The Cougar's Wish (Desert Guards) (23 page)

“Until you’re out of heat.”

She shrugged.

“No, no. Don’t be noncommittal. What’s the shrug for?”

“You could certainly leave, but that won’t make you stop being my mate.”

“Say
what
now?”

“You’re my mate.”

“Huh?”

Growling, she pinched the bridge of her nose. “You’re it.”

“The guy of the moment, you mean.”

“No.” She dropped her hand and rounded the doorway into the hallway again. “
It
-it,” she called back. “I guess we Foyes are four for four. Unless you want to get hissed at again, maybe you should stay where you are.”

“Four for four? What does that even mean?”

No response.

He scoffed and, not wanting to risk another hiss from the scary lady, settled back onto the bed and patted his pants in search of his cell phone. He called Hannah’s number and hoped she’d answer the damned thing.

“I was wondering how long it’d take for you to call,” she said.

“Um ... So ...”

“You want me to do some talking?”

“That’d be nice. Give me some info so I know what questions to ask. I’m not sure what’s going on here. I feel like I’m being imprisoned by a barbarian princess.”

“I’m not the best person to explain it because I’m not a born Cougar. Lola could probably do it if you’d like to have a chat with her.”

“That wouldn’t be awkward at all, right? Belle said I was
it
and that the Foyes are four for four with mates. What do you think she was talking about?”

“That you’re her mate?”

“I get that part, but how’s that different from any other guy she’d be seeing for the moment?”

“There’s mate, and then there’s
true
mate.”

“The difference being what?”

“Has to do with offspring and ... stuff.”

“Do what now?”

Hannah groaned. “With the way genes convey, I mean. Cougar heredity is complicated, and it’s not the same for both sexes. With the guys, if they take human mates, they don’t have Cougar kids unless those women are their true mates. With the women, there’s still a chance they could have a Cougar kid, in spite of who knocks them up. It just depends on genetic recombination and yada yada. I’m sure this is boring you, but I’m a nurse and I took two semesters of genetics.”

“I’m not bored, per se, but I’d like to know what any of that has to do with the true mate thing.”

“Oh. Well, a Cougar lady with a true mate for all intents and purposes has a Cougar mate, even if he’s not a Cougar.”

“Huh?” No one had ever accused Steven of being stupid, but he was sure as shit feeling it at the moment.

“In a nutshell,” Hannah said, “her offspring won’t have less power as a result of having a human father. That’s important with her coming from the Foye line. The power tends to taper off in the women over the course of several generations. The Foyes aren’t typical. Most families don’t have an unbroken line going back to the original Cougars. For Belle, having a true mate means her kids get the same power their cousins would have.”

“Cousins?”

“Well, we’d ... get around to making some eventually,” Hannah muttered. “That’s kind of the way relationships work, I hear.”

“You’re making my head hurt, and I wasn’t doing so great as it was.”

“You all right?”

“No. I’m anxious as hell and more skittish than a cat in a rocking chair factory, but don’t change the subject.”

Something beeped in the kitchen—the microwave timer, maybe—and he decided to hurry the conversation along in case the scary hottie came back.

“Just trying to make sure you’re okay,” Hannah said quietly.

“You can do that by telling me what’s happening.”

“Well, to be blunt, I think she wants to keep you.”

“You mean the animal part of her does. For the sperm.”

Hannah made a sound of disgust. “I’m sure other parts of you, too. Maybe. Probably, anyway.”

“I’m not sure if I should be offended.”

“It’s up to you to decide if you are. I’m just giving you some information.”

“I’m sure she would have gotten around to telling me whenever she stopped hissing at me.”

“Where’d she go?”

“She’s in the kitchen getting me breakfast or lunch or whatever.”

“Don’t do anything rash.”

“Like going home? I gotta go. I’m going to lose my damn job if I don’t, and between you and me, I want to get as far away from that portal as I can. I don’t care if they’re closing it. I don’t want to be anywhere near it.”

