Chosen Mate (Catamount Lion Shifters #2) (12 page)

Dane nodded tightly. “I’d like to follow, but I’m thinking we need to touch base with Hayden.”

Jake resumed walking, striding quickly to the building. Hayden called out for them to come in as soon as they stepped inside.

Jake didn’t bother with the preliminaries. “Was that a shifter behind the building?”

Hayden glanced up from his computer. “What?” he asked sharply.

“We just saw a mountain lion behind the building run into the woods,” Dane replied.

Hayden stood and walked to the window that faced the woods behind his office. “Those tracks there?” He pointed to fresh tracks leading into the woods. The mountain lion was well out of sight.

“That’s right where it went. What are the chances that was a wild cat and not a shifter?” Jake asked.

Hayden shook his head and turned back to them. “Not good. Though there’s a healthy population of wild mountain lions out here, they stay away from town. I can never say for sure unless I see them myself, but lions you see near populated areas are most likely shifters. I can recognize most of the locals because I’m one of them.” He strode to the coffee maker in the corner. “Coffee?”

Hayden quickly poured three cups when Jake and Dane nodded in unison and then gestured for them to sit at the table. Jake had to fight the urge to bolt and shift. The lion in him wanted to follow the mountain lion he’d just witnessed. He had to keep a tight rein on the impulse. He was getting damn tired of worrying about who was who and what was what. After Shana’s brief encounter yesterday where she was warned that they should be careful, the only reason he hadn’t forced Phoebe onto a plane was she’d flat out refused. They’d already filled Hayden in on that, along with Shana’s description of the man who’d warned her. Hayden’s guess was he was one of the locals connected with the shifters who smuggled, but from what Hayden knew, he’d yet to get involved himself.

As they settled in to review what Hayden had gathered in the years he’d been investigating, the door to Hayden’s office flew open. Hayden appeared to recognize the man, standing abruptly. The man shifted and leapt toward Hayden. In a flash, Jake shifted along with Dane and Hayden. With a snarl, the unfamiliar shifter swiped at Hayden. In the blur that followed, Jake toppled Hayden’s table over, leaping across it to land on the back of the unfamiliar shifter, knocking him to the ground. They cornered him before he slipped underneath Dane and crashed through the window, glass shattering in his wake. In rapid succession, they followed him through the window, racing into the woods behind the office.

Jake had been keeping such a tight, controlled leash on his lion side that the exhilaration of letting loose barreled through him. He raced ahead of Dane and Hayden, primal anger pounding as he chased after the shifter. They threaded through trees as they galloped deeper into the woods, making their way into the foothills. Hayden pulled alongside and thrust his head to one side. When Jake ignored him and kept following the other lion, Hayden growled and bumped his shoulder against Jake. Reluctantly, Jake slowed and eyed Hayden. In lion form, Hayden was roughly equal to him and Dane in size though his build was heavier. When Hayden met his eyes, he tossed his head to the side again and began to move in that direction, pulling them off the trail of the other lion.

Jake looked forward through the trees, the other lion still in clear sight. He gathered his haunches and leapt away from Hayden again, only to have Dane race past him and stop abruptly in front of him, roaring at him. Snow kicked up in a swirl around them. Hayden circled back, pausing beside Dane. Both stared at Jake. Fury pulsed through Jake’s veins, but he forced himself to think. Hayden clearly had a reason for nudging them in another direction. Much as Jake wanted to race after the other lion, he didn’t know these woods and knew the other lion might be leading them into a trap. With a soft snarl, he pawed at the ground, but held still. Hayden swished his tail as he turned in front and began to trot slowly away. Dane waited until Jake began to follow Hayden.

The terrain became steeper and rockier. Not much later, they crested a small rise. Hayden came to a stop. A small valley lay in view from their vantage point. A cluster of homes was on the opposite side of the valley. Humans milled about in an open area, along with a few mountain lions. From their viewpoint, they could shield themselves behind some boulders. Once they were shielded, Hayden shifted back into human form. Jake and Dane followed. Though it was freezing and they were bare, their clothes discarded on the floor of Hayden’s office, the cold didn’t touch them. Shifting created so much heat that it would be a good while before they felt the cold.

