Brooke, Leah - Panthers' Prey [Black Panthers 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (16 page)

An hour later, she’d found nothing but a few gum wrappers, a nickel, and several shiny stones.

Another officer had come into the bar while she’d been cleaning and remodeling earlier last week to tell her that they’d found the gun her attacker had dropped while chasing her, which meant that the police had disturbed leaves and foliage, making her search even more difficult.

With that in mind, she kept moving, using her bat to push against small bushes. The number of footprints going in every direction just made her search even more confusing. She didn’t know who’d walked where or if any of the tracks she saw had been made by her attacker.

She followed trail after trail of them, looking for her smaller ones, but they were so trampled and smeared from the rainstorm this week, that she couldn’t make out one from another.

After a while, she glanced at her watch, surprised to see that almost two hours had gone by. Hot and thirsty, she wished she’d taken the time to grab a bottle of water, but she’d been in such a hurry and too tired and anxious to think about it.

She also hadn’t imagined it taking this long, somehow imagining that it would jump right out at her, but now she realized it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack.

She couldn’t quit, though, even if she had to come out here every morning before opening the bar to search. Today and tomorrow the bar would be closed, though, so she’d spend every minute she could here.

Maybe if she stayed out here long enough, she could push thoughts of Marc and James out of her mind.

They confused her, and she didn’t like it. She would have bet money that she would have ended up with James in her bed last night. She knew he wanted her, but after several hours of low conversation with Marc, he’d walked away.

Men. Who the hell could figure them out? What did they want to talk about that was so important that they couldn’t talk to her about it last night?

They probably wanted to make sure she understood that neither one of them wanted a commitment.

Arrogant assholes.

What made them think she wanted one?

Fuck it. The next time she saw them, she would make it perfectly clear that she didn’t want anything more than what she suspected would be the best sex she’d ever had.

Blowing out a breath, she propped the bat against a nearby tree trunk, dropping the flashlight onto the soft ground next to it.

Closing her eyes, she lifted her face to the sky, lifting her arms and arching backward to relieve the tightness in her back from spending so much time bent over and looking down.

She stayed in that position, enjoying the tranquility for a few precious moments and the chance to just be alone with her thoughts. She’d been too busy this week to even let herself to think about the attack last week, keeping herself focused on getting her bar ready in time. She hadn’t wanted to think about it, hadn’t allowed herself to think about it.

Now, though, the fear she’d felt that night came rushing back, and she found herself gritting her teeth, blinking back the tears that formed at the corners of her eyes.

Damn that bastard for making her lose her necklace, and damn Marc and James for being so unforgettable.

Damned tears. She never let herself cry. It didn’t help anyway. It never did more than make her nose run and give her a headache.

She sighed and straightened, rubbing her stinging eyes with the heels of her hands and holding them there as though doing so would prevent any more tears from falling.

Damn, she hated crying, and more than that, she hated feeling sorry for herself.

She’d only been in town a little over a week and, in her usual style, had already made a mess of it.

Between her attack, the loss of her necklace, the missed opportunities with Marc and James that left her frustrated, and the thugs who continued to plague her new bar, things couldn’t get much worse.

Unless, of course, she got eaten by a panther.

Furious at herself for falling into a well of self-pity, she rubbed her eyes again, forcing back tears even as a sob erupted. Damn it. She could do this.

She could run her own business. She could finally settle in one place and make a home. She could sure as hell handle the troublemakers who came in.

Dealing with Marc and James, however, left her shaken.

She’d known what they wanted from her—at least she thought she had—until last night when they walked away from her.

Now she wasn’t so sure.

Blowing out a breath, she opened her eyes again, determined to do what she’d come here for, get back to her bar and get on with her life. She blinked, and then blinked again, not quite believing the sight in front of her. She froze, sucking in another breath, her heart in her throat.

Holy hell!

Swallowing heavily, she forced herself to remain perfectly still when every instinct screamed at her to run.

Two huge black panthers stood unmoving only about ten yards away, their unblinking stares sending chills up and down her spine.

Shit, they really lived here and were far more terrifying up close than she could have ever imagined. Knowing they could pounce at any second, she swallowed heavily, her mind racing as she tried to remember everything she knew about panthers.

Not much.

They were big, dangerous cats. That was about all she knew, other than the fact that they stared at her as if they wanted to take a huge bite out of her.

Fighting back her panic, she weighed her chances of getting back to the car before either one of them could strike.

She’d never make it. She’d come too far into the woods, but even if she’d been close, she wouldn’t make it more than a few steps before one of them pounced.

But, she sure as hell wouldn’t go down without a fight.

