by Jade Alters
The challenge in her voice snapped me to the sickening reality. If she didn't want to stay with me—with us, what could we do that wouldn't break the law?
Persuade her, said my cat.
A low growl rumbled in my gut that I could not contain, and her gorgeous blue eyes flew open in surprise. Jeanine scooted backward.
"Don't do that," I pleaded.
"You growled. Cats growling signals a threat." She stared at me fiercely, and I melted. Then I said something I rarely do.
"Sorry."
"You are?" she said with skepticism.
"Yeah. It's just…well…I…we…" I lowered my head, clueless as to what to say. How did you explain to a woman you just met that she's your forever mate? It sounded insane even to me who long ago got used to the quirky nature of my blended selves.
Jeanine laughed then, and my head snapped up again.
"What?"
"You're all tongue-tied."
My face flushed. Damn it. This woman turned my head around. I was the Alpha here, and one small woman should not turn my guts inside out.
Even if she did.
"You do that to me," I admitted. "Look, this is uncharted territory for me."
"Hmm, so does that mean you expect danger to pop out at us any moment?"
"It could. We aren't sure where we are or what government we're dealing with. If law enforcement takes us into custody, we're cooked. The brass will disavow us, and we must do whatever to keep our mission secret."
"Even if they imprison you?"
"Wouldn't be the first time."
She shook her head. "Why do you do it then? The special ops stuff must be dangerous."
"It's what we do."
"That's not a good answer, Ryker."
I sat next to her and gazed out at the ocean.
"I suppose once I learned I was a freak, I thought the usual stuff, a wife, home, and kids, was out of my reach."
"You're not a freak."
"Yeah? You didn't seem to think that when Damon changed in front of you."
She shrugged. "You guys surprised me."
"Yeah, but what woman will want a man who is part cat? And a dangerous one at that? Who will say, 'yeah, baby, come here and make some kittens with me?'"
Jeanine blew out a puff of air.
"Tell me something, Ryker. What were you like as a kid?"
I shrugged. "Just like any other."
"And you didn't know what you were?"
"No. When things got strange when I was a teenager, the military came for me."
"Hmph. Just like that?"
"I guess."
"And you didn't get that people were watching you so that when you started showing your spots, they conveniently arrived to scoop you up?"
I scratched my head. I didn't think of it that way, but I was messed up then from the weird things happening to me. To tell the truth, I was glad they let me enlist even though it was earlier than I should have.
"So what if they did? They did me a favor."
Jeanine made a rude noise through her nose.
"Yeah, and they got a team of jaguar shifters together to do their dirty work. I think they should be grateful to you."
Anger edged her voice, and that she got angry for me instead of at me warmed my heart. Then she gripped my hand.
"You shouldn't blame yourself for what you are. You aren't a freak, Ryker. Just different. You have the right to anything due to a man in this world."
For a brief second a swell of hope bloomed in my chest. Perhaps things weren't that bad. She could reconsider going home and explore what she might have with us.
"But you can't keep me a prisoner, Ryker. Like I said, I have a life."
She can have a life with us.
My cat was damned persistent while the human part of me understood. What sane woman ditched her life to spend it with four men? But cats weren't known for their reasoning skills though they excelled in the relentless pursuit of their prey.
Jeanine squeezed my hand and tried to release it. Instead, I pulled her to my chest, and my cat purred in approval. She made a small noise but relaxed against me.
The fragrance of her hair filled my nose, and I put my arm around to hold her to me. This was right, what I needed, and I didn't want to move in case she used the opportunity to draw away.
If I could, I wouldn't ever let her pull away again.
Persuade her.
My cock found Jeanine in my arms enticing, and it stirred from holding her tight to my body.
"You feel good in my arms," I whispered in her ear. I unbuckled her life vest with one hand. "Let's get this off you."
"I think I'm safer if I keep it on."
