A Very Jaguar Christmas

by Terry Spear

  “So what’s the deal with Maya?” Tammy asked.

  “She’s keeping secrets. Hey, got to let you go. The pup’s exploring. Don’t want him chewing stuff up or leaving anything behind that I have to clean up. But I’ll send you the video of him.” The directors would be sharing it with everyone pronto, but Everett knew Tammy would love to see it first.

  When she got the video, Tammy laughed. “He’s adorable. If I didn’t know he had parents who have to be desperate to get him back, I’d want to keep him. This is too unreal. Okay, got to go. Tell me what you learn as soon as you can—and what our sister is keeping from us too.”

  “Will do.” Everett hung up and headed down the hallway calling, “Hey, pup. Come!”

  The pup came running out of the bathroom, the end of a roll of toilet paper in his mouth and the rest of the roll trailing back to the bathroom as he greeted Everett.

  “No, no.” Everett tore off the toilet paper, carried the rest back into the bathroom, and stuffed it on top.

  The puppy was right behind him, wagging his tail.

  Everett couldn’t be annoyed with him, knowing he was just like a curious, playful jaguar cub of that age, so he scooped the puppy up and carried him into the living room. He sat on the couch, making the puppy stay on his lap, and then called Maya. “Listen, I want to know what you wouldn’t tell me at the day care. I don’t want to make the long trip down there for nothing.”

  “It’s not for nothing, and I’m not sharing over the phone, Everett, so don’t ask.”

  “Does your mate know?”

  “No, so don’t try to go around me on this. Do you have a picture of the puppy?”

  He took a quick picture and sent her that and the one of the boy shifting.

  “Aww, he so adorable.”

  “Yeah, but he’d be a lot cuter if he was with his family. I hate to think what they’re going through over this.” At least Lacy’s parents had known she was with the kidnappers and a jaguar team was tracking them. But the wolf pack? Though Everett imagined they were searching for the boy too, they wouldn’t know what had happened to him or that a team like theirs was taking good care of him while searching for them.

  “Unless…”

  “They’re dead,” he said. “But the mother can’t be. The cub wouldn’t be able to shift into his wolf form. That is, if they’re like us.” He kept thinking the wolves were nearly identical to the jaguars in shifting behavior, but what did they really know about it? Nothing.

  “Okay, that’s good news. We’ll see you in about three and a half hours. Are you staying the night?”

  “Might be.”

  “Are you coming with someone? Who’s taking care of the pup?” Maya asked.

  “Demetria MacFarlane is coming from the Guardian branch.”

  “Oh good. Do you need two rooms or one?”

  “Two.”

  “Okay, see you in a little while.”

  After they said good-bye, Everett carried the pup into his bathroom. Everett packed his shaving kit and put it in his overnight bag with his clothes. Then he found an old, clean rag in his rag box and carried everything into the living room. While he waited for Demetria, he played tug-of-war with the pup. He just hoped the pup wouldn’t try this on his clothes later.

  An hour later, the doorbell rang and the pup began barking and ran to the back door.

  Everett had never owned a dog, so everything the puppy did amused him. Jaguars were so quiet. They’d go to see who had arrived, but they’d do it silently.

  Everett let Demetria in. “I just called Maya to let her know we might need to stay the night.”

  “Two rooms, right?”

  “Yeah. You and the pup can have one of them.”

  She smiled. “The way the two of you are bonding, I thought he’d want to stay with you. I was in such a rush that I didn’t have a chance to use the bathroom. Do you mind?”

  “No, go ahead.”

  He grabbed his bag and carried it out to the car, leaving the pup in the yard for a moment to do his business if he needed to again. Then he realized that if the puppy had an accident, they’d need some cleanup supplies.

  He glanced at the town house. He wanted in the worst way to ask Demetria about her mother and her father. He wished he could take care of her father himself. In any event, he wanted to have someone look after her mother without upsetting Demetria.

  She came out of the house wearing a half-amused expression.

