Jaguar Fever

Chapter 27

Martin came through for them. The license-plate number George had given to Wade belonged to Gunther Jaemison, Candy’s brother. A rural address was listed on a farm road two hours north of where George had put Maya in the trunk of a car, but Wade and David were now only ten minutes from it.

David was driving forty miles over the posted speed limit. Wade had texted the information to Everett, who texted back that they would arrive about fifteen minutes after Wade did.

Then Wade let Connor know what was up.

“I want him dead, Wade.”

“You don’t have to tell me. Bettinger won’t live once I get hold of him.”

George flinched next to Wade in the backseat. George was the only reason they had a lead to where the ranch was. As long as the rest of his story checked out, he was good to go, with a warning.

Wade wasn’t about to let him off the hook yet, though. George had endangered Maya’s life, and she could still die. He would put George’s offer to help them to the test, no matter the sacrifice, if it meant saving Maya.

“What are you going to do?” Connor asked.

“Shift as soon as we get there. I’ve got to locate Maya. From what Candy told George, they’re moving up the hunt to this morning. If they release her, no telling where she’s going to be. I’ve got to try and locate her, and I can’t do that running as a human.”

“What is your brother going to do? Our cousins? Where are they?”

“My brother will direct operations at the ranch. He’ll coordinate with your cousins to make an arrest of all the people at the ranch who are supposed to be watching the videotaping of the hunt. David and our other men will pose as federal agents.”

“And that bastard who’s with you?”

“George?” Wade glanced at him. “It’s his choice. The ones waiting at the ranch are all hunters. More hunters will be in the woods. I’ll let him decide where he thinks he can be of more use.” Though if Wade didn’t agree with him, he was calling the shots.

George’s jaw tightened. “Tell Maya’s brother I’ll be with you. But I won’t be looking for Maya. That’s your job. I’m going after some hunters.”

Wade smiled at him. “Got that, Connor? Two male cats and Maya. They’ll only be expecting the two females.”

George shook his head. “Bettinger said there would be another male cat to hunt.”

Wade pondered that, then said to Connor, “Make that another male cat also. I don’t know if Bettinger is counting on me, thinking that I might arrive to help Maya or…”

“Bettinger is planning on hunting Maya in his jaguar form,” David said.

Wade swore under his breath. “Okay, I think David might be right. Bettinger’s going after Maya—as a jaguar.”

Bettinger smiled at Maya as he peered through the mesh of her tiny cage. The truck bounced them over the rough ground. “You wonder why Gunther looks the way he does? Limps, too?”

She already half expected that she knew the answer.

“Gunther worked at a zoo one summer. He liked the big growly cats best. He thought he could look into their eyes and be their master. Cats don’t work that way. But… he didn’t know any better. He liked to stir ’em up. Make ’em growl. Make ’em restless. Prove he was in charge while they were caged. He thought the jaguar was sleeping when he entered his cage. The cat might have been, but as soon as he smelled Gunther’s scent, the cat roared to life. Territorial, he lunged at Gunther.”

Maya shook her head.

“He was lucky he lived. His sister nursed him back to health. You met her at the club. Candy?”

Maya growled low.

Bettinger chuckled. “Gunther was really angry that the zoo didn’t kill the cat that had attacked him. But they wouldn’t. Said he was in the wrong. Made him pay for his own hospital bills, which were considerable. Fired him from his job. And he couldn’t get another. So now Gunther gets back at the jaguars. And Candy’s happy to help him. He makes a great profit and shares a percentage with her. Believe me, he is truly terrified of big cats. As he should be. But he loves the thrill of the hunt.”

The truck stopped and Maya’s heart nearly stopped with it.

“We’re here. Didn’t take long, did it? Remember what I said. Fend for yourself. The other cat won’t care anything about your fate.”

She wondered how he was going to release her from the cage without worrying that she would attack him.

An ATV pulled up with Gunther driving. “You said you’d have a male cat. Where is it?”

“It’s coming.”

“Damn you,” Gunther said. “He’s supposed to be here as soon as you release the other female. You said you’d have the other one.”

