Chapter Twenty-One

Nomad

No hint of fear came through in Cosmo's communication, only genuine concern about his discovery, Nomad scanned the trees surrounding the large one in the middle of the forest. It was easy now to see past the flurry of feathers, shimmery weblike nets, and entrails; all the others guarded that tree.

He saw Harley's cat prowl around the back of the tree where Cosmo was. His tiny body was barely visible as Nomad did as Cosmo requested and in stealth mode crept along branches, listening and watching for any remaining owls who could attack.

Before his eyes, he witnessed Cosmo shift back into his human form, his hands reaching for blades and Nomad's heart slammed against his ribs as ‘the thing' neither human nor bird leapt at Cosmo. The enormous claws at the end of odd-shaped hands extended out, its range beyond anything Nomad had seen before.

Cosmo evaded, but only just as he threw one of his knives and missed because of the speed of ‘the thing' for want of a better word to call it.

Stealth, he cautioned his cat, who wanted to get Cosmo away from what was making his heckles rise. As he got closer, he noticed Cosmo was distracting the thing, giving them time to attack.

But each second that passed, and every swing at Cosmo with those claws, took a year off Nomad's life. His relief at seeing Harley reach Cosmo first was immense until ‘the things' head spun in a full circle. More than three hundred and sixty degrees because it settled back in position without turning its head back. How was that even possible?

He didn't have time to process an answer when that spin meant he'd seen Harley.

He's seen you, Nomad warned, both mates creeping ever closer.

Cosmo who darted back and did a spin mid-air to land on a branch, reached for another knife only for his hand to come away empty.

Shit.

That one word sent chills through Nomad as he sensed the second Cosmo decided claws were his only option.

Fuck! Cosmo be careful, he shouted, unable to hold back his panic.

His little kitty didn't reply, he shifted mid-air and leapt at the thing.

Nomad gauged the remaining distance as Cosmo screeched and flopped towards the ground, thumping off branches. He shut out the pain, focusing on the thing which got distracted by Cosmo's fall, jumping the gap, rising his front paws, extending his claws. His hind legs hit a branch, and he swiped at the eye on the side where Harley was approaching from. It squawked a chilling sound, nothing like an owl. Blood trickled down its feathered cheek as Harley came at him with a furious roar.

Harley

His cat's fury was so wild that Harley had lost any chance of being aware as they attacked whatever was housed in the tree. They clawed at flesh and feathers, chewing on bone, hearing the satisfying crunch as they tore the monster to pieces.

Leave one eye.

It flittered through, but he was crazy with the need to reduce this monster to nothing for daring to hurt—kill their mate.

A small hand touched his flank, smoothed down his blood smattered fur. "Come on Daddy, stop, he's dead. I need you."

The sound of Cosmo's voice penetrated like nothing else could have, his large head, fangs dripping with blood, swung toward where he heard Cosmo. There he stood quivering, streaked with dirt, blood and scat. Harley didn't need to push at his cat to let go when he was as desperate to have Harley hold him in his arms. To know that he was indeed alive and not dead like they'd thought.

He didn't look at the mess he'd left in the tree hollow as he shifted, wiping at his mouth with the back of his dirty arm. "I thought…"

Nomad was there, his arms wrapping around them both, shuddering. "He did a staged fall to distract the thing so we could have the element of surprise and be furious enough to kill it." Harley noted exactly how unhappy Nomad was at Cosmo for doing such a thing.

Only right then he was more interested in touching his mate. Reassuring himself, he was safe after what he'd witnessed. He buried his nose in Cosmo's bloody hair and held on. "We can talk about your tactics after. "

"It worked, didn't it," Cosmo said gruffly, leaning into Harley's touch, his body trembling as much as Nomad's… as his was.

"How many times did you shift?" he asked, his concern rising once more when he and Nomad calmed, but Cosmo continued to shake uncontrollably.

"A few," he muttered into Harley's chest.

