Jaguar Fever

Chapter 17

Wade opened the bathroom door and smiled as Maya yanked the towel she’d been using to dry her hair around her sweet, naked body. He stepped inside and closed the door.

Taking her face in his hands, he kissed her soundly. “Stay with your brother and Kat until I return. No exceptions.” He didn’t want her searching for him again, should she think he was in trouble.

“Be careful,” she whispered, wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him again.

He jerked her towel off her body, dropped it, and ran his hands over her breasts. She smelled like oranges, strawberries, and pineapple. “Hmm, Maya, about this exclusivity when it comes to seeing others…”

She smiled against his mouth, rubbing against his body and purring. “Return to me quickly.”

He groaned and tongued her mouth, then kissed her cheek, hating to leave her. “Stay safe.”

“And you.”

When he left her and shut the bathroom door, he found his brother had already piled his clothes on the coffee table and shifted. Connor was looking out the patio door at the jungle.

Wade said, “We’ll return.” He dropped the towel around his waist and shifted, then headed for the patio door.

Connor opened it for them. “See you in a while and we can firm up plans.”

Wade bowed his head in acknowledgment. Then he and his brother leaped from the deck into the brush below, blending into the dappled rainforest like two spotted shadows.

The two brothers continued back toward their cabana, searching the area as they went, looking for any sign that either man had been anywhere nearby recently. Wade and David swung around to the scene where Wade and the female jaguar had been drugged. They found the scent of the shifter from the previous night and the trail leading to the river where Lion Mane had stood on the bank, most likely searching for his dead companions.

There was no sign of any bodies in the daylight. The sun was beating down on the dark river, the trees stretching over the water, while a couple of dark grayish-brown crocodiles basked on the opposite shore. An egret spied the jaguar brothers and took flight.

Wade and his brother headed back toward their resort. It was daylight and not safe for them to run around in their jaguar forms. Anyone could be taking a day trip into the rainforest and catch sight of not one, but two big jaguar males.

Nudging at his brother to stay hidden in the relative safety of the rainforest, Wade loped out to the bathroom window of their cabana and leaped in through the frame. Fortunately, they’d left the bathroom door shut, because insects now filled the small room.

He shifted and opened the bathroom door, then closed it so he could check out the cabana. He heard a thump in the bathroom as David slammed against the toilet, making a splashing noise, and Wade chuckled.

He didn’t smell Lion Mane or Smith in the place. He suspected they were afraid to come near the cabana.

David soon joined him, one foot dripping wet. Wade said, “Didn’t miss the toilet, eh?”

“Damn thing moved since the last time I jumped through that window.”

Wade chuckled. “Yeah, it has a way of doing that. They haven’t been here. Let’s get dressed and check out Mylar and Smith’s place.”

“We should have looked for Bettinger and Lion Mane’s trail after they dropped in on Mylar and Smith and then left.” David was already sitting on his bed, the box springs squeaking as Wade was doing the same thing in his room, pulling on his boots. “I figured that the men had just arrived in the country like we had. When I thought it over, I assumed the shifters wouldn’t have stayed with the humans.”

“You’re right,” Wade said, heading out of his room. “So we check out their old place and then see if we can find a scent trail to another cabana.”

When they arrived at the backside of Mylar’s cabana, David provided security while Wade peered through the bathroom window before he entered the place. He shook his head. “They’ve left. Nothing’s on the counter. Place is clean, fresh towels on the towel rack. No toothbrushes, shaving kits, nothing. It looks as though Smith vacated the place after they discovered Bettinger and Mylar were dead, and he took Mylar’s stuff with him as a precaution, maybe dumping it somewhere along the way.”

A gnawing feeling of dread filled Wade. He’d rather they found the bastards and ended this right here and now.

Maya finally left the bathroom, her hair pulled back in a ponytail and dressed in hiking boots, jeans, and a cotton top. She frowned to see her brother still there and expected to get another lecture from him.

He was sitting on her couch, waiting. His gaze held hers. “Did you hear the plan?”

“I did. For what it’s worth, I think it’s a good plan.”

Connor nodded. “Kat and I were talking about what we’d do with our remaining time here, since we can’t run as jaguars.”

Maya let out a heavy breath and joined Connor on the couch. “Is she disappointed?”

“A little. But she’ll be fine. She just wants to make sure she gets her fill of the jungle before we return. We won’t be coming back until after she’s had the twins, and not until they’re a little older. She’s been doing really well.”

“Yeah, when she’s a jaguar, you said.”

“The cave-tubing trip is a tour-guided activity that includes a seven-mile water ride. I think she’ll do fine on the water ride. It’s just the hiking through the jungle and the cave as a human that might be a little much. But she’s in excellent shape from being in the Army and running as a jaguar. She insists she can do it.”

Maya bit her lip. “Okay, let’s plan on her keeping to the jungle in her cat form. We’ll carry anything she needs for the cave tubing.”

Now they just had to wait for Wade and his brother to come back and hope that nothing bad happened to them while they searched for Lion Mane and the other smuggler.

Wade and David spent a couple of hours searching for the scent of Lion Mane and Smith, but they couldn’t locate either in the jungle or around the cabanas.

“They have to have taken a vehicle—a bus or rental car—out of here,” David finally said. “They might have packed up their bags and gone somewhere else. The Amazon, even.”

Wade didn’t feel right about it. He stared past Smith’s cabana at the jungle beyond. “Bettinger and Lion Mane were together at the club.”

“Yeah.”

