Savage Hunger

Chapter 18

When Connor, Maya, and Kat reached the river, Kat began pulling off her shirt and boots and pants, eager to swim, to cool off a bit, and to wash off some of the sweat. Under the broad canopy in the thick of the jungle, the temperature was around eighty degrees and muggy without a breeze. Out in the sun, it was closer to one hundred, but a humid breeze swept across the river. Kat’s wary gaze examined the jungle. They had company, she thought uneasily.

She sensed more than saw that they were being watched. Were her jaguar senses making her more aware of her surroundings? She wasn’t sure.

“I don’t think we’re alone,” she said to Maya and Connor as she waded into the river. She was wearing just her leopard bra and panties, but they looked enough like a bikini bathing suit that she felt comfortable in them even if they had an audience. As long as they weren’t being watched by drug runners.

“You’re right, Kat,” Maya said. “I’m sure they’re hunters from another tribe. They’ve been following us for miles, ever since we left the other tribe’s territory.”

“Do you think they know about us?” Kat asked. She knew the jaguar-shifters had to remain a secret to society in general, and she didn’t feel comfortable that some tribes in the Amazon knew what they were. The information could prove disastrous in the wrong hands if anyone believed the natives’ tales.

She wasn’t at ease with what she was, either. Concern about having a sudden urge to shift had plagued her all day. Nothing had come of it, but she still had been anxious. What if this group of natives didn’t know about Kat, Connor, and Maya’s jaguar-shifter traits but all of a sudden saw Kat ditching her clothes and turning into a jaguar?

Would they revere her or want to kill her? And Maya and Connor, too?

She also couldn’t get used to the way her senses were so attuned. It was unnerving to be hearing so many more sounds than she could before, seeing the slightest movements that she wouldn’t have noticed before, and smelling the jungle in a new way. The jungle was even richer than she had noticed earlier—full of scents she couldn’t even begin to recognize, but she figured Maya and Connor could. They had been coming here for a long time as shifters, and they had learned from birth how to identify odors that her human nose couldn’t yet.

Connor had already stripped to a pair of boxers and joined Kat in the river. He ran his hand over her arm in a soothing caress. “I’m not sure if they realize what we are. Maybe like the others, they do know what we are like. Or they’re just curious about who we are and why we’re traveling through their land. We don’t have a guide, and we’re not hunting or gathering information or doing anything except moving through their territory, so they have to wonder what we’re up to.”

Wearing just a black bra and bikini panties, Maya joined them, then swam deeper into the river.

Kat knew that the freshwater dolphins swam there, but so did the piranha. She tried not to think of that. People didn’t get bitten by them all that often, she didn’t think, and she wasn’t bleeding anywhere, so she felt she should be safe enough. Even tourists were taken on excursions to swim with the Amazon River dolphins. She had seen numerous pictures of gray-haired grandmas floating with orange preservers strapped around their chests while reaching out to pet the pink dolphins, their noses up in the air as if delighted to see the human tourists.

Kat felt a soft-skinned dolphin glide close enough to brush up against her as if in greeting, and she grinned. They were beautiful and huge. And amazingly pink. Not all of them, though. Some were gray with a pink belly, or pink with a mottling of gray on top. The four she glimpsed rising out of the water and then diving back in were much bigger than she had imagined them to be. These were freshwater dolphins, not like the ones at the shows she had seen. But actually being in the water with them was both exhilarating and intimidating.

Connor stuck close to Kat as if she might need his rescue at any moment. She loved the way he was so protective of her and of Maya, too. He knew his sister’s capabilities better than he did Kat’s, so he seemed more concerned about Kat than she thought warranted. Except for the sickness, she normally was extremely capable on her own.

For now, she felt rejuvenated. Clean, refreshed, loving the water as she always had. And as she stroked the good-natured dolphins, she was thrilled they had stopped to swim and play.

“A male,” Connor said as she ran her hand over an even bigger dolphin.

“But females are usually bigger.”

Connor shook his head. “Not among these dolphins. The males are bigger and are more likely to be all pink.”

Maya swam on her back and said, “Some call them botos. Did you know that some claim they have supernatural powers? An Amazon legend states that a sexy man seduces a girl, gets her pregnant, and then returns to the river in the morning to become a boto again. Some believe that it is bad luck to kill one. Some believe that the spirits of drowned souls enter the boto’s body.”

