Jaguar Secrets (9 page)

Mating mark.
Hell, why not? Could this day get any more bizarre? She nuzzled her way
up Nate’s body until he had her wrapped in his arms and pressed against his
warm flesh.

“I’m too worn out to deal with this. Wake me when
something normal happens, would you?”

With the sound of the men chuckling she contentedly
slipped back into the land of dreams.

Chapter
Five

There was nothing that could wipe the smile from
Nate’s face. He felt ten feet tall as he followed his mate and co-mate back to
the car. Like a sleepy kitten, Cammi had curled up in his lap and napped.
They’d let her be for about half an hour before they woke her with gentle
kisses and caresses. Her skin was so soft, and now that she carried both their
scents, Nate found it near impossible to resist stripping her naked and having
his way with her every ten minutes.

Luca opened the car door and helped Cammi hop in.
Forcing his attention back to the vehicle, he moved around and got in the
driver’s side. Luca slipped in the back beside Cammi, and Nate chuckled.

“Just need one of those black driver’s hats and I’d be
a chauffeur.”

“You’d probably need a shirt, too.”

He turned and winked at
Cammi’s
cheeky comment before he headed back to their house.

“I’m not ready to go back to town yet.”

“Good thing that. We weren’t taking you back to town,
sugar.”

“Ah, well, where are you taking me?”

“Your new home of course.
You’re our mate, Cammi. You need to live with us.”

He heard her hiss in a breath. “I didn’t think of that
side of things.”

He kept an eye on the mirror as well as the road as
Luca tilted her face to his. “You don’t mind living out here do you? If you
really want to live in town we can. Only, out here we have more freedom to roam
in jaguar form.”

“I love it out
here,
I’ve
always loved the reserve. It’s just. Well. Tim isn’t going to be happy about
all this happening so suddenly. He’s going to have a fit.”

“Don’t worry about Tim, Cammi. He’ll get over it.”

A loud chime went off and Nate saw Cammi lunge for her
handbag on the floor.

“Oh, fuck.
No way.”

Nate pulled the car up in front of their house and
turned to take in
Cammi’s
sudden white face and wide
eyes.

“What is it, sugar?”

“Um, it’s Tim. He has Rogue.”

The bottom of Nate’s stomach dropped.
Fuck!
Rogue was Luca’s little brother,
not Nate’s. However, having known him since the day he was born, Nate felt like
his big brother, too. While he was still assimilating the information, Luca snatched
the phone from
Cammi’s
unresponsive fingers with a
low growl. She flinched at the sound and Nate’s heart cracked a little. She had
no need to fear them, they’d never hurt her.

“Read it out, Luca. What’s he up to?”

“He says
I
believe I found something of yours today. Return Cammi and it’s all yours.
He’s taken a snapshot of Rogue in a bloody possum trap.
Bastard.
Rogue can’t shift in such a small space. He’d be hurting so bad by now.”

“How long ago did the message get sent? You know the
reception out in the reserve isn’t good. It didn’t come through just now did
it?”

Luca looked up and held Nate’s gaze with ice cold fury
burning in his irises. “It was sent three hours ago.”

Nate gripped the wheel tight. Luca was pure alpha
male. Nate had always respected how Luca was level-headed and able to remain
calm in any situation. There was no doubt he’d be the next Prowl leader when
his father stepped aside. But Rogue was his baby brother, and nothing ever got
under Luca’s skin like someone messing with his family. Nate swallowed as he
realized, at least for the moment, he would need to be the strong one to keep
Luca calm.

Cammi reaching for her phone caught his attention. “Here,
let me call him,” she said. “I’ll tell him it’s all a big misunderstanding,
that I’m fine and here by choice.”

A quick glance at Luca confirmed Nate’s assumption.
Luca’s hands were resting on his thighs, clenched and shaking. Damn. Luca was
dangerously close to flashing to his jaguar. If Cammi called Tim, things
weren’t going to improve. He could see Luca grabbing the phone and saying
something stupid in the heat of the moment. Something that could get Rogue
killed. He returned his focus on Cammi.

