The Cougar's Wish (Desert Guards) (21 page)

He looked.

She pushed him.

He fell over the side, limbs flailing and a scream ululating from his throat. He’d eventually climb out of that thing once he figured out a form to do it in, so she wasn’t going to count him out.

She wanted to get Steven through that mouth before it could come back and even the odds, though.

He was holding his own pretty well with just the knife, but he simply didn’t have a shapeshifter’s advantages. No teeth, no claws, no tail.

“Duck,” she shouted at Steven, and she trusted he’d do it because she didn’t have time to wait and see if he would. She finished shifting back to her cougar’s shape midleap and sailed over his crouched body, landing on the guy with the sneer.

She slashed at his face as he laughed, dug gouges in his chest when he stopped. Bit him hard when he tried to squirm away.

She’d been told before her bite wasn’t very nice.

Maybe it was true.

He wrenched away, leaving her a parting gift of a mouthful of his sickening flesh, and he ran.

He called over his shoulder, “You tell your fuckin’ brother it’s not done. We get what we want. You just wait.”

Being a cat at the moment, rolling her eyes didn’t have the satisfying payoff it normally would have. She promised herself a nice long eye roll once she was back on the surface.

She shifted back—exhausted from the constant change in forms—dry-heaved at the vile taste in her mouth, and scooped up her clothes.

Steven didn’t say anything. He just set his jaw and ran, and she followed, breathing a sigh of relief when they saw Ellery crouched near the exit with her fist around her dagger’s hilt.

As soon as Belle passed through the opening, Ellery yanked the knife and ran clear of the portal.

With the magical doorstop out of the way, it went back to its usual blue-green filminess, shimmering and beautiful, a gateway to awful things.

Belle plopped her ass onto the ground several meters away to catch her breath. “Damn.”

Everything on her body hurt. She felt like even her hair had nerves and that her scalp was on fire. She’d never had to push her body so much before—shifting so many times in such a short period of time. Apparently, there was a reason shifters didn’t do that as a matter of course.

She rubbed her eyes and then opened them to find that the gazes of the weirdos gathered close scanned around from Steven, to Belle, to the angel.

No one needs to worry about me.
She wished they’d remember that for once.

“I’m okay,” she said. “I’m me. No hitchhikers residing in my brain or body. I’m just tired. Can we debrief later, though? I need to get some sleep. I hurt.”

Hannah pushed up an eyebrow and rubbed Steven’s back.

He stood wide-eyed and very still, his baseball cap a bit crooked and skin that was usually a bit sun-burnished looking extraordinarily pale.

Need to get him home.

Cats had ways of dealing with their own when they were in shock. Someone else could deal with that shivering angel.

As if he’d heard her thought, Claude said, “I suppose we could wake a couple of people now that all is said and done.”

“Wake Mason in the morning,” Ellery said, cleaning her dagger’s blade on the hem of her shirt.

And that reminded Belle of the other blade. She struggled to her feet, moved to Steven, and gently loosened his grip on Gail’s athame. “Let’s give that back to its owner,” she whispered. “Those witches are possessive about their daggers.”

She handed Gail her knife and dressed as quickly as she could, groaning at each large pull to her spent muscles.

Sean sidled over and put his back to the group who were congregating around the angel—all except Steven—and whispered, “What happened? Something Hannah and I need to worry about?”

Belle ground her teeth and tamped down the compulsion to lash out and defy him just for him being male and her brother. He wasn’t there to boss her around at the moment, and she knew that. He was just trying to get information. Information helped the glaring run smoothly and efficiently, and they’d gone far too long with there being poor communication all the way around. She had to try harder to be tolerant around her brothers. They were wired to be bossy assholes, and she was wired not to take it. That didn’t mean they couldn’t cooperate.

“Yes,” Belle said, cutting her gaze to Steven, who stared at the mute feathered lady.

“Do we need to worry about it right now, or can we let Mason sleep through the night?”

“I ... don’t know. I mean, I don’t think anything’s going to happen, but he’ll probably want to know. Those things are down there.
Los Impostores
.”

