“Hot damn,” Howard said with exuberance.
“Hot damn is right,” Vaughn said, smiling at Jillian as if he’d just won a pot full of gold.
All smiles, Demetria gave her a hug. Everett shook Vaughn’s hand. Before he could give Jillian a hug, Vaughn did, and it wasn’t just a way-to-go, welcome-to-the-team hug either. She almost laughed at the wolf’s actions. She wondered if that was why he hadn’t said he was joining yet. He really wanted to work with her on the team.
He finally released her, and Everett, Howard, and Miles gave her a sweet hug. Vaughn gave Demetria one.
“I can’t say enough about what this means to us,” Everett said. “Thanks. We really needed wolves on the force, but well-qualified wolves, and ones who know how to have some fun on the mission? Even better.”
“I agree,” Demetria said. “When we started this force after our last mission, we weren’t sure how to go about finding the right wolves to join our team. I can see you were the perfect choice.”
“Hey, you can team up with me,” Miles said to Howard.
Everyone laughed.
Howard said, “Welcome to the USF, agents.”
Jillian hadn’t figured anyone would call them agents, but that was pretty cool too.
Demetria was still smiling at them, as if she suspected more was going on between the two wolves than just joining the force. Jillian suspected so too.
After breakfast, Miles, Demetria, and Everett took off for the airport, and Vaughn, Jillian, and Howard went to see Douglas.
Vaughn glanced at her as he drove his Land Rover to the clinic. “You surprised me when you told the cats we were joining the team. I figured you needed to think about it further.”
“Not me. When I decide something, I go for it. I suspect you’re the same way.”
“I am. I would have decided a lot faster if I’d known you were joining.”
She smiled. “Like right after I shot you?”
“I like to live dangerously.”
Howard shook his head.
Jillian laughed. “I probably should have asked you about cases you’ve worked first. Before I decided to team up with you.”
“Too late now.” Vaughn thought about it for a moment, then said, “Well, the most recent case was when I was trying to track down a wolf—”
“Not the case concerning my brother.”
“That sounds like one of those subjects best left alone,” Howard said.
Vaughn agreed. “All right. You’re not the first one who shot at me during a mission, you know. I have to admit, you’re the only one who actually made her mark. Sometimes the would-be shooter didn’t have a chance to get off a round. In one PI case, I was serving a divorce notice to a man on behalf of his distraught wife. Before I could tell the man who answered the door who the paper was for, another man came tearing to the door with a loaded 9mm. I quickly took him down, secured his gun, and served him the papers. Only they belonged to the man who had answered the door.”
Jillian laughed. “Was that guy armed too?”
“Luckily, no. He knew it was coming. The two men were twin brothers living together. The wife of the armed man had been at a conference, and he thought she’d suddenly decided to divorce him because he wouldn’t get them a place of their own. Anyway, it was easily resolved once he cooled down over his ‘almost’ divorce.”
Jillian chuckled. “Okay, so I was serving divorce papers to a man, and he wanted to know if I was available.”
“I hope you shot him.”
She laughed. “I only shoot perps on special cases. You were definitely a special case.”
“So I wonder if we’ll need to move to Texas. Since Dallas is their headquarters.”
“Maybe not. We might just be on call for whenever a case arises. You could still be working your job in Colorado, and I could be in Tacoma, Washington.”
“Sounds to me like it would be better if we were living in a more central location.”
“Like Colorado? With your pack?”
“I’m gone a lot of the time. So I don’t do a lot of things with the pack.” Then he smiled at her. “Of course, that could change if I was sponsoring a new wolf to the pack.”
She shook her head. “You have it all worked out, don’t you? What about me being close to family?”
“It’s completely up to you.”
“Hmm, if I moved to Colorado, some of your pack members might get the idea we’re becoming mated wolves.”
“No doubt. Especially after you shot me.”
She laughed. Vaughn was just too funny. “So that’s the only way a she-wolf could get your attention?”
“Only you.”
Howard laughed.
