Hester opened her mouth to make the noise again, but before she could even let out an eep, Antonio growled.
“Enough!” he bellowed, startling a few of his leap mates who were walking by. “Okay? Enough, I give in.”
Hester smirked in triumph. Yeah, she was both a sore loser and a terrible winner.
Dinner had been nice; she liked his mother and could tolerate his irritating brothers. But as much as she enjoyed herself, it didn’t mean she was about to give in and not make the noise all night. Antonio was keeping a secret from her, and she wanted – nay, needed - to know it.
What? Her cheetah held out her paws. So, she was demanding and pushy, they were things she had come to terms with, and truthfully, they were two of her better qualities. It was better that Antonio realized that now before things went any further. If he honestly abducted her thinking she was going to be a sweet, retiring, albeit sexy doormat, then it was important that he was disabused of that sooner rather than later. And if he didn’t like the real her, well… he… well, he could suck it!
Besides, secrets between couples were not a good idea. Just ask her ex-boyfriend Jeffrey – when Hester found out he was secretly already married with three kids, the consequence of keeping that secret caused one of his testicles to jump back up in his body permanently. The odds of him having a fourth child were now very slim.
Not that she and Antonio were a couple. No, but he wanted them to be, and so he ought to act in the proper way – and that involved no secret keeping.
He ran a hand through his hair and let out a sound of aggravation. He cracked pretty quickly. Apparently, he didn’t have as much patience as she thought he did. She actually liked him a little more for it. People who were patient and calm all the time were completely abnormal. To Hester, overreacting and going nuts at every available opportunity was the right thing to do. Take her mother - while clingy and overprotective, her mother could be downright serene about things that would cause Hester to blow her top with more fury than a volcano. Like when her mother discovered her third husband was stealing her money to fund a friend’s strip bar – her mother calmly told him she wanted a divorce and that she was disappointed in him. Hester had to be the one to take the bull by the horns and set fire to all of his possessions in a burning effigy before taking out a billboard stating that he had herpes. Best three thousand bucks she ever spent. He would have sued, but he had no money – which is why he was stealing from her far-too-trusting mother to begin with.
No, she liked a bit of fire in her men. Probably not as much fire as she owned, but still, a little spark made life interesting.
Hester stopped walking and folded her arms. He was walking her home after dinner. She had once again suggested they go running as their beasts, but he managed to deflect that by forcing another two slices of his mother’s pineapple upside down cake on her. Okay, maybe not forcing. Maybe she asked for the second helping and then didn’t complain in the least when the third helping appeared in front of her. It did mean that any thoughts of running anywhere made her already jelly-like belly break out in cries of ‘no, don’t you dare!’. Though she knew her cheetah couldn’t be put off for long – she needed to let her beast out for some real exercise and soon. Cheetahs were born to run, and run they must.
“So, come on, pudding pop,” she demanded, tapping her foot, “spill.”
His eyebrow ticked at ‘pudding pop’. He was probably regretting his mother admitting his childhood nickname. Born after he ate fifteen pots of pudding in one go at his sixth birthday and threw up all over himself. Apparently, he didn’t like people knowing that story.
“Look,” he sighed. “I had no idea she’d be there, or why she thought it was a good idea…”
Hester narrowed her eyes, and her cheetah bristled. “Who?” Though, she had a good idea who already.
“Valentina,” he admitted in defeat. “When I came home last night she was in my bed and…”
“Let me guess, naked,” she snapped.
Antonio looked miserable as he nodded in affirmation. “Seriously, Hessie…”
She hissed at the name, and he had to stifle a smile. “Even if she is interested in me, I’m not interested in her. Nothing has ever happened between the two of us.”
“Really?” sneered Hester, though she couldn’t sense any falseness in him.
“Really,” replied Antonio forcefully. “Seriously, she’s still a virgin. I have never touched her.”
Hester’s jaw dropped. “No way?!”
Antonio shrugged and chuckled lightly. “Yeah, I was surprised when I found out, but I guess it’s not that big of a surprise. I mean with how few females there are here…”
“Yeah, why is that?” asked Hester, changing tack. Why were there so few females that they had to resort to kidnapping females from Los Lobos?
He hesitated, and she opened her mouth to make the noise again. His eyes widened, sensing the danger and he slapped his palm over her mouth.
