Raul moved slowly down the mountain, watching Angela as she
hurried in front of him. Her emotions warred inside her, and he’d give her
space to deal with them. If there were another way, a better way, no female
deserved it more than Angela.
But after what he’d learned, the despicable plans a handful
of jaguars were carrying out, it was time to leave. He wouldn’t be dishonored
by their actions. And contacting humans, becoming mercenaries, killing for
profit instead of caring about a victory, was just about the most humiliating
act there was.
He and his littermates would take care of Angela. She was
the only one in Colony besides his brothers who mattered to him.
“Angela.” They reached the bottom of the mountain, with the
sun now rising enough to make her long black hair sparkle.
“What?” She turned, her cheeks flushed from all the emotions
he smelled on her.
“You’re going back to my place. We’ll discuss our plans once
we get there.”
She licked her lips, lowering her gaze to his chest before
tilting her head defiantly. “Discuss things, huh?”
He cleared the distance between them and pulled her head
back by her hair. “Unless you’d rather do something else,” he growled.
Her eyes widened. He watched her teeth sharpen slightly
while her green eyes smoldered as her temper flared.
“I’d rather you learn I can make my own decisions.” She
struggled in his arms until he let her go then leapt to the next boulder before
racing away from him.
Raul followed her, but not fast enough to catch her. Not
that he couldn’t. He let her run back to Colony. Now to inform his littermates.
Ran and Rafe didn’t like what they were sniffing out any
better than he did.
Raul straddled his bike, which he’d left at the base of the
mountain, and drove into Colony slowly, noting who was at their den and who
visited them. The litters were forming sides, creating alliances that didn’t
smell good. Everything they knew, the lives they took for granted and the home
they’d always enjoyed would end soon. No matter his efforts or how many litters
sided with him, the damage was done.
Knowledge of jaguars would alter the world completely, and
they would suffer the most.
Raul pulled into his driveway, more than a little put out
when no one was there. His bike rumbled to a stop and he climbed off, grabbed
his phone and stalked to his front door. Cursing his big fingers while pushing
the buttons on his phone—God, he hated cell phones—he placed his call.
“Rafe,” he snapped the moment his younger brother answered.
“Where are you?”
Laughter and music flooded the phone line. “What’s wrong,
Raul?” Rafe laughed. “Some female declaw you?” Shrill laughter followed. Rafe
was preying on the local females.
Raul scowled. “Not even close. Find Ran and the two of you
get home.” He glared at his empty den, moved into the kitchen and grabbed a
cold bottle of beer out of the refrigerator. “Angela is on her way here too.”
“Really? She’s here.”
“What?” He gripped the bottle, feeling its cold sweat drip
down his fingers. “Get her and bring her here.”
She tried to show her independence by not listening to him.
She would soon learn he would never tell her to do something that would hurt her.
“What’s going on?” Rafe moved somewhere there was less
noise, his tone growing more serious. “The litters are all talking about new
opportunities that will put Colony on the map and make us all very rich.”
Raul growled out loud. Snapping the lid to the beer off with
his fingers, he brought the moist bottle to his lips and gulped greedily then
exhaled his aggravation. Angela’s scent covered him and he took a slow, deep
breath, filling his insides with her rich aroma.
“Grab Angela and your brother and return to the den now. We
need a litter meeting.”
“Angela is suddenly part of our litter?” Rafe sounded
serious.
Raul didn’t answer him. She would be, but an announcement
right now would get his younger brother too excited. They all needed to think
clearly.
“Bring our litter home.” He ended the call, knowing his
younger littermate wouldn’t disobey him, unlike feisty little cats with sultry
curves and a defiant attitude he almost hated putting on a leash.
Raul took another long drink of his beer and leaned against
the counter. Rafe’s words lingered in his mind as he stared into his empty
living room.
Part of our litter
. Years of happiness hung in the air
around him. The smells of his brothers, their good and not-so-good times, all
happened in these rooms. They weren’t the perfect litter. Growing up without a
mother and losing their father ten years ago almost to the day, times weren’t
always easy. But Raul made sure his younger littermates always knew what the
security of a litter meant. And the three of them lived good lives.