He didn't sigh, because what was the point? "We should have brought some damn snacks in a pack and hidden it for the journey home."

"You can carry me home if it makes you feel any better." He made a whining noise in the back of his throat as he shifted slightly against them. "I think I broke a rib."

Harley released a distressed sigh, just as Nomad did. They looked at each other over the top of Cosmo's bloody hair. "I'll shift first, you put him on my back, then shift. It will be the fastest way to get him back to the house."

"Not before we collect the eyes," Cosmo said sweetly. "We wouldn't want all our hard work to be for nothing, Daddy, now would we?"

The sunny smile coming from a mouth bloody at the edges was macabre and just a little funny when he flashed his teeth.

Harley laughed, it was that or spank his mate for his bratiness. "Come on then, let's get what we came for."

Harley then turned back to the shredded pile of flesh and broken bones behind him, his amusement disappearing. "What the fuck was that thing? "

Cosmo

Exhausted.

That was all Cosmo felt as he stood from cutting out the final eye in his section. When they'd killed the mutant whatever, the few remaining owls had fled, leaving their fallen to the cats to do with what they wanted. They took all the eyes rather than waste time checking which held the devices. Who'd put them there, how they were implanted, why the owls had allowed it, or even if they'd had a choice were of little concern to them at this point.

Cosmo ached.

His broken rib wouldn't heal without food, so it throbbed each time he took a breath, every movement fraught with frustration as he became forced to move slower when all he really wanted was to hurry the hell up and get home where there was a hot shower, food and his mates to hold him.

He was aware of their fury and fear over his staged fall and knew without a shadow of a doubt that his rear end was going to get a spanking the moment he healed enough for his Daddies to give him one. The only question was whether it would come from Daddy Nomad again, or if Daddy Harley would spank him, too.

In the spur of the moment, with no time to plan fully, let alone give much of a warning, he'd done the only thing he could think to do before the mutant managed to harm one of them. When its head swiveled all the way around, Cosmo knew that holding its attention was the only way to give his mates a chance to tear it apart. He'd intended to do that with his blades. He'd expended so many, and with no time to retrieve them before approaching that tree, for the first time in his career he'd lost count of how many he'd used.

Now though, he looked for the glint of light on scattered metal and gathered the ones that he could. To his right, he saw Daddy Nomad finish with the owls in his section, and projected a thought to him, too weary to even speak .

Please help pick up my knives, Daddy.

Only the ones easy to spot. The rest will have to be replaced, cutie, we need to get you home before you pass out on us.

He was right and now that the adrenaline had worn off, he was willing to accept that answer, knowing all Daddy wanted was to tend to him until he was better again.

One step and he reached one of his stars, only to get forced to go to his knees rather than bend over to retrieve it.

Blowing out a long breath, he took a moment to rest with his head hanging low and one hand on the ground before rising unsteadily to his feet and going after the next one.

At least his blow gun darts would be easy enough to retrieve. All but one had landed true to where Cosmo had aimed it into owl's eyes, while the one errant one had still struck its target, embedding itself in an owl's throat and leaving him choking on the poison.

His suit had served its purpose, but now he was sweaty beneath the metal and the sunbeams that sliced through the trees heated the metal whenever it touched it, leaving Cosmo to weave between the rays as he sought the next blade.

Hunger gnawed at him, but thirst did too, his lips parted, caked with dried blood, as he panted a little, even in human form. A blade entangled in intestines proved slippery and he lost his hold when he tried to grasp it, slipping in the viscera and crashing face first across the corpse.

The feathers smelled of blood and cedar with a hint of pine, an almost comforting aroma to his cat, who just wanted to sleep for a little while. Feathers were soft too, like a poofy pillow, or maybe that was just his brain shutting down. Caught between getting to his feet and getting lost in the urge to sleep, Cosmo finally did what his kitty wanted and closed his eyes, seeking escape from the pain and exhaustion.