Bettinger spoke softly to Maya. “You have a sporting chance to run wild for a while. If you try to kill us, I’ll shoot you. Drug you, then you won’t have a prayer. Have we got a deal?”

She didn’t make deals with the devil.

He cast her an elusive smile. “Okay, boss, I’m releasing her,” he said to Gunther.

“You’re a fool if you think she won’t kill you,” Gunther said, but he had his camera out and was ready to tape the kill.

Bettinger tried to act cocky, but Maya saw he was sweating. He jerked the cage door open while standing well out of her way. She could attack him and then attempt to attack Gunther. But the man in the pickup truck was still a threat. If she attacked Bettinger, she worried that Gunther would grab the rifle on the seat and forget taping the kill, shooting her instead.

She leaped off the bed of the truck and ran for the forest. Once she was there, she watched to see what was going to happen next. She still planned to kill both of the men if they gave her the opportunity.

The truck headed back to the ranch house. Good. One less gun to worry about.

Bettinger stalked toward the ATV. “Okay, the male cat’s coming.”

Gunther stepped out of the ATV and struck Bettinger in the head with the cane, his face red with rage. “You said he’d be here now. Damn you. The two hunters paid extra cash to hunt the three cats! You’ve lied to me for the last time!”

Maya closed her gaping mouth. She didn’t think Bettinger would take that kind of abuse from a human.

She was right. He started yanking off his clothes.

“What the hell are you doing?” Gunther said, sounding shocked.

Shifting. Bettinger wouldn’t be shifting unless he meant to kill Gunther. But if Bettinger eliminated him as a cat would, it wouldn’t be good for the jaguars.

“What…?” Gunther said.

“Never strike a jaguar,” Bettinger said. He was naked now, shaking with rage, right before he shifted. “Here’s the male cat.”

Bettinger turned in a flash into a golden jaguar.

“Holy…” Gunther dropped his cane and the camera, and stumbled backward toward the ATV.

Maya watched the jaguar knock the man unconscious. Instead of killing him with a bite, Bettinger dragged Gunther into the nearby lake and drowned him.

Heart pounding, Maya ran away from the lake through the woods. Bettinger would find her soon enough, tracking her scent, but if she could delay him long enough, maybe someone would have time to come to her rescue.

She glanced up to see the female jaguar in a tree. Maya growled at the cat, but she didn’t move and just twisted her ears back and forth, watching Maya. Jaguars called to each other when they wanted to mate or growled over territory or called as males fighting over a female. Maya had no way of telling this jaguar she wasn’t safe where she was. Then again, if the hunters chased Maya, maybe the jaguar would be secure up there.

Glad to see that the other jaguar was still alive, Maya loped away from the jaguar’s hiding place. The problem was Bettinger. He could track the other cat by smelling where her scent led.

The sound of two ATVs, a pop of gunfire, and a resounding crack as the bullet slammed into a tree only inches from Maya’s nose made her dash deeper into the shelter of the woods as her heart skipped beats.

The sky was beginning to lighten some with the approach of daylight while dark thunderclouds still stretched across the area as Wade, David, George, and a tranquilized Candy arrived at the sprawling ranch. The grasslands were dotted with mesquite and oak, with the forest of mostly pine rising nearly a hundred feet above them. Wade noted the high fences, twelve feet tall. They’d have to cut through them.

“Wire cutters?” Wade asked George, his heart thundering.

George shook his head.

“We can’t go in the front entrance. Not until we have backup.” Wade contacted Martin. “We’re here. No wire cutters.”

“I’ve finally reached more of our people, and the men are on the way. They’ll be there in a half hour. Get in any way you can.”

“All right.”

Wade told David, “You wait here for the other guys and coordinate their actions. And have someone take charge of Sleeping Beauty.”

“Will do.”

Wade turned to George. “You and I are going to shift and look for another possible way in. With the remoteness of the ranch, we should be good to go. But it’ll be full daylight soon.”

“Okay.” George started stripping and so did Wade. Within seconds, the two had shifted into their jaguar form.

