Wild Panther (Full Moon Protectors Book 4)

by Sammie Joyce

  “I do my best work uncaged,” I snorted dryly. Mal laughed again.

  “I have to go,” he said. “Or I’m going to have women problems too. My wife expected me home for dinner ten minutes ago.”

  Must be nice that he’s got a wife waiting for him at home. I’m here in this empty house, thinking about ordering in Thai food.

  As if reading my mind, Mal spoke again.

  “You know, Belinda has some very attractive girlfriends. Maybe one day you can come over for dinner and—”

  I threw up a hand and laughed sincerely this time.

  “No, thanks!” I interjected, a twinge of nostalgia creeping through me as I thought about the last blind date I’d been on. It had resulted in my falling in love with someone with whom I could never be.

  I couldn’t put myself through that again.

  Not that I ever believed I would feel as strongly for anyone as I did for Amity.

  “Well, if you change your mind, the offer still stands,” Mal chirped. “Adios!”

  He logged off the Skype call and I closed the chat box window, flopping back in my office chair.

  The sound of a woman’s voice thrust me back to reality. That’s right—the house wasn’t empty after all.

  Sighing, I pushed the chair back and rose to my feet, ambling toward the door.

  “…wait! Hello!”

  My brow furrowed and I followed the sound of the pleading voice through the horseshoe hallway toward the front where Cat stood yelling into the lawn.

  “Who are you screaming at?” I demanded, joining her side. She had only arrived from Boston yesterday and while I’d tried to occupy myself with work, she was making it impossible to forget she was there.

  “Her!” Cat cried, pointing. My heart leapt into my throat when I saw the figure of a woman scurrying away toward the property line.

  “Amity!” I called, shoving past my sister and heading after her. “Amity, stop!”

  She froze when she heard my voice and slowly, she turned, a sheepish expression on her face.

  “Oh hey,” she mumbled, her blue eyes darting about to rest anywhere but on me. “I-I didn’t mean to interrupt. I was just in the neighborhood…”

  She trailed off, her face reddening as she heard her own words, and I grinned.

  “You were in the neighborhood of the outskirts of Veneta?” I teased. She blushed more furiously and looked down, embarrassment clouding her face.

  “I’m sorry,” she muttered. “I should have called first.”

  “Never mind that,” I insisted. “Come inside.”

  I gestured for her to head toward the house where Cat still stood in the doorway, her eyes wide and interested.

  “I-I should probably go,” Amity mumbled. I realized that she had misconstrued Cat’s presence.

  “Come and meet my sister,” I said gently. Amity’s head whipped up, relief flooding her cheeks as she visibly swallowed.

  “Your sister?”

  I nodded.

  “She’s just in town for a real estate conference,” I explained. “She’s leaving tomorrow.”

  “Oh.”

  I could tell she felt foolish but I didn’t allow her to argue again.

  “Come inside,” I urged her gently, taking her arm and guiding her toward the front door. “Cat, move.”

  My sister obediently stepped aside, her face lit with interest as she studied Amity’s features.

  “Cat, this is Amity Jackson. Amity, my pain-in-the-ass older sister, Catherine Hampton.”

  “Pleased to meet you, Amity,” Cat purred, following after us like a cat seeking a treat. “I had no idea my brother knew such beautiful people.”

  “Cat, can you kindly go harass someone else?” I sighed, realizing that she intended to stalk us.

  “I would love to, darling, but you’re the only one here.”

  I anticipated her response and tossed my car keys at her.

  “Dan’s address is programmed in the GPS,” I replied lightly. “Ciao.”

  Cat tried to feign a look of hurt but she failed, the glee overtaking her face almost infectious. Or maybe it was my happiness that was infecting her. I had never been so glad to see anyone in my life.

  “Fine,” Cat relented. “I’ll leave you two alone but I hope we get a chance to know one another, Amity.”

  Amity gave her a timid smile and nodded. “Good meeting you,” she replied pleasantly.

