“Bondage. Hmm.”
She slapped his chest. “I’ve been tied up before. By the bad guys, all right? Under threat of death. The thought doesn’t appeal to me.”
His expression softened. “I’m sorry, Kat.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and stroked her through her shirt, his gaze pleading for understanding. “I’m not used to the idea that you served in the military, fighting these bastards in an official capacity. I want to keep you safe from them and from anyone else who might learn what you are now. But I do intend to marry you.”
She let out her breath in a heavy sigh but didn’t relax.
“Come to bed. We have several more hours to drive tomorrow before we reach the city and can get another room until we have to take the midnight flight out.”
She didn’t move.
“Come on, Kat.”
She had put off worrying about the flight for as long as she could. It was in the future, a long way off yet much too soon, to her way of thinking. The time was growing shorter with every passing hour. And she was afraid she’d ruin it for all of them. “What if I shift on the flight?” she asked, then bit her lip.
He pulled her into a bear hug. “You’ll be fine.”
She welcomed his warm embrace. Melted. Loved the way he made her feel secure when the situation was as bad as it could be.
“I’m sorry I didn’t help more earlier,” she said, wanting to at least get that off her chest.
He shook his head. “There’s only one right or wrong way. We live, it was the right way. We die, it was the wrong way.” He tilted her face up and looked into her eyes with heartfelt longing. “Kat, I’m sorry for being angry about the other jaguar. He saved you and that was a good thing. You couldn’t have done anything else.”
Kat hadn’t had the urge to shift again, hadn’t even shifted since she had sleepwalked. She was wondering if the shifter genes had vanished from her gene pool and she was back to normal again. That could be a good thing, couldn’t it? Or maybe it was only wishful thinking.
“Because I haven’t shifted in so many hours, I wonder if my blood has finally gotten rid of the alien jaguar-shifter blood.”
Connor frowned at her as if wondering if such a thing could happen. Or maybe he didn’t like that she referred to the shifter blood as being alien. But it was alien—as in she hadn’t been born with it running through her veins.
Then he began to pull her shirt over her head. “Let’s go to bed. We’ve had a long day of it, and the morning will come soon enough.”
When he didn’t say anything about her comment, she figured he didn’t know the truth of what was going on with her shifter genetics any more than she did. But would he be disappointed if she wasn’t a jaguar, if that was the case, or glad he no longer had to worry about taking care of a shifter who had no control over her abilities?
She could fly home without any difficulty. What a relief that would be.
Then a new thought occurred to her. She knew what they were. Could Connor and his sister let her live if she wasn’t one of them but knew about them?
Great. She would be just as much a liability as before.
***
Connor didn’t think that the jaguar-shifter genes would just disappear, that Kat’s blood could destroy the invading genetics. But what if it did?
He’d changed his mind about her from when he had found her needing his help in the jungle again. Once Maya had turned Kat, Connor had wanted her for good, and he was ready to bite her himself to ensure she stayed with them.
She was so tense, and he wanted to help her get rid of the tension any way that he could. Rest should help. He pulled her to the large bed covered in a flowery comforter, the air conditioner on high.
Before long, he had her naked and in bed with his body spooning hers. She was so tired that she fell asleep before he did, but he couldn’t help worrying whether she had lost her jaguar ties to them.
He pulled her tight against his body, breathing in her feminine feline scent. She had to still be a shifter. He took in a deep breath of the scent of her hair, nuzzled his face in the silky tresses, and ran his hands over her soft bare skin. He had been so weary of driving that he figured he would fall right to sleep, but having Kat in his embrace made all the difference in the world. Suddenly, he was wide-awake, and he wanted to bury himself deeply in her.
He would prove to her that she didn’t need anyone else. That marrying him was the right thing to do. Mulling over the reaction she had to his mentioning that he meant to marry her, he supposed he hadn’t asked her in a proper way. Had Roger asked her on bended knee? The ass.
