A Cougar's Kiss (Shadow Shifters Rebellion Book 2)

by A. C. Arthur

  How much should she tell him? There was so much nobody, not even Nisa, knew about her. Mainly because nobody wanted to know. To everyone in Oasis, Shya was the miracle child, the shifter that everyone had prayed would survive the damiana poisoning she’d been born with as a result of her mother’s interaction with a psychopathic rogue shifter named Sabar. And even after the blood transfusion from her Uncle Ezra which cleansed her bloodstream of any remnants of the poison, she remained weaker than the rest of the shifters, thus making her the one left behind.

  What would they all say when they found out she was so far beyond any of them in this place? What would Keller say if he knew what she’d been up to in this last year? Could she trust him with that information? He wasn’t like the rest of the shifters here, she’d known that from day one and admitted it was part of his allure. Keller was known as a renegade, a very loose cannon that Uncle Rome was trying to tame for the sake of all the shifters above and below ground. Could he be trusted? With an inward shrug she figured there was only one way to find out.

  “I was the one who hacked into the Holodeck and read those confidential records on Jacques Germain and Cole Linden.”

  His eyes darkened and he took a step back, running his fingers through the golden-brown hair that was longer on top than on the sides of his head. That muscle in his jaw now pulsed with an incessant rhythm as his lips thinned and he glared at her.

  “Rome thinks I was the one who hacked the database. He thinks I’m a traitor whose feeding information about us to the Ruling Cabinet.” His words were spoken with a tightness that said he was restraining his anger.

  It didn’t matter she could smell the overpowering pungent emotion and felt her cat rise in defense.

  “If Rome really thought that he wouldn’t have you guarding a shifter who’d been like a brother to him.” That seemed so obvious to her yet hearing the underlying hints of disappointment in Keller’s voice made her wonder if he really believed it.

  He stepped toward her then, until there was only a breath of space between them.

  “Then why didn’t you tell him what you’d done? Why didn’t you tell your father? They were both trying to figure out how and why the system they’d built to resist infiltration had been invaded and files stolen. Nisa’s your best friend and you didn’t tell her. You didn’t defend her work when they were all questioning her.”

  And if she told him why he’d never understand. Or rather he’d think she was a childish and jealous shifter trying to get back at the world for the raw hand she’d been dealt. Shya had thought the same for a very long time. But then she concluded that this was her life and she needed to live it the way she wanted to, not in the way that was expected of her. Every shifter born into this world had a purpose, she was just figuring hers out and she wasn’t about to let this cougar—no matter how sexy and enticing he was—stop her.

  “I did what nobody else thought to do and because of it, I know things that nobody else does. You want to know why I stole the codes to Cole’s room? Because he knows what’s going on up there. He knows why it’s happening, and he knows how to stop it, that’s why they want to stop him.”

  “Who wants to stop him? Nobody knew where he was for years and only we know where he is now.”

  “That’s not true. Blaez Trekas knew who Cole was and what he was doing. His lycans even helped Cole hunt down the Desert Cat. Now ask yourself why.” This time she took the step, until her breasts rubbed against his uniform shirt. “Why would lycans help Cole hunt another Shadow if that Shadow was reportedly burning down the SICs and setting the shifters held captive there free?”

  The Shifter Isolation Camps had been Ewen Mackey’s pride and joy. They were his way of putting his boot on the neck of every shifter he saw and warning those who hid.

  She saw the moment he pieced her words together, the second he realized she was on to something, and he grabbed her arm, turning her so that she now stood beside him as they walked quickly through the halls. Shya had no idea where they were going or what was going to happen next. Was he going to turn her in to her father and the leadership? Or would he take her to some remote cave and get rid of her? She really wasn’t considering the latter, but the thought had flown through her mind anyway as they pushed past shifters of all tribes in the hallway and eventually the courtyard. Finally, he guided them down another narrow hallway before he slipped through a door, she had no idea was there.

  Once inside the dark, tight space, he turned her so that her back was against a rocky wall. He didn’t touch her but leaned in so that his mouth was close to her ear.

  “Don’t say that again, don’t even whisper a word of what you’ve done to anyone else. Go back to your room and pack a bag. Meet me right here in one hour, not a second later.”

  His breath was warm and the proximity of their bodies—even without touching—was very close, and extremely frustrating. But his words were making her nervous or anxious, she couldn’t decide which.

  “I don’t know where here is.” She was certain the door he’d pushed her through wasn’t really a door which wasn’t totally out of the norm in Oasis. There were notations on the Holodeck maps for secret doors and passageways that were only to be used by those with level 6 clearance—Lead Enforcers and FLs.

  “I think you do,” he said and then pulled back slightly. “You know way more than you should which is why you’re coming with me.”

  She suspected those words should have held more conviction or force, maybe. But instead, they seemed almost sorrowful. And when he leaned in, resting his forehead against hers Shya was certain something more was happening here than him telling her what to do next or confiding in her about this place or whatever he was planning to do in an hour.

  “What are we doing?” The question came in a whisper so soft she barely heard it and would have thought it had been spoken only in her mind except he eased further away.

