Saving the White Cougar by Terry Spear

Chapter 6

Later that afternoon, Stella had to take a nap. She wished she hadn't had to, because she wanted to see Ted and the others doing their cowboy work. But she could see why the doctors had wanted to keep her at the clinic another day. She needed the rest and she wanted to be recuperated enough to go to work on Tuesday.

"You call us," Ted said, giving her his phone number and the Havertons'. Not Kolby's, she noticed. "When you feel up to it, you can come out and watch us."

She smiled. "Thanks, I'd like that." She hadn't been expecting Koda and Zula, the Australian shepherds, to join her in the guest room. She thought they should have been out with the guys, working cattle or something. But they must have entered through the cougar door and had come to see her.

She smiled at them. "What are the two of you doing in here? Hiding from work?" She thought of making them go outside and then she would lock the cougar door, if she had to, but they curled up next to her bed and they were so cute, she couldn't make them. She loved animals, loved dogs and cats, though her adoptive parents wouldn't let her have any growing up. And she couldn't have them at her apartment—no pets allowed. But whenever she would go to a park, she had to admire pet owners' dogs, talk to them, and pet them, if she could.

She hoped the dogs wouldn't get into trouble. She figured Ted wouldn't be too upset with her if he learned where they were. And she hadn't made them leave the bunkhouse.

It wasn't long after she laid down that she was sound asleep and dreaming about a beautiful day—though she thought she heard Ted chuckle softly under his breath, the dogs stir, but then he said, "Stay," and left the guest room. She thought that had happened, unless she was just dreaming it. She couldn't open her eyes and look for anything, she was so tired, and then her worst nightmare returned—hunters with her in their sights as she ran as a white cougar, up on top of the cliffs, down the other side, and racing through the tall meadow grasses for her life.

* * *

Ted wasglad Stella had decided to stay with them for a couple of days, but after lunch, she appeared so worn out, it had worried him. Maybe they'd pushed her a little too much. He didn’t want to have to return her to the clinic, but he would, if he thought she needed further medical care.

He couldn't believe Koda and Zula had sneaked off to be with her. Well, sneak wasn't exactly the word he should use to describe their behavior. When Ted was sick and in bed during the day, they would curl up next to his bed, so it appeared they'd taken her in as one of their pack too. Which he thought was cute. The funniest thing was when he went looking for them, and Kolby had pointed to the bunkhouse, Ted had expected to see Stella awake and petting them, and not sleeping while they slept beside her bed. He wondered if she had known they were in there. They both raised their heads to acknowledge him, waiting for a command, and he whispered the command, "Stay," and motioned with his hand to emphasize he meant it. Then he left the guest room and went outside where Kolby was mounted and waiting for him to help with the cattle.

"What were Koda and Zula doing?" Kolby asked.

Ted smiled. "Sleeping next to the bed where Stella was sound asleep."

Kolby glanced back at the bunkhouse as Ted mounted his horse. "And you didn't make them come with you?"

"Nah, they have a job. They're protecting Stella. You know how it is if either of us get sick or injured. They stay with whoever is bedridden."

Kolby smiled. "You're a pushover when it comes to Stella."

"Isn't it true that they come to sympathize with us when we’re sick?" Ted asked as they rode off together.

"Yeah, I hate to admit it, but you're right."

* * *

Later,Ted was raking up the yard to make a pile of yellow, orange, and red leaves for the kids to play in. Sometimes work was just for fun. The kids all had their miniature rakes out. The rakes were adult quality with wooden handles and metal teeth, but kid-sized and the kids loved them. There was no time like the present to teach kids how to clean up things, but of course, they were going to play in the pile of leaves afterward, so that kind of ruined the notion of "cleaning up" the yard.

The dogs had left the house to potty and were snapping at the leaves, every time Ted tossed a big pile of them on the mountain he was building.

Still, it was one of his favorite fall adventures he played with the kids since they were preschoolers. He might be all business when he was teaching new ranch hands the ropes, but when he had a moment to play with the kids, he was doing it. And Tracey appreciated it. He noticed that not only was Kolby watching him, but the new hands were too. The one was a sixteen-year-old car thief, Jasper Holliday, that the CSF agent, Chet Kensington, brought to Yuma Town to face the consequences of his reckless behavior for stealing cars, and subsequently he was now working at the ranch as a hand, closely supervised by everyone.

