Chapter 13

One night coming home from work, Riley hummed along with Maren Morris as she drove along. They’d had a bunch of deliveries and hadn’t wanted to quit until they’d finished restocking the shelves. As she turned into the drive, her headlights illuminated a cat dashing across the drive.

She braked hard to avoid hitting it. “Damn cat. You almost bit the dust.”

Parking in front of the house, she grabbed her purse, and got out. She hit the button on the key fob to lock the car. She turned around and screamed at seeing a man standing a few feet from her. He spun her around so fast and pinned her against the car that it made her a little dizzy.

Riley struggled, but the guy overpowered her and ripped her keys from her grasp. He yanked her arms behind her back and secured her wrists together with something.

“Who are you? Let me go!” she yelled.

Her attacker turned her around and took her face in a bruising grip. “Shut up or I’ll snap your neck.”

There was no moon that night and even with the snow on the ground to reflect any available light, Riley couldn’t make out his features. He dragged her towards the house by her arm.

The goon unlocked her door and shoved her into the kitchen. He turned a light on, and Riley blinked in the sudden brightness. The next moment, she heard a terrible roar and was flung forward. She fell, hitting her head on the refrigerator. For a moment, her vision turned gray, but the color slowly bled back into her sight as she tried to locate the source of the noise she’d heard.

A huge furry paw stomped the floor close to her head and she jerked back from it. Using her legs, she scooted away, and kept pushing herself until she was sitting up in the corner next to the fridge. Her gaze traveled upward over the ass end of a huge grizzly bear that seemed to fill the kitchen.

It roared and growled, fighting with something that Riley couldn’t see because of the immense bear blocking her sight. Whatever it was screamed and fiercely battled with the bear.

Then it came to her. This was Abe, in his other animal form, a grizzly bear. While she wondered why he’d been at her house, she was also glad he’d shown up. Her fingers grazed her cellphone in her back pocket, and she pulled it out with her right hand.

Carefully, she felt for the button to turn the screen on and pressed it. She swiped her thumb over it to unlock it, and then pressed where she thought Calvin’s shortcut icon should be on the screen. Keeping an eye on the fight in front of her, she shifted until she could see the phone and went a little weak with relief when she saw that it was dialing Calvin. The phone indicated that he’d picked up.

“Calvin! Help me! I’m at my house. A man attacked me, and Abe is fighting something. Help me!” she shouted.

The call ended, indicating that he’d hung up, and she prayed that he’d heard her. Abe stumbled away from her and went down, crashing into her kitchen table. He was rolled onto his back and Riley gasped as she saw a black panther leap onto Abe’s stomach and wrap its big paws around Abe’s neck.

A roar of pain erupted from Abe when the panther sank its fangs into his neck. Abe raked at the panther’s back with his wicked claws, trying to dislodge his enemy, but the panther only hung on tighter. Blood seeped from the huge cat’s jaws.

Rage swept through Riley as the fight continued. She had to do something, but what? Her hands were tied, preventing her from wielding a weapon. Riley refused to give up, though. She circled around the battling animals, trying to stay out of the panther’s line of sight. Reaching the butcher’s block, she managed to get a knife out of it.

Frantically, she sawed at what she figured out was a zip tie, like the kind cops used. As she worked, Abe scored the panther’s back, weakening its hold for a moment before it regained a good grip. Riley worked faster, desperate to be able to help Abe.

When the zip tie gave, Riley could’ve wept with relief, but she ignored that impulse. Looking around the kitchen, she saw the fire extinguisher on the wall and rushed to it. She unhooked it and approached the animals. Catching Abe’s eye, she crept forward, and he stilled.

The panther let out a growl that sounded triumphant, which pissed Riley off. Raising the extinguisher high over her head, she used every ounce of strength she possessed and brought it crashing down on the panther’s head. The beast let go of Abe’s throat and staggered back, a hair-raising scream issuing from it.

Abe rolled to his feet and leaped on the dazed panther. With a thunderous roar, he clamped his mighty jaws on the panther’s back and started shaking his head back and forth.

The panther screamed, the sound reverberating in the kitchen, piercing Riley’s eardrums. There was a sickening crunch of bone and the panther cried out before going limp. Abe shook it one last time and then tossed it down. He sat down, his chest heaving and blood soaking the fur around his neck.