A Very Jaguar Christmas

by Terry Spear

  “Only yours in Dallas. I would think you’d know if any others tried to encroach on your territory. There’s a wolf pack in Silver Town, Colorado. More of the SEAL wolf team of the Oregon coast lives in Montana. A gray wolf pack claimed the Seattle territory, but they refuse to allow me to test their blood. Another is in Amarillo, but there were significant issues with them and…they’ve moved on. No Arctic wolves were among any of the packs I’ve met. What about you? Do you have a pack that you would allow me to test?” The doctor seemed eager to know about this newly discovered pack, as if he’d forgotten why they had called him initially.

  “What is the longevity issue that you’re testing?” Everett asked, ignoring the doctor’s question and hoping his own question didn’t trigger some concern on the doctor’s part.

  The doctor was silent, and so was everyone in the room listening in on the conversation, even the pup who had curled up in Maya’s lap and was sleeping as she leaned her back against the couch and Wade’s legs corralled her.

  “You…don’t know?” Now Dr. Denali sounded suspicious.

  “Well, we haven’t had any problem with it.” Everett shrugged at the others, clueless about what was going on. They looked a little apprehensive.

  “No changes in your longevity at all? I’ve got to test your blood. The larger the sample size, the better. I’m hoping I can determine why the change is occurring. But this is good news.”

  Everett took a deep breath. He hated to give the doctor hope that his kind could resolve whatever their issue was, but he was certain their blood couldn’t.

  “Dr. Denali, you’re a scientific man, right? You believe in all kinds of possibilities if you can test them and prove they’re correct, right? I mean, you’re open to any new theories. You’re not close-minded. Correct?”

  “I like to think so. What’s this all about?”

  “What if I told you my kind have always had the same longevity as humans?”

  “Then I’d be disappointed, but I would still want to check your blood to learn why you’re so different from the rest of us.”

  “I can tell you why. But initially, I doubt you’re going to believe me. We’re shifters. Just not wolf shifters.”

  Silence.

  “When we shift, we become jaguars.”

  Silence.

  “That’s why it’s imperative that we find the boy’s parents. Besides the fact that they must be frantically searching for him, if they are dead, raising a wolf shifter among jaguar shifters might be a bit of a challenge for us and for him.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you had a legitimate situation you were calling about. I really don’t have time for—”

  “Wait, Dr. Denali. I thought you said you were open-minded. Do you have a secure cloud-based service?” Everett asked if the doctor used the same one he did.

  “I do.”

  “Okay, I’ll send you a video of the boy shifting into a wolf, and I’ll send one of me shifting as a jaguar so you know we’re for real and not on drugs or something.” Everett sent the video of the boy to the doctor. Then he said, “I’ll have someone take the video of me, and we’ll send it to you so you’ll know this is legitimate. It’ll take just a few minutes.”

  The doctor didn’t say anything.

  Demetria said, “I’ll video record Everett shifting to include Maya, Everett’s half sister, with the wolf pup so you can see we’re all here. She’s been playing tug-of-war with him and wore him out.”

  Everett quickly stripped out of his clothes. They didn’t video record someone shifting ever in case the tape got into the wrong hands, so he felt a little like a stripper while Demetria recorded it. Then he shifted, his muscles and bones heating and reshaping until he was standing before Demetria as a golden jaguar.

  He couldn’t help but notice the way she was smiling at him as if she was impressed and interested.

  The pup had woken and was staring at Everett as if he’d suddenly turned into a giant-sized version of the jaguar cubs who had been clawing and hissing at him at the day care. Everett moved slowly toward him, trying to put the pup at ease and let the boy smell him, forgetting for the moment that his actions could have been videotaped for the wolf doctor. All that mattered was that Everett made sure that the pup knew it was just him and he was safe. And then the pup wagged his tail and began play-biting Everett. He hadn’t expected that and lay down on his side so he could let the pup nip at him.

  Everyone in the room laughed.