Chapter 15
Despite the early hour, as soon as the others left for their flight, Vaughn wanted to see Douglas. “He’s an early riser.” Even though Douglas wasn’t out of his comatose state yet, Vaughn always treated him as though he was.
“I want to run as a wolf through the area afterward. See if we might find any other trails that would give us a clue about the jaguar who was shot,” Jillian said.
“I agree. But it’s been raining so much, I’m not sure we’ll find anything further. Still, it never hurts to have another couple pairs of eyes check things out again. They will let us into the clinic to see Douglas, won’t they?” Howard asked.
“Yeah. That’s the great thing about it being wolf-run. General hospital rules don’t apply here.” Vaughn parked the Land Rover, and they all got out.
Inside, Sally greeted them, and they went in to see Douglas. Before they could say anything to him, Jillian said, “Ohmigod, the window’s open. Why would anybody have opened the window? I’ll warn Sally.” She ran out of the room.
Howard and Vaughn quickly checked on Douglas’s condition. He was breathing fine, and his heartbeat was still steady, thank God. “No scent left behind,” Vaughn said, smelling the air for any sign that a jaguar had been there recently.
“Yeah, the bastard must have been wearing hunter’s spray, but he left muddy paw prints on the floor.” Howard pointed to them. “Most likely a male’s because of the bigger size prints. How much do you want to bet he heard us pull up, opened the window, and leaped out?”
They both looked out the window and saw pugmarks in the wet grass.
The nurse rushed into the room with Jillian. “No, I never would have opened the window.” She hurried to shut it.
“Did he have any visitors last night or before we arrived this morning?” Vaughn asked, wondering how the hell the jaguar had gotten in without anyone seeing him.
“No. Well, some of the children from the pack came and read to him last night. But you’re the first visitors he’s had this morning.”
“When was the last time you checked on him?” Jillian took hold of Douglas’s hand.
“Just ten minutes ago.”
Vaughn checked the window again to make sure it was locked. “Tell Leidolf to post a guard for Douglas. Do you have a room where we can shift? We’ll try to track down the visitor.”
Sally motioned toward the north side of the clinic. “You can use exam room three.”
“Thanks.” Vaughn, Jillian, and Howard headed for the room and saw the muddy jaguar paw prints all the way to the wolf door that led outside. “So that’s the way he came in.”
“He was just lucky no one caught him,” Jillian said.
Vaughn snorted. “Hopefully we’ll catch the bastard this time and his luck will run out.”
They entered the exam room and began stripping.
“Should Jillian follow in the Land Rover with a gun?” Howard asked.
“No,” Jillian said. “If a jaguar slipped in here, he wouldn’t be driving a vehicle. Sally would have heard him park. And we would have seen the vehicle. If we all do this now, maybe this time we can catch one of them.”
Vaughn had to agree with her. “Let’s do this.”
They all shifted and raced toward the back door of the cli
nic that had a wolf door, also another reason they preferred a wolf clinic to a human-run one.
They all headed outside, unable to follow a scent trail. But the jaguar had left his pugmarks in the wet dirt, and the race was on.
Vaughn had to admit he would have preferred that Jillian stay behind, but only because a wolf wasn’t any match for a jaguar. The sky was beginning to lighten though it was a gray day, a mist of rain falling steadily as they followed the jaguar’s trail to the stream. If it was the same one who had been shot before, he’d done it again—gone into the stream to hide his trail and make his escape.
Vaughn shifted. “We split up. Howard, you go north along the stream. See if you can find any sign of where he left the water. Go up about three miles. If you don’t see any pugmarks, come back along the opposite bank and check there. We’ll do the same going south.”
Howard inclined his head, then started looking for any trail as he moved north. Vaughn shifted back, and he and Jillian headed south.
They had traveled about three miles when Jillian ran up to Vaughn and nudged his neck. He paused and glanced at her. She looked across the stream, and he saw what she had seen: a jaguar moving through the trees on the other side. Vaughn wanted to tell her to quickly go and find Howard. He should have been returning this way by now. Vaughn knew only another cat could hope to take down a jaguar. He would follow the cat as surreptitiously as possible.
