In Like a Lion (The Chimera Chronicles)

by Karin Shah [shifer]

  He let her go by.

  Two coins cascaded into the metal tray of Anjali’s machine and she laughed, beaming up at him with shining eyes.

  Damn, she was spectacular. It was all he could do not to lean down and capture those full lips in front of God and the casino’s hundreds of cameras.

  “This is fun!” she said.

  He didn’t answer. An almost physical tug pointed him toward a blond woman crossing in front of the blackjack tables. Her rocks, flashing in the deep crevasse of her cleavage, were real.

  “I’ve got to go.”

  Anjali’s grin faded as she noticed the direction of his gaze.

  “Jake—” Her eyes were troubled, her brow creased.

  “It’s why we’re here.” He reminded her and headed after the woman.

  They didn’t dare use credit cards, and the places that took cash wanted it up front.

  The blonde stopped at a blackjack table and mounted a stool. He bellied up to the table. The woman slid a mascaraed glance in his direction, flicked her gaze away, then immediately back. A coy smile lifted the corners of her mouth and her pupils expanded.

  A wedding ring shone on her manicured finger. Perfect.

  She was young, maybe twenty-five. Pretty, though he didn’t much care for the heavy makeup she wore, but none of it mattered. She was just a means to an end.

  He smiled back.

  Anjali caught a glimpse of her face in the chrome of the one-armed bandit and was stunned by the raw pain. She closed her eyes, not wanting to see the evidence of her distress.

  She fought the need to cast a glance over to the tables where Jake chatted with a woman so beautiful and well dressed, she could be a movie star. Hell, she probably was.

  They needed money. But watching Jake flirt with another woman roused a sick ache in her throat and formed a knot her stomach. Her hand shook as she dropped another coin into the slot.

  Jake leaned close to hear something the other woman said and she put her hand on his strong bicep.

  The lioness roared inside Anjali, begging for the woman’s blood, and she trembled with the strain of keeping the beast contained. She rested her head on her hand.

  “Are you OK, lady?” An older man stared at her from several machines over. He wore a business suit and a nametag. Here for some sort of convention, probably.

  Anjali managed a weak smile while tamping down the need to vault across the room and remove the blonde’s fluffy head from her body. “I’m fine. Jet lag.”

  Jake put his powerful hand on the woman’s shoulder. He made the black T-shirt and khakis he wore look like high fashion. She scooped some chips into a silver purse, and he led her away from the table.

  They disappeared in the direction of the elevators.

  For Jake, the trip to his mark’s hotel room was little more than a blur, an endless parade down corridors lined with bright, overly patterned carpet designed to confuse the eye.

  It took all his willpower to paste on a charming smile when she glanced back from leading the way. The manicured hand clasped in his felt cool and alien. It was all he could do not to thrust it away.

  Though, he only stole when he couldn’t find, or didn’t have time for, a ‘paperless’ job, stealing had always been a necessary evil in his fight to elude Kincaid. Now more than ever he needed to carry-through, but as she unlocked the door and invited him in, reluctance poured over him. The impersonal luxury of the room closed around him, tight and claustrophobic.

  He retook her hand as she turned toward him. All he had to do was get her to take off the necklace and lie down on the bed. The task should be easy. Making it a game always seemed to appeal to these women, but as he opened his lips to do just that, he found he couldn’t.

  Not because he felt he couldn’t betray Anjali—nothing was going to happen anyway—but because the man who’d scammed and stolen from so many women no longer existed. That man had thought of himself as a cipher, a being without substance, whose actions had no bearing on the real world.

  Thanks to Anjali, whether she could return his feelings or not, he knew there could be a place for him, that his actions had weight and consequence.

  “Is everything OK?”

  The blonde’s voice wavered around the edges and he caught a vulnerable quiver of her lip. This was a woman held fast in the grip of real pain. He couldn’t bring her more. He would provide for Anjali some other way.

  Her skin felt soft as he stroked her cheek with the back of his fingers. “You’re very lovely. But what about your husband?”