"Are you?" I said as I pulled her on my lap. I immediately got hard, and my length pressed into her delectable bottom. My hand slipped under the vest, and I cupped and squeezed her breast while licking behind her ear. She mewled, and her breasts rose and fell with her quickening breaths. Her flesh was delicious, salty and her unique taste and arousal scented the air between us. My cock was rock-hard now and pulsed with need.
"Look, um, we're on a beach here. Who knows who's looking?"
"You're right," I said, and I stood sweeping her into my arms, and ran for the water."
"What?" she shrieked and laughed, and my legs plowed into the water, and then I twisted and fell into the water clasping her.
She struggled, but I stood upright with water cascading off of us never letting her go. My heart raced, and all I wanted was to get closer to her.
"I've got you," I said.
"Yes, and we're fully dressed."
"The clothes needed a wash anyway," I said smiling.
"Is that how you do your laundry? In salt water?"
"We're trained to make things work regardless of the situations," I murmured into her ear. She shivered. The water swirled around us, and the sun beat down warmly with a gentle breeze curling through the cove. I had my woman in my arms, and right now I didn't care if I was on a mission. This was right.
Our eyes met, and the electric connection I felt with her magnified a hundred times. I lowered my head and claimed her mouth while pressing our bodies together. I was not a religious man but kissing her was the closest I'd ever been to heaven.
"You're so sexy," I breathed into her ears, and she shivered.
"I have to admit, you are too." But she put her hands to my chest and pushed away. "But, Ryker, as terrific as you are, I can't play. I came to St. Lucia for a reason, and that was to find my friend, Surma. Morgan has her, and I have to do something."
"Doll," I said. "I told you, we saw no one named Surma. And he had lots of people on his ship."
She bit her lip.
"That can't be the answer. I went through all that trouble to get that information. Wait. All the state stuff I stole, which I planned to use to get her back—that's all ruined from the storm, isn't it?"
"Maybe not," I said. "I put them in my backpack, and those are waterproof."
"You must help me get her back, Ryker."
My mate is single-minded. What can I do? This had gone way beyond a blown op. We should hitch a ride out of the Caribbean and go for ground. If we could take a second shot at the mission and achieve our objective no one could complain. But could we traipse through the Caribbean and wreak a trail of destruction without making a shit stain of the op? My reasoning mind said no. One of our mottos was "don't run into your own death." To pursue Morgan now would be that.
"Sorry, doll. That's not the mission."
Her eyes narrowed, and she slapped me hard. She was stronger than she looked. Stars blinded me, and her hand stung like hell.
"Bastard!" she said. Jeanine turned and thrashed through the water toward the shore. Before I knew it, she was out and tearing toward the green jungle line.
"Wait!" I called. "You don't know—"
She turned and flipped me off and then sprinted into the tropical forest.
Fuck.
My cat was angry and
itched to come out, but I had to keep kitty shielded from potentially prying eyes.
Hold on. Hold on. We'll catch her.
My feet hit the hot sand. Where did I lose my shoes? Probably the same place I put my head. Jeanine was a danger to all sense and logic, and I kicked myself for not seeing that sooner. I was the team leader. It was my job to keep a cool head and the focus on the mission objective. But what did I do? Toss it all for a cuddle and a kiss? What the hell was wrong with me?
Mate, said the cat.
Fuck you.
Right back at you, the beast said in the most lucid speech I'd ever heard in my head. I've done everything you wanted of me, staying hidden and working when called on. You've pushed our body to the limit and nearly got us killed on multiple occasions. The very least you can do is stop acting like a stupid human male and go after the female who's ours. If you don't, I see no reason to come running when you call.
Wow. I mean, could that happen? Would the beast fail to manifest when I needed it?
You can't do that.
Try me, human.
That part of me sounded angry, and I couldn't believe I was at war with myself. I mean sometimes the cat pulled me back. Later, I'd found that the situation was unsafe. But this was different.