Whatever it took, they would fight to keep their litter
strong. Colony would do what it would. Raul knew fighting to control all the
litters was an impossible task. They were divided. He’d mulled the
possibilities of killing Natasha. Getting her alone wouldn’t have been too
impossible a task. But even if she died, her ideas were like a virus, and the
infection already spread so that it stank with its greed and power-hungry
stench. Colony was no longer an honorable home. Their litter would return to
the rain forest. And yes, Angela would be part of their move.
The front door opened and closed with a bang.
“Colony has gone insane!” Rafe looked ready for a good
fight, and might have found one if he hadn’t been ordered home.
“Communication with humans has already started,” Ran
announced as he headed to the refrigerator. Leave it to Ran to know the inside
happenings on matters. “There’s talk of a few jaguars leaving Colony to handle
some special projects we’ve supposedly arranged with the humans.”
Rafe stood by Angela, who looked around their den, taking
everything in. He touched her shoulder and she glanced his way, remaining
relaxed and indifferent to his hand on her. “Ran, get our guest a beer,” Rafe
ordered.
“Thank you.” She smiled at Rafe and sauntered through the
living room as if she’d done it a hundred times before. “Most won’t talk to
me,” she said when she offered Ran the same soft smile as she accepted the
beer. “I did learn the Hunter litter plans to leave Colony.”
“What were you doing talking to the Hunter litter?” Raul
demanded.
Angela finally acknowledged him, but not with the same charm
she bestowed on his littermates. Her expression sobered as she met his gaze.
That’s when he saw her hesitation and concern swimming in her suddenly troubled
expression. He didn’t hesitate in brushing his fingers through her long, thick
hair, the need to comfort and protect her hitting him harder than he’d ever
thought possible.
“These are my kind too,” she whispered. “We aren’t like the lunewulfswith packs scattered all over this country and world. We are here and in
the rain forest. But now we’re breaking apart. I have a right to know where the
other jaguars plan to go.”
Someone shouted outside and Raul pulled her against him even
as he looked over her head toward the windows. A fierce roar followed and
Angela jumped.
“We’re going to fucking kill each other before anyone can go
anywhere,” Rafe snarled.
Raul was at the door first, although Rafe and Ran quickly
approached from either side. The shouting escalated and as he stepped outside,
Raul fought the urge to insist everyone else stay inside. All he managed to do
was keep Angela by his side when she would have pushed her way around them and
run into the street. As it was, Rafe pranced ahead of them, almost dancing, as
if he couldn’t wait to take the first punch.
“You can’t do this!” Maria Kalusian ran out of her home
across the road, her black hair looking more streaked with gray than usual.
“This will destroy our litter!”
“Enough!” Miguel Kalusian ignored Raul, who approached
quietly, and instead turned his attention on his mate. Their oldest son Nik
glanced warily at Raul and his litter before turning his attention to his
parents when his sire continued speaking. “There are only so many ways to
explain this to you, Maria. I’m not destroying our litter but making it
stronger. You’ll thank me for this.”
“I don’t thank corpses,” she spat, spinning around and
marching into their home. She slammed the door loud enough for the litters
surrounding them to easily hear.
Raul noticed a few others stood outside now, watching with
curiosity and hesitation. No one would invade a private dispute in a litter,
but all would cautiously watch and wait for a fight.
Miguel grew up with Raul’s father, and the older jaguar
turned back to his task of organizing items in the back of their SUV.
“Take your litter home,” he ordered when Raul crossed the
street.
“What are you doing?” Raul wasn’t a cub anymore. His respect
for Miguel hadn’t faltered, but he took orders from no one.
The older jaguar squinted at Raul, glancing at Rafe and Ran,
and finally settling his gaze on Angela. “Why is she with your litter?” he
growled.
“Tell me what you’re doing and I’ll tell you why she’s
here.” Raul kept his tone deep, quiet, more than aware of other litters
lingering outside their dens, sniffing the air and aching to learn the meaning
of the outburst they just witnessed.
