“Huh, well, it’s possible he was seeing her while he had his mate confined to the house,” Howard said. “I wouldn’t be surprised at anything we might learn concerning him.”

  They waited that afternoon, listening for Benny’s car, but he didn’t return. They continued to while away the time, not wanting to go out as jaguars until night fell. They took turns napping so they could stay up that night. When it was dark enough, Howard and Val ran as jaguars while Jillian and Rowdy watched Benny’s cabin.

  But all Val and Howard found were Benny’s old scent trails. When they returned, they saw his car parked at the cabin and heard wild lovemaking going on in one of the bedrooms.

  Val sighed, and then she and Howard ran back to his cabin. There, they shifted and dressed.

  “I guess when they get back together, the sex makes all the waiting worthwhile,” Val said, disappointed. She had hoped Izzie would give up on Benny, but Val didn’t want her to fight with him either, in case that could make him angry enough to kill her.

  “Yeah, here I thought you might have swayed her into thinking he wasn’t worth being with,” Howard said.

  Jillian shook her head. “We won’t give up.”

  “I’m going back to my cabin, and we can try again early tomorrow morning,” Val said.

  “Night, Val. Sleep well.” Jillian yawned.

  “I’ll walk you back,” Howard said to Val.

  “I’ll be fine. Get your rest. I want to be out there early.”

  “Gotcha. See you before first light,” Howard said.

  “I’ll head out with her,” Rowdy said. He left her at her cabin before he went off in the dark with a flashlight to find his way to his own. Val admired him for not being afraid of the dark or the rain forest when he couldn’t see like they could.

  * * *

  Val was normally an early riser, but she’d gotten up especially early. She was determined to catch Benny this time and couldn’t believe she’d missed Howard’s text messages yesterday morning. This time, she had her phone in the bathroom while she showered. She suspected Howard hadn’t risen as early this morning and hoped she wouldn’t have to wait long for him to join her. She would have just gone off on her own already. Intending to run over to his and Jillian’s cabin and wake him, she opened her front door some, shifted, and leaped to the bottom of the steps.

  And ran straight into a large, male jaguar. Not Benny. Not anyone she knew.

  Shocked to see him, she gulped and didn’t even have time to react. But she knew from the predatory gleam in his eyes that he wasn’t there to be friends with her.

  The jaguar tore into her, biting her in the shoulder, then struck her on the head with his deadly paw.

  * * *

  Early that morning, Howard texted Val to let her know he was headed over to her place. She didn’t text back, but he was making sure he took her with him this time no matter what. She was probably in the shower again.

  He texted Rowdy after that: Val and I are taking an early morning jog to stake out Benny’s cabin. Jillian’s up and she said you could come over and visit with her before we return and have breakfast.

  Howard wasn’t sure if Rowdy would even be awake at this early hour. But he’d feel better if Jillian and Rowdy could watch each other’s backs in case they had trouble while he and Val were out.

  Rowdy texted: I’ll be right over. Thanks.

  Howard finished his coffee. “Rowdy will be over in a few minutes, Jillian.”

  “Be safe and keep Val safe.”

  “I sure intend to.” He wondered what Jillian and Rowdy would talk about. Jaguars versus wolves? What life as one of them was like? The pros and cons of being a shifter versus being a human? Maybe murder investigations.

  Howard stripped out of his clothes in the bedroom and shifted. When he left the bedroom, Jillian opened the front door for him, and he raced outside and into the trees to reach Val’s cabin. All he could think of was connecting with Val and possibly eliminating Benny this morning.

  When he reached her cabin, he didn’t see any sign of her, but her door was wide open. Which gave him pause. He smelled a new male jaguar’s scent and, damn it, blood! Hell.

  Already his adrenaline was roaring through his veins. The male’s scent wasn’t Benny’s. Howard heard rustling inside Val’s bedroom. He ran inside the cabin, thinking it had to be her, but he smelled the man’s scent all the way through the cabin. As soon as he reached the bedroom, he saw a naked, muscular man searching through Val’s things. Heart thundering, Howard was ready to kill the bastard. The man turned to see Howard coming for him. The man’s mouth was bloodied, and his steely blue eyes widened right before he shifted into a golden jaguar.

