He smiled. “She did ask the guy who was seated next to her on the plane if he’d take my place so she could sit with me—as newlyweds.”

  Jillian laughed. “You see? What did I tell you?”

  “That’s only because Benny wasn’t around. She even said so. I asked.”

  “Still, it sure sounds like a step in the right direction. I was so glad to leave you two alone for a while so you could get to know each other a little better.”

  “Where is our cabin in relation to hers?”

  Jillian chuckled.

  Howard glanced at her and smiled. “I figured the look you gave me when you said you reserved a cabin meant you did good.”

  “Right next door. Each of the cabins is surrounded by rain-forest trees and shrubs, so each has plenty of privacy, but it’s still next door to ours.”

  “Did you happen to learn where Benny’s place is?”

  “I hacked into their reservation system and learned his cabin is on the other side of us.”

  Howard laughed. “Val will have a conniption.”

  “Right. But she’s our mission, and if we’re between the two of them, we can watch out for her. And if we happen to see Benny and have the opportunity before she does, we can take care of him.”

  Smiling, he shook his head. “I don’t think me agreeing to take the green jacket will be enough to smooth things over once she learns where we’re staying.”

  “She had the first opportunity to take the cabin next to his. The others were way too far away. I didn’t want to risk us being on the other side of the resort.”

  He chuckled. “She won’t like it.”

  “She doesn’t have to. This is our job.”

  So much for them trying to convince Val to agree to working with them. But he totally agreed with Jillian.

  * * *

  Two hours later, they reached the lodge to pick up their keys for the cabins.

  “You have my number, and you can text me if you see Benny before I do,” Val said for their ears only before they entered the lodge.

  “We’ll let you know if we spy him. And if you’re after him, let us know,” Howard said, his voice stern.

  “Sure will.”

  They went inside, and Val got her key first. “You know what I said about keeping your distance from me.”

  “Gotcha,” Howard said, fighting to keep from smiling about it.

  “All right. See you later.” Val hesitated before she headed outside.

  He swore she really hadn’t wanted to leave without them. Maybe she was getting used to them being around. He didn’t want to see her go either. But they would be at their cabin soon enough, and he was shifting and checking out the area right after that. Jillian would have cabin watch. If he’d known he would be going to jaguar country, he would have taken one of his jaguar teammates with him instead. He didn’t want her running around here as a wolf. Too conspicuous, unless people thought she was a dog. He smiled.

  They waited until they thought Val would’ve had time to settle in, then drove to their cabin. Where they parked was hidden from her view. Unless she roamed around the area, she wouldn’t know they were there.

  All the cabins were raised on stilts. Water was puddled in places as Howard and Jillian grabbed their bags and headed for the stairs.

  Rabbits scampered into the rain forest. Squirrels dashed up trees covered in trailing orchids. The aroma of blackberries, coco palms, and cashews scented the air. Orchids’ heavenly perfumed scent added to the wondrous fragrance.

  Howard didn’t smell any jaguars that had been in the area, but he would check around Benny’s cabin next.

  They had brought the prerequisite hunter concealing spray to minimize the chance Benny would smell them. Howard hoped Benny wasn’t also using the spray to hide his scent. Howard didn’t think Jillian needed to wear it because the chances of a wolf searching for a jaguar shifter to take down would be unlikely. Not many people knew about the USF, unless they were agents who worked at one of the branches.

  “Wow, this country is so beautiful,” Jillian said as she and Howard carried the groceries and bags up to the deck of their cabin.

  Howard had forgotten Jillian had never been to Belize, and it was fun seeing her so in awe of the place. All the scents and sounds and sights really did take a newcomer’s breath away.

  Howler monkeys called to each other as they swung through the trees, and birds chattered all over. Howard and Jillian both looked up at the canopy to see one watching them from a branch.

  It was still raining, and Howard was glad to have a rain jacket for the trip, no matter the color or number of hidden pockets it had.

  “Now what do we do?” Jillian unlocked the cabin and he followed her inside, stepping into a spacious living room with a pullout sofa and five chairs, all covered in tropical fabric, and a dining table and kitchen right off that and open to the living room.

  “I’ll check out the area in my fur coat. You stay here and—”

  Shrieking at the cabin next to theirs—Val’s cabin—penetrated the sounds of the rain forest and the steadily falling rain.

  Howard raced out into the rain, Jillian hot on his heels, her gun out and ready.

  Chapter 4

  Val had just unloaded her groceries and was unpacking her bags when she heard rustling and a chittering noise in the kitchen. First thought she had was that Benny knew she was here and had come to eliminate her before she could take him out. But it sounded like…animals, rather than a person.

  She peeked around the corner of the hall into the kitchen and saw two black howler monkeys eating four of her oranges on the beige tile counter. They were spitting the peelings onto her floor. As soon as they saw her, they shrieked and she shrieked too. She hadn’t meant to, but they’d startled her as much as she’d startled them. Then one threw an orange at her!

  Val couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

  What she hadn’t expected next was for Howard to rush into her cabin and strip off his clothes. Standing there naked for a moment, he looked at the monkeys and then around the cabin, ensuring that was the only problem.

