by Tonya Brooks
She shivered at the softly spoken promise. "Thank you. Both of you," his mate said fervently. "For saving us. Ah-choo!"
His jaguar had been as nervous as a cat waiting to find out if he had frightened their mate again. Now the beast was practically preening and wanted to roar in triumph. Jett was pretty damn pleased with the outcome himself. Because he had managed to overcome one of many obstacles keeping him from his mate.
"It was our honor," he replied honestly because the image of Aylese protecting his cub and fighting off an attacker with a fucking shoe would haunt him until his dying day. If his cat hadn't forced a shift, Jett would have killed the bastard with his bare hands.
The shock must have worn off because she suddenly exclaimed, "Jesus Christ, you're naked again!"
"Care to join me?" He teased.
"I most certainly will not," she refused indignantly and tossed him the baby blanket that had been draped over her shoulder.
His mate was going to be a joy to tease; he realized as he wrapped the blanket around his hips. His fully aroused cock tented the front, but there was nothing he could do about that. Well, at least not until he had her naked. Then he could think of a multitude of delightful ways to deal with it. And he couldn't wait to try them all.
"Are you decent?" She asked warily, and he saw that her eyes were closed.
His grin became decidedly wicked since he'd never been decent a day in his life. "I'm covered if that's what you mean," he responded in amusement.
***
"Insufferable ass," Aylese muttered and opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the dead body, and she shivered in revulsion. Talking to the police was out of the question. They'd haul her off to the looney bin for sure if she told them what had happened. She was still having a hard time believing that it was real.
Accepting the fact that there was an entire species that could change between animal and human form was a lot to take in. She couldn't even begin to imagine how such a thing was possible, although it was a huge relief to know that she wasn't insane. But at the moment she was more concerned with the dead body than anything else.
"Ah-choo! What about him?" She asked with a frown as her gaze swung toward Jerrett. The man should have looked ridiculous with a baby blanket wrapped around his hips, but he didn't. Oddly enough the darn thing seemed to somehow enhance his masculinity. And reveal an impressive erection.
"My pride will handle disposing of the body," he imparted as if such things were a normal occurrence.
Maybe they were in his world. You know, the alternate reality that she'd found herself in where such a thing as werecats existed. It boggled the mind to realize that her sweet little nephew really could change into a cat at will. And that one day he'd be a big, dangerous jaguar like his father.
Then a horrific thought occurred to her so she asked, "Do you think the man was trying to take Justis because he can change into a cat?"
"He was after the cub?" Jerrett asked in surprise.
"Yes. He said he was being paid to take Justis back alive, but no one said I had to be," she recalled. The ominous sounding growl that came from the handsome man before her was disconcerting, to say the least. Especially in light of the fact that she now knew he wasn't entirely human.
"Take him back where?" He demanded and looked as feral as he sounded.
"I have no idea," she hastily denied.
"I think it's time we talked with your sister," Jerrett said in a grim tone that didn't bode well for Harper.
"I think you might be right," Aylese agreed and wondered what the hell her sibling had gotten mixed up in this time.
***
Naturally, her phone had died. One of the perks of thinking you were losing your mind was forgetting to charge the thing. After plugging it in, she and Jerrett paced opposite sides of her room while Justis slept soundly on the bed. Poor baby must have been completely exhausted to sleep through all the commotion.
She'd been borderline catatonic when she arrived, and after all of the emotional turmoil she'd been through since then, Aylese was almost as worn out as she had been before she fainted. Jerrett had insisted that she take an antihistamine and eat something but the thought of food nauseated her. A cup of tea had helped settle her stomach though.
The salty pretzels he'd practically hand fed her had done wonders for her appetite. She'd managed to devour a ham sandwich while he watched in smug satisfaction. She wasn't sure why the man was being so solicitous, but it was very sweet if completely out of character with his manwhore image.
Then again, he wasn't what she'd expected.
She was beginning to think that the rumors about the Prince of Pussy were all hype. Then he'd turn those amber eyes on her, and she'd almost forget her own name. Jerrett smoldered with sensuality and the heat in his gaze when he looked at her sent her hormones into a frenzy. So, yeah, no. It definitely wasn't all hype.
Her phone finally came to life, and she nearly tripped over her own feet trying to get to it. Not that she held out a lot of hope of reaching Harper. Aylese had tried calling her sister dozens of times since she'd disappeared and left she'd messages that could only be termed frantic at best with no response.
The first thing she saw on the screen was that she had a missed call as well as a voicemail from an unknown number. She swiped the screen, and her sister's voice sounded through the speaker. "Lese, it's me," Harper said in a tremulous tone usually reserved for the dreaded I-need-bail phone calls. "Call me back on this number."
"It's her," she informed Jerrett as she hit the button to return the call. She waited impatiently as the phone rang three times before a sleepy voice answered. "Jesus Christ, Harp. What the hell is going on?" She demanded. "Why did someone try to take Justis?"
"Who?" Her sister queried groggily.
"Who?" Aylese repeated in astonishment. "Justis is the baby!" She screeched in an octave that had the werecat grimacing.
"Weird name for a baby," the younger woman replied with a yawn.
