“What are you going to do without clothes?”
“Shift. I can cover more ground as a cat, and my scent will be stronger. It’ll help cover yours.”
Without any shame, he unzipped his pants and stepped out of them. Lash was long, lean and had very powerful and shapely legs. When he bent down to tuck his socks into his boots and tie the laces together, his perfect dimpled ass flexed handsomely. Lila stood dumb watching his muscles move with every motion he made.
If Lash noticed that Lila was staring, he didn’t show it to her. He was focused on her safety and the efficiency of getting to that goal. He looped his boots over the crotch of his pants by the laces and then tied the legs around Lila’s hips tightly.
“How does that feel? Can you climb with these around your middle?”
“Yes, but what’s in your pocket? Something is uncomfortable.” Lila felt something hard and round inside one of the leg pockets. She unsnapped it and pulled out the gold collar that had been around her neck. She looked up at Lash with mistrust.
“Don’t worry, Babe, no one’s going to collar you again.” He took the collar from her and shoved it into the toe of a boot. “I can’t risk the thing getting into the wrong hands.
“Let me give you a leg up to start.” He leaned over and cupped his hands together for Lila to step into. She placed her left foot in his hands and a hand on his shoulder to steady herself as he began to lift her. As he lifted higher, she moved her hand to the top of his head.
“Look at the vine above your head,” he instructed. “I’m going to toss you higher.”
“That’s not neces-Ack!”
Lash threw Lila straight upward and she caught the vine nearly ten feet above Lash’s head. Holding on to it tightly, Lila wrapped her legs around the vine and looked down at him.
“You didn’t have to do that, I could have climbed that section.”
“Where’s the fun in that?” He smiled up at her. “Start climbing, Baby, I want you up as high as you can get, and I’m not leaving you until you show me your skills.”
Lila climbed the vine with only a little effort. She was very athletic and Lash was pleased to see that she had plenty of strength. She also possessed a grace of movement that Lash associated with female shifters. Maybe that was why she attracted him. When Lila reached the first branch, she straddled it and looked down again. She was about 25 feet off the ground.
“Do my skills pass muster?” she asked, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
“With flying colors, Baby,” he grinned up at her.
“What does the climb look like above you?”
Lila looked up to study the branches above. She looked back down to answer.
“I’ll be fine, there are vines where the branches are far apart.” She stood as if to continue climbing, but she didn’t move. They stared at each other a moment before Lila said, “I kinda want to watch you shift.”
He laughed at that. “Okay, Babe, I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Once you settle into a perch, try not to move too much.”
“I’ll become one with the tree.”
Lash winked at her and then shifted. It took no more than two seconds. He bent over and suddenly there was a large blond cat. The tip of his tail and ears were dark, maybe black, but the rest of him was the golden blond of wheat. He was a mountain lion. Or a cougar? Were they the same? He looked up at Lila, his gold eyes twinkling with mirth. Then he picked up her t-shirt in his jaws and bounded off.
Lila reached overhead for the next branch and began climbing again. She took her time, making sure that each foot was placed securely and that she would not squash any bugs during her ascent. There were a lot of bugs, but thankfully, none were bigger than a nickel, the maximum acceptable size for any bug in Lila’s opinion. Being a Florida girl, Lila had a lot of experience with unacceptably sized bugs. That didn’t mean she enjoyed being eye to eye with them.
A half hour later, Lila was high up in the canopy, but still not more than three quarters of the way to the top of her tree. The jungle had regained its lively sounds; birds sang, monkeys called, leaves rustled, and bugs buzzed. She found a comfortable spot in the elbow of the trunk and two reasonably thick branches. She straddled one branch and leaned against the other that was at the same height as her chest.
