Cougar

by Cougar (lit)

  Maybe I just needed to bite her again. Just in case she wasn't fully marked. Just to make certain she wasn't worried about Sessily's little tantrum. And a Wolf's actions could be measured by where he sank his fangs.

  To back Sierra up into a corner.

  To lick her body until she arched that sweet neck of hers into my teeth again.

  To sink my throbbing cock inside the hot hungry mouth of her sex, burying my seed so deeply it took root.

  And to leave the seed there.

  That resonated the difference between Sierra and Sessily. Sierra made me think of nothing but planting seed when before I met her I did everything possible to ensure my seed never took root. If the moment ever arose where Sierra doubted my devotion, I'd toss her that chip and make certain she understood how much my thoughts changed since she walked into my life.

  * * * *

  Firelight danced with shadow later that evening when Sierra leaned into the wall of Tornado's meeting lodge with the rest of the Shifters and their significant others who chose to attend the gathering. Next to Jackal. The poor guy. Sessily really had him worried I'd be pissed. So troubled he wouldn't listen when I told him I didn't need every bar of milled floral soap Toby had in stock, two bottles of fragrance oil-one rose and one forget-me-not, a short very sheer pink wispy nightgown, the chocolates, and every .56mm shell Black Betty could eat.

  Well, Jackal merely frowned at the woolen socks I'd insisted on tossing onto the pile he intended to tote back to our lodge. But I learned a long time ago that sensible choices were the ones that saved your life. Chocolate and frilly things were a waste of money. But I wasn't going to be the one to teach Jackal that lesson after I saw Sessily slap his face.

  Toby had produced a deck of playing cards, unopened, crisp and colorful. Between the chocolate and the playing cards, I doubted Jackal had a penny left to do any trading. So, I'd traded the extra firearms for one-hundred eighty bucks credit. Whatever that was worth. The socks were ten bucks a pair. Homemade, I couldn't complain. Someone had to raise the sheep, spin the yarn, and knit the socks. Good thing landing a buck while hunting translated into fifty trade bucks on a normal day. And when the priceless meat of a stag couldn't be found, firearms made for excellent exchange rates.

  We spent the better part of the rest of the day walking every inch of the village. Jackal damned sure intended I knew everything there was to know inside the palisade. I didn't complain though. Especially after we spent the better part of an hour hogging the bathing pool. Cougar didn't mind the selfishness. Rather craved for more. And it just seemed the right thing to do after Jackal's big slap in the face. Poor guy.

  Jackal leaned his elbow slightly into my arm and winked at me. "Sue's bringing coffee. When this is over, you can teach me a card game."

  Coffee was rare. And did he intend to play card games and chess with me? Or was he just humoring me until I became comfortable with my new life? I could only hope he wanted a companion instead of a housekeeper.

  The door creaked open, producing Sue's swinging green skirt and a tray of silver camping cups.

  Tornado followed behind the woman's black hair. "Listen up. I need some volunteers. Two families are leaving for the coast in two days. They'll need as many Shifters as possible to ride shotgun. They're paying for fuel and ammunition. Who's up for the ride?"

  Jackal slid his arm around my lower back and pulled my backside snuggly against his ribs, fanning his strong fingers out over my belly.

  As if he had no intention of raising a hand. No problem. Standing there, being possessed by Jackal was awfully nice. Or he just wanted me to know I shouldn't worry about Tornado. Although, there were many things to keep my thoughts busy. Like Sessily. Because Jackal still hadn't mentioned his little encounter outside Toby's shop. Maybe he never would. It didn't really matter since nobody could undo the mating. Jackal was all mine. Sessily could just rant.

  Sue circled the room, handing out cups of coffee with her unwavering smile. "This will warm you up," she said, extending one sloshing cup to me. "Not that Jackal can't manage." She winked.

  Geesh. What was up with all the winking today? I took the steaming brew.

  Tornado's gaze swept the room.

  Undoubtedly looking for volunteers. Well, he could just find someone else after he forced mating on Jackal and I. I pressed the warm hard rim of the cup to my lips and sipped some of the hot savory liquid.

