by A. C. Arthur
Her pulsed quickened and knees almost buckled as she stood in the hallway thinking of just how much she would love for Keller Cross to bite her. His sharp teeth would rake over her smooth skin with just the right amount of pleasure and pain. And if she were very lucky, he would break the skin, just a tiny bit, enough so that his saliva would mix with her blood and they would be forever and inextricably connected.
Romantic fantasies, that’s what Nisa would call what was going through Shya’s mind at this very moment. Remnants of all the books she’d read and all the stories she’d conjured in her mind, all things that were a substitute for living. Well, she was going to put an end to that vicarious lifestyle right now. She’d waited long enough.
Taking the final steps, she stopped at the door and punched in the security code. The locks disengaged and she took another deep breath, holding it for a few seconds, only to let it stream out in a slow whoosh of air before telling herself for the billionth time tonight, “Now or never.”
Seconds after uttering the last syllable her fingers wrapped around the doorknob and she turned it until it clicked. Pushing the door, she stepped inside the room and felt the chill instantly wrap around her body. The lights were out but there was an unmistakable orange-gold glow coming from the bed.
He was awake.
“Shit!” the word tumbled free seconds before the quick snap of Keller’s neck as he turned to see her.
His eyes were a brilliant green, not bright, but muted until they almost looked foggy. Brilliant because it was the most unique color she’d ever seen on a Bosinian and because he was the only Shadow to wear his cat’s eyes all the time. From the first moment she’d seen him stepping out of the Tracer, Shya had been intrigued by those eyes—and this man.
“The Desert Cat is feral. Killing with no malice.”
The words came from the FL through the room loud and clear as if the FL was sitting up in that bed as healthy as the day he’d disappeared all those years ago. But that was not the case. Cole Linden was lying perfectly still in the bed, just as he had been earlier today when she’d come by to see if Keller had arrived at his post. He hadn’t but she’d stayed a few moments staring at the man who had meant so much to her father and the other FLs in the Assembly. They had looked for him every moment since his disappearance and now he was here, and he was talking.
Keller stepped closer to the bed, but he didn’t touch the FL. Shya did the same, going to the other side of the bed because standing right next to Keller might be too much considering she now had to deal with the fact that Cole was awake, or at the very least talking.
“The…Desert…Cat.”
His face remained impassive while his lips moved, the words coming slower, even the machines surrounding him seemed to stop working while he spoke. She stood still, almost holding her breath as she waited for the next words to come. But they didn’t and moments later, the machines began their normal rhythmic drone. The chill that had greeted her when she came in dissipated and a warm breeze wafted her way carrying the scent of cinnamon.
“What are you doing here?”
She had a feeling he would speak first. It was his nature, the dominant that had been stilted for these last three months. The cougar that was caged and hated every second of its captivity. Shya took a slow, steadying breath before meeting his gaze across the bed.
“I came to see you.”
There, she’d said it out loud. She came to see the cougar that had crept into her every waking thought, the one who eased its way into her dreams and thus her entire being, the one everyone around here feared, except her.
“Why?”
A man of few words. Somehow, she doubted that was the real Keller, even though he hadn’t done anything to prove that point since he’d been here. He didn’t socialize with any of the other Shadows, not even the small group of cougars that were part of the STT who trained every morning at 4 a.m. Keller went to the gym during the same time, but he never trained with them, didn’t even use the equipment that was near them, just went to his own corner and did his thing. The same corner, on the same equipment, at the same time, every morning, like clockwork.
“I wanted to tell you something.” Again, total honesty. She’d thought about what she wanted to say and how to say it in earnest for the last two weeks.
“Tell me what?”
The words were there, right on the tip of her tongue, but when she’d practiced them over a hundred times now, he hadn’t been two feet away from her, staring at her with those intense eyes or smelling like…cinnamon. That wasn’t the most enticing scent, and yet, it was drawing her in as if she were a fish caught on a line.
“That I want you.”
And that did not sound as sexy and romantic as it had in her mind. Nope, going by the way he was staring at her with complete confusion etched across his very handsome face, it sounded just as odd and slightly off-her-rocker, as she’d thought. Damn.
The comlink he wore on his left wrist lit up and buzzed, the action pulling his attention away from her as he looked down and pressed one of the many buttons on the side of the device. Every member of the STT and the Assembly leadership wore comlinks. Shya wore a leather bracelet her mother had given her for her sixteenth birthday with the Topétenia insignia on it because they were too afraid giving her the tribal tattoo might cause some sort of reaction in her already compromised body. The sickness she’d been cursed…or rather, born with, was like the unwanted gift that just kept on giving.
“My shift is over and you should leave.” His tone was curt and cool and he didn’t look at her this time.
She took a step away from the bed. “I’ll walk with you back to your room.”
“No!”
One word. One brutally different tone. One sharp prick to her chest.
Breathe in slowly. Breathe out slowly. Count to five.
Shya walked around the bed and headed to the door when her fingers touched the knob again, she turned to look at him over her shoulder. “We can walk and talk about what I want and what the FL just said. Or, I can go straight to the Assembly Leader and tell him that Cole’s been awake for some time and you haven’t told anybody.”
