by Zena Wynn
Landing flat-footed in front of the male, he reached down and hauled him up by the throat. “You dare to touch what belongs to me!” He shook the man like a ragdoll.
A high pitched scream sounded behind him.
“Reyna, no!” The male, who was looking behind Tariq, managed to choke out right before a heavy furred weight landed on Tariq’s back.
And then Tariq’s female, his Heart’s Blood, erupted into a snarling, screaming mass of clawing, biting fury. Her claws dug into his sides and legs and her fangs sank into Tariq’s shoulder blade, just missing his spine, which he strongly suspected was her target. They all rolled in a tangled heap with his woman doing her level best to kill him. He had an instant to decide whether to continue his attempt to kill her presumed attacker or protect himself.
Self-preservation won.
Tariq reached back to pry the hellcat off him. It galled him to admit that he might not have succeeded had not the other male helped. He ducked underneath and came around to grab her by the neck and body, pulling back while Tariq pried her claws out of his lacerated, bleeding chest and thighs. The minute he was free, Tariq spun around.
The cat, Reyna, twisted in an amazing show of agility and wrapped bloody paws around the nude male and the two…vanished.
Tariq blinked and looked again. How the hell had she done that? He searched inwardly. She was gone. There was nothing, not even a trace left behind for him to follow.
“Shit! Shit! Shit!” He crouched and slammed his fists against the ground, cursing up a storm. This woman was going to be the death of him.
Slowly he stood. A deep calm born partly of the cold rage eating him up from the inside settled over him. Since meeting his Heart’s Blood he’d been off balance, an emotional, irrational wreck. No more. It was time to tap into the same cunning and skill that had made him a warrior unparalleled and the leader of the Eastern domain.
Knowledge was power. He’d been operating blind but not anymore. He had a name, Reyna, and he knew what she was, Felini. It was enough. Time for him to begin using the brain the Ancient One gave him. This was war. The most important battle of his existence—the fight to claim his bloodmate.
Enrique, call a counsel. In three hours I want to know everything you can discover about the Felini. Check the personnel records of Illuminator Inc. and get me every bit of info about a woman named Reyna. By the time we meet I want to know what she does, where she lives, medical records, you name it.
When he popped back into his penthouse, Alvaro’s eyes widened as he took in his appearance. “What happened to you?”
“My Heart’s Blood,” Tariq snarled as he stripped off what remained of the ragged, bloody shirt, hissing as the wounds on his chest protested.
“Looks like you were mauled,” Alvaro commented, still studying him.
“She tried to take my head off.” He stalked through the living room into his bedroom, and once there, into the bathroom and wet a rag. The cuts were already healing. Tariq cleansed the gashes to ensure they wouldn’t get infected and scar.
“I take it the mating’s not going so smooth,” his friend observed from the bedroom doorway, a small smile flirting at the corners of his mouth.
“You find this amusing?” Tariq didn’t know what the hell was so funny. Certainly not finding his Heart’s Blood wrapped around another male. He growled at the memory of the man who was obviously her lover.
Alvaro chuckled. “I’m sorry, my friend. It’s just you’re used to women falling down at your feet. How ironic that the one that’s meant to be yours for all eternity is proving to be…difficult.”
Tariq was sure one day, when his balls weren’t blue and his mind was at peace, he too would see the humor. “I called a counsel,” he said abruptly. “I’d appreciate your being there to provide any insight into the Felini.”
“You called…” Alvaro appeared to be struggling not to laugh, “…a war counsel?”
“You have a better idea?” Tariq’s body literally vibrated with the need to pound into something.
Alvaro held both hands out in mute appeal. “Again I must beg your forgiveness. Not much amuses me these days.”
Tariq gauged Alvaro’s sincerity, remembered all he’d lost, and sighed. “No it’s me who needs to apologize. This whole situation is making me crazy. I detest feeling so…”
“Lost, out of control,” Alvaro suggested.