  No. Sweet. Sue had doctored it with sugar. Sugar wasn't cheap. Tornado's clan lived very well.

  Demon flicked a gaze at Jackal and I from across the room, studied us a few seconds, and moved on.

  Who knew what Demon meant by the gesture. Probably something about our standing so intimately together. Four other women were in attendance. Not one was cuddled by her man.

  "Who's leaving, Tornado?" some large blond male asked.

  "The Hamburgs and the Stanfords."

  Demon's serious gaze snapped back to Jackal's.

  Jackal didn't flinch. Although he sipped his coffee quietly, sliding his gaze from Demon to me, his lips twisting into a sweet smile.

  What in the world was going on?

  The door creaked and spat a short elderly woman propped up with a cane. Her long mass of messy gray hair looked the same as it had over eight years ago.

  Keezia. White Priestess. Mother's mentor among the Rites-of-the-Goddess sisterhood. My eternal pain in the ass before John whisked me away.

  Shit.

  The shadow-cloaked walls closed in.

  Keezia would try to take me back into the farce of her sisterhood. I had to get the hell out of the room. Run. Hide. Even though the elderly woman's white eyes no longer saw, she could sense things. Some attributed the ability to the Goddess' favoritism. I doubted supernatural input.

  I did not want to discuss anything with her. She'd twist it into something completely different and unexpected. And there was no telling what Tornado would do if he learned who I was.

  Keezia paused inside the snapping door and scanned the shadowy room with her blind eyes.

  Nobody spoke.

  Or moved. As if they all knew the White Priestess had come for someone.

  My heart sank.

  Keezia's gaze slid from Jackal to, oddly enough, my gaze at a much lower level, lingered a heartbeat, and moved on. For only a moment. Her blind sight flicked back to my eyes.

  How in the hell?

  She thrust out her cane with a thump against the hard-packed earth and leaned against the pole with a grunt.

  And kept coming. One clicking step with her pole against the floor after another.

  Why? Oh why did she have to sense me?

  Not a sound dared interfere with the priestess' presence moving slowly toward me.

  "Where have you been, little mongoose? They said you were dead," Keezia called.

  Dammit. Nobody else gave a hoot about a mongoose. Keezia just had to refer to me and my stupid nickname.

  Jackal's fingers gently petted my belly as he tightened his arm around me.

  What was he thinking? I sucked in a deep breath and dared a glance at him.

  He arched a dark eyebrow and squeezed me even more into his solid form.

  But Jackal couldn't do anything about the damage Keezia could inflict. She wouldn't dare risk using her power on him, a Shifter. Priestesses feared the Wolf within. But she harbored no qualms in using it against me. I turned back to face the old woman.

  She stopped three steps away.

  Everyone in the room stared at me.

  Chapter Eight

  "They say your sire and dame are dead," Keezia demanded through a statement.

  Well, there was no running now. "Yes." I gulped down a choking lump before my rising scream crammed it into my skull.

  "I will speak to you, Sierra. And you will show me the respect I am due." Keezia pounded her cane on the ground. "Since when have you cowered before me? Step forward and face me with the dignity of a sister of the Rites of the Goddess."

  De
mon's jaw dropped.

  My heart stopped beating.

  What mask had Jackal donned?

  Did they all suddenly think I somehow jinxed the Christian encampment? Normal superstitions might be the biggest threat for my survival from here on out. Tornado couldn't send me away. I was mated now.

  Now, to deal with the priestess. Maybe Keezia wouldn't ask too many questions. I handed the cup off to Jackal, looking at nothing but his knuckles, knuckles that had defended me at the trading outpost, and took the two steps to claim a spot before the old crone's form, towering over the woman by a good four inches.

  Keezia's blind cataracts anchored on mine. Her eyes squared in suspicion. "What happened to The Black?"

  Well, so much for secrecy. I tried not to exhale my last breath. But now everyone knew who I was. Damn the old bat. "Dead."

  The light in Keezia's persona seemed to fade a bit. "So the rumors are true. And your dame?"

  "Dead."

