Call of the Cougar (Heart of the Cougar Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page A

far as we knew, she and her partner were strictly human."
    "Well, hell, Dan, now some of what happened makes more sense." Hal stalked up the dwindling remnants of the wagon trail, smelling a male human's and a female cougar's scents. "A cougar attacked the injured man up on the cliffs and killed him. You thought the cougar had smelled his blood because the gunman had been wounded, and the cougar came for dinner. But it didn't eat him. Just killed him. You assumed the cougar was saving him for dinner later then because he'd recently eaten. But if Tracey is one of us, she must have shifted and gone after him. Here we thought she had suffered a knife wound at the hands of the trafficker, which she had, but as a human, not a cougar." A woman after his own heart. "What does she look like?"
    Dan chuckled.
    "Well, we know she's up here. It's her vehicle. But we don't know who her partner is. So I need to know what she looks—"
    The official agency photo came through on his cell phone. Hal studied it and smiled. Hot. Damn.
    Long, dark blond hair, piercing green cougar eyes, sensuous lips meant to be kissed, but looking perfectly serious in the picture, meaning she was all business. But her green eyes captured his attention to such a degree, he tripped in a rut on the trail and practically fell on his face. He grinned at Tracey's picture.
    Dan said, "She's unattached and appears to be married to her job."
    Hal definitely liked the unattached part. "So, neither you nor Stryker made a play for her?" Not that Dan would. He was in sort of a relationship with Dottie Brown, their dispatcher.
    "We didn't meet her, remember? And we didn't know she was one of us."
    "Right."
    Hal wondered if she had a new lead in her partner's murder now and that's why she was up here. Or if she had Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and was trying to come to terms with what had happened here. "Hey, ask Mick if they ever solved her partner's murder case."
    "Mick says no. And before you ask, she's up here with her partner, Special Agent Anton Genova. She got a tip from an informant, but she believes it's an old tip related to the first time she was up here."
    "All right." So far everything sounded above board, not like a woman having trouble letting go of the guilt that she might be feeling for having survived when her partner didn't. At least she wasn't up here alone being a Lone Ranger without her boss's approval. Hal was relieved she was doing everything by the book.
    "Do you want a picture of Genova?"
    "Of course I do. I'm a professional." Though Hal was certain he wouldn't be nearly falling on his face on the rutted wagon trail when he saw Tracey's partner's picture.
    Dan sent him the agency photo. The man was dark-haired, large nose, nearly black eyes, the same kind of look that meant he could deal out the rough stuff if he got riled. That was good. The woman needed a man like that at her side, considering what happened the last time.
    "Okay, thanks."
    "Mick said he's glad you're going up there to check things out. He didn’t want her to go, worried about how she might deal with the memories, but she insisted she was fine."
    So maybe this wasn't all above board and she was still dealing with the issues. Frankly, he wouldn't blame her in the least. If he'd had to deal with that himself, he probably would have still been shaken up. Not that he'd admit that to anyone. "What's Stryker doing?"
    Dan laughed. "I'll let him know what happened to you when you checked into Mrs. Blasdell's kid problem."
    Hal smiled because whenever Mrs. Blasdell called, Stryker had a more pressing assignment.
    "How's the mare doing?" Dan asked.
    "Foaling in about a week."
    "I bet you'll be glad when—"
    Gunfire crackled a mile away in the vicinity of the ghost town. Hal abruptly stopped in his footfalls, surprised as hell.
    "Shots fired!" His heart pounding pell mell, Hal took off at a run. He couldn't believe the woman could be in a firefight again—in the same ghost town, of all