“We were together. Maya’s cousins, Huntley and Everett, were with one another,” Wade reasoned.

“Yeah, so…?”

“You and I are brothers. So are Huntley and Everett. If Maya had been with anyone else when she went to the club, she would have been with her brother and sister-in-law, had they been home,” Wade said. His thoughts were headed down a dark path that he didn’t want to consider.

“I don’t follow you.”

“We’re thinking these guys, Bettinger and Lion Mane, were cohorts in a criminal act. They’re shifters. But what if they were brothers?”

“Shit,” David said, turning pale. “If he was close to Bettinger…”

“Lion Mane might want revenge for his brother’s death. I was thinking he was just working with the guy, no great loss. They might have been friends, but not friends enough to get himself killed over. A brother? Possibly.” Wade would if someone killed his brother.

David stared at Wade, recognition in his eyes. “He might have left the area already. The evidence points in that direction. That he’s gone.”

“What if he’s not?”

“We’re back to the plan of trying to catch him if he attempts to go after Maya on the excursion,” David said slowly. “We need to get back to her place.”

Wade was already heading in the direction of their cabana. “I’ll get our bags. You go check us out.”

David stalked toward the main lodge while Wade went to their cabana. He hastily packed and then, with their bags in hand, he pulled open the door. A man stood in the doorway, his gun pointed at Wade.

Narrowing his eyes, Wade took in the tall, scrawny man, his blue jeans muddy from the knees down, his camouflage shirt smelling of sweat and ripe body odor. The man’s hair was plastered against his scalp, greasy and long, around the balding crown.

Wade took a deep breath, smelled the man’s odor again, and said, “Smith, I presume.”

The hunter who’d been staying with Mylar was just as dangerous as his now-dead friend.

Wade had no intention of attempting to reason with the man. He backed up as if agreeing to whatever Smith had in mind. He had to get the hunter inside the room. Once the guy shut the door behind him, Wade lunged like a jaguar shifter in human form. Smith’s pale blue eyes rounded, his mouth gaping as he tried to raise the gun.

The human was too late. Wade struck him hard in the nose, breaking it with a crunch. Smith screamed in pain but didn’t release the weapon.

Wade grabbed for the man’s arm, yanking it so quickly and sharply behind the man’s back that he heard a snap—the arm breaking. The gun clattered to the floor, the muffled pop of a round striking the mahogany leg of the coffee table.

With the constant jungle chatter, Wade was certain he and Smith wouldn’t draw attention with any noise they made. At this time of morning, many guests would have already started out on day treks and wouldn’t be in the vicinity. Only animals with keen hearing would hear a scuffle.

Smith collapsed to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks as Wade finally released his arm. “Who sent you?”

The human glowered at Wade. Either he was acting tough, or he was just too stupid to believe Wade wouldn’t punish him more.

Wade, standing in front of Smith, tilted his head to the side and scowled at the bastard. With the rap sheet he had, the guy was probably the one usually towering over a cowering victim. “You know where Mylar went, right?” Wade asked.

Smith’s eyes widened.

“Yeah. You got it. You could join him next, though I’m sure there’s not much left of him. The crocs and piranhas aren’t choosy.”

The man swallowed, his Adam’s apple bobbing.

“Who… sent… you?” Wade demanded.

The sound of the window being yanked up in the bathroom had Wade twisting around to look.

Smith lunged for the gun with his uninjured arm. Grabbing it in his left hand, he turned to shoot Wade.

“Damn it.” The guy must be ambidextrous, Wade thought. He seized the man’s left arm, fully intending to break it as well, but the gun went off.

The man collapsed, clutching his chest. Not hesitating, Wade jerked the gun from the man’s hand and aimed toward the bathroom down the hall.

“Just me!” David said, hands in the air. “I heard the fight and didn’t want to get shot coming in through the front door.” He looked down at Smith. “That must be Smith.”

“Yeah,” Wade muttered, looking back at the human, who was now lying on his back, his eyes open and sightless.

Wade pushed the man with his booted foot. The guy was dead, damn it to hell and back.

“Where’s the bullet wound?” David asked, peering down at the man.

Wade pushed the man over with his boot, saw no sign of blood, and reached down to feel for a pulse. None. Wade let out his breath in a huff. “Hell, there isn’t any bullet wound. He must have had a heart attack.”

David gave an exasperated sigh. “Don’t tell me you didn’t learn who the buyer was.”

“I didn’t. Nor did I get a name from him as to who Lion Mane is. Let’s drop him off at the river and get out of here. Are we checked out?”

“Yeah.” David helped carry Smith through the bathroom, and the two of them shoved the body through the window into the jungle out back where it was less likely to be seen. “We need to dump him and get back to Maya’s resort. Any sign of the shifter?”

“No. That’s what has me worried. I’m thinking that this guy was left behind to take care of us when we returned, while the shifter might have gone after Maya.”

“The shifter’s smart. He probably thinks Maya is easy pickings compared to the two of us,” David said. “What if he has a gun like this guy did?”

“They’ll think of something.” Wade didn’t want to second-guess the situation. He just wanted to dispose of the body and get back to Maya and the others quickly.

“Take it easy on Lion Mane if we get hold of him, will you?” David asked in a teasing manner. “I really want to get on Martin’s good side this time.”

Wade shook his head as the two carried Smith to the river. He knew David didn’t care about getting on Martin’s “good” side. In a situation like this, all he cared about was that Wade and he came out on top—alive and uninjured.

And right now, all they were concerned about was getting rid of the evidence and getting back to the Andersons in time.