Cougar Undercover

by Terry Spear

  What she loved was that she was already making real friends. Cougar friends. And she wanted to help them like they’d helped her. She could see a whole new life for her here. Only if she could resolve this situation. She didn’t want them to have to deal with her issues, worrying that innocents could be caught up in the crossfire. Better that she was gone, dealing with this on her own. Dan had a job here. He was sheriff. They needed him. Even now, she was taking him from his duties. She was certain if she even hinted at leaving the town, he’d be against it. Probably the whole town would be.

  Could she solicit Mrs. Fitz’s help if Addie decided she had no other choice but to leave Yuma Town and learn what was going on with regard to her? She sighed and cuddled with Dan. She hoped he’d understand, though after the last time she’d left him, she’d felt bad the whole six months she was gone. She knew she’d done the right thing by him, keeping him out of her conflict, but she still felt bad that she’d involved him in any of this in the first place.

  Now she didn’t know what she was going to do as far as who she could trust. Her pretend mother had to have tried to protect her by setting her up with a man who could very well be her mate someday. Even if Alicia had never told Addie the truth, which was understandable because if she was living the lie because of her job, telling an eight-year-old the truth would have been way too risky.

  And, even if Addie was wrong, she still felt her direct supervisor was one of the good guys. That made her wonder if Briggs had learned the truth about what had happened to her out in the field that had made her run for her life? Had Alicia learned what had happened to her?

  Her pretend mother had never even called Dan back.

  And what was the deal with Carl, the fake reporter?

  Dan was lying with Addie in his arms, soft, cuddly, perfect for him in every way, yet she wasn’t his. And she might never be his, he thought with regret. Her eyes were closed, she was relaxed, but she wasn’t sleeping, and he knew she was thinking about her situation, mulling over everything that they’d learned, and was trying to sort out who the mole was, who wanted her dead.

  He was thinking about it too, having nightmares about it, trying to sort out what was happening, from what was just a dream and what was real. He was thinking about her too, about the long-term, about being with her for the short-term. About not being apart again.

  He knew, until they resolved the business with the assassin, she could never leave her old life behind, never begin anew.

  He caressed her bare arm, wishing they already knew the truth and they’d put this whole business to rest. And that she’d feel they had enough feelings for each other that she’d make a go of it with him. He didn’t want to be with anyone else.

  She seemed to like the townspeople, everyone she’d met so far. He’d seen the way she smiled at the couples who had found their chosen mates. Yet she was holding back from having her own happiness. He worried it went deeper than the business that people were trying to kill her. That she didn’t know how to have a loving, long-term relationship with a guy because she’d never seen her parents have one.

  They had been like Dan and her—a contractual agreement, except for him, and it seemed for her, that’s where the similarity stopped.

  Knowing she wasn’t sleeping, he leaned over and kissed her forehead. “I want to be mated cougars, to marry you, to make this for real. I understand if you feel you have to wait until you resolve what’s going on with you otherwise, but don’t think for a second that I’m going to let you run off to do this by yourself either.”

  She rubbed her hand lightly over his chest, but didn’t say anything. And then he felt a tear drop on his chest, and then another.

  “Aww, honey.” He wrapped her tightly in his arms and held her tight. “We’ll get through this together. I promise. But together. You’ve been the Lone Ranger long enough. You have me now. And a whole town full of cougars at your beck and call. We’ll have your back, as we know you’ll have ours.”

  Addie burst into tears.

  Aww, hell. What had he said wrong?

  11

  Addie couldn’t believe Dan had made her soar with the eagles when he was making love to her and had declared he wanted her to be his wife, and now she was boohooing all over his bare chest. She couldn’t help but feel so many mixed emotions where he was concerned. She wanted to be with him, loving him as her cougar mate, and to settle down in a place like this, with real friends and family. Was she just using the business of the assassination attempts on her life as a means to push him away? And because she didn’t want to get hurt like her fake mother hurt her and her dad when she left them, even though the woman had never been close to either her or her dad?

  She’d still been her mother for seven years. Maybe Alicia had been afraid to become emotionally attached to her or her father, knowing it was just a job and it would be easier that way when she left.

  Alicia had been the only mother Addie had remembered. And Alicia had done her motherly duties while Addie had been growing up, taking care of her when she was sick, helping her dress, and feeding her when she was little. Even teaching her so many things, taking her places like the zoo and the parks when her father had to be away. Addie loved to read because Alicia had read stories to her all the years she was growing up—until she left. Those were the good times she remembered with her.

  What if, never having had a real, loving mother, Addie wouldn’t know how to be a good mother either? Was that something they were born with, or was it learned behavior? She liked kids, so she supposed she was equipped with mothering genes. She didn’t know for sure.

  Poor Dan was upset because she was crying on his chest, and he didn’t even understand what was upsetting her. She didn’t even know herself. She was just one big jumble of emotions. And she was never like this. She could always shut off her emotions, except whenever she was with him. He turned on her other needs—for companionship, for loving, for pleasure—even in the trivial things: eating, sleeping, and running with him. And the major stuff: fighting the bad guys with him at her side.