  She released a scoffing laugh edged with a sob. “Don’t worry about him. He couldn’t care less what I do.”

  Jake made himself meet her watery gaze. “How ‘bout you? You care what he does?”

  She pursed her lips and after a moment gave a tiny jerk of her chin.

  “Then go find him. Give him another chance. I can’t imagine sleeping with a stranger is really going to make you feel better.”

  Even with his preternatural senses, he never saw the slap coming.

  Anjali shoved another coin into the slot.

  Several minutes passed in agonizing slowness. The novelty of the clinking coins and spinning tumblers had long worn off. She focused on dropping in one coin after another, using the task to keep her mind off what might be happening in some room in the hotel.

  She would not visualize Jake taking the blonde into his arms, kissing her, touching her . . .

  The concerned bystander snuck another glance, this one alarmed, and moved to a different machine. Apparently, throat clearing could only cover a growl so well.

  When Anjali had exhausted most of five dollars in the nickel slots, Jake appeared. The wave of relief she felt when she saw him rocked her down to her shoes. Anger followed quickly, though she wasn’t sure exactly who she was mad at. Jake? The blonde? Herself?

  “How’d it go?” she asked, striving for a casual tone but failing.

  He took her arm. “It didn’t.”

  She stared at him.

  He shook his head. “I just couldn’t make myself go though with it. We’ll have to find another way.”

  The oppressive jingle and whir of the casino suddenly sounded like a friendly country carnival. She restrained a giddy laugh of relief. “We’ll figure something out.”

  Jake checked over his shoulder. “Damn.”

  “What is it?”

  “Seems like security is coming our way. It might not have anything to do with us, but I’d rather not take a chance. Let’s go. Quickly.”

  In seconds they were standing out in the hot, dry night. Anjali stuck her hands in her pants’ pockets. “Where to now?”

  In the light radiating from the casinos stretching as far as the eye could see down the strip, Jake’s face appeared shuttered. “I think I have a place where we can regroup.”

  He led the way to a two-story motel, several blocks from the strip. It appeared old, but well kept.

  Jake had seemed lost in his own thoughts since they’d left the MGM. Anjali didn’t know how to break through to him or even if she should.

  She felt torn up inside, exhausted from the heat and fighting her instincts, and puzzled by her conflicting emotions. Her body and mind were at war and she couldn’t figure out a solution, no matter what angle she studied the problem.

  He entered the tiny lobby with its mandatory video poker games ahead and she followed.

  A pretty Indian-American teenager glanced up from behind the high desk. After a moment, a startled smile lit her face. “Jake!” She rounded the desk in seconds and wrapped him in a quick hug.

  Jake shifted, his cheeks pinking. “Hi, Neha.”

  She drew back and punched him lightly on the arm. “You jerk. Why’d you disappear like that? We were worried.”

  He ducked his head and palmed the base of his neck. “I’m sorry. I had to get out of town.”

  She huffed. “A note would have been nice. You heard of email? Texting?” She shook her head, but Anjali c
ould see the girl wasn’t angry. “Hi, I’m Neha Patel,” she said, seeming to notice her for the first time.

  “Anjali Mehta.”

  “Ah.” Neha grinned and poked him in the ribs. “Found a nice Gujarati girl, after all, hmmm?”

  Jake scanned the brightly-lit, van-sized lobby over his shoulder. “If it’s possible, we’d like a room for the night. But we’re broke. I’ll have to owe you for it.”

  A speculative gleam shone in the girl’s dark eyes, but she leaned into a back room and snagged a key. “No problem. You never got your last paycheck anyway. Come on.”

  She opened the lobby door and led the way outside.

  Jake strode even with her. “No need to leave the desk. We can find it.”

  She raised an eyebrow and handed him the key. “You don’t think I’m going to let you go on your way without having a little girl talk with Anjali, do you?”

  Jake opened and closed his mouth. Seeing the large, dangerous-looking man flabbergasted by a teenage girl made Anjali hide a grin.

