Jaguar's Joy (Veteran Shifters 5)

“Huh.” Her eyes were still assessing, but the suspicion was draining away. She must know the rest of the men—in fact, she had to, given what Ty had heard about the happenings up here lately. Nate and Carlos had both had run-ins with a local wolf pack, full of troublemakers, and Ty knew the law had gotten involved. Ty eyed the wolf in the backseat. Was he one of them?

“Do you want me to come back to the station?” Ty volunteered. “Give a statement?”

Surprise bloomed on her face. She probably didn’t get a lot of people volunteering to come down to the station. “That would make my life easier.”

“Then it’ll be my pleasure.”

That had come out more flirtatious than he’d meant it to—he should put a lid on that. Surely a sheriff wouldn’t appreciate a man hitting on her while she was working at her job.

But she didn’t look angry. Just...a little unmoored.

“Do you need a ride?” she said finally.

Ty shook his head. “My car’s just back there. I can follow you back.”

“Thank you,” she said. “I appreciate this. Mr. Neal.”

“Ty,” he said immediately.

The corner of her mouth quirked up. “Ty.”

***

Misty

Well, the day had certainly taken a weird turn.

There had been several moments there where she hadn’t known whether she and Gene were going to make it through the day alive. She’d been kicking herself for not bringing something heavier-duty than a handgun, sure that Eli was about to make a bid to tear her throat out.

And then a jaguar had melted out of the woods to save her.

Misty didn’t believe in fairy tales, but for a second she’d wondered if it had been some kind of crazy apparition, rather than a real live shifter. It had seemed so impossible.

And then the jaguar had shifted into a huge, gorgeous man who had willingly

volunteered to come make a statement at the station, which seemed even more impossible.

Misty didn’t know what to make of it at all.

She drove carefully back, not wanting to jar Gene, and keeping a weather eye on Eli, handcuffed in the backseat, in case he decided that he wanted to try something else after all.

She’d been so sure that the biggest risk was that he’d run. He was demonstrably a coward—he’d run away from the fight at Pauline’s house. But she supposed that he’d felt cornered enough to be desperate.

Although God knew what his endgame had been. Fight the sheriff and her deputy to a standstill, and then...what? Kill them? Run away to Canada?

She supposed if Eli had been better at long-term planning, he probably wouldn’t have ended up in this situation in the first place, though.

Fortunately for everyone, Eli didn’t decide to make a last-minute break during the drive. He stayed slumped in the backseat, looking defeated. Misty might even have felt sorry for him, if he hadn’t attacked an innocent woman and children in their home a couple of months back.

As it was, she had a hard time mustering any sympathy.

Ty Neal followed them all the way back to the station. Misty had half-expected him to disappear on the way—either to realize that he wasn’t actually interested in spending hours detailing every minute detail of an incident he had no personal investment in, or to disappear in a puff of smoke like the benevolent spirit he still half-seemed to her.

But no, he pulled in right behind the Jeep on the street outside of the station, and got out with that same friendly, helpful air around him that he’d had back in the woods. Somehow, it was even more incongruous here in town than it had been at the scene of the crime.

“Hi,” he said to her.

“Hi,” she repeated, feeling a little stupid. “Thanks for coming along.”