Amber Eyes - Maya Banks Page 0,1

measured, and touched the top of her head. The cat’s eyes closed in pleasure, and she rubbed her head roughly against Hunter’s palm.

“I’ll be damned,”Jericho murmured.

“Open the door to the back porch,”Hunter said in his quiet, even voice, never raising it above the low pitch he used to calm the cat. “I’ll see if I can get her there.”

Jericho did as Hunter asked even as he wondered what the hell Hunter was going to do when he got her confined to the screened-in patio.

Hunter backed toward the porch, his hand extended, still talking nonsense. If Hunter weren’t so utterly serious, Jericho would give him hell about talking shit to a cat, but Hunter…well, he had his priorities. Animals and children were held high in his regard. Everyone else? Not so much.

“I know it hurts, girl,”Hunter said quietly as he coaxed her through the kitchen. “Just a little further and I’ll look at that paw. Got it caught in a trap, did you?”

Jericho looked at the left front paw she wasn’t putting much weight on and saw dried blood, but couldn’t make much more of the wound. Could be anything from an embedded thorn to her getting caught in some trapper’s steel jaws.

Hunter was a damn fool if thought he was going to doctor a wounded cougar. Cat would take his head off. Jericho shook his head. Well, someone had to look after the moron. Jericho grabbed the rifle from the couch where Hunter had thrown it and followed the limping cat through the kitchen.

Hunter looked up from his crouched position on the floor of the porch, his eyes glittering with anger.

“I told you to get rid of the gun.”

Jericho shrugged. “I never took orders worth a shit. Besides, if she tries to have you for lunch, I’m going to take a chunk out of her hide.”

The mountain lion turned her amber gaze on Jericho. There was sadness to her expression, almost as though she understood the men’s conversation.

Jericho shook his head and muttered under his breath. He was losing his damn mind. He gripped the rifle a bit tighter, refusing to feel guilty for trying to save his friend’s ass. Even if the idiot didn’t want saving.

“Okay, shut the door,”Hunter ordered.

Jericho reached back and gave the door a shove. For a moment the cat went on alert. She looked wildly around, her eyes glittering with a mixture of fear and pain. Hunter held out his hand, words of comfort tripping over his lips in their haste to get out.

The cougar fell heavily to the floor, slumping as though the last of her strength had left her. Hunter touched her head, petting and then rubbing behind her ears. His eyes were bright with sympathy.

“Are you going to let me see your paw, girl?”Hunter said in a quiet voice. “I won’t hurt you. I just want to see what you’ve done to yourself.”

He moved slowly and with great care, inching his hand closer to the injured paw. When he finally touched the blood-matted fur, the cougar merely raised her head and sniffed experimentally in Hunter’s direction. Then she settled down again, laying her head on the floor.

“Get me the first-aid kit,”Hunter said.

“Tell me you aren’t going to play vet with a friggin’ wild animal,”Jericho said, even though he knew arguing with Hunter was like pissing in the wind. Stupid any way you looked at it.

“I can at least put some antibiotic ointment on it and hope it prevents infection,”Hunter said impatiently. “She trusts us. I want to help her.”

Jericho went back into the house grumbling about hardheaded do-gooders, and then he had to laugh at the idea of labeling Hunter a do-gooder. Hard-assed bastard? Yes. Granola do-gooder? Uh, no.

He came back out a few moments later, first-aid kit in hand. Not wanting to get close enough to upset the cat, he tossed it to Hunter from the doorway.

The cougar rolled slightly, a lazy-looking move that implied a level of comfort and trust. She gazed up at Jericho, her amber eyes glittering warmly. There was invitation there. Jericho frowned hard and shook himself. Now he was psychoanalyzing the body language of a damn cougar?

“Pet her,”Hunter said firmly. “She wants you to.”

“And you know this, how?”Jericho asked dryly.

“She’s perfectly relaxed. She enjoys my touch. You could pet her while I clean her wound.”

“Oh sure, let me be the sacrificial kitty meal,”Jericho grumbled even as he started forward.

Gingerly, and with more than a little caution, he knelt close to the cat’s head. She sniffed curiously