The Cougar's Wish (Desert Guards)

by Holley Trent

  “My inner cat can see it, though,” she said after parking her car near the barn. “But it’s simple with her. She’s only worried about fertility and whether or not he could provide. I don’t know what that’s supposed to look like.”

  “What do you want it to look like?”

  “The hell if I know. I haven’t had anything resembling a normal relationship since high school. I’m a Cougar. My love life is the equivalent of speed dating or walking through the meat section of the grocery store and sniffing each piece of steak to find the one that smells the freshest, while throwing away all the rest. Who am I to say what normal is?”

  Lily wrapped her fingers around the door handle and stared down at her lap. “I think in the end,” she said solemnly, “the only thing that matters is if you care for each other. Relationships aren’t supposed to look like just one thing. People need different things, and as long as the parties in the relationship are willing to accommodate each other, we shouldn’t get too hung up on whether or not the arrangement looks traditional. I think the best place to start is to check in with yourself—exclusive of your cat—and decide if he’s someone you could see having as a friend. If so ...”

  “We could see where it goes.”

  “Yeah.”

  “But he’s already going. Back to North Carolina.”

  “Oh.” Lily knit her eyebrows.

  “Yeah. See? Suddenly the mate-kidnapping thing male Cougars do holds a lot of appeal.”

  If Belle had just a couple of weeks to try things out with him, maybe she could figure out if it was just his particular cocktail of hormones that made him so alluring, or if she really just liked the guy.

  Of course, there was the small matter of him acting as if her being twenty made her a naive nitwit in need of constant coddling. She wasn’t that.

  She’d have to prove it to him. The same shit she hated having to do time and time again with her brothers, she was going to have to do with him. She didn’t see where she had a choice, though, if she wanted to keep him.

  She was pretty sure she did.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “Is that ...” Steven squinted at the distant fence and the pair of bright white T-shirts moving closer.

  Kneeling beside him, Claude turned, too, and grunted. “Think so. Ask a Cougar, though. Their eyesight would be far better than mine.”

  “For fuck’s sake, what’s she doing out here?”

  “Did you tell her to stay home?”

  “Of course I did.”

  “Well, there you have it. Whenever I tell my wife to do things, she tends to do the exact opposite, so I guess I’m not particularly surprised by the behaviors of headstrong women.”

  Claude pushed his dagger’s blade into the ground ten yards from the hellmouth and stood, wiping his hands on his ripped jeans.

  Steven stood, too, and folded his arms over his chest as the newcomer duo approached. He wasn’t going to say shit. He wasn’t going to be what everyone else was to her, so he wasn’t going to tell her what she should or shouldn’t have been doing. In a matter of days, she’d be out of his hair, and he didn’t want to get attached if he wasn’t going to be around.

  Belle put her hands on her hips and met Sean head-on when he stormed over to her.

  “Are you insane?” he asked.

  “Given my genetics, I’d say yes. Probably a little.”

  “You don’t need to be here.”

  “Neither do you.”

  “I’m here because Steven’s my friend and he’s Hannah’s brother. Hannah’s here, too. See?” He gestured at Hannah, who wasn’t paying them any attention at all, actually. She was in a huddle with Ellery and Gail and looked over at the mention of her name.

  “Huh?” Her eyes went wide, and then her brow furrowed. “Belle. Why are you here?”

  Claude sighed. “It doesn’t matter if she’s here or not here.”

  “Like hell it doesn’t,” Steven muttered.

  “What’s going to happen to her with all of us standing out here?” Claude whispered.

  “I’m going to worry about things beyond my control. Can’t help it. That’s how I’m wired. If I’m going in there”—Steven pointed to the shimmering blue-green glow of the portal—“then I can’t see what’s happening out here.”

  “You don’t trust me? And Hannah?”

  “You expecting me to be logical and rational right now? I have a hard enough time with Hannah being here.”

  “Hannah can take care of herself.”

