by Nora Snowdon
“Hey.” Robert caressed my cheek, turning me to face him. “You okay?”
“I’m fine.” His hand continued to stroke along my jaw line and I leaned toward him almost wanting to purr. Jeez. He’s just acting, but damn he’s good at it. His eyes had darkened, or maybe they just seemed that way because of the evening light, but combined with his slight smile and the intensity with which he held my gaze, it sure looked like he loved me. I swallowed and then remembered I was still holding my wine. I raised my glass, relieved to have a barrier, however small, between us. “Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
We clinked glasses but Robert took only a small sip. Good, he’d need all his wits about him if Jerzie did show tonight. As if reading my thoughts, Robert turned and discreetly sniffed the air.
“No scent of him yet, but it’s early. If he comes from the park we should smell him, and if he’s downwind we’ll have to hope your neighbor’s dog warns us.” He edged closer and put his arm around my shoulders. I snuggled into his embrace.
Acting. I’m just acting. Man, he smells great, though. I wasn’t even sure I would notice if Jerzie approached, all my senses were tied up reacting to the smell, feel, sound, and, Oh God I wanted, the taste of Robert. His arm tightened around me then he kissed the top of my head. Or maybe he just rested his chin there? I didn’t care which, it felt good. Okay, I did care. And if he kissed my head could I—?
“I called you at work today.”
“Oh.” My stomach tightened as a mixture of shame at being let go, relief at Robert knowing I hadn’t sold him out with the suicide angle, and dread about how Dani was portraying my departure, all swirled inside me. “What did they say?”
“I was redirected to the receptionist and she said you were no longer employed there. She sounded annoyed.” He paused, as if unsure. “Look, it’s not writing, but would you be interested in working in our publicity department?”
I glanced up at his face. “Seriously? Wow. I mean, I don’t have any experience in that, but—”
“You’d pick it up fast. My cousin, Reema, runs the department and she’s hilarious. And you could still apply around for real writing jobs.”
“Thanks. Um, people won’t be offended if I don’t eat steaks for lunch, will they?”
He laughed, a deep warm comforting sound. “No. Believe it or not, we even have a couple of vegetarians in our pack. I think they’re nuts, but to each their own.”
“I tried vegetarianism—mostly to bug my mom, I guess—but I never got enough protein and got pretty sick. It seems both natural and weird as a cat to be eating other animals.”
“Not to me, then again, I wouldn’t eat anything raw. As my brother says, we’ve evolved past that.”
“Thank God.” I closed my eyes to banish the unbidden images of the gift bags from my brain. Other than that, this evening felt like an amazing date night. Robert softly caressing my arm, the wine, the stars. I slid my hand around his back enjoying the silky texture of his t-shirt with the hint of warm, hard muscles beneath. Even if it was just acting, a girl needed to get her kicks where she could.
His lips pressed on the top of my head. That was definitely a kiss. I tilted my head up and held my breath as Robert lowered his lips to mine. Heaven. His kiss was gentle and teasing. I angled my body better and looped my arm around his neck. That seemed to be the permission he needed, and he deepened the kiss. He tasted as delicious as I remembered, even more so. But his hands remained respectfully on my lower back, not at all like those sex fueled days before when we were practically attacking each other in public. Was he only feigning interest?
Robert stiffened and then broke off the kiss. “He’s here.”
I closed my eyes and sniffed. After mentally disregarding Robert’s scent, I zeroed in on a rank, musky odor. So that was Jerzie. How close was he? The trees at the back of my yard seemed his most likely hiding place.
Robert stood and held out his hand to help me up. He kissed me and then moved his mouth to beside me ear. “Take the wine glasses inside and send the text to Lucas. Do you want to transition in there and come out to meet me?”
“Yeah.” I wasn’t about to get naked with Jerzie watching. “What about you?”
“I’ll change out here. I want to be sure he knows it’s me.” The hard edge to Robert’s voice was unnerving. It slammed me back to the full moon when he’d turned that animosity on me. Well, in this case his opponent did deserve Robert’s wrath.
