Jaguar Fever

“Nope. With you. That’s what he said. So what are you doing here?” David asked. “Wade said you and Connor had a garden nursery a couple hours out of Houston.”

For a moment, she was so flabbergasted to learn that Wade had wanted to swim with her and not Kat that she forgot what she was doing there. Refocusing, she cleared her throat. “I’m meeting a couple of cousins I just learned of.”

She was so excited about getting to see them that when David had approached her at first, she’d thought maybe he was one of her cousins.

“Female cousins?” David asked, sounding hopeful.

“Male. Two of them at least. They have a sister, but she’s not coming this time.”

“I see.” David’s voice reflected disappointment. “Do you come here often?”

She shook her head. “My cousins told me about this place. I’ve never been here before.” She didn’t want to let on how naive she was. She and her brother hadn’t ever found other shifters in their travels. Jaguars were elusive by nature, and the shifter variety even more so by necessity. Maya was certain Connor would have had a fit if he knew she had come here by herself.

Maya had expected a dark, smoky room full of loud music, drugs, and drinking in the Jungle Cat Fever Club, and had been thinking that when her cousins arrived, she’d convince them to go someplace else. Instead, the air was clear. Alcoholic beverages were readily being consumed, and the music had a beat to match the jungle theme, but it wasn’t overpowering. The place looked normal to her. If her cousins hadn’t told her it was a shifter club, she would never have known.

The club was decorated like a theme park version of the rainforest. Audio clips of macaws screeching or squawking, gibbons singing, howler monkeys calling out, and elephants trumpeting—elephants? —were played over the piped-in jungle music. Fake giant ferns, hanging vines, palms, and fig trees added to the jungle ambience.

When she first arrived at the club, Maya had observed three men watching her from a wrought-iron balcony above. As soon as she had parked the car, Maya felt all eyes on her as she left the vehicle, the newcomer to the scene, and entered the club. She’d hoped her cousins were already there. She didn’t do club scenes, and she hadn’t felt all that comfortable being here by herself.

She glanced again at Wade. He was watching her, a scowl on his face, his gaze latching onto hers. She didn’t think right at this moment that he would have been interested in swimming with her anywhere.

He was wearing jeans and a sky-colored, soft chambray shirt—the long sleeves haphazardly rolled up his muscular arms, the buttons only closed to halfway up his chest, as if he hadn’t bothered to finish dressing or he wanted to give viewers a peek at his bronzed skin.

In comparison, David had shaggy, darker brown hair, and his eyes were greener than Wade’s. He wore a white polo shirt that stretched over his muscles, black dress pants, and loafers—a mix of casual and dressy as if he couldn’t decide which way to go. He had just as beautiful a smile as Wade did.

Not that Wade was smiling right now. He looked like he was about to use his clenched fists to pummel someone, his gaze hard on Maya. Maybe because he thought she was married to Connor, and he worried she was going to get his brother into trouble.

Maya also noted the buxom women who had joined Wade at the table, their provocative dresses cut so low that she could almost see their navels. The women practically slobbered all over Wade, though his attention was clearly focused on Maya and David.

“Come on,” she said to David. “Let’s put your brother out of his misery.”

The three men who had spied her from the balcony outside had entered the building and taken the stairs to the dance floor, all of them watching her dance with David. A tall and muscular redhead wore blue jeans and a T- shirt, his amber eyes raking her up and down. She immediately didn’t care for him. He smiled at her like they were already best friends.

He spoke to a man with long blond hair that reminded her of a lion’s mane. Lion Mane held her gaze. She wished she had such gorgeous hair, but she had to admit his body was nice, too, under a muscle shirt and tight-fitting jeans.

The last of the men was dark skinned with black curly hair, wearing nice black slacks and a white shirt, the collar open, making her think he had just gotten off work at some professional job. When he caught her eye, he gave her a nice show of white teeth.

Lion Mane and the redhead drew close to the dance floor, watching her as if getting ready to pounce on her.

When the song ended, Lion Mane motioned to a small table. “We have a table here for the pretty lady.”

His two friends stood on either side of him, all motioning to the four chairs. The men all smelled like cat shifters. The inference was that David could get lost.

She opened her mouth to say “No thanks,” but David beat her to it. “We’ve got a table over here.” He pulled her along quickly. “The problem with someone like you coming to a club like this is that other shifters want a bite.”

She frowned up at him, not getting his meaning.

“They instinctively know you’re different.”

“Different, how?” She was a cat. They were cats. She couldn’t detect any difference in them.

“You’re a jungle cat.”

“Jungle cat?” Weren’t they all?

They reached the table before she could ask anything further. Wade was already standing, pulling the chair out next to him, his feral gaze fixed on her. Maya hesitated to sit beside him. He seemed so primal. So dangerous.

“She’s Connor’s sister,” David quickly said.

“Sister.” Wade studied her. His mouth quirked up fractionally as if he was seeing her as someone different and intriguing now.

“I’m not Kat.” She hated sounding annoyed. She loved Kat as a sister and was thrilled she had fallen in love with Connor. But she didn’t want some guy who had been interested in Kat thinking that Maya was just like her.

“No,” he said, drawing out the word, “you’re not Kat.”

She frowned. Then she was irritated at herself for caring when it shouldn’t have mattered.

The three male cats watched Maya as if they were calculating how much of a risk it would be to approach her when she had two male bodyguards. She didn’t think she would have all that much trouble around other shifters. Until she saw Wade in the Amazon, she had never witnessed another jaguar shifter, except for her mother and brother. She’d been more than interested in Wade. Who wouldn’t have been when the jaguar had risked his life for them, and he hadn’t even known them?

Wade and David were still waiting for her to take the seat between them. She hadn’t expected other cats to be so territorial with her. She shook her head and took the seat Wade offered her.

The brothers traded relieved looks. The other cats looked like their pumped-up egos had instantly

been deflated.

As if the brunette sitting on the other side of Wade was afraid she might lose out, she stretched out her hand to him. “I’m Candy, and you are?”

Too hot for you to handle, Maya wanted to say. David grinned at his brother.

“Wade.” He gave her a brief handshake and glanced at Maya, as if he were worried about what she’d think.

Candy frowned at him. “We all just give club names in here. Like the guy over there, the redhead who’s watching her”—she poked a finger in Maya’s direction—“that’s Red, though he’s asked me out before and told me his real name is Bill Bettinger. The blond dude, the one that’s also salivating over your friend here, is Blondie.”

“Lion Mane.” Maya hadn’t meant to say anything, but that’s the nickname she thought suited him.

“Lion Mane?” Candy stuck her tiny nose up in the air. “He goes by Blondie.”

Maya wanted to call Lion Mane over to the table and prove to Candy that he would come no matter what