by Ashley Shay
“He takes his position seriously,” Tyler said. “Gabe knew Cougar was the best in the business.”
Dusty relaxed his grip and settled back in his chaise. He was ready to get good and drunk tonight. He thought he deserved it. And then Shane opened his mouth.
“That’s not what he meant, Ty.”
Tyler glanced between them. “What are you talking about?”
“He wasn’t talking about heightened security.” Shane stared at Dusty intently, but Dusty refused to meet his eyes. He sank lower and lower on his chair, the beer can pressed against his lips. “He’s talking about Carly.”
“Well, of course he’s talking about Carly. We have to keep her safe and…” By some miracle, Tyler didn’t go into alpha mode. Probably because he’d figured it out. Tyler was now staring at him too and looked a bit funny with his mouth hanging open. “He’s afraid,” Tyler said, his voice filled with some kind of horrible fascination. “He’s afraid of loving a woman again because—”
Dusty slammed his beer can on the table. “Fuck, fuck, fuck! Stop fucking talking about it.”
“Shouldn’t we talk about it?” Shane asked. “If you think he’s acting this way because he’s afraid of loving someone again, maybe we should talk to him and—”
“No.” Dusty lurched to his feet. “We are not going to talk to him about it. We aren’t going to say a goddamn word to him.”
“Dusty, we can get him help,” Tyler said. “I’m sure Doc could—”
Tyler snapped his mouth closed and took a step back. It was then that Dusty realized his hands were clenched into fists because he felt his claws digging into his flesh. Heat flashed through every molecule of his body, and his skin rippled and prickled as his fur began to poke through his pores. He shuddered violently, trying to pull himself together. He had not unwillingly shifted since puberty. His older brothers were staring at him like he needed a tranquilizer dart. They’d used them before, but only in the most intense situations.
Dusty took a deep breath, waiting for the fur to recede, waiting for the heat to diminish. He licked suddenly very dry lips. “No doctors. No shrinks.” His voice sounded too soft, too weak, and it reminded him of a terrified child. He cleared his throat and started over. “He needs to figure it out himself. And he will.”
Tyler nodded.
Dusty dropped his board shorts to the flagstones. “I’m outta here.”
He let the shift envelop him, luxuriating in the wild freedom that blanketed his body and soul. Before his brothers could say another word, he loped away from the pool toward the woods where he could find some peace and quiet. Goddamn brothers.
* * * *
Tyler watched the streak of tawny fur as Dusty disappeared. “What the fuck just happened?”
Shane reached for another Shiner. “I’ll tell ya, Ty, I worry about those two. Cougar’s about this close”—he held his fingers inches apart—“to self-destructing, and that one…” He waved in the direction of the trees. “When was the last time you saw him like that?”
“I can’t even remember…He had a bit of trouble with the shifting around thirteen I guess…but angry like that? Has he ever been angry like that?”
“Not exactly like that,” Shane said, “but close. When Mom died, he went off kind of like that, remember?”
“He was just a little kid,” Tyler said, “so small he really had no control.”
“They were about Suzie’s age. And if there’s one thing about Suzie Q, it’s that she has excellent control.”
“Funny… Dusty did lose it, but Cougar didn’t. And now…Fuck, I don’t know what to make out of it.” He shrugged. “Can we just say they’re both crazy and call it a day?”
Shane laughed. “Considering we’ll never figure it out without an army of shrinks, I’d say that’s a great plan.”
Tyler settled into Dusty’s vacated chaise, grimacing at the damp spot. “I’ll feel a lot better once Gabe has some answers.”
“You and me both.”
“Sometimes I regret leaving Homeland.”
Shane’s brow furrowed. “Really? I thought you loved this life. This county wouldn’t be the same without you, Ty.”
“I’m not so sure.” He glanced at his brother. “You were a good beta. Dad said so, and that man for all his kindness and generosity was a tough man to please.”
“Yeah, he was special,” Shane said quietly.
“You and he got real close those years I was gone, didn’t you?”
