Moves Like Jagger (Wolf Mates Book 4) (9 page)

He made a pouty face, making her giggle. “I only come out here once in a while. When I need to think. I forgot a garbage bag last trip and then I forgot about the mess altogether when I met you. I got sidetracked by your perfection.”

Her gaze narrowed. “Don’t you be charming right now. I was almost eaten by one of your people.”

“Are you going to make cheesy bear jokes now?”

“You mean like, ‘My, what big…
eyes
you have?’ Or maybe ask you if you have a pic-i-nic basket? Oh, wait! I know. What’s your stance on
Salmon Fishing in Yemen
? Not the actual act, but the movie. I thought it was charming, but was the portrayal about salmon accurate? That’s what I want to know.”

“Okay, Snarkity-Snark. Does it bother you that I’m a bear? Will this affect how many Skipper heads I have to shell out?”

“No more than if you told me you were a T-Rex shifter.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning werewolf and cat has been done before, ala Derrick and Martine. Bear and cat? I think that might be one for the history books.”

“Aw. Are you already thinking of us as a couple, Vivienne Hathaway?”

She rolled her eyes and lightly pinched his cheek, trying with every breath she took to forget he was totally naked. “You’re right. I do want to know about hibernation. Shouldn’t you be sleeping in that den of iniquity and old beer cans right now?”

“No more than you should use a litter box and chase mice.”

“I’m not above chasing a mouse.”

“Okay then, I’m half human, if you’ll remember. While I do eat much more in the winter to store fat, and it slows me down a bit, I can stay awake all night long if need be,” he said with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

She let her cheek rest on his chest as if she’d always done so, the crisp hairs pressing against her skin. “I guess that’s good to know. If we were to explore the idea of a long-term relationship, I’d hate to think I’d have to find a stand-in for the winter months. Who could possibly fill in for you and all that ketchup?”

The deep chuckle rumbled in his chest, vibrating against her cheek. Wrapping his arms tighter around her, he asked, “And now we’re talking long term? Be careful there, Hathaway, you’re showing me all your cards.”

“You did bring me ketchup. It’s worth a card or two. Now, I think it’s time to discuss the elephant in the room, or in our case, the bear. Who the hell was that and why did it want to make me its dinner?”

“Jagger! Viv!” Max yelled to them. “Where the hell are you?”

“We’ve been caught,” Jagger whispered, dropping a quick kiss to her lips before calling back to Max. “Over here!”

Max appeared in the small spaces between the boulders, coming toward them from the thick of trees, he climbed over rocks with a rabbit in one hand and Jagger’s clothes and boots in another.

He threw the clothes up over the rocks to Jagger, turning his back. “Christ, buddy! What the hell was that?”

Jagger set her away from him and let her hand him his clothes while she continued to try to avert her eyes. “Another bear, I’m afraid,” he answered, his expression grim.

“Say again?”

“I said it was another bear. Smelled like a brown bear to me. Kamchatka—or the technical term,
Ursus arctos beringianus
—if my scent wasn’t mistaken. Unfortunately, one of my own.”

Max picked his way across the rocks, his eyes on the ground, the rabbit tucked in his jacket. “Is it safe?”

Jagger finished buttoning up his shirt. “It’s good.”

“So one of your own? Any vicious relatives visiting with a bloodlust for small animals?”

He pulled his boots on and rose to face Max. “Nah, man. We don’t eat people unless we have to in order to protect ourselves and we don’t eat rabbits or dogs either. Our rules are much the same as yours. No killing anyone, especially humans, unless it’s life or death. The punishment for killing another human is a good old-fashioned beheading. There are very few of us left anyway, and I have to doubt my parents have gone vigilante in their retirement. I wish I had a better answer, but there it is.”

“What’s only a few of you left equate to?” Max asked.

“Shifter Kamchatka? Aside from my family? Tops, maybe twenty that I’m aware of.”

“So you’re sure it was shifter?”

“Positive.”

“Related to you?”

“None of the remaining Kamchatka are related to us by blood and I only know one or two. One of my closest childhood friends and my old college roommate, Dale, is one, but he’s in Nigeria heading up a program for agricultural development. I know he is because he texted me just after this all started. Though, I could check with my parents of I could get in touch with them. They know more about the history of the groups of bears—or
sleuths
as we call them—than I do. But it might be a while. They’re off on one of their many adventures since they retired and our cell connections have been spotty at best. I’m not even clear where they are in the world at this point.”

