Jungle Rapture Read online

  "Good girl." His mate hummed between words. "I gotcha."

  When she raised the wire-cutters, Jaime panicked. No matter how enthralled, Cinnamon wouldn't ignore the pain of metal digging under the snare. One claw wound could kill his mate in the jungle, unless she shifted to heal.

  She hadn’t recognized him as a shifter, nor did she show signs of manifesting her cat. A latent shifter?

  Jaime stepped off his branch and dropped next to Cinnamon then laid on top of her. She started with a low growl, and his mate leapt back. Jaime's canines circled the jaguar's neck and he pressed her body into the mud. He immobilized her free foreleg with a firm paw.

  The woman's breaths came in rapid gulps, but she didn't bolt. After a beat, she resumed her hypnotic hum. Cinnamon relaxed under him. Boldly, his mate lowered to the snare.

  "You're scary smart, Black Beauty. That's it, hold her down." She wiggled the cutter under the cable. Cinnamon snarled low and long. "Can't write this story for NG. Maybe a tabloid would buy it."

  She's a damn journalist. Jaime held back a growl. He wondered what "NG" meant. Nothing good, is what!

  "Poor baby, this is worse than I thought. Rat bastards."

  Cinnamon's paw had doubled in size. The metal jaws closed, and the cable sprang free. She struggled to escape, but Jaime didn't dare release her. He slanted an eye at his mate, willing her to a safe distance.

  The woman stood up and retreated with arms out wide. Jaime freed Cinnamon with a warning snarl to push her into the jungle. With a look over his shoulder at his fated queen, he escorted the elderly jaguar into the undergrowth. His anxiety for his mate's safety grew with each step.

  ****

  Having left Cinnamon on her own, Jaime sprinted up a tree to begin his bodyguard vigil. The woman's spunky self-chatter, in her soothing alto, calmed his fears. With determined eyes, she surveyed the murderous scene. Only when her gaze landed on her dead friend did she show signs of breaking. He dismissed the jealous thought the dead man was her man. Though upset, her grief wasn't that of a mate.

  She paced to stand beside his body. "Forgive me, David."

  She hadn't killed him, but for some reason blamed herself. After a minute of silence, her eyes shone with tears. "You were the best. You'd have gotten a picture of Black Beauty and his girl. Now, I've got nothing but a harrowing survival story. At least, I hope so."

  Despite the sad moment, Jaime smiled inside his fur. Black Beauty. He liked the tag. Soon, she'd know he had only one woman. And he'd make sure she wrote her article, preferably without mention of him.

  She scrubbed tears from her eyes. "Okay, Kelsi, toughen up."

  Kelsi. Jaime longed to roll it off his tongue. He’d murmur it against her ear while she writhed beneath him. He guessed the masculine gray pants and long-sleeved shirt hid lithe, firm curves. At least she used sense when she dressed for the Amazon, unlike some he'd encountered.

  Kelsi retrieved two backpacks from near David's body, one a brilliant pink. With military efficiency, she sorted supplies. Jaime was relieved by her sound selections. She even found antibiotic ointment to treat her wrists.

  She rose and paced to the dead poacher. "You can do this."

  Grabbing the limp body by the shoulder and hip, she rolled Julio to his back, then snatched a rifle from the mud. She retrieved her nearby ankle bindings then stowed them in her rucksack.

  Clearing the cage's top, then, with obvious expertise, she broke down the rifle and cleaned it with a shirt. She looked skyward. "Sorry, Daddy, no oil."

  Kelsi saluted Julio's corpse with the reassembled weapon. "Thanks. I'll tell Carlos hello for you, if I see him."

  She threaded her arms into the rucksack's straps and hefted it with apparent ease. Not surprising with shifter genes. Last, she loaded two rounds into the rifle then slung it over her shoulder.

  Not bad for a city princess. Jaime was impressed.

  She slid a cell phone from her pocket. After several crime scene photos, his queen double-checked her compass. "Time to do this."

  His mate marched north into the death trap known as the Amazon rainforest.

  Chapter Four

  If at all possible, Kelsi would’ve shifted to travel in the jungle. Definitely latent. Still a day-and-a-half from the river, Jaime was optimistic she would catch a boat to Manaus. And he'd be right behind her. I'll introduce my helpful human self and stick to her like glue.

