They didn’t find anything or anyone. No scents other than Shannon’s, Kolby’s, and theirs. They continued to search until they came to the door to the basement.

  Both of them paused. The door was shut to the basement. Old, dust-covered, metal file cabinets filled with former guest records before computers were down there. Some conference tables and chairs were stored in there, a woodworking workshop too. There were also a washing machine and dryer, a bathroom, and a bed on a metal frame in the basement.

  She didn’t remember what else was down there, but nothing she had thought was that important. She wondered if a racoon or something had found a way into the basement.

  Her brother was standing next to her at the door, waiting for her to decide what to do.

  5

  Something crashed in the basement and both Rosalie and Eric jumped a little at the closed door. Eric growled. She shifted and saw that she couldn’t lock the door. “Come on. I’m calling the sheriff’s department. The basement door doesn’t have a lock.” She hadn’t realized until that moment that she couldn’t secure it.

  Probably nothing but a wild animal had gotten in, but what if it wasn’t? What if some man was living down there and he was an ax murderer or something? She wasn’t about to go into the basement to check it out now.

  She shifted and dashed for the stairs to get to her bedroom where her phone was.

  But then she heard something running up the stairs in the basement, and her brother was still near the basement door as if he was frozen in time, listening, watching for it.

  She raced back down the stairs, nipped at him, and then she ran to the front door with him right behind her. But the front cougar door was locked.

  She shifted, fumbled with the lock, cursing under her breath, and then pulled open the latch to the cougar door. Shifting, she followed her brother out and he ran straight for the Haverton’s ranch with her in hot pursuit. They would have to return for the kittens too.

  Kolby heard the sound of a cougar crying out and didn’t recognize the voice. He was out of bed and in his cougar coat in a flash, racing for the door to come to the cat’s aid, if it was a shifter. It was coming from the direction of the Wild Ridge Mansion.

  Lights came on in the Havertons’ ranch house as Kolby heard another cat’s sound of distress, but not a cougar’s call. Hell, it had to be Eric and Rosalie, and something had spooked them.

  He called out in his cougar cry, telling them he was on his way to save them. They wouldn’t recognize his voice either though.

  It didn’t take long for him to see Hal in his all-terrain vehicle and Ted riding shotgun, tearing across the property. Three of the ranch hands were in their cougar forms trying to catch up to them.

  Kolby finally saw the cougar and snow leopard and he knew for sure they were Rosalie and Eric. He was glad they had come to them for help. He called out to her again and she cried out, sounding thankful for all the troops coming to assist them.

  When Hal reached them, Eric shifted and shouted, “Something’s in our basement and it was coming up the stairs. We didn’t have any way to lock it, so we ran to you for help.”

  “We’re heading that way,” Hal said, and he and Ted had to drive to the main road then to reach the mansion.

  Before Kolby reached Rosalie and her brother, she whipped around and tore off toward the fence. Okay, so she wanted to see who had been in the house. Her brother followed suit, and Kolby sprinted to catch up to them. He finally reached Rosalie and nuzzled her neck, hoping she wouldn’t be annoyed with him, and he would get a nip for it, but she licked him back, appearing grateful for the rescue.

  They saw the headlights of the ATV at the house. Hal and Ted were out of the vehicle but not making a move to go inside. Then Kolby heard the telltale sound of the sheriff’s vehicles on the way. Deputy Chase Buchanan’s, Kolby’s brother, Ricky’s, Stryker Hill’s—or it might be his wife, Nina, or both, Sheriff Dan Steinacker, and well, Hal was already there as a part-time deputy.

  Kolby was glad they all had come to take care of the threat and that his boss and the foreman hadn’t tried to deal with this on their own.

  Kolby was dying to go inside in the worst way to learn what was going on and yeah, he supposed he wanted to show what a hero he could be. Instead, he stayed with the ranch hands and Rosalie and her brother to watch out for them while the other deputy sheriffs and the sheriff arrived. Dan had Stryker, Ricky, and Ted go around the back. The sheriff wanted Nina to stay with Rosalie and her brother since she was armed with a 9mm in case anything got by the others.

