Free Jaguar Hunt by Terry Spear

real turn-on for the big cats. Researchers have used the fragrances at camera traps in the Maya Biosphere Reserve in Guatemala to gather a more precise estimate of how many jaguars actually live there. The cats love it and rub their cheeks against it. Sometimes they even wrap their forelegs around a tree, rubbing up and down it, collecting the scent, and leaving their own.”
    â€œHuh. How did I miss that bit of information?” Sounded like something she should have read. Sometimes her brothers joked about how she knew so much about the most trivial things. She slipped past David to return to bed. “Why would the boys take your aftershave?”
    â€œLooking to hook up with some hot human girls? Or maybe some female jaguar shifters.”
    â€œThey better watch out or they might end up with jaguars in estrus that don’t shift,” Tammy said.
    David laughed. The sound was too deep, and the way the tips of his ears reddened, she wondered if he had experienced such a thing.
    â€œHas it happened to you?”
    He laughed again, but he wasn’t telling.
    She couldn’t imagine facing a full-grown, all-jaguar male that wanted to mate with her. “Too bad the boys already wasted the half-dozen condoms they took from your box. If they do hook up with some girls, they goofed.”
    â€œMaybe I miscounted. Maybe they took more than that.”
    â€œHow many were in the box?” She climbed into bed, never having imagined she’d be having this discussion with her JAG partner on a mission. Or that she’d be sharing a bed with him. Or that she’d kiss him good night.
    â€œOne hundred.” He closed the mesh curtain around them and settled in next to her. “I admit I guessed at how many were gone.”
    She mulled that over, not believing he would get such a big box. That had to mean he had sex a lot, was bragging if anyone should see his jumbo box, or was the kind of guy who bought in large quantities, like her dad did. Even so, why did David bring the whole box of condoms instead of packing just a few? To keep them pristine? Or because he thought he’d get really lucky?
    â€œDo you…always buy goods in bulk?”
    He didn’t say anything for a moment, the suspense killing her. He smiled at her as if he knew just what she was trying to learn. “Always. Saves money.”
    She closed her eyes and sighed. Maybe David was just like her dad. Her mother said she tried to leave Dad home when she went grocery shopping because he always bought the largest quantity he could. He explained that they’d saved money and trips to the store that way.
    Her mother would grumble about the items going beyond their expiration date well before they were used up. When her brothers were still living at home, it wasn’t so bad. But now that she and her brothers were living on their own, her mother was about to have a conniption because Dad kept buying in the same huge volume.
    â€œThe problem with getting items in bulk is that they expire before you can use them.”
    David cleared his throat. “They’re brand-new. They have a couple of years or more before they expire.”
    She felt her whole body burning up. She wasn’t talking about his condoms !
    â€œOkay, the truth is that when you tore off and left me at the jailhouse, I was in a hell of a hurry to get back to my apartment and throw some stuff together. I didn’t have time to tear open the new box and grab just a few,” he said.
    She smiled at the reference to her leaving him behind, just imagining him in a rush like that. In a hurry, and if she bought things in large quantities herself, she probably would have done the same thing—if she had been a guy. She had to give him high marks for practicing safe sex, but most of all, she appreciated the fact that he hadn’t acted all macho and pretended he was just oversexed.
    Thunder boomed nearby, and flashes of lightning lit up the window