A Very Jaguar Christmas (23 page)

They said good-bye to the Arctic wolves, knowing that one small wolf pup and four-year-old boy had brought their worlds together in an extraordinary and wonderful way. It was a bittersweet moment when Corey got out of his dad's arms to give them tearful hugs. “I don't want you to go.”

“We promise to come see you on your birthdays.” Demetria hugged him to her breast, tears filling her eyes. “We'll come play with you and make a snowman again. And bring presents. Okay?”

He nodded. He hugged Everett again, and Everett agreed. “You send us pictures, and my mom will want you and your family to come see us so you'll be able to play at her day care with all the other kids again.”

Corey glanced back at his mom and dad.

“During the phase of the new moon,” Faith agreed, smiling.

“We'll look forward to seeing you then.” Demetria gave Corey one more hug, and he stood there watching them until his brother hit him with a snowball.

She and Everett laughed as Corey prepared his own snowball in retaliation.

“Oh, and we'd love to see the northern lights again. They were just spectacular,” Demetria said.

“And unpredictable, but that's what makes them so magical. They say some Native Americans believed that when the northern lights danced across the sky, mystical or divine wolves came down to earth,” Faith said. “We never tire of them. We never know when they'll appear, but in the dark on a night like last night, they paint the black sky in brushstrokes of extraordinary colors.”

“You are like the mystical wolves, shape-shifters like us,” Demetria said. “Legends in South America exist about us too. About jaguar gods and goddesses that shape-shifted.”

Faith smiled. “That means we are all divine.”

“I couldn't agree more.”

“Let us know where you're staying tonight. The roads can be treacherous this time of year, and we'll be anxious to know you made it to a hotel,” Faith said.

“We will,” Demetria agreed and gave her a hug. “And when we arrive home, we'll let you know.”

“Thank you.”

They said their farewells one last time, then Demetria and Everett rode off to their own new adventure, a new life together, in charge of a new specialized team that would deal with all shifters, though Demetria knew Everett had to tell his boss he had decided to take the job first. She and Everett had wanted to wait until they'd officially solved a mixed shifter case. And they had, she thought with glee.

After reaching the snowmobile rental shop and turning in the snowmobiles and sled, they drove until they reached Wichita, enjoying the lights all over town. A few inches of snow covered everything, giving it that real Christmas feel. When they arrived back in Texas, Demetria would miss the snow.

Once Everett asked for the honeymoon suite, it felt good settling into the warm room together, just the two of them. No worries about a little tyke catching them together in bed.

They might not be officially married, but if they lived by the rules of the wolf shifters, they were good and mated, and that meant for life.

“We need to call everyone and tell them the good news,” Demetria said as Everett turned on the fireplace, and she tossed her heavy coat, scarf, gloves, and hat onto a chair. She sat down on the mattress to take off her boots.

“I know you and your need for closure on a mission.” He jerked off his coat, hat, and gloves. “So if you have to do this first, we will.”

She smiled up at him and grabbed on to his belt to pull herself up. “I know that hot look in your eyes. No way do you want to get to business first.”

He smiled lazily down at her, his eyes darkening with interest. “Yeah, I do.” His voice was already rough with need. He kissed her slowly on the mouth, and she knew damn well he was trying to convince her
this
was the business she needed to take care of first.

And she loved him for it. Yes, she normally would have been impatient to let everyone know they'd been successful and to let Faith know where they settled for the night, but a few more minutes wouldn't matter. Connecting with Everett in this primal way did.

She kissed him right back, licking his lips, asking for an invitation, and when he smiled a little, she plunged right in and took advantage.

Their noses and cheeks were chilled, their faces a bit sunburned from the light reflecting off the snow and wind-burned from the bite of the cold. They thought they had bought enough clothes to protect themselves, but what did they know? These two jaguar cats were not used to the cold.

Everett pulled back from Demetria. “Miss him?”

“Sorry.”

“Don't be. I keep thinking he's close by and we have to be careful about what we do in front of him.”

“But he isn't, though he'll always have a special place in our hearts.” And then she cradled Everett's face in her hands and kissed him thoroughly with no more thoughts about anything but Everett and how she wanted to make hot, passionate love with him.

He was gentle and rough and gentle again, the need evident in his compelling, darkened eyes and insistent touch. She was just as needy, wanting, reckless, yanking off his clothes, her clothes, making him smile wickedly.

He was all muscle and heat and passion, and she loved this part of their relationship. The intimacy, the touching, the kissing, melting against him before he took the plunge. She rubbed her bare body against his like a cat. She loved how she kicked his pheromones into high gear, just as he did hers. Which only strengthened the desire, the craving, the need.