“Sugar, he saw that himself this morning. After what
happened with Tilly, he thinks we’ve brain washed you or some shit. A phone
call isn’t going to cut it. Let’s go inside, get cleaned up.” He looked at Luca
before he continued. “Luca, buddy, you right to ring your dad?”

“Yeah, Nate.
I’ll call him. He
ain’t
going to be happy.”
Luca thumped his fist into the padded part of the door.
“Damn
it, Rogue!
Why couldn’t he just listen when I told him to stop wandering
off?”

“He’s aptly named, Luca. He’s always going to do what
he wants.
Especially while he’s young.
C’mon, get your
dad over here and we’ll sort this out. Remember, you need to keep your cool. If
you lose it now, you’ll be useless in any kind of rescue we plan.”

Luca’s gaze snapped to his with fire sparking in their
depths. A moment later he took a deep breath and shuddered. Some of the fury left
his gaze and he turned to Cammi. Following suit, Nate didn’t miss the tear silently
slide down
Cammi’s
pale cheek.

“Sorry
darlin
’, I think
Tim’s lost the plot for real this time.” Luca paused to sigh. “I don’t think
this is going to end well for Tim.”

Another tear slid down her cheek. She was silent as
her pain filled the air of the car. After a slow blink that released more
tears, she opened the door and got out with jerky movements. Luca and Rogue
forgotten, Nate jumped from the car and raced around to her side. She wasn’t
well, shock maybe? Damn, he didn’t know. Nate stayed close as she climbed the
stairs and headed toward the front door. Luca jogged ahead of them and opened
the way. As she passed him, Luca stopped her and gathered her close. She looked
stiff and a little robotic. What the hell was wrong with her? Nate raised an
eyebrow to Luca who shrugged. He released her and she moved into the house,
allowing Luca to speak to him without her overhearing. Not that she was taking
in anything at the moment.

“I’ll ring Dad. Get him to come here. Our place is the
closest to town, and once he gives the go ahead, we’ll be leaving. We can’t
waste any more time waiting to rescue Rogue. Nate, how about you take Cammi
into the bathroom? Give her a
shower,
see if you can
snap her back from her zone out. She’s had a big day, so much has happened. We
didn’t need this layer of shit on top of it all. Damn Tim. And damn
Jace
!”

Nate pulled Luca into him for a quick man-hug before
he moved to follow Cammi who aimlessly paced around the living room.

“C’mon sugar, let’s go get cleaned up.”

He led her to the master bathroom which had the
biggest shower and willed their clothes from their bodies as he flicked the
lever for the shower. He coaxed her under the spray and the second she got wet
she gasped and clung to him, panting.

“Thank the stars, you’re back.”

He gathered her close and caressed her back as he
kissed her shoulder and up to her neck. Palming her face, he devoured her
mouth. Relief poured through him that she was okay. Her small hands moved over
his chest and he groaned. He pulled back from the kiss and rested his forehead
against hers.

“Damn, Cammi. You scared us half to death.”

“Sorry. I’m not sure what happened. I don’t remember
anything after seeing the message from Tim.” She went still in his arms and he
could feel her holding her breath. “Where’s Luca? He hasn’t run off, has he?”

“I’m right here,
darlin
’. We’ll
talk about Rogue in a few. I need to hold you right now.”

Nate looked his co-mate and best friend in the eye. He
looked tired, sad and worried. Luca moved up behind Cammi, and she
shimmied
her hips against him as she reached her hands up
behind her to tangle in Luca’s hair. He lowered his head to the base of her
neck, where their bite marks were, and nuzzled. Nate grabbed the soap and knelt
to begin washing her. Her legs were stunning. Long and lean, with silky smooth
skin. He pressed kisses against her flesh as he rinsed the bubbles free. By the
time he reached the junction of her thighs she was squirming. A glance up
showed him Luca had palmed her breasts and was tweaking and pulling on her hard
nipples.

