Chapter 8

8

A fter spooning Kira during the night and feeling like a million bucks, Fisher woke to discover she had left the bed already. Then he realized what had awoken him. The aroma of bacon and eggs cooking, and coffee brewing in the kitchen. What a beautiful night, all because Kira had made it so special. He was about to climb out of bed when she came into the bedroom, carrying a tray with his breakfast.

"Wow, thanks so much." He really hadn't expected her to treat him like a king.

"You deserve it. Did you sleep okay?"

"It was my best night ever. I can't believe I didn't wake when you left the bed."

She laughed. "I didn't expect you to be spooning me this morning. I really didn't wake you when I got up to do some searches?"

"No. I must have needed all the extra sleep."

"You do. Your body is healing itself."

"It is. I feel really great this morning. Where's your breakfast?" He ate his eggs.

"I ate before I began doing research while you slept a bit longer. No luck yet. This is the tedious part of our jobs."

He drank some of his coffee. "I don't mind it. I'm a good researcher. I can do some of that for you."

"I'll take you up on it. I've got logins for several sites that we can access to view police reports and all kinds of other information to help us find the shifters we're after. I finally realized these guys have a pattern though." She explained to him what she had learned.

"So that gives us a couple of days before they snatch another kid," he said.

"Yes. Unless they change their modus operandi."

"Let's hope not." He ate the two slices of bacon. "Thanks for breakfast. It was great."

"You're welcome. I'm sure you slept better in your own bed than at the clinic."

"With you? Yes." Then he climbed out of bed to get dressed.

She carried the tray of his empty dishes back into the kitchen to clean up.

He hollered out, "I'll get the dishes."

"I've got them. You need to rest your shoulder."

Then he realized just how hard it was to dress one-handed. He struggled to pull down his boxer briefs before he heard Kira running down the carpeted hall to his bedroom.

She quickly joined him. "So sorry. I forgot how hard it was for you to dress with only one good working arm." She eyed his boxer briefs.

"Go for it."

She laughed. "You're cute, you know?" She pulled his boxer briefs off.

"That's my underwear drawer over there." He should have already pulled out a pair.

She fished a pair of black boxer briefs out, then helped him into them. Then she found a pair of jeans and a T-shirt in the closet, then helped him into the jeans. She was being super careful when she pulled his shirt over his injured shoulder.

He really appreciated her help, though he wished he could do this on his own. He could, but it would have taken him a lot longer and been more of a struggle. "I hadn't expected you to dress and undress me. This goes above and beyond the call of duty."

"I'm happy to do it for you."

Once she had helped him finish dressing, she set him up on his computer to do searches for her. He was thrilled to help her and if he did get the job with the USF, this was a great way to learn about one aspect of it.

"I'm going to finish cleaning up the kitchen and I'll join you in a few minutes. Do you want some more coffee?"

"Yeah, sure, that would be great."

A few minutes later, she brought in a couple of cups of coffee, and she sat in a chair next to him while he was searching police reports of arrests, missing persons, and crimes of any kind that might yield the results they needed.

"Okay, nothing is showing up that might be a clue as to where they are." She leaned over and kissed his cheek, then took him to the site of the JAG Headquarters.

There, he saw the organization and their resources to get things done. "So there are four main branches. The Enforcers, who police shifters, ensuring everyone abides by our rules. The Guardians, who protect our people, secrets, and real wild animals."

"Right. Demetria was a Guardian before she joined Everett and became a USF special agent. Before the organization added wolf shifters, the rules said wild jaguars, but now it encompasses other wildlife in danger also."

"Okay, that makes sense. Then the Avengers go after the hard-core criminals that they have no hope of rehabilitating."

"Exactly," Kira said. "Then there's the JAG Special Forces unit that takes care of all kinds of missions like extractions from hostage situations. They're known as the Golden Claw JAG Elite Force. They do a little of everything. That's what Everett was."

"Aww, okay. And the USF falls under that branch."