“Does it smell like whatever killed the rabbits in the woods?” Max asked.

Jagger’s sigh rasped. “That’s what’s really making me crazy at this point. It was definitely shifter, but I didn’t pick up a fresh kill from it. Yet, it has to be what’s attacking the pets and the rabbits. So who the hell is it, and what the hell is it doing here in Cedar Glen?”

Max nodded, stroking the rabbit’s head. “Damn. Same thing I got, too. Couldn’t smell a kill either. None of this makes any sense.”

Viv held up a hand. “So there’s a vicious bear running loose in Cedar Glen, killing off the rabbits and people’s pets, but you don’t know who it is?”

He gave her one of those smiles that said he was placating her dumb human question. “Much like you, I’m not on a first-name basis with all of my kind, Viv. We’re shifters who keep to ourselves for the most part. Most sleuths do. In fact, a good deal of our interaction has to do with land—the buying and selling of it in order to protect it for the bears that aren’t shifters. My parents own a sizeable amount of land in Alaska for that purpose. To preserve for the future.”

She grabbed his hand and sighed—even his parents were good people. “Sorry. Stupid humans, right?”

He laughed and squeezed her hand back. “You didn’t even know I was a bear shifter until tonight. You’re allowed one or two human questions, but no more or there’ll be a stiff penalty, young lady.”

Viv shivered as she smiled, pulling the sleeves of her jacket over her hands. Now that the excitement had passed, she was frozen to the bone.

Jagger tucked her close to his side. “We need to get Viv back before she catches a cold.”

“Wait!” she shouted. “I’m forgetting the whole reason I ran all the way here.” She pointed inside the cave where the rabbit sat, still in the middle of the nest of twigs. “He’s hurt. Probably a victim of our rogue bear.”

“Max? Would you take Viv back to the van and get her warmed up? I’ll get the little guy and meet you there. Then we’ll try to make some informed choices about what’s next.” Jagger grabbed her around the waist and lifted her up to the top of the rock toward Max, who leapt over it like he was jumping high school track hurdles to help her down.

Max held out his arm to Viv. “You bet.”

As they made their way back to the van, past the pile of rabbits, she couldn’t help but wonder who’d kill so viciously if the rules were of the no-killing variety.

Which meant this bear wasn’t just rogue, but a little daffy to risk beheading. Thus, this bear was reckless
and
fearless.

She shivered violently again.

* * * *

“You’re sure you’re okay?”

Viv fought to keep her eyes open as Jagger stood in her entry after collecting Scar. “I’m fine. Though, as bears go? I’m more of a Yogi and Boo-Boo fan after tonight.”

Jagger looked down at her again, his eyes intense. “And you’re sure you’re okay with the fact that I’m a bear? There won’t be any avoiding my texts and suddenly acting like I didn’t bring you my last ration of ketchup, will there? Because if it’s a problem, I need you to be honest with me right now, and I’ll move along.”

She gripped the edges of his jacket and pulled him close, arching her neck upward. “Just like that? Without a fight even?”

His lips gave a slight tilt upward in amusement. “I’d fight about a lot of things in your defense, but not about who I am.
I am a bear shifter
. There’s no changing that. To get involved only to find out you were harboring a misgiving isn’t my thing. Either you’re in or you’re out.”

It sounded like Jagger had a past bad experience with someone who couldn’t or wouldn’t accept his nature. Something to bring up at a later date, for sure.

“Phew, Feisty Spice! Settle down. I don’t care if you’re a squirrel shifter. Wait. That’s too weird even for me. Whatever. The point is, that would never be a valid reason to stop seeing you. However, if you continue this haphazard decision to leave the cap off the toothpaste, it could be over slicker than snot.”

Hauling her to him, he kissed her lips thoroughly, purposely, making her head spin. “I like you, Hathaway. You’re okay.”

“I like you, too,” she said against his lips, letting a dreamy sigh escape her throat.

He dropped one last kiss on her cheek. “And now, off to bed with you, pretty lady. You’re exhausted, and I have two bunnies to tend. No appointments tomorrow, but I’ll give you a call and keep you updated, okay?”

