A Very Jaguar Christmas

  “So Heidi saw the boy shift.”

  “You know how fast we shift. She turned her head, and when she looked back, he was already a wolf.”

  “I can’t believe wolf shifters exist. And they’re located here?” Everett wouldn’t be able to wrap his mind around it unless he actually saw it happening.

  The pup whimpered a little, his foot jerking in sleep.

  As soon as Mary removed the two boys’ halos, all three jaguar cubs raced over to Everett and began clawing at his jeans to get at the pup.

  “No, down,” Everett scolded the cubs, not wanting them to tear his jeans or cut his skin as their sharp little fishhook claws dug into his leg.

  “Come on.” Lacy tried to get ahold of one of the cubs. She was still tiny for her age, but she got one of the cubs and held on, telling her she had to behave.

  His mom grabbed up one of the cubs. “No scratching,” she scolded the other one.

  Before Everett could prepare himself, the wolf pup turned into a blond-haired, naked, approximately four-year-old boy, still sound asleep in his arms. Everett couldn’t have been any more speechless. He looked from the boy to his mom to see if she had seen what had happened.

  Her jaw had dropped. “Ohmigod, I don’t believe it. Werewolves really do exist.”

  Lacy’s eyes were saucer-size.

  Everett thought of the perfect person to handle this. Demetria was wholly suited for the mission because she loved kids of all ages and she was good at her job. Surely, she would believe him and his mother, since she knew them and wouldn’t think they were trying to pull her leg. Even so, he suspected she would not believe it any more than he had. Until she saw it happen right before her eyes.

  Then again, she might not be in any shape to deal with a wolf shifter or anything else this morning after the party she and Tammy had last night.

  Chapter 7

  Early that morning, Demetria got an emergency call from the director of the Guardian branch. She was feeling better, but she was on vacation, had had to take something for a headache this morning, and fully intended to sleep for a few more hours. It was only six in the morning!

  Then her heart thumped wildly, her first thought that something awful had happened with Brayden.

  When her boss told her the trouble he was calling about, she immediately believed Ben Knight had gotten an early start on drinking mistletoe martinis in celebration of the holidays.

  She put the call on speaker so she could get dressed. “Okay, sir, you’re telling me that the jaguar shifter day care has an Arctic wolf shifter pup there. Really? That’s like saying they have a Bigfoot baby there. They’re trying to pull a prank on us.”

  “I’m serious, Demetria. I need you to go over there immediately. You might know that a JAG agent’s mother owns and operates the day care, so she called her son, Everett Anderson, first to take care of the situation with the little boy. Since Everett was working with you on Brayden Covington’s case, he called and highly recommended you handle this one. The JAG agency doesn’t normally deal with guardian-type services. That’s our job.”

  Mary Anderson’s day care? Demetria couldn’t believe it. Mary was great at creating fantastical stories and games for the kids, but Everett’s mother didn’t seem like the type to come up with a practical joke that involved a policing agency.

  Demetria squinted at her reflection in the mirror. Ugh. She brushed her hair and began applying her makeup. “We don’t handle anything like that for anyone other than jaguars either. This has to be someone’s idea of a joke. This year, the different branches pulled all kinds of pranks on each other.”

  “That was on April Fool’s Day.”

  “So, maybe they’re a little early for next year.”

  Ignoring her comment, Ben said, “I need you to check it out and report back to me ASAP.”

  “All right, sir.” This was nuts. And she hated to be the fall guy.

  “Okay, but if this truly is a case involving such a thing as a wolf shifter, I’m canceling your leave and assigning you the job. This case takes priority over anything else.”

  Demetria wished she hadn’t had that third margarita last night.

  She grabbed her purse and glanced at the clean kitchen, vaguely recalling that Everett had mopped the floor before…before he carried her off to bed. Now she felt even guiltier that she’d said no to a date with him today. Was this a way for him to get even?

  She headed out the door, still on the phone with Ben.

