Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters) (4 page)

“Are you okay?” Kylie heard Adam ask, his voice sounding muffled and distant
as though the length of a football field separated them, but she couldn’t drag
her mind away from the horrible conclusion that her thoughts had reached enough
to answer him.

A cougar. Her name was Grace. Could it be?

Suddenly, Hunter was standing in front of her and tilting her chin up
with a firm grip. “Kylie, what’s wrong?” he demanded, his eyes swimming with
worry.

“I-I need to—need to leave,” she stuttered, shaking her head a little
until she could focus on his face. She grabbed Hunter’s arms and squeezed them
urgently. “I need to check with—Hunter, I think I might
know
her! Grace,
I mean.”

Several people gasped as Kylie fixed Hunter with anguished eyes,
willing him to understand what she was trying to tell him. She couldn’t say it,
not in front of these people.

“We need to talk to
Paul
!” she insisted, willing him to get what
she was insinuating.

She knew the moment he understood, though his eyes only widened a
fraction, but Kylie had seen it, the horror that had also flashed fleetingly
within his eyes.

Hunter looked over at the Elders and said, “If she’s right… Either way,
I need to take her to speak with the cougar clan Elders right now. Sorry to run
out on you so abruptly, especially when it was me that requested this meeting,
but I’ll be back as soon as I can to resume our discussions. Maybe by then,
Maxim’ll have more info for us, or maybe even be able to join us.”

“Go. We’ll be down here all night, so take all the time you need,” Glen
said. “I’ll have Jack text you my number. Call, and we’ll send Adam out to meet
you again when you return.”

Within minutes they were back on the surface and hurrying through the
weeds to Hunter’s truck. Only when they were inside did Kylie lose her grip on
the thundering emotions that she had been struggling to keep from breaking
loose. Her face scrunched up, and silent tears began to fall at the thought
that her mother may very well still be alive, that after over a decade of
looking, she may have finally found her in the worst place imaginable.

Hunter just as quietly reached over and enveloped her within his arms.
She melted into his warmth and closed her eyes, her breath hitching as she
cried softly.

“After my parents had been missing for two years,” she said thickly
against his neck, “I knew deep down that they were dead, that what Paul, Laura,
and I were really looking for was the ‘how’ and not them at all. Then to suddenly
find out that she might be in that horrible place being
t-tortured
…experimented
on…”

“We’ll get them out,” Hunter echoed Adam’s earlier words fiercely.

Kylie pulled back a little and wiped at her eyes furiously.

“You’re damn right we’re going to get them out!” she growled.

Hunter settled himself back into his seat and turned on the ignition. “Let’s
go talk to Maxim. We’ll decide what to do next from there, though I have a
feeling none of us will be getting much sleep tonight.”

***

The utterly blank look on Maxim’s face when he met them at the door to
his office at Southern Glacier and the way he immediately fixed his eyes on her
sent every alarm bell in Kylie’s head screeching. She recalled that he had left
the clinic in order to view some new video footage. The scents coming off him
were also strange, and once again, she cursed her ignorance.

“It’s about Molly, isn’t it?” she blurted out before they could even
step into the room.

Maxim stilled completely for a breath, that small hesitation making her
anxiety levels skyrocket.

“Your perception’s pretty good,” he replied as he stepped aside and
waved them inside. “That or my poker face is slipping.”

Kylie grabbed one of his arms. “What did you find?”

“A connection, possibly.” He sighed. “I had hoped to investigate it a
little more before discussing it with you, but maybe showing you the footage
will be better.”

“Footage?” Hunter questioned. “Are we talking security footage from a
business or from one of your people’s personal cameras?”

“It’s security footage from Riverford Regional. A guy from my clan
works security for them, and I asked him to review their footage from the last
couple of days, particularly keeping an eye out for all the people we’ve been
able to identify to be likely Sniffers. It seems our two cougar friends Lana’s
been tailing have shown up an alarming number of times in the footage, but it’s
what they did there today that’s so troubling.”

Maxim walked over to his desk and picked up his phone. After scrolling
through a few pictures, he handed the phone to Kylie. “These are the two
cougars we’ve been watching as probable sniffers.”

The picture was of two blond men who looked to be in their late
twenties. They didn’t look even remotely familiar.

