Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters) (9 page)

There was a sole shifter clinic on the eastern edge of Amarillo, but even
as they raced across the city at probably over a hundred miles an hour where
the tiger that was driving them was able, Kylie knew it was no use. Anna wasn’t
just bleeding from a miscarriage, she was bleeding from whatever experiment
those bastards had been performing on her. Without knowing exactly what had been
done, there was no way the shifter doctors could quickly know how to treat her.

Her eyes had fluttered open once, but Kylie doubted the poor girl was
truly seeing anything or even aware of her situation. Maxim had tried to talk
to her, but she hadn’t responded to any of his words. She had to bite her lip
hard to keep from bursting into tears at the pain Maxim was radiating, how he
gently cradled her head in his lap and kissed her forehead tenderly as he trembled
and willed with all his being for her to hold on.

They had managed to reach the surface in a surprisingly short amount of
time, and the bobcats had indeed cleared the property of any security. Still,
Kylie couldn’t help tormenting herself with the fruitless wish that they had
gotten to Anna and Molly sooner.

Molly was sitting quietly in the third row of the Explorer. Kylie had
expected her to fall apart the moment they were in the SUV and she realized
they were finally safe. Yet, Molly hadn’t even shed one tear, much less gone
into hysterics. Kylie was certain her friend had seen Maxim shift into a tiger,
bite the head off that piece of scum, and then shift back into a man, but she
didn’t even seem to be nervous about being in a vehicle with him at all. Was
she in shock?

However, they were pulling into the parking lot of what looked on first
glance like an apartment complex, and she lost the moment to start fussing over
her friend. They had called ahead, so there was already a crowd of people
waiting for them at the entrance. Once Anna was removed from the SUV, Kylie
hung back for a moment, asking the driver to wait a moment before going to park.

Even though Kylie had probably let the cat out of the bag about her
Polyshifter heritage in front of all those tigers and wolves, it was still
possible that in all the excitement, none of the men had even noticed the
change in her scent. So just in case her situation could still be salvaged, she
needed to make her jaguar soul dominant again.

She took off the swat-like vest and then used a towel she had found in
the pocket of one of the seats and a water bottle to rinse and wipe her skin
clean of Anna’s blood, paying special attention to beneath her nails. Only then
did she use the charm bracelet.

Molly watched all of this without comment, even reaching a hand out for
the towel after Kylie had finished with it where she proceeded to clean the
blood from her hand as well. Her continued silence was making Kylie more and
more worried.

“Come on,” Kylie said, opening her door, “Let’s get you checked out
inside, too.”

Molly shook her head as she climbed over the seat and followed Kylie
out her door. “I’m okay.”

“Like hell you are!” Kylie finally exploded, whirling around to face
the other girl. “You were just kidnapped by a bunch of psychos who did
God-only-knows what to you, only to watch a girl nearly bleed to death right in
front of you while her boyfriend turns into a tiger right before your eyes and
literally bites his head off!”

“So the tiger part was real,” Molly said softly. “I thought maybe I had
hallucinated that part, that they’d drugged my food or something, and I was
just tripping out. Everything did taste kinda funny…”

 Kylie instantly deflated as her worry was replaced by a heavy dose of
guilt. She threw her arms around the redhead and hugged her tight. “I’m so
sorry. This whole mess is my fault, because of what I am, because those
bastards wanted to draw me out.”

“‘What you are’?” Molly repeated, pulling out of her embrace to look at
Kylie with a perplexed frown.

“I promise to tell you everything,” Kylie said, tugging on Molly’s arm,
“but first, I want you to get checked out by a doctor. Those sick bastards
really might have put something in your food.”

Once Molly had submitted to some blood tests and promised to find the
doctor again if she started to feel ill, the clinic staff had given her a pair
of scrubs to wear and allowed her to go on her way without admitting her, at
least until her labs came back and required otherwise. They had immediately
sought out Maxim in the clinic’s version of an ER where they found out that
Anna had been rushed into surgery. A nurse led them to a waiting room where they
had directed Maxim.

As he had arrived naked, he too had been given a pair of scrubs. He was
a mess. Kylie sat next to him and wrapped her arms around him, offering him what
little comfort she could. Maxim wasn’t physically crying, but the utter despair
in his eyes told her that his soul was wailing in anguish.

After a long silence, Kylie began to quietly tell Molly about herself,
about shifters and their society in general, and then what it meant to be what
she was, a Polyshifter who had once been a Deadend and was now considered a
Returner of the jaguar clan. She explained about being attacked by the lioness
and why the assassin had thought she was a Rogue from a lion clan.

