A Very Jaguar Christmas (11 page)

“Would you like to have a wolf pack take care of him?” the doctor asked. “I'm sure any of the packs I work with would be happy to take him in. Well, except for the wolf pack in Seattle.”

“No thanks, Doctor. We wouldn't feel right about doing that when he was left with us. And he's perfectly happy with us right now. What is the issue with your longevity, if you don't mind sharing?” Demetria asked.

“We used to have much longer lives. Now, on average, we age one year for every five human years.”

Wade whistled. “Hell. What a deal.”

The doctor laughed. “Our longevity did cause problems for us while we were trying to keep our slower aging process secret. I've got to work on some cultures, but I'll call my brother, Rafe, and tell him about your circumstances. He'll get his PIs on it right away. No one is going to believe this.” He paused. “I want to make arrangements to see you as soon as I can. Welcome to our world of wolves.”

“And to our world of jaguars,” Demetria said, smiling.

Maya gave Wade a high five.

This wasn't the end, only the beginning, and who really knew how the wolves and jaguars would react? It was like venturing into a galaxy far away and finding new alien life forms they would have to learn to get along with.

Everett shifted and quickly dressed before he called Hunter, the SEAL wolf on the Oregon Coast. Hunter didn't know about any Arctic wolf packs. Everett didn't tell him anything about the jaguar-shifter equation, just said they were trying to locate the family of the Arctic wolf pup. Hunter mentioned the rest of his SEAL team in Montana. Everett thanked him, though he already knew about them and was trying to look at this reasonably. Cases often required a lot of “footwork” before the agents could get to the meat of the situation.

After he ended the call with Hunter, who had asked him to be updated when they learned who the parents were and wished them well, Everett expressed his concern to Demetria and the others. “Three more to go. The pack in Montana, the Silver wolf pack in Colorado, and the red wolf pack in Portland, Oregon.”

“We'll find the parents, Everett.” Demetria reassured him. “Look at how we began. We had no idea about
any
wolf packs. Then Maya gave us a clue, and from there, we've had several to check into. It might take a little while, but we'll find them.”

“She's right. This is the important groundwork. You'll locate his family,” Wade said. “And you still have the possibility of locating the wolves in Dallas.”

“Okay, Leidolf's pack, the Silver pack, or Paul's Montana pack first?” Everett asked.

“Toss-up between Leidolf's and the Silver wolf pack. If Hunter didn't know of any, the rest of his SEAL team might not either,” Demetria said.

“Leidolf it is.” Everett was certain that when he called the red wolf pack leader, he'd get more of the same. Instead, the wolf seemed really wary. Not that Everett blamed him. He imagined if someone he didn't know called out of the blue and started asking about his jaguar family and if they knew the parents of a black jaguar cub—because they were rarer, like the Arctic wolves were—he would be just as wary.

“I don't know who you are or anything about you,” Leidolf simply said.

“Fair enough.” Everett didn't blame the man one bit. “I have a video of the boy shifting. I'll send it to you. Maybe you'll recognize him.” Everett sent the video and then waited for a response.

“I still don't know you. Are you a gray wolf pack? Red? Arctic? Mixed? The pack leader? What?”

Everett glanced at his companions. The wolf was already wary. He was certain if he told him they were jaguar shifters, he would hang up on Everett. But he didn't want to get off on the wrong foot and lie.

“Thanks for all your help. I've got to find the boy's parents. If you don't know anything about them, then I've got to make another call.”

“Wait.”

Everett's heartbeat ratcheted up a notch. Maybe it wasn't just wariness on Leidolf's part. Maybe he thought he might know where the boy belonged.

“I might know of the wolf pack. It's a long shot, but bring him here, and I'll look into it.”

“It's my job, and my partner's, to locate the parents and reunite them.”

“Good luck with that,” Leidolf said dryly and hung up on him.

Everett looked at all the astonished faces watching him. Demetria said, “He's the first real clue we have.”

“He may be wrong.”

“He seems to know of an Arctic wolf pack,” Wade said.

Everett shook his head. “He might know of an Arctic wolf pack, but I'm not turning the boy over to a red wolf pack all the way out in Oregon.”

“They would be more likely to give him the care a wolf needs,” Maya said.

“No, Everett's right,” Demetria said. “We don't know Leidolf. He might decide to keep the boy in his pack if he's unsuccessful in his search. Then what? The boy would be living way out there, and we'd probably never know it. We have to resolve this ourselves.”

