Cougar

by Cougar (lit)

  How could she know I'm a Cougar?

  Chapter Seventeen

  Was Akita fishing for confirmation of something she wanted to learn by my admission? She couldn't possibly. She'd defended me against Keezia. I could trust her. "How did you know I was a Cougar?"

  "Cougars do not take well to groups. We are solitary creatures even though our human DNA makes us primarily the most social creature on the planet." She studied me as if knowing I wondered how in the hell we actually became complete cougars during a shift without somehow having one-hundred percent of cougar DNA woven into our individual genomes. "It's what the aliens have always done-genetic engineering. Their science perpetuates their species. They had to intervene here on Earth before we botched our own genome. Or so I was informed by my unwanted alien mate. Apparently, we were on the verge of treading down the path they followed long ago. So, they came and conquered before our bodies were useless to them."

  That makes no sense. "If they needed fresh DNA, why would they alter ours?"

  "I couldn't get my mate to explain that little idiosyncrasy in the grand scheme of things either. We earthlings are on a need-to-know basis. And what the extraterrestrials think we need to know is extremely insignificant."

  Everything I ever heard about the aliens' motives became a circular type of insanity. What were they gaining from sowing Shifting genes?

  "Forget it, Sierra. I've been driven to the cliff of madness trying to descry my place within the aliens' plot. We both find we have two options: jump or survive. You and I, we've been forced to accept our fates with Rites-of-the-Goddess sisters, to accept our rapes, to accept our very existences, but what everything boils down to in the end is that we are survivors. And that's what AEI Earth is all about now. Surviving. If you mated a Shifter, he must have proven himself strong enough to protect you. Stay with him. Give many Shifter children life. The only way humanity will survive alien conquest is to fight back with offspring tough enough to outlast alien interest."

  "Then you should take a Shifter mate as well. Or do you patronize me with your guidance?"

  Akita snorted. "Not I, little sister. I'd rather be an enforcer. Yet, I encourage everyone I encounter to end the abductions and altering of human DNA. Each in his or her own way. And you were never happy with the sisterhood. Why return?"

  "What about your son? He's one of them."

  She peered back into the sunlight whitewashing her face and nodded very slowly. With her arms crossed, she looked quite deadly. "It was never meant for he and I to know each other. They took him from me the second after the umbilical cord was cut. I was never allowed to even look at him. Or hold him."

  How damned cold. I wanted to break something.

  "There's nothing more dehumanizing than knowing you mean nothing to the person who impregnated you," Akita said with a blank expression.

  Thank the stars for Jackal. I'd never leave him. Keezia could kiss my tail.

  * * * *

  Wanting nothing more than soap and velvety skin rubbed all over him in the pool, Jackal shoved the door to his lodge wide. Sierra sat across the table from a dark-haired woman, playing cards.

  "Jackal!" She jumped to her feet and leapt toward me.

  Enthusiastically. A man had to love a woman who found so much delight in his return.

  She threw her arms around me and smiled. "You'll never guess who came to see me."

  Kitten was as happy as a child. "If your friend can make you smile this much, then I hope she's staying a while." I slid my gaze to the visitor.

  There was something odd and out-of-place about her. Maybe the issue lay in her hairstyle-a sculpted cut requiring more than simple thought from the wielder of the knife. Or was the biggest oddity her icy gaze? A sort of weapon. One capable of slashing your soul before you even realized you'd been sized up for termination. "And who would this be?"

  Kitten backed away. "My blood sister."

  Only the priestesses would carry on a tradition of blood exchange to create connections through a nonexistent bond. Mating bonds are the strongest. "And does your friend have a name?"0

  "Akita. She's an enforcer." Sierra beamed with something other than pride.

  I'd have to shake my mate good for bringing an assassin into our home. "Oh? What has she come to enforce?" Keezia had to be behind the enforcer's arrival. Like everything else going sour in Sierra's life.

  "That Sierra's voice is heard. That her choice is made and respected," Akita stated with a ruthless tone.

