Jaguar Secrets (10 page)

She guided Tilly toward her and Tim’s house, and they
parked a few houses away so they could sneak up to the house.

“I’m guessing garage over the laundry. So we’ll start
there. You ready, Tilly?”

“As I’ll ever be.”

Cammi looked over at Tilly. She could see they were
going to be good friends in the future. She really liked Tilly. Cammi felt a
pang of sympathy for the woman. Having to confront an ex, when there was so
much separating them, would not be fun in the least. With a deep breath, Cammi
nodded and jogged around the side of the garage to the door. Feeling like an
extra on CSI she plastered herself against the wall and slowly moved her head,
so she could glance through the glass panel in the door. As she suspected,
Rogue lay in a cage on the floor. The rest of the garage looked empty of life,
so she slid her key into the lock and eased the door open. Rogue lifted his
head in alarm and whimpered quietly as they entered. Cammi raised a finger to
her lips, hopefully conveying the need for silence. Cammi made a beeline for
the cage with Tilly half a step behind her. Rogue backed up in the cage
allowing her room to swing the trapdoor in. He timidly crawled out as though he
didn’t believe what was happening. Cammi slid the cage shut and scooped up the
kitten, not wanting to get caught in the house she turned to go back out the
door. As she rose to her feet Tilly gasped.

Oh shit.
Busted.

“What a lovely surprise.
My two
favorite girls.
What the hell do you think you’re doing?”

Chapter
Six

With a groan, Cammi returned to consciousness. Her
mind was foggy as she tried to remember what happened. She looked around the
darkened room. There was a child’s bed and a double-door wardrobe. The space
contained no other furniture, aside from the kitchen chair she was tied to. She
tugged her arms but the rope burned her wrists and didn’t show any signs of loosening.

“So help me, Tim, if you don’t cut the bullshit and untie
me, you’re going to regret it.”

Tilly’s voice was muffled through the door and went
silent after Cammi heard a door slam.
Tim.
Dammit. He’d taken Rogue and held a knife to the poor cub’s throat until she
and Tilly had climbed into his car. He’d then returned Rogue to the small cage
before he used those damn pressure points he loved so much to knock her out.
She could only assume he’d given Tilly the same treatment.
But
why?
Tim had been like a big brother to her … she’d never have thought
him capable of hurting her.
Until now.

Cammi’s
breath froze in her lungs and her heart pounded in her ears as the door
to the room slowly opened.

“Hey Cammi-doll, how you feeling?”

She glared at him, “How do you think I’m feeling? You
bloody knocked me out,
then
tied me to a fucking
chair!”

He cocked an eyebrow at her yelled curse, but didn’t
say anything as he moved into the room, closing the door behind him. He placed
a tray containing a couple of sandwiches and a glass of orange juice on the
bed.

“You trust me, right, Cammi-doll? I mean, I’ve never
hurt you in all the years you’ve known me.”

“You’ve never hurt me before, but you’ve never
kidnapped me either.”

Worried Tim had lost his
mind,
Cammi kept her voice low and didn’t take her gaze from him.

“I love you like a sister, Cammi-doll. I’d never hurt
you.”

“Then why did you take Rogue? Take me and Tilly?”

“Rogue?”

“The kitten you had caged, he’s Luca’s brother,
Rogue.”

“Ah, okay. Well, when I saw the kitten down the beach
I knew it wasn’t an ordinary house cat. Figured it had to be a shifter. I was
hoping the jags would trade me you for it.”

“Now you have me, what did you do with him?”

Tim shrugged his shoulders. “He’s back in the cage in
the garage. He’ll be fine.”

Cammi’s
stomach dropped, Rogue wouldn’t be okay. He couldn’t shift in that
small cage. If he got upset and changed to human he’d seriously injure himself.
Maybe even die.

“He’s not safe in that cage, Tim. If he flashes to
human he could be really hurt.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Cammi-doll. The jags will come
looking when they realize you and Tilly are gone. Where’s the first place
they’re going to check?”

“Your place.”

“There you go. He’s probably been found already. I
didn’t realize you cared for the young cat so much. I would have released him
to roam if I’d known. I really don’t want to
cause
you
harm.”

Cammi frowned at Tim. He was being overly nice, but
had a serious glint in his eyes.

“What are you up to Tim?”

“I’m trying to save you, Cammi.”

“I don’t need saving, Tim. Nate and Luca are my mates.
I want to be with them. This is my choice.
My life to lead.”

He moved to the tray and picked up the juice before
returning to her.

“Here, have a drink. You’ve been here a while now and
you need to keep your fluids up.”

He held the glass to her lips and she automatically
opened her mouth to drink the cold liquid. He kept tilting the glass until
she’d drunk the entire thing.

“That’s a good girl. Feel like a sandwich?”

“I feel like going home, Tim. Let me go, please. This
isn’t going to end well if you keep me and Tilly locked up. You’ve already been
attacked once, what do you think they’ll do this time? I don’t want you hurt,
Tim.”

Tim looked at her with sadness and resignation in his
gaze. “If it means you and she are free of them, it’s worth the sacrifice.”

He turned and left the room before Cammi could
respond. What the hell was Tim playing at? She went over what he’d said to her.
Fuck, he truly thinks we’ve been
brainwashed.
Her mind began to slow and feel sluggish, her thoughts not
processing quite right. Rubbing her tongue over the roof of her mouth she
caught a strange taste. One not normally associated with orange juice.
Dammit! The bastard drugged me!