“Okay, I’ll talk, I’ll talk! Damnit, woman, did you work for the Spanish Inquisition in a previous life?”
Hester smiled under his hand and made some muffled noises, but he didn’t remove his hand. Probably wise, plus his hand smelled like pineapple upside down cake. The hard part was finding a way not to lick it.
“Our jaguar leap left Los Lobos over a hundred years ago because we were being hunted by humans. When we arrived here, I don’t know, suddenly very few girls were being born, and those that were rarely survived a few days.”
Hester’s eyes crinkled with compassion and Antonio hesitantly took his hand away from her mouth, moving it down her arm until he was clasping her hand with soft pressure.
“The boys have always been healthy, but the girls...” He shook his head. “It has continued ‘til this day. That’s why there are only two female jaguars in the whole leap. There are a couple more females in the leap born here, but they’re both humans and seriously lucky to have survived.”
“What’s causing it?” asked Hester.
“We don’t know. Over the years people have been brought in to test our food, the soil we grow it in, our water, whether we’re under a magical curse – you name it, it’s been checked. But nothing’s been found. Prime really tried when he found out his mate was carrying a girl, but…”
Antonio’s eyes took on a slightly misty sheen. Hester squeezed his hand.
“Lana wasn’t very strong and when she went into premature labor… neither of them survived.”
“I’m so sorry.”
She had hardly warmed to the leap’s prime, but shifter leaders weren’t known for being warm and fuzzy. They sometimes had to be ruthless to survive and ensure their people thrived. But she wouldn’t wish such tragedy on even one of her worst enemies – of which she had a lengthy list.
“There must be something in our genes, but whatever it is, it’s well hidden,” continued Antonio, his face drawn and his expression toneless. “We’ve had scientists and hell, even witch doctors up here trying to find answers, but none of them could. Girls are rarely conceived, and when they are most females miscarry. Honestly, most couples pray for boys – they don’t want to risk the same loss.”
“Have you,” started Hester tentatively, “ever considered leaving this place and seeing if that changes anything?”
Antonio smiled slightly. “About seventy years ago, the leap did. They packed up everything and moved north for almost a decade, but nothing changed, so they came back.”
They stayed standing for a few moments until Hester could no longer hold back her yawn.
“It’s late,” murmured Antonio, “let’s get you to bed.”
Hester pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow.
“Alone,” he clarified, “unless you want…”
Her claws flexed, and Antonio let out a hearty laugh. “Some other time?”
He waggled his eyebrows, and she let out a suffering sigh. “Yeah, sure,” she muttered.
Antonio was a little subdued as they walked back to the house. But when she touched his shoulder and leaned up to press a kiss on his cheek while they were saying goodbye, his cheerfulness returned full throttle, as did the reassuring scent of his arousal.
Course, she quickly slipped into the house and slammed the door in his face, giggling as she heard the word ‘tease’ through the wood. Though, given the way he was whistling as he left, she doubted he meant it with any heat.
She didn’t like to see him hurting. It made her cheetah ache to see him so down, so she had to do something. Besides, it was just a kiss – not even on the lips. Just a very tender, surprisingly satisfying cheek kiss. Should cheek kisses be sexually arousing? No, probably not, but she could taste his skin on her lips, could still feel the way his body felt as her breasts brushed against him. Hmmm, just an inch or two to the left and she could have had his lips…
“You’re home late.”
Sadie’s voice cut through her daydreaming, and she realized she had been leaning against the door, drooling slightly.
Hester cleared her throat. “Ah, yes… I…” she struggled for a reasonable explanation, then remembered Sadie was not her mother and decided not to explain anything. “Yes, yes I am.”
Sadie’s lips twitched. “FYI, I have this particular tape to counteract that.” Her eyes dipped down to Hester’s chest before she walked away laughing.
Hester frowned and looked down to realize her nipples were pressing against her sweater in an unbelievably freaking obvious way. She was walking around with full headlights!
Damnit! Hester folded her arms and ran to her room. She hoped Antonio hadn’t noticed, though she bet the douchebag had. She felt more embarrassment than she ever had as a teenager. She should not be so turned on that she walked around looking like that.
Hester scowled at herself, ignoring her sniggering beast. It’s not funny!
