Wild Cat

Pictures of Jobe were prominent-on the fireplace mantel, on the piano, on the shelf that held his badge, his official photo, and a flag. But the room wasn’t a shrine to the dead. Jobe’s big smile filled every picture, as though he listened, benevolent, as they laughed and talked.

They’d retreated here after dinner for coffee. Christine folded herself up on the floor, watching Cassidy with interest.

“I do turn into a cat,” Cassidy answered Christine. She’d seated herself very close to Diego on the sofa, unself- consciously resting her arm on Diego’s thigh.

“I want to see.”

“Christine…” Jackie began.

Cassidy smiled. “That’s all right. I don’t mind.” She got up, her hand lingering on Diego’s knee until the last minute. “I’ll need somewhere to change.”

“You can use my room.” Christine jumped up, grabbed Cassidy’s hand, and started down the hall. Cassidy good-naturedly let Christine take her away.

Diego felt Jackie’s keen eyes on him as soon as Christine’s bedroom door closed. “So, what’s up with you two? Is it hot and heavy?”

Diego picked up his coffee and took a sip. “You could say that.”

Jackie laughed. “Look at you blushing. Diego Escobar and a Shifter. What does your mother say?”

“She says I need to settle down and start having kids.”

“I agree with her. It wouldn’t hurt you. Kids might keep you from tearing off to Mexico, going after gangs, and almost getting yourself killed.” Jackie’s laugh turned into a glare. “Captain Max told me all about what you did. I suppose you thought you’d come over here tonight and tell me you were some kind of hero.”

Diego carefully set down his coffee cup. “I thought you’d be glad. We got the last of the men who did Jobe. Two were dead already, and the final two are in the lockup. That’s what I went to Mexico for.”

“Glad?” Jackie’s voice rose as Jobe kept smiling behind her. “Did you think I’d be glad if you died running down there playing vigilante? You dying trying to get revenge would have been even worse for me than before. Did you think of that?” Jackie’s anger filled the room.

“I wasn’t about to die,” Diego said. “I went in with backup, which included two other cops-my brother and Lieutenant Reid-and we arrested them.”

“Don’t shit me, Diego Escobar. There was much more to it than that, and you know it. You don’t just stroll into Mexico and come out with everything neatly tied up. I saw on the news that some little town blew up down there. That was you, wasn’t it?”

“We didn’t blow up the whole town. Just a factory that was already in ruins.”

Jackie stared at him, her rage cut by surprise. “What am I going to do with you, Diego?”

“Be happy that I got them?”

“I am happy. I’m damn happy. But I wouldn’t have been happy if you’d gotten yourself killed. How would I explain that to my kids? I tell you, Diego, if you ever pull a stunt like that again, I’ll… I’ll tell your mama.”

Diego raised his hands in surrender. “I won’t. I don’t need to. It’s over.”

A door slammed in the back, and Christine came running down the hall. “Mom! You’ve got to see this.”

Cassidy’s soft, huffing growl sounded, and then Cassidy as her wildcat strolled slowly out of the back. Her leopard eyes were deep green, and her Collar shone in the lamplight.

Jackie rose to her feet. “Oh, my dear Lord.”

Diego remained seated. Cassidy walked to him, very slowly, keeping her claws from snagging the rug or her body from bumping anything.

She reached Diego on the couch and butted her head against his legs. Christine laughed as Diego stroked Cassidy’s incredibly soft fur. Cassidy grunted again and then started to purr. Diego never knew that leopards could purr, but Cassidy was doing it.

“She likes it when you scratch under her chin,” Diego said. “Come on. She won’t hurt you.”

Christine came closer. Cassidy remained still, her purrs filling the living room. Christine put a hesitant hand on Cassidy’s head. Cassidy didn’t move, just let the girl explore. Christine started to pet her.

“Oh, she’s soft,” Christine crooned. “I didn’t think she’d be so soft.” Her face glowed in delight.

Cassidy whuffed a little, turning her head to nuzzle Christine. Christine pulled back, but not as nervously as before.

Cassidy kept herself pressed to Diego’s knee, Christine tentatively petted, and Jackie watched like a mother bear ready to defend her offspring.

Cassidy was the calmest of all. She let Christine pet and stroke, the girl getting bolder. Finally Christine put her arms all the way around Cassidy and hugged her. Cassidy remained still, making no moves that would startle either Christine or her mother.

Cass is so good with kids. Diego thought of her with Torey, the tigerish Shifter cub who’d lost both parents. Cassidy had dashed back for the cubs and women trapped in the basement of the factory, refusing to go without them. He remembered her grabbing up the last cub and hauling him out of there, making sure none got left behind. She’d raised Jace too after Eric’s mate died in childbirth.

She takes care of everyone else’s kids. She’d be so happy with her own.

Diego couldn’t stop the vision coming to him of Cassidy holding a little boy that looked back at Diego with eyes so like his own.

“Can we keep her?” Christine asked, still hugging Cassidy.

Jackie said, “Christine!” and Diego laughed.

“What?” Christine asked, in all innocence. “Geez, Mom, I was only kidding.”

After they left Jackie and Christine, Diego drove Cassidy up to his favorite spot, a deserted side street a little way up Sunrise Mountain.

From here, the valley floor spread before them, hotel lights dancing way to the west, calm residential lights to the east, south, and north, a tower light from the air force base blinking not far away. The night was clear, and stars were dense overhead.

Cassidy stretched in the seat next to him. “Thank you for showing me this. It’s beautiful.”

She was beautiful, with the stars reflected in her eyes. “Jackie really liked you,” Diego said.

“Good. I liked her.”

“So, what’s on your mind?”

Cassidy turned her head on the headrest, looking at him. “Why should something be on my mind?”

“Because I know that when you get very quiet, you’re thinking deep thoughts,” Diego said. “What’s up? And don’t say nothing. I know that trick.”

Cassidy studied the city lights a moment before she spoke. “I heard Jackie yelling at you for going to Mexico. I was thinking that if you’d died, I would have had to face Jackie-and your mother-and tell them what had happened. And how I’d have to confess that I provided the transportation and encouraged you to go.”

Diego shook his head. “You couldn’t have stopped me, Cass. If you hadn’t introduced me to Marlo, I would have found some other way to get down there. I was going, with you or without you. Trust me on this.”

“I know but when I heard Jackie, I realized the other side of it, about how fixed I’d been about finding whoever had hurt Donovan. What if I’d decided to kill Reid when we caught him, right in front of you, in my living room? Would you have arrested me and taken me in, or let me go? I’d have forced you to make that choice. That wouldn’t have been fair to you.” She folded her arms and stared fiercely out into the desert. “So stupid, and yet I could only think of grinding my heel in Reid’s face.”

“We’re both idiots,” Diego said. “I should have known that Enrique wouldn’t give me that information for free, and I should have checked it out better before I rushed in. Enrique ragged me on the phone for hanging out with Shifters, so it must have made him laugh to send me into a nest of them. And I ran right in, Cass. I almost got you killed. And my brother. Mamita’s not letting me hear the end of that.”

Cassidy blew out her breath. “What are we going to do with each other?”

Diego knew what he wanted to do. Had wanted since he’d seen her walk out of her house in that dress and those shoes. “What did you have in mind?” he asked.

Cassidy’s glance smoldered when she looked at him, but she didn’t say what he wanted her to say. “Help me