Spotting His Leopard (Shifters, Inc.) (7 page)

                The door swung open, and Tyler walked out.  He flashed her a wink and a grin, then shifted back into wolf form, massive and gray, with golden eyes gleaming at her.

                Then, grabbing both bags in his mouth, he turned and ran off again.

                Cursing under her breath, she shifted and followed him.  She was tempted to tackle him and grab her bag and run off, but he’d be a fearsome opponent, and he might also make such a ruckus he’d bring the police down on their heads.

                And if she ran off without the purse, she was screwed.  She’d have no clothing, no money, no passport, no burglary tools, none of the chemical concoctions she’d cooked up…

                They finally stopped in a thick grove, and he tilted his head back and sniffed the air. Then he shifted back into human form, and she followed suit.

                “We lost them,” he said.

                “Looks that way.” She couldn’t let on how angry she was, at least not until she got her purse back.

                “So we’re just going to hide out in the jungle?” she said, looking around.

                “Not quite.” He grabbed both bags. “Follow my lead.”

                “Let me have my purse.”

                “Sorry, we still have some trust issues we need to resolve first.”

                “You think?” she said bitterly. He didn’t bother to answer, just hurried ahead. With a groan, she trotted after him.

                “Where are we going, then?”

                “You’ll see.” She didn’t like the gleam in his eye, but she stumbled along after him, legs aching with exhaustion. What choice did she have?   He was heading in the only safe direction. Behind them were the soldiers, the shanty town and the city, which was crawling with cops.

                He led her a short distance through the woods, and when they broke through the trees, she stopped dead. She turned to glare at Tyler, and was even more annoyed to see that he was laughing.

                “You have got to be kidding me,” she said.

                “Nope. Dead serious. This is our best shot at ditching the cops right now. Why, what’s the problem?” He flashed a grin at her.

                They had emerged from the woods to find themselves on the road leading to the Temple of the Fertility Goddess.

                There was an enormous wooden statue on each side of the road, with an arch stretching from statue to statue.  The statue on the left was GuRa, the fertility goddess, who had an enormous pregnant belly and was suckling a baby at each breast.  The statue on the right was a naked couple having very enthusiastic sex; the female had her legs wrapped around the man’s waist and the man’s head was thrown back in ecstasy.

                A fat, full moon hung in the sky overhead, and the night breeze caressed them, wafting the scent of flowers and burning incense.

                Curled up at the feet of each statue were several female jaguars, panting in the heat, their pink tongues lolling.  Guardians of the cult, most likely.   There were bowls of incense burning by the feet of the statues, as well as big bowls of water for the jaguars to drink from.

                “This is ridiculous,” Gwenneth protested, folding her arms across her chest.  “This place is only for couples! And they all have sex with each other!”

                “Sex? With each other? That’s disgusting.” Tyler’s eyes had that amused glint in them again.

                “I mean, we’re not a couple, for heaven’s sake. There’s no reason for us to be here! You’re…you’re luring me into this sex cult so you can take advantage of me!” she sputtered. He probably figured that he could seduce the information out of her, she thought indignantly. And why wouldn’t he think that? He’d actually gotten her to start talking about her sister a little while ago. Nobody else had gotten her to talk about her past before.

                “Hey, very recently you weren’t exactly objecting,” he said. “In fact you were reciprocating pretty enthusiastically.”

                She raised her hand to smack him, and he grabbed her and pulled her up against him, arm circling her waist. His naked flesh pressed against hers, and she choked back a whimper.  Even now, as hurt and furious as she was, she wanted him.

                “We need to act like a loving couple so the priestesses let us in,” he murmured into her ear. “The soldiers won’t bother us here. We can lay low tonight and decide what to do in the morning.”

                She glanced around.  They weren’t alone on the road.  A lion couple, in their animal forms, strolled towards the gateway.   Further down the road, a bear couple, in human form, was walking hand in hand, with knapsacks on their backs, and behind them a cheetah couple was strolling.

                “Everybody walks here?” she said.

                “Yeah, no technology at all here. Come on, honey, let’s go make a baby,” he said loudly as the lion couple approached.

                “Oh gosh, why stop at one?” she said through gritted teeth and a big, false smile as she followed him through the archway.  The female jaguars didn’t object.  They walked for another five minutes or so and came upon a round wooden structure made of elaborately carved latticework. 

                There were couples everywhere, some stripped naked and making love in the shade of trees, some relaxing lazily on benches.

                A tall, beautiful older woman walked up to them.  Jaguar shifter.  She had coppery skin and wrinkles feathering out from the corners of her eyes, and her ebony hair was shot through with grey. She was barefoot and wore a bright-red toga-style tunic trimmed with gold.

                “Head priestess,” Tyler whispered to her.

                “Greetings,” she said, folding her hands together in a prayer motion and making a half bow.  “I am the Priestess Belij.”

