“I’m off to check the grounds.” Wade went to the guest bathroom, removed his clothes, then willed himself to become a big cat predator, his muscles stretching, his skin turning into a fur coat, his teeth growing to savage lengths. He stalked into the living room as a jaguar.
His coat was a distinctive golden color like other jaguars, but he had more white on his belly and under his chin than David did. His brother’s fur was much more tan. All the cat shifters were considering Wade’s jaguar appearance. They liked to get a visual so if they saw him again, even if they couldn’t catch a whiff of him, they’d know he was friend, not foe.
David looked wishful that he could go.
They loved prowling in their jaguar halves, stretching their legs, moving unconfined.
Wade was just as eager to prove to anyone who had a death wish that Maya was to be left alone. With a low growl, saying he was on his way, he ran to the door where Everett quickly opened it for him.
***
Moving along the garden path, Wade stretched his jaguar muscles, searching the dark and looking for signs of anything moving.
Though he was trying to concentrate on smells and sounds and subtle movement, he couldn’t help thinking about Maya.
He’d been so busy working missions for the Service that he hadn’t seriously looked for any female jaguar in eons. Not until he’d thought Kat was one. Both he and David had been burned in past relationships. Most of the time, neither of the brothers discussed their jobs with the women they hooked up with. Most women didn’t like their secretiveness. In the few instances when they had explained the work they did, the women had rejected both David and Wade.
Wade took another deep breath of the hot, muggy air.
Scanning the gardens from the planters of herbs to the trees and from the shrubs to the flowering plants, he smelled basil and mint and other herbs. He observed the watering hole featuring fountains and ponds, saw koi swimming around in one of the ponds, and smelled the fish in the hot, humid breeze. Whirligigs spun around as the leaves of trees fluttered. His roaming gaze stopped when he spied the greenhouse, its glass walls framed in sage-green wrought iron. It was an intriguing focal point beyond the trees in the south half of the nursery.
He paused at the glass door and peered in, searching for any sign of movement among the plants. He spotted a tub filled with Amazon water lilies and a tall banana plant, which he recognized from the website photos. He could envision Maya there now. Smiling, he shook his head.
Seeing movement to his left, he jerked his head around and saw the striped tail of a house-sized cat as it scurried away, disappearing under the low-hanging branches of a pine tree.
Wade took another deep breath, smelled the cat, and continued his walk, hoping the only kind of critter he’d find here tonight was of the small variety. He really didn’t want to believe that anyone from the club would give her trouble here.
Chapter 6
Connor was certain that Kat would want to run as a jaguar as soon as he got her settled in their treetop cottage in the rainforest in Belize. But the trip and being five months pregnant with twins had worn her out. She smiled at him, then peeled out of her clothes, dropping them on a chair decorated in jungle-print pillows, and promptly slipped between the covers of the king-size bed.
Forget running in their spotted coats for now. He quickly yanked off his clothes, pulled out his cell phone and set it on the bedside table, and joined her. They snuggled, her eyes drifting closed, but he couldn’t help worrying about having left Maya by herself.
Connor sighed. Maya had wanted to give them a little time alone together, even though they had arranged for separate treetop cottages and he would have his private time with Kat anyway. But Maya was arriving tomorrow night, after the flight and bus trip earlier in the afternoon. It wouldn’t be long before she was safely here with them.
He couldn’t imagine that anything could have gone wrong with Maya being alone for only a day and a night. Yet, they hadn’t been apart much in all the time they were growing up, and he couldn’t help worrying about her.
He reached for his phone and opened it—not enough of a signal—and then sat it back down on the table. He glanced at his watch. Again.
Damn. Next time, Maya was coming with them.
***
Thompson had parked in the forest and stayed hidden among the trees surrounding the Anderson house and garden nursery. He waited for at least an hour before he finally made his way closer to the house.
He’d watched as Maya’s cousins followed the car she was riding in, so he knew she had a full house—the two visiting brothers and her two cousins, he’d learned from Candy while trying to discover who all the men were who seemed so protective of Maya.
If she wasn’t involved in the theft of his cat, he did not plan to give her trouble. If she was? He would file charges against her. Guaranteed.
Hunkered down among the ferns and shrubs, he watched and waited.
As soon as the lights went out in the house and everyone had gone to sleep for the night, Thompson planned to take a look around the gardens to see if they had any kind of structure that would house a big cat. He’d looked for evidence earlier in the day while Maya had been busy with customers. He’d confirmed that the greenhouse was the same one that the cat had been photographed in, and he’d found evidence of cat hairs on the tile floor. Then he’d followed her to the club and thought how appropriately it was named: the Jungle Cat Fever Club, a place where the sellers of illegal cats could gather and no one would be the wiser.
Now he was watching the front of the house, wishing he had his hunting buddy, Joe, with him so that Joe could watch the back door when he heard it open and shut.
