Fierce Player (Sierra Pride Book 4) by Liza Street Read Free Book Online Page A

tugging off his shirt.
    She couldn’t help it—she watched as his pants came off, and he got down on all fours. The air around him shimmered slightly, or maybe she was imagining that, trying to make sense of the changes to his body. In the span of two breaths, a mountain lion stood in Maverick’s place.
    A mountain lion.
    He was breathtaking. Majestic, beautiful, dangerous.
    With a glance back to Kate, he growled. It wasn’t a scary growl, so she cocked her head, trying to figure out why. He jerked his head to the side. Oh, right. She was supposed to be hiding. She nodded and scooted toward the restrooms.
    From the doorway, she surveyed the Clark room. Maverick’s blanket was spread on the floor, their abandoned coffee cups and pastries sitting on top of it. Her phone was out there, too—maybe she should call for help.
    No, she’d feel too exposed if she went to retrieve the phone. Besides, who could she call? The police? They’d show up and find a mountain lion in the library. Maverick would be shot by them if he wasn’t shot by the guys who had come after Kate.
    She stood in the doorway to the restroom, trying to calm her breathing. It was too easy to remember being helpless and scared. This was like when her mom had gotten all those threats, and Kate would wake up shrieking from nightmares of men in black masks standing over her bed. Usually the men just wanted to hurt her mom, and in the nightmares, her mom would beg Kate to come to her rescue. Kate hadn’t been able to do anything to help, not in any of those dreams.
    She could do something to help now, though. Maverick wasn’t going to save her all by himself.

Chapter Eleven
    Maverick stalked out of the Clark room on silent feet. A blond man stood in the entrance to the library, wearing a nondescript black jacket and dark jeans. He was directly in front of Maverick, skulking around a corner into another room.
    Leaping, Maverick landed square on the man’s back, knocking him to the ground. The man screamed. A gun skittered across the floor, out of their reach. The man looked toward it and hit at Maverick’s front legs and head.
    Maverick got low into the man’s face and snarled.
    There were sounds as the two other men came running, so Maverick pushed off the man. All he could think of was Kate—staying alive, so he could keep her alive and safe. With two more men on their way, it wasn’t smart for Maverick to hang around. He loped past the gun, while the blond man gasped for air, pointing at him with a shaking hand.
    It would be too dangerous to pick up the gun in his teeth, so Maverick kicked it across the room with a hind foot. It came to a stop beneath one of the study tables.
    The man looked as if he wanted to follow the gun, but Maverick turned, pushed his ears back, and snarled again.
    Footsteps behind him, two pairs. He bolted into the next room and listened.
    “A cougar,” the man said. “J-jumped on me. Couldn’t believe it.”
    “Not possible,” a second man said. “How would one get in?”
    “Fuck if I know,” the first answered, “but I know what I saw.”
    “How about seeing the girl ?” a third voice asked. “She’s gotta be taken out so the mom will know we’re serious.”
    “How can you be worried about the girl when there’s a fucking cougar in the fucking library?” The first man’s voice was high-pitched with stress.
    If Maverick were in his human form, he’d have smiled.
    “I’m outta here,” the first man continued. “No payoff is worth this shit. You guys can split my share. Are we cool?”
    “We’re cool,” the third voice said.
    A single gunshot, softer because of a silencer, but unmistakable. The sound of a body crumpling to the floor.
    Assholes. Couldn’t even let their partner out.
    Besides, if they got blood on a single book in his library, there would be hell to pay.
    Maverick got low to the floor and peered around the corner. The guys were facing away from him, and away from the body.
    He had to