Vaughn shifted. “Go get Howard and bring him here. I’ll continue to track the cat.”
Jillian studied him for a second. Then she lifted her chin, and he knew she meant to howl for Howard. Well, it wasn’t any worse than his plan.
She howled, Vaughn shifted, and the jaguar turned to look at them. Vaughn prayed he wouldn’t attack, that Howard would run like the wind and reach them before it was too late. That Leidolf would send a pack of wolves to aid them in intercepting the cat too.
The jaguar ran off, and all Jillian and Vaughn could do was take chase. They weren’t all that far from the clinic, and once Sally informed Leidolf of the jaguar’s presence there, he would send wolves to investigate anyway.
Sure enough, a couple of wolves howled they were coming.
Jillian paused and howled to let them know where she and Vaughn were now. The wolves could easily smell Vaughn and Jillian’s scent. So they wouldn’t have any trouble following them.
Then someone began firing a weapon. Vaughn didn’t mind admitting he was reminded of Jillian’s shooting him, and he wasn’t eager to be shot again. But he especially didn’t want her to get hurt. He was torn with indecision once again. Continue after his prey, the jaguar this time, or learn who the shooter was.
Howard suddenly joined them as the jaguar raced across the stream, and the three continued to chase after him. Vaughn and Howard were way in the lead, closing in on the jaguar, when Vaughn glanced back and noticed Jillian was gone.
* * *
Jillian knew Leidolf’s men would go after the jaguar. And Howard had a good chance of taking him down on his own, particularly when a pack of wolves was coming to back him up. Her goal was taking down the shooter before he shot anyone.
She wasn’t sure if he was a random hunter shooting illegally on Leidolf’s property, or one of the jaguars involved in this mess.
A round hit a tree near her, and she dove for cover. She was getting close to him. The shots fired would warn Leidolf’s men they still had an active hunter on their property. Someone would come to check him out.
She saw a man moving through the trees then, wearing camo clothes, hat, and boots. But he couldn’t run fast enough from her. He was nearly to the edge of the woods when she saw a gravel road. A dark-gray Humvee was parked on the shoulder, and he was headed straight for it. Damn it! She had to take him down before he got away.
He suddenly swung around to take aim and shot at her. She dove back into the shrubs as he fired a few rounds, clipping the vegetation and sending leaves and twigs flying. Then he took off running again.
Jillian howled for backup, and then she raced after him again, knowing the danger. Now she was running in an open field, the tall grasses not much protection from a shooter, but she didn’t use his trail, and hopefully the grass would help to hide her somewhat.
If she could just see his license plate, Leidolf’s police officers could track him down. She already knew who he was, though. Wayne Grunsky, the friend of Brutus and Kira. The black-haired man. The one Miles had said was quiet. Now he was bearded. This wasn’t the blond-haired man Vaughn had seen at the cabin. Was Brutus the jaguar Vaughn and Howard were chasing?
Someone got out of the Humvee and began shooting at her, and damn if he didn’t look identical to the man running for the car. Same clothes. Same hair. Wayne’s twin?
Wayne reached the SUV, turned around, and blasted a volley of rounds in her direction. Both men firing in her direction forced her to lie low as she waited for a chance to follow the car.
“I told you to stay in the damn car!” Wayne shouted to the other man.
“Hell, fine, next time I’ll let the damn wolf take you down.”
Then Wayne yanked open his door and jumped in, and the other man jumped into the driver’s seat. Jillian raced across the gully to reach the road just as they drove off. The license plate was covered in mud, but the rain was washing the mud off, and she made out the words: Cat Clubber. Then the vehicle disappeared down the road.
Panting, she stood on the road staring in the direction they’d gone, furious with herself for not being able to take Wayne down before he got away. But now she realized there were two more jaguars involved in this. Two brothers. Twin brothers, it appeared.
Ten wolves raced to join her and quickly checked her over to ensure she was okay. Now she was worried about Vaughn and hoped Leidolf had sent this many wolves to help him.
