by E A Price
“Why did you hit me?”
“Why do you think?” growled Hester, slightly surprised that Valentina hadn’t immediately slapped her back. Even the girliest of female cat shifters could put up a decent fight. It devolved to nails and hair pulling in their human forms, but in Hester’s experience, they didn’t just stand around looking like a kicked puppy. Valentina didn’t strike her as particularly wet or weepy, so why wasn’t she sticking up for herself?
Truthfully, Hester hadn’t actually intended to confront her. She had resolved to do nothing, and after a sleepless night with a growling inner cheetah, she woke up early – even too early for Antonio’s morning visit – and decided to go for a jog. She wanted to let loose as her cheetah but, Antonio would be pissed and while she didn’t care at all what he thought – no, definitely not – she decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation of when he would inevitably tell her off for being a bad girl… She shivered slightly – no, she would not enjoy that!
Anyway, she decided to jog around the leap compound. She saw a few people she knew, called out hello to them and when she saw Valentina, well, it was like a red rag to a bull. Her frustrated cheetah just went for her. What she hadn’t expected was the absolute surprise and hurt on Valentina’s face.
“Because of Antonio?” guessed Valentina hesitantly.
Duh! “Of course, because of Antonio. He brought me here to be his mate, and you offer yourself up to him like a plate of sushi!”
Valentina rolled her shoulders uneasily. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Didn’t mean to?!” spluttered Hester. “You just accidentally climbed into his bed and removed all your clothes?”
The jaguar’s cheeks burned red. “I mean, I thought that was what he wanted.”
“Because he told you so?”
“No, but I thought…” Valentina shook her head. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ll leave him alone.”
Valentina walked away, experimentally prodding her nose.
It was Hester’s turn to be surprised. She was expecting at least a small catfight and yet, nothing. It was a bit disappointing. Valentina didn’t seem to care at all. So why bother trying to ensnare Antonio to begin with?
Seventeen
Hester found Antonio on the stoop of the guesthouse, a grin plastered on his face, stretching from ear to ear. He was carrying a food container, and her stomach let out a reflexive yowl, wondering what treats he had brought for her today.
“There you are,” he said getting to his feet.
“Were you afraid I’d run away?” she taunted, trying not to make it look too obvious like she was trying to grow x-ray vision and figure out just what he had in that damn container.
Antonio snickered. “News travels fast in this leap – I knew where you were.”
And he was darn pleased about it. “Humph. You’re happy I cleaned your girlfriend’s clock?”
He didn’t lose the disgustingly smug smile. “Yes and she’s not my girlfriend, not even an ex-girlfriend.”
And she never will be preened her cheetah. Not that she cared or anything. “Whatever,” she threw out, fooling no one with her attempt at nonchalance, especially not herself. “Why are you so damn happy anyway?”
“Why’d you think?”
Hester groaned. Stupid question really. Her thumping Valentina made it look like she was marking her territory, warning all females away from him. Yeah, she could see how it would look that way, but honestly, it was just a mixture of a frustrated cheetah and a hot temper. That was it. At least, she was about ninety percent sure that was it.
“I need to shower if we’re going to work again.”
“Really?”
“Alone,” she clarified.
“Umm hmmm. Well, if you want someone to scrub your back all you need to do is say the word.”
Hester scowled before it morphed into a beatific smile. “There is something I want, actually.”
Antonio’s chest seemed to inflate as his scent permeated with desire. His eyes flickered with the gold of his beast. “Yes?”
She leaned against him, her body brushing against his. “Something only you can give me.”
A low growl escaped his throat.
“So, why don’t you open up that food container and show me what you’ve got?”
*
Maple French toast with vanilla whipped cream and chocolate shavings. That was the breakfast Antonio’s mother sent for her. The evil genius was either determined to make Hester fat or make her stay in the jaguar leap. At that moment she’d be happy either way. No wonder Antonio insisted on bringing her breakfast – he was a male who obviously knew the magical powers of good food.
Hester stroked the edge of her mouth. Right before Antonio left her to go off and do whatever manly work he did in the timber mill, he told her she had a smidge of cream in the corner of her mouth. She tried to reach for a tissue, but he told her he could get it. The next thing she knew, she had a jaguar shifter’s tongue over the edge of her mouth and a near-swooning inner cheetah.
She had affected outrage naturally, but he had merely smirked and sauntered away with a swagger that would put rock stars to shame. She could still almost feel his tongue now. Her own tongue darted out and licked her lips again, trying to savor his taste. She told herself she was just trying to lick up the last remnants of her delicious breakfast, but her cheetah knew the truth.
Damnit, why did he have to be so sexy and perfect?! Why couldn’t she have been kidnapped by a skunk shifter with six wives, one tooth, and a body odor problem? That she would have no problem resisting. Hell, that guy would probably be lying in a puddle of his own blood ten seconds after revealing his intent to mate her. Instead, her dreams and days were filled with a gorgeous male who virtually reduced her to a puddle on the floor every time he got within ten feet of her.
Hester blinked as she realized the leap’s prime was staring at her. She stood up quickly, sending her coffee flying.
