Cougar''s Mate

  Then Shannon suddenly said, “What can I bring to the Thanksgiving dinner?”

  With losing three days at the clinic, he hadn’t realized Thanksgiving was tomorrow already.

  “Chocolate cake,” both Dan and Chase said.

  Hal and Stryker smiled. “We heard you baked a mean chocolate cake for Rick and Yvonne’s dinner,” Stryker said.

  “I’m ready for it,” Hal said.

  “If she starts baking it here, we won’t want her to take it over there,” Chase said, smiling.

  They finally got into the action of the rest of the movie and finished off the pizzas. When the movie ended, Chase wasn’t sure what to say. He knew the guys would want to discuss Hennessey further, but were reluctant to in front of Shannon. She kissed Chase’s cheek, then stretched like a sexy she-cat, and got off the couch.

  Chase joined her.

  “I’m going to take a shower before you all use up the hot water,” she said.

  They all smiled at her.

  Chase walked her back to the bedroom and kissed her. “I’ll come to bed in a little while.”

  “Sure. Just don’t stay up too late.”

  “No. I’ll be in bed with you before you know it,” he promised, wanting to join her before she fell asleep. He released her. She headed into the bedroom to get her things, and then he rejoined the men in the living room, waiting for Shannon to go to the bathroom before they began to talk.

  ***

  When Shannon walked inside the bedroom, she was rewarded with the fragrance of roses and other sweet flowers that people had so graciously sent her, and she began reading the cards. Despite the fact that Chase had been injured so badly that he had been hospitalized along with her, he had ordered three dozen red roses for her. She vowed the first chance she got, she’d make him a special chocolate cake just for him. She saw a couple of bags and inside were several days’ worth of clothing. Everyone had thought of everything for them.

  Shannon knew he and the other guys intended to talk about Hennessey and what they were going to do about him. She didn’t know why they didn’t want to discuss the situation in front of her, maybe because she was a civilian, but she didn’t care. She just hoped their plan was a good one because she didn’t have a clue as to what she would do if she had to face Hennessey down alone.

  She’d attempt to kill him, of course, with teeth and claws, or if she could get hold of a gun, she’d use that on him, but she really was hoping it wouldn’t come to that because if she thought Roger was hard to fight—and she would never have lasted fighting him if she hadn’t made an escape—Hennessey was bigger, stronger, and lots more scary.

  She peeked out the curtains to see the fresh fallen snow again. They’d get it in the Texas Panhandle, but she loved to see it here and everything looked so crisp and clean and… Christmassy. And when she thought of that, she realized she and Chase would be spending their first Christmas together.

  If she wasn’t still so worried about Hennessey, she would have been cheered by the notion. No sense in worrying about what she could do nothing about, she told herself, and headed for the bathroom.

  Everyone talked about the weather and what they were doing for Christmas while Shannon took her shower. Chase hadn’t even discussed Christmas with her. Or what they would do. For the first time in years, he wanted a Christmas tree, lights, decorations, and wassail cooking on the stove, pies, and a turkey.

  All the guys were looking at him while he was lost in a Christmas wonderland and he lost the smile. “What?”

  Hal grinned and shook his head. “I would love to know what you were thinking about.”

  Dan and Stryker were smiling just as broadly. Getting in some hot loving with the she-cat, he figured they were thinking.

  “Christmas with Shannon,” Chase said, and everyone quickly sobered. Chase had avoided Christmas celebrations for the four years he’d lived there. The same as far as Thanksgiving went. They knew how hard it had been for him to lose his wife and child and how Christmas had never seemed the same after that. “I hadn’t even thought about it until she brought up Thanksgiving dinner.” He suddenly felt uncomfortable with the silence.

  Dan nodded. “She’s good for you, Chase. I’m so glad for the two of you.”

  Hal snorted. “It could have been me.”

  “Hell,” Stryker said to Dan, “the one time you forced me to take a vacation and I missed everything—the excitement, the glory, but most of all, the hot she-cat.”

