“Hunter’s spray. A jaguar wouldn’t have used the concealing spray. Had to be a shifter then,” Vaughn said. “And they had to be up to no good.”
“Right. Some of Leidolf’s men tried to track the wounded jaguar, both his blood and pugmarks in the damp soil, but lost him at one of the streams. No jaguars are missing from reserves or the zoo, but like you said, it had to be a shifter because he left no scent. The one you saw… Did it seem injured in any way?”
“No. He was moving fast. Maybe he was afraid the hunter in the woods would come after him next.” Vaughn looked at Jillian.
“As long as the jaguar wasn’t going after my brother, no. Though if I’d realized the cat might have injured Douglas, I would have.”
“We better get you to Leidolf’s ranch, whether you want to join us or not,” Demetria suddenly said. “You can decide later, but I think you’re going to need some blood.”
“Make it hers, and we have a deal.” Vaughn inclined his head toward Jillian. “And she has to give me a kiss to say she’s sorry for shooting me. Maybe even a dance later like I know she wanted to have with me at the Kitty Cat Club.”
Jillian had opened her mouth to tell him off when Vaughn’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. She gasped and grabbed his naked, muscular torso in one big body hug to stop him from falling off the barstool.
In a dead faint, he began tumbling off the stool while everyone else tried to stop him from hitting the hardwood floor.
Chapter 3
“The doctor said someone with the same blood type needs to volunteer to give blood because he doesn’t have any on hand. Dr. Wilders is leaving the bullet where it is because it will do less damage than if he digs it out. Eventually, Vaughn’s body will repel it, though it might take a while,” Demetria said to Jillian as they stood near Vaughn’s hospital bed after Leidolf’s doctor had taken care of him in the clinic on the south side of the ranch. “You have to give him blood. That was his provision for going along with this.”
Sally, one of the nurses, was waiting for a decision nearby.
Jillian frowned at Vaughn as he lay in the bed, wearing a hospital gown decorated with a moon and stars. His eyes were still closed, and his breathing was shallow. Jillian folded her arms. “Vaughn is going along with what? Looking for the real bad guy? Being on the team with us? Or just allowing Dr. Wilders to take care of him? Vaughn didn’t really say for sure. Not before he fell off the barstool in a dead faint.” She imagined he would hate that he’d fainted in front of all of them. So much for him successfully working alone.
Demetria motioned to Vaughn. “Your blood type just happens to be B positive. Just like his is.”
“Isn’t yours too?” Jillian knew it was because they had to know everyone’s blood type in case anyone on the team was injured, and so they could donate blood to each other in an emergency.
Demetria only smiled.
“All right. I’ll do it. Through coercion. It would serve him right if I was some other blood type.” Then Jillian frowned. “Unless he already knew what it was.” Had he somehow learned all there was about her brother and her? Now that really torqued her off.
Jillian lay down on the bed next to Vaughn’s and waited for the nurse to take blood from her. “Are you certain he even needs it? I imagine he could just eat lots of bloody steaks and be raring to go, as ornery as he is.”
The redheaded nurse smiled.
“Afraid of giving a little blood?” Vaughn asked.
Jillian whipped her head around to see him looking at her, his eyes barely open. He still appeared a bit wan. She thought she’d been having a private conversation with Demetria and the nurse. She should have known the hulking SEAL wolf brute had been conscious the whole time. “Aren’t you afraid I’ll taint your blood with mine?”
“As feisty as you are, no. I think it’ll add a little zest to my life. I’ll have the bloody steak too though.” He closed his eyes and smiled just a hint. “If you cook it.”
Jillian snapped her gaping mouth shut.
“I’ll buy the steaks,” Demetria said.
“I’ll bring the beer,” Howard said.
Jillian turned to see Howard leaning against the wall, smiling. She hadn’t realized he had returned to the clinic after helping wheel Vaughn into the room and then parking the Jeep. “Hell, from what I can see, the jaguars play together much better than the wolves,” Howard said.
Vaughn’s eyes closed again, and he grunted.