  Keezia pounded the cane against the floor again. "You will show me the respect I am due." She spun her back to me and took one step away from me, only to face me again. "I can't believe I spent ten years instructing you. Coddling your spirit. And you snap like a spoiled child at me. Is that what life has done to you? Twisted your soul?"

  How dare she begin to lecture me on life. "You have no idea what I have seen or where your damned Goddess laid the path I have followed-"

  "Silence!" Keezia thrust her free hand at me, pointing a set of crooked arthritic fingers.

  Something gripped me.

  A White Priestess' invisible power.

  The force grabbed me by the scruff of the neck and shoved me toward the floor, pressing my cheek into the cold hard earth, forcing me to bow at her frazzled brown hemline even though I shoved up with all my might against the energy. For what it was worth. Futilely. I couldn't move. I sucked in a breath full of sharp choking dust as she made me assume the position of a lesser-ranking sister being reprimanded.

  "How dare you utter such sacrilege in my presence," Keezia slowly cooed. "You've been gone too long."

  Or not long enough. Apparently it was only safe to return from the wilderness after the elders like Keezia died. "I never wanted to be a priestess," I ground out. "Father told you that."

  The force yanked my head upward, bending my neck backward, to where I looked into her milky cataracts.

  "You will answer my questions, little mongoose. And when I am finished with you, I just might let you crawl back into Jackal's bed."

  Jackal seized the old woman by the shoulders, hefting her off the floor. "Let go of her, Keezia. You might be old. But I've heard enough. Don't make me toss you out the door."

  "Oh, come now, Jackal. I wouldn't hurt your mate." She cast him a wicked grin and dropped her hand to her side where she hung in mid air.

  The force grinding my knees into the hard floor vanished.

  I shoved onto my feet and backed up against the wall. Anything to get as far from Keezia's damned fingers as possible.

  "It's alright, Sierra," Jackal said. "She won't bother you again."

  "I have every right to speak with her, Jackal," Keezia snarled.

  Jackal gave the woman a shake. "Speaking is one thing. Pinning her down or breaking her neck is another. When you can respect her the way you demand to be treated, you may speak with my mate." He carefully lowered her to her feet and blocked me from her view with his large body.

  "Have it your way," Keezia growled.

  The witch wouldn't dare set a Shifter into a rage. There was no question about my future. I was in the safest place possible. Protected against the sisterhood in Jackal's arms.

  Keezia thumped her cane until the door creaked and clapped in her wake.

  Jackal slowly turned a concerned gaze my direction.

  Realization sparkled in those orbs.

  "Well, it's not like the damned Normals are going to hunt her down because of her Sire," Tornado blurted from beyond Jackal's protective form.

  Jackal smiled. "No. Once a woman marries, they go for her mate." He winked. "Let me worry about that."

  My Cougar purred, content.

  I'm with you, girl. If my gentle Guardian got captured, I had no idea what Cougar would do. I forced a smile.

  Tornado stepped out from behind Jackal's elbow. He stood three inches shorter. But looked twice as indomitable. "They say your mother was a Cougar, little mongoose." His eyes scanned me from toes to nose. "Do you have something you'd like to admit?"

  Like I'd ever confess that truth. "I never saw her shift. It was a lie. Fears of Normals out to make some bucks." I slid my gaze to Jackal's. "That's why The Black taught me to shoot."

  Jackal nodded. "And you're a better marksman than anyone in the village." He reached for my shoulder. "She's my concern now, Tornado. Scramble your guards to send with the families heading west. And leave the little mongoose to me."

  * * * *

  Sierra stepped near the low flames in her lodge's hearth, wondering how her mate was going to react after Keezia's revelation a few minutes ago. "I didn't get to drink my coffee," I mumbled as my mate closed our lodge's door and turned to me. "I miss coffee."

  His lips twisted with a smile. "You're whining about coffee when that woman almost ripped your head off?"

  Well, he could have reacted just a bit faster back in the meeting lodge if he had been concerned that was Keezia's intent. "Either leaves you feeling the same way." I shrugged.

  He strode past me to the trade goods piled next to the bed. "I wouldn't know. I'm not a mongoose."

