“Some of those girls are pretty beat up, Jackie.”
“Well, one of the benefits of being a shifter, is you heal overnight. Broken bones can take a couple of days, but either way, you are as good as new.”
Just then, the bathroom door opened and Elizabeth came out.
“Jackie Todd, I haven’t seen you since your aunt died. I came to her funeral. She was a really great lady. You must miss her a lot. Sorry about your uncle.”
Jackie got up and went to her and gave her a hug. “Thank you, Beth, that means a lot. Have you two eaten yet?”
“Yeah, but I’m still starving.” Beth said.
“So am I.” Franny repeated.
“Well, what would you like to eat, how about I order a couple of pizzas and some beer? I’ll see if Charles wants to join us.” They all laughed. That was exactly what they needed. She called Charles and told him what they wanted to do and he told her to relax, he’d take care of it.
While they waited for Charles, Jackie asked a ton of questions, she could fill Luke in later. “Beth, did you know you were a shifter?”
“Yeah, I found out a couple of years ago, but I didn’t tell anyone. I was adopted and my parents were so freaked out about it, I moved out. They thought I was some kind of werewolf.”
“So you’re a wolf.” Beth nodded. “Do you know how to shift?’
“If I concentrate really hard, but it’s not easy.”
“I’ll teach both of you. I have a girlfriend that’s a grey wolf and she taught me. If you do it the right way, it’s really easy.”
There was a knock at the door. Jackie opened the door and Charles walked in with his arms full of pizza and beer.
Jackie laughed at him. “Here, give me some of those.” He had six extra-large pizzas. “Why did you get so many?”
“You didn’t tell what kind you wanted so I got one of each from their specialty menu.”
Jackie introduced Charles to Franny and Beth. They ate pizza and drank beer. There was another knock on the door and Charles got up to answer it. He looked through the peep hole and could see Luke. He winked at the girls.
“What’s the pass word?” He yelled through the door.
“How about ASSHOLE, open this door, I’ve been looking all over this place for you.”
“Tsk, tsk. Agent Adams, there are ladies present, such language.” He laughed as he opened the door and let him come in. “What’s wrong with your phone? Would you like a piece of pizza and a beer, Agent?”
Luke looked at the two girls and Jackie, then back at Charles. “Ah, hell.” He grabbed a piece of pizza and a beer. They all laughed. Luke just shook his head.
“Are you young ladies old enough to drink?” He knew they were, he just wanted to kid with them.
“How are all the other girls doing, Agent Adams? Are they okay.” Jackie asked.
“They are doing much better now. Maybe I should order pizza and beer for everybody, it seemed to help you girls immensely.” They all laughed. There was another knock at the door.
“This is turning into Grand Central Station, maybe we should move to a conference room.” Charles said as he opened the door. It was Galen, Luke’s right hand man and Cane, the agent from the mid-west, the wolf shifter.
“Jackie, I think we’ll have to order more pizza and beer.’ Everyone laughed. “Come on in Agents.” He introduced everyone. When he got to Beth he stopped. Beth was holding her pizza half way to her mouth, staring at Agent Cane. He looked at Cane and back at Beth. “Luke, I hate to say this, but I think your new man just met his mate.”
Everyone turned to look at Beth and Agent Cane. Charles laughed. “I’ll bet you could set a bomb off in this hotel and neither one of them would know it.”
“Agent Cane?” Luke called. “Cane?” he yelled.
Agent Cane looked around and realized everyone was looking at him. “Sorry Agent Adams, I don’t know what came over me.”
“I do. Agent Cane, I’d like you to meet your mate, Elizabeth Bower.” Luke said.
“What does that mean?” Beth looked at Agent Adams.
“It means that the two of you should get to know each other better, but now really isn’t the best time. Oh, go sit down with her Cane, you’re no good to me if you don’t.”
Everyone laughed. Cane and Beth didn’t take their eyes off each other.
