Authors: Marisa Chenery
ACougarsDesire (7 page)
Katarina now understood why the police hadn’t been called
in, even though Caleb had tried to kill Jase’s uncle. To the rest of the world,
cougar shifters didn’t exist, and they wanted to keep it that way. Their
numbers were smaller than the werewolf population, and the anonymity they’d
worked so hard to build over time helped to protect them. No, Caleb wouldn’t be
facing human law, but he would cougar shifter law.
She didn’t know what would be done to him once he was
caught, and didn’t really care. He deserved whatever the consequences were.
Katarina liked Jase’s uncle. They’d hit it off right from their first meeting.
She still found it hard to believe it was only recently he’d looked down his
nose at humans. And the way he treated his sons’ mates, especially Harley,
who’d been the one to find out what Caleb had been doing, she swore they were
his daughters by blood.
Katarina heard the sound of heavy footfalls just outside in
the hallway. Thinking it could be Jase coming back, she hurried to open the
door for him. It didn’t turn out to be him, though.
“Caleb,” she said, doing her best to act as if she didn’t
know anything different about him. “You’re back.”
He kept his back to her as he put his key into the lock on
his door. “Did something happen here? There appears to be new wood on the
frame.”
“Yeah. There was an incident. I got it fixed right away,
though.”
Caleb turned to face her without opening his door. “What
kind of incident?”
Before Katarina could answer, Caleb’s eyes narrowed and his
gaze dropped to her chest. Too late, she remembered the cougar head pendant.
Being a cougar shifter, he knew exactly what it meant for her to be wearing it.
He shot across the hallway faster than a human could and had
her by the shoulders before she had a chance to step into her apartment and
slam the door. Caleb sniffed the air around her, and a low cat growl rumbled
out of his chest.
“You stink of Jase, which means that’s his pendant you have
around your neck. Another male in my family group has taken a human for a mate.
How disgusting. Since he isn’t here, I’m going to assume he’ll be back. So
you’re going to stay with me until I get everything I want out of my apartment,
and he won’t be able to stop me from leaving unless he wants something to
happen to you.”
He grabbed a fistful of her hair at the back of her head and
force-walked her across the hall. Caleb opened his apartment door and left it
open as he took her inside. With his free hand, he pulled a plastic bag out of
his pants pocket, then pushed her toward the bathroom.
“Take off the lid of the tank on the toilet,” he said. Once
Katarina did as he ordered, he continued. “Remove the packet in the plastic
zippered bag and put it inside this one.”
She reached inside the tank and took out the item. There was
a thick wad of cash in it. Katarina stifled a cry of pain as Caleb yanked her
out of the room by her hair and tugged her into the bedroom.
She already knew there was another large amount of money
under the mattress, so wasn’t surprised when Caleb asked her to get that one as
well and put it inside the bag he carried. That completed he steered her out to
the living room.
The sound of a loud growl had Caleb painfully pulling
Katarina up short by her hair. Jase stood in the open doorway, his upper lip
snarled as he glared at Caleb.
“Release Katarina,” Jase said, a menacing growl threading
through the words.
Caleb shook his head. “Not unless you allow me to walk out
of here without trying to stop me.”
“You know I won’t do that. You have to stand before our
uncle and answer for what you tried to do to him.”
“That isn’t going to happen.”
Caleb dragged Katarina over to the window. He jerked the curtain
and rod down from in front of it, then roughly slid it open. He pushed the
screen out to land in the alley below. He positioned the both of them in front
of the open space.
“To show I’m not all bad,” Caleb said with a smile that
didn’t reach his eyes, “I’ll let you keep your mate.”
Caleb fell back with her, but gave her a shove toward Jase
at the last minute as he went through the open window. Only he’d waited a
second too long and Katarina found herself on the verge of falling backward
instead of forward.
With a shriek, she made a grab for the window frame. Her
fingers slipped, but a strong hand wrapped around her wrist and hauled her back
into the room. Katarina whimpered as she threw herself into Jase’s arms and
clutched him tightly. He held her firmly to the point she almost had a hard
time taking a deep breath. She didn’t care, and refused to let him go.
Jase kissed the top of her head. “Are you okay? He didn’t
hurt you, did he?”
“No, he didn’t. I’m fine. I think he was more interested in
using me to make sure you didn’t try to stop him from running again. He got me
to get all the money out of the apartment that he had stashed. Sorry.”
“Why are you sorry?” Jase loosened his hold on her and
leaned back so she could look at him. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I heard someone out in the hallway and thought it was you
coming back. When I saw it was Caleb, I thought to start a conversation with
him to keep him here as long as I could in case you were on your way to the
apartment. I completely forgot I was wearing the pendant. Once he saw it, I
knew he’d be able to put two and two together and figure out it had been
yours.”
