He suspected she wouldn’t return to their resort for anything. And he wondered again how they were going to convince her to come with them when they found her without getting into a big fight.

  Then he heard voices. Just great. Probably a tour group returning to the resort, or a group going out to see what they could of nocturnal creatures. He hoped the woman would stay clear of the humans and not think to seek their help. He had no idea what her frame of mind was, except for being panicked. She didn’t seem to have any real destination in mind, and she was moving deeper into the rain forest.

  He kept Val in sight because they were still wearing hunter’s spray, and he didn’t want to lose her in the rain forest where he couldn’t track her down. He lost the woman’s scent and then picked it up again. The group of humans—if they weren’t shifters in human form—were getting closer. No one was screaming that they’d spotted a jaguar, no excited talk, so he suspected Izzie had moved out of their path already. But Val and he were headed straight for the people. He didn’t want to veer off from the woman’s trail and have to track it down later. He didn’t want to sit in a tree for a time either, as they’d had to do earlier.

  He thought Val was going to veer off the scent trail, but she continued on the same path, headed straight for the humans. He smiled at her tenacity.

  But they had a mission.

  Then he saw five men and two women on the narrow trail, all of them flashing flashlights at something on a tree. Val dashed off the path and around several trees, but she made the move before he could follow her lead, and one of the people saw him.

  “A jaguar!”

  Howard was gone in a flash, disappearing into the foliage, the dark shadows consuming him.

  “Did anyone capture a shot of the jaguar?” a woman asked.

  “No, she was too fast.”

  Howard wanted to correct the man who had called him a she. He soon caught up to Val, but she was circling the area, having lost the woman’s scent. He smelled a river nearby, but they still would have smelled the woman’s scent as she made her way to the river.

  Val began to look up at the trees right in this area, and he did the same. That’s when they both saw Izzie at the same time, sitting on a limb and watching them. She was more of a reddish-brown color than a golden and tan like he and Val. She was smaller than Val too.

  Howard shifted, hoping he wasn’t making a mistake. Or that the tour group would run into them here. Or that his nudity would offend the woman. Jaguars were used to shifting in front of other shifters, so nudity was something that didn’t bother them.

  “I’m Howard…and this is my partner, Val. We’re with a shifter policing force.” Not that Val was truly his partner, but he didn’t need to get into the details right now. “We’re after Benny because he turned his human wife, and when she had trouble dealing with shifting, he murdered her. We’re going to take him down as soon as we can. In the meantime, we want you to come back with us.” He paused. “A brother and sister who just saved Val’s parents’ lives—after they were shot by one of Benny’s partners in the drug-dealing business—will take you to Houston. A family there will give you a home and teach you how to live as one of us.”

  The woman was just staring at him, taking in his nudity, and she didn’t make a move from the branch. He thought about moving to his next plan of action—knock her out—but that would mean dragging her back to the resort. They’d come so far that he didn’t think carrying her through the rain forest as a naked human was a viable option.

  Val shifted and he figured she’d want to talk to the woman, so he shifted back to his jaguar self and lay down among the ferns to make it seem as though he was completely at ease. Which he wasn’t. He didn’t want to leave Jillian and Rowdy alone for longer than necessary in the event Eric or his men showed up. And he wanted to get Izzie back to the resort before they ran into any more night tour groups out here.

  Val said, “You can’t live out here, Izzie. You can’t go back to the States, not without our help. And you can’t return to your home. We need to learn more about you and your family. You can’t leave here without going with Matt and Katrina Sorenson. They have a chartered private plane that will take my injured parents home, and they’ll take you too. Not home, of course. You can’t be around humans for the time being. You’ll need to learn how to cope with all the changes. We can discuss all this civilly back at the cabin.”

  The woman’s long tail twitched, her whiskers moving, sampling the air and scents and sounds, but she didn’t make a move to get down. Howard really didn’t blame her. This had to be a lot for her to take in all at once.

