by Lisa Kessler
“I’ll be there in ten minutes,” he said.
I closed my phone and got up to throw away my cup when a thought struck me. If the creepy cat man was the one who attacked Gabe and then dumped him at the lake so we would find him, just how long had he been following me? What did he know of Adam?
A cold chill shot down my spine.
I collapsed back onto my chair, trying to make some sense of the jumbled facts floating around inside of my head. By the time the door opened, I’d lost all track of time. My gaze shot to the entrance, and my heart jumped at the sight of Adam. It was like all the problems plaguing me vanished for a split second when I saw him walking toward me. At that moment, I was incredibly grateful he couldn’t read my mind.
Adam came to the table, walked right past the other chair, took my hand, and tugged me straight up into his arms. Instinctively, my own slid around him and my hands grazed up his back. While my brain was reprimanding me that I was already getting way too attached to this man, I couldn’t stop myself from accepting his comfort. Knowing I had someone in my corner was a new sensation. When he finally drew back, his voice was rough with emotion, and his gaze burned into mine. “I’m glad you’re all right. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”
My hold on him loosened as I took a step back. “I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself. I didn’t realize this guy was following me or I wouldn’t have left the hotel.”
“We knew someone dumped Gabe off at the lake so we would find him,” he said. “I should’ve realized he’d still be following.” His hands clenched into fists at his side. “So who is he? Do you know—”
“I’ll tell you everything I know,” I said as I grabbed my cell from the table and slid it into my pocket. I scanned the coffee shop. “But let’s get someplace safe so we can make a plan.”
He nodded. “First we’ll find another hotel where he won’t find you.”
“He claims he can track me anywhere.”
Adam’s brow shot up. “I can track you too, but it’s tougher if we stay in crowded places. Too many scents to isolate a trail.”
“I need to go back for my bag and my laptop.” Adam’s shoulders tensed up. I shook my head. “Don’t start. I need my laptop. All my work is in it. No laptop, no money. I have to go get it, creepy cat man or not.”
“All right.” He held his hands up in mock surrender and nodded. “But I’m going with you.”
“Actually, you’re not.”
His hands dropped and his brow furrowed. “Oh, yes, I am.”
“I don’t think he knows what you look like, Adam. I don’t think he knew what I looked like either. He bumped into me at the library, and let me go. It was like he needed to match a face with the scent he’d been tracking. That could be our only advantage in this. He knows I knew who Gabe was, and he mentioned I should stay away from wolves, but I’m pretty sure he tracked me to the lake by scent. He didn’t actually see us up on the rock.”
He thought about it for a minute and met my eyes again. “Why would he leave Gabe at your feet?”
“I have some hunches, but we need to go get my stuff first.”
“I’ll drive you back to the hotel, and you get security to take you up to your room to collect your things. Don’t go up there alone, got it?”
“Got it.”
Adam dropped me off at the back entrance to the hotel, and then drove away to park at the rear of the lot. While he watched the doors for any sign of a certain someone following me, I went to the front desk to check out and to ask security to escort me up. Being in the heart of Reno’s downtown gambling district, most of the hotels kept armed security on staff, and within five minutes I had a tall security officer walking me to the elevators. His badge read “Joe”—seemed like a perfect security name to me.
“Which floor, ma’am?”
Cringing inwardly over the ma’am, I answered. “Fifth floor.”
He pressed the button and stepped back from the elevator panel. Awkward silence descended as I watched the floor numbers light up. The elevator lurched to a stop at the third floor. I held my breath and waited.
When the doors opened to reveal a couple with their young son, I let out a sigh of relief. Joe and I stepped off the elevator on the fifth floor, and he followed me to my door. I slid the key card in, waited for the green light to flash, and then twisted the knob. As soon as the door opened, I caught his scent.
“Wait.” I stopped Joe the security officer. “Someone’s been in here.”
“How can you tell?” His hand hovered over his Taser.