Thompson moved as quietly as he could, keeping to the forest until he could see the back side of the house. He saw a small clearing of land back there—a slate patio and a grassy area. Except for the light slipping through one of the windows of the house and a couple of softly glowing iron lanterns hanging on posts, the area was cloaked in darkness. He saw no one, suspecting that whoever had opened the back door had stayed on the patio. The gardens were too dark to explore without using a flashlight.
He heard no footfalls, either. Men and a woman were talking and laughing inside, so Thompson figured Maya was still in the house.
Trying to get comfortable, Thompson settled down next to a tree, using it for a backrest and wishing everyone would go to sleep so he could investigate the property, then retire to his hotel room for the rest of the night. This was the part he hated about the hunt. The waiting.
He was stiff, hot, hungry, and getting drowsy after two hours of being hunkered down among the shrubs and trees, his thoughts drifting to his wife and adopted kids. He loved what he did—protecting wildlife from human predators—but sometimes he thought he should let someone younger do the job and stay home more with his family.
The back door opened, and he was immediately wide awake. The remaining lights suddenly shut off inside the house, but the pale golden glow from the lanterns outside cast a soft light. He held very still, waiting. The back door was still open, but no one was coming out.
In his peripheral vision, he saw movement and couldn’t help but turn his head. He quickly stifled a cry of distress. A jaguar. A large male jaguar! The big cat sniffed the ground at the entryway to the garden path, then loped toward the back door.
Thompson’s jaw went slack. He wanted to yell, to warn Maya that a jaguar had run into the house—which he couldn’t believe—when another male, more golden in color, ran outside through the same door.
Two. Holy crap. Two male jaguars. Cold sweat dripped from his pores.
No one inside was screaming for dear life, which he couldn’t understand. The back door shut with a clunk, and the jaguar stood outside the house, sniffing the ground and the air, and then taking off down the garden path.
Thompson was
having heart palpitations, while thanking God that he was downwind of the jaguar so the big cat didn’t notice him. Thompson couldn’t get his breathing under control. Trying to consider a plausible explanation, all he could think of was Maya saying she was the cat in the photo, that her family of jaguar shifters had taken her picture, then they all had milk to drink, that Wade’s brother had called her Wildcat… and that all added up to? One damned, big jaguar-smuggling ring.
Now the jaguars were loose in the house and in the garden. When he thought humans were in control of the jaguars, that had been different. If the jaguars had escaped their pen and were running loose, that was a much more terrifying prospect.
Thompson was in a hell of a fix. He had no way to get to his truck and his rifle with the tranquilizer darts without the jaguar possibly seeing his movement or hearing him.
Then the cat growled in a low, angry tone. The jaguar must have smelled Thompson or heard his out-of-control heartbeat or seen him move.
Thompson waited, knowing that running would trigger the jaguar to chase him. He was very tempted to run. Jaguars didn’t often attack humans, but Thompson knew never to tempt fate when dealing with predators. No matter what, they weren’t supposed to be running loose in a nursery garden so close to Houston, Texas!
The cat growled again, then again, but the sound was different—lower, angrier.
Thompson stared at the area of the gardens where the growling was coming from.
Two jaguars running free in the gardens? He was a dead man.
***
David had fallen asleep on the couch, resting against the pillows. Sitting in one of the velour recliners, Maya had nearly drifted off when she heard big cats’ angry cries in the garden.
She was sure that Everett had run into one of the men from the club who was also wearing his jaguar coat. Wade had been sitting in another recliner, but he’d already headed for the door, stripping off his clothes. Even though she was concerned for Everett, she couldn’t draw her eyes away from Wade as he shucked his jeans—no boxers—hot, hot, very firm ass and legs and back. Before she could close her gaping mouth and look away, he shifted.
Everett roared. Huntley was yanking off his clothes to shift. David jerked awake and sat up too quickly, swayed a little, and groaned.
“Does your head still hurt?” she asked, taking hold of his muscular arm and knowing she couldn’t deter him if he wanted to help the others.
He couldn’t go out. Not the way he was feeling. He frowned at her.
“Enough of them are going after him. Stay with me. What if he is just a diversionary force and someone else tries to come in the front way?”
David didn’t object, but he stood slowly and walked toward the kitchen, which had a view of the backyard and gardens. He peered out the window.
Wade was waiting at the back door, Huntley beside him, wearing a beautiful black jaguar coat with barely visible rosettes. He was clawing at the door to get out. When she opened it, Huntley rushed out to protect his brother. In his golden jaguar coat, Wade peered out, breathing in the air, testing it, and attempting to smell any sign of what was happening outside.
“Did you want to go, Wade?” Maya asked. “Or stay here with us?”
David snorted. “Wade’s not leaving you for a second.”
“I can shift and I don’t have any qualms about fighting a male cat if he comes into the house,” Maya said. Not that a female against a male would be an even match. But David could shift if he had to.
“He’s not leaving you behind,” David said, sure of his statement.
It didn’t take long for one of the cats to cry out near the pottery barn. Another responded, then a third.
Her heart thundering, Maya strained to watch for any sign of the cats but she couldn’t see anything because of the vegetation and stone wall surrounding
the gardens.
