Chapter 9

9

F isher was serious about having a hard time, literally, when he tried to fall asleep. All he could think of was being with Kira, snuggling, and kissing her some more.

He thought about finding the little girl and feeling so good about that. He felt that he and Kira made a great team, now that he was more able to assist her. He finally fell asleep for a couple of hours, telling himself he was doing great at making the effort. If Kira hadn't been making him lie down, he knew he wouldn't have been resting at all, which Heath had known. Fisher so appreciated Kira for sticking to her guns and making him rest.

When he woke, he left the bed and heard her on her computer typing away and peeked in on her. "Are you having any luck?"

"Nothing yet."

"Would you like some coffee?"

"Decaf, if you have it."

"Coming right up." After he made them both cups, adding cream, and sugar, he carried the coffees into his office. He rubbed her back and pulled up a chair next to her to see what she was doing.

She took a sip of her coffee. "Ooh, this is so good."

"Thanks. I like it for later at night."

"How is your shoulder?"

"Better because you're making me rest even when I wouldn't have if you hadn't been looking after me."

"Good." She sat back on the office chair and sighed. "I just hate that we can't get a clue as to where these guys are right now."

"I know."

"This is really the hard part. Once we know where they are, that's the fun part. Do you want to do this for a little bit? I'm going to take a break."

"Yeah, sure. This is a great way for me to learn how to do this."

"It is. And I appreciate your help with it."

An hour later and when they didn't find anything, Fisher said, "It's time to go to Bella's and Devlyn's home for dinner."

"Okay, let's go."

He was looking forward to having dinner with his family and he felt like he was bringing his date with him. As soon as they arrived, Bella and Devlyn gave them hugs, but carefully with Fisher to make sure they didn't hurt his shoulder or his bruised ribs.

Jaguars Everett and Demetria came out of the living room and gave them hugs. Everett was a blond with smiling green eyes and Demetria was a beautiful brunette, her long hair tucked up in a bun.

"Oh, I'm so glad you're here," Kira said.

"You have a case and a half," Demetria said. "We're glad we were able to wrap up ours so we could join you. This definitely is a case that requires a team."

"I so agree."

Everett said to Fisher, "We're so glad you are with us too, learning the ropes until Martin decides if he's going to hire you or not. But I suspect you'll be hired no matter what."

"I sure hope so," Fisher said, so he could continue to see Kira.

Kira squeezed his hand as if she was hoping the same thing.

"How are you doing?" Everett asked.

"I'm doing great. Kira's making me rest and I'll be fully fit in no time."

"Hell, I would have taken off a month for a wound like that," Everett said.

Demetria punched him teasingly in the shoulder. "You would not have. You would have been right up and running around no matter what I said you had to do."

Everett leaned down and kissed her.

Fisher's cousin Aaron and Aaron's mate Angie welcomed them. Fisher's brothers, Heath and Shawn arrived together, followed by Tanner and Serena.

The only ones missing were Vaughn and Jillian who were still out in Oregon on their mission.

Shawn and Devlyn began making steaks for the bunch, while Bella and Demetria made mango margaritas for everyone except Bella and Serena who had mocktails without alcohol.

Kira and Fisher made a salad, though she told him twice, "You should be sitting in the living room resting." She really didn't want him to use his arm until he was sufficiently healed.

"I've been in bed for long enough, and I'll be in bed after dinner anyway."

"Okay." She let him add some grated cheese on top of the lettuce, but she was really watching to see if he was flinching with pain at all. But so far, no. She took deep breaths also, trying to sense if he was smelling of pain. He seemed to be okay. She was glad for that.

Then they all sat down to have dinner. She just loved how friendly the members of Fisher's pack were, how welcoming and how they made both her and the jaguars feel like family.

"Has anyone got any idea of where the kidnappers might have gone?" Devlyn asked, cutting into his steak.

Kira said, "We thought they might head to the location where the ransom money was supposed to be paid, but they never showed up. I think when they realized a couple of wolves had been involved, smelled our scents, knew what we looked like, that might have scared them off. Fisher and I have been searching police records to see if there are any more missing kids that might have been kidnapped, but we haven't come across any. Just the missing girl whose dog ran off and we helped to find her."

"We heard about that," Everett said. "The dog ran after a rabbit when the girl and her parents were camping in the national park. She was just walking the dog, but when it took off, she had to chase after it and then she got lost."

"Oh, we didn't know about the rabbit," Kira said.

"Yeah, they had it on the news and they featured Fisher's picture with a wolf. We recognized that it was you." Demetria smiled.

"It was. Fisher wanted to run as a wolf but between his injured shoulder and the fact I needed a ‘master,' I went as a wolf," Kira said.

Everyone laughed.

"Do you think that the kidnappers, having been seen by other shifters and worried they might get caught now, will prevent them from trying to grab any other kids?" Bella asked.

"Maybe," Everett said. "But once they found an easy way to make money and they haven't ever been caught, they might not want to give up their criminal pursuit. Last year, Demetria and I went after a jaguar who was robbing banks. He thought he was invincible. He would have continued robbing banks until the police, or the feds caught him. We couldn't let that happen. His ex-girlfriend, also a jaguar, turned him into us. She couldn't believe he was doing that. She said that he had told her he worked for a company online. When she saw some of the security videos of him on several news stations, she realized it was him, despite his disguise, and knew about our organization and called Martin. So we were assigned the mission of taking him into custody. When we arrested him, he said he'd lost his job and to make ends meet, he found robbing banks was an easy way to make the money. He doesn't have to any longer. He's in prison and will be there for years."