"Yes, and Martin heads up the Golden Claws and the USF agents."

Then Fisher saw the page for the USF and the special agents' photos, phone numbers, emails, and addresses so they could keep in touch if they were working on missions or for socializing with one another.

"This is a really great site. Does it show the training facility?"

"Yes!" She opened the page that showed pictures for possible new hires in the various training exercises. "This is for any of the jaguar law enforcement agencies. Not just for the USF."

"Rope course, rappelling, hand-to-hand combat, weapon training, water survival. This will be a piece of a cake."

"Uh, turn to the next page."

He did and saw that he would have to also outmaneuver jaguar and wolf shifters in several courses in their fur coats. "Oh, now this will be interesting."

"Yeah, you can prepare yourself for all the rest, but when it comes to dealing with jaguars in their fur coats in their element—climbing, biting, clawing—they're hard to beat. But they're not allowed to bite and have to keep their claws sheathed. So that helps. If you're after rogue jaguar shifters you need to take down, that's another story. They'll come after you with tooth and claw. They can crush a tortoiseshell with their teeth and swipe an opponent, knocking them out for the final kill. What they'll do is show the force they can use, not on live subjects. But Martin decides what training you go through, so it might not be anything like this."

"I'm ready for anything. I've never seen a jaguar in killing mode," Fisher said.

"Same with me until I started working with them."

"Okay, well, I'm ready to sign up for the training."

"After you heal. Did you turn in your application?"

"Right after I told you I would. I filled it out online."

"Good. You already had a few million references so you should be good there. And your military record puts you ahead of other candidates also."

"That's good to hear." Then he returned to the search for missing kids. "Hey, this one is close to us in the same national park where we ran into the kidnappers. They're forming search teams. Tammy Lee is the little lost girl, so it isn't the kidnappers' MO. She was walking the family sheepdog and maybe she just wandered off and we can find her."

"Let's do it. I'll be your German shepherd companion, a search and rescue dog."

"Hell, I would rather be running as a wolf too."

"Yep, but you can't because of your shoulder." She got on the phone and called Heath and put it on the speakerphone. "Hey, Doc, I want to get your approval to allow Fisher to go with me on a missing-child search. I plan to turn wolf and he can be my handler."

Fisher smiled.

"Just for this mission," she said to Fisher.

"As long as he doesn't run as a wolf and if he's in pain, he sits it out," Heath said.

"Thanks, Heath. He will."

Fisher didn't have any plans to sit this one out. If Kira was going to be a wolf, he had to stay with her at all times as her handler. She might be able to run faster and locate the girl more quickly, but he needed to be there to alert the others that they had found her.

"Do you need more volunteers?" Heath asked.

"Sure. I'll call Devlyn and if he has got anyone available, we can all go out and help to find the little girl." Then she ended the call with Heath and called Devlyn and put it on speakerphone.

"Yeah, I'll contact our emergency list and send people out there. Did Heath approve Fisher's going or do we need to have someone stay with him at home?" Devlyn asked.

"I'm going," Fisher said. "Heath okayed it."

"Okay, good luck and I'll get to work on gathering folks at this end," Devlyn said.

Then they ended the call, and Fisher and Kira grabbed a first aid pack, bottles of water, and snacks and headed out to her car.

"Do you have a leash and a collar?" Fisher asked.

She gave him a get-real look.

He laughed. "Okay, I take that as a no." He just hoped the coordinators of the search teams didn't have an issue with her not being on a leash.

When they arrived at the location where people were searching a large area of woods, they parked a distance away from everyone else. She stripped out of her clothes in the back seat of her Kia and then shifted.

She was a beautiful red wolf—her fur was a shiny copper color, her tall, pointed ears twisting back and forth listening to everything that was going on. She had long, slender legs with big feet, like any wolf, and a bushy tail tipped with black like it had been dipped in an ink well, twisting back and forth in happy anticipation of finding the girl. Glad to be doing something important, he led her to the location where they were coordinating the search efforts. The family's sheepdog was waiting with the mother and Fisher and Kira smelled the dog.