  “One hour, Shya. Don’t be late.”

  And then he was gone, and she was alone in a dark passageway somewhere in their underground city.

  Chapter 5

  “I’m not late,” Shya said when she ran into the clearing eighteen minutes later, her booted feet splashing water from the puddles on the ground.

  Kyss groaned and rolled her eyes. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

  “You already know I’m not the kidder in this group.” Keller wasn’t sure what he was at this point, but he walked toward Shya anyway.

  “No. After Decan defected, I actually thought you might be the brains in this group,” Kyss said with a shake of her head, the long silky black tail of her hair swishing behind her.

  “Decan didn’t defect, he got reassigned.” Gold stepped from behind the Tracer and corrected her. “And he’s still on board with our mission. In fact, he and Nisa have been helping in their own way.”

  In the only way they could as part of the Assembly leadership. What they were about to do was important to every shifter on this earth, Decan and Nisa knew that as well as Keller. Communication between the four of them—Decan, Nisa, Gold and Keller—had continued even after the new Central Zone FL was installed in his plush suites at their zone facility. After Gold was released from the medical center, he was given an STT team to lead more recognizance throughout the tunnels in search of locations where rogues and shifters who weren’t registered in the database could be slipping in and out of Oasis.

  Nobody ever really knew what Kyss was doing or where she was going to do it. The cheetah was the sneakiest and most informative unregistered shifter Keller knew at the moment, which is why he, Decan and Nisa had decided to keep her close.

  As for why he was taking Shya with him, he also wanted to keep her close. Not because he thought she might be dangerous to their mission, but because he didn’t want the remnants of said mission adversely affecting her. Should he care? Probably not. She was nothing to him. Just a really pretty shifter who he’d thought about touching for way too long.

  “We’re doing t
his now with or without your sarcasm, Kyss.” He’d prefer without, otherwise he’d be tempted to break the sassy cheetah’s neck.

  “Fine,” she snapped and slid down off the hood of the truck where she’d been perched. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  “Warn us about what?” Gold asked.

  “About the fury of not only the Assembly Leader, but her fine ass daddy as well.” With that Kyss climbed into the front passenger seat of the Tracer and slammed the door.

  Shya had remained a few feet from the vehicle, the strap of a black duffel bag swung over one shoulder. Keller met her gaze as he moved closer. “You don’t go back from this. If you’ve been doing what I think you’ve been doing all this time, this is the next step. If you’d rather go back to the safety you’ve known all your life, now’s the time to say so.”

  She’d put on some type of white band to hold her hair back from her face and silver stud earrings were in both ears. Her face was free of any make-up and prettier than any other woman he’d ever seen. But she wasn’t built like a warrior, a little on the short side, much slimmer than most shifters and she’d never been trained to do anything other than sit in her room and read. She was a liability to their mission there was no doubt about that. But after last night and hearing what she’d confessed to him a little while ago, there was no way he could leave her here. Not now.

  “There’s no safety in hiding,” she said with a grim look.

  He would have never guessed that Nick Delgado’s daughter would speak or act the way she did. The bold admission she’d made to him last night, the passion he’d barely seen revealed during their short interlude were both things that he would not have believed of her if someone had reported it to him. Still, in some weird kind of way, it all fit. Everything she said and did fit into a very enticing package.

  He yanked the back door open keeping his grip on the handle because his traitorous fingers wanted to touch her again. “Get in,” he snapped before circling the vehicle and climbing into the backseat beside her.

  Seconds later Gold was behind the wheel and they were on their way to what would change the face of the Shadow Shifters forever—to start the rebellion.

  Where were they going? What would happen when they got there? What would happen when her parents found out she was gone?

  All very good questions that she probably should have asked before climbing into the Tracer with Keller and his gang. That’s what they seemed like, a gang of defectors on their way to do what exactly? It didn’t matter what the specifics were, Shya knew it was against Rome’s wishes otherwise they wouldn’t have met up in a tunnel that wasn’t listed on the Holodeck. She’d checked the board that she wasn’t supposed to have but had swiped from the training center months ago when they were bringing in a class of new recruits. The boards now carried by all guards aided them in the logistics and planning of strategic missions. It also had—according to the security level of the guard to whom it was assigned—unlimited access to the Holodeck and all its maps of the tunnels, blueprints of all of the bunkers, plans for the vehicles they used, the weapons that had also been specially enhanced for the shifters, the genetic breakdown of each tribe and so much more.

  Of course, she had no security level, but she’d spent years watching Nisa practice what Uncle X had taught her on the computers. While Nisa thought Shya was simply sitting in the background reading a book, Shya was also learning. That’s how she’d bypassed the security walls on the board to gain access to all its information and how she’d managed to break into those confidential files which she’d downloaded to her board and created her own encrypted password for.

  What she’d planned to do with the information in those files, she hadn’t figured out yet, but it was enough of an accomplishment that she had them and nobody—now, except for Keller—knew that she was the one who stole them.

  “You won’t get a punishment this time.” The words came quietly just as they’d wafted through her mind. “When my father realizes I’m gone and that you are too, he’ll want you dead.”

