Chapter Nine
“Austin? Austin?” A voice was calling him from far away.
Then ice-cold water splashed over his face. Austin leapt to his feet with a snarl, claws curving out of his fingertips. He shook his head, trying to clear his blurry vision, and the forest swam into focus around him.
“Whoa there, cowboy!” Savannah cried, standing back and holding her hands up defensively. She dropped the empty water bottle she was holding. It clattered on the rocky ground next to Roy, who was lying crumpled on his side.
There was a rifle slung over her shoulder, and a wary look on her face.
Austin sucked in a breath of warm, dry mountain air. He could feel pain from his healing wounds, four slash lines going down the side of his head.
“How long was I out?” he groaned.
“Maybe ten minutes. You all right?”
“My head feels like a herd of elephants ran over it, but other than that, can’t complain.” He winced, looking down at Roy. Drool leaked from Roy’s mouth, and he was completely still, face slack. The gentle rise and fall of his chest was the only clue that he was still alive. “How did you knock him out?
“I shot him with a tranq.” She walked over to Roy and nudged him with her foot. “Actually, I shot him with two tranqs. And these are extra strength and double the size of what I normally use. That would’ve killed any shifter I know.”
Austin looked at her in confusion. “I thought tranqs didn’t work on him. I shot him with four tranqs, and it didn’t work at all.”
“And I thought you weren’t going to use them! You said so yourself! They were just decoy tranks, you idiot! I left them where they’d be easy for you to find, just in case. I have a backup plan for everything. And then I have a backup plan for that backup plan.”
“You sent me with fake tranqs?” Austin said furiously. He touched the claw marks on the side of his head; they were sticky with drying blood. “He nearly ripped my head off!”
“Excuse me?” Her eyes flashed with anger. “Nobody made you take them! You stole them from me and left me handcuffed to a bed in a hotel room, and you planned to leave me there foreight hours. And you trashed my car.”
Austin glowered at her. She was right, he just felt sour about having her outwit him, yet again. “All’s fair in love and war.”
“Awww, youloooveme,” she crooned at him. “Has anyone ever told you you’re cute when you’re mad?”
His anger receded, and he stifled a laugh. “Okay. Okay. This round goes to Savannah Orman. How long will that tranquilizer last?”
She flicked a glance at the unconscious shifter. “I wish I knew. He’s like nothing I’ve ever come across. Are you asking because you think you’re going to steal him from me and take him in yourself?” Her tone turned sharp as she looked at him suspiciously.
“Something like that,” he admitted. “But I’ll give you a huge chunk of the reward money. Come on, Savannah, you know me. You know I’m good for it.”
She strolled up to him, and he felt his heart do the familiar thuddy thing that happened every time she was close. And every time he thought about her.
“I really, desperately need the money.” Her gaze bored into him. “It’s not that I don’t take your word for it, I just can’t hang my family’s future on a promise. Not only that, but frankly, after what I just saw, I know you can’t bring him in by yourself. I propose a truce. We take him, together, back to the pack, and we split the bounty.”
“Split it?” Anthony hurried from behind a boulder. “Wait, does that come out of my portion?”
Austin groaned. “Oh, great. You broughthim?”
“Technically, he followed me to the motel and asked to tag along.”
“Why didn’t you just say no?” Austin squinted at the skinny, freckled fox shifter. Anthony gave him a wounded look. “He’ll just get in the way.”
Savannah shot him a sidelong look. “Because I can’t do this on my own either, but I’m not so stupid and stubborn that I refuse help when I need it.”“
“It’s not me being stupid and stubborn. I have an agreement that says I have to deliver him on my own,” Austin told her. “And if I welsh on the agreement, then my closest friends are going to pay the price. I’ve got to at least try.”
“Trying’s not good enough, Austin!” she snapped, looking frustrated. “I have a proposition. I travel with you until we reach the general area of the Washborn Pack. We take turns sleeping and keeping him tranqed. That’s the only way we’re going to make it. You can’t do this on your own. When we get close, Anthony and I get out of the truck. I let you take him in on your own, and I take your word for it that you will give me half of the bounty. And I don’t need to tell you what would happen if you screwed me out of my half of the bounty.”
Austin snorted. “Yeah, yeah, the same thing your mother threatened me with if I break your heart. Every fox in the country will come after me.”
“Oh God, she said that?” Savannah looked horrified. “I am really sorry about that. I wouldn’t let her do that. Whatever is between you and me, is between you and me.” Then she hugged herself, and her expression softened. “I know you wouldn’t try to run off with the bounty. I’m just really stressed out about the whole loan thing. I’m sorry. You’re a lot of things, but you’re not a thief.”
