Everyone loaded back into the vehicles and headed to the resort. The other drug house was an hour away, and Val wished they could go there now. But some of their team members needed to recuperate sufficiently. Well, all of them, truthfully. She didn’t come away from the fight unscathed either.
She wanted to talk to Howard about the situation with the wolves, but not in front of Emmie. She wondered what they were going to do with her. She was worried about Rowdy too. Val finally said, “Okay, about Emmie, I’ve considered different options. I think the only thing we can do to keep her safe is to put her on a flight and send her to Houston for her protection until all of this gang is dispatched for good.”
“I agree,” Howard said.
“We can take her to the airport and see her on her way without any trouble this time. I’ll call and ask my boss if he can have a Guardian agent on hand to meet her at the airport. It would probably take too long for the branch to send an agent or two here. We got lucky with the Sorensons vacationing here.”
“I would be fine with that,” Emmie said.
“What if Eric, Benny, or anyone else they’re working with ends up flying out at the same time she does, thinking things are getting too hot for them down here?” Howard asked.
“That’s a risk, but we can’t leave her at the resort alone, and if we take her with us when we try to track down these men, she could get in harm’s way. I don’t think there’s any way around it. If the Guardian branch chief sent a private plane for her, it probably would take some time.” Which again made Val wish she had sent Emmie back with her parents. She’d had the notion Emmie could just disappear and start over and not have to deal with the JAG police questioning her.
“What if someone goes with her?” Howard asked.
“Like Jillian?” Val was thinking she might need more time to recuperate so it would be good for her to go home. On the other hand, she might not be able to protect Emmie that well if she had to.
“I doubt she or Vaughn would leave us to do this alone.”
“You’re thinking Rowdy might go with her? I don’t know. He seems to stubbornly resist the idea of leaving here until he sees us take Lucy’s killer down.”
“He’s still a civilian and doesn’t have one of our badges. Maybe we can convince him that if we get into a mess with these people and the police get involved, he wouldn’t be protected like we are because of our status with the JAG policing force, though the local police believe we’re a special unit with the FBI.”
“Rowdy saved your life,” Emmie reminded Howard, as if she thought they could use his help again.
“It’s worth a try. See if you can get Emmie a flight out and make arrangements for the Guardian branch to take care of her. I’ll ask Rowdy if he’ll serve in a bodyguard capacity for Emmie, since he is a homicide detective. The USF can even pay him for the job.”
“Good idea.” Val made reservations for Emmie for the first available flight out the next day at noon, then called her boss about getting a Guardian agent to meet her at the airport.
“No one else has been turned, correct?” Sylvan asked.
“No, sir.” Val only told her boss they had taken down three more of the gang, not anything about everyone’s injuries or how the human homicide detective had saved Howard’s life. When she ended the call, she heard Howard talking to Rowdy on speakerphone since he was driving.
“We’ve got a damsel in distress whose body needs guarding. Yeah, it’s not your job, but we could really use your experience to help out here. And to protect her on the way home. After what happened the last time she tried to get away from these guys, we don’t want to take any chances. You know we’re staying here until we get this done. You have our word on it.”
“What if I can’t get a flight out when she leaves?” Rowdy asked.
Yes! He was going for it! Val quickly spoke up. “There were still five seats left on the plane. I reserved a seat for her that has an empty one next to her. If you’re agreeable, I’ll add your reservation for the other seat, at our expense.”
“Why didn’t you mention that the first time?”
“And we can pay you a stipend for doing the job,” Howard added.
Val quickly made the reservation for the other seat, in case Rowdy said yes for sure. “Okay, and the other thing is we need to learn if Rowdy is running a fever because he contracted malaria. It can be a real problem for visitors to the area who haven’t taken an antimalarial drug.”
“Aww, hell,” Howard said. “We all take the medicine because we frequent the areas that are prone to malaria. Everyone in the agency is required to take it. Rowdy?”
“No, you’re right. I didn’t have time to start any medicine. But some of our officers where I work had the flu. If anything, I think that’s what I might have,” Rowdy said.
No one said anything for a moment. Flu was contagious. Malaria could be shared through the blood, but otherwise, you couldn’t catch it.
Val looked up the incubation times for malaria. “Says here it takes seven to thirty days to incubate before symptoms appear.”
“Okay, then it’s probably a case of the flu,” Rowdy said.
“What about you, Emmie?” Howard asked.
“I took the medicine. Eric had malaria once and nearly died from it because he ignored it for so long, despite our healing genetics. So he insisted I take the medicine,” Emmie said.