Then finally, she told her about her relationship with Hunter and why
he had stayed behind at the ranch.

“So you
do
know who your birth parents are,” Molly said.

Her eyes were looking a little glazed. Understandable, as it wasn’t
every day that you learned there were people in the world who could shapeshift
into animals at will and that one was your best friend since elementary school.

Kylie nodded. “Their names are Alan and Grace Hall. They were both
Polyshifters, too.”

“And you think your mother was in that horrible place?” Molly said,
appalled.

“Another captive who managed to escape said he saw a woman who looked
just like me and was a cougar shifter. Just as I’m now living as a jaguar, my
mom and dad lived as cougars in order to hide their true selves, so it’s
possible.”

Maxim lifted his head. “If she’s there, Hunter will find her,” he said
firmly.

Kylie smiled sadly and hugged him tighter. Even though he was in agony,
he was still trying to cheer her up. The man’s strength and selflessness was
boggling.

Anna was still in surgery when there was a big commotion outside the
waiting room. Kylie rose and peeked out the door in enough time to see a group
of doctors and nurses wheeling a stretcher quickly down the hall that contained
a bleeding, dark-haired man dressed only in a pair of blood-spattered scrub
pants that was wearing an oxygen mask. She stiffened when she caught the whiff
of a jaguar.

“Kylie!”

Her head immediately whipped towards the voice. Hunter was currently
hurrying down the hall towards them, the front of his sweatshirt covered in
blood. Just how many times was she going to see her loved ones smeared in blood
today?

She ran to meet him, throwing her arms around him and squeezing him
tight despite the blood. It smelled of jaguar, so she was in no danger of
switching animal souls.

“Was that…?” she asked anxiously, suddenly realizing who the man on the
stretcher must have been.

“Yes, that was Ryder,” Hunter replied, his voice just as anxious. “We
found him wandering around the sixth level. One of the bastards had shot him in
the abdomen before he managed to take him down.”

“And my mother?” She was almost afraid to hear the answer.

Hunter looked stricken, and Kylie’s heart felt as if it had suddenly
been cut out. “Is she—” Her voice cracked. “Is she—dead?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “We looked everywhere. By the time we found
Ryder, we’d already found all the other women Jack had mentioned minus a
cougar. Even so, some of the guys stayed behind in order to give the place
another sweep. We think most of the scientists managed to escape in the very
beginning, through that second stairwell. All their vehicles are missing from
the garage, including the Audi with the geneticist. It’s very possible that
they could have taken her with them then. She
is
a Polyshifter, after
all, but we have no way of knowing right now if she was even there in the first
place. The guys are also gathering every file, paper, and computer they can get
their hands on. Whatever they were doing there, hopefully we’ll find the
answers in all of that.”

His eyes suddenly looked over her shoulder, and Kylie automatically
turned to look as well. Molly was currently looking out the door, staring
curiously at them.

“Molly’s okay, and Anna’s still in surgery,” she said. Then in a lower
voice, “It doesn’t look good, and Maxim knows it. That she even survived the
ride over here is a miracle.”

Kylie introduced Molly and Hunter, then her lover went over to Maxim
and put a comforting arm around his shoulder. They began talking in low voices.

“Come on,” Kylie said to her friend, dragging her back into the hall.
“Let’s give them a little privacy for the moment and go see if we can find a
vending machine in this place. It’s going to be a long day.”

It was a little before noon when Sasha arrived, and the moment the
siblings hugged, she thought Maxim would finally break down and cry. When he
didn’t, Kylie was more than a little worried. She was afraid that if the worst
did indeed happen, then he would shatter with all that pent up emotion.

Anna was still in surgery a couple of hours later when a doctor came to
inform Hunter that Ryder’s surgery had gone well and they had just moved him
into a recovery room. Kylie was immensely glad that Sasha was there to support and
comfort Maxim as Hunter needed to be with Ryder now and she needed to be there
for Hunter.

Ryder was still under the anesthesia when they entered his room. He was
now breathing on his own with only the help of a little extra oxygen through a nose
catheter. As Hunter pulled over a chair and sat down next to his brother’s bed,
Kylie opted to stand next to him for the time being while Molly took the only
other chair next to the door.

For a long while, she studied Ryder’s face. The shape seemed a bit
wider than Hunter’s, but she wasn’t sure if it was because his face was a
little swollen and distorted from the multiple bruising throughout. They had
the same black hair, and she knew from the picture Maxim had passed around that
Ryder also had hazel eyes.

“You two look so much alike,” Kylie said softly as she ran her fingers
through Hunter’s hair soothingly.