  “I know that. That doesn’t mean I don’t care.”

  The same statement held true for the angry redhead, but he figured that went without saying. At least to Claude. He’d likely already guessed that Steven wasn’t just sniffing around that particular Foye because he had to.

  “Look, we don’t have a lot of time to do this. The portal is more stable at night, and I want you out of there before dawn approaches or someone else is going to have to go in and chase you out. What time does your watch have?”

  Sighing, Steven glanced at it. “Midnight.”

  Belle sidled over and glowered at them both.

  Steven somehow managed not to break his teeth while grinding them. Go. Home.

  “You’ll lead Ellery in. She’ll stay in the entrance, and that athame”—Claude pointed to his dagger—“will be her marker between that realm and this one. As long as you can see that glow, you haven’t gone too far. I suggest you keep checking back for her to make sure you don’t get lost. If you do get lost, Gail or I could find you, but being descended from whom I am, I need to avoid going in there.”

  “Understood.”

  Belle cleared her throat.

  “Yes, chéri?” Claude asked with a hint of resignation in his tone.

  “How’s he even going to know what he’s looking for? I’m the one who heard whoever that thing is that’s calling for me. I’ve heard her voice, and I think I would know it if I saw her.”

  Claude’s clear blue gaze took on a faraway look for a moment.

  Steven didn’t know the guy all that well yet, but already, he didn’t like that look. It meant Claude was thinking, and being a couple of centuries old, he probably had all kinds of sordid experiences to draw on. Personally, Steven wanted to die having as few of those memories as possible.

  Claude raked a hand through his curly hair and let out a ragged breath.

  Oh, boy.

  “Your former hitchhiker will herd her toward Steven. If you call Steven’s name occasionally from out here, it probably wouldn’t hurt his chances of finding his way back out quickly.”

  Belle crossed her arms over her chest and drummed her fingers against her biceps.

  “Go on and say what’s on your mind,” Steven said.

  “Why do you assume I’m going to do something stupid?”

  “I never said you were going to do anything stupid, but I can tell when a cat’s plotting, even when she doesn’t look very much like a cat at the moment.”

  She blinked at him.

  Mm-hmm.

  “I don’t want to do this shit, all right?” he said. “I don’t want to go in there at all, but I’m going to take one for the team here. Better me than y’all.”

  Sounding real brave, sucka.

  He drew in some air. He was getting really hot all of a sudden. “And before you get your panties in a wad, kitten”—her cheeks went bright red, even in the pale light, and he had to admit to himself he really liked getting her panties wadded up—“I’m saying to you the same thing I’d say to Hannah. Don’t put yourself at risk. People rely on you for stuff. The only folks waiting on me are a bunch of assholes back at the police department who made me take a vacation and then bitched about it when I had to extend it.”

  Her lips parted as if she were about to make some rebuttal, but Ellery padded over before Belle could get it out.

  “We’re not going to throw rank around, Belle, but we can’t let anything happen to you, and we’ll do what we can to make
sure nothing does.”

  Hannah joined the clump, and Belle took on a defeated expression and rubbed her eyes.

  Weird.

  She’d gone from being combative to submissive just from that little wall of estrogen. That was something he’d definitely have to file away for later in case he needed to stage a Belle intervention of some sort.

  Sean turned to Lily. “And I’m shocked at you being here. You’re the one who usually avoids trouble.”

  Lily put up her hands. “Hey, I’m not courting any. I just didn’t want Belle driving around this late all alone.”

  “You could wait in the car,” Sean said.

  “I could. Yes.”

  “She doesn’t have to wait in the car,” Hannah said. “She just needs to stay out of the fray. If she wants to wait in the car, though, that’s her choice.”

  “I’ll wait here,” Lily said quietly.

  She’s as nutty as the rest of us, then.

  “Well, then, with that settled, let’s get on with it,” Claude said, looking to Steven.