If he hadn’t been such a jerk and given Kat up, he could have been the one with her now.
Forget that. He would have sanctioned her further Army missions, putting her into a world of further danger.
Connor frowned. Not that she was safe for now. But that had everything to do with the mission she had gone on and nothing to do with him.
Then he thought about the other jaguar. He hadn’t gone after Maya to protect her when the bastards had tried to take them hostage, damn him. He had tracked Kat down. Connor had to tell himself it was because Kat had been alone, armed with a rifle, but still so newly turned that she was at a strong disadvantage.
He had to remind himself that the other cat had protected her when Connor wasn’t able to. He told himself that he should appreciate that the jaguar had saved her from the bastards. Yet, he still was having a difficult time dealing with it because he knew the jaguar was intrigued with Kat.
But he also worried that if the Army had been following Kat’s progress, they might have seen something concerning the jaguars.
The more he knew about her and her past, the more mired in trouble they were all becoming.
***
Kat woke to Connor’s mouth pressing kisses all over her naked breasts, his hand caressing her belly, his fingers drifting lower. Whether she was a jaguar-shifter still, she didn’t know. But she sure smelled how hot he was for her, tripping her pheromones into overdrive.
His raspy beard brushed her sensitive skin as his soft warm tongue and heated breath caressed her nipples. She squirmed, moaning as the tips of her breasts became sensitive and her nether region ached for his penetration. What a way to wake up in the morning. She wasn’t a coffee drinker, and she normally didn’t need any stimulus to get her going in the morning, but omigod, this was the only way to go.
“Quit teasing me,” she managed to rasp with a husky breath. “Connor.”
He chuckled darkly. “Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed?”
She growled. “You started it.”
He laughed and drove her insane with the way his mouth suckled at one breast, then the other. His fingers dipped inside her, then caressed her nub harder, faster, until she was arching against him, her hands in his hair stroking, clutching, trying to reach the peak, attempting to find release.
His heart was beating hard, nearly as hard as hers. Both were breathless as she became vaguely aware of the scent of their lovemaking filling the air. She was on fire, her skin flushed with heat, ready to explode when he inserted his finger deep within her swollen folds. She jerked with surprise and pleasure.
“Omigod, finish it,” she said in a breathy pleading tone, the sweet pain of expectation nearly killing her.
He looked all smug, superior male in charge of making her come and making her beg for completion. Not really, but it felt that way.
“I love you,” he whispered against her ear, licking and nibbling the lobe. Then he stroked her like she liked it, harder, faster, until she was trying to stifle the urge to cry out as it hit her.
A wash of pleasure and heat made her sink into near oblivion. Until he spread her legs, bent her knees, and with a deep push filled her with his rigid cock. Hot and hard and broad, he thrust his rigid erection between her slippery folds, his tongue in her mouth, caressing and poking, his hands on her breasts, massaging as if he couldn’t get enough of her an
d wanted to touch and taste and breathe in her very essence.
“You’re so hot,” she breathed out, her hands on his buttocks, her heels pressed against the squeaky bed as Connor banged it against the wall.
She tried to think of only the delight she was taking in their joining and not worry about Maya next door and how she must feel.
“Kathleen,” Connor groaned, lifting her legs over his shoulders and thrusting even deeper. “You taste so good,” he mouthed against her neck, kissing and licking and nipping.
She couldn’t speak, her body climbing higher to that sexual plane that sought release until he made a final thrust.
She could feel the hot, white explosion bathing her deep inside. She felt the ripples of contractions as she came again, sagged again under his delicious onslaught, and saw the self-assured satisfaction on Connor’s face.
“You love me,” he said and wrapped his arms around her in a loving but possessive embrace.
She couldn’t help sighing, smiling, and yeah, loving the wild cat on top of her.
He rolled onto his back and cradled her against his slick, hot body, enveloping her again as if he was afraid she would try to get away. She loved this part of him, the caring, loving intimacy he shared after the act as if he truly enjoyed being with her, all of her, and not for just the sexual act.