"That's what you called him," she pointed out in exasperation.
"What? I did not."
"Yes, you did," Aylese insisted. "You said, 'Please take him to his father for me, Lese. Jerrett Black needs Justis.'"
"Well, yeah. Because the man deserved justice for being wronged, not because it was the baby's name," she explained. "Wait. Did you say someone tried to take him?"
"Yes," she practically growled. "Honestly, Harp, what the hell have you gotten yourself into this time?"
"I told you to take the baby to his father," her sister protested and sounded peeved.
"I did," she confirmed in exasperation. "He's here with me, and we both want answers so start talking."
"It's… complicated," Harper admitted hesitantly.
"Maybe you can start by explaining how a woman I've never met had my cub, er, child," Jerrett demanded and shocked the hell out of Aylese.
"You've never met her?" She asked him in astonishment.
"No," he bluntly denied.
If Jerrett had never met her sister, then how the hell… Her eyes narrowed suspiciously, and she demanded, "Harper Denise Stone, what have you done?"
"Oh, hell," her sister sighed heavily. "I stole the baby."
"You did what?" Aylese gasped in shock. Stealing a baby was insane. Even for Harper.
"They were using him as a test subject," she hastily explained. "I saw them cut him and burn him just to watch how fast he healed. I had to do something before they killed him."
Aylese gasped in shocked outrage.
Jerrett growled and looked feral again.
"That place is like Frankenstein's lab. They're growing babies in test tubes and torturing them, Lese. I couldn't just leave him there to die," she insisted. "I thought the baby would be safe with his father, but I knew they'd come after me, so I asked you to take him."
"Why didn't you tell me any of this?" She demanded, incensed and heartbroken at the thought of anyone abusing that sweet innocent baby.
&nbs
p; "I didn't have time for explanations, and I knew you'd read me the riot act again if you knew the truth," her sister confessed.
"Harper, tell me everything you know about the people who had my son," Jerrett demanded in a low growl.
"Shh. I think there's someone outside," she whispered, and Ayles's heart jumped into her throat. "It's GenMod Lab. All of the information I have is on the form I gave Lese. I have to go."
The line went dead, and she stared at the phone in shock. Her emotions ran the gamut as a million questions bombarded her mind. A warm, masculine hand covered hers, and she lifted tear-filled eyes to his handsome face. "What kind of monsters are they, Jerrett?" She whispered brokenly. "How could they torture that precious child?"
He pulled her into his arms, and she melted into his strong embrace.
Because it felt like coming home.
***
"I don't know, love, but I swear I'll find out," Jett promised. And he'd make them pay. For hurting his cub. And upsetting his mate. The tears in Aylese's eyes just gutted him. His cat was ready to tear the world apart, but holding her soothed the savage beast inside of him until the urge to maim and kill was tolerable.
His mate looked up at him, a horrified expression on her face. "What if they come for Justis again?" She asked anxiously. "We can't let them take him."
"Aylese, I swear to you that no one will take our cub. No one," he vowed in a low growl. As an alpha, protecting his own was instinctual, as deeply ingrained as his DNA. But in order to ensure the safety of his mate and cub, he had to remove the threat to them. Permanently. "I need to see the form that Harper mentioned."
"Of course," she agreed and pulled away from him to walk over to the dresser and rummage through her purse. "It's a medical form with your name and address listed as the paternal donor. I assumed it was the results of a paternity test."
The top of the paper had been ripped loose from a file and other than his personal information and Subject JB02, the only thing the form contained were test results. He had no idea what the scientific terminology meant, but he knew someone who would. When he headed to the door, his mate asked anxiously, "Where are you going?"
"I know someone who can decipher this," he explained.
"You can't leave us here alone," she insisted and looked panic-stricken. "What if someone comes for Justis and you're not here?"
"My pride is patrolling the grounds. You and the cub are safe," he said soothingly.
"Pride?" She queried. "Like a… pride of lions?"
"Jaguars, love," he replied with a teasing wink. "Lions are mangy."
A bubble of nervous laughter escaped her parted lips, and he realized that this was the first time he'd heard her laugh. And you can damn well believe his cat was overjoyed to know that she trusted them to protect her and the cub. No way in hell was he going to pass up the opportunity to keep her by his side.
"But just to be safe, I'll keep you and Justis with me," he agreed.
Jett walked over to the bed to remove the lightly snoring baby from the nest of pillows she'd placed around him to keep him from rolling off. His son roused enough to open his eyes, blink and smile sleepily before he drifted back off again. It felt like something reached inside of Jett's chest and squeezed his heart.
The infant was without defenses and completely helpless in both his human and cat form. It was Jett's responsibility as his father to protect him from all harm until he was able to defend himself. To teach him how to be a jaguar, a man, and a good alpha. He'd never given much thought to the care and rearing of a cub before.
Now the weight of that responsibility was almost staggering.
"Are you all right?" His mate asked quietly.
"I just realized that raising Justis is probably the single most important thing I'll ever accomplish," he admitted and met her startled expression.
A slow, approving smile curved her lips before his mate replied, "There might be hope for you yet."
