The Cougar's Pawn

by Holley Trent

  Idiot.

  Hank extended his claws and ripped Darnell’s jacket off.

  Mason sniffed again. Shifter attacker. He could smell the taint. The otherness. “What were you fighting with? Doesn’t smell local.”

  Darnell brought his oozing forearm up and extended his tongue to lick it, but Mason pushed his arm away.

  “Tell me, so I know if I need to go flush some shifters out of the area.” Again. Third time in a year. The last group of Bears that had rolled through tore up half the damn fair and beyond his brothers and a couple of ranch hands, not one of the Cougars Mason had called for assistance in escorting them out showed up. He hadn’t made a big deal about it at the time, but maybe he should have. His father might have, and the next time he needed help, fucking Cougars would have shown up.

  Alpha up, Mason could hear his mom saying.

  “I don’t know, man. It wasn’t nothing serious. I was drunk and so he was he. Fighting over some chick that probably wasn’t going to put out for either of us, but you know, alcohol doesn’t make for a fountain of logic. He only half shifted and I think I only managed to get one paw out before he swiped me.”

  Ellery walked around the desk and peered at Darnell’s arm. “What’d you put on it?”

  “Hello, pretty stranger lady. Who are you? You smell half like a Foye, but the other half’s open for servicing. I’m guessing it’s just a little contamination by virtue of you sitting in that chair.” He wriggled his eyebrows. “I’ll ignore it.”

  Mason twisted his arm.

  “Ow! That hurt.”

  “Good.” That was exactly the shit he wanted to avoid, but he couldn’t keep her holed up for two weeks unsupervised or toss her into the mate dungeon with Hannah and Miles. He had to get work done and woo her with his freaking effervescence. “Darnell, answer the woman’s question.”

  “Shit, man.” He sniffled. “The usual. Ivory soap and spit.”

  Ellery pushed up an eyebrow. “That usually do the trick for you?”

  Darnell shrugged. “Most of the time.”

  “Did you try shifting?” Hank asked. “You’d heal faster that way.”

  “Up until an hour ago, I had my head over my toilet giving back the tequila I borrowed from the agave gods last night. My cougar doesn’t want shit to do with me right now. Can’t shift, can’t hardly see. Fuck. Can you fix it?”

  Mason dropped Darnell’s arm and raked his fingers through his hair. He could fix it. As Alpha, he could spare a little energy to help Darnell’s healing along, but he kind of wanted the man to suffer. What the fuck had he been thinking getting sloshed on a work night?

  “Hold still, you foolish furball.” Ellery pressed her thumbs on either side of Darnell’s gash.

  “Fuck! Did you just shock me?” He stuck out his bottom lip as if she’d just stolen his favorite toy and broken it. “That’s not nice. Pretty lady like you should be nice.”

  “Just call me ‘Nurse Ratched.’” She clasped her hands behind her back and peered at his forearm again. “I figured that would work in theory. I burned off the infection.”

  “And half my skin! What kinda freak of nature are you?”

  Ellery shoved her hands into her pockets, totally unmoved by Darnell’s whimpering. She must have been hell on wheels in the emergency room. Vicious in her efficiency, probably. Mason’s cock gave an insistent twitch at the imagery. Who would have thought competency could be so arousing?

  “Yes, I burned off your infected skin. It’ll grow back if you take care of it. How about you go wash that with some antibacterial soap and put some ointment and gauze on it?”

  Whimpering, he looked at Mason. A total, “Do I really have to?” expression Mason would have expected from a twelve-year-old and not a man of nearly thirty.

  Mason bobbed his head toward the shop’s bathroom. “You heard the woman. Go.”

  “Shit.” Darnell padded away, holding his bright red arm against his belly. “If you’re going to fuck me up like that, you can at least tell me your name first.”

  “You don’t need to know it,” Mason called back.

  Ellery plopped her hands onto her hips. “What’s the harm in telling him my name?”

