You Had Me at Cougar

by Terry Spear

  “Everyone seems to be on the beach. Otherwise, I’m sure there would be a number of us going out to help him. I’m sure he feels it’s a bear issue and a bear fighting a bear is a better match than some of us cougars.”

  “A tranquilizer gun always works.” Ava noticed the kids were up from their naps and were building sandcastles.

  “True, but sometimes the shifter kind have to take the rogue shifters to task using their animal instincts.”

  “Do you often have to do that?” She didn't. Not while working in a bakery.

  “Yeah. Since the CSF deals with rogue cougars, that’s often how they want to fight the special agents determined to take them down.”

  “What about the case of the three men you just had to deal with?” Ava asked. “You had a partner, right?”

  “No. Anyone who could have been a partner on the mission was on another case. And Leyton and Travis were working their own cases. Bridget is still home with the kiddos.”

  “So you took on all three men at once?”

  “We’re cougars. We learn to prowl, stalk, and take advantage of the situation. The three of them figured they had the lead. Three of them to one of me. They never thought I would get the best of them. It was a cat and mouse game for several weeks. I should say cat and mice—because I was hunting them.”

  She was captivated by the idea, as much as she told herself she preferred baking to hunting, but it was in their blood—cougar blood. “Okay, so how did it all go down then?”

  Chet rested his hands on the floating deck and looked over at her. “One of them was hiding in a cabin. The other two were waiting for me to come, sitting in trees, having the advantage of height.”

  “But you still took all three of them down by yourself.” She figured he had to be really clever and outwit them to do that, not just stronger than all three cougars combined. She admired him for that.

  “Yeah. I was wearing hunter’s concealment.”

  “They didn’t need to smell you, just see you.”

  “Right. I was at the cabin before they arrived. I overheard them talking about the cabin, its location and that was why they had to pick up food at the Chinese restaurant. It was the closest fast-food place to the cabin. Now, the problem was, were they telling the truth? Or did they know I knew they were going there, and it was a ruse?” Chet said.

  “They weren’t that smart.” Ava figured it wasn’t a ruse because he got his men.

  “Right, not a ruse.”

  “But how did they know you were coming? I mean, they could have sat there for days before you caught up with them.”

  “True, but they knew I was only a short distance behind them. Every time I caught up to them, they got out of my reach by the skin of their teeth. This time, I was going to be ahead of them. I reached the cabin first, looked it and the surrounding area all over, and then picked my hiding spot. As much as it doesn’t sound very brave, I hid under the bed, waited while they ate Chinese dinners at the cabin, and then they split up. Two went outside to sit in the trees on either side of the cabin to have the vantage point where they could see the door to the cabin and the windows in front and back. They planned to trade off, keep watching for me, and take me down. No more running.

  “That worked for me. I was ready to finish this. I was tired of hunting them down.”

  “So you took out the man in the cabin first.”

  “Right. He was pacing across the living room floor as a cougar. He was the ringleader of the three men, murderers, all of them. When I was sure the others were gone, I came out and took him out before he warned the others.”

  “It wasn’t a fair fight for you when you had so many to take on,” she said, knowing she would never be able to do something like that. Managing even one male cougar on her own would have been difficult enough.

  “Yeah. No doubt about it. I waited for a while, thinking that maybe one of the cougars would come into the house, but remember how I told you that the one inside was the gang leader? I suspected that they were waiting for him to give them the word to switch off.”

  “But if you went out the front door, the cat would look and know you weren’t the boss man. And then he would warn the other.”

  “Exactly, and then I would have been facing two cougars instead of one. I might have still come out on top, or I could very well have been dead. The only thing I could do was wait for one of them to come into the cabin to see why the boss didn’t replace one of them on duty. He was supposed to go out there in three hours. So I had three hours to wait. Waiting can be the toughest job.”

  “Then one of them came to the cabin?”

