by Ashley Shay
“I want you to keep yourself safe for me,” he said softly.
“Of course I will, Ty. You don’t have to worry.”
He dropped a kiss on top of her head just as Suzie crashed against his leg. Carly smiled as Suzie lifted her face up, her straw cowgirl hat falling back on its string.
“You don’t have to worry about Carly, Daddy,” Suzie said, her five-year-old voice filled with all the seriousness she could muster. “I’ll look after her.”
Carly met Tyler’s eyes as he shifted his gaze toward her. After giving Carly a smirk, he hunkered down and took his daughter’s shoulders between his hands.
“I know you will, darlin’. That’s what we do with our pride. We keep them all safe.” He tweaked her nose between his fingers, and Suzie giggled. “But it’s very important you stay inside today and listen to Carly and Rosa. Will you do that for me?”
Suzie pushed her lip out and shuffled her booted feet. “No rides again today?” she asked sadly.
“I’ll have David take you on a very long ride next week, but not today, kitty cat. Okay?”
Suzie glanced toward Carly, and Carly gave her an encouraging nod. Hopefully the little girl understood the seriousness of the situation, though given her age, it was more than likely she saw it all as just a bit of inconvenience in her happy, little-girl life. She fingered the string on her hat.
“Can I still wear my hat?”
“Of course you can. It’s a beautiful little hat,” Tyler said, giving her a little shake. The flounces on her skirt swung around her legs, and Suzie giggled. “You can keep the boots on too. No one said you had to be on a horse for such a pretty outfit.”
“Okay, Daddy,” she said as she straightened her shoulders. She cocked her head and stared into her father’s eyes for a moment. “Is this because of the bad man, Daddy? The bad man that might come here?”
Carly inhaled sharply, and she saw Tyler visibly flinch, but he didn’t hesitate to answer her question.
“Yes, darlin’. It’s because of the bad man.”
“And he wants to hurt Carly?” She bit into her bottom lip and squinted as though in fear of the response she’d receive. “And maybe me?”
Carly released a shuddering breath. As much as they’d tried to protect her, it was obvious she’d been aware of everything going on.
Tyler pulled Suzie into a tight hug. “Yes, my little cowgirl. That’s exactly what he wants.” He squeezed her tighter then pulled back to look into her eyes. “But we’re not going to let that happen, okay? Everyone on Cattail has one goal, and that’s to keep both of you safe.”
Suzie hurled herself toward her father, wrapping denim-clad arms around his neck. She buried her face in his throat, and Carly heard her whispered words drift up.
“I love you, Daddy. So so much.”
“I love you too, baby.” He caressed her hair for a moment, and when Suzie lifted her face, he gave her a brilliant smile. “Now go to the den. Rosa has a surprise for you.”
“What kind of surprise?” Suzie squealed.
“If I told you, it wouldn’t be a surprise.”
Suzie put her hands on her hips. “Daddy…” she said, her voice holding a touch of warning.
He stood and raised his hands. “Okay, I give up. I bought you a new video game.”
“A video game with horses?” Suzie asked with excitement.
“That’s what I hear,” Tyler said. “It might even have some princesses.”
“That’s the one I wanted, Daddy! Thank you!” She clutched him around the legs then darted from the room, her hat swinging across her shirt.
“Horses and princesses…” Tyler said, staring after her. “Who knew that’s all it took to make her happy?”
“You’re underestimating yourself, Ty,” Carly said. “You’re the one who’s made her happy.”
Tyler turned toward her and stared at her with such intensity Carly felt her face flame. “What?” she said with a laugh. She swiped a hand across her mouth. “Do I have syrup on my face? You’re staring at me like I’ve grown a tail or something.”
“No tail,” Tyler said with a smile. “Though I wouldn’t complain if you did.” He shook his head. “It’s you. Since the moment you’ve entered our lives, she’s been a different child.”
“Maybe because you’ve been a different man,” Carly said softly.
He nodded slowly. “A better man.”
