The Cougar's Bargain (30 page)

Sean scratched his chin, considering it. “Maybe they can't. With Cougars and Coyotes, at the very least, we can't have shifter kids unless we're with our mates, and sometimes not even then if the relationship is interspecies. Mating is a … spiritual connection.” Sean kept his gaze pointedly forward. He didn't want to see Hannah's expression or the potential revulsion there. “You
choose
to braid yourself into that other person, and more often than not, it's easier with someone who's like you.”

“Shifter to shifter, you mean.”

Sean grunted. “If these guys can't find appropriate mates, they might be dying out. Desperate people do dangerous things.”

“Which serves my plan just fine.” Hannah leaned between the seats. “I don't think
Los Impostores
are going to keep taking this wait-and-see approach. We don't know if the Coyotes contracted them or if the Coyotes were simply their next target, but were definitely on their radar just like the Cougars were. If they think our group is in turmoil, they're going to get more aggressive. Most outside groups assume that
La Bella Dama
is distant and isn't closely watching what happens to her Cougars. We don't need to give these guys any money to get them snooping around, because they're already doing it. They're gonna start making plans to head up that way themselves so they can start some static between the two groups. They don't have any allegiances to anyone except to themselves, and it'll serve them well to make a big mess in New Mexico.”

“Why?” Steven asked.

“War spoils,” Sean said. “There aren't enough of them to fight a group like ours in a fair fight, so they pit us against other groups and when the fighting's all done, they walk in and pick up the plunder—and possibly try to get some mates out of the deal. History has repeatedly shown that one way aggressors try to eradicate enemy groups is to take their women and children. They can't take our women as mates, but they could make the children sympathetic to them in time and possibly turn then when they're old enough.”

“You really think Hannah tipping them off like this would prompt them to be so opportunistic?”

“Oh, yeah. These guys are gonna be motivated, and they're going in unaware that Lola's gonna snuff them out in a blink. Once they step into her territory—her home—”

“Then she's not the one picking the fight!” Steven turned to Hannah. “You scheming cat. You're even more diabolical than me.”

She wriggled her eyebrows and twirled the end of her braid. “I can't take all the credit. I learned that trick from a Cougar I know. You've gotta tell some secrets sometimes to get people to play into your plan.”

Sean tried to tamp down the surge of pride expanding in his chest. If he got too proud, he'd get too attached, and he wouldn't be able to make a good decision when it came to her.

He'd follow her to the ends of Earth watching her back from a distance, if he had to, but he was under no illusions that he was necessary—even if he did inspire her good ideas on rare occasions.

Hannah kept waiting for the Cougar goddess to say something—to yell at her for not knowing her place and for potentially leading trouble to them.

But Lola sat quietly in Glenda's gazebo with her fingers twined atop her lap, her ankles crossed primly, and eyes closed.

Hannah didn't know if she was trying to control her temper or if she was working some sort of magic, but the idea of either scared her.

“Lola, I—”

Lola opened her eyes. “Where is your mate?”

“What?”

“Where is he?”

Hannah canted her head and narrowed her eyes. “You mean the mate I bargained to get rid of? Is that the one you mean?”

“Are you accusing me of something, Avenger?”

“Mm-hmm. No disrespect intended, but yeah. You pulled a fast one on me.”

“The bargain stands unless you wish for me to amend it.”

“I want to amend it.”

“What are your terms?”

“The original ones. I accept him, and he gets to keep his human skin. You knew what was gonna happen when you stuck him to me like that, and making me think I had a choice made me open up faster than I might have.”

“Funny how that works.” Lola crossed her arms over her chest and muttered something in her native tongue. Hannah couldn't tell if it was a curse or an oath, but she wanted nothing left vague. She wasn't going to have the goddess trick her again.

“So, are we clear? I keep him, and that's that?”

“Does he want to be kept?”

“Well—” Hannah shut her mouth on the words, because she didn't really know.
Does he?

