The Jaguar Star (Tales of the Were: Jaguar Island Book 4) Read online

  Chapter Six

  Something the cat dragged in, indeed, Ren thought with a final chuckle. He was a cat, and though he wasn’t exactly dragging her anywhere, she was definitely leaning on him more than a little. He shouldn’t have been so solicitous with the wine at dinner, he realized belatedly. He’d just gotten used to being around shifter women. He hadn’t taken the fact that Kat was human into account when he’d been making sure she had everything she might want at dinner.

  And just why had he done that? It had been automatic, on his part. He hadn’t even realized he was doing it until Dennis had given him a rather pointed look somewhere toward the end of the meal. The raised eyebrow had spoken volumes, and Ren suddenly realized he’d been catering to Kat, as if they were on a date or something.

  Only, it didn’t feel like a date. When he examined his motivations, it felt more like something he was just meant to do. Looking after Kat was…natural.

  That thought had made him pause. Then, he’d paused again and put the wine bottle back down before he could top off Kat’s glass. Again. He’d stopped being so solicitous after that, but by that time, the meal was basically over, and Sonia was about to speak. Ren sat there, next to Kat, wondering at his own behavior. Puzzled, he’d barely heard Sonia’s rousing speech. He had just nodded or smiled at the appropriate times while his inner thoughts where a whirlwind of confusion.

  When it was clear Kat was tipsy after the meal, he’d felt responsible. He shouldn’t have let her drink so much, but again, he hadn’t been thinking. Why had his brains suddenly decided to take a holiday where this little human woman was concerned?

  He needed to get outside and take a run. He’d be very careful not to be seen. This time. The fact that Kat had seen him last night astounded him. How had she managed to look out the window at just the right time? Was Fate playing games with them both?

  Ren knew he hadn’t been in the open space between the hotel and the nearby woods for any great length of time. If Kat really had seen him, it had to have been in that very narrow window of opportunity. It had been late. Very late. All the other non-magical folk were long asleep. What had Kat been doing awake? Or had something awakened her at just the right moment to catch him prowling around in his other form?

  If so, why? There had to be more to this whole setup than he understood. Of course, with Sonia involved… Fey magic had a way of messing with normal perceptions. Was Sonia doing something to bring about events for purposes of her own design? He had to scoff at his own naiveté. Of course, she was. She was fey, after all. That’s the kind of thing they did.

  The fey had a well-earned reputation for interfering in the mortal realm. They’d been doing it for thousands of years. The mortal realm and the fey plane of existence were closest of all the magical realms and were therefore the easiest to transverse. The fey, as a magical race, had the knowledge and the power to make it happen. Any time someone from the mortal realm entered fey spaces, it was usually due to some sort of magical accident.

  Pushing thoughts of Sonia aside, Ren escorted a very tipsy Kat to her room. He waited patiently as she fumbled with her key card, finally managing to open the heavy door. Realizing he’d have to at least step inside to put down the water bottles he’d snagged for her, he pushed the door open. She moved unsteadily into the room, and he followed, just a short way, placing the water bottles on the console table that ran the length of one wall and held the television and desk area.

  He saw an array of office supplies and a colorful planner book open on the desk and was intrigued, but he wouldn’t go any farther into the room. As a shifter, invading someone’s territory without permission—especially when that person was both innocent and vulnerable—didn’t feel right. Perhaps, at some point in the future, he’d get her to share what looked like art combined with scheduling with him. Or not. Either way, it should be her choice. Uncertain of why he felt so very strongly about this odd situation, he withdrew to the doorway.

  “Thanks for the escort and the water,” Kat said as she lowered herself unsteadily to sit on the edge of the bed.

  “No problem,” Ren answered, suddenly feeling as if he needed to run. Run far. Run fast. Away from this confusing woman. “Sleep well, little Kat,” he whispered on his way out the door.

