Cougar

by Cougar (lit)

  A buzzing sound barely overpowered the whispering breeze.

  Maybe an insect. More like a motor by the way the sound cut out briefly to snarl back to life even stronger. Yes. A motor. I trotted over to the closest scaffold at the log wall and climbed up the equidistant crisscrossing bars of the framework.

  The sound's crescendo began chugging.

  Slowing? On approach. Probably didn't want to get shot if not from this community. I heaved up the final step and thrust my head above the wall's points to see a dusty black motorcycle veering toward the gate.

  The rider was slim even though he wore dark armor. Must be painted metal.

  The bike rolled along the base of the wall and turned in through the gateway.

  Shoot or not?

  Nobody had left on a bike today.

  And strangers weren't readily trusted.

  Since this person didn't fit the trader description because he had little room for carrying trade goods, I'd just have to be ready to shoot.

  The rider thrust a black boot to the ground, stopped the bike, and scanned the growing crowd in the courtyard. Tornado stepped out of his meeting lodge and approached the newcomer with four Guardians.

  What would the clan leader do?

  The stranger climbed off the motorcycle and began tugging off his armor.

  Her armor by the light build of her bare arm pulling loose from the plated coat.

  Her?

  Those long toned legs in form-fitting black pants. Those knee-high black boots of clean design. Her helmet's long back and side flaps. She was an enforcer, a Rites-of-the-Goddess mercenary.

  And if she was here, she'd come for me.

  Chapter Sixteen

  I'd know that lean form cloaked in tight black mercenary attire anywhere. Sierra gulped. My blood sister. We'd vowed to protect each other as Rites-of-the-Goddess sisters who bonded themselves as social siblings. Vowed to save the other. Even if we were captured by aliens. Silly as the oath may sound when we were nine years old and too stupid to know better, our sibling bond brought us closer than any other pledge of friendship.

  So, what in the hell did Akita want?

  To take me into custody?

  To kill me?

  I damned sure wasn't going to stand around and take whatever sentence she announced in stride after Keezia's crap. I climbed down the scaffolding frame.

  By the time I hopped to the ground, things turned bad fast.

  "To what do we owe the blessed sisterhood for your visit?" Tornado condescended.

  Apparently, he wasn't up for the sisterhood relocating to Death Summit. Neither was I. Keezia proved sufficiently irritating. Now I'd have to contend with a killing machine.

  "I was summoned," Akita enunciated her words perfectly, a skill she learned from her English mother. She shoved off her helmet and hung it on the bike.

  "And who had the forethought to summon you?"

  Good question. Unfortunately, Tornado was the last person who should be sent in to negotiate. The ass. Especially when Akita had a pistol strapped to each hip, knives jutting from her boot tops, and the cutting stare of a deadly animal. I studied the back of Akita's tank top. "You came for me?"

  She turned, anchoring her clear blue emotionless gaze on mine. Her black hair, bobbed short to her neckline in the back but left a good foot long in the front, barely shimmied in the breeze where it framed her angelic features. She faced me with her boots squared beneath her stance of readiness. "I didn't believe the Red Priestess who claimed you were alive."

  I halted about five steps from her. "You would doubt such a thing from one of the highest ranking sisters." But Akita would follow orders as well. Regardless of how gruesome and disheartening those orders might be. I was dead if she came to end my life.

  "Of course I would doubt such news. You've been gone forever. Thought dead." Akita's heart-shaped mouth curled with a smile. "It's good to see you alive and well, little mongoose."

  Not the nickname. "Well it was good to see you until you used that horrible nickname."

  Akita threw her head back, laughing at the sky.

  "So, have you come to kill me for my disobedient behavior to Keezia? Or were you sent for other reasons?"

  Akita quieted and wagged her head once. "Personal reasons."

  Why did that not surprise me? Akita and I got along because she and I were rebels in many senses. That's why she made such a good enforcer. She wasn't weak-willed. Whereas, I had no desire to participate with the sisterhood at all and took the first out that presented itself. "Why?"