  After that, Demetria said, “Okay, everybody ready?”

  Everett thought Demetria had ended the video right after he shifted. He wondered just how much she had caught of his interaction with the pup.

  “Yeah, go ahead,” Wade said, rubbing Maya’s back.

  Everett nodded his jaguar head.

  Demetria said, “Sending it now.”

  She waited until it went through. “Okay, as you can see, Everett shifted into a golden jaguar. The boy is perfectly safe with us and will be well-loved, played with, and fed, but we still need to find his family.”

  The doctor still didn’t respond.

  “Dr. Denali, are you still there?” Demetria asked.

  Everett thought maybe the call had been dropped. He couldn’t imagine the doctor had passed out or anything that drastic. He was just speechless, Everett guessed. He had to remind himself how he had felt when he first saw the boy shift and then shift again.

  “How…how long have you known we exist?” The doctor sounded a little shaken up.

  “As soon as the boy was dropped off at Everett’s mother’s day care and shifted this morning. Believe me, it was a shock for all of us. None of us believed it. If Everett hadn’t caught the boy shifting on video, I’m sure none of us would believe it.”

  “I have to learn everything there is to know about you. This is just unbelievable. And incredibly wonderful.” Dr. Denali sounded ecstatic.

  Everett swore the man was smiling when he said it. Like he’d made the biological discovery of the century. Still, Everett suspected not all wolf shifters would be so pleased with the situation. The jaguars lived among humans. The wolves must too. Would a wolf pack feel threatened by jaguar shifters in their territory if they knew about them? Cat and dog fights? He could just see it.

  “I’d still like to test your blood and learn more about you.” Dr. Denali sounded eager.

  “You can. But we still need to find the boy’s family,” Demetria said, emphasizing the importance of their mission. “Do you have a wolf police force that can look into it?”

  “No. Packs police their own people or those crossing into their territory. I’ll let everyone know about it. My brother hires private investigators for his business, completely discreet because of our secret wolf status. He’ll have them search for the parents too.”

  “All right. When the boy shifts, we can learn his name and parents’ names, and hopefully his address. We’ll share the information with you in case that might help too,” Demetria said.

  “Would you like to have a wolf pack take care of him?” the doctor asked. “I’m sure any of the packs I work with would be happy to take him in. Well, except for the wolf pack in Seattle.”

  “No thanks, Doctor. We wouldn’t feel right about doing that when he was left with us. And he’s perfectly happy with us right now. What is the issue with your longevity, if you don’t mind sharing?” Demetria asked.

  “We used to have much longer lives. Now, on average, we age one year for every five human years.”

  Wade whistled. “Hell. What a deal.”

  The doctor laughed. “Our longevity did cause problems for us while we were trying to keep our slower aging process secret. I’ve got to work on some cultures, but I’ll call my brother, Rafe, and tell him about your circumstances. He’ll get his PIs on it right away. No one is going to believe this.” He paused. “I want to mak
e arrangements to see you as soon as I can. Welcome to our world of wolves.”

  “And to our world of jaguars,” Demetria said, smiling.

  Maya gave Wade a high five.

  This wasn’t the end, only the beginning, and who really knew how the wolves and jaguars would react? It was like venturing into a galaxy far away and finding new alien life forms they would have to learn to get along with.

  Chapter 10

  Everett shifted and quickly dressed before he called Hunter, the SEAL wolf on the Oregon Coast. Hunter didn’t know about any Arctic wolf packs. Everett didn’t tell him anything about the jaguar-shifter equation, just said they were trying to locate the family of the Arctic wolf pup. Hunter mentioned the rest of his SEAL team in Montana. Everett thanked him, though he already knew about them and was trying to look at this reasonably. Cases often required a lot of “footwork” before the agents could get to the meat of the situation.

  After he ended the call with Hunter, who had asked him to be updated when they learned who the parents were and wished them well, Everett expressed his concern to Demetria and the others. “Three more to go. The pack in Montana, the Silver wolf pack in Colorado, and the red wolf pack in Portland, Oregon.”

