After stripping and shifting, Dan and Chase headed west into the woods in the direction of the men hunkered down. At least that’s where they thought they might be. Hal and Stryker had taken off in the opposite direction, searching for the other two men. Leyton was in the house, keeping an eye on the SUV, rifle ready at the partially open window.

Inside the house, loud music was playing, the lights were on inside and out, except for the room where Leyton was serving as a sniper. It sounded like a pizza party was in full swing. He heard Mrs. Fitz laughing inside. Dan hoped Rick and Yvonne were safely inside too. Then he heard Travis and Jack talking loudly on the front porch as if they’d had too much to drink, or were trying to talk over the loud music.

“Dan wants to go fishing at Lake Buchanan tomorrow morning, if Addie’s feeling all right,” Jack said.

“As long as she has plenty of bed rest,” Travis said, “she’ll be as good as new. At least in another couple of weeks though, the doctor said.”

Jack agreed. “I was surprised Dan wanted to have the party for her homecoming, but he said it would cheer her up.”

Travis laughed. “Hell, if I were her, I’d send us all packing. No way can she get any rest at this rate.”

“She’s on heavy-duty painkillers and out for the count. I’m sure if she hears any of this, it’ll be in her dreams,” Jack said.

Running through the woods as a cougar, Dan saw one of the men then, the other not visible to him. Chase had moved away from him and vanished so they wouldn’t both be seen together. The man was wearing camo gear and night vision goggles. Then Chase let out a blood-curdling cougar cry, and Dan smiled. Good way to rattle whoever he was after.

Dan still wanted to learn who they were working for, but he didn’t want anyone taking the risk. If it was a matter of killing or be killed, he opted for taking them out.

Someone fired shots on the other side of the house. Dan thought it had to be one of the felons firing. He didn’t think any of their own people were outside running as humans. At least that wasn’t the plan. They always had to be ready for any eventuality, so the plan was always fluid. He hoped Travis and Jack were safely inside the house when the shooting began as he prowled toward the man sitting still in the brush where he had a clear view of the house.

Before he could reach him, the man removed his night vision goggles and looked through a device mounted on his automatic rifle. Thermal imaging?

He was looking at the car and getting set up to shoot at it. He had to have seen Addie and Kate!

Dan leapt and pounced on the man, throwing off his aim. A burst of rounds hit the frame of the SUV, and Dan saw the man’s blade as he tried to cut him. Dan went for the guy’s throat, tore at it, and killed him. He had to warn the others, Kate and Addie were in danger in the car, if the rest of these men had thermal imaging gear and thought to look at the vehicle they were hiding in.

Several rounds struck the bottom edge of the SUV and Addie and Kate gasped. Addie feared she and Kate were in mortal danger out here. “They have to have thermal imaging equipment, Kate. We need to make a run for it. We’re sitting ducks out here.”

“I’ll go first, and draw their fire.”

“I think whoever hit the car is dead or he would keep firing. If any of them realize why he shot at the car, the others could focus on the car and see we’re here and try too. Can you reach the button to turn off the overhead car lights?”

“Yeah, on it.” Kate pushed the button. “Got it.”

“Okay, we leave the car at the same time. I’ve got to be outside to do this, and you probably aren’t able to run as fast as you usually could.”

“You as well. Okay, on three?”

“Yeah, and leave the doors open. That could give us some cover if the men are at the right locations.”

“Okay. One…two…three.” Kate pushed her door open at the same time Addie did, and then Kate took a deep breath. “Ready?”

“Yeah, run.”

Kate bolted for the house and suddenly the house went dark. Addie assumed that meant those inside were trying to protect her, but the men with night vision goggles, or thermal imaging, could see her too.

Three men burst out of the house—Travis, Jack, and Leyton.

Rounds were fired from the woods and Leyton grabbed Kate and hurried her into the house, his gun readied, just like hers was.

Addie fired a shot into the woods and someone cried out. She couldn’t fire again because Jack was suddenly at her side, grabbing her up in his arms, and racing for the house as Travis fired shots in the direction the shooter had cried out. The next thing she knew, Dan was racing across the driveway as a cougar in the direction of the shooter.

She wanted to be with him, protecting his back, but Jack ran her inside, and gun readied, Travis followed Dan into the woods.

A cat snarled nearer the road and she wished the ones in the house would go outside and help the others out.