                Tyler returned the bow, perfectly, and Gwenneth followed suit, not as perfectly.

                “I see that you two are fated mates. That is beautiful.  You will be blessed with many healthy children.” She flashed a white-toothed smile at them.

               
Hah. Some priestess,
Gwenneth thought. The woman had to be wrong. Didn’t she?

                “Yep. Knew it the minute I laid eyes on her.” Tyler’s hand tightened on hers and he smiled at her.

                Gwenneth pasted a big, bright smile on her face and bobbed her head enthusiastically in agreement. “Yep. He sure did,” she said. She paused for a long moment, then added, “And me too, of course.”

                “We have many, many visitors blessing us with their presence now, but we are fortunate to have a few more huts free,” Belij said.

                The grounds did indeed seem quite crowded, Gwenneth noted.

                A young woman walked up to them, barefoot, wearing a blue toga-style dress that bared one breast.  Gwenneth saw that there were several similarly dressed women wandering outside the hut and attending to the couples. Bringing them jugs of water and baskets of fruit.

                “This is Helper Ani. Our helpers are understudies to the priestesses,” Belij explained. “She will take you to your cabin. Breakfast is served here in the main temple, starting when the sun sets. May your night be fruitful!”

                Ani inclined her head politely to them and led them down winding jungle paths, past bushes bursting with fragrant orange blooms.  They could hear the sounds of lovemaking drifting through the air as they passed small, round huts.  The shrieks and moans teased Gwenneth’s senses and sent shivers of desires through her.  She still wanted Tyler.  No matter how angry she was with him, it seemed that she was going to crave his body, yearn for his touch.  She couldn’t wait to get the hell off this island and as far away from him as possible.

                They finally came to a round hut with a thatched roof. Ani opened the door for them, revealing a bed with a hand-hewn wooden frame, a wooden table with a big ceramic jug of water and two glasses next to it, and nothing else.  She glanced at the knapsack and purse that Tyler carried.

                “No technology,” she reminded them, wagging a finger. “No phone, no computer.  To ensure that you conceive the child that you so yearn for, you must get back to nature.” Then she bowed her head and said something in Khalijinese, and whirled off gracefully, leaving them alone.

                As soon as she left, Gwenneth flung herself down on the bed. “Getting back to nature. Fricking hell,” she groaned. “I hate nature.  I’m not a cavecat, for the love of god. I’d sell my soul for a laptop right now.”

                “Tell me about it.” Tyler sat on the edge of the bed next to her.  “I’ve never gone so long without technology.  Screw all this green stuff. I want concrete.”

                Gwenneth sat up again. “What would you give to have a remote control in your hand right now?” she asked eagerly. “I’d give up one kidney. I mean, I’ve got a spare, right?”

                “Maybe a lung,” Tyler mused. “I’ve got two of those. And an internet connection? Don’t even get me started.”

                “I know, right? Oh my god, I’d give up everything I own just to watch a TV show right now. Even a really bad TV show. Say, a New Kids on the Block reunion special.”

                “Ouch. And to think I trusted you with my darkest secret.” Tyler clapped his hand to his chest in mock hurt.

                “You know what I really miss? I—” Gwenneth stopped herself. He was doing it to her again. No, she was doing it to herself.  She was about to confide in him, giggle like a schoolgirl, open her heart to him.  And then she’d slip up and say something that revealed too much, and he’d use it against her to find her sister.

                She turned away, her smile fading.

                “What?” Tyler raised an eyebrow.

                “Sorry, I temporarily forgot myself. No consorting with the enemy,” she said coolly.

                “So now I’m the enemy again? I thought we were starting to kind of like each other.”

                She scooted farther away from him on the bed and turned her back to him.

                “I’m tired,” she said.  “I’m going to sleep now.”

                There was a long, heavy silence, then Tyler sighed.

                “All right,” he said.  “Sweet dreams and all that.”

                She didn’t answer, just curled up, naked, with her back to him, closed her eyes, and desperately willed sleep to come.

                The cawing of birds woke Gwenneth, and she sat up with start. The bed was empty; she looked around and realized that Tyler was sleeping in the doorway, in wolf form.

                Then he shifted back. “Male jaguars, which must mean cops, coming from the direction of the temple. Let’s shift and run for it.  If we can get to the river a mile north, we can wade into the water and they won’t be able to scent us. Take to the trees if you need to.”

                “No, I’m staying with you.” She could outclimb the jaguars any day of the week, but she’d be damned if she was leaving him behind. He’d saved her life twice already; she’d stay by his side and go down fighting if it came to that.

                He growled at that, shaking his head even as he shifted. They slipped out of the tent and began running, with him still dragging his backpack in his mouth; she ran at his side.   

                It wasn’t long before she scented them and heard them. A couple of dozen of them.  Her heart sank.

