Amber Eyes (Amber Eyes #1)(2)

Jericho looked at the left front paw she wasn’t putting much weight on and saw dried blood, but couldn’t make much more of the wound. Could be anything from an embedded thorn to her getting caught in some trapper’s steel jaws.

Hunter was a damn fool if thought he was going to doctor a wounded cougar. Cat would take his head off. Jericho shook his head. Well, someone had to look after the moron. Jericho grabbed the rifle from the couch where Hunter had thrown it and followed the limping cat through the kitchen.

Hunter looked up from his crouched position on the floor of the porch, his eyes glittering with anger.

“I told you to get rid of the gun.”

Jericho shrugged. “I never took orders worth a shit. Besides, if she tries to have you for lunch, I’m going to take a chunk out of her hide.”

The mountain lion turned her amber gaze on Jericho. There was sadness to her expression, almost as though she understood the men’s conversation.

Jericho shook his head and muttered under his breath. He was losing his damn mind. He gripped the rifle a bit tighter, refusing to feel guilty for trying to save his friend’s ass. Even if the idiot didn’t want saving.

“Okay, shut the door,”Hunter ordered.

Jericho reached back and gave the door a shove. For a moment the cat went on alert. She looked wildly around, her eyes glittering with a mixture of fear and pain. Hunter held out his hand, words of comfort tripping over his lips in their haste to get out.

The cougar fell heavily to the floor, slumping as though the last of her strength had left her. Hunter touched her head, petting and then rubbing behind her ears. His eyes were bright with sympathy.

“Are you going to let me see your paw, girl?”Hunter said in a quiet voice. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to see what you’ve done to yourself.”

He moved slowly and with great care, inching his hand closer to the injured paw. When he finally touched the blood-matted fur, the cougar merely raised her head and sniffed experimentally in Hunter’s direction. Then she settled down again, laying her head on the floor.

“Get me the first-aid kit,”Hunter said.

“Tell me you aren’t going to play vet with a friggin’ wild animal,”Jericho said, even though he knew arguing with Hunter was like pissing in the wind. Stupid any way you looked at it.

“I can at least put some antibiotic ointment on it and hope it prevents infection,”Hunter said impatiently. “She trusts us. I want to help her.”

Jericho went back into the house grumbling about hardheaded do-gooders, and then he had to laugh at the idea of labeling Hunter a do-gooder. Hard-assed bastard? Yes. Granola do-gooder? Uh, no.

He came back out a few moments later, first-aid kit in hand. Not wanting to get close enough to upset the cat, he tossed it to Hunter from the doorway.

The cougar rolled slightly, a lazy-looking move that implied a level of comfort and trust. She gazed up at Jericho, her amber eyes glittering warmly. There was invitation there. Jericho frowned hard and shook himself. Now he was psychoanalyzing the body language of a damn cougar?

“Pet her,”Hunter said firmly. “She wants you to.”

“And you know this, how?”Jericho asked dryly.

“She’s perfectly relaxed. She enjoys my touch. You could pet her while I clean her wound.”

“Oh sure, let me be the sacrificial kitty meal,”Jericho grumbled even as he started forward.

Gingerly, and with more than a little caution, he knelt close to the cat’s head. She sniffed curiously at him as he lowered his hand. Then to his surprise, she licked his palm and bumped her head against him.

An unexpected smile softened his irritation. She continued to rub against his hand, and he allowed his fingers to dig into her soft fur.

A low growl rumbled from her throat when Hunter swabbed at her paw, but she didn’t make any aggressive moves. Her body tensed under Jericho’s fingers, but she remained still.

“Hurts, doesn’t it, girl?”Jericho murmured.

Hunter gave him an amused look, and Jericho returned it with a sour gaze. Yeah, he’d given Hunter hell, but here he sat talking like a damn pu**y to the animal.

While Hunter meticulously cleaned and applied the ointment to the inflamed wound, Jericho continued stroking her head. After a while, her eyes closed, and she went limp. She looked to be exhausted, and who knew how far she’d come through the snow to their cabin.

Hunter rocked back and stood from his crouch in front of the cat. “That’s about all I can do for her.”

“What was it?”Jericho asked.

Hunter shrugged. “Looks like she got it caught in a trap. Or could be she got into a fight with another animal. Hard to tell. Her paw is pretty mangled, though.”

Jericho watched through narrowed eyes as Hunter started for the door. “You’re not going to leave her locked up in here, are you?”Jericho didn’t like the idea of locking her in the porch. She might go nuts trying to get out once she figured out there wasn’t a way to escape.

“If I don’t, she’ll leave,”Hunter said with a shrug. “She doesn’t need to leave yet. She’s hungry and injured. We can help her.”

“Yeah, well, you’re cleaning up the mess when she goes ballistic,”Jericho said as he followed Hunter inside.

Chapter Two

The cougar waited patiently until the cabin went dark and all sounds within were silenced. Hunger gnawed at her belly, and pain was her constant companion. She needed food. She needed to shift.