Ricky Jones owed everything to Tracey and Hal Haverton, but also to so many others in Yuma Town. They had saved his brother’s life. And they’d saved his. Here, all he’d been was an informant, dreaming of being an agent who took down wildlife traffickers just like Tracey did. And then Hal too. He liked what the guys in the sheriff’s office got to do too. Then Leyton and his agents came along and he was torn between doing their kind of work, taking down murderous, rogue cougars. Though he still was a bit miffed that Leyton had swept Kate off her feet. Well, and he’d had a giant crush on Tracey too, while he worked as her informant, before he’d been turned, and Hal had mated her. See? The agent always got the girl.

Maybe Ricky could be the sheriff someday when Dan retired. He loved being a cougar. Newly turned still, though he and his brother were getting a lot better at controlling their shifting. He loved the townspeople who had welcomed him and Kolby into their hearts, since they’d had no family left of their own.

He was curious about the woman Dan was protecting. He’d seen Mrs. Fitz and she said the beautiful woman was an FBI agent. In the worst way, he wanted to see her. He didn’t think he could do that kind of work. Not when he was newly turned. Living and working among the cougars, no problem.

For now, though, he and his brother were running as cougars in the woods around Dan’s house to try to locate where the news reporter had trekked. He wanted in the worst way to find something useful for Dan and the she-cat. He missed doing the clandestine work for Tracey.

They could look for clues in the woods a lot easier when they were cougars with their noses to the ground. They had to do ranching chores on Hal’s horse ranch after that, so they had to do this quickly and then come back tomorrow and search some more.

Even though they were working at the ranch to earn their keep, everyone had been teaching them hand-to-hand combat and weapons’ qualifications training for when Ricky and his brother were old enough to work at law enforcement pursuits. They loved the horses though too. As long as Ricky didn’t have to babysit all the new Haverton babies, he was fine. Of course, when the kids were older, he was all set to teach them how to ride.

Then he heard someone walking around the woods, the leaves crunching beneath his feet. He went to see who it was, figuring it was Chase or Stryker. What he hadn’t expected to see was the reporter with a gun in one hand, and a camera hanging from around his neck.

Ricky held very still, half hidden in the brush, but he should blend in perfectly with his surroundings if he didn’t move. Then Kolby came running out of the brush, and Ricky couldn’t warn him in time to watch out for the armed reporter. He knew his brother had come in search of him and knew he’d get shot. Ricky leapt as far as a cougar could as the reporter fired off a shot.

Ricky slammed into him, taking him down to the ground, the man crying out. He still had hold of the gun and lifted it to shoot Ricky. Ricky knew Hal and Dan would want to kill Ricky for what he was about to do. The reporter fired another shot and the bullet slammed into Ricky’s chest. Ricky bit the reporter’s wrist, hard, drawing blood. The reporter yelled out and dropped the weapon, but Ricky collapsed on the man. Ricky had been hit and he was just beginning to feel the excruciating pain. Ricky knew he would be in so much trouble now.

Kolby was there in a heartbeat, the reporter managing to get the gun again, but Kolby bit the reporter in the wrist this time as he fired another shot off, but the bullet pinged against a nearby tree.

Ricky hoped that would be the end of the reporter grabbing for his gun again, his own strength dwindling.

Ricky knew the reporter believed he was fighting for his life in the face of a couple of man-eating cougars, so he didn’t blame him. If he had been the reporter, he would have reacted in the same way. Ricky’s head seemed to suddenly weigh a ton, and he dropped his head on the man’s chest, unable to hold it up any longer.

The reporter had passed out. Maybe from sheer fright. Maybe from being bitten.

Kolby moved in beside Ricky and began licking his cheek, trying to stir him. He stared at his brother, but even his eyelids grew too heavy, and he finally just shut them, grinding his teeth against the pain in his chest.

This was one problem with being in law enforcement. Even if he wasn’t there quite yet. Taking a bullet that hurt like hell wasn’t something he really thought he could get used to. Saving his brother’s life? He was always on the front line for that.

Dan got the call from Chase that shots had been fired at Dan’s home and he said, “I’m on my way.” He raced up the stairs to tell Addie he was needed at his place, worried the assassins were targeting the workmen.

“I thought it was another assassination attempt, someone believing you and Addie were at the house, but Ricky was shot. The ambulance is here. Just meet us at the clinic,” Chase said.

“What happened?”

“Carl shot Ricky.”

“The damned reporter? What the hell? Did you read the bastard his rights? Is he in jail by now? How is Ricky?” Dan said, “Just a second.”

Addie was sitting up in bed. “What’s happened?”

“That reporter shot Ricky, the boy who works for the Havertons at their ranch. I’m running over to the clinic. Ricky should be there soon.”

“I’m coming with you.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I’m not going to sit in bed forever. I’m feeling better. I can rest afterward.”