While she was staring at the picture, Maxim turned his large,
flat-paneled monitor around so they could all see it. Hunter and she moved to
stand at the edge of his desk. A video player window was open and paused on a
grainy scene of what Kylie instantly recognized as the waiting area of
Riverford Regional’s ER. Before she could scrutinize it further, Maxim reached
over to the touchscreen and dragged the slider bar back a few frames with his
finger.

“Watch the entrance carefully.”

Frowning, Kylie bent closer. Within a minute, two light-haired men
walked in, and her eyes narrowed as she stared at their faces. Even a bit
grainy, she recognized them as the cougars in the picture.

Kylie felt Hunter stir beside her. “This was just a few hours ago.
Still looking for Kylie’s father, maybe? Or the assassin?”

“Maybe yes to all of that,” Maxim said, his eyes glued to the screen,
“but in a few seconds you’ll see—well, just watch.”

Kylie could practically taste the tension coming off the tiger, but she
didn’t dare take her eyes off the unfolding scene to see his expression.

The two men made their way to the nurses’ station where they paused to
talk to a couple of the nurses working behind the long counter. One of the
nurses nodded and walked off while one of the men continued to talk to the
remaining nurse. The other leaned up against the counter with his back towards
her, his posture casual.

Suddenly, Kylie gasped as the nurse returned and she got a good look at
the person wearing regular street clothes trailing her. No—it couldn’t be…

“I was under the impression that Karen Wilson and her son had gone into
hiding,” Maxim said grimly.

Each of his words was like a pebble falling into a still pond, and yet
she still found herself shaking her head, rejecting the horrible direction her
mind wanted to go. There was no way—
no way
Karen would betray them! It
had to be a horrible coincidence. She probably had no idea those two were
Sniffers. She looked at Hunter pleadingly, but the expression on his face
mirrored his friend’s.

“There’s no
way
Karen’s working for the lions!” Kylie protested
vehemently. “Her
husband
was murdered by a lion, for God’s sake!”

Maxim nodded. “That was my exact thought—at first.” He paused the video
and moved it back a few seconds. “Watch.”

The last thing Kylie wanted to do was watch, but she forced herself not
to look away, to not even blink as someone she had always thought of like an
aunt immediately gestured for the two Sniffers to follow after her without so
much as a moment’s hesitation or hint of wariness in her demeanor. Karen was as
relaxed as if she was talking to a couple of friends. Even if Karen had a good
reason for being in the ER at the moment instead of hiding away—Mitch
had
been injured after all and maybe they had lied about how serious it was in
order to not add to her worries—what she was seeing now was pretty damning.

When the trio walked out of the camera’s view, Maxim paused the video.
Kylie felt Hunter slip a comforting arm around her waist, but her eyes remained
fixed on the scene frozen on the screen, unable to face either man and see the
pity that was very likely in their eyes just yet.

“Grief is a terrible thing,” Maxim said into tense silence. “It changes
a person’s entire perspective. Imagine if a loved one was killed and those same
murderers went on to threaten another, this time a child. You’d be more likely
to believe them when they say the knife is already pressed against that child’s
throat.”

Kylie looked at him sharply. “You’re saying they might have
blackmailed
her, threatened to kill Mitch?”

“I did find it strange that the assassin found you and your father so
quickly, and after seeing this footage and the history of the Wilson family
being what it is, I’m almost certain of it.”

“Is this all the footage of them you have?” Hunter asked.

“They pop up in a few other feeds. One shows her entering an employee
lounge briefly while the cougars wait outside. The others show them leaving the
hospital, and then the premises, on foot.”

Hunter turned Kylie’s body to face him. “Did you tell Karen or Mitch the
location of my clan’s clinic?” he asked, his voice suddenly urgent.

“No,” she replied with relief, realizing what he was really asking. “I
didn’t think that was something I should blab about without permission, so I
just told her you brought us somewhere safe and hidden where Paul could be
treated.”

“Speaking of safe and hidden,” Maxim said, “I’m pretty shocked that you
allowed Kylie to leave the clinic.”