“Crap!” she snapped, as she grabbed at tissues and random pieces of paper to mop up the mess.
Roberto shrugged, watching her. “One more stain won’t hurt this place.”
“Yeah, this office is a petri dish. I’m actually annoyed about my coffee. Maria made it for me, and it had pumpkin spice creamer in it.” The woman had a magical touch.
He nodded, and his eyes softened slightly. “Maria’s a good cook,” he mumbled. He cleared his throat, and Hester almost thought he was embarrassed. “Are you making progress with the paperwork?”
Hester looked up at him and forced herself to look him in the eye. He was naturally an alpha male, a shifter who demanded submission from others and confronting him without cowering was difficult. But she made herself do it. If she could face down slick, alpha wolf shifter lawyers in court who were determined to get their wife beating clients off scot-free, then she could deal with one hard-ass jaguar prime.
“Yes, but I gotta say, this place is a mess. You can’t continue like this – I noticed from the papers that you lost two clients last year due to the fact that some numbnuts couldn’t get hold of their old contract and completely buggered up their new one. If you can’t even keep contracts in order, you’re going to lose a hell of a lot more. You need a computer in here and someone with some real administrative skills - that guy Daniel doesn’t know his ass from his elbow. Putting him in charge was a major mistake.”
Roberto looked at her sharply, and Hester wavered, considering trying to backtrack on what she said.
Nah, screw it. He wasn’t her prime, and he needed to be told. Pure laziness had got them into a bind, and as the prime, it was his fault, and he needed to take responsibility whether he liked it or not. Her cheetah was with her on that. Well, standing behind her, cowering slightly, but still with her.
To her surprise, Roberto’s lips turned up slightly. She might say he was almost smiling – almost, he wasn’t quite there yet.
“I was right about you.”
“Oh?”
“I kn
ew you wouldn’t be docile.” He even chuckled mildly.
“I think there are plenty of docile females around here already.”
“You’re probably right.”
“Except for Marta and Valentina.”
His expression shuttered and whatever friendly light she saw in his eyes a moment ago evaporated. Those two females apparently weren’t a topic open for discussion. She kind of sensed from Marta’s body language that something was going on between her and the prime, though Roberto seemed entirely indifferent to her. But that was often the case with alphas. Many shifter females threw themselves at the alphas – it was instinctual to them to want to find the strongest and most aggressive mate to take care of them and their young. Plus, most hoped to become the female alpha – to have dominion over the other females. She’d seen it in her own cheetah coalition. It never ended well for the females doing the throwing. Alphas rarely wanted to mate females who would give themselves so easily. That kind of thing made them seem weak.
She didn’t think Roberto was needlessly cruel towards the female, but she doubted he would mate Marta. But then, most alphas weren’t cruel for the sake of it. They were shifters who wanted sex, and if females offered it to them on a plate, why would they resist?
Plus, she wondered whether Roberto still mourned for his mate and child. He gave little away from his stony expression, but men like him would rather die than admit to having a feeling.
“Report to me when you’ve finished, or if,” he paused and seemed to chew on his words, “if you find something amiss.”
Hester gave him an innocent look. “But Daniel said he was in charge here and…”
“Report to me,” he repeated sternly, “or even Antonio,” he added before explaining, “Daniel is doing maintenance work on a rental property – he’ll be gone every day for at least a week.”
Hester nodded quickly and watched him carefully. Perhaps he was also realizing that Daniel was not exactly the most reliable jaguar to have running the leap companies, never mind having him as his second.
Roberto turned to leave and stopped short as Antonio’s mother, Maria came barreling through the door.
“Maria,” he murmured in an almost boyish, shy voice.
She looked uncertain for a moment before beaming at both of them. “Forgive me, prime; I did not mean to interrupt.”
“You didn’t,” said Hester cheerfully, eyeing the large shopping bag she carried with curiosity.
Her cheetah sniffed but couldn’t smell any delicious baked treats hidden inside, waiting to be consumed by a famished cheetah shifter. Hey, breakfast was two hours ago – she wasn’t made of stone!
Roberto half-nodded in agreement.
“You don’t mind if I take my future daughter-in-law to an early lunch, do you?”
Hester rolled her eyes, but Roberto shook his head. “Course not.”
“I should really let Antonio know…”
“I’m headed to talk to him,” rumbled Roberto, “I’ll tell him.” He nodded at both of them before leaving without another word.
The tension seemed to flow out of the room as he departed. He hadn’t done anything mean or untoward, yet his natural dominance still made them uneasy, and both sighed a happy sigh at his exit.
Maria virtually twinkled at her. “So, lunch?”
Hester shrugged. “Sure, but you know I’ve already been to the food hall.”
It was a fine place to eat, but when Maria wasn’t the one doing the cooking, no big deal.
“Actually, I thought we could go down into town.”
Hester froze to stare at her. “You’re allowing me out of the compound? Aren’t you afraid I’ll run away?”
She seriously could; there was no way the human could catch her. Hester would be long gone while Maria was still choking on her dust.
“I don’t think you will,” Maria told her just a shade too smugly.
“What makes you so sure?”
“That fact that you made a promise to my son to stay here – most shifters in my experience are pretty honorable.”