She howled to let Vaughn know she was all right, just in case he could hear her.
* * *
Vaughn had to concentrate on his and Howard’s situation with the jaguar, praying Jillian was just fine. Then he heard her howl, and a chorus of Leidolf’s wolves howled around her, and he knew they were watching out for her. Relieved, he continued to focus on the jaguar. Suddenly, Howard leaped farther than Vaughn had ever imagined a big cat could leap. It had to be close to twenty feet.
Howard jumped on the jaguar’s back, and the big cat whipped around and snarled at him. It sounded like something from a horror flick. Vaughn imagined when he and other wolves were in a fight to the death, they sounded just as vicious.
The jaguars’ claws were extended like curved daggers, their wickedly large feline teeth exposed to the max. They swiped at each other, their postures rigid, tails slashing at the air.
Vaughn stopped and lifted his chin and howled to let other wolves know where they were and that they’d stopped, if they hadn’t heard all the caterwauling going on. He also thought the jaguar might give up, believing Vaughn’s howl would bring a huge pack of wolves. Maybe the jaguar would stand down and listen to reason.
Both cats stopped fighting and turned to look at Vaughn. If the jaguar attacked him, the cat could easily kill him. He just hoped the jaguar would come to his senses before he had to fight him. Yet Vaughn was already planning his next move if the cat didn’t give up quietly. He would assault him from the back. A frontal assault wouldn’t work for him or any other wolf.
Howard refocused on the cat, waiting, both jaguars panting from exertion, their tongues hanging out. The cat shifted his attention to Howard, but he didn’t attack him. Maybe he thought better of trying to kill Howard and having to outrun a whole pack of wolves.
Both Vaughn and Howard waited for the jaguar’s next action. Vaughn could see Howard was as tense as he was, his body rigid, but Vaughn knew Howard could change his posture from stiffly standing still to lunging forward in a heartbeat.
The cat finally sat down on his rump, indicating he was done. Unless he was planning to attack them as soon as they let down their guard.
Howard growled at the cat. He stared back at him, glowering, his eyes narrowed. Then the cat rose to his feet and waited for Howard to do something further. Howard motioned with his head to return the way they had come. The cat inclined his head a bit in agreement and began to walk back toward the clinic.
The manner in which the cat was moving—limping, stumbling—made Vaughn think Howard’s thrashing and biting wounds were probably giving the cat grief. Both jaguars’ faces and necks were bleeding, their fur glistening with fresh blood. Howard fell in beside the cat. But then the jaguar turned to attack Howard. Vaughn leaped in to bite the cat’s open flank, and a shot was fired. Vaughn didn’t have time to look for the shooter, too intent on keeping the cat from killing Howard.
Just as Vaughn bit the cat, it stumbled and collapsed on the ground. For a minute, he and Howard watched the cat, expecting him to get up, but then Vaughn saw the dart in the jaguar’s hip.
Hell, Vaughn was glad he’d only drawn a little blood when he bit the cat and that the tranquilizer hadn’t spread fast enough to affect him too. That’s when Vaughn finally noticed Leidolf’s wolves surrounding them, moving in closer, acting as guards. A safari-type Jeep drove up. A man held up his rifle in salute to Vaughn and Howard, and the she-wolf of Vaughn’s dreams jumped down and raced to join him.
Jillian rubbed up against Vaughn in a courting way, saying she wanted a lot more with him. Just like he did with her.
She turned to greet Howard too, giving him a lick on the cheek. He purred.
One of the men muzzled the tranquilized jaguar. A couple more tied his legs. Then several men lifted him into the Jeep. Howard jumped up there as if serving as a guard, just in case the cat revived before they caged him.
Then the wolves all headed back to the ranch, the safari Jeep in the lead.
At least now they had one of the men in custody and could question him, if he shifted.
Vaughn was damn glad Jillian was at his side again and that she was unharmed. He couldn’t believe she’d gone after the damn shooter. Had she taken him down? She seemed tired, not bouncy, like he’d expect her to be if she’d caught him.