Val suspected Rowdy often stuck to his guns on something he really wanted to do, so this was a big concession for him. She almost felt sorry for him, but she thought this was the best for everyone concerned. “I’ve got you a seat on the next flight out tomorrow at noon.”
Rowdy chuckled.
“Just in case you said yes.”
“You’d better take Benny down,” Rowdy said.
“You’ve got our word on it,” Howard assured him.
Val knew they weren’t leaving until they did.
When they ended the call, Howard said to Val, “Thanks for not telling your boss about what actually happened out there. He would have told my boss, and Martin might have made some reassignments. He most likely would have shipped Jillian home. Maybe Vaughn too. And taken us to task for having a couple of civilians in the line of fire.”
“We need to rethink how wolves can fight against jaguars if this is going to continue to be a team effort.”
Howard glanced at Val as if wondering if she meant she was considering joining the USF. She had to admit she thought this group was adventurous, worked well together, and still took down the really bad guys. She liked them a lot as individuals too, and she was already feeling the kinship. Before working with them, she hadn’t been sure what they did.
“I mean, for this mission. And for your future missions. Handling a wolf would be easy for one of us. The wolves need to have something more they can use against jaguars,” she explained.
“We’ve discussed tranquilizer guns, Tasers, and silencers. The problem with tasing or tranquilizing is that would only be used if we were taking the perp in to be incarcerated,” Howard said.
“Right. You couldn’t knock them out and then kill them.” As evil as some of the perps could be, the agents couldn’t resort to the bad guys’ tactics.
“Do you ever have cases where the bad guy gives himself up?” Emmie asked.
“In the USF’s case, yes. We take care of those on a case-by-case basis. But if the perp is trying to kill us or others, we take them down. Period,” Howard said. “This is a special case where we’re helping out an Enforcer whose job was to take down a murderer. But our cases vary. Sometimes we have to terminate the perp. Sometimes we don’t. In those cases, we have used tranquilizer guns when needed. We try not to use bullets when eliminating a shifter, unless we have no other choice.”
“Eric said you killed that one drug runner by breaking his neck. The guy had been bragging about getting women hooked on the heroin at some bar and thought it was pretty funny. I’m glad you took him out,” Emmie said. “He kept telling me he was going to get me started on it, and Eric told him he’d better not. A couple of times, Eric was ready to kill him. He threatened to cut him and to shoot him another time. But the guy was too useful to him. Still, Eric protected me from him.” Emmie took a deep breath. “What is your job exactly?” she asked Val.
“As an Enforcer, we normally only get the cases where a jaguar is scheduled for termination. They don’t have any incentive to give themselves up. They always come out fighting.”
“Sounds to me like the wolves need to subdue the rogue jaguars in hand-to-hand combat before the rogues can shift,” Emmie said.
“Vaughn does, when he can. Jillian has shot a couple of shifters when they were shooting back. That was in the States and in a red wolf pack’s territory. And that was in a case of dealing with rogue jaguars. With wolves, they hold their own. We also work closely together to fight the bad guys.” Howard looked over at Val. “We sure could use another jaguar on the team though.”
Val smiled at him. She was still trying to work out what she might do. She could be impetuous at times, but she wanted to make the right decision.
“I’d go for it if I were you,” Emmie said. “I think Howard can use some extra help on his side. At least from where I was observing the fight.”
Val chuckled. Howard would never live that down.
“You could have warned me the guy hiding in the closet was wearing his jaguar coat,” Howard said, though he didn’t sound serious.
“How? I was tied up and gagged. All I could do was motion with my head toward the closet to let you know he was hiding in there. It was just a good thing two of them weren’t in there. I was glad Rowdy gave you enough time to strip and shift. He wasn’t even working for your organization, and he risked his life to come to your rescue.”
Val was surprised Emmie cared about any of this. “What do you do back home?”
“I was a secretary at an insurance company in San Antonio. I met Eric at the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club and began dating him. He promised me a fun trip to Belize after we’d been dating for a couple of months. I had no idea how dangerous he could be. Or the kind of people he ran with and the business he was in. As bad as these guys are, they haven’t been trying to sell the drug to the shifters. At least from conversations I’d overheard. One of his men mentioned it, and Eric and the others said no. Not that selling to humans is any better.”
“Eric knew we’d be down on them as soon as we learned about him selling the heroin. As it is, he thought we wouldn’t know he was involved. We were lucky an informant came forth and told us about him. That’s why my parents were sent to handle it. But the informant said it was just Eric, no other jaguars involved. They were to take him down and then report the other dealers to the local police,” Val said.