  “You have to know you don’t really have a choice. We’ll do everything we can to make the transition the easiest for you.” Then Val shifted, as if she was done talking. Now she was leaving it up to the woman to decide what she wanted to do. Val suddenly shifted again and added, “Oh, and don’t ever bite a human. That can put you on a terminal list. I wouldn’t recommend you bite another shifter either, not unless you want to see how fast one of us can take you down. We can’t allow you to deal with this on your own. Either you come with us, or you don’t. It’s completely your choice. If you don’t, we won’t have any choice but to just eliminate you.” Then Val shifted again.

  He was surprised Val had become the “bad cop” in the situation. Then again, maybe she felt she needed to with the woman since she wasn’t agreeing to the plan. They waited for a few minutes, but the way Val was eyeing the woman, he suspected she wasn’t going to wait much longer.

  She shifted and turned to Howard. “Okay, so I’ll knock her out of the tree and you finish her off, or do you want to get in the tree and do the honors?”

  He didn’t think Val was serious.

  “Forget it. I’ll do both. Just pin her down after I knock her out of the tree, if I don’t kill her right off.” Val shifted and leaped into the tree.

  Howard liked a woman of action. He readied himself to pounce if Izzie tried to leap from the tree and run any farther.

  Izzie only hesitated a couple of seconds before she jumped to the ground and stayed put, eyeing Howard as if she was worried he might attack her. Val jumped down and shifted. “We’re not running after you any more tonight. Stay with us, or we terminate you. I’ll lead, and Howard will follow behind you. If you stray, your life is ended. Got it?” Then Val shifted again, then led the way, and just like she’d told her to do, Izzie followed her.

  Howard was smiling at Val as he followed the woman. He hadn’t been sure Izzie would go along with Val’s command. The problem was that each person was different, with unique life experiences, values, judgments, and personality traits, so what might work with one wouldn’t with another.

  He was glad they were finally headed back to the resort. Val would make one damn good partner, and that got him thinking about returning to the Enforcer branch to partner up with her or convincing her to work with him in the USF. He wasn’t sure if she’d like to work with a mixed shifter group, but he didn’t know if he could go back to his old job either. He liked the diversification and the group he was partnered with now.

  They heard the noisy tour group heading the same way they were. Val circled around the group, which meant they had to take a longer path when they didn’t need anything slowing them down. He suspected that as long as it had taken them to find Izzie, the Sorenson team would be at the cabin by now.

  Then they heard something running toward them in the woods. A wild pig, with dangerous tusks. And Val was standing still, looking ready to pounce on the beast.

  Howard shifted and said, “Get up in the tree.” He shifted back into his jaguar form.

  Jillian leaped onto a branch first, and then Izzie joined her. Howard had been afraid the woman would run off, fearing for her life. He jumped into the tree with them and waited for the animal to pass. Then Howard and the others jumped down, and they began to run back to the resort.

  It took them another half hour to finally reach the cabin, and he couldn’t have been happier to get Izzie inside.

  He wasn’t surprised to see two more vehicles parked there. The Guardian twins must have arrived. Howard suspected the other vehicle belonged to Vaughn, and he figured Jillian’s mate wouldn’t be happy to learn about all that had gone on while she was here without her mate.

  Howard chuffed at the door. Jillian answered it. “Good. You all made it back safely. Since it’s not raining, Vaughn and Matt are going to barbecue ribs, if you want to help them, Howard.”

  He chuffed and headed to the bedroom to shift and dress. Val followed him into his bedroom, shifted, closed the door, and smiled at him. She grabbed her bra off the bed.

  Howard shifted and pulled her into his arms before she could dress and gave her a warm embrace. If he was to remain completely professional, he wouldn’t have done that. But he already knew he wanted more with her. And she seemed to feel the same way. At least she didn’t pull away, leaning into his touch instead. Every time they got close, he smelled her pheromones and his own, saying they wanted each other.

