Big Cat Magic (Heart of the Cougar Book 11) Read online

  BIG CAT MAGIC

  HEART OF THE COUGAR

  BOOK 11

  TERRY SPEAR

  CONTENTS

  Synopsis for Big Cat Magic

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments

  Author Bio

  Also by Terry Spear

  PUBLISHED BY: Terry Spear

  Book Cover Art by Leigh Cover Designs

  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 any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the author, except for the inclusion of brief

  quotations in a review.

  Copyright ©2022 Terry Spear

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-63311-086-1

  Print ISBN: 978-1-63311-087-8

  Discover more about Terry Spear at: www.terryspear.com

  SYNOPSIS FOR BIG CAT MAGIC

  Where magic becomes reality.

  Rosalie Squire needs a place to raise her teenage stepbrother, Eric, away from civilized towns. She’s a cougar, he’s a snow leopard and a handful. She and her brother inherit a mansion that’s been abandoned for years. Inheritances from their parents and their dad’s cousin, the income from writing her popular spell caster novels, and sales from Eric’s fantasy artwork, when she can get him to focus on it, gives them the financial backing to manage the estate. Wild Ridge Mansion is near Yuma Town, is truly worthy of being called a haunted house, and it’s nearly Halloween!

  Cougar shifter Kolby Jones is busy working on his bosses’ horse ranch as a ranch hand near Yuma Town, when he swears he sees a snow leopard off in the distance. He knew he’d partied too much with the other ranch hands the night before in celebration of delivering a foal that day. He had too much work to do to chase phantoms of his imagination. But when he learns someone new has taken over the forsaken Wild Ridge Mansion just down the road from the Havertons’ ranch, he soon discovers a whole new world of mystery, magic, and mayhem.

  Thanks so much to Madeleine Gombert who loves my books and whose claim to fame is that she is my Biggest Fan Ever!! Love it! Thanks, Madeleine. You make my day!

  1

  “I’m going out!” Eric Squire said angrily to his stepsister, Rosalie, letting the door slam behind him on the way out of the Wild Ridge Mansion located near Yuma Town, Colorado.

  The mansion looked like a castle made of stones with one tower that reached four stories high. The rest of the building was two stories tall. At one time, Rosalie’s Great Uncle Max and Great Aunt Charity Squire had owned and managed it. When they died, they’d left it to an only son who was living in NYC who hadn’t wanted to leave the city to manage it. He’d kept it as an investment and paid the property taxes on the mansion, but once he’d passed on, he’d left it to Rosalie’s dad, his cousin. Sadly, her dad had died five years earlier—so Rosalie and her brother inherited it.

  She’d worried when Eric had slammed the door, it would fall off its hinges, but it seemed sturdy enough to withstand her brother’s anger. Every time she had seen the mansion when they had passed through the area on family trips, she knew it needed to be taken care of, loved like it had been at one time, and restored to its former glory. She never thought she had been related to the previous owners or that she and Eric would inherit it! She wanted to see if there were any mementos, pictures or such of the family, anywhere in the mansion.

  She sighed. Her brother was fifteen, she was twenty-five, and she’d been caring for him on her own for the five years since her dad and his mother had died. Eric had been a handful for the last couple of years.

  Rosalie had lost her own mother in a boating accident when she had turned five. When her surgeon father met Eric’s mom, who also had been a surgeon, and fell in love with her and her two-year-old son, Rosalie had been twelve. Rosalie had adored Eric like he was her own flesh and blood brother. His mother had loved her like she was her own daughter. Rosalie had been excited to babysit her new little brother and Eric had treasured her too. Rosalie had loved her stepmother and was glad her father had found her to marry. Rosalie had thought her stepmother and brother were fascinating for being snow leopards. Before Eric was even born, his biological father had taken off for Alaska and never returned. He hadn’t had family up there, just snow leopard friends, according to Eric’s mother. She finally divorced him and then met Rosalie’s dad while both were working at the hospital in Loveland, Colorado.

  Everything had been fine between Rosalie and her brother until three years ago when he’d become a real handful. Eric had been young enough at first to abide by Rosalie’s rules, but when he turned thirteen, all bets were off. They’d had so many arguments about him running as a snow leopard in Loveland, Colorado whenever he wanted, when she knew it wasn’t a good idea. When they inherited Wild Ridge Mansion, he agreed to moving out there with her—with the provision he could run as a snow leopard out on their new property any time he wanted to.

  She’d hoped he would at least stay at the mansion until they could receive their stuff from the moving van and get settled in a little bit.

  They’d barely unpacked her SUV when Eric had stormed off, unhappy he had to live in the dusty old mansion, even though he’d agreed before that this was the best thing for them. She conceded it was a mess. All the furniture was covered in plastic, making it look spooky. At least the power had been restored, water too, but they still had an installer coming to hook up the Wi-Fi. They were far enough out, but close enough to Yuma Town that they could get internet, something both of them desperately needed for their work.