  “Yeah, the cat out front. He waited fifteen minutes after the time he was supposed to be replaced. I figured he thought the boss was sleeping too long because he didn’t alert the other cat. Anyway, he came in by himself, I’d hidden the boss under the bed, and then when the cat closed the door and called out for the boss, I attacked.”

  Though they healed twice as fast as humans, she noticed claw and bite marks on Chet’s shoulder and neck. She ran her hand lightly around the wounds. “He got you here?”

  “They’re fading already. But yeah. The other cougar got me elsewhere.”

  “He came inside?”

  “No. I waited for about twenty minutes, recuperating from the last fight and then went outside and around the cabin to take on the other. He cried out to the others, telling them to come join them and take on the sole cougar.”

  “But he was alone too.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But you had already fought two cougars.”

  “I had. Which is why he had gotten a bite on my flank.”

  She glanced down at his board shorts.

  “It hurt like the devil, but it’s feeling better now.”

  “And you did all that swimming and rowing? You poor thing.”

  He smiled. “You know we heal fast.”

  “Ava. Chet. Come have some birthday cake,” Shannon called out.

  “Okay, coming,” Ava said. Then to Chet, she said, “Do you want me to return with a canoe for you?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  “Has Dr. Kate or Dr. William looked at your injuries?”

  Chet smiled, rose to his feet, and dove into the water.

  She still didn’t believe he was perfectly okay, or he would have answered her about seeing a doctor. A cougar doctor preferably so that he or she would understand the faster healing genetics and human police wouldn’t get involved in trying to locate where the cougar was that had bitten him. Male cougars were so macho and the worst patients. Ava was going to tell Kate as soon as she could locate her.

  Chet was amused that Ava wanted to have his wounds checked out. He wasn’t about to see the doctor about it. The bite marks would go away soon enough. Ava could sure be persistent.

  He was ready for cake and ice cream and singing happy birthday to the little ones—Bridget and Travis's twins, Theo and Phoebe, and Addie and Dan’s twins, Mitchell and Maddie.

  Then there was the fishing contest, and he was ready to challenge the competitors on that. Later tonight, a big barbecue and fireworks were on the schedule.

  As soon as he reached the shore, Ava was right behind him.

  They all sang happy birthday to the two-year-olds, then everyone began getting cakes and cookies and ice cream.

  “Chocolate?” Shannon asked.

  “You made all these?” Chet asked Ava.

  “Yes.”

  “Which is your favorite?” Chet asked.

  “Chocolate cheesecake.”

  “That sounds good to me.” Once Chet had his slice of cheesecake and a scoop of vanilla ice cream, and Ava had hers, they went off to sit at one of the resort tables that Chase had made.

  She was watching Chet when he sat down this time and he was amused. Was she making sure he hadn’t fibbed about his injury? It was higher up than that and he wasn’t sitting on it.

  Ava was looking around at all the cougars gathered,
then suddenly spied someone who got her attention. He looked that way and frowned. Dr. Kate. Ava better not call her over. The doctor was here to enjoy herself just like everyone else. She didn’t need to give resort beach doctor visits to potential patients when he was all right.

  As soon as Ava caught Dr. Kate’s eye, she motioned to her to come and see her, and Kate nodded, finished talking to someone, and then headed their way.

  “I hope you are asking her something about yourself. It better not be about me.” Chet took another bite of his ice cream.

  Once Kate had joined them, Ava motioned to Chet. “He has an indelicate cougar bite mark that his board shorts are hiding.”

  “It’s going away and healing. There’s no need for you to check it out,” Chet said.

  Kate smiled. “All of you guys are the same. We’ll run over to the clinic right after we finish eating our cake and ice cream. I’ll grab mine too. And then we’ll be back here before the fishing contest. You’re fishing against the others, aren’t you?”

  “I am. I know Leyton is fishing and I have to beat him.” Chet and Leyton were always in competition. He still couldn’t believe Leyton would get himself wounded, then he would take Kate hostage and end up mating her. Some guys had all the luck.

