A Very Jaguar Christmas (21 page)

“What's wrong, Corey?” Demetria half opened her eyes.

“A big caiman tried to eat me.”

She turned to look at Everett, who smiled at her. “Sorry. You should have just called me, Corey, and I would have taken care of it.”

Demetria narrowed her eyes at the clock. “Ugh, we need to get up. Corey, you can sleep on the couch while we finish getting ready. It's too early for you to be up. You can sleep in your pj's in the car.”

So much for sleeping last night. When two wild jaguars got together to snuggle, there's no way it would stay at just that.

That morning, it was smooth driving while Everett took the wheel for the first several hours so Demetria could sleep, and then they stopped for gas, a bathroom break, coffee, milk, and doughnuts. Then Demetria drove while Everett got some shut-eye. So all in all, staying the night at his place had worked well, even if they hadn't slept the whole time.

When he woke, they began talking about the house situation.

“A home with a big yard and trees, out somewhere in the country so we have our privacy, and with a swimming pool, don't you think?” Everett asked.

“Oh, I think that sounds pretty good. Especially the pool part. Did you check with your boss to tell him we were on our way to Minnesota?”

“Yeah, and we'll let him know when we get in.”

“Okay, told my boss too. I haven't mentioned the shifter team we're forming, not until we have a good resolution with this case.”

“We will.” Everett rubbed her back. “We've made good time. Sunset will be about five. We have a couple more hours to drive before we stop, if that sounds good to you.”

“Yeah. I'd rather drive more today and then have more time to search for Corey's family when we get there tomorrow. Maybe six or seven, if you can find a good stopping point.”

By the time they reached a town, it was six thirty and dark out. Everett pointed out one of the fancier hotels. Corey hadn't shifted or given any indication he was going to, so Demetria hoped he would be fine, but she was thinking it would be better to have someplace easier to sneak in a wolf pup if he shifted.

“Why this one, Everett?”

“Internet and an indoor, heated swimming pool.”

She laughed. “All right. The swimming pool won me over.”

After checking into the hotel, they let family and work know where they were and got dressed to go swimming. Corey was raring to go. They'd found a pair of swim trunks for him at a sporting goods store at the mall in Dallas, and he was so excited that he was pulling Everett along by the hand in the direction of the pool room while she tried to keep up.

A couple of people were swimming, the plants around the pool giving it a semitropical appearance as the cold wind whipped around outside. Demetria had never expected to be swimming in a pool with a wolf boy and a hot jaguar in a cold, cold wintry place like Minnesota with Christmas Day looming. She was certain Corey would remember this forever. She and Everett would. She only wished she and Everett could swim as jaguars while Corey swam with them as a wolf. Wouldn't that shock the hotel guests?

They played with Corey in the water until they wore him out. And then they washed up, dressed, and had dinner in the restaurant. After they finished dinner, they took him back to the room and got ready for bed.

“Are you sleepy, Corey?” Everett helped him with his pajamas while Demetria made up the pull-out sofa bed for the boy.

“No.”

“How about we watch a little TV? But not for too long. We have to get up really early again to find your family,” Everett asked.

Corey rubbed an eye and nodded.

Demetria smiled and climbed into bed. Corey scrambled into bed between them as Everett joined them and turned on the TV, switching channels until Corey pointed at an animated feature.

They all settled back and watched until Corey was sound asleep.

Demetria whispered, “Time for him to be in bed.” She turned off the TV.

Everett agreed and carried Corey to the sofa bed and tucked him in, kissing him on the cheek.

Demetria smiled at him. “You are going to make the perfect daddy. Only not right away.”

He laughed. “But I'm going to have fun working at it until you're ready, just to have lots of practice.”

She smiled and they cuddled. “I sure hope we don't have any trouble locating Corey's family.”

“We'll find them. No trouble at all.”

They snuggled and fell asleep. Demetria woke to the sound of the wind howling and ice pellets striking the window. She half drifted off, hoping they wouldn't have a terrible ice storm during the night that would keep them from driving. In Dallas, when they had ice storms, travel was downright dangerous.

