Izzie was lying on the living room floor, still in her jaguar coat. Val wondered how long it would take before she could shift back. Matt and Howard had gone out to the car and removed the suitcases of drugs and money, and now the bags were sitting on the living room floor.
The list of debts was sitting on the coffee table. When Val picked it up and read over the list of names, Jillian said, “Vaughn took photographs of the two-page list. We’ll send the original list with the money and drugs with the Guardian agents.”
“Sounds good. I hope Vaughn wasn’t too upset with the turn of events,” Val said, not sure how a growly SEAL wolf would react. She imagined how Howard would be if she’d been his partner and that had happened to her. He’d be a growly jaguar.
Jillian brought in margaritas for everyone and sat down with a glass of her own. “Nah. Vaughn was just eager to see me. He only wanted to give Howard a hard time because he constantly does the same to him. Mainly because he’s never seen a pair of wolf shifters working together. It was rather a rocky beginning for us, since Vaughn was trying to catch my brother for a suspected hit on a friend of both of theirs, but my brother hadn’t done it. No way would Vaughn treat me as though I couldn’t do a job on my own just because he or Howard wasn’t here to watch my back.
“I have to admit I wasn’t expecting Benny’s girlfriend”—Izzie growled, and Jillian rephrased the comment—“for Izzie to suddenly shift. Or for her to try to bite Rowdy. I should have realized it could come to that, but everyone was acting…civilly up to that point. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before.”
Val agreed. “I don’t blame you. Though I probably would have turned into a jaguar and fought her. About the sleeping arrangements… The jaguars will be at my cabin next door. You and Vaughn will be staying here. Right?” Val asked Jillian, in case they had other plans.
“Yeah. If you don’t need us for guard detail for Izzie. Or we can go over when we’re needed. Otherwise, we’ll keep a lookout for any signs Benny or his cohorts are returning to the area. We’re thinking Rowdy should stay with us. Safety in numbers.”
“Sounds good to me,” Val said.
“Vaughn and I are going over to Benny’s cabin to search for anything you might have missed when you were over there earlier. And we’ll pack up Izzie’s things. She’ll need them when she leaves here tomorrow.” Jillian set her margarita glass on the table.
Katrina sipped from her margarita. She was quiet, just taking everything in.
Howard returned to the living room with his phone in hand. “Good news for our United Shifter Force team and for Rowdy. Martin said he’d take him on.”
Rowdy came in with a margarita in hand. “I don’t know what I’m really getting myself into, but I’ve always taken risks.”
“Food’s nearly done.” Howard rejoined the other guys.
“Well, that’s good news,” Val said to Rowdy. She was glad Martin had given him a job. It might take him a while before he actually was able to work in the field, but at least he was going to be part of their police force. “You’ll need to give your work notice, and we can help with that.” She corrected herself. “The USF agents can, I mean.”
Izzie suddenly shifted, screamed, and grabbed a pillow off the couch to cover herself.
Jillian got Izzie’s clothes from where she had tossed them in the living room. “You can change in one of the bedrooms, but one of us needs to be with you at all times.”
“So I’m a prisoner. I hook up with a murdering drug dealer, he bites me, I turn into a…a jaguar shifter, and now I’m treated like I’m a criminal who has to be watched every second.”
“No, but you’re dangerous to our kind if you run off again and shift in front of humans. Believe me, if you are seen shifting and they catch you, you’d be locked up and studied. Alternately, a hunter could kill you, and then you’d be a dead human. Or someone might stick you in a zoo enclosure. Then what would you do?” Jillian walked Izzie back to her room. “With us, you stand a chance of having a normal life again. Different, but you won’t be an oddity to be examined and tested by humankind. Not to mention what would happen to the rest of us.” They disappeared into the bedroom.
“What are you going to do about your job?” Rowdy asked Val.
“What do you mean? I’ll finish the mission, but I’ll have a whole lot more help than I bargained for. Of course, the mission has expanded from what I was initially tasked to complete. If taking out the drug dealers had been part of the deal, more of us would have been sent to handle it in the first place.”
