Lost & Found (Possessed 3)

With one last face rub, the wild animal finally walked away from her. Nonetheless, she couldn’t move. She watched as Nick and Ace rushed towards her, taking Roxie from her arms as they helped her to her feet. She was in shock, the fear keeping her immobile. She was like a stone statue.

“Pepper.” She heard Ace say her name and felt both of their hands running along her body. It was as though she had completely disconnected from her body. The distinct certainty of death had left her a trembling, immovable mess.

“Pick her up,” she heard Nick tell Ace. Her limbs were numb as he did so, cradling her to his muscular chest. Normally, she loved feeling his body against her own, but now, she felt like she could fall apart at any second.

It hadn’t been more than a few minutes before they were walking through the cabin doors only to go back out to the SUV and ride into town.

“Roxie,” she finally muttered. Her sweet canine friend was injured, and she’d nearly forgotten in her own turmoil.

“Baby?” Ace called from the seat beside her as Nick drove.

Cognizant of what was happening around her, she found it extremely hard to process her body’s response to anything. Confused. Scared. Weak. She watched as everything flew by the windows in a blur, not seeing anything more than bright sunlight.

Roxie’s whining from the back drew her attention once again. Leaving Ace’s hold, she climbed over the seat to lay beside the injured animal.

“It’ll be alright, sweet girl,” she whispered, hoping to soothe her fear.

Pepper was still mystified as to what had happened, how things had turned around so quickly. Living in Vancouver her whole life, she’d never come across any cougars, so she had no experience as to what their behaviour was like other than what she’d seen on the Discovery Channel. Surely, what they’d done, or rather, hadn’t done, wasn’t normal. Maybe the shock was finally wearing off as she had about a million questions running through her mind, only she couldn’t get one to sit still long enough to ask.

A shadow fell over them as they lay on the floor. Her gaze met Ace’s warm green eyes as he watched them. She gave him a wobbly smile, so he knew she was still there just trying to work through her thoughts. He reached a hand over the seat to run through her hair, sharing his own comforting touch with her, the way she was with Roxie.

“We’ll be in town soon,” he told them as Pepper’s eyes closed, needing all the comfort she could get.

“What the fuck?” Alex uttered, horrified at what he’d just witnessed. He hadn’t expected the bear trap to actually work and figured someone would see it for sure. But there was no way to link it back to him, so he wasn’t too worried.

Honestly, he had hoped it would catch one of these men in its iron-tight grip. The dog was a surprise. Too bad he hadn’t gotten there sooner. Having to go into town to handle his affairs back home, he’d missed his one easy chance to nab Pepper.

When he’d come across the scene just as the Cougars had found her, he’d been shocked they hadn’t attacked. Then he became angry they hadn’t because he knew, for sure, those men would try to jump in to protect her. Once they were dead, he could have been the knight in shining armour. Come to her rescue. But no, that just wasn’t his fucking luck. The stupid cats had to do whatever they’d done, and the men had whisked Pepper and the injured dog away before he could act.

His rational mind said it was time to cut his losses. His obsessed mind said hurry the fuck up and claim his girl.

He was on the side of claiming Pepper as his once and for all.

So now, he was setting up surveillance around the cabin, as well as little traps here and there. Like the bait he was sure would attract those cougars back to them. Hopefully, the dumb animals would follow their instincts this time.

Setting up small fire bombs on the corners of the cabin was easy for him. A strategic play on his part really. He was a firefighter; no one knew the flame better than he.

A dash of gasoline on the fire logs on the porch, and he was set for the time being.

“Soon, Pepper. I’ll bring you home real soon.”

Chapter Ten

They all sat in the waiting room of the small veterinarian clinic in town waiting on word about Roxie. Ace couldn’t stop thinking about the fear that had consumed his entire being when they’d found the girls surrounded by Cougars.

Pepper’s face spoke volumes when she realized what was happening. Her eyes had filled with wonder and fear which was quickly replaced with bone-chilling dread as she thought her time was up.

He could admit there was never a moment in his own life where he’d been so terrified. The thought of not having her in his world was inconceivable. He refused to let it happen, and so help anyone that tried to tell him otherwise. The death grips he and Nick had on her hands were indication enough of how vulnerable they had all felt.

The wait on Roxie was a long one. Or maybe it just seemed like it was because of the events leading up to where they were now. Ace was still confused as to how a bear trap had gotten anywhere on the property, let alone so close to the cabin.

“Do bears come around often?” Pepper’s soft question echoed his thoughts.

Nick looked to her. “No. There hasn’t been any type of bear incident in years.”

“Then why was there a trap there?” Her voice sounded so sad.

Nick’s body was deceptively relaxed as he reclined in his chair. “I wish to hell I knew.”