by Lexy Timms
He might have been alright, but he was still standing in... well, she didn’t want to see what he was standing in. And there was no way out of the pit that she could see.
“Hang on!” she cried, and ran to the bulldozers. She opened a door and searched the vehicle. There was a heavy length of chain rusting in the back of one of the earthmovers. She dragged it off and pulled it over to the board.
“How do I—?”
“Drape it over the board,” he called, “and get off the board.” Under his breath he added, “And pray that the board holds.”
He likely hadn’t meant for her to hear that last part. Unable to breathe she backed away, giving him the space to do what he needed.
The chain dangled tantalizingly out of reach. Amazingly Taylor leapt and caught it, pulling himself upward, hand over hand, gripping both ends at the same time. Angelica watched nervously, but there was a part of her that admired his naked body, muscles taut under herculean effort.
Trapezius, deltoid, latissimus dorsi, deltoid... yummy.
Angelica stifled a half-hysterical giggle. Here she’d just killed someone, and she was admiring the view. Taylor grabbed hold of the board and heaved himself free of the pit. He was filthy, but he was alive.
He walked up to where she was kneeling and held out his hand. She took it and stood, meeting his eyes and melting into his strong arms as he tucked her under his chin. Somewhere in the distance she heard shouts. Chaos. Confusion.
None of it mattered.
“You saved my life,” he said into her hair.
“You are my life,” she said into his chest.
They held each other until the shaking stopped. Who it was that shook they never knew, but if one did, they both did. It was the realization that the sun was fully up and they were both very naked and cold that finally broke them apart.
“I would take you right now,” Angelica said with a smile, her hand resting on his chest, “but you stink.”
Taylor framed her face with his hands and looked into her eyes. Then he glanced down at his waist and she followed his gaze.
“Let’s definitely wash that off before we... um...”
He laughed. The sound was at once joyous and free. She wanted to laugh with him but found herself fighting tears. The long night was over. The lions, wherever they were, would be safe. The children, the women of the camp, at least now had a fighting chance at survival. All would be well.
She would be well, too. It would just take time to figure things out.
“Race you,” he said suddenly, stepping away from her. The change came quickly. The tiger awaited.
Angelica tossed the pistol into the hole and imagined what it was like to be a cat.
A really fast cat.
Chapter 25
“We recovered some very interesting data,” Randall said. He helped himself at the bar, pouring a large drink. The agency was paying for it, so Taylor didn’t say anything. He waited as his former boss took a long swallow, made a face, and turned to look at the two of them. After a moment he shook his head and finished the drink, going back to pour another. “All it was the ramblings of a madwoman, of course.”
“Of course,” Angelica said.
Taylor just raised an eyebrow. There really wasn’t anything he could add to that.
“Do you know that she was so obsessed with this fantasy of hers that she even altered film to make it look like people changed into large cats?” He looked at Taylor quite meaningfully as he said that last part.
“Shocking,” Taylor murmured, placing a hand on Angelica’s shoulder.
“Unprofessional. And horrible,” Angelica echoed, her fingers wrapping around his as she leaned back in her chair.
“Yeah.” Randall finished his second drink and poured another. “She even doctored footage to make the two of you look like you shifted. Of course, it’s all nonsense, and anyone caught spreading such fanciful delusions will be thoroughly investigated.”
“Thank you.” Angelica smiled and looked away.
“Not many have seen the tapes, so we were able to contain it. As for me... I have a nephew who is fifteen. He made a movie where he attached his father to a horse and created a centaur. Moved and everything. It was the most disturbing thing I ever saw.”
“It was that realistic?” Angelica asked, her eyebrow raised.
“No, I can’t stand my brother-in-law. Ask me, he stapled the face to the wrong end of the horse. But that’s neither here nor there. The point is, the video is faked, something anyone with a computer could do, so it’s been destroyed as useless. The doctor’s notes, too, have been shredded as the ramblings of a genuine mad scientist. You don’t hear about them too often.” He took a sip and swirled his glass. “I suppose, though, that if there were something... medical that might prevent you from doing your job, I would think you’re under obligation to inform me about it.”
“If there ever was anything that would interfere with my work,” Taylor said carefully, “I would tell you right away.”
Randall started into his glass for a long moment and nodded. “Fair enough.” He set the glass down on the table and shrugged into his suit jacket. “Just so you know, you’re no longer fired.”
Taylor put out his hand to stop him. “But the general?”
“Disappeared when he found out the slave trade ring here was busted. I assume that when we follow the right thread, we’ll find him again.”
“Randall.” Angelica rose from her chair and crossed over to the man. She hugged him and kissed his cheek.
“You see that, Taylor?” Randall’s face was red, but he was smiling. “That’s how you show respect to your boss.”
Taylor snorted. “You’re not my type.”
“There’s something else I should tell you. We tracked down the financials of that little lab she was running. We found a large private investment company calling itself Shifter Research. It was harder to track that through the dummy companies, but we finally were able to pin a name to it. It’s your old friend, Griselda.”
“The drug cartel Griselda?” Angelica went pale. “She’s alive? I could have sworn... I mean...”