  Jungle travel was always slow for humans, but the girl had done well. Now, seated below him, she took a midday break and played what looked like solitaire. She nibbled on a nutrition bar. Smart, she ate nothing from the jungle except water using her purifying, plastic straw.

  Without warning, stench filled his nostrils. He rose to a crouch. Jaime followed the scent through the branches to place himself between his mate and the hunter—two hunters, according to his nose. Only a couple beats later, Kelsi sniffed the air and pocketed her cell phone.

  Relieved she detected danger, Jaime stalked toward the men. He slowed as he passed her. The hunters were still five minutes off. She'd hidden her pack and stood behind a tree too slender to hide her. She hurriedly tied her ankles together with the salvaged fiber strips.

  What the hell is she doing?

  Jaime stared at the bizarre sight. Slinging the rifle over her shoulder, she gripped the eight-inch-wide tree. Like a tribal native, with ankles cinched together, she planted her feet against the trunk. Walking her hands up the smooth bark, she then hitched her feet under her to a higher spot on the tree. She repeated her methodical gait a full seven meters to reach the first branch. She moved into the leaf cover with a couple minutes to spare.

  Jaime had misjudged his queen. Hiding in the tree had been a gutsy move. Most human males lacked the upper-body strength for such a stunt.

  Exquisitely feline.

  Below, two men threaded between trees single file. Carlos, as Kelsi had called him, led a tall, white man with medium-brown hair. "Erico, I've supplied you with quality for years. Now, I give you the best jaguar in the Amazon. But first, we need to find the girl. She'll go to the police. If they arrest me, they'll find you."

  The second hunter lifted calculating eyes from the trail to Carlos's back. Jaime recognized the well-known trafficker, Erico Guterre. The crime lord shifted a high-end tranquilizer rifle from one shoulder to the other. "We get the cat first. Let the jungle swallow your Yankee whore."

  I drew hunters right to her. For the first time in his long life, Jaime had a future. Any investigation would lead to Guterre's smuggling operation. Guterre would need Kelsi quiet despite his words to Carlos. Fury raised the hair across Jaime's shoulders, and his chest rumbled. Neither man leaves the jungle.

  A crack of wood shot through the understory. Both hunters stopped short and scanned above. Carlos pulled a sidearm and pointed to the trees. Heedless of stealth, Jaime rocketed to Kelsi's hiding place. His mate, his life, balanced on a narrow, cracked branch.

  The bough's leaves trembled under her grip as she inched toward the trunk side of the fracture. Her terrified gaze met his, and she screamed through pursed lips. It broke Jaime's heart to see her once again white with fear of him. He climbed higher to give her space.

  "Holy shit, you see the size of that motherfucker! I thought you made him up."

  "I wish I had." Next to Erico, Carlos leveled his handgun and fired a round.

  Jaime snarled and crashed through the treetops to draw the hunters from his mate. Nothing else mattered. At a break in the tree cover, he stopped to bark a roar.

  Erico jerked Carlos's gun arm toward the ground. "Worthless dog, that's a three-million-real cat." He wrenched the nine millimeter from the other man's grasp. "I want him alive!"

  "One dart won't take him. A bullet will help—"

  A report from the trees collapsed Carlos. His scream cut through the air. Erico dropped with him then looked to Kelsi's tree. Glimpses of gray told Jaime she'd moved to cover behind the narrow trunk. Her rifle balanced on a branch, pointed at the h
unters. Jaime fumed. In protecting him, she'd drawn attention to herself.

  Erico spotted her, too. "Seems your girl is hostile, Carlos."

  "I'm shot! My leg's broken." Carlos's thigh bent oddly in the middle.

  "Looks like it."

  Propped on his elbows, Carlos looked down at his wound as red blossomed through his pant leg. The scent of blood burgeoned through the trees. "Get me out of here, please. She'll kill me."

  "You threaten me with the police. Now you can't even help me snag the prize cat."

  Erico pressed the gun barrel between Carlos's bulging eyes. A crisp pop felled the poacher to his back. Erico dropped the handgun and focused on Kelsi's location. Jaime snarled a warning to her and leapt to the ground as Erico leveled his tranq rifle and fired.

  "Argh! Dammit!" Kelsi's cry shattered Jaime. A spent dart fell to the ground below her.