I peered inside trying to see if anyone was hiding in my hotel room, but it looked empty.
Except for a note on top of my computer: You cannot run, Little One.
I crumpled the paper and packed up my laptop, trying not to let it affect me. He could be watching me right now.
Why was this “Organization” even fixated on me? They were sparing no expense, sending in a team and now some kind of lone agent to bring me in. And what did he mean about me being a treasure to their kind?
I had no idea.
Frustrated and scared, I headed out the back door, relieved to see Adam waiting right at the curb. I tossed my duffel in the backseat before I remembered a bloody body had been back there. I didn’t want to reopen a wound with Adam, so as I climbed into the passenger seat, I glanced over into the back.
His voice was quiet. “I cleaned out the Jeep while I was at the ranch.”
I turned around and slid down into my seat. “Sorry. I didn’t think about it when I tossed my bag back there.”
“It’s fine.”
But nothing seemed fine about Adam tonight. He drove cautiously through downtown Reno, circling around until I wasn’t sure where we were headed anymore.
“Are we lost?” I asked.
“No. But if this guy’s a tracker, I want your scent everywhere. Too many trails for him to follow.”
“He could be following us right now.”
“I’ve been watching for that. Unless he can fly, he’s not behind us.”
Adam finally slowed and pulled into a driveway. A pink driveway.
“You’re kidding right?” I was looking up at the bright pink towers with neon letters spelling Circus Circus down the sides. “Nothing about this place says ‘Don’t notice me.’ It’s like a big, pink, neon nightmare.”
Adam started to smile, but it faded away before it ever reached his eyes. “Sometimes the best place to hide is in plain sight, right? Plus, this is one of the busiest tourist hotels in Reno. It’ll be tough for him to find your scent here.”
I peered up at the pink tower one last time and sighed. “All right.”
Adam grabbed my duffel, and I slung my laptop bag over my shoulder to go check in. The good news was the pink hotel was half the price of my previous home base. The bad news? Screaming kids were everywhere.
It was like Las Vegas and Ringling Brothers all baked into one so-sweet-you’re-going-to-be-sick cake with pink neon frosting. Lights flashed, slot machines chinged, and trapeze artists performed overhead. We followed the psychedelic-patterned carpet to the tower elevators and headed up to my new accommodations.
Once we were safely inside, Adam sat on the bed and watched me set up my laptop at the small desk by the television.
“So, who killed Gabe, and how do you know he did it?”
I sat in the chair and turned to face him. Raw emotion burned in his gaze and rippled through his tense shoulders. I thought after the memorial for his friend, he might need a shoulder to lean on. Apparently Adam wasn’t much of a leaner. “Okay, I guess we’ll get right to it.”
“It’s been a long day. I need to go make things right.” He ran his fingers back through his hair.
I started to frown a little. “And how exactly will things be made right?”
“Lana please…” He broke eye contact and went to the window. “Just bring me up to speed.”
“First off, this guy is dangerous, okay?” I cr
ossed my arms, remembering the way Gabe’s killer gripped my throat. “Second, revenge isn’t going to make anything right.” Flashes of Gabe’s wounds filled my head. The weight of the danger around me settled onto my shoulders, and Adam seemed hell-bent to run right into its arms. “If he didn’t see our faces up on the rock, then we could use that to our advantage. He won’t recognize you until he’s close enough to catch your scent, right?”
He snapped around so fast I almost flinched. “I don’t want to talk strategy. I want to know who he is.”
I stared at the silver bullet hanging from Adam’s neck. “I don’t know. He didn’t tell me his name. His hair was black, his eyes were dark brown, and he seemed very well educated. I think he was quoting poetry at some point. Hold on.”
I turned around in the chair and quickly typed out the few words I could remember the creepy cat man saying. I could look them up later. Maybe it would be a clue. Hard to tell, but every little bit was worth a try at this point. I twisted in my chair toward Adam again.
