Not that they wouldn’t have problems after they reached the cabana. Someone could discover at any time that they were caring for two motherless cubs. And then they’d be in some kind of mess.
She propped Huntley up against a tree until she could take down the tent. He always insisted on carrying the extra weight, but she had to have him on his feet, so she’d carry the tent this time. If she could have carried both cubs, she would have. She put the more golden cub in his backpack and the darker one in hers, then helped him on with his pack.
“I’ll take the tent,” he said.
“You stay on your feet.” She finally managed to get her pack on. With the tent and the cub and as tired as she was, she was having a time of it. “I’ll lead the way. You hold on to the strap of my bag. I don’t want to lose you and not realize you’ve fallen behind.”
“All right.”
She knew he had to be feeling poorly if he agreed to everything so readily. “Okay, let’s go.”
She trudged through the rainforest, trying to take the most direct path back, but the mud sucked at their boots. Huntley’s pulling at the strap on her bag indicated he was having trouble and that practically unbalanced her too. He either was swaying to one side or the other, or pulling back on the strap as if he was losing his balance or consciousness.
The only good thing was that the cubs had gone to sleep in the bags, the rocking motion and confinement comforting them, so they were no longer crying for their momma.
“Are you doing all right?” she asked Huntley for the fifth time since they’d started the interminable hike back to their cabana.
“Yeah,” he grunted.
“Okay.” She didn’t dare look back at him. She couldn’t look over her shoulder because of all the gear she was carrying. She also was afraid of turning around because he was holding so tightly onto her backpack strap that she might throw him off balance and he’d go down.
How far was it? The trip back seemed to be taking four times as long as it should. Which it probably was, considering how slowly they were moving.
“So, they seem to have bonded with you,” she said. She didn’t want to waste her breath, but she wanted to make sure he didn’t pass out on her. If talking helped, she would do it.
He grunted.
She smiled. “I saw the way they were kneading your shirt.”
“Belly,” he said.
She chuckled. “Yeah, they have sharp little claws.”
“Yeah, got the wounds to prove it.”
She laughed. “Sorry. I’ll take care of you when we get to the cabana.”
“How far is it?”
“Not sure. Maybe another five miles. We were in fairly deep.”
“About four more hours then.”
“Yeah. Can you make it?”
“Yeah.” He didn’t sound like it to her. “You?”
Every inch of her hurt. Especially her back and shoulders. She needed a back rub for certain. “Yeah. I’m fine.”
“Tell me what happened.”
She sighed and told him how she’d only managed to reach the beach when the men tore off in the boat with the jaguars. “And you were shot.”
“Real bullets. Not tranquilizer darts. Only I was damned lucky and moved so quickly that the bullet only grazed me. It still feels like I was hit with Thor’s hammer, and I must have passed out. Or else they’d have made sure I was dead.”
“Then you went back to the camp because you’d been injured.”
“The only thing that came to mind was for me to return to the tent and wait for you. I knew I couldn’t manage locating you on my own the way I was feeling.”
“Good thing too. And then you found the cubs.”
“Hell, that was a shock.”
“For me too. Not only was my partner out for the count, but he had two cubs…bonding with him.”
He chuckled.
They had only made it maybe another mile when they heard voices. She came to a dead halt. They were using a trail to make the trip back easier. Even so, the path was strewn with tree roots and vines. But given Huntley’s condition and the extra load she was carrying, using a trail would help to get them to where they were headed quicker.
She began to move off the trail, hating to take even one step away from the direction they had to go. Then the worst possible thing could happen. Her cub began crying and growling.
No, no, no.
She moved deeper into the thick vegetation and stopped, hoping that whoever it was wouldn’t come searching for the crying cub.
“Hide,” she told Huntley.
“What?”
“I’m going to shift. You take my cub with you and hide. I’ll pretend to be the mother hunting, and if they get anywhere near where you are, I’ll growl and show a whole lot of teeth.”
“If they’re poachers?”
“I’ll take them down.”
“I don’t like it.”
“You don’t have to. Huntley, you’re not in any shape to shift. And you’re responsible for taking care of the cubs.”
Boots tromped through the leaves, drawing closer. “Do you hear a cat crying?” a man said.
“Big cat. Not a domestic,” another said. “Cub.”
“Yeah, over this way,” a third man said.
There were at least three of them.
“Hey,” a fourth said. “If its mother is out hunting, we’re screwed. Let’s go away from the sound of the cub crying.”
Great advice! If the others would heed it… But they didn’t.
The other men headed for where Huntley was staying behind a tree with the cubs. Once the one cub started fussing, the other began to also.
Melissa hurried to strip off her clothes. There was only one way to discourage the men from getting any closer. She shifted. And waited in she-cat mode protecting “her” cubs and their “father.”
“This way,” the one guy said.
She growled softly, letting him know before he even got close enough to see her to turn around and head the other way. The cubs quieted.
