captured.
The male fox stopped abruptly, and Liam strained to make out his quiet chirps. “Ahead. Not far. Danger. I go. You come.”
Liam did his best to fix the location in his mind so that he could lead the others back to free the cat-shifters. He fought the desire to get a look at the hideout, not wanting to test his luck. A quick nod signaled his agreement with his guide, who immediately turned and led them back the way they came, moving fast.
They were halfway back when Liam heard an odd zing, and then a sharp prick in his shoulder. He yipped, but the male fox doubled his pace and sprinted on, leaving Liam wobbling on his feet, suddenly dazed and losing control.
Fuck. I bet I’ve been tranqued, he thought as he fell over, awake and aware but unable to move.
A man stepped out of the underbrush, and Liam thought he matched the body shape of the person he’d seen set fire to the lake house. Instead of bike leathers, he wore canvas pants, a faded flannel shirt, and a heavy jacket. A wild mane of curly dark hair framed a broad, bearded face with piercing dark eyes.
“Well, well. If it’s not the little fox shifter. You saved me another trip to town. I was trying to figure out what to burn next.”
Liam’s heart beat wildly. How can he tell I’m a shifter? There’s got to be some kind of magic involved.
“I hope you don’t expect your psychic pals to find you,” the Huntsman said, reaching down to grab Liam by the scruff of the neck and giving a shake to make it clear he could easily snap his spine. “Or the shifters. My witch friends fixed me up real good on spells and hex bags to keep people from seeing things that are none of their business. No one’s gonna find this place—at least, not until we’re long gone.”
Liam’s hopes sank. He’d wondered how the Huntsman could elude both shifters and psychics, but he didn’t know how to counter witchcraft. Then again, if the man’s business lay in trapping and trafficking supernatural creatures, it shouldn’t have been a surprise that he would have unusual resources at his disposal.
“You got away from me in Ithaca. That made the hunt more interesting.” The man stalked through the forest like he owned it, taking Liam farther into the woods. About a quarter mile from where Liam and the male fox had stopped, a ramshackle cabin squatted among the trees. It looked like it might have been a hiker way station back in the day, long abandoned. Two fresh fox pelts hung from stretching racks by the door. The motorcycle Liam had spotted at the lake house fire was parked next to the cabin.
“You’re worth the effort,” the man continued as he opened the door. Liam’s night vision gave him an advantage, but what he saw made his fear spike.
Several large, sturdy cages lined the walls. In one, a large, very furry white and black cat lay dejectedly, barely sparing them a glance as they entered. In another, a muscular spotted wild cat paced, lowering its head to glare at its captor.
The man pushed Liam into one of the empty cages. The wires looked far too thick to chew through, and much too close to slip between.
“You know why? Because I get paid twice for you. Your ex-boyfriend is paying me to kill you. I mighta outsourced that a little. There’s a trophy hunter who specializes in ‘exotics’ who loves hunting fox shifters on his ranch in Montana. He’s paying for you to be delivered alive, and then he’ll take care of the killing part. I walk away with a nice bonus.”
Liam tried to hiss and found it hard to manage even a croak.
“The tranquilizer will wear off eventually. The cages have witchy sigils marked on the metal to keep you from shifting. Now that I’ve got you, I can pack up my operation and get the hell out of this jerkwater town.”
He leered at Liam. “Although, I think I’ll be back. Too many shifters here, and trophy hunters go for all kinds. Like that wolf I saw you with. Oh, yeah, I’ve been keeping tabs. Part of the game. I have some customers who’d love a good hunt for one of those.”
“I’ve had my eye on a couple of places to torch next,” the Huntsman went on. “They’ll be so busy with the fires, no one will notice my ATV hauling the