“He also mentioned something about an organization that sent him to track me. It all still sounds nuts to me, but he said he knew what I was and that he was ‘like me.’ He’s also very strong and moves silently.”
“How do you know he’s the jaguar that killed Gabe?”
“Because he mentioned that I didn’t catch his scent at the lake today. And when I accused him of killing Gabe he didn’t deny it. He seemed…” I pressed my lips together, searching for the right words. “He seemed pleased. I know he’s the one who dumped him there, but I’m not sure why yet.”
Adam rubbed his forehead. “Maybe he’s been tracking you and found out you were in contact with werewolves. Maybe he left Gabe for you like some sort of warning.”
“Maybe.”
“Or he was setting you up.” Adam grabbed one of the chairs at the tiny hotel table, flipped it around backward, and sat straddling it, resting his forearms on the back. “Our Pack isn’t a secret to the Jaguars. They know we protect our territory. If he thought you were getting friendly with wolves, what better way to turn them against you than to dump one of their Pack members at your feet, right?”
“I’d lose any potential protection from the Pack.”
Adam nodded slowly. “Exactly.”
“Could this organization he talked about know about my CAT scan from Bellevue? Could they tell I was a jaguar? Maybe that’s why they sent one after me, to confirm their suspicions?”
“I don’t know,” Adam said. “But we need to find him to get answers.”
“Maybe so, but ever since you mentioned my real parents and how they should have showed me how to use my…powers? What did you call them?”
Adam smiled. “We call them instincts.”
“That sounds better. Less superhero-ey.” I cleared my throat, crossing my arms even tighter. “Since my parents never wanted me, I’ve spent my whole life not wanting them right back.” I stood up. I felt a little less vulnerable being taller than Adam for the moment. “If I had found them and they rejected me again…” I shook my head, unable to finish. I cleared my throat. “But now…” I caught myself biting at my lower lip again. “If this is genetic, what happens to me, I need to know what happened. Why did they give me up to the state? That guy told me they sent him to ‘bring me back,’ but I’ve never been there before. Maybe my parents were involved.”
A rock settled in my stomach. Already I wanted to believe they gave me up to save me. I was setting myself up for heartbreak. “Tonight I walked to the downtown library to see about finding the San Antonio Yellow Pages so I could find a PI to go to the county records department. That’s when I ran into Gabe’s killer.”
“Do you think he knew why you were there?”
“I don’t think so.” I shrugged, forcing my arms to my sides. “I didn’t say anything about it.”
“Hmm” was all Adam said in response.
“Anything’s possible at this point, so it’s at least a place to start. He also mentioned I’m a treasure to my kind. What do you think that meant?”
Adam shrugged his shoulders slightly and met my eyes. “I don’t know about jaguars, but with us, only males can carry the werewolf genes. No females are actually born as wolves.”
“What?” I could feel the confusion written all over my face. “Then how do you… Wouldn’t you be extinct by now?”
“No. We have to convert our mates.”
“Convert as in…”
“We have to bite them. They go through a change and become werewolves like us. Then we can have a family.”
“You’re kidding.” I shook my head. “So if you like someone you turn them into a werewolf?”
“It’s not like that, Lana.”
“Have you ever bitten anyone?”
“No.” He got up and walked toward the window. “Never mind. I’m guessing that females are rare for jaguars too, especially if he said that.”
I stared at his back and the set of his broad shoulders. And realized I felt relieved that he’d never converted anyone. My eyes drifted a little lower to his trim waist and the way his jeans fit him just right. If I wasn’t careful I’d be fantasizing about mating with him myself in no time.
Rolling my eyes, I walked over to the bed and flopped backward on the mattress, staring at the ceiling. “I guess we need to lay low and figure out who the Organization is that sent him first.”
“For the past few months, jaguar shifters have wandered through Reno. Hired killers. But we’ve never interrogated any of them. When we caught them, we eradicated the threat, but usually once they realized this is our territory they moved on. If this guy works for the Organization, maybe the others did too.”
