by Lisa Kessler
He said our “meetings” like they were friendly lunches instead of the confrontational abduction and subsequent questioning sessions we’d been having.
“I don’t have any memories because I’ve never been there. I’ve never even heard of them. As far as I can tell no one has. It’s like the Nero Organization doesn’t exist.”
“We would be less effective if the Organization was a public entity. This way we can work under the cloak of anonymity. In fact, the employees of the Nero Organization are the only humans who know our kind exist.”
“You mean jaguars, right?” I was relieved when he sat in a chair across from me. Now, if I just happened to have a length of rope I could tie him to the chair. Sadly, I didn’t have rope and never learned to tie any knots that would hold him anyway. My self-defense training and enhanced reflexes usually protected me from dirtbags, but this one was a jaguar like me. Every bit as strong. I didn’t have an upper hand here. I gnawed at my lower lip, trying to think of a way to buy time.
“The werewolves already know about us.” It felt odd associating myself with Sebastian, but the reality was, he was the only other person like me that I knew.
He frowned, his mouth pinching like he’d just caught a whiff of dirty sweat socks. “Yes, the wolves know, but they are of no consequence.”
“Why do you do that?”
“What?”
“Make a face like they’re gum on your brand new shoes.”
His brow creased. “Gum?”
“The werewolves,” I sighed. “Why do you treat them like a lower species? I know they don’t think highly of us either. I just wonder why this feud is even going on.”
“I don’t have time to go into our race histories, but suffice it to say, the Nero Organization experimented with both races and determined that jaguars made better assassins. We’re able to work alone. The wolves have a Pack mentality. When they were separated from their Pack they weakened in mind and spirit. Without his Pack, a wolf loses his strength.”
“So that’s why you think you’re better than they are?”
“That is why I know we are better. It is also why one as precious as you has no business being near a wolf.”
“Precious? What are you smoking?” Never in my life had I ever felt precious. Adam’s smile after we made love popped in my head, warming me unexpectedly. Okay, so maybe he had made me feel special, but Sebastian didn’t know anything about me. And his judgment of Adam as lesser dug at that chip on my shoulder.
I shook my head. “Bottom line: you don’t have any right to tell me who I should be hanging out with. You killed a man and left me to take the blame.”
His jaw clenched. “I did what was necessary. You are a female born into your power. You should not be with wolves.”
“What do you mean born into my power?” I crossed my arms, remembering what Adam had said about wolves only being born in sets of male twins. “Maybe one of these nights I was bitten and I just don’t remember?”
“You would still have awakened with a wound.” He gestured toward me. “You would bear a scar when it healed.”
I had never woken up after a new moon with a bite of any kind, and definitely not a scar.
He got up from the chair, pacing as he spoke. “Only the Y chromosome carries the shifter gene. Women must be converted by a jaguar before she can shift her form and embrace our power.” Every move from him was fluid, powerful. He reminded me of the mobsters from old Godfather movies. Slick, smart, all business, and dangerous. He came to a stop and met my eyes. “And you haven’t been claimed.”
“How would you know without searching me for scars? I’d have to be bitten, right?” My fear started mutating into a journalistic curiosity.
“Because a converted female has a slightly different scent. There is still an undercurrent of humanity combined with the jaguar.” He recommenced his pacing of the hotel room like a jungle cat in a zoo. “There is only jaguar in your scent. You were born into your power. A treasure among our kind.”
“So I should be locked away in some top secret organization and experimented on?”
“That is why I needed to speak with you.”
Now we were getting somewhere. I waited for him to continue. He moved closer to me and reached for my hand with unheard-of speed. I tried not to look repulsed, but I’m pretty sure I was leaning away from him anyway. I guess looking scared was less likely to piss him off than looking disgusted. I hoped so anyway.
“Females who are born into their power are unheard of among our kind. If females could be born into their power instead of bitten and converted, it would eliminate many…issues for my race and our Organization.” Before I could ask what the issues might be, he went on. “I have heard rumors of progress in research of non-converted females, but I’ve never seen one until I laid eyes on you. Your beauty and your scent caught me off-guard.”
Sebastian’s eyes were a brighter green than Adam’s, giving him a more inhuman stare. He was handsome, but there was an aura of danger, as if his looks were simply a mask to lure you in. He lifted my hand to his lips and pressed a calculated kiss to my knuckles.
“‘Like gentle streams beneath our feet, innocence and virtue meet.’” His voice was low and soft like a purr, and if he hadn’t nearly abducted me the first time we met, I might have been moved by his words. Instead, a chill shot through me and goose bumps rose on my arms. I retrieved my hand, forcing myself to keep control so I didn’t rip it free from his grasp. The last thing I needed was to offend a trained assassin.
I swallowed the lump in my throat and found my voice. “That’s from a poem, isn’t it?”
His lips curved up just slightly at the corners. “You recognize the words of William Blake. Do you study poetry?”
“Not really, but I’m a writer. It just sounded familiar.” He stood up, forcing me to tilt my head back to meet his eyes. “It seems odd to hear a trained killer talk about innocence and virtue.”
