Cooper (11 page)

Cooper's dreams, when he finally got to sleep, were the most erotic he'd ever experienced.

He was running across the paddock at the back of his parent's homestead. Poo, his pet kangaroo was hoping along beside him. He felt happy and alive, just as he'd been back when he was a kid. The sun on his back, his too-long hair ruffled by the wind.
Happy
.

Then he'd seen her standing under a lone gum tree where sheep usually stood. Her copper coloured hair was blowing about her in the dry wind and she wore a flowing, white dress that was so transparent he could see every soft curve of her long, lean body. His cock came instantly to life as he ran towards her.

When she noticed him, her face lit up with joy. Holding out her arms to him, she beckoned him on. Finally, he reached her and kissed and hugged her until they were both breathless. Everything about her felt real. More than real. Her skin was warm and soft and tinged pink by the burning sun overhead. She smelled of roses and what made her uniquely Amy. He could hear her panting breaths and fast-beating heart as her excitement mounted. Her dress was soft lawn and clung to her naked body.

Somewhere on that run he'd turned from boy to man. But unlike the real man, he was standing tall and strong, like any other Son.

It was she who drew him down onto the ground, even though it should have been too dry, rough and covered with burs to be comfortable. Oddly, the patch of soft green grass they reclined on was the colour of her eyes.

"Cooper," she moaned his name, her eyes turning metallic cat as her arousal rose. He couldn't hold back. Having her was more necessary than his next breath. While her gaze drove him on, he positioned himself above her welcoming body and then drove into her slick, hot sheath. The incredible delight that one powerful thrust gave him was too hard to control. His body began to surge in and out of that welcoming channel, and Amy writhed beneath him, more glorious than he'd ever seen her before.

When she cried out, he felt her inner muscles clamp around his full-to-overflowing cock, and he let himself go, riding the release in all its exquisite pleasure to the very end.

That was when he awoke to find his still-hard erection coated in seed, the sheets a damp, smelly mess around it.

Good God, he'd had a wet dream
! He'd actually ejaculated while he made love to his dream Amy. That was both shocking and wonderful at the same time.

For a long time, he just lay there panting as his body calmed and his cum turned cold and sticky.
No nerve damage then
, was his only coherent thought. If his lack of erections had been the fault of nerve damage then what had happened shouldn't have.

Or he was healing. But how was
that
possible?

When the loud rap came at his door, he jumped and tried to rise, just as he had in the dream. Reality hit like a sledgehammer. How could he jump out of bed when he couldn’t even stand?

Instead he was forced to lift himself up into a seated position, pull the sheets around his naked genitals and call for whoever was knocking to come in.

The smell of his cum was musty ammonia in the air, and Chase sniffed subtly and looked a question at him. For some crazy reason Coop was embarrassed. What had happened to him was the most natural thing in the world, he knew from his medical training, but it had always been beyond him. Now it wasn't. Yet he still felt like he'd been caught by his father jerking off to girlie magazines.

"Wet dream. My first. The cat seems to be working all kinds of miracles on me," he said, by way of explanation.

"Or Amy is. I imagine she was the focus of that dream?"

Coop jerked a nod and couldn't meet Chase's all-too-knowing gaze.

"Good. I can't say I'm happy at your blatant disregard of an order, but I understand it. I imagine Colt and Connor would have done the same thing, placed in that situation. Our cats seem far wiser about certain matters than we are. But I'm still not totally convinced she's loyal to us. Yes, she's been abused by her family, but they're still her family. Siding with us means turning against them. Even though he's no blood relation, Maxwell Hays is still the only father Amy has ever known."

"One thing I've already discovered about Amy is her kindness. She won't turn us in. Her kindness wouldn't let her."

"But couldn't that same kindness make her unwilling to hurt her parents, if and when we move on them? She might try to save Hays, and in doing so, put us all at risk."

Coop huffed out a sigh and slid his legs to the side of the bed. He felt vulnerable lying in bed with Chase standing over him. He needed to be in his chair, which was lined up at the side of the bed.

"Look," he said patiently, "I believe in Amy. Some deep, instinctual knowing tells me she is with us, with me, even after only one day. Scratch that, after less than one day. Be cautious if you must, watch her if you must, but try to make her feel that
this
is her side; that
this
is the place she's always belonged. Then any residual loyalty she might hold towards the Hayses will be wiped out."

Chased made the same huffing sound that Coop made when he was uncertain. It was nuts the way they all had similar gestures, expressions and noises they made. Those were all built into their DNA, it would seem. Coop had to wonder what else was.

"How did you feel towards her last night? Any sense of connection or overwhelming need to claim her?"

Coop asked out of medical curiosity, because they were still trying to find out how the mates actually worked. But his cat didn't want to know. He'd decided Amy was his, and that was the end of it.

"No more than with the other mates. They are all incredibly attractive to me. But the attraction isn't as extreme as it is for you, Colt and Connor."

"But if we're basically animals. Pack animals from our human side, amped up by the panther's instinctual drives, then surely the Alpha should get the mate. It's what happens in the wild."

"I neither need nor want a mate, Coop. I have too much on my plate already. What on earth would I do with one? I work every waking hour. A mate would always come second, so it's better that I don't find mine. Neglect is a terrible thing. I saw my mother turn to alcohol and prescription pills to get her through the loneliness." Chase paused and became lost in thought for a few, long moments.

"Once, when I was about fifteen, I found her drunk on the sofa staring at wedding photos. I sat down next to her, hoping to distract her from her drinking and pain for a while. She…She told me how much in love she and dad had been when they got married. How much she hated the Résistance for taking him away from her. How she knew I'd be taken away from her too, when I was old enough. She died of an 'accidental' overdose when I was seventeen."