Chapter 2
She was trouble.
Keller knew it the moment he’d spied her outside the training facility a month ago. She’d been standing by one of the side doors peering in through the circle-shaped window in the center of the steel access, watching him. His first instinct had been to dismiss it, dismiss her and the ripple of awareness his cat felt as her eyes stayed fixed upon him. But that hadn’t worked. Instead of ignoring the sensation, it had grown as well as the frequency in which he’d begun to see her around Assembly Headquarters.
He hated being here, hated being forced to stay here and babysit and hated that this feisty little cat now had the upper hand over him. But not for long.
“Let’s go.” He wanted to grab her by the arm and yank her through the door, out into the hallway, and all the way to the bunker where the sleeping quarters were housed.
But Shya Delgado was the daughter of Lead Enforcer Nick Delgado and Chief Curandero Ary Delgado. In other words, she was the second closest to being royalty among the Shadow Shifters and touching her would most assuredly earn him another punishment from this bunch of rules-obsessed shifters.
So, instead, after he opened the door, Keller used a pointed glare to get her out into the hallway. The corner of her pert little mouth tilted and she walked out with the distinctive air of triumph. He resisted the urge to growl in irritation or to watch the sway of her hips as she moved in front of him. Returning his focus, he closed the door behind him and turned to punch in the code that would lock it.
He didn’t look back at her. “How did you get in here?”
“I know the code. I know lots of codes around here.” She had a sensual voice, one that would not be expected to go along with her slim build and angelic face. He hadn’t forgotten the sound of it since the first day he’d heard her speaking
to Nisa Reynolds Canter, the new Lead Enforcer of the Central Zone and mate of Decan Canter, the new Central Zone Faction Leader.
When the lights on the pad all turned bright pink signaling they were activated, Keller turned to see her standing with her arms behind her back, chin tilted, eyes fixed on him. The stance made her high, palm-sized breasts seem larger and more enticing than the low cut of the white t-shirt she wore and his teeth clenched in response.
“How are you getting these codes when you’re not authorized to have them?”
“I know much more than people around here presume.”
The look of impatience that crossed her face the moment those words were out said she wasn’t totally happy about that situation. But Keller didn’t care, he was much more concerned with how and why she’d showed up in that room. As for why she’d made that other ridiculous statement about wanting him, he was just going to leave that alone.
“You shouldn’t know codes to rooms in restricted areas and you shouldn’t be down here in the middle of the night snooping around.” She should be in bed getting her rest or whatever she did around here.
“I’d much rather discuss who you think the Desert Cat is and how Cole knows about him.” She shook her head. “No. I’d actually rather discuss what I originally came down here to tell you, but I’m really good at compartmentalizing.”
She was good at confusing the hell out of him. Keller walked away from her, not to be rude, but because he processed things better when he was moving, walking or running, either worked.
“The Desert Cat is none of your concern.”
She fell into step beside him, the top of her head—the afro of springy curls surrounding her face like a halo was more accurate—at shoulder-level with him.
“If he or she is the one killing indiscriminately above ground, they’re very much my concern. As whatever happens in retaliation for a shifter killing humans will ultimately affect me and everyone else living in Oasis.”
What she was saying made perfect sense, but he didn’t want to have this conversation with her.
She crossed in front of him then, so that he had no choice but to stop walking as well.
“The remaining members of the Ruling Cabinet are out for blood. There’ve been raids on the last known Shadow sanctuaries above ground and the humans that were reportedly helping them have been slaughtered in the street as a warning to anyone else that might be harboring shifters. We’re all involved now, no matter how elite you may think the STT and all their rules and training are.”
Her tone was snappy, irritated, but rational as hell. She knew what she was talking about and he didn’t think it mattered how, only what she thought she was going to do about the situation. She also had the prettiest amber-colored eyes he’d ever seen.
Because his fingers itched with the desire to touch her, Keller lifted his arm and pointed instead. “Conference room.”
She arched a brow and then her lips curved upward again causing a powerful bolt of lust to shoot straight from his head to his cock.
He moved before her and again she followed as he stalked across the glossed cement floor of the training center. Once they were through those doors, it was down another hallway almost fifty feet until it opened into the courtyard which was normally bustling with shifters going about their daily business at Assembly Headquarters. But at this time of night this part of the facility was always deserted but for the cameras that remained operational.
Keller was careful to walk close to the walls which were cast in dark shadows since the lights had been turned down in this area. He moved quickly and was not surprised that she could keep up with him. She was a jaguar after all, speed and cunning were part of their genetics. When he came to the line of doors that marked various conference spaces, he randomly selected the third one and punched in another code to enter the room. Once inside he turned quickly, so fast that he caught her off guard. She gasped when his two-hundred and eighty-pound, six-foot two-inch frame crowded her much smaller form causing her to back against the door she’d just closed.
“What do you know about what’s going on above ground? Have you been sneaking out?”