  “We’ll find the parents, Everett.” Demetria reassured him. “Look at how we began. We had no idea about any wolf packs. Then Maya gave us a clue, and from there, we’ve had several to check into. It might take a little while, but we’ll find them.”

  “She’s right. This is the important groundwork. You’ll locate his family,” Wade said. “And you still have the possibility of locating the wolves in Dallas.”

  “Okay, Leidolf’s pack, the Silver pack, or Paul’s Montana pack first?” Everett asked.

  “Toss-up between Leidolf’s and the Silver wolf pack. If Hunter didn’t know of any, the rest of his SEAL team might not either,” Demetria said.

  “Leidolf it is.” Everett was certain that when he called the red wolf pack leader, he’d get more of the same. Instead, the wolf seemed really wary. Not that Everett blamed him. He imagined if someone he didn’t know called out of the blue and started asking about his jaguar family and if they knew the parents of a black jaguar cub—because they were rarer, like the Arctic wolves were—he would be just as wary.

  “I don’t know who you are or anything about you,” Leidolf simply said.

  “Fair enough.” Everett didn’t blame the man one bit. “I have a video of the boy shifting. I’ll send it to you. Maybe you’ll recognize him.” Everett sent the video and then waited for a response.

  “I still don’t know you. Are you a gray wolf pack? Red? Arctic? Mixed? The pack leader? What?”

  Everett glanced at his companions. The wolf was already wary. He was certain if he told him they were jaguar shifters, he would hang up on Everett. But he didn’t want to get off on the wrong foot and lie.

  “Thanks for all your help. I’ve got to find the boy’s parents. If you don’t know anything about them, then I’ve got to make another call.”

  “Wait.”

  Everett’s heartbeat ratcheted up a notch. Maybe it wasn’t just wariness on Leidolf’s part. Maybe he thought he might know where the boy belonged.

  “I might know of the wolf pack. It’s a long shot, but bring him here, and I’ll look into it.”

  “It’s my job, and my partner’s, to locate the parents and reunite them.”

  “Good luck with that,” Leidolf said dryly and hung up on him.

  Everett looked at all the astonished faces watching him. Demetria said, “He’s the first real clue we have.”

  “He may be wrong.”

  “He seems to know of an Arctic wolf pack,” Wade said.

  Everett shook his head. “He might know of an Arctic wolf pack, but I’m not turning the boy over to a red wolf pack all the way out in Oregon.”

  “They would be more likely to give him the care a wolf needs,” Maya said.

  “No, Everett’s right,” Demetria said. “We don’t know Leidolf. He might decide to keep the boy in his pack if he’s unsuccessful in his search. Then what? The boy would be living way out there, and we’d probably never know it. We have to resolve this ourselves.”

  “Agreed,” Everett said. “I’ve got another couple of calls to make.”

  When he got hold of Lori, the female pack leader in Montana, she said, “As to your question, we don’t know any Arctic wolves. One of our pack members was part of a gray wolf pack in Seattle. His name is Everett too. Everett Baxter. Maybe his former pack members know of an Arctic wolf pack.”

  That was the second time someone had mentioned a gray wolf pack in that area. Dr. Denali had said they weren’t cooperative about the longevity testing, if it was the same pack. The way the packs were spread out, they didn’t seem to like other wolf packs in their territory. Everett wondered how they’d feel about jaguars being there.

  “But otherwise, none that we know of,” Lori reiterated. “Good luck.”

  “Thanks, we’ll keep you posted.” Everett called Lori’s pack member after that. “Hi, Everett, I’m Everett Anderson. I just spoke with Lori about trying to find the parents of an Arctic wolf pup. She said you were with a gray pack out of Seattle and maybe knew of an Arctic wolf pack.” He sent him the video of the boy and explained what had happened.

