CAPTURED: 9 Alpha Bad-Boys(67)

Five minutes later they all stormed into the ranger's office.

Trefor stood behind the main desk. An instinctive step back accompanied  his first glance at a raging Aaron headed right for him. If he hadn't  been so anxious to find Reya, Aaron would have begged the man to say one  wrong word so he could beat the shit out of him. But right now, Trefor  was their best hope of finding Reya. Alive.

"Trefor, what time were Reya and Marc supposed to be back?" When Trefor  looked at his watch a little too slowly, Aaron growled a warning.

"Two hours ago," the stocky man stammered. "They're probably at Reya's place with Bethsaida getting a snack."

What a dimwit, Aaron thought. Trefor believed the very woman standing in  front of him was in the dining room feeding Reya? How had the man ever  become the director of a wildlife sanctuary? Maybe he'd have an  accident, or perhaps one of the big cats would mistake his beefy head  for a dumb deer in the headlights. After all, the gene pool was overdue  for a good cleansing.

At Trefor's dumb-as-a-bucket-of-soaked-raisins look, Bethsaida lost it.  She stepped nose to nose with him and screamed like a drill sergeant. It  was rather impressive.

"Listen, you idiot! My Reya is missing and you're going to arrange a  party to go look for her. And I mean right this minute, or I'm going to  find a very sharp kitchen instrument and gut your sorry ass!"

But Aaron wouldn't dare trust Reya's safety to such incompetence.

"Better yet, my brothers and I will take care of it." Aaron leaned  forward and hauled Trefor halfway over the counter he quaked behind.  "Listen, idiot, I want the keys to a jeep, a map of the route they were  supposed to take, and I want it thirty seconds ago. You!" he snarled,  motioning to another ranger standing off to the side, taking in the  scene. "Yes, you! Give us each a pistol, fully loaded, and a  tranquilizer gun. You guys form your own teams, take a radio and check  in every twenty minutes. As for the James boys, we're out of here now.  The rest of you can catch up."





Chapter Eleven

The groggy aftereffects of the tranquilizer faded quickly and her heart  rate automatically kicked up at the feel of cool air against her very  naked body. No, she must control her physical reactions or she'd give  herself away. She lay perfectly still. There was no sound, but it was no  assurance that she was alone. Back in her skin, her senses somewhat  muted, all she caught was the damp, musty smell always present in deep,  canopied jungle. Forcing her breathing to remain at a slow and even  pace, Reya cracked her eyes open just enough to peek at her  surroundings. It looked like some kind of stone cave, probably one of  the many ruins they were forever uncovering out in the bush. Just enough  light filtered in from somewhere to tell her it was close to twilight.

That meant she was late returning from patrol. Hopefully someone would  notice her missing and think to look for her. And what happened to Marc?  Oh god, had the rogue jag gotten him? Oh, please let him be okay, she  prayed silently.

"I know you're awake, Reya."

Wait a minute. She knew that voice. "Marc? What the hell is going on?"  she asked incredulously, sitting up and drawing her knees in close to  her body to hide her nakedness. "And why don't you have any clothes on?"  she asked, bewildered.

Blowing off her question, he took a step forward with a cold response. "Shift, Reya."

"Shift? What are you, crazy? And who the hell are you anyway? You look  like Marc, but I don't recall my friend being such an asshole," she  snapped from her perch on the hard dirt-packed floor.

Her neck snapped sideways as his hand shot out and slapped her so hard bright points of light danced behind her eyelids.

Oh hell no! Nobody slapped her like a bitch and got away with it. Nudity  forgotten, she stood up to face her agitator, hands perched on her bare  hips. With a glare, she hissed through gritted teeth.

"You touch me again and I will kick your feral ass, Marc!"

"Shift, Reya, and we'll see."

What was his obsession with her shifting? And how the hell did he know she had the ability?

"I said shift. Now," he snarled, stepping much too close for comfort.  Reya stood her ground as a furious blush of anger crept across her bare  chest and up her neck. The change was just under the surface, on the  verge of breaking free. She'd always kept keen control of it, but this  asshole was pushing it! But her Aunt Sulu hadn't raised her to be a  fool. Whatever this rabid and certifiable nut had planned for her, she  must have to shift first. This seemed like a good time to stall and  maybe just get some answers.

