Guarding His Heart (7 page)

“Now, where were we?” Kitty asked, sliding another beer down the bar to a waiting customer.

“Well, there’s this guy, but it’s complicated and I can’t explain all of it,” Lynn conceded.

“Okay, tell me what you can, and we’ll see if we can muddle through it.”

Letting loose a gusty sigh, Lynn unloaded. She explained her attraction and that he returned it, how he thought a relationship wouldn’t work, but he still looked out for her and even left her gifts. After going over her confused feelings and how she and Jag were finally supposed to talk through everything tonight, Lynn finished with, “So, oh wise one, what the hell am I supposed to do now?”

“Sweetie, that man is so far gone he’s scared.” Kitty was dead serious, making Lynn’s palms sweat. “The man obviously has strong feelings for you—if he doesn’t love you already—and he doesn’t know what to do. You said he’s afraid of you not returning his feelings? That reeks of abandonment issues.”

Lynn thought of Jag being held in the zoo for all that time, alone, completely cut off from his kind and unable to change due to the constant risk of the shifter secret getting out. Could that have something to do with it? Had someone known he’d been captured yet done nothing to help?

“Listen, you just relax here for a few, and I’ll be right back. Here’s a little liquid courage to help you out with your man later.” After slipping another jar into Lynn’s hand, Kitty sauntered off to serve waiting customers, leaving Lynn to stew in her thoughts.

She sipped her drink and enjoyed the imagined scenarios flitting through her head. In one, she arrived home to find candles and rose petals scattered all over her front porch, with a very nude Jag lounging on her swing. Another had him greeting her at the door and sweeping her off her feet before whisking her down the hall to her bedroom, where he proceeded to apologize as he placed open-mouthed kisses over her whole body.

Certain she’d only indulged in her fantasies for a few minutes, Lynn was shocked to look around and see the bar was nearly empty. Two servers tidied the seating area, sweeping and flipping chairs onto the tabletops, while Kitty stocked the coolers with beer.

Lynn pulled out her phone. It took a few fumbled attempts to unlock the screen then a little longer to focus her eyes enough to see the screen. One-thirty in the morning! Even more alarming was the number of missed calls, voicemails and text messages.

Holy shit! Liam is pissed
, she thought miserably. By the time he’d left the last few messages, he was threatening to take her over his knee then begging her to call, send a message or anything to let them know that she was alive. When Lynn got to the utterly distraught voicemail from Samantha, Lynn knew she’d fucked up.

Groaning, Lynn called out to Kitty. “I need to go home. Apparently, the guys think I’m dead.”
Wow, I’m not sounding too good
.

“There’s no way in hell you’re driving home, girlie. You just hold tight, and I’ll take you,” Kitty ordered, now wiping down the bar again.

“Thank you.” Lynn quickly sent a group text to Samantha, Liam and Dylan, apologizing and letting them know she was coming home—at least, she hoped that’s what it said since she couldn’t really read what she had typed in. With any luck, they’d understand what she was going for and pass it along to Jag. She didn’t have a number for him, and also, she had no idea if she could get out another text.

In truth, Lynn was getting fuzzier by the minute. With the way the room seemed to move, the very idea of having Jag see her in her current state seemed utterly hilarious. Lynn found herself in stitches, laughing harder than she could ever remember and unable to stop. Tears streamed down her face, and her cheeks ached from her ridiculous grin.

The servers, along with Kitty, giggled with her, until her chuckles turned to sobs. Everyone seemed uncomfortable around the crazy woman bawling at the bar.

“I’m sorry,” Lynn hiccupped. “I don’t know w-what’s wrong w-with me.”

Kitty walked over, patting Lynn’s arm. “Honey, it’s just an expulsion of all the feelings you’ve kept jumbled up inside. You’ll feel much better in the morning.” Wincing, Kitty quickly revised her statement. “Well, maybe the afternoon with all you’ve drunk. Now, let’s get you home.”

“Okay,” Lynn sniffed.

They stepped outside, and Lynn waited patiently while Kitty locked up before they headed over to Kitty’s car. Used to her SUV, Lynn was a little less than graceful when she plopped herself into the low seats of the Civic Kitty drove.

Wow, it’s like being in an enclosed go-kart,
she thought, looking around.