A small body moved over hers, waking her, as Corey climbed in between her and Everett like a wolf pup looking to snuggle with his parents.

“Were you scared?” Demetria pulled the covers over him.

He nodded and cuddled against her.

“The wind?” Everett asked, running his hand over Corey's back.

Corey nodded.

“Ice pellets are hitting the window, that's all.” Demetria hoped they would all melt before morning. But she was sure it would only get colder tonight. She just hoped there wouldn't be a lot of accumulation. She sighed and tried to sleep but then began to hear thunder.

She glanced at Everett. Thunder during a snowstorm?

Everett and Corey were sound asleep.

The next morning, Everett and Demetria looked out the hotel window to see flurries and a few inches of snow on the ground.

“Let's get some breakfast and head out.” Everett helped Corey put on his clothes. “Glad Howard picked up Corey's snow boots from Belinda's place and dropped them off before we left.”

“And my coloring books and crayons,” Corey said.

Everett patted his shoulder. “You can bring one down to color while we're waiting for breakfast.”

Demetria tucked her phone away and pulled her hair back. “I just checked the weather conditions. Massive storm front headed toward the area where we'll be searching.”

Everett finished packing his bag and Corey's. “We'll get as close as we can to the location and go from there.”

After eating a hearty breakfast of eggs, bacon, fruit, and hash browns, Everett threw their bags in the car and Demetria buckled Corey in.

Then they were off again. The day was gray, and a heavy, threatening low cloud clung to the earth, taunting them.
Come any farther and you'll regret it.

While Everett drove, Demetria played the license plate game with Corey. “Aww, everyone has the same old one,” he grumped.

“Let's look at all the different colors of cars then,” she said. And for a while they did that.

Then they sang Christmas songs. Demetria had to pull up lyrics on her phone because she couldn't remember most of the songs. Even Everett sang along on a couple of them.

When they stopped for lunch, the waitress said, “Hope you're not headed up north. They say it's going to clear out tonight, but for the next few hours, it's a real blizzard.” She motioned to the service station restaurant. “That's why nobody's here. They're all at the grocery store.”

“Where is the grocery store?” Everett asked, thinking they should pick up some groceries for Corey's family as a way to show friendship.

“Just down the road. Take a left on Main Street, go through two signals, and it's straight ahead on the right after that.”

“Thanks.”

“Are you thinking we're going to be stuck somewhere and need to have provisions?” Demetria asked Everett.

“No. I just thought we'd take some food as a gift. And they may need some anyway. I don't want to impose on them if they want to share a meal with us.”

“Okay, good idea.”

While grocery shopping, Corey told them all the things he wanted to eat before they got on the road.

“What do you think? Two more hours?” Demetria asked, looking at the swirling snow that was starting to envelop them.

“If we don't get stuck anywhere. Why don't I drive the rest of the way? You're keeping Corey entertained.”

“All right. If you don't mind.”

Then they headed into the brunt of the storm. A whiteout. Everett had been in one in Amarillo once, and it had been totally disorienting. He hadn't been able to see the shoulder, the centerline, or the traffic approaching until he was practically on top of the other vehicles, just like now.

Demetria had grown quiet, watching the road. Corey had fallen asleep.

“Maybe we should stop,” she said, sounding worried.

“We only have about a half hour to go now, and it looks like it's clearing ahead.” Everett drove farther, then after about twenty minutes, he thought he saw some of the landmarks that Paddy had described. “We're almost… Wait, I think this is it. There are the blue-and-white hotel on the corner, the snowmobile rental, and the two-lane country road leading north that Paddy described.” Then he saw the barrier closing the road.

Demetria let out her breath on a frustrated sigh. “But the road's closed.”

Everett glanced in the direction of the snowmobile rentals where a couple of men were taking some out. At least they still had an option.

“You want to go by snowmobile?” she asked. “I've never ridden one, have you?”

“No, but we can take a lesson. Looks like they're open for business.” Everett pulled into the parking lot where four other vehicles were parked, covered in snow.

Corey woke while Everett was taking him out of his car seat, and Everett held his hand as they all walked inside the snowmobile rental shop.

The bearded employee greeted them, his long hair tied back in a tail. “Where are you headed?”

