A Very Jaguar Christmas

by Terry Spear

  “Shhh,” Demetria said, placing a kiss on his mouth. “She knows I hoped you and I could get together. She was annoyed you waited so long. She believes I’ve been pining away for too long. I reminded her you were grieving too. But she just didn’t buy it. She just thought you were afraid of my bite.”

  He laughed. “As long as you want to marry me, that’s all that matters.” But Everett knew it was important to win Demetria’s mother over too. He understood about family, and Demetria and her mother were close.

  When they arrived at the white, French country house–styled home in the suburbs, Everett meant to get Demetria’s car door, but she hopped out instead.

  They walked up to the front door and Demetria opened it. “Mom, we’re… My dad’s here,” she suddenly said.

  Everett smelled her father’s scent but no sign of aggression.

  “Mom?” Demetria called out and rushed into the house.

  Hearing laughter on the back porch, they hurried that way, then saw Joel barbecuing ribs and Martha fixing vegetables.

  Demetria looked shocked.

  Her mother and dad were kissing. Then, as if they suddenly realized they had an audience, they turned to face Demetria and Everett.

  “Food’s nearly done. Just grab a drink from the fridge and come join us,” her mother said.

  Everett said, “Thanks. I’m Everett Anderson, by the way.”

  “I know who you are, young man. You waited much too long to date our Demetria. Now, go on. Get your drinks, and come out and join us,” Martha said. “Joel told me all about you.”

  Demetria turned and went back into the house, Everett following behind her and shutting the door behind them. Tears filled her eyes.

  Everett pulled her close. “Are you all right?”

  “Yes. I just haven’t heard Mom refer to herself and Dad as ‘us’ for years. And the kiss… These, these are happy tears.”

  Everett smiled, gave Demetria a sound hug, and kissed her. “Good. I guess I’m still on the hot seat with your mother though.”

  “You’d better not be. My mother might have forgiven my dad for abandoning us, but I haven’t.”

  They grabbed a couple of bottles of water and joined Demetria’s parents outside.

  “We’re getting married again,” Martha said. “It wasn’t what you and I thought at all. Your dad was Special Forces in the army, got out, and worked for a cyber warfare firm. We were fine together before he was recruited for a job that required him to give up his family to keep us safe. He’s retired now, through with it. And he has come home to stay.”

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Demetria asked, looking totally peeved with her dad.

  “I couldn’t, kitten. No correspondence, no payments. I’ve deposited over a million dollars in your mom’s bank account to prove I want to make this work. Your mom has always been the one for me. I’ve never looked anywhere else.” He put his arm around Martha and kissed her cheek. Then he gave Everett a steely-eyed glare. “When is your wedding date?”

  “First of the New Year. We didn’t want to wait any longer than that,” Demetria said.

  “Then we need to start making wedding plans,” Martha said.

  The women talked about what they needed to do, and Everett spoke with Joel, who gave him all kinds of fatherly advice, despite the fact he hadn’t been around much.

  After visiting with her parents and having a really good time, Demetria and Everett made their excuses so they could see his mom next. She still had kids at the day care, and they’d already let her know they had returned to Dallas and were meeting her parents first, which Mary had been thrilled about.

  When they reached his mother’s day care, they showed her pictures on Everett’s cell phone of the reunion between Corey and his family, both as wolves and as humans. And of the northern lights. Mary loved the ones that showed Everett and Demetria playing as jaguars with the wolf pups.

  “Oh, oh, I have to tell you. There are two wolf pups here today.” Everett’s mother looked as proud as she could be.

  “You’re kidding. The woman we saw at the mall? A couple of her children?” Everett asked.

  “No, another woman in the pack. One of Rafe Denali’s PIs found the pack in Dallas when they were trying to locate the Arctic wolf pack. He shared the information with his brother, Dr. Aidan Denali, the one who is testing them for longevity issues, and he told them about us. The pack was so impressed that we had a day care for jaguar shifters and that we had accommodated Corey that they asked if they could bring their toddlers here when they needed to. This summer, we’re going to have lots of pool-time fun. I’m having another mural painted in the entryway that shows some gray and red wolves playing with the jaguar cubs too.”

  Everett couldn’t have been more pleased. “Our shifters are all right with it?”

  “A couple of mothers were grumbling a little, worried about cat and dog fights. Well, wolf, as Corey would say. Wolves are not dogs. So I told the mothers that all the little girls and boys would learn to get along like little angels under my roof. And they have. Once they got used to the notion that wolf pups were coming to the day care, they looked forward to seeing them.”

  Mary sighed and gave them both a hug. “Now, tell me about this wedding you have planned. What do I need to do?”

  * * *

  It was Christmas Eve already and tomorrow, Everett and Demetria had plans to visit with both her family and his after all the grown children arrived in town for lunch, dinner, and gift giving. They also planned some private gift giving before they headed over there.

  They’d learned that Paddy and Belinda O’Leary were released from confinement as soon as Martin had word that Corey’s family had been found. Howard had taken leave for a week too. Everett and Demetria were looking forward to having a relaxing time for the next two weeks.