  “Okay, yeah, there is an Arctic wolf pack that I know of. Well, they used to be humans and must have tangled with an Arctic wolf shifter pack. I don’t know anything about it, except that as humans, they had a private-eye operation in Seattle. When they returned from a trip back east, they were Arctic wolves. My pack leaders told them to find some other territory. You know how difficult it is to keep what we are secret from the human populace, but to have another wolf pack, all newly turned, living in your territory? They didn’t want to be absorbed into the pack—not that my leaders were offering—so they had to leave. I don’t have any idea where they settled. Since they’re white wolves, I would presume up near the border of Canada somewhere. Maybe they even went to Canada.”

  Everyone’s expressions had brightened.

  “That doesn’t explain how the boy ended up with us in Dallas.” But Everett was glad to hear that this might be the real clue they needed.

  “I don’t think it’ll help to call the gray pack leaders, but here’s their number just in case. You might not want to mention I gave you their number. We didn’t part on really good terms.”

  “Thanks, Everett. Dr. Denali mentioned them too, so we can say he referred me to them.”

  “I doubt that will go over big either. But good luck.”

  “Thanks.” Everett ended the call. “That Arctic wolf pack might not be the one we’re looking for, but the fact they’re newly turned gives me some hope that they are.”

  “Why don’t you let me call the Seattle gray wolf pack?” Demetria asked. “Since they had problems with both Mr. Baxter and Dr. Denali, maybe they won’t feel as threatened by a woman.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Everett said.

  Demetria called and got hold of a June Greyhauffer, who told the same story as Everett.

  “Are you kidding me? Well, I’m not surprised that they would be having a bunch of kids and losing them along the way.”

  How did one little boy turn into a bunch of kids? The woman was definitely hostile toward the Arctic wolf pack.

  “So you don’t have any idea where the pack has gone? What their names were?” Demetria asked.

  “Cameron MacPherson is the pack leader, former private detective. He’s probably doing the same kind of work, freelancing as much as he can, if they can’t get their shifting under control. I’m just so glad we didn’t allow them to stay here. What a mess.”

  “If you had, the boy probably wouldn’t be with us now,” Demetria said, her voice angry.

  June snorted. “We have our own issues to handle
. We don’t need a newly turned pack to deal with too. As gray wolves, it’s hard enough to hide what we are from the general human population without adding Arctic wolves to the mix. If you’re out of Dallas, I imagine you know that better than the rest of us. It can’t be easy to run pretending to be wild wolves where you live. At least here, if anyone spies us running as gray wolves in the forests, he or she will believe we’re from the Idaho pack.”

  “There’s an Idaho pack?” Everett asked, getting ready to jot down the location.

  “I mean, real wolves. But Arctic wolves? They would stand out too much.”

  “I understand,” Everett said.

  “I feel sorry for the kid, but Cameron got himself into this mess.”

  Demetria didn’t think the woman sounded sorry in the least. But if the boy hadn’t fallen into the jaguar shifters’ hands, he could have been in real trouble. “If the boy is his son.”

  “Well, of course.”

  Demetria suddenly had another thought. “What if the boy belongs to the Arctic wolf shifter who bit Cameron?”

  “Possibly. I don’t know anything more about Cameron’s pack, and I know even less about the wolf pack they got mixed up with. Got to run. Good luck cleaning up the mess.” Then June hung up on her.

  “Wow,” Maya said. “Sounds like they don’t like anyone.”

  “At least she talked with us and we know about a real possibility. So, now we need to spread the word about this Cameron MacPherson and see if we can get any bites,” Demetria said.

  “We should share it on all the social networking sites,” Maya said.

  “You know what happened when you included a jaguar picture of yourself in the greenhouse,” Wade reminded her.

  “What happened?” Demetria never shared anything on social network sites, but she could just imagine the trouble that could cause.

  “The biologist from the Oregon Zoo thought Maya had something to do with stealing the jaguar from his zoo when he saw her as a jaguar in the greenhouse,” Wade said.