Fated to a Cougar: 4 (Cougar Surrender) (7 page)

After Hank’s parents arrived, they took turns passing Josh
between them. It’d been a month since they’d last seen their grandson. Hank’s
mom Kate got a little teary over the fact Josh looked more and more like his
father the older he got.

Once Sage got the baby upstairs to bed in Grady’s room, the
adults sat down to dinner. They talked about the services for Macy and Hank
that would take place in two days. Much to Sage’s surprise, all of Grady’s
family said they would be attending. Even Jase and his dad stated they would be
around to help with the heavy lifting when the time came for Sage, Kate and Max
to empty out Macy and Hank’s house.

That was something Sage still dreaded, but it had to be done
and put on the market. There was no way she could keep both her house and the
other one. And she couldn’t afford to pay the mortgage for Macy’s with only her
income. And Max and Kate had their own place in Fairbanks.

Hank’s parents said their goodbyes once it grew late and
promised Sage they’d talk to her the next day. After they left, everyone else
headed back into the living room. She couldn’t help noticing how nervous Grady
looked all of a sudden.

They all sat, spreading out on the couch, loveseat and
armchairs. Sage and Grady ended up on the loveseat, which was across from the
couch. At first, Sage wasn’t sure anyone was going to start the conversation
since the others all seemed to be waiting for something.

Grady cleared his throat. “I guess I’d better be the one to
get the ball rolling.” He cleared his throat again and took hold of Sage’s hand
and looked her right in the eyes. “What I’m about to tell you, I’ve never told
anyone like you before.”

She gave him a confused look over the “anyone like you”
comment. Was he referring to her being a cop or was it something else entirely?
“Okay.”

“I’ve been told it’s best if I just come right out and say
it without easing into it too much. So here it goes.” His face grew serious,
not showing any emotion. “Sage, I’m a cougar shifter. You set off the magic in
my pendant and made the cougar’s ruby eyes glow, which means you’re my mate.
When you took it from me and put it around your neck, you claimed me as yours
and the mating bond formed, joining our souls.”

Grady watched Sage’s face carefully to see what her reaction
would be to his confession of being a cougar shifter and what she was to him.
At first, her expression remained blank, as if she really hadn’t heard what
he’d said. Then it switched to one that was guarded, almost as if she thought
he wasn’t all there in his head.

“You’re a cougar shifter?” Sage asked. She looked around the
room before focusing back on him. “And your family already knows you think of
yourself as being one?”

“We’re all shifters.”

“Except for me,” Katarina said. “I’m just a regular human
like you, Sage.”

Sage shook her head. “I’m sorry, but do all of you think
you’re doing Grady any favors by playing along with his delusions? And that’s
what it has to be.”

Grady blew out a breath. “I really don’t want to shift to my
cougar form in front of you just yet. I need you to accept it a bit more or it’ll
freak you out. You can’t deny you felt something pass between us when you put
my pendant on. That feeling of an invisible bond forming, tying us together was
the mating bond. I felt it, and from the look on your face then, I know you had
to have as well.”

“I can admit I did feel something. But how can you be sure
it was our souls joining? For all you know it could have been us only caught up
in the moment, if you know what I mean?”

“It wasn’t that. It was the magic inside the pendant. Every
male cougar shifter is given one once he reaches adolescence, and when we meet
our mates, she sets off this bit of magic, which makes the rubies glow. To have
the mate bond forming, the female has to be the one to take the male’s pendant
and put it around her neck.”

Sage skipped her gaze over Olivia and Katarina. “So your mom
and Katarina wearing cougar head pendants means they claimed their males too.”

“Yes.”

“Look, Grady, I’m a cop. Do you have any idea of some of the
weird stuff I see sometimes on a daily basis? I have to say this ranks right up
there.”

“You’re going to have to shift,” Jase said. He put his arm
around his wife. “It’s too bad Sage didn’t grow up with an uncle who is a
werewolf like Katarina. It would make this so much easier.”

“Werewolf?” Sage asked, really thinking things couldn’t get
any stranger than they already were.

“The hell with it. I’m shifting,” Grady said as he stood and
stepped in front of her.

Sage watched, transfixed, as Grady’s body blurred and
shimmered. Then in a matter of a few seconds, a large cougar took his place.
She opened and closed her mouth a few times and looked around at the other
people in the room. They didn’t at all seem surprised. Actually, Olivia
appeared happy with it.

The cougar Grady had become took a step closer, which
snapped Sage’s attention back to him. He purred loudly, then rubbed his furred
cheek against her knee. She didn’t know what to do. She felt frozen in place,
her mind desperately trying to make sense of it all.

“It’s okay, Sage,” Katarina said as she crossed over to her
and took the spot where Grady had been sitting. “Touch him. It’s still Grady
inside there. He’s able to think and react as he would in his other form. He
just can’t communicate with you.”

