Caught by the Cougar

  Copyright © 2020 Aliyah Burke

  Cover illustration copyright © studioenp

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage and retrieval system-except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review to be printed in a magazine, newspaper, or on the Web-without permission in writing from the publisher or author. The unauthorized replication or allocation of any copyrighted work is illegal. File sharing is an international crime, prosecuted by the United States Department of Justice and the United States Border Patrol, Division of Cyber Crimes, in partnership with Interpol. Copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is punishable by up to five years in federal prison, a fine of $250,000 per reported instance, and seizure of computers.

  This book is a work of fiction. All characters, places and events are from the author’s imagination and should not be confused with fact. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, events or places is coincidental. All trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks, and registered service marks are the property of their respective owners and are used herein for identification purposes only.

  Published by: Sensual Romance Publishing

  Caught by the Cougar

  By

  Aliyah Burke

  Blurb for Caught by the Cougar

  He lost her once before. This time he’s playing for keeps.

  Harrison McBrodie misses his mate. She’s unaware of what she is to him, but this time, he will make sure she knows. Problem is, their past is complicated and when the truth is revealed she may want nothing to do with him. It’s a chance he has to take.

  Lissa Darque, loves her pit crew job. One night at a party and everything she knew and trusted comes crashing down around her. A man from her past makes another appearance and in the process of reawakening memories she no longer wanted, he stirs something else within her. When the smoke settles, will she allow herself to be Caught by the Cougar?

  Dedication

  To Nina. I miss you every day.

  Table of Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  About the Author

  Additional Books by Aliyah Burke

  Chapter One

  Harrison McBrodie snarled at the man dying before him. As he stood over the pitiful excuse for a human, he allowed his claws of his left hand to retreat within as the remaining blood dripped from them. He edged on feral but the training that had been drilled, beaten, shocked, and worse into him existed and he didn’t go over the edge.

  Granted he had taken far too much joy with this kill than he should have, however, that was also a fact he didn’t give a damn about. His mission had been to find and destroy. He had done so.

  “Who are you?” The words wouldn’t have been audible for a human, but he was far from human. Even amongst the shifter world he was considered to be exceptional. Sure, a freak, but still exceptional with his enhanced abilities.

  “Does it matter to you? Really? Knowing me is not going to sway your outcome for any reason. You are dying, I will not lift a finger to help you survive. You made your grave and you can lie there rotting away for all the fucks I give.”

  “If that fucker sent you after me, I want to know.”

  “Who do you suppose sent me?”

  “Someone working for JHACKS.”

  “No.” Harrison turned and walked away.

  “Wait.”

  He wasn’t sure what had turned him back, what it was about that single plea that burrowed below the cold assassin and solider shell he wore so well. Whatever the reason, he turned back.

  “What?”

  “I didn’t betray them. No matter what they said. Please. Do not let them kill my daughter.”

  “I do not concern myself with your issues. You should not have done whatever it was that initiated the kill order.”

  The man coughed up blood and spat. “What I did? I refused to rape a woman and kill her baby. All in the name of ‘research’ on what it would do to a shifter.” He lay back, his energy gone. “I protected one of your kind.”

  Within the next breath, his life ended. The actual killing didn’t bother him and for the most part, he couldn’t care less who they directed him at and let him loose. That was, after all, what he had been created for. There was no balance of wrong or right within him. Orders were orders and they were the law he followed.

  Yet, still he lingered.

  The man’s hands relaxed and with the speed of his kind, he snatched the image from his hand before it could flutter away in the night wind. The photo was not new, edges bent and worn like the man had touched them a lot. The back had three things written on it.

  Lissa Darque NOLA

  That was it. No year nothing more specific.

  Turning it to see the image, his heart kicked hard. The intensity more extreme than any torture he’d gone through prior could be. His cat screamed with ferocity and he flexed his hand, only to immediately relax it, needing the image to be unruined further.

  He touched the comm in his ear. “Done. I will be back in a week.” Removing it, he crushed it under the heel of his combat boot as he walked away from the dead man, one destination in mind.

  New Orleans.

  Present Day

  “You sure you don’t need me to stay and make sure you’re okay Jeremey?” Harrison questioned his sibling as the man lay flat on his stomach on the couch. A nasty injury festering on his shoulder.

  “That implies I am unable to do my job.”

  Harrison turned to smile at the petite woman who just walked in, snapping gloves on her hands as she moved with efficient strides.

  Sending her a placating smile, he shrugged and stepped out of her way. “I have every faith in you, Jayme. It’s this ass I have concerns over.”

  Jeremy flipped him off.

  “I’m starting to think you all should put me on retainer as often as you are calling me to come take care of you in one way or another. It’s like you forget I have another job and cannot just be leaving patients and coming to wherever you are and patching you up.” She bent over the puma shifter. “And why am I here? We know you can heal yourself.”