Chet raised his brows at the new ranch hands as if to say—don't you have a job to do? But they were getting too big a kick out of seeing this other side of him. Just as he fell into the leaves and the kids pounced on him—instead of picking their own part of the leave pile to dive in, he saw Stella watching him and smiling. The dogs were barking and in on the muddle with them right away.

He chuckled. Caught in the act. He got out of the leaves and brushed them off his clothes, then headed over to see Stella, handing the rake to Kolby on the way there. "Teach the other ranch hands how to rake, will you?"

Kolby laughed. "I didn't ever think you'd let me play in the leaves with the kids."

Ted smiled and joined Stella on the porch.

"Hey, you guys, believe me, this is a new side of Ted you rarely see. Enjoy it while you can," Kolby told the new ranch hands.

“How are you feeling?” Ted asked Stella, taking hold of her hand.

“I’m feeling much better, thank you.”

Earlier, he had been breaking a horse, which he figured she would have been more interested in seeing since she seemed fascinated with anything cowboy related. He would like to show off his ranching skills. Giving the four-year-old Haverton children pony rides or raking leaves wasn't exactly the kind of work real cowboys usually did.

Kolby was raking the leaves onto the pile and the other ranch hands were using the small rakes to help him. Tracey finally came outside to have the kids take their naps, and the guys were left to fill giant pumpkin bags full of leaves. At the end of Halloween, they would run the leaves through the mulcher and have mulch for Tracey’s gardens in the spring.

Stella smiled. "That was so cute. I saw you giving the kids horseback rides. They sure learn to ride young."

"Yeah, I was the same age when I learned how to ride. I never thought anything of it. It was like riding a bike." He smiled at her, glad she didn't think it was too silly of him. He enjoyed playing with the kids. And he was making them future riders, maybe even cowboys and cowgirls. Though they might go into their mom or dad's line of work—working at the U.S. Fish Wildlife Service or with the sheriff's department. Then he noticed Stella was not wearing the sling any longer.

"How is your arm? And your leg?" he asked.

“Oh, so much better. I needed to get some sleep. Now I feel so much better.”

"Good. How do you feel about us going for a ride? Have you ever ridden?"

"Yes, just on a trail horse on one of those hour-long trips."

"Then I'm going to have to make a cowgirl out of you."

She smiled.

"If you think you can ride. I'll help you up on the horse and then we can take a short trip. I don't want you to overdo it, but if you want to, I'd love to take you out for a little ride."

"I'd love it."

"Okay." He got a couple of horses saddled for them and helped Stella onto the smaller of the two. “Mine is a blue dun appaloosa named Pablo. And the chestnut appaloosa you’re riding is Celestina. They’re great for beginners and very gentle.”

Koda and Zula were prancing around outside the stables and he knew they wanted to run with them.

"Do you mind taking the dogs with us? It's good exercise for them. I don't always take them, but they're always eager to go with me when I just take a ride for the pleasure of it."

"Yes, sure. I love the dogs. They're so energetic and fun to be with."

Then he mounted his horse, and he took her for a ride. He was done with his chores for the moment. It was time to play with the she-cat. Besides, this was one of the joys of working on a ranch. Riding.

"Come, Koda, Zula!" And the two dogs raced off to join them, running circles around each other, chasing off into the distance and then returning faithfully to their master.

They would be dead tired when they returned home like they always were when he took them on horseback rides.

"It's beautiful out here. I love it. I think it's safer riding a horse though, then running as a cougar," she said.

"It's normally very safe. I'll take you to the waterfalls, but if you get too tired, we'll turn back." He was glad Stella had been sleeping all this time, but he worried that maybe she should have stayed at the clinic if she was still so worn out from her wounds.

"I can make it. I had seen it on a map of the area and had planned to see it before I was shot."

“I’m still pissed off at the men who shot you.” Then he let out his breath and changed topics. “If you had made it to the falls, you would have smelled all the cougars that have been in the area.”