As the drug took affect she felt her muscles loosen.
Her head fell forward on her neck, stopping only when her chin rested against
her chest, the room began to spin so she closed her eyes on a groan. The door
opened, creaking, and the sound echoed around her skull bringing another moan
from her throat. More clattering sounded and she opened her eyes and looked up
through her lashes to see a blurry Tim putting the tray of food on the floor
before moving toward her.

“
Whz
you dun…”

She licked her lips and swallowed against her thick
tongue before trying to speak again. Unfortunately it didn’t help. Her words
were slurred and odd sounding.

“
Shh
,
Cammi
-doll.
I’m saving you. Undoing what they did.”

She felt her eyes sting moments before tears slid down
her cheeks and dropped onto her shirt. She didn’t want to forget Nate and Luca.
They made her whole. A sob broke free as she fought the drug in her system to
no avail. Tim moved behind her and cut the bindings on her wrists. A moment of
joy burst through her as she tried to move, to run for the door, but it was
short lived as she realized whatever he’d given her made her entire body numb
and unresponsive.

She had no way to fight as Tim scooped her up and she
lay limp like a rag doll in his arms. More tears burned down her face as fear,
frustration, and panic filled her fuzzy mind. He laid her out on the bed,
arranging her to be comfortable and brushing his fingers over her face, tucking
hair behind her ear and wiping her tears.

“It’ll be okay, Cammi-doll. This will only last for a
little bit. I’ll always look after you, you know that. I’ll always be here for
you. Take care of you. I’ll never hurt you. I’m not violent like the jags. You
don’t have to worry that one day I’ll turn on you. You’ve seen the damage a
jaguar can do to a person. You’ll never know for certain that they won’t turn
on you one day. But that’s okay. You’re with me, now. I’ll be your big brother.
Keep you safe.”

Tim’s words continued on and on. The more he said the
more
Cammi’s
heart broke. After hour upon hour of
Tim’s litany, his words began to penetrate into her soul and forced her to see
her men in a different light. How could she be sure she’d be safe with them?
Would they turn on her?
And even if her men didn’t, what
about the others?
More tears trekked down her cheeks as she slipped into
a restless sleep.

****

Luca flashed to his jaguar and roared loud into the
night. She was gone!
Cammi
and Tilly had taken off
while he was in with the men. How could she leave him and Nate like that?
Only hours after completing the mating.
It cut into his
soul.

“You three calm the hell down and think about it. Both
the girls know Tim, care for him to some degree. They’re not stupid. They know
you three will tear him apart for taking Rogue. I dare say, they think they can
talk him down and get Rogue out of there.”

Luca absorbed his father’s words as he observed both
Nate and
Jace
pacing in jaguar form, too. His father
was right. Cammi taking off wasn’t her abandoning him and Nate, but trying to
save Rogue … and Tim. Not that the bastard deserved saving. Nate manned up
earlier when they received the news. Staying calm and helping him to see what
was important. Now it was his turn to step up. Forcing his mind to slow down,
he flashed back to human form.

“Okay. If they took off soon after we started
planning, they’ve been gone for about two hours.
More than
enough time for them to be back here with Rogue.”

His father’s face looked grim. “Yes, I suspect things
didn’t go according to their plan. We can’t head into town with you boys in jaguar
form. Get your act together so we can go save them all.”

Luca turned on the other two as they paced in jaguar
form for a while longer.

“Nate, think it over. She didn’t run from us. She’s
trying to save Rogue. Focus on that.”

Within a couple of minutes both Nate and
Jace
were back to human. They all gathered close to his
father as he begun to speak.

“Okay, plan stays the same. Let’s get to Tim’s place.
Jace
and I will go in through the garage, and Luca and Nate
through the back door of the house.”

Luca took the driver’s seat as the others piled into
the car. The second the last door shut, he shot off down the driveway and made
a beeline for his mate. As he drove up to Tim’s house he saw Tilly’s parked
Vitara
a few houses down. His gut tightened as a shiver
went down his spine.

“I’ve got one hell of a bad feeling about all of
this.”

The rest grunted their agreement as he pulled in
behind Tilly’s car.

The four of them moved to the property quietly and
split up to enter the house as they’d agreed. With his heart pounding and his
fingers twitching with the need to shift, Luca used his supernatural strength to
turn the knob until the lock broke and the door opened. With Nate on his heels,
they moved through the house. Every room was empty with no sign of any struggle
or fight. They entered the garage to find his father and
Jace
kneeling beside Rogue. He was flashing back and forth and whining low. Poor cub
was in agony. At his age it wasn’t easy to control his shifts and being locked
in such a small cage, he’d been forced to stay in jaguar form for hours. His
body was rebelling.

“Dad, the house is clear. There’s no one here.”

His father nodded without removing his gaze from
Rogue.

Luca took out his phone and rung his mother, a nurse
at the hospital. “Hey Mom, we’ve got Rogue and he’s not good. Can you come over
right now? He can’t hold either form.”

“Where are you? At the place
Cammi’s
been sharing with Tim?”

“Yeah.
Dad’s
told you what’s going on?”

“He sent me a text half an hour ago explaining what’d
happened so far. I’ll be there in ten.”

He locked his phone’s screen and pocketed it.

“Dad,
Mom’ll
be here in ten
minutes.”

He nodded but didn’t say anything.

Jace
rose to
his feet and paced the garage.

“Do you know where he’d go? C’mon,
Jace
,
you had to have looked into him.”

Nate’s question brought
Jace’s
attention to him.

“I’m trying to remember. I reckon he had another
place. It was new, on the outskirts of town. Tilly told me he’d been building
it for them, for after they got married. You think he’d still have it? It’s
been five years.”