“But this guy could’ve killed me tonight and he didn’t. Murdering me wasn’t his mission.”
“What?” Adam spun around and came to the bedside so quickly I barely saw him move.
“What are you talking about he could have killed you? You told me he bumped into you at the library and that he told you he needed to take you back. What else happened?”
“He followed me.” I could feel the waves of aggression pouring off of Adam, so I did my best to think before I spoke. “After I ate dinner, I went outside. He waited for me. I never heard him coming. He’s fast and very strong. We were in a dark alley before I could scream.”
“Did he hurt you?”
The million-dollar question. He did pull my hair, squeezed my neck, and dropped me on the ground, but only after I sprayed him with pepper spray and kicked him in the groin trying to break free. Now that I thought about it, he didn’t instigate anything painful.
I rubbed at the base of my neck. “He threatened me, and I’m sure he could’ve hurt me, but he didn’t.”
“He won’t be able to touch anyone when I’m finished with him.” His eyes flashed with violence as he turned back toward the window.
I sighed. “Look, Adam, I know you want to get even for Gabe, but it won’t change anything. It won’t bring Gabe back. We need to find out who sent him and why, or they’ll just send others and possibly kill more.”
Adam glanced back over his shoulder, his green eyes were cold and hard. Adam was once again the hunter I met last night in the café. The wolf.
“I can’t lay low and wait, Lana. You don’t get it.” He raked his fingers back through his hair. “I can’t leave you alone knowing he’s out there, and I can’t bring you back with me either. Until I get this guy, I don’t know how I can protect you and hide you from the Pack at the same time.”
“Since when did you become my babysitter?” There went the filter between my mouth and brain again. I raised my chin a little, trying to put on a more courageous face than I felt. “I can take care of myself.”
He lowered his voice. “You saw what he did to Gabe.”
“I did. He attacked him while he was a jaguar. He won’t be able to do it again for a few weeks.” When did I suddenly become an expert on jaguars?
“He doesn’t ne
ed to shift into a jaguar to hurt you.” He knelt down, his eyes level with mine. “I’ve fought his kind before. He’s a dangerous killer.”
“So are you.” My words hit him square in the chest. His shoulders dropped a little, and regret shot through me. I sat up and shook my head. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean you were like him.”
“Yes, you did. And you’re right.” He straightened and headed for the door. “I’m going to get this guy. Keep your door locked and your phone nearby.” He slipped the second key out of the room key sleeve and into his pocket. “I’ve got a key, so no one should knock on the door. Don’t open it, no matter who they say they are.”
I swallowed the urge to ask him not to go. Instead I only nodded. “I’ll run some internet searches and give you a call if I find out anything about this organization of his.” My breath caught. “I forgot to tell you something…”
Adam looked at me expectantly.
“He had the same lion tattoo with an ‘N’ in the center on his wrist that the team leader in the café had.” That was it. “Nero. They both must be working for Nero.” It was on the tip of my tongue to tell him about my sweatshirt, but I let the moment pass.
Adam let loose a deep sigh. “It sounds that way… Okay, I’m going to run a sweep around the hotel to be sure he’s not around.” He opened the door and turned back. I could feel the weight of his stare and tipped my head back to meet his eyes. “Please stay here. I know you don’t understand—I’m not sure I do either, but I can’t let anything happen to you.”
Before I could even open my mouth to respond, he turned and walked out the door.
Chapter Eight
Adam
The tighter my chest got, the faster I forced my legs to move until I was jogging down the hallway. Screw the elevator; I had enough pent-up rage and frustration to take the ten flights of stairs.
I hit the next stairwell, picking up speed. That jaguar bastard was with Lana. He’d touched her. He could’ve hurt her. Fuck. Taking the stairs wasn’t scratching the surface of the storm brewing inside of me. My trouble with the Pack was only part of the mess. While I felt this overwhelming need to be near her, Lana wasn’t a werewolf. She wasn’t bonded to me, and she had no clue what was happening inside of me.