She sobered as she thought about what Antonio told her. It must be heartbreaking for the females, and for the males, too. They missed out by losing their daughters as well. As for the leap’s prime, Roberto… no wonder he was a stony-faced misery guts. He had every right to be.
Knowing how dire their lack of females was, it kind of put a new spin on why there was a need for them to kidnap women, though, surely there was a better way? She supposed that when they first moved there from Los Lobos, they didn’t see that they had another option. They had hardly any females, and they needed to keep the truth about their species a secret. Back then few shifter species mated with one another – they were far too territorial for that. Trying to woo females way from other packs and prides would have just opened up a can of violent, clawed worms. Running over to Los Lobos to pick out a human bride probably seemed like the best option.
But times were different now – humans were aware of shifters. Surely the leap could find a different way to find brides?
Hmmm, the leap elders probably wouldn’t like that. She knew from experience in her own coalition that they clung to traditions, no matter how boneheaded they were. Like the tradition where she was supposed to mate before her thirtieth birthday – which was approaching fast at warp speed.
Mate Antonio purred her beast.
No, she couldn’t because… well… she had to go back to Los Lobos, to her job and friends and her mother…
Okay, so Los Lobos wasn’t perfect, but life in the leap sure as sugar wasn’t either. Did she really want to hang around there and deal with Valentina and her pathetic crush on Antonio on a daily basis?
Her cheetah snarled. That female needed to be put in her place.
But, if she was just going to leave at the end of the two weeks, why bother? After all, after Hester left, Antonio might decide to mate with Valentina anyway.
Hester felt her fangs lengthen. Ooh, she did not like that thought at all. But it was a valid one. She should just leave Valentina alone.
*
Valentina yelped as Hester’s fist planted in her perfect nose.
“Stay away from Antonio!” snarled Hester, her cheetah pushing forward. Okay, that was… actually more satisfying than she was expecting.
Valentina clutched at her nose and let out a whimper. Hester snorted. She hadn’t even drawn blood – if Valentina had been male, she would have made sure to draw blood, but she wasn’t that cruel. The young jaguar would have a swollen nose for maybe a day at the most, but she would quickly heal herself.
“What the hell?” whined Valentina. “I think you broke my nose!”
Hester rolled her eyes. “It’s not broken; you’ll be fine.”
With her ex-boyfriends, Hester was an expert when it came to broken noses. She’d certainly caused enough.
“Why did you hit me?”
“Why do you think?” growled Hester, slightly surprised that Valentina hadn’t immediately slapped her back. Even the girliest of female cat shifters could put up a decent fight. It devolved to nails and hair pulling in their human forms, but in Hester’s experience, they didn’t just stand around looking like a kicked puppy. Valentina didn’t strike her as particularly wet or weepy, so why wasn’t she sticking up for herself?
Truthfully, Hester hadn’t actually intended to confront her. She had resolved to do nothing, and after a sleepless night with a growling inner cheetah, she woke up early – even too early for Antonio’s morning visit – and decided to go for a jog. She wanted to let loose as her cheetah but, Antonio would be pissed and while she didn’t care at all what he thought – no, definitely not – she decided it wasn’t worth the aggravation of when he would inevitably tell her off for being a bad girl… She shivered slightly – no, she would not enjoy that!
Anyway, she decided to jog around the leap compound. She saw a few people she knew, called out hello to them and when she saw Valentina, well, it was like a red rag to a bull. Her frustrated cheetah just went for her. What she hadn’t expected was the absolute surprise and hurt on Valentina’s face.
“Because of Antonio?” guessed Valentina hesitantly.
Duh! “Of course, because of Antonio. He brought me here to be his mate, and you offer yourself up to him like a plate of sushi!”
Valentina rolled her shoulders uneasily. “I didn’t mean to.”
“Didn’t mean to?!” spluttered Hester. “You just accidentally climbed into his bed and removed all your clothes?”
The jaguar’s cheeks burned red. “I mean, I thought that was what he wanted.”
“Because he told you so?”
“No, but I thought…” Valentina shook her head. “I’m sorry, okay? I’ll leave him alone.”
Valentina walked away, experimentally prodding her nose.
It was Hester’s turn to be surprised. She was expecting at least a small catfight and yet, nothing. It was a bit disappointing. Valentina didn’t seem to care at all. So why bother trying to ensnare Antonio to begin with?