Shane nodded curtly, and Tyler figured that was as far down memory lane as they should go for the night. He did, however, want to say one more thing. It seemed important that Shane know.
“You’d have been an excellent alpha, Shane.”
“Oh, no,” he said with a laugh. “Not me. Not a chance in hell.”
“If I hadn’t come back…if I hadn’t stayed after Dad died—”
“But you did come back,” Shane said. “And everything is as it should be.”
Tyler nodded. “But you have my back. If something happened, if—”
“You know me, Ty. I’m always here if you need me, and I’ll do anything you ask. But can we skip the what-ifs? They bother me a bit too much lately.” He shimmied out of his shorts, and they fell in a heap. “I’m going to see if I can find Dusty.”
Quick as a flash, the golden luster danced across Shane’s skin and he’d shifted. With a toss of his head, he let out a low rumble and bounded across the flagstones.
“Et tu, Shane?” Tyler took a swig of beer. “Damn, I’m unpopular tonight.”
* * * *
Cougar stood in the shadow of a Mexican sycamore tree, watching the gentle and happy flicker of the fireflies among the rosebushes and listening to the sounds in the darkness around him. He could usually tell if danger lurked anywhere nearby just by the noises of the night creatures. So far tonight, things seemed okay. He’d seen two of his brothers shift and run into the night. He figured Tyler was still down by the pool thinking. Tyler did a lot of thinking.
He watched the females through the French door. Suzie had been following Lucia around the kitchen like a puppy, and that horrible gray blob that passed for a cat was trailing behind them both. Nothing irritated Tomás more than Suzie getting attention. It was like some sort of demented sibling rivalry. It looked like they were collecting jars for something, though Cougar couldn’t imagine what. Maybe they were canning strawberries from the patch on the other side of the pond. Carly and Rosa stood at the counter, drinking wine and laughing. When the door opened and Suzie’s laughter spilled out into the quiet of the evening, he slunk back deeper into his haven.
Suzie jumped out the door, her usual exuberant self, tiny body dressed in a cute little two-piece sapphire bathing suit. Carly followed behind, looking like a cool evening breeze in a gauzy white dress with skinny little straps. As she stood haloed in the light of the kitchen, he could see her shape through the skimpy fabric. The curves of her hips were clearly visible as well as the V of her thighs. He imagined he could feel the heat of her bare pussy from where he stood. His cock rose without his permission, wanting to bury in that wet warmth, but Cougar never let his cock decide anything.
The fabric of the dress whispered over her thighs with the night breeze, and the loose bodice stretched across her full breasts, dipping just low enough to show the delectable view of her cleavage. He wanted to capture her wrists in his hands then run his tongue into the crevice. He wanted to lick every inch of her breast from the generous swell to the rosy nipple then underneath the globe while she writhed and wiggled under his mouth. When she begged him for more, he’d lick and suck the other one, harder, rougher, until she gasped with pleasure and pain.
Suzie skipped onto the path, holding an old mayonnaise jar. And then it dawned on him. Damn, if she wasn’t going to capture fireflies.
“Ohhhh, look how many there are,” Suzie said in wonder.
He noticed then that the entire path was a flickering symphony of light. Little
flashes of light twinkled then vanished, twinkled then vanished like tiny little stars dropped down from heaven. They hovered above the rosebushes then darted up, only to return to the lure of the wondrous, cloying smell of the flowers. Suzie and Carly put the jars down on a bench, and then Suzie tentatively approached a cluster of dancing lights.
She reached out with cupped hands then gave a tiny shriek and giggled, jumping backward. “It tickles.”
“It does,” Carly says. “And you have to be very gentle or you’ll hurt them.”
Suzie leaned forward again, shivering in anticipation. She reached out toward a twinkling bug, and suddenly the light vanished. Her mouth dropped open. “I lost it.”
Cougar stepped out of the shadows, and the sound of his boots on the crushed gravel had Carly spinning around with a gasp. The events of the day sure had her spooked. Even after being fucked all afternoon, she looked ready to jump out of her skin. Suzie, however, was up on tiptoes, a tiny, graceful ballerina, trying to wrap her little hands around one of blinking insects. She said, “Hi, Uncle Cougar.”