  Normally, Nina might have been peeved that she couldn’t be just one of the guys, but everyone knew she and her mate, Stryker, were trying to get pregnant, and no one wanted her to get injured on the job. Stryker kept saying it could be any day now. Nina looked ready to sock him every time he said it. Everyone just chuckled about it.

  Dan used lockpicks to unlock the front door, then he, Hal, and Chase went in the front way. “Sheriff’s department!” Dan called out.

  Kolby was as tense as the others were who were staying put, though he sure still wished he could be inside checking things out.

  No one responded. They could hear the men moving around in the mansion, a big place, so it would take a while to search all the rooms, under the beds, in the closets, and every place else.

  Kolby wanted to take Rosalie and her brother back to the ranch house to chill out until the mansion was declared clear, but he knew she wouldn’t want to leave until they learned what was in the house.

  After what seemed like forever, Dan and Chase came out of the mansion. Dan shook his head. “We didn’t find anything.”

  Eric shifted. “No way. It was coming up the stairs. But we have to save the kittens too.” Then he shifted back into his snow leopard coat. It was too cold out here to stay in human form for long when he wasn’t wearing anything.

  Kolby was proud of Eric for doing all the talking though, and not making his sister shift to tell them what was going on. He suspected she might be a little shy if she wasn’t used to shifting in front of other cougars. Most had grown up doing so, and it wasn’t any big deal to them. But she and her brother had been on their own for a long time, so that could make a difference. Plus, Kolby swore Eric was trying to make a good impression on him.

  Hal, Stryker, and Ted were still in the house. Kolby wondered what they were doing.

  “We need to replace the doorknob on the basement door so it’ll lock. We didn’t smell or see anything,” Dan said. “Hal said you can stay with them for the night. The kittens too. We can escort you inside and you can shift, dress, and pack a bag, and then you can either follow us home in your vehicle or we’ll drive you there. Chase and Stryker are staying here for the rest of the night in case anything else happens.”

  Rosalie nodded and headed into the mansion, her brother following.

  Dan smiled at Kolby. “I hear you have a couple of new jobs. Mentoring Eric and setting up the Halloween party. Well, and helping her with updating her place. Why don’t you go in and have a look around and see if you notice anything out of the ordinary since you were here earlier.”

  Kolby growled his assent and headed into the house. He was so glad Dan gave him the opportunity to check things out for them, not that he’d find anything if they hadn’t. But he hadn’t smelled kittens in the mansion before, so he wondered about that.

  He loped into the foyer, and then to the basement. The door was wide open, and the light was on downstairs. He made his way cautiously down the stairs, expecting something to jump out of the shadows at him at any moment.

  He smelled around the place but didn’t notice any unusual scents like that of a racoon or anything else down here. He didn’t know what to think. He believed that Rosalie and Eric had heard something. But something climbing up the stairs? Ghosts came to mind. Stryker and his twin brother, Leyton, and Chase could actually see ghosts, if Chase was doing a séance. Kolby wondered if they’d felt any presences. His fur was standing up on end as he made his way to the bottom of the stairs and then he began searching every corner of the room and found a door that led outside. He shifted and checked the door, but when he turned the knob, he found it was locked. He heard someone on the stairs and turned to see who it was and saw Rosalie staring at him. He smiled and shifted into his cougar.

  She smiled a little and descended the stairs, looking around like he had, probably not believing that no one had found a thing unless she saw it for herself. “We knew what we heard,” she finally said after checking out every nook and cranny.

  He growled at her in agreement.

  When she didn’t find anything, she motioned to the stairs. He let her go up first though. Once she climbed the stairs part way, he followed her up. They left the basement and saw her brother waiting with their bags and Stryker.

  “Are you ready to go to the ranch house?” Stryker asked.

