wasn't gambling with Dan's life.

He’d had just reached her when another, bloodcurdling screech came from the sky.

"Go!"

To Dan's credit, the expression on his face changed from shock to determination as he grabbed her hand and yanked her toward the trees. They trampled together through the underbrush, branches slapping at their faces, and brambles and thorns clawing at their legs.

"Which way, east or west?" he demanded, slowing for her response.

"Doesn't matter. The more dense the wood, the better," she said, taking the lead and tugging him along with her.

She heard it before she saw it. A flutter of branches overhead. The swoosh of wide, lush wings as the bird of prey came barreling through the trees.

"Duck and cover your head," she shouted, following her own advice an instant before she felt the scrape of talons against the bare nape of her neck. The bird of prey had nicked her, but not enough to maim. She risked a glance over her shoulder for Dan and found him hunkered above her like a roof in the rain. Stunned, she reached up and touched the back of her neck, finding her fingers damp with blood.

Not from talons at all. It had been the scrape of a golden star worn by her Sheriff protector.

Another gush of warmth shot through her, but this time it was laced with cold, icy terror and topped off with fury.

"Do you have a death wish?" she demanded, wriggling her shoulders until he straightened away from her. "You said you'd follow my lead, so follow it, damn it. Or you're going to get us both killed."

She had just turned him around to assess the damage to his back when a low, chuffing sound reached her ears followed by the rustle of underbrush.

"It's going to get bad, Dan. Really bad. And if you won't run, then you have to promise me at least to stay back. No matter what you see...no matter what you hear. Stay. Back."

Dan's strong throat worked as he straightened to standing and reached a hand down to help her rise.

"I'll do my best."

He didn't say the rest, but his unspoken words lay between them, loud and clear.

But I ain't making any promises.

That would have to do, because there time was up.

A low, gurgling snarl came from just a dozen yards away. She reached for her waistband and drew out one of a pair of throwing knives she had secreted there.

"Jesus, what the--"

She used her shoulder to drive into Dan hard enough to send him to the ground, and then leapt over his prone form right as the mountain lion sprang toward him.

God, the thing was huge.

Almost as large as an African lion, and she wondered if he was some sort of mixed breed of cat. She didn't let the surprise slow her down, launching the first slim blade into the air with lethal precision. The light was fading fast, but with her keen eyesight at that close distance, she could see that she'd scored a direct hit, right in the fleshy part of its mouth. The animal let out a roar of fury as it stumbled back.

To his credit, Dan backed her up like a pro, firing his Glock from a prone position just seconds later and hitting the animal's side.

There was no time to celebrate, though. The eagle had doubled back and was hurtling through the air, like a feathered missile, straight for her.

It felt like it happened in slow motion. One second, she was sure her exposed face and neck were going to be chewed up like chopped meat. The next, Dan was leaping to his feet, knocking the bird from the sky with one, massive fist.

The bird hit the ground hard and floundered, scrabbling backward. Dan didn't hesitate, lining up and firing four shots in quick succession at the animal's center mass.

The eagle shifter twitched once, then again before stilling.

"Keep your gun trained on the animal, Dan," she ground out, "and shoot again if it moves."

"Roger that."

She turned her attention back to the second assailant who had just rebounded from its wounds and started padding toward her with a snarl. A strange sense of calm settled over her as it broke into a run.

It was literally do or die. Either she stopped this thing or Dan was almost certainly a goner.

She closed her fingers over the second slim piece of steel at her waist and dispatched the second knife, this time, harnessing every ounce of strength she had before letting it fly. A truer shot had never been had as the blade flew through the air before burying itself deep in the lion's eye.

Deep enough to maim or worse. At best, it would take at least a day to heal, and that was if it didn't lose the eye altogether. The creature roared and then shuddered before lurching backward and then breaking into a run.

She briefly entertained the idea of a chase, but it would be pointless. She couldn't hope to catch him on two legs, and wasn't about to leave Dan alone. Besides, her large wings were useless in the heavily treed terrain.

She blew out a shaky sigh and ran a trembling hand through her snarled hair, the adrenaline draining away in one fell swoop.

That had been so close. Too close. And being under Dan's care had nearly cost him his life. Somewhere along the line, between the time she'd left Europe to come and convince Etienne to leave Taya and the time she'd become a fugitive herself, the Council had changed its M.O.

Apparently, all bets were off. They no longer cared who saw them, or what it looked like to the outside world. Suddenly, they were willing to risk it all to make sure she was disposed of.

Not good.

She pushed turned to face Dan, pulse pounding as she realized she still had no idea what to tell him. What to say when two wild animals behaved in a way that defied explanation?

"Dan, look. I know this probably seems--"

"Mina."

"Just let me finish--"

"No." His stark, angular face went pale as he stared at a spot somewhere behind her to her left.

A sense of dread, more pronounced than ever, settled over her as she turned slowly, to follow his gaze.

There, on the leaf-covered ground where a dead eagle used to lie, was a naked man with bullet holes riddling his belly.

And wings.

Shit.