While sorting through paperwork at his desk at the sheriff’s office, Dan received a nearly incoherent call from Addie, his faux wife, her voice weak and strained. Instantly, he knew she was in real trouble. He’d thought of terminating the contract between them so many times, mainly because she wouldn’t leave her job, and he didn’t want to see her get herself killed. He’d wanted more from her, but she couldn’t seem to give it.

Every time she called, needing him, he couldn’t help but drop everything, wanting to be there for her. She was under his skin, in his blood, and he couldn’t let her go.

Now he was sick with worry, trying to learn where she was. She’d called from a cell phone, and the line was still open. Even though he called to her, she didn’t respond. He had to use cell tower triangulation to locate her at a hospital and called to speak with the hospital receptionist before he was put in touch with one of the floor nurses, who was caring for Addie. He explained he was the sheriff of Yuma Town, and her husband.

“Ms. Davidson is in stable condition,” the nurse told Dan.

“Where is she in the hospital?”

The nurse told him the room and floor she was staying on.

“When she wakes, tell her I’m coming.” Dan noticed his new dispatcher, Amy Mayflower, staring at him from the other room. He was in his office, but he hadn’t shut the door. Not to mention he was being very vocal and their cat’s hearing precluded him keeping this quiet anyway. To everyone in town, he wasn’t supposed to be married.

“Yes…sir.” The nurse probably thought Addie wasn’t using her husband’s name, just her maiden name.

As soon as he hung up, his dispatcher asked, “Sheriff, do you want me to call Stryker to come in to take care of things?”

“He’s sick. Damn flu. He needs to rest. He’ll beat it in no time. Call Hal and Chase. Surely someone can take over for a day or so.” Dan was on his computer, making reservations for the next flight out that he could get to in time.

“Or longer? Did you need me to make airline reservations for you?” Amy was a blue-eyed blond, married to Deacon Mayflower, who worked as a reporter for the newspaper, and they had a ten-year old son named Bobby. Dan was glad when Amy said she could take over the job, having worked as a police dispatcher in Sacramento, California before this.

Dottie, his former dispatcher, had left to have fun with other pursuits, especially since she had brand new triplets, and twins still at home now that their father was home with them too. He was glad for them that everything had worked out, but Jack Barrington, one of the newest agents on the CSF on Leyton’s team, had been as much as a surprise to everyone as Dan’s faux wife would be.

“I’ve got it.” Dan grabbed his Stetson and headed out the door.

“Good luck. Let us know how things are going,” Amy said, holding her hand over the phone as she was already talking to Chase.

“Yeah. Thanks.” Dan was trying to think of everything he had to do before he went to the airport to fly to Portland, Oregon. He managed to have enough presence of mind to grab a bag, shove some clothes and toiletries into it, and headed for the airport.

Chase called him when he was on his way. “Hey, do you need me to drive you to the airport?”

“Already on my way.”

“Amy said this was about your wife. She had to be mistaken. What the hell’s going on?”

“I’ll tell you and everyone all about it later. As soon as I return home. For now, I’ve got to keep trying to get hold of her.”

“Is she all right?”

“She’s in the hospital. I’ll get back with you, Chase. I promise. I’m…I’m going to bring her home, if I can convince her to come home with me and stay for good.”

“We’ll all be there for you both. You know we’ll always have your back. Let us know if there’s anything we can do to help, to make her feel welcome.”

“I know you will. Thanks. Just take care of things there until I return home, will you?”

“Will do. We’ll make arrangements to cover for you while you’re gone, Dan.”

Dan was glad for having such good friends, wishing he could have told them before this about his wife. Pseudo-wife. Even if she didn’t want to make it real between them, he wanted her in Yuma Town while she recovered. And maybe he could prove to her he was the only cougar for her once and for all.

Before he reached the airport, he got a call from Leyton. He was the sole person who had known he had a wife, and Dan had only spilled the beans accidentally to him. Leyton had been good about not sharing what he’d learned with anyone.

“Hey, I guess the news is about to break to the rest of Yuma Town. What can I do to help?” Leyton asked.

“I’m bringing her home, Leyton. I want to make a go of it, but I’m not sure she’ll want to.” He explained to him how he’d been recruited to play this role with her.

“You have something real with her?”

“Hell, yeah. It’s not just a job. The thing is, can we make it on a day-to-day basis?”

“If there’s enough commonality between the two of you to make a go of it, beyond the thrill of the assignment and the rest, I’d say so. You know how it was with Kate and me.”