Hester refrained from snorting out loud. Even her cheetah huffed. Maria hadn’t enjoyed the benefits of being a prosecutor for the Los Lobos’ DA office like she had. Honor didn’t have much to do with the bear shifter who thought biting fingers off was a reasonable punishment for another female saying hello to her mate – not even cheating, just saying that one word!
“Plus, of course, there are your feelings for my son.” Maria bit her lip, and the twinkle factor in her expression grew exponentially.
“The only feeling I have for your son is the urge to kick him in the nards!”
“Sure.” Maria nodded, not losing one iota of her thousand-watt smile.
Hester threw up her hands. “You’re right, I’m not going to run away – but only because I’m an amazing person. It has nothing to do with your dunderhead of a son.”
Maria snickered and looped her arm through Hester’s. “Come on; you’ll like the town. It’s very sweet and has lots of gift shops. They get quite a lot of tourists, but not so many that it’s overrun.”
Hester glanced down at her paperwork. She wasn’t what she’d call a workaholic. More like a kitty cat with a catnip chew toy. She wouldn’t stop until she had torn that sucker apart to get to the sweet, sweet innards. Once she started something, she had a pressing need to finish it. Hopefully, though, the prime was rethinking his choice of leap mates to run the office. Daniel was not the best candidate. In fact, Hester wouldn’t entrust him to take care of a bag of flour – never mind the businesses that provided jobs and welfare to dozens of jaguars.
“Okay, but we can’t be too long – I still have things to do here.”
“You’re a hard worker,” Maria said approvingly. “But I want you to see how wonderful it is to live here, and I don’t think you’ll get that from staying in this office all day, every day.”
“Yeah, it’s pretty drab,” agreed Hester thinking of all the sneezing she had done over the layers and layers of dust. Even the dust had its own dust.
“Daniel doesn’t want anyone who doesn’t work here to come in,” she said a tad reprovingly. “Valentina used to work here when she was a teenager, and I know she used to clean it, but she hasn’t been here in a few years, so the grime just piles up. The only ones in here daily are usually Marta and Daniel and they… well…”
“Are lazy as hell, and both think cleaning is beneath them?”
Maria nodded bashfully before brightening again. “Though if you stay…”
Hester held up her spare hand. “Let’s not make any plans beyond lunch.”
The older woman nodded, though Hester feared that in her head the woman was already knitting jaguar cub-shaped booties.
Eighteen
“Chief traced the gun,” grunted Roberto. “Came back to the guy who owns the steak place in town. Used to keep it in the pantry in case of burglars. He reported it missing a few days ago, but he can’t be sure how long it was gone before that.”
Roberto growled, and Antonio let out an answering growl to show his beast’s displeasure. Definitely not the answer he was hoping for.
If it had been, I have the guy who tried to shoot at your mate, feel free to beat the bastard to a pulp - then he would have been happy.
Damn, he’d had a mate for a matter of days and already some asshole with a gun had nearly killed her. Some protector he was.
“They got any ideas who stole the gun?” Antonio asked.
Roberto snorted. “None. Even went to the restaurant and took a look around myself.”
“Scents?”
“None I could get over the damn kitchen smells. Chief thinks it might be some anti-shifter hater.”
Antonio scoffed. They got on pretty well with the current chief. He was fairly decent, but he was someone who was still struggling to come to terms with shifters, even after the many decades since they came out. If the leap had any issues, the chief immediately assumed they were being tar
geted because they were shifters.
“What do you think?”
Roberto cracked his neck. “Maybe someone just wanted to scare us.”
“Like who?” And could he scare them in return? And show them what they got for threatening his mate?
“Suits from Vertigo have been sniffing around town again – saw them earlier today.”
“The idiots who wanted to put a five-star resort and a golf course on our land?”
His jaguar huffed, remembering how they had approached his prime. They had sauntered into the compound, acting like they were conquering heroes, showing disdain for the way they lived and giving no respect to Roberto. They acted like the leap was some crazy, scamming cult who would jump at the chance of some ready money. Roberto sent them away with a resounding roar in their ears and a threat of a boot up their butts if they returned. No one wanted to leave the mountain, or if anyone did, they were in the minority.
Roberto snarled.
“Thought they moved on.”
“Brodie told me they were trying to convince his pride to move on. Don’t think they were biting on their offer.”
Brodie was the leo of a local lion pride, living in a compound not too far from them. They owned even more land than the leap. Apparently, the Vertigo company didn’t feel able to build a multi-million dollar resort without first displacing as many shifter families as possible.
“So you think they’re behind this?”
“I don’t know. Wouldn’t surprise me.”
“Maybe we should pay them a visit.”
Roberto gave him a cold smile. “Couldn’t hurt to remind them we’re not going anywhere.”
Antonio hesitated as his beast grumbled. He’d have to forgo lunch with his mate. But it was to keep her safe so it was a worthy yet annoying sacrifice.
“I gotta see Hester and…”
“Your mother took her out for lunch. They went to town.”
Antonio’s beast roared, pushing to the fore. “You allowed them to leave the compound?”
“Would you have preferred I put the two of them under house arrest?”