  We settled in the kitchen as the front door closed and I offered Amity a drink.

  “Uh… sure,” she agreed falteringly. Suddenly, I was apprehensive about her being there.

  “What’s wrong?” I asked. “Did Anticlaw—”

  “No! No, nothing like that,” Amity assured me. “I haven’t seen or heard from them since that night but there was another attack.”

  “I heard,” I sighed, pulling out a bottle of white wine from the fridge. “The street festival. That’s awful.”

  I paused and frowned.

  “You weren’t there were you?”

  Amity snickered.

  “Why does everyone keep asking me that?” she asked.

  “Everyone?”

  I continued to pour and handed her a glass before taking a seat across from her at the kitchen island.

  “I just came back from a Council meeting,” she explained. “It was… very intense.”

  I made no comment and instead swallowed my questions with a sip of the cool liquid.

  “We’ve decided to start doing things a little bit differently going forward,” she went on. “Much to the chagrin of the Council.”

  “Aren’t you on the Council?” I asked in confusion. She smiled.

  “Much to the chagrin of most of the Council,” she corrected. I pursed my lips together.

  “Can I ask what you decided?”

  She nodded.

  “I was hoping you would,” she replied lightly. “We’ve decided to take a page out of Anticlaw’s playbook.”

  “What does that mean?” I wondered, alarm spiking through me. It sounded ominous and dangerous. Amity must have read the worry in my face.

  “Not one of their abusive plays,” she told me quickly. “We’re going to have humans on our boards now.”

  The news was stunning to me.

  “H-how will that work?” I asked in amazement. “Doesn’t that go against everything they’ve been saying all along?”

  “Everything we’ve been doing all along hasn’t been working,” Amity countered and I nodded in agreement.

  “Time to think outside the box,” I concluded.

  “That’s exactly what I said,” Amity laughed, a broad smile touching her lips. I didn’t miss the look of wistfulness in her eyes.

  “Well, that’s great news, Amity… I think.”

  “There are obviously kinks to be ironed out,” she said quickly. “But if we get the right humans, I think we can end this Anticlaw threat once and for all.”

  I nodded again, taking another swig of my wine. I could feel her eyes on me and I realized she was waiting for me to say something else but I wasn’t sure what.

  “Well?” she finally asked.

  “Well what?”

  “What do you say?”

  Puzzlement took me over.

  “I-I think it’s great…” I said slowly, unsure of what else she expected of me. Her eyebrows furrowed and she laughed.

  “No, silly,” she tittered. “What do you say about joining our team?”

  “Oh!”

  The question surprised and stunned me. I stared at her for a long moment, a combination of emotions shooting through me as I tried to reign them all in.

  Is that the only reason she came here? To recruit me?

  The thought was disappointing yet the offer was exhilarating. I’d always wanted to be a part of the shifter world in some way. I’d shaped my business to accommodate them, fallen in love with one. It only made sense that I would fight alongside them if they needed me.

  But if that means
working with you and not being with you, I don’t know if I can do it.

  “You’re not sure.”

  A note of uncertainty crept into Amity’s voice as she studied my face.

  “I’m sure about the cause,” I replied quickly. “I think it makes sense to combine forces, especially when the shifters are helping Anticlaw.”

  A half-smile formed on Amity’s lips but it didn’t quite meet her eyes.

  “But you’re not sure about helping?” she pressed. I shook my head and looked away.

  “I want to help,” I muttered. “I’m just not sure I’m the right man for the job.”

  Amity rose from her spot and ambled toward me.

  “You’re the perfect man for the job,” she said softly, forcing my eyes up to her face. “You’re the only man for the job.”

  I could read the expression clearly in her eyes and any doubts I’d had about her before dissipated. She hadn’t only come for that. She had come there for me. She had missed me as much as I had missed her.

  Slowly, her hands cupped my face and our gazes locked.