  "It isn't safe here for you. Or me, for the record. There is a movement to end the aliens' tyranny. And we are part of the key strike force."

  Like I'd believe this crap from her. "How so?"

  Tornado maneuvered to stare me down around her shoulder.

  To have his input. Although, I wasn't certain whether he was agreeing or in disagreement with Akita.

  Akita caught my line of sight and glanced between Tornado and I. "You've mated with an elder?" she gasped, shocked.

  Probably because of his silver-streaked gray hair. She knew me better than that. "No. But he's vowed to protect me. So, I'm not going to ignore him when someone rides into his village and speaks of my joining a cult."

  He nodded, a sign of agreement.

  For whatever reason. "I'm not going anywhere. I've mated, Akita. I'm no longer what I was. My life is with my mate. He is my family now." And I'll be damned if I fail my family this time around. I'd been given another chance to prove my merit. And if I was with child, the child is more important than any sisterhood, clan, or friendship. My child will always be my life.

  "Then we will explain this to Keezia. You and I, little sister. Because I've traveled for two weeks to see what life has done with you. And I will not allow the sisterhood to force you into compliance. I remember our vow, even though others are in the mind to forget it whenever it's convenient. And our vow I hold above all else."

  I could have fallen to my knees. Cried with relief. The thought of fighting my best friend for a chance to have a future was mind-numbing.

  Tornado ushered us to the clan's meeting lodge to wait for Keezia with the rest of the Guardians. Demon edged closer to Akita where she watched his occasional shift of footing with a challenging sideways glance. But she wasn't threatened by the big lout's scrutiny. Who would be? His good-looking features and a musculature build were those any woman would admire. Akita probably just toyed with his thoughts in trying to see how far he dared shift his footing to get closer. If she wanted to, she'd slit him open or shove him against the wall and ram her tongue down his throat. One just never knew what thoughts fluttered behind that killer mask she wore. Hence, Demon's irrational urge to edge closer to her. To tempt fate.

  The door squeaked a warning.

  A tapping sound produced Keezia's tousled mass of gray hair, flowing red skirt, and sightless white eyes. The old priestess stepped across the space until standing in the middle of the ringing throng of Guardians. She knew Tornado stood at the end and faced him. "I was summoned."

  "I thought you did the summoning?" Tornado challenged.

  Keezia inhaled slowly. "My envoy has arrived?"

  The bitch. Well, her plan backfired.

  "If you wish to call her a messenger, go ahead. But we all have seen enforcers before." Tornado snaked his arms across his chest.

  Keezia scanned the walls.

  Luck held my favor today. She couldn't detect my presence.

  "Step forward, Akita," Keezia commanded.

  Akita stepped out to face the old priestess, saying nothing, halting but steps from her, dropping onto one knee, waiting, the obedient sister.

  "And what news do you bring from Seaside Haven?" Keezia demanded.

  It was a blind woman's test to see if Akita followed tradition and knelt before another sister of higher rank.

  "Awny has given birth to twins. It is believed both exhibit the power of telepathy since neither cry nor attempt t
o communicate."

  Keezia nodded slowly. "As it should be. Their sire was a telepath. But we can't be certain until they are old enough to prove they have the power."

  Was? The twins' father must be dead. And he was telepathic? I don't believe it for a minute. This was a ploy to fool everyone into cooperation.

  "When do you escort Sierra to the Haven?" Keezia asked.

  "She does not wish to go. I will not force her to leave her mate."

  Keezia's mouth twisted into a scowl. "You were not sent to rehash silly childhood blood oaths. Your instruction was clear. You will escort Sierra to the Haven."

  Akita rose to tower over the wrinkled dollop of a woman and slid her piercing gaze to mine. "I accepted nothing more than the opportunity to see my little sister's choice was heard and honored. The sisterhood has yet to steal freedoms from its members. So, I've come to enforce Sierra's right of choice."