Hannah sighed. “I understand that. And I don’t want you to think I’m being cruel, but I have to say this. You going home isn’t going to stop you from seeing things. Now you might see even more because your eyes have been opened to it. Wouldn’t you rather be around people who understand what that’s like than around folks like Mom and Dad who’ll mock you for seeming like you’re a little bit off?”

He closed his eyes and leaned against the headboard. “I can’t stay here, Hannah. I’m not ready to ... Do you know what I saw down there? Those things ... They ...” He rubbed the palm of his free hand against his eyes and slouched lower against the headboard.

“What do you think is going to happen?” she asked. “Is there a chance something’s going to go after you? Maybe. But do you think things like that care how far you run?”

“Maybe they don’t, but being farther from it would sure as hell make me feel a hell of a lot better. This shit didn’t happen in North Carolina.”

“Maybe not to you, but it
does
happen. Ask Claude or Gail. They deal with it all the time. I guess they consider it part of their job in the same way you deal with the occasional violent perp at work. You hope everything is going to be calm but are prepared for things not to be.”

“This is too much even for me. The war stuff didn’t bother me, not even with all the gore I was up close and personal with, but I feel like
this
is something beyond my control, and when I don’t have the right tools to deal with things, I—”

“We all do that,” she whispered. “Hesitate. Falter in the thick of things.”

“Bullshit. You walk into fights as if you believe it’s going to be your last one and you want it to be a good one.”

“And I learned to do that from
you
. You only see me when I’m good. Trust me, I fuck up plenty when I’m out doing stuff for the glaring. Sean gets to see it. I nearly got my ass handed to me last week when I went to grab a couple of kids from a Cougar’s ex.”

Steven sat up a little straighter and reflexively reached for the gun that
wasn’t
on the nightstand because he wasn’t in his own room. He didn’t take kindly to folks roughing up his little sister, but it seemed there wasn’t anything he could do about it, anyway. “You didn’t tell me about that.”

“It’s over now. It shook me up for a couple of days, but Sean made me put it all in perspective. I’d do it again if I had to, and I’m sure I
will
have to at some point. Next time, I’ll be better prepared.”

“I’m not sure there’s any way to prepare for ... They were trying to get inside me, Hannah. Like that spirit did to Belle.”

“But wouldn’t you rather find out how to prevent it from happening again? Or learn some strategies of what to do if they ever succeed?”

“Quit it. You’re being a little too rational right now. Who are you, and what did you do with my little sister?”

“Hush. Go eat something. I’ll call you whenever we figure out what we’re doing today.”

“Wait. Is someone going to rescue me from the ginger dementor? She’s got a man-eating glint to her eyes, and I’m not sure I like it.”

“Don’t know what to tell you. She’s a Foye.”

“What am I supposed to do with that information?”

“Nothing. There’s nothing you can really do to subvert a Foye. You might as well just let yourself get pulled into her orbit and hang on for the ride when it gets wild.”

“That’s not the way free will works.”

“You’re one puny human fighting against the whims of the Fates. If they pay special attention to you, kiss your free will buh-bye. And buh-bye to
you
. I need to go help Ellery with something.”

“Wait. You can’t just—”

Hannah disconnected.

Belle stepped into the room carrying a tray loaded down with dishes bearing what seemed to be
actual
food.

“Scoot that stuff off that nightstand, would ya?” She canted her head toward the little table.

He cleared the stack of magazines and various feminine odds and ends from it, and she set the tray atop it.

“Did you read the letter?” she asked and tightened the belt of her robe.

His gaze lingered overlong at the plackets of the thing, his mind a mess of
Does she really need to wear that in here?
clashing with
It’s a good thing she is
. She needed to keep her clothes on as much as possible. He pondered if perhaps he should buy her some more—maybe some bulky sweaters and coveralls so he could see nary a curve.

Jesus Christ.

Steven scoffed.

Apparently, Hannah was right, and Steven was the next lucky duck to get stuck in a Foye’s orbit. Almost every part of him was affected. His brain, for one. Lower things, especially.

“Steven?”

He closed his eyes and let out a breath. “Sorry. Distractible for some damn reason I sure can’t figure out. And, no, I haven’t read it yet. I was on the phone with Hannah.”

“Oh.”