Katarina took Sage’s hand and led it to the top of the
cougar’s head and got her to stroke him. Maybe it was because the other people
in the room weren’t freaking out or acting afraid, or because Sage was already
an emotional wreck from her sister dying, but whatever it was, she wasn’t
having an “Oh my god, run for your life” moment.

She pulled her hand out of Katarina’s grasp and petted Grady
one more time before she said as she looked into the cougar’s eyes, “Okay, I
believe you now.” She then looked at the others. “Do you mind if Grady and I
talk alone?”

Olivia stood first and came over to Sage. She bent and gave
her a kiss on the top of her head. “Welcome to the family.”

“Family?” Sage asked as the notion took her by surprise.

“Yes, family. You’re no longer alone, my daughter. Being
Grady’s mate, you’re now a part of our family group and are one of us, as is
Josh. We’ll take care of the both of you.”

Sage lost it. Tears welled in her eyes and there was nothing
she could do to stop them. Through a sheen of them she watched the others leave
the room. Everything she’d kept bottled up inside since losing her sister came
out. Sobs racked her body as a strong pair of arms gathered her close. Grady
had shifted back to his human form, but she hadn’t noticed until he sat her on
his lap with her head on his shoulder.

She had no idea how long it took for her to cry herself out,
but he sat with her through it all, gently rubbing her back, telling her how
much he loved her and that everything would be all right. Once her sobs
subsided into hiccups, Sage felt as if she’d been through the wringer.

“Are you okay?” Grady asked.

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Are you okay with what I am and what you are to me?”

Sage wiped her eyes with her sleeve as she sat up and looked
at him. “Surprisingly, yes. It was what your mom said about me now being part
of your family. It’d only been Macy and I since I was eighteen and she was
twenty. Losing her, it was as if I’d lost everything. I know I have Josh, but
he’s so little and dependent upon me. Now I have you. I can lean on you and
you’re always going to be there.”

“And I will be. You’re my mate, a part of my soul. I love
you, and I’ll love Josh as if he were my own child.”

She cupped the back of Grady’s head and kissed him, long and
deep. After she lifted her head, she said, “I love you too.” She gave him a
small smile. “I guess you being a cougar shifter is the reason your head healed
so fast, huh?”

“Yeah. We heal a lot faster than humans.”

“I guess I have a lot to learn about what you are.”

“Don’t worry. No one is going to test you on it,” Grady said
with a crooked grin.

“Good.”

“Now let’s go tell everyone that you’re okay with us and
that you’re feeling better.”

Grady stood and put Sage down on her feet. She put her arm
around his waist as he wrapped his along her shoulders, tucking her up against
his side. She was sure she’d have a ton of questions but right at that moment, all
she cared about was the fact he was hers and would never leave her. Facing a
life with no family scared her more than him being able to shift into a cougar.

* * * * *

It was three weeks after her sister had died and Grady had
revealed what he was to Sage. She was back on the job, but only temporarily.
She’d given her two-week notice and would no longer be a cop after that.
Raising Josh was more important and she wanted to be the kind of aunt slash
mother Macy would have wanted for her son. Her sister had planned to be a
stay-at-home mom, so Sage would be as well. And it wasn’t as if she needed to
work. Her mate had more than enough money to support the three of them.

After going through her sister’s belongs and getting the
house on the market, Sage had then focused on selling her own as well. She and
Josh had moved into Grady’s family home. The baby even had his own room right
next to hers and Grady’s. It’d been a guestroom, which Olivia had turned into a
nursery. She’d even slipped in a few stuffed cougars instead of teddy bears.

This was the last day Sage would be on duty. It was an
afternoon shift, but she didn’t worry about Josh. The rest of her family was
always there whenever she needed them to watch him. That was one thing she
really liked about cougar shifter family groups. They always looked after one
of their own.

Sage had also learned about Caleb, the guy who’d jumped
Grady the night she’d met him. Once back at work she’d been using her police
resources to see if she could get any leads on Caleb’s whereabouts. Her methods
were legal, unlike Draven’s. She’d turned a blind eye to whatever he did.

It was getting close to the end of her shift. Sage decided
she’d do a drive-by of Caleb’s house. Grady, Jase and his cousins Taylor and
Blaise took turns watching the place in case their suspicions about Caleb
wanting to torch it turned out to be correct. So far nothing had happened
there.

She pulled the cruiser over to the curb and scanned the
front of the large house. There were no lights on anywhere inside or outside.
With another pass, Sage caught something that looked like a person-shaped
shadow darker than the rest heading around a corner toward the backyard. Not
wanting to take any chances, she shut off the car’s engine, then got out with
her flashlight in hand. She headed in the direction she’d seen the shape go.