Keeping her movements slow and as steady as she could despite her shaking, she reached out a hand toward her bat, hoping that if she managed to hit them hard enough, she might just have a shot of getting away.

She never took her eyes from them, stunned when they looked at each other as though trying to figure out what to make of her.

Or trying to figure out who gets the first bite.

Gathering her courage, she took a deep breath and grabbed the end of the bat and whirled around, tripping over the flashlight and those damned roots before she could take more than a step and hitting the ground hard.

Shit. Shit. Shit.

Scared out of her mind, she tried to scramble to her feet, but fear had made her too clumsy to accomplish it. Expecting to feel sharp teeth sinking into her at any moment, she screamed, rolling onto her back with the bat held out on front of her and braced herself for an attack.

“Easy, sweetheart. No one’s gonna hurt you.”

Bailey sucked in a breath and blinked again, wondering if she was hallucinating.

Marc and James stood over her, as naked as the day they were born.

James smiled, his eyes holding hers. “We’re going to have to tell her the truth now, whether she’s ready for it or not.”

Marc nodded, seeming unconcerned with his nakedness, his cock lengthening and getting harder as he stared down at her.

He reached out to touch her cheek, frowning when she jerked away. “I hadn’t planned on scaring her to death before we did it. Let’s get her back to the house and get her calmed down. I’m not discussing it out here.”

Whipping her head around, Bailey scanned their surroundings, getting that sick feeling in her stomach again.

“What the hell’s going on? Where are they? Did you see the panthers?” Scrambling to her feet, she picked up her bat again and looked around in search of them, scared they would jump out from behind a tree trunk and attack at any moment.

She still couldn’t make sense of the fact that both Marc and James seemed to have appeared, stark naked, in the middle of the woods.

Was she dead?

Relieved, but more than a little surprised that she didn’t see either one of the huge, black cats, she grabbed Marc’s arm with her free hand, holding the bat at the ready with the other.

“Hurry up! My car’s on the road. They have to be close. What the hell are you two doing out here naked? Forget it. I don’t want to know. Move, damn it! I swear I saw them. There were two of them. Let’s get to my car before they get back.”

Turning, she raced away, looking over her shoulder. “Hurry up, damn it! They could come back any second.”

To her surprise, Marc reached out and grabbed her arm, pulling her against his naked chest, whipping the bat out of her grasp and tossing it aside, all in one smooth move. He shook her once, lifting her to her toes, his eyes hard and glittering like blue chips of ice. “Calm down, damn it. Nothing’s going to hurt you. The panthers are gone. Come on. Let’s get back to the house so we can talk.”

“Talk?” Struggling to get out of his arms, she pushed against his naked chest, trying not to notice how firm it felt under her hands or that it seemed wider without being covered.

She didn’t dare look down at the cock, hard as steel against her belly.

Christ, even with the threat of being mauled by a panther, she wanted him.

“You really are crazy, and you’re making me crazy right along with you! You’re in the woods naked and want to stand around talking when there are panthers on the loose. Let go of me, you maniac!”

Shaking her again, he bent low, getting in her face. “We’re not crazy. Settle down.”

Trying to look around his shoulder, she brushed off James’s hand over her back. “How the hell can I settle down when they could come back any minute?”

James moved to stand behind her and rubbed her shoulders, his cock pressing into the small of her back. “I’ve got news for you, baby. They’re already here.”

Bailey stilled, keeping her voice at a whisper. Tightening both hands on the bat, she whipped her head around. “Where?”

Marc gripped her chin despite her struggle and brushed his lips over hers. “We’re the panthers, Bailey. No, don’t look at me like that. We’d never hurt you, and we’re not crazy. Let’s go back to my house so we can talk.”

Looking up into his glittering blue eyes, Bailey swallowed heavily and carefully stepped to the side, tightening her grip on the bat. She didn’t know what kind of trick they were trying to pull and didn’t know why, but she wanted no part of it.

“Uh, no. That’s okay. I’d better get back into town.” Christ, she had to get out of here. She kept both of them in her line of sight and, holding her hands out in front of her, started to back away.

Oh, God. They were more than just a little crazy. They were certifiable.

James lifted a brow. “The bar’s closed today and tomorrow. You have no reason to rush into town, unless, of course, you’re planning to go to Officer Brown and report a panther sighting?”

Since she’d planned to do just that, she fought not to look guilty, not even sure why she
did
feel guilty, and managed two more steps backward. “No, of course not. I just have things to do.”

Marc rested his hands on his hips, drawing attention to his cock, which seemed to grow larger by the minute. His eyes held hers as he took one step forward for every one she took back. “Liar. What are you doing here? Looking for the panther? You like danger, honey?”

His eyes and half smile told her he’d be willing to give her as much danger as she could handle.