by Terry Spear
“So now you can concentrate on catching the real bad guy,” Jillian said.
“Yeah, but we still need to talk further with your brother. He might have heard or seen something that could help us solve the case. For one thing, we need to learn about the woman he’d been with to see if she is a jaguar. We have to learn what we can about her. Can you walk out on your own, or do you need a wheelchair?”
“I can walk just fine. Thanks.”
“Check in with me if you have any trouble at all. Either of you,” the doctor said.
“Thanks, Doc.” Vaughn helped Jillian out to the Land Rover, his hand on her arm in case she got dizzy. He assumed she wouldn’t like that he’d talked to her brother first either.
When they reached his vehicle, he helped her into the passenger seat. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m fine. Really.”
“Good.” He leaned into the car, lifted her chin, and looked into her eyes. Green with a bluish tint, beautiful, mesmerizing. Her cheeks colored a bit. That’s what he wanted to see. His gaze drifted to her parted lips. Before he could stop himself, he kissed her tempting mouth, soft and malleable. He heard her slight intake of breath and her heartbeat ratcheting up a couple of notches. He was glad when she kissed him back, tentatively, but he didn’t press for more, afraid her head might still be hurting. He just caressed her neck with his thumb and kissed her forehead, then backed out of the car.
“Why?” She frowned a little, and he was grateful she sounded surprised, not angry.
“For not protecting you better. For thinking your brother was guilty of attempted murder when I hadn’t observed enough of the scene to know the truth. For wanting to do that when the muscled dude was kissing you at the Kitty Cat Club instead.”
“I’m sorry I shot you.”
He smiled. “No you’re not. It’s okay. Given the circumstances, I understand completely. We’re wolves. You were protecting your brother.”
He closed the door and then got into the driver’s side, hoping his next words wouldn’t rile her. “Your brother called.” Even though she’d told her brother to get in touch with Vaughn, he hadn’t. He’d called Jillian’s number instead. So she might be perturbed that Vaughn had taken the call on her phone.
She fastened her seat belt and frowned at Vaughn. “What?”
Vaughn handed her phone to her. “He called. I talked to him.” He drove them over to the guest house.
“I can’t believe you talked to my brother. On my phone!”
“Well, you didn’t give him my phone number, so he wouldn’t have called me on mine, now, would he?”
“Oh.” She didn’t say anything for a moment. “I can’t believe he talked to you at all,” she said, her voice quieter now.
“I invited him to come to the ranch and discuss what happened.”
“Okay.”
“I just want to talk to him. I won’t arrest him.”
“Unless you still think he’s involved somehow in the attack. We know he didn’t bite Douglas, but…”
“I think he knows more than he’s saying. I mentioned the woman he’d hooked up with. I don’t think there’s any way it could be a coincidence that a female jaguar was at Douglas’s cabin at the same time a male was inside looking for something. What would the chances be that any more jaguar shifters are in the area? Maybe Miles likes her, a lot. And he doesn’t want to think badly of her. Hopefully, he’ll realize she might know something, even if she didn’t have anything to do with biting Douglas.”
“I agree.”
“I think your brother was worried about your injury too, which was why he was willing to hear me out.”
“Oh great. What did you tell him? I was dying, and he needed to speak to me before it was too late?”
“No. But I did want him to know you had been hurt in case he wants to see you.”
“Not just because he would want to see me, but because you would want to see him.”
“True. And I told him Douglas was still alive. He’d thought he was dead.”
“Oh no. I thought… Well, how could he have known? Oh…” Jillian stared out the window, appearing like she had a revelation.
“What?”
“He must have smelled my scent at the cabin when he discovered the blood and didn’t know what to think. I didn’t know Douglas, so why would I have been there?” Her cell phone rang, and she went to answer it when the car sync asked if Vaughn would accept the call from her brother.
“Go ahead.” She sounded annoyed all over again.
Maybe with his sister talking this time, they could get somewhere with Miles. Vaughn could only hope.
