“He and his teams better be, with all the money the Clans and Families invest in their projects.”
“Good. David Berus is in town, did you know that?”
“Is he?” Tony asked.
“Lady Juanita asked me to come to dinner tonight,” she rushed on. “David Berus is going to be there.”
The Clan Matri actually didn’t ask, she commanded. Sidonie Wolf hated being ordered around. Even for something as ostensibly pleasant as being a guest at a dinner party for a respected Prime of the Snake Clan. Sidonie was not like other Clan daughters. At least she wasn’t going to be if she could help it. Open rebellion was not an option, but guile…now, guile could work wonders.
As ever, Tony was quick on the uptake. “Lady J. wants you to mate with David. Congratulations. I look forward to being a grandfather soon.”
“Oh, please!” she complained. “Not that I object to having a baby,” she went on. “Or even several babies. I’ll do my duty to the Clan. But I want the choices to be mine, without attachments and emotional complications.”
“Then what’s wrong with David? He’s still heartsore from having lost his bondmate, so he’s not likely to want emotional complications, either. Genetically—”
“He and I are first cousins,” she pointed out. “His sire’s Wolf Clan.”
“I forgot that.”
“The Clans need fresh blood.”
He gave her a stern look. “Yeah, but the fresh blood you’re interested in sprouts fur and a tail at least once a month.”
“How’s Rose?” she snapped back.
There was fire in his eyes when he answered. “She’s eighty and just moved into a nursing home.”
Sid hated herself for reacting so unkindly to his having touched a sore spot. “I’m sorry,” she told her father. “But I think we just made the point that because of duty to the Clans, neither of us can have the ones we really want.”
He looked thoughtful. “You have a plan. You always have a plan. You, my dearest, would make Machiavelli look like an amateur, and old Nick was one hell of a Family Prime.”
“We females are always the smarter ones,” she said, grinning.
Tony smiled back. “You want me to approach Dr. Casmerek about something, don’t you?”
Sid decided she might as well be blunt and hope that the storm would pass quickly. “Artificial insemination. My egg, a donor’s sperm—”
Tony shot to his feet. “Are you out of your mind?”
Everyone on the terrace was staring at them.
“Calm down.” She gestured. “Sit down. Hear me ou—”
The cell phone in her purse rang before she could finish. Frustrated by the interruption, Sid flipped it open and demanded, “What?”
The answer from her partner at the Bleythin detective agency sent all her own problems right out the window.
“I’ll be in as soon as I can, Joe,” she said, and hung up. “Sorry, Dad,” she told Tony. “We’re going to have to have this argument later.”
“What’s the matter?” he asked.
“Cathy’s gone missing. She’s our office manager,” she added.
“This sounds more serious than just calling a temp agency to cover the phones.”
“Oh, yes.” She nodded. “It’s extremely serious when a werewolf who can’t control the change goes missing so close to a full moon.”
Chapter Three
Hollenbeck, Los Angeles, Summer 1991
T he scrambling of sharp claws on hot concrete was louder in Sofia’s ears than the sound of her own ragged breathing.
They were right behind her.
She could feel the heavy bulk of furred bodies close behind her.
They were faster than she was.
Why didn’t they catch up with her?
Were they enjoying the chase?
Her heart pounded as she ran as fast as she could. Her feet slipped in the flimsy flip-flops, but they’d surely bring her down if she stopped to kick the shoes off. She dug her toes into the soft plastic and kept going. Traffic slid past on the street, people loitered on stoops and at storefronts as she ran by, but no one seemed to notice that she was being chased by three enormous dogs. The sun hadn’t quite set yet. Why didn’t they see?
She didn’t have the breath to call for help.
She did cry out when one of the dogs moved up to nip her bare leg, and a warm trickle rolled down her calf.
The animals smelled the blood and began to howl.
She spotted an alley and remembered that there was a fence at the end of it that she could climb, and the dogs couldn’t. One of her shoes slipped off when she made the skidding turn and she stepped on a shard of broken glass, but she kept running.
She was nearly at the end of the alley when she saw that she’d made a wrong turn. There was a wall where she’d thought there’d be a fence.
She slammed into the brick wall before she could stop herself, scraping her palms and jarring her arms from wrists to shoulders. She turned around and fell to her knees, putting her at eyelevel with the dogs.
They had big heads, and huge teeth. Their eyes glowed, cruel and fierce, and full of hunger.
Their eyes glowed!
She grabbed a broken bottle from the ground.
They formed a half circle around her and stared at her for a while.
They wanted her to drop her weapon, but she wouldn’t!
Then the largest one growled as if to say very well, and all three of them began to move in for the kill.
Northeast of San Diego, Spring, Present Day
“She’s not with us,” the old man said.
Jason put his hands on her shoulders and saw a nightmare in the woman’s dark eyes. “You think?”
She was trembling and her heart was racing faster and faster. The woman needed help, but none of the mortals were going to step in to halt their stupid tests.
Jason tried gently shaking her, then calling to her, but he knew he’d have to go where she was—even though interfering with mortal thoughts was dangerous.
For him.