“I am good at what I do, but I am not defined by my occupation.” He paused, his eyes locked on mine until I finally broke the contact and stood up too. I took a step back, toward the hotel phone, but I didn’t make a move to pick it up. Not yet. At least I knew I was close enough to reach it.
“A wolf will never understand you the way I do. We are not like them. We need our independence, and we do not count on others for our strength.”
“Did you barge into my room tonight just to put down wolves?” I could feel a spark of anger starting to glow inside of me. “Or did you have something important to say?”
His eyes narrowed, and his hands balled into fists. Holding my breath, I waited him out.
“I came to tell you that I did some digging into the Organization’s records. I have to be very careful—if I am caught, the punishment will be severe. When I realized you hadn’t escaped, I wondered how and why I was sent for you. I found this.” He handed me a flash drive. “The Organization touches many branches of government and has access to databases in many fields.”
I looked at the flash drive and then back up at his unsettling green eyes. “Why are you helping me?”
“Are you surprised that I am not all I seem?”
“You didn’t answer my question. A couple nights ago you were trying to kidnap me.”
“I am sorry we couldn’t meet under better circumstances.”
“Yeah, me too, but helping me now doesn’t change anything. I’m not interested in a relationship if that’s what you’re after.”
“Have you told the wolf this, too?”
My brow furrowed. “I’m new to this whole animal instinct thing, but trying to push your male dominance and your racial prejudices isn’t doing anything for me.”
Sebastian rolled his eyes, pulling his black hair back from his tanned face. I could almost see the sinewy muscles ripple under his tight black shirt. “Read the information and then destroy it.” He paused, then added, “Tell the wolf to ask his Alpha about Operation Moonlight. I will find you
when I know more.”
“Thank you for the intel, but this won’t change my feelings.”
“This has nothing to do with your feelings. I have to find out what they have planned for you now.” He looked down at me again, but behind the cold, calculated smile, there was a light in his eyes. “I’m curious.”
“Be careful.” I raised a brow, unable to stop the words from falling out of my mouth. “You know what curiosity did to the cat.”
He flashed me a dangerous smile. “I am hard to kill.” Without another word, he turned and walked out of my room.
I leapt over the bed and landed silently at the door to throw the deadbolt latch. There were definitely some perks to being a feline. I was maybe even starting to like it. If I had realized what I was capable of earlier in life, I might’ve done some things differently.
I took a deep breath, leaning back against the door, and looked down at the flash drive in my hand. A smile crept up on me. Finally. I might actually learn who I am.
Chapter Twenty
Adam
My hackles started to rise as I neared Lana’s door. That fucking cat had been there. The hallway reeked of him as soon as the elevator opened to her floor, and the closer I got to her, the stronger his scent became. By the time I reached her room, my entire body was tense, every muscle ready to attack.
Quietly I slipped the key in the door and as soon as the electric lock disengaged I burst into the room, popping the deadbolt right off the doorframe. “Lana are you—” I frowned, looking around her room. “You’re alone.”
She was on the bed, clutching her laptop with white knuckles. “Jesus! You scared the crap out of me.”
“Sorry. I could smell the jaguar and…” I paused, processing the scents in her room. My sharp gaze cut over to meet her eyes. “He was in this room.”
Lana nodded and set her laptop aside. “Before you get all Big Bad Wolf on me, sit down so I can fill you in.”
Jealousy, anger, fear, and adrenaline all combined in my bloodstream at once. I crossed my arms over my chest to keep from taking my frustrations out on her hotel room.
“What the hell is going on, Lana? It’s after four a.m. and not only are you not sleeping, but you’re entertaining the jaguar who killed my friend. You do remember Gabe, right?”
The instant the words left my lips I saw the hurt in her eyes, and my heart constricted in my chest. “Yes, I remember Gabe.” She wrapped her arms around her middle, raising her head a little. “It’s good to see you too, by the way. And I’m all right if you wondered.”
Part of me wanted to rush to her side and pull her into my arms to apologize, but my pride demanded I stand my ground. What was I supposed to think? She had been naked in my arms a few hours ago, and now she had some jaguar up in her room in the middle of the night? Furious didn’t begin to describe what I was feeling.
There wasn’t another woman on earth that could replace Lana in my heart if something happened to her. It was a dizzying, terrifying realization, but it didn’t make it any less true. Although my instincts screamed mate, the rest of me was just catching up. Uneven, unfamiliar territory.
For the first time in my life, I felt weak. Lana held all the power over me, and my future. And I hated it.
That fucking jaguar had been in her room. Had she touched him? I hadn’t gotten close enough yet to see if his scent lingered on her skin. I almost didn’t want to know, but at the same time, I had to know. The wolf inside of me howled, demanding her attention and her loyalty.
But Lana didn’t have the same instincts I did. I crossed the distance between us and sat beside her on the bed. When I reached for her hand, she pulled it away and kept her arms crossed. “Don’t touch me.” Her eyes shone with tears, but she kept them back. “You don’t get to burst into my room and accuse me of getting friendly with the guy who killed your friend.”
My fingers clenched. “Did you let him touch you?”
“Really, Adam?” Lana’s eyes narrowed. “Do you honestly believe that’s who I am?”