“Yes.” The word was hissed.
The smile Alvaro gave him was gentle. “I think the Ancient One does it on purpose. How better to make a male appreciate the one he’s given than to make him fight for her. Anything that comes too easy is quickly discarded.”
“I would never abandon my Heart’s Blood,” Tariq vehemently denied, highly offended.
“Are you so certain? On this planet we live many centuries. Long enough to take for granted those closest to us. When you’ve been together a hundred plus years, let’s see how easily you remember to value her.” Alvaro left the bedroom doorway and return to the outer room.
Tariq stood there contemplating his words.
Chapter Five
Reyna landed with Jorlan in a tangle of legs and paws on her bedroom floor. Not having time to think it through or plan, she was grateful they hadn’t landed on the dresser, or in the tub. Immediately she nudged him onto his back to examine his throat where the vampyr had grabbed him. She should have bitten his head off. Would have if the asshole hadn’t moved at the last moment.
Using a paw, she lightly patted his cheek. Jorlan.
Please let him be all right, she prayed. Blood was everywhere, seeping and pouring out of various puncture wounds and slashes. Reyna licked at the gouged flesh, forcing healing saliva into it.
Jorlan, speak to me.
His breath came in small rasps, his lips had a blue tinge to them, and blood bubbled from his mouth. There was so much damage, she was scared to leave him and call for help.
Reyna… Even his mental voice was weak, strained with pain.
Jorlan?
Blood…wounds…heal.
I’m trying to heal you. There’s too much damage.
Shift…your blood…heal wound. He passed out.
Jorlan. Jorlan!
No answer. What did that mean?
He’d said, “Shift.” She changed back to her human form. Now what?
Your blood…heal wound.
How? She looked at his mangled throat. Jorlan didn’t have time for her to sit here and figure it out. She needed to act and act now.
Raising her wrist to her mouth, she ripped a hole in it with her teeth. When the blood was flowing freely, she held it over the gaping meat of his neck and let the blood drip into the wound, pulling the pieces apart and holding it open so her blood completely saturated it. Then she opened Jorlan’s mouth and allowed her blood to fill his mouth, praying he wouldn’t choke. Beginning to feel lightheaded, she sucked on her wrist until she felt the flesh knitting back together.
Jorlan was as still as death.
“Damn it, don’t you die on me.” Jorlan had been her friend, her confidant, playmate, and protector. He was always daring her to do the impossible, and somehow with his constant support and much needed approval, she managed to achieve it. He couldn’t leave her now. He was the only one who understood her, the only one to fully accept her.
She beat on his chest. “Live, damn you. Live! You’re too ornery to die.” She collapsed on top of him, crying. “Don’t leave me.”
Two strong arms came up to embrace her. Why, Kitten, I didn’t know you cared.
Her head snapped up. “Damn it, Jorlan, you scared me.”
Sorry, doll. It’s not as bad as it looks.
“You passed out,” she complained.
Blood loss. Feeling better already.
“You don’t look it.” There was still so much blood—his and hers—that she couldn’t see if the flesh was healing, but he was well enough to joke. She’d take whatever she could get.
Soon as I shift I’l
l be good as new. However you, my dear, are in major trouble. You do realize that was your husband whose head you were trying to remove?
“I don’t have husband.”
That might have been true two days ago, but not now.
“Felini don’t marry. We don’t mate. We breed,” she stubbornly insisted.
But you’re more than just Felini, aren’t you? It’s time you embrace your other half, Reyna. Only then will you be all you’re meant to be.
It wasn’t the first time she’d heard this same lecture from Jorlan. However, this was the first time she might not have a choice. Something had happened to her Friday night, causing her to change. While the Felini part of her had instinctively responded to the threat to someone she loved, another part of her—one that seemed to be growing by leaps and bounds—had been horrified and tried to hold her back. Reyna told herself she’d aimed for a killing blow, but now that Jorlan was safe, she wasn’t sure if that’s what happened.
