Freakn' Cougar (13 page)

“He is. But someone touched his pudding today at lunch. Apparently, he really likes his pudding.”

Liked it enough that he snapped and smashed the offender’s face off a table enough times to break his two front teeth. Ricky had heard about the lunch time entertainment through the grapevine.

“Then I guess we’re visiting the solitary wing.”

“Or not. Problem is I don’t know how we’ll get past the guards. For some reason, despite being short-handed, management insisted we post a pair there.”

“Leave that to me,” Stu muttered. “I used to run interference for my brothers all the time so they could sneak out and meet with girls.”

Just how many brothers did Stu have? He’d alluded before to coming from a large family, but Ricky never really questioned him about it. He’d never actually cared. However, if they were going to end up partners in some kind of weird ménage triangle, he’d probably have to find out. Just so he could know what he faced in case Stu’s brothers took offense that their brother had to share his woman.

“Exactly what are you planning?”

“Better I don’t tell you, you’ll just tell me no.” Stu grinned. “Oh, and you don’t happen to have any tape, do you?”

“I brought some duct tape with me in case I needed to silence someone. Why do you ask?”

“Do me a favor and don’t lock any of the doors we go through next. Actually, unlock anything that isn’t a cell and tape the latch so it just takes a nudge to swing it open. If this is going to work, I need unobstructed passage.”

“Won’t leaving the path open make it easier for our killer?”

“Seeing as how it’s never proven a problem before, does it matter?”

“Still, as a member of law enforcement, I have to say this makes me uncomfortable. You do know this a prison, right? Filled with bad guys? Isn’t making it unsecure kind of dangerous?”

“Do you have a better plan then?”

“Unlocked doors might tip them off that something’s wrong and scare them off.”

“And save lives, which is still our primary objective.”

“You take arguing to a whole new level.”

“It’s my speciality. Now, can we just concede and get on with it?”

“This better work,” she grumbled as she unlocked the door and taped the latch. They then retraced their steps, thankfully not far, to create a clear path back to their cell in case they needed to get back in a hurry.

Escape route taken care of, once again they took off in their silent train, Ricky in the lead, Patricia close behind, and Stu following at the rear, once again in his wolf shape. The deeper they went, the more the silence pressed in on them. The air itself grew heavy, oppressive even. Ricky could almost taste the wrongness.

Whatever they searched for, it was close. If Ricky’s instinct could be trusted, they needed to get beyond the circle of light signaling the checkpoint before the solitary cells. Just one snag. A pair of guards sat at a battered metal desk bolted to the floor, playing cards.

They retreated. Time for a powwow.

Patricia led them back to a storage closet she’d unlocked on their way toward the solitary wing. Once inside, Ricky was about to shift, only to realize Stu hadn’t followed. Ducking his head out to see where the wolf had gotten to, he noted him back up the hall, just outside the lit antechamber.

“Where’s Stu?” Patricia hissed from behind him.

About to take care of their guard situation, something she realized only a second after posing her question.

“Idiot,” she muttered. She kicked off her shoes to make less noise before she bolted up the hall after him. He would guess she intended to yank Stu to safety, but that wouldn’t help them with their need to get past the guards. Like it or not, they needed a diversion, and the wolf, recognizing this, had volunteered.

The guy had more guts than Ricky initially gave him credit for.
He’s not so bad for a dumb mutt.
If his feline could have smiled, it would have. Instead, Ricky padded after Patricia. Before either of them could catch the wolf, he trotted boldly out into the light.

When Patricia would have followed, Ricky head-butted her. Catching his hint, she held back, the pair of them hiding in the shadows watching the unfolding events, close enough to jump in and help if needed.

Human Stu bore a shaggy appearance and his wolf proved just as scruffy with his hair sticking out wildly in all directions, the colors varying shades of brown. As if wild animals of his ilk did it every day, Stu approached the card-playing guards, and when they didn’t immediately notice his presence—probably because they’d been imbibing from a flask that dulled their senses—he circled around to the other side of the desk and yipped.

Well, that got him some attention. Two sets of eyes whirled his way. Widened. Mouths dropped open, and one uttered a, “Holy shit.”