“And I’m a better woman,” Carly said.
“Maybe we make a good team.” He studied her again, his gaze exploring her face as though seeking answers to all of life’s mysteries in her features. “Wanna make it permanent? Maybe get married?”
Carly gasped, her heart lurching, stopping, then racing like a hummingbird’s. She could barely find the voice to push out four simple words. “What did you say?”
“You heard me,” he said softly, his eyes lighting with more passion than she could have ever imagined.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“What did you say?” he asked.
She smirked and gave him her sultriest smile. “You heard me.”
“I did indeed, and we’ll talk about this when I get back.” He pulled her into his arms and gave her a hard, fast kiss. “Right now I’ve got a bit of work to do.”
“Go be the alpha.” She let her fingers stray into the cleavage of her shirt. “I’ll be thinking of you while you’re gone.”
“Woman, you’re going to kill me. But what a way to go. “
He gave her one last lingering look then disappeared through the French doors with a wave. Carly slumped into a chair and finally managed to draw a deep breath.
“I’m getting married…” she whispered. “I’m getting married.” Even when she said it the second time, she couldn’t believe it. “Carly Lucas. I really like the sound of that.”
Carly couldn’t wait to tell Rosa and Lucia the good news, although she wondered if they might already know. She leapt up from the chair, and a wave of dizziness and nausea hit her so strongly she nearly collapsed back into the seat. Clutching the armrest for support, she stood there a moment gulping air, trying to keep from being sick. It didn’t work. She slapped a hand over her mouth and ran through the swinging door toward the bathroom. She barely had time to slam the door before she got sick.
When she’d emptied her stomach, she splashed water on her face and decided to try to make it back to the kitchen. She’d been fine all morning, and there’d certainly been nothing wrong with her breakfast. She vaguely wondered if she might be pregnant, but she discounted that idea. Surely she wouldn’t have morning sickness that quickly.
That only left one possible answer, the answer they’d been dreading. She needed to get to the intercom to reach Cougar. There was a shifter nearby, possibly already in the house. A powerful one if her reaction was any indication.
Carly held on to the doorframe and willed herself out of the bathroom. The closest intercom was in Ty’s office. As she stepped into the room, the French door opened, and a security guard stepped inside, closing the door behind him. Not one of the Tomcats, one of the temporary hires.
Carly started toward him, staggering across the room. “Oh thank God,” Carly said weakly. “I need to call security. Help me.” She grabbed hold of the edge of the desk and nearly collapsed. Her nausea was getting worse by the second, and the pain battering and piercing her body was tortuous.
The room grew dimmer as the man drew the drapes across the door and made a tutting noise. “Now why would I do that?”
Carly’s head snapped up, and her heart slammed against her chest. She recognized him, and it was apparent now her body had recognized him immediately. She couldn’t draw a breath as she struggled to rationalize what she was seeing. It just wasn’t possible that he could be here. They’d done everything in their power to keep him away. Yet here he was, walking across the carpet casually, as though he’d come to pay a visit.
Her chest muscles tightened, and her breath stuttered as she
struggled to get air. When she’d managed to suck in a breath, the world tilted on its axis, and she vomited on the cream-colored carpet, heaving out the rest of her breakfast along with some bitter-tasting bile. Sweat poured from her temples and dripped down her cheek as her stomach twisted painfully. She dropped to her knees and raked the damp hair back from her brow.
She let her eyes graze up the man’s form encased in black pants and a goldenrod shirt. How was he dressed in a security uniform? How on Earth had he gotten inside with all the precautions? She stared at the tall, lean physique, the long black hair, though shorter than the last time she’d seen him, the deep dark eyes that looked both vitally alive and soulless. She wondered how eyes could hold such disparity.
The badge he wore said Jorge Alvarez, but she knew better. She recognized this man—this shifter—as the same creature who’d been in Principal Haney’s office. He took a step toward her.
