Hearts on Fire

by Serenity Snow

  Her neck burned as the blood ran from the wound. Another inch to the left and she’d be on the brink of badly bleeding out. She’d have to leave Joslyn, and she wouldn’t be able to bear that.

  Her every protective urge surged to life. “Get back inside,” she snapped and kicked the jackal backward. It snarled at her and lunged for her again, but she rolled onto her side and came up in a cat-like crouch.

  The jackal growled, and then turned and ran like the tame poodle he was. The wolf side of her growled and the eagle echoed the sentiment.

  She let him go and stepped back inside to find Joslyn huddled in a blanket from the storeroom next to the door, waiting for her. Her aquamarine eyes were bright with concern.

  “Cyanna! You’re bleeding bad,” she said frantically. “We have to get you to a hospital.”

  “Joslyn, I’ll be fine,” she said calmly, despite the pain slithering through her.

  “What’s going on?” Joslyn touched her arm tentatively.

  “It was a goddamned mutt,” she muttered. “He must have broken in. The alarm has been tampered with. I’ll have to call in a friend of mine to change out the system.”

  “Mutt?”

  She snickered at the uncertain look on Joslyn’s face. That helped her to focus on anything but the pain in her shredded shoulder and damaged neck. “He was a jackal shifter,” she said, and caressed Joslyn’s cheek. “Let’s get you dressed before I call the police. It’d be better to get a report on file in case the son of a bitch comes back.”

  “We need to get your neck taken care of,” Joslyn insisted.

  “I’ll be okay until this is taken care of.”

  “What could he have wanted?” she asked. “I mean, a jackal shifter?”

  “Don’t play dumb, little wolf,” she murmured. “You know damn well what a shifter is.” She laughed when Joslyn’s eyes widened. “Go get dressed, Joss. I’ll see a healer when things are taken care of here. In the meantime, I’ll wrap it.” She grimaced as she rubbed her injured shoulder. She could heal herself, like most of her race. The dog’s bite was already becoming a thing of the past, but she needed to get someplace safe before her body began to shut down to complete the task.

  “He bit you.”

  “Unfortunately, but I’ll be fine.” She dropped a kiss on Joslyn’s nose. “Come on, go get dressed. I don’t want the cops seeing you in a blanket looking well-fucked.”

  Joslyn smiled shyly. “Okay.” She turned and went upstairs.

  Cyanna called in the police and then took care of her injuries with supplies from the store room. After that, she checked with her security company. They were fired, but she wanted to know what they’d detected and why they hadn’t acted.

  * * * *

  Joslyn hated to cut the evening short, but Cyanna had been right, she’d needed treatment. That jackal could have rabies or something. Those damned dogs were ornery as hell, sometimes just for sheer cussedness. She did wonder why he’d broken in, though. He could have been an addict looking for something to sell. It wasn’t likely, because drugs screwed with shifters’s body chemistry. They could get stuck in the shift or remain in a partial shift for long stretches if they shifted while they were high.

  More than likely, he was just a drifter, as lone jackals often were. He’d been looking for something he could sell.

  She took a quick shower and headed to the kitchen for a light meal before curling up on the couch. Joslyn smiled as she stroked a hand over the hair lying across her shoulder. At least she didn’t have to worry about her secret causing problems between her and Cyanna, but how had Cyanna found she was wolf and what was Cyanna?

  * * * *

  When Joslyn headed out to work the next morning, she found a note stuck in her windshield. She tugged it free and glanced around. Her neighbor was getting out of his car, which was warming up as hers was.

  “Morning Joslyn, darling,” Neal called as he hurried across the frosted lawn to her.

  Her mouth flattened into a straight line. He was really starting to aggravate her. She’d told him enough times she wasn’t interested. “Morning, Neal.”

  “You’re wearing the green blouse that makes your eyes look green,” he said as he stood a little closer to her. “I love the way you’ve done your hair this morning, too.”

  The blouse was one of her favorites. It had French cuffs and fit just over the waistband of the black skirt she’d paired it with. She’d put her hair up and added a pretty jeweled comb to help keep her hair in place.

  “Thank you, Neal,” she said patiently. “Umm, you really do need to back off. I’m seeing someone.”

  “Really?” he asked coolly. “I doubt your girlfriend can measure up to me, so why don’t you just go out with me? Give me a chance to prove myself and to prove to you a woman can never give you what you really need.”

  She glared at him, and her wolf snarled inside her mind. A man could never give her what she needed, especially not this jerk.

  “I’m really not interested,” she said firmly as her fist clenched at her side and unclenched. She had wanted to let him down easy, but he didn’t seem to be getting the picture. “And stop putting these notes on my car.” Her voice had risen slightly, and she shoved the note at him. Joslyn got into her car and met his eyes through the window.

  He stared at her with a determined gaze that was like ice water over her head. Her wolf growled feeling a threat, but she backed out of her driveway, hands trembling on the steering wheel.

  She might have to ask Seymour to have a talk with him. She hated to involve him, but he was the only male member of her pack around for her to appeal to for protection. It was his duty to help her in this matter where her safety could be threatened.

  When she arrived at the store, a security company was already installing a new system, but Cyanna wasn’t there. Her chest tightened in worry and fear that Cyanna had been seriously hurt.

  Rory was supervising and chatting with a muscular, dark-haired man, as she stood behind the counter of the spacious floor, with shelves and isles stretching out lazily as they easily held items from sheets to decorative trash cans. The lighting was just right, not too bright or too dim, which showed the fabrics and textures off to perfection.