Then someone crashed through the back door and Bridget turned on the light, blinding the night-vision goggle wearer. He began firing indiscriminately and everyone dove for cover and then fired back from every direction all aimed at the assassin.

The man dropped his assault rifle and fell to the floor. An older woman rushed forward to move his weapon, and ensure he was dead. “He’s dead.”

Kate confirmed it.

“I’m Yvonne Mueller, and that’s my husband, Rick,” Yvonne said, pointing to the older gentleman. Both were armed to the teeth.

“Retired FBI,” Addie said, making the connection, appreciating their help.

“Yes.”

“Are you all right, Addie, Kate?” Leyton asked, wrapping his arm around Kate’s shoulders and moving her to one of the couches.

“Yeah,” both Addie and Kate said.

Dan ran into the house through the backdoor, shifted, dressed, armed himself, and looked around frantically at all the people there. When he saw Addie sitting on the couch, gun in hand, he rushed across the floor, and lifted her off the couch. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, thanks, Dan.”

“We got four men. If there are any more than that, we need to be ready. My house has been compromised. Leyton, I know you don’t work for me, but I want you to take Kate home. She’s had enough excitement for the last couple of days. We don’t want that baby coming prematurely. Hal, you need to be with Tracey and the babies. Jack, same with you. Go home to Dottie. Rick, Yvonne?”

Chase headed inside, and Dan was glad to see he was fine. He shifted and got dressed too.

“We’ll return home and keep trying to learn what we can from our friends at the FBI from there,” Yvonne said.

“Any word yet from them?” Dan asked.

“Not yet.”

Stryker said, “Mrs. Fitz headed home through the woods, saying she’d call once she arrived home.”

“She should have waited for us to take her home,” Dan said. Then he got a call. “Okay, good. You’re home safely.” When he ended the call, he said to Addie, “She lives in a Victorian house through the woods near me, which is why I didn’t see her car. She must have carried the pizzas from her house.”

“Travis and I will secure the house, if Bridget and—” Stryker paused when they heard a car park out front.

An older man came inside. “Hell, I missed all the shooting. I’m Calvin Dixon,” he said to Addie. “My wife, Myrtle, and I are owners of the hotel on the outskirts of Yuma Town called Cougar Country Motel. Glad to meet you. We finally get to meet Dan’s mystery wife.”

She raised her brows at Dan.

“I swear I didn’t say anything. Mrs. Fitz, the widowed woman, who owns the bakery in town, and our party pizza delivery lady, started the rumors. She saw you entering my house when I wasn’t home. Imagine my shock upon returning to find you in my bed, needing medical attention. Then more rumors were flying when Kate had to come by the house.”

“Sounds like my mate,” Bridget said, winking at Travis. She’d never let him live it down that she’d had to rescue him while she’d been on an assignment.

“We’ll take care of the bodies too,” Stryker said.

“Where do you want me? With Stryker or to ride shotgun with you, Sheriff?” Calvin asked.

“Why don’t you follow us,” Dan said, and carried Addie out to his own Jeep, glad it was still in mint condition in the garage.

“I’m headed home to check on Shannon and the kids,” Chase said.

“Okay, thanks, buddy.”

Bridget got in the Jeep with Dan and Addie, and Calvin followed behind them as they headed for the safe house.

“You’ll need to tell us who all was on your team, who you think is the most likely suspect, and we can narrow it down from there,” Dan told Addie. “I remember an Asian dude, the petite blond, and the prematurely gray-haired guy.”

“I will. Did all the men have thermal imaging equipment out here?”

“Just the one I took out. He had been concentrating on the house, then he must have thought to check the SUV and saw two prone bodies. I didn’t have time to pounce and kill him before he shot off any rounds, but he lost his target when I knocked off his aim.”

“Thank God for that.”

“The other man you shot?” Dan asked her.

“Yeah? He was firing at Kate and me.”

“You took him out with one shot. Have you had sniper training?”

“Yeah. I was pretty good at it.”

“Hell, you’re a crack shot. We could really use someone with your talent in the sheriff’s office.”

“With the Cougar Special Forces Agency too,” Bridget hurried to say.

Addie chuckled. “I never thought I’d have two law enforcement agencies fighting over me.”

“We help each other out,” Dan said. “If you want to work for one and the other agency needs someone with your talent, we’ll share.”