“And wondered what was up,” she said. “I doubt I would have connected them with the idea they were all shifters. How did you come to work here?" she asked.

"When I left home, I ended up at a human-run horse ranch and I worked there until Hal came to buy some horses from him to start his own ranch. Once I realized he was a cougar, I was eager to work for him as a ranch hand. I made sure Hal bought the best horses and got a fair price from my boss, Bob Johnson. I really appreciated Bob for giving me a job in the beginning after I left home. I knew my business when it came to taking care of horses on my dad's quarter horse ranch, Whispering Oaks Ranch. So I was a good hire for Bob, though he said I was a little rough around the edges—getting into fights with some of the other ranch hands—mostly due to my youth and being a cougar, and being from Texas—as if we didn’t know how to run a ranch there—instead of being from Colorado. I knew so much about the business and was always telling the other ranch hands how to do their jobs better. I didn't win a lot of points."

She laughed.

"Hal has eight-hundred prime acres of land. It's a cougar—and horses'—paradise. The cougars have parties here often. Great for weddings and all kinds of celebrations."

"That's a lot of acreage."

"Yeah, it's great for running as cougars. Everyone comes out here when they want to."

"And no hunters."

He smiled. "Not usually, right. But rattlesnakes, that's another story. We have to be on the lookout for them in the summer especially. Usually we can avoid them, but you were wounded and trying to keep out of the hunters' reach, so it's understandable that you were bitten. Normally, you would have been able to run so fast, dodge so quickly, you would have been fine."

"Yeah, I've never been bitten by a snake of any kind any time I've been out running as a cougar, so I'm sure that had all to do with it."

* * *

Stella was so excitedto be actually riding a horse beside Ted, and not on a trail horse that tried to knock her off at any chance he had. She loved seeing the mountains in the distance, the river, forest, acres of pastureland and off in the distance, she could see Rainbow Falls. "This is just beautiful."

"It is. I'll have to bring you here sometime when the sun is setting."

That was the great thing about being cougars and being able to see at night, though they would do better running as cougars then.

"As cougars?" she asked.

"Yeah, but once you're fully healed. Feeling better while resting is one thing, running and working the muscles that were injured is another."

"Right." She knew she would be sore after riding the horse too, since she hadn't ridden one in years. She remembered being sore that time.

They were drawing closer to the waterfalls and she decided if she continued to see Ted, she wanted to always come here. Just the sound of the water cascading down the rocks made her feel good. "Oh, I love this."

"Yeah, we all do. It's one of the favorite spots for romantic excursions and for families to get away and enjoy nature."

She laughed. "I bet the kids like splashing in the water."

"They do. We take turns bringing them here. We actually have Carver Falls also, near Lake Buchanan, where Deputy Sheriff Chase Buchanan and his mate, Shannon, own Pinyon Pines Cabin Resort. It's great for playing in too."

"I'll have to check it out sometime also."

Then they dismounted and he tied the horses to a tree branch.

She felt it was too cold to actually get out and swim or anything, especially with it being fall, the breeze whipping little white caps on the pond. If she hadn't been so recently injured, she would have stripped and shifted into her cougar and swam across to see the waterfall, stand under it, and check out the area behind it. In her fur coat, she would have been fine.

As if he knew what she was thinking, he put his arm around her waist and squeezed. "We can return here when you're all healed up and swim over there as cougars. In the summer, it's really a hot spot for cougars."

"I bet. It would be a lot of fun." Now this was the kind of place she was looking for. Though she wanted to climb the cliffs as a cougar and reach all the way to the top to see the world before her. That was all about being a cougar. Nobody could touch them there.

"And climbing. Once you're healed up. We could climb it as humans, but everyone prefers to climb it as cougars." He released her and picked up a flat stone and skimmed it across the pond. It skipped three times.

She tried it then and actually skipped a rock twice. She had never tried that before. Being around Ted, she was having lots of firsts, she realized.

Before it got too late, he helped her mount Celestina and then he mounted Pablo and they headed back to the bunkhouse.

