Cougar's Conquest Read online

  “Gwynn?” said a voice. It could have been anyone, not necessarily the military officer Brett had mentioned. Even recognizing that, she decided to act as if she believed all Brett had said, at least for now. The voice continued. “I’m Major Drew Connell, the commanding officer of Alpha Force. Brett told me he’s briefed you a bit about who we are and what we do.”

  “That’s right,” she said noncommittally.

  “He also said he has invited you to come and visit. Check out Alpha Force. Did he mention that one of our members is a shape-shifting lynx? Her name is Lieutenant Nella Reyes, and if you come here I’ll make sure she’s around for you to meet. We’ll also let you try out our elixir that permits shifting at times other than the full moon. Then we’ll see if it makes sense for you to enlist and join us. We could use a cougar in our group. You’d be the only one.”

  A shapeshifting lynx? Gwynn had never met any shapeshifters besides her family. And to know of another feline. To actually meet her. Gwynn felt almost overwhelmed with excitement over the idea.

  And to be able to test the elixir. To be able to change outside a full moon. Even keep more human awareness than usual while she shifted.

  Excitement? Hell, she was suddenly ecstatic about the idea.

  And yet she’d already been so worried even about coming home late tonight, dealing with her family over that.

  To go away, even for a few days, over a weekend, to test whether Brett and this Drew Connell were for real. Not to mention Lieutenant Reyes—was that her name?—and the elixir.

  How could she do that? And when?

  Was Brett aware that tomorrow night was a full moon? Surely he was. What did he plan to do then, now that he had found her? Watch her shift?

  She wasn’t about to allow that. Not again.

  Chapter Four

  After talking just a short while longer, Gwynn handed Brett the phone. She looked both bemused and excited, an attractive and appealing combination.

  “So…I know it wasn’t a real commitment to the major,” he said, “but you sounded fairly positive about going there and checking things out.”

  “Yes,” she said. “I did.” She shook her head slightly, causing the knot of tawny hair at her neck to move sideways and back.

  Was that a negative reaction, or just a touch of indecision? He decided to assume it was the latter and pretend he hadn’t noticed. While pondering, Brett fought the urge to reach over and pull out the pins that held her hair in place. To run his fingers through her soft, straight locks the way he used to.

  Back then, the shade of her hair hadn’t reminded him of a gorgeous, sleek mountain lion. But then, he hadn’t known she was capable of shifting into one.

  And why did a hint of her possible negativity turn him on so much now?

  Or would anything Gwynn did now, positive or negative, turn him on, feed his desire to get her into bed again?

  He wanted her. Badly. Shapeshifting cougar or not. Or maybe that knowledge even added to her appeal now.

  But as great as the sex between them had been before, it wasn’t appropriate now—not even that one final time he now craved. He forcibly squashed all desire down inside him and tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

  “I can start making arrangements for you right away,” he said instead, glad how neutral his tone sounded. “Can you do it this weekend?” Today was Wednesday. That should give him enough time to arrange a flight for both of them on an air force transport from one of the nearest bases, like Edwards just north of L.A.

  He’d accompany her to Ft. Lukman, introduce her around, do what was necessary to give her a taste of Alpha Force. Then he would back off. At that point, he’d have accomplished all he intended to. It would remain up to his commanding officers to convince Gwynn to join, and for her to agree.

  And if—when—she did, he would remain far away from her. He had other duties in Alpha Force besides recruitment, mostly making use of his information technology skills. He occasionally acted as an aide to some of the male shifters, since the process required that the shifter be naked at the time of the change, and then when he or she returned from animal form it was always initially in the nude, too.

  Sometimes expediency required that the nearest or most available aide be the one to help out, but policy encouraged assistance by an aide of the same sex whenever possible.

  That meant he’d never be there for Gwynn, even if she decided to enlist. A very good thing. But he had to get her into a position to join in the first place.

  “What do you think, Gwynn?” he prompted.

  “Let me think about it.” Her tone sounded so strained that he went against his best judgment and turned in the car seat to face her.

  Oh, yes. No matter how much he argued with himself, he still wanted her. Bad idea.

  He tamped the feeling down once more, even as his eyes moved over her body, from her gorgeous, clearly worried face to her breasts hidden by her shirt.

  “You’ve got to at least try,” he insisted, knowing that coming off as demanding wasn’t likely to convince her. “You’ve got nothing to lose and a whole lot to gain. I’ve heard the shifters in Alpha Force remark over and over about how great their elixir and its benefits are. Plus, they seem to get along so well together. Camaraderie and all that. And they do so much for our country—covertly, of course.”

  Damn. He sounded just like a recruiter. And why not? That was what he was.

  “I understand,” she said. “And I’m definitely interested in finding out more. But…well, there are other factors I need to consider.”

  Once again the vulnerability that had always attracted him, brought out his protective instinct, showed in her wide-eyed expression.

  Made him want to fix things for her, whatever they were.

  “What factors?” he asked, knowing from her sorrowful yet secretive gaze that she was as unlikely to explain today as before. At least now he had a hint, but her shifting clearly wasn’t all of it.

