A Jaguar's Kiss (10 page)

form he didn’t like her resting on the uncomfortable table.

He wanted to place her on cushions.

Afraid to touch her, he reached out, his hand hovering

over her forepaw.

“It’s okay. She needs your touch.” He turned at the sound

of Dr. Shahi’s voice.

Gabriela’s parents stood in the doorway behind the

doctor, Gabriela’s petite mother glaring at him. Knowing

what an ass he was being by barging in before them, he

stood and motioned for them to enter. His throat was too

tight to speak so he just stepped back and watched as her

parents rushed to her side. Patricia, her mother, wept silent

tears as she stroked a hand down Gabriela’s forepaw. Her

father stood next to Patricia and stroked a hand down his

wife’s back.

Owen felt as if he was intruding on a private moment, but

he couldn’t force himself to leave. Gabriela’s brothers and

Skyler quietly entered the room. His sister strode toward

him and wrapped an arm around his waist, laying her head

on his shoulder. “She’s going to be okay,” Skyler said

softly, a soothing note in her voice.

“I know,” he rasped out. It didn’t take away from the horror

at the thought of losing her. His claws and canines ached to

be unsheathed. He wanted to kil those bastards al over

again with a violent intensity that rocked him to his core.

“When can we take her home?” Patricia asked.

Owen hadn’t even realized he’d growled until everyone in

the room turned to look at him. He cleared his throat. “It

would be better if she came home with me.” Yeah, he was

definitely being a territorial ass but he didn’t care. Gabriela

belonged with him and he wasn’t letting her out of his sight.

“She almost died because of you,” Patricia snapped,

eyes ful of accusation and mistrust.

“It’s not his fault,” Israel said quietly, surprising Owen. “It’s

no one’s fault except the jaguar that did this to her. Owen

saved her.”

Patricia stil glared at him with dark eyes similar to

Gabriela’s. Owen knew where she got that angry stare from

now. “She’s stil not going home with you,” Patricia said, her

voice a deep growl.

Owen clenched his jaw, biting back his annoyance. It

wouldn’t do any good to argue with Gabriela’s parents,

especial y since he planned to ask her to mate with him as

soon as she was healed.

Skyler took a step forward and dropped her arm from

Owen’s waist. “Patricia, I think it might be a better option if

Gabriela goes home with Owen. There are no humans on

pack land and there’s less risk of anyone seeing us

carrying a jaguar inside Owen’s house. It’l be pretty hard to

hide her in the state she’s in now…” As Skyler’s voice

trailed off she made a soft moaning sound as if she was in

pain and clutched her stomach.

Before Owen or anyone could move, Patricia hurried

forward and looped her arm around Skyler’s shoulders.

“Honey, don’t let this stress you out. We’l let your brother

take Gabriela, but we’l be going over there with them.”

Patricia shot him a death glare, but Skyler winked at him

over her shoulder.

Owen blinked in surprise at his sister. She was devious.

God help Skyler if she had a little girl just like her. As Owen

moved to Gabriela’s stil form, he focused on the doctor.

“When can we move her?”

“Now, as long as you’re careful. I have a couple

prescriptions to give you and I’d like to talk to you in

private.” She motioned that they should step into the waiting

room and though he was loathe to leave Gabriela for even

a second, he knew she was safe. And that was al that

mattered.

Gabriela opened her eyes to the smel of food.

Hamburgers? Her stomach growled at the scent of cooking

meat. She threw the covers off and inhaled deeply. Before

going in search of the source of the smel , she stripped off

her clothes and hurried to Owen’s guest bathroom.

Ever since she’d woken up about a week ago,

completely healed from her injuries, she’d been sleeping in

Owen’s guest room. She didn’t remember being taken to

Dr. Shahi’s or directly afterward, but he’d told her that

they’d brought her back to his house so she could heal

without worrying about any humans seeing her.

In al that time Owen hadn’t touched her intimately, much

less kissed her. He’d been perfectly kind and overly

watchful, like a mother hen, but it was al so clinical and

distant. It was as if he felt guilty about what had happened

to her. That thought was worse than anything. He was

watching after her because of
guilt
. Absently she rubbed

the middle of her chest, embarrassed she’d stayed so long

at his house when she wasn’t sure he wanted her anymore.

Part of her wondered if he saw her as an obligation now.

Ethan had been scarce and Skyler was living with Israel

now—though the she-wolf had cal ed Gabriela every day

this week. So had her parents, who were insisting she

move back home immediately. Wel , her mom was

insisting. Her father had a surprisingly different opinion.

She was pretty sure she’d outstayed her welcome with

Owen and after dinner tonight, it was time to return to her

parents’ house. Though it was embarrassing to admit it

even to herself, she’d been hanging around Owen’s house

hoping against hope that things between them might turn

physical again. After that night in the cave, she knew she

didn’t want just one night with him. She wanted a heck of a

lot more. But he’d been impossibly distant and so freaking

polite it grated on her nerves. Strangers were polite to each

other and they were anything but that. But maybe he wanted

to pretend that night had never happened. Normal y she’d

have no problem going after what she wanted. But the

thought of facing his rejection had her locked down in fear.

