Jungle Rapture

By M.A. Jewell

An advocate for endangered species, journalist Kelsi Gorman travels to the Brazilian Amazon to locate a mysterious black jaguar the size of a saber-toothed tiger. Instead, the enormous cat finds her knee deep in mud, blood, and smugglers.

Jaime Salazar, one of a few surviving male jaguar shifters, encounters a scent he never thought to find—a female jag shifter. Jag queens exist only in the elder’s stories, but someone staked out a she-cat like poacher bait.

In a fit of primal instinct, Jaime marks Kelsi as his mate. Now, no other female will arouse him. To avoid a long celibate life, he is forced to woo his reluctant mate-to-be. But first he must keep her alive.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Evernight Publishing
• Release date: Apr 28, 2017
• ISBN: 9781773392639

Book preview

Published by EVERNIGHT PUBLISHING ® at Smashwords

www.evernightpublishing.com

Copyright© 2017 M.A. Jewell

ISBN: 978-1-77339-263-9

Cover Artist: Jay Aheer

Editor: Karyn White

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be used or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in reviews.

This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, and places are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

DEDICATION

With love for my husband, Jim, and sons, Jason and Craig, who have had faith in me since I first said, I think I'll write a book.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Special thanks to Sally J. Walker (editor/author), who graciously mentors beginning writers, as well as published, in her critique group, The Nebraska Writers Workshop. My writing roots are here.

Another thank you to Jules Dixon (author) and the writers in the Omaha Romance Critique and Writing Group. Jules encouraged me and lent her professional eye to bring this book into being.

When I type by M. A. Jewell I always want to add et al since so many people help make it happen. You know who you are. Thank you.

JUNGLE RAPTURE

The Jaguar Queens, 1

M.A. Jewell

Copyright © 2017

Chapter One

Tears blurred Kelsi Gorman's view of David's body, face down in the mud, only feet from her in the tight Amazon clearing. His camera pack rested against his side with a strap still looped over one shoulder. She was too terrified to mourn, as her grief-numbing dread consumed her.

A few yards to the south, a limp, muddied jaguar appeared just as dead. Wire cable stretched taut from a rust-colored front paw to a tree-embedded anchor about knee high. Jungle-floor sludge painted over her rosettes.

Kelsi almost wished the poachers had tranquilized her, too. Twine scored her wrists secured behind a tree trunk. Her hidden hands trembled with mounting panic as she picked at the knotted hemp.

A twenty-something Brazilian with coffee-toned skin stepped toward her, his pungent body odor preceding him. He stood nose to nose to her five-foot-seven height. Dark eyes scanned her body. Kelsi turned from his scrutiny and swallowed against the stench.

His steel rifle barrel lifted her chin. He turned a questioning look to his partner. Kelsi stilled. This was it. She strained to catch meaning in their Portuguese. Carlos? Green eyes … sell … Manaus. Good money.

Sexual enslavement terrified her, but also ignited hope. Stay alive. Traffickers dealt in drugs, exotic animals, and human cargo—and Brazil was a hotbed for all three. These poachers would be connected to the slave trade. An escape into Manaus, the capital of Amazonas, seemed possible, unlike here, surrounded by savage rainforest.

Stocky, with close-cropped, graying hair, and equally fragrant, Carlos appeared in charge. His hands stilled on a portable cage he assembled. Too old, Julio! White … United States!

Bile rose to Kelsi's throat. She tilted her head and widened her eyes, willing the older man to find her marketable, a challenge, since her shoulder-length, chestnut hair stuck to her face in damp clumps. Nor did her sweat-ringed shirt and baggy pants show her figure to any advantage.

Disgust plain on his face, Carlos berated his partner, gesturing to David's body. They spoke too fast for Kelsi's elementary Portuguese. But apparently, Julio had erred when he killed her photographer.

If they didn't sell her… Kelsi's blood ran cold.

Finally, Carlos leveled a black-eyed glare at Julio. Police … kill her.

Julio sent Kelsi a startled look. For an instant, she thought he'd refuse. A defeated expression lined his face before he pulled his gaze away.

Heart pounding a staccato beat, she pushed back at the eruption that clawed inside her chest. Not now! Panic-filled eyes would give her away. If the poachers realized she understood them, she'd lose her only advantage. She jerked her gaze to the tangled foliage behind them.

Deafening bird racket burst from the canopy high above. As the pandemonium died down, a cough came from the undergrowth. The poachers froze. Both men leapt to the center of the space and stood back to back. Carlos lifted a tranquilizer rifle against his shoulder, loaded a dart, and slammed the bolt into firing