"These kidnappers might be wired that way too. Who knows if they might have been doing crimes throughout the ages," Demetria said. "The kind of crime they were committing might have changed is all. And they just haven't been caught yet."

"The kidnappers hadn't expected to run across a couple of wolves," Fisher said. "That was a shock to them. I'm sure they didn't know if I was a shifter or not, but they would know for sure that Kira was when they smelled her. When she went to my aid, they probably figured I was too then."

"I agree," Kira said.

"Oh, and by the way, Fisher," Everett said. "Demetria and I are thrilled you're going to join us in the organization."

"It's not a done deal," Fisher said, sounding like he didn't want to get his hopes up in the event Martin said no to hiring him.

"Sure it is," Everett said. "When we say we want you to join our team, Martin listens."

"Everett's right about that," Demetria said.

Fisher smiled and glanced at Kira to see her opinion on it.

Kira smiled. "They're right. We have to work in teams most of the time. When several of us say we want to work with you, Martin seriously takes our opinions into consideration. We need more agents. Though he usually hires people he doesn't know well, based on their prior work experience and how well they get along with others in a pack, if they're wolves and belong to a pack, he still doesn't really know what they're like or if they'll be a good fit with the rest of us. Even I was a questionable hire. So yeah, I would say it is pretty much assured."

Devlyn agreed. "You've had so many pack member recommendations also, not just the family's, that I doubt Martin is going to consider not hiring you."

"Vaughn would lead a revolt," Demetria said, "and several of us would be right there with him."

Everyone laughed.

After dinner, they all sat on the back deck and had hot cocoa and whipped cream and watched the sun set. Kira sat next to Fisher, and she really felt like she was on a date with him. She leaned against his good shoulder, and he kissed the top of her head. Of course everyone noticed and smiled.

They finally finished their mugs of cocoa, then everyone said good night and they headed home.

When Kira and Fisher arrived at his house, she told him, "I'll help you get undressed so you can take a shower."

"Can you help me shower?" He looked so hopeful.

She laughed. "Okay, normally, I wouldn't do this with a male wolf I wasn't seriously dating, but…"

"You're taking care of me. And I want to seriously date you."

Smiling, she shook her head. "Be serious."

"I am completely serious."

"Alright then." She could go along with that for now. She helped him out of his clothes and eyed his bandage. "You're not supposed to get it wet."

"You know how fast we heal. It probably will be fine. Doc sent me home with spare bandages."

"You can wash and then I'll replace the bandages."

He went into the bathroom to get the shower started. She quickly stripped off her clothes and joined him in the shower. Man, she never thought she would be doing this with a wolf while she was on this mission! Or dating him? She thought the stars must have aligned for them to meet like they did.

With Fisher, it just felt so natural with him. That was one thing about a wolf finding a mate. They needed to have a certain amount of compatibility, though like with humans, they would also disagree about things.

She began soaping him up and he was immediately aroused. He was soaping her up one handed, which was taking him longer, but she didn't want to rush him because this was super nice.

He soaped between her legs, working a little longer down there than he needed to, which was getting her all worked up. At that point, she didn't want him to stop. Ohmigod, he was going to make her come. Okay, so he was totally serious dating material.

He kissed her mouth with passion, just lips to lips at first but then deepening the kiss. He kept his fingers between her legs, stroking her beautifully. She loved the way his tongue stroked hers, titillating and tantalizing. She swiped at his, matching his passion with long, lingering caresses. He was an amazing kisser.

She felt like she was going to slide to the floor when he slipped a finger inside her feminine lips and swirled it around, sending her flying sky high. The orgasm was amazing, shattering her, and she wanted to do the same thing with him. She touched his full erection and kissed his mouth. "Are you hurting at all?"

"Nothing that your touch won't take care of."

She laughed. "I meant your shoulder."

"That's not what's aching so much," he said.

Smiling, she took hold of his erection and began to skillfully fondle him. He put his arm around her back and kissed her mouth again, their lips meeting and melding, soft, tender kisses, hot, passionate kisses. She barely felt the hot water sluicing down their bodies as she concentrated on his kisses and then he groaned and she thought his shoulder was hurting, but then he was climaxing, and she smiled.

She took the sprayer and washed his body, and he rinsed her off.

She dried him off and then herself. Before she helped him dress, she checked on his bandages.

Fisher liked how careful and tender Kira was. He recalled, in his groggy state after being shot and the fall off the cliff, just how gentle she'd been then too, trying to ascertain his injuries, bandaging him to stop the bleeding, but all the while concerned about the boy up above on the cliff.

When she pulled off the wet bandage, she smiled brightly. "Your skin has healed sufficiently now. You don't have to wear this bandage any longer." Then she checked the one on his back. "The same with this one. The wound might still be tender, and your muscle tissues and everything else the bullet went through will still be healing for some days, but it looks good on the surface."

He was so glad for that. No bandages meant he was nearly back to normal. Or at least kind of.

She slipped on a pair of pajamas while he pulled out a pair of pajama shorts for himself and she helped him into them.

Then they climbed into bed and this time she didn't ask if he was hurting. After what they had done in the shower? He figured she assumed he was feeling no pain. No matter what, he was snuggling with her.

"If Martin doesn't hire you, I'm quitting the USF, getting a job in Greystoke, and will officially date you for good," she said.

He couldn't believe she would give up a job she loved to be nearer to him. "That's the nicest thing anyone ever said to me."

She smiled and kissed his bare chest. "I'm serious."

He knew she was. "I'm glad." He just hoped it wouldn't come to that for her sake, but he would do everything to make her feel like she had made the right decision, no matter what happened concerning the job with the USF.