Hester glared at the woman in front of her. Her cheetah alternately sniffed and growled. It was the same woman she met when she woke. She looked to be in her late-forties, but the extra lines on her face didn’t detract from her prettiness.
“Is it drugged?” Hester growled, glancing at the new food-laden tray.
“Of course not,” she said kindly. “And if you don’t like this, I can bring you something else.”
Hester was about to argue, but the rumblings of the other women’s stomachs overruled her. The other women had already wolfed down the breakfast brought by Diego, but now it was lunchtime, and they were hungry again.
“Who are you anyway?” demanded Hester as the other women tentatively started eating. Hester was refraining from eating, as she had with breakfast, until she found out exactly what was going on. She wanted to hang on to the option of a hunger strike just in case she needed it.
“I am Maria, Antonio’s mother.”
Hester’s lips curled into an evil grin, and her cheetah chirruped. “Really? How would he feel if I clawed you right here and now?” She flicked out her claws, and the other women stopped eating to gawp.
Maria jutted her chin, unimpressed. “Baby, I’ve lived in a jaguar leap for over thirty years, you don’t scare me. You’re angry right now, but I don’t believe you’ll hurt me.”
Hester narrowed her eyes, and her cheetah sagged. Damnit, she was right. Hester might be a ball-buster, but she wasn’t about to attack a perfectly sweet little Latina woman – even if her son happened to be hell spawn. Grrr.
“How long are we going to be kept here?”
“Not much longer,” said Maria mildly. “I know you’re all scared right now,” Hester growled loudly, “but please just keep your minds open. You might be surprised.”
She gave them all patient, encouraging smiles and then left, locking the door behind her.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” asked Laurel.
“No,” hissed Hester.
“Yeah, starve yourself, that’ll show them,” chuckled Sadie. “Seriously, you should keep your strength up. You’re probably the only one who can run for help.”
“You’re not going to leave us here on our own, are you?” whimpered Mary, her huge eyes shining.
“She’s a cheetah – she can run out of here and tell the cops there’s a lunatic asylum filled with kidnapping jaguars.”
“Perhaps Hester can negotiate with the jaguars to let us go,” suggested Laurel peaceably.
Hester felt unease as the other three women looked at her expectantly. They were looking to her to take care of them, to think of a plan, to get them out of there, and for all of Hester’s bossiness, she wasn’t sure she had it in her.
She was actually a little relieved when the door unlocked, and Antonio strode through it. Not that she let him know that. Nope, she was all snarls for him.
The handsome asshole had the gall to smile at her, and her cheetah almost swooned. “I hope you’re all a little refreshed from the journey.”
“And the drugging?” taunted Hester.
His expression didn’t dim one iota, although the three younger jaguars all crowding in the doorway looked at their feet.
“That too. If you’d like to come with us, we’ll show you to your rooms.”
Hester bared her teeth – her cheetah was a little taken with Antonio, but she was no fool. “You’re joking, right? You really expect to kidnap us, and we’ll just let you have sex with us – just like that?”
Sadie tut-tutted, and Mary gasped.
“Not at all,” said the unflappable douchebag. “You’ll be sleeping in the guest quarters. But don’t worry, Hessie, I’ll show you where I live. Just in case you get an urge to visit during the night.” He winked and her treacherous sex twinged in arousal.
“Better sleep with one eye open,” she growled.
Antonio chuckled. “None of you need worry. If you accept us as your mates, we will have our matings blessed, and only then can we consummate our relationships.”
Hester folded her arms. “What if we don’t accept you?”
“If you reject our mate claims, you can leave.”
“I reject it right now; I’m leaving.”
Antonio held up his hands. “We can’t let you go yet, it’s…”
“Let me guess – it’s tradition?” Hester curled her upper lip derisively. “So what happens until I finally get to reject you and your stupid face?” Stupidly hot face her cheetah amended.
“Between now and then, we have to persuade you to want to stay.”
“And just how are you going to do that?”
“We’re going to woo you.”
*
Hester’s laughter still rang in his ears. If he didn’t know she was a cheetah, he’d swear there was some hyena in her. Never mind uphill, wooing her was more like climbing a mountain.
Her face was pinched as he showed them around the compound. Other leap members greeted the new women with interest. Laurel was pleasant enough if a little strained, Sadie was standoffish, but Hester downright growled at anyone who tried to come near her. Except for Mary – who was currently clutching at Hester’s hand – much to Tomas’ disappointment.
He introduced the women to many leap members, and he had to say, he was glad he did. His leap did him proud in their friendliness, and warmth when greeting the women. He sensed that all of the females – even Hester – relaxed on seeing the other human females and their adorable cubs. Even his idiot twin brothers managed not to screw up and scare them away. Though, he made sure not to let Hester spend too much time talking with them – there were a lot of stories about his childhood she didn’t need to hear.
Laurel even seemed impressed by how much of their own food they grew, going so far as to talk mulch with a few of their head gardeners.
Hester curled her lip at him every chance she got, but damn if that didn’t make her even hotter. His beast hadn’t been this giddy in years. Her appeal wasn’t lost on the younger, unmated males either. Most of them had lusted after sultry Valentina since they first shifted, but he could see their interest was very much piqued by his blonde bombshell.
Valentina was twenty-four. She would be looking to mate soon, and many males had hoped she would choose them. Antonio supposed many felt a pull to find a fellow jaguar. But on seeing Hester the cheetah shifter, more than one young male expressed the sentiment that he couldn’t wait for his chance to go to Los Lobos and find his own shifter.
Hester’s stomach rumbled something fierce.
“Hungry?” asked Antonio.
“No!” she snarled making Mary jump.
Damn female was way too skittish for her own good. Why Tomas chose her was beyond him. Though maybe Tomas was wondering why he had chosen such an aggressive female. Each to their own.
The guest house was one of the prettier buildings in the compound, well kept to ensure the females’ transition was as easy as possible. Other leap females had already been in cleaning and cooking and depositing large bouquets of flowers in every room.
Antonio gave the women a tour, and they quickly picked out bedrooms. Sadie gave Lorenzo a sultry look before very definitely sneering and slamming the door in his face. Laurel and Mary scuttled off to their rooms, which left Hester glaring at all the males.
Antonio nodded at the three younger males and glumly they left. He wanted to tell the males to give them time, but honestly, he was sure that advice would earn him a kick to the nards from his own future mate.
Instead, he ignored his beast and heaved her case into her chosen room.
Hester scowled. “I just realized that you must have been the one to pack my suitcase.”
“Yep.” He gave her a shameless grin.
“You touched my underwear?” Her eyes flashed dangerously, but that just made his animal purr.
“Yeah, is your favorite color red? Because there was a lot of red stuff in there.”
“Get out!” she roared.
Antonio hesitated for a second, wanting to stay, but he thought better of it. His beast was sure Hester was meant to be his, but Antonio was still kind of, a little, sort of had one foot on the fence... so to speak.
Sure, she was sexy as hell. Yes, she called to him on a level he didn’t understand, and boy did he love her fieriness, but… He had his doubts as to whether she could get over the way they came together.
“I’ll see you later,” he muttered, pretending the door didn’t almost hit him on the ass on the way out.
Mine rumbled his beast. Antonio growled back. He hoped so.