by E A Price
She was just about to open a new file when the door flew open and in walked her second least favorite female jaguar – Marta. The woman was even taller and perhaps even more gorgeous than her daughter. Hester instinctively hated her – and not just because she was tall and gorgeous, though that probably played an itty-bitty part. No, there was something unlikable about her, in the way her mouthed curved mockingly and the cold way she looked at everyone and everything around her. Her cheetah clacked her fangs together in warning.
“Hessie,” Marta purred.
“It’s Hester.”
“I heard Hessie.”
“You heard wrong,” grumbled Hester.
Only three people had ever had the nerve to call her Hessie - a boy at school when she was ten, who spent several months after the ‘Hessie’ incident walking with a limp. Antonio, who was totally begging for a limp of his own and her father, who also got away with calling her dumpling, pudding pop, munchkin and my little princess. He liked the latter best, and so did she - every little girl should have a father who called them their princess.
Without any prompting, Marta perched herself on the edge of the desk Hester was working at.
“Look, Hessie….”
Hester bit the inside of her mouth.
“I’m sure you’re a perfectly fine… ah, what is your species again?” Marta raked her up and down and judging by the smirk, clearly found her wanting.
“Cheetah,” supplied Hester, acidly. “Surprised you can’t scent it. But then I had heard that the sense of smell for shifters wanes with old age.”
Hester almost thought she heard a guffaw from Daniel, but whatever sound he was making was quickly stifled as Marta shot him a vicious look.
With great effort, Marta tried to rein in her fury and forced a smile on her face as her attention drew back to Hester. “But you don’t really fit in here, do you?” Marta leaned towards her, peering down at her like a bird of prey. Actually, up close, her features were quite vulturish.
Hester folded her arms. “Says who?” she challenged.
Admittedly, she didn’t think she could fit in there. For one thing, she didn’t want to give up her job to become a housewife to Antonio. For another, she didn’t think she could survive miles away from her favorite fast food joint Hola Taco, and even more importantly, away from all the beautiful, beautiful shoe shops of Los Lobos. Her collection of gorgeous, foot killing shoes was her prized possession and one that she wanted to grow and grow. But up here wasn’t the place for dazzling, impractical shoes. At that moment, she was wearing her running shoes for heaven’s sake!
However, her thinking she didn’t belong, and this sneering, bullying bitch of a jaguar saying it, were two entirely different things.
Marta gave her the most horribly patronizing expression in the history of patronizing expressions. “Don’t you think you’d be better going back to Los Lobos?”
Hester stood up abruptly, making Marta lean back. This way Hester had the height advantage, and she didn’t like Marta towering over her, trying to make her feel small. Of course, that would only last until Marta stood up – the woman was easily six feet tall.
“Whether I choose to go or stay is up to Antonio and me,” Hester said coldly.
Marta looked at her pityingly, and her cheetah hissed. “Antonio is just using you to make my daughter jealous. Surely even you can see that?”
Hester gestured to Marta’s face. “Wearing this much make-up for women your age is just sad – surely even you can see that?”
Marta's face turned red and ugly with anger, making some of her make-up crack. Honestly, Hester never gave any thought to other women wearing make-up, but Marta looked like she had plastered hers on. Who was she kidding? She wasn’t twenty anymore so she ought to stop trying to look like she was. Course, the crop top that said ‘Princess’ in sequin letters and the hip hugger jeans weren’t helping her cause.
Did the bitch think Hester was going to back down? Hester had spent most of her career arguing with defense lawyers and the worst criminals Los Lobos had to offer. She wasn’t going to back down from a fight or take any crap. In any argument, Hester was always going to be the bitchiest, meanest participant – something this female ought to learn quickly.