He noted she wasn’t biting at the opportunity to put a bid in for either job. She was about as stubborn as him. She wanted to work for the FBI and resolve this. He damn well hoped that she’d quit them after that and return to them. As friendly as everyone was here, they’d had their fair share of situations requiring rescue missions, and dealing with issues requiring deadly force. Mostly though, when the suspects were cougars.

The shooters’ vehicles would be examined for any more clues about the men and who they worked for, though they were career hitmen, so Dan was sure they wouldn’t discover anything that would help, either on their person, or left behind in their vehicles. He hoped they’d have better luck with Rick and Yvonne’s FBI sources.

As soon as they arrived at the safe house, Bridget and Calvin went inside to make sure it was all clear. Then Calvin came out to signal everything was okay.

“I’m so sorry about your house, Dan,” Addie said, as he helped her out of the car.

“The repairs won’t take long at all. All that matters is that everyone who should have, lived, and everyone who shouldn’t have, died. I doubt we could have gotten anything out of them anyway, as far as useful information. Though I wish we’d had the chance to try,” Dan said. “Did you want anything before you go to bed?”

“You,” she said, pulling him toward the stairs.

Bridget smiled at Dan.

He knew this was a side no one ever saw of him, yes, protecting damsels in distress, but not protecting one who was an FBI agent, and his pretend mate.

“See you in the morning,” Dan said to Bridget and Calvin.

“We’ve got you covered,” Calvin said.

They certainly weren’t used to him slipping off to bed with a woman he was protecting, instead of being in charge, giving orders, and planning the whole operation.

He flipped on the switch in one of the bedrooms and the overhead light came on.

“Thank you for soliciting everyone’s help,” Addie said, pulling off her clothes, and he hurried to help her.

“We wouldn’t have done anything differently. Are you going to be all right with sharing the bed with me?”

She smiled up at him. “I will be a very growly cat if you don’t.”

“That’s all I needed to hear. I just didn’t want to hurt you in the middle of the night.” He hurried to remove his clothes as she climbed into bed naked. He looked over the area where the man had cut her, but it looked like it was healing, no infection, still red, the stitches holding. It would still take several more days to heal to the point where he felt she was out of the woods as far as infection went, or that she could do any vigorous exercise.

“I’m fine,” she said, “and I know what you’re thinking. And no. It’s not going to take long before we can have sex.”

He chuckled. “I was thinking of running as cougars and other kinds of vigorous workouts.” He didn’t want her to think that all he saw in her was a woman he could make love to.

He climbed into bed and moved close to her, cupping her face, kissing her cheeks, her eyes, and then her lips.

She kissed him softly back, and he knew then she really wasn’t ready for anything very vigorous. “Can you rest against me?”

“I can try. I want to.” Instead of placing her front against him, she moved around so they could spoon. When he pulled her in close to his body, she sighed. “This is so nice. I’ve wanted to do this since I saw you. Feel your arms wrapped around me. Just cuddling. Until I could work up to more. Soon, though. I’m not waiting long. I’ve been wanting to see you. Desperately.”

“Same here, honey. I tried to pretend you didn’t exist. That you’re just a figment of my imagination so I wouldn’t be thinking of you all the time. To get on with my life without you. It’s never worked for me.”

“Good. I wouldn’t want to think you weren’t holding up your end of the bargain. Just so you know, I was aware you were keeping Dottie company.”

He smiled. “Been checking up on me, eh?”

“I told you. You couldn’t be seeing anyone, dating, or marrying. It would have been too dangerous for her. Then I learned about the guy she hooked up with, Jack Barrington? And that he was the real love of her life, so you were off the hook and I didn’t have to order a hit on you.”

Dan laughed. “I thought I was just supposed to sign on the dotted line to divorce you.”

She chuckled. “There’s divorce. And then there’s…divorce. Besides, I’d learned they’d been together before she moved back to Yuma Town and had his kids. I helped him to learn about it.”

“Why, you minx.”

“Just doing my job as a good, honest, upright public servant. And keeping you out of trouble.”

He chuckled.

“I missed you. If it hadn’t been for the hit on me six months ago, and now this, I would have returned sooner to see you. I hadn’t planned to get you involved in all of this.”

“Since the moment you targeted me at the Hamburger Stop, I became involved. And I’m still your husband.”

