Page 92 of Sass in the Grass

“Honey, I know that, and True and Bernie, they know what to do. They’ll get everyone inside and they have rifles to protect the place. I’m going to make sure they’re okay. You stay here where you’ll be safe.”

“Excuse me?” he screamed. “You were the one that said never go around alone, especially if you think a predator is around! And you’re going alone?”

Cherokee was dumbfounded as Jovian got out of the bed and steeled himself to stop from shaking. “Let’s go. You have a gun for me?”

“You don’t know what to do with a gun, Jovian.”

“Point and shoot, right?”

“You’re not getting a gun, and you’re staying here!”

Jovian’s hands curled into fists at his side. “Punish me. Put me in a corner for three fucking days, I don’t care, but you arenotgoing alone! I may be scared out of my head, but I love you andI’m not letting you go alone,” he stated, then pushed past him and went to the kitchen.

Cherokee followed him once his shock waned some and found him grabbing knives from the block. “Three should be good,” he said.

Cherokee grabbed his arms and said, “Baby…I love you, too.”

“We haven’t got time for that!God!Let’s go!”

If the moment wasn’t so serious, he would have laughed like he’d lost his mind, but he grabbed Jovian by the back of the neck and kept him from leaving the kitchen. “No knives. If the damn cougar got that close, you wouldn’t have time to use them. Just stay behind me.”

“Fine, but don’t you dare get hurt, Cherokee Dixon! I won’t have it!”

“Yes, sir, Jovian. I live to serve.”

They left after Cherokee retrieved his gun from under the bed and made sure he had plenty of ammunition.

Not that he wanted to kill the creature. As far as he was concerned, man was encroaching far too much on their homes and they had every right to take them back, but he also had a responsibility to the campers. He refused to let any of them get hurt. They’d been hurt enough.

They left, and instead of taking the trail, they followed the tracks of the mountain lion. The grass was still bent in some places where the hundred pound female he was thinking. The tracks were smaller than a male, although he knew it could be a young male. The pads were not wide enough to be a young male or adult male. Plus, the stride was closer than a male.

Moving slowly seemed to irritate Jovian. “Why aren’t we running to the camp?”

“Keep your voice down, Jovian,” Cherokee warned. “If we can catch up to the lion before it gets to the camp, that’s better, right? Besides, True and Bernie are good with a rifle, too.”

“Really? Drag queens?”

Cherokee turned to scowl at him. “I personally think they should all learn to use guns and carry them. Maybe there’d be less hate crimes against them.”

“Didn’t think of that.”

They continued on through some bushes and low trees, which had a few of the tiny twigs broken, but hanging on the bigger branches. “She went through here.”

“What if she’s, like, I don’t know, waiting for us?”

“She actually could be Jovian. It’s one reason I wanted you back at the cabin.”

“And if you got hurt, how would anyone know?”

“I get it, baby. Just keep your head on a swivel and know everything around you, like I taught you guys in class.”

Cherokee knew the agents wouldn’t be there in time to head off the mountain lion before it could get to the camp. If he had to, he’d kill it, but he hoped he didn’t have to. They were beautiful creatures, mountain lions. They had every right to exist as he did.

The tracks stopped once they arrived at a rock floor that went twenty feet across. On the other side of it, Cherokee looked around the area to pick up the trail of the mountain lion, but he didn’t find it right off. “What the hell?”

“What?”

“I can’t find her. It’s like she got here and disappeared.”

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