  Ava was eating her ice cream before it melted, looking as innocent as could be.

  He wouldn’t tell her any other war stories, if he ever had the chance, about current wounds he’d received in combat. He wouldn’t trust her not to tattle on him to a cougar doctor again.

  “It’s really not any big deal,” he said to Kate when she returned with her apple pie and vanilla ice cream and sat down next to Ava.

  “I will be the judge of that. Did you tell your boss and give him an incident report?” Kate said.

  “He gave the orders to have a cleanup crew take care of the bodies.”

  “That’s not what I asked you.” Kate wasn’t going to be bamboozled.

  “I told him that I had been scratched. I didn’t tell him I was bitten. What do you think would have happened? I wouldn’t have been able to come and play with the rest of you at the party today. After what I went through, this was all I could think of.”

  “I won’t report that you need further time off, if I look you over and determine you’re fit for duty.” Kate took a bite of her apple pie.

  Chet gave Ava a cross look. Ava cast him a small smile. “Just think. After Doc looks you over, and says you’re well, you won’t have to worry about it any longer.”

  “I haven’t been worried about it. Just about getting a room for the next couple of nights. And since you said yes, that solved that problem. But that’s the only thing I was thinking of.”

  Dr. Kate finished off her pie and ice cream. “Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

  “Are you coming too?” Chet asked Ava. “You instigated this.”

  She chuckled. “Of course not. I’m not a nurse. Good luck with him Doc. Don’t let him give you any grief.”

  “You’re going fishing with me,” Chet said to Ava. “Payback.”

  She sighed. “Fine.”

  Then he left with Dr. Kate. “You know this is a waste of your party time.”

  “Are you kidding?” Kate said. “I would be up half the night worrying about you.”

  He chuckled.

  Kate smiled.

  When they arrived at the clinic, he saw Mandy. She was glowing.

  “Was the pregnancy test result positive?” Chet asked Mandy as she showed him to an exam room.

  “Yes. I think Ricky’s still in shock, but hopefully by the time we have the twins, he’ll have come to terms with it,” Mandy said. “What are you in here for?” She weighed him, took his temperature, and checked his blood pressure.

  “Cougar bite in the ass.”

  Mandy tsked. “You guys sure know how to play rough. I hope the other guy paid for it.”

  “He did. But I don’t really need to have this looked at.”

  Kate came into the room wearing scrubs and looking like she was going into surgery. He could face any foe, but seeing a doctor who looked like she was ready to operate on him? That was another story.

  “Okay, drop the shorts,” Kate said.

  Chet smiled. “I bet you tell Leyton that all the time.”

  Kate smiled.

  Once Chet was up on the exam table with his ass on display, Kate said, “Oh my.”

  “What?”

  “That’s one nasty bite. It’s healing, but it’s showing signs of infection.”

  “No way. I’m going fishing and I’m beating Leyton.”

  Kate readied a syringe and gave him a shot in the butt cheek.

  “Hell.”

  Kate smiled. “Antibiotics. I’ll give you a prescription for more and I’m going to drain the infection, so I’ll give you a shot to numb the area.”

  He might be all tough about some things, but when it came to cutting on him, he was ready for any numbing she would give him. As long as he could still fish.

  Kate and Mandy worked on him, cleaning up the infection, suturing it, and bandaging it.

  “No more swimming in the lake. If you go for a run as a cougar tonight, someone needs to bandage your wound again. The same thing with showering tonight. If you begin running a fever, come in to see me right away.”

  “It’s going to heal up, Doc.”

  “It sure is. If you do as I say. We might heal faster, but little things like an infection can cause real problems, even for us.”

  “Congratulations, Mandy,” Chet said, “and thanks, Doc. I’ve got to get back to the party.” He pocketed the bottle of antibiotics in the pocket of his board shorts.

  “Let’s go.”