  Hearing them, Shannon walked out of the bathroom, smiling at them, her wet hair in a towel, while she wore a fresh pair of sweats---only these were turquoise and he was glad he’d gotten them for her as much as she loved them. “Night, guys.”

  “Join you in bed soon,” Chase said.

  Her cheeks colored, she nodded, and the guys all said good night. She slipped into the room down the hall, situated between the one Hal was staying in and Dan’s. Stryker planned to sleep on the couch tonight.

  Chase took in a deep breath and then let it out. “Okay, we need to decide how we’re going to do this.”

  “Track him down?” Dan asked.

  Hal took another swig of beer. “Or lay in wait?”

  “If Shannon’s right, I’d have to agree he’ll have the resources to bide his time. On the other hand, when he came after her initially, he had tracked her to my place, but he didn’t realize just how dedicated our people are in protecting our own. He didn’t count on there being so many of us and that at a moment’s notice, we would band together. If we go after him, I’m sure he’ll lead us on a merry chase. But I suspect that he doesn’t want to hang around here forever, risking that some of us will spot him or his uncle. He has to know we expect him to return out of vengeance, for no other reason, and we’ll be waiting for him,” Chase said.

  “So we lay in wait,” Dan said. “Or maybe you think he’s not going to come.”

  “He wants the money that Ted absconded with and if it’s sizeable enough, that’ll keep him coming after her if nothing else. He might leave the area for a while and return when we least expect it,” Chase said.

  Dan frowned. “Christmas Day. He might decide to attack the two of you when you are up at your cabin for the holidays. Everyone else would be busy with their own Christmas Day activities. That would be far enough in the future that we might figure he’s given up on Shannon.”

  “What if he sends someone else to do his dirty work?” Stryker asked.

  “That’s always a possibility. But if he wants the money, I doubt he’ll want anyone else to know about it. What I don’t understand is how come Roger, his triplet brother, seemed eager to kill her,” Chase said.

  Dan cleared his throat. “She was injured. What if they wanted to injure her badly enough that she couldn’t run? Then they would have forced her to tell them where the money was and after that killed her.”

  Hating the scenario, Chase nodded. “What are we going to do in the meantime? We can’t spend a month here camped out at your place.”

  “Sure you can,” Dan said.

  Hal said, “I’m good for it.”

  Stryker said, “I’ll be headed to my place after tonight. But you know I’m only a call away.”

  “Okay, then we’ll plan for some kind of an ambush for Christmas,” Dan said. “And we’ll keep watching for any signs of them in the meantime. If they come back, we’ll be on it.”

  Chase bid everyone good night, though everyone else remained in the living room while Hal put on another movie, and turned it up nice and loud.

  Chase smiled. They had his back. At least so he could have some quality time with Shannon in relative privacy.

  Chase closed the door to the bedroom and noticed the damp towel hanging over a chair back and her turquoise sweats spread out on the seat of the chair.

  Her shoulders were bare and her eyes were watching him in the semi-dark, a greenish gold glow to them. Cat’s eyes. He began stripping out of his clothes. Not saying a word. He could have lost her t
his last time and as long as she was feeling up to it, he wanted to make love to her, to share the connection he’d felt ever since he’d tackled her as a cat near the river and then again when he’d pinned her to the kitchen floor at Hal’s place.

  As soon as he was stark naked and seeing the way she was watching him with a speculative gleam in her eye, his dick stood at attention. Which made her smile.

  But then she frowned a little as he pulled the covers aside and climbed into bed with her. “We’re not going to make love, are we? Just cuddle?” she asked.

  She reached over and ran the palm of her hand over his nipple and the warm, soft sensation against his sensitive nipple made it harden in appreciation. She licked the hollow of his neck, her dark hair tickling his chest.

  “They turned up the TV so that we could be as noisy as we want,” Chase said, lifting her face so he could kiss her mouth.