Rowdy gave her a small smile. “I mean about you and Howard. The two of you are interested in each other. So will you be joining the USF, or will he be switching back to working for the Enforcers?”
Howard came into the cabin carrying a platter of the ribs. “Hot off the grill.”
“Sure are,” Val said, not meaning the ribs at all. To Rowdy, she said, “Wolves mate for life. Cats don’t always. Not that we don’t hope to find that special one and stay with him or her permanently, but it’s not always a sure deal. With the wolves, they have to be sure.”
“Then there’s hope for me yet.”
“Hope for you? You’re not talking about me, are you?” Val asked, wondering if she’d given him the wrong impression.
“He wouldn’t dare be talking about you,” Howard said, smirking, but there was a hint of darkness to his tone, and she was certain he was already becoming a little territorial.
Which was all right with her. She felt the same way about him. When Izzie had been eyeing him in much too fascinated a way while he was naked in the rain forest, Val had felt the urge to knock her out of the tree. Val had already claimed the cat for her own. Even if they hadn’t made anything official. Yet.
Everyone headed to the kitchen table.
“We need to know about your family,” Matt said to Izzie.
“You’ll need to let them know you’re fine but that you have a job in a new place, and you’re staying with a family near your workplace,” Katrina said.
“I don’t have any family that I have anything to do with,” Izzie said. “My dad died a few years back. Drunken driving. My mom has a new boyfriend I can’t stomach. I don’t have any siblings. My dad had a sister and brother, but neither of them had anything to do with the family. No surviving grandparents.” She shrugged. “I have a lot of online friends but no one who will know that I’ve changed. Do I get a choice as to who I stay with?”
“Not at first. If the family and you don’t get along, we can find another family, but it can take a while. You’ll have to adjust to them, just as much as they will have to adjust to you,” Matt said.
Val knew if they had real trouble with someone who was newly turned, they could incarcerate them in the facility they had for rogue jaguars that hadn’t done anything bad enough to be on the Enforcers’ list. She was sure the family wouldn’t mention that to Izzie unless they had a lot of trouble with her.
“Do you want to know about me in case I get turned?” Rowdy asked, dishing up some more ribs. “These are great, by the way.” He leaned back in his chair. “I have an ex-wife, no kids, lots of friends at work, a brother who has family out in California, but I never see him, and my mother remarried after my dad died, and he doesn’t like me. I keep asking him if he’s got skeletons in the closet, but he’s not amused. Which makes me think he does.”
Everyone laughed. Val liked Rowdy.
“You can’t have any boyfriends or girlfriends who aren’t shifters,” Val warned, just in case they hadn’t considered that. “We can’t risk having you turn someone else.”
“Like that’s a big consideration right now.” Izzie let out her breath and said to Rowdy, “Listen, about trying to bite you, Rowdy, I’m sorry. I…I just wasn’t thinking straight. And, Jillian, I’m so sorry I bit you. All I could think of was running away from all this. I didn’t know Rowdy was human. Or that I could turn him like Benny turned me. I don’t know if I would have done anything differently if I’d known. I was just desperate to leave this nightmare behind.
“But truly, I’m sorry. And I don’t intend to do anything like that again. I’m just feeling really overwhelmed. I appreciate that all of you are here to help me. As for Benny? I wish I could help you take the bastard down, but I’d probably just get in your way. So I wish you the best of luck in finding him quickly and killing him before he hurts anyone else.”
“Thanks,” Rowdy said. “But no need to apologize to me. I understood why you did what you did.”
“Izzie, I know you’re afraid of your future. All of us have our own fears to deal with. In this line of work, fear can’t get the best of you, and I wonder what everyone fears the most. Val?” Howard asked.
“Losing control of a situation. Any situation.” Val liked to be on top of things all the time. It didn’t always happen, and she hated when things were out of her control. Like when she’d learned her parents were in trouble. “What about you?” she asked Howard.
“Losing control on a case,” Howard said. “Here you think you’ve got it locked down, the perp in hand, and then voilà, he slips through your fingers and you’re back at the beginning again.”