He lifted her chin to kiss her mouth, his tongue stroking hers, his hands each cupping a breast. Lowering his head, he took a nipple in his mouth and tugged gently, then swirled his tongue around it.

This was what made her melt. She gripped his hips for support. He moved to the other breast and tongued her nipple, teasing, making her moan.

She was boneless when he swept her up in his arms. He yanked the bedcovers away and laid her on her back against the cool sheets, the jaguar in him on the prowl, hungry. He settled beside her, taking charge of pleasuring her, his hand sweeping up her inner thigh, his hot mouth kissing her breast.

She tangled her fingers in his hair, tensing as his fingers caressed her leg, up higher, until he found her nub and began to stroke her.

Her need roared in her breast, her heart pounding as hard as his, like the beat of drums in the jungle, the wild calling to them both. His cock brushed her thigh as he pressed himself against her, showing her what he had for her next.
Wicked, wicked jaguar.

She clawed at his back, making him stroke harder, faster, and she growled in big cat satisfaction.

He growled right back in a purely male jaguar way that said he loved pleasuring her. She smelled his sexy, musky arousal and her own and lifted her pelvis to connect more with his fingers when she felt the end draw near. “Ah, yes!” she groaned out as the climax crashed over her with a roar.

She felt drunk with his touches, his hand sweeping up her belly before he parted her legs with his knee, centered himself, and plunged in.

The she-cat was all his, body and soul, and he loved making love to her on this cold winter's night in a state still far from home. He sank fully into her, his body primed, his need for release urging him on.

He wanted deeper, tugging her leg over his hip, and she quickly obliged by wrapping her legs around him. He dove deeper, pulling out and pushing back into her hot, wet sheath.

She ran her hands over his shoulders and then reached up to cup his face. He leaned down and kissed her profoundly, drank her in, savored the sweetness that was all Demetria, the taste of his mate, the love of his life.

He groaned against her mouth, so close, and then he let go, spilled his seed deep inside her, and growled her name in a rough and well-satiated jaguar way.

“God, you're good for me,” he said, pulling her into his arms.

She covered them with the comforter. “I can tell you right now, you are the best Christmas present I've ever had.”

“I feel the same about you, honey. A present that just keeps giving.”

She laughed and kissed his chest, then yawned. “Remember that when I wake you up in the middle of the night.”

“If I don't wake you first.”

He was thinking that since they didn't have any other missions right now, they'd take off for a two-week vacation. As soon as they got home, he was putting in for it because, except for planning a wedding and moving in together, he wanted to enjoy Demetria just like this.

“Aww, darn,” Demetria said. “I knew we should have gotten the other business over with before we got to more pleasurable business.”

“I'll make the calls.”

“Are you kidding? It would take you half the night. I'll start with the MacPhersons. You call your boss, and we'll go from there.”

Demetria had just finished talking to her mom and Everett had ended the final call to the wolf packs when someone knocked at their hotel room door.

They both turned to look at it.

“Wrong room. Has to be,” Demetria said.

“Room service!” a man called out at the door.

Demetria and Everett shared a look.

Everett threw on his jeans and went to the door.

A smiling waiter said, “Where do you want me to put this?”

Everett could smell steaks under the metal covers and spied a chilled bottle of champagne.

“Courtesy of the MacPhersons and friends,” the man said.

When the waiter left, Everett smiled at Demetria. “They must have known we'd need more energy for later. Certainly is a nice payback.”

“Open the bubbly. This definitely calls for a celebration.” She called Faith to thank them for the thoughtful gesture. When they ended the call, Demetria said, “Now I know why she put Corey on the phone to talk to me earlier. He asked which room we were staying in, and as soon as I told him, he hung up on me.”

Everett laughed. “When it's time”—he popped the cork—“I'd be happy to have a son just like him.”

“Or daughter.”

He laughed again. “We'll probably end up with both.”

“My mother wants to meet you, but she's not happy with you,” Demetria said, reading her emails on her cell phone as they stopped for gas in Dallas. “So we need to go over there first thing. She wants us to have lunch with her. We'll see your mom at the day care afterward. Your dad is coming home for Christmas, isn't he?”

“Yeah, he will be. And we'll make sure we see everyone Christmas Day.” Everett smiled at her, rubbing her arm. “About your mother? All mothers like me. Why wouldn't yours?” Then he frowned. “Because she feels I'm replacing Ma—”

“Shhh,” Demetria said, placing a kiss on his mouth. “She knows I hoped you and I could get together. She was annoyed you waited so long. She believes I've been pining away for too long. I reminded her you were grieving too. But she just didn't buy it. She just thought you were afraid of my bite.”

