Jaguar Pride

  His eyes were dark as midnight, his cock plunging into her, his mouth hot on hers as she traced her fingers along his back and tangled her tongue with his. For the moment, all she cared about was this—him inside her and the physical and emotional connection they shared.

  Huntley slowed his thrusts, burrowing deep and taking in her woman’s fragrance of peaches and sexy cat. He loved the way she touched him, the way she moved her hips to meet his thrusts, the feel of her skin soft against his. She was wild and unpredictable, and he couldn’t get enough of her.

  He licked her neck and nuzzled his face against her skin like a big cat courting a female—affectionately and looking to mate. Her face was flushed and radiant, her reddish-brown hair spread out over the white pillow like a jaguar goddess, her green eyes shuttered. Her knees were bent and spread, opening her to him, and her heart was beating as wildly as his.

  And then he came, thrusting into her, the hunger for her finally quenched—for now. But he knew it wouldn’t last.

  After making love, they cuddled and Huntley wasn’t too surprised when he and Melissa both fell back to sleep for a few hours. He was feeling great, his head no longer hurting and his other more primal needs met—and hers as well. The rains had stopped, and he was enjoying the feeling of Melissa’s light breath on his chest and her hair tickling his skin. Then the cubs began snarling for something to eat.

  Before the cubs woke Melissa, he gently slipped out from underneath her, threw on some boxers, and headed for the bathroom. Thankfully, the shower had a glass door so the cats didn’t have shower curtains to play with—and shred. They’d used both litter boxes. That beat having a bunch of messy diapers.

  He grabbed a couple of milk bottles, warmed them, then took the cubs into the living room and sat down on a chair to feed them. He really thought it would be easy. It wasn’t. While he was trying to feed Sweetpea, Goldie was attempting to grab the bottle with her paws and biting at the bottom of it. He chuckled. He still thought she should be called Dragon.

  Man, this was harder than it looked. Somehow, milk had splattered on Sweetpea’s face and head. But she was drinking just like a baby, her paws clinging to the bottle as her sister tackled her. He could see where it helped to have two people to do this.

  When he wouldn’t feed Goldie, she grabbed hold of his arm with claws extended, trying to get him to pay attention to her and feed her. Little monster. She was already showing how strong even a baby jaguar cub could be. Once Sweetpea was finished, he took her back to the bathroom, hoping if she had to go, she’d use the litter box while he fed the other one. Handling one was so much easier.

  Once Goldie had finished feeding, he left the two in the bathroom, or planned to, so he could take one of the litter boxes outside to clean. Everything was a chore. Both cubs wanted to go with him and were winding around his legs and getting underfoot, while he was trying to keep them in the bathroom and both hands on the box. He finally managed to slip his arm under the box, cradle it, and quickly shut the door without closing it on a tail or a foot.

  After taking care of the box, he returned with the clean litter box and found Melissa in the kitchen, yawning as she pushed the hair out of her eyes and gave him a sleepy smile.

  “This mission isn’t anything like I thought it would be,” she said, washing her hands and preparing ham and eggs. “Glad you’re taking care of the kids.”

  He chuckled. “Hey, if you’re cooking, I’m good.” He returned to the bathroom and found the cubs sleeping on their towel bed. He exchanged litter boxes, then closed the bathroom door. “I’m glad my mother told us about the bottles because I’m certain they wouldn’t have gotten the hang of lapping up milk from a bowl.”

  “I had a kitten when I was little, and I fed her from a bowl. So that’s why I thought it would work for a jaguar cub. Even so, it would help if we had a regular cat or dog dish that didn’t tip,” she said.

  “Yeah. Not that we would find anything like that here.” He headed outside with the second litter box.

  When he returned, she asked, “Did they use the boxes okay?”

  “Yeah, they were good. Although I managed to get milk all over their faces—don’t ask me how.”

  She chuckled.

  He cleaned the cubs up, then returned with two wet cats and a towel, and set them on the kitchen floor near the table. At least jaguar cubs loved the water. The whole cabana was tiled, so no problem with cleanups if they were needed.

  The cubs were sniffing at the aroma of the ham and eggs.

  Melissa smiled down at them. “You two are too little yet. Later, you can eat big-people food. I think.” She looked at Huntley for confirmation.

  Huntley started to agree but then said, “Let me call Mom.”

  Melissa smiled.

  Huntley went to put on some jeans and a T-shirt, and did a search on the Internet to learn when jaguar cubs began to eat meat, but he wasn’t certain if the same rules applied to jaguar shifter cubs. He returned to the living room with the phone in hand and called his mother.

  “Okay, another question. The cubs look like they’re dying to have some meat while Melissa’s cooking ham and eggs. I did a quick Internet search, and one of the sites said the mother takes them to a kill site and they begin to eat meat as young as seven to nine weeks of age. But human babies can’t even eat pureed food at that age, can they?”

  “No. But when they’re jaguars, they have all the needs of a full-time jaguar. So, yes, they can eat meat. They’ll eat just what they need, so try them out on a little bit of it. Not anything too spicy,” his mother said.

  “Okay. Thanks. We have ham and eggs this morning. Do you think smoked ham would be all right?”

