Boyd_McCullough’s Jamboree_Erotic Jaguar Shapeshifter Romance

by Kathi S. Barton

  Just as he was ready to pop his head out from the tree he’d been hiding behind, one of the cops came out of the same crop of trees. He was making his way to the house, and that led Ross to believe that they had no idea that he wasn’t in there any longer. Laughing to himself, he made his way to the unsuspecting cop and cut his throat before he could make a sound.

  The blood stained the pure white snow a nice shade of pink. But the more that he laid there, bleeding out, the redder the snow became. If he’d had more time, he would have played with the man, but he was being pursued and didn’t have time to be caught. Not that they stood a chance—Ross had things to do, and they weren’t going to get done by having himself a little fun right now.

  The address for the doctor was only a few blocks away. After stripping the cop of all his guns and shit, Ross started walking toward the sidewalk that he’d been avoiding all morning. There were still people about, but they were no longer the residents that lived there. Now he’d bet that they were cops just like the one that he’d killed.

  He didn’t actually walk on the concrete that was clean of snow, but kept it in sight as he made his way around the little neighborhood. He was just coming up on the road that led into the place when he saw the woman again.

  Lauren was obviously in charge. She was a dyke, he knew that. No man would want to be around a woman as butch as she was. Then he remembered that she’d told him she had a husband. Christ, he must have been a whipped pussy, he thought, and watched as she ordered the men around like they’d had their dicks removed.

  Again, there were too many witnesses for him to take care of her. He thought about just shooting her from where he stood. Ross even took out his handgun and aimed it at her head. But he’d miss the fun he was going to have with her, and that was what he wanted more than Reilly being dead.

  “Next time, bitch. Next time you won’t be so lucky.” He was still laughing at how easy it had been to get around her and her dickless men when he hit the main drag of the town. Ross had shit planned now, and there would be no stopping him.

  Chapter 9

  Boyd was still at the office when he heard from Lauren. She told him that she thought that Ross was on his way to him. He asked her how she’d come up with that.

  He did a search at the house that he’d been in by using the computer there. We were lucky in that the family had a surveillance camera inside as well as out. The man of the house was headed home to confront the person who broke into their home when he recognized Ross. He called the police right away and they called me. Boyd asked what he was to do now, that he was at his office. Don’t leave there until I can come to get you. I think that I might have set this in motion when I spoke to him the other day. Just stay put.

  Gladly, but you should know that I have a gun. Lauren laughed. Well, I didn’t want to be caught with my dick out, as you were so fond of telling me. When you gave me lessons on how to shoot the sucker you also said to be prepared for the unpreparable. I think I get it now.

  Boyd, my dear brother, I think that I love you. If he gets to you, which I can’t see how he would, kill him. Don’t try and wound him because you hate to kill. It’s kill him with a head shot or he’s not going to have any trouble coming after you. And I do not want to be the one to tell Reilly that you got hurt on my watch. He said that his mom would be none too happy either. Yeah, but lately I’m more afraid of Reilly than I am your mom. Not that I’m afraid of her, but you understand. There is a quiet deadliness about Reilly that is going to burst out soon.

  He hadn’t noticed that, but then he’d never pissed her off, even going so far as to pick up dog food for the newest member of his household and a pretty blue collar with his name on it. Wendall was the reason that he’d been late going to the hospital today. The dog had to go out when Boyd was ready to go, and he didn’t want him peeing on the carpet.

  Boyd was looking out the window to the street beyond when he felt the gun to the back of his head. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could not get shot here, but he was careful about what he did now. Putting up his hands, he turned around when he was told to and looked at the man standing before him. Hawkins had scared the fucking shit out of him. Boyd wanted to knock the shit out of him, and his quiet voice had him as tense as ever.

  “That gun does you no good whatsoever if it’s on the desk when you’re over here.” He asked him what was going on. “Ross is close to here. I’ve come to be a good brother and tell you to be ready for him.”