  The woman needed a mate. Badly. Something to soften her harsh exterior. But I couldn't think of a brother among the clansmen who was ready to tame this one. "Well, then," I ushered Sierra back to the table, "don't let me interfere with your card game. I'm heading over to wash off the day's grime." I turned, grabbed soap and clean clothes, and almost stepped through the door.

  "Hot as sin," Akita whispered.

  Both women giggled.

  Well, there was hope for the woman. She could joke. And she thinks I'm hot as sin. I can't fault her for that!

  * * * *

  "Do you think Akita's offended we sent her to sleep elsewhere?" Sierra asked, wrapped around the bare muscle of her mate's solid chest.

  "No, Kitten." The words rumbled deep inside my mate's chest. "She had to see we had no bed for her. And at Sue's, Akita gets a bed. Sue will take good care of her."

  Yes Sue would. "I bet Sue is talking her head off right now."

  Jackal chuckled. "Better Akita than us." He brushed a rough palm down my back and planted a warm kiss on my ear. "Besides, your friend doesn't seem so talkative. They're probably asleep."

  Who cares about sleeping when you could cuddle like this? "I'm glad Akita came to Death Summit." To end Keezia's lunacy.

  "You seem happier. More at ease. I think speaking with her again has done much for you. Ask her to stay a few days."

  "Right. It's not like I'm busy and exhausted from helping at the school."

  "Kitten, you did nothing wrong. Don't beat yourself up over the stupidity of Normals."

  Gods, I was tired. I could tell him about the baby now. But he'd get all frisky again. And I just needed to sleep a little more. I'd tell him tomorrow when we were alone. I closed my eyes and burrowed down deeper into my mate's drumming heart.

  His arm tightened at my lower back. "Sleep now."

  I sank into his humming warmth. Into my Jackal. And all my thoughts faded away.

  Something nagged at the back of my mind.

  In the darkness. What was wrong? Had I fainted again?

  The world shook.

  Wait, it was the bed. I was asleep. Jackal had leapt off the bed? I opened my eyes.

  His muscles struggled to button his pants where he stood, trying to worm a foot into a combat boot.

  What alerted him? "I don't hear Bounders."

  "I heard someone cry out. Something's wrong."

  Shit. Akita was here. Maybe she hadn't been honest. I shoved my feet to the earthen floor. "What time is it?"

  "Almost sunrise."

  Wow, I felt like I just fell asleep.

  He yanked on his combat boots and shot me a stern stare. "Sit tight, Kitten. I'm going to check out the village."

  Like I'd wait here while he went hunting down trouble. I wasn't about to let anything happen to him. I couldn't now. Not after I realized I loved him.

  He darted out the slamming door.

  Where were the other Guardians? Not one sound noted they policed the village. Jackal should go without me. I needed to prove to him that he could trust me. But I had to go.

  Help mine, Cougar snarled.

  Quiet. Okay, I'd wait just a few minutes to see what happened. Yes. I'd wait for any sign of trouble. Then I'd help. Just in case things went bad for my Jackal. I quickly dressed and strapped on my pistols, extra clips, and Black Betty.

  * * * *

  Jackal heard someone whisper behind Steel's lodge in the strengthening pre-dawn light. He continued edging along the smooth curving wall to
squeeze between Steel and Demon's cabins. The gap provided just enough clearance to allow a large determined man to literally press through sideways. And we're talking a tight squeeze.

  The sounds twisted into moans.

  Sex. Who in the hell wormed back here for sex? Why? Maybe a teenager. Or a man cheating on his wife. But who would want to risk disturbing the Guardians when there was so much damned darkness around to drop anywhere in the open and plow home? I took another quiet step.

  The man and woman came into focus, standing, her back pressed against a wall, one of her bare legs wrapped around his bare waist, hips grinding and pumping, arms writhing and clawing. Her head thrown back. The man gnawing at her neck.

  Not Normals though. Demon and Akita. "Dammit you two. Keep it down. I swear I heard a cry for help."

  Demon's glare whirled to me, his eyes glowing bright gold.