  Yeah, she had fallen for the sexy cougar all the way.

  Before she analyzed them any further and changed her mind, she blurted out, “I’ll marry you.”

  He laughed and tightened his hold on her, kissing her forehead in a loving way. “Somehow, I expected a different scenario when I asked you if you’d like to be my mate and you accepted.”

  “If you have to think on it…” She was serious. If he was changing his mind already…

  “Hell, no. You made the oral commitment. I’ve made it, and I sure didn’t know what to expect when you convinced me to be your pretend husband ten and a half years ago, but even then, I wanted something more between us.”

  “Benefits.”

  He laughed and caressed her arm further. “You have to admit the benefits have been damn nice.”

  “Yeah, they have. You might have been thirteen on my list, but you were the magical number. The perfect one for me. I wouldn’t be alive now if you hadn’t risked your neck to rescue me. I really hadn’t expected you to come to my aid like that, or for the whole town to help out.”

  “As soon as you called me and sounded so weak on the phone, I was trying to learn where you were. Then I was on my way. I’m sure everyone wanted to know what I was doing, running off in such a hurry. As much as we were separated, I couldn’t stop thinking of you. Admittedly, I wanted to stop thinking of you, because I didn’t want to be holding onto something that could never be between us—marital bliss, a normal life together—but it wasn’t working. I wanted you. I wanted this. You here. With me. Never leaving for months on end. Unless I was with you. I had to stick it out, come hell or high water. The truth is—I love you, and I could never give you up.”

  She sighed and kissed his chest. “I knew I was in love with you from the moment you said you wanted benefits if you were to be my pretend husband.”

  He chuckled.

  “You don’t think we’re b
eing too rash, do you? Maybe we should wait and see if after living together for a few months, we don’t get tired of each other, or annoyed with one another over bad habits, or something.”

  “No. We’ve had a practice marriage for ten and a half years already.”

  “Ha! And how many times have we seen each other over all that time?”

  “Not enough. Not every day and every night like I wanted. Never enough. Not waking up to you so we can make love. Not making love before we go to sleep. Not having some afternoon delight on an extended lunch break.”

  She smiled. “You sure have a one-track mind. I might not be the perfect mate, doing all the things you might expect of a mate.” She couldn’t help worrying she wouldn’t measure up. That, after a while, she’d turn out to be just like her pretend mother.

  “You’re perfect for me just the way you are. We’ll take it a day at a time. Love each other, help each other, deal with this business until we resolve it. We’ll be together when we do it.”

  “We don’t have to do the wedding stuff. It seems like a waste of money, time, and energy.”

  “We’ll do whatever you want to do. I’m happy to just go before witnesses. Jack and Dottie did that. Then we had a marriage celebration for them here later. I’m happy to do it any way that makes you happy. When can we tell everyone that we’re mated for certain?”

  “Are you eager to claim me as your territory?”

  “Hell, yeah. Stryker’s waiting in the wings if you decide to dump my butt. And you heard Ricky.”

  She laughed. “All right, anytime is fine with me.”

  They slept for a few hours, and when they got up, it was pouring rain outside. Travis and Bridget were talking to Leyton downstairs about a case they had to go on. Addie hated that, because of her, everyone had been putting their own workloads on hold.

  “Yeah, we’ve got to take this guy down. We still have the situation here with Addie,” Leyton said to Travis and Bridget. “Which of you wants to go with me to take this cougar down? Or I can ask Jack if he wants to.”

  “I will,” Travis said.

  “Hey,” Dan said, walking down the stairs with Addie, “if you all need to go, we’ll be fine now. Addie’s feeling much better and we can call on some others to help out if we need them to. I don’t want you to be short of manpower on your mission, putting yourselves at risk.”

  “The job will only take the two of us,” Leyton said. “Before we go, we’ll help you move the bed.”

  Dan smiled at Addie. She felt her face go up in flames.

  The guys went upstairs to move the bed.

  Bridget got Addie a cup of coffee. “Leyton isn’t what you call subtle sometimes.”

  Addie laughed. “Well, we were making rather a racket up there. We’ve agreed to be mated. We’re not sure about the marriage details for now, but we’re committed to each other for real.”

  “Omigod, yes!” Bridget gave her a big hug. “I’m so happy for the two of you.”

  “I worry about this business with me though.”

  “We’re serious about all of us helping you with this. That’s what we do. All for one and one for all. We wouldn’t have it any other way. We’re trained for it, just like you are. The feelings go deeper with us because we’re cougars.”

  The guys all came back downstairs.

  Bridget was smiling. Travis raised a brow.

  “They’re mated. Isn’t that wonderful?”

  Travis and Leyton looked at Dan as if he didn’t know the news, or were surprised he hadn’t already shared it with them yet.

  Dan laughed and wrapped his arm around Addie’s shoulders. “All I can say is it’s about time.”

  Chase called Dan and he put the phone on speaker. “What’s up?”