Chapter 10
When Vaughn had accepted the call from Jillian’s brother, she immediately said, “Miles, we’ve got you on the car phone. It’s just me and Vaughn—the SEAL who was chasing after you yesterday.” She hoped Miles would talk more now that she was here. She couldn’t believe she’d forgotten to give him Vaughn’s phone number.
“The guy you shot. Yeah, we already spoke,” Miles said. “I didn’t bite his friend. Douglas was my friend too. I got there just a few minutes before Vaughn arrived, and I had poked at the floor with my nose to see if I could recognize whose blood it was. I know what it must have looked like. As soon as Vaughn walked in the door, gun in hand, I panicked and knocked him down. As soon as he lost his gun under the couch, I thought I had a chance to escape and ran off.”
“He lost his gun under the couch?” She smiled at Vaughn.
His ears tinged a little red, but his mouth curved up a hint. So why was she not surprised Vaughn hadn’t told her all that had happened between him and her brother?
“Then Vaughn was chasing after me as a wolf. How could I know that he wasn’t the guy who attacked Douglas? And he had to get rid of me now too because I was an eyewitness? All this time¸ I thought Douglas was dead. Vaughn just told me he wasn’t.”
“Oh, Miles, I’m so sorry. I thought you knew. We just learned a jaguar attacked him.” She wanted him to know that right away so he could relax on that count.
“A jaguar did it.” Miles was quiet for a bit. “Hell.”
“How did you meet Douglas? Was it at the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club in San Diego the night we went there?” she asked. Maybe if they knew how Miles had met him, they’d be able to see more of a connection.
“Yeah, I saw him there, but we knew each other before that. We met hiking out here as wolves about ten years ago. The first time, we both were at a standoff. He didn’t know I was a shifter, and I didn’t know he was one. Finally, I shifted, figuring if he was all wolf, he’d run off. He shifted to let me know he was one of us. After we shifted back and ran together for a while, I met up with him later at his cabin, and we continued to get together after that whenever he had vacation time and I was free. He liked to hike and rock climb and boat. He had a friend who used to go with him, but then the friend got a mate and didn’t want to leave her alone with the kids to go on vacations with Douglas.
“I was shocked to learn that someone had bitten him. Which was part of the reason I was just standing there like a dopey wolf, poking at the blood on the floor. There was so much blood that I thought Douglas was dead. He’d cut himself before, and I had to bandage his hand. So I knew the scent of his blood. I didn’t even hear Vaughn drive up to the cabin and park. That’s how upset I was.”
“So you said you met up with Douglas at the Kitty Cat Club.”
“Yeah, we were getting drinks for our dates, and we ran into each other there. We remarked what a small world it was. We were surprised there were so many cat lovers in the place. We got to talking about boating and why he was there and why I was there… I didn’t give any details about the case we were working though.”
“Did Douglas mention any trouble he’d had with anyone before you met up with him?” Jillian asked.
Vaughn pulled up to the guest house and parked the vehicle.
“He wasn’t there when I got there,” Miles said.
“He said we had to talk. He sounded perturbed about something. But I wasn’t sure what it was all about. Usually, he’s the nicest guy.”
“He didn’t say what,” Jillian said.
“No. I wish he had.”
“We ran into jaguar shifters tonight at Douglas’s cabin. Did Douglas mention anything about knowing any jaguars?” she asked.
“No.”
“A male and female.”
Miles didn’t say anything.
“Miles, we know about the woman you were seeing, a female jaguar shifter? One was at Douglas’s cabin. Maybe she didn’t have anything to do with his injury, but what if she was with the male we caught inside the cabin before he escaped us? The one who injured me. When Vaughn was looking for any indication of where you’d been at our cabin, he found red silk-and-lace panties between the sheets.”
“Aw, hell. We wondered where they’d gone to. I don’t believe she had anything to do with what happened to Douglas. I didn’t even know a jaguar had injured him. But yeah, she’s a jaguar.”