He opened his eyes and watched Belle retreat to the door.

“Left your coffee on the counter,” she said. “I’ll be right back.”

“You don’t have to—”
Screw it.
He pinched his lips on the words. Telling her not to bother was pointless. She was going to do what she wanted to do in spite of any objections from him.

Fixing his gaze on the contents of the tray, he argued with himself for protein over carbs and opted to start with the eggs. A little runny—just the way he liked them.

Belle came back with two cups. She set one on the nightstand atop his tray and climbed onto the bed with the other.

Steven cut her a look as he dipped the corner of his toast into egg yolk.

She scooted closer to him, coffee and tablet in hand, and sipped. Scrolled.

Sipped and scrolled, with her robe sagging open and putting her goodies on display like it was the most natural thing in the world.

Well, you ain’t gotta look.
Scoffing yet again, he pinned his sights on eggs and toast. “So ...”

“If you’re going to complain about me being too close, you’re going to have to just suck it up.” She sipped some more and seemed to be settling in to examine one particular article.

“I don’t know if
complain
was going to be the word I’d use, but I gotta tell you, you’ve got my brain in knots right now.”

“If you weren’t eating, I’d probably be on your lap.”

“Oh yeah?” He forced a swallow down his tight, dry throat.

Maybe he’d like that a little too much. Didn’t even matter which way she faced. He’d find a way to make sure every part of him was comfortable. Even the pokey parts.

She shrugged. “Can’t help it. I mean I
can
fight the impulses, but I’m less cranky if I just give in to them. Fighting them constantly is exhausting. Sometimes I just want to let the cat in me do what she wants.”

“And the impulses will pass soon, huh? When you’re out of heat.”

She sipped some more and swished her fingers over the tablet screen. “They’ll change. For a while, anyway.”

“So ... you’ll just be pinned to me all day. That’ll make your inner cat happy.”

“Not quite. Both halves of me would be most satisfied in knowing that
you’re
content. If you’re not content, I’ll probably get angry.”

“You’re scary. You know that right?”

She shrugged again. “I get it from both sides of my family. It was bound to happen. Sorry you happened to be the sucker who steered his ship too close to a whirlpool.”

“Feeling more like Oedipus on his ship trying to avoid the sirens.” He snorted. “In fact, more often than not in my life, I seem to be steering straight toward them.”

“Siren, huh?” She narrowed her eyes at him and tapped her chin contemplatively. “I guess I’ve been called worse things.”

“And I imagine the dipshits who called you those things probably kept coming back for another round.”

She bobbed her eyebrows and quickly pulled her gaze away.

Nope, that’s not suspicious at all
.

He ground his teeth and damn near bent his fork out of shape. “Anyone I’ve met?”

“Dunno. I can’t possibly know of every person you encountered while you were stalking me.”

“I was
not
stalking you. I was keeping you out of trouble.”

“How’d that work out for you? Looks like you’re in a lot of trouble right now.” She brought the coffee cup to her lips yet again and narrowed her eyes seductively.

He dropped his fork and groaned.

Yeah, he was in trouble. Everyone seemed to know it. And the thing was, he wasn’t so sure he minded so much. Maybe the trauma of the past day was keeping him from thinking clearly—keeping him from quickly determining traps and pitfalls like he might have normally done.

He didn’t see a problem with getting ensnared by Belle. There
had
to be a problem.

Maybe I’m the problem.

She leaned in close and brushed a crumb of toast out of the scruff of his chin. Taking care of him when it should have been the other way around.

“Belle—”

“Eat. Cold eggs are gross. Eat all the fruit, too. You probably need the sugar.”

He ate. Didn’t want to argue with her because she was the one in the room who had her shit together at the moment.

He was definitely the problem.

“I can tell you’re not really reading.” Belle reached across Steven’s body and grabbed the remote control from the nightstand.

He didn’t try to grope or grab onto her as her body brushed against his. He was behaving so well, and that needed to change. She didn’t want to be the one to make the first move. Normally, she might not have cared, but Steven was a special case. He needed acclimatizing, and she was trying desperately to be good. She didn’t know how long she’d be able to keep that up.