Be Still My Cheetah Heart (Bridenapping Jaguars Book 1) Read online

  “What about Daniel?”

  Roberto’s expression flickered. “Not a good liar,” he admitted. “I knew he was hiding something from me. I thought it was just his relationship with Marta.”

  “You knew?!” Hester had seen the two of them and had no inkling.

  He rolled a shoulder. “I saw them together. Didn’t say anything because I thought it was their business. I should have. I was a fool. But I never thought Daniel would do anything like this.”

  His fists curled, and Hester was quick to reassure him.

  “Marta is a complete and utter bitch – this is all her fault... mostly.”

  “I’m aware you think so.”

  “You shouldn’t blame yourself for what happened.”

  “Hmmm.” His eyes slid in her direction. “You should stay.”

  “What?” Her cheetah quailed a little under the scrutinizing glare of the alpha male, but she didn’t feel scared of him. In fact, she’d go so far as to say she liked him. He was like a taciturn version of Antonio, and yeah, she couldn’t help liking him.

  “You should stay. You’re good for Antonio and good for the leap.” Hester opened her mouth to object, but he cut her off. “We are old-fashioned, and it’s time that changed.” His gaze wandered back to Antonio, who now appeared to be wrestling with his two younger brothers. “Perhaps time for a new leader and the leader needs a strong mate.” He closed his eyes as if in pain. “Something I’ve never had. Even Lana…” His voice choked.

  “Antonio thinks you’re a good leader,” Hester blurted.

  Roberto sniffed, and if Hester didn’t know better, she would say he was fighting back tears. But, she and her cheetah knew better.

  “No, a good leader wouldn’t let his leap mates down because of his own grief. I’ve been blind to a lot of things; I shouldn’t have missed this. Shouldn’t have let Marta do this to us.”

  “No harm done… except for Daniel,” she said with a wince, “and maybe Valentina, a little,” she added still slightly grudgingly. Though, when it came to Daniel, she couldn’t work herself up to tears for him. Perhaps other leap mates would, and she felt sympathy for them, but he had betrayed them.

  Hester awkwardly patted his shoulder. Roberto blinked at her and gave her a half-nod.

  “Think about what I said,” he murmured, quickly leaving before the situation became any more emotional.

  Hester looked over at Antonio who gave her a wide grin, looking more like himself than he had in the past few hours.

  Her cheetah purred and reminded her of everything she was thinking while about to be clawed to death by Marta.

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she muttered to herself. “I remember.” Antonio started walking towards her. His big, fine body a mass of rippling muscles. “Hard to forget.”

  *

  Antonio held one of Hester’s hands in his. He turned it over, searching every inch of it, as if trying to memorize it. Really, he was embarrassed to look at her, and perhaps a little scared. He knew what was coming, perhaps he had known from the moment he first kidnapped her, but he never prepared himself for how much it was going to hurt. Just the idea of losing her – his Hessie – made him feel like his heart was tearing apart.

  His jaguar snarled at him. Fight for her. Demand she stay. He wanted to; there was no denying that. But what right did he have to expect anything from her? He had vaguely hoped that Hester would stay here with him no matter what, that he could make her stay, even if it wasn’t what she truly wanted.

  They were sitting on his mother’s porch. Hester stared into the distance, looking at the stars, uncaring to the way he played with her hand.

  Antonio cleared his throat, ignoring the protesting howls of his beast. “I should take you back to Los Lobos.”

  Why would she want to stay? After everything he and his leap had put her through he was amazed she was even speaking to him. Kidnapping her, shooting at her, trying to poison her, being flirted at by a surfer lion and then being attacked and nearly slashed to ribbons? What kind of a female would want to stay?

  Slowly, Hester turned her head to look at him. Her eyes were golden and serene. She had a calm look on her face that was so alien to her personality that Antonio started a little. Had the leap healer dosed her? No, surely she wouldn’t sit still for that.

  “The two weeks aren’t up,” she said softly.

