In an instant, Teddy was in full shift. Her bones realigned with a satisfying crunch, the bulk of her torso spread, her haunches formed in a thick pair of solid muscles, her hair sprouted from every available pore and without thought, she launched herself out the window, sheetrock flying in every direction as she broke the wall surrounding the arched opening.
Dropping down to the first-floor roof, she lifted her nose, scented her target in seconds and hurled herself to the ground with a growl that would surely wake Nina’s neighbors and have animal control on their way.
He was in a grand old oak tree, curled into a small ball in a corner where trunk met thick limb. He wore a bungee cord around his waist and climbing gear, likely how he’d managed to get up in the tree to begin with.
But there was no hiding from her—especially not in a tree. If there was anything Teddy Gribanov was skilled at, it was tree-climbing. Her brothers didn’t even attempt to touch her record for hitting the top of a hundred-foot pine in thirty-four seconds flat.
Maybe it was because she was smaller, lighter than they were, but she beat them every time they challenged her.
Loping across the lawn at high speed, staying in the shadow of the hedge maze, the crunch of ice-covered grass beneath her feet, she headed straight for the tree, her eyes focused on the base.
She heard a gasp, which she was hoping like hell meant the guy taking shots at her was surprised by the fact that a bear had just shot out of a window and was running across the lawn. And then he confirmed his surprise when Teddy saw the gun fall to the ground, leaving a perfect outline in a cloud of freshly fallen snow.
There was no getting away from her, the shooter would have to repel down the tree and unhook his gear—she was too fast for him to accomplish that.
With a roar—an ugly, irate howl meant to inspire fear—Teddy launched herself at the base of the oak and shimmied upward, moving from branch to branch with the grace of a monkey.
Wanda, Nina, Marty and Cormac weren’t far behind her, their arms waving as they raced across the lawn with Nina at the back of their pack, huffing and puffing.
But she couldn’t hear their warnings—she had the eye of the tiger and it was zeroed in on the bastard who, for whatever crazy reason, wanted her dead. Nothing mattered but getting her hands, er, paws on him.
The air was thick with his fear, his wide-eyed terror as she reached for him with a swipe of her paw, her claws poised to rip his throat open. She vaguely wondered how he’d gotten over the security gates surrounding Nina’s vast property. But it didn’t matter. He’d somehow gotten in, anchored a bungee around the tree, wrapped it around his waist and climbed up.
This was insane. Who wanted her dead this badly?
He stood on the limb then, his binoculars rolling to the back of his neck, the branches shaking in a tremble of ice and residual snow with his weight. The three-quarter moon shone on his face for a brief second, and that was her downfall.
Her complete shock. Her dismay.
What the hell was he doing here?
The shooter took that moment, that one faltered moment, to use the heel of his boot to knock her in the jaw, sending her crashing downward through branches that bashed against her back as she fell helplessly to the ground with another roar of frustrated anguish.
Teddy hit the top of the hedge maze, bouncing off and thudding to the ground with a crack of bones, knocking the wind out of her.
“Teddy!” Wanda screeched into the whistling wind. “Answer me!”
“Goddamn it, Nina, he’s getting away!” she heard Marty yell.
“Got his gun!” Nina hollered back.
“Teddy! Where are you?” Cormac hollered, followed by heavy footsteps.
“Goddamn this hedge maze. I’ve lost more than one thing in this hot mess of foliage. Last time it was an earring, now it’s a person. The next time I come through here, I’m doing it with a chainsaw, Vampire!” Marty bellowed.
“You leave my damn hedge maze alone, you animal!” Nina shot back. And then she yelled, “Kiddo! Answer us!”
“Do you think she’s hurt?” Marty fret, her voice pitched much higher than normal.
“Nah. She fell from the top of a GD tree the size of King Kong, Marty. Don’t talk crazy, moron,” Nina groused back, breathing so heavily, Teddy heard the raspy gasps rattling across her eardrums.
“Shut up, Elvira Wannabe! You know what I mean!”
“Oh, blow me, Cupcake! How about you shut up—”
“Both of you shut up and help find Teddy!” Wanda wailed. “Teddy! Answer me, please!”
Teddy was too busy shifting back and attempting to catch her breath to muster the energy to yell, but she tried. “Over here!” she wheezed out. Damn it all, she’d definitely broken a rib on impact.
And she was naked.
Every lump and bump exposed when bright floodlights flashed on, turning the hedge maze into a football field.
And of course she was naked, because Cormac was the first to arrive on the scene, scaling a smaller hedge and dropping to his haunches upon landing.