  Howard slammed into the jaguar, conscious that he needed to keep him alive to learn where Val was. He didn’t want to consider that she could be dead. The man wasn’t injured. Which meant he had to have wounded Val, and she hadn’t had the chance to strike back at him.

  Filled with white-hot rage, Howard sank his teeth into the jaguar’s flank. The cat was moving so much that Howard was having a time getting a firm hold to take him down. This asshole could have easily taken out an unprepared female jaguar, but he wouldn’t stand a chance against Howard. Not as angry as he was. Even so, the cat’s teeth grabbed hold of Howard’s shoulder. Lucky damn strike for the cat, but he wouldn’t get another.

  Howard whipped around, growling, intent on getting hold of the cat’s skull. They tussled, claws gouging, trying to get purchase to hold on to each other so they could bite at will. It would be better if Howard could just strike and not leave a bite that said a jaguar killed the man, but it was too late for that. The cat was wearing plenty of bite marks. The jaguar had hold of him, but Howard struck out with his paw, slamming it against the cat’s head. The other jaguar released his hold on Howard, looking dazed for a second, then lunged for another showdown. Howard leaped straight into the air, calculating where the other cat would be, landed on top of him, dug his claws into the cat’s flesh, and bit the cat in the skull, crushing it. There was no chance of questioning the bastard about Val.

  Without wasting another second, Howard raced through the cabin. He didn’t smell Val’s blood inside, so the bastard must have injured her outside and taken her somewhere else. If she could have, she would have crawled to his and Jillian’s cabin for help. And that had him sweating it out, praying she was still alive.

  He leaped out of the cabin door, landing on the path below the cabin, and raced around the area, feeling panicked and searching earnestly for Val. He was glad he’d asked Rowdy to stay with Jillian, in case Benny had anything to do with this. More of these men could be here, ready to take them out if they realized Val wasn’t on her own. He suspected they believed she was a single Enforcer agent here by herself.

  His heart thundering, Howard kept smelling blood but not Val’s scent. She would have been wearing hunter’s spray to run with him this morning. He was afraid the blood he was smelling was hers. She wouldn’t have disappeared otherwise. And the man was wearing blood where he’d bitten someone before Howard killed him.

  Howard wanted to call out to Val in his jaguar’s roar, but he couldn’t in case others were holding her hostage. They might kill her if they knew he was coming to aid her.

  He had to believe she was alive. Injured, but alive.

  When he reached the river, he saw a jaguar body. Val’s.

  His heart nearly gave out.

  She wasn’t moving at all. His mouth dry as sand, he ran toward her. She hadn’t shifted into her human form, which meant she wasn’t dead, but she could still be close to death. That’s when he saw movement in the river and turned to look. Two black Morelet’s crocodiles were swimming toward the shore, their long, ridged tails sweeping the brackish water back and forth. One of the crocodiles was nearly ten feet in length, the other around eight feet. Either could kill Val in the shape she was in. They were a danger to humans, not normally to jaguars, but with Val lying there unresponsive and bleeding, she would be easy prey.

  Howard wouldn’t have enough time to shift into human form and carry her away from the river before the first crocodile reached her. He nuzzled her face to tell her he was there for her if she was conscious. She didn’t respond, but he didn’t have time to stay with her. He ran full force to meet up with the larger crocodile, which was closer.

  Jaguars were stalk-and-ambush predators, unlike other big cats that chased down their prey. But crocodiles were also ambush predators and coordinated with one another to go after their prey. Which meant Howard had to ensure the other crocodile didn’t attack him when he went to take out the bigger one.

  It would have been much easier, and safer, for Howard to attack from the back of the crocodile, grab the beast with his claws, and bite into his head. That’s how a jaguar would normally take one down. Howard couldn’t sneak up on the crocodile, so he had to watch for the jaws of the beast. He leaped nearly twenty feet, hoping that maneuver would help him kill the first of the crocodiles. Howard landed on the croc’s back, but he was turned the wrong way. He whipped around to kill the croc as he would have done if he’d been in the right position. Not that the crocodile was waiting for him to get into the correct killing form.

