Primal Passions

by Stephani Hecht

  A Raven lunged forward and tried to tackle Jacyn around the waist. The only reason he wasn’t taken down was because he feinted to the right.

  The Raven hit the ground and let out a loud groan.

  The thing that sucked most about this was he didn’t even like Kevin. He was going to die and it was all for some ungrateful jackass. The irony was so bitter that Jacyn would have laughed if he had enough wind left in his lungs to do so.

  Another shot rang out and this time it hit its mark. Jacyn let out a yelp of pain as he felt a hot burning in his right side. He staggered, but kept running, knowing that to stop would mean his death. Putting his hand over the wound, he felt the warm stickiness that told him he was bleeding badly.

  The Ravens cackled before they fired again. This one caught him in the shoulder. Jacyn fell forward, crying out in agony. He tried to push himself up, but a Raven came up and put his boot in the small of Jacyn’s back. He froze when he felt the cold, hard barrel of a gun pressed into the nape of his neck.

  “When you get to hell, tell your mommy and daddy I said hi,” the Raven sneered.

  Jacyn’s vision became a red hazy cloud as rage washed over him. His lips peeled back into a snarl and he could feel his canines growing into fangs. Fingernails became claws as they dug into the moist earth.

  He was doing it, shifting into a jaguar. Instead of fighting it, Jacyn relaxed and let the cat out. The last thing he heard was his own roar and then the terrified screams of the Ravens.

  * * * *

  In jaguar form, Logan stopped in his tracks, going still as the sounds of a cat’s scream ripped through the woods, followed by human sounding yells of terror. The voices were loud and it was hard to make out what they were saying, but none of them sounded like Jacyn.

  Logan took off running toward the source. Beside him were Kevin and Jared, both in their panther forms. Since they were in animal bodies, Logan projected his thoughts to the others. Damn it! I told him to stay in the car.

  Strangely, it was Kevin who came to Jacyn’s defense. Go easy on him. He came to help me.

  For that, I consider him brave. It takes a lot of guts to jump into the middle of a battle to aid someone that you’ve just met, Jared added.

  He still should have never come out. We already told him that gunshots don’t normally hinder our kind. Logan cocked his head, hoping to hear anything that would let him know Jacyn was still alive, but all was silent again. His heart hammered in his chest as fear clawed at his senses. If something happened to Jacyn, he didn’t think he could live with it.

  Cut the guy some slack. This is still all new to him. When he saw me hurt, he probably just acted on instinct. You did say he’s a paramedic, Kevin continued to argue Jacyn’s case.

  If Logan hadn’t been so ball-numbing terrified, he may have found the situation amusing. Kevin never cared about anyone but Jared. Logan didn’t have time to dwell on that, however. All his thoughts and efforts were focused on Jacyn and finding him. Don’t be dead. Please, don’t be dead. He chanted repeatedly in his head. Maybe if he silently recited that prayer enough it would be true.

  He’s not dead. Jared reassured. It wasn’t his voice we heard screaming.

  Logan hadn’t realized he’d left the mental link open until then. In his worry over Jacyn, he was getting sloppy. The felines crested a hill and that was when they found him. Lying in the middle of Raven bodies, a jaguar was on its side. Logan breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the steady fall and rise of the cat’s side. Jacyn was alive.

  Not breaking stride, Logan shifted to human form and ran the rest of the way to Jacyn. He was vaguely aware that he had to step over the bodies of the Raven to get to the jaguar, but Logan pushed that all to the back. Right now, all he cared about was getting to his man and making sure he was okay.

  “Holy fuck in a bucket,” Kevin breathed out in awe as he looked at the carnage around them. “He totally went berserk on those Ravens.”

  Logan ignored him and crouched down next to Jacyn. He was curled up, his head tucked under his paws, trembling. Logan tentatively reached out and ran his fingers over the tawny brownish fur. It had large irregular shaped black blotches marking it and it felt so soft under his hand. “It’s okay, I’m here now,” he cooed in a tender voice. Jacyn lifted his head and peered at him. Although the jaguar’s eyes were amber and had the distinct long vertical pupil of a cat, Logan could still detect Jacyn’s human soul there.