Because I was occupied with my thoughts, I did not notice when my feet hit the forest floor. A musty aroma, filled with wet earth, rain and jungle flowers greeted my nose. Above me, animals chittered in the understory and the canopy layers, and it was at once both cooler and more humid than the beach. I panicked a second when the flood of new sensations overwhelmed me, and I could not pick up her scent.
I stood surrounded by the underbrush and listened, but all I heard were insects, birds, and monkeys, but no Jeanine. What the hell would I do now?
Cursing, I considered shifting, but I still didn't know how populated this island was and I was not ready to ditch my clothes yet. Finally, I caught Jeanine's scent and followed it, faint as it was. It drew me deeper into the jungle.
Footsteps crashing the underbrush spiked my attention. Oh, hell. This cannot be good. My team would not make that amount of noise. Who are they? What's their intent? They were moving fast as if alarmed so they couldn't be law enforcement, which would walk the rainforest with deliberation and care.
I came to a small clearing to see Jeanine holding up her hands, with her back to me.
The man pointing the gun at her dripped an aura of danger and ill intent.
So did the man at my back who stuck a gun barrel into my neck.
Gunner
A few miles into the jungle the green broke onto a one-lane paved road that communicated that civilization of a sort lay nearby. I whistled, and before long my shrill call brought my teammates to my side.
"Yeah," said Kane. "I saw it too."
"When I was up on the ridge," said Damon pointing north, "I saw several boats hugging the shore. There's probably a town there."
"You think?" snorted Kane.
"Man, you are a smart ass," said Damon.
"Nah, that's Gunner."
"No, I've got a smart mouth."
"Makes no difference where the shit comes from, men," said Damon. "It still stinks."
I scoffed.
"What's the move?" I asked Damon. Technically, he was our second-in-command, so both Kane and I waited for his word.
"I say we go back, get Ryker and Jeanine and head north on the shore. That seems to the closest to what passes for civilization here."
"That's what we will do?" said Kane. "I mean, Morgan is out there and probably put word about that his four bodyguards blew up his ship. And he's got to have help from the locals to pursue his criminal activities."
"What's your problem, Kane? Like we can't handle a few locals?"
"That's not it," said Kane. "We can handle it, but what about Jeanine?"
"Yeah," said Damon.
Oh hell.
We glanced at each other, and the realization hit us at the same time. Our first thought was not about our mission, but Jeanine's safety.
"Fuck," I said. "This changes everything."
"How do you figure?" said Kane. "We're still us."
"Are we?" said Damon. "When have we ever bombed a mission this badly?"
"Missions go sideways," said Kane.
"And that's not Jeanine's fault," I said. The need to defend her overrode my good sense, because Damon had a point, and my brain knew that. My emotional center, however, did not, and this was disturbing.
"No, but since meeting her, we haven't had the same amount of focus on our mission objectives. That's a problem."
We stared at each other as the immense depth of the shit we were in crashed on us. With Jeanine as our mate, our focus would always be on her. Our lives were now fundamentally changed.
"What will we do?"
Damon shook his head. "I don't know. Can we even stay in the service?"
"No," said Kane. "I can't accept that. We worked hard."
"Well, that's just it, isn't it?" I said. "The average length of enlistment for a SEAL is fifteen years, but most of them deploy only a third of that and spend the rest of time pushing paper."
"Yeah," said Damon, "I know that."
"And we've deployed continually for like what? Close to ten years? Add it up. We're past our expiration date."
"If we were fully human," said Kane, "which we are not."
"That is what the DOD depends on."
"Yeah, we're the 'better soldier' they've always wanted."
"Or one form of it," said Damon thoughtfully.
"I think," I said, "it's time to retire."
"And do what?" snorted Kane.
"Work for another security company?"
"Like who?" said Damon.
"I don't know."
"Perhaps we just need to find those other shifters that Ryker says are out there?"
"Perhaps. There is one thing for sure," said Damon. "Jawing is not moving this op forward. Let's go find Ryker."
"And Jeanine," said Kane.