  She had to laugh. The jaguar had some serious muscles. Jillian came in through a back door, gun in hand, but then she saw the monkeys and laughed.

  Howard quickly shifted into his jaguar, and the monkeys raced out through Val’s front door. Then Howard shifted back to his human form and grabbed his boxer briefs off the floor. He began pulling them on, offering her a little smirk. “We’re here for you as your backup for any threat, big or small.”

  Okay, she deserved that.

  He didn’t pull on the rest of his clothes. “You’re okay, right?” He was suddenly very serious.

  “Uh, yeah, I guess you could hear all the shrieking from a mile away.”

  “We could have, but we’re in the cabin next door,” Howard said, smiling.

  “What? Not between Benny’s and my cabin.” She should have known. She didn’t rent that one because she wanted a buffer between her and Benny so she wouldn’t spook him.

  “Yeah, we’re your protection,” Howard reminded her.

  “That’s not what I meant by you being here on the other side of the resort.” She was surprised he hadn’t bothered to dress yet. Was he trying to show off? He was impressive. “Why aren’t you getting dressed? Not that the sight of you standing there mostly naked doesn’t appeal, but…”

  “I was going to go for a jaguar run to check out the area. Want to go with me? Jillian is staying behind to watch over our places.”

  Totally exasperated, Val folded her arms. “Okay, so then if he sees the two of us running around as jaguars, what is he going to think?”

  “That you and I are here on a vacation, as so many of our kind are when they visit here.”

  Jillian tucked away her gun and asked Howard, “Do you want me to stay here or return to our place?”

  “You can return to our place and, if you would, let the boss know we are all here and safe.”

  “Okay. See you in a bit.” Jillian headed out the back.

  Val began to strip off her clothes, throwing her things on the sofa. “The problem with us being lovers coming here for a visit is that you’re staying with Jillian. Now, how will that look?”

  “Like I’m having an affair with my next-door neighbor?” Howard smiled. “I’ll wait outside for you.” Then he stripped off his boxer shorts again, opened the front door, and shifted. He loped outside.

  He was just as sexy in his beautiful, golden jaguar form as he was in his human form. Gold and tan, covered in black rosettes.

  Val stepped outside, closed the door, and finished pulling off her bra and panties to shift, then sprinted after him. It was late at night now, after all their traveling and shopping. It was still raining, but the canopy of the forest kept the rain from reaching them. Still, it wouldn’t matter in their jaguar coats.

  They ran until they came to a pond where catfish and bay snook swam, turtles were sleeping on rocks, and in the center of the pond, a small island was situated. Val saw two iguanas perched on top of a stack of rocks on the island.

  Howler monkeys screeched a warning that jaguars were on the move down below. They probably wouldn’t steal into her place again, now that they’d learned jaguars roamed the cabins. Spider monkeys were warier of people, so she and Howard didn’t see them until they were farther away from the resort, deeper in the rain forest. Jaguars and cougars were known to prey on spider monkeys, so as soon as they saw the two jaguars, the spider monkeys let out a ruckus and took off.

  Val and Howard ran alongside a river, closer to where a baboon sanctuary was located. The baboons began to make a ton of noise, warning of the predators nearby, as the breeze blew their big-cat scents into the sanctuary. Or at least her scent. She hadn’t had time to put on the hunter’s spray yet. She couldn’t smell Howard, so she knew he was wearing it.

  He was in the lead part of the way, but then she ran alongside him. She hadn’t gone running with another jaguar in forever. It was usually safer to do it solo, easier to disappear if anyone spotted her. But she enjoyed being with Howard in a nonwork way. Which made her realize she hadn’t taken a vacation in years. The last time had been with a male cat she’d had fun with but who hadn’t been mate material. She was all about work ethic, and he didn’t have any. More a playboy, live-for-the-moment kind of guy. Which made him fun, until he was hitting her up for money so he could continue his freeloader lifestyle.

  It felt good stretching her legs. They turned around and raced each other back to the cabin. Howard leaped over a fallen tree, and she leaped over it right alongside him.

  She wouldn’t run near Benny’s cabin, not until she was wearing hunter’s spray. Howard licked her cheek, and she nipped at his ear, telling him she wasn’t playing, even though she liked the idea that they could. But she was on a job, and that took priority over anything else.

  His tongue was hanging out, and he looked like one happy big cat. She felt that way too, just from the freedom to stretch their legs in the rain-forest environment as if they lived there.

  Then she thought back to the business with the monkeys. Eyeing Howard, she hoped he’d never tell anyone he’d rescued her from a pair of cute little orange-stealing howler monkeys on the mission in Belize.

  When they returned to her cabin, Howard shifted and began to dress. She did the same.

  “Did you want to come over to our place and have a barbecue later? I’ve been thinking about this. It can look like we’re friends, renting two of the cabins. So we can share meals and pretend to be here just on vacation.” Howard pulled on his cargo pants.

  “You don’t think it will look suspicious that two jaguars showed up with a wolf, and the jaguars aren’t staying together?”

