* * *
Javier managed to calm his racing heart and raging hard-on enough to drowse off and on for the next hour after Heidi returned with two pills she promised wouldn’t affect his brain.
He wasn’t completely sure what had possessed him to kiss her like that other than to stop her inquisitiveness about his past...and perhaps see if the dream kiss had been anything like reality. In the dream he’d been kissing his mate, not Heidi. The reality was almost too much to comprehend.
The passion she exuded. The lust he experienced when she was near.
He could almost convince himself it was simply that he’d been celibate for the past two years. Almost. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been around other women in that time. There had been opportunity. Women found him attractive, and if he’d needed the physical release, sex would not have been difficult to come by. Until now, he hadn’t required a woman, hadn’t wanted one.
A part of his mind accused him of infidelity. But his body damn near demanded he take Heidi. Possess her. And that did not seem right. He should not have such a strong draw to her—to any female. He’d had his mate, loved her with all his being, and lost her.
No one could take her place.
There was only one woman for him.
But Heidi is not just a woman, that small voice reminded him.
Was it some kind of chemical reaction to a female shifter? Or rather, a female with shifter blood running through her veins?
Impossible. They were not even the same...species. Cougars did not mate with jaguars. Did they?
Javier opened his eyes and frowned at the knotty pine ceiling. Cougars and jaguars did not occupy the same space, normally. Why wouldn’t—couldn’t—they mate if they did? He had heard of ligers, a lion and tiger hybrid.
Heidi might be descended from shifters, but she could not shift. Her fathers had admitted that much. Cougar versus jaguar was not the real issue at all. Shifter blood or no, she was human...all female, and when he was near her, he had little doubt of his very human, very male need.
He scoffed at his own thoughts. She attracted him enough that he longed to have sex with her. Hot, sweaty sex...for hours, if he could manage it.
His one mate was dead. He would never love another woman. But he was male, and for the first time in two years his human need for sexual release, for physical companionship, pounded at him. He would never mate again, no matter the sexual attraction. But he would have taken what Heidi offered if she hadn’t knocked his cast and sent pain spiking up his entire right side, effectively cooling his lust. Damn his wound, and damn the idiot who shot him.
Javier sat up and lifted his casted leg over the side of the bed. The aspirin had eased the throbbing, but the insistent ache was still there. Taking his crutches, he used the restroom then exited into the hallway.
“Dakota! What are you doing here?” he heard Heidi exclaim. He couldn’t remember a mention of anyone named Dakota.
“Axel called and said they were coming here for dinner,” an unfamiliar woman’s voice said. “I couldn’t wait to get out of the house. Guess I beat them, huh?”
Javier cleared the end of the hallway and spotted a petite, dark-haired, dark-skinned woman standing just inside the front door.
“Give me a baby.” Heidi reached out to take one of three baby carriers from the stranger.
“Hey, Javier,” Beth said as she placed a hand on his back and carefully passed him. “I want one.” She took another of the carriers.
“And you must be the reason Axel and Gunnar are coming here for supper.” The nearly black eyes of the stranger met his.
He gave a polite nod in her direction.
She showed curiosity but no fear. There were too many scents in the house—the Falkes and the smell of barbeque and onions—for him to scent her. Perhaps if he were in his cat form... His senses were stronger then.
One of the babies squalled, and the mother pulled him from the carrier, propping the child on her hip.
“Kelan could never keep his big mouth shut,” Heidi grumbled.
Beth glanced at Heidi. “Axel was bound to find out sooner or later.”
With a sigh, Heidi waved a free hand toward him. “Dakota, this is Javier Montero.” She went to the couch and removed a second child from its carrier. Dark hair. Dark eyes, like its mother. “Javier, this is my sister-in-law, Dakota, Axel and Gunnar’s mate.” She faced Javier with the baby in her arms, snuggled against her shoulder as natural as could be. “And this little fellow is—”
Just then a strange little animal burst into the room and ran directly to him, barking its scraggly head off.
“Fugly! Stop that. Friend.” Beth said, coming toward him with the third baby in her arms.
“Fugly?”
Beth scooped the dog—he supposed it was a dog since it barked—with her free hand and brought it to her chest. Her cheeks were slightly pink. “Fucking ugly.”
“Whoever named it was correct.”
Beth and Heidi burst out laughing, and he reached his hand toward the strange little dog, who seemed content in Beth’s arm. The baby, not as young as he originally thought, reached out and grabbed his thumb. Tiny fingers curled around his much larger digit, sending a hot spike of lost dreams rolling through his mind.
“Come on in the kitchen so Javier can sit down and you two can help me set the table,” Heidi said, moving toward him. “You feeling better?”
He tugged away from the baby’s grasp and nodded. “Yes. Much.”
Heidi’s smile seemed to light the room. “Come on. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”
Javier followed the women into the kitchen and sat in one of the two chairs Heidi pulled out for him then rested his leg on the other. What he didn’t expect was for her to plop a chubby baby into his arms before she turned away.