  “Why not go out there and blow his ass away? I mean, you’re good at that, right?” He smiled at him, and Boyd felt the scariness of it all the way to the bottom of his feet. “What’s going on here, Hawkins?”

  “You’re going to have to kill him, Boyd. Not me.” He started to ask him why it had to be him. “Because I’m not here. I’m in DC working on a project over there. If I have to do this, I will, but it’s going to cost me a lot of man hours if I show up on the news as a killer. The man I’m going after will see me, then I’ll have to start from scratch in getting information for Jarvis.”

  “I thought you didn’t work for him anymore.” He said that this was special. That he and Lauren were finishing up this one project for him. “And you’re going to kill a man for him.”

  Hawkins said nothing as he picked up his gun from the desk. When he slid the slide that took out the one in the chamber, he handed it to him, nozzle down. Then he faded into the woodwork. Not like he left the room—he simply became a part of the woodwork in his office. He was scary fucking magical, and Boyd had to tear his eyes away from the wall. He couldn’t see anything that indicated that Hawkins was still there.

  As far as he could tell they were alone in the building. He’d done what he’d come here for, thinking, as he knew he shouldn’t have, that he was safe—Ross didn’t know about him and that would keep him out of the line of sight. But he’d never thought of being searched for on the Internet, and that it would bring Ross to his doorstep. He was glad now that Reilly had stayed home to measure rooms for the insurance company.

  The click of a door opening was loud in the office where he was. Boyd was sure that it had come from one of the rooms down the hall from him, and picked up his gun to hold it at the ready. Whoever was coming in, they were going to be full of holes as soon as they showed themselves. Boyd was a little on edge.

  He saw the shadow before he saw the person. They were tall, whoever it was, and he could see the outline of something when he held it to his side. As soon as Jon touched his mind, he nearly screamed.

  It’s me. He let out a breath that nearly had him falling to the floor, he was so relieved. I’m not coming in there until you’re calm. But I’ve come to help you should you let me. I’ve already helped your Reilly. She willingly took some of my blood, and is excited and scared to be able to make a knife out of her foot. I asked why her foot, and she said that she wanted to kick Ross in the balls with it. She’s almost as scary as Aunt Lauren.

  You have no idea. He felt his heartrate begin to slow down to almost normal speed as Jon came into the room with him. “You nearly had me shoot you full of holes.”

  “It would have healed.” He stared at the young man who had come to mean a great deal to him. He would have healed, yes, but Boyd would have forever known in his heart and mind that he’d done the hurting of him. And for as much as he loved Jon, he would hate to have hurt him ten times more. “You’re thinking too hard. I would like for you to taste a bit of my blood. That way you can become a chair if you want when he gets here and trip him up. If he’s down on the floor, he won’t be able to hurt anyone after you shoot him. You can be whatever you want or need.”

  “He’s coming here.” Jon said that he was very close. Within hearing him distance. “What is your plan for here? I mean, are you going to be something in this office as well? I don’t think I could take that at the moment. I’m a little on edge.”

  “You’re a lot on edge, but you’ll be just fine. And no, I’m not staying. I ha
ve some Christmas shopping to do. And the sooner the world is rid of this man, the better we can enjoy the day together.” He’d completely forgotten about shopping with all this going on. He had something for his family, but nothing at all for Reilly. “She thinks the car is her gift.”

  “You’re reading my mind.” He said that he was too stressed for him not to be able to. “What does Reilly want more than anything else for Christmas?”

  “She thinks there is no gift that anyone could give her now that she has you in her life. As well as a good home. And having her father on the mend. When Christmas morning comes, she will be content to be with your family and to be safe in your arms.” Like a fool in love, he grinned. “You are a sap.”

  “Thanks. Wait until someday when you meet your mate. I’m going to have so much fun with you and her, you’re going to hate me.” Jon just smiled at him and put out his hand. “Will I really be all right here? Without your help?”