“I play well with others. But some wolves, and probably some jaguars, are incorrigible loners,” Jillian said.
Vaughn smiled. “And…you owe me that kiss to say you’re sorry. Unless you’re still with that muscle-bound guy from the club.” Then he frowned. “How’s Douglas?” As if he suddenly remembered his friend had been injured. Which meant he had to still be really out of it.
“In a drug-induced coma for now,” Demetria said. “He lost a lot of blood before Jillian and others came to help him.”
“And?”
“It will take time to know if he’s going to make it. Dr. Wilders says it’s touch and go for now. But the staff is doing everything they can for him.”
Vaughn closed his eyes, and Jillian wished she had reached the cabin earlier and gotten help for Douglas that much sooner. She had done everything she could to stem the bleeding and had called Leidolf for help at once. But if she had arrived at the cabin earlier, she might have come face-to-face with the animal who had nearly killed him.
* * *
Vaughn couldn’t believe he was laid up in a red-wolf-pack clinic. Any more than he could believe he’d passed out in front of the jaguars and the wolf at his cabin. Or that his pack member was clinging to life. And to meet the woman he’d fantasized about when he’d seen her dancing at the Kitty Cat Club six months ago? He smiled to himself. He’d thought of a lot of ways of meeting her, but this hadn’t been one of them.
“Okay, so what do we do next?” Jillian asked Demetria.
Vaughn didn’t care what the rest of them did while looking into this matter. He had one real lead—Jillian’s brother. He wasn’t going to stop going after Miles until he caught him and discovered what he had to do with any of this. Vaughn just wished he didn’t feel so out of it. He guessed he’d lost more blood than he thought as he opened his eyes again and watched Jillian.
“I’m chasing down your brother.” Vaughn hated sounding so weak when he wanted to firmly emphasize that what he planned to do was nonnegotiable. “I want to know why he was wearing a wolf coat and standing over the bloody area where Douglas had been brutally attacked earlier.”
Jillian glowered at Vaughn from the other bed, eyes narrowed and dark-brown hair spread out on the pillow as if she was ready for him to come join her. He didn’t know why he had the hots for her. He hadn’t wanted any particular woman in a long time. He wouldn’t have thought he’d feel that way about a woman who had just shot him. Her mouth curved down just a bit, so appealing that he really did want to kiss her. Which was insane.
“And of course my brother had the victim’s blood on him, right?” she asked hotly.
“Yeah. As a matter of fact, he did. On his muzzle.” Vaughn waited for that to sink in.
She looked a little surprised.
“Maybe you ought to come with me so once I catch up to him, I’ll know if you’re going to try to shoot me again. I’ll be more prepared to defend myself that way.” He was serious about it, as protective as she was of her brother.
Demetria offered Jillian a cup of orange juice as she finished giving Vaughn blood.
Ready to get back to work, Vaughn began to sit up, but his vision blurred, his mind blackening, and he fell back against the pillow hard before he passed out again. Hell. When his mind and vision cleared, he saw Jillian reaching for him. As quickly as she’d reached his bed, she must have jumped to come to his aid. Their gazes met, her cheeks blossoming in color, her eyes wide. Amused that she had been putting on such a tough act with him, he smiled.
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Then she grabbed hold of his bed rail, her face ashen. Dizzy from giving him blood? Before he could comment on her own well-being or grab for her arm to assist her, she quickly turned to Demetria. “I’ve got stuff to do. I’ll meet up with you at dinner.”
Vaughn felt like he’d aged a hundred years. “Don’t let her go after her brother and warn him off.” He knew that’s just what she would do as soon as she had a chance. “One of you needs to stick to her like glue.”
Jillian let her breath out in a huff and stalked out of the room.
“I’m serious,” Vaughn said to Demetria, wishing he could climb right out of this bed and take off after the vixen.
Neither Howard nor Demetria made any move to follow Jillian.
“We believe Jillian is right about her brother, unless we learn differently. Take it easy. Get your rest. The staff will feed you here tonight, and we’ll check on you first thing in the morning,” Demetria said. “If you’re going to work with the team, you need to be in good shape, not ready to keel over again.”