“You saw them?”

She nodded and tied her shoes. “One was picking on the angel, and there were a couple more who tried to overtake Steven and me on the way out. One of them had a warning that they weren’t done with us yet.”

“Meaning the Cougars?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Sean rubbed the day-old scruff on his chin and worked his jaw side to side.

She wasn’t reading anything substantial off his energy. His inner cat was calm and his stress was low, and that probably helped keep Belle from being too agitated. She wasn’t reading him as aggressive.

Thank the gods.

“Go on home,” he said. “Whatever happens, Hannah and I will get between you and Mason.”

“Really?”

Sean shrugged. “He’ll be okay once he realizes we did him a favor. We’re looking to have a busy day ahead, and at least he would have had some rest.”

“Thank you.”

“Yeah.” He gave her a little nudge toward Steven. “Get him out of here, and take Lily home.”

Belle liked the sound of that plan a lot. The only problem was Lily had a sobbing angel clinging to her as if Lily were both her sword and shield, and all the other weirdos in the collection could do was look on lamely.

Lily shifted her gaze to Belle. “I’m awake, right?”

“I bet you’re wishing you’d stayed at home playing video games with the deputy.”

“I’m sure this is a lot more exciting. Just tell me.” She managed to lift one arm enough to point at the haggard lady. “This is ...”

“Yep.”

Lily nodded. “Just checking. So ...” She gave the angel’s busted wing a little pat, and when she cried out, Lily winced. “Oops. Sorry.”

“She should be able to put those away,” Claude said. “As far as I know, most can disguise them. Even the fallen ones still have them. They hide them using a kind of magic. Glamour.”

“She might be too injured,” Steven said in a croak. It was the first time he’d said anything since they exited that hole.

Belle looped her arm around Steven’s and gave it a squeeze.
At least he’s paying attention. That’s a good sign.

Ellery nodded. “Makes sense to me. I can examine her in the morning once she’s a little calmer, assuming she lets me. But what are we going to do with her tonight?”

The lady with the wings clung to Lily and damn near hid behind her, which would have worked better if Lily weren’t so slight in comparison.

Belle got Steven moving toward the car. The weirdo collective could do whatever they wanted with the angel. For all Belle cared at the moment, they could camp out in front of the portal and roast marshmallows on the charred remains of anything stupid enough to come out of it.

Steven’s steps were automatic, but plodding.

As long as Belle kept pulling, he kept moving. Occasionally, he looked back at the congregation by the hellmouth, but mostly, he stared down at his feet or at the desert floor.

She bumped him with her hip. “Aren’t ya glad I came?”

He didn’t respond, beyond furrowing his forehead and fixing his sights on the punch buggy.

“Are you even glad
you
came?”

If her sense of hearing hadn’t been supernatural, she might not have heard the dry, quiet scoff.

“I guess that’s what being an adult is, huh?” she asked. “Sometimes, you’ve got to do shit you don’t want to do for the greater good. The sooner you do it, the less angst it’ll cause you down the line.”

“Unless you’re already so messed up that the thing being over makes everything worse.”

“I—”

He took her by the shoulders, stopping her near the front passenger seat of her car. “Let me have the keys. I need to drive.”

She patted her pockets and worried for a moment she’d lost the damned things halfway to hell, but finally found the ring in the back pocket of her jeans. She dropped them into his shaking palm and snatched them back before he could close his fingers around them.

“Belle—”

She wrapped her fingers around his and dug her thumb into his palm.

Soothing people wasn’t one of her favorite pastimes, especially male people. Getting close enough to touch meant they’d disrupt her energy and agitate her inner cat, but Belle figured in for a penny, in for a pound. Steven had been agitating her since he’d first shown up at the ranch, and the cat part of her had already decided she’d keep him.

What’s a little more frustration?

The darkness that unsettled him settled in deep and wound through his body. It’d taken root and had become a part of him—like some cancer he couldn’t excise.

Fixing people like Jill—at least temporarily—was easy. The thing that was wrong with their energy was always near the surface of them. Belle always imagined connecting with them was a fleeting act, so short that it was like plucking a featherweight ball off the surface of still water.