Super serious, as serious as she could sound while she was naked and wrapped tightly in his embrace, she said, “About your marriage proposal…”
His smoky eyes gazed into hers, watching her expression as he licked her chin. “Yeah?”
“We’ve only had one date.” She stroked his hair and kissed his chin.
He raised his brows and combed his fingers through her hair. “I took you on a jungle hike, a picnic in the woods, and a swim with the piranhas.”
“And pink dolphins.” She sighed, remembering how he had kissed her in the river and made her forget about anything that had been swimming with them in the water.
“Right.” He caressed her back and smiled a little. “And I carried your bag on the hike.”
“All right,” she conceded.
“And found you a lovely air-conditioned cabana to stay in.”
“Hmm,” she said, running her fingers through his hair as she rested her chin on his chest and gazed at him. “You did.”
“And then found you this lovely air-conditioned cottage to sleep in.”
“Umm-hmm.”
“Wasn’t that the best wake-up you’d ever had?”
She grinned. “I’ll admit that since I’ve been waking up with you, they’ve all been pretty nice and eventful. Although I doubt Maya will be very happy.”
He laughed. “She’ll expect it. And be happy for it. So what do you say we get married?”
She tugged gently at his hair. “What if I’m not a jaguar-shifter like you and Maya any longer?”
“You know too much about us,” he said very seriously. “You’re part of the family already, Kat. If you want to take time to decide about marriage, that’s fine with me. But I do want to marry you.”
She sighed.
He kissed her mouth. “Ready to get up? We need to grab a bite of breakfast and get on the road. How does taking a shower first sound to you?”
“I suppose you want to conserve water.”
“No, I want to ravage you in the shower. You know, as jaguars, we love the water.”
Smiling, she rolled off him, but just as swiftly as a jaguar could move, he was off the bed, scooping her up in his arms before she could agree or disagree. He swung around and headed for the bathroom.
With having her own shower masseur, how could she go wrong?
But still, she couldn’t say yes to marriage, not yet. She had to know if she was truly one of them. If she wasn’t, Connor shouldn’t be tied down to her. He should have a shifter to love who was just like him.
She breathed in the smell of the water and wondered if the reason it smelled so… refreshing was because she still was a shifter… who couldn’t shift.
***
The walls of the cottages were paper-thin, and since hers was butted up against Connor and Kat’s and because jaguars had such good hearing, Maya heard everything, including Kat’s indignation that Connor would call her his wife without first speaking with her about it and Connor’s muddled attempt at asking Kat to marry him.
Maya was going to have to have a talk with him.
Then the lovemaking. Couldn’t they have at least pulled the bed away from the wall?
And the shower running, and more lovemaking.
She stretched in bed and closed her eyes, still enjoying a lazy morning wake-up. Although she wished she had a mate to wake up to. She wondered again about the mystery jaguar. Was he staying somewhere nearby? Sleeping in a car? Or at one of the cottages?
She climbed out of bed and moseyed into the bathroom to take another shower, wishing again she had someone to share it with.
After showering, she had just finished getting dressed when Connor banged on her door. “What’s wrong?” Maya whispered, letting him in, then shutting the door quickly behind him.
“They’re here. Gonzales’s men. And they’re looking for blood.”
Chapter 26
“I want you to come with me, and we’ll stay with Kat at our cottage. That way if we have to deal with Gonzales’s men, we’ll at least be together,” Connor said in a rush, and Maya knew that he didn’t want to leave Kat alone for even a moment.
He grabbed Maya’s bag, but she quickly asked as she shoved on a pair of hiking boots, “Why didn’t you bring Kat over here?” The move would have been the most logical, and if Connor was anything, he was the most commonsense one in the family.
“She has shifted.”
Maya had thought he would look perturbed that Kat had no control over her shifting, that given the current situation, they could be having a lot more difficulty, and that Maya had been at fault, but he seemed guardedly pleased.