Tired, but not sleepy, Lila closed her eyes and let her mind drift to thoughts of Evan. She didn’t feel bad anymore about letting Lash kiss her, but she wasn’t going to let it happen again. She found him charming and attractive, but she had none of the same feelings she’d had when she and Evan had first met. The words, ‘Second mate’, popped into her head unbidden. Was Lash supposed to be her second mate? Did she have a choice in the mating thing or was it completely controlled by some magical otherness? She was resentful of Lash's apparent feelings for her, and the liberty he took in calling her Baby. Lila didn't want him as a second mate. Hell, she was still learning how to live with one man, how could she share herself with another? It was too soon. How could she love another as much as she loved Evan? Lila didn't think she ever really would. How was that fair to Lash? She wished there was someone she could talk to about these things.
Two hours later, Lila was half asleep when she heard a group of men speaking softly below her. She was high enough up that she couldn’t see them. She guessed that they were men sent out to look for her, and she held her breath waiting for them to pass. They did, and Lila let out a relieved breath, only to choke back a cry of surprise when the big cougar silently jumped up next to her carrying a canteen in his mouth. She covered her pounding heart with one hand, and took the canteen with the other.
The cat shoved his face into hers, scenting and licking like the cats she was used to did. The behavior was so familiar to her that she began to pet his big head as he nuzzled her. Two seconds later she found herself necking a naked man. She started, and then leaned away.
“You are such a douchebag, Blondie.”
He grinned at her. He was one all fours on the thick branch.
“You like my cat.”
Lila snorted.
“More than I like you.”
“Drink some water,” he said as he reached for her waist. She was going to bat his hands away when she realized that he was going to untie his pants from her waist.
She did it for him, and hanging his boots over the branch, she passed him his pants. He sat on the branch sideways and bent over, pulling his pants up his legs. Not wanting to watch the gymnastics involved with getting his pants over his hips, she turned away, unscrewed the canteen and drank.
“It’s safe to look again,” he said, reaching around her to get his boots.
“So how’d it go? Where did you get the water from?” Lila asked.
She took her time turning to look at him, acting as casually as she could. When she finally looked at him, he was smiling back at her in a most sincere and polite manner. He was nothing short of beautiful. His skin was golden, just like his hair and eyes. He had very broad shoulders, and the muscle definition of a swimmer. His chest was liberally covered in the golden hair of his cat, and it trailed down his middle and into his waistband. Holy happy trail.
Lila took a deep breath as subtly as she could. She knew she should be thinking about her mate and missing him, not ogling this stranger. And since when did she think body hair was sexy?
“Who was that down below?”
“Ramirez’s men looking for you.”
“Any signs of...anyone else?”
“Like who, your mate?”
“Evan, yes. Did you scent a vampire?”
So, she was mated to a vampire.
“Not a trace, Baby. Are you sure he’s coming for you?”
“Listen, Blon-Lash, I can feel my mate out there. Right now my magic is messed up, no doubt from your stupid collar thing, but he’s coming for me and your cat rubbed himself all over me, so you have little to no chance of living through this without my mediation. I suggest that you do everything you can to placate me and
gain my favor.”
A flash of hurt momentarily crossed the shifter’s face.
“Forgive me Baby, I had no idea that you were the Chosen One!” he said sarcastically.
Lila paused and stared at Lash. Did he not know who she was? He never called by her name, only ‘Baby’, and that last comment was like a jab. Should she reveal her status?
“Okay, stop calling me ‘Baby.’ My name is Lila. And the men who are looking for me do indeed think I’m the Chosen One.”
Lash stared for a moment and then laughed.
“No Babe-I mean Lila, I was joking about the Chosen One thing.”
“Well I wasn’t,” Lila said. Her serious look had his smile fading.
“You’re kidding.”
“No Lash, I’m not. Why do you think Ramirez was so bent on seeing my power? Why was my power so strong? I fucking blew the wall out of a concrete building! Twice! Why were all those shifters afraid of me? Why did I get kidnapped in the first place?!” Lila huffed out a sigh.
Lash stared at her and felt himself flush with the warmth of embarrassment.
“Are you really the Chosen One?” Lash asked a little shyly.