“I wonder what they would say about us,” Kat said, watching the dolphins swim near, then disappear again underneath the dark water.

Maya smiled. “I believe they’re already making up tales. Connor has his own harem.”

“Which,” Connor said to his sister, “if it keeps you out of trouble with the men, suits me fine. Not that you’re part of my harem, but just that the locals think so.”

Maya grew thoughtful. “Do you think the other male jaguar we heard was a shifter or just a regular jaguar?”

“It’s hard to tell,” Connor said, although from the odd expression on his face, Kat wondered if he really did know but wasn’t committing himself. “I hadn’t been leaving a scent around the area like I normally do to let other beasts know that I’ve claimed the territory, what with Kat having been so ill. So it could have been either.”

Kat hadn’t thought about it much, but now she realized that Maya must want to check the other jaguar out. She’d said they hadn’t been able to locate any other jaguar-shifters. What if the guy was one, and Maya and he hit it off? She could have a mate without having to bite anyone to make it happen.

“Do you want to locate him and determine if he is?” Kat asked Maya. She figured that Connor didn’t want to look for the male jaguar, or he would have suggested it already. Was he worried Kat might be interested in the other male jaguar if he was a shifter?

Connor drew in a deep breath as he stood near Kat. “He’s stalking us.”

Kat’s mouth opened, but she didn’t say anything. He was following them and Connor knew? She glanced at Maya. His sister sighed. “At least we’re pretty sure he is.”

“As a jaguar?” Kat asked, amazed at the news.

Why hadn’t she seen any sign of him? She knew they were being followed, but she couldn’t say exactly what had alerted her. Maybe that sometimes a flock of parrots would shoot heavenward into the canopy some distance in the jungle, or that monkeys would titter and squawk at each other in warning, alerting the others of trouble. She had believed they were being followed by the native people who lived here, not by anyone who might wish to take them hostage. The thought that more of Manuel’s kind might be around still bothered her, but she figured anyone else like him would have made a move by now.

She had thought Connor was pushing them through the jungle so relentlessly to get them somewhere safe as soon as possible. But now she wondered if it was because he worried about another jaguar—or jaguar-shifter.

“A jaguar’s been following us,” both Maya and Connor said at once. Apparently they didn’t know for sure if he was a shifter. If he was running around as a man, they probably wouldn’t have thought he was a shifter.

Kat looked at the trees lining the banks of the river. “You’ve seen him?”

“In a tree, two hours ago,” Maya said.

“How did I miss him? Why didn’t you tell me?” When neither answered her right away, Kat asked, “Is he trying to figure out our relationships?” She assumed Connor didn’t want her thinking he was so controlling that he wouldn’t let her get to know another shifter.

“I’m sure of it, if he’s a shifter,” Maya said rather wistfully.

Connor had a harem, so who was with whom? Were both the females his? Like a regular jaguar who claimed a couple of females or more within his territory?

Kat hadn’t had a real family. Not one that had looked out for her. And she had never had a man care for her to such an extent, someone who was willing to take care of an unknown woman alone in the jungle who hadn’t been the best of company. She had been sickly, looking like death warmed over, so he was probably figuring she couldn’t have been very bright to be there in the first place.

She’d had her share of relationships; none of them had worked out. Either the guys were too busy making rank and enjoying the freedom and money as single men in the service and didn’t want to be tied down to a wife and kids, or there just was no spark. Until Roger came along. But that engagement had been short-lived after her aborted mission in the jungle. He didn’t even have to tell her it was over between them. When he began giving her the third degree about her mission while she was still so out of it from her injuries, she knew the mission was all he cared about. And she had been the one who ended it between them.

With Connor, it was totally different. She was certain that if he had been able to save her life and take her with him that day she had been shot up so badly, he would never have questioned her about anything until she was ready to share what had happened. But in truth, if he had known her beforehand, she was sure he wouldn’t have allowed her to go on a mission that would have endangered her life in the first place.

Even now, the way he stood so close to her made her feel sparks and heat and sizzle. A dolphin bumped gently against her leg, but Connor, looking down at her and trying to read her feelings, was the one who stole her attention.

She wanted to wrap her arms around him to prove to the other jaguar, if he was watching, that she already had a shifter she was interested in.

That’s when Connor smiled at Kat in the most devilishly sinful way, cupped her face with his wet hands, and pressed his mouth against hers.