  Antonio huffed out a mirthless laugh, trying not to wince at the internal struggle he was having with his jaguar.

  “I’m afraid you don’t have many of your nine lives left.”

  Hester watched him for a few moments, her lips parting as he pressed a kiss to the back of her hand. He had to treasure these touches, who was to say how many more he could steal from her?

  Hester swallowed before quietly declaring, “This life here with you is the only one I care about.”

  His jaguar froze, and Antonio let out a growl before leaping to his feet, dragging Hester with him. She yelped and called him an idiot – which was much more like her usual self.

  Antonio took her head in his hands, staring down into her eyes, making sure that what she said was true. She had to spell it out for him, and then do it again. He would make her declare it over and over until he was sure of what he heard.

  “You want to stay here?”

  “Yes,” she giggled.

  “With me?”

  “Yes!”

  “As my mate?”

  “Yes,” she yelled, growling at him. Her patience had completely worn out. She was so hot tempered – he loved that about her and in no way deterred him from annoying her.

  “You mean…” His jaguar snapped to attention, and he roared as he sensed the approach.

  “Halt!” yelled a voice. “If you have any weapons drop them and put your hands over your head…”

  “What the f…” howled Hester as he clutched her, snarling as men and women in black appeared out of nowhere carrying weapons. The loud whirl of a helicopter followed, the light from overhead illuminating him and Hester.

  He heard the varied howls and cries of his friends and family as his leap was invaded by SWAT. His jaguar readied for a fight as he tried to hide Hester, to protect her as they advanced on him.

  “Darling!”

  Strangely, a woman in a pink suit scurried forward, dodging the grasping arms of the SWAT members.

  “Mom!” cried Hester, her mouth gaping in surprise.

  “Oh, thank goodness!” exclaimed the pink-clad woman, yanking Hester away from him.

  “Mom!”

  Probably not the best way to meet your mother-in-law.

  *

  Okay, so maybe a week ago she would have loved to see Antonio in handcuffs… actually, no, nothing had changed – she was very much enjoying seeing Antonio in handcuffs, although, probably for different reasons than a week ago. He gave her a rueful smile, and she tried not to look too amused.

  Yep, her mom brought the SWAT team. Antonio’s e-mail didn’t fool her for a second, and she had been tirelessly searching for Hester since the moment she got it. Hester didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. A little of both possibly.

  “I swear, mother, I’m fine,” grumbled Hester.

  All the reasons she had for missing her mother had now been completely forgotten. She was just annoyed again.

  “You will be once I get you home.”

  “Ugh!”

  Her cheetah chuffed and Hester stomped over to where Lake, head of the tactical team currently invading the leap, was standing over Antonio. Her jaguar was on his knees on the ground, hands behind his back. He wasn’t happy about it, but he wasn’t making a big deal out of it… yet.

  Roberto watched on with grim patience. He wasn’t getting angry, wasn’t trying to intervene, though if any of the tactical officers tried to approach his people, he growled at them to stay away. Roberto knew that legally – what with the kidnappings – he was on shaky ground. He was waiting to see what happened. Hester imagined that if they did start tryi
ng to haul away his nephew, he might be spurred into action.

  “Uncuff him,” demanded Hester.

  Lake gave her a look of infinite tolerance. “Are you saying you weren’t kidnapped and brought here against your will?”

  Hester pursed her lips.

  “Tell the truth,” chirruped her mother.

  She rolled her eyes and looked down at Antonio. He winked at her, unworried. Cocky bastard. She saw the other females she had been kidnapped with hovering near. Unlike Antonio, their males looked nervous. But the women didn’t seem to be making any moves to say anything. No, they looked quite relaxed.

  “I am here of my own free will,” she said clearly.

  Lake raised an eyebrow in disbelief.

  Hester groaned. “I am here of my own free will!” she yelled, attracting the attention of everyone around them. “This bozo,” she gestured at Antonio, “is my mate!” Her cheetah yipped while there were varying reactions around them – some amusement, some surprise, a lot of smugness from Antonio.

