She stood at the window, looking out at the imposing jungle. Not even the slightest of breezes stirred the thick foliage. The rich smell of the jungle, the decaying leaves and wet plants and earth, and the smell of fish from a nearby waterway wafted in.
“I know what you’re thinking, damn it,” Connor continued. “I’ve known ever since you saw Kathleen exactly what you’ve wanted to do. You can’t do it. It wouldn’t be fair to her.”
“But you like her,” Maya said. “I know it. You were dying to know what happened to her when she was wounded. You didn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and we even left here early because you were so disconsolate.”
“Maya…”
“No, let me finish. You were like that for months after our return home. I know you too well, Connor. As soon as we returned here, what did you do? Went straight back to the place where she’d been wounded, and then you didn’t come back for hours. I worried about you because you’d been gone so long, and there you were, just staring at where she’d been.”
“Enough, Maya.”
“Then you found her again. I can smell the way your pheromones are pumped up whenever you’re around her. I see it in your eyes, the way you look at her, and the way you’ve cared for her. Even the way you don’t care for her connections with other men. You can’t deny the strong attraction you have for her.”
Kat closed her gaping mouth, her heart pounding furiously. She had felt his kindness and how caring he had been. He had never shown her any gruffness at all when she was ill. She couldn’t believe that he had been so concerned about her when she had been wounded that he hadn’t wanted to stay here any longer last year. So she couldn’t understand why he was reacting like he was now, wanting her to leave and never visit Maya.
Connor didn’t say anything. Too shocked that Maya could read him so well? Stunned that she would figure him so wrong? What was Connor’s response? Kat was dying to know.
“She can’t stay with us. That’s my final word,” he growled.
And in that instant, Kat thought that he was just like the jaguars he had raised. Just like a human who looked like his dog, except in this case he was a blond jaguar with a growly side to him, and amber eyes and a muscular body that suited the big cat as well. Yeah, if pet owners looked like their pets, he certainly did. So did Maya. Like one big, happy jaguar family.
What was bothering Connor so much about her visiting with Maya further? Kat didn’t plan to start any kind of a relationship with him, despite how much she admired him for all that he had done for her. Or that she loved the way he cared about his sister. That he’d hunt for them and clean and… well, if she was looking to settle down, she wouldn’t have looked any further.
But as far as going to their home, she just planned to visit with Maya.
Maya didn’t say a word. Kat didn’t want to get between the two, but she hoped Maya would stand up to her brother. No one had any right to tell her who she could and couldn’t visit with. That tugged deep at the heart of Kat’s own dark past.
“Maya, damn it, you know I’m right,” Connor said finally.
Kat could envision him pacing across the jungle, waiting for Maya to capitulate. And Maya standing her ground, undaunted. But then she finally spoke.
“I think…” Maya said slowly with a hint of a smile in her voice, “it might be too late.”
Chapter 8
In the thick of the jungle, all of the animal noises ceased to exist as Connor stared incredulously at Maya, his worst fear realized. But he had never seen any bite marks. And he had looked.
“You didn’t turn her,” he said shortly, his anger sifting to the surface.
“It’s too late,” she said quietly. “Too late, Connor, and she has to stay with us now.” This time she sounded almost contrite.
But knowing how much his sister would want this, he thought she was probably damned pleased with herself.
“Hell, Maya.” He paced in front of her, then turned and scowled at her. “I haven’t smelled a change in her. She doesn’t act any differently.”
Maya gave a little one-shoulder shrug, but the expression on her face and the light tone of her voice said she wasn’t as sure as she was trying to sound.
“Where did you bite her?” he growled, hoping that if Maya had tried to turn Kat, she hadn’t been successful.
“I didn’t bite her.”
He stared at her hard. He knew he hadn’t seen any bite marks. But if she hadn’t bitten Kat…
Maya swallowed reflexively and folded her arms, her chin going up in a defensive way. “I scratched her.”
His mouth gaped for a split second. Scratches. He had seen a pale line of scratch marks on Kat’s leg when he had tried to wash her back the one time. He had thought she had gotten them from the wicked thorns of a jungle plant. But still, scratching Kat couldn’t have turned her, could it?
“I can’t believe this.” He stalked back toward the hut, intending to examine Kat, question her, see if anything was different about her. He had been trying to keep his distance from her. From her feminine allure. From the scent of her. From wanting to know anything more than necessary about her. But no more. He had to learn the truth—and fast.
Maya ran after him. “We can’t let her go, Connor. She has to be your mate. I want her for my sister.”
It finally sank in. Maya wanted family. Connor felt miserable then. She hadn’t done it just so he could have a mate and then she would find one. She wanted more of a family. Always had. But it didn’t change the trouble that could arise from Maya’s impulsiveness.
“What if she’s changed and she doesn’t want to have anything more to do with us?” he growled over his shoulder.
Maya looked dejected. He hated to be the one to give her the news, but what if Kat had been changed and she hated them for it? They had no idea what would happen next. She could be so depressed about it. She might even be suicidal!
And what if she didn’t want him for a mate? What if they didn’t suit each other at all?
“We have to keep her,” Maya pleaded. “We have to make sure that she’ll be all right. She can’t be on her own.”
Oh, yeah, he knew that. He could just see them having to build a wild-cat pen for her and keep her padlocked in it every time she shifted. Keeping her secured in a room in the house every time she came back to her human self. They had no idea what they were in for. Or how she would react to it. They wouldn’t be able to let her out of their sight.
He still had high hopes that she hadn’t been turned. He truly didn’t think scratch marks would do it. He thought back to Kat’s fever. What if Maya had brought the sickness on when she clawed Kat?
He let out his breath hard. He knew Maya hadn’t meant anything bad by it, knew she had really liked Kat from the beginning. And cats didn’t just like anyone. He had to admit he was already thinking of Kat as family. She didn’t have any of her own. But if she had been turned, she didn’t have a choice. She would be part of their family, like it or not. He couldn’t let her loose on the unsuspecting population.
“What are you going to do, Connor?” Maya asked, her voice ragged with worry.