Nisa had snuck out more times than her father Rome, or anyone else in Oasis knew and if Decan hadn’t caught her that night she’d slipped out of Keller’s bunker, she would have been killed by a gang of rogues. If Shya was doing the same thing Keller was either going to go against his not touching her without her permission rule and shake some sense into the feisty little cat, or he was going to report his suspicions to her father. Considering how he felt about the Assembly leadership at this moment, the latter wasn’t his first choice. But he’d do whatever was going to keep her safe.
She licked her lips and his dick jumped, pressing against the zipper of his jeans as it grew with desire.
“I know that after Graham Parker’s death there was someone else running the Ruling Cabinet since they don’t know we have Mackey. They’re looking for him, but they’re continuing with their first mission—to rid the world of all Shadows. And now the continued killings of humans by the Desert Cat makes it seem as if the illusive shifter is inadvertently helping them,” she said.
“Why would you say “inadvertently”? Maybe the Desert Cat isn’t a shifter after all. What if he’s one of them?”
“If you thought that you would have asked Cole why he was saying it. You didn’t say anything to him? Why? You’ve heard him speak before, haven’t you?”
Keller waited while his mind warred with his body. He wanted to answer her questions in a cryptic way, give her just enough so she would tell him everything she knew, but his body wanted more. His fingers clenched and released at his sides while his mouth watered, nostrils flared as the scent of her arousal spoke directly to his growing erection.
“What matters is what you know because if you have information on the Desert Cat, you’re in danger. Do you understand that?” He took a step closer, until he was just a breath away from her. “Is that what you’re looking for Ms. Shya? Do you need some excitement to fill your perfect little life? You want some adventure since your best friend moved to the Central Zone with her mate? Need something to do with your downtime?”
Those amber eyes turned a fierce golden-yellow that he was certain would have shot heated daggers straight through him if it were possible. When her palms touched his chest, even through the material of the navy-blue shirt he wore, heat seared his skin, seconds before she pushed him with all her might, and he stumbled back.
“Don’t be an ass,” she snapped. “I’ve known about the Desert Cat since Nisa and Decan were above ground getting their asses kicked while you were off twiddling your thumbs.”
Standing solidly again the growl he’d been holding back ripped free, his razor-sharp teeth elongated and pressed painfully against his lips. “My best friend was wounded during that above ground adventure so don’t speak of things you know nothing about little cat!”
She narrowed her eyes and replied, “There’s nothing little about me.”
Keller could find no lies in that statement.
Inside his cat stretched and rubbed against his human skin in an act of predatory indulgence. It wanted and needed. And she was standing too damn close.
Keller took a step back. He kept his teeth clenched tight, releasing his fingers as he continued to stare at her. Every muscle in his body was tense, every scent in this room—hell in the immediate vicinity—was null and void, there was only her and the luscious aroma of her arousal.
“You have no idea what you’re poking your nose into. And before you say a word to refute that statement, let me just warn you—I’m not like your father or any of the other Assembly leadership. And I’m nothing like Decan. So, if you’re looking for a crazy adrenaline filled whirlwind romance that ends with a joining, you’re definitely barking up the wrong tree. I’m not that type of cat.”
To her credit she didn’t flinch at a word he’d said, nor did she look away with embarrassment at
how candid he was purposely being with her. That wasn’t a good sign.
“I’m the type to take what it wants and right now with you standing there dripping with desire so intense the scent is making me high and looking at me with eyes that are as eager for my touch as your body seems to be, I could easily shift into the mood and take what’s being offered. Rules aren’t my thing so the fact that you’re Nick Delgado’s daughter means nothing to me. What does matter is permission. So, the next time you come offering your hot little body on a platter, make absolutely sure you’re ready for the ride.”
She folded her arms over her chest and adjusted her stance so that one hip was jutted forward, her head tilted while she now looked at him with avid curiosity.
“As for what happened in the room, I’m advising you to keep it to yourself. Don’t repeat it to Nisa or anyone else and don’t—I cannot express this strongly enough—don’t go into that room again. Forget the code. Forget the Desert Cat. Go back to your books. Understand?”
He waited a few seconds for her response.
She blinked and looked around as if she thought someone else might be in the room. Then she pointed a finger to herself. “Oh, is it my turn to speak? I thought you might want to continue with your eloquent diatribe. I was really interested in what else you might say.”
He didn’t do rules and he had absolutely no patience with sarcasm.
“Good night, Ms. Shya.” Those words were crisp as he stalked toward the door.
His cat roared loud and long the second her thin fingers wrapped around his arm and pulled him back to her.
“I’m not done,” she said. “You asked if I understood. I don’t. So, do you intend to make me understand or not?”
This jaguar was intent on tempting fate.
Oh well…Keller moved fast, closing her in once more. This time her back was to the conference table, chairs on both sides of her as he moved in until this time the thick length of his fully aroused dick pressed against her lower abdomen. She sucked in a breath, her eyes going to an almost luminescent yellow and her tongue stroked slowly along her bottom lip. That wasn’t the reaction he was hoping for, not by any stretch of the imagination. What he wanted was for her to gasp in shock or blink and look away as nervousness filled her, but none of that happened. Instead, she stepped into him, rubbing her tight little body right up against his length, daring him and the cat to take what she was offering.