Miguel glanced at his oldest son and Nik straightened, a
silent show of respect. Whatever action Miguel decided, Nik had his tail.
“I don’t care about the female that much.” Miguel grunted,
finishing his task and closing the back hatch to the vehicle.
He turned, his stout chest puffed out and arms flexed while
he fisted and unfisted his hands. Miguel was a large jaguar, still deadly in
his prime, but never one Raul ever crossed paths with in the past. Something in
his scent was off kilter today though.
“You’re leaving your litter then?” Raul challenged, barely
giving Nik a glance when the male, who was about his age, stiffened and took a
step toward him. Raul kept his attention on Miguel, who stuck his arm out to
stop his son. “If you’d asked, you know all of us would willingly watch over
your mate and protect what is yours in your absence,” Raul added, Rafe and Ran
grunting their agreement behind him.
Miguel pierced Raul with hard green eyes, eyes that over the
years held a fatherly look about them, but now glazed over with something that
didn’t set right. Something cold, determined, almost obsessed.
“I won’t be gone long.” Miguel searched Raul’s face and
inhaled sharply, more than likely trying to learn Raul’s opinion of him without
asking. Finally, the older jaguar exhaled and ran his fingers through thick,
black hair. “There are a few of us selected,” Miguel began, lowering his voice
in a conspiratorial tone. “Males who are still in their prime, still quick and
capable of killing with a moment’s notice.” He looked at his son pointedly. “No
younger males were chosen, for obvious reasons. The mission is dangerous,
although I’m confident we’ll return soon, but we won’t risk our young.”
Nik growled, but with a wave of his father’s hand silenced.
“Our mission will change the view of jaguars throughout the world,” Miguel
suddenly boasted. “And all of us will know wealth like we’ve never dreamed of
having.”
Raul fought the sudden craving to leap on the older jaguar,
to attack quickly and prevent what was about to happen. How dare Natasha and
her inept followers launch her idea without consulting the rest of them! And he
didn’t misunderstand the meaning behind Miguel’s boasting. He was heading out
on a trial run, an experiment to see if jaguars and humans could work together.
Except the jaguars would be doing the humans’ dirty work, cleaning up messes
and eliminating those the humans decided no longer needed to live. There was no
honor in this kind of killing, not when they attacked under orders. Not when it
wasn’t their fight!
“We’ll keep a protective eye on your den while you’re gone,”
he said quietly, forcing calmness into his tone.
He turned, ignoring the wary look Miguel gave him before
nodding. The older jaguar expected him to argue or question him further. If
anyone wanted to know where his litter’s loyalties lay, all they needed to do
was ask him. There wasn’t any honor in fighting with a male or any jaguar too
sick in the head to not know when they’d lost their integrity.
“Why the hell did you do that?” Rafe slammed his fist
against the closed front door the moment they were all back inside their den.
Raul turned slowly, smelling everyone’s anger, but even so,
taking his time to study each of their faces. Rafe glared at him, and Ran’s
expression was pinched as he scowled at Raul. Angela crossed her arms over her
chest and stared at the floor, her face shrouded with her long hair. He walked
over to her and she looked up, her eyes haunted. Raul brushed her hair behind
her shoulder, watched her lick her lips and suck in a breath. His scent smelled
so good on her, but at the moment, it was tweaked with her spicy anger.
Miguel had pissed all of them off. Good.
“Showing our claws right now won’t stop this from
happening,” he stated, taking his time, pulling his gaze from Angela to look at
his littermates. “Natasha has supporters and contacts outside of Colony. Before
we attack, we always learn how large our enemy is.”
The silence following was charged with energy thick with
aggressive anger. He looked down at Angela and she stared up at him, concern
clouding her pretty eyes.
“Our enemy is large,” she whispered loud enough he sensed
his littermates’ tension grow. “Natasha plots better than she attacks. And she
always prefers someone else baring their claws instead of her.”
“Sounds like you don’t have a high opinion of your
littermate.” Rafe’s tone wasn’t condemning.