Jaguar Pride (9 page)

No, no, no.

She moved deeper into the thick vegetation and stopped, hoping that whoever it was wouldn't come searching for the crying cub.

“Hide,” she told Huntley.

“What?”

“I'm going to shift. You take my cub with you and hide. I'll pretend to be the mother hunting, and if they get anywhere near where you are, I'll growl and show a whole lot of teeth.”

“If they're poachers?”

“I'll take them down.”

“I don't like it.”

“You don't have to. Huntley, you're not in any shape to shift. And you're responsible for taking care of the cubs.”

Boots tromped through the leaves, drawing closer. “Do you hear a cat crying?” a man said.

“Big cat. Not a domestic,” another said. “Cub.”

“Yeah, over this way,” a third man said.

There were at least three of them.

“Hey,” a fourth said. “If its mother is out hunting, we're screwed. Let's go away from the sound of the cub crying.”

Great advice! If the others would heed it… But they didn't.

The other men headed for where Huntley was staying behind a tree with the cubs. Once the one cub started fussing, the other began to also.

Melissa hurried to strip off her clothes. There was only one way to discourage the men from getting any closer. She shifted. And waited in she-cat mode protecting “her” cubs and their “father.”

“This way,” the one guy said.

She growled softly, letting him know before he even got close enough to see her to turn around and head the other way. The cubs quieted.

“Wait,” one of the men said.

All of them stopped crashing through the woods, their flashlights sweeping across the dripping wet vegetation, the rains quieting down to a light shower, as they searched for any sign of the growly jaguar. She wanted to tell them how dangerous it was to approach a protective mother cat.

She remained quiet, hoping they'd just move along, but then one of the cubs began to cry again. One of the men moved in her direction, slower this time, but his boots were just as noisy as he broke twigs in his path.

She growled. This time he swung his flashlight in her eyes and she crouched, ready to pounce.

“Okay, it's okay. I'm not going to hurt you,” he said, trying to sound reassuring, his voice trembling a little as he moved backward slowly. The light was blinding her, but he was pulling away until he tripped, swore, and landed on his back, his light suddenly shining on the canopy above him. She wanted to laugh.

The other guys hurried to help him up.

“Hell, man. You don't want her to think you're her next meal for her cubs, do you?” said the guy who had warned the rest of them to leave well enough alone. “Just keep the light in her eyes. It'll blind her until we can move far enough away from her and the cubs.”

They continued to back away from her, keeping their lights on her, though they were fading so much that they would be out of view shortly.

“I just wish I could have gotten a picture,” the man who had tripped said.

“I did.”

“Me too.”

And then they were gone. Relieved, Melissa came around the tree to see why the cubs were so quiet now, expecting them to be sleeping in Huntley's arms, but he and they were gone.

His mind clearing enough to recognize the danger to the cubs and to all of them, Huntley moved away from the tree to keep the cubs quiet and give Melissa a chance to look scary and menacing to the park visitors.

He was hoping he was far enough away to keep the cubs from causing more trouble when Melissa came out of nowhere, as quiet as a jaguar, and nearly gave him a heart attack when she roared at him. She was cute when she was pissed. At least he was feeling better. Not a hundred percent, but better.

And at least he saw only one pissed-off jaguar and not two of her now. He followed her back to her clothes, and after she shifted and dressed, he helped her on with her backpack.

The sky was getting lighter, despite the gray clouds, so they would arrive at the cabana in broad daylight. It couldn't be helped.

Scarlet macaws took flight when they smelled the jaguars in their midst. Huntley and Melissa were close to the cabanas now. They could smell the food cooking in some of the cabanas and at the lodge. Time for breakfast and Huntley was actually hungry. Which was a good sign. His headache had lessened. Had he really told Melissa that he had to beg off on going to bed with her because of an excruciating headache?

“About the headache,” Huntley said. “It's nearly gone.”

“I'm so glad,” she said with heartfelt relief.

“Yeah. That means I can take you up on your rain check.”

She didn't say anything as she trudged along, looking like she was ready to collapse the way she was putting the effort into moving one foot ahead of the other.

He chuckled.

“I'm glad you're feeling so much better,” she said seriously.

“I am. And I'm serious about taking you up on the rain check.”

She laughed, then groaned. “I'll be so glad to get this backpack off my back. And get cleaned up.”

“And sleep.”

“Yeah, but now that we have a couple of babies, I can't go to sleep right away.”

Then they reached the ranger's station. Looking bedraggled, they smiled and were about to head for their cabana, hoping to clear out in a hurry before the cubs did anything to give them away, when the ranger said to Huntley, “What happened to you?”

“Tripped and fell and bloodied my head,” Huntley said, trying not to look as anxious as he felt. Melissa had forged on ahead.

Afraid the cubs would wake at any moment and that if she even tried to stop, she'd never get up the momentum to move again, Melissa kept trudging back to the cabana, praying Huntley would get past the ranger before they had more trouble.