  What the hell? Jacyn’s panicked voice sounded in Logan’s head.

  “It’s fine.” Logan continued to run his hand through the jaguar’s fur.

  No, it’s not! I just ate those guys to death! The cat started to tremble even harder as it let out a low whine.

  “You were protecting yourself. If you hadn’t killed them, they would have murdered you or worse.” Even though the danger of that happening had passed, Logan’s gut still clenched at the thought.

  The Ravens were right to lock me up. I’m a menace.

  “No, you were just cornered and had to fight your way out. Anyone of us would have done the same thing. That doesn’t make you dangerous or criminal.” Logan stroked the side of the cat. “Come on, shift back for me.”

  I don’t know if I can.

  “Of course you can. Do it for me, babe.”

  Will it hurt?

  “Not if you just let it happen and don’t fight it. I’ll be with you the entire time, I promise.”

  A shimmer of bright yellow energy traveled up the cat’s body and within the span of a millisecond, Jacyn was back into his human form. He gazed down at his hand, perhaps expecting to see claws still, before he started to pat down his body.

  “Making sure everything is still there?” Kevin cracked.

  “They shot me,” Jacyn stammered as he continued to poke at his shoulder and side.

  Even though he knew the wounds had healed and Jacyn felt no more pain, Logan still wanted to roar in outrage. He yearned to go over and kick the bodies of the Ravens even though they were dead and couldn’t feel his punishment. “Why didn’t you obey me?” Logan demanded, trying hard to keep his voice even.

  “I was just trying to help,” Jacyn protested softly.

  “When I tell you to do something, you do it,” Logan snapped, worry for what could have happened finally making him lose his thin hold on his temper.

  “Who made you my boss?” Jacyn shot back, his own anger evident in the way his cheeks flushed. “Last time I heard, Mitchell was still our leader.”

  “Who also told you to stay in the car.”

  Jacyn cursed under his breath and ducked his head. “You heard that, huh?”

  “Yeah, our hearing is very sensitive, but you probably already figured that out. How many conversations have you overheard in the past? Secret discussions you weren’t supposed to know about? You’ve had heightened senses all your life, you’ve just never realized it.”

  Jacyn paused for a second, before he tilted his head back with a frustrated groan. “I’m so sick of this. For the past couple of days, I’ve lost complete control of my entire life. Stay in the car, Jacyn. Have fun chained to our wall, Jacyn. You’re a kitty cat now, Jacyn. You can’t go back home because the police will arrest you for shooting up a store and stealing a rig, Jacyn. That is if a group of stinky bird men don’t capture you and make you into their own personal boy toy.”

  A snort off to Logan’s right told him Kevin was trying to hold in his laughter.

  “And he’s lost it.”

  “Shut up! Why don’t you and Jared go back to the house and check out what happened to the family?” Logan barked, never taking his gaze off Jacyn.

  “Sure thing,” Jared replied, as usual, playing the peacemaker. “We’ll call the canine pack nearby and see if they can help with the cleanup, too.”

  Right as the duo were leaving, Kevin paused and looked over his shoulder. His dark hair was hanging in his eyes and for once, the cocky smile was gone from his face. Taking a deep breath, he said, “Thanks
for what you did for me back there, Jacyn. You got a massive set of balls on you. Mitchell is going to be real proud of you.”

  Words of compliment coming from Kevin of all felines? Logan couldn’t have been more surprised if Satan himself had come up from hell and started ladling soup at a homeless shelter.

  Jared gave his mate a light punch on the shoulder. “Come on, let’s go do what Logan asked. We’ve only got so much sunlight left and I don’t want to be out here playing while it’s still dark.”

  “I’m sorry,” Jacyn whispered once they were alone again.

  Logan couldn’t help it. He wrapped his arms around Jacyn’s shoulders and brought him in for a rib-crushing hug. They were still sitting on the ground and rocks were digging into his backside, but all that he cared about was the sensation of having Jacyn safe and sound, in his embrace.

