She hadn’t washed herself off.
Which meant, anyone who passed would be able to smell Cobalt on her.
She glanced down at her clothes again.
Hell, anyone would probably be able to smell him on her even if she had washed off. She was wearing his clothes after all. It wouldn’t take a genius to figure out that they were Cobalt’s and that meant he had come to her, had found her.
Had been with her.
“I guess you might want to go somewhere a little more private so we can talk… maybe somewhere your mother isn’t going to see you dressed in Cobalt’s clothing and isn’t going to smell him all over you?” Rath looked over his shoulder at her, a teasing twinkle in his eyes that had her scowling at him.
She couldn’t hold it though. A smile broke through as his words offered her comfort and a hefty dose of relief, and she realised that there was someone at the creek on her and Cobalt’s side.
Ember followed him towards his cabin, silently thanking him when he chose to weave through the woods to the left of the clearing rather than walking across the grass in the open. She glanced off to her right, across the swath of green to her family’s cabin where it nestled among the pines on the other side, and her pulse accelerated as her mother stepped out onto the deck.
When they neared Rath’s cabin and she was faced with a stretch of open land to cross, Rath stilled and held his right hand out in front of her. She stopped and looked at him.
“Wait…” He stared towards her cabin, his eyes focused and sharp, his breathing falling into a slow steady rhythm as he hunted.
Her mother.
Ember tried to breathe as slowly, but her lungs felt tight as she waited for him to give her the all clear, her muscles clamping down on her bones as she stared at her destination, the short span of grass between her and the door looking like ten miles rather than ten metres.
“Go.” Rath lowered his hand.
She shot from the trees, barrelled up the steps of his deck and fumbled with the door handle, her fingers trembling so badly as her nerves got the better of her that she couldn’t grip the damned thing.
Rath’s warm chuckle behind her had her growling at him.
She fell into the cabin as the door opened, and Ivy gasped and stumbled backwards, clearing the way. Ember barely stopped herself from hitting the floor, managed to reach the worn couch and grip it in time to keep herself upright.
“Excuse the stowaway,” Rath drawled as he entered behind her, closed the door and swept Ivy up in his arms for a kiss. “I don’t think Ember is cut out for subterfuge.”
Ember glared at him as she righted herself. “You try having my mother. I’m sure she can probably sense me.”
When she flicked a glance towards the window, Rath chuckled.
“Nah. Not at this distance. My presence would mess with her senses.” He gestured towards the beige couch in the centre of the room. “You’re safe for now at least.”
She looked at him, and his eyes narrowed, a flicker of something crossing them as she lifted her head towards the light.
“What happened?” His dark eyebrows dipped low and he stepped towards her, his eyes on her jaw.
Ember brushed her fingers across the marks.
“Nothing,” she blurted, and when he didn’t look as if he believed her, she sagged onto the couch. “Something. Cobalt came to find me and things got a little… ah… heated.”
A bit like her cheeks as Rath stared at her, no trace of surprise in his eyes.
“About time,” he muttered.
Her blush burned as hot as a thousand suns.
Ivy looked between Rath and her. “Wait… you’re with Cobalt? What about all those fights over you?”
“I’m not with Cobalt… although it’s not for lack of trying… and the fights aren’t exactly my idea. They’re my mother’s. I didn’t come here to find a male to ease me.” She looked up at Rath. “I came here to see Cobalt… but…”
“But my brother is being difficult.” Rath eased down onto the arm of the couch beside her and sighed as he looked across his right shoulder at her.
“What happened to him?” She searched Rath’s eyes, and when he only frowned at her, a hint of confusion surfacing in their grey depths, she added, “I went to see him after he lost it yesterday, and he said he didn’t want my pity and that he was a fuck up. I was worried about him and just wanted to see he was alright, that was all. I didn’t know he had a problem with his business.”
Rath heaved another long sigh. “He’s feeling a bit sore about it. It was a deal gone badly and Cobalt should have known better, but he can be too rash at times, and not rash enough at others.”
The way his grey eyes settled on her again had the heat she had just managed to convince to leave her cheeks rising back onto them again.
“His business going under has hit him harder than he would like to admit. Give him a little time, Ember. He doesn’t mean to lash out. It’s just hard on him right now.” Rath offered her a warm, tender smile.
She understood that.
Cobalt had lost his business, had returned to the creek to fulfil his duty, still raw from how badly things had turned out, and he had found her at the gathering, looking for a male.
She could only imagine how that had cut at him, how it still cut at him.
He had to stand there while her mother judged every male who fought for her, as she announced her opinion of their worth. It had to cut him deeply to hear what other males had when he had lost everything. It had to wound him to hear her mother speak of them as worthy or unworthy of her based on their bank balance, businesses and bloodline.
But her mother didn’t get to decide who she ended up with. That was Ember’s decision to make, and it was time her mother and Cobalt realised that.
Ember pressed her fingertips to the bruises on her jaw, her eyebrows furrowing.
How was she meant to convince Cobalt that he was the one she wanted when he was so bent on believing he wasn’t the one for her?
