The Jaguar Star (Tales of the Were Jaguar Island #4) - Bianca D'Arc Page 0,57

cats. Spotted, furry, sharp-toothed felines of a frightening variety that she had only ever seen in photos and on nature documentaries. Never up close and running around loose!

Ren stopped a step in front of her and turned his back on the cats to face her. She kept her eyes on the cats, shocked he would present his vulnerable back to such creatures. Was he crazy? She didn’t want to watch Ren struck down by a pounce from behind.

“It’s okay. They’re friendly,” he told her. He held up his hands, palms outward, as if to calm her.

“Seriously?” She heard the way her voice went up in pitch as fear made her voice shake, but she couldn’t do anything about it. Her entire body was primed with adrenaline as a fight-or-flight reaction overtook her. “Is this some kind of eccentric billionaire thing? Keeping wild jungle cats as pets and letting them roam around loose on a private island?”

Ren laughed. He actually laughed! She couldn’t believe it. He shook his head and chuckled.

“Sorry. I’m not laughing at you, but Mark would get a kick out of your reaction, I’m sure,” Ren told her. “Look, just come inside. I promise they won’t harm you, and they aren’t coming in with us.”

Confusingly, he seemed to be directing that last bit toward the cats, as if they could understand him. Something was really strange about this entire situation. The cats were sitting right near the door to the house. Katrina really didn’t want to get any closer to them than she was now, but the Jeep was no protection since it had no roof. The house was the only indoor area where she might be able to get away from the threat posed by those sharp claws and wicked-looking teeth.

“Give us some space, guys,” he said, turning to look at the cats and pointing away from the door.

As if they heard and understood, the cats got up and moved a few feet in the direction he pointed, then sat, all in a row, watching them. The smallest of the cats winked one eye at Katrina, but cats didn’t intentionally wink. It must have gotten a speck of dust in its eye, she reasoned.

Katrina realized that Ren had no fear of the animals. She wasn’t sure whether that was really brave or really stupid, but as long as he was standing between her and the furry menace, she was willing to walk swiftly toward the door.

Once inside, she watched the cats through the glass. It was unnerving, the intelligence she saw in their eyes as they stared back at her. Ren closed the door, and then, one by one, the cats nodded toward the house then melted back into the jungle. Katrina let go of the breath she’d been unconsciously holding, her body still on high alert, her knees still trembling.

“What the heck was that all about?” she wondered aloud, unable to censor her racing thoughts.

Ren shook his head as he walked into her range of vision. “I’m sorry about that. I didn’t think they would do that.”

“You know them. You knew they were here,” she accused. “You could’ve warned me! I thought I was crazy imagining that I kept seeing leopard spots whooshing through the jungle.”

“Jaguar, not leopard,” he said softly.

“What’s the difference?”

He chuckled. “An entire continent?”

“Seriously?” She faced him, her hands on her hips. “Does it really matter? They’re big. They’re dangerous.”

“They’re my friends,” he said softly, “and it does matter. Their origins are in South America, and the southern U.S. Leopards are from the other side of the ocean. They share the spots, but not much else.”

“Are you some kind of zoologist all of a sudden?” She was shocked at her words and tone. The fright had loosed her tongue, and she had gotten over her awe of being in the presence of Rendal Smith, mega-movie star, some time ago, apparently.

He continued to chuckle at her responses, which annoyed her to no end. “No, I just know a lot about jaguars. I’d like to tell you more about them, in fact.” He gestured toward the interior of the house, and she moved in the direction he pointed, catching sight of the view from the other side of the house.

It was as if the building straddled the edge of the volcano. Just as he’d said, one side had the amazing view of the ocean and the other… Her breath caught as she was drawn to the lush view of the crater and the green sea