Heidi slipped a bowl of fresh water through the small door at the base of the gate then picked up a platter and sat in front of the cage. For the next several heartbeats, she stared at the big black cat who watched her with those beautiful amber eyes.
“You have two choices this morning, big guy.” She pulled the tinfoil cover off the platter. “I have an inch-thick T-bone steak cooked medium rare, six scrambled eggs and a half loaf of buttered toast.”
She looked up from the massive feast in front of her and grinned. “You can have this if you talk to me.
If not, you get another raw roast. I don’t feed the average cat a gourmet breakfast.”
He stared at her unblinking.
She set the platter of food next to her on the floor. “It’s going to get cold. And I won’t reheat it for you.”
She knew she wasn’t wrong about him. There was too much human intelligence behind those exotic eyes. Besides, Beth’s test on the blood sample proved it. Humans—and shifters like the Falke men-had forty-six chromosomes. A normal cougar, or jaguar, had only thirty-eight. This massive, gorgeous animal was a shape-shifter whether he admitted it or not.
If she’d had even an inkling of doubt, it had gone up in smoke last night when she got home. Kelan and Reidar had scented something strange on her and Beth, their mate, though in human form they seemed unsure of its origin. She and Beth had rushed to take showers before mealtime, but both men still acted strangely all through dinner. And her fathers had looked at her with questions in their eyes.
She’d played dumb and hadn’t offered any information. For now, they’d let her have her secrets, but that wouldn’t last long.
She had to make sure Beth steered clear of the jaguar, and Heidi would need to shower more often with stronger soaps and shampoos if she wanted to have any chance of avoiding detection for as long as possible. And she’d have to stay away from all her brothers while they were shifted. With their senses heightened in catamount form, not even bleach would be able to completely mask another shifter’s scent.
Sometimes Heidi hated the fact she still lived in her childhood home with her two fathers, two of her six brothers and now her sister-in-law.
She hated that she didn’t have her brothers’ gifts, their keen senses, their abilities to shift, their...almost everything. She’d been odd girl out in a family of incredible catamount shifters and the youngest of the seven. She’d give almost anything to be able to change form and run through the forest with the freedom they had.
Most of all, though, she longed for a mate of her own. One with whom she could have little shifter babies. There was only one way that could happen, and until yesterday she’d thought it a complete impossibility. Unlike her brothers, who could pair up to mate with a human woman, as a lone catamount female, she could only produce children with a full-blooded male shifter. Aside from her own flesh and blood, that left out the entire male population of Leavenworth and probably all of Washington, if not the United States. Male shifters weren’t exactly easy to come by.
This beauty before her wasn’t a cougar, but he was a feline shifter. The closest she’d ever come to a lone male of her kind. And that made him extraordinary...a find worth protecting. Worthy of getting to know better.
She wanted—needed—to hear his story. Where was he from? Were there others like him out there?
If so, did any of them need a mate?
“Why won’t you talk to me?”
“Talk to me. Squawk.”
The cat shifted his gaze from her to Paco and back. His ear flicked, and he shut his eyes.
“You can trust me, and Beth too. I swear it. I just want to get to know you.”
The jaguar sighed, his chest heaving, and flopped onto his side.
“Awfully passive aggressive, there, kitty. You know, it’s Sunday, and I have no patients. I can sit here and talk at you all day. Wouldn’t it be nicer to have a conversation and a hot breakfast than pretend you’re just a jaguar who happened to be running around the wilds of Washington State?
You’re thousands of miles north of where any jaguar should be roaming.”
He tipped his head back, looking at her upside down, blew out a breath and raised a huge paw to scratch his ear.
Heidi pressed her lips together. She had learned enough growing up in a house full of men to know when one was just screwing with her.
He’d eaten the hunk of roast she’d left in his cage, so he didn’t have the aversion to raw meat her brothers had. If he was a rogue, and if he’d been living alone in the woods, he might be more wild cat than human.