“He doesn’t think he’s worthy of me.” And she wasn’t sure she could change his mind about that, and it hurt, had her aching inside whenever she tried to find a way to make him see that she thought he was worthy of her.
Rath heaved a long, weary sigh that echoed all the feelings she held locked within her, and she half-smiled as she realised she wasn’t the only one who was frustrated with Cobalt. Rath wanted his brother to find the strength that had been shaken from him by losing his business and by seeing her attending the gathering.
He wanted Cobalt to fight for her.
“He wanted to fight me when he heard your mother had offered you to me.” Those words leaving Rath’s lips had Ivy scowling at him, and he turned an affectionate smile on his mate. “I did turn her down, remember?”
“I still want to throttle her for it,” Ivy muttered, and Ember was right there with her.
“It’s obvious you both feel something for each other… but you can’t lay the blame for the situation you’re in solely at Cobalt’s feet.” Rath’s expression gained a sharp edge that cut her like a blade. “You could have spoken with him before the gathering. You could have contacted him and all this would have been avoided.”
She swallowed hard, her stomach twisting into knots as she weathered his glare. “You’re right. I should have… I wanted to, but suddenly the season hit me and my mother said I should attend the gathering, and I thought it would be the perfect time to speak with him.”
She hadn’t even thought about the fact that it meant Cobalt was off limits. She had only seen a chance to speak with him, a sure shot at seeing him because he had to be at the creek during a gathering.
“It was only when we got here and I realised my mother had tried palming me off onto you that I knew I had made a terrible mistake… and then she’s arranging all these fights over me, and… I was stupid. I let her do it.” It was hard to admit that, to say out loud that she had been an idiot to go along with her mother’s plans when s
he should have stood up for herself and told her that she hadn’t come to the creek to find just any male.
She had come here for Cobalt.
“We all make mistakes.” Rath tipped his head back and looked at the wooden ceiling of the cabin. “Both yours and Cobalt’s is not being able to see your own worth.”
Rath slowly lowered his eyes back to her.
“One of you needs to make the first move… and as much as it pains me to say it, right now, I think you have more balls than Cobalt. You know what you want, so why not just take it?”
“I did try,” she snapped and sagged against the back of the couch as all the fight his words had roused suddenly drained from her. “I tried and Cobalt came close to… and then he pushed me away again.”
“You tried wrong.” He stated that with such venom, and incredulity, that she glared at him. “I know my brother. He’s had a hard kick and he’s down, and while you think you did the right thing, you did it all wrong. Your aim was off.”
“Off?” She pushed back up into a sitting position, a spark of anger igniting in her that had her on the verge of losing her temper all over again. “We were alone, and I said I wanted to be alone with him, and then we… made out… and it was all right. I did everything right.”
Rath twisted to face her, rested his elbows on his knees and leaned forwards, so his eyes were almost level with hers as he looked into them. “No, you did everything wrong. Cobalt is a male who just had his ass kicked by life, and you’re his fated female who is throwing off pheromones like crazy because the season is affecting you, and he’s been seeing a lot of males fighting over you. What you did… you targeted his instincts as your fated male.”
Had she?
She thought about that moment in the cave. She had wanted Cobalt to look at her, had been desperate for his touch, to finally close the distance between them. She had thought that if she could rouse his hunger, he would give in to it and would see she wanted him.
He had given in to it, and his instincts had been stronger than she had anticipated, had driven him to bite her and claim her, and that had only made everything worse.
Rath was right. She had done everything wrong.
She looked to him for the answer.
“You should have targeted his heart.” Rath’s soft words struck her hard. She didn’t flinch away as he touched her cheek, moved her head to her right and frowned at the bruises. “Now all you’ve done is made things worse.”
Her stomach felt as if someone had poured lead into it as she thought about that.
Cobalt had been more than upset when he had come close to claiming her. He had been distraught, and she feared he hated himself, blamed himself for what had happened when it had been her fault.
She should have spoken to him when he had arrived at the creek. She should never have allowed her mother to arrange fights for her. She should have done everything differently.
But she wasn’t the only one to blame.
Cobalt hadn’t tried to speak with her. He hadn’t shown her that he wanted her. He had hidden all his feelings from her, and she had the feeling he had been doing it for a long time now, that he had been aware she was his fated female for more than just the past few weeks.
They were both idiots.
Rath, however, was some sort of fucking genius.
She didn’t need to rouse Cobalt’s needs as her male to convince him that they belonged together.
She needed to speak from her heart to his and make it believe again. She needed to show him that it wasn’t desire or the season, or even the fact he was her fated male, that made her want him.
It was because she loved him.
Rath laid a hand on her shoulder, the weight of it comforting as she looked up into his eyes and found them soft with understanding. “Just… don’t give up. I know my brother. He’ll fight you on everything, might lash out and attempt to dominate you, and he’ll sure as shit try to push you away. Don’t cower. Push back. Fight back. Show him that he’s worth fighting for and make it clear you’re not going to give up so he might as well give in.”
He made it sound as if they were going to war, as if she was getting into the ring with Cobalt.
