Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1)

by Patricia Rosemoor

And that he didn’t want her to know?

  Too bad if true.

  “Can you leave us alone for a while?” she asked.

  When he glowered in response, Nuala said, “Please, Luc, for me.”

  “It’s a woman thing,” she added.

  Skye sensed he wanted to object, but he backed off and headed for the door. “I have to check in at security anyway, but I’ll be back shortly.”

  “I’m sure you will be,” she murmured as the door closed behind him.

  “Do you the two of you have something going on?” Nuala asked.

  “Mutual irritation.”

  Nuala laughed, and her beauty shone through the layers of worry that had encased her features. “Sounds like Luc.” Hesitating only a second, she added, “He’s worth loving, you know.”

  Who said anything about love? Skye sighed. Lust and love weren’t the same thing. She couldn’t love him—what he was—any more than he could love her.

  “You love Luc, no matter what,” she said. “He’s your brother.”

  “He would do anything for me, despite everything. That’s the kind of man Luc is, Skye. Don’t let him fool you into thinking he’s something he’s not.”

  Whatever that meant. “Well, that’s a challenge.”

  “I know he makes it difficult. He’s been caught between two worlds for so long, he sometimes loses himself. But he’s worth finding, I promise you.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind.”

  Nuala’s smile faded into a sad expression. “Like Shade was.” She placed a hand on her stomach and shook her head. “He didn’t even know.”

  Skye took a big breath and said, “I can tell him.”

  “You have a pipeline?” Nuala raised her tear-filled gaze as if to the heavens.

  “Yeah, but not up there. Shade’s still here.”

  Nuala froze. “What do you mean, here?”

  “Shade hasn’t passed on. He’s trapped here in ghost form, mostly.” Going into the Shade/Boomer connection was a little too much to hit Nuala with all at once. “His still being here must have something to do with the case.” She let her voice drift off when she realized Nuala was shaking her head. “Why not?”

  “It has to be his soul.” Her expression was stricken. “He’s still here because he lost his soul.”

  Wondering if Nuala could be serious, Skye gaped at her for a moment. And then she thought about it. Really thought about it. What if it was true? She’d encountered so many things that were unbelievable in the past week, why should she doubt this? It seemed a logical enough explanation as to why her brother couldn’t move on.

  “How would he have lost it?” she asked.

  “The high roller room, when he was so determined.”

  She remembered Luc’s mother saying something about the high roller room, too, but when pressed, Beatrix hadn’t been forthcoming.

  “Tell me. Please.”

  “It’s where Pop’s best candidates are taken for the ultimate prize. If they win, they get their heart’s desire, whatever that may be.”

  “And if they lose?”

  “They lose their soul and work for Pop on the outside.”

  “You’re telling me Shade was corrupt?”

  “No. He wanted in so that he could get information for his case, but he couldn’t get in on his own. I’ll always regret that I agreed to help him. And that I told him where to find Elizabeth, so that he could get her to talk. If he hadn’t been trying to get information from Elizabeth that night, my child would have a father.”

  Aware of the guilt that threatened to smother Nuala, Skye said, “Stop blaming yourself. Shade’s death wasn’t your fault.”

  “But if I hadn’t told him—”

  “He would have found another way to get to Luc’s mother. He was an excellent detective, and he never let anything get by him.”

  About to ask her what had happened to Shade’s soul, a bam-bam at the door followed by its opening cut off Skye’s question.

  A darker, slightly larger version of Luc stormed into the room, followed by a distinctly smaller blond man who appeared as soft as the Luc-almost-look-alike appeared hard.

  “What’s going on?” the big one demanded. “I saw Dr. Botis, who tried to reassure me that my little sister was fine.”

  “Someone drugged me, Nik, and was going to make me fight.”

  Nik. Lazare’s son, the reason Elizabeth hadn’t wanted Cezar to leave his wife.

  “What? Are you all right? Does Pop know?”

  “I’m unharmed. And Pop doesn’t know yet unless someone went to him to report what happened tonight.”

  Nik shook his head. “No one would be stupid enough to put themselves in the way of his temper.”

  Skye wondered what Cezar would do if he learned who had been responsible for taking his daughter. Nothing that she would want to see, she was certain.

  “Hmm, maybe someone who is offended by your condition did this to you,” the blond man observed.

  “Shut it, Doyle!” Nik ordered.

  But Nuala’s eyes had already filled with tears again.

  Nik scowled and wiped a hand across his eyes as if he was in pain and thought, You’ll probably end up like Luc. Ostracized by our people.

  Nuala began to sob.

  Skye aimed a furious glare at Nik. “Have you always been such a bully?”

  Seeming to finally notice her, to realize she heard his thoughts, Nik refocused his attention and tried to get inside her head.

  She sighed. “Don’t bother. I won’t let Luc in, and I certainly don’t want you poking around in there.”

  He held out his hand as if he could somehow feel her vibes. She got a quick look at the heavy gold ring adorned with predators before he withdrew it.

  His features pulled into an even stormier expression. “What are you?”