She cleared her throat and studied Connor’s expression. She hadn’t been wrong. He definitely had a sparkle to his eyes and a barely suppressed gleeful look. “And this is good, why?”
“She worried she might not be a shifter any longer.”
Maya closed her gaping mouth. Omigod, she had never considered that Kat might all of a sudden lose her shifter status. That somehow her own blood would beat it back and dominate again.
All she could manage was a feeble, “Oh.”
“If she did, I’d have to turn her.”
Maya considered Connor’s expression, dark with determination. He was serious!
“I’m not losing her, Maya, no matter what.”
He didn’t have to convince Maya of that! “I knew you felt something for her the first time you’d met her, trussed up by the bad guys. Took you long enough to admit it, though.”
Ignoring her, Connor peeked through the curtains. “All clear.”
“Where were they?” Maya whispered.
“Looking at our rental vehicle. The police spoke with them in a nice, cheerful way. I figure they knew who they worked for and were trying to smooth things over, but the police didn’t tell them we were staying in these cottages.”
He grabbed Maya’s bag, and she cautiously opened the door. Then with one more look to make sure no one was about who might see them, she led the way to Kat’s and Connor’s cottage next door. He unlocked the door and they quickly moved inside, then he relocked the door.
In her jaguar form, her whole body screaming with unleashed primal power, Kat paced across the tile floor. She stopped to look at them, her expression feral. Maya had no doubt that if the men had broken into the cottage, Kat would have taken care of every one of them.
Maya beamed at her, then rushed across the floor, knelt, and gave her a big hug. Kat rested her head against Maya’s shoulder and then rubbed in a cat’s way of greeting, her tail whipping around with happiness.
Maya whispered against her ear, “Don’t you agree to marry my broth
er until he asks you in the proper way.”
Kat licked her cheek as if in total agreement.
Connor grunted to see the women ganging up on him, then peered around the curtain as discreetly as he could to see if anyone had followed their movements.
“Do you think they know that’s our rental vehicle, or are they just checking because we happen to be tourists who might fit the descriptions of Kat and her male and female companions?” Maya asked.
“Either is a distinct possibility. They’re not around now. At least in sight. But they could very well be staking out the car.”
“Should we make a run for it?” Maya asked.
As a jaguar, that’s what they would normally do. Leave, rather than confront someone with guns. When they were in the Amazon near their hut, it was a different story. Or like the last confrontation they’d had with Gonzales’s men in the jungle where they didn’t have any choice. If they faced men like these, the situation was truly a case of survival of the fittest.
But in civilization, they had to be more… civilized. Unless they had no choice. Already, Maya was considering stripping naked, then coaxing the men into the cottage, but only after Connor had shifted. Then locking the door, she would shift herself, and the jaguars would take care of the men.
But what a mess they would leave behind for the maid service to clean up. And everyone had been so nice to them here in the village that she didn’t want to do that to them.
Connor raised his brows at Maya.
Maya considered Kat. “Guess we can’t make a run for it, not until she shifts back. Although, what if we left with her like she is? We’d confuse the hell out of Gonzales’s men. No Kat. Big cat instead.”
Connor didn’t say anything right away as he watched Kat. She was looking back at him, and Maya swore she was willing to do whatever would work. Connor folded his arms. “We wait it out for a while. An hour. See what happens. If Kat doesn’t change back, we might just try it. If she’s agreeable. But the problem really is that it’s light out, we came here with my wife, and we leave with a jaguar that we didn’t have, and—”
“They don’t know that,” Maya reasoned. The more she thought about her plan, the more she believed it might work. “We arrived late. No one could see into the vehicle. We might have had a jaguar sleeping in there. Kat could have left you last night. If anyone asks, we just tell them a story. Late last night, her brother came to pick her up, and we’re off to meet them somewhere else, if it’s any of their business. If we do tell them where we’re going, we’ll give them a false heading.