Page 80 of Shielding Aubree

Ruben watched him as he set up in the twilight darkness and listened as the SWAT team talked over their plans.

"If we have to prioritize one target-"

"The man." Another one of the SWAT team had a hard look in his eyes. "The sound is likely to scare off the cat."

Hoyt shrugged. "The cat is more... unpredictable."

"If you shoot the cat, the man could still put the hostage between himself and danger." He hissed out a breath. "We could lose her anyway."

Ruben heard Aubree's words in his head.

"... my brother, Diego... I saw him in the eyes of the mountain lion who laid down beside me in that wreck."

Ruben reached forward and grabbed Hoyt's arm.

The sniper turned his head in Ruben's direction.

"The man." Ruben dropped his chin in a nod. "The lion isn't a threat."

Hoyt's eyes narrowed on him. "You some kind of animal whisperer?"

Ruben felt a kind of calm come over him as he thought over his words. He very well could be wrong, but he had a feeling he was right.

That Aubree was right.

"If I'm wrong," Ruben shook his head once, "I'll take the full blame for it, but I'm... I'm not wrong."

Hoyt fixed him with a look. "The chief said you're dating Aubree?"

Ruben's gaze only strengthened. "I love her."

Hoyt managed a hint of a smile. "Then you can be my eyes, man." Hoyt blew out a breath and turned toward the rifle he had set up. "Let's hope you made the right choice."

A noisein the darkness must have startled him because before Aubree could say a word, he turned and pointed his gun into the darkness.

He cast a look over his shoulder at her for a millisecond before turning back. "You got a message out? You called in the FBI?"

She felt a little giddy at his words.

It sounded crazy, didn't it?

Then again, it sounded even crazier to tell herself that the mountain lion heading toward her wasn't exactly a mountain lion. At least, she wasn't quite sure what it was.

"I asked you a question!"

She could hear the intensity in his words and felt the bite of his hand into her ankle.

Before she knew what was going on, he gave her ankle a good hard yank and she was suddenly on her back and dragged along the rocky ground. He leaned over and practically spit in her face. "Who the fuck is out there?"

Ruben felthis heart freeze in fear. One second Aubree was a few feet away from the killer and then she was practically under him.

Hoyt swore under his breath. "What the fuck is going on?"

Peering through the binoculars, Ruben saw the cat advancing.

"I think he's afraid. The killer. I don't think he can see the cat, but he knows someone is out there."

Hoyt's brow furrowed over the bridge of his nose. "Someone?"

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