  Sean walked over and leaned against the desk, wearing a Foye-sized grin—which meant it wasn’t much of one—that hinted at trouble. “Darnell’s not the sharpest tool in the shed, especially not when he’s nursing a hangover. Eventually, he’ll put two and two together and figure out that you’re not just here to electrocute people.”

  “And?”

  “And there will be a bunch of unmated assholes hanging around the shop knowing that if there’s one of you, there’s probably two more. Most men aren’t brave enough to challenge the alpha, but if they do most of their thinking with their cocks, they may change their mind.”

  “Why does the idea of that seem to excite you?”

  “I love seeing Mason flustered. You can’t buy a ticket to see entertainment of that quality.”

  Mason cracked each of his knuckles in turn. “Go do some work, Sean.”

  Sean straightened up and walked ever so slowly back to the shop. “I will. Not because you told me to, though. ’Cause I was going to anyway.”

  “God almighty, the foolishness in this place … ” Ellery plopped back into the Foye-tainted chair. “It’s a wonder Darwinism hasn’t claimed you as victims yet.”

  Ouch.

  “And, daddy-roe? You need to get Nick a snack. He’s been up a couple of hours and you’ve got to work harder to get food into him.”

  From buddy-roe to daddy-roe. He couldn’t catch a freaking break. It was almost as if his alpha status was no more important to her than him being designated preschool line leader for the day. Was he not scary enough? Or had her life just been so awful as of late that it took a little more than a growly Cougar to flabbergast her? If the latter, he felt sorry for her. It may have meant her life was even shittier than his.

  “Uh, I don’t know if there’s anything here,” he said when she gave him a rousing wave. “There might be something in the shop fridge, but—”

  “I’ll look.”

  She walked past him and Darnell, who was returning from the bathroom, and headed toward the back corner where the kitchenette was installed.

  Darnell gave her an indiscreet sniff as she passed, and he shuddered. “Smells nice.”

  A warning snarl slipped up Mason’s throat and set his teeth to vibrating. He may not have wanted a mate, but he had one, and he was going to guard his investment the best way he knew how. “How’s your arm, Darnell?” He returned to his abandoned project and slipped on his work goggles.

  “Better. Why?”

  “Get your ass to work. Tell no one how you got patched up. If you do tell, and folks come sniffing around, I will personally reintroduce any number of new infections into that arm of yours. I’ll make it so you can’t lift so much as a shot glass for six weeks. Got it?”

  He lifted lumber onto the band saw table and looked over his goggles at Darnell.

  The other man blanched. Nothing got in between Darnell and his tequila. “No talking about the medic, huh?”

  “Right. The medic.”

  “But … what if someone should happen to need the medic?”

  “They’re just going to have to wait until she’s done treating me.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Syphilis,” Sean yelled.

  Darnell hid his injured arm inside his coat and backed through the door. “Have a wonderful day, Alpha.”

  Mason cut a glare to Sean.

  “What, man?”

  Darnell pushed the door open and poked his head back in. “Oh. Thought I should tell you Edgar Sheehan was at the bar buying everyone rounds last night.”

  “So I should blame him for your inebriation?” Mason asked.

  “About half of it. From the way he was carrying on, you’d think he was running for office and trying to win votes.”

  “Because his father’s
last mayoral campaign was so successful, right?” Sean asked.

  “Not those kind of votes. Cougar votes. He was talking a lot of smack, Alpha.”

  “About?”

  “The usual. Mason this. Mason that.”

  Mason rolled his eyes. Typical Sheehan rabblerousing shit. “Thanks for letting me know.”

  Darnell tipped his hat and left.

  Ellery returned with a yogurt cup and plastic spoon. She scooped Nick out of the playpen and looked across the room at Hank. “I worked for my university’s alumni donation harassment hotline for a while in college. If you’ve got some calls for me to make, give me the files. I need something to do. Not like running is going to get me anywhere.”

  Damn right about that.

  Hank didn’t wait for her to change her mind. He hurried over and rooted through the inbox.

  She settled onto the desk chair with Nick on her lap and handed him the spoon.