“Up north.” Everett told him the approximate area they were going to search. “We've got friends living in cabins out there, but we should be returning tonight.”

“I'll make the rental through tomorrow, in case you decide to stay. Then you'll be covered. If you have any trouble, call this number, but with the snowstorm in the area, reception can be iffy. It's isolated up there. Most of the roads are closed because of the snowstorm, and we're still getting a bit of snow.” He paused, then smiled. “Do you folks need a lesson?”

“Yeah. I'll buy lessons for us.”

“You might want to rent a sled for the boy.”

“We do. We're taking Christmas presents and food for a feast.”

“Hey, Kent! Got some more lessons to give.”

A young man jerked a jacket on and smiled. “Let's go.”

After Demetria and Everett took the snowmobile lessons, they headed north for the final trek, eager to locate Corey's family. Everett pulled the sled and Demetria followed behind. They'd bundled Corey up on the sled until he was barely visible. Christmas presents, his birthday presents, and bundles of food were all tied down behind him. Blankets surrounded him to keep him nice and warm, and he had a pillow to snuggle on.

They rode for miles through snowdrifts and forests, past rivers, creeks, and lakes. Behind them, Everett could see the snow was settling in again, but ahead of them he saw clear blue sky. Everything was white. Serene. Beautiful. They spied a herd of moose. Everett had never seen them for real before. He was amazed at how big they were, even off in the distance.

They'd driven all over the area, smelling for smoke from chimneys and listening for sounds of people talking or laughing or crying. According to his odometer, they had traveled nearly a hundred miles, but a lot of it was canvassing the area, back and forth, searching for any clues that the white wolves lived here. Everett felt uneasy as the sun began setting, coloring the sky in reds and oranges and then disappearing beyond the forest. The air was colder now, the wind whistling through the trees. He'd really believed they'd find the wolves' cabins before this. He didn't know what they were going to do if they had to stay out here in the dark all night. Probably shift. Demetria could stay with Corey on the sled to keep him warm.

Everett saw a clearing in the forest and headed for it. A lake came into view, shimmering with ice in some places and covered with snow in others. And then across the lake, he saw cabins tucked into the woods. Smoke was curling from one chimney, but the breeze was carrying it away from them, north.

Demetria pulled up alongside him. “Is that where they live, do you think?”

Everett was about to ask Corey, but then the most remarkable thing happened. A broad band of colorful light turned the blackness into something magical, surreal, spectacular.

“The aurora borealis,” Demetria whispered, as if saying it too loud would make it disappear. She quickly pulled off her helmet.

Everett took off his helmet and pulled out his cell phone. “I don't think I can take a good shot in the dark,” he said, but she'd had the same idea and was fishing her phone out to take pictures too.

She sighed. “Our families won't believe it. It's beautiful. Just beautiful.”

They just stared in awe. The northern lights. The wide bands of purple and red and faint yellowish-green, the broad spectrum of colors, shimmered across the blackness, reflecting off the ice-covered lake for double the pleasure.

“It's stunning.” Demetria took more pictures of the lights.

Even as concerned as he was about locating Corey's family tonight, Everett wouldn't have missed this moment for anything in the world. They were witnessing a natural, magical light display that man could never replicate in a million years.

Wanting a better shot of the northern lights reflecting off the lake, Everett lowered his cell phone and made the focus more distant. And stared at a large, male white wolf standing on a snowy part of the frozen lake in his viewer, watching him as if the colorful lights had beamed him down. One minute he wasn't there, and the next he was.

Everett blinked, expecting the wolf to disappear, thinking that the snow had affected his vision and he truly wasn't seeing what he thought he was. But the wolf was still there. Slowly, Everett lowered his cell phone even farther so that he was peering above it, looking directly at the vision. Sure enough, the wolf was staring at him like Everett was staring back. “We have company.”

Heart pounding, he cut off the engine.

Demetria was staring at the wolf too, and she slowly reached out to cut her engine.

Then the wolf bolted into the woods and disappeared.

Everett glanced back at Corey to see if he'd seen the wolf and recognized him, but he was sound asleep, mostly buried beneath woolen blankets.