  Ren went back to the restaurant, just to show his face, as promised. The last thing he wanted was for untrue gossip to start making the rounds about himself and Kat. He could handle it, but he suspected she wasn’t anywhere close to getting used to being in the spotlight yet.

  Of course, if this movie was the hit he suspected it would become, she would have to figure that out in a hurry, but not just yet. Bad enough that she’d probably have a hangover tomorrow, most of it his fault. He didn’t want to compound the problem by her having to face unfair rumors and innuendo.

  Ren allowed himself to be coaxed out onto the dance floor for a few minutes, just to show everyone what a good sport he was and that he had definitely returned to the party after a very short absence to make sure Kat got to her room safely. He’d polished his own reputation while saving hers, as well. Two birds, one dance.

  After expending a bit of his excess energy in the exuberant dancing, he still felt the need to run. Excusing himself from the crowd and heading for the exit, he wasn’t too surprised to find Greg at his side as he left the building.

  “Hope you don’t mind some company,” the older man said to Ren as they walked out into the night air. “Sonia asked me to keep an eye on her star attraction after your run last night.”

  Ren rounded on Greg. “Does everyone know I went out for a prowl last night?” He could hear the exasperation in his voice and tried to tamp down his irritation. Greg didn’t deserve it.

  Greg shrugged. “Personally, I was in bed with my mate, so I knew nothing of your nocturnal activities, but if you’ve slipped so far as to let a human see you…”

  “Kat’s not just any human,” Ren said defensively, before he even realized what he was going to say.

  “She’s not?” Greg stopped short, turning to meet Ren’s gaze.

  Ren ran one hand through his hair in frustration. “No. She is. She should be.” He sighed. “But I’m beginning to believe there’s something more going on with her.” Ren turned away, stalking a few steps forward down the path toward the woods. Greg caught up with him easily. “I’m not sure what to think, but I suspect our friendly fey knows more than she’s letting on.”

  Greg was quiet a moment as they walked slowly onward, then he spoke in a low tone. “You know what the elders said about Sonia. She’s on our side.”

  “That’s as may be, but I’m convinced she had some ulterior motives in hiring Katrina.” Ren’s voice was all but a growl as his pace increased. They were almost to the cover of trees.

  “Bad motives?” Greg sounded dubious.

  Ren sighed. “That, I haven’t figured out yet, but definitely motives. Otherwise, why pick a nobody with an obscure theatrical background? Sonia could’ve had her pick of anyone once I signed on for the film. Why her?”

  Greg coughed. “Getting a bit big for your britches there, aren’t you, son?”

  Ren stopped walking and turned to face the older man who had taught him martial arts, and a whole lot more, as a child. “All right, you’ve made your point. I know my ego is the biggest thing in the room, sometimes, but even you have to admit that having me in the film guaranteed Sonia a certain bit of notoriety. That’s why Mark asked me to do it in the first place. I was supposed to be enjoying some quiet time off at my place on the island, not shooting another film. A low-budget one, at that.”

  Greg shook his head. “You’re a spoiled brat, Ren.” His laughter took the sting out of the words. “For that matter, so am I. We’ve gotten too used to big-budget blockbusters. It’s a good change for us to rough it in a cheaper hotel than usual and shoot in drafty locations, instead of cozy multi-million-dollar studios with the latest tech and squads of carpenters to build everything from scratch.” Greg cl
apped Ren on the shoulder, and they started walked again. “As for why Kat… Who knows? I suspect you might be right. Maybe Sonia knows something she’s not divulging yet. Maybe it was a random thing. I have no idea, and the fey aren’t usually very forthcoming with information when we ask questions point blank. All I know is, we’ve got Kat, and we might as well make friends with her. She seems nice enough.” Greg shrugged and dropped his hand from Ren’s shoulder.

  “She is nice. Maybe too nice for what will come down on her head after she appears in this movie,” Ren said on a gusty sigh. “I doubt she’s prepared for the media attention she’s going to get.”