  “They’ll hear anyway.”

  “If you want, I’ll ask them to go outside and make snow angels or a snowman until we’re done, but I’m making love to you, no matter what. Unless you don’t want me to.”

  Shannon shared the most wickedly devilish expression with him. “Would you? Make them go outside? Would they do it?”

  He chuckled and kissed her instead, ignoring the shouts and battle cries going on between armored men and the blue-painted Picts in the movie on TV—instead, concentrating on Shannon, every soft curve, her dark hair, her sweet and already musky scent, the sound of her heart ratcheting up a few notches.

  He still hadn’t gotten over the fear of having nearly lost her. Even though it had been three days ago, he’d been out of it for most of that time. So it seemed to him like it had only been yesterday.

  He kissed her mouth again, cupping a breast as her hands held onto his shoulders, and she kissed him back. With Shannon, starting slow didn’t seem to work as he planned.

  Whether it was because she was afraid the movie would grow quiet and the men would hear them or some other reason, Shannon’s sweet kisses turned passionate in a heartbeat and before he knew what to expect, she climbed onto his lap, facing him, spreading herself to him.

  Once again, she was showing that side of her that was so wildly unpredictable, and he loved her for it.

  His back was pressed against the soft padded headboard, her legs bent at the knees and spread outward, her dark curly short hairs already wet for him.

  He took handfuls of her silky long hair and luxuriated in the feel of it as he breathed in her scent, tasted the spices on her tongue, heard the rapid beat of her heart—felt her alive and wanting and real. She was like a dream that he had captured from the moment he’d shot her with the tranquilizer dart and taken her in. As much as she had meant to run away, he had held her heart hostage, whether she was ready to freely admit it or not, just as much as she had held his hostage.

  Even now, he remembered the way he’d been shivering in the cold, naked, his head pounding from the slight concussion she’d given him, but instead of running off and abandoning him to his fate, she’d stayed with him, protecting him like she’d protected the boy, no matter what the risk had been to her own safety.

  He kissed her hard on the mouth with the kind of passion that said he had claimed her body and soul, before he began to stroke her into climax.

  She reached between them and began to stroke his cock and that had him groaning against her mouth as she stopped only long enough to run her thumb over the head with an erotic sweep. Then he continued the assault on her senses—inserting two fingers into her tight sheath, running his thumb over her swollen nub.

  She stopped stroking him and arched backward, her hands planted on the bed, a sheen of light perspiration on her silky skin, her breathing ragged. He continued to stroke her, his free hand sliding down her calf, watching her lose herself in the way he was bringing her pleasure. He felt the tension, saw the way her body responded, smelled the excitement, both his own and hers. And smiled as she cried out. He would have covered her mouth with his and muffled her cry of pleasure, but he wasn’t able to the way she had been leaning away from him, caught up in the moment.

  He leaned her back then, moving his legs out from under her, until her head was to the foot of the bed. He pushed into her, driving his cock between her folds slowly at first, placing kisses on her breasts, licking her nipples, nibbling her earlobe with his teeth and connecting with her in the most intimate way.

  Her knees were bent on either side of him as he drove into her, wanting her to be his forever. He licked her nipple and sucked, then pumped hard into her, hot and eager. Her hands slid down his skin, her touch making his blood sizzle. She was exquisite, his, just as much as he was hers and he loved making love to her.

  When she’d told him she loved him over the phone, her parting words spoken when she thought she was going to die at Hennessey’s hands, or teeth, Chase hadn’t had the chance to tell her how much he loved her in return. It had nearly killed him to think he might lose her and he had never even had the opportunity to tell her that he loved her. He vowed to do so every day of their lives with a word or action to let her know just how precious she was to him.

  Her eyes were half-lidded, her fingers sweeping over his buttocks, her sweet body pushing against his.

  He felt the end coming and claimed her mouth, thrusting his tongue between her lips, and spilled his seed deep inside her.

