“Super. Thanks so much. I’ll see you back here in a little while then.” Gabrielle had a client coming in so she quickly called Landon. “Hey, I hadn’t thought I would need to draw up a by-owner contract to sell the house this quickly. Could you look up what it needs and write one up for me? Phillip’s coming over at three to give me a down payment and to sign a contract.”

  “Great! I’ll get it done. I saw your printer in your office, and I’ll get a taxi to get me over to the clinic.”

  “Okay, you’re a dream and my superhero.”

  He laughed. “See you soon.”

  As soon as Gabrielle was done checking over the client’s cat, Gabrielle got a call from the jaguar sisters. She’d been hoping they would tell her that they’d caught Melany’s husband.

  “Hey, Odette, what’s happening?” Gabrielle asked.

  “We haven’t discovered anything more on Melany’s husband, but we’re back in Florida on leads on another case and we wanted to see if you could take any time off to go to Orlando to the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club for Christmas Eve. We want to celebrate that you’re mated—and that we are the reason it happened.”

  Gabrielle laughed. She was glad that when she’d had a moment between clients, she’d texted the sisters to let them know that she and Landon had mated. They had been ecstatic. “I know you two. You want to see me finally dance at the club.”

  “With the wolf of your dreams.”

  “Christmas Eve it is!”

  “Good. We’ll pick you up and drive you down there at four, get some dinner there, drinks, and dance. Oh, and we did pick up Melany’s best friend, Belinda Montgomery, for questioning. We told her we learned about the life insurance proceeds she got for Jim’s supposed death, that he’s alive and well, and if she doesn’t want him to pull the same thing with her—as in frame her for a murder because of his gambling addiction—she’d better come clean.”

  “Ohmigod, did she talk?”

  “Not at first. Hard case, you know. We told her she would go to prison for receiving money for a dead man when she aided and abetted him in the ruse. We learned she rented a boat on the day Melany supposedly killed her husband. Belinda had to have picked Jim up to simulate he had been killed and thrown overboard. We had witnesses who confirmed Belinda had driven the boat in the direction that Melany and Jim’s boat was anchored. We had to get her to confess to what had happened and confirm Jim was alive—since we didn’t know for sure at that point—and that he orchestrated the whole thing.”

  “And she talked?”

  “Yes. Very chatty when she thought she was going to prison for a very long time. The jaguars could make it happen too. Anyway, she said she hadn’t been in contact with Jim… Both of them afraid they would get caught. She’s a receptionist at the dental clinic where Melany used to work as a hygienist. Belinda didn’t want to suddenly leave, in case anyone suspected her of wrongdoing. How would it look if she received a big insurance payout for Jim’s death and then she vanished? She was planning to leave the state after a couple of months, hoping Melany would be tried and convicted and then she and Jim would be in the clear.”

  “Some friend. And the bank where he had an account that Melany hadn’t known about?” Gabrielle asked.

  “He cleaned out the bank account.”

  “Great. So he has still got money.”

  “Yeah, but the way he pisses it away on gambling, he won’t have the money for long. Several jaguar agents and my sister and I have been watching all the gambling places for him to show up. So hopefully we’ll catch him before long. Belinda is up on charges for all that she was involved in, though she’ll get a reduced sentence for cooperating with us. We didn’t know for sure if Jim was the man we all saw on the security video at the bank’s ATM where he withdrew the money that one day, so she helped to add some nails to his coffin. We’ll see you and Landon in a few days then.”

  “See you then!”

  “Congratulations again,” Zelda said.

  “Thanks! We’re very happy.”

  “We knew you would be. See you soon.” Odette ended the call.

  Landon arrived shortly after that with the contract for her and Phillip to sign. Thankfully, the clinic’s office manager was also a notary public. Gabrielle gave Landon the news about the sisters taking them to the jaguar club. Smiling, he pulled her into a hug and kissed her. “That will be fun. You know what that means, don’t you?”

  “Yeah.” She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a hug back. “I’ll have my very own dance partner all night long.”

  He chuckled. “It’s a good thing my sisters taught me how to dance.”

  “Yes, it sure is. Steaks tonight to celebrate selling the house and Phillip joining the vet staff?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Why don’t you take the car home. You can pick me up and we can have dinner then.”

  “I’ll do that.” He kissed her again. “Soon, we’ll be home.”

  * * *

  Time was flying with all the work they had to do with packing, but they never stopped enjoying themselves, running on the beach late at night as wolves and swimming in the pool mornings and at night. Making love too, of course. The vet with the family had started the job and begun working. Which meant Gabrielle and Landon were finally set to move the day after Christmas.

  Gabrielle was excited about being moved in by the first of the year. “I can’t wait to see how the pack celebrates the new year.”

  “We’ll have a big dance and this time it will be perfect because I’ll have you to dance with. It will make for the best new year ever.”

  “For me too. I think Phillip wants into his new home pronto. I told him as soon as the moving van pulls out, he can move right in.”

  Landon laughed. “Sounds good to me. Burgers should be ready.”

  “I’m going to miss you doing all this cooking and being a house husband when you begin working again.”