“Wait,” one of the men said.
All of them stopped crashing through the woods, their flashlights sweeping across the dripping wet vegetation, the rains quieting down to a light shower, as they searched for any sign of the growly jaguar. She wanted to tell them how dangerous it was to approach a protective mother cat.
She remained quiet, hoping they’d just move along, but then one of the cubs began to cry again. One of the men moved in her direction, slower this time, but his boots were just as noisy as he broke twigs in his path.
She growled. This time he swung his flashlight in her eyes and she crouched, ready to pounce.
“Okay, it’s okay. I’m not going to hurt you,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, his voice trembling a little as he moved backward slowly. The light was blinding her, but he was pulling away until he tripped, swore, and landed on his back, his light suddenly shining on the canopy above him. She wanted to laugh.
The other guys hurried to help him up.
“Hell, man. You don’t want her to think you’re her next meal for her cubs, do you?” said the guy who had warned the rest of them to leave well enough alone. “Just keep the light in her eyes. It’ll blind her until we can move far enough away from her and the cubs.”
They continued to back away from her, keeping their lights on her, though they were fading so much that they would be out of view shortly.
“I just wish I could have gotten a picture,” the man who had tripped said.
“I did.”
“Me too.”
And then they were gone. Relieved, Melissa came around the tree to see why the cubs were so quiet now, expecting them to be sleeping in Huntley’s arms, but he and they were gone.
Chapter 9
His mind
clearing enough to recognize the danger to the cubs and to all of them, Huntley moved away from the tree to keep the cubs quiet and give Melissa a chance to look scary and menacing to the park visitors.
He was hoping he was far enough away to keep the cubs from causing more trouble when Melissa came out of nowhere, as quiet as a jaguar, and nearly gave him a heart attack when she roared at him. She was cute when she was pissed. At least he was feeling better. Not a hundred percent, but better.
And at least he saw only one pissed-off jaguar and not two of her now. He followed her back to her clothes, and after she shifted and dressed, he helped her on with her backpack.
The sky was getting lighter, despite the gray clouds, so they would arrive at the cabana in broad daylight. It couldn’t be helped.
Scarlet macaws took flight when they smelled the jaguars in their midst. Huntley and Melissa were close to the cabanas now. They could smell the food cooking in some of the cabanas and at the lodge. Time for breakfast and Huntley was actually hungry. Which was a good sign. His headache had lessened. Had he really told Melissa that he had to beg off on going to bed with her because of an excruciating headache?
“About the headache,” Huntley said. “It’s nearly gone.”
“I’m so glad,” she said with heartfelt relief.
“Yeah. That means I can take you up on your rain check.”
She didn’t say anything as she trudged along, looking like she was ready to collapse the way she was putting the effort into moving one foot ahead of the other.
He chuckled.
“I’m glad you’re feeling so much better,” she said seriously.
“I am. And I’m serious about taking you up on the rain check.”
She laughed, then groaned. “I’ll be so glad to get this backpack off my back. And get cleaned up.”
“And sleep.”
“Yeah, but now that we have a couple of babies, I can’t go to sleep right away.”
Then they reached the ranger’s station. Looking bedraggled, they smiled and were about to head for their cabana, hoping to clear out in a hurry before the cubs did anything to give them away, when the ranger said to Huntley, “What happened to you?”
“Tripped and fell and bloodied my head,” Huntley said, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. Melissa had forged on ahead.
Afraid the cubs would wake at any moment and that if she even tried to stop, she’d never get up the momentum to move again, Melissa kept trudging back to the cabana, praying Huntley would get past the ranger before they had more trouble.
“Make sure you get it looked after,” the ranger said to Huntley.
“Sure thing.” Huntley soon caught up to her, and she again couldn’t believe he could have any energy, especially after being wounded.
Then she saw the trail to their place and sighed with audible relief. “We made it.”
She looked at the daunting steps to the deck that she’d need to climb to reach the front door.
“I’ll take the tent,” Huntley said when she hesitated.
“No, I’ll manage.” She didn’t want him to have to carry anything more. She knew he had to still be feeling poorly.
He lifted her pack as she began the climb the steps. She couldn’t believe he could manage.
She unlocked the door and went inside. He followed, helping her off with her backpack. What a relief. Then she quickly did the same for him. What she wouldn’t give for a hot tub or masseuse right now!
Huntley rolled his shoulders and groaned a little.
“I feel the same way.” She was glad he wasn’t so macho that he tried to hide the fact that his muscles ached like hers did. She headed for the kitchen and considered how open it was to the breakfast nook and living room. “We’re going to have difficulty no matter how we manage this. I was thinking we could put them in the kitchen, but there’s no good way to do that.”
“Bathroom or the bedroom.”
“Bathroom. I’ll need to make up a cat litter box for them. I can get some sand from the beach.” She fished his phone out of her pocket and handed it to him.