“Agent Adams, how long will you be keeping the ladies here? Franny would like to call her mom and let her know she’s okay.”
“If you think Franny has recovered enough, then it’s okay. Why don’t the two of you go into the room next door and give them a call, the doors open. She can go home tomorrow.”
Jackie looked at Charles and he gave her a wink and a nod that it was okay.
“Agent Adams, before we go, how many of those girls know how to shift, do you know?”
“About half, I think.”
“Before we let them go home, I think they should all be taught how to shift correctly. Beth knows how, but said it’s hard for her, and Franny has never shifted. I think they would be safer if they all know how to shift properly; it might save their lives one day.”
“Are you volunteering for the job?” Luke asked her.
“You know, don’t mind if I do. I had a good teacher and everything is fresh in my mind. Can one of you teach the two young men? If they don’t know how to shift already, I’m sure they would prefer to learn the naked basics from another male.
That made Luke and Galen laugh. “I think you’re right Jackie, that’s a great idea. Do you want to do it with all the girls together, or one on one?”
“I’ll try with all of them first, they can help each other. Come on, Franny, let’s call your folks.” They left and went next door. That left Luke, Galen and Charles in the room. Charles looked around. Cane and Beth were gone.
“Well, Agent Adams, I think you might be short a man for a day or two.” Luke looked around and shook his head.
“Shit.”
Chapter 19
Franny and Jackie finally said good night. Charles was waiting for Jackie in their room. She went straight to the bed and flopped down beside him. “I am so tired,” she sighed.
“I am so proud of you. You handled all those girls like a mother hen with her chicks,” he told her as he leaned over and kissed her.
“More like a momma cat with her kittens, you mean.”
That made him chuckle. He continued to kiss her neck and nibbled her earlobe. That got a moan out of her. “I love you, Jackie Todd. I would follow you to the ends of the earth.” He whispered.
“I love you, Charles McCormick, I would only go to the ends of the earth if you were there waiting for me.” She was already getting breathless. She quickly started to pull off her clothes. Charles was already naked waiting for her and helped her remove them.
She moaned as he laid her back on the bed and slowly moved his mouth to her breast and kissed and sucked each nipple. That made her pussy wet and made her quiver. He slowly made his way to her navel and ran his tongue down her soft rounded belly to her mound. He slid his hands under her butt and raised her up so he could taste her honey. He nibbled on her sweet bud.
“Charles, I need you inside me, please.”
“Your wish is my command, sweetheart.” He moved back up her belly just as slowly as he went down. He knew it would drive her crazy.
“Please.” She begged.
“You have to be patient, sweetheart.” He whispered as he took her mouth and at the same time guided his stiff cock into her wetness.
“Oh, god. You feel amazing.” Jackie could barely get out the words as he started to move. Slowly at first, increasing his thrust every time he pulled out and plunged back into her softness. He could feel her tighten around him, her muscles urging him to go. He held on as long as he could until he felt and heard her start to gasp and he knew it was time.
As he plunged into her one last time, he roared, his eyes golden as he released his love into her. Her pussy milking him
of every drop. He rested his forehead against hers as he caught his breath and leaned on his elbow’s so he wouldn’t crush her.
“I never thought I could ever feel this way. You have made me the happiest man in the world. I love you” He gazed into her emerald green eyes and knew she felt the same. It was late. He lowered himself down beside her and gathered her into his arms. They both fell asleep before anymore could be said.
*****
The next morning, everyone was up bright and early. All the girls ate breakfast in the restaurant next to the hotel and would head for one of the conference rooms in the hotel when they were done. Charles and Jackie joined Luke and Galen for breakfast.
“Any sign of your new man, Agent Adams?” Charles chuckled. “Or is he MIA?” Just then Cane and Beth tried to sneak into the restaurant.
“Busted, you two.” They both stopped and looked at Luke. Cane put his arm around Beth, protectively. “Cane, you’re not here on vacation, you’re here to work. You two get breakfast and then I expect you to report to me. Elizabeth needs to go with the rest of the girls and see Jackie. Understood?”