“Hey, squirt.”
She spun around on a bare foot. “We’re going to capture me a night-light. Wanna help us?”
He glanced at Carly, and he glanced at the jars on the bench. Did he want to help? Hell, yeah. He couldn’t remember a nicer childhood memory than those evenings when his mother had taken him and Dusty outside to hunt for fireflies. He’d had a new jar of bugs every night of that summer. Shane and Tyler had laughed and called them babies, but their mother had scoffed and said the older boys just weren’t as good at catching fireflies as the twins. After that, they’d joined in just to prove her wrong. That had been the best summer of Cougar’s life. He’d been Justin then…
“I’d love to help, Suzie Q. Any particular one you want?”
Suzie hopped up and down, and Carly smiled, the sweetest, prettiest smile he’d seen in just about forever.
“That one waaaaaay up there.” Suzie pointed up about two feet over her head.
Cougar pretended to stalk toward the insect, and Suzie laughed and laughed. He reached up with both hands and carefully cupped them together, bringing his treasure down slowly. He parted his thumbs just a tiny bit to show her the twinkling light within.
“Ahhhhhh,” she whispered. “She’s beautiful.”
“It’s probably a he,” Cougar said.
Suzie lifted her face, frowning. “Really? How can you tell?”
“I can’t be certain,” he said, “but normally the boys fly around trying to attract a girlfriend. And the girls—” He gestured up into the sycamore tree toward the blinking lights flashing in the foliage. “The girls hang around and look pretty. So my guess is this one is a boy.”
“A boy! A boy! I caught a boy!” Suzie skipped around then twirled to get her jar. She unscrewed the lid, and Cougar dropped the insect inside. “Can I have a girl too?”
“Absolutely,” Cougar said. “Let’s go see what we can do.”
He took Suzie’s hand and led her toward the sycamore.
* * * *
Carly stood on the path and watched them walk toward the darker edge of the lawn, a giant and a doll. She started to follow then decided to give them privacy for their game. For all his gruffness, how very sweet he could be. She remembered his strong arms wrapped around her at Lisa’s boutique. She’d felt so comfortable, so completely safe, and for the first time, she realized that, for once, she was seeing Cougar feel safe. What could she do to give him that feeling every day of his life? Surely, there was hope she could do that.
She heard Suzie’s delightful laugh drift through the night, and she took two steps toward the sound before she stopped dead on the path. Something wasn’t right.
She glanced up into the sky where the only light came from hundreds of glowing dots, twinkling and sparkling like fireflies just out of reach. Though the air was warm and breezy, Carly suddenly felt an oppressive chill envelop her, as though wrapping her in a spiderweb of oozing threads that had been dipped in ice. She shivered and rubbed her arms as she stared up into the sky.
She smelled Tyler’s scent just as warm hands slid down her frigid skin and arms wrapped around her. She nestled back against him as his warm lips touched her shoulder.
“You’re shivering,” he whispered.
“I felt…something.”
“Daddy! Look!” Suzie came running across the grass, slowing down and walking gingerly when she reached the crushed gravel. She held out her jar of fireflies. Tyler leaned down to look. “I have a boy and a girl. Uncle Cougar says they’re married now.”
Tyler nodded. “I guess they better be if they’re trapped in a jar together.” He reached out and snapped some leaves from the rosebush. “Can I give them a wedding present?”
“Yes!” Suzie unscrewed the lid and, before she lifted it, said, “Do it fast.”
“Yeah,” Cougar said, coming up behind Suzie, “do it fast.” He glanced up into the sky. “I want everyone inside.”
Carly’s heart nearly stopped as she followed his gaze into the sky. She thought she saw a darker shadow pass through the black.
“What is it?” Tyler asked.
“Can’t say for sure,” Cougar said. “Maybe something, maybe nothing.”
“It’s not nothing,” Carly whispered.