“Agreed,” Everett said. “I've got another couple of calls to make.”

When he got hold of Lori, the female pack leader in Montana, she said, “As to your question, we don't know any Arctic wolves. One of our pack members was part of a gray wolf pack in Seattle. His name is Everett too. Everett Baxter. Maybe his former pack members know of an Arctic wolf pack.”

That was the second time someone had mentioned a gray wolf pack in that area. Dr. Denali had said they weren't cooperative about the longevity testing, if it was the same pack. The way the packs were spread out, they didn't seem to like other wolf packs in their territory. Everett wondered how they'd feel about jaguars being there.

“But otherwise, none that we know of,” Lori reiterated. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, we'll keep you posted.” Everett called Lori's pack member after that. “Hi, Everett, I'm Everett Anderson. I just spoke with Lori about trying to find the parents of an Arctic wolf pup. She said you were with a gray pack out of Seattle and maybe knew of an Arctic wolf pack.” He sent him the video of the boy and explained what had happened.

“Okay, yeah, there
is
an Arctic wolf pack that I know of. Well, they used to be humans and must have tangled with an Arctic wolf shifter pack. I don't know anything about it, except that as humans, they had a private-eye operation in Seattle. When they returned from a trip back east, they were Arctic wolves. My pack leaders told them to find some other territory. You know how difficult it is to keep what we are secret from the human populace, but to have another wolf pack, all newly turned, living in your territory? They didn't want to be absorbed into the pack—not that my leaders were offering—so they had to leave. I don't have any idea where they settled. Since they're white wolves, I would presume up near the border of Canada somewhere. Maybe they even went to Canada.”

Everyone's expressions had brightened.

“That doesn't explain how the boy ended up with us in Dallas.” But Everett was glad to hear that this might be the real clue they needed.

“I don't think it'll help to call the gray pack leaders, but here's their number just in case. You might not want to mention I gave you their number. We didn't part on really good terms.”

“Thanks, Everett. Dr. Denali mentioned them too, so we can say he referred me to them.”

“I doubt that will go over big either. But good luck.”

“Thanks.” Everett ended the call. “That Arctic wolf pack might not be the one we're looking for, but the fact they're newly turned gives me some hope that they are.”

“Why don't you let me call the Seattle gray wolf pack?” Demetria asked. “Since they had problems with both Mr. Baxter and Dr. Denali, maybe they won't feel as threatened by a woman.”

“Sounds good to me,” Everett said.

Demetria called and got hold of a June Greyhauffer, who told the same story as Everett.

“Are you kidding me? Well, I'm not surprised that they would be having a bunch of kids and losing them along the way.”

How did one little boy turn into a bunch of kids? The woman was definitely hostile toward the Arctic wolf pack.

“So you don't have any idea where the pack has gone? What their names were?” Demetria asked.

“Cameron MacPherson is the pack leader, former private detective. He's probably doing the same kind of work, freelancing as much as he can, if they can't get their shifting under control. I'm just so glad we didn't allow them to stay here. What a mess.”

“If you had, the boy probably wouldn't be with us now,” Demetria said, her voice angry.

June snorted. “We have our own issues to handle. We don't need a newly turned pack to deal with too. As gray wolves, it's hard enough to hide what
we
are from the general human population without adding Arctic wolves to the mix. If you're out of Dallas, I imagine you know that better than the rest of us. It can't be easy to run pretending to be wild wolves where you live. At least here, if anyone spies us running as gray wolves in the forests, he or she will believe we're from the Idaho pack.”

“There's an Idaho pack?” Everett asked, getting ready to jot down the location.

“I mean,
real
wolves. But Arctic wolves? They would stand out too much.”

“I understand,” Everett said.

“I feel sorry for the kid, but Cameron got himself into this mess.”

Demetria didn't think the woman sounded sorry in the least. But if the boy hadn't fallen into the jaguar shifters' hands, he could have been in real trouble. “
If
the boy is his son.”

“Well, of course.”

Demetria suddenly had another thought. “What if the boy belongs to the Arctic wolf shifter who bit Cameron?”

“Possibly. I don't know anything more about Cameron's pack, and I know even less about the wolf pack they got mixed up with. Got to run. Good luck cleaning up the mess.” Then June hung up on her.

“Wow,” Maya said. “Sounds like they don't like anyone.”