  But tonight, they had just finished making love and were happily snuggling, talking about the upcoming wedding, the plans to find a home, and working as a multi-shifter team, though they had no other cases in the works.

  Then Everett got a call and checked the ID. Leidolf. Expecting Christmas well-wishes, Everett answered and put the call on speaker.

  “I’m so sorry to disturb you on Christmas Eve, but I’ve got a situation here. Now that you’ve taken care of Corey, I figured you were the ones to handle it. Here’s the deal. One of my sub-leaders called me when I was in Dallas, saying that two men were shooting at each other on my ranch lands. Some of our pack members tried to track them down, but both men were wearing hunter’s spray. When I arrived home, the pack still hadn’t located either of the men. Then tonight after trying to track them down, one of my men found one of them. The man had been shot twice and was brought to my ranch house because he had been trespassing on my lands. We were going to take him to the hospital, but he begged us not to. Said that he would heal up fine. He didn’t smell like anything because he was still wearing hunter’s spray. And then he must have been so out of it that he shifted. Into a jaguar. Surprised the hell out of all of us. I told him we’d get him help from his own kind, and I mentioned your name. All he said was ‘That son of a bitch.’ His name is Brandon Williams. Do you know him?”

  Smiling, Everett cuddled with Demetria and kissed her forehead when she looked up at him questioningly. “Yeah, I know him. And despite that, I’ll pick up his sorry ass. Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours, Leidolf.”

  “Merry Christmas to you and your partner. I hope it’s wolf-permanent by now.”

  “Believe me, it is.” Demetria smiled at Everett in that devilish way that meant he wasn’t going to go right back to sleep anytime soon, and that suited him just fine.

  “One other thing. You might need to put on your JAG agent hats for this case. The person who shot him was another JAG agent, and he tried to shoot one of my people too.”

  “Hell, a JAG agent? Are yo
u sure?”

  “Yeah, that’s what Brandon said. A guy by the name of Herndon Walker. Brandon’s one of yours too, isn’t he?”

  “Yeah, he is. Okay, I’ll call my boss and let him know we’re gathering the team and headed out there as soon as we can get a flight, though it might not be until the day after Christmas,” Everett said, hugging Demetria against his body.

  “I’ll have someone bring you to my ranch as soon as you arrive.”

  “I’ll let you know when we’re coming in.” Everett ended the call.

  “Our first official case while serving in our new office.” Demetria reached over to the nightstand to grab her phone. “I’ll make reservations for the first flight out of Dallas that I can get.”

  “I’ll call the boss to let him know we agreed to be in charge of this new office, and I’ll give Howard a call to see if he’s ready to go. I think this time we might need to have an Enforcer doing Enforcer-like work. Terminating a jaguar shifter?”

  “He’ll love it.”

  Everett called his boss and said, “Sir, my team is accepting your offer. We’ll be known as the United Shifter Force, USF. Currently, Demetria and Howard will be on the team, at least once I contact Howard to make sure he’s agreeable. And we have our first mission in Portland, Oregon.” He explained what had happened there.

  Martin said, “I knew you could do it. Let me know the details as soon as possible. I want to know why the JAG agent was shooting one of our own and a wolf.”

  “Will do.” Everett called Howard after that. “Hey, ready to be on the United Shifter Force team?”

  “I thought you’d never ask.”

  Everett told him about the case. “We’ll get right back to you with flight times.”

  “Okay, I’m packing up now.”

  “Probably be the day after Christmas, first thing.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  Everett wished Howard a Merry Christmas, then ended the call.

  Demetria frowned. “How do you know this Brandon Williams?”

  “He nearly killed me. And I attempted to return the favor.”

  She shook her head.

  “Believe me, if you had to deal with him, you’d use your teeth on him, and not in a sweet, loving way.”

  “In that case, I’ll be prepared. My bite is much worse than my growl.”

  Everett smiled. How well he knew. “Do you want to open one present tonight?” he asked, already picking out the one he wanted Demetria to open first.

  She kissed him and pulled a present from under the tree for him to open too, all smiles.

  They opened their presents at the same time and laughed as they each pulled out a drone with aerial recording and real-time display to help in their investigations when they needed an eye up closer to the situation. They gave each other hugs and kisses before they played with their video drones.

  Life would never be the same now that some jaguar shifters were aware that wolf shifters existed and vice versa. To think that saving Lacy had meant losing Matt, but that the teen Brayden Covington had brought Everett and Demetria together. And the little wolf-shifter boy had helped to cement that relationship into something endearing and permanent.

  What began as an effort to train mixed jaguar teams had evolved into something even greater—a way to help all of the shifter kind.

  But two jaguar shifters only needed each other at the moment. They’d take care of the rest of the world after Christmas.

  For more Terry Spear

  check out the Silver Town Wolf series

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  Connor James Silver, better known as CJ, couldn’t believe it had been a whole year since he and his brothers rejoined their cousin Darien Silver’s wolf pack. Though his oldest brother was still butting heads with Darien at times, CJ was glad they had made amends and returned home to Silver Town, Colorado. His ancestors had built the town, which was still mostly gray wolf run, and he envisioned staying here forever.