  Steven peeled off his baseball cap and smoothed back his hair while trying to force himself to take slow, even breaths.

  He wasn’t going to freak. Wasn’t going to panic.

  He had logic on his side, and things were different than they’d been when he was overseas. He knew shit like what resided in that portal existed, and now he even had a little knowledge about how to protect himself against it. He might be shocked or surprised upon seeing things, but at least he knew how to handle himself around them.

  Sure. Just that easy.

  Gail extended a dagger to him, hilt first, and he took it. “If anything that doesn’t have a solid body comes toward you, draw a circle around yourself and that bit of magic will repel them long enough for you to move forward.”

  “Don’t get distracted by pretty words you may hear in there,” Claude said. “The damned can have very sweet words when they see an opportunity to improve their situation. If someone or something offers you a gift that seems too good to be true, ignore it and keep moving.”

  “And don’t be distracted by friendly faces,” Gail said. “Some of the things residing in that realm are able to manipulate your memories and project to you images that make you vulnerable.”

  “So I’m probably not gonna see my great-grandma Gertie, is what you’re saying,” Steven said.

  “It wouldn’t really be her, unless Gertie was an ax-swinging serial killer.”

  Ellery gave Steven’s shoulder a squeeze and smiled softly. “In and out, okay? If we’re lucky, we’re talking longer now than we’ll spend inside that thing.”

  “You feelin’ lucky, witchy-poo?”

  She grinned and shook her head. “If Mason wakes up and stumbles outside for some reason and sees that my car is home and that I’m not at work, he’s coming over here, and he’s going to roar loud enough to wake the dead. Let’s try to avoid that. I don’t want to spend all day convincing him that I’m not actually trying to give him a heart attack. He’s not a hell of a lot of fun to be around when he’s cranky and especially not when I know it’s my fault.”

  “Don’t wanna agitate the alpha.” Letting out a breath, Steven canted his head toward the portal. “Well, let’s get ’er done.”

  No more thinking. No more fretting. Let’s just do it.

  Ellery nodded and tightened her fist around the handle of her own dagger.

  They both stepped toward the iridescent gleam, but Steven was yanked back by the collar of his shirt.

  He turned to find Belle glowering at him, concern etched in her features.

  “Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and go with you, thanks,” she said.

  “No, you’re not,” he said calmly.

  “It’ll be faster if I go. I’ll know when we’re near it.”

  “You’re too susceptible.”

  “But it’ll be faster.”

  “Belle—”

  “It’s my choice.” She turned to the rest of the folks. “It’s my choice,” she repeated. “I’m clearheaded and thinking rationally, and don’t you dare tell me that I’m not. I know what I’m doing. I’m not running in there wild and reckless, but with an actual purpose, and I’m not going alone.”

  She stabbed a finger in Sean’s direction. “Don’t say a word.” Then she turned back to Steven and poked him, too. “I don’t need to be protected. If something goes wrong, we’ll deal with it when we’re back out here.”

  “Assuming we can get back out.”

  “We’re going to,” she said sternly. Then she took his hand and pulled him toward the portal.

  He looked at the gathering of folks over his shoulder and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”

  Obviously they didn’t know what to tell him, because they just stared, and then went blurry as he was pulled through the electric heat of the barrier with Ellery right behind him.

  The three of them stopped and pulled in big breaths. The air was thicker and hotter and had that same electric feel to it. He felt like he was breathing in air that had been tinged with some sort of fire, and it smelled god-awful—like swamp water and sulfur.

  Panting, Ellery knelt by the blue-green gleam and shoved her athame into the ground. Immediately, a pure white line shot from it toward Claude’s knife on the other side, bisecting the portal’s sheen.

  “It’s a doorstop.” Steven chuckled.

  “Holding it wide open,” Ellery said solemnly. “It really is crucial that you move quickly because once the things near this exit find out it’s open, they’re going to make a run for it. Between Claude, Gail, Hannah, and Sean, they can probably send back anything that comes out, but given what’s happening tomorrow, we’re going to want to keep from tiring everyone out.”