  "You dare defy me." Keezia pounded her cane on the ground, knuckles whitening.

  Akita claimed the three steps between her and the snarling elder and obviously had no qualms standing within reach of Keezia's arthritic grasp. "I am an enforcer, White Priestess. And I've come to ensure your motives are true to the sisterhood's purpose. If you think I fear you, lift your hand. Dare me to show you my power. My hand is stronger than yours. And my Cougar hasn't played in days."

  Akita's Cougar?

  "You insolent brat." Keezia grated her teeth. "I will see you punished for your disrespect."

  "Not if you are dead. Tempt me, Keezia. And search deep inside yourself for the truth you espouse. You seem to have forgotten Rites-of-the-Goddess dogma."

  Akita turned Keezia's plot on her.

  The silence in the room was deafening.

  Not a man flinched.

  Keezia snarled, brushing a shoulder past Akita, and tapped out her anger with her cane on her way to the door. Nobody chanced a wince until the door clapped its approval at Keezia's departure.

  Could I believe Akita's declaration?

  My friend turned her cutting gaze to me.

  Did she want some kind of confession? "I don't know what to think."

  "What I said was true. Leila sent me."

  My second cousin? She still lived? And acquired enough power to order enforcers?

  "Yes, Sierra, she sent me. Leila knew Keezia meant well but, how do I phrase the rest? She said my balls and my claws would see your voice echo longer than Keezia's screech."

  Oh, Keezia would screech a long time. I couldn't help but grin.

  Akita grinned as well. "Now, where is this mate of yours? I wish to meet my brother-in-law."

  "He should return before sunset." I scanned the Guardian faces encircling the room.

  Not even Tornado budged after that little power play.

  Akita stepped toward the door. "Well, then, where can a girl get some sleep in this village?"

  "You can sleep in my lodge. If I'm lucky, I'll chatter enough you're forced to stay awake and talk to me."

  "You haven't changed at all." Akita shoved the door into warm sunlight.

  "No." I followed her into the bright sunshine. "And it'll be nice to have a female around who will talk back with equal enthusiasm." Not that Sue didn't.

  We left the clan in their shadowy room to witness Keezia's retreating form heading deeper into the village between the lodges. Nobody had touched Akita's motorcycle or armor.

  I should have recognized the armor immediately. Tranquilizer darts couldn't have penetrated the protective garb. Many people wore the plate covering when traveling without something like a tank for protection. When traveling alone. I nodded toward my door. "This way."

  "Your clan leader has an attitude problem. Has the rest of the clan treated you well?"

  "Yes." However, Tornado seemed more protective these days. Or I was finally reading him correctly.

  We were on my door before anything else could be said. I shoved the warm wood. "Welcome to my humble abode."

  Inside, Akita stared at the weapon-covered wall. "It's so you, little mongoose."

  "The weapons came with my mate. What you see on me is all I brought with me."

  She turned her gaze to meet mine. "I was informed you recently lost a mate and bonded with this one?"

  The understanding and sympathy in her eyes kept me from reliving the guilt I rarely experienced these days. I nodded. "The clan leader's son was the first. His half-brother, my current mate."

  Akita's gaze faltered, lowering an inch in thought, only to snap back to mine.

  Did she doubt my affections weren't as strong for the second brother as the first? "I am happier now than I have ever been. A month ago, I would have wondered if it were even possible to love again. But time has proven one cannot know the future."

  "So embrace it," Akita added the rest of the Rites-of-the-Goddess dogma.

  "Wholeheartedly." Could Akita even begin to understand the value of mating? As an enforcer, she would never know the joy in sharing one's heart beyond physical pleasure. Enforcers could have sex but mating among them was forbidden to help keep their minds clear.

  "You look at me as if we are two extremely different creatures, little sister. What you do not know is I was captured by aliens four years ago and bred by one on a spacecraft. My son lives among them. Perhaps among the distant stars."