  “Soak it in water and that will take out some of the spicy flavor. If you have some raw hamburger, that would be even better. Just feed them a little bit.”

  “Okay. Thanks, Mom.” He poked around in the fridge. “Got some. Got to go. I’ll call if we have any more questions.”

  “Good luck to the both of you. Any luck with finding the mother?”

  “Not yet. Soon, we hope.” Then they said their good-byes, and he separated a little bit of the hamburger for each of the cubs. “A little bit of raw hamburger, Mom said.”

  He sat down on the floor to feed them to get them out from under Melissa’s feet. Immediately, both cubs scrambled onto his lap and tried to get to the meat. He parceled it out to each of them, both licking at his hands with their small sandpapery tongues. Then they began to nibble at the hamburger. He looked up to see Melissa watching him and she smiled.

  The cubs finished the meat and began rubbing their heads against his shirt, then clawing at him.

  “No claws,” he said, and Melissa chuckled.

  “You’re going to have to get visitation rights after their parents are returned to them,” she said.

  He heard the lightness in her voice, then saw the worried frown etching across her face right afterward.

  “We’ll get their parents free, and the cubs will be with them before long,” he assured her.

  “Martin said that he’s working on a way to fly the cubs out of here using a private plane or helicopter.”

  “Good. That would be best for all concerned.”

  She served up the breakfast. “They also have all the branches working on trying to identify the parents.”

  “With no real database, that won’t be easy. They can’t put a bulletin out asking if anyone knows of a couple with twin babies that went to Costa Rica recently. Then the police would get involved. It would be a mess.”

  “I agree. They’ll only be able to have everyone in the branches ask everyone they know, and try to put the word out just among our kind. Did you talk to Martin this morning while I was still snoozing?” she asked.

  “No, I’ve been too busy with the cubs. They’re a handful.” He set them aside and washed his h
ands, then joined her at the table. “I’m not really good at sitting still on a mission. I want to do something. Like go out and free the parents and kill the bastards who captured them.”

  “Yeah, but there’s not much we can do about it. We can’t even just go out and have fun. Attempt snorkeling or horseback riding or boating. Not without worrying about the babies,” she said.

  He laughed. “Do you realize that overnight we became an old married couple?”

  She smiled and felt her cheeks burning. She figured they were having too much bed sport for that. She looked down as Sweetpea stretched her paws onto her lap, looking up at her and wanting to curl up on her lap. They were just so adorable. “No, not right now, baby. You get more milk. No other food. I’ll play with you in a little bit.”

  After Melissa and Huntley ate and cleaned up, they noticed the cubs were curled up with each other on the towel, watching them.

  “I’m going outside to cut some vines.”

  “All right.” She raised her brows.

  “So we have something we can play with them.”

  She smiled. “Like I said, total dad material.”

  “We’ve got to be prepared if they wake up long enough to want to play. Besides, it’s important to teach them to hunt and play like wild cats when they’re little or they won’t be able to handle it. Which is why the parents have them down here so young.”

  “Right. I’m calling Martin to see if he’s got any updates.” Like real mission stuff.

  “All right. I want to listen in.” Huntley thought she’d be disappointed because Martin would have called first thing if he’d learned anything.

  She put the call on speakerphone and asked, “Have any word on Jackson’s whereabouts or the parents’ or who they are? Or when you can have someone pick up the cubs?”

  “No, on all accounts. We’ve got everybody on this that we can. Everyone who knows any shifter has spread the word that a couple has been taken into captivity. We’ve sent out the word that we’ve got a couple of agents taking care of the cubs for the time being.”

  She glanced at Huntley.

  Hell, yeah, if Martin hadn’t said which two agents were babysitting, he’d bet a year’s worth of salary that everyone was dying to know.

  “But some of the jaguar-shifter couples are loners and don’t associate with others, which might be the case with the parents. So far, everyone that anyone knows with cubs has called in to let us know they’re all accounted for. One had triplets that they knew had gone to Belize and they were concerned they might have made trip changes, which had us worried that one of the cubs was missing, but the family was found safe at one of the resorts in Belize.”

  “What…what if there were more cubs than just the two?” Melissa asked, appearing stricken.

  Huntley said, “I doubt it. The tent was zipped up when I got there. The mother made sure that the cubs couldn’t slip out. They were sleeping on my bedding when I arrived. So I really don’t believe that there were any more of them. Besides, I only smelled the mother and the two cubs. The father hadn’t even been anywhere near the tent.”

  Melissa let out her breath. Huntley pulled her into his arms and rubbed her back.

  “We’re searching everywhere for their identity and their current location. We’ll keep you posted on that. In other news, the EMTs were able to revive Jackson’s sister before they took her to the hospital. She came out of surgery, and she’s going to make it.”

  “Thank God for that,” Melissa said.

  “Yeah, but Phil Gorsman was released on bail.”

  “Great. What’s wrong with the damn judges?” Huntley asked.

  “That’s what I say. Apparently, when they were processing him, they made a mistake and released him on bail bond. Okay, if you’ve got everything under control there for the moment, I’ll call back later when I have anything more.”