  “Don’t ever do that to me again,” he demanded in a harsh voice. “I thought I had lost you.”Logan pulled back so he could gaze at Jacyn’s face. A bit of Raven’s blood marred his cheek, so Logan tried to wipe it away. He only succeeded in smearing it more. “Are you in any pain?” Logan asked as he lightly brushed his lips against Jacyn’s mouth. It was completely against protocol, but he needed all the contact he could get. Maybe then the fear that still had his gut in an iron vise, would let up.

  “It didn’t hurt as much this time. I just feel achy, like I had a really hard work out in the gym. I would give my hind legs for a hot bath though. I could soak for days.”

  The thought of Jacyn sitting in a tub, his skin pink from the steam and droplets of water clinging to the hard muscles of his stomach, had Logan’s cock springing to life. Suddenly Logan had a new naughty fantasy and he damn well was going to make it come true. “Come on, let’s go back to the house and help the others so we can get the hell out of here.” Logan stood and held his hand out to help Jacyn up.

  One more night. Logan had one more night with Jacyn. Then they would be back at the headquarters. A stab of regret hit Logan hard. He had no doubt that once they got home, he would lose Jacyn forever. So he was going to make this a night that neither one of them ever forgot.

  Chapter Nine

  “Wow, does Mitchell know you’re charging this to his account?” Jared asked as he and Logan stood in the opulent lobby of the hotel.

  Logan followed his gaze, taking in the highly polished marble floor, the huge potted plant, the large screen plasma TVs in the bar. Several of the guests, all dressed in high-end clothes gave the two men looks of disdain. Jared curled his lip at one scrawny guy and the human quickly scampered the other way.

  “Mitchell owes us for what we’ve been through. We’ve spent all day cleaning up that mess at the Rogues’ house and we deserve some R and R,” Logan replied.

  “It’s still pisses me off to no end what the Ravens did to that family.” Jared kept his voice down so they weren’t overheard.

  Logan agreed with him. The Ravens hadn’t just killed the family, they had ripped them apart. Two parents and their adult children, murdered in cold blood and for what? To set up an ambush. It seemed all so senseless. But then, most of the things in this damn war seemed that way. Logan handed a keycard over to the panther and then slid another in his pocket.

  “You got just two rooms?” Jared asked, cocking a brow.

  “Leave it,” Logan growled as he started to make his way across the lobby and to the parking lot where they had left the others.

  “Sure thing, if anyone asks me about it, I’ll just tell them you did it so you could stand guard so the Ravens didn’t snag him again.”

  Jared probably would, too. The panther was one of the few true friends Logan had. More than once, they’d saved each other’s hide. The only fault Logan could find in the guy is he’d picked a tool for a mate.

  Jacyn and Kevin were sitting on the hood of the Rover. They jumped down as Jared and Logan approached.

  Logan almost stumbled when he noticed they had been laughing about something. Until then, he didn’t think Kevin could smile, let alone find his sense of humor.

  “You actually managed to get us rooms here?” Kevin asked, glancing at the keycard in Jared’s hand. “I thought for sure they would take one look at you two and throw your asses out.”

  “Logan worked his charm on them.” Jared grinned at his mate as they exchanged a tender look.

  “Shoot, now I know you’re lying,” Kevin snorted. “Logan doesn’t have an ounce of charm in him.”

  “Come on.” Jared threw an arm around Kevin’s shoulders. “I’m tired and hungry.”

  Kevin stood on tiptoe so he could whisper something in Jared’s ear.

  The panther chuckled, “Yeah, I’m that, too. You going to help alleviate it?”

  Kevin rubbed his cheek against Jared’s chest, marking him with his scent. “I love you so much.”

  They left, Kevin pausing long enough to call back, “See you tomorrow, Jacyn. Make sure you’re not too rough on Logan. We don’t want to find him in the same condition you left those Ravens.”

  Logan shook his head as they rounded the corner. “I still don’t get what Jared sees in him.”

  “You don’t always get to chose who you fall in love with,” Jacyn replied.

  Logan turned to look at him, hoping to see if there was some underlying message to those words, but Jacyn’s face was a blank slate. For the first time since they’d met, Logan couldn’t read him. It both frustrated and scared the hell out of him. “Here.” He cleared his throat nervously as he pulled the key out of his pocket. “Why don’t you go up to the room and start getting situated?”