  It whipped around, trying to bite at Howard, but Howard was too agile, too focused on protecting Val. His claws dug into the croc’s sides while he struggled to hold on to the fighting reptile.

  The croc thrashed to return to the water, the smaller one coming to his aid. The smaller one was quicker than the other, but Howard bit into the larger croc’s head and crushed its skull. Then he whipped around to take care of the other menace.

  The croc’s jaws were wide open, but then it began backing up. Howard snarled and struck at it with his paws, claws extended, needing to force the croc to leave so he was safe to take care of Val. The croc suddenly twisted around, and sweeping its tail back and forth, it slipped into the river and swam away.

  Relieved but worried about Val, Howard surveyed the murky water for any other crocs. Seeing none, he turned and ran to Val. He smelled her, nuzzled his face against hers, and licked her nose, trying to get her to stir. She was bleeding, but not badly. The other jaguar must have knocked her out with a swipe of his paw. Howard prayed she didn’t have a severe head trauma.

  He shifted. “Val, can you hear me? It’s me. Howard. Thor. I’m your guardian, here to protect you.”

  Her eyes opened, and she even gave him a small smile, her whiskers testing the air, her nose taking in deep breaths of him, although she couldn’t smell his scent because of the hunter’s spray.

  “The shifter who attacked you is dead. I’ll carry you to my cabin. Rowdy and Jillian can look after you. I need to get rid of the dead guy.”

  She closed her eyes as if she was too tired to deal with any of this.

  “Do you know who he was?”

  She didn’t respond, and that worried Howard all over again. He lifted her into his arms and walked back to the cabin as fast as he was able to carry her, trying not to jar her too much. He just hoped he wouldn’t run into Benny or any other jaguars on the way. But he sure wondered if this guy and Benny were in league. Howard would have preferred to question the man who had injured Val first, but that hadn’t been an option. The guy had to have known he was living on borrowed time, and Howard was certain he wouldn’t have given information freely anyway. The priority had been to find Val, so Howard hadn’t had time to play games with the jaguar. He just hoped Rowdy didn’t give him trouble over killing the man.

  As soon as he reached his and Jillian’s cabin, Howard called out, “We need some help here.” He couldn’t get the door open on his own, and he didn’t want to put Val down on the porch to open the door. He kept his voice low so it wouldn’t carry. Though the proliferation of trees and vegetation muffled sounds, Jillian would be able to hear him because of her close proximity and enhanced wolf hearing.

  The door opened and Jillian gasped. “I’ll get my first aid kit. You smell like you tangled with a caiman or a crocodile. And you smell of another male jaguar.”

  “True on both counts.” Howard carried Val into the cabin. “The shifter who injured Val is dead in her cabin.”

  Jillian shut the door and rushed to get the first aid kit.

  Rowdy hurried to get water and some towels. “I take it you had to kill him.”

  “Yeah. Talking to him or taking him hostage weren’t options.” Howard laid Val on the floor in the living room, not wanting to get blood all over the sofa.

  “He was a jaguar like you?” Rowdy asked.

  “Yeah. Mean son of a bitch. Almost as mean as me.”

  Jillian carried the first aid kit, a pillow, and a blanket into the room. “Go get dressed. I’ll get started on her.”

  Howard strode to his bedroom, pulled on a pair of Bermuda shorts, then returned to the living room.

  Jillian had already tucked the pillow under Val’s jaguar head.

  Knowing it would be easier for them to see her wounds if she shifted, Howard took hold of her hand and caressed it. “Val, can you shift?”

  She opened her eyes and growled softly. She nodded and groaned, but she didn’t shift. Sometimes jaguars had a hard time shifting when they were badly injured. And sometimes they couldn’t shift at all until they were much better.