Jett's hopes soared, and his cat wanted to roar in triumph. They were making progress in winning their mate over. If he was damned lucky, he might even be able to get her in his bed tonight. He shot her a devilish wink, slid his free arm around her waist and led Aylese out of the room.
"You won't have to worry about Justis rolling off of my bed," he assured her solemnly as they entered his private domain.
Opening the door to his bedroom, he flipped on the light and froze. The sound of his mate's outraged gasp reverberated in his head like a death knell. Because there were five naked females sprawled across his bed. Wondering how the hell he was going to dig himself out of this hole, he turned to look at her forbidding expression.
"I can explain," he said inanely.
"Explain why you have your own harem?" She snarled and snatched the cub away from him. "It's obvious that you have the morals of a tomcat."
"Aylese…"
"You ought to be neutered!"
Mother fuck.
So much for making progress.
***
Aylese was absolutely livid.
Just when she'd started thinking that he might be a decent human being… werecat… whatever, Jerrett had shown his true colors. Apparently the adage about a leopard not being able to change his spots applied to jaguars as well. He was an even bigger manwhore than his less than savory reputation claimed.
There had been five naked women in the playpen he used as a bed. Five! And he slept with all of them. Had sex with all of them. At the same time. It was obscene. Depraved. The man was a sexual deviant. A complete degenerate. There was no way that he could possibly satisfy five women at once.
Could he?
No, of course not. It was physically impossible. For a human male. But Jerrett wasn't completely human, now was he? So it could be possible. If it was, he must have phenomenal stamina. And incredibly creative techniques. Which made her wonder exactly how he managed to accomplish such a feat.
She could certainly attest that the man was very well endowed and he most likely knew how to use the appendage well. With all five women. Lucky bitches. That thought brought her up short because what she was feeling was jealousy. Which was ridiculous. Jerrett Black meant nothing to her. Less than nothing.
He was just the father of her sister's… No. He wasn't even that. But he was a complete manwhore. An insufferable ass. And Justis's father. She snorted in disgust. He'd had her fooled earlier, and Aylese had almost bought his act. He had seemed so sincere when he'd held his son, his expression conveying awe.
That performance might win him an award in Hollywood, but she wasn't buying it. Not now that she knew what he was really like. The worst part was that he'd be a horrible role model for Justis. If what her sister had said was true, the poor baby had already suffered more than anyone ever should.
He had been grown in a test tube and experimented on like a lab rat. The thought shredded her tender heart. There was no telling what kind of atrocities the infant had been subjected to. It was no wonder that he was so attached to her. She was probably the first person who'd ever treated him like a baby instead of a test subject.
The thing that hurt the most was that she had no choice but to leave him with his father. If Harp really had stolen the baby, then they weren't even related. Which meant she didn't have the right to keep him away from Jerrett. And to make matters even worse, she didn't have a clue how to raise a werecat.
Heartbroken over the fact that she had to leave him, and wishing with all of her heart that she could be his mother, Aylese crawled into bed and curled her body around the sleeping baby. Physically exhausted and mentally wrung out, she kissed the top of his precious little head and cried herself to sleep.
***
Jett sat in the chair in the darkened room and quietly watched over his mate and cub. Aylese had wrapped herself around the baby, instinctively protecting him with her own body. She may not have given birth to him, but she certainly acted like the cub's mother. Her love for his son shown in everything she did.
He was ruthless enough to use her affection for the cub to keep her with him, and his cat was in complete agreement. Both man and beast were desperate to claim her, and they would stop at nothing to accomplish it. Now he just had to figure out how to do it. Preferably without making her hate him.
If she didn't already.
He sighed wearily and shifted positions, bracing his elbows on his spread knees and dropping his head into his hands. The threat to his cub's safety would keep Aylese with him temporarily, but he knew that she'd be gone as soon as he destroyed the bastards who'd tortured Justis.
What kind of sick bastards created babies in test tubes just so they could experiment on them? The knowledge that his cub had been subjected to such a thing both sickened and enraged him. It also made him wonder how the hell they had managed to get his sperm to begin with. And if he was the only werecat they had targeted.
Getting to the bottom of that situation was his first priority. He'd already called in his fellow FERAL board members for help. The foundation had connections in every facet of the werecat community. Between them, they had a fucking army of shifters who'd step up to annihilate the bastards that dared to experiment on one of their kind.
"Meow," sounded quietly while a pair of tiny paws landed on his leg. Jett opened his eyes and looked down to see his cub's face staring back at him. Sleepy amber eyes met his, and his son rubbed his little face against his knee, wanting attention.
He scooped the cub into his hands and leaned back in the chair, placing him securely on his chest. "Hey, little buddy," he said quietly and rubbed the infant's silky fur. The cub nuzzled his face against Jett's before he yawned, curled into a ball and went back to sleep.
In spite of everything he'd been through, Justis was still so innocent and trusting. As if he knew instinctively that his father would protect him from all harm. Which was exactly how it should be. Because a father should never allow anyone to harm his children. Especially if he was an alpha with a duty to protect his pride.
There was nothing that Jett wouldn't do to protect his.