She sighed. “You have no idea what we’re up against.”

“I agree.”

“It could get deadly.”

“Most probably.”

“I don’t want to lose you. Not as a faux husband, and an agent undercover, but you.”

“I don’t want to lose you either, which is why I’m in this for the long haul. We’ll figure this out, take down the bad guys, and you can work for me.”

She laughed. “All you want is another warm body at the sheriff’s office.”

“I want your warm body right here with me whenever we’re off the job.”

“Writing out traffic tickets on the job.”

“Hell, Stryker would be grateful if you chased down the really bad guys, and he continued to help rescue cats from trees.”

She laughed. “Oh, I bet he’d love to hear you say that. He seemed upset he couldn’t be in the thick of things. I think if he always got to rescue cats from trees, he’d really be ticked off.”

“It’s his fault. He’s really good at the job.”

She chuckled and ran her hand over Dan’s arm wrapped around her. “I missed this with you.”

“Ditto, honey.” He sighed. “What will your boss think of you not showing up for work or reporting in?”

“After I returned to work following six months of hiding out and recuperating the last time, I’m sure he’ll figure I’ll do the same thing this time.”

“I can’t believe he’s unaware that something’s wrong with his organization. With the team. He knew you were injured both times, right? Then you disappear? Does he even have anyone looking for you?” Dan couldn’t believe what was going on with her team and no one seemed to care.

“I had to see the Bureau psychologist when I returned, to determine if I could go back to work. She okayed me. I have to tell you I’ve been having trouble with night terrors. It won’t be any picnic for you. I might wake up screaming or beating you. I might even go for my gun.”

“Huh.” Dan slipped out of bed.

“Sounds like I might be a little too rough on you?”

He smiled and retrieved his gun that he’d loaned to her from where she had set it on her bedside table. “I’m going to just keep them safe over here. Out of your reach. Just in case.”

“Smart man.”

“I don’t want them too far out of reach in case we have more trouble.” He settled back in bed with her and pulled her close. “Did your boss even question you about where you were or what had happened?”

“Sure. I told him I had amnesia at first. He suspected I was lying. I told him the story repeatedly, and almost had myself believing it. Then I figured if he was the bad guy, he’d have already gotten rid of me.”

“Unless he figured by keeping you close, he could keep an eye on you, and the next assignment you had, get rid of you then. It would have just been a case of the subject murdering you. No involvement from anyone on the team. Or so it would look.”

“Which means I must know something that they don’t want to get out. I can’t figure out what though. I told my boss we had a mole on our team. I was hoping for all the backup I could get on this. He didn’t agree and said it was just one of those things that happens. Someone let it slip about where the meetup was going to be. Someone overheard. Or even I made the mistake. I went over it a million times in my mind, but I don’t see where I would have. I don’t go out drinking with people, don’t talk about my business with anyone. I didn’t tell anyone about the meeting.”

“Except you talk to me.”

“Yeah. You didn’t know about that meeting. It couldn’t have been you.”

“Good to know.”

“Yeah, Dan. I know you’re one of the good guys. All growly and ready to protect my back, no matter what. I trust you with my life.”

“You just didn’t trust my life in your hands.”

“You don’t know how ruthless these people are.”

“I think I have an inkling.”

“Well, yes, now you do.” She sighed. “There are five other members on the team. We’ve only worked together for the past six months. I don’t really know any of them well. We don’t socialize. I don’t know if they’re married, have families, whether they go to church, or play softball. I don’t know anything about them at all.”

“Okay, well, we need to give their names to Yvonne and Rick and they’ll try to track down as much as they can about them. Do you suspect any one of them more than any of the others?”

“No. Not really.”

“I would say that the likelihood it was just a mistake, something that just happened could have been a possibility, until you returned to work and someone tried to kill you on another courier mission. Was it related to the one six months earlier?”

“I didn’t think so, but now I’m wondering if it did.”

He wondered about Addie’s mother too. “What if your mom’s disappearance had something to do with her trying to protect you and your father from the work she was doing?”

“I would say no. That was so many years earlier.”

He wasn’t going to dismiss it. “Get some sleep, honey, and we’ll talk about it some more tomorrow.”

What he wasn’t expecting her to do in the middle of the night was to begin rubbing her soft body against his, kissing him, wanting to make love.