  “Would you believe we missed you? I mean, I still get all hot and bothered about being around you in that cave when we first met.”

  Jeremy snorted with laughter.

  “Get out Harrison before she is offended. Andrew is not going to be happy if you pissed off his friend.”

  At the dark rumblings of his brother, Cian, he sighed dramatically and held her gaze.

  She finished stitching Jeremy up and tossed her hair before glancing over her shoulder at the brooding lion shifter. “You’re right. Because heaven forbid the word sex is mentioned around me. I’m just a troll and never would be considered worthy of having any. Go away and let us talk about sex if we want to. Joy sucker.” She winked at Harrison and he struggled not to laugh aloud at the soured expression in his brother’s face.

  Instead of leaving, he crossed his arms and sat.

  She was tender with Jeremy and turned to Harrison, himself. “Are you okay? Anything I need to fix?”

  Harrison waggled his eyebrows at her, and her smile made him send one back to her. “I’m good, beautiful. Thank you. What about you Cian?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Good, because with you, I would have chucked a bottle of antiseptic probably right at your head. I am going to see about Kelly once more. See you at dinner.” She patted Harrision’s forearm and walked away.

  Even though his eyes trailed her as he admired her beauty, he knew she wasn’t the one for him. No matter how he wished it. No, he was forever tied to the daughter of the man he’d killed without mercy.

  αβ

  Lissa Darque hurdled the barrier in front of her before she made her way to the celebrating group. They’d won today, but it was hard fought and close race. The driver turned and smiled at her.

  “Lissa!”

  Lifting her hand in acknowledgement of him, she gave him a thumbs up. His brilliant smile was common and placed all over local billboards. Brad Zardian, champion racer and hometown NOLA boy. She’d come with him from the transition from the amateur to the national spotlight. His high money sponsors had wanted him to replace her, but he refused.

  Unzipping her jacket, she adjusted her blue and white kerchief keeping her hair out of her eyes, and stopping the sweat that owned her, she welcomed the breeze.

  While not quite the same as NOLA heat and humidity, Charlotte NC held her own very well. It was sweltering on the track and with the added layers she wore for protection, some days she truly was miserable.

  But this life was the one she knew and loved. The one thing she didn’t do was celebrate in the limelight with the team. She got and took enough shit for being a black woman on a pit crew. To have them scrounge into her past because she allowed the star to wrap his arms around her, wasn’t an option.

  Personally, one of her favorite times was after the race. Just to stand there and embrace the silence. Sometimes she could still feel the rumbling of the cars as they streaked past. The silence, to her, wasn’t really silent. Standing there, she could hear the roar from drivers long past. Feel the rumble.

&nb

sp; It was fucking magic.

  Shaking her head, she made her way Away from the track bypassing everyone.

  With a nod to the guard at the gate she stepped out and pulled up in amazement. It was not often there was a hummer limo out front. Much less two of them.

  People took photographs and she just rolled her eyes. The pomp and circumstance didn’t impress her in the slightest.

  I know all to well how fast it can vanish.

  Pulling her hat from her back pocket, snapped it and put it on her head. The backdoor of the front limo opened.

  “Miss Darque.”

  She turned back, mistrust flaring. No one called her that. A long legged blonde stepped out, her shoes, for sure to be worth more than Lissa’s entire outfit. Not that her team tee, jeans, and Converse were all that expensive, but still.

  Lissa didn’t respond just stood there. Not a lot of people continued to pay attention once they realized it was someone for her and not Brad. Still a few contoured to watch and because of that, she held her emotions in check.

  “My name is Sugar Beaumont.”

  Of course it is.

  “I work for Mr. Tendare.” She held out a card

  Lissa took it without taking her gaze from Sugar. She waited.

  “Okay. He would like to meet you.”

  “Why?”

  “I cannot speak to chat. I was told to find you and extend the invite. He owns a racing business.”

  At least she didn’t lie.

  Lissa knew the name. An up and coming force in the racing world.

  “What I do know and what I can tell you is he is having a social gathering tonight and would love to have you and Mr. Zardian there.” She held up a hand. “Before you go there. This is not a ploy to get to meet Mr. Zardian. He is just aware you do not go places without him.”

  God put that made her sound either unable to be trusted on her own or as a piece of property.

  She knew the whispers of how she was Brad’s side piece.

  “We also know you are suspicious of people using you to get to Mr. Zardian. It is you he wants to speak with.” She smiled and walked away. “Hope to see you there,” she called out over her shoulder seconds before she slid back into the hummer.

  Pausing by her vehicle, she unlocked the door but paused. Something was off. Wrong.

  Once she climbed in, she headed off in a different direction from the hotel.

  Her phone rang. And she answered without looking, well aware who it was.

  “You’re not here and your locator is heading away.”

  “Hello to you too. Great win.”

  “Don’t be nice when I’m yelling.”

