The Jaguar Star (Tales of the Were: Jaguar Island Book 4) by Bianca D'Arc (e book reader android .TXT) 📗

“Sit, my friends. I sense your news isn’t good,” Sonia said, taking a place at the head of a long table on one side of the large room. Greg and Ren took seats on the long side of the table, and a moment later. Stella brought over ceramic mugs steaming with coffee and stood uncertainly, looking for direction.

“You should stay, Stella,” Greg said softly to the youngster. “All of our people will need to know about this, and you might help get word spread quietly.” Stella looked to Sonia and sat only after the fey director had nodded.

“A photographer hassled Kat when she was getting dinner the other night, and tonight, he was waiting in the bushes with the other paparazzi, but when I offered them all a photo op so the others could get into the hotel without being waylaid, that photog didn’t even bother taking my picture,” Ren said, his words clipped as the anger and, yes, fear he felt started to coalesce into deadly purpose. It wasn’t fear for himself, but for his mate. For Katrina.

“Out of character, eh?” Sonia mused, listening intently. “So, what else is wrong with him?”

“Everything!” Ren stood from the chair and began pacing. Greg looked at him sharply, but Ren couldn’t focus at that moment. He gestured to Greg to pick up the story.

“Bryan called me as Ren was on his way up here. What they found indicates that this photog isn’t a photographer at all. At least, until now, he’s shown no interest in celebrity stalking or selling photos to media.” Greg paused a moment and looked at Ren, but he still wasn’t calm enough to do the briefing. He paced and concentrated on getting his inner cat under control while Greg talked. “The man’s name is T.J. Cochran. He’s a former Marine and has been working as an electrician since getting out of the Corps. Making good money, too. He had a union job on a construction crew until last month, when he suddenly walked off the job. None of his co-workers have seen him since. There was a police report filed a few days after he disappeared. His boss was a friend of the family and had vouched for him to get the job. T.J.’s folks are gone, and he doesn’t have any family left living close by. When the boss couldn’t find him, he at least went to the point of reporting it, which was nice of him, but nobody’s seen the guy in his hometown in weeks.”

“Where does he come from?” Sonia asked in her musical voice, which somehow helped calm Ren’s inner beast a little more.

“Just a few hours from here, in West Virginia. He’s driving his own car, which was how we got the ID so fast. Dave was able to follow him to the car and get his plate. From that, we got the registration and then the driver’s license with his photo. Unless someone went to a lot of trouble to either alter the photo on the database or make this man look like the missing man, T.J. is the guy,” Greg concluded.

“And he hassled Kat? How, exactly?” Sonia asked. Ren was settled enough by her voice to answer.

“Kat saw him waiting for the bus when we got back to the hotel tonight. He was standing a little apart from the rest of the crowd, and she pointed him out. Told me she’d encountered him a few days ago when she was getting dinner. He offered her fifty bucks to tell him where I was, then upped it to a hundred when she refused. She said he gave her the creeps. Tonight, he didn’t follow the crowd to my photo op but, instead, jumped out of the bushes at Kat as she made her way with the others toward the door. He said something about how she should have played ball with him in a threatening way, and Dave intervened while the others whisked her inside.” Ren felt his anger rising again. His inner cat wanted to yowl in defiance.

“So, the first time, he was looking for you, but this time, he went after her for not telling him where you were,” Sonia summarized. “This is about you, Ren. He wants to get you alone, not with a group of other photographers, and he lashed out at her for denying him the chance.”

“I…” Ren stopped and thought about Sonia’s words, then shook his head. “Maybe so, but I don’t like him threatening Kat. Who’s to say his focus didn’t just shift from me to her?”

“Possible,” Sonia allowed. “You both need to be cautious, and of course, we’ll alert all the shifters to be wary and stay in groups. No solo running until we know what’s going on.”

“There’s one other thing,” Greg put in. “Bryan mentioned a possible magical link.”

“How magical?” Sonia’s interest was immediately piqued, judging by the rapid response and intense look on her elfin face.

“There was a probable Venifucus mage operating not too far from T.J.’s hometown,” Ren told them. “He scarpered when our side began sniffing too close, but there is some evidence he was practicing black magic. The art of the hidden is how he managed to escape.”

“How is he linked to our guy?” Sonia asked.

“The last construction project T.J. was working on was a property owned by a shell corporation that has been traced back to that missing mage,” Ren said, feeling the impact of each word. If the Venifucus were behind this, there was no telling what evil magics might be unleashed.

“Could this man be under some kind of compulsion?” Sonia asked shrewdly.

“That’s for you to decide, frankly,” Ren told the fey woman. “You know more about magic than I ever will. The shifter goal will be to capture or otherwise neutralize him, if he poses a serious threat. If we get him alive, you can decide what needs to be done with him at that point.”

Sonia bowed her head in