  “Yes. And no.” He didn’t like the sound of those odds. “Take the blood I freely offer you, Uncle Boyd. If you have no use for anything that comes with it, then that is good too. But would you rather have it when you need it, or wish that you did when you don’t?”

  As much as he wanted to ask him what that meant, he heard the door in the back of the building open, then close. Taking Jon’s hand in his, he used the other to cut a small slice across his palm. It seemed like a great deal of blood, but Boyd licked the wound and was glad to see it close. Then he just disappeared. Unlike Hawk did, he really was gone.

  To appear as if there was nothing out of the ordinary, Boyd sat at his desk. There was nothing that he could be doing, but all he could focus on was that the man down the hall was coming for him. When Jon told him to shift, his cat consumed him like he’d been at a starting gate and the gun had gone off. He might have thought to be a chair, but he’d had no practice at it and was afraid that he’d only make it have three legs instead of.... Boyd stopped his mind from babbling before his mouth did.

  As his cat he moved out of the room and into the hall. There was no one there, but he could smell blood. Ross had killed someone; he didn’t know why he knew that, but he was on alert when he saw the movement in front of an open examining room.

  Moving with the stealth only his cat would have been able to use, he nudged the room open and found it to be empty. Raising his nose to the air, he could smell that Ross had been in here recently and had moved out of the room after checking behind the door. There were three rooms down at this end of the short hall, and all of them had the doors open.

  The second room was also empty, but there was no scent of blood in it. Moving to the next door he saw a shadow again and stilled his movement just as he cleared the doorway into the room. Boyd wasn’t sure if he was just seeing things or there really was someone in the building with him. But as he started to think he was actually seeing things, he saw Ross.

  He was covered in blood. His hair looked as if he had washed it in the blood of someone, then combed his hair so that it would look good with it. His back was to him, but Boyd could see the splatter on his pants from this angle, as well as how his shirt was torn in the back and there were scratches, long ones, that looked like a woman’s nails had done it.

  Sneaking up behind Ross, he could smell something else. Something that all his life he’d never smelled on another human before—the scents of the people who had touched him. Not only that, but he could also name the people, why they had brushed up against this man, and who the woman and man that he’d killed had been. Before he moved in to hit him with his cat, he told Lauren what he knew about the couple.

  Where the fuck are you? He told her that he was in his office, and that right this moment, he was stalking Ross. Why? What are you—? So help me Christ, Boyd, if I have to come there and pick up your broken body off the floor, you’re going to be praying for death when I’m done with you.

  I love you as well. He moved closer to the man, smelling his body odor, what he’d had for lunch, as well as the madness that was as much a part of him as his skin was. He’s killed two people that are right now in a dumpster on Twenty-First Street. They’ve both been killed with the gun that he took from the first man, a cop, and he has enough ammo now, at least in his mind, to take you down. And you are his target. Reilly is as well, but you are the one that he’s doing all this for.

  I’m coming to you. Do not engage. Do you hear me, Boyd? Do not engage with this man. He’s mine. Just as he was going to tell her that he had this, Ross turned. Boyd told Lauren that it was much too late for him to back down now. Mother fuck and shoot the gardener.

  He closed out the conversation with her. Not because he wanted to, but he was concentrating on the man in front of him. Ross looked like he’d gone a couple of rounds with the people that he’d murdered, and that neither of them had gone down easy. Ross backed up from him and gave a little scream.

  The first time he shot at him, Boyd was able to leap out of the way. The second shot, this one aimed for his head, only singed his fur. He could read where he was aiming, and when he fired at random, just firing at him like he didn’t care if he hit him or not, Boyd stayed very still and only took one of the bullets. But not only did it not hurt, it healed as fast as the bullet popped out of his body. He’d have to think on that later.

