Maya was having the worst night. She wanted desperately to dance with Wade, but first her cousins said they couldn’t make it to her place on time, and then her brother and she’d had a big fight over her coming to the club alone. She knew he only had her best interests at heart, but she also figured that if she helped Wade and his brother out on this case, maybe they could track down the buyer of the jaguar and Lion Mane.
That a buyer for jaguar flesh was still out there was bad enough, but Lion Mane was another story.
The only way she could think to make this work was to act angry and make a scene in front of Wade. It was killing her to do so. He looked so upset with her, like he wanted to shake some sense into her and murder the human she was dancing with. She was grateful when David came to her rescue and asked her to dance.
“Humans,” David said as he moved her across the floor, careful not to hold her too close and stir up his brother’s ire.
She didn’t say anything. Sure, the guys were humans, but she hadn’t wanted to dance with shifters. She’d noticed several eyeing her, a couple that she’d seen the last time, but no sign of Lion Mane.
She didn’t want to tell David the truth—that she was doing this so Wade would have a chance to learn something from Candy—and have him spill the beans to Wade.
“He’s upset,” David said quietly, studying her.
She looked down at his shirt. “I’m upset.” Looking up at him, she said, “Okay?”
“With Wade?”
She swallowed hard. David smiled. Damn it. She didn’t have to say anything, and David would know the truth. She glanced at Wade. He was watching her but sitting with Candy, who was looking smug.
As soon as Candy saw Maya look in her direction, the woman ran her hand over Wade’s hand resting on the table near his beer. Wade looked down at Candy, and she whispered in his ear. Maya wanted to jerk the woman off her seat and toss her to the floor.
When Wade shifted his attention back to Maya, she put her arms around David’s neck, moved closer, and kissed him on the mouth.
“Hell, Maya, what are you trying to do to me? My brother’s going to kill me,” David said, not appearing terribly upset about the consequences.
She smiled at him in the most wicked way. Of course she didn’t want Wade to kill his brother, but if she was going to make this real, she had to do something. Wade wasn’t taking the bait.
Then Wade was on his feet, dragging Candy along with him. His face was dark with anger. He was supposed to be
“Uh-oh,” David warned. “That kiss did it.”
Wade was going to ruin it. “Fine. Let’s return to the table.” She started to pull away from David.
“No, I don’t think so. I don’t know what your game is, but I’m letting Wade call the shots before I get myself killed over this.” David tightened his grip on her waist.
She rolled her eyes. “He loves you as a brother.”
David snorted. “When it comes to you, that notion goes out the window.”
The dancers moved out of Wade’s path as if they sensed the big cat’s anger.
When he reached Maya and David, Wade hauled Candy over to his brother, offering her arm to him. “She wants to dance,” he said, his voice dark.
Then he took hold of Maya’s hand and quickly moved her away.
“What the hell is going on?” he growled.
“You are screwing everything up.” She glowered up at him, tears in her eyes.
The tears undid him. Immediately his hard-set jaw and scowling features softened. He began to kiss her, and she half expected David to pull them apart and tell them to get a room.
But Wade’s kisses were
“Strange way of showing it,” he said, kissing her hair, her cheek, her lips. Yet his voice was no longer growly, as if the cat in him knew she was back to being his.
“I’m worried about Kat and my brother, about Lion Mane going to the nursery with the intention of killing me, and them becoming collateral damage. I wanted to help you learn more from Candy if she showed up, and she did. She was near the front door when I arrived, then followed me in. I knew if I said hi to you in the way I wanted, we’d… we’d end up like this. You needed to dance with her and learn what you could from her. She needed to believe I was breaking up with you.”
Infuriatingly, he smiled and shook his head. “We can’t be breaking up with each other if you’re not seeing me exclusively.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I missed you,” he said softly against her ear, as if he didn’t care about anything but showing how much he wanted her, needed her in his life—as if anything else was half as important. “It was killing me not to make the two-hour drive to your place and pick you up. I wish your cousins had let me know they weren’t arriving at the airport in time to bring you.”
Getting back to the topic they needed to discuss, she asked, “Did you learn anything?”
He snorted. “That I can’t stand the sight of anyone else’s hands on you. That human was about to lose both his arms if he made any more moves on you.”
She gave Wade a tentative smile. “I meant about the
“Candy knows a buyer. Maybe not the one we’re after. But maybe.”
“Good. Shouldn’t we still be fighting?”
“Hell, no,” he growled. “If my brother had kissed you back, he’d have been sporting a shiner and a broken noise.”
“He was only being protective.”
“I know. It’s the only reason we’re not going to have words over it.”
She sighed and ran her hand over Wade’s arm. “I don’t think I’ll be returning to their table, and I didn’t get even a sip of my drink.”
“I’ll get you three more, but you’re sticking by my side.”
She took a deep breath. “Wade, we have another problem. Remember Thompson? He saw my cousins and maybe you at the nursery garden… as jaguars.”
Chapter 22
Wade couldn’t believe Thompson had seen Maya’s cousins in their jaguar forms. What next?
He kept Maya locked against his body, her head settling on his chest, their moves as one as the music continued to beat. He swept his hands over her back as hers wrapped around his waist, their scents mixing as they claimed each other, their body posture telling anyone who might be watching that they were a couple, together, in their own world, and unapproachable.
He understood her misguided need to push him away, to offer him a way to resolve the situation with Lion Mane, but he wasn’t going to allow her to do it. He wanted the shifter to know he was Maya’s protector, joined at the hip with her if need be. The bastard wouldn’t touch her again.
His phone buzzed at his hip, and he lifted it off his belt, checked the caller ID, and saw that it was her cousin Everett. “Hey, we’re at the club. Are you joining us?”
“We’re visiting with Connor and Kat. Connor said Maya isn’t answering her phone. Is she there with you?”
Wade rubbed her back, his body hard with need as she molded to him. “Yeah, she’s here.” Was she ever. In the flesh—hot, sexy, and all his, as far as he was concerned. Hell, he was ready to move into Connor and Kat and Maya’s house to ensure he didn’t lose Maya.
“Good. Keep her there with you until we arrive.”
“I’ll take care of her.”