“Same with me,” Rowdy said. “If I can’t find the perp, there’s a good chance he, or she, will kill again. We can’t trust that the person won’t have another ‘episode’ and do it again.”
“For me, it’s everything—the shifting, where I’m going, the unknown. It’s all really scary,” Izzie said.
Jillian leaned back in her chair. “I’d have to say losing my mate or any of my family members.”
“Like when Vaughn thought your brother was an attempted murderer and went after him,” Howard said.
“Yeah, like that. Which is why I shot Vaughn. Good thing he had a forgiving nature.”
Vaughn smiled. “I just had to get even. For me, I’d say it’s losing my mate or pack mates.”
“Hunters,” Matt said, “when I’m out running, worrying someone might want to take me home as a trophy.”
Jillian agreed. “I totally avoid being anywhere near farms when I’m a wolf for the same reason.”
“And bear traps. That’s something I fear,” Katrina said.
“Oh yeah, those too. They’re bad for even hikers or their dogs. No regulation, nothing,” Val said.
“Yeah, one of the wolves in Silver Town broke his leg because of one of those traps,” Jillian said.
Rowdy was taking it all in. So was Izzie.
“Not saving the life of someone we’re trying to save,” Katrina said.
“That goes for me too,” Matt said. “I’ve had nightmares about the ones we’ve lost. Worst thing ever.”
“Thanks for saving my parents,” Val said again. She couldn’t tell them enough how grateful she was.
Katrina reached out and squeezed Val’s hand. “Your dad was ready to get out of his hospital bed and wipe out the men you’re going after.” She smiled.
“He would too, given half the chance.” Val loved her parents.
* * *
After they finished eating dinner and cleaned up, Matt escorted Rowdy to his cabin so he could pack and move in with Vaughn and Jillian. Val was glad they were sticking together, just in case they had any further trouble. The jaguars all said good night to the wolves, but then Val asked Vaughn and Jillian, “Wait. Are you going to pack Izzie’s things tonight so they can leave early in the morning?”
“That’s the plan,” Jillian said.
“Howard and I will go with you,” Val said, even though she hadn’t discussed it with Howard yet. She figured he’d want to search the place too.
“Yeah, safety in numbers, and more eyes might find something Val and I missed the last time.” Howard asked Katrina, “Will you and Izzie be all right without Matt or us being over there right away?”
“Yeah,” Katrina said. “We just need to figure out the sleeping arrangements.”
“The farthest bedroom in the cabin is mine. Howard will be staying with me,” Val said, trying to sound perfectly professional about it, not like she was claiming him for her own.
Howard tried to remain impassive when she made the announcement, as if he’d known all along she would make the declaration, but his mouth curved upward just slightly.
“The spare bedroom is yours.”
“I’ll share the bed with Katrina,” Izzie said. “If I leave the bed or shift in the middle of the night, you’ll wake all right, won’t you?”
“Yes, light sleeper. Matt won’t mind sleeping on the couch,” Katrina said.
“Okay, we’ll join you in a little bit,” Howard said.
Katrina and Izzie said good night to everyone and headed over to Val’s cabin.
Jillian locked up the cabin, and then the four of them walked through the trees to reach Benny’s cabin. “Do you think Izzie will behave tonight if she shifts? Or even if she doesn’t?” Jillian asked.
“I believe so,” Howard said. “She sounded like she really spoke from the heart at dinner. I don’t think she was making any of it up.”
“I agree. I believe it was just a knee-jerk reaction before. She shifted and wanted to run away from it, from us, from what her life had become,” Val said.
“I believe so too. But I think she’ll have some rough times ahead of her, and she could very well lash out at the people who are trying to help her see this through.” Vaughn wrapped his arm over Jillian’s shoulder.
Val was smelling rain forest scents, trying to pick up any scents that would indicate Benny or Eric had come through here more recently. She didn’t smell any sign of anyone. Though she’d wanted to give the place a last check, she’d been more concerned Vaughn and Jillian were without more backup in case some of the rogue jaguars showed up.
When they reached the cabin, it was unlocked. Probably Izzie had left it that way when she ran over to Howard and Jillian’s cabin in her panicked state. The lights were on in the kitchen and living area.