She supposed that they were in a way, and she was ready to do battle with him again, had talked to her coach and found a new strategy, and she was going to employ it because she felt certain it was one that would work.
No giving up.
No surrender.
This time, Cobalt was going down and his heart would be hers.
There was only one problem.
“What if Cobalt doesn’t come back to the creek?” She had seen that wild look in his eyes, had felt the need to run go through him, and she feared he would keep on running and she would never see him again.
Rath calmly said, “He will.”
“How can you be so sure?” Ember searched his eyes, looking for the answer in them.
They were sober as they held hers and his words curled around her, offering comfort that buoyed her heart.
“Because this is where you are.”
CHAPTER 10
It was dark by the time Cobalt dragged his sorry ass down the mountain to Cougar Creek, duty drawing him back despite his desire to stay away for the night.
He didn’t need to look like even more of a fuck up by shirking his duties at the pride.
As little as he wanted it, he had to be there. He had to claw back whatever scraps remained of his pride and keep them together so he could start building on them again and slowly elevate himself back into a position where he was worth something.
It probably wouldn’t be enough for Ember though.
“Done licking your wounds?” Rath’s voice cut through the darkness, rising above the swishing of water around Cobalt’s bare calves as he crossed the river.
He stilled and looked to his left, where his brother sat on the log by the riverbank, reclining against the thick trunk of the tree behind him.
Cobalt wasn’t sure how to answer that.
Part of him wanted to lash out and bite Rath’s head off, and the rest just wanted to ask him not to do this, not to push him right now.
He couldn’t take it.
“Ember came to me today.” Those words had Cobalt pausing, looking at Rath rather than heading towards his cabin. His brother sighed. “It seems she’s worried about you.”
“I don’t need her pity,” Cobalt barked, not giving a shit who heard him as his voice carried in the still air. “Or yours.”
“It wasn’t pity that brought Ember to me,” Rath drawled, sounding relaxed despite the tension Cobalt could sense in him. Tension that called to Cobalt as it told him his brother was ready for a fight. Fuck, Cobalt needed a good brawl, he just wasn’t in the mood to have his opponent be his brother tonight. That brother continued, “There’s a difference between worrying about someone and pitying them, and you’re blind or maybe just stupid if you can’t see it… or perhaps you’re pitying yourself and thinking everyone else is too?”
Cobalt growled at Rath for that. “Drop it.”
He went to turn away.
Rath pushed to his feet, his voice hard as steel. “I can’t, because the little female who came to me wanting to know more about my idiot younger brother so she could understand him smelled of him, and when I looked closer… I didn’t like what I saw.”
Cobalt rounded on him, guilt flaring again, and bit out, “You even think about protecting her.”
“I wouldn’t,” Rath snapped back at him, his irises glowing gold around their edges as he stared Cobalt down. “That’s your job.”
He snorted at that, shoved his trembling right hand through his blond locks and shook his head.
“I’m in no fit state to protect her… surely you saw that?” A trickle of fear went through him as he looked at Rath, acid churning his stomach as he recalled how Ember had looked the last time he had seen her. “Was it obvious?”
Gods, he hated himself for hurting her
like that, for coming dangerously close to losing control and doing something irreversible. Something that would have destroyed both of them.
He wouldn’t have been able to live with himself if he had forced her into a mating. The bond between mates was meant to be beautiful, the one between fated mates even more so, and he had been so close to making it something ugly and tainting the sanctity of it.
“The marks were fading, and they were practically gone by the time she left my cabin.” Rath’s sober tone gave him comfort, no trace of a lie in his words as his dark eyebrows met hard above his now-gold eyes. His expression turned serious, setting Cobalt on edge. “You need to do something about this, Cobalt… before something worse happens.”
“I am… I was… I’ve been running… I’m sweaty and I need a fucking shower.” He looked himself over, at the dirt that covered his legs and spotted his chest.
“Running isn’t going to work and you know it.” Rath took a slow step towards him. “There’s only one thing that’s going to stop you from crossing a line here.”
Cobalt shook his head the moment he realised what Rath meant. “I can’t participate in the fights. Flint had a way to fight for Yasmin because it was a courting and she wasn’t part of the pride. What can I do? I’m bound by my position.”
Rath barked, “Fuck your position. The pride wouldn’t exist without us. It’s back on its feet now and it can take care of itself.”
Cobalt reeled back a step, the force of his brother’s words rocking him. They lacked conviction though. Rath might want to believe the pride could survive without them, but the pride wouldn’t see it that way.
He couldn’t see it that way.
“It’s all I have left, Rath,” he whispered as it tore at him.
He hated the pride and the duty that stood between him and Ember, but he couldn’t turn his back on them either, and if he didn’t do something, Ember might slip through his fingers forever. If he waited until the gathering was over, and his duty was done for another mating season, she might be with another male.
Could he fight for her?
He wanted to fight for her, but the thought of going through with it left him cold.
Craved by her Cougar (Cougar Creek Mates Shifter Romance Series Book 4) Page 10