Cane acknowledged the order. They both sat at the nearest table to order breakfast. Cane knew he wasn’t in trouble, but he would have to kiss some ass to make up for disappearing the previous night. He had just transferred to Luke’s crew and hadn’t even met any of them yet. Meeting his true mate was totally unexpected. Galen got up and went over to join them. It was a perfect time to get to know the newest member of the crew.
“Lighten up, Luke. He did a damn good job yesterday. I understand he had just ridden for six hours straight. When he arrived, you told him to jump, and he said how high. He never gave it a second thought. He went into action and never looked back. I think you’ve got yourself one hell of a new member.”
“Please don’t let him hear you say that; he’ll think he’s special. What were they thinking, sending me a wolf? A wolf in a crew of cats.” That made everyone at the table laugh.
Jackie looked at Luke and then over at Cane. She thought about what Charles had said about the wolves being nothing more than a bunch of big dogs. Cats and dogs, she started to giggle and couldn’t stop. She tried to hide her face behind Charles’ shoulder.
“I’m sorry, I just remembered something funny.” She finally got control of her giggles and settled down.
“Speaking of the case, how much more has to be done?” Charles asked.
“We just caught the hired help. We still need to find and apprehend the ring leaders. There is one more young man missing and we got more girls than we expected. The reports we’ve received haven’t been accurate. I’m afraid we’re going to have to go undercover after all.” Luke sipped his coffee and set it down. “I guess you two will be heading home.”
“After Jackie is sure the girls know what they are doing and we have a funeral to take care of.”
“That reminds me.” Luke looked over at Jackie. “My condolences to you, Jackie. I got the autopsy report first thing this morning. Your uncle didn’t have a drop of alcohol in his system. Apparently, what Mr. Cox said was accurate. Your uncle had given up drinking. He also owned that house, always did. It’s yours now. He had a will registered with the county, everything was left to you.”
Charles put his arm around Jackie. He didn’t have to look; he knew her eyes were filled with tears. He heard a sniffle. “Come here, baby.” He wrapped his arms around her and held her as she quietly cried on his shoulder.
She got ahold of herself and wiped her eyes. “I’m okay. I need to finish up here and get these women into shape.”
“That-a-girl. Let me know if you need any help.” Charles gave her a kiss and let her go. He watched her as she got all the girls together and headed back to the hotel.
“You are a lucky man, Charles. Jackie is amazing. A bobcat and grizzly, who would have guessed. Oh, man, what about kids?”
“Well, if we don’t have any of our own, we’ll adopt. No one ever thinks about the shifter babies that are left behind after hunting season. As rangers, we try to make sure the parents stay in protected zones, but illegal hunters and poachers still get through once in a while. Sad part is, the poachers usually get the young ones too. I think we’ll adopt whether we have kids or not. I think Jackie would love to have a ton of kids.”
“I think she will make a wonderful mother.” Luke remarked.
“What about you, Luke. Ever think you’ll find your mate?”
“I don’t have time for a mate. The job would leave her lonely with me always being gone. It wouldn’t be fair.”
“But Luke, what about her? Is that fair to the one chosen to be with you? She’ll go through life alone; she’ll never find real love.” Charles shook his head, “I think she should be able to decide. Think about it, Luke.”
“I have thought about it, that’s why I think it would be unfair. That’s beside the point, I haven’t found her. My family even tried to arrange a marriage for me. It caused such turmoil that I haven’t spoken to my family in years.”
“Wow, that must be tough. Who was the girl?”
“Why am I telling you this, my best friend doesn’t even know about my family and their bullshit?” Luke told him.
Charles stood up and patted him on the shoulder. “Sometimes, when the right friend comes along, something inside tells you it’s time to talk about it. Any time you want to talk, you know how to get in touch with me. Anytime, Luke.” With that said, Charles went to see if he could help Jackie.