Hunter nodded. “Even after not seeing him for over a year, I’m
surprised at how much he still looks the same. A little thinner, yes, but no
shock there.”

Speaking of shock… “I’m worried about Maxim,” Kylie said hesitantly.

Again, he nodded. “I am, too. I’ve never seen him keep his emotions to
himself to this extent. I was actually glad to see him release his rage on that
lion. We’ve both been holding it all in ever since Jack told us about Ryder and
Anna, but unlike me, he didn’t have someone to distract him from the worst of
it. He was a ticking time bomb as you glimpsed yesterday. This though—the way
he is now—this is a million times worse.”

Kylie bent down and hugged him around the neck. “All we can do is stay
by his side as much as we can.”

“You guys are already so close,” Molly suddenly cut in. She
mock-frowned at Kylie. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell me about him. We should
all wish that our fathers had ‘friends’ like him.” The last was said
sarcastically.

Kylie winced, remembering the lie she had fed Molly the night the
redhead had brought her the bracelet.

“Very few humans know about us,” Hunter said. “She would’ve been in a
lot of trouble if she had told you and you flipped out about it and went
running to the nearest TV station to scream it to the world.”

“She’s not going to get in trouble now, is she?” Molly fretted.

He shook his head. “No, because it was the lions’ own damned fault for
dragging you into our world. As long as you don’t do any interviews,
everything’ll be fine.”

“Speaking of,” Kylie said. “We need to start thinking about what we’re
going to tell Tara—oh my God!” Her eyes widened in dismay. “I can’t believe I
forgot
!
We think Ty went missing the same night as you! The cops found human blood in
your apartment!”

For a split-second, Molly looked alarmed, but then she shook her head.
“Actually, we had a big fight earlier that day and broke up. He probably went
down to Houston for the weekend to sulk at his brother’s house. I wouldn’t be
surprised if he turned his phone off in case I called. He would’ve probably
ignored any of Tara’s or your calls, too.”

Kylie sagged in relief against Hunter’s back. “Thank God.”

“The blood,” Molly continued, “it was probably mine. I ended up with a
bloody nose trying to fight the bastard who took me. He was wearing a black ski
mask like some cheesy burglar, if you can believe it.”

“The sound of a woman’s voice that isn’t screaming,” a deep, unfamiliar
voice abruptly rasped, making all of them instantly turn their eyes to the bed,
“that’s something I never thought I would hear again.”

Hunter made a sound deep in his throat that sounded suspiciously as
though he was choking back a sob. “Welcome back, bro.”

“Seeing you here—” Ryder’s expression became pinched, as if he was
trying not to cry, “I was afraid seeing you come for me down in that pit of
hell was something I had dreamed while delirious. It’s happened before.” He
closed his eyes, and this time, a single tear did fall from the corner of his
right eye.

Kylie felt her throat tighten with the threat of tears, herself.

Hunter reached over and clasped Ryder’s hand tightly. “Of course I
came. I’m here, and you’re going to be okay.”

Ryder smiled and then slowly wiped his eyes with the side of his free
hand, careful not to jostle the IV inserted into the back of it.

“So, are you going to tell me who these lovely ladies are?”

Hunter grinned. “Ryder, meet Kylie Moore.” He paused and then turned to
look heatedly at Kylie. “…my mate-to-be if she’ll have me.”

The incredulous look in Ryder’s eyes was priceless.

In that moment as her mind whirled in something like shock, Kylie found
herself wishing with all her soul that another miracle would happen, that she
would be wrong, and Maxim would get his happy ending as well. Anna had survived
this long into the surgery. Surely that had to be a good sign? Because she
didn’t ever want to see that man break.

Kylie looked from Ryder to Hunter and felt her lips curve up into an
answering smile that was bittersweet.

There was still one thing missing from this moment. How close had she
come to actually finding her mother today? Hopefully the data they had taken
from the lions’ ranch would offer her an answer. Maybe it would even have an
answer to the whereabouts of her father.

Once they returned to Riverford, she also hoped for a chance to talk to
Karen face-to-face in order to find out the truth of that security footage.
Even if it turned out that Karen had been lying to them from the beginning,
Kylie still wanted to know, though deep down she didn’t really believe that
would turn out to be the truth.

“I’ll be a handful,” she warned seriously, giving Hunter one last
chance to take back his proposal. “We may even need to spend a lot of time in
Great Britain if you catch my meaning.”

He laughed. Now that he had his brother back safe, if not yet
completely sound, Hunter’s eyes seemed to blaze with life. “I’m counting on it.
What’s life without a little intrigue?”