They couldn’t scramble from their seats fast enough, not to chase Stu, who wagged his tail, but to run in the opposite direction, right toward Patricia and Ricky.

Good thing they had good reflexes and speed. They slid into the storage closet and shut the door without a second to spare as the guards came bolting down the hall, Stu at their heels. Only once they passed did she curse aloud. “Damn it. What is he thinking? I thought the plan was to stick together. Not go haring off.”

Swapping his cat for his male shape, Ricky tried to soothe her. “He’ll be fine. That wolf is wilier than I initially gave him credit for.”

“Wily but naïve. And he’s all alone. God only knows who he could run into. Like a killer.”

“You worry too much,
bebé
.”

“Someone has to.”

Even in the dark of the closet, he could see the lines of stress on her forehead. He couldn’t resist stepping forward and placing a kiss upon them in an attempt to smooth them out. “He’ll be fine.”

She opened her mouth to retort, but he swallowed any further protest by placing his lips upon hers.

Mmm, the memory of the electricity between them never came close to the reality. How sweet she tasted. Her lips opened at his touch, unfurling and softening, a flower burgeoning before the heat of his caress.

This is the wrong place and time,
his conscience tried to tell him.

Screw their mission or reason for being here. He needed this. Needed Patricia. He’d felt so denied these past few days, a stranger in his own skin, with wants and desires that consumed him and overshadowed his every waking thought and fantasy.

His hands gripped her buttocks, the coarse linen of her slacks not hiding their round fullness. He pulled her against him, pressing his aching cock against her lower belly, the rough fabric of her clothing chafing his skin. What he wouldn’t give to feel her silky body against his. He dragged his embrace from the sweetness of her lips to the smoothness of her neck, sucking and licking at the flesh, working his way lower and lower.

She gasped his name, a sweet entreaty. “Ricky.”

“Shh. Just relax and let me ease your tension.” He continued to caress her, the perfume of her arousal heady in the closed space.

“We shouldn’t. We need to check on the prisoner.”

How insulting that she thought of work at a time like this. Lust should consume her just as it consumed him. How could she manage coherent thought when he could barely remember his own name?

“Are you sure he can’t wait a few more minutes?” He pushed the palm of his hand against her still- covered pussy, the heat of her core radiating forth. How he wanted a lick.

She moaned. “Why must you make this so hard?”

“This is hard.” He grabbed her hand and placed it upon his swollen cock.

Her fingers closed around him, and it was his turn to suck in a ragged breath.

“That’s it,
bebé
. Stroke me. Touch me. See how much I desire you. Need you. You can’t tell me you don’t feel the same thing too.”

For a moment, he thought she’d once again deny what flowered between them. She surprised him. “I shouldn’t want you,” she admitted, her voice low and guilt-ridden. “God knows I keep fighting it. Telling myself I’m better off walking away.”

“But …”

A sigh fluttered across his lips as he faced her, his forehead touching hers in the ultimate intimacy and sharing of space.

“I can’t help myself it seems. No matter how wrong I tell myself this is or how many times I try to tell myself you’re not my type, that I need to focus, I can’t help but want you.”

Her admission swelled his heart, made his inner feline purr and, despite his hunger for her, allowed him to do the right thing—for her at any rate. “I guess I’ll have to accept that for now. I don’t want you distracted the first time we come together. Come on. Let’s go check on our shifter before Stu tires of chasing the guards and they come back.”

What no sex?
His panther screamed in protest, an echoing cry that, despite being only in his mind, almost made him wince. But Ricky knew he’d made the right choice. Yes, he could have made her melt. Yes, he could have taken her, quickly too, but did he want her resenting their first time?

He did the right—if painful—thing.

Ricky clasped her hand in his, a twining of fingers that initially she stiffened at. He squeezed and she relaxed enough to curl them around his. Hand in hand, they inched from their hiding spot and crept up the hall. While he kept watch, she fitted the key to open the door, keeping the solitary wing confined, and after securing the latch with tape, they sneaked in.