David turned off the car’s overhead light, then opened the door for Wade and George. “Good luck,” David said to Wade and nodded to George, wishing him the same.

Wade and George took off running along the fence, searching for a way in.

A mile beyond where they parked the car, they found that the fence was stretched across a lake. Cats wouldn’t normally dive below the wire mesh. But as long as the fence didn’t reach the bottom of the lake, Wade and George should be able to swim underneath it.

Wade took a breath, then dove. The mesh was only sunk two feet deep, and Wade quickly swam underneath it and up to the other side. If he could locate Maya, he’d bring her here where she could swim to safety.

When he surfaced, lightning flashed and a boom of thunder struck overhead. The rain came down in a torrent. Good. It wouldn’t hamper the jaguars’ movements, but the hunters would have a tougher time of it.

George came up beside Wade, and they paddled toward shore. Wade spied a body floating facedown in the water. One of the hunters? Maya must have had some luck. He was glad there was one less hunter to worry about, though he had hoped the hunters would be arrested for their crimes.

Once on the grassy bank, Wade and George shook off the excess water. That was useless with the rain pouring down, but it was a natural instinct they couldn’t curb. They ran straight into the woods surrounding the lake, and Wade roared for Maya. If his calls brought the hunters down on him, so much the better. He’d distract them from her.

Maya’s responding call sounded like the sweetest music to his ears. But the report of a rifle firing near her location forced his adrenaline to run hot through his veins. He and George leaped into action and headed for the distant sound of a rifle firing again and a man yelling, “Woo-hoo! Almost got you!”

The sound of an ATV’s engine was headed away from Wade and George as the hunter tried to run down the jaguar he’d spotted.

Before Wade could go after the hunter, a growl from his left flank warned him that another cat was nearby. The deepness of the growl meant it was male.

Wade swung around to face the jaguar, just as he got a whiff of his scent and Bettinger attacked. Jaws clashing, claws slashing, snarling like wild cats, they came to blows with Wade fighting as he never had before.

While Wade battled the jaguar, George took off after the hunter armed with the rifle in the vehicle.

Lightning illuminated the forest in an eerie, ghostly way as the water poured from the dark heavens.

The two cats broke off, snarling and hissing. Another shot was fired. Damn it.

Wade was waiting for the cat to make a fatal move, but Bettinger seemed to be of the same mind. Wade had thought Bettinger would be eager to chase after Maya and kill her. But maybe Bettinger would take even greater pleasure in killing Wade first and then going after the she-cat.

Wade sprang with his powerful legs and landed on the jaguar’s right side as Bettinger scrambled to get away. He bit into Bettinger’s flank.

Bettinger swung his paw at Wade and missed, then stood partially on his hind legs, claws extended, and scratched at Wade.

Wade swung away, leaping out of the path of Bettinger’s claws, and circled him, tail swishing.

A crash in the distance caused both cats to look in the direction of the noise. The ATV was no longer moving, but the engine was still rumbling.

Wade pivoted to face Bettinger before his focus returned to the fight. Wade jumped at Bettinger’s back, tearing at his spine with his massive canine teeth and powerful jaws. The jaguar’s preferred target was the skull for larger animals—the quickest way to bring down their prey. This would have to suffice.

Bettinger attempted to shake Wade off, trying to get out from under the attacking cat, but Wade was relentless, sinking his claws deep into the other cat’s flesh like oversized fishhooks. He had to end this now. To get to Maya.

Bettinger collapsed on his belly, and Wade struck the fatal blow: one growl, a bite into the back of the neck, and a hiss as a final adieu. He waited as Bettinger shifted from his cat form into his human one.

They’d have to return for his body later. Wade took off, following the sounds of another ATV still in pursuit of a cat, and heard more gunfire. He roared for Maya.

No responding roar from Maya. His heart stuttered as he raced in the direction of the moving vehicle. Then she roared back.

Thank God she was still all right. He ran through the trees, sure she’d stick to them to be shielded from the hunter in the vehicle.

The rain was still pouring down. Streaks of sharp, white light striking the ground in the distance alternated with voluminous sheets that blanketed the whole sky for a second or two like a light switch turned on and then off.