  So I hate snakes. If only I could decapitate that stupid nickname as easily. "You have no idea how much I hate that nickname." Just what was he really thinking now that my past hung over the village like thunderheads?

  He chuckled softly and cast me a sideways glance. "How does one earn such a name?"

  "I hate snakes. And every time someone found one, I hacked its head off."

  His eyebrows arched yet again today. "Killing simply for killing is not the way of the priestesses."

  Bad unavoidable topic. And he knew by my tone that I had no intention of returning to the sisterhood. "I never wanted to serve. Mother made me learn."

  He extended a palm and waited until I walked toward it. "I'm glad you no longer wish to be one. It wouldn't be long before you turned into an evil old Keezia. And all that crap about souls and gods just wastes valuable time." He smiled.

  Beautifully. "Spoken like a Shifter, a person who thinks all gods are just placating scapegoats." Even though they use the expletive Gods in speaking just in case the wrong moron is standing nearby with a weapon.

  He nodded. "And what do you think?"

  What did he want to hear? I believed the same scientific thoughts of Shifters. Was that what he wanted to know? I perched myself on the edge of the bed and met his stare. "My father sat me on his knee throughout my early years and told me the only thing stronger than all humans united is humans divided by their beliefs in different deities. Mother hated Father's diatribes. Or so she called them. But she could see the logic in his words enough to mate with him. So after I came along, she decided the only way to ensure I didn't choose one side-his side-was to toss me into another sphere of thought. So began my harrowing journey toward the Goddess."

  He knelt with an elbow planted on a knee, thoughts whirling in his eyes. "Why don't you want to return to the sisterhood?"

  Would Jackal appreciate the truth? Why not? Hell, he knew who I was now. "Because when my father bled out at my feet while a pack of Normals gang raped my mother, I knew there was no Goddess. Could taste it between my teeth. Then the bastards of humanity turned upon me like a pack of wild animals. At that moment, I knew there could be no loving protective spirit leading me down a path of glory for all mankind. Especially when they used a knife to fuck my mother with after they'd finished with her. No, I couldn't believe in a supernatural force that did nothing to prevent such cruelty unleashed upon one of its most devout members." />
  Chapter Nine

  Or, maybe, I just couldn't forgive myself when I stood by and watched my parents being murdered, Sierra gulped back the unshakable reality. Maybe I wasn't worthy of service to the Goddess? Maybe I'd failed my mother. What would have happened if I'd defied Father and shifted? What if I could have saved Mother from those bastards?

  "Sierra?"

  I blinked back Jackal's knitted brow where he'd knelt at my side.

  "I didn't know," he whispered. "I didn't mean to cause you pain with those memories."

  "It's alright. You know who I am. You might as well know the rest."

  He placed a palm on my knee and studied me.

  Worry didn't look right on his features. I deserved punishment for causing him discomfort. "You didn't hurt me, Jackal. You're not like them. And I'll be damned if I ever trust a Normal again."

  He reached up to pet my cheek with a palm. "Why didn't they kill you too?"

  "John stopped them." And then he saved me. He showed me how it was to be loved. He protected me from Normals. He lured back my soul and trapped it deep within my body. I'm whole again because of John.

  Jackal sucked in a deep breath and dropped his hand back to drape across my leg. "That's why he took you into hiding. Do you know what the Normals wanted?"

  My mother, a Cougar to trade with the aliens. But Jackal couldn't know that. "It was an ambush. Mother and Father had been arguing all morning. Mother was angry, distracting Father. It was the worst mistake Father ever made. He wasted his last breath on an apology-to me."

  Something rammed into my throat.

  I gulped down the lump. "But I suppose it better he died one breath sooner than witness the horrors the Normals planned for him to witness."

  "Revenge?" Jackal muttered.

  That explanation would more than satisfy my mate. I nodded. "It must be. I have no idea what for." Maybe the answer would satisfy Jackal.

  "Normals need little reason when the mere fact we're different from them is enough to set them on a rampage. And I'm sorry. I truly hope I didn't hurt you when we mated."

  "If you had known about the rape, you would never have marked me. And then where would I be? With someone else. You said yourself that you didn't think anyone else would take care of me."