Everything—the flow of the river, the dolphins swimming nearby, Maya and anyone else who might be watching—faded into the distance as if none of them existed. Only Connor’s hot lips against hers held her attention. It was just like at the waterfall, as if nothing mattered but his touching her. She treasured it and needed it—the closeness and the feeling she wasn’t someone who had no one, had never had anyone in her life, and was wanted now for the first time ever.

But it was more than just want. It was a craving, something primal, instinctive, necessary. Not just an urge to have sex—although she was already thinking about the room arrangements when they reached the city. She wasn’t sure Connor would want to leave his sister alone in a room of her own, while Kat and he shared another. She wasn’t sure she wanted Maya off by herself, either.

But she did know she wanted Connor alone to cure this growing need to have him. Ever since he’d begun sleeping in the same small bed with Kat in the hut, with his body pressed indecently against hers, she had wanted more.

Standing in the river, he pressed his fully aroused body harder against hers. If another shifter was watching, she was fairly sure he would realize that Connor wanted her and she wanted him. Unless another shifter figured she might be fickle. As cats, they would be. But she wasn’t that way.

Still, she didn’t know Connor well enough to know if he would stay with her in the long run. What if he found another female jaguar-shifter who had been born to this way of life like he had? Wouldn’t he prefer someone who was able to control what she was? Knew what to do as a shifter? Wasn’t such a neophyte like Kat was?

She normally didn’t feel unsure of herself. She had a will of her own, and once she had left foster care, she had lived her own life. But now, she couldn’t help but feel somewhat insecure. She had no idea how to live this life as a jaguar-shifter.

In part, she wanted to do her own thing, plan her own life, be her own person. She had known what she was capable of—but now, she wasn’t sure.

“Your thoughts are somewhere else, Kat,” Connor whispered, kissing her ear and her throat, his hands around her waist, holding her in place, tight against his body.

Her body pooled with liquid heat at the feel of his warm mouth on her skin.

Yet, he must have felt the tension in her, the hesitation, and seen the way she glanced again at the woods because he said what she thought he was afraid to say to her: “He can’t have you.” His eyes were dark with desire, his words determined. “If he’s a shifter, he can’t have you,” he repeated, as if he wanted to make it perfectly clear to her that he wanted her and wasn’t giving her up.

Loving a challenge, she smiled and moved her hands down his back to his buttocks, the boxers clinging to his hard muscles. She tilted her lips up and replied in a hushed voice, “I take it you’re going to prove to me why I should want you instead?”

His mouth curved into a lazy smile, the skin beneath his eyes crinkling in wry amusement. “If that’s meant as a challenge…”

Absolutely.

He let his words trail off, right before he nibbled on her ear, and she arched against him. God, Maya had to get a separate room from them when they arrived at the city or Kat would never manage.

As if Maya had read Kat’s mind, she said good-naturedly, “You two need to get a room. Let’s eat so we can get back on the trail and reach the city before it gets too late.” She waded out of the river and onto the bank.

Connor gave Kat another heartfelt squeeze. “I accept the challenge.”

Kat chuckled under her breath. “I’ve never had two men fight over me before. You do realize you might not have any competition anyway. I mean, if he’s a shifter, he might be interested in Maya, not me. And if he’s not a shifter, there would be no competition at all.”

Connor shook his head. “No matter what the situation is, I won’t chance it.”

He sounded dead serious, and she took his hand and walked with him to the shore. “All right by me. So where shall we go for our first date?”

Grinning this time, he looked down at her. “How about a cookout in the Amazon rain forest? We could go for a nice long hike through the steamy jungle until we reach a city. Check into a room—”

“Dinner first, though,” she said smiling.

His eyes glittered with amusement. “Dinner first, then we have to work off the meal and then get a room.”

“Once we get to the city and before we get booked on a flight, can we go to the beach?” Maya asked.

“Sounds good to me,” Kat said, as long as they swam late at night, just in case she had the sudden urge to shift. Then she sobered. “If you’ve recently shifted, will that stop you from having the urge again for a long time afterward?”

Maya looked at Connor, like she felt bad for not knowing the answer to Kat’s question, then sadly shook her head. “We change at will, Kat. I’m sorry. Did you have a feeling that warned you that you had to shift the first time?”