“I—”
“They don’t bite...much,” Dakota said, tossing a teasing smile over her shoulder on her way to the counter. “A little teething, but you look like a big, strong man. That’s Takoda, by the way.”
Javier lifted the child to eye level. His eyes were as dark as his mother’s, and a thick cap of flyaway black hair covered his head. He felt so light in his hands, so...insubstantial.
The baby blew a bubble and giggled while flapping his arms, trying to reach Javier’s face.
“You have so much trust, little one,” he whispered as he brought the child to his chest. A little fist grasped at his shirt, those big eyes never leaving Javier’s face. His babies would have looked like this, he thought. Dark in color. Yet this child’s features were softer than a Montero’s. The chin like his mother’s, a little pointy, where Isabela’s babies would’ve had sharper angles, squarer jaws.
He ran one hand over the baby’s head, his hair as soft as a kitten’s. When the child found interest in the collar of Javier’s T-shirt and dipped his head forward to examine whatever the little fingers had found, his head bumped Javier’s chin.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his jaw against the baby’s silky hair, breathing in a scent that wasn’t quite right, but was close. A shifter child.
“Get your hands off my son.”
Javier froze only long enough to see an obvious alpha male shifter step into the room with a menacing fury, barely leashed. Before he could speak, the man’s mate moved between them, smoothly scooping the babe out of his arms.
“Axel,” the woman said in a pleasant tone, “this is Javier, Heidi’s—”
“Dakota.” That one word silenced the mother. She frowned yet stood her ground, until forcefully moved aside by a second man with features almost identical to Axel’s.
“That was stupid, sweetheart,” the look-alike newcomer murmured.
Dakota scoffed and tried to speak again. “Gunnar, I—”
But Javier cut her off without
glancing away from the threat posed by the family’s alpha. “He is right, ma’am.”
That agreement drew everyone’s gaze, but Javier continued to stare at Axel, whose expression was far from friendly even with the slightly cocked eyebrow. Facing down the alpha, Javier knew he stood—or rather sat—in a losing position. He was in no condition to do battle with the fiercely protective male, even if he weren’t outnumbered. Through peripheral vision, he kept watch on the alpha’s brother, who continued to guard the pair’s mate and offspring.
No, Javier couldn’t win the fight if it came to that, but there was still enough alpha strength in his heart that he refused to submit in any way, whether through a lowered gaze or other gesture.
Axel had yet to move or speak again, but Javier could see why he held the position he did within the family unit. Axel was not impulsive. He was wise, cunning. He knew, as did Javier, that any shifter battle fought in such close confines to innocents could have an undesired outcome. When the collateral damage could be one’s own children, a man had to be sure the reward was worth the risk. And he admired Axel for that; he was a good alpha, worthy of his duty.
The tension in the room was palpable when Javier finally cracked the silence.
“My name is Javier Montero. I am from Mexico City,” he began, weighing his words carefully and keeping his tone cordial yet formal. “I am here only out of necessity and have urgent business to attend to elsewhere.” He rubbed a palm across the cast on his leg. “Your sister’s kindness and your fathers’ hospitality have earned my sincere gratitude. The Falke family is in no danger of harm at my hand. In truth, I am indebted to you.”
Despite his words of reassurance, Axel remained guarded, unmoved. Javier paused when he sensed Heidi edge closer to him, but he didn’t yet dare look her way.
“I am—was—the alpha of my family. So I understand the dangers one must guard against when bound by love and familial obligation to protect both mate and offspring. I assure you that as soon as I am physically able, I will leave your home and territory in peace, and you will no longer have to concern yourself with my presence.”
Heidi moved closer, stepping partially in front of him. Axel’s gaze shifted to a glare, this time aimed at his sister who deliberately posted herself in harm’s way.
Mujeres estúpidas.
Again Javier approved of Axel’s reaction. He wasn’t keen to the idea of Heidi coming between them either. Shifter blood or not, she had no business putting herself in the middle of a standoff between alphas. He noted a slight tick in Axel’s jaw as Javier slowly, cautiously reached out to cup a hand on Heidi’s hip. With a tug on her denim belt loop, he moved her aside, pulling her back and out of the way.
He’d intended to release her then, but she surprised him by turning into his protective embrace. Her warm hand slid onto his shoulder, and he had to fight the urge to cover it with one of his own.
Axel’s other eyebrow lifted for a heartbeat before the man composed his features once more. Javier was at a loss for words. He hadn’t expected the feisty vet to even allow him to manhandle her out of the way in front of her family, much less favor him with a subtle display of acceptance—or worse, affection. But surprise wasn’t enough to make him drop his hand from Heidi’s sweet curves. He held on as Axel’s gaze dropped to his hand, and Javier couldn’t help but smirk when the man’s gaze met his once more.
He was impressed as hell that Axel hadn’t chosen to attack him then and there. The man was well within his rights. She was his sister, and Javier was not her mate.
Instead of aggression, Axel posed a question. “Your species heals fast?”
“They do. I suspect I’ll be on my feet again within a couple more days at most.”
“Your mate?”