She thought he did, but he'd been so distant in the past couple of days, and she could admit she was having a hard time making sense of him. She needed help for that, and she'd started counting on
him
to help her make sense of feelings.

“I thought he did.” Hannah sighed. “I don't know.”

“You let him leave your side. You shouldn't let him leave your side. Did you not read the book?”

“What book?”

The goddess blew out a ragged breath, closed her eyes, and shook her head. “My legend book.” She muttered again in that tongue that was nothing like anything Hannah had ever heard. “The avenger never works alone.”

“I did read it. And I'm
not
alone. Besides, Sean's a grown man. I think he has that restless beast inside him more or less suppressed. Cats need freedom.”

“And some have been given too much. There is a reason some cats aren't allowed out of their houses. If you let some step onto your porch just once, they'll think it means you don't want them inside anymore.”

“That's ridiculous. I think even the most proud cat would come back when he realizes home is a lot more comfortable than outside.” Not that Hannah
had
a home, per se. She'd been sofa surfing for the past few weeks before the trip, and didn't see that changing in the near future. She wasn't sure yet if she wanted to try to stay on the ranch in the neglected staff housing or find someplace in town.

“We're talking about Sean Foye. I put you together, in part, because you both fell through the cracks, though in different ways.”

“Speaking of that, that was a dirty trick—you being my therapist all that time and being privy to my most embarrassing secrets.”

“Have I told them to anyone?”

“No.” Hannah hated to admit it. She wanted to be indignant about it.

“And I never will. Although I did, and
do
solicit certain types of clients, I wasn't fishing for potential mates for my Cougars. It was a job just like many others I've had in the past, and one I still do when I'm not here.”

“I didn't know that.”

“A goddess has to keep herself busy.”

“Right. Like Agatha.”

“Ah.
Yes.”

Ellery's great-great-great-whatever Agatha, a wind goddess, worked in advertising. Her professional background—or at least, the extremely abridged version of it—was in art. She'd certainly been around long enough to see her fair share of it.

That made Hannah wonder what other immortals did to pass the time. Tito drove trucks. Ellery's in-laws engaged in a variety of hustles ranging from construction to magic services. The formerly comatose fallen angel Gulielmus seeded a number of ventures, including a beer company.

“What do you mean by ‘certain types of clients'?”

Lola twined her fingers. “Clients who tend to have nightmares like yours tend to have … other underlying concerns.”

“Stop being coy.”

“I'm not.” Lola shrugged. “They tend to be more attuned to paranormal activity. Not being able to understand the weird things no one else notices is what creates so much of the anxiety.”

Hannah pondered that.

“Find your mate,” Lola said. “Stay with him and fix the mess you made. When I say that The avenger doesn't work alone, I mean there is a specific role her mate plays.”

“Which is …”

“Where is he?” Lola snapped.

Hannah flinched. “Uh … I think he said something about taking Steven to turn in his rental car.”

“I can't blame you. You're not a born Cougar. I blame him.”

“For what?”

“For not making you understand the cat inside is almost always right. That cat told you to embrace him, didn't it?”

“Yes.”

“And what did you do?”

“I … tamped down the feeling because I didn't understand it.”

“You understand it now?”

“Yes.”

“No take-backs? No new bargains?”

“No.” Hannah slumped and groaned. “I … I
want
him. Dang it.”

Lola sighed. “So, how are you going to fix it?”

Ellery always had a knack for showing up at the exact right times, and that moment was no different. She stepped into the gazebo with Agatha, plopped onto the bench next to Hannah, and gave her friend's shoulders a squeeze.

It was almost too much for Hannah to bear. It was just a squeeze—an affectionate little hello—but things had been so tense for so many weeks, and Hannah had worried she'd lose her friends over it. She shouldn't have worried, but feelings weren't always rational.

Hannah's eyes burned and sinuses throbbed from the tears she held back. Ellery had been so tolerant of her and her fickle moods for so long.

“Hey, girlie. How are you enjoying your membership in the fated mate sisterhood?”