He laughed. “As long as you want to marry me, that's all that matters.” But Everett knew it was important to win Demetria's mother over too. He understood about family, and Demetria and her mother were close.

When they arrived at the white, French country house–styled home in the suburbs, Everett meant to get Demetria's car door, but she hopped out instead.

They walked up to the front door and Demetria opened it. “Mom, we're… My dad's here,” she suddenly said.

Everett smelled her father's scent but no sign of aggression.

“Mom?” Demetria called out and rushed into the house.

Hearing laughter on the back porch, they hurried that way, then saw Joel barbecuing ribs and Martha fixing vegetables.

Demetria looked shocked.

Her mother and dad were kissing. Then, as if they suddenly realized they had an audience, they turned to face Demetria and Everett.

“Food's nearly done. Just grab a drink from the fridge and come join us,” her mother said.

Everett said, “Thanks. I'm Everett Anderson, by the way.”

“I know who you are, young man. You waited much too long to date our Demetria. Now, go on. Get your drinks, and come out and join us,” Martha said. “Joel told me all about you.”

Demetria turned and went back into the house, Everett following behind her and shutting the door behind them. Tears filled her eyes.

Everett pulled her close. “Are you all right?”

“Yes. I just haven't heard Mom refer to herself and Dad as ‘us' for years. And the kiss… These, these are happy tears.”

Everett smiled, gave Demetria a sound hug, and kissed her. “Good. I guess I'm still on the hot seat with your mother though.”

“You'd better not be. My mother might have forgiven my dad for abandoning us, but I haven't.”

They grabbed a couple of bottles of water and joined Demetria's parents outside.

“We're getting married again,” Martha said. “It wasn't what you and I thought at all. Your dad was Special Forces in the army, got out, and worked for a cyber warfare firm. We were fine together before he was recruited for a job that required him to give up his family to keep us safe. He's retired now, through with it. And he has come home to stay.”

“Why didn't you tell us?” Demetria asked, looking totally peeved with her dad.

“I couldn't, kitten. No correspondence, no payments. I've deposited over a million dollars in your mom's bank account to prove I want to make this work. Your mom has always been the one for me. I've never looked anywhere else.” He put his arm around Martha and kissed her cheek. Then he gave Everett a steely-eyed glare. “When is your wedding date?”

“First of the New Year. We didn't want to wait any longer than that,” Demetria said.

“Then we need to start making wedding plans,” Martha said.

The women talked about what they needed to do, and Everett spoke with Joel, who gave him all kinds of fatherly advice, despite the fact he hadn't been around much.

After visiting with her parents and having a really good time, Demetria and Everett made their excuses so they could see his mom next. She still had kids at the day care, and they'd already let her know they had returned to Dallas and were meeting her parents first, which Mary had been thrilled about.

When they reached his mother's day care, they showed her pictures on Everett's cell phone of the reunion between Corey and his family, both as wolves and as humans. And of the northern lights. Mary loved the ones that showed Everett and Demetria playing as jaguars with the wolf pups.

“Oh, oh, I have to tell you. There are two wolf pups here today.” Everett's mother looked as proud as she could be.

“You're kidding. The woman we saw at the mall? A couple of her children?” Everett asked.

“No, another woman in the pack. One of Rafe Denali's PIs found the pack in Dallas when they were trying to locate the Arctic wolf pack. He shared the information with his brother, Dr. Aidan Denali, the one who is testing them for longevity issues, and he told them about us. The pack was so impressed that we had a day care for jaguar shifters and that we had accommodated Corey that they asked if they could bring their toddlers here when they needed to. This summer, we're going to have lots of pool-time fun. I'm having another mural painted in the entryway that shows some gray and red wolves playing with the jaguar cubs too.”

Everett couldn't have been more pleased. “Our shifters are all right with it?”

“A couple of mothers were grumbling a little, worried about cat and dog fights. Well, wolf, as Corey would say. Wolves are
not
dogs. So I told the mothers that all the little girls and boys would learn to get along like little angels under my roof. And they have. Once they got used to the notion that wolf pups were coming to the day care, they looked forward to seeing them.”

Mary sighed and gave them both a hug. “Now, tell me about this wedding you have planned. What do I need to do?”

* * *

It was Christmas Eve already and tomorrow, Everett and Demetria had plans to visit with both her family and his after all the grown children arrived in town for lunch, dinner, and gift giving. They also planned some private gift giving before they headed over there.

They'd learned that Paddy and Belinda O'Leary were released from confinement as soon as Martin had word that Corey's family had been found. Howard had taken leave for a week too. Everett and Demetria were looking forward to having a relaxing time for the next two weeks.