  “Carl shifted back into his human form and he’s wanting to talk to you, not just us lowly deputies.”

  “I’ll be right over.”

  “I’m going with you.” Addie wasn’t worried about anyone planning a hit anytime soon, not after whoever it was who had planned this had lost four more men. She assumed they’d sit tight for a while to come up with another strategy. She even had the thought that maybe no one believed she was a threat any longer if she wasn’t on the job. On the other hand, she wasn’t on the job and they’d come after her, so that pretty much ruled out that conjecture.

  “Did you want me to go with you too?” Bridget asked.

  “No, you’re fine. Just do whatever you need to do,” Addie quickly said. They couldn’t all be guarding her always. Eventually they’d let down their guard. Sure, everyone would be wary of newcomers to town, and be watching for anyone showing up unexpectedly that they didn’t know, but having a full-fledged guard detail couldn’t go on forever. Not that she felt comfortable running around by herself for now. If Dan had to take care of business without her, she would welcome someone else serving as her backup.

  “Okay, we’re out of here,” Leyton said, and Travis gave Bridget an endearing kiss.

  That’s what Addie had with Dan, the same shared looks, the same compelling need to be with her mate. Her mate. She couldn’t believe she’d agreed to be his partner for always.

  Then Leyton and Travis were out the door.

  “Are you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” Bridget asked. “Now that everyone else is gone, and I don’t have anything else to do, I wouldn’t mind seeing what Carl has to say.”

  Addie smiled. “Yeah, sure. Carl might not talk to us either, but we can visit.”

  “One or two vehicles?” Dan asked.

  “I’ll ride with the two of you unless you want to talk in private about anything,” Bridget said.

  “Come with us. Save some gas.” Addie suspected Bridget would rather be with them to watch their backs and in on the action, than sitting at home waiting to hear from someone. Plus, she was probably just as curious as Addie was to see what happened when they questioned Carl, a newly turned cougar.

  Bridget smiled and grabbed her gun off the dining room table. “Gotcha. I’m always up for carpooling.”

  At the jailhouse, Stryker and Chase were waiting for Dan to arrive. Stryker was leaning his butt against one of the desks, arms folded across his chest. “Hope you get more out of him then we could.”

  “I was all for using torture,” Chase said, knowing Carl could hear everything that was being said, even though the door to the cells was closed. Now that he could hear like a cougar, he would be listening to everything they said.

  Unless, they spoke in hushed voices or went outside to talk.

  “It may come to that,” Dan said. “Come on, Addie.” He suspected Carl knew something about Addie and all this business. He figured she should help to question him, unless Carl refused to speak to her or in front of her.

  Bridget waited in the offices with Chase and Stryker, while Dan opened the door to the jail cells and followed her in and closed the door behind him.

  Carl was sitting on his bed, head in his hands, elbows resting on his legs, looking down at the floor like he didn’t know what kind of a mess he’d gotten himself into. He quickly looked up and narrowed his eyes at them.

  “Still want that call?” Dan asked, escorting Addie to the cell.

  “Hell.”

  “Believe me, I never wanted you to be one of us. I’ll tell you right now, you’ll have a time of it with shifting. And unless you want to be caged, studied, and have tests run on you in some science lab for as long as you live, you can’t tell anyone what happened to you.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?” Carl growled.

  “I’d think so, you’re a clever guy, but sometimes someone who’s newly turned needs to be warned.” Dan shoved his hands in his pockets.

  “When are you going to let me out of here? I assume you don’t really intend to press charges for all that minor stuff.”

  “You’ll be here as long as we feel you need to be.”

  “You can’t—“

  “We can. We run Yuma Town, so we
go by our rules, our way. Which means, bottom line, you cause any more trouble for us, you’re a dead man.”

  Carl snorted, but Dan knew from the expression on the man’s face he knew he was in serious trouble, and Dan wasn’t exaggerating.

  “Rogue cougars are taken down permanently,” Dan clarified. “We can’t risk having anyone learn of what we are. And now you can’t either. Unless, like I said, you want to be someone’s science experiment and find of the millennium.”

  “I got it already. How do I get out of here?”

  “First, we must have a family willing to take you in, teach you the ropes, and monitor you until you get your shifting under control. No one is stepping up to the plate. Face it, Carl. You’re not well-liked at all. I can’t force someone to take you in. I imagine it’s going to take some time to place you.”

  “Like I’m a damn foster pet?”

  Dan smiled. Then he frowned at him again. “A foster pet would be well-loved. If you cause any trouble, the word would be to terminate you. Just remember that. Maybe Roger and Millie Haverton, who run the newspaper in town, could take you in.”

  “Some small-town newspaper?” Carl snorted.

  “The cat lady, the widowed Mrs. Sorenson, is always taking in strays. Maybe she’d think you were a worthwhile cause,” Dan said.

  “I’m allergic to cats.”

  Everyone smiled. “I’m sure whatever allergy you had to them was knocked out when you became one of us. Now to business. Who are you working for?”

  “I’m a news reporter for the Denver Press.”