I picked up the wine glasses and went into the kitchen. Yup, the fight was on.
****
Robert watched Ella go and then pulled his shirt over his head. It felt strange stripping in an open space but at least with all the trees around Ella’s house, no one other than Jerzie would be likely to see him. After peeling down his jeans and underwear, he stretched languidly, as if transitioning outside her house was a normal occurrence. Then he hunkered down to begin the process.
Damn, he hoped his calculations were right and he’d have enough of a head start. According to Google, that stupid cougar could have up to a fifteen miles per hour advantage over him at top speed. And the claws on the jerk were enough to take him out with one good swat. As the last of his fur coated his tail, he paused for one final sanity check.
Anna and Rosie should be on their way to Ella’s to guard her—hopefully they wouldn’t be needed and Ella would never know. Lucas and Darryl should be in the park. And he just had to deliver one frothing male cougar into their trap. Easy-peasy.
A muffled squeaking noise alerted him to Ella’s presence and he turned to watch her slink onto the stoop from her hidden cat door. Her movements held a certain grace he hadn’t noticed the first time she’d shown her feline side. She halted beside him and sat down, only the angry twitch of her tail revealing her hidden angst. He leaned over and licked the fur on her neck. It was the best he could do for communicating at this stage. She rubbed the side of her face against his shoulder and then started down the steps.
As she led him through her dark tree shrouded route to the park, Robert monitored Jerzie’s general location from the varying intensities of his scent. The cat’s movements were barely audible as he followed them at a distance.
At the park entrance Robert turned and nuzzled Ella before sending her back to her home. She seemed reluctant to leave but did as he asked. And now, the test.
Robert started running as fast as he could into the park. As he got into the denser part of the forest he heard the cat gaining ground on him.
Damn. Faster.
He leapt to avoid a fallen tree and then worried he lost more ground while airborne. His lungs ached as he pushed himself at top speed. His hope that the cat’s unfamiliarity with this part of the park might slow him down seemed ridiculously optimistic as the cat neared with every stride. The footsteps behind him ceased.
Shit! What the—?
An exploding pain shot from his right haunch down to his foot and he yelped. The momentum from the flying cougar’s brutal swipe with his paw sent Robert rolling painfully to the left. He scrambled to his feet and lunged forward to avoid a second strike. He turned and growled at the beast, backing up while maintaining eye contact. Warm, sticky blood seeped down his leg but he tried to ignore it along with the jolting agony he felt with each step.
Fuck. Is this the end? He hadn’t gotten far enough into the park.
He stared into the malevolent beast’s vicious eyes. He would not, could not, show fear. The cat feinted to the right and Robert shifted accordingly. He also couldn’t allow the cougar to alter their direction. He dove at his enemy with a fierce bark, ducking back from the predictable slash. He needed to speed their progress before too much blood seeped from his wound. A slight clearing to the right looked promising, although could he gain enough ground before the cat struck again?
He dove at the cat, barely getting a bite of its leg before retreating. The taste of blood both repulsed and empowered him. With a roaring bark he flung himself at the cat, grabbin
g at his leg then twisting and rolling away. It let out an angry hiss, but the retaliating claws barely grazed Robert’s left shoulder. A broken tree branch scraped into his wounded haunch and he let out another yelp. He could see his adversary was preparing for another lunge so he threw himself over a log and into the clearing with a solid “Hail Mary.”
Pain scorched through his body as the cat again took what felt like a huge hunk out of his backside. He turned to bite the cougar when he felt an odd prick in his side. The attacks seemed to be coming from all sides. He latched on to the cougar’s neck. If this was his death, then damn it, he wanted to inflict some pain as well.
The blackness enveloped him as he felt himself losing the fight for consciousness.
****
God this can’t be happening. I grabbed onto the blue vinyl connected seats to stop myself from pacing. A quick glance at Lucas’s white face and tight lips did nothing to reassure me. Great. He blamed me for this whole bloody mess. A hand on my shoulder made me jump and I turned. Rosie pulled me into a comforting hug. I guess the whole family didn’t hate me.