Howard nodded. “Get some rest, man. But I’ll warn you now, if you think you’re going to take the she-wolf on, this jaguar is on her side. So watch what you do or say.”
Vaughn shook his head. He couldn’t see how everyone would think he was wrong in his assumptions. Everyone with any kind of investigative background should feel the same way as he did, and not let their obvious friendship with Jillian color their perspective. Yeah, sure, her brother was innocent until proven guilty, but the way Miles had run off proved he couldn’t be trusted.
“Sleep,” Demetria said, and she and Howard left the room.
Vaughn lay there for a while with every intention of hauling himself right out of the bed, heading back to the cabin, and picking up Miles’s trail. He thought if he just moved slowly enough, he wouldn’t be so dizzy. He closed his eyes, trying to keep his head from spinning.
If he’d had a hangover from partying way too much—which he rarely did—that would have been one thing. The hell of it was, no one had ever managed to shoot him on any mission he’d gone on. Shot at, yes. Wolf fights, yes. Hand-to-hand combat when he’d lost his weapon during a fight, yes. A former army officer shooting him and putting him temporarily out of commission was completely irksome.
Then he smelled the scent of a female red wolf, the nurse. He opened his eyes to see the redhead—Sally, he thought her name was—walking over to the bed. He noticed the clock said it was an hour later than the last time he had looked, right before he had closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe he’d slept for a whole hour. She smiled at him and inserted something into his IV.
“What’s that for?” He was trying not to growl, but he wasn’t about to let the medical staff fill his veins with anything that would slow him down even further.
“Antibiotics.” She smiled again.
He swore she was lying. Or he was just being paranoid. He took a deep breath and let it out. Okay, he could live with antibiotics. That should help get him on his feet faster. The liquid dripped into his veins, burning on the way in, and he felt his head beginning to swim. He glowered at the nurse. At least he tried to. He wasn’t certain he was doing much more than looking at her, the way he was growing so groggy.
“Get some rest,” the nurse said.
“You gave me something to knock me out,” he accused, so annoyed that he couldn’t think straight. He was going to jerk the IV out, but the nurse had already strapped down his left arm and was working on his right when he realized what she had done. He understood then how out of it he really was.
If Jillian had anything to do with him being drugged, he’d put her under lock and key!
* * *
“He is so pigheaded!” Jillian put out the silverware while Everett placed the platter of grilled chicken in the center of the table at the guest house at Leidolf’s ranch. Four hours had passed since they’d left Vaughn alone at the clinic to recuperate, but she couldn’t get her mind off that annoyingly stubborn wolf.
“I take it you’re talking about Vaughn.” Everett pulled Demetria into his arms and kissed her.
Newlyweds.
“Yes, who else?” Jillian sighed and set the bowl of potato salad on the table. She couldn’t quit thinking about him. About his obsession over her brother. About the way he had acted as though she was guilty for protecting Miles. Vaughn’s expression had shown real concern when she had rushed to help him and nearly passed out herself. She’d moved way too quickly after giving him blood.
She couldn’t stop thinking about her brother either, and hoping he was okay. Or that Douglas would recover fully. She wished they could question him about who had bitten him and why.
“Vaughn will change his mind about your brother when he realizes someone else is responsible for his pack member’s attack. You can imagine how it must have looked to him… Well, to anyone who might have seen your brother as a wolf standing over the bloody scene. He said Miles had blood on his muzzle. Then Miles ran. Not that I blame your brother. If I’d been a wolf under those circumstances and saw a very lethal man who smelled like a wolf catch me in a situation like that, I would have run too.” Demetria sat at the table opposite Jillian.
“But when there was no body even there?” Jillian asked.
“Vaughn probably assumed Miles had dragged the body off. Then he returned to clean up.”
Everett took the seat next to his mate. “Yeah, besides, if he thinks your brother did it, I believe the best avenue is if at least one of us pairs up with him until we learn the truth.”