What if... The thought made her eyes burn with tears. What if he didn’t know, or couldn’t remember what it meant to be human? Like a child raised by wolves.
“Come on, big guy. Talk to me,” she begged, fearful that her speculation might prove true.
In her family’s catamount line, children didn’t gain their ability to shift until puberty. Was it possible that other shifters were different? What if he’d been born a cat? What if he couldn’t speak telepathically?
She leaned forward, practically pressing her face to the mesh cage. “I can’t let you go if you don’t talk to me.” She gripped the chain links. “A cage is no place for a shifter, but you can’t go free. You don’t belong here. You’ll just get shot again by someone else. Someone who won’t care enough to call a vet. Someone who’ll tan your hide and hang it on a wall as a trophy. Do you want that?”
The jaguar rolled onto his stomach, lowered his head, and his ears went back in a sign of agitation.
“God, come on. You’re half human. You must know that.”
But maybe he didn’t. The Falke family went back many generations, but no one knew the origin of their species. Her ancestors, a pair of male cousins—supposedly the last two catamounts left alive after their secret had been discovered—fled Germany and wound up here. They had been two of the founding fathers of Leavenworth, but their lineage hadn’t been strong until now. Until her fathers had mated and produced seven healthy offspring. Now her eldest pair of brothers had three brand new babies. The Falke family was growing, expanding, gaining strength with each generation. But from where did they originate? Not even her fathers knew for sure.
Was this beautiful creature a new beginning?
“What the hell am I supposed to do with you?” Heidi opened the door at the base of the gate and shoved the platter of food through.
“Do with you. Do with you. Squawk.”
The cat flinched, his tail curling and slapping the floor in obvious agitation.
“Hush, Paco.” She stood and went to the cockatoo’s cage. “I think your squawking hurts his ears.”
“Big ears. Big ears.”
Heidi opened the bird’s cage, extending her arm so he could climb on. He bobbed his head and took a tentative step off his perch, but then hopped on and scurried up her arm onto her shoulder.
The jaguar still stared at her, not moving toward the platter of food. “I’m going to go catch up on some bills. I’ll check on you later.”
“Later, dude,” Paco said.
The jaguar hissed, which made Heidi laugh. But her humor quickly fled as she left the garage and headed for her office. At her desk, she pushed the pile of bills to the side and opened her laptop.
Tapping her fingertips, she waited for the computer to boot up, while Paco danced from foot to foot on her shoulder and plucked at strands of her hair.
She brought up Google as soon as the window loaded and typed in jaguar facts. Skipping over everything related to cars, she went to work reading up on the elusive, endangered cats.
* * *
The rest of Sunday was much like the morning. She brought the jaguar fresh water and cooked food.
The breakfast platter had been licked clean, except for the bone from the steak, which made her wonder about him. A big cat in the wild would have chewed that measly little bone right up with the meat.
She spoke to him, tried to coax him into comm
unicating with her, but either he was the most stubborn male she’d come across, or he didn’t speak. From everything she’d learned about jaguars online, she knew to be leery around him. They were known to be sneaky, tricky, very smart and dangerous. They were also a huge part of Mayan myth, which she found interesting but of little use to her.
Most of it was of little use because the obstinate cat was not a typical jaguar. He was a shifter, a frustratingly mulish and mute shifter.
She was in Leavenworth, Washington with a two hundred and fifty pound jaguar she couldn’t hand over to any zoo, because somewhere along the way a genetics test could be run on him quickly and easily, just as Beth had done.
She guessed she had one more day before Beth gave in and spilled the beans. She was a good sister-in-law, but Heidi had no doubt where the woman’s loyalties were. She was the mate of catamounts.
That alone took more courage and devotion than most women possessed. She wouldn’t lie to her mates for long, even if it was only a lie of omission.
A big, huge, furry lie of omission.
Monday morning, Heidi had little choice but to figure out a solution to her dilemma. As she pulled into the clinic’s driveway, she spotted Shirley Taggart standing outside an SUV with The Leavenworth Echo signage all over it.