The female jaguar stood up, and vaguely Hester heard Daniel rumbling behind them. He better stay out of it, even if Marta did start something physical she wanted him to leave them to it. Marta was larger than her, and her beast would be too – Hester was fairly certain her jaguar would kick her cheetah’s ass. Her beast mewled in discontent but, hey, it was true. Hester wasn’t a brawler, but she hated people like Marta, people who thought they could use their imposing physicality to win arguments, to get people to back down. Well, tough shit – Hester would not back down.
“I’m trying to help you,” snarled Marta.
Hester jutted her chin, craning her neck to look at the tall jaguar in the eye. “No, you’re trying to help yourself.”
“Antonio will be the leap’s prime one day. He needs a strong jaguar mate – and that’s not you. He brought you here to make my Valentina jealous.”
Hester smiled thinly. “Sure.”
“This is a jaguar leap, we tolerate humans, but there’s no room for other species here. Leave now, before you really get hurt.”
Marta gave her a significant look, to leave Hester in no doubt that she wasn’t referring to Hester getting her feelings hurt by Antonio.
“It is you, who should leave,” replied Hester with a sense of calm her furious beast definitely didn’t feel. But Hester gestured at the door and enjoyed the disgruntled look on Marta’s face as she realized she was actually being dismissed.
For a second, she thought Marta would argue, but she didn’t, she just growled and stomped away. She flung the door open and threw herself through it as gracefully as an elephant doing ballet.
Her beast snapped her jaws. Good riddance. Hester rolled her eyes and casually walked over to close the door Marta had thoughtfully left open.
She turned back to see Daniel quickly walking across the room. He grabbed his jacket and wordlessly left as well.
Hester wondered if he was hurrying to tell his prime of the encounter, vaguely wondering if she had done something wrong in the manner she dealt with Marta. But honestly, she could care less. The woman was awful, and realistically, she doubted the prime would care about a spat between two females. She guessed by the way Marta stroked his arm at dinner the previous night that there was something going on between them, but honestly, he didn’t seem overly enamored by her. Plus, with the shooter the previous night, he had other things to worry about. The screeching Marta was probably low down his list of priorities.
Hester sat back down at her desk and took a moment to compose herself, pondering Marta’s words. Her cheetah sniffed dismissively. Antonio was hostile and even angry with Valentina when she approached them the previous night, and desperate to ensure Hester didn’t think anything was going on between the two of them. If he was playing hard to get, then Valentina had her work cut out for her!
No, she didn’t honestly think he was. Valentina’s behavior pissed her off, but Hester didn’t honestly think Antonio was into her. Which meant Marta was delusional, and possibly Valentina, too.
Hester shrugged, and her cheetah sniffed. She didn’t really think she had anything to worry about from those two. Yeah, it did occur to her – very briefly – that one of them had something to do with the shooting, but logistically, they couldn’t have done it.
She pulled the first file off the top of her pile and frowned. Maybe she was crazy, but the file felt lighter than it had when she first picked it up ten minutes ago.
*
“Good day at the office, honey?”
Hester scowled at him, and Antonio chuckled. Some people thought that smiles lit up rooms, but he swore it was Hester’s scowl that really was something to behold.
“Peachy,” she grumbled letting out a yawn and stretching her arm
s over her head.
She arched her back, pushing her chest forward, nicely highlighting her curves. She noticed Antonio watching intently and pushed her chest out a little further. Temptress complained his beast.
Yep, he imagined he had another cold shower coming that night. Course his condition wasn’t helped any by watching her eat a chicken salad sandwich at lunch. The way her tongue kept darting out of her mouth to lick up smudges of mayonnaise ought to be considered a weapon of mass destruction - he nearly combusted about eight times.
Hester smiled slightly, half-mocking and half-wary. “So what are we doing tonight? What’s next in the plan to woo me?”
Antonio grinned. “Can’t wait, huh, Hessie?”
“Just resigned to the inevitable,” she sighed, looking very much like a martyr.
