Wild Cat

He kissed her, each stroke going deeper, her tongue dancing across his in the best tango. Their mouths melded, lips moving, searing, seeking. She tasted like heat and honey. He ran his hand up her back, pressing her closer, still kissing.

Her lithe body rocked against his, br**sts firm against his chest. Diego ran his hand down the leg that folded on the seat beside him, finding the sweet softness of her thighs.

“Cass,” he whispered. “I can’t get enough of you.”

Cassidy made a little noise in her throat. Diego roved his hands over her back, found the catch of her dress, unhooked it. Bare back met his fingers.

A sound outside the window made Diego open his eyes. Eric?

Not Eric. Diego saw the barrel of a rifle, then heard a pop of the trigger and Cassidy’s gasp as the tranq dart went into her side.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Diego yanked the dart out of Cassidy the next instant, but too late. Cassidy wilted, unconscious, her weight pinning him to the seat.

Softly running feet sounded outside, getting away.

Diego lifted Cassidy gently onto the passenger seat, checking her pupils and pulse. She was all right, just deeply asleep.

Diego got out of the car, sliding out his pistol at the same time, took cover, and scanned the parking lot. There, a flash of movement between cars, someone sprinting with impossible speed to disappear behind the club.

Diego went after him, yanking out his cell phone as he went. “Xav, I have a situation.”

“Where are you?”

Diego knew Xavier would be moving out of the club even as they spoke. “Parking lot. I’m in pursuit of a guy, tall, black hair. He popped Cass with a tranq rifle. She’s in my car. Make sure she’s all right.”

“You got it.”

Xav’s voice vanished. Diego jammed the phone back into its holder and ran around the back of the club—to find nothing. He heard a scrape and looked up to see a foot leaving the ladder to the club’s roof.

Hell, why can’t anyone stay on the ground?

Diego stowed his gun and climbed the ladder. Halfway up, his heart pounded so hard he thought he’d puke, and his sweat-slick hands slipped on the rungs.

Don’t look down. Don’t look down.

Diego made himself keep climbing. One rung at a time.

I’m going back to the damn counselor. This has got to stop.

He was at the top. Diego had to consciously open his fingers to let go of the railing long enough to make the final step off the ladder.

The man was all the way on the other side of the roof, minus the rifle. Diego took cover behind the large cooling units and drew his pistol. Just because the man had dropped the rifle didn’t mean he didn’t have another weapon on him.

Diego worked his way rapidly across the roof, keeping to cover. When he was five yards from the tall, slender man, Cassidy’s assailant suddenly spread his arms and leapt into empty space.

“Ay!” Diego ran for the edge, stopping three feet from it, his stomach roiling. He inched forward and peered over. Nothing.

“Damn it.” Diego couldn’t jump down to pursue without risking breaking his legs—or neck. Back to the ladder.

He’d run a few feet when he nearly tripped over the tranquilizer gun. He touched it, his mouth going dry. The rifle had come from LVPD. He’d checked out one of this exact make and model two days ago, and besides, it had LVPD stamped on it.

Diego left it where it was, more interested in catching the guy first. He’d send Xav up for the rifle.

Now to get down. As Diego approached the ladder, his breathing came faster. And faster.

Idiota. It was just a ladder.

Diego stashed his Sig and gripped the bars, felt with his foot for the first rung. It wasn’t there. He panicked, his heart hammering off the scale.

Cass. I have to help Cass.

First he had to find the effing step. His foot kept feeling for it, missing. Had someone taken away the ladder?

It’s bolted to the f**king building. Get a grip.

He was gripping—way too hard. Xavier would have to take up the chase. Diego couldn’t even let go to call for help.

Somewhere in the dark parking lot, Cassidy screamed.

The sound spiked through Diego’s dry-mouthed panic. He slammed his feet to either side of the ladder and slid downward, hands moving rapidly to keep up.

He had little memory of how he made it to the ground, but as soon as he touched it, he was off and running. His car door was open, Cassidy gone.

“Xav!”

Xavier ran up to him, breathing hard, looking grim. “Gone before I could get here. Scream came from that way.” He pointed.

A wildcat—a big snow leopard—was already sprinting to the edge of the parking lot. Eric.

Diego grabbed a flashlight from his car and ran after him. Not far down the row of cars he found blood, black on the pavement. A few smears here and a few farther on. Diego’s heartbeat thundered in his ears, and he ran faster. He would kill whoever had done this.

The parking lot ended at a chain-link fence, which had been kicked down in one place. Beyond was a huge vacant lot, where builders dumped whatever they’d dug up on other sites. Diego and Xavier climbed over the flattened fence, Diego’s flashlight finding bloody spots on the ground.

Diego heard Cassidy cry out behind a mound of dirt mixed with stones, followed by Eric’s wildcat snarl. Diego sprinted around the mound, Xavier right behind him.

Cassidy lay on her stomach, her white dress torn and streaked with dirt and blood. Sparks lit the darkness, an arc of blue white electricity crackling around her neck. Eric stood over her, but when he saw Diego and Xavier, he turned away and took off into the darkness.