"The dog returned to their campsite without the girl," one of the search coordinators told Fisher. "She is seven and had been walking the dog, Shep, until he ran off, the leash still attached to his collar."

Kira and Fisher also smelled the scent of the girl on the dog's leash and then they hurried off.

He hoped they could find the little girl quickly. They hadn't seen anyone else yet from the wolf pack, but he suspected they were on their way. The girl had been missing for six hours and he just hoped that they would find her before she ended up with hypothermia.

Even though searchers were doing a planned grid search to make sure they didn't miss her, Fisher and Kira followed their noses and tore off in another direction. She had done this a few times with her parents in Loveland, Colorado when she was younger so she knew just what she needed to do.

She was running one way, then another, but at least she wasn't losing Fisher because he could smell the scents as well as she could. She just didn't want his wound to begin to hurt. Loving that he was with her, she had mixed feelings because she wanted him to heal and not feel any pain. And she wanted him to be in good shape to help her find the kidnappers. She really wanted to work with him. If he did, she knew it would be another way to impress Martin.

In the direction she was currently running, she found the girl's scent was stronger this way. Tammy had sure run a long way for being a seven-year-old. But she could understand how come Tammy had gotten so lost. She must not have been taught about hugging a tree so that search teams could find her. Kira didn't smell any sign of the kidnappers or any other people in this area, so that meant the girl was on her own, that no one had grabbed her—as in a kidnapping scenario—and Kira was grateful for that.

Fisher hollered, "Tammy! We found Shep, your sheepdog, and everyone's searching for you. My dog and I are coming for you, and we will get you to your mom and dad, who are waiting to see you."

Well, that was one good thing about having a "dog handler" with Kira! And then she saw the little girl stand up in the brush ahead, her cheeks streaked with tears. Now this was the part that Kira didn't like when she was running as a wolf. She couldn't hug the little girl and wipe away her tears. She woofed and wagged her tail, to show Tammy she was a good dog and loved kids. Tammy reached her hand out and Kira approached her. She licked her hand and her cheek, and the girl laughed. It was music to Kira's ears.

Fisher was only a short distance behind her, having lagged behind as a human. She hadn't realized she had left him way back there. But as soon as she saw him, he was smiling.

"Hi, Tammy. I'm Fisher. This is my beautiful search dog, Kira. She loves little kids."

Kira howled to let anyone know she had found the girl. Another howl rent the air, but she knew it was a human howling—most likely someone from Devlyn and Bella's wolf pack.

"That's my brother Tanner, acknowledging that we found her." Fisher brought out water for Tammy and pulled out the emergency blanket and covered her with it.

Tammy was drinking the water, shivering a little. He tried his phone, but he wasn't getting any signal.

When Kira realized Fisher couldn't get through on his phone, she howled again to let everyone know where they were again.

Tanner howled back. He was getting closer, and she knew he was running to where they were.

Before long, Tanner, Shawn, Devlyn, and even Heath were running to catch up to them. Tanner said to Tammy, "I'm so glad Kira and Fisher found you."

"I'm a doctor," Heath said to Tammy, and checked her over. "We're going to take you to the rescue station where your mommy is and get you warmed up further."

Then Fisher said, "Do you want me to carry you?"

She shook her head.

Fisher said, "Here, take my hand. If you get tired of walking, one of the guys will carry you, okay?"

Tammy nodded.

But once they began to walk, they were moving so slowly, Fisher asked, "How about if I give you a piggyback ride?"

Tammy finally agreed.

But Tanner gave Fisher a look as if he couldn't be serious, crouched down, and she climbed onto Tanner's back instead. Then he began to jog, and everyone kept up with him. It didn't take them long at this rate of speed to make it back to where Tammy's mother and the family's dog were. Shep began to bark and raced off to greet Tammy. Her mother was in tears as Tanner crouched down and Tammy released him, then she ran to join her mother, the dog nearly knocking the girl over in his exuberance to greet her.

