“I’ll be with you but if you have to head to the trees, I’ll still be tracking you. If you find this jaguar, do not confront it. Wait for me.” At her raised eyebrows, he added, “Please.”
“It’s this guy’s fault that my mother is afraid and hasn’t been able to properly hunt for weeks.” Neither had the rest of her family but her mother internalized stuff and this had been eating away at her. Gabriela only wished she’d shared this concern during any of their last dozen phone conversations. She’d have been home a lot sooner.
“Gabriela.” There was a warning note in Owen’s voice.
“You either want my help or you don’t, but you might want to call your pack and let them know I’ll be out there tracking and not to go after the black female jag.”
He immediately flipped open his phone. When he did, she shifted forms effortlessly and took off. She knew it would annoy him and inwardly cringed when she heard curses behind her, but she didn’t pause. If she was going to track this guy, she had a lot of ground to cover.
In her jaguar form she was incredibly powerful but she wasn’t built for long distances. She could be very fast when she wanted but it was always in short bursts of speed. She wasn’t sure how long it took her to get to the abandoned mine but by the time she did, she could feel the strain in her legs. Adrenaline still punched through her as she slowed and began circling the old mine shaft. Careful of any places that might cave in, she inhaled the various scents.
Long ago she’d learned to decipher them. It was just part of her animal instinct, like breathing, and something she could never explain to a human. It was also one of the reasons she’d been chosen to work down in South and Central America. As a jaguar she was able to blend into the jungle and get close to many of the drug operations and homes owned by drug lords. She’d been like an invisible agent.
Pulling in a deep breath, she narrowed in on the distinctive feline scent lingering in the air. There were a few deer, an elk and other smaller forest creatures that had passed through the area recently, but the feline scent was the easiest to discern.
Turning north and in the opposite direction of where Owen’s pack made their home, she kept a steady pace. Wanting to retain some of her energy, she kept to a lope this time. The farther north she ran, the stronger the scent grew.
Owen had to be pretty close behind her by now. She’d tapped into energy reserves during her first sprint and knew she’d outpaced him by a fairly great distance. But wolves were fast, too, and these were his woods. He’d be caught up soon enough. She just hoped she found this jaguar first because he was going to pay.
About two miles into her trek, she slowed and took to the trees. There were clusters of very old white-bark pines—so they were big enough to support her feline body—and she used the branches as springboards to jump from tree to tree until the sound of male voices made her slow even more.
Crouching on an elongated branch, she used the leaves and branches as camouflage and crept closer to the edge until she had a perfect shot of a naked man—she guessed the jaguar in human form—talking to what appeared to be two male vampires. Or she guessed they were vamps. Their skin was pale and there was something about their scent that always gave vampires away. It was like an inborn thing. Vampires and shifters were natural-born enemies so they just sensed predators.
Unfortunately it meant they might be able to sense her but with the other jaguar’s scent covering the area and because she was downwind, she figured she’d be able to blend in for the moment.
“I’m tired of waiting for them to kill each other off,” one of the vampires said. He wore a long, black trench coat that felt so clichéd for his kind, she would have rolled her eyes had she been in human form.
“We need to be patient,” the other vamp said. This one
“It’s this guy’s fault that my mother is afraid and hasn’t been able to properly hunt for weeks.” Neither had the rest of her family but her mother internalized stuff and this had been eating away at her. Gabriela only wished she’d shared this concern during any of their last dozen phone conversations. She’d have been home a lot sooner.
“Gabriela.” There was a warning note in Owen’s voice.
“You either want my help or you don’t, but you might want to call your pack and let them know I’ll be out there tracking and not to go after the black female jag.”
He immediately flipped open his phone. When he did, she shifted forms effortlessly and took off. She knew it would annoy him and inwardly cringed when she heard curses behind her, but she didn’t pause. If she was going to track this guy, she had a lot of ground to cover.
In her jaguar form she was incredibly powerful but she wasn’t built for long distances. She could be very fast when she wanted but it was always in short bursts of speed. She wasn’t sure how long it took her to get to the abandoned mine but by the time she did, she could feel the strain in her legs. Adrenaline still punched through her as she slowed and began circling the old mine shaft. Careful of any places that might cave in, she inhaled the various scents.
Long ago she’d learned to decipher them. It was just part of her animal instinct, like breathing, and something she could never explain to a human. It was also one of the reasons she’d been chosen to work down in South and Central America. As a jaguar she was able to blend into the jungle and get close to many of the drug operations and homes owned by drug lords. She’d been like an invisible agent.
Pulling in a deep breath, she narrowed in on the distinctive feline scent lingering in the air. There were a few deer, an elk and other smaller forest creatures that had passed through the area recently, but the feline scent was the easiest to discern.
Turning north and in the opposite direction of where Owen’s pack made their home, she kept a steady pace. Wanting to retain some of her energy, she kept to a lope this time. The farther north she ran, the stronger the scent grew.
Owen had to be pretty close behind her by now. She’d tapped into energy reserves during her first sprint and knew she’d outpaced him by a fairly great distance. But wolves were fast, too, and these were his woods. He’d be caught up soon enough. She just hoped she found this jaguar first because he was going to pay.
About two miles into her trek, she slowed and took to the trees. There were clusters of very old white-bark pines—so they were big enough to support her feline body—and she used the branches as springboards to jump from tree to tree until the sound of male voices made her slow even more.
Crouching on an elongated branch, she used the leaves and branches as camouflage and crept closer to the edge until she had a perfect shot of a naked man—she guessed the jaguar in human form—talking to what appeared to be two male vampires. Or she guessed they were vamps. Their skin was pale and there was something about their scent that always gave vampires away. It was like an inborn thing. Vampires and shifters were natural-born enemies so they just sensed predators.
Unfortunately it meant they might be able to sense her but with the other jaguar’s scent covering the area and because she was downwind, she figured she’d be able to blend in for the moment.
“I’m tired of waiting for them to kill each other off,” one of the vampires said. He wore a long, black trench coat that felt so clichéd for his kind, she would have rolled her eyes had she been in human form.
“We need to be patient,” the other vamp said. This one
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