Emmie’s eyes widened a little. “An informant? I hope he managed to stay alive. I was wondering, since I’m going to have to stay with you for the night, what is the situation exactly?”
“Rowdy is staying with the wolves. We have a separate cabin next door,” Val said.
Emmie ran her hands through her hair. “I’ll stay with them, if it’s all right with you.”
“We’d have more room for you.” Val wondered if Emmie had a crush on the homicide detective who had risked his life to save Howard.
“I’m a jaguar. Female, sure, but if jaguars attack in the middle of the night, at least I can help the wolves until the two of you get there.”
Val knew then she had made the right choice in not turning Emmie over to be investigated by their people. Emmie had done nothing but tried to help them all along.
“Sounds like a good plan,” Howard said.
“I suggest tomorrow we consolidate what’s left of the team and stay in one cabin,” Val said to Howard.
“I concur.”
They finally reached the resort, and as a group, they investigated each of the cabins. They also checked Benny’s cabin again—to ensure the sneaky bastard hadn’t returned, or that some of his partners in crime weren’t planning a night strike from there. Not that they still couldn’t arrive sometime in the middle of the night.
All the places were clear, and Jillian was looking much less pale.
“Do you have a headache still?” Val asked her.
“Yeah. Per Vaughn’s orders, I’m going to bed soon. Are you sure you don’t want Rowdy at your place so he can help you listen for any trouble tonight?”
“I’m staying with you to protect you as a jaguar,” Emmie said. “Rowdy should stay with Howard.”
Val laughed.
Rowdy agreed.
Howard shook his head, but he was being good-natured about all the ribbing. She loved that about him.
“Does everyone want a little dinner before we retire for the night?” Howard asked.
“Yeah. How are you feeling? Are you up to helping me cook up a batch of chili?” Vaughn asked.
“Sure am.”
“I’ll keep an eye on Jillian,” Val said.
“Do you need me to help with anything?” Rowdy asked.
“You can help us,” Howard said.
Rowdy joined them in the kitchen, and the three men began comparing notes on how they fished, the shifters talking about how they did it while wearing their jaguar and wolf coats. “I swing my tail in the water. Great fishing lure,” Howard said.
The guys all laughed.
“I like to ice fish,” Rowdy said.
“Leaping and grabbing is a great wolf fishing technique,” Vaughn said.
Val wasn’t surprised that the guys would be talking about fishing—even about when they were in their wilder animal forms.
“What will I do when we get to Houston?” Emmie asked.
“Guardians will take you in and provide you a safe place to stay and work. Until we feel it’s safe for you to return home,” Val said. “They’ll provide for you until then.”
“What if I don’t want to leave Houston after this business is done?”
“I’m sure if the job they set you up in works out, you can stay. You could get your own place by then.”
“Okay. I guess I can’t let anyone know where I’ve gone for the time being.”
“No, not until we’re sure we’re finished with these guys.” Val was still concerned about Jillian, and she turned to her. “Are you certain you’re all right? We don’t need to take you in to see a doctor and run some tests, do we?”
“No, thanks, I’m fine. I was just seeing double for a while. I slept in the car on the way here and feel much better. Though I would have slept even better if Rowdy hadn’t kept waking me to see if I was still okay.”
Val smiled. “With head injuries, you’re not supposed to sleep.”
“Yeah, but fighting with a jaguar wore me out. I know the policy is to take them down in ways other than just shooting them, but I sure would rather do that.”
“I don’t blame you. After the way I feel tonight, I would have preferred doing that too,” Val said.
When the meal was cooked, they all sat down to eat chili and have margaritas, the beginning of a good night to end the day. Following dinner, they said their good nights.
Rowdy, Howard, and Val walked through the woods to Val’s cabin. They were quiet, listening for any sounds that might indicate trouble. They didn’t hear anything but the usual sounds of the rain forest settling down for the night.
Once they were inside the cabin, Rowdy eyed them speculatively. “Does anyone mind me taking a shower first?”
“Go ahead,” Howard said, leading Val into her bedroom.
“Night, all.” Rowdy closed the door to the bathroom behind him.
“I’m serious about needing another jaguar shifter in our ranks,” Howard said to Val when he shut the door to the bedroom.
“Any will do, right?”
“Okay, let me word that differently. I need a partner.” Howard rubbed her arms with his big, capable hands.
“Because everyone else has one, and you’re feeling left out?” Val didn’t think that was the only reason, but she was sure he wanted someone to keep him company when they had a minute to relax during a mission.
He smiled darkly at her and moved her to the bed, the backs of her legs hitting the mattress. All at once, she felt the power of the big cat—him claiming her for the night, territorial, possessive. And needy. Oh, so needy. “Not because I feel left out.” He looked at her with a predatory gleam, his hands caressing her shoulders.
