Terry Spear: Jaguar Fever

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.”