  He smiled. “I will cook anything you want me to cook, and cleaning?” He shrugged. “Anything you want me to do, I’m game.”

  She slid her hands up his shirt. “The same thing with me.”

  “Good, then after we have burgers, we’re swimming, then going to bed.”

  She laughed. “That sounds like a winner to me.”

  Despite the fact that Gabrielle was working days, they had a blast every moment they could spare together. On Sunday, they spent the day in bed, then swimming in the pool, then to the beach, grabbing a couple of meals that Landon fixed—he insisted because barbecuing in the snowy cold wasn’t happening back home for a while—then in bed, then swimming. She’d even taken him to see the Magic of Lights at the Daytona International Speedway one night. They even managed to get some packing in! They’d had the garage sale, and everything she hadn’t wanted to take with her that hadn’t sold, she donated to the local women’s crisis center.

  Then it was back to work and her last four days on the job. Christmas Eve, she would work a shorter day, then off to the jaguar club with her mate and friends, and then Christmas Day was for having some more downtime with her mate. The big moving day was on Saturday.

  Rather than the wolves of Silver Town coming to move them over the holidays, Lelandi had arranged for a mover to pick up everything Gabrielle wanted to take with her on Saturday. She still couldn’t believe all they had done for her to help her move. She loved the pack for it.

  She couldn’t wait to get settled into her new home.

  Chapter 23

  Four days later, it was time for the jaguar sisters to pick up Gabrielle and Landon and drive to Orlando to the jaguar club for Christmas Eve. This was going to be the best Christmas Eve ever. Landon was glad he could take his dream mate dancing. And doing it with her friends would make it even more special.

  When they finally arrived at the club, they could hear the music spilling into the street, and cars were parked all along the block and in the parking lot.

  “We made a reservation,” Zelda said. “It gets packed because the place is so much fun. They used to only serve drinks, but now they serve hot or cold sandwiches so that people can eat while enjoying their beverages.”

  “This looks like fun,” Landon said, not sure what to expect. But when they went inside and he saw dance platforms above with dancers—both male and female—dressed in jaguar-print loincloths and dancing to the riveting music, he thought it was terrific.

  The place was filled with live tropical plants and vines. Colorful disco lights flashed across the high ceilings painted as a starry night. Patrons were on the dance floor having a great time as Odette told the hostess that they had a table reserved under Zelda and Odette.

  “Right this way.” The lady motioned to a table and handed them menus. “Welcome to the Clawed and Dangerous Kitty Cat Club.” She smiled at all of them. “We don’t get wolves in here very often.”

  “We’re the best of friends,” Zelda said.

  When the waitress came, they all ended up ordering the southern baked ham and buns and fries.

  “The snow cocktails look good,” Gabrielle said, “for a place that doesn’t have snow.”

  Landon chuckled. “Rum, white chocolate liqueur, and crushed candy canes sounds good and Christmassy.”

  They all ended up getting the rum drinks too.

  Before their drinks came, a dark-haired guy came over and asked Odette if she would like to dance.

  “Sure.” She stood and went with him to dance.

  “That’s always the way,” Zelda said.

  Gabrielle laughed. “You always get asked to dance too.”

  “Yeah, but she always gets asked first.”

  A little sister rivalry.

  A blond guy was eyeing Gabrielle and Zelda and then he came over to the table.

  “I’ll dance with you,” Zelda said before he asked Gabrielle instead and caused trouble. She got up from the chair and went with the guy to dance.

  Then their drinks and sandwiches arrived.

  “This is fun.” Gabrielle leaned over and kissed Landon.

  “I agree, honey.” He kissed her back and they toasted to each other.

  Then they took a drink of their cocktails and began eating their sandwiches.

  The ladies returned after dancing to eat and drink.

  “Any hopefuls?” Gabrielle asked.

  Both Odette and Zelda laughed. “No. I mean, maybe, but one dance won’t decide something like that,” Odette said.

  Landon took Gabrielle’s hand. “For us, it would have.” He led her to the dance floor and pulled her nice and close and danced with her. “Ever since the sisters asked if we wanted to come with them here, I’ve been anticipating holding you close and dancing. Man, is this nice.”

  Gabrielle wrapped her arms around his neck and moved against him. “But the problem with this is we’ll get so worked up, we’ll want to do something else.”

  He smiled down and kissed her, settling his hands on her backside. “I so love you.”

  “Hmm, you are making me hot for you.”

  “The jaguar sisters have nothing on you.”

  She chuckled. “That’s because they weren’t all that interested in the jaguars they were dancing with. Not like I’m interested in this hot wolf.” She rubbed against him to stir things up even more.

  “Now who is being the hot wolf?”

  She kissed him and licked his chin. “That makes two of us—really hot together.”

  Suddenly, Odette was dancing with another jaguar and moved him next to them. She was definitely leading him. She winked at Gabrielle. “Scorching, guys.” Then she led the jaguar away.

  Zelda danced with another jaguar up close to them, and she smiled. “Looking good.”

  “They’re wolves,” the jaguar who was dancing with her said, sounding surprised.