  That again. “The question of the century, it seems.” For some reason the answer scared her less than it had mere days ago. And yet she wondered if she should fear Luc’s brother. Probably, but she was already numb with the things she should fear. “I’m Skye Cross. Shade’s sister.”

  Nik turned back to Nuala. “You invited her here? Haven’t you learned anything from the last weeks?”

  “I invited myself in,” she informed him.

  “That’s impossible,” Doyle said.

  Is it? Are you certain you know who you’re dealing with?

  Now the smaller man narrowed his gaze on her. “I knew there was something skeevy about your brother.”

  Nik could hardly contain his frustration. “Nuala, we need to talk about your situation.”

  “It’s been a terrible day.” Her eyes filled with tears again. “I’m talked out for the moment.”

  “This can’t wait.”

  Nuala looked ready to break, which raised her protective instincts even further.

  “Are you through upsetting your sister yet?” she asked. “Because if you are, maybe you should leave.”

  “What?”

  If you have a hearing problem, I can tell you what I think of you upsetting your sister without voicing my opinion out loud.

  Nik looked back to Nuala.

  Finding strength somewhere, she said, “Skye is right.”

  For a moment, Nik appeared angry enough to smash something. His hands curled into fists and his jaw tightened. He backed off, saying, “We’re not done talking about this.”

  He was through the door in a blink. Skye stared after him, wondering if he was simply a jerk. Or worse.

  Doyle lingered. “I know you’re going through a difficult time, and it isn’t going to get easier around here for you, especially once your father knows. I can help you.”

  “Doyle, please—”

  “Let me finish and then I’ll leave.”

  “All right.”

  “I don’t need an answer now. I want you to think about this. You’ll need all the friends and support you can get in the coming months, and I want to be there for you. You know I’ve alw
ays had a great deal of fondness for you—”

  “And you want to be my consort. I remember.”

  Doyle pulled Nuala aside and whispered, “I want to make an honest woman of you. I would marry you and be your child’s father so it will never know the sting of being...” He gave her a look. “Different. It never has to know about its real father.”

  Nuala began to sob again.

  Not know about Shade? “Enough.”

  Ignoring her, Doyle focused on Nuala as he backed up to the door. “Just think on it.” Then he darted out of the room.

  Skye put her arm around Nuala and led her to the couch, and as she sat asked, “What can I do to make you feel better?”

  “Seeing Shade is the only thing that would make her feel better.”

  Okay, now that would be awkward. “I doubt it. I mean, maybe. Just not right now. Shade’s memory isn’t what it was.”

  “Are you saying he wouldn’t remember me?” Her voice nearly disappeared on the last.

  Skye swallowed hard and shook her head. “I’m sorry.”

  Nuala cried even harder.

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Luc returned to Nuala’s quarters to find her in tears and Skye trying to comfort her. “What happened?” he demanded.

  “Your brother Nik happened.”

  Luc cursed. “What can I do?”

  “Give me some space,” Nuala said, straightening. “I don’t need anyone fussing over me. Let me be and I’ll be fine.”

  Luc didn’t believe that, but it was what his sister wanted at the moment. She undoubtedly was embarrassed at her emotional outburst and needed some time alone to regroup.

  “All right.”

  He held out his hand to Skye. As if she would take it.

  Rising from the couch, she told Nuala, “You can call me any time.” Then she headed for the door.

  Luc gave his sister a hug before following Skye.

  They’d barely left Nuala’s quarters when Skye demanded, “How do I get my brother’s soul back to him?”

  “Did you tell Nuala he’s still here?” he asked.

  “Considering the circumstances, don’t you think she has a right to know?”

  He supposed she did. And he supposed he should have figured out why Skye’s brother hadn’t moved on before this. Unfortunately, that didn’t mean he had an answer for her.

  “I don’t know that you can get Shade’s soul back.”

  “Why not?”

  “Someone may already be using it.”

  She blanched but didn’t hesitate. “You’ll have to explain that one.”

  “It’s complicated.”

  “I get complicated.”

  “Later.”

  “Now. How do I get his soul returned to him?”

  If he could get it for her, he would. “Only Pop would know.”

  Her fear sluiced through him before she quickly hid it from him.

  Licking her lips, she asked, “What are we waiting for?”

  The last thing Luc wanted was to take her to see his father. Though he was certain Skye was on Pop’s radar, at the moment, she was simply a speck. He feared she would push until she became a big problem in Pop’s mind. Skye wouldn’t like that at all. Luc would like it less. He more than desired her. He more than liked her, as his mother had discerned.

  He respected her.

  Skye Cross was honest and focused and maybe the bravest woman he’d ever met. And he didn’t think that had to do with her being something else because that was still undefined and new to her. The night he’d met her, she’d been standing up for the animals she’d been helping to save, and now she was doing the same for his sibling. He could relate to that.

  He realized Skye was drilling him with her gaze.

  “Will you take me to your father or do I have to find him on my own?” she demanded.

  Luc clenched his jaw, took her elbow, and said, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  That she didn’t have a comeback surprised him. Maybe the idea of meeting Cezar Lazare scared her a little. As it should.