“Make sure you get it looked after,” the ranger said to Huntley.

“Sure thing.” Huntley soon caught up to her, and she again couldn't believe he could have any energy, especially after being wounded.

Then she saw the trail to their place and sighed with audible relief. “We made it.”

She looked at the daunting steps to the deck that she'd need to climb to reach the front door.

“I'll take the tent,” Huntley said when she hesitated.

“No, I'll manage.” She didn't want him to have to carry anything more. She knew he had to still be feeling poorly.

He lifted her pack as she began the climb the steps. She couldn't believe he could manage.

She unlocked the door and went inside. He followed, helping her off with her backpack. What a relief. Then she quickly did the same for him. What she wouldn't give for a hot tub or masseuse right now!

Huntley rolled his shoulders and groaned a little.

“I feel the same way.” She was glad he wasn't so macho that he tried to hide the fact that his muscles ached like hers did. She headed for the kitchen and considered how open it was to the breakfast nook and living room. “We're going to have difficulty no matter how we manage this. I was thinking we could put them in the kitchen, but there's no good way to do that.”

“Bathroom or the bedroom.”

“Bathroom. I'll need to make up a cat litter box for them. I can get some sand from the beach.” She fished his phone out of her pocket and handed it to him.

“You are a treasure. I'm so glad you found it. I figured I'd have to go back out there and search for it as soon as I could,” Huntley said.

“Glad I discovered it. I kept calling your number, hoping I'd locate you. Really had me worried when I found your phone and no you.”

“Don't blame you there.”

“Why don't you wash up and go lie down? I'll join you after a while.”

“Are you kidding? You think I'm going to let you take care of our first kids all on your own?”

She laughed. She appreciated a man who still had a sense of humor under these circumstances. “You have been wounded. Don't act all he-man on me. What if you collapse again?”

“Then you can give me mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and revive me. And while you're at it, you could give me that rain check.”

Smiling, she shook her head. “We have babies in the house now. I'm going to try to feed them.”

“I'll help. What do you want me to do?”

“We'll have to show them how to lick up the milk from a bowl. They'll probably get it, if they're hungry enough.”

“Easier than if they were human babies,” he said, watching as she poured milk into a bowl and then set it down on the floor.

She poked her fingers in the milk and let the more adventurous of the two cubs lick it off her fingers. “Yeah, but don't even mention the baby part.”

The cubs were making a mess and not really drinking much. Huntley got on his cell and put it on speakerphone. “Mom, I've got a question. Melissa Overton and I are on a mission in Costa Rica, and well, how do you feed a two-month-old jaguar cub if you don't have mother's milk?”

“What?”

Melissa chuckled while she continued to try to get the cubs to lap up the milk. It wasn't working. The one with brighter gold fur stepped in the bowl. The other chewed on the edge.

“Poachers captured the mom,” he said quickly. “We're trying a bowl of milk on them, and it's not working out very well.”

His mother began laughing.

Melissa smiled. She liked his mom.

“I'm sorry. It's not funny.” Then his mother started laughing again. “Okay, okay, it is funny. They need baby bottles just like a baby. And after they've fed, you put them over your shoulder and rub their back and pat them to burp them.”

“You're kidding, right?”

“I raised three of you kids. And I still have a day care. Don't you think I know how to do it?”

“Wait, if we were jaguars, you'd have to have been a jaguar and not needed a bottle.”

“Right, but some of the mothers run in their jaguar forms and don't want to take their infants with them, so when they leave their babies with me, I have to feed them bottled breast milk. Just get some baby bottles, and though the milk won't have all the nutrients the cubs need, it'll be good enough until the momma can take care of them again. At that age, they should drink nearly all of a bottle.” She started laughing again.

He smiled at Melissa. “Thanks, Mom. We're off to see if we can find some baby bottles.”

“Love you, Son. You and Melissa will do fine with them.”

“Yeah, love you too.” He pocketed his phone and looked at Melissa.

“Baby bottles. It might take me a while. If you can watch them, I'll run to the store and see if I can also find something to use as a litter box. And get some more milk. Will you be all right?”

“Yeah. Just be back really soon. Okay?”

She smiled, then patted his stomach. “Fatherhood suits you. Call your mother back if you have any trouble.”

Then she slipped her passport and some money into a small bag and left, praying no one would drop in unexpectedly and cause even more problems for them. She got into the rental car and headed for the small store ten miles away, which was a long way on these roads, considering the potholes and boulders in the road. She called Martin to let him know they were safely back at the cabana and that Huntley was doing much better.

“Good. I've asked all the branches to put out a search to see if we can discover who the jaguar shifter parents are and where they were staying. I keep telling everyone we need a database with all of our people listed for this very reason.”