But tonight, they had just finished making love and were happily snuggling, talking about the upcoming wedding, the plans to find a home, and working as a multi-shifter team, though they had no other cases in the works.

Then Everett got a call and checked the ID. Leidolf. Expecting Christmas well-wishes, Everett answered and put the call on speaker.

“I'm so sorry to disturb you on Christmas Eve, but I've got a situation here. Now that you've taken care of Corey, I figured you were the ones to handle it. Here's the deal. One of my sub-leaders called me when I was in Dallas, saying that two men were shooting at each other on my ranch lands. Some of our pack members tried to track them down, but both men were wearing hunter's spray. When I arrived home, the pack still hadn't located either of the men. Then tonight after trying to track them down, one of my men found one of them. The man had been shot twice and was brought to my ranch house because he had been trespassing on my lands. We were going to take him to the hospital, but he begged us not to. Said that he would heal up fine. He didn't smell like anything because he was still wearing hunter's spray. And then he must have been so out of it that he shifted. Into a jaguar. Surprised the hell out of all of us. I told him we'd get him help from his own kind, and I mentioned your name. All he said was ‘That son of a bitch.' His name is Brandon Williams. Do you know him?”

Smiling, Everett cuddled with Demetria and kissed her forehead when she looked up at him questioningly. “Yeah, I know him. And despite that, I'll pick up his sorry ass. Oh, and Merry Christmas to you and yours, Leidolf.”

“Merry Christmas to you and your partner. I hope it's wolf-permanent by now.”

“Believe me, it is.” Demetria smiled at Everett in that devilish way that meant he wasn't going to go right back to sleep anytime soon, and that suited him just fine.

“One other thing. You might need to put on your JAG agent hats for this case. The person who shot him was another JAG agent, and he tried to shoot one of my people too.”

“Hell, a JAG agent? Are you sure?”

“Yeah, that's what Brandon said. A guy by the name of Herndon Walker. Brandon's one of yours too, isn't he?”

“Yeah, he is. Okay, I'll call my boss and let him know we're gathering the team and headed out there as soon as we can get a flight, though it might not be until the day after Christmas,” Everett said, hugging Demetria against his body.

“I'll have someone bring you to my ranch as soon as you arrive.”

“I'll let you know when we're coming in.” Everett ended the call.

“Our first official case while serving in our new office.” Demetria reached over to the nightstand to grab her phone. “I'll make reservations for the first flight out of Dallas that I can get.”

“I'll call the boss to let him know we agreed to be in charge of this new office, and I'll give Howard a call to see if he's ready to go. I think this time we might need to have an Enforcer doing Enforcer-like work. Terminating a jaguar shifter?”

“He'll love it.”

Everett called his boss and said, “Sir, my team is accepting your offer. We'll be known as the United Shifter Force, USF. Currently, Demetria and Howard will be on the team, at least once I contact Howard to make sure he's agreeable. And we have our first mission in Portland, Oregon.” He explained what had happened there.

Martin said, “I knew you could do it. Let me know the details as soon as possible. I want to know why the JAG agent was shooting one of our own and a wolf.”

“Will do.” Everett called Howard after that. “Hey, ready to be on the United Shifter Force team?”

“I thought you'd never ask.”

Everett told him about the case. “We'll get right back to you with flight times.”

“Okay, I'm packing up now.”

“Probably be the day after Christmas, first thing.”

“I'll be ready.”

Everett wished Howard a Merry Christmas, then ended the call.

Demetria frowned. “How do you know this Brandon Williams?”

“He nearly killed me. And I attempted to return the favor.”

She shook her head.

“Believe me, if you had to deal with him, you'd use your teeth on him, and
not
in a sweet, loving way.”

“In that case, I'll be prepared. My bite is much worse than my growl.”

Everett smiled. How well he knew. “Do you want to open one present tonight?” he asked, already picking out the one he wanted Demetria to open first.

She kissed him and pulled a present from under the tree for him to open too, all smiles.

They opened their presents at the same time and laughed as they each pulled out a drone with aerial recording and real-time display to help in their investigations when they needed an eye up closer to the situation. They gave each other hugs and kisses before they played with their video drones.

Life would never be the same now that some jaguar shifters were aware that wolf shifters existed and vice versa. To think that saving Lacy had meant losing Matt, but that the teen Brayden Covington had brought Everett and Demetria together. And the little wolf-shifter boy had helped to cement that relationship into something endearing and permanent.

What began as an effort to train mixed jaguar teams had evolved into something even greater—a way to help
all
of the shifter kind.

But two jaguar shifters only needed each other at the moment. They'd take care of the rest of the world after Christmas.

For more Terry Spear
check out the Silver Town Wolf series

A Silver Wolf Christmas

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