Javier frowned. He hadn’t wished to disclose his failures to Heidi or the others, although he’d already shared his tragic past with their fathers. It had been important they know he was no rogue. So the alpha before him probably already knew the truth. There was no point in lying.
“Dead, along with my twin.” And my unborn sons...
He heard a soft inhalation from one of the other ladies present. Heidi flinched but, to his surprise, stayed by his side. “Now you’re Mr. Talkative,” she muttered under her breath.
The hint of feminine pique made him smile, despite the gravity of his admission and the wound it reopened in his chest.
Axel glanced at Heidi before saying, “See that you leave the instant you are capable.” His gaze returned to Javier to punctuate a tone filled with authority.
Javier nodded and dropped his hand from Heidi’s hip. “You have my word.”
Just then, both fathers appeared in a doorway, one declaring, “I’m starved,” and the other asking, “Is dinner ready yet?”
Though they didn’t say it, Javier suspected the elders had witnessed the whole confrontation. He admired the family unit, the fathers stepping aside to let the eldest take his rightful place as alpha. Would he have one day passed the legacy to his eldest? Would he have grown old, watching his children protect their mates, their siblings and children?
As Heidi and the ladies jumped into action to finish setting the table and arranging seating, Javier turned his attention away from the painful thoughts to watch the family settle around the table. Axel and Gunnar visibly relaxed as the elders filed into the room followed by four younger males. Introductions were made. Kelan and Reidar, the two who’d fought with Heidi to gain entrance into the bedroom the night before, Beth’s mates. And the two youngest, Sindre and Torsten. All of the males looked like carbon copies of their fathers, fair of skin, hair and eyes. He wondered what the alpha’s children would look like when they were old enough to shift, their coloring so different from the cougar coloring of their fathers.
Each male took a seat at the table without any signs of opposition to Javier’s presence. Apparently, if the alpha accepted him—for the time being—then he would be allowed to recuperate in peace.
Chapter Eight
Lev moaned in pure ecstasy as the masseuse dug into the muscles of his lower back. This was just what he needed. The last few months had been hell, flying from country to country, making deals that would make him and his partners rich. But it was exhausting. Murder was exhausting.
“Harder,” he groaned when she let up on the pressure of the intense massage. “Hurt me.” His body relaxed for the first time in what seemed like forever.
Just then, the television across the room caught his attention and he lifted his head in time to see grainy photos of... “Montero.” The word left his mouth like a curse. “Son of the bitch!” He sat up, the masseuse yelping in surprise, but he dismissed her with a wave of his hand.
“...a hoax that caught the attention of a local newspaper reporter in Leavenworth, who contacted the town’s veterinarian. Doctor Heidi Falke denied the existence of a black panther, stating that such creatures did not exist...”
Lev frowned at the television. Leavenworth was the town where he’d ditched his rental, the last place he’d seen Montero.
“Handleman has admitted the pictures and video of what appeared to be a large, wounded animal he posted online were a prank that got out of hand. Both he and his brother have since denied the shooting, calling themselves experienced hunters who would never really mistake one kind of animal for another.”
Lev grabbed the remote from the end table and muted the television. Dr. Heidi Falke of Leavenworth, Washington might not have treated a black panther, but she damn sure could have a black jaguar. Of course, if Montero was under her care, she wouldn’t know what she was in possession of, but he did. And if that cat was injured, now was Lev’s chance to get rid of him.
He went to the phone and punched in the number of one of his local Seattle contacts. When the ring was answered, he said, “Paul. Lev. Where is the new passport I orde
red?”
“I told you I’d deliver it tomorrow morning,” said the nasal voice on the other end. “I’m working as fast as I can. I had to wait for a new order of the chips to come in.”
“I need it now. I must leave town. Do you have my driver’s license finished?”
“First thing in the morning. I can’t work any faster, boss. I can’t.”
The panic in the man’s voice made Lev sneer in disgust. “Bring it as soon as it’s done. I have business to attend.” Too bad the guy was the best in the business. His forged identification was undetectable by authorities.
“Yes, sir.”
He hung up the phone and glanced at the television, but the story had changed from the black panther prank in Leavenworth to gas prices in Seattle.
Finally. Finally! After two years of running from the bastard, he’d finish off the Montero family as he should have done the first time.
* * *
After her brothers and Beth left for work the next morning, Heidi entered her bedroom to find her wounded guest sleeping soundly.
“What are you doing?” The gruff, sleepy question came from Javier, who sat up and blinked at her with a curious smirk.
“I’m not snooping,” she said, a bit defensive. She’d tried to be quiet as she packed the last of Javier’s meager belongings into his duffle bag, but apparently not quiet enough.
“Didn’t say you were.” After a yawn and a stretch, he threw back the sheets and slid his legs off the edge of the bed, moving more easily than she’d seen him do in days, despite the cast.
His bare, broad chest and sexy abs froze the air in her lungs, and she had to force herself to focus on something other than his gorgeous body.
“You look like you’re feeling better.”
He pushed to his feet and grabbed one crutch instead of two. “The ache is more tolerable.”
Falke’s Renegade Page 8