“Right, but everyone would have to voluntarily sign up to be monitored, and you know how that goes over with some folks,” Melissa said, turning off the windshield wipers as the rain finally subsided.

“I agree. But if these people had told us that they were jaguar shifters and going to be in the park at a certain time, we'd know about it.”

“Right. Would it be possible to send a nursing jaguar-shifter mother out here to at least nurse the cubs?” She was certain he'd say no, but it was an idea.

“Can't. Not only do we not have a database to know such a thing, but a nursing mother would have babies of her own to care for.”

“Yeah, but she could shift if anyone began snooping around. All they'd see would be a human woman with a baby or babies of her own.”

“And two cubs that she stole from the park.”

“Got it. But what if these cubs' mother is incarcerated and it takes weeks to locate her and free her? Huntley and I can't stay here all that time.”

“We're working on a way to get the cubs back to the States. You might have to move to another location where we can send in a plane or a helicopter. It's going to take some time, though. Do the best you can in the meantime. We'll keep you informed.”

“All right.” She knew Martin would have all the resources he could working on this problem, as well as the other branches pooling their teams to aid them. Anytime that a shifter was captured in his jaguar form and imprisoned, it became a case of extreme concern for all shifters. But even more so when the imprisoned jaguar left behind cubs. If the mom died in captivity, she'd turn back into her human form, and the cubs would too. Then they'd have two babies to take care of.

Melissa tried several stores but came up empty. After more than an hour, she walked inside another small store and nearly had a seizure. Two men dressed in park ranger uniforms were buying some items. She hoped she didn't look as worried about seeing them as she felt.

She searched everywhere for something she could use as litter boxes and finally found a couple of plastic tubs for storing stuff. She bought both, just in case one cat wouldn't use the same “litter box” as the other.

One of the rangers was buying chips and magazines while talking to the clerk, mentioning about gunfire in the park but being unable to reach the site fast enough to catch anyone. That had her listening. No details. They were only searching for any evidence that someone had been shot.

The other ranger was looking at cold medications. He grabbed a couple of packages and headed for the checkout counter.

Melissa picked up some more milk, not sure how much the cubs would drink. She kept trying to think of what else she might need. Milk, litter box, four milk bottles, and a couple of towels to let them sleep on. That was it.

The rangers left, and she paid for her purchases and drove back to the cabana.

She tried calling Huntley, but there was no answer. She could envision the cubs not drinking much of the milk, stepping into it, spilling it, and then making puddles on the tile floor. So maybe he was cleaning up after them. She smiled a little, glad she had this job instead, though she worried again if he was feeling all right.

When she finally arrived at the cabana, she saw toucans snacking on the papaya trees near the deck, and spider and howler monkeys making a ruckus in some trees farther away. The scent of orchids perfumed the air as she made her way up the steps. She hurried inside with her supplies. She was about to call out to Huntley to let him know it was just her when she saw him on the floral couch sound asleep, the cubs curled up on his stomach and watching her.

“The two of you have made a buddy, I see.” She put the milk in the fridge, then left the cabana to get some sand from the beach for each of the litter boxes. Exhausted, she didn't think she'd manage to climb the steep wooden steps to their place again. She was glad Martin had chosen this cabana because it had such a nice view of the ocean and more privacy—and sand for litter boxes.

She finally managed to get in through the back door with the two containers of sand. No one had budged from the couch.

She fixed up the sandboxes in the bathroom and then used a towel to create a bed for the cubs. She took her shower, then threw on a tank top and shorts and walked into the living room, almost wanting to leave everyone where they were because they all looked so angelic. Well, Huntley did. The cats were watching her, like any wild animals would that were wary of their surroundings. The cubs could make a mess of things if they decided to jump off Huntley's stomach and do some exploring on their own while she and Huntley slept.

And she needed to feed them. She filled two baby bottles with milk and then warmed them. Then she set the bottles down on the coffee table, took one of the cubs, sat down on a chair, and began to coax her to drink from the bottle. It was not as easy as Melissa had thought it would be. The cub wasn't sure how to get the milk out of the bottle and was gumming the nipple. Then she finally figured it out and began to suck. The other was watching from Huntley's stomach. She was much mellower, really sweet, with blue-gray eyes that were a touch browner. Sweetpea, Melissa would nickname her.

When the first cub had finished nearly all of the bottle, Melissa did what Huntley's mother suggested. She put the cub over her shoulder and stroked her back, then patted her. The jaguar finally burped and Melissa smiled. Okay, so that wasn't so hard.

Then she took the cub into the bathroom to use the litter box. Her fur was a brighter gold than Sweetpea's, so she thought Goldie would suit her. She had darker lines under her eyes and whiter fur fringing the inside of her ears, but otherwise the cubs' markings were very similar. The pattern on top of their head was different, however. More of circular pattern like a halo on Sweetpea's head. Goldie's pattern was narrower.