Resounding booms shook the earth.

He saw movement, heard a low growl, and stopped, glancing to his left. A female jaguar was sitting in a tree. Not Maya. He hoped the cat would stay there until this was all over. He again ran off to where he’d heard gunfire and saw an ATV smashed into a tree, the engine rumbling, but no sign of the hunter. Wade was surprised the hunter hadn’t suffered serious injuries, considering how bad the wreck looked. At least Wade was glad the hunter was now on foot. They didn’t want to kill the human hunters, though. Well, they would have liked to just because they were trying to kill the cats. But they couldn’t without causing problems for the jaguars.

Wade heard a low growl and saw George standing some distance from Maya. She was growling at George, not knowing he was on their side. Wade nudged George in greeting to show Maya he was friend, not foe, and then ran to join her. They quickly nuzzled each other, rubbing their bodies together, sharing their scent—two big, wet cats.

Maya was panting and purring, and he wanted desperately to get her to safety.

The second ATV had stopped somewhere nearby, tires spinning angrily, engine revving loudly, but the vehicle wasn’t moving from it’s current location. Wade and George exchanged looks. Then Wade growled and the two took off to disable the machine and the driver. Another hunter was on foot out there somewhere after he’d crashed his ATV into the tree, and was still a possible danger to them. Unless he was running as fast as he could back to the safety of the ranch.

Half hidden in the trees, Wade and David saw the hunter’s vehicle was stuck in mud. The hunter was behind the vehicle, attempting to pile dead sticks underneath the tires to get traction. His rifle wasn’t on him.

George moved in from the north and Wade from the south as if they were a couple of wolves on a hunt instead of cats. The hunter must have seen George out of the corner of his eye because he ran for the ATV. Too late. Never run from a cat.

George and Wade were on him in a heartbeat. The hunter was screaming and crying out, terrified.

Maya watched as Wade took care of the hunter. She heard heavy breathing nearby and the sound of boots squishing through the mud as the other hunter sneaked closer to his prey. The hunter who had crashed his vehicle while he was chasing her. His forehead was bloodied, the rain mixing with the blood still pouring out of a head wound.

Wade and George were concentrating on the man Wade had pinned down when the other hunter raised his rifle, not seeing Maya. She was certain he thought to rescue the other hunter and kill a couple of jaguars while he was at it.

She leaped, thinking only of saving the other jaguars and not knowing if she’d be shot.

She slammed into the hunter, and his gun went off, the explosion so close that it was deafening to her sensitive ears. A startled cry escaped his throat; a hiss and a growl came from hers. A burning sensation at the tip of her ear made her growl, and her ears were stilling ringing as she pinned him down in the mud.

Wade swiped at the hunter he’d pinned to disable him. The hunter cried out, then was silent. Not dead. Just knocked out. Stunning their prey into inaction was just as useful as killing it with a fatal blow.

A bolt of lightning struck a nearby tree, snapping it in half, and then a second lightning strike hit another tree only a foot away.

Crack! The first pine keeled over with a snap, the top landing with a thud as it broke from its base and fell to the ground. Crack! The second pine toppled, flames erupting at the break in the massive trunk, heat filling the water-laden air, and the vibration from the two strikes making the ground and air tremble. Maya leaped out of the second tree’s path, but the hunter was not so lucky.

The man was pinned under the massive trunk, his breathing labored, his face pained. Broken ribs?

She hoped.

Maya padded over to check him out. His flushed face turned ghostly pale. She should have growled at him, put the fear of the wild jaguar into him. Instead she pawed at him, claws retracted, making sure he was going to live. His eyes were so wide that his Adam’s apple was moving up and down. He couldn’t have been any more frightened. Then she licked his face and smiled so that he got to see all her big, sharp teeth. She smelled the odor of human urine.

Thunder continued to rumble throughout the area, though the rain was quieting from the torrential downpour to a steady patter.

Across a grassy plain she saw lights on in a ranch house. She was thinking about the steaks Bettinger and Gunther had cooked on the grill last night, and then she heard chaos.