Cougar snatched Suzie up in his arms, and she squealed. “Come on, squirt. Let’s get your new friends into the house.” He strode up the path, glancing once over his shoulder. His gaze fell on her then went back to the sky.
“What do you feel?” Tyler asked.
“Just cold…and queasy.”
“Not as bad as this afternoon?”
“No, it’s very…distant. Like it can’t really touch me but knows where I am.”
“It?”
“I really don’t want to think it might be a him.”
* * * *
Rosa leaned her head against the cool glass watching the Lucas family and Carly sharing a magical night. Any other time she would have joined in, but she couldn’t get Carly’s description of the man in Washington out of her mind. Was it Juan?
Had Carly innocently crossed paths with him in one of his underworld business ventures? Rosa shivered, and the cool of the air-conditioning seemed to seep into her bones and wrap its coldness around her heart. She loved living at Cattail, but the brothers kept the house too cold for her liking.
She hated thinking about Juan. Those few times she’d been in his company had been branded in her memory. She knew her older brother had an evil streak in him. Although she’d known he existed for years, she hadn’t met him until she was a grown woman. He’d shocked her by somehow tracking her down and stopping by to visit her when she lived in San Francisco. He spent several days trying to recruit her into the family business.
Yeah right, family business. Rosa had heard the rumors about the Serpent Society. Gunrunning, extortion, assassination, drugs. She didn’t know if they were true, and she never bothered to find out. She suspected that was why her mother had taken her away when she was an infant and they’d spent years staying off the radar.
Rosa knew after only a couple of visits with her brother he was capable of great wickedness. On the outside, and to the human eye, he seemed urbane, intelligent, and beautiful. He was all those things, and more, but something sick and twisted within him had turned him into a monster.
But how could Carly sense that? Rosa had never heard of a human experiencing such a violent reaction to any shifter. Most humans were blissfully unaware of the otherworld. A few of the more sensitive could intermingle and cohabitate with the paranormal community, but they were rare. Either Carly had never encountered anyone from the paranormal community, which would be very unusual, or she had a particular sensitivity to this shifter. Or this type of shifter. Rosa wondered, though, if Carly had indeed encountered Juan, how had she sensed him and yet had no idea Rosa was a serpent shifter as well?
She thought about it for a few minutes then sh
rugged. Did it really matter? She supposed not. Now that Carly was to become alpha female of the community, her ability to sense trouble would be useful for the whole pride and especially for keeping the cub safe.
Rosa let out a tired sigh that sounded more like a hiss. Maybe it was time for her to move on. But where would she go? She couldn’t think of anywhere she might belong other than the community of Catamount. Because of her mother’s insistence they stay in hiding during her childhood, she’d never been around her own kind much because there were few serpents in Catamount. Those that did venture into the town were most often there in a business capacity. She thought of the Serpent Society. Juan had urged her to seek out her own kind, to be serpent instead of befriending humans and furry shifters.
“Rosa, my sister. You have such great potential,” he’d said in his silkiest voice. “Join me. Learn of your heritage. Meet your father. He’s a great man.”
“My mother didn’t think so.”
Juan had looked amused. “Your mother misunderstood him. She could have had anything she ever wanted. Anything in the world. Don’t cheat yourself of the same opportunity, not for your misguided friendship with humans.”
“My friendship with Jillian has nothing to do with my decision, Juan. I’m content with who I am. I’m sorry, but I won’t join you.”
Juan’s only show of anger was the quick blink of his eyes, rapidly controlled and replaced by an insincere smile. “The time will come when you return home, Rosa. When you would rather be with your own kind. I will be looking forward to that day.”
The house phone rang, jarring Rosa out of her memories. She glided over to pick it up. “Hola.”
“Rosa, it’s Gabe. Is Tyler there?”
“Sí, he’s coming into the house now. Just a minute.”
Later, she might have to mention her brother, but not tonight. Not until she thought it over and decided if the information would be worth the risk. Besides, she told herself, there were other dangerous serpent shifters in the world, and they probably all had the same aura as Juan. After all, he was family, and she wouldn’t give him up without a good reason.