  “I’m sorry I stayed away for so long,” she murmured, her voice rife with emotion. “I wanted to call you, to text you so many times but…”

  “Shh,” I whispered. “I know. I understand.”

  My hands reached around to pull her against me, my mouth searching out hers, and our lips met with as much intensity and electricity as they had that first night we were together.

  Had it only been two weeks? It felt like we’d been apart a lifetime but back in Amity’s arms, I knew that this time nothing was going to keep us apart again.

  Her lips parted slightly for us to tease our tongues against one another. My hands splayed along the curve of her spine, pressing her closer until I was lifting her against the granite countertop, our lips never losing traction.

  A slow sigh fell from Amity’s lips and I nuzzled against her neck, spreading her knees apart to center myself between her legs.

  “I’ve missed you so much,” she breathed. The words had a tranquil effect on me, going to my head like a sharp shot of whiskey.

  “I haven’t stopped thinking about you for a minute,” I rasped in her ear, my lips grazing against her lobe. Goosebumps flooded her skin, the combination of my hot kisses and words causing her to arch against me.

  I slid off my pants, easing her underwear out from under the skirt of her dress before driving her down on top of me. We both succumbed to what we’d been desiring for weeks, the nearness of the other’s body, the inhalation of the other’s scent.

  “I’ll never let you go again,” I promised her, my thrusts growing more urgent as she dug her fingers into my shoulders.

  “I won’t let you,” she mewled, a cry following her declaration. In moments, we had fallen into a staccato, our rhythms synched and perfect, our emotions tangled with our passion until we were a quivering mass atop the kitchen counter, lost in one another’s eyes.

  “I love you, Amity Jackson,” I told her before I could catch my breath. Her face took on a look of wonderment and happiness.

  “I love you,” she replied with so much conviction, I felt it in my soul. She wriggled out slightly to let me collapse at her side, my back relishing the cool of the counter beneath me.

  “Does this mean you’ll help with our human Protector unit?” she asked. I chuckled.

  “Is that what this was? Some seduction to win me over to the shifter side?” I teased. Amity sat up, a look of pure seriousness on her face as she shook her head.

  “No,” she said solemnly. “It’s not about that at all.”

  “I know!” I protested but before I could say anything else, she went on.

  “There shouldn’t be sides at all,” she murmured. “I think that’s been the problem all along. This us versus them mentality.”

  I propped myself up and nodded slowly.

  “I agree with you,” I said. “But we’re always going to be met with resistance.”

  “Well, we’ll just have to keep fighting for it until the notion is commonplace.”

  She smiled then.

  “Anyway, every single thing worth fighting for was met with opposition at some point.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And that’s how we know the causes are worthwhile.”

  I returned her smile and raised my body to kiss her sweetly on the lips. When we parted, I stared intently into her eyes.

  “Whatever it takes, Amity, however long, I’m here for the long haul.”

  She exhaled and nodded.

  “Me too,” she promised. “I’m not going anywhere ever again.”

  19

  Amity

  Time is one of those obscure factors that can mean so much and so little simultaneously. Take the Council, for example. In six months, we’d gone both forward and backward, depending on who you asked.

  It wasn’t hard to see who was on whose side, despite the progress that had been made, at least in my eyes. Nia and Lorna were still steadfastly against what was happening, neither particularly quiet about their sentiments at any given meeting. Yet I saw the males slowly shifting their own preoccupations toward our way of thinking.

  The bears were delightfully neutral for the most part, nodding their approval when necessary and shaking their heads at what they deemed inappropriate, but for the most part, I could tell they were happy with the way things were going.

  “In another six months, we might have everyone on board,” Jackal whispered in my ear as we gathered around the bonfire for our monthly gathering. I wasn’t sure about that but I wasn’t going to diminish his optimism with any skepticism. I was happier than I’d been in a long time, after all. I had everything I’d ever dreamed of in that moment.