  The moving van was arriving within the hour, and she glanced out the door and saw the guy arrive to hook up their internet. Yes!

  She knew the huge estate was going to be a whole lot of work. But at least they could afford to update it using Eric’s and her combined inheritances. He really needed a father-figure in his life to mentor him. At least she was twenty-five, or would be on Halloween, so she was like a big sister, almost a mom to him, but he wouldn’t see it that way.

  Twelve bedrooms, each with their own fireplaces and private bathrooms, were available that they could choose from in the formidable mansion. To attempt to appease him, she was going to let him select the one he wanted for his own first. When he ran off, she quashed that notion and looked through each of the rooms on the second floor to find the one she wanted. Man, was everything dusty.

  Eric better not be seen by the movers or the internet guy while wearing his snow leopard coat. She showed the internet installation guy where she wanted the WiFi set up. Then he installed everything, and he finally left.

  She was so glad that was done. She needed to remove all the bedding in her room and replace the mattress and bedding with her own. They needed to do the same with whichever bedroom Eric picked for his own.

  Maybe, someday, she could rent out the other rooms to guests, if she could get the place cleaned up, refurbished, and had the time to do it. She yanked the bedcovers off the bed and dust motes floated in the area. The mahogany bedframe was so beautiful, she would keep it and get rid of the cheap metal frame she’d been sleeping on for some years. The room was light and airy with big eight-foot windows looking out on the mountains and the gardens. The walls were pale yellow, and a beautiful fireplace with white marble and brick was situated on one wall with bookcases on either side, painted white. She loved the big airy casement windows and the white moldings that made the rooms look rich in appearance. Two bedside tables and a highboy had Queen Anne curved and carved legs, and the cedar chest at the foot of the bed was also of mahogany.

  She heard the moving truck arrive out front. Yes! She was so glad to be able to get their kitchen items, desks for their computers, and all the rest of their household goods.

  She hurried downstairs to meet the movers and began having them move their mattresses upstairs first. She had already paid them extra to take the mansion’s mattresses they were replacing out with them. She just picked one of the rooms for Eric—the tower room, which was really large and had beautiful views. Knowing him, he wouldn’t be happy with the choice she’d made for him, but she figured she and he could move his mattress again afterward, if they had to. Though it annoyed her that he wouldn’t be here to pick out his room in the first place.

  The mansion was in the boonies, their property bordering a horse ranch. Since she wrote a popular spell caster novel series that paid the bills also, she could work anywhere. When she could get Eric to paint his beautiful, fantasy artwork and sell it, even paying him to make the book covers for her own books, he had his own income. Just like her work, he could do what he loved to do out here also.

  They couldn’t live near other people, not when Eric needed to run as a snow leopard and get some of his unspent energy out. This way, hopefully, he wouldn’t cause himself or anyone else trouble. She used to run with him and watch out for him, but he was now of the age that he wanted to run and explore on his own.

  In the beginn
ing, Eric had vehemently opposed moving to the mansion he swore had to be haunted by dozens of former residents, until she promised he could run in his fur coat any time he wanted, which was why she suspected he was testing her promise and took off in broad daylight! This place had lots of acreage, fairly close to the small town, but far enough away from civilization that they both could run as big cats safely. Then she could keep him out of trouble. At least that’s what she hoped.

  Once the men had finished unloading the rest of their household goods, they finally drove off. Rosalie saw her brother headed for the house, running as a snow leopard. Damn! She hoped the movers hadn’t seen him through the truck’s mirrors. She let out her breath, sure lecturing her brother wouldn’t make a whole lot of difference. Where had he left his clothes?

  He went inside the house and when she entered the home, he had shifted and was digging through his suitcase for some clothes to wear. He pulled them out and was dressing in the living room.

  “We came out here to get away from people, but when we have visitors, we need to keep our wilder sides out of sight,” she reminded him.

  “They didn’t see me.” Then Eric frowned.

  “You left here as a human. Where did you leave your clothes?” And why run home as a snow leopard?

  He let out his breath, yanking his shirt over his head. “I saw a black bear sniffing at my clothes, so I raced back here.”

  “A bear?” She hadn’t expected that! Here she thought it would be safer for them running out here.

  “Yeah. So when the coast is clear, I have to go get them.”

  “I’ll go with you, but we’ll wait for a couple of hours until he’s left the area.” She sure didn’t want to tangle with a bear.

  “Where did you have them put my mattress?” Eric asked her, pulling on his other hiking shoe.

  “In a room that hopefully you’ll be happy with. If you’d been here and not run off, when I told you the moving truck was on its way, you could have picked out your room and we wouldn’t have to move anything again.” She ought to let him figure it out for himself since he’d been so inconsiderate to run off like that.

  He scoffed. “I’m sure you picked the perfect room for me.”

  “I know you wanted a big room and this one is the largest room and has a view of the mountains. It’s in the tower room.”

