Free Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters) by Cristina Rayne

since he and my brother
used to pick fights with the Bengals or the bears back in high school.”
    “Um…” Kylie had no idea how to respond to that, looking at first Hunter
and then Maxim with a raised eyebrow. “You picked fights?”
    Hunter, however, shot Sasha a dirty look. “Just because I don’t like
crowds doesn’t mean I brood. And we didn’t ‘pick fights,’ either.”
    Maxim’s grin was nearly identical to his sister’s. “No, we just
finished them.” Then his expression sobered. “And we sure as hell will finish
this one.”
    Sasha’s eyes suddenly became fierce. “We’ll get Anna back, Max. Ryder
and Kylie’s friend, too. We’ll make those bastards pay for even thinking they
could touch our own without severe consequences.”
    “You’re coming with us?” Kylie asked.
    The blonde girl nodded, then threw a challenging look at Maxim. “I’ll
be flying the plane. The last thing Max needs is to be exhausted once we reach
Lubbock. Our older brother and my mate can run things here just fine while
we’re gone.”
    Maxim threw up his hands. “Fine. You can fly us there, but , I
don’t want you anywhere near that damned ranch.”
    “I don’t have a death wish, Max,” Sasha huffed. “I’m not nearly as good
a fighter as any of you, but I want to do my part in helping Anna. I love her,
too, you know.”
    Kylie shifted uncomfortably, suddenly feeling as if she was
eavesdropping on a conversation not meant for outside ears.
    “Hey, we’re going to head out, you two,” Hunter said, breaking the
awkward mood, to Kylie’s relief. “We need to grab a few things for the trip.”
    Maxim nodded. “Meet us at the airport in an hour, same hanger as always.”
    “We’ll talk more later, Kylie,” Sasha said, something like a
conspiratorial gleam in her eyes. Kylie could well imagine the stories she
could tell her about Hunter.
    A slow smile stretched her lips. “I look forward to it.
    “I just knew the two of you would get along,” Hunter said with a heavy
sigh as they drove away from the club. “She loves to tease, so expect to hear
plenty about all our past exploits at the oddest times.”
    Kylie chuckled. “I could tell, though the way she was looking at me in
the beginning, I half-expected her to go for my throat.”
    Another sigh. “She can be very protective, too. She’s always treated me
as one of her brothers. In this instance, I’m glad she insisted in coming along
to take over pilot duties. Maxim needs the rest badly whether he’ll admit it or
not.”
    Kylie poked him in the side. “So do you. I can’t imagine that you got
more than a couple of hours yourself last night.”
    “It’s only around an hour and a half flight from here to Lubbock, so I
doubt any of us’ll get much sleep on the plane, but I promise to sleep once we
get to Maxim’s cousin’s estate. We’ll need to be as rested and alert as
possible should we decide to move on the ranch as early as tomorrow.”
    “This whole thing is almost surreal,” Kylie said, shaking her head.
“Last week I never would have thought I would be taking part in a military-like
rescue operation.”
    “If we didn’t need your ability to shift into a lion,” Hunter said
unhappily, “you wouldn’t be getting anywhere near that god-forsaken place at
all.”
    “My best friend is in there and probably my mother,” Kylie said
heatedly. “Even if I couldn’t shift into a lion, there’s no way I would’ve let
you leave me behind.”
    “Which brings us to the problem of your father,” Hunter said. “Should
we tell him what we’re doing? I can’t imagine that he’d be thrilled about you
going directly into the lion’s den, even if your mother is there.”
    “The condition he’s in, I’d rather not upset him, but if something
happens to me, I don’t want him to blame you, either. He needs to at least know
about what Jack said about the cougar shifter that looks like me.”
    Hunter reached over and squeezed her arm.