Given that she was almost willing to spend time with him, he was loath to say what he had to say. “I have to go meet with Prime, but after…”
Her lips twitched slightly in annoyance – possibly annoyed he wasn’t clamoring to spend every spare second with her. He was – he was desperately trying to find a balance between smothering her with the undying attention his beast wanted to give her and leaving her alone so much that she didn’t realize what a wonderful guy he is. But his prime wanted to update him on the shooting – and given that it was about a possible threat to Hester, he wasn’t about to blow off his prime.
“I want to go for a run,” she declared, watching him closely, obviously aware of what his reaction would be.
“Not a good idea,” he growled.
“Because of yesterday?” she said airily. “I thought it was just a rogue hunter and I had nothing to worry about.”
He tried counting to ten, wondering if she was this carefree with her safety back in Los Lobos or whether this was just a way to annoy him. “Still…”
“My cheetah wants out. What’s the matter? Afraid I’ll run off?”
Antonio took his life into his hands, and possibly the risk of losing one of those hands by reaching out and placing his hands on her hips. She let out the tiniest of gasps, and her cheeks turned slightly pink, but she didn’t object.
He angled her in front of him and leaned down to her ear. “I’d catch you, Hessie.”
Her breath hitched slightly, and she tinkled with laughter. “Sure seemed like you were having trouble keeping up with me yesterday.”
“You have, speed,” he purred, his lips brushing against her ear, “but I promise I have stamina. Eventually, I’d catch you. I can keep going for hours.”
“Promises, promises.”
Antonio groaned and took a moment to inhale her sweet scent. “I need to speak to my prime, but after that, I was hoping you’d join me for dinner at home.”
Hester pulled back slightly. “You mean, dinner with your family?”
“Yep, with my mom and unfortunately, my two brothers will be there.” He’d really tried to get rid of them for the night, but the little buggers weren’t going anywhere.
She looked slightly mischievous before uncertainty reared its head. “I don’t know…”
“My mom is making Hawaiian pork with wild rice and pineapple upside down cake for dessert.” She had a surplus of pineapple for some reason.
“That does sound nice,” she admitted grudgingly.
“My mom’s cooking is legendary, I mean, just think of her pancakes and waffles.”
“Oh,” she moaned, the sound sweeter and more of a turn on than anything he’d ever heard.
“Okay, but I am going to need to go for a run soon.”
“And you will, Hessie, I promise you will.” He rubbed his cheek against hers. “Just think, if you lived here, you could eat my mom’s cooking every day.”
She groaned. “I knew you were trying to seduce me with your mom’s cooking.”
“Is it working?”
She hesitated just a shade too long. “No.”
Antonio laughed and even managed to sneak a kiss to her temple. He better tell his mom to make something fantastic for Hester tomorrow morning. Dare he hope she was just a few breakfasts away from agreeing to be his mate?
Well, maybe not, but they certainly weren’t hurting his cause.
Fifteen
Antonio passed Daniel coming out of Roberto's house while he was on his way in. The male did not look pleased.
The prime wasn’t overly big on formality and didn’t bother keeping an office, which was why all the leap owned businesses and assets were managed out of the timber mill office. If anybody needed to see Roberto or ask him anything, they approached him wherever they saw him, and when Roberto wanted to speak to someone, they did it at his house.
His house was meticulously clean, no doubt thanks to one of the leap females, and filled with slightly worn but sturdy and well-kept furniture. Antonio had a lot of happy memories in this house – from before his father’s death.
Antonio’s eyes flickered to the pictures over the fireplace – photos of his grandparents, of his dad and Roberto when they were kids, some of him, his mom and brothers, and two of Roberto’s late mate, Lana.
Roberto caught him looking and something passed over his face before he cleared his throat. Antonio could smell Marta somewhere in the house, but there were no scents of sex. Roberto’s bad mood had been increasing as of late, and Antonio wondered whether that was the reason for it.
Speak of the devil… Marta sauntered into the room and smirked at Antonio.
“Hey, Antonio. How’s your little mate?”