Jase kissed her. “If I’d figured he’d come here when I
couldn’t find him at the location where he’d last used his cell phone, I never
would have left you alone. I really thought he wouldn’t return so soon.”
“He’s gone, isn’t he?”
“Long gone.”
“Sorry. If it wasn’t for me you could have chased after him
and maybe caught up to him.”
“Stop apologizing. We’ll catch him. It won’t be today, but
we will. Grady has already decided he’ll take over the hunt. Now that I’m
mated, I’m not willing to put you in jeopardy.”
Katarina stroked Jase’s cheek. “You know I love you, right?”
Jase smiled. “Yeah. And I love you just as much.” He put his
arm around her shoulders and walked her out of Caleb’s apartment. “Let’s go
home. That’s enough packing for today. Plus, I need to let Grady know what
happened here so he can cross this off the list of possible places Caleb will
show up.”
Katarina allowed her mate to walk her into what was soon to
be her former residence. Who would have known what she thought was someone
trying to break into her apartment would turn out to be the best thing that
ever happened to her. She’d found the love of her life and had the commitment
she’d always wanted from a man. She now had years to look forward to spending
with her cougar mate. There was nothing better than that.
The End
Marisa Chenery was always a lover of books, but after
reading her first historical romance novel she found herself hooked. Having
inherited a love for the written word, she soon started writing her own novels.
After trying her hand at writing historicals, she now writes
paranormals.
Marisa lives in Ontario, Canada, with her husband and four
children. She would love to hear from you, so drop her an email.
Marisa welcomes comments from readers. You can find her
website and email addresses on her
author
bio page
at
www.ellorascave.com
.
Tell Us What You Think
We appreciate hearing reader opinions about our books. You
can email
the
author
directly or you can email us at
[email protected]
(when
contacting Customer Service, be sure to state the book title and author).
Marisa
Chenery
Big
City Pack 1: The Canuck Werewolf
Big City Pack 2:
A Werewolf at the Falls
Big
City Pack 3: Werewolf’s Treasure
Big
City Pack 4: Werewolf Claimed
Big
City Pack 5: Loved by a Werewolf
Cougar
Surrender 1: Cougar Heat
Cougar
Surrender 2: To Love a Cougar
Goddess
Revealed 1: Bast’s Perfume
Goddess
Revealed 2: Love’s Fiery Arrow
Goddess
Revealed 3: The Goddess’ Girdle
Goddess
Revealed 4: His Sea Goddess
Ra’s
Chosen 3: Longed-For Hunger
Ra’s
Chosen 4: Embrace the Hunger
Ra’s
Chosen 5: Reincarnated Hunger
Warrior Hunger 1:
Embraced by a Warrior
Warrior
Hunger 2: Her Eternal Warrior
Warrior
Hunger 3: Warrior’s Surrender
Warrior
Hunger 4: A Warrior to Love
Werewolf
Sentinels 1: Awakened from Ice
Werewolf
Sentinels 2: Ice Hunter’s Mate
Werewolf
Sentinels 3: Love Bound in Ice
Werewolf
Sentinels 4: Ice Age Lover
Werewolf
Sentinels 5: Ice Claimed
Werewolf
Sentinels 6: Burning Ice
Werewolf
Sentinels 7: Love on the Ice
Werewolf
Sentinels 8: Ice Surrender
Ellora’s Cave Publishing
A Cougar’s Desire
ISBN 97814199484.35
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
A Cougar’s Desire Copyright © 2013 Marisa Chenery
Edited by Grace Bradley
Cover design by Dar Albert
Cover photography by Olga Naidenova, murphy81, olly/fotolia.com
Electronic book publication October 2013
The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s
Cave Publishing.
With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not
be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written
permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home
Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.
Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this
copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or
distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without
the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including
infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is
punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
(http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print
editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of
copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.
This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons,
living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The
characters are productions of the author’s imagination and used fictitiously.
The publisher and author(s) acknowledge the trademark status and
trademark ownership of all trademarks, service marks and word marks mentioned
in this book.
The publisher does not have any control over, and does not assume
any responsibility for, author or third-party Web sites or their content.
Discover for yourself why readers can’t get enough of the
multiple award-winning publisher Ellora’s Cave. Be sure to visit EC on the web
at www.ellorascave.com to find erotic reading experiences that will leave you
breathless. You can also find our books at all the major e-tailers (Barnes
& Noble, Amazon Kindle, Sony, Kobo, Google, Apple iBookstore, All Romance
eBooks, and others).
