Page 42 of Covert Affections (Shadow Agents/PSI-Ops #5)

Chapter Thirty-Four

Lindy

Lindy hurried across the parking lot, ignoring the cold rain hitting her face and arms. All she could think about was the sight of the huge, injured mountain lion lying on the ground in front of the dumpster.

She didn’t need a collar or a tag on the animal to know it was her late-night porch protector—Fluffy.

She simply knew it deep in her bones. Plus, it was hard to believe there two mountain lions as big as him in the area.

Less than twenty minutes ago, she’d been terrified something was going to attack her, and here she was now, worried, running toward a dangerous predator. One she was convinced had stood guard over her when she’d been nervous and scared.

“Lindy?” asked Robert.

She realized she was still on the phone and slowed her pace. “Uh, yes?”

“Are you outside? Did you say something was fluffy? I hear rain,” said Robert. “Dammit, woman. You better be inside the bar with the doors all locked. I’m not sure how long I’ll be on this call. It might be awhile.”

“I’m totally inside with the doors locked,” she said, lying with more ease. “Call me when you’re done.”

“Do not hang?—”

She disconnected the call and shoved the phone in her pocket before running toward the dumpster. She’d deal with Robert later. Yes, he’d be upset, but he’d get over it.

The security light at the corner of the building flickered, and thunder cracked overhead. It was as if nature wanted to set the backdrop for what would more than likely end up being her murder scene. She hoped she was right about Fluffy.

Protect him , whispered her darkness from the recess of her mind, making Lindy’s breath hitch. When in the hell had her succubus become an animal lover? Normally, the thing was only out for itself.

She made a mental note to call Teresa and find a way to ask about what it meant when her darkness tried to be the good guy.

She doubted it was an awesome sign. That, coupled with it being suspiciously dormant when gifted a full frontal from a hot Scotsman earlier, she had to wonder if it was going to explode and take everyone out with it soon.

She stopped about six feet from Fluffy, her mind racing with what she should do.

She reached for her phone to call Charley, the person one would want in this situation, but Robert had told her that Charley’s truck and mobile vet trailer had ended up flipped in the ditch out in front of her rescue.

Charley had a rough enough night as it was.

She didn’t need to try to find a way out to the bar in a thunderstorm.

Lindy moved toward Fluffy, going lower, wanting to appear non-threatening.

All the dumb ways she would probably end up dying flashed through her mind.

She was horrible with animals. The college goldfish incident was proof positive.

She had no business trying to help any animal.

The smart thing to do would be to call Charley, but she wasn’t a viable option tonight.

If not Charley, then the Wildlife Department or even Robert.

Not approach the thing.

Protect him, repeated her darkness.

Giving in, Lindy eased closer to the animal.

So much for doing the smart thing.

"Please don't eat me," she whispered, her hands trembling as she knelt beside Fluffy.

He didn’t bite her throat out. That had to be a good start, right?

“This has to be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done,” she murmured nervously.

Up close, she could see the animal’s tawny fur was matted with blood.

It looked like something big had taken more than one bite out of the thing.

The animal was huge. What could have possibly been big enough to do that kind of damage to it?

A bear? A pack of wolves? Whatever had caused it, the animal was in bad shape. It needed assistance.

Her chest tightened, and she touched the cat's head gently before she could stop herself. The animal’s chest rose and fell with shallow breaths.

Between that and the amount of blood he was losing, she had a sinking feeling Charley and the Wildlife Department would tell her the cat was a lost cause and that the humane thing to do would be to put him down.

She shook her head, unwilling to accept that such a majestic creature would find its end behind her bar.

Lindy yanked off her wet shirt, leaving her in a bra and jeans.

She pushed the material against the worst of the cat’s wounds, trying to staunch the bleeding.

“You’re not allowed to die. Do you hear me, Fluffy? ”

Its eyes snapped open. Lindy let out a small scream and fell backward onto her butt in a rather large puddle.

Her phone flew out of her pocket and skidded across the ground, settling in a different puddle.