His hackles rose at that, and his jaguar growled. He’d never had anything against Marta. He’d never had anything to do with her. His uncle might have slept with her on and off but she’d generally ignored Antonio and his family – particularly his mother who she saw as a rival for Roberto’s attention.
Now, though, perhaps she was as keen for him to mate Valentina as the female herself. In which case he didn’t want her anywhere near Hester.
“Hester’s fine,” he replied curtly.
“Leave us, Marta,” growled Roberto.
“But…”
“Marta.”
Roberto gave her a hard look, and she flinched before huffing.
“Shall I come back…”
“No, Marta,” he said with an air of finality.
She gave Roberto a cool look before leaving. Antonio considered making a comment, but he liked his head where it was.
“I spoke to the chief, gave him the gun,” rumbled Roberto. “He wasn’t aware of any hunters in town – wrong time of year. We checked out the local motel and came up empty. Might have been kids fooling around. He’s going to run the serial number; hopefully, we’ll have this cleared up soon.”
Antonio’s jaguar grunted in disappointment. He was hoping to hear something along the lines of the culprit was already stewing in a cell at the police station.
“Until we have an answer on the gun, I want you to set up regular patrols.”
Antonio nodded. Typically, that would fall under the purview of the leap second, but Antonio wasn’t going to argue.
Roberto grunted, dismissing Antonio, dropping himself into one of his armchairs. The prime was worried about something, Antonio could sense it, but he doubted Roberto would admit it.
He hoped the gun shed some light on who shot at them because he wasn’t sure how long he could keep his tempestuous cheetah grounded.
*
“Are you sure I can’t do anything to help?” offered Hester.
Admittedly, she probably wouldn’t be much help, but she felt like she had to ask. Home cooked meals were not something she was accustomed to. Her mother’s prowess in the kitchen was even more abysmal than her own, and Hester had rarely been introduced to her former boyfriends’ parents.
Maria smiled warmly as she bustled around. “Of course not, dear, you help yourself to some wine and relax.”
After work, Antonio escorted her home to change for dinner, and she was ashamed to admit she spent a nervous hour obsess
ing over what to wear. She had no idea why she cared, but she didn’t want his family to hate her. It wasn’t like it really mattered if they did hate her, but she kind of felt like she had to justify herself to them. Antonio had traveled to Los Lobos, and of all the women in the city, he had chosen to kidnap her, chosen to risk his liberty by bringing her home. Plus, he wasn’t just risking his own liberty – if she actually made it to the cops she probably could have just about all of the leap arrested for their knowledge of this ongoing kidnapping ring. So maybe a part of her wanted to show them that she was special, that she was worth the risk… maybe the thin mountain air was starting to send her bananas.
Her cheetah chuffed in encouragement and Hester smoothed down her skirt. In the end, she went for a moderately tight but high neck sweater and a denim mini skirt. Showed off her curvy legs, but wasn’t too dressy, and if the way Antonio had gulped when he came to collect her for dinner was anything to go by, it was a good choice.
Ha, he’d seen her naked twice, and yet he still got a little bit tongue tied when he saw her bare legs. That was a quality she liked in a man.
Maria had hugged her when Hester arrived – the previous threat to shred her apparently forgotten. Antonio’s twin brothers – Alejandro and Arturo – were also keen to hug her, but Antonio slapped the back of their heads and told them to behave themselves. They were sitting across the table, sporting matching grins.
They looked a lot like Antonio, though their hair and eyes were lighter, more like their mother’s, and their features softer, prettier even. Given Antonio’s resemblance to his uncle, Roberto, she guessed he took after their dad more than the twins.
The grins and quiet snickers were starting to get irritating.
Hester sipped at her wine and gave them a bored look. “You didn’t slap them hard enough,” she commented to Antonio.
He chuckled while the twins affected expressions of hurt.
“Come on, what has the two of you so amused?”
“We can’t say,” sniggered one of them – she had no idea which. Probably only their mother knew that.