  Mason fidgeted his marking pencil and watched for a while. She was so gentle with Nick, and no-nonsense with his brothers. She gave what was needed when it was needed.

  No one could say the goddess hadn’t picked well. Ellery was perfectly molded to fit all the gaps in his life. A gift, for sure. A woman with layers, intelligence, intuition. A woman with unique preternatural skills who knew when to take charge—when to make him take charge.

  Agatha was right. Ellery was way too good for him. For Nick’s sake, he hoped he kept up with the Foye trend of previous generations and managed to convince her to stay in spite of his shortcomings. Maybe for his own sake, too.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Ellery didn’t think for one moment that she wasn’t being watched. She’d said she needed some fresh air, which was true. The scent of sawdust may have been quite nice on a man after a day’s work, but inhaling it directly from the source got old fast.

  She’d stepped outside onto the little concrete pad in front of the shop door, taking Nick along with her, and sent out a message on the breeze.

  “You outside, Agatha?”

  Nick, sitting in the valley created by her criss-crossed legs, tipped his face back to look at her.

  “Not talking to you, baby. Looking for my mee-maw.”

  “Maw.”

  “Yep. Exactly.”

  He was so insistent when he talked in that baby way. He scrunched up his face and pointed like a little old man driving some argument home, and it just lit her up on the inside. She was going to miss that little stinker when she fled triumphantly eastward.

  “I happen to be driving home from Fayetteville. I’m parked at a convenience store near one of those foul-smelling meat-packing plants and was about to put up my window.”

  “Why are you driving when you can teleport?”

  “It was a work meeting. I’ve got a couple of account executives with me. They’re in the store. Couldn’t wait until they got home to get their Coke Zeros, I guess.”

  “Human account executives who don’t know what you are, I’m guessing.”

  “Yes.”

  Agatha was an executive at an advertising agency in Wilmington, North Carolina. Quite a few of people reporting to her were weird or related to weird people. Unbeknownst to the HR department, she had a policy of recruiting them. Gail’s sister-in-law, in fact, was one of those employees. Ariel shared an office with a former angel named Mark.

  Angel! Ellery snapped her fingers. “That’s right. Mark counts as one.” They’d just need to come up with two more and they could try to close that hellmouth.

  “Are you well?” Agatha asked.

  Ellery watched Nick bat her wild hair with the wonderment only a young child could muster. She usually kept it gelled and pulled back into a severe bun, but her ponytail holder had popped sometime during her removal from the campsite. Maybe she could find a rubber band or two in the desk drawers … She’d been too busy sweetly haranguing squirrelly accounts payable reps that she didn’t think to look. Busy was good. Busy kept her attention off That Cat who was perfectly built for female gaze.

  “I’m okay, I guess,” she said. “It’s certainly an … interesting place.”

  “So, you’re not miserable.”

  “No, not miserable … yet.”

  She cringed realizing it. Her friends were going to kill her for not feeling otherwise, especially seeing as how they were locked up and she was out and about. Kind of. They were house pets at the moment, and she was like a dog outside on a short leash.

  It was so damned hard to be mad at Mason knowing his choices had been guided by outside forces. She certainly knew what that was like—had endured plenty of aggravation due to the vengeance of petty gods in the past year. She may not have had to hold anyone against their will, but she had hurt a lot of people. Friends she had to give up on because of their ridicule about the choices she made.

  If you didn’t use magic, this wouldn’t have happened. It’s all your fault.

  It wasn’t her fault. It just wasn’t.

  So hard to stay mad. Anger was exhausting. Besides, it’d be hard to be mad at anyone with such a cute stinkin’ baby. She blew a raspberry against Nick’s cheek, and he hugged her neck. “You’re gonna kill me with cuteness. I think I’m gonna steal you, kid. You wanna go to North Carolina?”

  He batted her hair some more.

  That was a yes. That was definitely a yes.

  “Sorry I dipped out for a moment,” Agatha said. “Someone came to the window asking for directions. Listen, Gail did tell your parents that you’re unavailable for the moment.”