  Erico stood to taunt her in accented English, unaware Jaime could kill him in the next minute. "Got you, meddling whore. Sleepy yet? Climb down or fall, either's fine for me."

  Jaime wheeled and raced up her tree, planning to drop down from above. It tore him in two to leave Erico so close and so alive. Seconds counted with Kelsi's light body weight—fifty-four kilos at best. A dart meant for him would dose a two-hundred-kilogram jaguar. She wouldn't pass out immediately, but she'd lose her balance. At seven meters up, she'd have to shift to survive the fall.

  A white-knuckled grip held her in place. As he passed her, unfocused eyes lingered on him. Jaime maneuvered above her and shifted. He swung down, straddling her perch from behind and pulled her to his chest. Her cat scent, wild with her terror, filled his nose. Kelsi slumped against him, her head listed to the side.

  Only adrenaline kept him focused. "Don't worry, angel. I'll never let you go."

  He'd kill the bastard, eventually. But Jaime couldn't afford a firefight with Kelsi, now unconscious, in his arms. Erico would return for her if not the black jaguar. Jaime would be ready.

  "Luiz! Edwardo! Flank him!" He bellowed with feigned military authority.

  Erico jumped at Jaime's shouts, likely surprised by the male voice. He turned north and worked his machete with a vengeance. Jaime fired Kelsi’s rifle one-handed to spur him on.

  He'd take her into his fortress, the rainforest. No one would harm his courageous mate. He savored her scent one more time. Even with their lives at stake, her fragrance thickened his cock.

  When he couldn't hear the hunter, he put the safety on the empty rifle and dropped it to the ground. "I'm sorry, angel. The only way down is to fall."

  Kelsi had gone up about two stories into the trees. Even in jag form, this would hurt. Jaime wrapped his arms and legs around her flaccid body then gritted his teeth. He tipped them to the side, angled himself under her then shifted during their free fall.

  Jaguar instincts screamed for him to land on his paws, but he managed to keep focus. They thudded to the vine-laden ground. When he caught his wind, he rolled to the side cradling his mate. His nose told him Kelsi lived. After a minute to allow his jaguar to heal bruises, and maybe a cracked vertebra or two, he shifted back to human. He'd have to carry her until she recovered.

  I need to hide my unruly dick. He eyed Carlos's corpse and swallowed his distaste.

  Chapter Five

  Black Beauty's fragrance, all fresh-cut green things, found its way into her dreams. Kelsi's head throbbed in sync with her body's rhythmic movements. Someone carried her. Erico. On my way to slavery.

  The dart. Her drug-impaired mind must have fused Erico with the black jaguar. Crystal-blue eyes, set in inky fur, had looked down at her with fear and concern. Then the cat had changed to a bronze-skinned god. Naked.

  Good drug, that dart stuff. She must've fallen but had no pain. Maybe the sedative masked her injuries. Better to wait until her wits returned before she let Erico know she was alert.

  Running water splashed and grew louder over the insect hum. He lowered her to soft ground. "Meu anjo, open your eyes."

  My angel? Not Erico.

  Kindness filled the deep timbre. Maybe she'd died after all. His voice sounded celestial. And he'd called her angel.

  "Kelsi, you need to drink."

  Whoever he was, she liked the way he said her name. She slivered her eyelids apart.

  The blue-eyed fantasy man returned her gaze. Wide-set eyes over strong cheekbones and a stubble-covered, square jaw gave him a tough-guy beautiful look.

  His smile softened his features. "Can you sit up?"

  He jutted his chin to his left, toward the running-water sound. Collar-length, ebony hair shifted from behind his ear. A raised white line through the beard’s shadow extended from below his ear down to his jaw. "We'll rest here and bathe in the falls."

  She reached up and traced the scar with her fingertip. He turned into her hand as if savoring her touch.

  "Are you real?" She puzzled at her own question. Embarrassed by her audacity to touch a stranger, she pulled her hand back.

  No sign of offense crossed his face. "Yes, I'm real. As real as you are. My name is Jaime Salazar."

  Kelsi pushed to sit up, but dizziness overtook her and she reeled. Like lightning, he caught her with a heavily muscled arm and held her steady.

  "Move slow. The drug still grips you."

  Mother Earth's aroma, subtle and penetrating, calmed her jangled nerves. Black Beauty's scent. She fought an urge to turn into him and cuddle.

