Page 45 of A Cougar's Kiss
“About last night,” Decan interjected. “The guy who interrupted your little speech is a shifter, a cheetah and his name is Rebel. He says he’s Kyss’s mate but there’s nocalorsurrounding him to aid in that claim.”
Keller looked around the room. “Where’s Kyss? Have you asked her who he is?”
“Can’t,” Gold said with a shrug. “She disappeared.”
“What the hell? When?” Keller was thinking that maybe he and Shya should have stayed upstairs, the news down here was going from bad to worse.
“I had eyes on her at the Paradise Center,” Decan said. “When people began pouring out of the auditorium, I saw her heading inside and I figured she was going to assist.”
“Yeah, assist her mate,” Nisa snapped.
At that word, Keller’s gaze found Shya’s and held for a few seconds. He was the one to look away first as he returned his attention to the FLs he knew would be staring at him now.
“So, what does this Rebel have to say?” Rome asked from the small screen on the table.
“He says that Kyss killed Mackey,” Decan told them.
“After Shya left his cell,” Jace said with a pointed glare to her that had Keller growling.
“Yes, I went to see Ewan Mackey because I wanted to ask about the Ruling Cabinet. Everybody was so preoccupied with them I wanted to see if I could get more information from him, but he was cruel instead of helpful, so I left.”
He’d told her not to speak to anyone else about anything she knew and an hour before she was supposed to meet him, she’d gone in search of more information. Keller gritted his teeth in frustration as he realized she was probably going to deliver that information directly to him.
“Wait, this doesn’t explain why Kyss would kill Mackey?” Keller hadn’t trusted Kyss as far as he could see her, but he would have never guessed she would have killed Mackey, not while he was in the Oasis prison.
“Because the Ruling Cabinet apparently put a hit out on Nisa and Shya as a way to get back at the Assembly Leader and his second in command,” Decan spoke defiantly, and Keller almost went over to clap his friend on the back in appreciation.
The two leaders thought they were the only ones who knew all the answers. Nobody could tell them anything, not that Keller had ever tried. And as much as he wouldn’t want to see Nisa or Shya hurt as a result of their parents’ actions, he was glad that the shifters were getting a healthy slice of fear fed to them because of decisions they’d made.
“Then Mackey can rot in hell and as soon as we catch up with the rest of the Ruling Cabinet, they can join them,” Nick spat.
“Let’s table that discussion for now,” Rome said, his tone tight and thoroughly irritated.
“Are you just gonna keep on letting them get away with shit?” Gold asked, his anger apparent as he stared at the screen.
“I’m doing everything I can to keep us together,” Rome shouted. “If you think running the administration over thousands of shifters is easy, then you step up and do it, Gold. But this isn’t just about you or Keller and Decan getting revenge. This is about thousands of shifters’ lives. They’re in our hands each time we decide what to do about the humans living here or above ground. Time was all we’ve had on our side these past twenty years, that and the element of surprise, which we sprung on them two days ago. Now, thanks to you we’ve got a whole other host of problems to deal with.”
“Whoa there, Assembly Leader,” Keller chimed in. “We didn’t tell Kyss to kill Mackey. It wasn’t even our idea to keep Mackey a prisoner. So that kill and the retribution the Ruling Cabinet is now going to seek is on your hands.”
“Decan brought Kyss into Headquarters,” Nick stated. “And you, I might add. So, we’re hanging some of this blame around your neck too.”
“And then what?” Shya asked. “What happens after we finish blaming everybody for what’s going on? How do those thousands of shifters at Oasis live their lives at that point? All of this has been so ridiculous. Them hating us and wanting us dead. Us running from them and wanting them dead. I just wish somebody would come up with a real solution and get it done!”
As if her words were some type of beacon there was a loud crash and a body came flying through the window. Glass splintered everywhere and Keller immediately went to grab Shya. Decan stepped in front of Nisa and Nick did the same with Ary. Gold, Jordin and Zion formed a line and bared their claws.
But none of them moved or spoke. They didn’t know what to do or say as they stared at the tall, broad shouldered shifter standing in front of them. His hair was long and matted together, his face so dark and streaked with soot it almost looked as if he had been burned. His clothes—khaki pants and fitted t-shirt—were a contrast to the wild and deranged look in his eyes.
Eyes that were a glowing red.
Keller cursed just as his claws extended, but he wasn’t fast enough, nobody was.
Red beams came from those eyes, shooting across the room to land on the table that instantly caught on fire. The shifter’s head moved, and the aim of the laser beams changed until they were singing the walls. Nick shifted first, Jace followed and then Decan and Gold. Keller took a second to turn to Shya and yell, “Run!” before his cat burst free and he leapt toward the shifter still standing in the middle of the floor.
The walls were burning, air from outside was blowing through the windows and the shifter never moved from that spot. The cats surrounded him now. Keller saw Jordin and Zion shift, he heard a scream, but it wasn’t Shya, so his cat kept its eyes on the shifter in the center, the one that looked like some other type of beast with claws longer than any cat’s Keller had ever seen. And its scent, that wasn’t a cat scent, it was putrid, like something left to fester and it rolled off the shifter in invisible waves that permeated the air.
Zion leapt first and the shifter only lifted an arm as if it were swatting a fly away. Zion’s jaguar rolled across the floor to slam into a wall. Jordin roared and followed Zion’s lead, but another arm sent her soaring. Nick and Jace went for its legs just as Decan, Keller and Gold leapt for the top of it, deciding they could take it down that way. But this thing was like a tower of steel. It didn’t budge as they slammed against it and no matter how many times they bit into its skin, nothing happened. No blood, no yelling in agony especially since it wasn’t in a cat form, and no stumbling. It still stood straight in the center of the floor and when Keller released his teeth’s hold on the shifter’s shoulder and landed on all fours he looked up in disbelief, one name coming to mind—Cole Linden.
The shifter’s head turned at that moment, its gaze going to the spot where Bas still stood in his human form, his gray eyes staring up at the shifter.