A few minutes later, Everett poked his spotted orange head through the rose-covered arbor, as if telling her he was all right. Everything was fine now. Since he was still on guard duty, he turned, waving his long spotted tail in his wake, and went back to prowling. Huntley ran through the arbor and straight to the house to tell them what had happened. Once he was inside, Maya took a relieved breath and closed the back door.
Huntley walked behind the couch to where he’d dropped his clothes and grabbed his boxers with his teeth, then headed for the bathroom. Wade shifted and grabbed his jeans. She turned her attention from how well-hung he was to his face. He winked, then headed into her bedroom to change. Not that he’d want to use the bathroom when Huntley was in there, but once he left his scent in her room, all she would think about whenever she was in there was how he had looked.
Naked, ripped, hot.
Her eyes were fixated on his backside as he entered her room, but he didn’t shut the door.
Seconds later, Huntley left the bathroom wearing his boxers and running his hands through his hair. “Hell, that was that Bettinger guy. He sure has balls. Even I am reluctant to fight Everett when he’s angry.”
“Bettinger?” Maya groaned. “Connor isn’t going to be happy.” She pulled a quilt from an oak chest near the fireplace while David resettled on the couch.
“I doubt he’s going to want to return here and get another whipping,” Huntley said, going into the kitchen. He paused. “Is it okay for me to get some milk?”
“Only if you drink it out of a glass and not out of the jug,” Maya warned.
He chuckled and continued to the kitchen. “Everett must have told on me. I live alone and it’s my jug of milk.”
Wade rejoined the party and reclined on the chair again, his claimed territory for the night. She was a little surprised he wasn’t sleeping in his jaguar form like he’d said he would.
As she moved past Wade’s chair, he snagged her hand, startling her. “Go to bed. David will be fine. I’ll keep an eye on him.” He pulled Maya down for a good-night kiss.
She thought he meant to give her a light peck on the mouth and send her off to bed, but unexpectedly, he pulled her on top of him, their mouths fusing. Tongues licked and stroked, lips pressed and rubbed, both of them just as eager to kiss. His fingers combed through her hair as she held his face gently in her hands. Wickedly, he spread his legs so she fell between his thighs and felt his erection, thick and hard and ready for her. She ground slightly against him, wanting to feel him stir against her body. He did with a surrendering groan.
That will teach him not to play with a female jaguar. She licked his lips and said, “Good night, sleep tight, don’t let the jaguars bite.”
“Only this one,” he said, stroking her arm as she got off him.
She smiled again and kissed his forehead. David was watching them, green eyes wide.
She’d forgotten he was there, close enough to see all. She turned and found Huntley smiling at her, glass of milk in hand. He shook his head. “I suppose you don’t want to give me a good-night kiss like that, too.”
“You’re my cousin,” she said, crossing the floor. She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and headed into her bedroom.
David cleared his throat, as if he wanted her to come back and kiss him, too.
She chuckled and closed her door, hoping that no one else would visit the property tonight and cause more trouble. If there were more catfights, they’d never get any sleep.
Chapter 7
Sweat dripping into his eyes, Thompson was frozen to the ground, his heart pounding as if he’d been running a marathon.
He listened for any sign of the cats. One had returned to the house, and even more of a shock to him, Maya had been standing in the doorway with another. Three had been fighting in the garden before that. The other that had encroached on these jaguars’ territories had to be an outsider. Where the hell had he come from? Not one he saw was female.
He had half a notion to walk straigh
t up to the back door, knock on it, and ask Maya about the female jaguar again. Then what? Would she turn the big males loose on him? For trespassing in the middle of the night in her backyard?
Instead of guard dogs, she had guard cats. It couldn’t be possible.
He couldn’t get his feet to move. For the first time since he could remember, he was truly terrified.
He sat down with his back to the tree, trying to stay awake, but drifting off, only to be awakened by the sound of the patio door opening. A jaguar loped out of the garden toward the house, ran inside, and another ran out. The door shut again with a soft thunk.
Thompson blinked. They actually were serving guard duty.
He was losing his mind.
He must have finally fallen asleep, because the next thing he heard was the sound of vehicles pulling out of the parking lot in front of the house, tires crunching on the gravel. Darkness still cloaked the early morning hour. Still hidden by the woods, he hurried around front, saw three cars take off, and waited.
When no one seemed likely to return anytime soon, he peered through the picture windows, expecting to see jaguars lying around on the couches and floor. The room was too dark, and he couldn’t see anything.
He returned to the woods until it was light out, then made his way back to the house and peeked again through the window. There was no movement in the house, no cats lying on the floor or lounging on the couches.
He looked back in the direction that the cars had gone. Hell. Had they packed the cats up in the cars?
He shook his head. They couldn’t have. He heard the rumbling of a pickup truck and tore into the woods for cover. From his hiding place among the shrubs, he saw two men and a woman get out of the truck. Customers?
Then as they began to water plants, he realized they had to be the hired help. Should he ask them about the jaguars?