“According to my Teachers, yes. I’m still on the fence about it.”
Lash smiled tentatively at her, and Lila returned it.
“You are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever laid eyes on,” he said.
Well that came out of left field.
Lila blinked at him.
“Did you not hear the part about my mate who will kill you unless I stop him?”
“So you’ll stop him.”
“Only if you give me a reason to,” she challenged.
Lash’s grin got bigger and he grabbed her face. He kissed her like a starving man, devouring her and plundering her mouth. Lila was so shocked by the wild magic that surged between them at his passionate touch, that she didn’t resist. When he was finished, he let her go, looking deeply into her eyes for the reciprocation that he felt in her touch. Instead, he got a right hook to the jaw that nearly unseated him from the branch he was on. He recovered in time, but the next thing he knew, Lila was five branches down and descending the tree as fast as any monkey might. Well shit, that had been the wrong thing to do.
He grabbed his boots, threw them over his shoulder, and followed her. By the grace of his cat, he caught up to her when she was half way down. He grabbed her around the waist while holding onto a branch above him for balance.
“I’m sorry Baby-Lila. I’m sorry, Lila. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
Lila turned and put both of her hands on his neck. She dug her nails in and pressed her thumbs into his windpipe as hard as she could.
“You didn’t scare me,” she growled. ”You insulted me. And from now on, I’m not answering to anything other than Mrs. O’Connell.”
Gods she sounded sexy. The only thing that stopped Lash from smiling was his lack of air. He removed his arm from her waist and pried her hands from his neck. She let him, deciding that he would be more useful to her alive. Lash sucked in a long breath and stared at her. She was beautiful, sexy, graceful, athletic, strong, and cunning. How was he not supposed to fall in love with her?
“We should wait a little longer before leaving the tree,” he rasped, and then cleared his throat. “We want to make sure that those men don’t double back.”
“So we’re going to leave?”
“I think it would be safest to get further away from Ramirez and his men, don’t you?”
“I guess.” But Lila was unsure. She knew Evan was out there looking for her and she didn’t want to make it harder for him to find her. Lash seemed to follow her thinking.
“Don’t worry, B-Lila, I’ll get you back to where you belong. It just might take a little time.”
Time. Maybe Lash could use that excuse to his benefit. If he took extra time to bring her back to civilization, maybe she’d warm up to him. Accept him as her’s. Keep him.
They waited another thirty minutes before descending the tree and heading away from the camp and the direction the other men had gone in. It started to rain. It was a warm rain that alleviated some of the sticky sweaty feeling on Lila’s skin.
A while later Lash stopped at a large tree with a hollow space in its base. He knelt down and dug inside it, coming out with a small backpack that he passed back to Lila, and a machete that he laid next to himself. He replaced the dirt and leaves in the hole before standing.
Lila shook off as much of the dirt as she could before handing the pack back to him. Lash smiled his thanks and opened it. He pulled out a power bar and handed it to Lila. Then he dug the collar out of his pocket and shoved it to the bottom of the pack.
“Thanks,” Lila said, unwrapping the bar and taking a bite.
“I have more water, but let’s conserve it as long as possible,” Lash said. He took her hand and continued through the dense forest, the machete making it much easier now.
They walked the rest of the day, not stopping until the light made it difficult for Lila to see where she was going. They climbed another tree, and Lash arranged them so that Lila could lean on him and sleep without fear of falling off her perch. Lila reluctantly rested her head on his chest and let him wrap his arms around her.
“I’ve got you,” Lash said into her hair.
Tears instantly sprang up in Lila’s eyes. I’ve got you, Angel. That was what Evan said to her. God, where was he? How was he holding up? Lila tried to feel for him, but still only felt him vaguely. Why was that?
She put her arms around Lash, needing comfort. He tightened his grip slightly, and rubbed his stubbly chin in her hair. Lila was surprised to notice that she didn’t resent him. His warm skin under her cheek felt good, as did his steady heart beat. Still, she wished he was Evan. She sniffled pathetically, and closed her eyes, hoping to dream of Evan.