Even if things between them never progressed any

further, she was staying in Bear Mountain. She’d quit her

job a few days ago—her bosses were
not
surprised and

they’d offered her glowing letters of recommendation—and

she’d already talked to Sharon, who told her that the

detective’s job was hers if she wanted it. Gabriela would

stil have to go to the police academy when the next class

opened up, but she would receive a few months of on-the-

job training before that. She wasn’t sure if it was something

she wanted to do forever, but she was bone tired of

traveling constantly and tired of the clandestine nature of

her work. She already had to hide what she was from

people. But she hadn’t told Owen about her job relocation

stuff yet.

That would have to wait until she figured out what had

changed between them in the past week. She didn’t want

him to think he’d affected her decision—even if he sort of

had.

After a quick shower she ran a blow dryer through her

hair and changed into black yoga pants and a matching

black tank top with a cartoon jaguar on the front. Despite

the cold outside, Owen kept his place warm and she could

scent the burning embers of the fire downstairs so she

didn’t need anything heavier. And if she was being

completely honest with herself, her yoga outfit was like a

second skin so if she was leaving tonight, she wanted him

to see everything he’d be missing.

She tossed al her clothes into the bag her mom had

brought over, then made the bed and straightened the room

before heading downstairs. The stairs led directly to a

wide-open living room so she dropped her bag by one of

the oversize couches and continued toward the kitchen.

Owen’s back was to her as he stood at the stove—

shirtless. Of course he’d be showing off al that expanse of

muscle and driving her crazy.

“I hope you’re hungry,” he said without turning around.

Unfortunately she didn’t hear any sexual undertones in

that question. She was most definitely hungry in more ways

than one. “Starving.” She leaned against the counter next to

the stove so that she faced him.

He half turned toward her and for a moment, he looked

almost pained as he met her gaze. But then his face was a

virtual mask. He flipped a burger in the pan. “How’d you

sleep?”

“Good.” She raked her gaze over his face but he didn’t

look her way.

Just kept al his concentration on those burgers. Gritting

her teeth, she headed to the stainless-steel refrigerator and

started pul ing out condiments. He didn’t like much other

than mustard on his burgers but she did. “Do you want your

bread toasted?”

“No.” His one-word answer rankled her.

Unable to take it anymore, she slammed the bottle of

ketchup down on the counter. “If you wanted me to leave, al

you had to do was ask.”

He swiveled to face her, his blue eyes narrowing slightly.

“I don’t want you to leave.”

Could have fooled her. “Then why have you been so

impossibly polite this week? I feel like we’re strangers.”

Even on their run in the woods today he’d kept his distance

and had cut it short by insisting they come back to the

house. She’d thought maybe he wanted some alone time

but nope, he’d left her here while he supposedly dealt with

pack business. If he’d been serious she wouldn’t have

minded, but she didn’t buy it.

Owen moved the pan away from the hot stove and then

turned it off before moving across the kitchen toward her.

His expression was dark, but she couldn’t figure out what

he was thinking. Her heart thumped erratical y and she had

to stop herself from wiping sweaty palms on her pants.

The only thing separating them was a wood island with a

marble countertop. Copper pots and pans hung above it

and at the moment it felt like it was a physical example of

the huge wal between them.

He placed his hands on the island counter, his knuckles

turning white as he clasped the edge. “You’ve been healing.

I didn’t want to do anything to disturb the process.”

She snorted at his formal tone. “Disturb the process?”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said quietly.

“Hurt me? I’ve been healed for a week.” And so very

turned on every time she saw him. It had nothing to do with

being in heat, either. That was over and she no longer felt

that clawing, driving hunger that came every time she went

into heat. What she did feel was a very specific clawing,

driving hunger that was al focused on one man.

He took a step back from the counter and shoved his

hands in his pockets. His arm muscles flexed and she

couldn’t help but trace her gaze across the broad expanse

of his bare chest. He’d left the top button of his jeans

undone, clearly to drive her crazy. Warmth spread

throughout her body as she stared at the faint line of hair

that trailed beneath his pants. Just as quickly her nipples

beaded tight. She knew they had to be visible through her

top and when his gaze landed on her chest, she inwardly

smiled.

He stil wanted her body, at least.

But he simply took another step back. Away from her.

That’s when it hit her. They’d been alone in that cave. None

of his pack had seen them together. Then she’d kil ed that

jaguar and almost died, so it’s not like he could reject her

right away.

Coldness seeped into her veins and her throat clenched

so tight it was hard to breathe. She was just another

responsibility to him. An obligation. Turning away from him,

she made a fast exit. If she said anything else she’d start

crying and she refused to do that in front of him. She felt so

humiliated and heartbroken.

A hot tear carved a path down her cheek and she angrily

wiped it away. Grabbing her bag from the living room, she

turned and stumbled right into Owen.

His big hands settled on her upper arms, a deep frown

carving his face. “What are you doing?” he growled and she

could hear the wolf lurking in his voice.

“What does it look like?” Gabriela tried to wrench away

but found it impossible to move.

“Running away again?” There was a dark edge to his

voice.

Anger punched through her. She dropped her bag and

shoved at his chest, though he barely acknowledged the

blow. “Why should I stay when it’s obvious I’m not