  Val furrowed her brow, closed her eyes, and appeared to be concentrating. The change was always so swift that when she finally managed, she turned into a blur of forms. When the shift finished, she was her beautiful human self. As if it was too much for her, she closed her eyes again.

  Howard quickly covered her with the blanket Jillian had brought out and called softly to her, “Val.”

  Jillian shook her head. “It’s better if she’s out when I begin to sew her up.”

  Rowdy had been watching the whole scenario, which again reminded Howard of how the guy should be one of them after seeing all that he had. Rowdy crouched down to help clean Val’s neck and face.

  Howard would have done so, but Rowdy appeared to know what he was doing and seemed eager to earn a place with them. So far, the guy was doing all right by Howard.

  Jillian stroked Val’s hair and held on to her hand. “She was lucky he didn’t kill her. He could have easily done so. Which makes me wonder if he wanted to question her about who she was and what she was doing here if he couldn’t find anything about her at her cabin. On the other hand, he left her by the river where a couple of hungry crocodiles were coming to dinner.”

  Rowdy swore under his breath. “Then no one would realize a human had murdered her.”

  “Not when a jaguar chewed on her too.” Again, Howard was reminded that Rowdy was thinking in human terms. It was so easy for shifters to think in both, but it would be a learning curve for Rowdy.

  Jillian began to sew the bite marks on Val’s neck while Howard spoke softly to Val. “You’re one brave cat. I probably would have had a heart attack if that jaguar had blindsided me. He probably did when I came upon him in your cabin without him knowing it at first.”

  “It’s not Benny’s scent on her though. And you’re wounded. You said the other cat is dead at Val’s cabin?” Jillian asked, sounding as though she would have taken him down herself if he were still alive. But as a wolf, she couldn’t kill a male jaguar. Probably not a female either. She could shoot him, but if the police found the body, they would believe a human killed a human.

  “He’s lying dead in Val’s bedroom. Once I know Val’s going to pull through, I’ll take care of him.”

  “Who is he if he’s not Benny?” Rowdy asked. “Hell, I thought Benny was on his own. Well, except for the girlfriend.”

  “Beats me. Benny’s staying with the human woman, but she did say he was doing business down here. No telling who this guy was. I’ll take pictures of him to see if Val or our headquarters can identify him. We have a database of jaguars who pursue criminal activities. Maybe Val knows who he is, and because she recognized him, he tried to take her out. For him to have had time to wound her, then haul her off and return to search through her things, she must have left her cabin much earlier, before I arrived.”

  “Was there any ID on him?” Rowdy asked, a typical question for a human homicide detective who wasn’t thinking in terms of them being shifters.

  “He was wearing a jaguar coat. No pockets for his ID. But he’d shifted to search through Val’s things, probably trying to learn who she was.”

  “Unless he already knew who she was and was searching for some kind of evidence on who she was after. Which means he suspected she’s here on business,” Rowdy said. “Could you be mistaken about who killed Lucy? Maybe this other shifter did.”

  Howard ran his hand over Val’s forehead. “No. Benny’s saliva was in the bite marks.”

  “See, this business of being able to tell people by scents—even if they’re shifters or not—is something I’d like to be able to do,” Rowdy said.

  “The perks of being a shifter come with a lot of trouble too,” Howard reminded Rowdy.

  Once Jillian had stitched Val’s wounds, Val stirred again.

  Jillian squeezed her free hand. “How are you feeling?”

  “I’ve got a headache the size of Alaska, like the first time I had two Singapore slings without eating anything all day.” Val paused to take a breath. “He bit me before I could react. I was just coming out of my cabin to get Howard, and this jaguar materialized out of the rain forest, bit me, and then knocked me out.” She closed her eyes, then opened them. “I woke to find him dragging me through the forest. I smelled the river and heard it flowing by. I must have passed out after that until one of my guardians came to rescue me.” Val offered Howard a small smile and squeezed his hand.

  “That’s my job,” Howard said. “I’m going to carry you to my bed for now and then take care of the man who injured you. He’s dead, if you didn’t catch that part. Do you know who he was?”