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CHAPTER 1

The cougar was going to turn Tansy Meadows inhaled swiftly, biting at her full lower lip Her heart was pounding; she could taste the familiar dryness in her mouth and feel the dampness on her palms The rush of adrenalinehands when she needed desperately to be absolutely still

Turn, baby She whispered the encourage the animal to do so If you turn, I'll make you very, very famous

The big cat stretched lazily, its sleek body rippling withtail twitched

Tansy's heart nearly ceased to beat, than began to tap out double time Come on, little mama, she coaxed, turn for me

Her legs had long since lost feeling; they were so numb from inactivity, Tansy wasn't certain she would be able to leave the tiny ledge where she had set up her blind soetting this picture

The nant and due to give birth any day now The slate gray tip of its tail twitched again and again, and Tansy re hours of waiting, anticipating Five long hours of cramped, sore muscles, not to mention the months of preparation

Come on, baby, a little more You can do it Get that beautiful face pointed this way

TheTansy with expectancy The cat turned her sleek head, green-gold eyes glittering like sparkling jewels Tansy exhaled slowly as she began snapping frame after frame with her ca eyes, the cat preened herself, lapping at her tawny coat with her long tongue She gried soht before she let out a soft, whistling call

Mountain lions hunted ital and fil wildlife in its natural habitat She had captured a beautiful photographic series of this particular cat bringing down an elk calf three weeks ago, but this was her first real break since Cougars were elusive and difficult to photograph in their natural habitats Whenever possible, they preferred a high vantage point, and their superior vision allowed the before huar, one of thetiar birth on film She was lucky she had such an affinity with animals; even the wild ones didn't seem to mind her presence too much

She continued taking as le, every fra she could possibly have asked for The night sky, thethe leaves just so and ruffling the silver-tipped fur Her subject was quite cooperative--stretching, cleaning, and displaying her long, sleek body froles

Tansy particularly wanted a series of shots with a variety of lighting up close on the fur The color was difficult to truly describe, especially with each individual hair tipped in that silvery gray, enabling the cat to disappear at twilight, to sis and ht hours She wanted to get the sense of that cae in the pictures, of the stealth and power of the huntress, in contrast to the playful and motherly personality