“Right, but the last time Addie was injured, I couldn’t keep her here. I tried. She was hell-bent on leaving town, afraid whoever had wanted her dead would find her in Yuma Town and kill me too. If I can help it, she’s not leaving this time. I want to take care of her.”

“We all will. You’ve got a whole community of cougars who will watch out for her.”

“Thanks, man.”

“You’ve been there for all of us. It’s the least we can do. And tell her she can always come to work for me, if she needs the excitement in her life.” Leyton took down rogue cougars, and others who were involved in coming after their kind, heading up the Cougar Shifter Force, CSF, in their town.

“Thanks. If she wants to be my deputy, I’ll hire her in a heartbeat. I’m at the airport. I’ll let you all know how it’s going when I know something more.” The quickest flight he could find was six and a half hours. Add the driving time of half an hour to the airport, more time to get a rental car and reach the hospital, and it was more like eight hours by the time he would arrive at the hospital to see her. He hated that it would take this long.

The whole time he worried she’d check herself out of the hospital and disappear, just like she had the last time she’d been injured and had ended up at his place. He still couldn’t believe it when he returned to have lunch at his place to find she’d slipped into his house, mostly unseen. She was his only contact, he didn’t have the phone numbers of anyone else who knew her at the Bureau, so he wouldn’t be able to learn where she’d vanished to if she left.

He had problems he hadn’t considered when he arrived on her floor of the hospital and approached the room. An FBI agent at her door warily watched his approach. Even though Dan was wearing his sheriff’s uniform, the man shook his head. “You can’t see her. No one can without strict authorization.”

Dan wasn’t going to let anyone deter him from seeing his wife, not when he was afraid she’d try to slip out of there and disappear and he’d lose her again.

“I’m Addie’s husband, Dan Steinacker, sheriff of Yuma Town,” Dan growled.

“No visitors unless the boss okays it.” The guy in the dark gray suit didn’t make a move to allow Dan entry.

Dan was surprised the agent didn’t know that he was not her real husband. Maybe he wasn’t on the same team as her, just someone to serve as a bodyguard for the time-being while she was in the hospital. They probably wouldn’t realize he’d be coming either. “Then get the boss on the line. I work with Addie, and only Addie. And I’m not leaving here until I see her.”

Looking annoyed, the man pulled out his phone and called someone. “Yeah, I’ve got a guy here, who says he’s Sheriff Dan Steinacker from Yuma Town.” He raised his brows and smiled a little.

Dan wanted to knock the smug smile off his face.

“All right. Out here.” He pocketed his phone.

“Well?”

“He said no visitors.”

“Get him on the line and let me talk to him.”

The agent didn’t move a muscle. Dan was about to pull his gun out he was so mad. He’d only end up in jail and his job as her husband would be terminated. She’d probably be so mad at him, that would be the end of any kind of relationship they might have had. “Let me talk to him. Now,” Dan reiterated. “I flew six and half hours to get here. I’m not leaving until I see her and get to talk to her.”

The man shook his head, but he pulled out his phone and punched in a number. “Sir, the sheriff wants to talk to you. All right. Here he is.”

“What the hell are you doing there?” the man said.

“What the hell do you think I’m doing here? My wife is in there, injured, could be dying for all I know.”

“You’re not supposed to be there. We have protocols and no one, but who I say, is getting in to see her.”

“I’m her husband, goddamnit. And the protocol is that she calls me when she needs me. How the hell do you think I learned she was here? She called me. I’m here. Tell your agent to let me in to see her.” Dan glanced at the agent to see him smiling, but he quickly lost the smile. “Now.”

“Hand the phone to Leipheimer.”

Dan handed the phone to the agent. “Yes, sir. Will do, sir. Yes, sir.” He pocketed his phone. “You have five minutes.”

Dan opened the door to the room, stepped in, and closed the door. His heart sank as he saw Addie with tubes running to her arms, blood dripping into one of them, a saline solution in the other, her face pale as death. He closed the door and crossed the floor to join her, and leaned down to kiss her pale forehead.

“Addie, it’s me, your husband, Dan. I’m here to take care of you. As soon as I can, I’m taking you home with me. No arguing.” He didn’t even know if she could hear him, but he wasn’t leaving her side, if he could help it, until she could speak with him. He pulled a chair next to the bed and reached out and ran his hand over her arm in a gentle caress. “I don’t know if we have what it would take to make it together, but I want you to move in with me. You could work with me, if you’d like, as my deputy sheriff. Or we have a”—he leaned over and whispered next to her ear—“cougar shifter organization that would hire you in a heartbeat to take down rogue cougars. I want you in my life. Not just for missions, but for always. Of course, we would get to know each other better, and we could work it out from there.”