  Of course he was still giving her attitude and he didn’t look happy about any of it.

  Kolby Jones was breaking a horse that morning on Hal and Tracey Haverton’s horse ranch near Yuma Town when he looked up and he swore he saw a snow leopard running way off in the distance on that fall day. He closed his eyes and opened them, to clear his focus. There was nothing running off in the distance.

  He knew he’d partied too much with the other ranch hands the night before, celebrating the successful delivery of a foal that day. He had too much work to do to chase phantoms of his imagination.

  Hal came out to see how he was doing, his blond hair a little shaggier than usual, his dark brown eyes smiling. “Hey, thanks for helping to deliver the foal last night. Tracey and I sure appreciate all you do for us.”

  Kolby smiled. “I was just glad it all had turned out like it had.”

  “Well, you’ve taken on so many more roles here at the ranch, that we really appreciate all you do. I’m going to check on the foal.” Hal took off for the stable.

  Kolby had taken over Ted Weekum’s bedroom at the bunkhouse, elevating his lifestyle once the ranch foreman mated a white cougar, Stella, and built their own home on the property. So naturally, Kolby had felt like top dog for the time being, in charge of the new ranch hands while Ted was away with his mate.

  Hal and Tracey had taken Kolby and his brother, Ricky, in to work at the ranch, both having been turned into cougar shifters, until his brother became a deputy sheriff of Yuma Town. Kolby had thought of taking up the work Tracey had done as a special agent for the US Fish and Wildlife Service, FSWS, chasing down criminals who poached and other illegal stuff. But he loved working with the horses, teaching kids and adults to ride, living on the ranch with the other ranch hands, and working with Ted and the Havertons. He even loved playing with their quadruplets that had been out with him while jumping into a pile of leaves he’d raked up just for them, until they had to go back into the house for lunch. Speaking of which, he needed to drive in to Yuma Town and pick up the sandwiches from Fitz’s Bakery and Coffee Shop for the guys.

  “Hey,” Ted said to him, coming out of the hay barn. “Are you still here? We’re starving.”

  Kolby smiled, saluted him, and headed for his pickup.

  2

  Rosalie took Eric upstairs to the only room in the tower on the fourth floor. It was a really nice, large room, with eight-foot-tall windows that showed off views of the mountains and gardens out front and in the back of the mansion. Surrounded by low rock walls, the gardens had been neglected for years and she thought it would be fun to restore them.

  He looked around at the floral-papered walls, a king-size bed, a sofa, two chairs, a desk, and cushion-covered bench. Then he went to the window and pulled back the drapes and observed the mountain view. His room also had a fireplace surrounded by marble and brickwork. Then he checked out the bathroom. It had a shower, commode, and pedestal sink all in white with a white painted cabinet for supplies situated next to the sink. He came out of the bathroom but didn’t say a word.

  “We inherited a lot of money from our parents and then the estate, so I figure we can put some funds into updating the parts of the mansion we’ll spend the most time in. My office, your art studio—”

  Eric glanced at her.

  “Yes, we have so many meeting rooms downstairs that you can have your own art studio even. And I’ll have my own office.”

  He gave her a glimmer of a smile. Finally.

  “I want to refurbish our bedrooms, living area, kitchen, bathrooms, the den, and a library too.” Neither of them really had any friends in Loveland, Colorado where they were from because they hadn’t known any other big cats there. Forming close friendships with humans could lead to real trouble if they’d ever discovered what they were.

  Rosalie had taken a peek in the library at one point and had discovered it was filled with books, news clippings, and photos of all the happenings about Yuma Town since its inception until Charity had died. In one article, it had stated Charity had generously set up the library so that others could borrow from her vast collection of books, and she had even ordered books that townsfolks were interested in reading. She also had a huge collection of books on gardening and woodworking.

  Rosalie had realized the library was filled with a treasure trove of Yuma Town history.

  “Where’s your bedroom?” He still hadn’t said whether he was happy with his room or not.

  She hoped he wouldn’t say he wanted her room. Though she wouldn’t mind the tower room where she had all those views.

  To keep the peace, she’d probably go along with it, but she really didn’t want to have to move those heavy king size mattresses, especially when they could have had the movers set them up in the right place the first time. Then again, they wouldn’t really have to change out mattresses, if he didn’t mind the feel of her mattress. Hers was a little softer than his.

  She led him downstairs and then down the long hall on the second-story floor to her bedroom.

  “Geez, sis, did you have to put me in a room that far away? I don’t play my music that loudly.”

  He didn’t need to. With their enhanced cat hearing she heard it anyway and he never played it too loud either. He’d hurt his own ears if he did.

  “I thought you felt you needed more space. Your room is huge and with all those views, it’s really a beautiful room.” She thought he looked a little like he was worried about being alone in this huge old place. “But we can move you into a bedroom that’s closer to mine if you want.”