“Viper?” she whispered, feeling another wave of nausea overtake her. She struggled to her feet and turned back toward the door in a panic.
He darted around her and stood in her path. “Uh uh uh,” he said in a singsong voice. “We have some unfinished business. Well, I have some unfinished business. You, of course, won’t have to worry about too much in a moment or two.”
As she heaved onto the carpet again, she was dimly aware of Viper making a disgusted sound as he closed the office door. Carly shivered and sank back to the floor, unable to trust her legs.
Viper moved toward her but made no attempt to touch her. He tossed a linen handkerchief near her knees. She picked it up and wiped her mouth. “Get up,” he ordered. “Get up or I will kill you right now.”
Carly studied him from the floor. He was incredibly handsome, a male counterpart to Rosa’s beauty, and their sibling relationship was clear now. No one could have possibly missed it. But his face was cruel, and that dark life she’d seen in his eyes now looked dead and emotionless. She had no doubt he would carry out the threat if she didn’t move.
Willing herself to stand, she grabbed blindly at anything that would give her leverage. She pulled herself up a chair and stood swaying dizzily as Viper moved back away from her, like she would soil him if they touched. His aquiline nose wrinkled.
Carly squeezed her eyes closed, trying to retain control. “How did you get in here?”
“Why would you care about that?” he asked. “It’s obvious I can go wherever I like.”
She threw him a contemptible glare. “I don’t believe that for a minute.” She swallowed hard, wishing she had some water. “If you could, you wouldn’t have sent your underlings.”
He spread his arms in a gesture of conciliation. “To give credit where it’s due, Miss Barnes, I had no idea you’d be such a formidable challenge.”
“Why are you doing this?” Carly asked.
Viper gave an elegant shrug. “I’m sure you must have figured it out by now. Don’t ask rhetorical questions. Aren’t you going to beg for your life? I like it when people beg me.”
Carly opened her mouth to speak, but the door banged open. Suzie came barreling into the room. “Are you okay, Carly? I heard—” She stopped when she saw Viper, and her eyes widened with understanding. “You’re the bad man, aren’t you?”
Viper chuckled. “Yes, I am. You must be the brat.”
Suzie stomped her foot. “I am not a brat! You’re the brat!”
“Run!” Carly shouted. “Get help—”
“Shut up!” Viper backhanded her with enough force she fell against the wall with a crash.
He lunged forward, trying to grab at Suzie.
In a blur of motion and shimmering light, Suzie transformed into a cougar cub, and he missed grabbing her, his hand grazing a soft tuft of fur. She launched herself at his legs, clawing and scratching with a fierceness that took Carly’s breath away. While he was distracted, Carly lunged for the intercom, but Viper was faster. He swiped out, knocking the intercom off the desk, and Carly fell back to the floor.
He kicked viciously, trying to shake off the little cat clawing at his leg. After several attempts, he managed to dislodge her, and Suzie’s small body flew across the room. She howled in pain when she crashed against the door and bounced back onto the floor. She crawled several inches then dropped to the floor. She didn’t try to get up again, and Carly prayed the child hadn’t been killed by the force of the blow.
“What is going on in—” Rosa rushed through the door and gave a small gasp. “You.”
Viper smiled. “My dear sister. How nice to see you. This is working out so much better than I planned.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Rosa stared at her brother in disbelief. He wore a uniform just like the Cattail security team. He must have walked into the house without any trouble at all. No one knew he was even here.
Carly was struggling to regain her feet, wiping at a stream of blood flowing from her mouth, but she seemed relatively unharmed if pale and sweaty. Suzie, however, hadn’t fared so well.
“My poor little puma.”
Rosa crouched down and put her hand against Suzie’s side. The kit was still breathing, but her pulse was slow. “Juan, por favor, don’t do this. Let me get help for Suzie and Carly then I’ll come with you, if that’s what you really want.”
Juan sneered at her. “It’s not what you want, is it? You’d say anything to save these wretched cougars.” He spat on the floor like the word left a bad taste in his mouth. “You could have had it all.”