                She stopped and whirled around as a group of them burst through the trees behind them, snarling.  A second group rushed at them from the right.

                Her heart pounded in her chest and her fur stood on end as she sank down low, growling. They paced around, eyes glowing in the moonlight.  Tyler moved protectively in front of her, his lips peeling back in a snarl.

                She knew they were outnumbered, and it was hopeless. It would end here, out in the jungle, and nobody would ever know their fate.

                Suddenly Tyler paused and began sniffing at the air. She looked at him, puzzled, and the jaguars looked at each other and began sniffing too.  Then they heard the sounds of big cats racing towards them, and the scent of female jaguar wafted their way.

                The female jaguars rushed in to the clearing and quickly shifted into their human forms. One of them was Belij, tall, angry and imperious.

                “Who dares trespass in the sacred jungle?” Her voice rang out so loudly that birds rose from the trees and flew away, cawing in protest.

                The male jaguars shifted back to their human forms as well, and so did Tyler and Gwenneth. Gwenneth’s heart was in her throat.  The women were outnumbered. Now she’d be responsible not just for Tyler’s death, but for the priestesses’ as well. How had things gotten so out of control?

                “They’re just females. And there’s six of them,” one of the male jaguars sneered. Gwenneth realized with shock that it was Khaliji’s Chief of Police.  She recognized him from his pictures; a handsome man with the coppery skin and broad cheekbones of the island’s native population, and an ice cold gleam in his eyes.

                “Leave now before it’s too late.” Belij stalked towards him, and he reared up, attempting to intimidate her with a glower.  She walked right up to him, standing between him and Tyler and Gwenneth. Tyler’s fists were balled and his eyes were blazing with fury.

                “These are escaped murderers!” the police chief snarled at her. “They have come to you under false pretenses; they only want to hide from their crimes. I am taking them into custody.”

                His men didn’t look quite as confident. They were glancing fearfully at each other.

                “Nonsense. They are fated mates, here to create new life.” Belij’s tone was scornful.

                “They are not fated mates.” He scowled at them and made as if to take a step forward.  Tyler let out a snarl, and Belij blocked his path.

                “I am never wrong. Do you question the High Priestess of GuRa?”

                He made a spluttering noise of frustration. “Fine. Whether they are fated mates or not, we’re taking them into custody.”

                His men all took a step back as the other priestesses joined Belij and stepped forward to form a protective wall in front of Tyler and Gwenneth.

                “Sir, we cannot. She will curse us so that we will never be able to father children again,” one of the men said pleadingly.

                “It is true.” Belij nodded, raking them all with a look of haughty contempt. “Your testicles will shrivel to the size of raisins. You will never again have an erection. You will never again make love.”

                The men let out cries of dismay and backed away even farther. 

                The police chief stood his ground for a moment, but as she stalked forward, he took a hasty step back.

                “Leave now, or your entire family will become barren,” she intoned grimly. “Your sons and their sons… No woman will look at you or your men with desire ever again. Your line will die out and become a distant memory.”

                At that, the men broke out into shouts of panic, shifted, and turned and ran full speed into the jungle.

                The police chief was as white as a ghost.  He spat curses, his eyes shuttling frantically from Belij to the other priestesses.

                “My brother will rain curses on your head!” he cried out, his voice an octave higher than it had been a minute ago.

                “The Witch Doctor? Pah.  He can’t even protect the kingdom from misfortune,” Belij said scornfully. “He has no power here, and from what I hear, he has no power anywhere these days. GuRa is all.”

                “You’ll be sorry!” Angara shouted, stumbling back another step, and then he shifted and ran.

                Tyler put his arm around Gwenneth’s shoulders, and she realized that she’d been trembling violently.

                “Belij, we should leave at once,” Gwenneth said faintly. “We can’t bring you into this. Those men…”

                Belij shook her head, making a contemptuous gesture. “They are no danger to us, and we do not concern ourselves with the laws of man,” she said.  “I only serve GuRa, and she tells me that there is still trouble between you two. You are fated mates, but something keeps you apart, which is displeasing to GuRa. Let us return to the temple.”

                After they had shifted and run back to the temple, they joined Belij in one of the rooms there.  They settled into wicker chairs and helpers came and served them cool water from ceramic cups, and they gulped thirstily as Belij watched them with a frown.

                When they set down their cups, Belij leaned back and shook her head, studying them with her piercing gaze. “You still have not been with your mate,” Belij said pointedly to Tyler. “What is wrong? I can sense your desire for her, burning through you. And yet you do not claim her.”

                Gwenneth flinched.
How the hell does the priestess know that? And is it true that Tyler burns for me?

                “Uhh…my last relationship ended badly,” Tyler said. “And I, ah, I have trust issues. With her specifically. I feel like there’s a lot she isn’t telling me.”