  “Hmm,” she purred. “Ending a mission like this is really nice.”

  “Only with you.”

  “Not with any of your other partners, eh?”

  He smiled. “Not even close.”

  “I never thought this mission could be such an adventure. At least we managed to bring Izzie here without having to kill anyone,” she said.

  “I hadn’t expected you to be the bad cop in the situation.” He kissed her cheek.

  “It depends on the situation. I thought you were afraid to scare her into compliance, and when your talk didn’t convince her to go with us, I figured it was my turn. Sweet and solicitous wasn’t working.”

  He chuckled. “I don’t think of myself in that way.”

  “Either you were trying to impress me, or you were worried about scaring her.”

  “If I was trying to impress you, did I succeed?”

  “Always.”

  He chuckled. “I’ve never dealt with a situation like this. I wasn’t sure how to handle it. You did great. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an agent convince someone who didn’t want to comply to go along with the program that fast. We could have been out there a lot longer if you hadn’t stepped in and taken charge.”

  “I think she’d finally figured out she didn’t have any other choice, and she wasn’t sure if I was serious about eliminating her. I hadn’t wanted to intimidate her like that. She’s dealing with enough right now, but it had to be done.” Val let out her breath and ran her hands over Howard’s chest. “I feel bad about Rowdy too.”

  “Why? By hanging around our kind, he’s bound to get himself into trouble.”

  “He didn’t know this was a shifter case when he started it. But it’s not about that. It’s about my boss not giving him a job.”

  Howard shouldn’t have jumped to conclusions. “I’ll check with Martin and see if he’s more agreeable about hiring him. Or maybe the Guardian branch would take him in.”

  Val pressed a kiss against his mouth, and he began to kiss her, slowly at first, his body reacting to hers, soft and warm against his. Then she parted her lips for him, and he kissed her deeply. “Hmm, about the room arrangement… I’ll share my bed with you, if you don’t snore.”

  “You’ve got a deal.” He kissed her again, damn glad she was letting him in, and though he planned to discuss this case further with Vaughn and the others, he couldn’t help thinking about being alone with Val tonight.

  Reluctantly, they separated and began to dress.

  Once they left the bedroom, Howard told Val, “I’ll help with the cooking. Just holler if Izzie gives you any trouble.”

  “I’m sure we can handle it.” Val patted him on the chest and then went to join the ladies.

  Howard glanced at them. “Rowdy, you coming?” Then they went out back to join Vaughn and Matt.

  Chapter 12

  Izzie was lying on the living room floor, still in her jaguar coat. Val wondered how long it would take before she could shift back. Matt and Howard had gone out to the car and removed the suitcases of drugs and money, and now the bags were sitting on the living room floor.

  The list of debts was sitting on the coffee table. When Val picked it up and read over the list of names, Jillian said, “Vaughn took photographs of the two-page list. We’ll send the original list with the money and drugs with the Guardian agents.”

  “Sounds good. I hope Vaughn wasn’t too upset with the turn of events,” Val said, not sure how a growly SEAL wolf would react. She imagined how Howard would be if she’d been his partner and that had happened to her. He’d be a growly jaguar.

  Jillian brought in margaritas for everyone and sat down with a glass of her own. “Nah. Vaughn was just eager to see me. He only wanted to give Howard a hard time because he constantly does the same to him. Mainly because he’s never seen a pair of wolf shifters working together. It was rather a rocky beginning for us, since Vaughn was trying to catch my brother for a suspected hit on a friend of both of theirs, but my brother hadn’t done it. No way would Vaughn treat me as though I couldn’t do a job on my own just because he or Howard wasn’t here to watch my back.

  “I have to admit I wasn’t expecting Benny’s girlfriend”—Izzie growled, and Jillian rephrased the comment—“for Izzie to suddenly shift. Or for her to try to bite Rowdy. I should have realized it could come to that, but everyone was acting…civilly up to that point. I’ve never had to deal with anything like this before.”