  “Shannon,” he managed to get out as he sank down on top of her. “I can never lose you.” The fear was still there that Hennessey would come for her.

  She wrapped her arms around Chase’s body, her legs around his hips as if to say she was claiming him for her own.

  “I was so scared…,” he said, never having admitted such a thing to anyone.

  “I was, too. But I knew you were coming for me. I was just afraid…”

  “You called out in a cougar’s way, offering yourself as bait. Why?” He kissed her cheek and combed his fingers through her hair.

  “I realized once you fought one of them, the others would go to his aid. You couldn’t fight all three at once. Then they’d come after me. I had to taunt one of them to come after me. Had you been fighting Hennessey? What happened?” She slid her hands down his sides, her touch warm and soft.

  “I assumed he was the uncle with a few gray hairs. Hunters shot at us. At me. He ran off.”

  “So Roger came after me and you were fighting their uncle. Where was Hennessey all that time?”

  “Maybe backtracking to move the vehicle and pick the others up, along with you, at a different location. I was so injured, I wasn’t thinking much about anything else when I returned to the cabin after being shot, but to protect myself and get help. I vaguely remembered noticing only my vehicle was there and the Humvee was gone.”

  “He probably figured they were soon going to be outnumbered and outmaneuvered. Then when their uncle took off, he probably headed back with Hennessey. I wonder if they knew Roger was dead.”

  “Probably assumed it because of the hunters and the shifters who were coming to your rescue. They might have had a rendezvous point and if he didn’t meet them by a specified time, they would assume the worst,” Chase said.

  “They were wearing hunter’s spray,” she said.

  “Which was to be expected. They didn’t want you to smell them prematurely.”

  She took a deep breath and exhaled it. “We’re upside down on the bed.”

  He smiled at her and kissed her cheek, then he moved off her so they could climb under the covers with their heads on the pillows again. Or at least his was. She snuggled up against him, her cheek resting against his chest, her warm breath fanning his skin. “They won’t wait for Christmas, will they?”

  “If there’s a lot of money involved, they believe you know where it is, they’re afraid someone else might get hold of it, and they are worried they’re going to get caught, no.”

  Which was why he feared Hennessey would come after Shannon again—and soon.

  Ch
apter 15

  Early the next morning, Stryker had left to oversee a three-car pileup because of the snow and icy conditions on the road. Dan was at the hospital interrogating a case of a kid breaking another kid’s nose. Hal was still sacked out, but he was there to watch Shannon and Chase’s backs if they needed him to.

  “I haven’t shared Thanksgiving in a while with anybody,” Shannon said to Chase as she baked the chocolate cake while he was making up a bowl of fruit salad. “My twin brother got into trouble a lot. He was… he was in jail at Thanksgiving, and then he was murdered before he made it to Christmas.”

  Chase stopped what he was doing and crossed the floor to take her in his arms. Once they had learned who she was, Dan had discovered everything about her, including all about her brother and the two guys she’d dated before she got involved with the cop, who had also died. But he’d learned that she had never had as much as a traffic violation. And changing boyfriends, from those who broke the law, to one who was supposed to uphold the law, hadn’t made any difference.

  Someday, Chase figured she’d talk to him about it, but none of that mattered. He’d also been thinking a lot about that birth control implant she was wearing and how much he’d love to see her carrying their children and how much he’d love to adore them as much as he adored her.

  “When did you want to get married?” he asked, kissing her forehead, holding her tight, his hand stroking down her back. She was wearing that hot pink sweater again, and he was glad she loved it so much because he sure did.

  “Shouldn’t we wait a respectable period, like a year?”

  “Hell, no.”

  She chuckled.

  “We’ve known each other long enough. And if you didn’t know, I hadn’t ever planned to let you go.”

  She looked up at him and smiled. “You said I could leave anytime I wanted.”

  “I lied.”

  She laughed. “I was planning to, you know. I kept telling myself I’d wait just a couple of more days and then I needed to leave before Hennessey caught up to me.”