Page 15 of A Cougar's Kiss
Chapter 6
It was evening when the Tracer stopped, and Keller came around to open her door. Shya stepped out on her own but when she reached back to grab her bag, Keller beat her to the punch. He crossed the strap over his body and pushed the bulk behind him before he started walking. Gold and Kyss had also gotten out and were now walking in the same direction as Keller. Shya closed the door and fell into step behind them.
They’d traveled south for hours before she fell asleep. She’d awakened about two hours ago and had struggled to figure out where they were. The walls of the tunnels all looked the same, dark rocky portions mixed with smooth sections that were a result of construction on Oasis. There’d also been spots that were still compacted with reddish-orange clay. None of that told her where they were, and she had no plans to ask. Nobody else was talking and she wasn’t going to be the one to start the conversation with questions.
Her boots clamored over muddy ground for more than a mile, the scent in the air shifting from the pure oxygenated air that was filtered into Oasis to a pungent earthy scent that made her nose wrinkle. She kept going, stopping or speaking, weren’t options. If Keller and his team were pressing forward, then so could she.
They came to a steel door with what looked like a steering wheel in its center. Gold leaned his beefy shoulder against it and tapped his finger over invisible buttons that she only noted when the green lights appeared on the surface at his touch. There was a loud sound, like something heavy moving, sliding away and then slamming to its new location. Gold turned that wheel and the door bounced back from the wall.
“Stay right behind me. Watch your step and don’t stop.”
Keller snapped the words at her with only a quick look over his shoulder. She nodded and did exactly what he said, taking the slippery steep steps one at a time, praying she didn’t fall. They were going higher and higher and she knew they would not stop until they were above ground. Her heart pounded heavily in her chest, not because she was out of breath, but because she was nervous about getting to the top.
While Nisa had made a point of sneaking above ground as often as she could, Shya had only made the trek twice before. She told herself that it wasn’t fear that kept her in Oasis, but loyalty to her parents and everyone else there that presumed to know what was best for her. In the last year she’d begun to accept that fear had, in fact, been the driving force. She wasn’t going to let that stop her now. Gold pushed through the next door as well, Kyss following right behind him and she was behind Kyss. Cool night air breezed down into the tunnel where she still stood on the steps and an unfamiliar scent filled her nostrils.
It was fresh and damp like rain. Sometimes when there were torrential storms above ground, they could smell the rain in Oasis as the moisture seeped deep into the earth. There were other scents mixed with the freshness, so many it felt like she was being bombarded. Animals were close, the scent of their dander and excrement swirling through the air. Grass and other types of vegetation, an almost medicinal-type scent that reminded her of her medicine pouch tucked into the bottom of her duffel bag. And people, humans with a myriad of emotions that produced its own funnel of aromas. She coughed at the intensity and her feet froze on the last step.
Her heart was pounding now, fingers going still at her sides. Only the scents continued to move, swirling up through her nostrils and sifting throughout her body, like a foreign body was invading her own. She couldn’t stop it and she couldn’t move to get away. Her eyes watered with the struggle and her cat hissed as the pressure turned into pain and her limbs screamed against the exertion.
“Keep going.”
She could hear his voice even though it sounded as if it were coming through a funnel.
“Take the next step, Shya. There’s no turning back.”
He continued to talk and she held on to each word spoken in that gruff but deep and resonating tone he always used. She knew that voice and the man it belonged to. Keller hadn’t hurt her last night. He’d given her everything she ever wanted without even knowing what she’d desired. Even earlier today, telling her to meet him, looking at her with only belief in his eyes, had encouraged her when she was certain he had no clue what she’d done.
“I’m right behind you, Shya.”
She blinked and coughed again as the tears welling in her eyes almost fell. She didn’t want to cry. Not here and not now, not because the fear she’d kept compartmentalized was now breaking free.
“Take a deep breath and move your foot to the next step. You can do it.”
She could.
On the count of three—counting always worked to calm her down—she inhaled as deeply as she could. On the exhale she willed her foot to move and it did, lifting until it rested on that next step. Repeating the process, she made it through those last four steps and extended her hand to accept Gold’s outstretched one.
He pulled her through the door using only a fraction of the strength she knew he possessed, and just like that Shya was above ground. Her booted feet were on a grassy surface, her gaze darting around in an attempt to take in everything at once.
The indigo sky above and more grass stretched ahead in the immediate distance. A body of water was behind them, cars in the distance, their tires whizzing over the concrete.
Keller appeared in front of her and she looked up at him. His chin had some stubble and she wondered if he grew a beard would it be the same dusky brown hue of the hair on his head. There was a gold clip at the top of his ear and she wanted to touch it, to see if it felt cool and smooth like the earrings she wore. The expanse of his chest blocked her view, but she was happy with what she could see. He no longer wore the STT uniform, but had on a white t-shirt fitted tight to his body that was tucked neatly into dark jeans. His jacket was black and he wore a thin gold chain around his neck. Her heartbeat had only slowed slightly but the trepidation she was feeling while on those stairs had now been replaced by something a bit more primal.
“We’ve got cars over here. You gonna be okay to walk to them?” he asked her as if he had no clue that she was looking at him in a perpetual state of arousal.
She nodded. “Yeah, I can walk.” What did he think she was an invalid?
Well, when she took the first two steps and felt her joints creaking with the effort, she almost announced what everyone in Oasis already knew—she was sickly. But did Keller know? How could he? He didn’t socialize with anyone down there, except apparently Gold and Kyss. The cheetah knew about Shya’s condition because she’d helped her that night Decan and Nisa brought Cole back.
As if the other cat could hear her thoughts, Kyss came over to stand beside her. “She’ll be okay once she gets in the car and can have a seat. But as soon as we get to our destination she’s gotta eat and rest.”
The instructions were given with a pointed glare toward Keller. He’d responded with a silent frown.
“Let’s go,” he said and began walking.
Shya figured he was talking to her because Kyss didn’t look like she took orders from anyone. Shya wasn’t in the mood to accept orders either, but Kyss was right, she did need to sit down and find something to eat. And that, she didn’t think had anything to do with her condition. She’d been sitting in that Tracer for almost ten hours and hadn’t eaten anything but two boiled eggs for breakfast hours before that. Her blood sugar was most definitely low and the anxiety of coming above ground had almost pushed her right over the edge.
She resumed taking those deep breaths until she made it to the car and then slipped into the back seat. Laying her head back she tried more calming breaths only to have them interrupted when Keller joined her on the seat.