After seating herself behind the wheel, Kitty reached over and plucked Lynn’s cell phone from the pocket on her purse. “Okay, I’m going to put my number into your phone and then call myself so I’ll have yours. We’ll get up tomorrow and arrange a way for you to get your car. I’m up pretty early, so if you need to be at work, just give me a buzz, okay?”

Huh, I hadn’t even considered getting my car home
. “Thank you. I should be able to get Liam to drop me off here to pick it up. I really appreciate you giving me a ride home.” Especially now, because if she were to call Liam, he’d ream her the entire way home for being so irresponsible.

“No problem. I’d rather know you made it home safe and not worry about some backwoods cab driver taking advantage of you. By the way, did you know you have a bunch of texts on here?”

Groaning, Lynn looked at her screen and brought up the texts. A few clicks of her side buttons brought the words to a size her fuzzy eyes could read, but what was there made her feel even worse. Samantha was obviously upset, which had Dylan angry because of Lynn’s “lack of communication this evening”. Liam was glad she was okay but threatened to be her constant shadow if this was how she would “check-in” with him. Another mentioned how Jag was ready to come out and tear the city apart looking for her.

Geez, she’d really screwed the pooch this time. What was supposed to be a few drinks to loosen her up and give her a little courage had ended up leaving her drunk, with no car and everyone mad at her. Except for Kitty.

Liam’s name popped up as another text came across, informing her he was leaving but Jag would be waiting for her when she arrived home. His added, “Good luck” sounded a little ominous to her, but that could be the liquor talking.

“It seems I have a lot of people angry at me for not checking in with them tonight,” Lynn sighed.

“What are you, a teenager? You’re a grown-ass woman! Just tell them to suck it up. You can do whatever you want.”

If only Kitty knew. Sadly, Lynn couldn’t explain the need for her near-constant communication with the guys, which probably made the situation look even worse from an outside perspective. “There’s a lot more to it, but I can’t get into everything right now. Let’s just say, they have their reasons. I told them I wouldn’t be long, and time got away from me, so this is totally on me tonight.”

“Well, there’s still no reason for them to dog you like this. You’re only human. Mistakes will be made.”

Kitty kept her eyes on the road, apparently unaware how her response sounded. The way she worded it with “you’re” instead of “we’re” implied… Nah, that couldn’t be. Lynn was simply allowing her drunken imagination to conjure up things that would only create more drama for her life. Kitty wasn’t a shifter. Just look at her name! Surely, no parents would be that obvious.

“I think they’ll forgive me. Either that or they’ll give me hell in the morning when my head’s splitting in two.”

“Water and aspirin before you go to bed will help. If you think it will make them lighten up, tell them it’s all my fault. I can more than handle anything they dish out, trust me. Oh, and tell Sam to drag her butt in to see me soon, would ya? I think Mason misses seeing her on the dance floor,” Kitty chuckled.

“I’ll see what I can do, but she’s been really busy with her new man.”

“Too busy to hang out for even an hour? Come on.”

Once again, Lynn found herself unable to relay the events that had changed everything in their lives. She couldn’t tell Kitty that Sam had a baby, because they’d been in Mason’s bar within the last nine months, which would make it look as if Samantha was drinking while pregnant. While they’d discovered shifters had serious perks when it came to shorter gestation times, it wasn’t exactly something she could share with anyone. Then again, maybe, they could talk the guys into taking them to Mason’s one night so everyone could catch up.

“I’ll see what we can come up with.”

“You do that. I miss you girls! You two are about the only females who come into the bar
not
looking to hook up. It’s refreshing.”

Laughing, Lynn leaned her head against the window and sighed. The cool glass felt wonderful against her flushed cheeks. When her eyes began to droop, she jerked up, trying to keep herself awake until they got to her house.

“It’s okay. You can rest if you want. I’ll wake you up when we get there.”

“Thank you,” Lynn replied, knowing she was fighting a losing battle, then pressed her cheek to the glass once more.

* * * *

Once again, Jag found himself pacing. Liam had informed him Lynn had a friend bringing her home, so he figured it would be best if he retreated to the trees. Hell, right now, he’d probably terrify Lynn if she saw him with his fangs out and claws extending from his fingertips.