  “She’s an adult,” Greg reminded him. “I’m sure she’ll figure it out. Just like you did.” Greg tilted his head, as if remembering. “Scratch that. She’ll do better than you did. As I recall, you spent a few years believing your own publicity. Your head was so swelled with your own importance, you barely fit in the doorway.”

  Ren pushed at Greg’s shoulder, laughing. “I was never that bad,” he objected. “My cat brought me right back down to earth when my ego started getting too big. Needing to shift and stalk something in order to stay sane had a way of reminding me of what was really important in life, and it wasn’t my bank account or how many fancy sports cars I had parked in the driveway of my Malibu beach house.”

  “That stuff doesn’t hurt, of course,” Greg put in, chuckling good naturedly.

  “Of course,” Ren agreed with a conspiratorial grin. “But, speaking of our wild sides, how about a short run? I located some deer tracks last night and a watering hole not too far away in dense woodland. Maybe we could stalk something.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Greg agreed readily. “Lead the way, grasshopper.”

  Only Greg could get away with calling Ren that. He’d been Ren’s sensei for a whole lot of years.

  Katrina sat on the bed after Ren left, her head spinning. Damn. She shouldn’t have drunk so much. She had to be awake and alert the next morning, and more than that, she had to not look like something that had been run over by a truck and found on the side of the road. Well, she knew what to do to solve the dehydration issue. She reached for the first bottle of icy cold water and unscrewed the cap.

  Sitting up, she decided to go sit by the window for a bit while she downed as much of the water as she could stand. She might even do a little work before she went to bed, if she could clear her head a bit, but that wasn’t crucial. She was well prepared for the next day. She knew her lines and had studied her notes before going to dinner. A quick re-read in the morning would set her right, and she’d be ready to roll.

  She sat by the window, looking to see if she could catch sight of those green glowing feline eyes from the night before, but it wasn’t meant to be. She gave up after finishing the second bottle of water, then grabbed a third—one of those that Ren had brought and left on the table by the door—and opened it before shutting the curtains. She laid out her clothes for the next morning, still a bit unsteady on her feet but definitely regaining sobriety as time passed.

  Putting on her pajamas, she went through her nightly routine. Washed her face, brushed her teeth, and put her hair up, off her neck. She swigged water from the third bottle and put the fourth on the bedside table, for later, just in case. Then, she put on the television and put the volume on low, wanting to catch the weather report for tomorrow on the local news as she climbed into the large bed.

  She was just settling down to shut her eyes, having figured out the timer function on the television. She’d set it to shut off automatically after about a half hour, which was something she often did to wind down at the end of the day. At home, she would tune to the channel that was devoted to the weather so she could hear what was in store meteorologically for the next day. Here, though, in a strange place, she liked hearing a bit of the local color from what the news people decided to cover.

  Katrina sat upright in bed when she heard Ren’s name. Opening her bleary eyes, she saw footage that must have been shot from a long distance, of him getting out of a car. She didn’t recognize the vehicle, but she recognized the surroundings. He was at the side entrance of this hotel, and Sonia was greeting him with a big smile on her face.

  Katrina turned up the sound a bit so she could hear what the news people had to say, but it was vague. They were only reporting Ren’s presence in the area and his meeting with the director of his new film, which was shooting in the area. They wisely didn’t give out the name of the hotel, and Katrina doubted anyone could really recognize the location from what had been shown, but they were definitely aware that Hollywood royalty had descended on their town.

  Suddenly, this all felt real. Up ‘til now, Katrina had been in a sort of daze, floating through the preparations, as if in a dream, but seeing Ren on the news… It brought the reality of what she was embarking on home in a stark way. Sober as a judge from the shock, she turned the sound back down on the television and lay back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling in the darkened room. What had she gotten herself into?

  A moment’s blind panic assailed her, and she felt like the biggest fraud in the universe. Then, sanity returned, and she gave herself the pep talk she’d had to pull out of her hat a few times in the past couple of weeks. She’d been chosen for this job. She’d been given the role. Sonia had to have seen something in Katrina that made her take a chance and cast an unknown as Maid Marian.