“At least she talked with us and we know about a real possibility. So, now we need to spread the word about this Cameron MacPherson and see if we can get any bites,” Demetria said.

“We should share it on all the social networking sites,” Maya said.

“You know what happened when you included a jaguar picture of yourself in the greenhouse,” Wade reminded her.

“What happened?” Demetria never shared anything on social network sites, but she could just imagine the trouble that could cause.

“The biologist from the Oregon Zoo thought Maya had something to do with stealing the jaguar from his zoo when he saw her as a jaguar in the greenhouse,” Wade said.

“Oh.” Demetria snorted. “Like all jaguars look alike.”

They laughed.

Then Everett got a call. Looking at the caller ID, he quickly said, “It's Leidolf. Putting the call on speaker.”

Demetria smiled. So the red wolf leader wasn't as hard-nosed as he appeared to be.

“What's your address? I'm flying out tomorrow to see the boy,” Leidolf said, not asking, but acting like a real alpha wolf.

Everyone smiled. But how would he react when he learned they were jaguars?

Wade motioned to Everett to give the nursery as the address.

Everett did, and Leidolf said, “I thought you told me you were from Dallas. Why are you near Houston now?”

“We're here trying to learn what we can from my half sister.” Everett explained how the discussion with her about Henry had led them to Devlyn and then eventually to Leidolf. “We got a lead on a Cameron MacPherson and his Arctic wolf pack, but no idea where they are located. Do you know of them?”

Silence. Then Leidolf said, “Yes, but I'll discuss it with you in person. So you're not
with
a wolf pack?”

Everett hesitated to say, as if not wanting to scare Leidolf off. “No, we aren't. We're just…family.”

“And you feel safety in numbers.”

Everett looked like he was about ready to contradict Leidolf, but Demetria said, “We can meet you, just the two of us, if you'd feel more comfortable with that.”

Everett smiled at her.

Like a typical alpha, Leidolf said, “No problem for me. I'll be there at noon. I'll rent my own car, so no need to pick me up at the airport.” Then he hung up.

“Yes!” Demetria said. “I think he knows a lot more than he's saying.”

“To fly out here, I'd say so,” Everett said.

“So does he know about us, or does he just think you're a scaredy-cat wolf and not with a pack?” Maya asked, a teasing glint of the devil in her eyes.

“If so, he's going to be one confused red wolf,” Everett said. “I'm going to call Dr. Denali back and let him know that we've got a lead on an Arctic wolf pack so his brother has another clue for his private investigators.”

While Everett was making the call, Maya said to Demetria, “You know this could be a good time for the two of you to take a break. It might be a while before you find the boy's family. I can babysit him. I wore him out anyway.”

“Sure, we'll take you up on that. Just a walk in the gardens so we'll be close by in case the boy shifts.” Demetria smiled at Everett as he glanced in her direction, looking as if he was surprised to hear her agree with the suggestion. Then he ended the call with Dr. Denali.

“Okay, Rafe Denali is having his men search for a Cameron MacPherson who might have established another PI shop somewhere in the States.”

“You would think that with a background in investigative work, Cameron would have been able to locate his son already,” Wade said.

“You would think so. Who knows what lengths the woman, and I'm sure her accomplice, took to cover their tracks.” Everett glanced at the wolf pup sleeping in Maya's arms. “Okay, let's go.”

He and Demetria grabbed their jackets, pulled them on, and headed outside. The nursery was closing, and the last customers were leaving. Connor was carrying the toddlers on his way back to the house. “Best way to wear them out,” he said, smiling.

Kat was locking up the garden shed and hurried to join him. “Did you have any luck with the calls you were making?”

“We might have a lead about an Arctic wolf pack that's newly turned.” Demetria pulled a scarf around her neck and shivered.

“Oh, that's great news.” Kat caught up to Connor, who had stopped to talk to them.

Demetria motioned to the house. “Maya's watching the wolf pup.”

“Still a wolf then,” Kat said.

“Yeah, but we've got a red wolf coming from Oregon tomorrow to talk to us about this Arctic wolf pack. That might give us a real clue to where the boy's family is.” Everett zipped up his jacket.

“Did you tell him what we are? He's going to get quite the shock tomorrow if you didn't,” Connor said.

“We didn't, but another wolf we talked to might have told him,” Everett said.

“Oh wow, he's really coming here?” Kat took one of the toddlers from Connor.