  Fool. He should be mating in his lodge. Just in case he lost control of his Wolf. I stepped back quietly the way I came before he became even more foolhardy and attacked me for interfering in his euphoria-induced stupor.

  But something was still wrong. What I'd heard before wasn't just sex. I shoved back through the narrow opening.

  The boom of an explosion followed by the loud thwack of the falling gate made my heart stop.

  How had the guards not seen that coming? With the gate down and out of commission, the village would be wide open, vulnerable. The men would have to work to raise and secure it all day.

  The tha-thump of horse hooves only heralded an even more serious problem.

  Invaders.

  Who? I rounded the final step to scan the gateway and courtyard.

  Riders with torches.

  Normals with long beards.

  Prophets.

  The bastards either wanted revenge for our little side trip to the trading post or just decided it was time to plunder Death Summit. What kind of idiots planned to attack a village named with such a deadly warning?

  Tornado's meeting lodge spat forth one pissed-off clan leader.

  Guardians shot out their doors.

  Some yanking on boots.

  Others aiming firearms.

  At least Sierra was locked away.

  Prophets barreled their mounts toward different buildings, brandishing flaming torches.

  Burn the village? Time had proven it always more logical to leave the town behind to recover and recoup enough supplies to warrant another raid in the future. Scavenging depended upon that line of reasoning. The only other reason the Prophets had come was to flush out someone.

  Who did they want?

  And how did they know to find their target here?

  We'd had no visitors since I'd brought Sierra.

  Until Akita arrived.

  More Prophets burst through the gateway on horseback. The second wave wielded rifles. But there were so many now that it proved awfully difficult to focus on just one.

  Nobody spoke in this planned attack.

  Guns fired.

  Bleeding Prophets hit the hard-packed earthen courtyard.

  Rider-less horses darted through the mayhem.

  What did the invaders want? We'd all be dead if everyone didn't stop firing guns.

  "Wolfskins!" Tornado called for Shifting.

  Not yet. Not until I learned who they came for. The others could fight in Wolfskins.

  Other Guardians shifted into the safety and strength of a werewolf and attacked.

  A Prophet charged his red mount at me.

  Stinking Normal. He reeked of a month's worth of sweat and rotten teeth. I leapt at him, grabbing his shoulders.

  He yelled, swinging a glinting blade at my chest.

  Like the blade would do any damage. I dodged the knife and shoved the bastard out of the saddle.

  We hit the hard ground with a thud.

  The fool stabbed the blade at my heart.

  Idiot. I grabbed his arm and ripped it backward. "Why are you here?" I spat through grated teeth.

  He didn't bother answering with more than pain-induced cries from my bending his shoulder out of socket.

  Yelling and roars surrounded me.

  But the sounds of battle weren't what made my hair stand on end. The steady quick pop of rapid fire from a weapon is what sickened me.

  Sierra and her pistols.

  Shit. I shoved off the shrieking Prophet, hyper-extending his arm even more, and struggled through the melee to find my mate.

  A rider-less wide-eyed white horse bolted across my path. As its tail cleared my view, I saw Kitten with both pistols firing, the sparks from each shot streaking through the ever-so-lightening pre-dawn. Cutting her way through the crowd to the wall.

  My mate. Disobeying me again.

  She cleared the crowd, scaled a scaffold, whipped Black Betty off her shoulder to pick off Prophets one at a time from her vantage point, scanning the crowd along her the weapon's barrel, firing, never missing a beat, until her gaze caught mine.

  She lowered her weapon a few inches, her eyes widening. "No," she screamed.

  Pain bit my neck.

  The world went black.

  * * * *

  "Gods damn you," Sierra screamed watching two Prophets slide to the gray ground beside her fallen tranquilized mate. Jackal had collapsed with a dart in his neck, strengthening yellow sunlight dancing upon the glinting metal.

  Then the Normals descended upon him.

  Even though I have shot many Prophets from their saddles, there were many many more. The two on the ground were too close to Jackal to dare to pick off with Black Betty. And horses ran wildly, crisscrossing the courtyard.

  The mangy Prophets grabbed my mate beneath his arms and heaved him over a gelding's saddle to where he hung on his belly.