Legally, you belong to him, Jorlan said.
“He has to find me first,” she grumbled, knowing Jorlan was right but willing to fight to the bitter end rather than admit it. “A damned vampyr. Isabella will—”
Your mother is not here. This is your life. Not hers. You have to live it. You can’t do that if you keep focusing on the past.
“But—”
But nothing. You can’t keep denying what you are.
“Easy for you to say,” she snarled. “You weren’t the one treated like a pariah for something you had no control over. My own mother can barely stand to look at me, and now you want me to accept this…this…vampyr…” She imbued the word with all the revulsion she could manage, “…into my life?”
Jorlan shifted into his feline form and laid his head in her lap. Kitten, he sighed, you’ve done all you could to fit in with the Felini to no avail. Maybe there’s a reason. Maybe you’ll find the acceptance you need among your father’s kind.
“My father was vampyr and—” she began bitterly.
He’s dead, Reyna. You can’t continue to blame a whole race for one man’s actions. He paid for his crimes.
He’s not the only one who paid, she said, thinking of her life in the pride and the way the males had looked at her before she’d ported. I’m still paying for them.
Reyna, don’t let the actions of others turn you into a bitter woman. This may be your one chance for love, for cubs. Do you really want to miss it? Don’t you think it telling this one man managed to do what all others have failed—kick started you into estrous? So their ways are different. Different doesn’t necessarily mean wrong. You can’t accuse the pride of being backward in their thinking and stuck in their ways and then do the same. All I’m saying is when he comes to claim you—and have no doubt, he will—give the man a chance.
Reyna laid her head on his belly, curling her body into his as the healing sleep claimed him. She lay awake a long time, thinking on his words.
Three hours later, a determined Tariq strode into the conference room, his boot-clad feet making no sound on the plush carpet. He took the command seat at the head of the massive, rectangle table. Around it sat five of his seven masters, each with their particular area of expertise. He nodded a greeting to each before leveling his gaze on his Second. “Lay it on me.”
Enrique swiped a thumb across the glass-topped desk and a keyboard appeared. He typed a command and a 3-D holographic image of Illuminator Inc. shimmered into view, hovering over the center of the table. Another typed command had the image doing a slow rotation so each side of the building could be seen by all the table’s occupants.
“When the message came in, I took the liberty of discovering what I could about Illuminator Inc. Trying to find the owner is like playing an elaborate shell game. Every time I think I’ve tracked it down, I turn over another empty shell.
“What I can tell you is they came on the scene about eight years ago. Within two years they’d exploded into an international sensation. The corporation is privately held. Their main product seems to be those monstrous lighted display ads you see taking up a good portion of the skyscrapers downtown. They also create laser light shows to order. Thor?” Enrique tossed the verbal ball to the massive, blue-eyed blond who looked like a modern day Viking.
“Their computer system is highly encrypted. So far I haven’t been able to get through the firewall. I’m still working on it but assumed you wanted me to use a delicate touch, correct?” Thor asked.
Tariq hesitated before nodding in the affirmative. What he wanted to do was order Thor to blast through the firewall, secrecy be damned. However, his code of honor wouldn’t allow it. Instead he asked, “What’s the problem? Usually hacking into systems is child’s play for you.”
Thor grinned. “Whoever created this one knew what they were doing. It’s a veritable minefield of traps. Get passed one and there’s three more. One wrong step and the system kicks up an alarm. It’s almost like the things sentient. It’s a hell of a challenge.” From the gleam in his eyes, Tariq knew Thor was enjoying himself.
“Did it occur to either of you to simply call the company and get the directory?” Isis, the one female master asked derisively.
Thor winked at her. Enrique scowled. Conall answered. “I did. The prompt only directs you to the individual departments. The offices are closed on weekends so there’s no operator assistance. The company’s website doesn’t list any individual—not the employees, the officers, the owners, or board of directors, if there is one. Whoever runs the place is keeping a very low profile.”