An hour later, he was still talking to her, telling her all the fun they could have in Yuma Town—swimming at Lake Buchanan, even renting a cabin there, rock and mountain climbing, hiking. “And in winter, skiing. Cross-country skiing.” He told her about some of the happenings in Yuma Town, then glanced back at the door, wondering why the agent hadn’t told him to leave already. Maybe his boss told him it might be good for Dan to talk to her, since they’d become close in their teamwork.

Addie hadn’t stirred once, and he knew she had to rest, but he wanted to know exactly how she’d been injured. She’d heal quicker than humans, but if the wound or wounds were severe, it could still take time.

The door opened and a nurse came in. Expecting the intruder to be the agent, Dan frowned at her. “Is the agent still out there?”

“What agent?”

“Let me see some credentials,” he said to the nurse, making her move back to the door so he could check outside the door for the agent. Leipheimer was gone. He wouldn’t have been. Not if he was supposed to be providing protection for Addie. And not when the boss said no one could enter the room without permission. And then for only five minutes. What the hell was going on? “Let me see some ID.”

“What?”

“ID to match your nametag.” One good thing about being a sheriff, he was still armed and prepared to protect Addie at all costs, and he had a sixth sense when something wasn’t right, not to mention the woman smelled of fear. If she was just doing her job, she shouldn’t be giving off the scent.

“It’s in my purse, locked in a drawer at the nurse’s station.” She motioned down the hall.

“Call security.”

“What?”

“Call them. Addie’s supposed to have round-the-clock protection. The agent should never have left.”

“You’re a sheriff,” the nurse said as if that should have counted for something.

“There’s supposed to be an FBI agent outside the door for her protection. Call. Security. Now.”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket, and eyeing Dan, she said, “Call Security. We’ve got trouble.”

She was sweating and he was certain the woman wasn’t a nurse, or at least not one who was taking care of Addie. She didn’t call Security herself. He was certain she was letting someone else know Dan was the trouble.

He grabbed her arm and pulled it behind her back, then shoved her against the wall and handcuffed her wrists behind her back.

“You’re making a mistake.” She wasn’t screaming for Security. Dan suspected the pretty blond was in on whatever the plot was to hurt Addie. He checked her pockets and found a hypodermic needle.

“If I inject you with whatever this serum is, what will happen?”

“It’s just pain medication,” she quickly said. “She’s due her next dose.”

“Then you’ll be feeling no pain if I use it on you, right?”

Her eyes widened and she tried frantically to jerk away from him.

“Tell me the truth then.”

“It’s just like I said.”

Two men burst into the room—not security, both armed with guns and silencers. Before the nurse could say a word, Dan jabbed the first of the men, who rushed through the door, in the neck with the hypodermic needle. He grabbed his neck, cried out, and sank to the floor. And that was after only using half of the stuff in the syringe. Dan wrestled the second man to the floor, and in the ensuing struggle to use his gun on Dan, it went off, the round hitting the man in the head, instead.

The nurse was trying to get around them and make her escape, but Dan grabbed her and shoved her down to sit on the floor. “Now tell me who you are and what you did with the agent.”

She just stared at him mutely.

Dan pulled out his phone and called the hospital security, hoping to God he’d get the real hospital security. “I’m in room 405, two men down, a woman pretending to be a nurse in custody. The federal agent protecting his fellow injured agent has gone missing. I’m Sheriff Dan Steinacker of Yuma Town. The injured patient is a federal agent and my wife.” Then he called the FBI headquarters and explained the situation. He wasn’t getting anywhere with anybody. No one knew what office he needed, and no one knew who Addie was.

“Dan,” Addie said, her voice weak.

Dan whipped around and hurried back to the bed. “Addie, your protection has gone missing. These thugs came in here to kill you, the nurse intended to also. Do you have a number to call so that we can get backup? Hospital security is on its way, but what if they’re not legit either?”

“You’re not supposed to be here,” she said, holding onto his hand with a weak grip.

“Good thing I was though, huh?”

She smiled a little, and he saw the same devilish look he’d grown to love. “Help me get out of bed and get dressed.”

Dan frowned at her. She needed to be at the hospital. Maybe in another room, with another agent serving as her guard, but he didn’t want to risk losing her if he tried to move her, depending on the severity of her injuries.

She frowned back at him. “Do it, Dan. That’s an order.”