The posters on the wall depicting dogs and cats with their appropriate age/weight ratios and the various diseases faced by household pets seemed incongruous. This wasn’t a house pet; it was the man I loved in there.
“They’re doing their best to save him,” Rosie reassured me. “And Lucas can transition in the van if they need to do a blood transfusion.”
“But can’t Robert just go home and transition and let his body heal that way?”
“If he doesn’t regain consciousness, he can’t transition and if we try to move him now we might kill him, so no, we can’t just take him home.” Lucas’s response was a whispered snarl. How could he be worried about anyone hearing him at this point? Was the secret about being a werewolf more important than his own brother`s life?
“This vet is really good.” Rosie pushed a lock of hair away from my eyes and I sort of wanted to hit her. It wasn’t about making me feel better, I needed Robert to survive.
I forced myself to smile. It wasn’t her fault Robert was barely hanging on to life. Hell, it wasn’t her fault that she was a huggy person and I wasn’t. I needed to readjust my temper to avoid offending my sole supporter in the room. Not that Robert’s parents even seemed to notice I was there. Then again, they hadn’t acknowledged anyone in the room. They acted like badly directed extras in a low budget movie, discussing meal plans and casually harrumphing about the cheap upholstery material. Robert’s sister, Anna was sitting in a fetal position on a corner chair and rocking. She mumbled occasionally and I wondered if she was praying.
A sudden chill invaded the room and I glanced at the doorway. Dr. Galloway’s face was grim, the bags under his eyes having grown darker and more prominent than they were many hours ago. Morbid silence hung over the room.
“I’ve patched Maurice up the best I can, now we’ll just have to hope he pulls out of the anesthetic. His breathing and heart rate are okay, but he’s lost a lot of blood.” Dr. Galloway surveyed our anxious crowd appearing a little surprised by the number of people anxiously awaiting one dog. “If you’d like to go home, I will call Lucas,” he glanced around until he spotted the familiar face, “if he wakes up or there’s any change in his condition.”
I cleared my throat. “Can I see him?”
“Sure. But just for a moment. I’ll be closing the office for the night soon.” He turned back to the operating room and I followed him, ignoring the resentful glare from Robert’s mother.
Robert looked so vulnerable laid out on the steel table with white gauze covering almost a third of his body. His back paw twitched compulsively, but other than that he was deathly still. I leaned over him, gently stroking a spot on his neck that hadn’t been mangled by Jerzie.
“Hey, Robert,” I whispered so the doctor couldn’t hear me. There must be some reason he thought Robert’s name was Maurice. “You’ve got to get better. I love you and I need you.” I kissed the unbandaged area between his ears. “And thank you.”
“Okay, it’s time to close the clinic.” Dr. Galloway nodded grimly toward the door. “I’ll monitor his recovery overnight, but please don’t call before the clinic opens at nine o’clock tomorrow.”
I glanced again at Robert’s lifeless body before Dr. Galloway ushered me from the room. Robert’s family looked at me expectantly. Tears coated my eyes. “He looks so helpless.” I pressed my lips together to keep my bottom lip from quivering.
Rosie was at my side in an instant. “I know, sweetie. But he’s a strong guy. He’ll pull through.” She hugged me, her hand stroking my hair like Mom used to do when I was a child. It was comforting and disconcerting simultaneously.
We let ourselves be herded out of the building like morose sheep. I glanced over at Lucas hoping he’d come up with some way to get Robert out of there, but he looked as lost as the rest of us.
“I’ll call you if we hear anything.” Rosie stopped with me by my car and squeezed my hand before running to catch up with her husband. Robert’s sister Anna, nodded curtly goodbye. And his parents both wandered off without having said either hello or goodbye. I guess we were all dealing with our grief and confusion in different ways.