“Oh, no.” Beth leaned forward and stared out the window as Heidi drove past the reporter.
Shirley headed their way. Heidi had gone to school with the woman, ace reporter for the Cascade High Chatter and now lead reporter for the local newspaper. She was a nosey one who wrote good, sometimes groundbreaking news stories, but also a lot of gossip column type stuff.
Heidi’s stomach clenched. A reporter on her doorstep right now was not a good thing.
She stopped the Land Rover in front of the clinic’s door. “Say nothing.”
“Duuhhh.”
Heidi snorted. She didn’t have to tell Beth how dangerous this was. Not only to that jaguar inside the clinic, but also to their own family. She’d told Beth her thoughts on the cat, her fears he might not even know what he was. Beth had begged her to talk to Axel or her fathers, but Heidi hadn’t been ready. Now she would give anything to have her dads at her side to help her deal with this. Even Axel would be welcome, because he’d scare the shit out Shirley. He had in the past when it came to Falke.
“Go ahead inside,” Heidi said, handing Beth the key ring from the ignition that also had the clinic keys on it. “I’ll face the firing squad.”
Beth nodded. “Good luck.”
They opened the doors simultaneously and stepped out. Beth ran for the cover of the porch, while Heidi straightened her shoulders and put on a very confused expression as the reporter came toward her, micro digital recorder held out.
“Good morning, Dr. Falke,” Shirley said in a very professional tone that made Heidi scowl. They were definitely on first-name basis. “Could you confirm that an injured black panther is being treated in your clinic?”
Heidi changed her expression to one of surprise. “I’m sorry, but there is no black panther here, Ms.
Taggart.” There was no such thing as a panther. The term was a misnomer referring to black jaguars and black leopards. She snickered. “No pink panther either.”
“I saw the pictures.”
“Of a black panther?”
The reporter nodded and held her recorder higher.
“A picture of one in my clinic?”
“Well, it was in the woods,” Shirley hedged, and Heidi shrugged.
“Can’t help you.”
“What about the video on YouTube? Ritchie Handleman said you brought the wounded panther back to this clinic. Is it in there? May I see it?”
Heidi held up her hands to stop the questions. “I assure you there is no black panther in my clinic.”
She forced a chuckle. “Or anywhere for that matter. Such creatures do not exist, but I’d sure love to see one if you find one around here.”
“What was it then? What was it that Ritchie Handleman said he shot?”
Heidi racked her brain but could not remember Ritchie or Dave holding a camera or taking any pictures, so they must have done that before she arrived. She prayed there was no proof she’d been there with this so-called panther.
She shrugged again, praying she wasn’t about to step up to her eyeballs into it. “I’m sorry, but I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“What is this then?” The reporter held out a piece of paper she’d pulled from her back pocket. Heidi took it and unfolded it. A printout of a photograph obviously taken with a grainy cell phone camera.
God, she’d ring Ritchie’s neck. She hadn’t thought to tell him to keep his mouth shut. Why should she have? She’d thought the cat escaped from somewhere.
“I really can’t tell,” she said, handing the printout back to Shirley.
“Do you deny Handleman’s claims of shooting a black panther?”
“You’ll have to ask Handleman about what he hunts, but I didn’t know there was a hunting season on a non-existent creature.”
Shirley lowered the recorder and in a stage whisper said, “Come on, Heidi. Between you and me.
What is that he shot? It looks like a black Falke. He said you came and picked it up after he called you.”
The red light was still lit on the recording device, and Heidi smiled politely while her gut clenched and a cold sweat pop out on her forehead. Town rumor claimed Shirley and Ritchie had dated a couple years back. They might still be close. This was going to get out of hand real fast if she didn’t nip it.
