The Cougar's Wish (Desert Guards) (28 page)

Agatha cleared the air, so to speak, in a very wind-goddess sort of way by sending a cooling gust across the kitchen that made them all pull in a deep breath.

“Okay,” she said with a sigh. “What’s done is done. The question now is how does that change our plans for the evening?”

Mason fixed his gaze on Belle again and set his chair down on four legs. “Well, since Messy McReckless has appointed herself Guardian of the Hole, let’s see what her plan is.”

“Screw you, Mason. It was a reasonable decision, and I didn’t exactly throw my hand up to be the first volunteer. Believe it or not, I came to the conclusion after giving it some thought. I’m moving back here. I’m not going to let you assholes run me off the ranch.”

“Nobody tried to.”

“Have you tried living with you?”

Mason rolled his eyes.

Ellery snorted, totally unaffected by the “traitor” glare he fixed on her.

Belle swirled the ice cubes around in her tea glass and watched them circle. “If I’m going to be here, living and working, it makes good sense that I coordinate any future engagement with the portal.”

“I thought we were going to close it,” Hank said, understandably confused.

“Close it, not destroy it,” Claude said. “We’re going to stitch up the wound, in a matter of speaking, so the portal functions the way it was intended to—so that nothing goes in or out without the person trying to pass through having the right magical credentials. So, in theory, only certain people would be able to utilize it.” He crooked his thumb in the general direction of the fallen angels who were in the living room, or out on the porch, or someplace else.

Lola had suggested they take a walk, but they didn’t go far. Belle could tell. Their proximity made her spine tingle.

“You want to be able to go in there to play fetch,” Mason said.

“For the time being,” Claude said. “Obviously, the goal would be to eventually destroy it when we as a group have decided we’ve done all we could to help the captives in that particular avenue to hell, but we can’t know when that’ll be without some research. We don’t know how many people are down there who shouldn’t be or how hard it’ll be to get them out.”

“And we can’t just leave them,” Belle said.

Mason pinched the bridge of his nose. “And you’re telling me we’ve had people trespassing on this property messing around with the thing when we had our backs turned.”

“We’ve been pretty busy,” Ellery said. “They were probably doing it in broad daylight when we weren’t watching it as closely because most of the demons came out at night when the veil between the realms was thinner.”

Steven passed a hand over his forehead, and Belle watched his Adam’s apple bob with his hard swallow. He was uncomfortable and agitated. He didn’t like what he was hearing, and there wasn’t anything Belle could do about that. She couldn’t hide him from it. In fact, she couldn’t do her job without him. Not only did he have the brain of a well-trained soldier, but he was uniquely qualified to travel through the hellish realm because unlike Belle, he couldn’t be possessed. She’d go back through that portal again and again if she had to, but she needed him at her back.

Steven knew what the job was that Lola was urging him to take and just didn’t want it.

And didn’t want
her
as a consequence of that. She didn’t know what to do about that. He was going to run. She knew with every fiber of her being that he was going to run, and she would have to let him.

She’d give chase, of course.

It was going to happen. It was just a matter of when and how long it took her to guide him back.

The beings in the hellmouth needing rescue would just have to wait until their hero got his shit together.

“So, we’re doing this tonight? We’re going to mend the portal?” Mason asked.

“Yes,” Claude said. “We can push everything else to another meeting. As long as there is access, we can retrieve people or search for
Los Impostores
later. Once people go in, they don’t move around much. They could go in deeper, but if they do, they become trapped in their own personal hells. It’s in their minds. You may not be able to see it, but they can and it’s real enough for them. There’s no rescue for those people. Their minds would be too broken, and the best you can do is put them out of their misery if they’re not meant to be there. Give them their chance to be judged and sent where they belong.”

Mason let out a breath and looked to Belle again. “And you have an angel in your house.”

“Leave her alone.
Please
. She’s scared and doesn’t want to confront those guys yet. She’s not like them. If you need information from her, I can have Lily ask.”

“All right. Fine. I’m not going to think about this anymore after tonight.” He dragged Ellery’s chair closer—lest she try to flee, apparently—and wrapped a possessive arm around her.

