Tempting the Jaguar by Katie Reus Page A

cabinets, he leaned
    against the counter and watched her
    carefully. The percolating
    coffeemaker was the only sound in
    the otherwise quiet kitchen. When it
    became obvious she didn’t plan to
    continue, he said, “One of those
    vampires called you princess last
    night.”
    Her eyebrows furrowed as she
    nodded. “I know. It was weird,
    right? At first I thought maybe it
    was an insult but that doesn’t really
    make sense, does it? And why
    didn’t they want me hurt?”
    He’d wondered the same thing.
    The confusion rolling off her at the
    moment was so real, he had no
    doubt of her sincerity. Rainer had
    already told his brothers all of this
    and he knew Alaric had definitely
    relayed the message to their Alpha,
    but Knox and Alaric had more
    important things to worry about at
    the moment. And nothing was more
    important to Rainer than Estrella.
    Whatever was going on with the
    vampires, he’d be taking care of
    her.
    Covering the distance between
    them, he sat tentatively next to her.
    Her legs were crossed and that shirt
    his brother had brought for her
    showed way too much skin. Not
    that he was complaining, but it was
    hard to concentrate on talking when
    all he wanted to do was strip her
    again and bury himself inside her.
    “Why did you pull away from me in
    the cave?”
    She shrugged, the action jerky. “I
    was overwhelmed with everything
    and your...” She trailed off.
    “And my brother didn’t help
    things any.”
    Estrella shook her head. “It’s
    obvious he’s concerned about you.
    I shouldn’t have called him a jerk.”
    Rainer’s jaw clenched once.
    “You were right, he was being a
    jerk. But he’s not normally.” In
    fact, Conrad was usually the
    charming one of them. “When I
    told you my parents were murdered
    because someone betrayed them—it
    was my fault.”
    Estrella’s dark eyes widened.
    “What?”
    He’d held back last night but if he
    wanted to take this relationship with
    her in the right direction, he had to
    be honest. No matter how much it
    pained him. Opening up to people
    who weren’t his brothers was a
    foreign experience. “It was about
    three hundred years ago.” But even
    thinking about it still killed him
    inside. “I was involved with a wolf
    shifter from a neighboring pack.
    Things were different back then
    between supernatural beings. We
    fought for land, even the right to
    choose a mate. Life was definitely
    less civilized.”
    Surprise rolled off her and he
    knew he’d be explaining a lot about
    their different species in the future.
    Not that he minded. She deserved
    to know everything about
    supernatural history and he wanted
    to be the one to teach her. “This
    female,” he spat the word, unable to
    even say her name, “that I thought I
    loved—” He froze when he realized
    Estrella was growling.
    She stopped abruptly as if she’d
    surprised herself. Blinking, she
    blushed again. “Sorry. Please
    continue.”
    He held back a smile. Right now
    nothing should be easing his
    internal pain, but her reaction
    touched something inside him he
    was glad hadn’t died. “Long story
    short, a female shifter led my
    parents into a vampire trap. My
    brothers and I were also supposed
    to be there, but it didn’t work out
    that way.” And for decades after
    he’d wished he’d died with his
    parents. The shame and guilt of
    knowing he’d been responsible for
    their deaths had been almost too
    much to bear. “Once we realized
    what had happened, my brothers
    and I and a few other pack
    members killed them all. Her pack,
    the vampires. Everyone who didn’t
    flee.”
    She sucked in a quick breath and
    it hit him that if she’d grown up in
    the human world this would all be
    new to her, even if her parents had
    been killed.
    Rainer hadn’t killed his former
    lover. Conrad had unfortunately
    had to do that. She’d come at
    Rainer, ready to kill him and he’d
    been unable to strike back no
    matter how evil she’d shown
    herself to be. It was probably