It was a joyful reunion and Kira howled with elation. Then she licked Tammy, saw a news crew coming to speak with Fisher because he had found the girl, and Kira headed back to the car. She didn't want anyone to take pictures of Fisher because she was thinking if the kidnappers saw him in the news—but no, he had been a wolf. Okay, so no problem there.

"Good job, guys," Tanner said.

Fisher waved goodbye, and he jogged after Kira. Before long, she was standing at the car, and he opened the door for her. "Well, that was a great experience."

She jumped into the back seat of the car and shifted as people, including the girl's father, began to return from searches, and headed out. "It was." Kira began getting dressed while he sat in the front passenger seat. "I just didn't want the news reporters to get a picture of you but then remembered you were a wolf when the kidnappers saw you. And if anyone caught pictures of me, I wasn't a wolf when they saw me, so we're good."

Fisher laughed. "I wondered why you were in such rush to get out of there."

She finished dressing and climbed into the driver's seat. She could have let Fisher drive, but she didn't want him to have to use his shoulder that much. Not when he was supposed to be at home, resting. She couldn't believe that he had offered to give Tammy a ride with his injured shoulder, but then again, she could. He was truly heroic. She was glad when Tanner took over instead.

Heath came up to the passenger door and she rolled down her windows. "How are you doing, Fisher?"

"Great. No pain at all."

"Okay, good. I want you to go home and rest. Kira, make sure that he does. We're all having dinner tonight at Bella and Devlyn's home, so I'll be checking on you again. And no more offering to give lost kids piggyback rides," Heath said, shaking his head.

"He'll rest. He has a mission to go on once I learn where the kidnappers are. If he doesn't rest, he's going to be left behind." Kira was sure that would be an even bigger incentive for Fisher to take all the downtime he could get.

Heath smiled. "She has got your number. See you all tonight."

"See ya," Fisher said.

Then Kira drove off and they headed home. "I guess you and your pack members run as wolves in the park some. I've never been here before, so I figured that I would only think of it as the place where we rescued the kidnapped boy."

Fisher had his phone out and was checking it out. "Now we have a new memory—a little lost girl. Everyone there with a phone, and that was everyone , was taking photos of us, by the way. Everyone's sharing them and news sources are sharing them now too. I'm sure that they'll try and track us down to get the whole story."

"You. I was just a dog."

"A beautiful wolf."

They finally reached his home, and she pulled into the garage and parked next to his car. "It's so neat that you have so many wolves to back you on ventures like this," she said.

"It is. We always pull together when people are in need. If we hadn't been searching for kidnapped victims, we might not have come across the news about the missing child. But if anyone else had heard about it on the news, they would have organized the pack to help search for her."

"No one else was in their wolf coat." She had thought that maybe a couple of his brothers might have been. She'd been glad to see Heath there in case Tammy had been having a medical emergency.

"No. Once they learned you were running as a wolf, they figured there was no need. Now if there hadn't been a ton of searchers out looking for her, because we'd had the jump on learning about the missing girl, more of our pack members would have run as wolves. And of course if it had been a shifter in trouble, some of our members would have been running as wolves, and others carrying first aid packs."

They headed inside and despite what Heath had told Fisher to do, he immediately started up his computer.

"I hope you're starting the computer because you want me to do more searches on it, while you go to bed. Though I can use my own computer."

Fisher let out his breath in exasperation.

She smiled. "Go, or I'll have to report you to Heath tonight."

"You are brutal on me."

"Only because I want you to be on the search as soon as we find the kidnappers."

Reluctantly, he rose from his computer chair, but before he retired to his bedroom, he pulled her in for a kiss.

"Hmm," she moaned against his mouth, pulling him closer for a snug fit, smiling when she felt his arousal swelling. Their tongues luxuriated in touching each other's, then she finally pulled away. "Rest."

"Hell, that's going to be hard to do after that."

She laughed and then he went to bed.