A Very Jaguar Christmas

  He had often thought, why him? Why had he made it out when Matt had his whole life ahead of him with Demetria? She needed that. A mate. The kids. A real family like she hadn’t had growing up. Sure, his own family would have missed him, but there were so many of them that it wasn’t the same. He hadn’t had a fiancée to come home to. Just an empty apartment.

  Matt’s death had impacted his life to such an extent that Everett had hated going to his old apartment at night after work. Couldn’t stay there on weekends. He’d shared too many fond memories with Matt there, especially once Huntley had found his own mate. So Everett had bought a town house and moved out. Had it been a coward’s way out? Or a way to move on? But seeing Demetria like this brought it all back to him.

  “Are you all right, Everett?” Connor asked. Both he and Wade were watching him.

  Everett swallowed the lump in his throat and nodded. “I didn’t realize you were on a break,” Everett said to Wade, changing the subject.

  “Leaving in a couple of days for Costa Rica, so I’m enjoying the time with Maya,” Wade said.

  “Will you be home for Christmas?”

  “Sure hope so. But you know how these missions go.”

  “Yeah, sure do. What’s your case?”

  “That guy you all left alive in the area, the middle man trafficking wild cats? Just dropping down there like you said we would to make sure he’s still clean.”

  “Gotcha. You’re not going alone, are you?”

  “No, my brother’s going along.”

  “Don’t tell me Tammy’s going too.” Their parents were looking forward to the family being home for Christmas this year.

  “No, her boss has her scheduled to do more teaching.”

  “I bet she’s not happy about that.”

  “She said she’ll keep the fires burning.”

  Everett smiled. “What about you, Connor? How are things going with the nursery business?”

  “Things couldn’t be better, both financially and emotionally. It’s great having a family here now.” Connor served the food.

  “I’m surprised Dad hasn’t tried to convince you to join the JAG force.”

  Roy Anderson had worked undercover for years, and he had encouraged all his children to join the agents’ cause.

  “No way. I’m happy to just take Kat south of the border on vacations. So what are you going to do about the boy?”

  “Try to locate some wolf packs and stir up some trouble, I’m afraid.” Everett helped carry the plates of food inside.

  Everyone settled in the dining room to eat as Maya explained about Henry Thompson, the biologist at the Oregon Zoo. Kat’s twin toddlers were sitting in booster seats at the dining room table, poking at their mashed potatoes and gravy, while the wolf pup ate chicken strips out of a dog dish near the kitchen.

  “I thought Henry’s trouble was just with the wolves, but then losing the jaguar cat seemed like too much of a coincidence. He seemed to want to tell me something more about the wolves, but then he clammed up. Like he already knew too much about our kind and didn’t want to add to the trouble he could get into if he revealed he knew about wolf shifters too. Or maybe since we didn’t know about them, I’d just think he was crazy.” Maya cut into her steak.

  “I called his number to ask if he knew of any Arctic wolf packs. His wife, Chrissie, answered and said he was out of the country on a safari in Africa. Not to shoot anything; just to take pictures. He’s doing a study of the animals there. She said he wouldn’t have any cell reception for about a week and then he would be calling her. She’ll pass along that I wanted to speak with him.”

  “We can’t wait that long,” Everett said.

  “I figured that. She said there had been an Arctic wolf sanctuary in Oregon, but the man who ran it died, and his wife couldn’t manage it alone. The wolves were taken in by other sanctuaries, including one near us. I ran over there today, but I’m sure the two white wolves I saw are just Arctic wolves, not shifters. On a hunch, I asked Chrissie if Henry had learned anything about the wolf disappearances from their local zoo, if they ever found the wolves. She told me no, that the whole situation was really strange. She asked if I knew about the activists who tried to free a wolf from the zoo. One was her good friend Bella Wilder, though Bella would never confirm it was her. She married Devlyn Greystoke after that. Henry had been investigating the two of them. Chrissie said they are the dearest people, and they love wolves.”