“What is the likelihood that another female jaguar would be in this area? That any of them would be, as hard as it would be to blend in as jaguars? Why would one of them target Douglas? Maybe it all had to do with your friendship with Douglas.”
Miles was quiet.
“Okay, listen, what exactly do you know about her? Name, where you met her, how long you’ve known her, anything that would help us to get a better picture of her.”
“A photo! If Douglas didn’t delete it, he’s got a picture of her and her brother and me in front of a…well, a boat we took out in Belize. It was a group thing, but we became friends. On the boat. You know.”
“How long ago?” Vaughn asked.
“Six months.”
“And you’ve been seeing her for six months?” Jillian asked, surprised he’d never once told her about this woman.
“No. I mean, we were just friends on the boat. There were so few of us, it was hard not to become friends. I’ve only seen her a couple of times. Her name is Kira Wells. She’s widowed. Her brother is Brutus Watson. I know it sounds like he’s a brute, but he’s the nicest guy you’d ever want to meet.”
“He’s here too?”
“She and her brother were in the area. I didn’t even know she was going to be here. I was picking up gas for the car, and she rolls up right behind mine. You were going to be away for a few hours at the grocery store and running some other errands. I figured Kira would be long gone before you returned. I wasn’t sure what you’d think of her. So we got together. And she left.”
“You know how much of a coincidence that sounds like? More like it was planned. A male and female jaguar? They used hunter’s spray. She used hunter’s spray to see you. Did you see her at the Kitty Cat Club?” Jillian asked.
“No. I’d never met her before Belize.”
“Kira?” Vaughn finally said. “I danced with a woman named Kira that night. Blond, shapely, blue-green eyes.”
“Yeah,” Miles said, sounding a little disappointed.
“Were you planning another date?” Jillian asked her brother.
“We were leaving it open-ended. I had to see Douglas, and I was visiting with you, so we were going to play it by ear. She and her brother were off doing some sightseeing in the area.”
“Why was she wearing hunter’s spray?”
“I told her you were staying with me at the cabin. She said she’d camouflage her scent so you wouldn’t know she’d ever been there. She said her brother would flip out too, if he found out about us.”
“Are you getting serious?”
“Me? Nah. Really, I’ve only seen her twice now. I enjoy being with her. She’s wild and crazy and really different from wolves, which is why I think she appeals to me. But for wolves, we have that instinctual need for procreation, for family, and I just don’t feel that way with her. We’re just having fun. Even wolf couples can have issues. A cat and a wolf? I’m not sure I want to deal with that right now. Especially when I don’t even have a steady job.”
“Are you sure you didn’t meet her at the Kitty Cat Club?”
“I didn’t. Not that I remember anyway. It was noisy and crowded. I bumped into a lot of people. Maybe I even bumped into her, but I don’t remember. See, if she’d been a wolf, and I’d been intrigued with her, that would have been a different story.”
Yeah, like Jillian had felt about Vaughn, and she hadn’t even known he was a wolf at the time.
“Where is she from?” Vaughn asked.
“San Diego.”
“Now that’s way too much of a coincidence, Miles,” Jillian said. “You realize you could be in danger if you know who injured Douglas and they know it. What if Kira was supposed to keep you from seeing Douglas while someone she knows attacked him? Her brother even?”
“That wouldn’t have happened. She wasn’t involved in hurting Douglas. I would have sensed something was going on.”
Sure he would have, when he was thinking with his other head.
Vaughn said, “Your sister’s right. What if the attacker did plan to return to take care of matters? And he saw you—and me—there? What if he decides to come after you? I hope he comes after me. I’ll take care of him in a heartbeat. Maybe he thinks you know more about what happened than would be safe for him.”
“You can’t scare me.”
“A healthy dose of fear can keep you alive. Get complacent, and you could be dead. You should be aware you might not be completely safe until we catch Douglas’s attacker.”