Hell. Everett was afraid the wolf was warning the pack that snowmobilers were in the vicinity, and they needed to remain in human form or out of sight.

“Wait! We have Corey! The Arctic wolf!” Everett shouted. He was certain that if the wolf was a shifter, he would hear him. Wolves had exceptional hearing just like jaguars did. Everett assumed the wolf had to be part of Cameron's pack or Cameron himself, because real Arctic wolves didn't live in this part of the world.

“We're trying to locate Cameron and Faith MacPherson! We have Corey MacPherson with us, and we're trying to return him to his family!” Everett called out.

Corey sat up and was peering at the woods now. Then a howl sounded in the distance, eerie and hauntingly beautiful at the same time. Corey tried to unwrap himself from the blankets and leave the sled.

“No. Just wait, Corey. They'll come and greet us as soon as they've gathered the pack.” Everett hoped they wouldn't do so in a hostile manner. “Which wolf is howling?”

“Uncle David.” Corey sounded excited, but a little worried too.

He was probably afraid he would be in trouble. Maybe a little, but Everett knew Corey's family would be so relieved to see him that he wouldn't get into
too
much trouble.

“Is that one of your cabins across the lake?” Demetria asked.

“Yeah, Mommy and Daddy's.” Then Corey tried to take off his helmet.

Everett joined him and removed it for him. Corey cupped his hands around his mouth, tilted his head up, and howled. He sounded so small, and it made Everett realize just how little he was. Even so, his wolf's howl would carry farther than if he called out to them as a boy.

Everett just hoped Corey's wolf family wouldn't gather the pack to take down whoever had their little boy. Would the wolves think he and Demetria were the kidnappers?

Several howls sounded from farther away, and then the pack drew closer, barking and howling.

Corey howled again in greeting, but his small wolf pup's howl didn't last as long and wouldn't carry as far as the adults'.

The adults grew quiet as if waiting to hear the boy's howls again.

“Go ahead, Corey. They're waiting for you to howl.” Demetria sounded thrilled but a little concerned too.

Corey howled again and the wolves all sang a response, much closer now, as if they'd been on the move and not just listening for his howl.

“Hope you're making a nice, happy howl and not one that says you need rescuing,” Everett said.

Demetria chuckled a little bit.

Corey smiled at him. Then another howl and Corey said, “Daddy.” He stood up on all the blankets, watching for them, eager, happy, though he was frowning as he peered into the dark woods. “And my uncles.”

“But not your mama?” Demetria asked.

“She'd have to shift and then I'd shift in the cold. She tries to warn us first. And she won't do it outside when it's snowing. We have to take off our clothes in the house.”

“She's probably staying home with your sister and brother,” Demetria said, “waiting for your daddy to bring you home.”

Then four big, male white wolves suddenly appeared in the woods, peering at them and eyeing Corey.

“Daddy!” Corey jumped off the sled and sank into the deep snow.

Everett and Demetria both went to rescue him, but the wolves raced to protect Corey, growling.

Hell. Everett wished he was wearing his jaguar coat so he could show that he could protect himself and Demetria with his punishing claws and teeth. It wasn't the way to handle new beginnings between their kinds, but the natural jaguar instinct to protect came to bear, even though he knew the wolves' natural instinct was to protect one of their own.

“We've been looking for you so we could bring your son home to you,” Everett said, just as growly, annoyed that the wolves would take such a hostile stance when it had to be rather evident that they were taking good care of Corey. “And we've got Christmas gifts for him and for your family. We even celebrated his birthday with him.”

The wolves looked at Corey. He grinned and pointed to all the bundles on the sled. “I helped pick out Christmas presents for everyone.”

“Leidolf was trying to help us track you down, but then he had a family emergency and had to go home. We need to talk. Just lead the way. We'll take your boy on the sled to your place. You can't very well take him in these snowdrifts when he's running as a boy, and he's going to have a hard time making it through them as a pup. Let us help with this.” Everett understood their need to take charge of the boy, to protect him when they'd lost him for so long. But under the circumstances, it just wasn't viable.

This sure was a far cry from their usual missions in the South American rain forests.