She ran her hands up his chest. She loved knowing he needed her and how much he desired her.
His hands kneaded the tension from her shoulders. He sure knew how to get her motor purring. He pressed his body close to hers, his arousal already stirring against her. She sure knew how to rev up his motor too. She slid her hands around his waist and pulled him closer, wanting to feel his rampant need for her.
He nuzzled her neck, licked her skin, and before she was ready for it, he tackled her to the bed. Holding her arms stretched out, he pinned her body to the mattress. “I’ve been wanting to do this since the last time we made love.” He kissed her forehead, her nose, her cheeks, her mouth. Then he lifted his head. “I need you. A mate. A partner. For work and for pleasure.”
She smiled up at him. “Just keep thinking those thoughts. In the meantime, I want more of this.” She pulled him down for a searing kiss that told him she was thinking along those lines too. Every time they began to kiss, their pheromones did a happy dance, mixing and colliding, telling them in no uncertain terms just how intrigued they were with each other.
Val loved making love to him. He entranced her with his kisses, his ardor, the way he didn’t hold back but continued to ply her with kisses. He started working on her clothes, pulling her shirt over her head, unfastening her bra, and tossing both aside. She yanked at his shirt, and he quickly dispensed with it.
It was so much quicker to just make love after they’d shifted from cats to humans. No clothes to bar them from getting down to the finish line.
He began to massage her breasts. Her panties were wet, and she wanted them off and him stroking her there. And she wanted to feel his cock pressed against her, skin to skin, no fabric between them.
She worked her hands between them and tried to unfasten his belt. She couldn’t manage, so she rubbed his cock through his cargo pants instead. His arousal jumped and he groaned.
Her action had him refocusing on their clothes, and he quickly removed his boots, his socks, and then his pants. She just lay there, her hands behind her back, watching him, smiling.
He smiled back. Then he began to remove her clothes—one boot, massaging a sock-covered foot. The second boot hit the floor, and he massaged her other foot. He was a keeper.
Then he peeled off her socks and massaged her feet again, his warm hands working the tension out of them, and she hadn’t even realized her feet were so tense! He ran his hands up her pant legs, his thumbs sliding up her inner thighs in a sexy caress. When he reached her button and zipper, he slipped the button through the hole and pulled her zipper down, then pulled her pants off.
He rubbed his hand against her mound, his fingers pressing the silky panties between her folds, and she groaned aloud. God, how could he touch her like that and nearly make her come? Just the anticipation of what he would do next, the hot, hungry look in his eyes, the way he undressed her and touched her brought her to near climax faster than any man had ever done.
He continued to stroke her through her panties, then slipped them aside and inserted two fingers into her. She cried out, unable to help herself. He slowly pulled off his boxer briefs as if he were a male stripper, his cock springing free at full mast. Then he slid her panties off and tossed them to join his boxer briefs on the floor.
She licked her lips, right before he loomed over her, then pushed his cock between her feminine folds and began to thrust.
* * *
Howard was serious about making Val his mate. Everything they did together made that clearer to him. It wasn’t just the incredible sex, but that was part of it.
He lifted her legs over his shoulders and thrust deeper, keeping the momentum going, then slowing when he felt the end coming, trying to prolong the connection.
He slid a hand over her breast, squeezing and rubbing the taut nipple. She looked ravished and beautiful, her green eyes holding him hostage, her red hair splayed across the pillow, her hands caressing his arms. He meant to extend this, his body taut with need, but he was so nearly there. He pulled her legs off his shoulders and she seemed ready to protest, but he wanted to kiss her again before he came, to lick her nipples and to suckle, and so he did. That stopped her from feeling dissatisfied. And then he separated from her while he thrust, his hand stroking her clit again, hoping to coax another orgasm out of her.
It didn’t take long before she was thrusting her pelvis at him, and he couldn’t hold out any longer. He rubbed her and thrust until he came, feeling the heady satisfaction that she was his. Maybe she hadn’t said as much and wasn’t ready to commit all the way, but in his heart, he hoped she was. He sank down on top of her, feeling her climax gripping his cock in delicious waves. She’d come, silently this time, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him in place. He felt at home here with her, locked in a loving embrace.
He rolled over to cradle her in his arms again. To sleep, to dream of her, to keep the feelings alive.
Besides eliminating the bad guys, the only other obstacle he was facing was how to convince Val he truly was the only one for her before they ended this mission and she decided she’d better return to work as an Enforcer—without a partner.