  “Is someone really staying here the night?” she asked.

  “Yeah. We’ll have a couple of people here overnight, just in case someone or something comes in the middle of the night.”

  “Okay, good. Because something or someone was coming up those stairs in the basement,” Rosalie said.

  “Unless it was a ghost,” her brother said, holding onto a kitty litter box.

  “There are no ghosts here,” she said, frowning at her brother. She grabbed up a cat carrier and Kolby saw two black kittens peering back at him through one of the grated windows.

  Kolby wasn’t so sure there weren’t any ghosts here. She and her brother got into Dan’s sheriff’s car. Kolby and the other ranch hands in their fur coats raced back to the bunkhouse. Kolby wanted Rosalie to stay at the ranch house with him! But he figured she’d stay with her brother with Tracey and Hal instead.

  When he and the other ranch hands reached the bunkhouse, they went single file in through the cougar door. Then he went to his room, shifted, and ran his hands through his hair. The other ranch hands went to bed, knowing their day started before dawn. But Kolby couldn’t sleep.

  Then someone knocked on the bunkhouse door and he threw on some boxer briefs and hurried down the hall to answer it, figuring it was Hal. When he opened the door, he saw Rosalie standing in the door frame, surprising him. He was certain she would spend the night with the Havertons. He glanced around her, but she was alone. He guessed she wanted to talk then instead.

  “Do you want to come in?” He was confused.

  “Yeah.” She walked into the living room, and he shut the door.

  “You’re staying at the Havertons’ right?” he asked.

  “Yes. I have to know the truth though. Is the mansion haunted?”

  Kolby led her to the sofas and they both took a seat. “I…don’t have any paranormal abilities, unless you call shifting into a cougar paranormal.”

  She dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. “That’s natural for us. This is paranormal.” She created a glowing ball in her hands, the yellow light reflecting off her face.

  Openmouthed, he just stared at it. “What…how…how did you do that? Is it a trick?”

  “No. I’ve been able to conjure up light since I was little. My biological mom and dad had to hide my ability from others until I learned to control it. Just like hiding that we could turn into cougars.”

  “Wow, uh, so what can you do with it?”

  “It’s a light, Kolby, that’s all.”

  But he thought she might be hiding more about it, afraid to show him what she really could do. Create a light? Make a fireball? His imagination was going wild here.

  “I want to know if the mansion house is haunted.”

  Kolby cleared his throat. “Okay, if Chase, you know, the deputy sheriff, has a séance, he can sometimes summon spirits. Stryker, the other deputy, and his brother whom you haven’t met, Leyton, also can see ghosts.”

  “Oh, wow. Then I’m talking to the wrong guy.”

  That hurt.

  “So that’s why Chase and Stryker were the two who were selected to stay overnight then.”

  “Yeah, I suspect that’s why Dan chose them to stay overnight. Hey, I believe you that you heard something in the basement.” But Kolby was on the fence about ghosts. Or at least in this case. He suspected someone had been in the house. Or something. Rats even.

  “If it wasn’t a ghost, then what?”

  “The door to the basement was locked to the outside,” Kolby said.

  She let out her breath.

  “But what if someone had a key to it? Or had even used a lockpick to gain entry that way?” he asked.

  “We didn’t smell any sign of anyone in the basement.”

  Kolby sighed. “Right. But what if someone wore hunter’s concealment scent?”

  Her jaw dropped. Kolby wanted to run his hand through her red hair, to feel its silkiness, to smell the strands that he caught a whiff of when she was standing in the doorway, of peaches and honey.

  “Why? Who would it be?”

  “A drifter? Someone with a set of lockpicks, sleeping in the basement on cold nights?” He really didn’t know, but yeah, he was concerned.

  “Why not in one of the beds? Why wear hunter’s concealment scent?” Rosalie asked.

  “Yeah, that doesn’t make any sense. Unless he believed that some of the sheriff’s people would check out the place from time to time and smell that he—or frankly, she—had been there.”