  Looking around the bonfire, I almost couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Certainly, I wouldn’t have imagined it possible a year ago.

  “Should we get down to business?” Lorna grumbled, calling attention to the meeting amongst the din of voices. “It’s freezing out here.”

  The others settled and I perched on a boulder close to the high flames, the glow of light illuminating the interested faces in my midst.

  For once, none of the Protectors were in their animal forms, their usual bored expressions replaced with something much more intuitive and complex.

  They’re just as fascinated by this as I am, I realized, pleasure shooting through my veins.

  Nia was conspicuously absent but Jack was there, representing the leopards as always, his expression stoic as he, too, took in our newest arrivals.

  “I feel like I should reiterate the ground rules,” Lorna went on, her eyes darting toward the fresh members. “Whatever we discuss here, whatever happens, it remains at the bonfire, no matter who you are.”

  I noted that she looked at her wolf Protectors and I had to wonder if something had happened of which I was unaware. Whatever it was, it caused Marcel, Dalton, and Inigo to look away but not before exchanging a covert look.

  “It doesn’t matter if you’re new here or one of the elders,” Lorna continued, reverting her gaze toward the newcomers. “Discretion is paramount.”

  “Why do I feel targeted?” Wes tittered in a low voice. He had forgotten just how acute our sense of hearing was and I saw him wither slightly under Lorna’s glare.

  “I’m targeting you humans because you still have to learn the rules,” Lorna growled. “Try not to take it personally.”

  Why not? Isn’t that what she intended? I mused to myself. It was irrelevant anyway. Any attempts that Nia and Lorna had made to deter our human Protectors had been thwarted on impact. We had selected the best and most loyal we could find to join our cause and they weren’t going anywhere.

  “Now,” Lorna continued, settling back against Fernando. “Who has something they’d like to add?”

  “About the elders,” Inigo said boldly, rising from his spot. “I think—”

  “No one cares what you think!” Lorna shot back, her back tens
ing as she sat forward. My eyebrows raised with interest and I cast Wes and Jackal a quick glance but they were just as perplexed as me.

  “Maybe you don’t care,” Inigo insisted. “But others of us do.”

  “Why don’t we open with the discussion on where we are with Anticlaw?” Lorna suggested, ignoring Inigo. I saw the wolf glowering from his spot.

  “I’d like to hear what Inigo has to say,” I said, cutting Lorna off. As anticipated, she cast me a scathing look but I was more than used to them by now. She’d made her sentiments toward me abundantly clear from the moment I’d suggested bringing on the humans. I’d been worried that she might single out Wes and make his life particularly miserable but she had been content unleashing her frustration on everyone equally.

  Inigo cast me a tentative smile.

  “The wolf Protectors are being ridiculous,” Lorna snapped, exasperation coloring her face. “They seem to think that there haven’t been enough changes around here as it is.”

  “Why don’t we let the wolves plead their case?” I replied dryly, turning my full attention toward them.

  It was Marcel who spoke this time.

  “In the spirit of thinking outside the box,” he started slowly, “we’ve been thinking that this might apply to other avenues of the Council and Protectors too.”

  “Such as?”

  “You’re going to be sorry you asked,” Lorna warned. I nodded encouragingly at the wolves.

  “Go on.”

  “Such as, maybe the elders are…” Marcel paused, suddenly embarrassed. He cleared his throat and looked at his companions for help but Inigo and Dalton looked away.

  “Well?” Lorna barked. “You wanted your ten seconds in the limelight. Spit it out. The elders are too what?”

  I could tell by her tone that she had already heard what the wolves had had to say but wanted to draw it out of them.

  “Look,” I said reasonably. “If I could suggest humans become part of our fold, you can say this.”

  Marcel smiled weakly.

  “We were thinking that perhaps the elders could use some more progressive blood in the mix.”

  Bula and Homer scoffed in unison and I tried not to be offended by the suggestion but I admit, it stung a bit.