“Hey, yourself.” Hannah cleared her throat. Her voice had sounded choked, but reasonably comprehensible. “I don't know if
enjoying
is the word I'd use, but … it's not so bad?”

Hannah didn't know how to talk about it, and she hoped Ellery didn't make her. Ellery usually knew when to back off, and she wasn't the kind of woman who'd say, “I told you so.”

Ellery gave her another squeeze. “I'm glad you helped Sean, but I'm even gladder you're sticking around. I know you felt like you didn't have a choice, but I'd miss you terribly if you left.”

“As if I'd leave the only friends I have.”

“Quit it.”

“Fine.” Hannah sighed and averted her gaze from Lola's critical stare. She didn't need a translator to make sense of it. Her expression said exactly what Ellery had said aloud:
quit it.

Hannah could make friends in the glaring.
Wanted
to. She'd be uncomfortable, but she didn't have to do it alone. Ellery and Miles would help, and she was pretty sure if she asked, Sean would, too. People liked him, and now she understood why.

“So, no more going back and forth to wake the angel, huh?” Hannah asked.

Ellery nodded and dropped her hands to her lap. “At least, not for that. I think we could all use a vacation when things settle down here.”

“What's the deal with Gulielmus? He really doesn't remember anything?”

Agatha grunted and threw her head back. “Ugh,
Bill
. He drove me insane at the best of times, but an entity that old is only as good as his experiences. We have no way of knowing how powerful he still is until he figures that out for himself, and at the moment, he has no self-awareness of what he is … or
was
. Hell, those of us who knew him well still aren't quite sure what he is besides fallen.”

“But his friends think they could still put him in place to seal off the hellmouth, right?”

“Uh, that would be a strong
maybe
,” Ellery said. “They don't want him to see too much too soon, because with the power they need to put out to completely seal that portal, there's gonna be some trauma all the way around. For us, it'd be of the black-and-blue variety, but for them …”

“They'll be out for days,” Agatha provided. “The last thing Bill needs right now is another coma, especially with the hard time he had coming out of the last one.”

“Well.” Lola stood and brushed the dust off her bright, colorful skirt. She was in her
Lady
body at the moment—her true form, and not the hunched-over
abuela
—and Hannah could see just how ancient the woman was in her features. She looked like the people carved on temple walls and in the isolated tribes of the jungles. She'd been around far longer than the countries in Central America had their names. “If they go down, we'll take care of them like we do everything else, won't we, Agatha?”

“Or at least try to. What do I have to lose? I'm a rogue. I'm used to people fighting me over ridiculous things. What's one more fight?”

“I have yet to be accused of being anything but neutral, but I suspect that none of the other gods in my pantheon or any others would issue a challenge to me for choosing to render aid to the fallen ones. Some fights aren't worth it.”

She stepped onto the path that swooped around to the side of Glenda's house and
into
her
abuela
form, cane and all. “I need to go and do some things to prepare for those shifters when they turn up, and I'm certain they will. You planted a good seed, Avenger. If you call and I don't respond, have Miles get in touch. She'll always be able to pull at my consciousness.”

“Got it,” Ellery said.

Lola got three steps before she stopped. “And Hannah?”

Uh-oh.

“I believe your mate is nearing. I think you have something to do?”

Hannah gulped.

Lola moved on to her big boat of a Lincoln Town Car without turning back. Agatha took her leave, too, saying she'd go see what the not-angels were up to.

Lola may have felt Sean's approach, but it took another couple of minutes before Hannah could see him, or rather the ranch pickup truck he and Steven arrived in.

“I can't believe your brother is here.” Ellery walked at Hannah's side toward the truck, and Hannah was glad for it. With her there as a buffer, Hannah wouldn't feel like she had to perform—like she had to say all the right things. She was used to seeing Hannah say nothing to Sean at all, or if she did say anything, it was with a razor-sharp tongue and a bit of a growl. If Hannah was a little softer but less articulate with what she'd have to say, Ellery would understand why.