  “Okay,” Jacyn replied slowly, warily reaching out to take it. “Aren’t you going to come, too?”

  The slight bit of worry in his voice shouldn’t have made Logan happy, but it did. Just by hearing it, he knew Jacyn wanted him around. “I’ll be right there. I have a couple of calls to make. In the meantime, you go ahead and get started. I made sure the room had a hot tub.”

  A wicked gleam of excitement went through Jacyn’s eyes. “No way!”

  “Why do you think I picked this hotel?” Logan grinned. It felt so good to know that he had been the one to make Jacyn so happy.

  “You are so awesome.”

  “Well, you kept mentioning how you wanted a hot bath and I thought with all the crap you’ve been through, it was the least I could do for you.”

  Jacyn gave him one last grin before he raced to the room, nearly running in his excitement.

  Logan was in such a good mood, he didn’t even mind that he had to deal with Rat during one of the calls. After he gave a report to Rat, Logan called Mitchell to give him the details. He deliberately left out the part about Jacyn leaving the car, not wanting him to be in trouble before he even set foot into his new home.

  “How’s he taking all this?” Mitchell asked at the end of their conversation.

  Logan didn’t even have to ask who the he was. Just by the way Mitchell’s voice had grown soft let him know it was Jacyn. The leader often sounded the same way when he talked about Cassie or Brent.

  “Great, a lot better than most would,” Logan replied, a great sense of pride going through him. Jacyn had more than handled it. He’d used it to his advantage to take out the Raven shifters.

  “Promise me you’ll keep a close eye on him until he’s home,” Mitchell ordered, thickly.

  If Mitchell only knew how closely Logan planned to do that watching, the leader would probably have him thrown in the small jail at headquarters. That was if he didn’t just out and out kill Logan first. “I’ll protect him with my life,” Logan vowed, meaning it to the marrow of his bones.

  After he hung up, Logan grabbed their stuff from the Charger and went to the room. Once there, he set the bags down, took off his boots, and grabbed a bottle of champagne from the stocked mini-fridge. It was going to jack up the bill even more, but at this point, why worry.

  Not bothering with glasses, he popped the cork and went to the bathroom. It had th
e same type of marble floors the lobby did and was almost as big as the rest of the room. Taking up a good portion of space was a large corner whirlpool tub.

  The engine whirred, the sound mixing in with the gurgles from the bubbling water. Jacyn was already in there, naked and looking more relaxed than Logan had ever seen him. At least Logan hoped he was naked. With all the swirling water, he couldn’t see to make sure.

  Jacyn had his eyes closed and head back, resting against the tile wall.

  At first, Logan didn’t think he knew he had company. Then Jacyn slowly cracked his lids and gave him a lazy smile. Logan’s cock snapped to attention, pushing painfully against the tight denim of his jeans.

  “I think there’s room if you want to come in and join me,” Jacyn invited, his gaze heavy with desire.

  “There’s enough space in there to fit in the entire feline shifter population,” Logan teased as he set the champagne down on the ground by the tub. In order to do so, he had to bend over and his face was so close to Jacyn’s tempting lips that Logan couldn’t resist snagging a quick taste.

  Once he pulled back, Jacyn said, “I don’t want the entire shifter population in here with me, just you. Are you going to get naked and come in or do I have to get out and make you?”

  The thought of Jacyn naked, aroused and wet, stalking him through the room, had Logan groaning. God, that would be a sight to see, but some other time. Right now, he knew that he would go crazy if he didn’t get his hands on Jacyn soon. Straightening back up, Logan stripped off his clothes so fast it was a miracle he didn’t shred them into pieces. Once he was naked, he froze, suddenly very aware of Jacyn’s heated gaze.

  “You’re so hot,” Jacyn proclaimed in a near snarl. His eyes flashed and for a brief second, the irises took on the shape of his jaguar before they returned to normal.

  It let Logan know that his guy was on the edge, about to lose the battle for control with his lustful side. “And you’re perfect,” Logan replied, meaning it with every inch of his soul. Stepping into the tub, he hissed at the hot temperature, before he slowly sunk down and let his body adjust to the heat.