Luke sat there alone, thinking about what Charles said. Lost in thought, he didn’t hear Galen.
“Hey, man. Earth to Luke.” He finally tapped him on the shoulder. Luke looked up at him. “What’s with you lately, your body might be here, but your head is definitely somewhere else.”
“Sorry, I was thinking about something Charles said. I think after this case; I’m going to take some time off.” You could have knocked Galen over with a feather. Never in his lifetime did he ever think he would hear Luke say what he just said. “Think you’ll be able to handle running the crew for a while?”
“Yeah. Sure.” He couldn’t think of anything else to say.
Chapter 20
Charles found Jackie in one of the conference rooms. She had all the women sitting on the floor in front of her while she explained the basics of shifting. He had to admit, Amy Wolf had taught her well. He didn’t disturb her class. He quietly left and went looking for the two young men that needed to be taught as well. He finally found them sitting by the hotel pool.
“Are you two ready to learn how to shift?” The two young men looked to be in their late twenties.
“Sir, I don’t think I’m one of those.” The bigger of the two men told him.
“What do you mean, one of those? A shifter?”
“Yes sir. I watched those girls get beaten. Don’t you think if I was a shifter, I would have tried to help them. It was awful and I couldn’t do anything. I was useless.”
“What’s your name, son?”
“Bradley, sir.”
“Well, Bradley. You might want to thank your lucky stars you couldn’t shift. If you had, you might have been thrown into a snake pit.” Charles told him.
“What’s that, sir?”
“They put you in a pit with another shifter and make you to fight to the death.” Bradley looked sick.
“Bradley, you okay?” Charles told him to put his head between his knees, he looked like he was going to throw up or pass out. He looked at the other boy. “What about you, son, what’s your name? Do you know if you’re a shifter?”
“My name is Donald. My dad was, but he died in the service. I never knew him.”
“What about your mother?”
“I don’t know what happened to her, my grandparents raised me; they weren’t shifters. When I was old enough to leave, I did. I always felt like I didn’t belong. Sir, it was awful what those men were doing to those women. I felt the same way Bradley did, if I could have shifted to h
elp them, I would have.”
“Okay, both of you come with me. Let’s go see what we have.” Charles took them back to the other conference room. He explained to them how to shift. He had listened to Jackie telling the girls how she would get nervous and panic in the middle of a shift. He told them how to shift and would work with them one at a time.
“Donald, do you know what kind of shifter your father was?”
“Some kind of cat, he was special forces in Iraq.”
“Hold on for just a minute.” He pulled out his phone and called Luke.
“Yeah, Charles, what’s up?” Luke answered.
“I need you in conference room two, right away.”
Luke arrived a few minutes later. “What’s wrong Charles?”
“Donald here said his father was a cat in special forces in Iraq. Donald, this is Agent Adams, he’s with the FBI.” They shook hands.
“What was your father’s name, son?”
“Donald James Smitherson, sir,” the boy answered.
“Your father was DJ Smitherson?” The boy nodded. “I knew your father. He was part of my squad. He was a good man, one of the best.”
“What happened to him, sir? No one ever told me.” Donald asked.
“Ah, your dad and four others were out on patrol. All five of them were hit by sniper fire. We took out the sniper, but we couldn’t save any of the men in the patrol. I’m sorry. We lost five exceptional shifters that day.”
Charles didn’t ask. He knew the only way to kill a shifter is with a head shot or a shot to the heart. He didn’t want to know and he didn’t think Donald should either.
“Sir? What kind of shifter was my dad?”
“He was a cougar. I have a friend in California that’s a cougar. He was also in my squad and he was one of your father’s closest friends. I’m sure he’d like to meet you someday.”
“I’d like that.” Donald told him.
“Are you talking about Jeremy?” Charles asked and Luke nodded.
Bearly Saved My Heart: Quake Lake Bears (Madison Range Shifters Book 1) Page 10