Here there wasn’t the same kind of silence they’d encountered in other parts of the prison. A lone voice sang, kind of. The disjointed notes and nonsense words were nothing Ricky recognized, but the scent was clear. Whoever belted out the off-key symphony was their shifter, alive and well.

“I guess that answers that question,” Ricky said, halting before the door hiding the crazy bear.

“I don’t get it.” Patricia frowned. “I thought for sure the killer would strike. Hell, my gut still says something’s wrong. We’re missing something.”

“Perhaps we’re too early?”

“Or we spooked them off.”

“Are there any other ways into this section?”

“The door at the end, but because it leads to a hall with access to the outdoors, it has a built-in alarm that automatically trips every time it’s opened.”

“Any way of telling if it’s been disabled?”

She shrugged. “Not unless we set it off.”

“So what should we do?”

“I don’t know.” She gnawed her lower lip and turned in a circle, checking their location out. “If only there was a place nearby for us to hide.”

“The closet?”

“Too far. What if the killer did manage to disable the alarm and came through the far end? We’d never see or hear them.”

“We could hide in an empty cell.”

“I guess.” Her response emerged slowly and reluctantly. Oh ho, did the thought of being alone with him in a small space, with only a cot as furniture, bother her?

Excellent
.

“What are you waiting for? Let’s hide.”

“What about, Stu?”

“There’s nothing we can do for the wolf. You’ll have to trust him. Now stop arguing and let’s get into our spot. We wouldn’t want to spook our killer.”

Even as she let them into the empty cell across from the singing bear, she continued to argue. “What if we’re wrong and the perp goes after the other guy?”

“Do you really think we should split up?”

“No. Yes. I don’t know. I really wish they’d given me more resources,” she grumbled as she yanked the duct tape from her pocket and taped the lock so it wouldn’t catch. She pushed the door shut before she slumped to the floor beside it. “They made it sound so easy when they assigned me this job,” she admitted in a low whisper. “Go undercover. Keep my eyes and ears open. Provide support to the recruits posing as prisoners. Catch the killer.”

“So far you’ve achieved the first few. We just need to catch ourselves a bad guy, or girl,” he amended, “and mission accomplished.”

“Yeah, if we’re in the right place. At the right time. What if I chose wrong? What if they go after the other guy? Or Stu? For all we know, he went back to his cell, and he could end up a target. He’s a civilian. He should be top of my priority list.” She went to rise, but he stayed her with a hand.

“Stu’s a big boy. He can handle himself. And, besides, the killer doesn’t know Stu’s alone in the cell. Not to mention our wolf won’t be sleeping I’ll bet. No way will anyone sneak up on him. You’ve got to stop stressing. You can’t be in three places at once. Logic says, the guy in solitary is the most likely target, so he’s the one we’ll watch.”

“And if we’re wrong?”

“Then be mad at the killer not yourself. Better yet, blame the council for not giving you more help.”

“Easy for you to say.”

“No, it’s not. I don’t like to see anyone made a victim.”

“Says the guy with a criminal past.”

“A past he now regrets. I’m not proud of the things I did, but I learned from them. I also speak from experience when I say some evils can’t be stopped. You can only try your best.”

“I’ve been meaning to ask, why are you here? Why do this?”

“If you’ve read my file, then you know about my brother.”

“Yeah, I read about him. But, I’ll be honest, you seem more like the type to hunt down the person who did you wrong and take care of it yourself than volunteer to work within a set of rules and boundaries such as the ones the council probably placed on this mission.”

“I’ll admit a part of me just wants to tear the person who killed my brother into tiny pieces.”
Rip them bloody and eat our enemy,
his cat agreed. Blood-thirsty savage.

“I sense a ‘but’.”

“But part of my redemption, my new way of living, means obeying society’s laws. Doing things by the book. If I let myself take the easy path, even if it feels good or I can justify it, that doesn’t make it the right one. The slope to depravity is slippery. It’s always waiting to catch the unwary. I slid down that hillside once before and had to fight like a bastard to get back up. No matter how much I want vengeance, I can’t allow myself to give in to my violent side.”

“And yet you had no problem smashing that guy’s face against the bars for insulting me. Or kicking that thug’s ass in the prison yard.”