CougarHeat by Marisa Chenery Page B

We should be able to catch a flight later this
evening.”
    He held up his hand. “I never said
I’d go with you right now. You three can fly to Anchorage. I’ll drive.”
    “Why would you want to do that?”
Grady asked. “It takes a little over twenty-one hours to drive from Juneau to
Anchorage. That’s if you don’t include any rest breaks.”
    “I don’t mind.”
    Blaise shook his head. “You might
not, but we do.”
    Taylor sat up straighter. “What?
Are you afraid I won’t show up if you let me do this?”
    “I can’t say the thought hasn’t
crossed my mind.”
    “Well, you can stop thinking that
way. I go back on my terms, which means all three of you will fly home and I’ll
arrive by myself. And it’s not as if I can up and leave where I live now on
such short notice. Plus, I have my things to pack. I promise I’ll be on the
road sometime tomorrow. You either accept it or don’t expect me at all.”
    His brother slowly nodded. “Fine.
Have it your way. If it were me, I wouldn’t want to make that long-ass drive.”
    “Then it’s a good thing it isn’t
you,” Taylor said as he pushed back his chair and stood. “I’ll see you in
Anchorage in a day or so.”
    He turned and walked out of the
coffee shop without a backward glance at his brother and cousins. Taylor
continued down the sidewalk to where he’d parked his pickup truck. He shook his
head as he thought over the conversation he’d had with Blaise, Grady and Jase.
When he’d first been banished, he would have been more than happy to be
welcomed back into his family group. Now, not so much. He was used to being on
his own, and liked it. Since he was content with the way his life was, of
course someone had to come along and fuck it up for him.
    * * * * *
    The next day, Taylor was on the
road headed for Anchorage as promised. Leaving Meadow behind had not been a
thrill ride for him. She hadn’t taken the news of his departure very well. He
was just glad she had her mate Durlach to lean on. She wouldn’t be alone, and
as part of the sentinels’ werewolf pack, she had more than enough family to
look after her, which was one of the reasons he found himself able to walk
away. Meadow was like a sister to him.
    He’d spent the rest of the day
after leaving his brother and cousins packing up his belongings and preparing
for the long drive to Anchorage. While he’d done that, Taylor found himself
thinking of what he would be getting himself into.
    At one time, he’d been prepared to
eventually take his father’s place as the head of their family group. He’d been
groomed for it since he was old enough to remember. It was something he’d taken
pride in, and had strived to learn all he could from his father so one day he’d
be just as capable. That included Taylor following all the outdated rules that
came with what he’d been born.
    He hadn’t dated humans, and
definitely hadn’t gone near any female werewolves. He’d stuck with his own
kind, though none of the females he’d slept with had ended up being his mate.
Unlike werewolves, a male cougar shifter couldn’t tell if one of the opposite
sex was his mate with a single sniff of her scent. It took more than that for
his kind.
    Each male, once he hit adolescence,
was given a cougar head pendant hung on a gold necklace that was made with a bit
of magic embedded inside. If a female was meant to be his mate, the ruby eyes
in the male cougar’s pendant would glow. That occurred once the male had
accepted the female as his, even if only he knew it subconsciously, which
caused an increase in his testosterone level. It wasn’t something that took
place with a first meeting, or even the first time the couple had sex. It
sometimes took months before the eyes revealed the truth. Once it happened it
was the female’s decision to accept the necklace as hers, which would create
the mating bond, joining the mated pair’s souls.
    If the female didn’t take the
necklace after the eyes