  “They sure are.” Then Zelda and the jaguar moved off.

  Landon and Gabrielle chuckled. “Your friends are cute.”

  “They are. They will gloat about this forever. They’ll say they were the ones that made this happen.”

  “Hmm, you have a point, but if you hadn’t been a rule breaker…”

  “In a string bikini…”

  He smiled and kissed her. “That’s for sure.”

  The song ended and they returned to the table and finished their sandwiches and drinks. The sisters had already finished theirs.

  “I’m going to run to the little girls’ room. I’ll be right back.” Gabrielle went to the restroom.

  Landon was sitting at the table when he saw a man who looked suspiciously like Melany’s husband, Jim, seated at a table nearby. But it couldn’t be, could it? The guy was talking to another man, both hunched over the table, and the other man handed him a passport. Before Landon could tell the sisters and ask if the man was Jim, Gabrielle came out of the restroom.

  Then Zelda was shouting at Odette, and both ladies were running toward the man’s table.

  The guy Landon thought was Jim bolted from the table and ran straight into Gabrielle on a collision course. “Hell.” Landon wanted to kill him.

  Gabrielle fell against a man, who steadied her, and Jim was escaping out the front door. Landon knew Gabrielle was fine, but he had to help the jaguar sisters capture their perp.

  Landon hoped Gabrielle wouldn’t be sore with him for tearing out of the club, but he figured if he could help the sisters in their mission and protect them, too, if they needed protection, she would be happy about it. Especially if they could take the perp down.

  “Jim?” he called back to the sisters.

  “Yes!” they both shouted.

  The man turned and had a gun, damn it. Landon was close enough to him at that point that he lunged for Jim, forcing him down onto his back on the pavement and successfully knocking the gun from his hand. The sisters pounded the sidewalk to reach them, one grabbing Jim’s gun, the other pulling a zip tie out of her pocket.

  “I always have a couple handy,” Odette said as Landon flipped the guy onto his front and tied his hands.

  Zelda was already calling for backup. “Yeah, we got the dead guy, very much alive. Melany needs to be cleared of all charges.”

  Landon was glad for that, but he needed to get back to his mate—and take care of her! Just in case any humans or jaguars thought she was available.

  * * *

  Now that was a first, Gabrielle thought. Go on a date with her mate and her two best friends and be left at a jaguar club all by herself as they chased some guy out the door! Gabrielle had raced after them after nearly falling, if a male jaguar hadn’t caught her. When she reached the door, she glanced out but didn’t see anyone. Ohmigod! It had to be Jim they were trying to chase down!

  Landon might be a deputy sheriff back in Silver Town, but he didn’t have a weapon on him. She didn’t know if the sisters did or not. Well, maybe Melany’s husband didn’t either, if that’s who it was.

  Gabrielle wasn’t about to run out into the dark and search for her mate and the others. She went back to her table and ordered herself another drink. She wasn’t giving up their reserved table until her mate returned for her.

  The club was packed with humans and jaguars, which made her think of the last time she was here with her friends, except that she had been sitting alone because they had been dancing with a throng of jaguars and she hadn’t wanted to. She tapped her fingers on the table. She sure hoped they nabbed the guy. But she hoped none of them were hurt. Still, what a great Christmas Eve gift that would be—if they could catch the guy they’d been after.

  She was sipping her drink when the blond jaguar who had danced with Zelda approached the table to ask her to dance.

  An out-of-breath Landon quickly interceded. “She’s with me.” He took her hand and she had to put her drink down quickly. She smiled at Landon and then at the jaguar.

  “Wolf mates can be so…unpredictable at times.” She smiled up at Landon again and kissed him.

  He kissed her back, then pulled her onto the dance floor, and they danced another slow dance.

  “Sorry about leaving you like that, honey.”

  “You have a nice way of making up to me. I totally approve. Did you catch whoever you were after?” Gabrielle hoped that they had at least done that.

  “Yeah. I tackled him. It was Jim, Melany’s husband. We tied his wrists, and the sisters read him his rights, and now they’re waiting for other JAG special agents to pick him up and incarcerate him.” Landon kissed Gabrielle as they danced close together.

  “Oh wow, that’s wonderful. I hadn’t expected you to run off all Rambo Wolf on me, but I’m glad you helped the sisters catch the bastard.”

  “We were meant to be together, you know?”

  “Yeah, I know. You are the best thing that ever happened to me.”

  After two more dances—Landon continued to move slow and close with her no matter whether it was a fast or a slow dance—Gabrielle saw the jaguar sisters return to their table and she missed a step with Landon.

  He glanced in the direction of their table and smiled. The sisters had ordered new drinks and raised them to Landon and Gabrielle to cheer the capture of Melany’s husband.

  This would be a night to remember. Gabrielle was glad they had Jim in custody and now Melany should be safe and could return home, her name cleared.

  But Landon wasn’t giving Gabrielle up for anything, and they danced until closing, only stopping to get a glass of water in between dances.

  “I’ve had the best time with you.” Gabrielle kissed Landon.

  “The night isn’t over yet.” He was full of promises.

  “I can’t wait.” She knew he’d follow through.