****
At eight in the morning I was parked across the street from the animal clinic. It felt like if I was there, Robert wouldn’t dare die on me. Or maybe I was hoping Dr. Galloway might let me in early to see him. I didn’t know; I was just there because nothing else seemed important.
I’d known that Robert would be physically outmatched by the cougar, but I guess I’d also believed that he could outsmart Jerzie. Or maybe I just had hoped he could outsmart the bastard because I was afraid of the psycho cougar. If I’d just left town, Robert wouldn’t have been hurt. I squeezed my eyes shut hoping to block out the recurring self-recriminations.
The Starbucks down the street finally opened and I walked down to grab a coffee. At least it gave me something to do. A familiar voice called out to me as I exited the café clutching my caffeine. Rosie ran down the street toward me.
“Hi.” She gave me a quick hug. I was almost getting used to her touching me. “Any word yet?”
“No. I guess the vet didn’t call you either?” That was probably a good thing.
“Uh-uh. Lucas was a mess last night. He blames himself for letting Robert take on the cougar alone.”
“I should’ve known better. I just got caught up in Robert’s scheme. Are you—?” I nodded toward the coffee shop.
“No. I drank half a pot earlier.”
“Where’s Lucas?”
“I left him waiting outside the clinic.”
“So Robert just has to wake up, right? Then he can transition and his body will heal.”
“Well, he’ll need enough energy to make the change. It stresses the body to alter all the bones and muscles, more so if you’re wounded. And considering how much blood he lost, he might go into cardiac arrest.” Rosie stopped. “Hey. Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.” What else could I say?
“I know you were disappointed when you didn’t transition, but I don’t get why you broke up with Robert. I mean you guys seemed so happy before the full moon.”
“What? No. He dumped me.”
“But he loves you.”
“He didn’t tell you what happened?” Rosie shook her head no, so I continued, “Well what did he tell you about the cougar he was trapping?”
“Just that it was killing pets and had to be neutralized to get the animal conservationists to move on. Why? What else was there?”
I let out a sigh. I didn’t want to tell her. Then again I didn’t want her to reject me later when she found out from someone else. “That cougar had been my fiancé.”
Rosie’s eyes widened in disbelief. “What? But it’s—I mean you…”
“I’m a werecougar. That’s why I didn’t transition into a wolf and why Robert dumped me.” The tears threatened and I mentally shoved th
em back. “He said he could never love a cat.”
“A werecougar? This is crazy!” She let out a nervous laugh. “If wolves and cougars can be part human, then how can we be sure there aren’t werecows, werepigs and even werefish?”
“I don’t know. I was shocked to find out that werewolves actually exist. I’d assumed only cougars could change.”
“And silly me, I thought that people changing into animals was just a Hollywood fantasy.” Rosie shook her head as though trying to clear her brain. “Makes me wonder about the Swampmonster and Big Foot.”
“Transformers, not so much.” I smiled at the silly thought. Rosie did have a great way of distracting a person. We joined Lucas standing at the door and anxiety ruled again. “You think Dr. Galloway’s already inside?”
Lucas shrugged. “He said not to bug him until nine, but this is killing me. Robert always looked after me when we were younger, scaring anyone who even thought about picking on me. Now when it’s up to me to protect him, I let a stinking cougar practically kill him. I hate—” He caught my eye guiltily. “I should’ve been with him in wolf form.
“I know,” I murmured. “I should have tried harder to talk him out of it.”
“No, hon. There was nothing either of you could do.” Rosie stared down her husband. “Once these bloody Colberts get their mind set on something, you can’t budge ’em. Believe me, I know.”
A thump inside the clinic had us all turning to look. Sure enough, Dr. Galloway strode into view. I stared at his neutral expression desperately hoping for a positive sign. He opened the door and his lips quirked up in a resigned smile. “Figured you’d be here early.”
I glanced at my watch. It was quarter to nine. Not too early, considering. “How is he?” My stomach rolled around the coffee as if deciding whether or not to keep it.
“He had a rough night, but he’s looking much better this morning.”
Hallelujah! “Is he awake?”