“Shirley, believe me, I understand the big news that finding a black panther might produce. But don’t you think Ritchie might be having some fun with you? You know he was always somewhat of a prankster.” She pointedly glanced at her watch. “My first patient of the day—which by the way will be your average hound dog—should be arriving soon.”
“Heidi, come on. I don’t think Ritchie is lying.”
Heidi shook her head and gave a little smile. “I’ve gotta go.” She turned and walked onto the porch and into the clinic.
“This is not good,” Beth said as soon as the door clicked shut.
Heidi took a deep breath, bit her bottom lip, then walked past Beth and out to the garage.
The jaguar looked up but didn’t bother to raise his head from his paws.
“We have a situation, and if you can understand me, you better damn well listen up.”
“Squawk. Listen up. Listen up.”
The cat’s right ear twitched and his eyes narrowed as he turned his attention to Paco. Heidi had visions of white feathers flying and a weeping Mrs. Henderson coming to retrieve her bird.
“Look at me, damn it.” Heidi rattled the cage door. “There is a reporter outside who thinks I have a black panther in here. The guy who shot you posted pictures on the internet. If you understand what I’m saying, you better let me know, because I can’t hide you in here forever, which means...you’re fucked.”
“What if he can’t understand you?” Beth asked softly. “What are we going to do?”
“You’re fucked. Squawk.”
Oye, chata. If you don’t shut that goddamn bird up, I’m going to ring its neck.
Heidi sagged with relief against the chain link gate. The voice she heard in her head was a bass timbre with a very strong, very sexy Spanish accent. She grinned at the cat, then at her sister-in-law.
“Give me the keys.” She held her hand out to Beth, who dithered. “It’ll be okay.”
Beth’s puckered expression showed her disapproval, but she handed over the keys. “Be careful, sis.”
“I will. Go make sure all the blinds are shut tight, and give Mrs. Blake a call. Tell her to stay home today...with pay.”
“And when she asks why?”
“Tell her I’ve decided to take a personal day.”
“But shouldn’t we go about business as usual? Won’t it look suspicious if we don’t?”
She hesitated a
moment. Beth had a point. “Okay. Nix that call, but I really need you here to keep her busy and out of the garage.”
“I can do that.”
“And postpone any appointments that require my attendance.” Beth was experienced enough to handle minor first aid treatments and vaccinations without her. “You don’t mind covering for me, do you? The appointment book should be on her desk.”
“Sure.”
Hopefully, Shirley’s interest over an unsubstantiated sighting of a panther would dissipate by then.
It was true that Ritchie had pulled pranks as a teenager. If she could get the evidence out of the clinic, there would be no proof he wasn’t just pulling a fast one on an ex-girlfriend who happened to be a reporter. Of course, he’d posted the video on YouTube...
“Oh, and one more thing?” Beth stopped, turned and waited. “Before Mrs. Blake arrives, could you run over to that second-hand store and get some clothes for our guest...and crutches if they have some?”
Beth eyed the jaguar before giving a quick nod.
“Thanks.”
“Just be careful.”
Heidi waited for Beth to leave the garage before turning back to the cage. If he was going to attack, she didn’t want her sister-in-law in the path of destruction. “Okay, big guy. We’ve got to get that cast off your leg and see how far you’ve healed. Only way we’re sneaking you out of here is as a human.”
She clicked open the padlock but left it hanging in the latch, still holding the door secure. “You’re going to be a very good boy, aren’t you? Nothing funny. No more games. This is serious. I can’t help you if you don’t cooperate, and I’d rather not have to tranquilize you again.”
He snarled but then closed his eyes and blew out a harsh breath. I have never hurt a woman in my life, and I do not plan to start now.
She pulled the padlock from the latch and let the door swing open. “That’s good, ’cause if you were dumb enough to hurt me, discovery would be the least of your concerns. My family would hunt you down and turn you into roadkill.”
“Roadkill. Squawk.”
The jaguar growled, but he glared at Paco, not her.
You have my word, chata. I’ll not harm a hair on your head. That bird may be another story.
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