  They took the elevator up to the casino level, and Luc escorted her to the office corridor. Several Kindred passed them and gave Skye intent stares, but they blocked whatever they were thinking. Which Luc didn’t interpret as being positive. Could they tell she was something else or was it because she was with him?

  The guard stationed outside Pop’s office nodded to him and stared at Skye. “Mr. Lazare doesn’t want to be disturbed.”

  “I understand,” Luc said, even as he went to open the door.

  The guard tried to stop him, but Luc’s immediate glare was so intense, the man froze. He shrugged and stepped aside.

  “Let me go in first,” Luc told Skye, thinking she should wait until he’d properly primed Pop for her appearance.

  “Sure.”

  But, being Skye, that meant following him inside directly on his heels.

  Pop was using the computer embedded in his sea glass desk. That desk was certainly multifunctional. It not only acted a soul vault, but Pop could bring up information on every Kindred’s earnings and on every soul it contained before doling one out.

  “What the Hades?” Pop glowered. “I said not to disturb me.”

  “Sorry. This is important.”

  When he looked up, the old man smiled for a second. And then he noticed Skye. “Explain yourself, boy.”

  Before Luc could open his mouth, Skye stepped forward. “I’m Skye Cross.”

  “So you are. And you’re here why?”

  “To get my brother’s soul back from you.”

  Pop laughed and Luc’s gut tightened into a knot. His father wasn’t taking Skye seriously.

  “Her brother saved my mother’s life,” Luc reminded him.

  “Just as a detective in the Chicago Police Department should have,” Pop said.

  “We owe her—”

  “Our thanks.” Pop nodded at Skye and went back to whatever he’d been doing.

  She crossed the remaining few feet separating them and set her hands on his desk. And Luc awaited Pop’s explosion when he looked up at her, his expression displeased.

  “Mr. Lazare, I want my brother’s soul.”

  “All right.”

  “All right?” she echoed him.

  “You want his soul, you can earn it like anyone else around here does.”

  “Earn it?”

  “Luc, get her out of here.” Pop spoke in a low tone, but his voice reverberated with anger. “Tell her what she needs to know. I don’t have time for this.”

  I thought you loved my mother and would want to do something to honor her.

  I always honor her.

  “Apparently you don’t know the right way to honor anyone.” A furious-sounding Skye whipped around and stormed out of the room.

  “She heard us,” Pop said, his visage darkening. “What is she?”

  But Luc was angry enough with his father and worried enough about Skye he didn’t stay to hash it out. In a flash, he was after her, determined to catch up to the woman before she got herself into any more trouble.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sensing Luc right behind her by the time Skye got to the edge of the casino, she braced herself. An arm hooked through hers and steered her away from the exit. Fighting him wouldn’t do any good. Besides, it wasn’t like Luc had tried to stop her from seeing his father or demanding the return of her brother’s soul. It wasn’t his fault his father was who he was.

  What now?

  “You look like you could use a drink,” Luc said.

  “I rarely drink.”

  “All the more reason.”

  He led her into a bar and to one of the intimate booths in back, where the sounds of the casino magically faded off. He signaled to a waitress, who instantly brought them stemmed glasses rimmed with salt and filled with pale green liquid.

  “Margaritas?”

  Luc slid one of the glasses in front of her. “Have a few sips and
you’ll feel better.”

  Knowing he was wrong, she downed a big gulp of the drink anyway. “Only one thing is going to make me feel better. If you can figure out a way to change your father’s mind.”

  “I’ll work on it. No promises, though.”

  Nuala had claimed Luc was a good man worth loving. That he wasn’t who he let her think he was. Knowing the emotional upheaval caused by The Book of Powers and the things she had experienced in the past few days, she wondered what a lifetime of uncertainty and of being pulled in such different moral directions had created in Luc.

  “You must have questions,” he said. “Go ahead and ask.”

  Myriad questions. Questions about everything having to do with this life. About his family. His father’s business. Being a shapeshifter. He was an expert at avoidance. Would he be truthful with her about anything?

  Skye went straight to her most pressing concern. “Shade did save your mother, so why won’t your father return his soul?”

  “You think Pop would explain himself?” Luc shook his head as if it was a crazy notion.

  “He said I could work for it. How?”

  “You don’t want to know.”

  She probably didn’t. But she might have to. It was imperative Shade have his soul before he could move on.

  “What does someone like your father want with people’s souls anyway?”

  Luc hesitated only a second. “First, you need to understand that we’re all born with souls.”

  “You’re talking about everyone here connected with The Ark?”

  “Everyone. But after puberty, the Kindred go through sort of a confirmation.” He took a slug of his drink. “Most of them do, anyway. They choose to give up their souls.”

  Kindred. So that was what they were called. She must have gaped a little at the soul part, because when she asked, “Why?” it came out sounding garbled.

  “Interbreeding over the centuries has weakened the Kindred, so they have to choose to become like our ancestors. They give up their souls and pledge themselves to corrupt humanity. In return, their magic becomes stronger. And they become immortal.”

  The conversation was evolving like something out of a fantasy movie. An entire supernatural world existed that few humans knew about. Lucky her. She took another sip of her drink, as if that would make her feel better.