Dan put the phone on speaker and set it on the table while he helped Addie get dressed. “Okay, tell me exactly what happened.” He suspected Ricky had found Carl and told him to get off the property, maybe threatened him when the man wouldn’t listen to him, and Carl shot him.

“No, I didn’t read him his rights. Ricky bit him.”

“What?” Dan couldn’t have heard Chase correctly. A wind was blowing outside where Chase was and making a lot of noise on the phone, despite how good their hearing was.

“Yeah, Ricky and his brother were running in the woods as cougars.”

“In broad daylight?”

“It’s heavily wooded around your home and no one was supposed to be there, other than us.”

“Carl shot Ricky?” Now Dan understood why Chase hadn’t read Carl his rights. He could still charge him with trespassing and endangerment to wildlife. “How bad is Ricky?”

“Kate’s working on him. We won’t know until she comes out of the operating room. Kolby is pacing around the hallway ready to bite Carl again, only fatally this time. I just arrived at the clinic.”

“You said Ricky bit him.”

“Yeah. The first time, to make him drop his weapon. He was going to shoot Kolby. Ricky had to make Carl drop his weapon, which he did, but not before he shot Ricky. Then when Kolby came to Ricky’s aid, Carl picked up the gun again, and Kolby bit him this time. He said he’d do it again too.”

“Hell. If there’s one person I never wanted to see again in Yuma Town or anywhere else, for that matter, is Carl Nelson.”

“That makes the two of us. I’m calling Tracey and Hal now to come see Ricky and talk with Kolby as soon as you’re here.”

Dan and Addie got in his Jeep and he roared around to the next street over where the clinic was. “We’re at the clinic, just getting out of the Jeep.”

“What about Addie?”

“Yeah, she’s with me. She didn’t want to be left behind.” Dan escorted her into the clinic and met Chase in the lobby.

Ricky’s brother, Kolby, saw Dan and hurried to speak with him, wiping tears off his cheeks. “I’m so sorry. I’m…I’m sorry.”

“We protect our own,” Dan said, squeezing his shoulder. “You were trying to help. Carl is at fault over this. Hal and Tracey will be here shortly.”

“They’ll want to kill me too.”

Chase shook his head. “You did what you had to do. Any of us would have done the same.”

Kolby gave a derisive laugh. “You would have terminated him.”

“Probably,” Chase said, “after having dealt with Carl before.”

“Where’s Carl?” Dan asked.

Chase motioned to room one. “He’s handcuffed to a bed. And we’ve got all his video and camera equipment. And his phone. Travis came to pick it up and learn what information he has on us. The nurse has seen to Carl. Kate’s still working on Ricky.”

Dan frowned as he headed for Carl’s room. “Ricky’s going to pull through though, isn’t he?”

“We won’t know until Kate tells us the prognosis,” Chase said, his voice full of worry.

“He’d better,” Dan said, and stalked into Carl’s room, but Addie stayed outside in the hallway with Kolby.

Chase remained with Addie to protect her, in case anyone showed up at the clinic who shouldn’t.

“Buchanan told you what happened to me, didn’t he?” Carl said, his eyes narrowed, his wrist bandaged, and an IV attached to his other hand.

“He sure as hell did. You were trespassing on my property—again.”

“Hey, I know when there’s a story to be found. And you are shit deep in trouble. Dead men who disappear in the middle of the night. The shootout. Trained cougars to do the killing. I got it all on tape in a safe place, so you’re not covering this up. And this?” Carl raised his bandaged wrist. “This is all the rest of the proof I need.”

Dan smiled at him, only the look he gave him was dark and foreboding. “You couldn’t leave us alone, could you? And now you’ll pay the price. Believe me, I never wanted this. Ever. You’re here and stuck with us.”

Carl frowned. “I told you. I already sent the video to my boss, so if you’re thinking you can eliminate me too and no one will miss me, it isn’t happening.”

“If what you say is true, you’re going to have to do some fancy talking to convince your boss you’re a lunatic, or making the joke of the century.”

“I won’t do anything of the sort.” Carl looked as pigheaded as ever.

“Fine. You’ll change your tune sooner or later.” Dan read him his rights, charged him with trespassing, shooting protected wildlife on his property, littering, disturbing the peace, resisting arrest, and anything else he could throw at him. The problem wasn’t the video now as much as it was that Carl would become one of them and then what were they to do with him? He knew Carl would retract what was shown on the video if he had sent it to someone, because he couldn’t afford to have the word get out about cougars attacking people in Yuma Town. Not now that he was one.

Hal and Tracey had been happy to take Ricky and Kolby in because Tracey had already been working with Ricky on her cases. The boys were good kids, got themselves in trouble sometimes, but they always had good intentions. But Carl? He was always out for himself, trying to make a name for himself, trying to make a fast buck off other people’s misfortunes. Everyone hated him.

“Littering?” Carl asked. “You’ve got to be kidding me. And I didn’t resist arrest. I was wounded and wanted medical attention in case I had rabies, so I wasn’t resisting arrest.”

