Terry Spear - [Shifter 02] by Jaguar Fever

he wasn’t watching her.
    She was starting to wipe away the blood off David’s forehead when he closed his eyes and clenched his teeth. “Can you get some pain medicine from my kitchen, Wade? It’s the first one on the right,” Maya asked as she finished washing the blood off David’s cheek. “And a glass of water.”
    Wade returned with water and the medicine.
    After David had taken it, she began applying bandages.
    Wade grinned and David frowned as he looked at the box. “Kids’ bandages? Sea turtles? Porcupines? Butterflies?”
    “Store was all out of the regular kind. I’d give you a choice, but I’m afraid I’ve got to use too many of them, so you’re going to get an assortment.”
    Wade chuckled. “Looks like a new fashion statement.”
    David cast his brother an annoyed look.
    She placed the bandages horizontally over the long gash.
    David closed his eyes, looking tired and like the painkiller hadn’t kicked in yet.
    The front door opened, and her cousins each carried a bag into the house.
    “Hell, I forgot our bags are at the hotel room,” David said. “You’ve got to go back into Houston to get them and check out of the room.”
    “Tomorrow,” Wade said. “Before we go to the airport, we’ll drop by the hotel and get our stuff. No sense in making a four-hour round-trip back to Houston.”
    Everett let out a bark of laughter when he saw David and his bandage collage. Maya frowned at him. “Just think if it had been you.”
    Huntley was grinning. “Remind me not to get injured when I’m visiting your place, Maya. Either that or I’ll have to remember to bring my own first-aid kit.”
    Maya kissed the uninjured side of David’s forehead, making everyone quit smiling as if she’d put them in their place. “At least he’s man enough not to let it bother him.”
    David offered them all a smug smile. But Wade was grinning the biggest, arms folded across his chest.
    Everett headed for the kitchen. “Got anything to drink?”
    “Who’s taking first watch?” Huntley asked.
    Maya felt like she had joined the Service on a mission, watching for the bad guys, but instead of being in the jungle when it happened, she was at home—the first time she’d had to worry about such a thing out here.
    “Jaguars?” she asked.
    “What else?” Wade responded. “I’ll take first watch in about half an hour.”

Chapter 5
    His brother looked torn between wanting to help patrol the area with the other male cats and wanting to stay inside with Maya. But Wade knew that with the way David’s head had to be splitting and the bandages arranged diagonally over his brow, shifting was out of the question.
    Before Wade could shift and take first watch, Maya said, “As for the sleeping arrangements tonight, without Connor and Kat’s permission, I can’t allow anyone to stay in their bed. We don’t have a spare bedroom. But Connor and I both have separate offices. I also have a queen-sized bed if a couple of you want to share it. I can take the couch.”
    “No worries, Maya,” Everett said. “My brother and I will sleep as jaguars on your living room floor.”
    “Works for me,” Wade said. “I’ll do the same.”
    Wade knew his brother hated that he couldn’t be just one of the guys. “I don’t think the bandages will stick to fur,” David said.
    The guys chuckled.
    She smiled. “No. You should leave them on until at least tomorrow. You can sleep in my bed if you want.”
    David smiled so broadly that Wade was ready to sock him. The thought of sleeping in her bed conjured up all kinds of notions. All he could think of was being in the bed with Maya and finishing the moves they’d started on the dance floor. Shifters could have consensual sex with one another and not be mated for life, so it would be just another way to see if they were compatible and if the relationship could blossom into something more serious.
    Since she’d wanted so badly to mix with others of their kind, he was fairly sure