Joining the Jaguar: BBW Paranormal Jaguar Shifter Romance by Zoe Chant Read Free Book Online

kind she'd only ever had with close friends. She felt as if she'd known him for years.
    She reminded herself to be careful. During their entire long talk, he'd given no indication that he was interested in her as anything more than a friend, and the last thing she needed was to lose her heart to him more than she already had.
    But deep inside, she knew it was already too late. Just the sight of him made her heart beat faster. She wanted him like she'd never wanted a man before in her life, and her heart clenched miserably at the thought that she'd never be with him again.
    By the time the sun came up, Emily's fever had broken, and she was sleeping a deep, restful sleep. Jolene, beaming and grateful, made them an enormous breakfast of pancakes and bacon. Jake smiled at her when she tucked in with enthusiasm, offering the last piece of bacon off his plate.
    They said goodbye in the parking lot with a handshake that lasted maybe a little longer than it could have. But no, probably it was only her imagination that Jake hesitated to let go of her hand.
     
    ***
     
    After that night, Sarah couldn't seem to stop thinking about Jake. She dreamed of him more nights than not, woke up wet and aching with her hands between her thighs, and brought herself to an overwhelming climax thinking of him.
    She thought of trying to find someone else, to get him off her mind, but the idea didn't appeal to her. She didn't want anyone else.
    She threw herself into her work instead, working longer and longer hours. There was always something that needed to be done, after all.
    One night, somewhere around the end of her third month in Brooksville, she left the office sometime around nine. It was dark already, and the bulb in the porch light was out. She fumbled with the key in the darkness.
    Someone grabbed her from behind. Strong arms wrapped around her, trapping her arms against her chest and squeezing her hard enough to steal her breath. A big hand pressed a foul-smelling cloth over her mouth and nose. She screamed, muffled through the cloth, and stamped her heel down hard on her attacker's foot. He grunted in pain, but his grip on her didn't let up.
    His arms tightened so hard she was worried he'd crack her ribs. It squeezed all the breath out of her, and when he finally loosened his hold, she dragged in a desperate breath filled with the sharp smell of chloroform. Her eyes dropped shut. She collapsed in his arms.
     
    ***
     
    Sarah woke up in a small, windowless room, curled up on a thin mattress pad. A single bare bulb high up in a corner cast a dim yellow glow. The bare concrete walls were damp, and the floor felt icy cold.
    She couldn't hear anything, not even the sound of passing cars. A basement room, probably completely underground. A sickening, claustrophobic feeling rose in her chest. Buried alive , she thought. She swallowed hard, forcing herself to stay calm.
    They'd given her a mattress and a blanket. Whoever had brought her here didn't want her dead, at least not yet.
    She slowly pushed to her feet. She still felt nauseous and had a hammering headache from the lingering effects of the chloroform.
    The room had a single door with a small slit near the bottom that a tray might be passed through. The door was locked, or course. She tested the knob, but it didn't give. When she crouched down to peer through the slit, there was nothing but darkness outside.
    Sarah tried to concentrate, despite the nausea and the pounding in her head. Should she call out? What were the changes that anyone but her captors would hear her, in a windowless underground cell — and what if it pissed her captors off?
    The walls were closing in on her. The air already tasted stale. Stay calm , she told herself.
    People would notice she was missing when she didn't open the office tomorrow morning. The pack would look for her. Jake wouldn't rest until they'd found her. He might not be interested in her as a lover or a partner, but he was fiercely protective of his