“I didn’t have a choice,” Hunter replied irritably. “The wolf clan
Elders wanted to talk face-to-face, but before I could leave, Gaither cornered
us. He wanted to talk to Kylie. There was no way I was going to leave her
there, so Kylie made up an excuse about needing to fetch something important
for her father and we blew him off. Until we find out for sure whether or not
there’s another Polyshifter running around Riverford, she stays with either me
or you at all times.”

“My people have found nothing new on that front,” Maxim said, flashing
Kylie an apologetic expression. “Unfortunately, there were no shifters living
in your friend, Molly’s, apartment complex, so there were no witnesses to even
ask about whether or not any gators had been seen lurking in the last day or
so. All we can do now is scour the city and try to pick up Molly’s scent while
the police investigate as they usually do. Your friend, Tara, was sent home
about thirty minutes ago, and I sent a couple of my wolves to keep an eye on
her place tonight.”

“Saying ‘thanks’ just doesn’t seem like enough,” Kylie said guiltily.
“I just wish I could do more to help, especially now that I found out—oh! I
still haven’t told you! It’s the reason why we came to talk to you in the first
place. I might have finally found my mother!”

“Your mother?” Maxim echoed, looking completely taken aback.

Kylie nodded. “When we went to see Jack and the wolf Elders, he freaked
out when he saw me. He said I looked like one of the cougars that were being
held captive at that horrible ranch, that her name was Grace. If you saw a
picture of my mother during her college days, you would probably think it’s me,
we look that much alike. Also, my mother’s name is Grace, and ever since she
came here to America, she’s lived as a cougar.”

She looked at both men with determination. “That’s why whatever you two
plan on doing to rescue the captives, count me in.”

“No!” Hunter practically snarled, his arm tightening around her waist
as though he expected her to run off right then and there. “If you think I
would let you within a hundred miles of that place—”

Kylie’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t even think about trying to keep me out of
it. At the very least, if you plan to storm the place, I can bring my lion soul
to the forefront, serve as a distraction.”

“That cougar may not be your mother,” Hunter argued.

“Doesn’t matter,” Kylie replied mulishly. “Your brother and Anna
definitely
are
there, and if I can help in any way, I want to do it.”

“I hate to say it,” Maxim cut in, “but she does have a good point. A
lion may even get us through the front door, so to speak.”

Hunter shot his best friend a look of betrayal. “If her mother really
is one of their captives, her cover would be blown the moment anyone in that
place got a good look at her.”

Kylie shrugged. “I’ll wear a blonde wig.”

This time Kylie was on the receiving end of his withering gaze. “I
don’t want to lose someone else that I care about to those fuckers if things go
south.”

Her heart thumped painfully at his admission. Dammit, but the look of
very real pain in his eyes made her want to give in, to allow him to protect
her completely as he had promised earlier. She smiled at him sadly and bent over
to kiss him softly, not caring that Maxim was watching. She had never been the
type of person to sit around and let others take care of her if she could at
all help it, and this time would be no different no matter how long Hunter
looked at her with those pleading eyes.

“And I don’t want to lose you, either,” she said softly, “but this is
something I have to do for myself just as much as you do. If that cougar really
is my mother—I would never forgive myself if something went wrong and I knew I
didn’t do everything in my power to help get her out of there.”

Hunter sighed and pressed his forehead firmly against her own. “Why is
it that I only seem to attract stubborn people into my life?” he said, his tone
tinged with amusement.

The smile that Maxim directed at them was bittersweet. “Well,
somebody
needs to kick your brooding ass into shape when I’m not around.”

Hunter snorted but he didn’t deny it. Kylie supposed she needed his
reticence just as much. They really did complement each other, she thought with
some surprise.

“Hopefully we’ll have a lot more intel on the ranch and what the fuck
those sickos are actually doing there by the morning,” Maxim said, “and in the
meantime, let’s see just how many shifters on this end are willing to follow us
into what very well may turn out to be a serious battle. With all these
Sniffers and assassins suddenly coming out of the woodwork, I really don’t
think we should wait longer than another day to make our move, be it covert or
all-out war.”

“The wolf clan Elders are waiting for me to go back,” Hunter said.
“I’ll see just how far they’re willing to go. Afterwards, I’ll contact some
friends from the bobcat clan and see if I can drudge up some volunteers.”

Maxim shook his head. “I seriously doubt you’ll have to try all that
hard,” he said dryly.