  Taking him prisoner.

  Save mine! Cougar roared for release.

  They would not. Not if I could help it. I had to reach him. Gods, the horses could step on him.

  Horse and riders kept blocking my view.

  Intervening. Purposely. All I could do was fire. Over and over. Shooting limbs. Foreheads. And anything else that made a good target.

  Because Jackal was being taken.

  Life without him wouldn't be living.

  I had to save him.

  Kill. Cougar ripped at my ribcage.

  My body began to burn with the need to shift.

  Not yet. Not until I knew what I could do to help.

  The scene below the scaffold became a whirlwind of roars, gunshots, shrieking horses, and desperate human bodies struggling for survival.

  The two Prophets led the gelding away with my Jackal's hands tied to his ankles beneath the beast's belly.

  Dear. Gods. I'd die if I couldn't stop them. Somehow. I tried to line up a shot to free Jackal's horse from the man holding its lead.

  A horse blocked my shot.

  Damn them all. Jackal was being taken farther and farther away. In a throng of retreating horses clearing the courtyard, pressing toward the gaping gate. I had to do something. I jumped, landing my boots on the unforgiving earth at the base of Death Summit's imposing wall.

  There was only one thing to do. I ran, yanking at my belt, clawing out of my shirt, summoning the vibration from deep inside my heart, and forced the change upon my skin with nauseating speed, pinching the front clasp on my bra. Almost instantly, I fell upon four paws and wriggled my tail out of my clothes.

  "Hurry, Sierra," Akita yelled.

  Where had she come from? It didn't matter. I stretched my sleek Cougar body, pulling the dusty earth beneath my pads with my claws ripping into the ground, bounding toward the horses. Silently.

  Ever-so-silently.

  As if I had shifted into the dogmatic beast of a bitter wind lost in the ephemeral ebb and flow of the surrounding chaos.

  They must all die. Oh yes. Everyone who risked life and limb capturing my mate. One by one, I would rip out their throats. Peel their flesh from their screaming bodies with the hooks of my claws. And when n
obody remained to inform Normals they'd seen a Cougar, I would rest easy again.

  With my mate.

  And await our child.

  A Prophet sitting a horse was but a pounce away.

  Easy to kill. I knifed my legs, shoving off the ground to dig my claws bone-deep into the rider's stinking shoulders and sank my fangs into the soft side of his neck.

  Jewels of his ruby blood sprayed every direction.

  The most Gods-be-damned inhuman scream ripped from the filthy bastard.

  I sucked in a deep breath and clamped my bite harder into hard bone and soft flesh.

  His salty iron-infused blood burned my nostrils.

  I felt like I was drowning in his blood. I snorted to clear the fluid away.

  "Holy shit," a man screamed. "Someone's got a fucking Cougar! Nobody lift a blade. I want her alive."

  Alive to use for bait. To use to trap the mate they wanted to trade with the aliens. If they possessed the couple, even better.

  Horses shrieked in fear of one of their natural predators among them.

  But I wouldn't harm the horses unless I had no other recourse. Horses were as big a victim in all of the madness as Shifters. And the clan would take care of the horses.

  My prey toppled over the side of his horse.

  They'd be on me in a heartbeat. I opened my jaw and fell atop the gurgling body to immediately jackknife my legs into a sprint, skirting the long deadly hoofed legs beneath the riders.

  "A net. We need a net," some Prophet howled. "I want her. We need her. No one draws a knife against her. You do, and your family is dead with you."

  How many could I kill before they came up with something to serve as a net? I raced around the milling cluster fuck of dolts to keep the horses terrified, focusing on the guy holding the lead to Jackal's horse.

  My Jackal's head hung like that of a dead man. And if someone didn't get him off that damned horse soon, my mate would be a dead man.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Die, bastards, Sierra thought, springing off the solid ground toward another Prophet's exposed throat hovering atop a black-and-white painted pony. My teeth sank into his soft throbbing tissue.

  His pulse drummed.

  So quickly I knew he'd bleed out with two sprays of his bejeweled blood.