Steven wasn’t easy. He wasn’t
exaggerating
—logic was no balm for him.

She couldn’t help him yet—wasn’t sure how to, and she had a sneaking suspicion that with the way things went in Foyeland, maybe he’d even get worse before he got better.

Still, she held his hand, and he let her.

At least until a gust of wind blew a feather between them and the residual scent of brimstone prickled her nose.

Lily approached with Hannah on her heels and the angel clinging to Lily’s side.

“I think she’s reading Lily as safe because she’s not weird,” Hannah said.

Lily sighed.

“I take it she’s going home with us, then,” Belle said.

“It’d probably be better for her to be there instead of here, anyway,” Hannah said. “When everyone wakes up and they start working out all the details of what happened, they’re going to crowd and question her. Let’s put a little distance between her and the fray for as long as we can. The angel bunch is probably going to sense she’s around, anyway.”

The lady made another of those startled yips and shuddered her wings as if she were going to take flight, but Hannah put her hands to her shoulders and murmured, “
Easy
. We’re not going to let anything happen to you.”

“They’re going to send me back,” she said in a frantic whisper. “They’re going to be mad. I didn’t complete my mission. It was my last chance, and I failed again.”

The pitch of her voice was high for an adult. Sweet. She sounded like Belle would have imagined a fairy to sound like. It hadn’t been aural interference as Claude had suggested. The angel
did
sound like a child.

“Hannah’s right,” Belle said. “We’re not going to let anything happen to you. I have to ask, though. Why me? Why were you calling my name?”

“She told me to,” the angel whispered.

“Who?”

“My charge. My—” She closed her eyes tight and shook her head. “Your ghost. I was once her guardian until they transferred me. She found me someone who could hear me.”

“You mean the spirit who’s been possessing me?”

“It was the only way she could make you move.”

“Maybe you should have a little chat with her the next time you see her. I think she had a little fun at my expense while she was at it.”

The angel slumped. “I’m sorry. She was always fond of tricks, even when she was alive. I’m sure she didn’t mean any harm. Really. Please don’t be upset with her.”

“It’s all right. No need to apologize.” Belle wasn’t angry. Anger wasn’t worth her energy when she had so many other things to fret about. Steven, for instance.

“Wild guess,” Hannah said. “You’re probably not like the angels we know.”

“There are many kinds. Some have always been angels. Some were made into angels to do some job in this realm.”

“And you’re the latter.”

She nodded.

“Well, what’s your name?” Hannah asked. “You don’t need to tell us anything else tonight, but we should know what to call you. If you don’t give us a name, the guys around here will probably make one up for you and it might not be flattering.” She cut a glare to Steven who barely even shrugged at the insult.

He was
really
off. Normally he would have had a retort for sure.

Belle stuffed a hand into his back pocket and gave his ass a squeeze.
Wake up, Mr. Sass.

No reaction.

Not good.

“The name I go by now is Dawn,” the angel said. “I suppose it’s less of a mouthful than my last one, so I don’t push back too much.”

“Dawn, it is,” Hannah said. “I don’t know if angels need sleep, but go home with these ladies and try to get some rest. We’ll check in later to see if you’re up for answering some questions.”

Steven held out his hand to Belle again.

She gave him the keys without comment and pulled her other hand from his pocket. “Not sure how you’re going to fit with those wings, Dawn. You want to try front seat or back?”

Picking at her cuticles, Dawn looked first at the bucket seat in the front and then the bench in the back. “I’ve never been in one of these. When I was changed, horses were still the favored mode of transport.”

“How long ago was
that
?” Lily muttered low.

She should have known that everyone around—save Steven—would have had decent enough hearing to pick up her voice.

Dawn turned to her, shedding a few feathers in the process. “1906.”

Lily nodded and whispered, “Of course. 1906.”

“I bet
now
you wish you’d stayed home, huh?” Belle asked Lily as Dawn studied the seating configuration of the vehicle more closely.

“Only because I think this ordeal is going to break my brain.”