Everyone had their guns out now, and Vaughn proceeded into the cabin while Howard brought up the rear. Val headed off to the back bedrooms, Jillian right behind her.
Val was listening, watching, smelling for any indication anyone was in here. She didn’t sense anyone. “All clear,” she called out as she and Jillian checked each of the bedrooms, turning on the lights and checking the closets and under the beds.
“Bathroom’s clear,” Howard said.
“We’re in the bedroom they used,” Jillian said.
“We’ll work on the rest of the cabin,” Howard said, and they heard him opening cabinet doors in the kitchen.
Val found a black suitcase that smelled mostly of Izzie, and Jillian began pulling the woman’s clothes out of the closet. Val emptied the drawers of Izzie’s neatly folded clothes and set them on the bed. She and Jillian went through them, looking for anything that would be helpful to their investigation.
Jillian found Izzie’s purse and emptied it out on the bed. “Her passport, driver’s license, and a credit card. And her cell phone. I’ll pack her things away if you want to check her phone. You might find something important on it. Maybe a clue of where Benny could be.”
“We have a lead on two drug houses we can check out tomorrow too. Though after what we found in Eric’s house, I’m not sure we’d find much more at the other places. I’d say we should do it at night, but we need to get some sleep, and I’d rather the Sorensons take Izzie to the plane to transport them out of here first.”
“What about Rowdy? He’s still a civilian. He shouldn’t be here on this mission. Not until he is really one of us, credentials-wise,” Jillian said.
Val was reading through text messages but hadn’t found anything important yet. “I suspect he’ll be stubborn about leaving this to us to handle. He’s angry Benny killed his ex-girlfriend. He wants to see Benny taken down. I think once that happens—”
“He’ll want to see the rest of the rogue shifters terminated.” Jillian folded the clothes from the closet and tucked them into the bag.
“You’re probably right. I’d still rather he be with us than trying to do this on his own, which I’m sure he’d try to do.”
Jillian finished packing the bag and searched through the wastepaper basket. “No condoms. I didn’t see any birth control pills in her stuff either.”
Val looked up from the phone. “Unprotected sex? Maybe?”
“Unless she gets shots for it.”
“Or she has birth control pills in the bathroom. I can’t imagine she’d carry them on her person.” Val went back to searching through text messages.
Jillian looked through the rest of the drawers. “It’s something we need to ask her about. I don’t know what would happen if a human were pregnant and then was turned. Would the baby also be turned? Or would it be human? With wolves, it rarely happens, but there are known instances. I don’t know about jaguars.”
“Same with jaguars mixing it up with humans. It’s rare to have a child from the union. I sure hope she’s not pregnant.”
“None of Benny’s clothes are here. I’ll check the bathroom.” Jillian rolled the bag into the hall, and Val followed her. Leaving the bag outside, Jillian walked into the bathroom. “Finding anything on her phone?”
Val waited in the hall while she checked messages. “Just older texts. She’s known Benny for a while. Just like she’d told us. The love affair between them wasn’t brand new.”
Jillian was searching the wastepaper basket. “No condoms. We can smell they had sex on the sheets, so it’s not like they weren’t doing it.” She emptied the contents of the drawers. “Makeup, toothbrush, hairbrush, deodorant. No birth control pills. Or any other kind of medicine.” Jillian glanced at Val. “Was she seeing him when he was married to Lucy? She wouldn’t have been able to smell the other woman’s scent on him at the time.”
“Yeah, she was. We need to learn if she had known about Lucy. Not that it would make a big difference now, but it would say something about her character.”
“What if she had something to do with Lucy’s death? Maybe she didn’t have anything to do with actually killing her, or you would have noticed her scent in their home when you went to investigate it. But what if Izzie was instrumental in inciting him to get rid of her?”
Val frowned. “Okay, now that would have dire consequences for her. I hope she wasn’t involved.”
“She might be the reason he wanted to get rid of his wife so he could be with her instead. Not that Izzie actually had anything to do with it. Which makes me wonder if she knew his wife had been murdered. Had he told her he’d left his wife and wanted to be with her instead?”