  The priestess Keezia spoke of. "You escaped?"

  Akita's indomitable stance never wavered. "You know me. Unfortunately, I couldn't find my son when I departed. But none of us could find shit in that labyrinth of sterile tunnels and chambers. So, I left my son in an attempt to avoid the extraterrestrial male who claimed my Cougar as his own."

  Claimed her? "You never told me you were a Cougar."

  One of her eyebrows arched slightly and fell. "Who would confess such a secret? But now I am hunted by the aliens more than most." She sauntered toward the window and peered out. "Although, he doesn't have an easy job of it. I found a surgeon to remove the locating device."

  "Who is this alien?" I could trust her. She and I chose to be family. "Tell me what they want from us."

  "He said so little." Her chilling gaze panned to mine. "Explained so little. But I could sense more than words. They use worlds. People. Selectively mating to protect their gene pool. He never told me what caused the mutations his people suffered. But something caused them to seek fresh blood elsewhere. So now they're here. Harvesting. Impregnating. They've been here for thousands of years. Off-world. Working their little experiments. Biding their time until they had evidence our hybrid offspring would survive to satisfy their needs. And the safest place on the planet is out here in the wild. Stay here, Sierra. Protect your Cougar."

  A chill of foreboding tickled down my arms.

  "You don't want to go where I've been. You don't want to be chained and raped. You don't want to wonder if the façade of the man raping you is really what he looks like. Or if he's hiding a different creature altogether. Are they some sort of Shifter or just cloaking something far worse resembling an insect or ravenous reptile? Oh, the thoughts I humored gripping the wall while he had his way with my body…"

  But Akita was strong enough to survive. To escape. The sisterhood's training made her that way. I didn't know what to say. All I could do was stare into her blue eyes and compare the horrors of our rapes. "I met my future being gang raped, Akita. I understand your pain and pray to the Gods you do not think of it much these days. We deserve better thoughts."

  Akita's breath gushed from her body in one tumultuous sigh. "I use the memory to fuel each day's feeble attempt to make the world a better place."

  Such noble use of negative energy is the best one could do with such horrid memories. "You are truly stronger than I. I fear I lie to myself and hide away."

  Akita leaned against the window sill. "Why?"

  "It was easy in the beginning. My first mate showed how sex should be between a man and woman. Not the animalistic free-for-all that took my virginity. My first mate made my life s
o beautiful. So pleasant. I didn't want to lose him. Not after the loss of my parents. I clung to what he was. What he offered. I still can't decide if the choice rooted in some other fear than losing him. But he chose to hide me away in the wilderness. And I agreed by ignoring my responsibilities. Happily. It was so easy to pretend nothing mattered after the rape. But we both know there's an entire world out here, one demanding much more from each soul stealing away with life and breath."

  "And you wonder if you waste the life gifted to you?"

  In so many words. "Maybe not consciously. I do look back today, after speaking with you. But I would never leave Jackal. I couldn't. I know this now. He is my life. My breath. And I am certain that is why the Gods sent me here."

  "Gods?"

  Yes. "Whichever or none of the above. I bear no allegiance to any or all touted to hold us by puppet strings or laugh from exalted thrones. I live by my sire's perspective now."

  "You are better off with your mate then."

  Did she understand I couldn't live a day knowing I'd never see Jackal again? He was my lungs. My heart. He'd earned every part of my body and soul just in being there for me. In giving me a future. I brushed my palm across my belly.

  Akita's glance flicked between my hand and gaze.

  She knew what my gesture meant. "I think I'm pregnant. All the signs are present. Especially the hunger with the nausea. I should thank Keezia for the insight to Shifter mating. Or I wouldn't be noticing the signs this early on."

  "Your first mate was sterile?"

  Not really. But he hadn't given me a child or made me suffer pregnancy. My first mating was simply an eye-opening jaunt through the dark. "He chose not to make me suffer in isolation."

  She nodded her understanding. "A man like him is one worthy of a Cougar's mate."