“Hell,” Wade said, hoping Maya was safe and trying to make it through the fighting cats to reach her and his brother.
Maya wasn’t sure what happened next. One minute she was finishing a dance with Thompson and skirting around the issue of the jaguar on her website. The next minute, Lion Mane, the man with the curly hair, and three other male cats got into a fight just as the music ended.
Thompson used his body as a shield to move her away from the conflict as David came rushing to her rescue.
As a jaguar, she could let the men know with a roar and a bite just how much their fighting over nothing irritated her, but as a human, the best way to handle it? Leave.
Her heart was thundering as she, David, and Thompson headed for the door. Her cat shifter and human bodyguards were protecting her from the fighting when she saw Wade and her cousins barreling through the brawlers to get to her.
She was glad to see they weren’t involved in the clash. She hoped they’d all make it out without injury or being arrested and avoid most of the skirmish.
Thompson had one hand on her arm as he shielded her from the blows and punches and crashing furniture as some of the cats used chairs to make their point with less damage to their knuckles. Glancing down at her, he said, “I haven’t seen a brawl like this in years.” He shook his head, but he was smiling.
Men.
David had hold of her other arm and was moving as fast as possible with her. She was wearing high heels, not running shoes, so she knew she was slowing them down.
David was using his free arm as a battering ram to shove fighters out of their way when he was struck in the head by a flying bottle.
“David,” she said, worried, concerned, and trying to stop to take a look at the cut on his forehead.
“I’m all right,” he growled, sounding like he would have made the bottle-tossing brute pay if he hadn’t been watching out for her. He wasn’t stopping as he hurried her to the exit.
Maya had wanted to meet shifters, but not like this. Why couldn’t she just make eye contact with someone who seemed nice, get together, dance, have a little conversation, and move on—or not. If the man really appealed.
The problem was… Wade really appealed.
She couldn’t see Wade or her cousins for all the fighting in front of them. Then suddenly, as if a wrecking ball had swung into them, the fighters scattered. Wade and her cousins were headed straight for her, looking like a force to be reckoned with. She wondered if that had something to do with the Service they were in.
His hard, black gaze only on her, Wade seemed concerned that she was all right. She barely paid any attention to her cousins clearing the way on either side of him like a bulldozer force of jaguars. Then Wade turned his attention to his brother, his eyes widening a little, then narrowing. His jaw tightened and he socked the next man he threw a punch at so hard that the man went flying into two others who were fighting.
Wade turned his scowl on Thompson as if to say: Relinquish the woman now, human.
Thompson gave an almost imperceptible smile. He handed Maya over to Wade but continued to help her cousins and the Patterson brothers kick chairs and debris and knock scrapping men out of the way as they escorted her out of the club.
“What the hell happened to you?” Wade asked his brother. He was ready to bash out the lights of the guy who’d hurt David.
“It’s just a scratch,” David said.
It was not just a scratch! Maya slipped on broken glass, nearly taking a spill. Wade swept her up in his arms, and she gave a little gasp of surprise.
He looked ferocious as he took a deep breath, inhaling her scent, and growled. “You danced with that blond guy.”
She couldn’t believe it. No one had ever acted jealous about her dancing with someone else before. “I wanted a closer look at his hair, to see if maybe his shampoo was what gave it so much pizzazz.”
Wade scowled down at her.
She sighed. “He wasn’t half as sexy as you…” She knew as soon as she said the words and his eyes widened that she’d made a mistake. “If you must know, I didn’t kiss him.” She heard the low, rumbly growl in Wade’s throat before he spoke again.
“He tried to kiss you?”
“I didn’t let him.” She shrugged. “I wasn’t interested.”
“You sure know how to add excitement to a club night.” He didn’t sound irritated this time, but she had the distinct feeling that if she said she wanted to return tomorrow, he’d say no way in hell.
As he carried her out to an unfamiliar car, she squirmed to get loose. “I have my own car here.”
Wade set her on her feet.
Her cousins were acting as bodyguards, hovering over her, when Huntley said, “We really need to talk and tell you what we do. David needs looking after. Maybe we could go to your place, if you don’t object?”
“You’re afraid someone from the club might follow me home?” She could see they were from their concerned expressions. “Okay.”
“If you don’t mind, I’ll drive your car home for you,” Huntley said. “Someone needs to take care of David’s gash.”
She suspected they wanted her to ride with David and Wade so she would have protection. What did they think? That someone would run her off the road and try to kidnap her? But she didn’t mind having some protection, once she thought about it. Having the company would be nice, too. She’d believed having a couple of days away from her brother and Kat would be nice, but in reality, she’d been lonely. And she would love to get to know her cousins better.
Wade and his brother, too.
She nodded. Her cousins left to get their car and hers.
“Do either of you have anything to stop David’s bleeding?” she asked the Pattersons.
Wade looked down at her dress as if considering that she might be wearing something else she could use. She raised her brows, and he gave her the wickedest grin. Her minidress didn’t have an ounce of extra hem that she could rip off—like the damsels did in the movies.
Wade began to unbutton his shirt. She stared at his fingers moving from one button to the next, waiting to see him open his shirt.
As soon as he tugged his shirt off, she took her fill of his chest—bronzed, nipples puckered, muscles ribbed, and stroke-able, and she promptly forgot why he’d removed his shirt in the first place.
“Bandage for my head,” David said, his tone damned amused as Wade gave her a smug smile and David mirrored his brother’s expression.
“Uh, yeah.” Trying to ignore the way her skin felt flushed with embarrassment, not to mention interest, she took the soft and heated shirt that smelled of Wade, cat, man, and delicious. She wanted to get a closer feel and press it against her nose to take a deeper whiff of its unbidden scent as David got into the backseat of the car. But Wade was watching her. She quickly dismissed that notion.
That was the problem with their wild side as jaguar shifters. Their heightened senses amplified intriguing smells… and bad.
Once she joined David in the backseat, she pressed the shirt against his forehead. Wade closed the door for her, then climbed into the driver’s seat.
David glanced at his brother. “I should have known that before I could remove my shirt, you’d bare your chest to the lady.”
Wade chuckled.
She loved the teasing between the brothers.
“I haven’t been in a good catfight in years.” Wade glanced in the rearview mirror at Maya. “But the prize this time was definitely worth fighting for.”