"Yes, Jeanine," said Damon derisively. "She's our North Star now, isn't she?"
Was she? Yes. Damon hit the nail just right.
Damon turned and headed back into the tropical forest, and we fell in side-by-side. Kane muttered which was never a good sign.
"This is not what I signed up for," he said. "What the hell happened? Why?"
"It's not important that you like it," I said spouting a SEAL truism and being a jerk about it. "It's important that you do it."
"Smart ass," he said. "Our creed also says, 'The ability to control my emotions and my actions, regardless of circumstance, sets me apart from other men.' This doesn't look like control to me."
"Who says biology isn't destiny?" tossed Damon over his shoulder.
"You think this is about biology?" I said.
"Mate? Yeah. Instinctual. Biology," he said definitely. "What do we know about our biology, eh?"
"Cats do not take lifelong mates," said Kane.
"But we aren't a hundred percent cat," said Damon. "Our genetic profile is mostly human."
"How do you know?" said Kane.
"I talked to Dr. Melkot at the facility."
That asshole. Melkot was up our butts every minute of the day while we were there. He oversaw the poking, prodding, and testing of our abilities. I had a big hate-on for that guy and was ecstatic to get out of his range of fire when we went to our first advanced skill training class.
"Humans don't mate for life either," I said.
"Some primates do. And others form strong social bonds."
"Like humans."
"Yes. What we see is Jeanine not so much our mate as belonging with us?"
"Man," said Kane. "That's too deep for me."
"But it makes sense," I said. "I mean, how she was on Morgan's yacht, that was fearless."
"Yeah," Kane said. "She handled herself well on the yacht. On the raft though…"
"Cut the woman a break," snarled Damon.
"She hasn't had our training and was in a raft with four men after a difficult day. I say she performed aces."
"What?" said Kane. "You want to make her a member of the team?"
"You aren't getting it, Kane," said Damon. "She is a member. Period."
"It's not the same," said Kane. "There are no female SEALs."
"Hence the reason we need to retire," I said.
"Fuck," said Kane. His voice communicated his thorough unhappiness with the idea. I couldn't say I blamed him.
Inwardly I seconded his assessment. I'd considered retirement and tossed it around more often the past couple months, but I couldn't fathom leaving these guys behind. It felt unnatural, like I was leaving my family. I tried to tell myself that every birdie leaves the nest, but I couldn't bring myself to fly the coop. Nope, I was in it for the long haul with these guys.
And now Jeanine was in the mix.
"We have a lot to straighten out," I said.
"No sh—" Damon skidded to a stop and threw the arm signal telling us to do the same. On the alert, we halted and strained our ears.
There it was. Men shouting a quarter mile, and two minutes ahead.
"!Las manos en la cabeza. Ponte en el suelo¡"
Hell, someone was in trouble.
"No!" shrieked Jeanine.
Double hell. I growled, and so did Kane, but Damon steadfastly signaled that we hold position. My cat clawed at my skin, eager to get to and help Jeanine, but I had to keep my head as much as the beast in me resisted. I clamped down, sucking in a deep breath and focused on what I needed to do.
Damon gave Kane a signal to spread out to the right, and me left, and he moved forward cautiously taking point.
Jeanine screamed again, and we crept through the understory of the rainforest. Insects buzzed around us, but the birds and other animals were quiet and lying low, waiting for the danger to pass.
We got close enough to see Ryker sprawled on the ground and blood dripping down his face. Jeanine knelt next to him and glared at the men pointing rifles at her.
"You bastard," she spat. "You didn't need to do that. He surrendered."
"Si," snarled one man. "For now. This is one that worked with Señor Morgan on the boat and blew it up. Señor Morgan will be very glad to see him."
With one guy covering an unconscious Ryker and a kneeling Jeanine, Jerk Face kicked Ryker. Jeanine threw herself in front of the kick and received the vicious blow. She uttered a pained sound and clenched her gut.