Slowly he leaned in and took one long lick of her
slit. She jolted before spreading her legs in invitation. Luca moved Cammi so
he stood to her side. Nate pressed her against the tiled wall. She arched
against the coldness and Nate took full advantage. He cupped her sweet little
bottom in his palms and tilted her hips toward him. Lowering his mouth to her,
he set about devouring his mate with the firm belief that Luca was giving her
the same treatment up higher on her tasty lush body.

****

Dressed in a clean t-shirt and shorts that Cammi had
‘wished’ from her bedroom, she curled up on the couch.
That is going to take some getting used to.
Apparently her shifter
powers would slowly increase until she shifted for the first time. By then
she’d have them all and would just need practice to focus them. She sat curled
up on the couch. She trailed her gaze over each of her men, who continued to
pace around the room like caged tigers, err, jaguars. A loud knock on the front
door was followed by footsteps as people entered the house. She turned to see
Jace
, Tilly and an older man enter the room. Tilly left the
men and headed straight to her on the couch. As she approached, Cammi raised an
eyebrow at the men all leaving the room.

“Where are they off to?”

“Oh, you know men. They have to go huff and puff and
flex their muscles…
Secret men’s business.”

Tilly winked with a cheeky smile before her features
turned serious and she sat next to Cammi.

“What’s he done this time? Please tell me.”

“I’m not sure how he managed it. But Tim’s caught
Rogue in jaguar form. He sent me a message, Tilly. I guess it was for the men.
It had a photo of him in a cage.
Poor kid.”

Tilly sighed as she rubbed the bridge of her nose.

“You know, I love
Jace
. But
I could kick him for the damage he’s done to Tim. Never in a million years
would I think Tim capable of something like this. Before
Jace
attacked him, Tim was so kind and gentle.”

“He still is.
Most of the time.
He’s been like my big brother ever since I came to town.”

“How long have you been in Ceduna?”

“I moved from Adelaide five years ago. It’s a long
story, one we don’t have time for right now. What are we going to do?”

“Not sure. I don’t want to see Tim hurt again, yet Rogue
doesn’t deserve to be held like a stray animal at a shelter either. Poor cub
must be terrified.”

“What if we go talk to him? He didn’t want me going
with the men this morning, carrying on about how you were brainwashed and
they’d do the same to me. Do you think we could get through to him?”

“Sadly, no.
I don’t think we can. I’ve tried before, soon after I got back to town following
mating with
Jace
. He wouldn’t hear anything I tried
to tell him. We might be able to sneak in and free Rogue, though. Tim didn’t
like cats before the attack, he’d hate them now. I’ll bet he’s put Rogue in
that cage so he can leave him in the garage or laundry.”

“Okay, both the garage and the laundry have outside
doors. I have my keys so that’s not a problem. However, getting past the men
here might be.”

Tilly chuckled darkly. “Not a problem. They’ll be holed
up banging their chests for ages yet. They won’t even notice us leaving.”

Shaking her head,
Cammi
followed Tilly out the side door of the house and around to the cars. They took
Tilly’s early model Suzuki
Vitara
.

“I seriously love your car.”

“Yeah, she’s getting on now, but I still love her.”

The car might be over ten years old, but the red paint
was in perfect condition. The canvas roof was off currently, although Cammi
would put money on it being in perfect condition, too. She closed her eyes and
enjoyed the feeling of the wind on her face as they drove toward town.

“There’s a baseball cap under the seat if you want.
Trust
me,
the knots you’ll get otherwise are not worth
the effort.”

Heeding Tilly’s advice, she twisted her hair and
tucked it into the cap she pulled from under the seat. The trip back into town
didn’t take too long, although, thanks to the wind on her face, she felt calm
and ready to do what she had to do to save Rogue—and hopefully Tim—from the
consequences of his stupid choices.