Rosa slowly rose and shook her head sadly. “I had it all here, brother. A family, friends, everything I wanted.” A tear rolled down Rosa’s cheek. “You killed my best friend.”
“Jillian Lucas was nothing. A human bitch, nothing more. And this is not your family,” Juan snapped. “I am your family. Father is your family. You should have wanted to be with me. With us.”
Rosa cast a quick glance at Carly. Despite being in pain and the sickness that must still be rolling through her, Carly was inching toward the intercom. Juan twisted to look behind him.
“Stay where you are, Miss Barnes.”
Carly froze, and Juan took one step toward her.
“One more inch and I’ll shift. I can do it before you even raise your finger. You wouldn’t like it if I shift.”
Rosa knew she needed to keep him talking to give them any hope of coming out of this alive.
“Why would I want to be with you? You are el Diablo, you are muerto.” She spit toward him. “Just like our father. I will never want to be with either of you.”
Juan clenched his teeth and ground out, “You’re just like your mother. She was a puta, using her body to steal our father’s affections from me, using you to steal my rightful place in the family.”
“We wanted nothing from him,” Rosa said. “We never did, and I never will.”
“You lie!” Juan screamed. “You stole everything from me! I was the scion, the chosen one, the perfect successor until you came along. Then everything changed.”
“You were never perfect,” she whispered. “You’ve always been damaged. My mother knew it, and I think our father knows it.”
A horrified look passed over his face. “Father loves me,” he said softly.
“Perhaps.” Rosa shrugged. “But if he loves you, dear brother, why are you here? Why is it so important to punish me? I never asked for his love, and I certainly don’t want it. What are you trying to prove to him?”
Juan’s brows drew down as he frowned. “I don’t have to answer any of your questions. I will restore his faith in me. I will claim my rightful place. You will help me do that. You will come home as I say.”
“No, Juan, that isn’t going to happen. I am home, and nothing you say or do will ever change that.”
“Oh, there you are wrong, little sister. I can burn this place to the ground. I can kill every fucking cougar in this house. I can destroy the town of Catamount and everyone and everything in it. You have no idea the things I’m capable of doing.”
<
br /> “I have a fairly good idea,” Rosa said quietly. “Which is why I have to stop you.”
A horrible smile spread across his mouth, and Juan crooked his finger at her. “Then come, little sister. Come and we shall play.”
* * * *
Rosa took one last look at Suzie then returned her gaze to her brother. She stared at him for a long moment, and it seemed to Carly that the beautiful woman began to melt. She slithered to the floor like silky material falling away from a woman’s body in a formless liquid grace that puddled on the carpet then rose up like a column of glimmering scales as she transformed into a large black snake.
“Oh, I secretly hoped for this,” Juan whispered. “If you won’t come home with me, lo que será, será. It is a fitting way for us to enjoy one another’s company one last time.”
As Viper shimmered and melted into a larger puddle of inky darkness, Carly flung herself at the intercom, fumbling with the buttons. “Cougar! Cougar! He’s here. Hurry!”
She watched in fascination as the two snakes slithered around each other in an almost hypnotic dance, twisting and curling on the floor, rising and falling again as they circled the other. The sound of spitting and hissing filled the air as Carly sidestepped around the edge of the room, trying to avoid the serpents.
She’d almost reached Suzie when Lucia came rushing into the room and screamed at the sight. She scooped Suzie from the floor, cradling her against her breast. She tenderly stroked the kitten. “Líbranos de este mal. Grant us mercy, querido Dios.”
Carly was aware her sickness had subsided, and now that she knew Suzie would be safer, she realized she felt energized, as if a low watt electric current thrummed through her heart. She felt her blood rushing through her veins, hot, almost molten, like lava surging through a tube. Her hearing became crisper. She could actually hear the slithering rasp of the scales as the two snakes tangled together on the floor, striking and hissing when they rammed each other into the walls and furniture.