  “All right?” Ben said, getting confirmation she was going along with the program.

  “Yes, sir.” Because she knew this was all a dumb hoax. Though she couldn’t believe Everett or his mother would try to pull a prank on her. She didn’t know what to think.

  When Demetria arrived at the day-care center, the pretend frost covering the windows made it look like a winter day in Dallas. Twinkling colorful lights hanging from the eaves and lights in the windows gave the center a real holiday look. The sign out front had two little angels holding jaguar cubs, signifying to jaguar shifters that one of their own ran the place. She didn’t imagine any human day care would include jaguars in its motif, and she wondered what humans would think of having a wild animal as part of the branding.

  Looking totally frazzled with her blond hair slipping from her bun, Mary Anderson met Demetria outside and quickly ushered her into the day care. “Oh, oh, I’m so glad you’re here, Demetria. This is just, well…just…unreal. And wonderful. And horrible.”

  Demetria had never seen Everett’s mother so rattled. Well, except for the time she was helping search for the runaway preschooler. “My boss sent me to help take care of the situation. May I see the wolf shifter pup?”

  “Yes, yes, this way. Everett has been watching over him. He starts crying and whimpering if we leave him alone for even a minute.”

  “Wolf pack mentality,” Demetria said, as if buying into this. “Unless you mean your son.”

  Mary smiled a little. “Everett will be thrilled you’ve arrived to take the pup off his hands. He was the one who called your boss and asked for your help. He was a little worried you might not be feeling well because you were a touch under the weather last night, but he knew you were just the one to handle this. We have a serious problem here.”

  Demetria hoped Everett hadn’t told his mother why she was a “touch under the weather” last night. “Besides the fact werewolves don’t exist?”

  “We don’t know who the mother was.”

  Demetria frowned at her. “You didn’t sign the child in?” Even though she knew this had to be a joke, she still couldn’t help treating it like a real case.

  “No. Neither did Heidi Johansson, my helper,” Mary said. “The woman just dropped the child off, then left. If he had been strictly human and hadn’t told Heidi he was going to shift and then shifted, I would have called child protective services.”

  Demetria did smell the wolf scent, which told her that they’d had a real wolf or wolf dog here at some point.

  They both reached the doorway to a room in the back of the building and looked in. Smiling, Everett crouched on the floor, playing tug-of-war with the wolf pup, a silver aluminum halo firmly entrenched between the pup’s teeth. Demetria smiled at the sight, then pulled out her cell phone and snapped a shot to send to her boss. Now this was seeing Everett in a new light. Though watching him mop the spilled margarita off her floor and clean up all the glass was something she’d never seen him do either. She had to admit she was grateful he’d cleaned up the floor, the dishes, and everything.

  “Oh no, Everett,” his mother scolded. “We need those for the Christmas play.” Mary took the halo away, looking highly annoyed with him.

  Everett appeared properly chastised, while the pup looked disappointed his favorite toy had been taken away and was still eyeing it in Mary’s hand.

  Demetria
didn’t believe for one minute that the wolf was a shifter. But it did look like a wolf pup, not a wolf-dog mix or a dog that just looked like a wolf. Changing her mind about how she’d manage this, she decided to go along for the ride for just a bit. She could handle a joke the same as the next guy, though she did even better when she had more sleep. She had to admit both the pup and Everett were cute.

  Everett hadn’t seen her standing in the doorway yet as his mother set the halo out of the puppy’s reach on top of a table.

  Demetria had never imagined a big guy like that—whose normal missions entailed taking down ruthless animal exploiters and the like—would be playing on the floor with a small, white wolf pup. Everett suddenly turned his attention to the doorway. Rather than looking a little embarrassed that Demetria had caught him on the floor playing with the puppy, he seemed relieved and glad to see her.