  “Talk later.” Melissa ended the call and was about to speak to Huntley when her phone rang in her hand. She looked at the caller ID. “Oliver, great.” She swiped her finger across the screen and said, “Oliver, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up my things and move them out of your place yet, but—”

  “Where are you?”

  “Back in Costa Rica. We had to track down the poachers and—”

  “You and Huntley Anderson?” Oliver sounded suspicious, as if he thought she’d planned it this way. “You were supposed to be on vacation.”

  “Yes, but then we had a lead.” She wondered if he’d decided to be with Chad and now wanted her out of his place sooner rather than later. “We had some problems right away.”

  “Figures.” He couldn’t guess the half of it!

  “Yeah, well, the poachers captured a husband and wife who are jaguar shifters, except that they left two cubs behind in the rainforest.”

  Oliver was silent for once.

  “Are you still there?”

  “Yeah.”

  She thought he sounded a little shocked. “So we’re trying to find a way to get the cubs safely back to the States. In the meantime, we’ve got to take care of them.”

  “Hell, Melissa. This is why I didn’t want you to be working in that job any longer. What if anyone finds you with the cubs?”

  He sounded like he still cared about her safety. She appreciated his concern.

  “We’ll be in a lot of trouble. So it might be a while before I come get my things.” When he didn’t answer her, she said, “All right?” She hoped he didn’t just decide to dump them.

  “Do you know who the parents are?”

  “No. Our director has some of our people trying to determine their identities, and he’s also asked the other branches to look into it.”

  “I’ll check my records.”

  “For what?”

  “Some shifters have signed up for life insurance policies with me. I’ll check and see if any of them are out of the country—in particular, on vacation in Costa Rica. I doubt I’ll find the right couple, but I’ll look into it.”

  Shocked to the core but glad for his help, Melissa said, “Thanks, Oliver.”

  “Don’t worry about your stuff. I’ll…just move it to the guest room and you can pick it up when you return.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate it.”

  “Take care of yourself and I’ll be in touch.” He sounded really concerned, which was more like the Oliver she really had liked.

  “All right,” she said and ended the call.

  Huntley must have gone outside to cut some vines while she was talking to Oliver because now he was playing with the cubs, sweeping a couple of vines about the room. The cubs were chasing after them, catching them with their claws and then being dragged a couple of feet as they bit at the vine. Half the time, they ended up tackling each other. They didn’t have all their teeth yet, but their claws were wicked enough.

  Huntley caught her eye. “Everything all right?” He sounded like he was trying to remain neutral, but he looked hopeful that she wasn’t having trouble with Oliver.

  She smiled. “Everything’s fine. He’s just going to move my stuff to the guest room where I can pick it up when I get back.” She sat down next to Huntley and swept one of the vines across the floor for the cubs, but they had tired out.

  They climbed onto her lap to sleep. She stroked their fur. “They don’t last long, do they?”

  “No. They eat, stay up for about an hour, and then they conk out again.”

  They heard voices below their cabin and then footfalls as two people climbed their wooden steps. Huntley and Melissa were both on their feet in an instant. “I’ll hide them and the litter boxes. You speak to whoever is at the door,” Melissa said.

  Huntley began stripping out of his clothes.

  “What are you—”

  “Making it look like I just got out of bed, or we were making love or something
.”

  She hurried into the bedroom and put both cubs under the bed. It was like a cave underneath the bedspread, and she hoped they’d stay put. Then she ran to get the litter boxes, clamped the lids on the tubs, and moved them to the bedroom closet.

  A knock on the door sounded and her heart skipped a beat.

  Huntley went to the door and saw two policemen in uniform. Not good. He waited a couple of heartbeats, then opened the door, dressed only in his boxers.

  “Are you Huntley Anderson of Dallas, Texas?” the shorter of the two men asked, glancing at Huntley’s attire.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “And Melissa Overton? Is she here?”

  “She was taking a nap. Well, we both were.”

  “We would like to speak to both of you.”

  “Certainly. Melissa?” Huntley called out, not making a move to allow the men in. “The police want to talk to us.”

  She shut the door to the bedroom, then strode into view, yawning, her hair tumbled. “Yes, officers?”

  Chapter 11

  One little squeak from one of the cubs would be all Huntley and Melissa needed to cook their goose, Huntley thought as he tried to appear friendly and not like they were trying to hide anything in front of the police.

  “May we come in?” the taller of the two policemen asked.

  “Sure,” Huntley said, wanting to say no. But if he did, he figured they’d believe he was guilty of some crime and arrest him on the spot. Then they’d arrest Melissa and find the cubs, and Martin would have an even worse mess to clean up.

  Huntley should have said he was going to put on some pants, but he figured he had only one option. Fleeing was out of the question. Shifting and killing the men wouldn’t work. They undoubtedly had told higher-ups—or higher-ups had told them—they’d be here questioning Melissa and Huntley. Turning them? He’d never known anyone who had been turned before his half sister changed a human, so he wasn’t certain it would always work. Or how they’d managed to do it.

  That was the only thing he was leaning toward, and it was a bad notion all the way around. The men had to have family. How would they be able to hide what they were from them and their police force?