  Val agreed. “I don’t blame you. Though I probably would have turned into a jaguar and fought her. About the sleeping arrangements… The jaguars will be at my cabin next door. You and Vaughn will be staying here. Right?” Val asked Jillian, in case they had other plans.

  “Yeah. If you don’t need us for guard detail for Izzie. Or we can go over when we’re needed. Otherwise, we’ll keep a lookout for any signs Benny or his cohorts are returning to the area. We’re thinking Rowdy should stay with us. Safety in numbers.”

  “Sounds good to me,” Val said.

  “Vaughn and I are going over to Benny’s cabin to search for anything you might have missed when you were over there earlier. And we’ll pack up Izzie’s things. She’ll need them when she leaves here tomorrow.” Jillian set her margarita glass on the table.

  Katrina sipped from her margarita. She was quiet, just taking everything in.

  Howard returned to the living room with his phone in hand. “Good news for our United Shifter Force team and for Rowdy. Martin said he’d take him on.”

  Rowdy came in with a margarita in hand. “I don’t know what I’m really getting myself into, but I’ve always taken risks.”

  “Food’s nearly done.” Howard rejoined the other guys.

  “Well, that’s good news,” Val said to Rowdy. She was glad Martin had given him a job. It might take him a while before he actually was able to work in the field, but at least he was going to be part of their police force. “You’ll need to give your work notice, and we can help with that.” She corrected herself. “The USF agents can, I mean.”

  Izzie suddenly shifted, screamed, and grabbed a pillow off the couch to cover herself.

  Jillian got Izzie’s clothes from where she had tossed them in the living room. “You can change in one of the bedrooms, but one of us needs to be with you at all times.”

  “So I’m a prisoner. I hook up with a murdering drug dealer, he bites me, I turn into a…a jaguar shifter, and now I’m treated like I’m a criminal who has to be watched every second.”

  “No, but you’re dangerous to our kind if you run off again and shift in front of humans. Believe me, if you are seen shifting and they catch you, you’d be locked up and studied. Alternately, a hunter could kill you, and then you’d be a dead human. Or someone might stick you in a zoo enclosure. Then what would you do?” Jillian walked Izzie back to her room. “With us, you stand a chance of having a normal life again. Different, but you won’t be an oddity to be examined and tested by humankind. Not to mention what would happen to the rest of us.” They disappeared into the bedroom.

  “What are you going to do about your job?” Rowdy asked Val.

  “What do you mean? I’ll finish the mission, but I’ll have a whole lot more help than I bargained for. Of course, the mission has expanded from what I was initially tasked to complete. If taking out the drug dealers had been part of the deal, more of us would have been sent to handle it in the first place.”

  Rowdy gave her a small smile. “I mean about you and Howard. The two of you are interested in each other. So will you be joining the USF, or will he be switching back to working for the Enforcers?”

  Howard came into the cabin carrying a platter of the ribs. “Hot off the grill.”

  “Sure are,” Val said, not meaning the ribs at all. To Rowdy, she said, “Wolves mate for life. Cats don’t always. Not that we don’t hope to find that special one and stay with him or her permanently, but it’s not always a sure deal. With the wolves, they have to be sure.”

  “Then there’s hope for me yet.”

  “Hope for you? You’re not talking about me, are you?” Val asked, wondering if she’d given him the wrong impression.

  “He wouldn’t dare be talking about you,” Howard said, smirking, but there was a hint of darkness to his tone, and she was certain he was already becoming a little territorial.

  Which was all right with her. She felt the same way about him. When Izzie had been eyeing him in much too fascinated a way while he was naked in the rain forest, Val had felt the urge to knock her out of the tree. Val had already claimed the cat for her own. Even if they hadn’t made anything official. Yet.

  Everyone headed to the kitchen table.

  “We need to know about your family,” Matt said to Izzie.