  “Did you get paper towels, trash bags, and rug cleaner, or whatever else we might need to clean up accidents?” Everett asked.

  She smiled. “Yeah. We’re good. I think I thought of everything. Umm…but…did you have some trouble with the toilet paper?”

  For a moment, he didn’t know what she was talking about. Then he chuckled. “Was it a little wet? Too many teeth marks in it?”

  “The wolf pup?”

  “Yeah. I don’t usually chew on the paper.”

  She smiled. “I’m glad that’s the only reason it was wet and all bunched up on top of the paper holder.”

  He laughed and threw his bag in the back of her vehicle. He placed the puppy in the backseat, where he immediately curled up on a blue-and-white dog bed. He seemed to like car travel, something else Everett hadn’t considered. He remembered his mother saying that both he and Huntley got carsick when they were really little. Not Tammy though. His mother had teased about how she was so much tougher than the boys when it came to car rides.

  “Did you need to check on anything before we leave town?” Everett asked. “Your mom? I forget she’s all alone and relies on you for things.”

  “No. She’ll call if she has any trouble.”

  “We’ll be three and a half hours away.”

  “She’ll be fine.”

  “If you need any help with anything…”

  “Like…what?” Demetria sounded annoyed, as if she suspected his sister had said something to him she shouldn’t have.

  He shrugged. “She can call Tammy, and she can get her help if she needs it.”

  “Why would she need help, Everett?”

  He let out his breath. “Don’t get mad at Tammy.” He thought that Demetria was ready to slug him. “She was surprised you would be leaving town. And I asked why, concerned that you would need to be here for some reason. I don’t want you to feel obligated—”

  “What did Tammy say exactly?”

  “Only that your dad was back in town, and that’s it. I swear it. If you need me to talk to him and tell him to clear out, I’d be happy to do it.”

  Demetria let out her breath and climbed into the driver’s seat of her car.

  “I mean it. I’ll knock some sense into him, do whatever it takes, if he’s causing trouble for you and your mom.”

  “I shouldn’t have mentioned it to Tammy.”

  “Demetria, I’m serious.”

  “I am too. Just drop it. Mom will be fine.”

  But he heard the edge to her voice and suspected she would worry about it until they returned home. “Maybe I should call Howard, and he and some of his Enforcer friends can go talk to your dad.”

  Demetria gave him a hint of a smile.

  He sighed and folded his arms. “But I’d rather take care of it myself.”

  “You can’t take care of the whole world, Everett. Me, my mom, your family, the wolf pup, my dad. You have to draw the line and deal with one issue at a time. Just like I have to. Or it will drive you crazy.”

  “So what’s the deal with your dad?”

  Demetria ground her teeth, but she didn’t say.

  Everett finally changed the subject, but he wanted to know what was going on so he could deal with her dad when he got home. “I was wondering if the full moon dictates when the wolves shift.”

  Appearing relieved Everett wa
s getting back to wolf-shifter business, Demetria pulled onto the interstate. “And that’s why he, or his mother, had to shift.”

  “But I’m also wondering if the mom is a new shifter. That’s why he wasn’t staying in his wolf form but switching back and forth a couple of times. Who does that? No one. You strip, shift, and stay like that for a while.”

  “Wow, so that means once the moon is waning, he’ll just stay in his human form. Good. Lots easier for us to take him around to places while we’re looking for his parents.” Demetria’s cell rang and she ignored it. “Just another call asking about the wolf.”

  Everett shook his head. “I hadn’t thought of it, but that will be the next thing.” As if on cue, Huntley, Everett’s brother, called. “Hell, dude, I hear you’ve got a case and a half. I thought it was bad enough to take care of two jaguar cubs in the jungle, but this beats that.”

  “I asked Mom if you could handle it since you had the experience.”

  Huntley laughed. “I’m in Belize again. I’m sure you can take care of it. I hear you’re working with Demetria MacFarlane, and she’s good at dealing with kids. Are you getting anywhere on this case?”

  “Hope to soon.”