  Okay, so he might have been a little annoyed about having the doc check him out and felt it was all Ava’s fault when he didn’t need any help, but he realized she had good instincts. Then he frowned as Doc took him back to the party. Unless Ava had already had a sixth sense that something had been wrong.

  Chapter 4

  Chet rejoined the party at the lake. He shouldn’t be looking for Ava and just leave her in peace, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d enjoyed the time he’d spent with her so far and he felt he had to say something to her about the business of siccing the doctor on him.

  He maneuvered around a group of people playing soda crate ring toss and another group doing a bean bag toss.

  “Remember to tell me if you have any problems with your wound,” Kate told him, then headed off to be with her mate, Leyton, and their twin boys who were playing a game of tag.

  Then Chet saw Ava and paused to watch her playing with some of the kids, running after them, grabbing them up, swinging them around and laughing. He smiled.

  Travis joined Chet and slapped him on the back. “So what was the deal with seeing Doc?”

  Chet glanced at Travis. “Isn’t that supposed to be in the realm of patient confidentiality?”

  Travis laughed. “Not when we work together on a mission. Something might be going down while you’re here, and we’ll need you. Leyton and I have to know that you are all right.”

  “All right. I’m good. I just got a cougar bite, but it didn’t turn me.”

  Travis smiled. “You were born a cougar.”

  “Right. It’s fine.” Chet switched his attention back from Ava to Travis again. “Do you have a case you need me to help with?”

  “We could.”

  “Okay, I’m ready. Just say the word and I’ll let Chuck know I’m working on this with you.” Chuck Warner was their overall boss, and he needed to know if Chet was going to be staying in the area and not returning to Cheyenne right away.

  Leyton headed their way. Chet frowned at him. He better not ask about Chet’s visit with his mate.

  Leyton shook Chet’s hand. “Okay, there’s a rumor you were injured on your last assignment.”

  Chet shook his head. “Doc told you.”

  “No. I saw you leave with Kate. I just put two and tw
o together. I figured you wouldn’t leave the party for anything once you got here. When you went with my wife to the clinic, I didn’t figure it was for updating your immunization records.”

  Chet chuckled. “All right. Do I have to tell everyone the cougar I took down at the last mission bit me in the ass?”

  Leyton smiled. “No wonder you didn’t want to talk about it to anyone. So how is it?”

  “Good.” Then Chet saw Ava headed their way. He knew she was going to ask how he was doing.

  When she joined him, she reached for his hand. “I hope you are not talking shop after just coming off of a difficult mission.”

  “Not us,” Leyton said. “I’ve got to go play with the kids.”

  “You’re not fishing?” Chet asked.

  “Yeah, I’m fishing. Someone has to beat you.” Leyton smiled.

  “I’ll beat everyone,” Ava said.

  Travis frowned at Ava. “Did you have a premonition of it like you did about the canoe race?” He looked like he was about ready to cancel on fishing if Ava already knew she was going to win.

  She patted his shoulder. “You know I can’t fish. Not unless I can do it as a cougar. But Dan says no cougar stuff until after the fireworks and it’s quiet and dark.”

  “And we’ll go running together?” Chet asked.

  “With whoever else wants to go…uhm, how’s your injury?” Ava said.

  God, he should have known that was going to bite him in the butt…again.

  “I’m good.”

  “Okay, well, see you out there fishing. May the best cougar win,” Travis said, then left.

  “You really didn’t have a premonition about the fishing contest, did you?” Chet asked Ava.

  She laughed. “No. I told you. Unless I'm a cougar, I never catch anything. Of course,”—she gave him a little evil smile—"I've never fished but once with a pole before."

  “Good thing we don’t have partners in this.” After Chet said it, he realized he shouldn’t have made it sound like she was the only one he should be partnering up with, if they’d had partners, or that he would only partner with her if she could help him win. Of course, if she had never fished but once before, maybe she would be really good at it, despite saying otherwise.