The partial shift was a sure sign of his emotional overload, but he didn’t think he’d be able to rein it in until he laid eyes on her himself. He’d been worried sick when she hadn’t returned home at a normal time, but Liam had told him about her going with her co-workers for a celebratory drink.

True, he hadn’t been happy to learn that he’d now be waiting longer to have their talk, but as the night had grown later, his feelings had changed quickly back to worry. When she’d failed to respond to Liam or even Samantha, Jag had felt a wave of panic as he’d never experienced before.

If it hadn’t been for Liam, he might have taken off in his jaguar form to track her down and drag her home. Luckily, the lion male was a bit more levelheaded, though no less upset.

Apparently, Lynn and her colleagues had done a little more celebrating than necessary. Liam mentioned Lynn’s need for some liquid courage, so maybe she was every bit as nervous as he was.

Headlights flashed between the trees as a small car bounced down the gravel drive. When they passed, he glimpsed Lynn’s slumped form in the passenger seat and the profile of a young woman with striped hair.

His instincts were suddenly on high alert, though he saw no immediate danger. He quietly approached the tree line to observe Lynn as she went inside. He’d give her a moment to settle in before he came knocking.

Plus he needed his clothes. With his partial shift, Jag had left his clothes by her back door to avoid shredding them if he completed his transformation.

The driver’s door opened first, and a slender woman with black and white streaks throughout her long hair stepped from the small car. She plopped Lynn’s purse on the hood and rummaged around until she pulled out the keys with a triumphant, “Got ‘em!”

He tracked her as she moved around the car, her movements graceful and calculated, unlike most humans then the wind direction changed.

She was helping a wobbly Lynn from the vehicle, but Jag didn’t trust her. His jaguar gracefully leapt from the trees, sprinting across the property, determined to protect Lynn from the shifter that smelled…off.

He skidded to a halt less than ten feet from them and watched in confusion as the stranger put herself in front of Lynn then crouched in a defensive pose. What in the world did she think she was doing?

“Lynn, get back in the car,” she ordered. Her voice was calm with almost no inflection to her words. Jag’s hackles rose.

“Why?” Lynn’s head popped over the woman’s shoulder and he watched her brows pucker into a frown. “Jag? What the hell are you doing?”

At that, the woman spun, completely disregarding him as if he were no threat at all. “Wait. You
know
him?”

“Yup.” Lynn swayed a bit, leaning back against the car. “This is the guy I told you about. Kitty, this is Jag. Jag, this is my friend, Kitty.”

Said friend laughed herself to tears. “No wonder you needed a drink! Girl, how did you get involved with a shifter?”

“Sam got knocked up by one.”

“Good grief, Lynn. So that’s why I haven’t seen you two in a while.” Kitty, as Lynn had called her, looked back at him now. “I’ll help her into the house. While I’m doing that, how about you change back and get some clothes?”

After seeing the way the women interacted with one another, Jag felt confident Kitty meant Lynn no harm, despite his original assumption. He gave an irritated growl before plodding off to where he’d left his clothes.

“My, isn’t he charming,” he heard Kitty mumble as he left.

He had to admit, Kitty’s attempt at protecting Lynn when she’d thought him to be a threat was comforting. Jag was also almost positive Lynn had no idea her friend was a shifter. A tiger to be exact, but there was something odd about her scent. She had a wilder smell, like something untamed and dangerous. That was what had set his inner cat on edge. The jaguar had sensed the presence of a predator before his nose had identified it.

He entered the house on silent feet and quickly slipped on his pants as he listened to the women make a rather loud entrance. It seemed Lynn was clumsy when she imbibed. Jag knew that Kitty wouldn’t pick up his presence for a few more minutes, since he’d spent the better part of the day pacing the confines of the living room while waiting for Lynn to respond to the attempts at reaching her.

“Okay, girl, spill it. You have a very protective male out there who seems to think he has a claim on you, but you don’t carry his scent. It’s all over your house, but not on you personally as it would be if you were his mate. Do you not want to mate with him?”

“What? It’s not me who has the problem. I think I might be in love with the big dork, but he said it would be a bad idea for us to be together like that,” Lynn replied, breaking his heart when he heard her voice crack. Did she really mean what she was saying? Could she be in love with him?