She tittered nervously.

“Seal the thing so I can worry about escaped
Impostores
and figure out what to do about the folks the Sheehans had working against me.”

Ellery gave his forearm draped over her shoulder a little pat. “Uh. You know I need to help with sealing that, right?”

“Shh.” He shook his head and picked up his beer. “Don’t tell me about that. You just go do it. I’m not gonna watch. I’m gonna go give my kid a bath and pay some bills. Maybe I’ll eat half a pie or something. See, this is me delegating. You come and let me know when you’re done. And if you don’t—” His fangs dropped and pupils narrowed to slits.

Ellery sighed.

“I will tear apart hell with my bare hands looking for you. Get me?”

“I wouldn’t expect less from you, babe.”

Belle rinsed her tea glass and set it inside the dishwasher. Looking toward Claude, she asked, “Who do you need?”

“Just those angels and the witches. If anything tries to come out while we’re closing the portal, we’ll be able to banish it on our own. You don’t need to be on standby.”

“
But
,” Ellery said, “if you hear any loud noises or if the earth shakes, feel free to come out and see if anyone needs to be revived.”

At the low growl that started in Mason’s chest, Ellery patted the top of his head. “It’ll be okay, snarly. You just go give Nick a bath, and let us worry about everything else.”

“You’re going to give me an ulcer.”

Ellery shrugged. “I could think of worse things to give you.”

Chair legs scraped against the floor and plates clattered on the table, and people stood and joined whichever groups they needed to be aligned with for the night.

Keeping her gaze locked on Steven, who followed Hannah into the living room, Belle sidled up next to her mother at the counter.

“I’ve got a problem,” Belle said quietly.

“If you didn’t always have a problem to nurse, you wouldn’t be a Foye.”

Mom started washing dishes, probably a little louder than usual, but Belle knew the trick. Mom did that sometimes to make conversations in the kitchen harder to overhear by people in nearby rooms who had Cougar hearing.

“Can I borrow your credit card?” Belle asked. “I’ll pay you back after I transfer funds from savings.”

“Yes, but what do you need it for?”

“I need to follow a guy.”

“Where’s the guy going?”

“North Carolina, if I had to guess.”

“Does he know you’re following him?”

Belle shrugged. “He should know I’m deranged enough to think it’s a good idea.”

Mom turned off the water and dried her hands on her jeans. “I assume you know what you’re doing.”

“As much as any Cougar can. Unlike my brothers, I don’t try to squelch my instincts. I have them for a reason, and I’m going to listen to them.”

“He needs time,” Mom whispered.

Belle nodded. “I’ve got plenty of that.”

“How’s your inner cougar?”

“Peaceful, for the moment. I think both halves of me have reconciled that he’s it, but he’s not going to be easy. I think the animal part is cutting the lady part of me some slack. Some things you just can’t force.”

Mom grabbed her wallet from the top of the bread box and pulled a card from it. “You do realize that for any normal family, this would be strange, yes? I wouldn’t condone my daughter chasing a man across the country.”

“When have we ever been anything but strange?”

“Yet you want to drag Lily into this.”

“Lily’s dragging
herself
into it. She feels left out. If you want to be the doting aunt and try to keep her off the ranch, I won’t talk you out of it, but I think she has her mind set.”

“I’m not opposed to the idea. I just think her father is going to be a bear about it, and to be perfectly honest, my nerves are shot.”

Belle snickered. Her mother didn’t have to be explicit to get her point across. Belle got the gist—
you children shot my nerves
, and probably their father had helped to wear them out a little bit, too, before he’d died.

Belle reached past her mother and grabbed the last of the apple turnovers from the counter. “He’s your brother. I’m sure you can keep him in check.”

“Because you’ve had such excellent luck doing the same with yours, right?”

“Low blow, Mom,” Belle said through a mouth full of pastry as she headed out the back door and toward the stables.

As long as she was chewing and moving, she didn’t have to think. Logic rarely dissuaded a cat from doing want she needed to do, anyway.