“He’s right,” Jillian said.
“Hey, you know me. I can look out for myself.”
“Do you want me to remind you of the times I had to rescue you over something you pulled that you thought you could handle on your own?” Jillian wanted to knock some sense into her brother.
Silence.
“Oh, and another thing. A gap exists between the time I found Douglas unconscious and when you arrived at the cabin. I thought you were going right over to his cabin, which is why I was there…looking for you. What were you doing all that time?”
Miles didn’t say anything, and she was afraid he was trying to come up with a reasonable explanation.
“Miles?”
“I was with Kira.”
“Twice that day?”
“Yeah. You were gone again. She and her brother had split up for a while. I was over at her place for a time. Why were you looking for me?”
“To tell you I was working on a case with the jaguar shifters.” She explained about the shooting of the jaguar on Leidolf’s property. “So you saw Kira instead of going to see Douglas?” She couldn’t imagine her brother doing that to Douglas. Then again, maybe the woman made Miles forget all about the time.
“I hadn’t said I was going over there that instant. Just that I was planning to go there. We were getting together a little later. I am on vacation. I was doing what I usually do.”
“What about the other jaguar you said was on the boat in Belize…if he was a jaguar?” Jillian asked.
“Wayne Grunsky. He was kind of quiet. While Brutus and Kira were wild and fun to be around, he was more like what I’d expect a jaguar to be like.”
“Mysterious, unseen,” Vaughn said.
“Yeah, like that. He was always there, listening, but in the background.”
“Come see us.” Jillian hoped he’d listen to reason. “You know Leidolf and several of his wolf pack members. You can stay at the ranch until we learn who did this and apprehend him. Douglas probably got a picture of him that you could identify for us.”
“Maybe. Hope you’re all right, Jillian.”
“Mild concussion.”
Her brother wasn’t good at nursing duties, so he wasn’t about to offer to check on her for that reason. “Is Vaughn going to watch after you?”
“Ye
ah, somebody has to for the next twenty-four hours. Doctor’s orders. We need you to identify Kira and her brother and friend.”
“Okay, yeah. I’ll…I’ll let you know when I’m coming over. Talk later.” Then Miles ended the call.
They sat in the car for a moment more, then Vaughn got out and came to her door. He helped her out, grabbed a grocery sack, and shut her door. “Will he come over?”
“Yeah, he will. I think he’s fighting with himself over this. The fact the people he calls friends could have injured me and Douglas… Well, I’m afraid he’s thinking of trying to get ahold of Kira first and learn what’s been going on. Now I’m worried about my brother. I hadn’t thought he’d have any trouble over this latest incident, but you’re right. If Kira is involved in this, Miles could be in real danger. Especially if he confronts her with what we’ve told him.”
“He’s a grown man. If he wants to come in, he will.”
“Yeah, I know, but it doesn’t make me stress about it any less.” She eyed the sack in Vaughn’s hand as he held her arm and walked her to the cabin. “What did you get?”
“Something for you. For that stress you’re talking about.”
What in the world had he gotten her at the grocery store that she would like? He didn’t know anything about her interests. And yet, she thought he was sweet for making the effort. Then she felt bad that she hadn’t gotten him anything after she shot him!
“Well, you might not like it.”
What had he gotten her? Something he’d prefer reading?
“A magazine?”
“Not quite.”
She couldn’t imagine anything that size and shape that wasn’t a magazine. She really wasn’t very patient, she realized, and her curiosity was getting the best of her.
He chuckled and got the door, then escorted her to the couch. “Okay, promise you won’t be irritated with me if it’s something you don’t want.”
She folded her arms. “I haven’t a clue what it could be.”
He handed her the sack. She swore he looked half worried she wouldn’t like it. Even if she didn’t, she would try not to hurt his feelings. She didn’t want to say she loved it if she didn’t though. If she got hurt again, she could imagine him getting more of the same for her.