“Littering? Shooting rounds on my property? A round cutting into the bark of two of my favorite trees, injuring them, the casings left on the ground. Resisting arrest? Chase said you wouldn’t give up your camera. He had to confiscate it. If there’s nothing damning on it, we’ll return it to you.”

“Damning for you, maybe,” Carl grumbled. “Which means you’ll wipe it clean.”

“If you’ve already sent the damning video off to your boss, then you have nothing to worry about if we wiped your disks clean. We’re not going to do that.” Not unless he really did have video of them attacking the men on his property. Even if Carl was going to be one of them, they couldn’t let him keep such damning evidence, in case it fell into the wrong hands.

“Is this really necessary?” Carl said, raising his manacled wrist up.

“Yeah. We’ll have a guard on the door at all times. You’re not a very popular guy around here, so you’re going to have to work damn hard to make some friends.”

Carl smiled. “That’s not the kind of business I’m in, unless I use my charms to help get a story.”

“Tell you what, you’re a damn good investigative reporter. Once you’ve decided you want to work for us, you can help us uncover the truth of what happened last night. You’ll work for us, not in Denver any longer.”

“Not happening. Tell Chase to return my phone so I can make my call.”

“Get some rest. I’ll be seeing you later.” Dan left the room. “I want either you, Chase, or Leyton on his door at all times.”

Leyton smiled at him.

“Hey, I know you don’t work for me, but your mate works here, so you have a vested interest if Carl goes nuts with the shifting into a cougar sometime today or tonight.”

“Yeah, I agree. I’ll take the first four-hour shift. I want to go home with my mate tonight. Kate’s been having trouble sleeping, unless I give her back rubs,” Leyton said.

“Been there, done that,” Chase said.

Dan looked around, feeling panicked when he didn’t see Addie.

“She’s with Kolby seeing Ricky. He’s come out of surgery and is still in intensive care, but Kate said they could go in and talk to him, make him feel loved. I already told him he’s not in trouble for what he and his brother did,” Chase said.

“Okay, I’ll give him my two-cent’s worth then.” Dan headed for the intensive care unit and called Stryker. “Hey, if you’re free later this afternoon, I need you and Chase to guard Carl at the clinic. Leyton’s helping too. Have you heard what has happened?”

“Yeah, Chase called me when you were in talking to the bastard. How is Ricky?”

“I’m going in to see him in intensive care now. Leyton said he’d take first shift, so you and Chase can work out the rest of the schedule for tonight. Travis can rotate in if Leyton says he’s fine with it.”

“Okay, I’ll give Chase a call.”

Dan walked into the room and Addie joined him, giving him a hug. “Kate said he should pull through. No running as a cougar for several days. No heavy lifting. No running around investigating things. He has to have bedrest for three more days after he leaves the hospital in a couple of days.”

“That’s damn good news,” Dan said, feeling relieved.

Kolby shook his head and folded his arms. “He’s always finding a way to get out of work.”

“Better than if you had been shot, right, Kolby?” Dan said, though he knew Kolby was just trying to find some humor in a frightening situation.

Kolby gave him a crooked smile. “Nah.” His eyes were still watery, as if he hadn’t come to grips with the news that his brother was going to live and would be fine.

“You’ve got a great brother, you know,” Dan said. “And he’s got a great one in return. Keep sticking up for each other. You’ll both go far.”

“What about the bastard who shot him?” Kolby said, all growly.

“Carl? Unfortunately, we’re stuck with him. Don’t expect any apology from him either. I’m sure he’ll want the two of you to apologize to him for what he’ll become. Or he’ll want you dead. It depends on how well he takes the change. We don’t see it very often, but sometimes a turned human will have to be taken down.”

“Who’s going to take him in to teach him our ways?” Addie asked.

“We may have to draw straws on that.”

“That bad, eh?”

“Yeah. We might just have to leave him in jail for a while until we can decide who will take him in to teach him all about us.”

“What about any video recordings that he took of that night?” Addie asked.

“Chase confiscated all his equipment, but Carl said he already sent off the video to his boss. Now, it’s possible he sent it off to someone or somewhere else for safekeeping while he was continuing to investigate what had gone down last night. He’s too thorough in his work to send something that he hasn’t worked on and polished to the nth degree before he’s turned it in. It doesn’t mean he doesn’t have a duplicate hidden somewhere in case someone took the original away from him. I’m hoping we can learn the truth and confiscate it once he realizes his life is changed forever and he’s one of us. And how much danger it would be for anyone to learn what we are.”

Hal and Tracey hurried into the room and while Tracey held Ricky’s hand, Kolby told them in his words what had happened.

“And Carl is still alive?” Tracey growled.

“Yeah. You don’t want to take him in like you did Kolby and Ricky, do you?” Dan asked, even though he knew their answer would be hell no.

Ricky opened his eyes, though he looked groggy still. He glanced at all the people standing in the room, but then his eyes widened when he saw Addie. Then he gave her a big smile. “You’re still…available, aren’t you?”