  “You’re always yelling and no it’s not part of your charm.”

  “Everything is part of my charm.” He closed out the surrounding noises. “What’s going on?”

  She understood his concern, truly she did. But she didn’t need a brother double checking her every move. I’m no longer a little girl. Yet, in some ways she still was. There were still times she wished for her parents, and had nightmares, all of it. Somedays she wanted, and did, to curl up in a ball by the window and watch the storms as they moved by.

  “I was approached by someone for Mr. Tendare.” She deliberately left off the name Sugar Beaumont well aware Brad wouldn’t be able to leave it alone.

  “That fucker is trying to poach you from me,” he growled.

  “I was invited to a social thing tonight. We both were.”

  “No.”

  It was so firm and final, for a moment it took her aback. Brad could be hardheaded and stubborn; it was part of what made him such a damn good driver. But for him to flat out refuse her to do something, regardless if that had been her initial thought, made her bristle in anger.

  “Excuse me?” Her tone dropped and she flexed her fingers on the wheel as she slowed to make a left hand turn. “I was invited on my own, I don’t have to bring you.”

  “You’re not going.”

  In that second, she made up her mind. “Yes. I am.”

  Maybe it was time for her to get out from his shadow, to be more than the sidepiece of the all to famous Brad Zardian. To prove to everyone that a black girl could more than do her job on a pit crew and didn’t to get favors to be and stay there.

  “No fucking way, Lissa.”

  “I love you, Brad, but you are not my father and you honestly cannot tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m fucking twenty-three.”

  “I know how old you are, Christ. We grew up in the same household.”

  Basically.

  “What’s so wrong with me going, I didn’t say I was agreeing to anything but why not go and see.”

  “They’re using you to get to me. I don’t want to be there, so you’re not going.”

  And there was the arrogance she was used to. The one that cut her each time she heard it but managed to keep her big girl panties on, ignoring it. Keeping that fucking smile in place to show the world, nothing could hurt her. And the same one that made her wish she had her own place in the world that wasn’t in his shadow.

  “Then don’t go. I am.” She ended the call, blinking away the gathering tears.

  What the fuck is wrong with me? I’m too damn emotional lately. And it was true, everything seemed to set her off and not in a good way. Anger rose quickly and sometimes nearly out of control. Tears arrived, unwanted, at the drop of a hat. She couldn’t win for anything.

  Her phone rang repeatedly but she ignored it. He’d show up soon enough using the locator on her phone. It was his way but right now, right now, she needed to shop for this social event tonight.

  Chapter Two

  Harrison nearly came in his pants the second he scented her. He did, the moment he saw her.

  It had been so fucking long since he laid eyes on his woman, it was staggering.

  Thankfully, for both of them she was not wearing an overly revealing outfit or he would have dragged her out of there. He wouldn’t have given a fuck what her thoughts on that would have been.

  Unlike a lot of the women there, she wore a simple black dress. Nearly understated as if she were trying to blend in.

  He needed that to happen. His feline was furious wanting her, beneath him. Submitting.

  Draining the rest of his drink, he handed it off to a passing waiter. There was a lot of money in this room. Beauty and looks many were envious of. He didn’t give a damn.

  His focus was on his woman. Solely. He snarled low as the host moved toward her. The man wanted her. And with more than in a profession way. Razor sharp fangs slid unchecked from his gums and he coughed, covering his mouth and made sure they receded.

  Only after that did he continue crossing the room to her. There was no way to miss the irritation that flashed in the man’s gaze. Harrison wanted to smirk, but he controlled himself. With difficulty.

  He reached her first and had to heel in his cat once more who would kill without hesitation to keep men aware from his mate. She reached his shoulder and he was looking forward to pulling her tight and sampling her lips. For starters.

  “Ms. Dupree.”

  Lissa glanced at him and this time his cat’s reaction was from anger. No longer did she have the incredible different colored eyes, that had snared him from the first time he had been introduced to her likeness in the photo. Sure, they were beautiful but only brown, not one brown with amber flecks and one grayish-green.

  “Yes?”

  He inched one hand in his pocket and pushed a claw unto his leg, need to touch overwhelming him. Touch her. Brand her. Claim her.

  “My name is Harrison McBrodie.”

  No flash of recognition.

  “Have we met?”

  He approved how she faced him personally to speak one on one.

  Only every night in my dreams.

  “No. I would—”

  “Ms. Dupree. Thank you for coming,” Mr. Tendare interrupted.

  Harrison pushed in another claw. There was no explanation for this behavior of his. He had been built and programmed to follow orders. To not get involved and lose his cool. This little slip of a woman tossed that strict, never-wavering control out the nearest door.

  “I appreciate the invitation, Mr. Tendare. You throw a lovely party.’’

  His grin set Harrison’s teeth on edge. Mr. Tendare flicked a glance at him, a tiny frown marred his features ever so briefly.

 

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