  Especially now that three lovely sister she-wolves had joined the pack and were remodeling the old Silver Town Inn. In two days’ time, they would have hotel guests. CJ smiled as he strode up the covered wooden walkway in front of the tavern and glanced in the direction of what had been the haunted, neglected hotel across the street, which was now showing off its former glory. The windows were no longer boarded up, the picket fence and the fretwork had been repaired, and a fresh coat of white paint made the whole place gleam.

  “CJ!” Tom Silver called out as he hurried to join him. Tom, the youngest of Darien’s triplet brothers, was CJ’s best friend.

  He turned to watch Tom crunch through the piled-up snow, then stalk up the covered walkway. He had the same dark hair as CJ, although his eyes were a little darker brown. Tom was wearing his usual: an ecru wool sweater and blue jeans. The toes of his boots were now sporting a coating of fresh snow.

  Tom pointed at the hotel, evidently having observed CJ looking that way. “Don’t even think about going over there to help with the final preparations before their grand opening.”

  CJ shook his head. “I know when I’m not wanted.” But he damn well wasn’t giving up on seeing the women—well, one in particular.

  Tom smiled a little evilly at him. “Come on. I’ll buy you lunch. Darien has a job for you.”

  Even though CJ was a deputy sheriff and took his lead from the sheriff, everyone stopped what they were doing when the pack leader needed something done. Pack took priority.

  He and Tom headed inside the tavern, where the fire was burning in a brand-new woodstove in the corner, keeping the room warm. The Christmas tree in front of one of the windows was decorated with white lights, big red bows, and hand-painted ornaments featuring wolves. The aroma of hot roast beef scented the air, making CJ’s stomach rumble. Sam, the black-bearded bartender—and now sandwich maker—was serving lunch without Silva, his waitress-turned-mate. She was now down the street running her own tearoom, where the women ate when they wanted lunch out. The men all continued to congregate at Sam’s.

  The tavern usually looked a lot more rustic, less…Christmasy. Sam loved Silva and tolerated her need to see that everyone enjoyed the spirit of Christmas either at her place or his, though he grumbled about it like an old grizzly bear.

  CJ glanced at the red, green, and silver foil-covered chocolates in wooden Christmas-tree-shaped dishes on the center of each table. Those were new. Silva had also draped spruce garlands along the bar and over the long, rectangular mirror that had hung there since the place opened centuries earlier. She’d added lights and Christmas wreaths to the windows and had put up the tree, though Sam had helped. He looked rough and gruff, and was protective of anyone close to him, but he was a big teddy bear. Though CJ would never voice his opinion about that.

  “We’ll have the usual,” Tom called out to Sam.

  He nodded and began to fix roast beef sandwiches for them.

  “Staying out of trouble?” Tom sat in his regular chair at the pack leaders’ table in the corner of the tavern. This spot had a view of the whole place, except for the area by the restrooms.

  “I haven’t been near the hotel.” CJ glanced around the room, nodding a greeting to Mason, owner of the bank; John Hastings, owner of the local hardware store and bed-and-breakfast; Jacob Summers, their local electrician; and even Mervin, the barber—all gray wolves who were sharing conversations and eating and drinking. It was an exclusive club, membership strictly reserved for wolves.

  CJ looked out the new windows of the tavern—also Silva’s doing, now that the hotel was quite an attraction instead of detracting from the view. The new sign proclaimed Silver Town Inn, just like in the old days, as it rocked a li
ttle in the breeze. Only this time, the sign featured a howling wolf carved into one corner. CJ loved it, just like everyone else did.

  The pack members couldn’t have been more pleased with the way the sisters had renovated the place, keeping the old Victorian look but adding special touches. Like the two wrought iron and wood-slat benches in a parklike setting out front, with the bench seats held up by wrought iron bears.

  Tom turned back to CJ. “Darien said—”

  “I know what Darien said. My brothers and I were getting under the women’s feet. They didn’t want or need our help. Don’t tell me we can’t participate in the grand opening.” Even though CJ would be busy directing traffic for a little while, he intended to stop in and check on the crowd inside the hotel to ensure everyone was behaving themselves.

  Sam delivered their beers in new steins, featuring wolves in a winter scene etched in the glass, along with sandwiches and chips on wooden Christmas tree plates. He gave CJ a look that told him he’d better not make a comment about the plates or steins. CJ was dying to ask Sam how domesticated life was, but he bit his tongue.

  “I’ll be setting up the bar for the festivities,” Sam said. “Silva is bringing her special petit fours, and she’s serving finger sandwiches. The hotel had better be ready to open on schedule.”

  “Do you think any of the guests will run out of there screaming in the middle of the night, claiming the place is haunted?” CJ asked. It was something he’d worried about. He wanted to see the sisters do well so they could stay here forever.

  Sam shook his head. “Blamed foolishness, if you ask me.”

  Sam didn’t believe in anything paranormal. Some might ask how he could feel that way when they were lupus garous—wolf shifters. But then again, their kind believed they were perfectly normal. Nothing paranormal about them.

  Someone called for another beer, and Sam left their table to take care of it.

  “When you were over there getting underfoot, did you see anything?” Tom asked, keeping his voice low.