  “Yeah. I think I need to stay with you, and Jillian is on her own.”

  “Ha! What would her mate think of that? Not that I’m considering it, mind you.”

  “Vaughn would think we made a new plan to get the job done. He knows that when we go into the field, we have to be flexible and change arrangements when a new one seems to be the best choice.”

  “You wish.”

  Howard chuckled. “I do. Jillian’s just as highly trained as we are. Her shifter half works against her here. Otherwise, she’s a fantastic shot with about any kind of gun. And she knows martial arts too. It actually helps that she’s a wolf because that should throw off Benny if he suspects anything. She’s also been through cyber-warfare training in the military. So she knows her way around computers and, specifically, how to hack into them.”

  “That would sure come in handy. I was going to put on some hunter’s spray and check around Benny’s place to see if he’s there a little later tonight.”

  “I’ll go with you, if you want.”

  Val hadn’t expected him to offer instead of demand. “As my lover?”

  “If that works for you.”

  “Not happening.” She pulled on her shirt, then pointed to the mess the monkeys had made. “Don’t you dare tell anyone what went on here.” She began cleaning up the monkey-chewed oranges. She’d really wanted to have those for breakfast.

  “Mum’s the word. Are you coming over for dinner?” Howard pulled on one of his boots.

  “Sure.”

  “We’ll be ready in an hour.” He pulled on his other boot.

  “All right. See you then. And…well, thanks for coming to my rescue.” She really hadn’t thought she’d be having meals with the USF agents. She wasn’t sure whether this was a bad plan. She wouldn’t be certain until the matter with Benny was resolved or they ran into trouble.

  “Anytime.” Howard winked, then left her cabin and headed to his.

  He was a charmer, just like when she’d taken him to the mat that one time. Not to mention chasing her and catching her in the swimming pool.

  Val finished cleaning up the mess in the kitchen and wondered what she was getting herself into with Howard. She hadn’t been that fascinated and annoyed with a guy in she didn’t know when. When she called her folks to inform them she was in Belize and staying at this resort, they put her on speakerphone.

  “Thanks for letting us know. Any sign of the murdering bastard?” her dad asked.

  “Not yet. What about Eric, the drug dealer?” she asked. “I know you would have said if you’d taken him out.”

  “He hasn’t returned to the house where he was staying. We’re afraid he might have gotten word we’re here. We sure hope not. We had a devil of a time finding this location. Our source stated implicitly that he’s in the area, so we’re staying put for the time being,” her mom said.

  “Well, let me know if you need my help with him.”

  “Will do. Same thing goes for us. How’s your protection service doing?” her dad asked.

  “They rented the cabin between mine and Benny’s.”

  Her dad laughed. “Good.”

  “You know, this could hurt my chances at taking Benny out, again.”

  “You’ll get him, but we want you to be safe too,” her mom said.

  Val sighed. She really appreciated her parents’ concern, but they’d never asked her boss to provide cover for her before. “I’m about to go over and have dinner with them. I’ll keep you posted on how things go here.”

  “Same here, Val. Talk later.”

  She just hoped they didn’t get into any real trouble and wished that Howard and Jillian would protect her parents instead of hanging out here. Hopefully, Benny would show up so she could eliminate him and get this done with. Then she could aid her parents, though she was reminded of how in charge her dad could be. She figured that for this one job, she could deal with his attitude if her parents still needed her assistance by then.

  * * *

  When Howard returned to the cabin, Jillian had already started to make spaghetti for dinner. He’d have to barbecue ribs tomorrow for lunch or dinner. “Dinner smells great.”

  “Thanks. I figured you would be hungry after your run. I’m starving. I didn’t see any sign of anyone while you were gone.”

  “Okay. I invited Val to dinner. That way, if Benny sees us, he’ll believe we’re all friends. She said she’d love to join us. I mentioned being her lover, but she wasn’t buying it.”

  Jillian laughed. “Subtle you are not. We can talk on the back deck at some point, establishing our cover, and if he’s around, he’ll hear our conversation.” Then she frowned at Howard as she stirred the spaghetti sauce. “You’re not going to leave the USF if things start to heat up between you and Val, are you?”

  “Why? Because of Val? We’re just on a mission.”

  “I can smell that your pheromones have kicked up a whole bunch since you’ve been with her. You can’t hide how you feel about her. Not with her or with me. Nor can she hide how she feels about you.”

  “I keep forgetting your wolf senses are as keen as ours are. Nothing is going to happen between Val and me, but if something did, we might continue our respective jobs, or she might even join us.”

  “Or you might return to the Enforcers to work as her partner, just as her parents work together as a team.”

  “Maybe. But you have to remember we’re not wired like wolves. We can be interested in another cat and then later not.”

  “I keep forgetting how it is with jaguars. Everett and Demetria are so happy together.”

  “Yeah, they’re perfect for each other.” Which was how Howard wanted to be with his jaguar mate, if he found the right woman. He’d known Everett and Demetria from the beginning of their relationship, and they were great partners in the war against jaguar crime. He wanted to be with a woman who understood how it was to work these kinds of jobs, who could work with him.