“You’re having a panic attack. It’ll be over in a minute,” he reassured her.
But tears welled from her big brown eyes. What was a Prime to do? He pulled her closer and into a tight embrace. Then he kissed her.
Fire shot through him, and their minds joined at the moment their lips touched. There was a moment of urgent passion, then…
The tangy scent of the blood of a terrified child assaulted his senses.
Anger overrode desire, and he was filled with an overwhelming sense of protectiveness. She was his! She needed help.
The shape of the world shifted, and Jason stood at the entrance of an alley. It was like looking down a long tunnel. At the end of it was a trio of beasts. Facing them was his Sofia on her knees.
He moved forward until he was in among the beasts. They turned claws and fangs on him, and he answered them in kind, keeping himself between them and the girl as he fought her attackers. After he turned them into bloody piles of fur at his feet, he turned and helped Sofia to stand.
When his hands touched her, she wasn’t a little girl anymore and she came into his arms, warm and trembling.
And their lips touched…
Sofia was aware of the mouth pressed demandingly against hers and the sensual heat rushing through her, threatening to melt her bones. Her kiss was equally demanding; she wanted to taste all of him. His palm splayed across the small of her back, pulling them close, hip to hip. He was all hard muscle, and she melded to it. His other hand cupped the back of her head, possessive and protective at once. His thumb stroked down the back of her neck, sending a shiver through her. Her hands fiercely clasped his shoulders, never wanting to let go. He permeated her senses. He smelled male, and tasted male, and felt so male, it drove her mad with need. She had no idea how anything could feel so right so fast, yet their bodies fit perfectly together.
She’d never believed in perfection, and skepticism rose to pu
ll her out of the nonsense of believing in this perfect kiss.
“What the hell are you doing?” she demanded as she pushed the man away.
She tasted copper and wiped the back of her hand across her sensitized lips. A drop of blood smeared across her hand and she stared at it. Hers or his? Hers, she thought, remembering that her tongue had touched one of his very sharp teeth. Some of her annoyance faded with the realization that she’d been as much involved in the kiss as he’d been.
His eyes twinkled. They were very blue. “You can’t tell me you didn’t enjoy it.”
Oh, he was a cocky one. She had to fight not to be charmed by his insolence. “You started it. Why?”
He shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea.”
Vague memories and nightmare images swirled around her. She had no interest in remembering the details. “I saw a dog. I hate dogs. I must’ve overreacted.”
A flash of annoyance crossed his features, but all he said was, “Yes.”
From his sudden coldness, Sofia sensed he was a dog lover. Well, that doomed any possible relationship. Which brought her back to…
“Why did you kiss me?”
“To calm you down.”
“Aren’t you supposed to slap someone when they get hysterical?”
“That’s not my style.” He cocked an eyebrow and crossed his arms.
A stern voice spoke from behind them. “Jason Cage, Sofia Hunyara, you have been summoned. It is time for you to learn why. Come.”
Chapter Four
S hall we, Sofia?” Jason asked, and took the mortal woman by the arm.
She resisted for a moment. He caught the thought, What the hell am I doing here? Then her curiosity got the better of her and she let him lead her forward.
“Do you know what this is about…Jason?” she asked as they followed the old man down a long, ill-lit hallway.
“Not really.”
He could tell that she wanted his reassuring touch on her arm, yet feared any dependence; she fought the craving by deliberately stepping away from him. He shouldn’t resent her lack of trust, but he did.
They were led to a large room lined with tall bookshelves, most of them empty, and shown to a pair of threadbare wingback chairs. The old man sat behind an ornate but battered desk. Jason noted that much of the damage to the furniture looked like the marks of animal claws, and the wooden floor was marked with long, deep gouges. It looked like generations of wolf pups had run wild in the place.
“Show her,” the old man told Jason.
“Show me what?” Sofia asked.
“Who are you?” Jason asked the mortal male.
The old man sighed and folded gnarled hands on top of the desk. “So much to explain—I don’t know where to start.”
Sofia glanced at her watch. “Talk fast.”
The old man said, “Sofia, I am your great-uncle Pashta Hunyara.”
Her expression went hard. “I don’t have any uncles.”
“Great-uncle,” he repeated. “And there is a great deal about yourself you do not know.”
Pashta? Jason smiled, remembering a fearless toddler in the Romany camp who used to climb onto his lap and demand stories. How quickly they aged.
“You know me, Prime,” Pashta said. “Show the girl the one thing she can believe in.”
Jason remembered what had drawn him to this odd meeting and took the gold coin out of his pocket.
“Where did you get that?” Sofia demanded when he held up the heavy half circle of gold.
“It belonged to a friend of mine,” he told her.
“It belonged to my grandfather,” she said. She reached beneath her blouse and brought out the other half of the coin, hanging on a leather cord. “What are you doing with my talisman?”
Jason tilted his head toward Pashta. “He sent it to me, I think.”
“I did,” the old man said. “Are you going to snatch the other half away from the Prime and run away, Sofia? Or would you like me to explain everything to you?”