Wade hurried to join Maya, licking her face and urging her away from the injured hunter.

Shouts outside then inside the ranch house made Wade believe the cavalry had arrived.

They had to leave. They couldn’t be found out here in their jaguar forms.

They headed for the lake with George. Wade hated having to leave the other female jaguar behind, but someone would soon recapture her and then they could reunite her with the zoo.

When they reached the lake, Maya growled. Facedown in the water, the clothed man still floated.

Wade checked the man for vital signs, but he was dead. Maya was still growling at the man as Wade led her to the portion of the fence that ran across the lake. She quickly began swimming out, ready to leave this place. Wade and George followed her.

Once they had surfaced on the other side and made their way to shore, they heard the shouting of men combing the area, looking for them. Everett, Huntley, and even Martin had come to join the search, as well as others that Wade didn’t recognize.

He shifted and said to Maya and George, “The car is up the road. It’s George’s. Go with him, and I’ll be there in a minute.”

She looked at the other cat. He bowed his head.

She was really going to be pissed at George when she learned of his part in bringing her here.

“Go. I’ll be right there.”

She nodded, and she and George raced off to the vehicle.

Wade cupped his hands and shouted, “Martin! We’re by the lake, all accounted for and heading for the car.”

Men began running in his direction like a stampede of wild horses. Everett saw him first and hurried to take off his raincoat, then frowned. “Not sure I can toss it over that high fence.”

He tried three times, but with the rain and wind, it was useless.

“I’ll shift and return to the car in a moment,” Wade said. “The female jaguar is sitting in a tree about three hundred yards north of the lake. Be careful. And Bettinger is about a hundred yards west of here. The two hunters aren’t feeling very well. One’s pinned beneath a tree with a head wound from crashing his ATV. The other might have a rip-roaring headache. And a dead man’s floating in the lake. Not sure who that is.”

Martin ran up to join them. “That’s the buyer. Gunther Jaemison. He’s got Jim Bettinger’s smell all over him. It appears that Bettinger drowned him. Why don’t you go back to the vehicle and get dressed before the police and reporters arrive? We’ll talk more later.”

“Call Connor and tell him Maya’s safe, will you?”

“Will do.”

Wade shifted and ran toward the car. But headlights were moving in his direction, and he hesitated before he ran across the dirt road, intending to conceal himself in the trees and brush. Then he recognized the rumble of the engine. George’s car. The driver honked twice. It was George.

The car stopped and Maya got out. She was wearing only a shirt—his shirt—and was getting soaked as she motioned to Wade. “Hurry up, Wade.”

Sirens sounded in the distance.

Wade raced to join her, rubbed up against her, then jumped into the backseat of the car. She climbed in with him and closed the door.

Wade shifted and said, “Drive, George. Head back to your hotel so we can grab our car.”

Wade dressed in his boxers and jeans and shoes and socks. He ran his hand over his shirt where it was plastered to Maya’s breasts, looking damned inviting, and leaned over to kiss her mouth, his hands sliding over her breasts. He groaned with need.

“I want to date only you,” she said against his mouth, breathless, the words rushed.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he murmured against her ear.

She looked up at him, her arms around his neck as he continued to massage her breasts with his hands, loving the wet, sexy feel of her. “I missed you, too.” She gave him a thorough tongue kissing, then said, “Everett asked me to dance with him the next time we go to the club. And Huntley, too.”

“Family is the exception. The only exception,” Wade conceded, though he would agree to anything as long as she was safe with him.

She took a deep breath as if she was ready to discuss what had just happened. “Is… Bettinger really dead?”

“Yeah, he is.”

She curled up in Wade’s arms like a needy cat. “He killed Gunther, the buyer,” she said. “The other jaguar’s all right, isn’t she?”

“Safe in a tree. The others might have a time getting her down, but they’ll take good care of her.”

“Good.”

Wade stroked her wet hair and held her close. He still couldn’t believe she was here, safe and in his arms.

“What the hell…?” George said, slamming on the brakes, the car sliding to a halt on the wet road.