But how could she win its trust?
FIVE
Roarn didn’t understand the words the female spoke—the Beast-brain wouldn’t let him. But the tone was clear and kind. Still, he didn’t like someone sneaking up behind him when he was trapped!
Glaring at her, he snarled fiercely, showing his fangs.
“Holy crap, what are you?” the female said and though he couldn’t understand the words, he heard the tone of awe in her voice.
Roarn could see her in the gathering darkness—a female with a kind face and long dark hair. She had full curves hidden by some kind of bulky clothing. Roarn himself had on nothing but his own striped fur. Why did she cover herself? What was she hiding? He snarled again, warning her away.
But the female wouldn’t go.
“Come on now, big fella,” she murmured. “I don’t know what you are, but I can tell you’re in pain. Did you get caught by that trap? I bet I can guess who put it there.” Her soft voice was grim and patient. “How can I get you to trust me? What do you want?”
Then she seemed to have an idea.
“I’ll be right back,” she said and turned and hurried away in the snow.
Roarn watched her go, feeling suddenly sorry that he had warned her off. The pain in his leg was still awful where the biter was digging its silver teeth into his flesh. Maybe she had wanted to help him and he had driven her away. Her words had meant nothing to him, but her tone had been kind. And her scent was so fresh and warm—the scent of a female in her Second Heat.
He sniffed the air and made a sad sound in the back of his throat. He shouldn’t have been so quick to snarl at her. Maybe she would have helped…
But then, after a few moments, he heard a crunching sound of feet in the snow. To his cautious delight, he smelled her scent again—the warm Second Heat scent—the scent of a female who was ripe for bonding. And then she was there in front of him, holding something out on a flat, round platter.
“Go on, big fella,” she urged as he sniffed the contents of the platter carefully. It smelled like food—like meat—and it had been a long time since he had eaten. He almost took a bite…but what if it was poisoned?
He looked up at the female’s face—it was small and soft, just like the rest of her. Curved in all the right places with lines around the eyes—eyes that were big and brown and kind-looking.
She was beautiful.
This was a new thought—more of a feeling—in his head. And being near her seemed to make the buzzing of the Fury a little less. A kind female like this wouldn’t offer him poison meat—Roarn was sure of it. Still, he didn’t take his eyes off her as he snatched the meat from the platter and brought it to his mouth.
He was going to watch her every minute. Kind eyes or not, if she tried to hurt him, he would rip her throat out!
SIX
Christine had been saving the steak for her dinner but she didn’t hesitate to give it to the strange creature in the trap. Though she didn’t know what the hell it was, she could tell by its fangs that it was a carnivore—probably an Apex predator too.
It could take my face off in one swipe. Have to take it easy here, Christine—be careful, she told herself.
But she couldn’t wait too long—the creature was wolfing the steak down and she wanted to try and spring the trap while it was distracted by eating.
Christine had seen animals in leg hold traps like this before. Living so close to prime hunting country as she did, it wasn’t unusual for a dog of a cat to be brought in with one on their leg. The animal was usually crying in pain and the owner, as often or not, was crying too. Christine had to work grimly to keep the tears from her own eyes whenever this happened. She hated the cruel teeth that bit into an animal’s flesh, driving them half-crazy with pain and fear, causing them to try and gnaw their own paw off to get away.
But as grim as these cases were, she was glad now that she’d seen them. Because she knew exactly how to spring the trap.
On either side of the silver jaws were two spring loaded wings—long pieces of metal that were used to set the trap in the first place. But they could also release the trap, if they were pressed in the right way, using steady pressure.
“Okay now,” Christine told the strange, striped creature which was still tearing into the steak. “I’m going to lean down here and try to help you, big fella. You just stay calm and keep eating.”