Free Terry Spear - [Shifter 02] by Jaguar Fever Page A

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    Thompson blinked. They actually were serving guard duty.
    He was losing his mind.
    He must have finally fallen asleep, because the next thing he heard was the sound of vehicles pulling out of the parking lot in front of the house, tires crunching on the gravel. Darkness still cloaked the early morning hour. Still hidden by the woods, he hurried around front, saw three cars take off, and waited.
    When no one seemed likely to return anytime soon, he peered through the picture windows, expecting to see jaguars lying around on the couches and floor. The room was too dark, and he couldn’t see anything.
    He returned to the woods until it was light out, then made his way back to the house and peeked again through the window. There was no movement in the house, no cats lying on the floor or lounging on the couches.
    He looked back in the direction that the cars had gone. Hell. Had they packed the cats up in the cars?
    He shook his head. They couldn’t have. He heard the rumbling of a pickup truck and tore into the woods for cover. From his hiding place among the shrubs, he saw two men and a woman get out of the truck. Customers?
    Then as they began to water plants, he realized they had to be the hired help. Should he ask them about the jaguars?
    He waited until the place was open for business, then drove his truck around to the entrance and parked.
    What was he going to ask them? Seen any really big kitty cats around lately?
    ***
    Wade thought David looked a hundred percent better after having slept on Maya’s couch the night before. The gash on his head was just a white line against his tan forehead now, the colorful bandages gone. They’d shared lunch with Everett and Huntley, who afterward had gone to their own terminal to wait for their flight to Brazil. Now he, Maya, and David were waiting to take their flight to Belize.
    Maya had acted anxious most of the day, wringing her hands, pacing, and not paying attention to conversations that had included her. Wade knew she was worried about the hunters and her brother and Kat.
    He finally pulled her into a seat and wrapped his arm around her shoulder, trying to relax her. “So tell me, what is your favorite food?”
    She looked up at him as if he was crazy, then gave him the warmest smile and nestled her head against his shoulder. “Ice cream. Coffee-flavored, covered in hot fudge topping.”
    “Sweet,” he said, meaning she was, just like her choice of food.
    “Yours?”
    “Juicy red steak.”
    “Hmm, sounds yummy,” she said.
    David looked up from the romance novel he was reading. “Fried chicken.”
    Maya laughed. “Fried foods are not good for you.”
    “I run it off.”
    She glanced in the direction of the gate next to them where passengers were beginning to take their seats. Wade and David followed her gaze. A woman with hair as long, blond, and full as Lion Mane’s was talking to another woman waiting for a different departure. Wade noted that every person with long, blond hair had caught Maya’s eye.
    But Lion Mane wouldn’t be flying anywhere, he didn’t think, and he couldn’t get into the terminal without a plane ticket.
    “Favorite color?” Wade prompted.
    “That blue chambray shirt of yours.”
    He kissed her cheek. “Thanks for trying to get the blood out.”
    She looked at him with her beautiful golden eyes. “Sorry it didn’t work.”
    David said, “Turquoise, like the Caribbean water.”
    Wade thought for a moment, then smiled. “Golden like your eyes, Maya.”
    David snorted. “I didn’t know you had a romantic bone in your body.”
    Wade glanced at him. “Aren’t you reading something?”
    David grinned back at him. “It’s hard to read when I’m more interested in…” He paused to take a look at another blond-haired woman.
    Maya sighed. “Did you think it was Lion Mane?”
    “Yeah,” David said.
    “You didn’t happen to get his name when you danced with him, did you?” Wade asked.
    “Of course not. Then he would have