“Okay, all great points. We’ll have to question her about it.” Val frowned at one of the messages. “She says she wishes she could get pregnant and thinks she actually might be pregnant.”
“Great. But she doesn’t know for sure? No mention of a pregnancy test?”
“No mention, so I’m not sure why she thinks she might be. Maybe she’s late.”
They joined the men in the living room and finished searching all the sofa and seat cushions.
“Did you find anything?” Jillian asked.
“Nothing,” Howard said, “except that he cleaned out most everything. None of his clothes are in the bedroom, I take it.”
“No,” Jillian said. “And nothing of his in the bathroom either. No razor, toothbrush, or deodorant. It was all her stuff. And no used condoms.”
Howard and Vaughn smiled at her.
“That’s been Jillian’s main focus,” Val said. “Though she has a good point. What if Izzie had been pregnant before he turned her? In her texts, she did tell someone she wished she could get pregnant. And that she might be.”
“Ah, hell, I hope not. It would just cause more concern,” Vaughn said. “Both for the family taking her in and for Izzie herself.”
“Unless she is pregnant and she loves the child, and this changes her outlook on what she’s become,” Val said. “She’ll want to nurture and raise her shifter child as a shifter mom.”
“Or it could have the opposite effect,” Howard said. “Not to be a wet blanket, but if she’s having trouble coping, it could put her over the edge if she learns she’s having a baby by a murdering jaguar who will soon meet his demise, and now she has to cope with a baby with shifter genes and also with her own shifter changes.”
“If the baby is a shifter. It’s rare that a human and shifter are able to create a baby, but there have been some instances that I know of, and in those cases, the child wasn’t a shifter,” Vaughn said. “But the offspring had an affinity for wolves. Uh, because the shifting parent was a wolf. I’m not sure how it would be for jaguars.”
“I don’t know of any case where a jaguar has impregnated a human,” Howard said.
Val shrugged. “I know of a couple of cases.”
Jillian sighed. “That is saying that Izzie is pregnant. We had another discovery. Tell them what you found on the phone.”
Val explained how Izzie had been having an affair with Benny while he’d been married.
Both Vaughn’s and Howard’s brows rose.
“That’s not good,” Howard said.
Val agreed. “It may be that she knew nothing about Lucy. We just need to learn the truth.”
“If we’re done here, I’ll grab her bag and we can return to our cabins.” Howard stalked down the hall to secure Izzie’s bag, and they turned out the lights, then headed out of the cabin. “I guess we don’t need to check her out of her cabin, if Benny was the one who made arrangements for renting it. He’ll be responsible for it.”
“What about us?” Val asked.
“For now, I’d say we’ll make this home base. Even though Eric’s crew knows where we are, we can still take them out if they try to come for us,” Howard said.
“We’ll let you and Val question the lady.” Jillian grasped Vaughn’s hand and hauled him toward the steps to the cabin. “You can tell us all about it in the morning after they’ve left.”
Val wished she and Howard could have some privacy too. It wasn’t that they couldn’t have some kitty-cat loving, but with everyone’s sensitive hearing, they’d all be well aware of it. Then again, they’d probably assume that if she was declaring Howard was staying with her in her bed, they weren’t planning to just sleep.
As soon as they entered her cabin, they were met by Matt armed with a gun.
“Sorry, I should have announced we were coming in. It’s just us,” Val said. “Is Izzie asleep?”
“She’s taking a shower.”
“I’ll leave her bag by the bathroom door.” Howard rolled it down the hall.
“Is Katrina with her?” Val asked, wishing she could trust Izzie. After seeing her text messages, she was having second thoughts.
“Yeah, sitting in the bathroom. She was going to sit outside by the window, but it was safer if we all stuck together, at least until you returned. You look as though you have something you want to talk to Izzie about.”
“Yeah, some important issues.” Val showed him the text messages indicating Izzie had known Benny for some time. “And she might be pregnant.”
Matt’s eyes widened.
Yeah, none of them could really see that as a good thing.