Greg nodded agreement then motioned to the Hilliard brothers. “Dave, you go with the ladies and make sure nobody hassles them.”
Dave nodded, his face set in grim lines.
All of them were feeling the fire of their jaguars, Ren knew. With the prospect of confrontation in the air, their inner cats were ready for anything.
Greg got up from his seat while the van was still in motion and crouched next to the driver, instructing him exactly where to let them off. Ren had seen the flash of Greg’s jaguar in his eyes, but they were all adept at hiding their inner nature. The sun was on its descent, so hopefully, nobody else would see anything amiss.
Ren would be the diversion. He would pose for photos and draw every eye while the women got themselves to safety. If there was a confrontation, he’d be right in the middle of it, taking the focus away from his mate and settling matters himself—with backup from his Clan. As it should be.
Jaguars were independent, like most cats, but they’d learned to lean on each other a bit more these days, hoping to rebuild what they’d lost of their population and culture. They would not go quietly into the night. No, they were regrouping and regaining their numbers every day, by working together.
Ren put on his sunglasses and adopted his movie star persona, coming down the steps of the bus and deliberately leading the waiting paparazzi off to the left, away from the path to the hotel doorway. Greg had asked the driver to angle the van so that it was a little past the doorway for just this reason. As the van had moved past the straight path to the door, the photographers had scrambled to meet it, leaving the pathway open.
Ren answered shouted questions with apparent humility, all the while watching from behind his mirrored shades as the women exited the van and made a beeline for the door. They were almost there when the bald-headed man stepped out from behind a bush and flashed his camera in Kat’s face. She stumbled a bit, blinded by the flash of light too intense for the setting. Franny and Liatha, bless them, closed in around her as Dave Hilliard stepped in front, blocking the man from approaching any closer.
“You should have played ball with me, sweetheart,” the man called after Kat as the other women whisked her away, into the hotel.
Dave stepped close to the man and warned him off in no uncertain terms. The guy scoffed at Dave and turned away, looking in Ren’s direction for a moment before stalking off into the parking lot.
Ren continued to pose for photos as this all took place behind the gaggle of paparazzi. None of them seemed to notice what had occurred, for which he was grateful. It also made the incident even more worrisome. Why had that man been asking Kat where Ren was if he wasn’t going to stick around and at least take a photo? This definitely was a puzzle…and cats loved puzzles.
Chapter Twelve
Ren was firm but polite with the photographers, and after a few more minutes, they let him pass in peace. He caught up with the women just inside the entry to the hotel’s restaurant. The hotel had deployed security at all entrances to be certain that only people who were supposed to be in the building got in.
It was unacceptable to Ren and his inner jaguar that anyone hassle his mate. In that, they were both, blessedly, unified. That remarkable thought made him wonder if his Alpha had been right all along, and Ren might finally come into sync with his inner jaguar when he found his mate. Only time would tell, but he looked forward to finding out.
First, though, they had to work together to convince her to stay with them. Everything depended on her reaction to learning about his dual nature. She was the only woman for him. If she rebuked him, there would never be another. He knew that, and it scared him down to his toes. He had to be so very careful with Kat, or he’d blow his chance at happiness…forever.
Ren walked right up to Kat, tearing off his sunglasses so he could meet her gaze with nothing between them. With her, he would never hide behind mirrored lenses. He wanted her to see, and accept, all of him, once he figured out how to break the news to her.
“Are you all right?” he asked, wanting to chase down the man who had dared accost his mate while, at the same time, wanting to comfort her and be certain she was okay.
“I’m fine, but I told you that guy was a creep,” she said, showing surprising spirit. He was both relieved and impressed.
“You were definitely right about him, but we’re on alert now, and if I know Dave, he’s already got the license plate number of the guy’s car and will be tapping his law enforcement sources shortly so we know who he was, where he was from, what his problem is.” Ren forced a smile. “If we wanted, we could probably learn his shoe size and what he ate for breakfast, as well, I bet.”
She chuckled. “Franny was saying Dave is one of your bodyguards?”
“Yeah, Dave and Bryan.” Ren motioned for Bryan to come closer as they all stood, waiting to be seated, as a group. “Bryan Hilliard, this is Kat,” he introduced them formally. “Kat, this is Bryan. If you ever have any trouble and I’m not around, Bryan and his brother will help you out.”
“Oh, Dave is your brother? I see the family resemblance,” Kat said, shaking Bryan’s hand politely. “I’ll have to thank him for helping us get away from that creep.”
“He’ll be along in a bit,” Bryan assured them both. “Like Ren said, he’s probably looking up everything we can find out about that bald guy right now. He’ll have a preliminary report for you in a few minutes, Ren.” Bryan nodded politely and withdrew to answer his cellphone, which had just rung quietly.
The group was seated at a banquet table in the back room of the restaurant, and dinner was one big, happy, noisy group. Ren couldn’t forget, however, that his potential mate had just been accosted by some dude with a camera. It didn’t sit well.
The dinner itself was a message from his Clanmates to him. They were acknowledging the possible mating and showing their approval and joy that Ren might finally have found his One. They were being his family. Looking after him and his potential mate and reinforcing those bonds of Clanhood and friendship.
Any other time, Ren and his inner jaguar would have been basking in the love and affection of his people. The threat to Kat, however, made it hard to enjoy the meal and the camaraderie. He kept looking over at Dave and Bryan, knowing they had a report to give him once dinner was over.
When dinner ended, Ren walked Kat to her room, doing his best to make sure she was safe for the night before he left her. He would sleep in the bushes in front of her hotel room window in jaguar form, if he had to. He’d do anything to be sure she was safe, but he didn’t want to scare her off. He had to be smart, too.
Ren went straight from seeing Kat safely to her room to his suite. Dave and Bryan were already there, laptops open, screens filled with all the information they’d been able to dig up, beg, borrow or outright hack about the bald man.
Ren felt anger rise and knew his eyes were blazing as each new piece of information was revealed. Something was very wrong with that so-called photographer. A man who had little to no interest in photography based on his past history. One thing became very clear to Ren as the Hilliards pieced together a very grim picture of the man who had been lying in wait, not once, but twice, for Kat. They needed to warn everybody to be even more on their guard than usual.