  “Good luck with that.” Gunfire sounded in the background. “Got to go. See you soon, hopefully.”

  Everett frowned. What kind of a mission was his brother on now? It was too late to ask because the line had gone dead, but he wished he was there helping Huntley out. Demetria was right. He couldn’t save the whole world all at once, only one little piece of it at a time.

  Maya’s mate called next. “Yeah, Wade?” Everett said.

  “Maya says we’ve got a unique guest coming to stay the night. We’ve had to tell everyone we’re meeting you in Dallas because all kinds of people have been calling us, wanting to come and see the wolf pup if you’re coming here. Someone must have leaked the news.”

  “Tammy probably, not thinking it would matter if anyone knew. Thanks for the heads-up, Wade. Do you know what Maya won’t talk to me over the phone about?”

  “No. I’m guessing it has to do with that man at the Oregon Zoo who was trying to recover his jaguar and thought Maya had something to do with stealing her.”

  “Henry Thompson?”

  “Right.”

  “What does he have to do with all of this?”

  “I don’t know. He did have wolves painted on his truck, and wolves were missing from his zoo too. Just like the jaguar we had to rescue. Maybe they were shifters?”

  “Hell. Who would have thought they might be? Why wouldn’t Maya want to share that with me over the phone?”

  “I imagine it’s because she’s afraid we’d want to kill Henry or turn him. He’s married to a human woman named Chrissie, and he’s raising her kids. He’s protective of the animals and helped Maya out. I suspect Maya doesn’t want anyone to know he truly knows about us. She only helps run the garden shop and the nursery. She’s not a JAG agent like us. She thinks Big Brother JAG monitors everything we do and say.”

  “Okay, gotcha.”

  “Got to go before she misses me. I just wanted to warn you not to tell anyone where you’re going to be—if everyone in the world doesn’t already know.”

  “Okay, thanks, bud.”

  When they ended the call, Everett knew he had to tell his partner about the biologist from the Oregon Zoo. He warned her that the human could help them, and they were not going to reveal the truth about Thompson—that he knew wolf and jaguar shifters existed—unless he gave them no other choice.

  “I didn’t think that was our policy,” Demetria said, her brows raised.

  He couldn’t tell whether it bothered her or not. She was so serious that he thought it did.

  “Henry Thompson is one of the good guys.” Everett left it at that. Henry had tried to protect Maya from hunters, and Everett’s family owed him big time. “I had another thought. I discussed it with Martin already, but I needed to mention it to you.” He reminded her about the mother with the triplets and how they smelled of wolf.

  “Ohmigod, what if…?” Then Demetria frowned. “The toddlers looked at you really strangely. What if they were wolves, and the mother of course too, and you smelled like—”

  “A cat.” He explained about having a sketch artist draw a picture of the family and then having Guardians hit the mall to see if they could locate the woman and her toddlers again. Even see if they could locate their scents.

  “We could even take the pup—well, when he shifts back—to the mall and see Santa and watch for signs of the woman and her kids, or maybe others in a pack.”

  “As long as the boy doesn’t shift again after he turns back into a human.”

  “Agreed.”

  When they finally arrived at the nursery, they saw several vehicles parked there.

  “Looks like they have customers.” At least that’s what Everett was hoping and that it wasn’t a bunch of jaguar shifters coming to check out the wolf pup. The nursery sold poinsettias, live Christmas trees, and wreaths for Christmas, so even in winter they had a brisk business. “Connor, Maya’s twin brother and my half brother, and his wife, Kat, will be here too. They help run the place.” He wasn’t sure how much Demetria knew about his extended family. They were so busy running things down here that they rarely had a chance to visit Dallas. So Demetria might never have met them.

  All grins, Maya and Kat hurried out to the car. Wade nodded from the porch, a blond-haired toddler in each arm: Connor and Kat’s son, Donovan, dressed in a blue sweatshirt, overalls, and red cowboy boots, and their daughter, Kimmi, wearing a pink sweater, jeans, and pink cowgirl boots. But Connor wasn’t there to greet them. Probably helping customers so the ladies and Wade could visit with Everett and Demetria.