  He curled a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. Fathomless blue haunted her memories along with a familiar, intriguing intelligence. He pulled her upright and held her steady with a hand on each shoulder. She half expected him to rub his cheek against hers.

  "Thanks, I think I'm okay."

  Jaime nodded and reached into her pack, which rested at his side. Stepping away for a short minute, he returned with pooled water in a large leaf and her purification straw. "You must drink."

  An unnatural dryness fused her tongue to her mouth. As cool water soothed her throat, the plastic tube quaked in her trembling grip. Soon, she guzzled with embarrassing greed. Jaime refilled the leaf several times until her thirst relented.

  "Thanks."

  "I'm sorry I frightened you. Even now you shiver."

  Suddenly aware of her appearance, she pushed uncombed hair out of her eyes. "That happens every time I go nuts."

  "You're not crazy. You only need a few minutes to know you're awake." British roots laced his near perfect English alongside the faint Portuguese accent. Well-educated.

  As he rose from a squat, muscular quads stretched his too-short, muddy pants. A rust-colored stain covered one leg with a bullet-sized hole in the middle, but he didn't appear injured. She followed the view up to his narrow waist and broad shoulders. Perspiration highlighted his ridged, naked torso.

  She pushed back at her body's heated response. She was barely conscious after all. When she met his eyes, Jaime lifted one corner of his mouth, a sure sign he guessed her thoughts. Flames branded her cheeks. Get a grip, it's a drug-induced dream.

  He stepped to her pack and pulled out a few oval aguaje fruits and a knife. Returning to sit thigh-to-thigh close, he stretched long legs in front of him. Again, his scent assaulted her, but this time the fragrance reached down low. To gain some relief, she shifted position and crossed one ankle over the other.

  "Don't put them on the ground, insects." He handed her all but one fruit then peeled bumpy, burgundy skin from yellow-orange flesh. "Here, eat."

  He lifted a wedge to her mouth. The juicy sweetness on her tongue made her close her eyes. He traced her lip's slick edge with a lingering finger. A new kind of hunger assailed her, along with the crazy notion to taste his skin. Startled at her own response, she opened her eyes to meet his darkened gaze. At least he seemed to share her discomfort.

  The fruit tasted so real, so good. It's a dream. She devoured the last slice, and he peeled another.

  "When did you frighten me? I don't remember you." She remembered bits.
His face and especially his eyes. And his scar. And his scent.

  "Ah, I thought you did recall. We met in the tree, after Erico darted you." He lost his smile, and trepidation crossed his features. "And before."

  "Before, when before?" Kelsi stiffened. She'd been afraid to ask and now dreaded his answer.

  "You were so brave to save my old friend, Cinnamon. She passed above us not long ago. Her paw is much improved."

  Kelsi's breath hitched. She scooted to the side. "Who—who's Cinnamon?"

  Jaime leaned in and cupped her face. "The snared jaguar. But you knew that, already, didn't you?"

  Kelsi shook off his touch and crab-walked backwards. Her pulse whooshed in her ears. Her reason had taken its leave. Though he didn't mention killing the poacher, she could think of nothing else. "You weren't there! I see Julio die over and over. You weren't there!"

  Jaime stayed oddly still, as if trying not to scare something, like prey. "I wish we'd met in a more civilized fashion. I'd tell you these things slow, gently. But the hunter, Erico, will return. For both of us. We must be ready."

  She needed him to say it. "Why does he want you, Jaime?"

  His eyes filled with tenderness. "You know this, too. You shot Carlos to save me from his cage."

  "Oh, God." She barely whispered. Several beats passed. He couldn't be Black Beauty. "The jaguar?"

  "Yes."

  Impossible. If she'd gone bonkers, she'd go all the way. "Show me. Right this minute. Or shut the hell up!"

  Jaime stayed silent in the face of her outburst. With a deliberate nod, he stood. She guessed him to be about six-foot-four. He toed off rubber boots that appeared way too small then lowered the zipper of his pants. Kelsi gasped before looking pointedly at the damp earth.

  "I must disrobe or go naked the rest of our hike. Don't look away. It's essential you know me as I am."

  Kelsi jerked a nod. Her sanity rode on this next minute. His pants dropped to his feet, and he stepped from them. Her gaze followed the perfect, masculine form of his calves to his thighs. She gasped again. Still seated, she got a full frontal of the healthy weight at his groin.