I struggled with the primal rage of the wolf within. Lana didn’t deserve it but catching the jaguar’s scent in her room made my animal instincts nearly impossible to rein in. “You did touch him,” I growled.
“God, what is it with you men?” She shot up from the bed and took a few steps away from me. “I’m not a trinket for anyone to claim, all right? Something big is happening in my life. Something I have to sort out. You can’t do it for me, and you can’t protect me from it. Neither can Sebastian.”
I ground my teeth together hearing her use the jaguar’s name, but I managed to keep my mouth shut and let her finish.
“So the way I see it, you can either help me, or get the hell out of my room.” Her nostrils flared just slightly and her cheeks flushed with color. She was the most beautiful, impossible, amazing woman I’d ever met.
I stood up. I had to walk off the rage burning inside of me before I exploded. Lana watched me, glaring, every bit the wary cat ready to pounce. The animal in her made the wolf in me edgy and eager, but I made no move to touch her. It took all the control I had to keep the warring emotions inside of me at bay.
“I didn’t mean to be an asshole. I was worried about you.”
“You were not,” she snapped. “You were worried I was with some other guy.”
“You were,” I growled. I couldn’t help it.
“Not by choice.” Lana reached for her laptop. “Never mind. Can we forget the jealous boyfriend routine for a minute so I can show you what’s on this flash drive he gave me?”
I nodded, trying not to smile when she said the word “boyfriend.” I felt like I was back in high school. Love made me a goddamned idiot.
I sat beside her while she brought up the contents of the flash drive. It contained a folder labeled Breeding Experiment #333 and another tagged Unknown female sightings.
“I already told you about the Nero Organization.” She stared at the screen. “He hasn’t told me much more about them except that they raised him and trained him to be an assassin. They sent him to find me and bring me back. But I’ve never been there. At least not that I remember.”
“Right.” I was trying to focus, but the male jaguar’s scent was making it difficult. I’d never wanted to beat the crap out of anyone so badly before. “The question is, how did they find out about you?”
“Exactly. That’s why Sebastian brought me these files.”
My shoulders tightened, and I shook my head. “That’s not why, Lana.”
“What?” She looked caught off guard. She was in the middle of deciphering information, but I was still stuck on figuring out what happened in this room before I got here. I needed to know where I stood with her.
“He gave you this because he wants you to need him.”
Lana set her computer aside, and her eyes met mine. “Since when did what he wants start to matter?”
“The moment I came in your room and found his scent all over you.” The muscle in my cheek tightened, but I kept my voice low and controlled.
She reached up and cupped my cheek in her soft hand. I fought the urge to turn my head and kiss her palm. Instead, my gaze stayed locked with hers.
“Nothing happened with Sebastian. I know we don’t know each other very well yet, so you’ll just have to take my word for it, but tonight at your place meant something to me.”
I kissed her. I couldn’t stop myself, my lips slowly brushing, tasting, and silencing her before she started reminding me that she was leaving soon. I didn’t want to hear that. Not tonight.
When I drew back from her lips, she opened her eyes, smiling up at me from under her dark lashes. God, she was sexy.
“You made me forget what I was saying…”
I smiled, happy to feel some of the power shifting in our relationship. Nice to know I could have that effect on her. “You were telling me about what’s on the flash drive.”
She gave me a knowing grin and went on. “Well, apparently, when I f
irst started to change with the new moon, there were some jaguar sightings that made small mentions in the local papers. No one believed it since they’re not indigenous to Texas, but there were theories about people illegally raising exotic animals. Anyway, the Nero Organization apparently has ties to the government, media, and healthcare because not only were they alerted about the newspaper articles with jaguar sightings”—she clicked open the next file to show some sort of X-ray photo—“but they also managed to get a copy of one of my CAT scans.”
I stared at the X-ray again, as if I might understand it better now that I knew it was Lana. “Did the CAT scan show anything about your nature to the doctors?”
“My nature? Like turning into a jaguar?” She tipped her head slightly and shrugged. “They saw an anomaly in one of the lobes of my brain, so someone must’ve noticed something, otherwise the Nero Organization wouldn’t have been alerted. It’s the CAT scan that made them send Sebastian out to find me.”
“So what’s breeding experiment #333?”
She met my eyes. “I think I am.”
I frowned, glancing over the text. Lana was right; this had to be about her. No other reason for the jaguar to lift sensitive documents. “I’m guessing male subject 505 and converted female subject 413 are your parents.”
Lana nodded, her face intent on the screen. “I think so.” She let out a long slow breath. “It would be really helpful if they had names.”
I brushed a kiss to her temple. “Then we’d probably think he was giving us a red herring to throw you off the trail.”
“Could be right about that.” She almost smiled. Scrolling deeper into the file she stopped, pointing at the screen. “They discovered my mother had psychic abilities. That’s why they chose her.”
“How could they know she was psychic?” I read further and frowned. “Nero runs a private school for girls?” Who the hell were these freaks?
Lana nodded. “Appears so, but of course no name here, just high school facility #12.” She met my eyes. “This says school facility #12 was for females exhibiting psychic gifts. My mother is referenced as a previous student.”