Sofia liked to think that six years in the navy had made her a logical, methodical, and disciplined person. Yet here she was, the wild child she’d fought to tame was trying to claw out into the open again at the first painful mention of family. She had to get herself under control—though being hit with equal parts lust, terror, and weirdness in the last few minutes was enough to rattle anyone.
She sat back down and made herself concentrate on the man who claimed to be her relative, instead of on the man holding the other half of her heart. It took all her willpower to remain polite. “Please explain.”
Pashta smiled, and for a moment he looked just like her grandfather. “First, let me say that we have been searching for you for a long time. For you and your cousin Catherine. Where have you been all these years?”
Her suspicions heightened, and the mention of Cathy shook her. “You’re the one offering explanations.”
“What do you know of our family history?”
Sofia said nothing, waiting him out.
He sighed. “Our family is different. We have secrets, very deep secrets. We are blessed with great powers, and cursed as well.”
Not to mention being full of bullshit, she thought.
Hear him out, Jason advised, his voice so clear it felt like he spoke inside her head.
Sofia turned sharply to look at Cage and was caught by his soothing, reassuring gaze.
This is hard stuff to explain. Harder to believe and accept. Give it a chance. Give Pashta a chance.
His calm voice caressed her soul; she couldn’t be afraid with him beside her.
And that made no more sense than the old man’s talk of curses and blessings.
“We are a tight-knit and insular people. We have to be. Your great-grandparents are the ones who made the decision to bring our people to America after the war. They wanted to start over, to escape the curse, to pretend that we are normal people.”
“I am a normal person.”
“You don’t really believe that,” Cage said.
She glared at him.
He smiled and pointed toward the old man. “He’s beating around the bush because he doesn’t know how to explain that a werewolf bit one of your ancestors, and your whole tribe has been hiding from the natural-born werefolk ever since. That about sums it up, doesn’t it, Pashta?”
“Were…wolf?”
Pashta nodded.
She smiled. “This is where Marty Feldman shows up and says, ‘There wolf,’ right?”
Jason smiled at her reference to Young Frankenstein, but Pashta said, “What?”
“There are no such things as werewolves,” she told the old man.
“Just because you’ve never been formally introduced to any doesn’t mean they don’t exist,” Jason told her.
How did one get formally introduced to a werewolf? Shake paws?
That would be a polite way to start.
Jason sounded amused and calm, which helped her hold her temper. She didn’t know why she found him reassuring when he might be as crazy as Pashta.
“What do you think those animals in the hallway were?” Pashta asked.
She didn’t want to think about those slavering monsters. “Hounds of the Baskervilles,” she said. “Go on about my family. Promises of information are how you got me into this nuthouse.”
“We finally found you through the blog where you post about books and films on Live Journal.” The old man chuckled. “It amazes me how anyone can be Googled these days. Some secrets are becoming too hard to keep, don’t you agree, Prime?”
Jason nodded. “But we have to keep trying.”
That’s what she got for using her real name online. She sighed. “Go on, Uncle Pashta.”
“Neither your father nor Catherine’s mother wanted anything to do with our heritage, though they both had the gift. She wouldn’t use it, and he…he misused it tragically.”
Sofia made a sharp gesture. She didn’t want to know anything about her good-for-nothing
father, but she’d put up with hearing about him if she could learn other things. Her grandparents and great-grandparents had always been secretive and mysterious.
Maybe because they were hiding from nutty relatives who believed in werewolves.
“Once we finally tracked down you and your cousin, we asked you both here to explain your heritage to you. We asked Jason Cage to come because his skills are necessary to train you.”
So where was Cathy? She glanced at Jason. “What skills?”
“I’m an animal trainer and stage magician,” he said.
“You are the Beast Master!” Pashta proclaimed.
This sounded familiar. “Haven’t I seen you on Leno?”
Cage gave a modest shrug.
“You work in Vegas, right?”
“Pay attention!” Pashta demanded. “This is important!”
“It’s not our fault that you’re making such a botch of the explanations, Pashta,” Jason said.
The old man gestured at Sofia. “I’ve never had to explain this to a stranger before. We need her to lead the hunt, we need her to train the ferals, but she is not one of us!”
“Nor will she ever be, if you keep thinking of her as an outsider. I can feel you reluctantly pulling out every word you say. It’s giving me a headache.”
“The truth is difficult.”
Sofia seethed at knowing her relative wanted her only for some skill she supposedly possessed, even if he was a nutjob. Angry at herself for holding out hope again for some family connection, she got up. “That’s it.”
“Wait!” the old man called.
She heard his desperation, but walked out anyway.
Chapter Five
J ason rose, needing to go after her, and held up the coin. “What is really going on here?”
“Do you remember what happened during the war?”
“The experiments? Is that what you meant by ‘It’s started again’?”
Pashta nodded. “Some of our people have been taken. Perhaps they have Catherine, as well. She went missing soon after we found her. They may be looking for Sofia after today.” He banged his fist on the scarred wood. “We need that girl. We need you to show her how to tame the beasts those bastards make.” He gave a bitter laugh. “Though first we have to find the beasts, and rescue them.”
Primal Desires Page 2