She smiled up at him as he opened the door. “Please do.”

“Night, Viv,” he said on a wink.

“Night, Jagger,” she said, fighting to avoid dragging out his name and twirling her hair.

But as she watched him load Scar into the van and give one last wave, in her mind, she was doing a Muppet flail of happiness.

Because Jagger inspired that in her, and she found she didn’t mind one bit.

Even with a homicidal bear on the loose.

Chapter 8

“H
eyyy! Vivienne, right?”

Viv looked up from the paper she’d been perusing at her table in Cedar Glen’s only diner and cocked her head. “The lady from my friend’s salon, right?”

She smiled, bubbly and beautiful, her gorgeous sable-brown hair shining in the streams of sunlight coming from the window of the diner. “Yes! Would you mind if I joined you?”

Viv set the paper aside and smiled back as she waved to the waitress. “Of course. Have a seat.”

She slid her long, perfect body into the brown vinyl booth and set her purse—a Coach, if anyone was asking—to the far side of the table between them. “It’s freezing out there!”

Viv chuckled despite the beginnings of a headache. “And still you managed to wear an amazing pair of heels.” She pointed to the royal blue and purple ankle boots peeking out from beneath the Formica tabletop where Tiffany had gracefully crossed her feet at an angle.

The woman wrinkled her nose. “I’m such a girl. I know it’ll be the death of me, especially with the heavy snow here, but I love shoes, heels specifically.”

She sighed, sipping her coffee and rolling her head on her shoulders to ease the ache creeping along her temples. She couldn’t tell what kind of shifter this woman was, due to her nose suddenly stuffing up, not that it would have made a huge difference anyway. She was still having trouble parsing scents.

Either way, she was friendly and she had kick-ass shoes. That was enough for now.

“I love heels, too. I don’t wear them much here, but I love ’em. Those are Saint Laurent, right?”

She cocked her head as though she hadn’t expected Viv, in her ratty jeans, blue down vest, ponytail and Payless boots to know the designer. “How did you know?”

Viv snorted. “Long, long story, but I know shoes. Believe me. Anyway, they’re beautiful, as you are. What brings you to Cedar Glen?”

Her shoulders rose and fell beneath her cute red shrug jacket with the furry hood. “The holidays. Family and all.”

“You know, I don’t think I ever got your name.”

She stuck her hand out at Viv and giggled. “It’s not Britany, I swear.”

Viv barked a laugh. “No assumptions. Promise.”

“Okay, it’s Tiffany, but don’t judge. I wasn’t a cheerleader or anything. Swear it.”

She shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Tiffany. So how do you like Cedar Glen?”

“I know I don’t look like the kind of girl who’d want to spend longer than a hot minute in a place like this, but I love it. It’s quiet and cozy, and the bed-and-breakfast is utterly amazing. And they don’t kid around when it comes to Christmas, do they?” She pointed to the square’s gazebo, where there were more plastic and inflatable snowmen than Viv had fingers and toes.

Still, it made her smile. “They sure don’t.”

Tiffany clapped her hands. “I love it! It’s perfect. Anyway, enough about me and more about you. How long have you lived here?”

“Just about a month. Moved here when—” She stopped herself. She didn’t want to talk about the reasons she’d moved here. “Moved here when I decided it was time for a change.”

Tiffany reached a slender hand over and lightly tapped her on the wrist. “And already you have a hot man on the hook. Go, you.”

Viv fought the blush that always accompanied the mention of Jagger. She hadn’t seen him since last night, but that didn’t stop her from thinking about him.

“What was his name again? It was unusual, wasn’t it?”

“Jagger. Jagger Dubrov.”

“Russian?” she asked when the waitress approached and held up a carafe of coffee. Tiffany smiled and nodded.

Or dreamy. Label it any way you like. “I think so.”

“Oh, does he have an accent? How sexy!”

“No accent, but he has plenty else going for him. He’s compassionate, he loves animals, has a steady income, he’s funny and an amazing kisser.”

And she was gushing.

Now Tiffany blew out a dreamy sigh. “Yeahhh, all the right stuff. He sounds great.”

She had to admit, he
was
pretty great. There had to be something she was missing. Didn’t everyone come with relationship baggage at their ages? Of course they did.
She
came with baggage. Not a carousel full, but there was an issue or two.