She’d once heard someone claim the phone was water resistant but she had her doubts.

Plus, it was low on her list of worries at the moment.

Now that she was staring into the animal’s green eyes, she had all the confirmation she needed—it was Fluffy.

Her shirt stuck to the animal's side, saturated from rain and blood. Fear should have left her scrambling away in the other direction, hell-bent on putting distance between herself and the alert and all too injured predator.

That wasn’t what happened though. Her body, acting on auto-pilot and driven by something she couldn’t explain, remained locked in place. Her gaze collided with Fluffy’s.

Touch him , her darkness whispered. Heal him.

Heal him?

She couldn’t heal others, could she?

Yes! Touch him , her darkness repeated, the thought ripping through her, sharp and raw. We can take, but we can give too.

Did she dare trust her darkness? It was known for being a dirty liar, but this felt different. It felt right and true.

She pressed her palms against the mountain lion’s side, ignoring the sticky warmth of his blood.

A whisper of heat unfurled in her chest, her succubus side stirring more despite her efforts to keep it buried.

She had never used her abilities for this—wasn’t even sure it would work. But she couldn’t walk away.

“Stay with me,” she murmured, closing her eyes as the warmth in her chest bloomed.

It spread through her arms, pooling in her hands until her fingers tingled.

The air around her seemed to hum, a faint vibration that set her teeth on edge.

Wind whipped around her, seeming to go against the direction the storm had been blowing.

It left her long hair thrashing around her face, partially obscuring her view of the animal.

A pulse of energy burst through her, feeling much like what happened when her succubus fed.

But she wasn’t pulling from sexual energy or another person.

It felt as if she were drawing energy from the storm around her.

As if her darkness had somehow managed to tap into Mother Nature’s frequency, grabbing it like a live wire.

Her darkness held tight to whatever it had latched onto, refusing to let go. She wasn’t imagining it.

It was real.

Elemental.

Raw.

She didn’t have time to unpack it or overanalyze it. Phoning Teresa and asking if she should freak out or go with the flow and keep acting like a giant battery wasn’t an option either.

She had to trust her instincts, and right now, they were telling her to surrender control to the very thing she feared most—her succubus side.

She’d spent months holding that side of herself at bay, locking it down for fear of what it might do.

She’d sworn she’d never again let it free, yet the sight of the animal and the pain she knew it must be in left her surrendering to that side of herself.

Lindy closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, unsure what she was doing, only that whatever lived inside her seemed to know.

With the deep knowing came flashes from her nightmares—ones she had about men in white lab coats, metal cribs, and the sounds of children screaming.

She tried to push it all away—tried to stay focused on the here and now, but it didn’t work.

She lifted her hands, her eyes still closed as she reached for the animal.

If Fluffy turned on her, she’d never see it coming.

That was probably for the best. Her breathing quickened as she poured everything into the connection her darkness seemed to have with nature, willing the creature to hold on.

Another pulse of energy surged through her body, but this time, it didn’t stay in her.

It shot through her arms and out of her hands, directly into the animal.

A quick bit of panic welled in Lindy, and she worried her succubus had fooled her into killing the animal. She nearly wrenched her hands from Fluffy, but a tightness in her gut screamed at her to trust the process. To let it continue. She did.

The rain was coming down so fast and hard that it coated her glasses, making it difficult for her to see, but from what she could tell, the animal’s injuries looked like they were getting better. She didn’t dare lift her hands to wipe her glasses for fear whatever was happening would stop.

Rain slid down her lenses, but even through the streaks of water she could see the wounds weren’t just clotting, they were knitting. Bone to bone. Muscle to muscle. Skin to skin. Fur to fur.

There was a tugging in her palm followed by a sharp burning sensation. She kept her hands where they were, ignoring the bite of pain. The feeling of being charged with static energy lessened, the charge dissipating.

Exhaustion hit her like a ton of bricks, making her feel as if she’d run a marathon. She slumped forward, her body partially covering the animal’s.