Hayden met Jake’s eyes. “I didn’t want you ending up there,” he said, gesturing toward the valley. “I don’t doubt the two of can hold your own in a fight, but it’s a good bet everyone you see there is a shifter. The shifter who showed up in my office is Paul Malone’s brother, Neal Malone. Like I said, Paul’s your guy from the hospital. He’s in deep with the smuggling crew, along with his brother. There’s no sense in us taking a fight to them on their territory. Callen’s death has shaken things up. I think they’re worried about exposure and want to limit their losses. We need to target who we can away from the crowd. I haven’t seen Paul since he took off a few weeks ago. Aside from when Shana saw him the other day when she and Phoebe were out scouting, he’s been laying low. I’d like to knock him out of circulation and see what we can get out of him. For now, let’s get the hell out of here. As soon as I saw where Neal was taking us, I figured he was hoping to trap us there.”

Jake had to fight to keep himself from taking off again. He glanced at Dane and saw frustration mirrored in his eyes. He looked back to Hayden. “Any ideas where we can find Paul?”

“I have some ideas. Let’s get going and we’ll head back out another time.”
 

Hayden didn’t wait for their reply and shifted again. Jake and Dane followed and retraced their path, this time at a slower pace.

Chapter 12

Phoebe sat on the couch in their hotel suite, idly flipping through channels. She and Shana were waiting for Jake and Dane. He’d texted earlier to say they’d be back soon. The door to their suite opened and Jake walked in with Dane right behind him. His blue eyes locked on hers as soon as he stepped into the room. Energy came off of him in waves. Their clothing was torn in places. Jake offered a perfunctory nod and hello to Shana.

“Mind if we take a few minutes?” Jake asked, his gaze breaking from Phoebe’s to bounce between Shana and Dane. Dane’s mouth quirked as he nodded. Shana merely shrugged. Jake grabbed Phoebe’s hand as he strode toward her, pulling her up swiftly. The second the door closed on their room, he tugged her to him, kissing her fiercely and tearing at her clothes.

Phoebe pulled back, pressing her hand on his chest to hold him still. His heart pounded against her palm. His eyes held hers, burning her with his gaze. “What happened?” She slid her hand across his chest, curling over his shoulder and down his arm. She paused over a tear in his sleeve and arched a brow.

He closed his eyes, his breath labored. “We had to shift when a guy showed up at Hayden’s office and shifted right there. No harm done though, you don’t need to worry.”

“Jake…”

Her words were swallowed in his kiss. He lifted her in his arms and covered the distance to the bathroom in two long strides. He shouldered through the door and took her mouth in another bruising kiss. She tumbled into the vortex of heat swirling between them. Never breaking contact from her lips, Jake eased her onto the small counter and reached inside the shower with one hand to turn it on. Steam filled the room in seconds. Clothes were torn off and left on the floor. He nudged the soft light on above the shower.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, glorying in the feel of his hard muscled body under her hands. His touch was everywhere at once and she couldn’t get enough. He lifted her high against his body, the center of her resting against his shaft—hot and hard against her soft, slick folds. Steam enveloped them when he stepped into the shower. Hot water rained down upon them as he slowly loosened his hold and she slid down his body. Without pause, she kept moving down, her hands coasting down his chest, across his rock hard abs, and down his thighs. His breath hissed through his teeth when she curled her hand around his cock.

She glanced up through the steam and caught his eyes, his dark blue gaze intent on her. Desire snaked around them. Holding his eyes, she leaned forward and slowly stroked up and down his cock with her tongue. He groaned and his head fell back. She took him in her mouth, to the hilt, and then drew back slowly. Establishing a steady rhythm, desire sizzled through her as she toyed and teased with him. After a deep stroke, Jake growled her name and moved swiftly, tugging her up and turning her to face the shower wall.

The tile was cool under her palms. His strong palm stroked down her back, sliding through the water. He nudged into her folds, but held still as tension drew tight inside of her. His lips landed on her spine and trailed upward in a dizzying path of kisses. When he reached her neck, he bit softly just as he thrust inside of her. She gasped as he filled her. Without his hands holding her hips, she’d have fallen. Enveloped in sensation, her focus centered on the slow pull and slide of his shaft inside her channel. Twisting heat built within her until she was spun tight. Another nip on her neck and she shattered, unwinding into wave after wave of her climax. He growled her name again and then arched back, pounding into her as he found his own release.