  “Never mind,” she whispered. Her eyes remained on his like a deer’s caught in headlights. Only it wasn’t just vulnerability he saw there now.

  No, there was something more. Was he reading her correctly?

  Time to find out. He reached across the seat, leaning so he could place his hand at the back of her long, lovely neck. As he did so, he felt the knot of her hair. Gently, he removed some of the pins holding it there, all the while staring into her eyes.

  She didn’t object. In fact, whatever he had seen there before seemed to melt into an expression a lot more heated, more suggestive.

  More of what he remembered from their prior time together.

  “Gwynn,” he breathed, then moved enough to cover her mouth with his once more.

  So foolish. She was being so foolish to allow herself to be seduced by his suggestions of how her future could be improved.

  Even worse, she was allowing herself to be seduced by Brett’s very presence.

  But his kiss…again. How could she resist it?

  His taste was so familiar yet so rare. So different. It made her want to cast all sense aside and tear off his clothes. Her own, too.

  But they were in a car. And…

  “My room isn’t far,” Brett said as if he read her mind. His voice was husky. His hands remained in motion, stroking her back outside her shirt.

  Moving downward, caressing just the top of her buttocks over her pants.

  “Show me,” she breathed.

  In moments, they were outside the car, walking hand in hand into the hotel lobby. It was crowded but Gwynn was barely aware of the people at the desk, near the bar, even with them in the elevator.

  She was only conscious of Brett, close at her side. Holding on as if he were worried she’d slip away and disappear. Again.

  But that was not about to happen, at least not at this moment. And if she shoved him away from her once more, she would at least tell him about it this time.

  If? No, when.

  And then, there they were.
Exiting the elevator. Hurrying down the wide hotel hall nearly to the end.

  The delay felt excruciating. And exciting.

  Brett used his card key to open the door. He held it open and she entered.

  Before she could do more than inhale, the door was closed behind them. She was once more in Brett’s arms.

  His mouth again met hers, and his tongue entered her mouth, teasing and exploring and igniting her so much that her knees nearly buckled.

  He expertly lifted her into his arms and deposited her on the fancy gold-and-brown coverlet of the bed. Almost immediately, he was on top of her. His body was rock hard and enticing. She was the one to grip his buttocks now, but his clothes were still on.

  She moaned as he moved off her, but only for a moment as she felt his hand slide beneath her shirt, moving upward to gently grasp one breast. He moved his thumb over her bra, stroking her nipple. “Brett,” she moaned, letting go of him just long enough to start unbuttoning her blouse.

  “Let me,” he said. She felt his hands replace hers, then move downward and around until, after moving and gyrating in assistance, she was naked.

  But he wasn’t. Not yet. She edged sideways on the bed just enough to make it clear he had to stay away, yet not long.

  Only long enough for her to help him off with his shirt and jeans.

  And then for her to look at him all over.

  He was every bit as gorgeously masculine as she remembered. His maleness thrust toward her, hard and so alluring that she moved downward and took him into her mouth. He groaned as she teased and sucked…and grew even more aroused.

  Again he seemed to read her mind. He moved her gently away from him and once more she lay on her back on the bed, completely nude. Fully wanting him as, this time, he was the one to play, first with her breasts and then lower, touching her first, then following his hands downward with his mouth while she cried out in her need for him.

  He let go of her for a moment, making her nearly weep from the sudden abandonment. But then she heard the sound of plastic being ripped, knew he was protecting her, protecting them.

  He was quickly back on top of her again. And then, inside her. His thrusts were soft at first but sure. She moved her hips to meet and encourage him.

  As his strength and speed increased, so did her motions in response—mindless, needful, inevitable.

  She cried out as her pleasure reached a crescendo. At the same time, Brett moaned, and Gwynn soared into complete fulfillment.

  Chapter Five

  Brett lay on top of Gwynn for several long minutes after reaching an orgasm that had rocked him everywhere, from his sated body to his wild but exhausted mind.

  “Wow,” she finally said from beneath him, her skin hot and smooth and still highly enticing to his touch. She wasn’t moving either, though he worried that his weight was too much for her slender body.

  “Yeah, wow,” he echoed.

  “That was even better than…” She didn’t finish. Didn’t have to. But she stirred and added, “Not that things weren’t wonderful before, of course. But this was…”

  “Yeah,” he said again. “It was.”

  Her laugh bounced him slightly, and he rolled over carefully to lie beside her, keeping one arm over her.

  She moved so she was facing him, her head tucked under his chin. Her breathing began to slow, and he let his hand move down her back so he could stroke her buttocks.

  He couldn’t help himself. Even now, when he felt so good, he knew he hadn’t had enough of her, notwithstanding his vow to himself to indulge in sex with her just one more time.

  He might never feel that he’d had enough of her, but he would have to deal with that. He’d found her. Was doing what he had to for his own sake, which happened to coincide with hers despite her not understanding that yet.

  But he wouldn’t let himself get so involved with her again. Maybe, truthfully, it was a touch of revenge he’d had in mind, or maybe it was clear self-preservation, but he would get her to join Alpha Force, then ease himself away from her once more.