  As Everett quickly rose from the floor, the pup saw a new toy—the shoelaces on Everett’s right tennis shoe—and began to tug at them, growling ferociously. “I asked your boss if he could send you to investigate this. I wasn’t sure how you were feeling and I know you’re on vacation, but this case is so unbelievable and important for both our kinds that I thought you’d want to be involved. And…it’s your kind of case as a Guardian agent.”

  Mary motioned to Demetria. “Of course she’s the only choice for the job. She’s like family so she knows this is for real. Anyone else would probably think it was some kind of silly hoax.”

  Demetria raised her brows a little.

  Everett freed his shoelace from the pup’s sharp teeth, lifted him in his arms, and carried him to Demetria. “He’s all yours.” But he didn’t make any attempt to hand the pup over.

  “Why don’t you keep him?” No way was she going to take hold of the puppy, even though Everett hadn’t actually offered for her to take him. She still figured it had to be a joke, and relieving him of the puppy would show just how gullible she was. The way she handled this would reflect on her branch. “We have to track down his parents,” she said smoothly. “I’ve been given the assignment of taking care of the pup while you track down the mother. That means we’re stuck with each other until we resolve this.”

  Everett smiled a little. “Nothing would give me more pleasure.” He sounded totally sincere.

  It was just too preposterous. “Because of the ramifications of what a wolf-shifter population could mean to us, this has the highest priority. My boss is calling your boss as we speak to let him know he wants you on this assignment with me.” If the JAG branch wanted to perpetuate the joke, they’d have to give her the JAG agent to help “deal with this.” She could imagine taking the pup back to her branch and everyone shaking their heads at her for having been so thoroughly duped.

  Everett stroked the pup’s head. “I haven’t even called Martin about it yet.”

  Why was she not surprised? “Really?”

  “He won’t believe it when he gets the call from your director. He’ll think Ben is pulling his leg,” Everett said.

  Demetria’s mouth hung agape for a moment. That’s just the way she felt about Everett and his mom saying this was for real.

  “Do you have security tapes?” Everett asked his mother.

  “Yes, set up in the front. We looked at them while we waited for you to arrive.”

  Photoshopped, no doubt. All planned.

  As they walked down the hallway, Everett still didn’t offer to hand over the pup. He just cuddled him against his chest as his mother led them to the front. At least Everett loved puppies, which made Demetria remember when he’d rescued a pup from a drainpipe, then washed him and played with him until they could find the owners. She’d forgotten all about that. She thought he had real Guardian qualities, though he probably wouldn’t acknowledge it. The puppy genuinely seemed to love him right back, which she had to admit was heartwarming.

  “Where are all the other kids?” Demetria considered the bright jungle decor in the front room and thought how lucky the kids were that got to stay here. She wished she’d had a place to play like this when she was little. Her gaze shifted to the tropical fish in the tank. She could just imagine the little jaguars loving those and the bright-green iguana she’d spotted.

  “All the children are in the back room with Heidi until we can sort this out. I need to help her though.” Mary played the video for them. “Heidi and I both checked the videotapes while we were waiting for Everett to arrive, hoping maybe the woman revealed enough about herself that he could quickly locate her.”

  In the video, several moms and dads checked in their babies, toddlers, and preschoolers. Lacy was dropped off wearing an angel costume and angel wings, and Demetria wondered why she was here, but not her brother and sister. Then a woman wearing a white winter coat, black suede shoes, and a fluffy white knit hat that hid her hair walked the little boy into the room.

  “That’s her and that’s the boy. The wolf pup,” Mary said.

  Demetria got a blurry glimpse of the woman’s face as she lifted the boy over the children’s gate and left a blue bag on the floor beside him, then hurried out of the day care. Not once did the woman speak with the boy. He turned to watch her go, then heard Heidi coming to see who had just entered the day care, and his gaze shifted to the brunette with dark-brown eyes, her mouth parted in surprise. “Where’s your mama?” Heidi asked.

  “Mommy and Daddy are coming to get me later.”

