by Terry Spear
Kat whispered conspiratorially, “But haven’t you heard he’s special ops? He has killer moves you’ve never even contemplated.” Her gaze took in all of Connor, and then she smiled wickedly at him.
“We’re getting married, if you didn’t know.” She stroked Connor’s stomach through his cotton shirt. “What’s his is mine and what’s mine is his.”
His face hard, Roger said, “You’ll be begging to come back to me when you get tired of digging in the dirt, Kat. But don’t wait too long.”
He turned on his heel and stormed toward his car.
That’s when Connor saw Maya watching from the gardens. He waved at her, then said for her benefit and Roger’s, “Kat will join you in a bit. We’ve got something to do in the house first.”
One military man wasn’t going to win against a jaguar who had claimed his mate.
Roger’s car scattered gravel as he sped out of there.
“You could have waited to tell me you wanted to have sex with me again,” Kat said, smiling up at Connor.
He grinned down at her. “No, I couldn’t. I had to let him know just where you and I stood with each other. And tonight when the moon is full, I’m taking you to swim in our lake.”
* * *
That night, Connor had intended to go alone with Kat to the lake, but Maya wouldn’t be left out. And damn if Kat didn’t side with her. He did appreciate that Kat didn’t want Maya’s feelings hurt.
Maya did at least wander off to another part of the lake to swim. Connor and Kat slipped into the warm silky water and embraced. “I thought I was going to have to fight Roger off if he didn’t go willingly.”
Kat smiled up at him. “You wouldn’t have needed to. You were the bigger man, and he knew it.” She kissed Connor’s lips. “Thanks for letting Maya come along.”
He grunted.
“She needs a mate now.”
“We’re not using Facebook networking-type sites to locate one,” Connor reiterated for the hundredth time. “I’ll go along with a picture of a jaguar in the greenhouse amongst the tropical plants to show an exotic touch for now, as long as it’s done right.”
She pulled away from him and swam into the deeper waters.
He swam after her. “I mean it, Kat.” He knew when he used those words that he had already lost the battle. Before he could grab her foot to play with her in the water, she screeched.
“What is it?” Maya hollered from much farther away.
But Connor dove after the culprit, ready to rescue Kat from the alligator snapping turtle. Damn thing better not have injured Kat the way the one had cut up Maya so many years ago.
Kat was already headed into shore when Connor grabbed the huge turtle and hauled it to the beach after her.
She was sitting on the grassy area and examining the bite to her big toe, the beak-like injury bleeding.
Maya raced along the shore to join them, then folded her arms and gave Connor an annoyed look. “Ha! He rescues you from the turtle, but he saved himself when the one attacked me.”
Kat made a face, grimacing with pain. “He’s exonerated, back to hero status, as far as I’m concerned.” Then she frowned. “What are you going to do with it?”
“Turtle soup,” both Maya and Connor said at once.
Kat looked dismayed, but Connor said, “Really, we’ll take him to a river nearby where he can live in peace, away from our lake.”
“Are you sure it’s safe to carry that thing?” Kat asked, still looking bothered about the injury and the turtle that had done the biting.
“Yeah,” Maya said, “they can actually swing their necks around to reach their tails, but with Connor holding it by the shell behind the neck and before the tail, it should be fairly safe. Their jaws are so powerful that the darn things can amputate fingers.”
But not as powerful as a jaguar’s. The big cats often bit right through the turtle’s shell in the Amazon when they were hungry.
Kat smiled. “Good. While Connor’s taking the turtle to the river, you and I can set up our jaguar site on the Internet.”
Maya grinned and nodded, giving Connor a sly sideways glance.
Connor knew then being a jaguar god with a harem of jaguar goddesses was bound to keep him in trouble.
“Don’t publish anything to go live until I’ve seen it,” Connor warned them, then headed for the river not far from the lake and hoped the turtle stayed there. He had to show Kat and Maya that he had some control over his life and theirs.
The women both laughed as Maya helped Kat back to the house while Connor carried the huge turtle to the river and a second chance at life.
Just like he had with Kat in it now. He sighed. So maybe they could put out some feelers to locate a jaguar-shifter that might suit Maya.
But for now, he had to provide his own injured jaguar-shifter with some tender loving care.
“My hero… again,” Kat said, chuckling as he rejoined them, and he lifted her into his arms.
But he knew from the conspiratorial looks between his sister and Kat that his harem had him right where they wanted him.
Even so, he wouldn’t give up Kat or his sister for the world.
Epilogue
After three months of persuading, Kat and Maya finally talked Connor into allowing photos to go up on their nursery website showing Maya in her jaguar coat peering through tropical plants in their greenhouse. They had also given some links to informational sites about jaguars in the Amazon. And now it was live.
But that was only the beginning as far as Kat was concerned.
Next, she wanted to help Maya set up a Facebook page that showed her interests—loving the Amazon and the beauty of the jaguar. They had to be careful, though, when they set it up. They were still working on exactly which photos and interests when Connor came in from digging holes in the garden for new trees.
He had already rinsed off under the garden shower when he strode inside, his golden chest glistening with water droplets. His expression wary, he immediately looked from Kat to the computer monitor and frowned.
But she had news to wipe away his scowl after he saw the Facebook page they were working on.
Kat rose from her seat, took Connor’s hand before he could say a word about the page, and ran her free hand over his hot chest. “I haven’t shifted once this month without it being my choice.” She smiled sweetly up at him.
“The page,” he said, motioning to it, not about to be deterred.
She ignored his concern about the Facebook page. “And that’s good news—about the shifting.” She pulled his hand to her belly and kept it there. “Because we’re going to have a baby.”
His mouth gaped, his darkened expression brightening, and he quickly looked at Maya as if she had known the truth when he didn’t.
Maya smiled up at him, looking pleased as could be. “I’m going to be an auntie.”
Connor grabbed Kat and held her tightly as he swung her around. She knew from the happiness in his face, his eyes even watering, that he was thrilled with the news.
“I’m going to be a father,” he said, kissing Kat on her lips and cheeks and neck as he set her back down on the floor.
“And the best one there is,” Kat agreed.
No foster care for their child, but one adoring aunt and a mother and a father who were all rather on the unusual side. Vacations wouldn’t be to the usual family resorts either, but rather to the Amazon jungle where Kat’s life truly had begun.
“Kat, have I told you how beautiful you are?” Connor asked.
“Almost as many times as I’ve told you how beautiful you are.” Kat touched a bit of dirt on his shoulder and said in a purring kitty-cat way, “You missed a spot or two. I’ll help you clean up.” Then she hauled him off to their master bedroom suite, leaving Maya with the freedom to work on her Facebook page alone.
Maya smiled. It was past time to find herself a mate.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to Deb Werksman, who always believes in my wor
k whether it’s about wolf-shifters or big cat-shifters; who knows what might be next! And to my critique partners, Carol, Vonda, Tammy, Judy, Randy, Betty, and Pam, who help me with ideas and phrases that aid me in getting the story down right. And to my son, Blaine Spear, his wife, Malinie, and my daughter, Jennifer Spear Fasano and her husband, Michael, who are proud of what I do. But most of all, I have to thank my fans who encourage me through all the conflict-filled minutes while I write (not my conflict, my characters’) and in the end cheer me on to write another book!
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