  “Darling!” exclaimed her mother.

  “Well, he is,” she repeated a little quieter.

  She flashed him a warm smile, something he returned ten-fold. The look on his face was bright and inviting and full of promise for the naughty shenanigans that would happen later. Ooh, she couldn’t wait for that!

  “My goodness,” murmured her mother. “She has Stockholm syndrome! Somebody help her!”

  Hester sighed and scowled at the chuckling Antonio.

  “Laugh it up, buddy. Just wait until she tries to move in with us.”

  “She’ll be more than welcome,” he said magnanimously. Right – he was all for inviting the relations to stay.

  “Yeah, just wait until she tries to jump in the shower with you because she’s in a hurry.”

  That wiped the smile off his face. “You’re joking?” he said hesitantly.

  Hester beamed, flicked her hair over her shoulder and sauntered after her mother.

  “You’re joking, right? Hessie? Hessie!”

  Thirty-Three

  One week later

  “Nice party,” murmured Hester into Antonio’s ear.

  “Not too late to turn it into a mating ceremony,” he said, waggling his eyebrows.

  “Love your optimism, honey,” she purred as they moved slowly to the music, “but no.”

  “You’re really making me work for this, aren’t you?”

  Hester smirked. “Kidnapping is not wooing – so yeah, you gotta put in the work first.”

  “You know, traditionally we always mate two weeks after the kidnapping.”

  “I’m not really a traditional girl, and some traditions are meant to be broken.”

  Antonio and his jaguar grunted impatiently, and he dipped her again. It was a romantic move, plus he got to look down her top. Win-win. He perhaps lingered a little too long, because Hester cleared her throat.

  “You finished getting an eyeful yet?”

  “Am I that predictable?” he asked, pulling her up again.

  “Well, that was the eighth time you’ve dipped me during this last song alone. I kind of cottoned on after the third or possibly fourth time.”

  Antonio pressed a kiss to her forehead. No, she wasn’t ready for the mating ceremony, but she wasn’t going anywhere. Or rather, she was ready to mate with him, but she was making him work for it, either as punishment or perhaps to prepare him for what mated life with her would be like. It didn’t matter why. He wasn’t complaining. His jaguar snorted. Well, okay, he was complaining – as often as possible – but he didn’t really mind. She was his. She had declared it – screamed it – in front of his whole leap and a large number of SEA tactical officers, plus her mother.

  He glanced over at Millicent who was shyly flirting with an older leap mate – Jorge. All unmated females attracted attention in the leap, and the lovely Millicent was definitely no exception. In fact, Gerardo had now approached and was trying to whisk her away from Jorge. Oh dear, looked like there was going to be a fight.

  It took a while, but Hester finally convinced Millicent that she was there of her own free will… technically. Well, now she was. She hadn’t been at first, but now she was, and she was happy to be there, in spite of everything that had happened to her. After a few days of growling at him whenever she saw him, Millicent was now pleased to see him and actually coming round to the idea of him as a son-in-law. His own mother had also helped with that – she was a calming influence on everyone.

  He glanced over and couldn’t help the snarl as he witnessed his mother kissing that damn bear shifter, Roman. His jaguar’s first instinct was to run over there and tear them apart, but the cheetah in his arms kept him from acting rashly. No, he would count to ten, calm himself and then run over there and tear them apart.

  “What’s wrong… ah.”

  Hester caught sight of them and started sniggering.

  “It’s not funny.”

  “No,” she agreed unconvincingly.

  Antonio curled his upper lip, his ire rising as he watched the bear slide a hand around his mother’s waist. Liberty taking bear complained his jaguar.

  “C’mon, honey,” cooed Hester, taking his hand. “Let’s go for a run.”

  He paused glancing at his mother. He wanted to stay and make sure that didn’t go too far, but taking a run with Hester meant she would shed her flimsy little dress and… and… That was no choice at all. He smiled and followed her, his jaguar pacing with excitement. She put an extra little wiggle in her step; he rumbled in appreciation, and his jaguar panted. He’d follow her anywhere.