“I’m counting on it.”

Maxim turned to her and said, “Kylie, if Karen calls you, don’t answer.
Wait an hour, then text her a message saying that you and your father are okay
but in the process of being moved to a new, undisclosed location and will call
her as soon as you’re settled. If she
is
being coerced, that’ll buy them
some safety for a few days and us some time to locate both her and Mitch. I’ll
see if I can get some of the shifters on the force to pick them up once we do
find them. Innocent or not, we need to confront her with the security footage
sooner rather than later.”

Kylie nodded.

“I may need to call you later for a three-way conference with the
wolves, so keep your phone handy,” Hunter said as he took Kylie’s hand and led
her to the door. “Unless something else comes up, we’ll be at my clan’s clinic
once I finish talking with the wolves.”

“Stay safe, you two.”

“Bobcats?” Kylie asked Hunter skeptically as they left Maxim’s club
through the VIP exit. Although only a couple of Maxim’s employees were around,
she still lowered her voice. “Going against a lion, I imagine it would be like
David and Goliath.”

Hunter grinned. “That’s not a bad comparison. It’s not their claws or
fangs I’m interested in, it’s their guns.”

Kylie looked at him incredulously. “Guns…?”

“That whole clan practically worships anything with a loud bang. Civil
War era firearms, cannons, AK47s, all the way down to fireworks, they’re crazy
about them all. A few of them have even medaled in both men’s and women’s
shooting in the Olympics over the years. Having an opportunity to participate
in an actual gunfight would literally be a dream come true for most of them.”

“Do you really think it’ll come to that?” Kylie asked worriedly.

“I truly hope not, but we need to be prepared for the worst case
scenario. Having a few sharpshooters in our corner can only better our
chances.”

Once inside the truck, Kylie rubbed at her eyes wearily. “I wonder if I
should even tell Paul about any of this—Karen, the ranch, a new, very promising
lead on my mother. He has enough on his plate dealing with his injury as it
is.” She paused. “I planned on leaving him behind, you know. If we would have
made it to England, I was going to leave him, maybe even that same day. You
see, even if we managed to find my mother’s clan and they accepted me back into
the fold, there was no way they would have allowed a human to live among them. With
my secret out, my life in Riverford was pretty much over, but Paul still had
his practice, his friends. He was
human
. He had already given up so much
to raise me that I just…”

Kylie trailed off and shrugged, unable to put the rest of what she was
feeling into words.

“But now you’re
here
,” Hunter said firmly. “It doesn’t have to
be an either/or decision. If there’s a silver lining to be found in that
lioness attacking you, it’s that our Elders know your father’s no longer in the
dark about shifters without revealing that he knew about us all along. You
both
can be a part of the jaguar clan now. You don’t have to give him up. For what
it’s worth, now that Paul has both feet planted into our world, I don’t think
he should be kept out of the loop. He needs to understand the danger completely
in order to keep himself safe. As much as I hope this latest mess with the
lions’ll be resolved within the next few days, it could very well go on for
years. We can’t keep him hidden away forever. That’s no way to live.”

Kylie slumped in her seat. “The more I try to protect him, the more it
seems I make things worse.”

Hunter reached over and squeezed her hand. “If my brother’s
disappearance taught me anything, it’s that we don’t have as much control over
our lives as we think, but now you’ll have a whole clan to help you through
those inevitable rough patches if that’s what you ultimately decide you want
when or if this current mess is all over.”

To be a jaguar for the rest of her life… The implications of that
thought were something she wasn’t ready to face just quite yet, and she was
grateful to Hunter for understanding that about her.

She gave into the urge to kiss him, leaning over and pressing her lips
against the lush softness of his own in a caress that was all affection and she
hoped, full of meaning.

“Thank you,” she murmured as she drew back, offering him a small smile
even as the answering affection so blatantly visible in his eyes made her heart
ache.

She really didn’t deserve a man like him.

“We should get going,” Hunter said a bit gruffly, releasing her hand in
order to reach for the ignition. “I’d really like to get tonight’s business
finished as soon as possible so you can get some rest. That’s one promise to
your father I’m determined to keep.”

Kylie shook her head in amusement. “As long as you plan on getting some
sleep along with me, I think I can help you with that.”