  “Sounds a whole lot like us when we are trying to free one of our kind from incarceration.” Everett hoped they had a real lead. At least to a wolf pack. Maybe the packs networked with each other and he and Demetria would quickly find the pup’s parents.

  Wade reached over and squeezed his wife’s hand. “You ought to be working for the JAG with us, Maya. That’s great detective work, honey.”

  Maya beamed at her mate. “Thank you, Wade. I looked up the information about the zoo and Bella Wilder in news accounts. I found information about how Thompson had rescued a red wolf and placed her in the Oregon Zoo. Then the red wolf disappeared, and all that was left in its place was a naked woman. The police assumed someone stole the wolf and, in a sick way, had left the woman there to freeze to death. She was hospitalized, but then someone came and stole her away from the hospital.”

  “Wow. If any of us had gotten wind of that, we might have figured that wolf shifters existed a long time ago. She must have shifted while she was locked up at the zoo,” Demetria said. “She couldn’t hold her wolf form.”

  “Maybe the full moon had waned? I didn’t think to check. I also asked Chrissie if Henry had ever mentioned seeing any Arctic wolves anywhere. She said no. That made me wonder if the boy could be an Arctic wolf with a gray or a red wolf pack,” Maya said.

  Demetria pulled out her cell phone. “What was the date of the story?”

  Maya gave her the date, and then Demetria looked up the lunar schedule for that time period. “Yeah, the moon was waning.”

  “They might have a mix of wolves in the pack,” Everett said. “But the boy would probably have Arctic wolf parents since he looks like a full-blooded Arctic wolf with the shorter legs and ears and the all-white coat.”

  “You’re probably right. Where do Bella and Devlyn live?” Demetria asked.

  “Colorado. Chrissie gave me their phone number in case they know about any Arctic wolf packs.”

  “Okay. Well, this is going to make for a strange call, but because of the distance from here to Colorado, I think we need to risk it, don’t you?” Demetria asked.

  “Yeah, I do.” Everett finished eating and started clearing away the dishes.

  “I wish I could stay and listen to more of this.” Connor had to leave to take care of more customers, but he kissed his mate and the toddlers’ cheeks, and then petted Junior’s head before walking outside.

  “Even though I hate missing any more details of this fascinating story, I’ll take the kids into the gardens so you can continue to discuss it without any interruptions.” Kat bundled up her boy and girl and took them outside.

  Maya lifted the wolf pup in her arms, and she, Wade, Demetria, and Everett took seats in the living room. Then Maya began playing tug-of-war with the pup with a red, green, and white braided-rope pull toy Demetria had bought for him.

  “Okay, I’m going to make the call and hope these people are truly shifters and don’t think we’re crank callers,” Everett said.

  “If they’re anything like us, they won’t believe you.” Wade settled against the couch.

  “True.” Demetria sat next to Everett on the couch, surprising him…and pleasing him.

  Maya and Wade’s brows lifted marginally. Wade’s mouth curved a bit as if to say, “I told you so.”

  Demetria was watching Maya pull the pup around the floor with the rope toy, and Everett was glad she seemed to have missed his famil
y’s reaction. “If someone called me and told me he was a wolf shifter, had come across a jaguar cub shifter, and needed to find the parent, I wouldn’t believe him. I’m sure since we didn’t know about them, they wouldn’t know about us either,” Demetria said.

  “Agreed. Which is why it would be better if you could meet them in person.” Maya laughed when the pup went for her hand instead of the rope toy. “You’re just like jaguar cubs.”

  Everett called the number for Devlyn, and as soon as he picked up, Everett put the phone on speaker.

  “Hello?” Devlyn sounded like he could be a big, growly wolf.

  “Hi, I’m Everett Anderson, and I’m going to tell you something that is going to shock you as much as it did me. I’m looking—”

  “I don’t want any.” Devlyn hung up on him.

  Everyone laughed out loud except Everett. “What did I say?” He clearly had missed the punch line.