Phoebe felt the hot water coasting over her skin and slowly slid her palms up the tile. Jake stepped away from her though his hand remained curled on her hip even as she turned to face him. His golden brown hair stood in wet spikes, his lashes glistening. He met her eyes, a wicked smile curling the corner of his mouth. Without a word, his hand fell away and he grabbed the soap, quickly soaping her and then himself. He pulled her close to rinse the soap off, the steaming water sluicing over them as he held her in his arms.

Moments later, he wrapped her in a towel and stood watching her while she briskly rubbed her hair with another towel. She glanced up to find him leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed with a bemused expression.

“That was more than a few minutes,” she said, in reference to his comment to Dane and Shana.

Jake shrugged. “Don’t care.”

She set the towel down and ran her fingers through her damp curls. She walked past him into the bedroom, collecting their scattered clothing as she did. Holding up his torn shirt, she turned back to him.

“What happened this afternoon?”

“Like I said, some guy showed up at Hayden’s office and shifted. He went after Hayden and when we shifted and fought back, he took off into the woods. We followed, but Hayden made me back off. The guy was headed straight for a hunting camp filled with shifters. Hayden says the guy who came to his office is Paul Malone’s brother.”

“The guy from the hospital in Catamount?”

Jake nodded. “Hayden’s says both of them are in deep with the smuggling group. He didn’t want us to get trapped.” Jake paused and shook his head. “It wasn’t easy, but I backed off. I might be pissed, but I’m not stupid. Hayden thinks we need to peel off one of the leaders around here and see what kind of intel we can get. There are too many shifters involved here for it to be safe for us to try to go straight at them.”

Phoebe fought the fear that rose inside at the possibility of Jake and Dane getting cornered by too many shifters. She abruptly sat on the bed, tugging the towel tighter around her. “Maybe we should go home. I didn’t realize how big this thing was until we got out here. I don’t want you and Dane to get hurt. I can’t…” She paused to gather herself, fighting back tears.

Jake grasped her hands and knelt in front of her. “We’re not going to get hurt. Did you miss the part where I backed off?”

She shook her head, taking another gulp of air. Before she’d let herself experience the full force of her feelings for Jake, it would have been terrifying to worry about his safety. Now, she could hardly bear the thought of something happening to him. He’d knocked through her well-honed defenses and taken residence in her heart. Though she’d been afraid for years of how to handle her feelings for him, the reality of being with him and allowing herself to hope went far beyond anything she could have imagined. He’d gone from being one of her dearest friends to literally holding her heart and body in his hands. Her body thrummed to life on its own accord when he was anywhere near her. Hope unfurled and shined light in the dark corners of her heart where she’d buried her feelings for him. She experienced a flash of intense anger toward Callen for exposing Catamount and its shifters.

Jake’s thumb stroked across the back of her hand. He said her name softly. She met his eyes.

“It’ll be okay. Dane and I talked on the way back. We were thinking we should head back to Catamount in a few days anyway. Maybe you and Shana should head back sooner?”

Anchored by his eyes, Phoebe shook her head. “I don’t want to leave until you do.”

He nodded. “Okay. Let’s go get some dinner.”

He started to stand, and she tightened her grip in his hands. “Promise me you’ll keep me in the loop no matter what’s happening.”

He held her gaze. “I promise.”

Chapter 13

Jake padded quietly through the trees. He and Dane were following Hayden into the foothills of the Gallatin range, one of the six mountain ranges surrounding Bozeman. They’d shifted once they made it out of sight. Hayden had shown them several caches of clothing and supplies hidden throughout the woods. Though mountain lions were prevalent out here, shifters still protected themselves by being prepared to shift into human form if needed. Hayden and Jake had done some online sleuthing last night and this morning and determined someone was using an abandoned hunting camp out here, one not known to be frequented by the smugglers. Hayden’s suspicion was that Paul Malone was hiding out here. With Hayden’s help, Jake had been able to identify many of the contacts he’d found, but who had been unnamed to Jake. Paul was one of them. Jake’s prior investigative work had shown plenty of emails between Paul and others, but the trail had gone cold since Chloe’s kidnapping.