  He leaped at Ross with his claws extended and tore at his face. The gun was now empty, so his cat had no problems with toying with the man. Boyd begged for him to just end it, but it was as if he’d taken on a personality of a real jaguar and was playing with his food. The next time he leapt at him, Boyd told his cat to end it. As soon as he bit down on this throat, he knew that it was done.

  ~~~

  Reilly was as calm as she could be with all this shit going on in her life. As she sat in the outer room and waited for Lauren to come and get her, or Boyd to come out to tell her that it was all right, she realized that she wasn’t no way near being calm. Colin hadn’t said much when he brought her here, only that Ross was dead, and that Boyd was fine.

  Fine? She wasn’t even sure what that meant anymore. But he wasn’t dead, and he was going to come home with her. That’s what she was told, and she was going to by God make them let him. They had a life to live, and she wasn’t going to see him behind bars. Not for her.

  She thought about the visit that she’d had with her dad. Today he’d been not just awake, but he’d been well enough that he could talk to her. And the things that he’d told her had turned her body to ice. Ross had been the one that had shoved her father over the banister.

  “I didn’t know who he was until I saw the news report about what he’d done to you. And I don’t think I’d ever met him before until I turned at the last moment and saw him. He mentioned something about this being his playground. I had no idea until that other woman came to see me. Lauren McCullough. She’s really scary, isn’t she? Remind me never to piss her off.” Reilly had promised him that she’d remind him if he did her. “Anyway, when I told her what this Ross person had said to me, she asked me if I’d run into blood or anything in the house before the attack. I hadn’t, but she said she was sending her team over there to check it out.”

  Reilly didn’t even want to think about what she was checking for when she had a team looking around. While she’d heard some of the things that had been going on with Ross, she didn’t want to know too much. Just knowing that he’d killed two more people before Boyd did him was enough to make her want to kill the man again. The officer that had first arrived here after she did came to stand in front of her. He looked embarrassed or pissed off; she didn’t care. Standing up, she put her finger on his chest and was glad when he started backing away from her.

  “You had better have something to tell me along the lines of I can see my husband now.” He shook his head and she had had it. “You told me ten minutes. It’s been four hours. You told me to be patient, that it would be soon. Again, four hours ago. Ten minutes ago you were here telling me that things were going sl
owly, and when SA Lauren McCullough came here, then I’d get to see my husband. That, as I said, was ten minutes ago. You either take me back there to see him, or so help me, I’m going to tear your nose off and stick it up your ass. That way you can smell yourself every time you fart.”

  “Reilly.” She turned to look at Lauren, and was completely mortified that she was laughing. And she knew it was at her. “Reilly, would you come with me please? Boyd would like to talk to you. But don’t touch him.”

  “Why the fuck not? You’ve had him all day. I need him, Lauren.” She told her why she couldn’t touch him. “What do you mean, his cat won’t let him shift back? I thought that Boyd was the cat.”

  “Mostly they are one person. But when Boyd’s cat killed Ross, Boyd sort of stepped out.” She asked what that was supposed to mean. “Boyd is a physician, and his job it to save lives, not kill people. I think the cat is still protecting him from himself.”

  “You mean as long as the cat feels that Boyd might be in danger, he’s not going to let him shift until all the danger is gone.” Lauren said that’s what she thought. “And what is the danger that his cat might be feeling?”

  “I don’t know.” Reilly wondered if Lauren had ever said those words before, and decided that right now might not be the time to ask. “Even I can’t make him shift, and I should have supreme power over him.”

  Lauren was the leap leader. When Reilly had first come to this family, she’d thought it odd that there was a woman at the top of the leap, a bunch of cats, especially when she had only been turned into one and not born. Rich had told her that it was the highest honor anyone had ever had since he’d been born. After getting to know Lauren, she wondered why she wasn’t running the country, she was that good.

  “What can I do?” Again, she told her that she didn’t know, but that they were out of options at this point. “And he has to shift now, why?”