  Katrina had to trust that Sonia knew what she was doing. She also had to hope that Ren would be as nice as he’d been this evening after dinner. She realized, now that she was less woozy and more sober, that he’d been incredibly patient with her tipsy self. He’d been both chivalrous and kind, which she hadn’t really expected. Surely, that boded well for how he’d be with her when they were working together on set?

  Well, whatever happened, she was committed now. She’d find out soon enough how it was going to be.

  Katrina fell asleep and dreamed of big spotted cats. Again.

  Chapter Seven

  Filming started the next day. By some miracle and good planning, Katrina had counteracted the effects of the alcohol with all that water she’d had the night before. She woke feeling only a little wretched, yawning as she stopped in the lobby on her way to the makeup room to snag a strong cup of coffee.

  She was so glad she’d laid out her clothes and the other things she would need the night before. All she’d had to do was shower and dress, which didn’t take that long, and head out.

  They had set aside one of the larger hotel rooms to act as the makeup base camp, as well as the prop storage area. There were boxes of props stacked haphazardly on the far side of the king-sized bed, and all sorts of bits and bobs scattered all around every surface. Only the corner nearest the entrance was clear of the debris.

  Instead of the mess, that corner sported a small desk and a very large mirror on the wall, surrounded by bright lights. There were rolling carts placed around it, with all kinds of makeup, including stuff that looked like it might be used for special effects.

  Franny had claimed her corner of the room and guarded it jealously from the props people who had spread their plethora of stuff all around the rest of the space. The bed was like an island in the middle of a sea of chaos. From its unrumpled state, it was clear nobody was sleeping there. This room was only in use during filming, when cast and crew needed what was stored and organized here. Otherwise, the bed was just in the way, though the costumers had used it to lay out some of the garments until they’d gotten their own space at the filming location.

  “Normally, we’d set up a makeup trailer on-site,” Franny was saying as she swept powder onto Katrina’s face with a big, soft brush. “But the nature of this location and the shots Sonia wants of the trees and surroundings means that we don’t have a lot of space in which to park trailers and support equipment. I’m going to set up in a corner of the costume trailer, which will be behind the picnic pavilion. You’ll see all the vehicles parked out in that direction
. The pavilion is the only area of the grounds that Sonia can’t use, so that’s what we’re limited to,” Franny went on. “We’re going to do the base coat of makeup here, then hustle over to the site, where you’ll get into costume, and I’ll be standing by to fix anything that needs fixing as you work. Sound good?”

  “Whatever works,” Katrina said, happy to let others figure out the logistics.

  “Luckily, the makeup for this is relatively simple. Sonia wants bare faces where possible, for authenticity. Or, at least, what look like bare faces. A bit of powder and some shading in spots is all I really need to worry about for anyone but the principles, so it makes my job easy,” Franny told her as she continued working. “Guermo will be doing your hair on-site. He’s got a corner in the costume trailer, he told me. I guess we’ll see what he’s done when we get there. Most of the hair in this will be simple, as well, except for yours, of course. Maid Marian was a lady. She would’ve had a servant of some kind to do her hair.”

  “Just tell me where to be and when, and I’m there,” Katrina told Franny, happy to give her fate—makeup and hair-wise, at least—over to others.

  The plan worked, as far as Katrina was concerned. Franny stayed with her as they were shuttled from the hotel to the location. Franny went with her to the costume trailer, which had been parked next to the picnic pavilion, on the side away from the old church. There was already a crowd in the pavilion eating breakfast, but the air around the place was higher energy today than it had been yesterday. Clearly, things were heating up.

  Sonia came in while Katrina was being kitted out in her first gown. The costumers had worked off her measurements, and they did some last-minute tucks here and there, on-the-spot, that didn’t take long at all. Katrina was enchanted with the dress that made her feel regal.