  Rosalie glanced at his boxer shorts.

  “Sorry, I had to answer the door quickly. I had no idea who it was.”

  “You probably have to get up really early.”

  “I do, but this is important.”

  “Thanks for coming to my rescue.”

  He smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  She sighed. “I need to get back to the Havertons’ house.”

  “Or you could stay here. With me tonight.” Kolby raised his brows.

  She laughed.

  “No, huh? I’ll walk you back to the ranch house.”

  “No need. It’s not that far from here.”

  “I’ve been taught better than that,” Kolby said.

  “You’re going like that?”

  “Will you wait?” Kolby sounded a little desperate to walk her to the Halvertons’ place. But that was the only decent thing to do.

  “Yeah, sure.” She smiled at him.

  He leapt off the sofa and raced to his bedroom. As fast as he could, he dressed in pants, boots, and a sweater, then hurried back to join her.

  “Wow, that was quick.”

  He smiled. “Come on. Let’s go.” He opened the door to the bunkhouse and let her out in the chilly air. Then he walked her to the ranch house. “I can stay at the mansion with you both, if you’d like and try to figure this out just in case it happens again.”

  “Tomorrow night.”

  “Yeah. We have others at the house tonight to watch things.”

  “Uhm, okay.”

  “Hot damn,” Kolby said.

  She chuckled. “I know the others won’t want to stay at the mansion with us beyond tonight.”

  “I’ll stay as long as it takes to reveal the mystery.”

  “Okay, thanks. We appreciate it.”

  He would do anything to ingratiate himself with Rosalie and her brother.

  When they reached the Havertons’ porch, the light still on, she pulled Kolby into her arms and smiled. “I hope you don’t have a girlfriend. If so, she’s out of luck.”

  Kolby laughed and wrapped his arms around her and kissed her. “I don’t.” Her lips parted for his and she kissed him back, tongues teasing and tasting, and then they deepened their kiss, tongues sliding leisurely over each other’s. Oh, man, he wished she’d agreed to stay with him tonight.

  She pulled away slightly. “Hmm. Thanks for everything, Kolby. Night.”

  “Night, Rosalie. I’ll stay at your place for as long as you need me to. And we’ve got to come up with a date night.”

  She smiled. “You have a movie theater. Take me to the movies.”

  “You’ve got it.”

  Then they said good night again and she headed inside the house and locked the door.

  Oh, man, seeing the snow leopard hadn’t been a figment of his imagination. Things were getting so much more real. He had himself a girlfriend! And was mentoring her younger brother. He’d never expected such a strange twist of fate. Now this business with the strange occurrence at the mansion? He had to solve the mystery.

  6

  Ohmigod, Kolby was such a hottie! Rosalie closed and locked the door and saw her brother standing at the window where he’d been watching her and Kolby.

  “He’s okay, I guess,” Eric said.

  She let out her breath. “You were supposed to be in bed, like I was going to be.”

  “I just wanted to see what you had to say to Kolby. I’m not sure you were doing a lot of talking though.”

  She smiled. “I asked him if he thought the place was haunted. But he offered to stay with us to help us solve the mystery.”

  “He believed us.” Eric sounded surprised.

  “Yeah. He said that the person might have been wearing hunter concealment spray.”

  “What?” Eric said.

  “Yeah.”

  “Why? Unless…unless he is a shifter.”

  “Exactly. Come on. Let’s go to bed.”

  “So Kolby is staying in your room the night?” Eric asked.

  “We have ten other bedrooms.”

  “That are dusty and dirty.” Eric took a huge breath and then let it out. “He could stay with you, but then what if I got scared?”

  She smiled and hugged her brother. “You can just jump on my bed in your snow leopard coat like you did tonight.”

  He chuckled and hugged her back. “I’m sure he would love that.” He frowned. “Did you tell him about your special abilities? That might be the end of your new relationship, you know.”

  She sighed. “Yeah. He thought it was cool.”