"What would you like to eat? How about tacos? Enchiladas? Fajitas?" Ted asked.

"Steak fajitas?" Stella loved them. Whenever she ate at a Mexican restaurant, that's what she ordered. None of that hamburger fajita mixture. That was fine in tacos though.

"Yeah, sure, guacamole, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese, sauteed onions, and green and red bell peppers."

"You've got a deal." She smiled. "You're going to make me not want to return home."

"That's the whole idea."

"You're doing a great job of it." She'd never been around a guy who was so into wanting to make her feel welcome, special, that he enjoyed hanging out with her as much as she enjoyed hanging out with him.

The breeze swept across them and she was feeling a little chilly. She was glad they were returning to the bunkhouse. That's all she needed was to end up with a cold on top of everything else. Sure, they got over colds quicker than humans, but they could still get sick for a few days with them. And she certainly didn't want to catch a cold and then give it to Ted after all he'd done for her.

He saw her shiver, so he stopped his horse, and untied a blanket rolled up on the back of his saddle. Then he gave it to her. "I should have realized you might get cold as soon as the sun began to set. Sorry. You aren't really dressed to be running around out here at night."

She pulled the blanket around her shoulders and held on with one hand, holding the reins with the other.

When they returned to the ranch, he helped her dismount, and he showed her the horses in the stable. She enjoyed seeing all the horses that seemed eager to see her too as they poked their noses out to let her pet them, but then Ted said, “I’ve got some last-minute chores to do and once everything is taken care of, I’ll join you at the bunkhouse. Why don’t you go inside and get warmed up and rest? Watch some TV and take it easy. I’ll start the fajitas as soon as I’m done.”

“Do you want me to start them?” She didn’t want him to think he had to wait on her hand and foot.

“No, really, I’ve got it. I want you to rest. I know you don’t want to stay long here, and you’ll want to head back to work, so you need to be well-rested.”

Even so, he went inside and started a nice warm, cheery fire for her, and she loved the hominess of the place and curled up on the couch under a soft blanket.

“Okay, thanks, Ted.” She was chilled and tired, and she wouldn’t mind just cuddling up in a blanket and watching something—with him.

* * *

Later that nightwhen Ted was finished with his chores, glad Stella had done what the doctor had ordered—gotten some rest—he went inside the bunkhouse.

"Hey," he said, checking on her first before he showered and fixed dinner. "How do you feel?"

"Tired. I think I overdid it a bit. You were right in making me go inside to rest. Are you sure I can’t help you make dinner?"

"No. You just enjoy your movie.” He looked in the fridge. “Hmm, on second thought, how about I make us pork ribs, mashed potatoes, and spinach, if that sounds good to you. I don’t have any bell peppers or onions. I’ll have to grocery shop for the other items and fix the fajitas for you another time."

"Yeah, sure, that would be just perfect.”

Once he started the meal, he said, “I’m going to take a quick shower.” After his shower, the food was done, and he set it out on the dining room table and she joined him, setting out glasses of iced water for them.

"I'm sorry for the circumstances, but I'm glad you're here."

"I am too. Where is Kolby?" she asked.

"Eating up at the main house."

"So we can be alone?"

"Yeah. If he's dating—uhm, seeing a woman and wants to entertain here, I eat up at the main house, or eat in town. We try to give each other some space."

"That's so nice. It would make it difficult otherwise to have a relationship. Does Kolby have anyone special in his life yet?"

"He has dated. But he hasn't found the right woman yet."

They sat down to eat.

"The meal is delicious,” she said. “Thanks, for making it."

"You're so welcome. I want to keep seeing you."

She smiled. "I'd like that."

When they finished the meal, he cleaned the dishes, and they watched a western show, cuddling together and later having popcorn and hot cocoa before it was time to go to bed.

She decided she didn't want to sleep alone. She hadn't when Ted had stayed with her in the same clinic room. Maybe it wasn't the same as sleeping in the same bed, but she wanted that. Wanted to be with a cougar like him. "Can I stay with you?"

He smiled down at her. "Hell, yeah." He grabbed up her clothes and toiletries from the guest room and carried them into his room.