  Neha patted his arm and dropped back to stride next to Anjali. They passed several doors before the girl turned to Anjali and began speaking in Gujarati. “So how did you two meet?”

  Anjali buried another smile at the motherly tone coming from the skinny teenager. She glanced at Jake and answered in Gujarati. “At work.”

  “He must be very into you. I can’t imagine anything else would get him to ask for help.”

  As they walked, Neha grilled her in such depth Anjali was tempted to answer only with her name, rank, and serial number.

  When the girl appeared satisfied, Anjali said, “You seem very close to Jake. He doesn’t trust many people.”

  Neha laughed. “I don’t know if he trusts us, but we trust him. I know he seems scary. I was surprised when Pappa hired him, but he saved my father’s life when he was working here.”

  Anjali gasped. “What happened?”

  “Some guys had been coming by, trying to extort money from my father. Pappa kept refusing, said he’d left that kind of thing back in India. One day, I guess they decided to make an example of him. They were hurting him pretty bad. Jake ran out, pulled them off my father and made sure they’d never come back.”

  Anjali studied his broad back in front of them. It must have taken a lot for him to get involved when he must have known any trouble could bring Kincaid to his door.

  “Here we are.” Jake stopped before the door number on the key.

  Neha lifted an eyebrow at him. “I suppose you’ll be gone in the morning?”

  Jake shrugged. She smiled lopsidedly and stood on her tiptoes, giving him a peck on the cheek. “Just leave the key on the nightstand.”

  She turned to go. “It was nice meeting you, Anjali.” She wiggled her fingers in a jaunty wave and started down the long row back toward the lobby.

  Jake opened the door and held it open for Anjali. She went in, but he stood there for a moment, clearly watching for Neha to enter the well-lit lobby.

  After a moment, he closed the metal door and began checking the room, even jerking the shower curtain aside to check inside, then peering through the frosted window on the back wall of the stall.

  A few notes of perfume drifted her way. The ugly lump in her stomach returned as she remembered how she’d felt when he’d sauntered out of the casino with the blonde. “You’d better take the shower first.” Her tone acidic enough to eat through metal sheeting.

  He stiffened and turned to her, the black T-shirt stretched over his taut muscles, his hair parting so she could see his eyes. They were blue, but the expression on his face lanced right through her.

  “I’m sorry.” She went to him and cupped his cheek.

  He stiffened, his gaze locked on the wall past her shoulder.

  She laid her cheek on his chest. “I just hated seeing you with that woman.” She swallowed, but the knot in her throat, formed of pain and remorse, refused to budge. “And you didn’t even take the necklace, so I don’t know why I was such a bitch just now.”

  A shudder moved Jake’s chest. He slipped his fingers under her chin and guided her head up to meet her gaze. “You don’t have to apologize. I don’t know what would happen if I saw you with another man, but it wouldn’t be pretty.” He kissed her. “You don’t have anything to worry about. You’re my mate.”

  “Lions have more than one mate.” Hearing the plaintive note in her voice, Anjali winced.

  “But we’re not lions. We’re chimeras. And I guarantee you, chimeras have only one mate.”

  “You can’t know that.” Anjali’s brow wrinkled and Jake smoothed it with his thumb. She said she didn’t love him, but her jealousy gave him hope.

  He smiled. “When you were practicing changing, could you think when you were between forms?”

  “Yes . . .”

  “How? You said we’re just molecules at that point. There’s nothing there resembling a brain. How can you still think?”

  Anjali shook her head. “It will take years of stud—”

  He held a finger to her lips. “Shhh. Magic.” He answered his own question. “Chimeras are magic, and that is how I know you are my one and only mate.” He growled low in his throat, but it was more of a purr. “Let’s shower together.”

  They took turns shampooing each other’s hair, navigating the tight confines of the shower enclosure.

  He gazed down at Anjali. Her eyes were closed as the water sluiced the soap from her hair, streamed over her cheeks, lips, and chin. A streetlight outside the frosted glass window glazed her shoulders and upper back.