  Belle tightened her grip on Steven’s wrist and gave him a tug. “This way. Come on. I can tell.”

  He took another deep breath, straightened his hat, and took one last look at the portal. “All right. Grab and go, sweetheart. No time for exploring.”

  Belle dragged her tongue across her lips and looked ahead at the rocky path. It looked like they were in a cave of some sort, made of black rock. There was no light ahead that he could see, but the rocks themselves had a bit of a glow, much like burning coals.

  She pulled him, setting a brisk pace, and twined her fingers through his. She could have just grabbed his wrist and tugged, but she didn’t.

  If it weren’t for the circumstances, the gesture would have seemed a little bit romantic, and romance needed to be the last thing on his mind at the moment. It was hard not to think it, though, after what had happened in that bunkhouse. Maybe he’d held hands with a few friends in the past, but he’d sure as hell never put his fingers in them where the sun didn’t shine.

  He snorted at himself. Halfway to hell, and he was thinking of sex and acts of pseudo-sex. Maybe I should go ahead and take the tour, ’cause I’ll be headed back soon enough.

  Belle looked back at him over her shoulder with an eyebrow raised.

  “Don’t mind me. Maybe the smell of desperation and brimstone is making me silly.”

  “You’ll be all right.”

  “Think so?”

  “Sure, and if not, who’s going to tell folks otherwise?”

  He chuckled and paused them at what appeared to be an elevated four-way intersection. “Sheeee-it.” He pulled Belle tightly against him and risked a look down. There was no floor on either side of the walkway, just a deep, black void.

  “I’ve got excellent balance,” she whispered. “I’m a cat. Not gonna fall.”

  “That doesn’t stop me from worrying that you will.”

  “Worry more about you.”

  “I’m not worried about me. If I leave this thing without you, your brothers are going to kill me.”

  She was pressed so tightly against him, he could feel that her heart rate was slow and hear that her breaths were slow and even. She wasn’t freaked.

  So why am I?

  He loosened his
grip on her and turned her, slowly, to face forward. “Any idea which way?”

  She looked to the left, then pointed right. “Diversions the other way. Come on.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “Reasonably. I can’t explain how I know why, but—”

  Whatever she was going to say didn’t matter. Some sort of phosphorescent charge hurtled toward them, and he pulled her down, then threw himself over Belle’s body.

  The entity battered at his back, stinging his skin like it was trying to find a way into him.

  Fuck. Not again.

  He tried to block out the assault and cover every inch of her that he could, and not just because he was gonna get a Foye whipping if she walked out of that portal bruised up. He had to. Needed to keep her safe.

  He lost track of how long it beat and stung. It could have been a lot of seconds or a few minutes, and it hurt like hell. He’d take every blow and sting he was dealt as long as it didn’t hurt her.

  “Steven?” Belle whispered.

  The thing must have gotten bored and gone away, because the flagellating had stopped and the air around them had stopped crackling. His skin prickled with the lingering aches from the bombardment, but he was still whole.

  He opened one eye and then the other and risked a look around them.

  They seemed to be alone.

  “You okay?” she asked.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You can get off me. I’m all right.”

  “Okay.” He didn’t move. Just kept looking.

  “You have the knife, remember?”

  “Gotta have time to use it. It was too fast, whatever it was.”

  “We can be fast, too. Let’s keep moving. Ready?”

  His arms shook a bit as he pressed his palms to the gravelly walkway and relieved Belle of his weight. She scooted out from beneath him and put down a hand to help him up. At the moment, he wasn’t too proud to take it, so he did.

  She pointed to the right again once he was on his feet. “That way.”

  “Okay.”

  She moved him along a little more quickly, and he had to trust her vision and sure-footedness, because she wasn’t giving him time to check his steps and make sure that the path was clear.