The Jaguar Star (Tales of the Were: Jaguar Island Book 4), Bianca D'Arc [pdf e book reader .txt] 📗

lifted her off her feet, crushing her close as he twirled her around in joy at their reunion. His lips brushed over her skin, and she felt her world shift into proper alignment again, now that she was where she was supposed to be. In Ren’s arms. Forever.

“Let’s never do that again,” Ren said, his words a growl near her ear. “I didn’t sleep a wink.”

Katrina laughed and pulled back to look at his beloved face. He did have circles under his magnificent eyes, but he was still so handsome he took her breath away.

“I didn’t like it either,” she told him. “I agree. We shouldn’t travel alone.”

“Never again,” he reaffirmed, lifting her into his arms as he walked back toward the waiting SUV limousine. It was big and black, and he lifted her into it, climbing in after her and taking her back into his arms as soon as they were seated. The pain in her heart eased the more they were together.

That Ren had taken the time to come all the way out to the airport to meet her plane meant a lot to her. She watched out the tinted window as Dave and his brother, Bryan, got her bags loaded in the back of the large car. Then, Dave joined Bryan in the front the vehicle, and they set off. Ren kept her in his embrace, seeming unwilling to let her go. She was fine with that and snuggled into him gratefully.

Chapter Twenty-Three

The next few weeks passed in a blur of happiness as she spent every moment with Ren. She went with him to work, helping around the set where she could and watching his performances with an admiring eye. The other jaguars were so incredibly friendly and accepting of her now. They were already like family.

Eventually, though, Ren’s part was over, and there were no more reasons to keep Katrina away from home. She’d have to introduce Ren to her folks and figure out how to mesh their lives together. Ren chartered another flight from the jaguar fleet, and this time, they sat together in the rear of the plane, enjoying just being together. How different this flight was from the last, Katrina reflected. Just being with Ren made everything better.

When they arrived in New York, there was a car waiting for them at the charter terminal. The fellow driving the vehicle was handsome in the brawny sort of way that Katrina had recently come to associate with wolf shifters. He was polite and professional, escorting them into the black vehicle with blacked-out windows then putting their luggage in the trunk. Ren looked over the vehicle with appraising eyes while the driver closed the trunk then got behind the wheel. As soon as the door closed, Ren spoke.

“Good to see you again, Cassius. Thanks for doing this.”

“Anytime, my friend. The Midtown Pack stands by its allies. My brother wanted me to pass along greetings to you and your Alpha,” the driver added, looking at them in the rearview mirror while he pulled out into traffic with competent motions.

“I’ll be sure to tell Mark,” Ren promised. “And I definitely owe you one. I’m going to have to clear a few things with your brother. Seems I’ll be spending more time in the Big Apple.” Ren put his arm around Katrina’s shoulders and smiled.

“Really?” The driver’s attention focused on Katrina in the rearview mirror with alert interest.

Ren grinned like the proverbial cat with the canary. “I haven’t introduced you to Katrina yet, have I? She’s my mate.”

“Seriously? Hot damn. Congratulations to you both,” Cassius said with genuine warmth. “So, you’re from New York, Miss Katrina?” Cassius asked politely.

“Born and raised. My folks own a restaurant on the Upper East Side. Have you heard of Valiando’s?” Katrina asked.

The driver smiled. “Love their linguini with clam sauce,” he told her. “I like to take dates there because it’s quiet enough that they can hear me without having to shout and yet busy enough that I can blend in when I’m out with a human. The food is top notch. Now that you mention it, I remember you. Didn’t you work the front of house? Seating people and overseeing the dining room?”

Katrina smiled. “I do. Or did, I guess. I’m not sure I can go back to that after working with Ren.”

“Not to mention, finding your mate,” the werewolf agreed, still smiling as he exited the airport and joined the traffic on the parkway traffic streaming toward Manhattan. “Your life will change, but I suspect it’s going to be wonderful beyond your wildest dreams. We all search for our mates. It’s the blessed ones who find their life’s mate early. You must’ve done something really good in a past existence, Ren, my boy.” The werewolf chuckled, and Katrina warmed to his playful tone. “So, you were in the movie, too?” Cassius asked Katrina as they sped along in the never-ending New York traffic.

The drive passed with Katrina talking more than she’d expected. Ren checked his phone messages a few times, but he was at ease, so Katrina didn’t worry. She suspected Ren and she were building a relationship here that might be useful in the future, since this werewolf obviously had a high spot in the hierarchy of werewolves in the city.

Katrina was beginning to understand that the shifters did things according to a pecking order, and Ren was pretty highly placed within his own people, but she didn’t know how that would translate to other species of shifters. She suspected he’d still be highly ranked due to his power and position in the human world, but the shifters seemed to have other measurements, as well. Like the dominance thing Ren had talked about.

Katrina knew she had a lot to learn about shifters, but she was enjoying the education. This werewolf was both friendly and charming in his own way. A typical talkative New Yorker, who put her at ease so that she almost forgot that she was about to introduce