“Apparently. It seems she has her finger in a whole lot of pies. She was behind the slave trade, too, funneling funds through Melinda. She sponsored the whole operation.”
“Despite what Melinda said,” Angelica murmured, shaking her head, “it did seem rather coincidental that two different groups were using the refugees to their own benefit. Oh!”
“What?” Taylor looked at her in concern.
“Something that Dr. Johns said when we were captured: ‘I was told about you, but I didn’t believe it.’”
Randall nodded. “It seems you weren’t as random as you thought. Melinda was already beginning research on the village she found when you arrived, and Griselda found out. She contacted Melinda and told her about a similar experience and they began comparing notes. Griselda funded the lab from the slave trade, and when you showed up at the clinic Griselda made sure that one of Melinda’s test subjects would show up during your shift.”
“So I would call Taylor,” she said in a quiet voice, wrapping her arms around her middle as though cold. “We’ve been manipulated from day one.”
“You have a powerful enemy,” Randall said. His tone was apologetic. “You both do now.”
“Those poor people...” Angelica murmured, and shook her head. “All those refugees ever wanted was a safe place to go. And the one place where they should have been safe, they weren’t.”
“But Meadowlark and several other international organizations are stepping in now, to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Taylor reminded her, putting an arm around her shoulders and drawing her close.
She nodded.
Randall grabbed his coat from where it had been draped over a chair by the door. “Just keep out of trouble, please. I expect you back in the States inside of a week. Vacation’s over then, and we need you back on active duty.”
�
�Some vacation.” Taylor shook his head. “And Randall? Thanks for the warning.”
Randall snorted and headed for the door. “You need some down time,” he called over his shoulder. “You both do. Keep the room—I’ve paid for the week.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a packet of papers which he dropped on the table by the door.
“Randall?” Angelica called after him. “What about the clinic? They don’t have any doctors now.”
Randall paused and shrugged. “That isn’t our call, Angelica. You have to ask Meadowlark.” He turned at the door and gave Taylor a knowing look before turning back to Angelica. “And, Doctor, if you’re looking for work... I think the two of you make a great team.”
She blinked at him in surprise. “Thank you, Randall. I-I’ll consider it.”
“Don’t I get a say?” Taylor lifted an eyebrow and pulled her against him in a tight embrace.
“No,” Randall and Angelica said at the same time.
“Didn’t think so.”
Epilogue
Taylor carried her over the threshold. It wasn’t a marriage act, but by the time they got back with her stuff she was more than ready to put the horror of the past week behind her and fully embrace, well, him.
They’d gone back to the clinic with an armed guard, to her place to get her clothing and what possessions she couldn’t live without. The smell of laundry hung heavy in the room. Oppressive despite the fact that the bed was still stripped. The scent lingered... or maybe it had always been that strong. It was part of the changes in her that caused her to notice it now. Either way, the air outside was sweet by contrast. Given that on a good day the clinic always seemed to be downwind of the latrines, she had to get out of there and stay gone. Let Manchester and Meadowlark sort out the details. She wasn’t coming back.
She didn’t truly start breathing again until they’d returned to the hotel, and the gift of Randall’s room.
“Tell me you had them put fresh sheets on the bed,” she remarked from Taylor’s arms as he kicked the door shut behind them.
“I had them put fresh sheets on the bed,” he replied, laughing, and nuzzled her neck. “Why, did you have plans?”
The last was said with a suggestive leer. It was all she needed to pounce.
Angelica attacked him, wrapping her legs around him for a tighter hold as she smothered his face with kisses. He was barely able to get them fully into the room before he fell, laughing as the tumbled to the floor, still locked in her embrace. His foot knocked against the coffee table, sending it crashing over. Glass broke.
She didn’t care.
“I have you to myself for a whole week!” she breathed, still straddling him. The crisis was past, and they were safe. The bad guys might not all have been locked up, but right now Griselda would have to come right through the bedroom doorway with a machine gun before she’d care. That was a worry for tomorrow—no, next week. Right now, Angelica could feel the light in her eyes as she basked in the warmth of his smile, the tenderness of his touch.
Which was all well and good, but it wasn’t tenderness she was craving.
She sat back on his legs and yanked him upright so that she could pull the shirt he was wearing over his head. Impatient to touch him, she ran her fingernails over his back and chest, biting into his trapezius, her hands raking his back. He cried out in surprise and looked down at her, his eyes growing dark. Smoldering. She smiled as mischievously as she knew how and then gave him such an innocent look that he couldn’t help but laugh at it.
He lifted an eyebrow and grinned. The soft t-shirt she’d pulled from the bottom of a drawer, just to have something on after her paper gown fashion show, tore open. He savaged the neckline in his fists and it popped like a party favor. He grabbed at her bra, using it for leverage to flip her over onto her stomach and tear at the hooks in the back. Angelica started giggling and couldn’t stop, her face buried in the carpet. She loved it, the sheer violence of it, and even was willing to forgive the travesty he’d made of her favorite shirt as he pulled the bra from her, causing her to flip back onto her back and grabbed at the waist of her pants hard enough to drag her an inch over the carpet.