“I’ll do it.” Howard sat next to Jillian. “He needs someone to watch over him who’s just as hardheaded as he is.”
“I’ll go too. As soon as we catch up to my brother, I’ll reassure Miles that no one’s going to terminate him. If Vaughn tries to hurt him, I’ll just shoot him again.” Jillian smiled.
Howard shook his head. “Tell me if I make you mad, will you? I don’t want to ever get on your bad side.”
The Enforcer branch called on its agents, like Howard, to terminate rogue jaguars when there was no other choice. So coming from him, the comment was funny. Jillian still had a hard time believing jaguar shifters existed and that they had such an organized way of dealing with rogues or people who mistreated their kind and full jaguars. The wolf packs took care of their own, so it was different working with more of a police force like this.
The jaguar agents dealt with situations all over, though U.S. jaguars mostly lived in the southern states, predominantly the ones that bordered Mexico. So none of the three jaguars had even been to Oregon. That made sense because if anyone caught them running as jaguars there, it would incite a manhunt for the big cats and be all over the news. Which made Jillian wonder why a jaguar had been running around in his cat coat out here.
“We’re curious about this chance meeting you had with Vaughn at the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club. How long ago was that?” Demetria spooned some potato salad onto her plate.
“Six months ago.” Jillian knew what was coming next. None of them had realized the other shifters existed back then.
Demetria smiled. “That must have seemed strange to you. Not about seeing a fellow wolf, but that so many of the patrons smelled like cats.”
“Yeah. I figured because the place was jungle-cat themed, it was a cat lover’s paradise. We had a blast. I didn’t know Vaughn was a wolf. I never actually met him.”
“Aww. But you must have connected in some way.”
“Like we did,” Everett said to Demetria.
“So you were on a date and he was too, and that ended things before they could get started,” Demetria said.
“Yeah. Miles was with me, and he had a date. Our dates were human. Vaughn’s date might have been human too.”
“Seems like fate that you met at that earlier time,” Demetria said.
“And shot him this time.”
Everyone chuckled.
Howard grabbed the bowl of potato salad and s
cooped up several spoonfuls. “You make the best potato salad, Demetria.”
“You do.” Jillian had already gotten the recipe that Demetria’s grandmother had passed down. “I want to leave tomorrow to find my brother first thing, no matter what shape Vaughn is in. In any event, he will probably need a couple more days to recuperate.” If she had her way, she’d just dope him up for several days to ensure he stayed put. Wouldn’t that be better for him anyway? So he could get some much-needed rest and heal faster?
“I doubt he’ll stay in that bed much longer than tomorrow. You saw the way he’s already tried to get out of it.” Demetria grabbed a chicken leg and took a bite.
“The doctor can help him stay put.” Jillian spooned up some potato salad.
Howard laughed. “If he thought you put the doctor up to drugging him, you’ll be in even deeper trouble with him.”
“Maybe if you kiss him like he wants you to, he’ll settle down.” Demetria smiled.
“Not happening. Giving him blood was one thing. Kissing him? That’s definitely not part of the mission. Besides, he’s just giving me a hard time. He’s not being serious.”
“That’s the way to stick to your guns,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t kiss him either.”
Everyone smiled.
Howard’s ears tinged a little red. “I mean, if I were you.”
Jillian thought she heard someone’s footfalls crunching on the gravel drive out front. She suspected Leidolf had some news for them and wanted to talk to them personally. As the alpha leader of the red wolf pack, he was ready to make someone pay for injuring a jaguar shifter and a wolf on his property.
When a knock sounded, Jillian said, “I’ll see who it is.” She hurried to answer the door, but when she pulled it open, she was shocked to see Vaughn standing on the porch looking red-faced, sweating and weaving unsteadily on his feet, wearing jeans, boots, and an open shirt. At least the rain had stopped so he wasn’t soaking wet. He had to be damn cold wearing no jacket or sweater, his shirt wide open to the elements. She guessed he’d had trouble buttoning his shirt because of being all bandaged up.