  Permanently.

  He was fascinated by shapeshifters. Definitely. But having an ongoing relationship with one? Especially this one, with whom he’d already had a relationship that she had fled from?

  Not on his agenda.

  For now, though, well, another bout of lovemaking could fit onto that amorphous agenda of his if he let it. It was still just one night, even if he indulged multiple times. Maybe he’d indulge even more than one night, too, till they got to Ft. Lukman. And then…

  Gwynn moved away from his exploratory caresses. “I—I’ve got to leave,” she said.

  “We haven’t had dinner yet,” he reminded her, speaking softly against her lemon-scented hair. “And maybe we could have some more dessert, both before and after.”

  “No,” she said so firmly that it jarred him. “This was—well, you know I enjoyed it. But I have to run.”

  Why? Did she have another guy in her life, one his research hadn’t discovered?

  “After dinner,” he commanded. Then, because she froze, then started to move farther away, he said more softly, “I want to tell you more about Alpha Force. You haven’t said for sure that you’re coming to Ft. Lukman, and I need to convince you.”

  He didn’t like her hesitation. But before he determined what to say next to ensure her cooperation, she said in a tone he couldn’t interpret, “Okay. Dinner. But let’s eat now.”

  It wouldn’t be easy to get her family off her back that night, but she’d think of something, Gwynn told herself as she showered in the hotel bathroom before leaving for dinner. She had to, no matter how difficult they made it.

  They couldn’t hurt her any more than they already had. She knew the ugliness she had to expect after disobeying their directives. She could deal with it.

  She showered alone under the softly pelting water that touched parts of her that Brett had so recently stroked…and more. Of course she also remembered the times before when Brett and she had showered together….

  But not now.

  Now, she had to think of what to say when she got home that night. An excuse for being late, something related to her job and teaching and the school. Her family despised that she’d entered into a new career around here, but they hadn’t balked at her contributing her salary toward their comfort.

  Not that she gave all of it to her parents and brother. She had a secret bank account where she saved as much as she could. She’d doubted at first that she would ever get up the nerve to leave here again, and the longer she stayed, the more remote the possibility seemed. But she had a nest egg, just in case.

  And now…

  Now, thanks to Brett, she just might, in fact, get up the nerve to do something positive with her life once more.

  Do something that would make her proud to be a shapeshifter, instead of ashamed and terrified about it.

  And with Brett remaining in her life?

  Was that possible?

  They’d just made love. And so far, since he’d found her, she had seen no reason not to trust him, except for his possibly crazy story about this Alpha Force.

  Well, she’d see about that. Maybe.

  If she dared to break away.

  Dinner with Gwynn at the gourmet hotel restaurant was both enjoyable and frustrating.

  She seemed remote now to Brett. Interested in Alpha Force. But she still didn’t commit to visiting Ft. Lukman with him.

  She asked a lot of questions, though. Like how he had found her.

  Hell, why not. He told her.

  Facing her across the table as she nibbled on a serving of fish—her lack of interest in the food making it seem obvious why she’d lost weight—he said quietly, so no people sitting around them in the crowded room could hear, “After I saw you…you know, and you disappeared, I did a lot of online research trying to find you, and also to learn about what I’d seen.”

  He’d found an amazing array of material on shapeshifting, ranging f
rom pseudo-fiction to that which purported to be real but was available only to those with special online skills like his. Aka hacking, though he never admitted to that.

  “Really?” she said, pausing. “I’ve looked, too, but haven’t found much—a good thing, I thought. What did you see?”

  “Well,” he said in an even softer voice, “I learned that real, nonfictional shifters aren’t common, though they’re not extremely rare, either. But those who can control when they shift and who can maintain human awareness—they’re almost unheard-of. Except for those in Alpha Force.”

  She blinked those gorgeous dark eyes, as if she still didn’t believe what he was saying.

  He continued, “That’s why I sought it out after discovering that such a military unit existed. You got me so fascinated that I had to learn more, so I wound up enlisting.” Which took a lot of time to work out, time in which he had delayed coming here to confront Gwynn. He had located her not long after beginning his search, as soon as she had secured her teaching job. “Good thing I’m a computer geek.”

  He could smile about that now, but he’d been highly conscious of it when in college and at his first job in the pharmaceutical company where he’d met Gwynn. He’d been all information technology nerd then, and she’d been a skilled lab technician. The differences and his consciousness of geekiness hadn’t stopped him from pursuing Gwynn and believing she’d cared for him back.

  Of course he’d also fought it by building up his body to the max, too. Real geeks didn’t do that.

  But not even that had been enough for Gwynn to tell him all there was to know about herself.

  Or to keep her from running away after he found out.

  Well, he’d do what he needed to for his newfound career, which would help her, too. And then he’d back off.

  For revenge? He’d considered that before, still pondered it. But he thought of it more as self-preservation. She’d been the one to leave before. And now, he would be the one to show her that things could change and people didn’t have to hang around any longer than they chose to.