  The day he showed up at that truly terrible speed dating event and met Hester had perhaps been the luckiest day of his life.

  *

  Antonio didn’t take too much convincing. Or maybe she just knew the right buttons to press.

  Hester swung her hips, enjoying the scent of his rising arousal. Perhaps she was being a little mulish in putting off the mating ceremony, but there was no rush. It wasn’t like she was intending on leaving.

  She had thought she would have a few doubts, and maybe some regrets about agreeing to stay, but she didn’t. It was perhaps the best decision she ever made. Course, she had set down a few ground rules. The first being that she demanded a shopping trip back to Los Lobos at least once a month. He easily agreed to that – on the proviso that he didn’t have to stand outside the changing room holding her purse in every single clothes shop she entered.

  The second rule was that she got a run on the lion pride beach twice a month. Antonio hadn’t agreed to that quite so readily – thinking she wanted to go there to see that suntanned lion shifter, Brodie. She didn’t – that male was a little too laid back for her taste – and she made sure Antonio knew it.

  There were other rules – about his mother making her breakfast, her having a real job, their first child being named Satan – she added the last one as a bargaining chip to appear reasonable when they negotiated. But the niggles were easily ironed out.

  Hester led him to the edge of the compound and stripped out of her clothes. He gawped for a few moments, admiring the view, before shucking his own clothes.

  “Ready?” she asked while he was still pulling his pants off. “Good, let’s go!”

  “Wait, no, I…”

  The shift quickly took hold, and her cheetah shimmered to the fore and took off running as fast as.. a… well, as fast as the cheetah she was. The sun was just setting, and she hurtled across the leap land, chasing the last rays. Vaguely she heard her jaguar plodding behind her, struggling to keep up. That just made her run faster, delighting in the wide open space. Delighting in the freedom. Some could argue that being almost mated and living with the leap was the least free she had ever been, but it didn’t feel that way.

  Hester decided to quit her job in Los Lobos. True, she hadn’t liked her job, but it had been a wrench to quit it completely, and for a moment or two, she had felt like she was about to take a massive leap without
a parachute. But then two big, muscled arms surrounded her and she felt happy again. Even inspired her to pack up her belongings and give notice at her apartment. There really was no going back.

  Roberto wanted her in charge of all the pack businesses, and while that wasn’t her area, she was pretty darn sure she would do a better job than the last guy. Plus, just wait until anyone tried to negotiate with her – she would most assuredly crush them.

  Living with Antonio’s family would definitely take some getting used to – his brothers always seemed to need the bathroom when she was taking a shower… But the place was starting to feel like home even after a few days. True, her mother likely wouldn’t leave, but perhaps if Hester were to find her a decent man, maybe she could be happy again.

  The cheetah slowed her frantic pace, pondering that. She didn’t honestly think that all a woman really needed was a man, but she knew her mother was lonely, and there were plenty enough males in the leap who wanted nothing more than a female to worship.

  Her ears twitched, listening for her errant jaguar. Where was he? She had slowed to give him time to catch up – did he need an invitation to join her?

  She yipped as the jaguar unexpectedly tackled her. They tumbled to the ground, growling and snarling playfully until the jaguar finally had her pinned. He roared at her, and she licked him. The jaguar almost looked surprised, and as he shuddered through his shift, Antonio was laughing. She gave him another lick with her rough cheetah tongue.

  “Ugh, c’mon, Hessie – shift.”

  Hester wriggled beneath him as her body changed and she grew into her human form. Antonio panted over her, still keeping her pinned, but apparently nearly suffering a heart attack.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked innocently. “Am I wearing you out?”

  He snickered. “Kind of.”

  “And we haven’t even gotten to the fun stuff yet.”

  She brushed her thigh over his hardening manhood, eliciting a lengthy groan.

  “Hessie…” he warned.

  She ignored him completely – no change there – and gave him another lick.