There was a full moon that night, and its light reflected
off the snow. Sage turned on her flashlight once she neared the corner of the
house. Since no one had shoveled in a while, the snow was deep. And she saw
footprints in it that looked fresh. She followed them, keeping an eye out for the
person who’d made them.

It didn’t take her long to find him. He had his back to her,
bent over, working on something. She heard the distinctive rasping sound of a
lighter being used, but the wind must have blown it out. It didn’t work in his
favor either since it blew in their direction right into their faces.

“What are you doing?” she asked loudly.

The man shot around and Sage aimed the light she held in his
eyes. The first thing she noticed was it was Caleb who stood a short distance
in front of her. She’d seen pictures of him. And the second, he held in one
hand a glass bottle that had a rag hanging out of the top, which couldn’t be
anything but a Molotov cocktail, and in the other a lighter. It didn’t take a
genius to figure out what he was going to do with them.

“Everything is fine, Officer,” Caleb said. “This is my
house. I locked my keys inside and was going to look for the spare one I have
hidden in the yard.”

“Really,” she said. “And you were going to use that homemade
bomb to light the way for you?”

“It isn’t what you think it is.”

“Drop what you’re holding and walk toward me, keeping your
hands in sight.”

“You’re overreacting. As I said before, this is my house.
I’m not breaking any laws.”

“You will do as I say or I’ll force you to comply.”

Caleb walked toward her, but made no move to drop what he
held. “What’s your name, Officer? I’m going to go to your superior and tell him
how you harassed me for no reason.”

Once he was close enough, Sage said, “You can try, Caleb,
but since this is my last night on the job, I don’t think it matters.”

He stopped and stiffened. “How do you know my name?”

Sage put one hand behind her back as she pulled out the
cougar head pendant she wore under her uniform shirt with the other after she
pocketed her flashlight. Caleb’s eyes widened, then he sniffed the air and a
look of fury passed over his face.

“You’re Grady’s,” he said with a snarl. “Did he send a woman
after me?”

“No. I decided to come here by myself since I have more
experience taking in scumbags like you.”

“Do you think that you, a mere human, can best me enough to
subdue me? I’m a cougar shifter. I’m faster and stronger than you.”

As if to prove his words, Caleb let loose with a cat’s growl
and launched himself at her. Too bad for him, Sage had been all prepared for
that. She pulled the hand she had at her back to her front and aimed her Taser
gun right at him. She fired and the two small electrodes hit him in the thigh.
He went down like a ton of bricks, no longer able to move as his muscles
involuntarily contracted.

Sage closed the distance between them and looked down at
him. She kept the electricity flowing from the gun to Caleb. “Yeah, you might
be faster and stronger, but you’re no match for a Taser gun just like every
other criminal out there. Now be a good boy and shift to your cougar form.”

She turned off the juice and waited to see if Caleb would do
as she’d ordered. Of course he didn’t. Once he’d recovered enough to be able to
move again, he growled threateningly and tried to have another go at her. Sage
jolted him a second time, rendering him immobile.

“Go to hell, bitch,” he said through clenched teeth.

“Wrong answer.” She squatted in front of him. “If a human
gets zapped too many times, it can kill them. As for a cougar shifter, who can
heal a lot quicker, I’m not sure how many jolts you can take, but I’m willing
to find out. Either you shift so I can put zip ties on you or you get the juice
for however long it takes Grady and whoever else in his family wants to come
collect you to bring you to face our family group leader. It’s your choice.”

To show she meant business, Sage turned off the electricity
before she zapped Caleb again. It didn’t take him long before he complied. It
was then she found out a cougar shifter could take on his cat form while being
tased. Obviously, the magic inside them wasn’t affected.

After the change was complete, she quickly zip-tied his
front legs together and then his back, and for good measure, she tied the front
and back together as well. Satisfied he wouldn’t be going anywhere, Sage turned
off the juice and pulled the electrodes out of Caleb’s leg. He snarled, showing
off his sharp teeth. She chuckled.

Sage straightened and pulled her cell phone from the inside
pocket of her uniform jacket and called Grady. After she explained the
situation, he assured her that he, Jase, Taylor and Blaise would be over to
collect Caleb as quickly as possible.

Since Caleb’s place wasn’t in the same general area of her
new home and Taylor and Blaise’s, it took the men about twenty minutes to
arrive. They came running toward her. Once Grady reached her, he tugged her
close and kissed her almost senseless.

“I can’t believe you caught Caleb after all the months we’ve
been trying,” Grady said once he released her.

“It was just a matter of being in the right place at the
right time. Plus, I had some help from something none of you have.” Sage help
up her Taser gun. “It would seem cougar shifters aren’t immune to being tased.”