“Ooohhhhh!” she shrieked, trying to grab him, to find something to anchor herself as he pulled her pants open and dragged them down over of her hips. He yanked her panties down in a single savage gesture. Somewhere she’d lost her shoes. Did it matter? Only when she rolled and found one beneath her. She wrenched it out and threw it aside. Something teetered on the end of the bar and crashed, hitting the tiled floor. The sweet smell of alcohol filled the room.
Time stopped. Angelica lay naked on the floor under his gaze. She put a finger between her teeth to keep from laughing, but she could do nothing about the grin that threatened to split her face in half from sheer joy. Damn, it felt good to have things to laugh about again, things to be happy about after all that had happened. After the chaos of returning to the camp and finding Randall and an entire battalion of Marines raiding the place, everything had just gone crazy.
But here—now—was all that mattered. Everything else was in the past. Worries could wait. Whatever mop-up was going on out there was happening without them. They only had this time and each other.
Let the world end. I’m here. With him. The man I love.
Laughter forgotten she growled, a sound in the back of her throat that told of her own need. She wanted him. Had to have him. It was without protest that she nestled into his arms as Taylor put one large hand under her shoulders and the other between her legs. Grabbing her shoulders and her ass, he lifted her and walked across the room with her hanging on for dear life, his powerful forearm rubbing her mound with each step.
He walked to the bed and flung her down. She bounced like a child does when pretending the bed is a trampoline. “Oh, my...” she laughed, laying her forearm over her head, loving the ridiculous way he grinned down at her. “Why, whatever will you do to me?”
He chuckled and kicked off his shoes. She tried to help as he fumbled with his belt, but he batted her fingers away when it proved to more a hindrance than a help. She licked her lips in anticipation as he pulled his pants down, his erection springing upward.
Sometimes she forgot how utterly beautiful, how utterly amazing, he was.
“Is that for me?” she teased, to hide the awkwardness of being caught staring, and squeaked as he grabbed her ankles and spun her on the mattress, parting her for his pleasure.
Angelica swallowed her laughter and looked him right in the eye as she wrapped herself around him. “Take me, tiger,” she said, and laughed at the expression on his face. Her laugh turned to surprise as he placed himself at her opening and did just that.
The penis enters the vulva, parting the labia majora, the labia min....
SHUT UP!
She cried out as he slammed into her, filling her with a single thrust. He grabbed her, lifted her in impossibly strong arms, and held her. She anchored herself, grasping his shoulders so tightly that he cried out as her nails dug into the back of his neck as he settled within her. Her legs wrapped around him as he moved, rolling until she was above him. Hands on her hips he raised her into the air, to the end of his shaft and lowered her again, her body moving easily with him, capturing the rhythm and taking it as her own. Angelica threw her head back and arched her back, biting down hard and squeezing him as best she could with her muscles and her legs, feeling him lift her and drop her, letting him set the pace—rough and fast and hard.
Eventually it was she who took the lead, driving herself down on him. His hands came up to catch her breasts and squeeze.
The pain, the pleasure, the pressure began to build. He rolled her over and got up, taking her to kneel on the bed. He took her from behind while she grabbed the covers and pulled. She held on, laying her head down on the mattress, thinking it was so like the position she took when she shifted.
“HEY!” He jumped back, and she fell on the bed. She turned around, staring at him, frustrat
ion and arousal coming off her in waves.
She looked at her arm. The fur was receding. “Oh, shit.”
“Yeah. It can get away from you, cub. Sometimes...” Taylor said and shook his head, chagrin warring with amusement on his face. “Don’t let yourself think about being the cat while you’re having sex.”
She stood up, taking his balls in her hand. “Sorry,” she whispered. “It’s all kind of new to me.” She pulled gently, massaging the sac, kissing his chest. She looked up at him and grinned. “I believe we have unfinished business, sir,” she murmured as he came to life in her hands.
He grinned and lifted her up again, took her to the bed and lay her on her back, taking her ankles and putting them on his broad shoulders. He thrust into her again. Only this taking had lost the violent edge. He came to her gently this time. Caressing. Every touch tender and new.
When the orgasm came she arched and cried out, shuddering around him. He was almost at the same moment and held her, leaning over her, spending himself into her.
The moment lingered, waves of pleasure washing over her, through her, and she shook. And if she cried, who could blame her? It was a way to throw off the past few days, a way to reconnect, to share, to be with the only man who mattered in host of men and cats.
She was in love and was loved in return.
Afterward Angelica curled up like a kitten in his arms and slept, letting the dreams come and cleanse her of nightmares. Tomorrow would be another day, and decisions would have to be made. It was time to leave this jungle behind.
She wondered what worlds waited for them next.
THE END
Book 3 coming... final one in the series
Jungle Blaze Blurb
Angelica took the jungle home with her this time.
After traveling to two different jungles on two different continents, you’d think Angelica would be done with exotic locales for a while. But the lion inside isn’t easily controlled, and now she needs help from the wisest elders in the shifter community.