  He rejoiced in the smile of pleasure lifting the corners of her mouth. The guilt of what he’d almost done returned. “I just can’t steal anymore.”

  Anjali stared up at him. Mouth open, she glanced away. “I don’t want you to have to. We’ll figure something out.”

  He wiped a crystalline drop of water from the silk of her cheek and filled his nose with the scent of her wet hair. “I’ve never liked using people, stealing.” He stared at the low ceiling. “But this time was worse.”

  “Because this time you know you’re not sick?”

  “Because of you. You say you won’t love me, but I want to at least be the kind of person you could love.”

  Anjali grinned wryly. “I’m your mate. You don’t really have a choice, do you?”

  Anger flashed hot through Jake. “You said it yourself; it’s all just biology anyway.”

  Anjali closed her eyes. “You’re right. I’m just feeling a little confused right now.”

  Her words gave him hope, and his anger ebbed. He kissed her temple. Steam swirled around them as if lifting the emotion away.

  He smoothed an inky curl back over her shoulder. “You and Neha had quite a chat.

  Her cheeks reddened. “I know it was rude to exclude you, but you would’ve been embarrassed anyway. Neha thinks you hung the moon after what you did for her father.”

  “They were a couple of scum working for someone else. I spoke to them in a language they could understand.” The hiss of the water highlighted her silence and he knew she realized there hadn’t been ‘speaking’ involved at all.

  He damned the impulse that had made him tell her that. Despite the pain she’d had in her life—her losses and her studies had isolated her, making her remarkably sheltered for someone who had been on her own for several years—he had no business exposing her to his seedy world.

  “You probably saved her father’s life.” Her eyes were serious and her teeth teased her lip.

  He lifted a shoulder, but knowing she was probably wishing there’d been someone there to rescue her mother as he had helped Sanjay Patel, he had no idea what to say.

  She slid her hand up his chest. “I guess there’s something to be said about having a mate.”

  “There is, huh?” He felt suddenly light.

  “Uh-huh.” She stretched up and their lips met. He wrapped his arms around her. She felt so small, so delicate. He was almost af
raid to hold her too tight, but her body was soft, warm and slick from the water, and he lifted her against him.

  Jake’s touch felt so right, so perfect, Anjali almost cried. He was everything any woman could dream of, and she was letting her fears rob them both of complete happiness. He slid his mouth down to the junction of her neck and shoulder and all her thoughts evaporated.

  Nothing mattered except the sweet, hot magic of Jake’s mouth on her skin, the press of his hard body against her softness, and the stroke of his fingers on her flesh.

  She gripped his shoulders as he nibbled her neck, fighting to stay upright against the weakness in her knees. “Jake.”

  She could feel his eyelashes tickling her collarbone in a butterfly kiss as he closed his eyes at the sound of his name.

  “I can hear your heart,” he said. “It’s racing.”

  It was, beating so loudly in her ears it nearly masked the sound of the shower and her ragged breathing.

  Anjali placed a kiss on the crown of his head and slid her hands down, caressing his smooth back. The sleek power of him made her feel protected and cherished. He took her nipple in his mouth. She shuddered. The electric pull of his tugging lips as he suckled shot straight to the throbbing need between her legs.

  Jake stood and shut off the water. Anjali cried out with frustration. He picked her up, grabbing a handful of towels on the way out of the bathroom, tossed the towels on the nightstand, and stripped the bedspread and blanket off the bed with one hand, before dumping her on the bed.

  She gasped.

  His focused gaze as he dried her wet hair with the towel and wiped the moisture from her skin made her body hum with anticipation.

  He turned his attention to himself.

  “No!” she said, stopping him with a hand on his wrist. “Lay down. I want lick the water off.”

  The heat in his eyes repaid her daring.

  She spread a couple towels on the bed, and he lay down. She found a drop of water on his chest and removed it with a slow lick of her tongue, dragging across his budded nipple. He groaned. She peeked up at him.

  “How many licks does it take to get the chewy center?” she asked.