If the situation wasn’t so serious, he would have smiled at her for giving him orders like she was in charge, when she was so badly injured. He was still frowning as he searched for her clothes, and then finding them in a locker, he paused to stare at her cut up shirt, blood stains all over it.

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “I can change later.”

“Hell.” Seeing her bloody clothes made her life-threatening situation so much more real. If they’d had more time, he would have pulled off his uniform shirt, and dressed her in his T-shirt, but time was of the essence.

He pulled out her tubes and helped her to dress. The security guards were taking one hell of a long time to reach her room.

“Are you sure you’re going to make it, honey?” he said.

“Yes, just hurry. If I thought it would help, I’d run as a cougar.”

She wasn’t helping and he was hurrying as fast as he could to dress her. No way could she run as a cougar through the hospital.

“Knock her out, permanently, or she’ll send people after us,” Addie said to Dan, motioning with her head to the nurse.

“No,” the woman said. “I was forced to do this.”

“So am I.” Dan grabbed the hypodermic needle. He used the remaining serum on the nurse, and she collapsed to the floor. She had fully intended to use it on Addie, and so he had no regrets. They were still in dire straits and he had to get Addie out of here as quickly as he could.

He lifted Addie in his arms and hurried her out of the room and down the hallway to a fire escape.

Addie was like a ragdoll and he hated to see her so weak. “You can’t carry me all the way down the stairs,” she said.

It reminded him of the last time he’d seen her when she’d sneaked into his house to take refuge for a couple of days.

“I don’t want to take any chances using the elevator, or the stairs closest to your room. Besides, isn’t this why you selected me to be your husband? For my brawn and good looks?” Dan asked.

She smiled weakly and rested her head against his chest.

“I hope I’m not doing you further injury by moving you,” he said, worried sick about her.

“If you hadn’t moved me, I’d be dead.”

“True. I’m taking you home. Somehow, I’m getting you home. I need to call the Bureau and—“

“No.”

He frowned down at her as he entered the stairwell and took the stairs as fast as he could without dropping her or missing a step.

“Someone’s a mole on my team. That’s why I was injured so badly the last time. I only returned to work after six months of hiding, to try and learn who it is. I can’t do this on my own. And I can’t let anyone know I realize it.”

“Two of the people who live in our town are former FBI agents. The Muellers. He’s the bank president now and she’s a loan officer. Between that and the sheriff’s office, and the cougar organization, the Cougar Special Forces Agency, that deals with rogue cougars, we have two U.S Department of Fish and Wildlife Service agents who track down animal traffickers, all well-trained in combat, have licenses to carry, and investigative skills. Let us work together to find out who’s behind this.”

“You can’t. I have to be on the team to learn who is responsible.”

“Like that worked out so well for you this last time.” He couldn’t help how angry he was about her going back to work with someone who could be a traitor, and she never told him what was going on.

He finally reached the lobby of the hospital. “I’ve got a rental car. I’m thinking we should just drive home. It’s a long drive, but we might not be able to get a flight for the two of us right away. I was lucky and got a seat on the trip out here. Some of the flights home can take as long as fourteen hours. With driving, we can stop at another hospital on the way if you need more blood or pain medication.” He carried her outside and was glad it was already getting dark.

“We’ll drive. You’ll have to make arrangements to change your rental car destination though.”

“Agreed.” As soon as he set her on her feet beside the car, he unlocked the car and helped her into the back seat. “I wish I had a blanket and pillow for you.” He sure as hell had never expected rescuing her from a hospital and using the rental car as a getaway.

“Just get us out of here before anyone sees us.”

“Yeah, working on it.” He shut the back door and hurried to get into the driver’s seat, then backed out of the parking lot and drove off. He checked his phone for directions to Yuma Town from Portland. “Eighteen hours.” He made a quick check on flights. “No flights tonight or tomorrow straight to our destination. And the day after that they only have one that has an available fourteen-hour flight for two of us.”

“You can’t drive eighteen hours straight.”

“True.”

“It will take us longer.”

“We’ll have to stop at a hotel for a few hours. We’ll still get home sooner than if we stayed at some place until we could get a flight out the day after tomorrow.”

“Despite that I feel like shit, I’m healing. Just keep driving until you can’t any longer. Maybe I can take over the driving for a while.”

No way in hell.

“I’m going to sleep.”

“Was it a gunshot wound?”

“Knife. I managed to throw him off balance before he could make it a fatal stab wound.”

“Is he still alive?”

“No. I shot him. In the forehead.”

“Good. Sleep.” Then Dan called Chase. “Hey, buddy, we need your help. ASAP!”