  Ellery’s stomach did a nervous flip-flop. “Did she tell them why?”

  Nick reached up and grabbed her cheeks.

  She blew another raspberry, this time on the top of his head and smiled at his thrashing fit of laughter. He was an instant mood enhancer.

  “Yes, she told them.”

  “Do I want to know what they said?” She didn’t care what they said. She didn’t care so much, in fact, that already, her feelings were bruised by their aloofness. They’d been becoming increasingly detached over the past year with Gail marrying Claude and Ellery siding with them. Approving of their union. They saw Claude as a bad influence, and perhaps he was in some ways, though no one could say he didn’t treat Gail like a queen.

  Ellery had made the mistake of saying aloud at the very tense wedding reception that she wanted that, too. Her mother had stormed out of the venue. They hadn’t had a civil conversation ever since. Her mother claimed betrayal, and Ellery couldn’t bring herself to apologize. Why was it so wrong to want a man who understood what it meant to be a little bit supernatural, and to actually embrace it for the gift it was?

  “No, you don’t want to know what they said,” Agatha said finally. “I spoke to your grandfather and let him know how disappointed I was that he’d allow them to treat you and Gail the way they do, but he said it was out of his hands. I’d be angrier if it weren’t for the fact I know he’s probably right. He’s been under your grandmother’s thumb for so long I’m not convinced he’s capable of expressing independent thoughts at this point. I blame myself for not interceding sooner. Before it came to this.”

  Up until a year ago, Agatha had taken a hands-off policy when it came to her descendants. It wasn’t because she was cold to her mortal relatives, but because she’d been forced to by the other gods in her pantheon. She’d had to give up her son and stay away from the family he’d made or else lose the protection of her pantheon. She’d grown tired of familial absence. Gods weren’t the same as people—they didn’t provide the same nourishing company. She’d given up safety in exchange for being able to love unfettered for the first time in millennia.

  “It’s probably too late for him,” Ellery said. Her heart broke again and again over it, but she had to come to terms about it. “But all of them? They just follow Grandma Della’s lead. What she says is law, and now I’m witch without a coven and no place in the world I grew up in to belong.”

  “It’s a good thing you a
nd Gail have friends in other places, then.”

  “Yeah.” Claude’s family had been very welcoming. It just … wasn’t the same as having the acceptance of her own tribe. She wouldn’t go back groveling, though, because she knew she wasn’t wrong.

  “Just a couple of weeks,” Agatha said. “Hang in there.”

  “Yeah. A couple of weeks.” And then she’d go back to her life in North Carolina. Work long shifts at the hospital. Plan another ill-fated camping trip with her friends, because they had no lives otherwise, and … go home every night and sleep in a bed that she only ever shared with her cat.

  Sounded like happily ever after, for sure.

  The door behind her creaked open, and a dirty redhead poked his head out.

  “Hey, Ell. Ready to go? I can break for a few hours.”

  He bent down and plucked up Nick. Tried to, anyway. She may have been clutching him like a teddy bear. When she realized what she was doing, she let go of his little waist, but wanted to demand him back.

  Wasn’t her kid, though.

  “We can eat first. I know of a little diner in town that’s not too busy on weekdays. We can go there first and then pick up groceries and any supplies you might need. I’m sure you need a little more than the clothes you’re wearing.”

  “Yeah, but don’t worry. I’ve got an entire wardrobe back at home I’ll be getting back into soon enough.”

  His cheek twitched as he settled Nick onto his hip. “Let’s go.”

  • • •

  Ellery stared out the window without doing much actual looking during the ride into town. As Mason approached the city limits, she realized the missed opportunity—that she should have been observing and taking mental notes about where she was and how best to escape it. But it didn’t really matter. Running was pointless, and she’d made a deal. Two weeks, or close the hellmouth. If only she wasn’t such an honorable witch.

  At a stoplight, she watched the mail carrier on the street corner stuffing a few more parcels into his tiny truck. He waved at Mason.

  Mason reached across Ellery and waved back, shouting, “Hey, Bill,” through the open window.