“I’ll say. The only info I could find is that the company is own by a trust,” Enrique acknowledged.
“Do you think this may be a Felini holding?” Tariq asked Alvaro.
“Sounds like it. The things they could do with light energy was years beyond our technology and would certainly explain a lot,” Alvaro answered.
Darth, so nicknamed because of his love of the Star Wars’ fictional character, asked, “Who or what is a Felini?”
Tariq tuned out while Alvaro answered. He’d already heard all he needed to know. His best computer expert had hit a wall, literally. Like it or not, looks like he had to wait until Monday morning to corner his prey. His fists clenched with the urge to hit something.
He tuned in to hear Alvaro saying, “Felini males are aggressive and territorial. Their warlike ways is what destroyed their world. Some of them managed to escape. They came to earth looking for a place they could settle in peace. Despite this, the older ones are very tradition bound and resistant to change. I can’t believe they allowed one of their females to come into a known vampyr bar, given how they feel about us.”
“What about the coin?” Tariq said abruptly.
“What coin?” Enrique asked.
Tariq cursed, realizing he’d forgotten to tell him about it. Quickly he explained. “I searched the street cams to see how and when Reyna arrived.” His fingers flew over the keyboard as he pulled up the security footage and shot it to the empty white wall. Tariq fast forwarded, froze the frame, and then zoomed in. “That’s how she gained entrance. She presented one of our ambassador coins to the guard at the door. Someone gave Reyna their coin.”
“One of the workers found a gold coin in the debris in your suite. I didn’t realize it had any significance,” Enrique said.
“If we have it, someone is missing theirs. I want to know how Reyna came to be in possession of it. Check and see who we’ve issued passports to recently,” Tariq ordered.
“I’ll handle it,” Darth said. Immigration control was his area of responsibility. The coins were non-transferrable and not to leave the receivers possession the entire time they remained in Tariq’s territory. “Disciplinary actions?” he asked, already pulling up the list on his tablet.
Tariq hesitated. The penalty for violating his laws was stiff. However, without the person give Reyna that coin he’d have never met his blood mate. “First find the responsible party.
Let’s see what they have to say for themselves. Then we’ll discuss consequences.”
Thor motioned to the screen. “If I may?”
“Go ahead,” Tariq said.
“Now that we’ve gotten a good look at your Heart’s Blood, let’s see how she arrived at the club. Maybe she drove and used one of the parking garages,” Thor said.
Tariq scowled. Every one of his vampyrs knew what his Heart’s Blood looked like. He’d blasted an image of her into their minds.
Darth noticed and grinned. “No offense, boss, but the image you gave us earlier was a bit…” He paused, obviously trying to choose the right word.
“Distorted?” Thor muttered the suggestion.
“Crazed?” Isis added, with a quirk to her lips.
“Unrecognizable,” Darth finished calmly, though his eyes twinkled with suppressed mirth.
Tariq groaned aloud. He’d been positively manic at the time. Now he didn’t know what image of his Heart’s Blood he’d projected to his clutch. No wonder he hadn’t gotten any results.
Darth laughed and the others joined him. “It’s all good, boss. We understand. Finding one’s Heart’s Blood tends to have an unsettling effect on a man.”
“She left the coin behind. Did she leave anything else?” Isis asked.
“Not that we could determine. Of course, Tariq did a number on his quarters. It’s a wonder we found the coin intact,” Erique said wryly.
Darth motioned to Reyna’s image, still on screen. “I don’t see any of those fancy bags ladies bring to clubs dangling from her wrists. Where’s she keeping her keys, her money?”
“They’re called wristlets and ladies drink free before ten on Fridays. If she’s a regular, she’d know,” Isis informed them.
“I don’t think she’s been here before,” Tariq said, remembering the emotions he’d picked up from her last night. “Whatever her reason for coming, she definitely didn’t want to be here and was counting down the seconds until she could leave.”