                Gwenneth shot him a murderous glare.

                “I also have trust issues,” she said coldly.  “Because of my upbringing. However, I am not guilty of the things he thinks I am guilty of.”

                Belij, surprisingly, brightened up immediately.

                “That is easy to solve!” she said.  She clapped her hands and an assistant hurried into the room.

                “The stone of truth,” she said to her. “Bring it at once.”

               
The stone of truth?
Gwenneth thought with alarm. She didn’t like the sound of that at all.

                The assistant hurried off.

                Tyler leaned back in his chair, grinning from ear to ear. He clearly had no problem with whatever Belij was proposing.

                The assistant returned within minutes, holding out a necklace.  A glowing red stone dangled on a leather strip.

                The assistant thrust it towards Gwenneth, who flinched.  Finally, reluctantly, she took it, holding the leather between two fingers as if the necklace were a grenade about to explode.

                Belij was nodding happily. “You will return to your hut, and you will each take turns wearing the stone of truth,” Belij said. “It is impossible to lie when you wear the necklace. You will not emerge from the hut until you have each asked the other five questions. No more than five. It is important for couples to have some secrets from each other, yes? Of course it is. A little mystery is good.”

                Gwenneth felt panic clutching at her throat as the helper led them back to their hut and left them there.  What would Tyler ask her? How would he feel about her if he knew the real her? And how would he use the information he found out?

                They entered the hut and she dropped the necklace onto the bed, backing away from it and staring at it with dismay.

                “I’m tired,” she said uneasily. “I’d rather wait until morning.”

                “Nah, we should just get it over with.” Tyler grabbed the necklace.

                “Or…we could give up this pretense and leave,” she suggested hopefully.

                “Is it a pretense? I think that this will help us find out some questions we need answered,” he said, and before she could protest further, he draped the necklace over her neck.

                She felt a little electric sizzle jolt her and she was suddenly lightheaded. She took a step back away from Tyler, her breath catching in her throat.

                “Now,” he said. “Why did you really come to this island?”

                She found herself talking without meaning to. Without wanting to.

                “My twin sister Rhonwen accepted a job through a broker known as the Shadow Lord, to steal the Eye of the Jaguar a couple of weeks before the jubilee parade,” she said. “She took the downpayment and then never completed the job and failed to show up to hand over the goods. The Shadow Lord put out a kill order on her and the gang she works with, so I decided to come here and complete the job for her.”

                He nodded thoughtfully.

                “Why weren’t you able to get hold of your sister to ask her what was going on?”

                “I haven’t talked to her in five years.  We both used to work for a group of thieves called
Les Abandonnes
, started with them when we were fifteen, but I quit when I was twenty and left the lifestyle behind. I begged Rhonwen to come with me, but she refused. She got mad at me for quitting, said I was abandoning her, and we got in a big fight and cut all ties with each other.”  Damn it, the stone not only forced her to tell the truth, it made her chatty as hell.  She wanted to give short, non-committal answers that didn’t really reveal anything, but it wouldn’t let her.

                “What did you do after you quit?”

                “Well, we all lived in L.A. at the time and I knew I needed to leave town if I wanted to quit, so I got a job on a cruise ship as a maid and travelled the world,” she said. “I’ve just been doing various odd jobs ever since then. Bartending and waitressing mostly. I’m a botanist by hobby. I like to grow plants and brew up the kind of concoctions you found in my vitamin bottle.” She smiled ruefully. “That may sound weird for a city girl, but I do love plants.  I just don’t like living among them.  I like them in pots. I keep a little greenhouse in my apartment wherever I live. I’ve thought about going to school to get a degree in botany, but I’ve lived under fake names for so long I don’t even know how to re-enter the normal world. I mean, I guess I could get a degree under a fake name.”  She clapped her hand over her mouth to stem the verbal tide flooding out.

                “You don’t need to. I could help you with that,” Tyler said, and she felt her breath catch in her throat. He kept talking as if she was a part of his future. Did he mean it? She’d soon find out, when it was time for him to wear the Stone of Truth, and the thought terrified her.

                “How did you know about the botched theft, if you don’t talk to your sister and you left the life behind you completely?”

                She grimaced, struggled not to answer, but the words spilled out.

                “I’ve been checking in with a connection from my past from time to time, just so I could keep tabs on Rhonwen.  I mean, we had that falling out, but she’s still my sister. I just want to know that she’s okay. Once every three months I go to a public internet board for antique furniture enthusiasts and leave a coded message, and a fence that I’ve worked with in the past will reply. When I checked in most recently, I found an urgent message wanting to know why my sister had screwed up this assignment.”

                He nodded.

                Last question. Would he ask her if she could figure out how to track down her sister?
Please, please don’t let that be the question…

                He looked her right in the eye. “Do you know that you’re my fated mate?”