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“They’re retreating!” The words echoed through the trees just as Judd pinned Blake to the ground, a paw raised, ready to slash. Tanith turned and spied most of the cougars making a run for it. A few even shifted back to humans to help their fallen companions escape. A quick count and Tanith knew they were running, fleeing, because they were outnumbered. There was no way some twenty or so cougars could take on all these bears, coyotes, rams, and armadillos at once.
Tanith leapt back when a pair of cougars raced by, so close she could smell the damp musk of their fur. Neither paid her any mind. Typical scaredy-cats: they just wanted to get out. Wide-eyed, she cast her gaze down to Blake and Judd, only to breathe a sigh of relief at the cougar hightailing it into the forest, tail fluffed.
She raced through the trees toward her love. By the time she reached him, he had shifted back to his sweaty human self. He collapsed to his knees, chest heaving, and Tanith rushed to his side, panicked at all the blood.
“It isn’t all mine,” he insisted wearily. “Actually, most of it isn’t mine.”
The lengthy slash on his side begged to differ, but before Tanith could fuss over it, the skin started to heal.
“Oh, good,” she said, somewhat distractedly. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder. “I was worried Judd had hurt you. Terrified, actually.”
He looked up at her with a frown. “Judd?”
“The cougar you were just fighting,” she told him. No sense in keeping something like that from him after he had risked his life to protect her. “He…he’s Hayley’s father. That’s why I screamed when he shifted back. I had no idea Judd was a shifter…or such a giant asshole. I bet he torched my gallery personally.”
“He… That animal is… He…” Blake sputtered, clearly surprised at the news.
Tanith settled down beside him as all around, shifters helped one another to their feet, calls for medics already rising up across the forest. They could have her love in a second. Just for now, Tanith wanted to stare into those beautiful eyes and thank all the higher powers that Blake was alive.
“Hey, you think you’re the only one with a secret?” she teased, laughing right along with him at the sheer audacity of that day. “Guess again, pal.”