  “I’ve had a bounty on my head for a very long time. I wear the threat like a crown.”

  “Or like a weight on your shoulders,” she quipped. “Vengeance can be just as heavy as fear.”

  “And what about naiveté? How much damage does living in a closed-off world cause? Better yet, living in a bubble inside of a closed-off world?”

  His questions were sharp, spoken with just the right bit of irritation to slice clean through her psyche. If she weren’t already used to being told nothing was expected of her because in the grand scheme of things, she was a nobody, Shya might have been offended.

  “I cannot help the situation I was born into and I don’t make the rules for Oasis.”

  He huffed at her comeback and shook his head, turning to stare out the window and the rock walls just a few feet away from the vehicle in the narrow tunnel.

  “But I don’t break the rules either. I don’t run around stirring up trouble with bad guys that eventually come back on an entire species.” Not being offended didn’t mean she couldn’t fight back.

  “No!” He turned back to her, his gaze searing into her skin like lasers. “You cower in a corner making everyone believe you’re helpless when you’re really going behind their back and stealing information you have no idea how to use.”

  He was right. How did he know? She cleared her throat and squared her shoulders.

  “Having all the answers doesn’t make you stronger.”

  “And having some of the answers doesn’t make you part of the solution.”

  “Then what am I doing here? Why did you tell me to come?”

  “Yeah, Kel, I’d like to hear the answer to that one?” Kyss turned around to peer over the front seat, her lips spreading in a wide mischievous grin.

  “You’re not funny,” he snapped at the shifter.

  He didn’t spare Shya another look or comment as he once again turned to stare out the window. That was fine with her, she had so much to think about, so much to consider. Or no, it was probably too late to consider her actions as Gold continued to drive further away from Assembly Headquarters and the shifters she’d known all her life. Now, she was traveling with a Croesteriia who wore the burning scent of distrust like a coat, a jaguar who was built like a linebacker and Keller—the cougar who infuriated and aroused her to no end.

  Chapter 6

  It was evening when the Tracer stopped, and Keller came around to open her door. Shya stepped out on her own but when she reached back to grab her bag, Keller beat her to the punch. He crossed the strap over his body and pushed the bulk behind him before he started walking. Gold and Kyss had also gotten out and were now walking in the same direction as Keller. Shya closed the door and fell into step behind them.

  They’d traveled south for hours before she fell asleep. She’d awakened about two hours ago and had struggled to figure out where they were. The walls of the tunnels all looked the same, dark rocky portions mixed with smooth sections that were a result of construction on Oasis. There’d also been spots that were still compacted with reddish-orange clay. None of that told her where they were, and she had no plans to ask. Nobody else was talking and she wasn’t going to be the one to start the conversation with questions.

  Her boots clamored over muddy ground for more than a mile, the scent in the air shifting from the pure oxygenated air that was filtered into Oasis to a pungent earthy scent that made her nose wrinkle. She kept going, stopping or speaking, weren’t options. If Keller and his team were pressing forward, then so could she.

  They came to a steel door with what looked like a steering wheel in its center. Gold leaned his beefy shoulder against it and tapped his finger over invisible buttons that she only noted when the green lights appeared on the surface at his touch. There was a loud sound, like something heavy moving, sliding away and then slamming to its new location. Gold turned that wheel and the door bounced back from the wall.

  “St
ay right behind me. Watch your step and don’t stop.”

  Keller snapped the words at her with only a quick look over his shoulder. She nodded and did exactly what he said, taking the slippery steep steps one at a time, praying she didn’t fall. They were going higher and higher and she knew they would not stop until they were above ground. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, not because she was out of breath, but because she was nervous about getting to the top.

  While Nisa had made a point of sneaking above ground as often as she could, Shya had only made the trek twice before. She told herself that it wasn’t fear that kept her in Oasis, but loyalty to her parents and everyone else there that presumed to know what was best for her. In the last year she’d begun to accept that fear had, in fact, been the driving force. She wasn’t going to let that stop her now. Gold pushed through the next door as well, Kyss following right behind him and she was behind Kyss. Cool night air breezed down into the tunnel where she still stood on the steps and an unfamiliar scent filled her nostrils.

  It was fresh and damp like rain. Sometimes when there were torrential storms above ground, they could smell the rain in Oasis as the moisture seeped deep into the earth. There were other scents mixed with the freshness, so many it felt like she was being bombarded. Animals were close, the scent of their dander and excrement swirling through the air. Grass and other types of vegetation, an almost medicinal-type scent that reminded her of her medicine pouch tucked into the bottom of her duffel bag. And people, humans with a myriad of emotions that produced its own funnel of aromas. She coughed at the intensity and her feet froze on the last step.

  Her heart was pounding now, fingers going still at her sides. Only the scents continued to move, swirling up through her nostrils and sifting throughout her body, like a foreign body was invading her own. She couldn’t stop it and she couldn’t move to get away. Her eyes watered with the struggle and her cat hissed as the pressure turned into pain and her limbs screamed against the exertion.