"Marc, what's the deal with this shift stuff?" she asked dumbly, urging him to spill whatever he knew or thought he knew.

"What, you thought I was a blithering, muscle-bound clod like Trefor? I know exactly who, or rather what, you are, Reya."

She'd perfected the deer-in-the-headlights look as a child and slipped  it onto her face with ease. "What are you talking about, Marc? Why are  you being such an ass? And with me of all people?"

"I've known for a while that you're a shifter. A beautiful, black jaguar shifter and you are going to be my mate."

"I can't mate with you! Eww, that's just too nasty." Shit! The words  slipped out before she could clamp her lips shut. His fist flew, and she  barely got an arm up to block the punch that landed on her forearm with  a sick slapping sound. That would have really hurt if it had reached  her face.         

     



 

"Look, Marc, I'm marrying Aaron, okay? Don't do this. You've always been  a good friend to me." Until now, she thought. "Besides, why would you  want to mate a shifter anyway?"

Her question was answered by the sinewy popping and crunching of  rearranging bones as they moved and settled in their new positions. Eyes  wide, she stood still as stone while goose bumps erupted from neck to  knees at the familiar, quiet hiss of lengthening and stretching muscles.  A gasp escaped her throat at the bombshell dropped on her.

Before her stood the regal gold and black rogue that had challenged her  for Aaron after his plane crashed and had later attacked him. Hell,  attacked and injured her. Reya had never seen anyone shift so fast. Then  again, she'd never met another shifter outside her family. Her head  tilted in question as another thought came to her. The dead jaguars.

‘Yes, Reya, I was the one that attacked the females in the sanctuary. It  wasn't a poacher who didn't have time to recover the furs without  detection.' He spoke directly into her head in a perfect imitation of  their dimwitted director Trefor.

"But why?"

‘They refused to mate with me. And their choice was the same as yours-accept me.'

"Or?" she asked, tilting her head at the crazy jaguar before her.

‘There is no ‘or', Reya.'

In his skin, he was already stronger than her. In his pelt, he was  several times faster and stronger. Reya backed away slowly, more than  wary of his intentions. If he attacked her in her skin, she'd be laid up  for weeks recovering. But if she shifted, healing would occur faster,  but she'd be giving in to whatever he had planned for her.

‘I'm disappointed you've chosen the human male. I would make a much  better mate, Reya. I would even break with typical jag behavior and stay  with you long after our cubs are born. Maybe even mate for life.'

Her mind flashed to a terror-filled night so long ago when her sister  and mother fell under the claws of an infanticidal jaguar shifter. Her  father. She had no intention of mating with a shifter, jaguar or  otherwise. She'd fight him tooth and claw first!

Just before she allowed herself to succumb to the change, the light bulb  in her mind clicked on. He wanted her to shift so he could fuck her in  the change! Not only was he a bastard, he was a sneaky bastard.

Stalking slowly toward her, canines bared, Marc padded silently across  the stone floor of wherever they were. He pounced. Reya screamed with  anger and jumped back, just out of reach of a powerful swipe aimed at  her calves. His roar chilled her blood, but she forced her legs to move  again, unable to suppress another scream as claws tore across her back.  At least it was just a few shallow cuts across the newly healed muscles  rather than the deep gouges he'd obviously intended.

‘I will have you underneath me, Reya, in your skin or in your pelt. Your  choice.' The words were snarled with such vehemence she actually  flinched.

Damn it, she was a goner, definitely no match for a fully grown male  jaguar determined to sink his barbed cock into her body and hump her  brains out. If she shifted, there'd at least be a fighting chance.

The decision made, she dropped to her knees and let the change ripple through her and prayed she'd be fast enough.



Aaron adjusted the night-vision goggles a second time. Something loomed  just ahead of them, but with no definable shape. They'd passed the jeep  assigned to Reya and Marc a couple of hours past. Where the hell were  they?