Coop's heart went out to his leader. He'd known Chase's mother wasn't in the picture, but he'd assumed she'd left and moved overseas. No one ever spoke of her. Chase never spoke of personal matters, so this was a great honour he’d bestowed on Coop, no matter how uncomfortable it made Cooper feel.

"Maybe if she'd been involved more with the cause she would have felt less abandoned. I think Colt and Connor's bonds are so strong because the girls play an integral part in it. If Amy joins us, I'll find her worthwhile work to do, something we can share. So that even if there isn't much personal time, we'll still be together, you know? Maybe if your mum had had something like that…"

Chase turned on his heels and headed for the door again, rage palpable in the room. His own cat reacted, rising in readiness to defend him.

"The past is gone. You don't get a do-over. My dad couldn't give mom what she needed and it killed her. End of story. And I'm too much like him for my story to have any other ending, either."

"Chase, we all share your father's DNA. Scanlan is as close to a biological father as any of us gets, given his core DNA was what the rest was genetically engineered onto. So if
any
of us can make partnerships work,
all
of us can. If we want to. If it's important enough to us to make the effort." He didn't know why he was labouring the point. It wasn't his business, and it was academic anyway, as no mate had appeared for Chase.

Yet.

Who said it would stay that way? Things were changing fast. After twenty-five years without a sign of them, suddenly three mates had appeared in less than three months, as if by chance. Coop didn't believe in that sort of chance.

"Get up, get cleaned up and get to work. Mooning over your beautiful new mate doesn't save the world," Chase choked out as he slammed out of the room, leaving his furious scent, like a corrosive toxin, lingering in the air behind him.

Shit, that went well.

However, he did as Chase ordered, all the while keeping his phone close at hand, just in case Amy should call.

Had she managed to escape detection last night or was she lying injured somewhere, her body broken as badly as her spirit? He should never have let her go back. It was insane to risk it, now that her cat was activated. The Sons had never been this close to discovery before, and all because of Amy.

When the long-silent phone finally buzzed mid-afternoon it was so unexpected that he jumped and nearly dropped the petri-dish he was carrying. Hastily, he put the dish down and grabbed up the mobile.

"Amy, are you okay?" he demanded urgently, the sweat breaking out in cold, damp patches across his forehead and down his spine.

"What? Oh yes, of course. I'm fine. Were you worried that I didn't get in okay last night? Sorry, I should have called earlier, but everything is happening all at once. I found Maria, Coop. I found the nurse who raised me. She's Résistance. I can hardly believe it. And they've been here with me all along, protecting me from Hays' worst excesses. Do you know how that makes me feel?" He heard her chocking up on the other end of the line.

"Have you got all the answers you need? Are you leaving that house now for good?" he demanded urgently.

The silence went on too long and he felt his heart contract. God, she'd decided he wasn't good enough for her. She didn't want to leave her luxurious home where the Résistance looked after her, to come and live in one room in a basement with a bunch of blokes.

"I need to talk to Chase. What I discovered requires his input. If I get Miguel to drive me to Mountain View, would you come get me from there?" She sounded flustered and guilty.

What the hell had Chase to do with this? Had she decided she was more interested in the Alpha than the pathetic, crippled runt of the litter? His cat raged so hard to escape that he had to wheel himself into an empty lab nearby in case someone saw his transformation.

"Cooper, are you there? Is it too inconvenient?"

"No," he croaked out. "Get your driver to take you to the Mountain View Macca's and I'll come get you now."

"Okay, thanks. Will you make sure Chase has time in his day to see me? It's important. I wouldn't suggest it if it wasn't."

"Yeah, sure. Whatever." He ended the call before he could say something he couldn't take back.

He didn't like this new him. Jealousy had always seemed an unsavoury emotion that mature, confident people should never succumb to. If someone didn't want to be with you, then that was their prerogative. If you truly cared about that person, you wanted them to be happy.

Huh! How naïve could you get. He had no more control over the jealousy raging inside him than he did over his cat. His uneventful, balanced and easy-going life suddenly seemed like a fond memory. Why had he always envied the other blokes their cats? The beast, as Colt often called his, was more trouble than it was worth.

When he picked up Amy at McDonalds, she was very quiet, glancing at him as if she expected him to lash out at her. That infuriated him further. Didn't she get that he would never hurt her? He
couldn't
hurt her. It seemed to be programmed into his DNA to protect her, even from himself.

When he pulled in to the basement car park again, they sat quietly for several long minutes, neither willing to break the angry, pregnant silence that had fallen between them.

Finally, unable to stand it any longer, he reached for the button to activate the lift. Amy's thin hand came out to stop him.

"I'm sorry you were worried. I won't do it again. I just had so much on my mind. I didn't think," she whispered.

"I'm not mad about that. God, it's stupid. I'm being stupid. We've known each other less than twenty-four hours and I have this crazy proprietorial thing going on. If you prefer Chase, be my guest. I won't stand in your way. Fuck, jealousy is just shit!"

"Chase?" she whimpered in confusion. "What's Chase got to do with anything?"

He turned to look at her properly for the first time. She wore a lovely emerald green double breasted coat and had her hair covered with a white fur hat. Knowing Amy, he guessed it was fake fur, not real. The heat in the van had flushed her pale cheeks, making the freckles on them and her nose stand out cutely. Her big green eyes looked even greener against the colour of her coat. Red, glossy lips beckoned him like a red cloak to a bull. All he wanted to do was pull her to him and kiss those delectable lips until they both turned cat. If he'd been any other brother, he would then have pulled her onto the back seat and taken her, with no thought to who might enter the basement garage at any moment.