Belle wasn’t afraid of the same sorts of things Steven was. She wasn’t programmed to, maybe, but she did have fears. She didn’t want to be stifled or held back from reaching her potential—whatever that was. More than anything, she was afraid she’d disappoint people or that she wouldn’t be what they needed when they needed it.

Everyone around her had a clear role, not just in the glaring, but in the family. As the youngest Foye, she’d always been on the fringes of the action, but she had to do her part now. She knew what her job was, she thought, but like Sean, she couldn’t do hers without her mate.

“I see what you did there, Lola,” Belle muttered as she launched herself onto Roast.

Or maybe it was all of them. She couldn’t think of a single Cougar with a true mate who would have contributed as much to the glaring and to the community if he or she didn’t have that special someone to offset the worst of his or her traits or to amplify the underdeveloped ones.

Lola materialized beside the horse as Belle guided it onto the trail.

Belle sighed. “Are you in my head, old lady?”

“I try hard not to be, but if you’re thinking of me, there’s a pull I can’t ignore.”

“Tell me I’m doing this right.”

Lola half walked, half glided beside Belle, not even breaking a sweat at the horse’s aerobic pace. “I think you’re doing the best you can.”

“I feel like you’d have more to say if he were a Cougar.”

“I would.”

“So, I’m on my own, basically.”

Lola turned her hands over in concession. “I have my will, and the Fates have theirs. I don’t generally compel female Cougars to take mates outside of the race, if I have an opinion about whom they should be with at all. I don’t generally. Not every Cougar merits my interference, but the Fates will sometimes intercede where I won’t. They’ll spark the kismet.”

“But you try to make matches where you can.”

“I think I have the best vantage point to do so.”

“Why him? Not that I’m complaining.”

Lola laughed. “I figured you wouldn’t.”

At the sound of a loud boom that shook the earth, Belle gripped the reins tightly and clucked her tongue reassuringly at Roast. “’S’ all right, boy.”

Lola peered back toward the ranch. “I believe they were successful mending the portal. I should go and see if aid is required.”

“I’ll turn back, too. If Ell—”

“
No
. She’s linked to your brother, so I know with certainty that she’s fine. Maybe a little bruised. I’m more worried about Agatha and those angels. Finish your ride. Clear your head before you start your mission. I feel like it’ll exert you in ways you haven’t experienced before.”

“But am I going to be successful? Is he coming back with me?”

“I’m not that kind of psychic, child. I wish I were.”

Lola vanished, and Roast let out a startled snort.

Belle leaned forward and patted his head. “Get used to it.”

Steven slammed the door of his truck, locked the vehicle, and shifted his holster’s straps from where it dug into his shoulders.

He still had a job.

Whoopie-damn-doo.

He’d spent most of the morning getting lectured by this asshole and then another asshole for taking leave, and then his own father—who didn’t even work in his unit—had followed Steven down to his cubicle and talked at him some more.

The man wanted answers, not just about Steven, but Hannah, too, and Steven wouldn’t give him any.

Steven had blocked him out and stared meditatively at his computer screen as the machine booted up and didn’t move again until the man walked away. Then, Steven had spent the rest of the day sorting e-mails, deleting useless voice mails, and basically staring at the fabric of his cubicle wall. And then he’d gone straight home.

No errands. No Starbucks. He couldn’t even remember stopping for any red lights, but he must have.

He trudged to his mailbox, found it empty, and remembered his mail was being held.

Sighing, he trudged back down the walkway.

Punching in the entry code for the garage door, a chill raced down his spine.

He dragged his tongue across his dry lips and inched his hand toward his holster as he turned, ready to draw.

“
Steven
.”

The rushed, breathy whisper gave him pause.

The familiarity settled into his brain and made his hand fall to his side.

“You can’t sense your own mate?” she asked.

He let out the breath he was holding and turned slowly toward Belle.

She was the same Belle from a few days prior—he’d left without seeing her on Friday right after the hellmouth was sealed. He’d found a hotel and turned off his phone. It was Monday, and he still hadn’t turned it back on.