  Her eyes widening a bit, Heidi hurried over to the door and peered out the window, but the woman had already left. The boy began pulling at his coat and said, “Gotta shift now.”

  “What?” Heidi took the boy into the back, and that was the end of the tape of his arrival.

  “You don’t have any security cameras in the parking lot?” Everett asked.

  “No. But I doubt the woman was the child’s mother. She wouldn’t leave him off here and then shift. She would know her son would shift too then. Well, if they’re anything like us,” Mary said. “And we would have smelled a different wolf scent on her. She was strictly human. At first, Heidi just thought she’d left a human child off. What else was she to think? Then the business with him trying to shift in the front room? Because the woman didn’t sign him in, we figured it was a case of getting rid of him.”

  Demetria shook her head, but this was why she was a Guardian. Kid issues always concerned her.

  Everett ran the video again. But none of them saw anything else to aid them.

  Mary said, “Why don’t you see Maya and ask her if she knows anything about this.”

  “Tammy might have told you that Maya is our half sister,” Everett explained to Demetria.

  “Yes, she spoke about Maya and her brother, Connor.” Tammy had been thrilled to learn she had a half sister and brother. Demetria couldn’t have been more pleased for her, but since they lived near Houston, Demetria had never met them.

  “What would Maya know about this, Mom?” Everett asked.

  “She called to tell me when she and her mate were coming for Christmas right before I talked to you. I told her I had a wolf pup shifter fighting with the jaguar cubs, and she asked me who was going to handle it. Like every day a boy turns into a wolf pup at my day care! I told her I was calling you because you weren’t on a mission, and you’d be on your way immediately. She told me to have you call her as soon as you could. She didn’t tell me why. I had to let her go anyway so I could deal with the fighting cats and wolf and contact you.”

  The door to the back room opened, and Lacy joined them. She took Mary’s hand. “Heidi says she needs you to help with the other kids.”

  Demetria looked down at Lacy, her red-blond sausage curls framing her face. She was a pretty little girl. Demetria couldn’t imagine how awful it had to have been to be stolen from her parents at the Costa Rican resort. And then to see the kidnappers and Matt die… Lacy must have been scarred emotionally.
“Are you going to be in the Christmas play?” Demetria guessed that’s why the little girl was here.

  “Yeah, my sister and brother didn’t want to do it this year. They said they were too old. But I’m a big helper this time.” Lacy was still tiny for her age. She looked about the size of the four-year-olds, and she had a heart of gold.

  Mary squeezed Lacy’s hand. “A real angel. Come on, let’s help Heidi. Good luck, and let me know what happens with the boy.” Mary gave Everett a hug.

  He gave her one back and a kiss on the cheek.

  Lacy let go of Mary’s hand and gave him a big hug too. He smiled down at her, hugged her back, and since she looked like she was expecting one, he gave her a kiss on the cheek too. Then she appeared to be waiting for Everett to give Demetria a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Demetria felt her cheeks burning, especially when she recalled Everett had given her a kiss on her cheek—last night when she was a little bit tipsy. Even his mom waited for a moment to see if he’d do it.

  He only smiled at Demetria.

  When he didn’t give Demetria a hug, his mom said, “Glad you’re helping Everett with this, Demetria.” Then Mary took Lacy’s hand and hurried back down the hallway to take care of the jaguar kids, the door to the hallway locking behind her.

  “Where is Maya’s home?” Demetria asked Everett as she rummaged through the bag the woman had left with the boy. “Just a blanket with sheep on it and the boy’s clothes. No ID.”

  “Maya and her husband live near Houston, over a three-hour drive from here. She helps to run a garden shop and nursery with her brother and his mate. Her husband, Wade Patterson, is also a JAG agent.” Everett pulled out his cell phone and called his half sister. “Maya, what do you know about the wolf pup at Mom’s day care?” He paused and listened, then said “All right” and hung up the phone.

  “What did she say?”

  “She said it was too risky to talk about this over the phone. Do you want to take my car or yours?”