  Before Everett could take the wolf pup out of the backseat, Maya was opening the door and cooing over him. “He’s so adorable. Come on, Pup. Let’s take you in the house and get you settled.” Then she leaned in to get the puppy and carried him into the house.

  Beaming, Kat quickly greeted Everett and Demetria and then chased after Maya.

  Demetria laughed. “If we didn’t need to take him with us to find his parents, I’d suggest we leave him with Maya and Kat for safekeeping.”

  Everett smiled. “I wholeheartedly agree. Though Kat’s got two toddlers of her own, so I’m not sure how that would go over, considering how the jaguar cubs reacted to the boy at the day care.”

  “Territorial,” Demetria said. “I bet you anything if they spent some time together, they’d become best friends. Not sure about the adult versions though. We could have some real issues on our hands as soon as they know we exist, and I can see some of our people not liking them either. Change can create real conflict.”

  Chapter 9

  Everett, Connor, and Wade cooked steaks and vegetables over the grill on the back patio, while talking about the impact that learning werewolves existed would have on their world.

  The ladies were talking about wolf shifters too, as they set the table and got the kids ready to eat. The aroma of cinnamon filled the house, coming from potpourri filling decorative dishes everywhere. The Christmas tree stood proudly in the living room, decorated in a peacock theme, with faux peacock feathers, bright-green-and-blue ribbons and bows and balls, and white lights. No Christmas presents were under the tree yet, like they would have been before Connor and Kat had kids. Everett realized Santa Claus hadn’t come yet. Kids sure changed a couple’s way of life.

  “So is she single?” Connor asked Everett.

  “Who?” Everett wasn’t about to mention that he was seeing Demetria in a courtship way until he knew for sure he was. He wondered if she had discussed her father issues with Matt. Probably. He’d never said anything about them to Everett, but then again, Matt hadn’t discussed Demetria much when they’d gotten together except to say they were going to various p
laces on dates.

  Handing Everett a bottle of beer, Wade chuckled. “She’s single. Maya made me look her up in the agent database. Tammy told her Demetria is one of her best friends and she bit you a couple of years back. So that’s a sure sign of something.”

  Smiling, Connor began grilling the broccoli and potatoes. “Yeah, when they bite, that can be a good thing. Or not.”

  “We’re just working a mission,” Everett said, frowning and thinking how much he would like to be dating her for real.

  “Yeah, well, you know what happened on our missions that began just like this one,” Wade joked.

  “I don’t recall any case where the shifters were looking for a wolf-shifter pup’s family.” Everett wasn’t going to buy into their good-natured ribbing. He figured if he and Demetria ever did start dating, he wasn’t letting the whole world know—at least, not right away.

  “Yeah,” Connor agreed. “One minute I was in the jungle as a cat rescuing a damsel in distress, and the next thing I knew, we were in more trouble than I ever bargained for.”

  “Here I was minding my own business on a mission when Maya danced into my life,” Wade said.

  “I warned her you were nothing but trouble. Did she listen to me? Hell no.” Connor cast his brother-in-law a stern look, but it was all in mock fun. The two were like brothers now.

  Wade shook his head. “Hell, I thought you were going for a harem with two women at your beck and call.”

  Connor and Everett laughed. Everett could see how Wade had thought that too.

  Everett knew he’d never get tied up in a marital arrangement on a mission. He was still laughing about how it had happened to Connor and Wade. Then his brother, Huntley, had managed to get dragged into something, even though both he and his female partner were in relationships.

  “You say ‘no way’ now,” Wade said, “but you just wait. Before long, you’ll be begging her to say ‘I do.’”

  That had Everett thinking again about Matt’s final words. He had said he was going to propose to Demetria before New Year’s. Everett had waffled about telling her that, not wanting to hurt her any more than she already had been when he broke the news. Everett had finally told her, but he’d felt like hell doing it.