Chapter 21
November
The jeeps carrying Sebastian, Adam, and the rest of the rescue team pulled up next to the truck left behind by the kidnapping shifters. The shifters all jumped out and scattered, taking in as much information and as many scents as possible. The “Northys” disembarked slower, giving the local shifters time to do their job. Evan greeted Sebastian and Adam. After five minutes, Guerra jogged up to the trio to report their findings.
“Six shifters and your mate were here,” he said, looking at Evan. “They left on foot in that direction.” He pointed to one of the rough cuts in the foliage to the east.
“Can you scent her…emotions?” he asked.
“No, it’s been too long.”
“Lieutenant.” One of the South American shifters jogged up to them, “We’ve picked up at least three big cat scents on the other trails. They were either laying down false trails or acting as guards for the people.”
“Thank you, Jose. Have Cheeto and Manuel shift and scout ahead. We will follow.” “Yessir.” The shifter turned and disappeared into the foliage, the other shifters already out of sight.
“Okay, let’s get the Chosen One back to her mate.”
They set out at a fast pace, the soldiers ahead of them cutting through the foliage with machetes.
They made good time through the forest. All the shifters were in animal form, flanking the non shifters or scouting ahead. The rain made tracking more difficult, but not impossible, and Evan could sense that they were headed in the direction that Lila had gone. Unfortunately, he still could not feel her any stronger through their bond, and he wondered if someone had set wards against tracking.
Late in the afternoon, a scout came back to Guerra with an update: There was a small camp ahead. The woman’s scent was in another hut. They still only scented six shifters with her.
The Northys arrived at the camp at dusk and decided to rest for the night. Evan didn’t want to stop, but this time it was Guerra who stopped him with warnings of the dangerous nocturnal animals. This prompted all the Southys to tell stories around the campfire, both real and fictional, of both heroes
and victims of the jungle.
The next morning, Evan roused Sebastian and Adam before dawn to get them moving. Most of the day was spent double timing it through the jungle. Again, a scout came back to report in the afternoon that a camp was ahead, but this time the news was bad: It looked like it had been attacked. No sign yet of a woman.
The team moved even faster, trying to reach the camp before any clues were lost to the rain.
An hour later, they were looking at a battlefield. Bodies were strewn about and the few buildings were destroyed. Three large panthers were carefully scenting every inch picking up as much information as possible. One of them shifted and reported to Guerra again.
“Sir. As near as we can figure, the camp was attacked by a rival gang or group. There are no weapons on the bodies, so maybe the gang was after guns. Also, there’s a helicopter landing sight about a hundred yards in that direction.” The shifter indicated the direction by pointing to his right.
“What about the woman?” Sebastian asked.
“She was held in that building over there.” He indicated a cinder block square that was half destroyed. They could see clearly through the hole in the concrete wall, and the hole through the opposite wall out the backside of the building. For some reason, Sebastian got the feeling that Lila did this.
“Where’s the Sentior?” Sebastian asked Adam.
“Right here, Sir.” An ISF soldier stepped up to Sebastian.
“Tell us what you can of that?” He indicated the cinder block holes.
The soldier walked over to the rubble, Adam and team following.
The Sentior removed a pair of gloves he was wearing and stuck them in his back pocket. He crouched down and put his hands on the rubble the way a doctor might check a person for internal wounds. His hands passed over the concrete lightly without lingering. When he touched the iron bars, however, he gripped them and didn’t move for a couple of minutes. Finally he let go and got to his feet, a little shaky. Adam caught his arm and helped him to sit on a section of wall.
“The Chosen One was held here. She was sad---no, heart broken.” He glanced up at Evan, then continued. “There was something around her neck that looked like a collar. It suppressed her magic. Some one, a shifter, removed it, and she...shit, I’ve never seen that much power. She blew the walls out. Then they ran.”
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