  Demetria smiled. “He probably thought you were trying to sell him something. Let me try.” She punched in Devlyn’s number. “Hi, I’m Demetria MacFarlane, and I’m trying to locate the parents of an Arctic wolf pup shifter who was left off at a day-care center in Dallas, Texas.”

  Silence. At least Devlyn didn’t hang up on her.

  “I got your name and number from Chrissie Thompson, whose husband, Henry, is a friend of my law-enforcement partner’s half sister.”

  With civilians, they used the guise of being undercover federal agents. Until the wolf shifters realized the jaguar shifters existed, that would probably be the best approach to use with them.

  When Devlyn didn’t respond, she tried again. “We don’t have any idea how to get ahold of the parents of the little boy, but we had to start somewhere. We realize you probably live too far away to be the ones we’re looking for, but we’re trying to find anyone who might know of them.”

  “Have you got proof that you have a wolf-shifter pup?” Devlyn asked.

  Everett was practically holding his breath, but from Devlyn’s response, he had to be a wolf shifter. Otherwise, he most likely would have just hung up on Demetria.

  “Yeah, sure. Just a sec. My partner took a video of the boy shifting, so it shows what he looks like both as a boy and as a pup.” Demetria sent the video to Devlyn, and they all waited for a response.

  “Hell, we don’t take videos of wolves shifting.”

  Demetria let out her breath in an annoyed way. “Don’t you think we know that? How dangerous it can be for our kind? Though even so, I doubt anyone would believe it was for real. We need to find the boy’s family. Once we locate some packs, we’ll need to show them something that proves we’re not making a false claim. How else are we going to identify the boy without driving all over the country and running into all kinds of dead ends, just like we have with you? Time is of the essence. His parents have to be frantic. How would you feel if you were him, lost and unable to return to your family? How would you feel if he were one of your own children?”

  Everett smiled a little. Demetria wasn’t like any Guardian he’d ever known, and he loved the way she handled the growly wolf.

  “I don’t know the boy. We don’t know of any Arctic wolves or packs around here.” Devlyn’s tone of voice was still gruff, but he didn’t sound like he was ready to end the call so quickly now.

  Everett noted the look of disappointment on everyone’s faces. “We really need to find the boy’s parents.”

  “He looks to be about three and a half or four years of age. You should be able to ask him his name and who his parents are, maybe even his home address.”

  “We didn’t have a chance before he shifted.” Everett regretted that he hadn’t. He hadn’t expected the boy to shift and had been so shocked to learn of the existence of werewolves that he hadn’t thought of asking anything.

  “You’re the guy who just called me?” Devlyn asked.

  “Yeah. We’re working blind here.”

  “Wolf packs don’t advertise their locations. You ought to know that. How exactly did you end up with the boy?” Devlyn sounded more curious now.

  Everett realized they were getting further by just showing the video of the boy, even if the wolves might not like it. Everett and the others knew how dangerous it was to have proof that any of them could shift. But under the circumstances, they needed proof that they had a wolf shifter boy.

  “He was dropped off at my mother’s day care,” Everett said. “We couldn’t determine the identity of the woman on the security tape, but we assume she stole the boy from a wolf pack, then decided she had made a mistake and left him off at the day care. She left no ID behind. Just a bag and a blanket.”

  “She must have realized your place was a wolf day-care center. Which means she’s one of us. Why else would she have dropped off a wolf child at your particular day-care center?”

  Everett glanced at Demetria to see her take on it. He was afraid that as soon as he said it was a jaguar-shifter day care, Devlyn would hang up on him.

  Demetria shook her head, which Everett took to mean that he shouldn’t mention they were jaguars.

  “My mother had never seen the child or the woman before. I still think it was dumb luck that the woman brought the boy there, since he shifted twice after he was dropped off. He hasn’t shifted back yet. Was she afraid someone was going to find her with the kid and she’d be arrested? In any event, it’s all still a mystery.”

  “His mother must be a fairly newly turned mother, if she can’t hold her form while her son is with a stranger. For her son’s safety, she would have kept her human form otherwise.”