“I was asleep,” Kat said, helping Connor to gather kindling for a fire. “I didn’t think I was awake. I’d been dreaming about being a cat most of the night, thinking it was because I had seen you and Connor as cats in the jungle earlier, and maybe also as a byproduct of the unusual foods I’d been eating. Then before I knew it, I was tearing off my clothes, desperate to get out of them, and I shifted. After that, I still couldn’t believe it, thinking I was having a very vivid nightmare. So if I had any warning about shifting, I was too sleepy to know what it was.”

Maya and Connor exchanged worried glances, which didn’t bode well for Kat.

When they had a good fire started to cook the meal, Connor disappeared into the jungle. “Where’s he going?” Kat quickly asked.

“To get us something to eat. It’s easier if we shift so that we can hunt. But he didn’t want to do it in the open, here by the river. He’ll try to find as secluded a spot as he can.”

“What about the other shifter? If he is one. What if he tries to visit with us while Connor’s gone?” Kat knew Connor would be ready to tear into the man, jaguar to jaguar, if he returned and found the man with them. She didn’t want to see that. Not if the other shifter wasn’t a bad guy.

Maya poked at the fire. “If he’s a shifter, he’ll know not to come near us. He’ll know Connor won’t like it. And the guy couldn’t really speak with us unless he shifts. Without a set of clothes…” She shrugged. “So he’ll do what he’s doing now, continue to stalk us and try to learn where we’re going. Although I assume, considering the direction we’re headed, he’ll figure we’re off to the city. If he finds me alone when we split up to our separate rooms for the night in the city, he might approach me then.”

“That’s what you’re hoping?” Kat asked, worried that the man might be a problem. Even if he was a shifter, he might not be anyone Maya would care for.

Maya smiled and squeezed Kat’s hand. “Don’t look so worried. Not only can I take care of myself, but I highly doubt Connor will let me stay in a room of my own alone. He’s really a worrywart when it comes to me. I’m sure we’ll get a room with a bedroom and a foldout couch in a suite-type arrangement. I’ll sleep on the couch, unless you want Connor to.” She smiled as if knowing just what Kat wanted. “Then again, I doubt I’ll have much say about it.”

Kat took a deep breath, then let it out. She had never confided in another woman about her interest in a man before. Certainly, it seemed strange to be talking about this with Connor’s sister. “You’ve always wanted us to be together, so it’s not only Connor who might wish it,” she said smiling.

Maya sighed and pulled on her pants, then a shirt over her damp undergarments. “I didn’t want you to be angry with me for turning you, Kat. You aren’t, are you?”

Kat began to get dressed, too. “For turning me?” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to feel yet. I understand why you did it. Not that you were mean or vindictive or anything. You wanted Connor to have a mate.”

“Not just him. I wanted you to be my sister,” Maya said quickly.

Kat couldn’t help but give her a small smile. “I believe we’re blood sisters now.” She sat before the fire. “What if Connor can’t stay with me for all time? What if he gets tired of me?”

“He won’t.” Maya frowned. “I know he won’t.”

“But cats don’t stay with one mate. They’re… fickle.”

Maya smiled. “We’re human, too. Believe me, he didn’t like it that our father strayed and then abandoned our mother and us. So Connor won’t do that. He’s stuck by my side since we were little, never wanting to leave me. Our mother even left us when we were young adults. We don’t feel the same as the big cats or our parents.”

“Wow.” Although Kat didn’t know why she was so surprised. She had seen enough of that growing up. She picked up a twig and scratched it in the dirt. “What if I can’t stay with one mate? What if with this jaguar gene, I have the uncontrollable urge to stray?”

“All right, for the sake of argument, let’s talk about it. How many boyfriends have you had?”

Kat’s brows rose. She didn’t speak about stuff like that with just anyone, well, with anyone, period. And although Maya was to be her sister, she didn’t know her well enough to tell all. In truth, she hadn’t been with more than four guys, and none had had any desire to set up a homestead until Roger. After bouncing around between foster homes herself, settling down was damned important to her. But she still didn’t feel like exposing her whole past life to a virtual stranger.

Maya shrugged. “If you’ve had a ton of boyfriends, then maybe you would be fickle. But even so, it doesn’t mean that if you found the right man, you couldn’t settle down. The others could have been just a case of experimenting, trying to locate the right guy, testing the waters, so to speak. So how many have you been with?”

Kat’s mouth parted, but she couldn’t say. Would Maya think there was something wrong with her because she had been with so few guys? She wasn’t really outgoing when it came to meeting men.

Switching the focus, she said, “What about you? How many guys have you been with?”