“You are a treasure. I’m so glad you found it. I figured I’d have to go back out there and search for it as soon as I could,” Huntley said.
“Glad I discovered it. I kept calling your number, hoping I’d locate you. Really had me worried when I found your phone and no you.”
“Don’t blame you there.”
“Why don’t you wash up and go lie down? I’ll join you after a while.”
“Are you kidding? You think I’m going to let you take care of our first kids all on your own?”
She laughed. She appreciated a man who still had a sense of humor under these circumstances. “You have been wounded. Don’t act all he-man on me. What if you collapse again?”
“Then you can give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and revive me. And while you’re at it, you could give me that rain check.”
Smiling, she shook her head. “We have babies in the house now. I’m going to try to feed them.”
“I’ll help. What do you want me to do?”
“We’ll have to show them how to lick up the milk from a bowl. They’ll probably get it, if they’re hungry enough.”
“Easier than if they were human babies,” he said, watching as she poured milk into a bowl and then set it down on the floor.
She poked her fingers in the milk and let the more adventurous of the two cubs lick it off her fingers. “Yeah, but don’t even mention the baby part.”
The cubs were making a mess and not really drinking much. Huntley got on his cell and put it on speakerphone. “Mom, I’ve got a question. Melissa Overton and I are on a mission in Costa Rica, and well, how do you feed a two-month-old jaguar cub if you don’t have mother’s milk?”
“What?”
Melissa chuckled while she continued to try to get the cubs to lap up the milk. It wasn’t working. The one with brighter gold fur stepped in the bowl. The other chewed on the edge.
“Poachers captured the mom,” he said quickly. “We’re trying a bowl of milk on them, and it’s not working out very well.”
His mother began laughing.
Melissa smiled. She liked his mom.
“I’m sorry. It’s not funny.” Then his mother started laughing again. “Okay, okay, it is funny. They need baby bottles just like a baby. And after they’ve fed, you put them over your shoulder and rub their back and pat them to burp them.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I raised three of you kids. And I still have a day care. Don’t you think I know how to do it?”
“Wait, if we were jaguars, you’d have to have been a jaguar and not needed a bottle.”
“Right, but some of the mothers run in their jaguar forms and don’t want to take their infants with them, so when they leave their babies with me, I have to feed them bottled breast milk. Just get some baby bottles, and though the milk won’t have all the nutrients the cubs need, it’ll be good enough until the momma can take care of them again. At that age, they should drink nearly all of a bottle.” She started laughing again.
He smiled at Melissa. “Thanks, Mom. We’re off to see if we can find some baby bottles.”
“Love you, Son. You and Melissa will do fine with them.”
“Yeah, love you too.” He pocketed his phone and looked at Melissa.
“Baby bottles. It might take me a while. If you can watch them, I’ll run to the store and see if I can also find something to use as a litter box. And get some more milk. Will you be all right?”
“Yeah. Just be back really soon. Okay?”
She smiled, then patted his stomach. “Fatherhood suits you. Call your mother back if you have any trouble.”
Then she slipped her passport and some money into a small bag and left, praying no one would drop in une
xpectedly and cause even more problems for them. She got into the rental car and headed for the small store ten miles away, which was a long way on these roads, considering the potholes and boulders in the road. She called Martin to let him know they were safely back at the cabana and that Huntley was doing much better.
“Good. I’ve asked all the branches to put out a search to see if we can discover who the jaguar shifter parents are and where they were staying. I keep telling everyone we need a database with all of our people listed for this very reason.”
“Right, but everyone would have to voluntarily sign up to be monitored, and you know how that goes over with some folks,” Melissa said, turning off the windshield wipers as the rain finally subsided.
“I agree. But if these people had told us that they were jaguar shifters and going to be in the park at a certain time, we’d know about it.”
“Right. Would it be possible to send a nursing jaguar-shifter mother out here to at least nurse the cubs?” She was certain he’d say no, but it was an idea.
“Can’t. Not only do we not have a database to know such a thing, but a nursing mother would have babies of her own to care for.”
“Yeah, but she could shift if anyone began snooping around. All they’d see would be a human woman with a baby or babies of her own.”
“And two cubs that she stole from the park.”
“Got it. But what if these cubs’ mother is incarcerated and it takes weeks to locate her and free her? Huntley and I can’t stay here all that time.”
“We’re working on a way to get the cubs back to the States. You might have to move to another location where we can send in a plane or a helicopter. It’s going to take some time, though. Do the best you can in the meantime. We’ll keep you informed.”
“All right.” She knew Martin would have all the resources he could working on this problem, as well as the other branches pooling their teams to aid them. Anytime that a shifter was captured in his jaguar form and imprisoned, it became a case of extreme concern for all shifters. But even more so when the imprisoned jaguar left behind cubs. If the mom died in captivity, she’d turn back into her human form, and the cubs would too. Then they’d have two babies to take care of.