  “Yeah, the full moon must be making her shift and then her young son is shifting at the same time as his mother.” Everett was trying to get confirmation that it worked that way with the wolf shifters, but he hoped he hadn’t said anything that showed his ignorance.

  “Sorry. Can’t help you. We don’t know any Arctic wolf shifters.”

  “We’re at a dead end here. Can you give us the name and location of another wolf pack that might know where the pup belongs?” Demetria asked.

  “A couple. Not that they’ve ever mentioned anything about an Arctic wolf pack, and they live even farther away from your location. A distant cousin of mine married a SEAL wolf located on the Oregon coast.” Devlyn gave them her number. “No Arctic wolves that I know of in their pack either.”

  The pup was snarling and growling while Maya tugged him back and forth all over the living room floor with the rope toy, keeping him preoccupied.

  “You said there was another?” Demetria asked.

  “Leidolf’s red wolf pack is in Portland, Oregon.” Devlyn gave them his number too. “Oh, and a geneticist. He’s been looking for wolf packs to test their blood concerning this longevity issue, if he hasn’t located your pack already. Dr. Aidan Denali. I just have his card with his phone number on it. I don’t know anything else about him. Still, he might have run across an Arctic pack while doing his research.”

  “Thank you.” Everett felt somewhat relieved that they had a few more leads. But he sure wished someone knew of a wolf pack in Dallas.

  “Thanks,” Demetria added.

  “Let me know when you find the boy’s home,” Devlyn said.

  “Will do.” Then Everett ended the call and let out his breath.

  “Ohmigod, I can’t believe you pretended we were werewolves,” Maya said. “That was brilliant. And it worked!”

  Everett smiled. “Who would have ever thought?”

  “Agreed. We ought to call the geneticist first since he could be working with a ton of packs,” Demetria said. “Then he can tell us if he found a white wolf pack.”

  “What if he wants to test our blood?” Wade asked.

  “Wouldn’t he be surprised?” Everett straightened his back and called the doctor. “Hi, Dr. Denali? I’m Everett Anderson. Devlyn Greystoke gave me yo
ur name and number in case you know of any Arctic wolf packs because of the research you are doing. We’re attempting to find the parents of an approximately four-year-old male Arctic wolf shifter, blond hair, amber eyes. He was dropped off at my mother’s day care in Dallas, Texas, by a woman who didn’t leave an ID. She took off before anyone could talk to her. So we’re trying to locate his family.”

  “The boy shifted? He didn’t just smell like a wolf?” Dr. Denali sounded more than concerned. He sounded like he wanted to help too.

  Everett was thrilled, yet his enthusiasm waned when he realized the doctor hadn’t instantly said he knew of an Arctic wolf pack. “Yes. He’s a wolf and he hasn’t shifted back, so we can’t ask who his parents are, what his name is, and if he knows where he lives.”

  “The full moon is out. His mother must be a fairly newly turned wolf.”

  “But he’s about four years old.”

  “Right. Even though she would gain control during the rest of the month, she might still be having trouble during the full moon.”

  They could change anytime during the month? Great. Here Everett thought they’d have a reprieve after the moon waned enough.

  “I haven’t tested any Arctic wolves. I don’t recall your name among the packs I’ve run blood tests on. Are you located in the same place as your mother’s day care?”

  “Uh, yeah. You haven’t tested us.” Everett was thinking that a doctor, someone who would be more scientific minded, might believe what they were when others wouldn’t without seeing them in person.

  “Dallas…”

  “Yeah, and that’s where the boy was dropped off. So we don’t know if his pack is close by or the kidnapper brought him here from somewhere else. Devlyn gave us his distant cousin’s pack’s location on the Oregon coast, and I’m checking with them next. Another is in Portland, Oregon. But if those don’t pan out, do you know of any others that might give us another starting point? Any wolf packs in Dallas?” Everett figured if he mentioned the packs, the doctor or others would believe he and Demetria were on the up-and-up. Hopefully, that would make more of them feel free to share what they knew.