  “Good morning, Joslyn,” she called.

  She stopped and backed up. Rory crossed the rest of the distance between them, the tile floor shining beneath their feet. “Hi.”

  “Cyanna said she’d be in around one,” Rory told her. “Someone broke in last night?”

  “Yeah. Is Cyanna okay? She was hurt pretty bad.” “Yeah, it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Are you okay?” Rory cut into her thoughts.

  “I’m fine,” she said with a frown as she noticed that Rory’s brown eyes were a shade lighter than Cyanna’s chestnut gaze. “Cyanna was the one that chased the burglar out.”

  Rory smiled. “I’m not surprised.”

  “The lights were out in the parking lot,” Joslyn said. If those damned lights hadn’t been out, Cyanna might not have taken such a beating.

  “Really?” Rory asked with a frown. “I’ll have someone come out and take care of it today. Cyanna said Anchorman called?”

  “He wanted to talk about a point of the contract that he didn’t like.”

  “The other call?”

  “Mrs. Hines. She wanted to talk about her bedroom.” Her bedroom? Hines was an attractive woman, and she’d come on to Cyanna. Joslyn’s wolf bristled inside her. No damn way was Cyanna going to that woman’s house—alone.

  Rory frowned. “Right. She’s probably made up her mind about the design she wanted. Cyanna will have to take care of that one. It’s her account.”

  “Her account?”

  Rory smiled. “We do offer design services, sweetie,” she said with a smile. “Cyanna is an interior decorator. Why do you think we have offices here? There are two other decorators working for her.”

  “I didn’t know.”

  Rory smiled again. “Let me know if anythin
g important comes up. Also, Alex’s secretary is running late. You’ll have to take her calls, too.”

  “Sure.” She nodded. “I’ll get her calendar.”

  “Already in your desk.” Rory gave her arm a pat and went back to the security team while Joslyn headed to the second floor.

  She removed her coat and headed into Cyanna’s office to clean up the food and any obvious signs of their play last night. She gathered up the stale food and discarded it before wiping off the desk using a cloth from Cyanna’s bathroom. Then, she headed back to her desk in time to answer the phone.

  “Hello? Eye of the Beholder.”

  “Hi, baby,” Seymour drawled in her ear. His voice was warm with an intimacy that had long died between them. “Did you and Misty have a good time last night?”

  “Well, you know,” she said, recalling what she’d told him. “She ranted and raved a lot.”

  “At least she got it out of her system,” he said. “Why don’t we go to dinner tonight?”

  A short man clad in jeans and a black T-shirt strutted into the reception area as she opened her mouth to reply. He had a vase of blush-pink roses with baby’s breath neatly arranged through the bouquet.

  “I have to go, Seymour,” she said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

  “Joslyn, what about dinner?”

  “Not tonight.” She disconnected. “May I help you?”

  “I have a delivery for Joslyn Browning,” he said after a peek at the data pad in one hand.

  “I’m Joslyn,” she said with a frown.

  “Sign here.” He pushed the pad at her.

  She signed and handed it back. He set the flowers on the desk. “Have a nice day,” she said.

  “You too.” He nodded and strutted out.

  Joslyn quickly looked for a card and found one. She pulled it free of the vase where it had been tied and quickly opened the small envelop.

  Just thinking about you,

  C

  Joslyn grinned, feeling a fluttering in her stomach. She didn’t want to hope, but this could be the start of something real. Something with a shifter. She wouldn’t have to rein in her natural urges to scratch hard during sex.

  * * * *

  Cyanna made it to work at three after a meeting with Anchorman and a stop by Mrs. Hines’s to talk about the design for her bedroom. She’d wanted to have lunch with Joslyn, but tabled the idea for another day when the security company called.

  “Someone simply bypassed your system,” the agent had told her. The company provided not only security systems but bodyguards, as well as private investigators. It was a firm run by a cat shifter her younger brother had gone to college with.

  “I see,” she answered. “Did you wire everything like I asked?”

  “Everything except your office,” he answered, “but that could have been a mistake.”

  “No. It wasn’t. I need my privacy. Besides, he had to come in through the reception area.” She’d told him she’d call him if she needed further services, like a bodyguard for Joslyn. She didn’t like that a jackal had broken in last night. More disturbing was the fact that he’d attacked her.

  Lone jackals were wanderers, but they weren’t known for breaking and entering unless the place was certain to be empty. In cases like that, they only challenged if backed into a corner. He had no reason to attack, but she was toying with the idea that the guy had broken in for some reason other than to steal. She just didn’t know what that was.

  He could be working for someone, her competition or an investigative firm that had been hired to track one of her employees.

  Either way, she was being careful. If he came back, they’d catch him, but otherwise they had no means of tracking him.

  When she stepped into the office, she scented a man with an odd scent. He was sitting on one of the chairs in the waiting area, talking to Joslyn. She was smiling, and he was holding her hand. Her cynogryphon frowned, but only watched carefully as she took in the scents.

  “Miss Browning,” she said coolly. “A client?”

  “Oh, no.” Joslyn gave her a guilty look. “This is my old friend Seymour. We had lunch together.”

  Seymour got to his feet with a chill in his eyes that quickly vanished. He stuck out his hand. “Seymour Chandler.”

  “Hello, Mr. Chandler.” He gripped her hand tight, and she cocked an amused brow at him as she gripped his a little tighter. An old boyfriend who wanted to rekindle the flame was what he was acting like. “It’s nice to meet you. Miss Browning has never mentioned you.”

  “I just got out of the Navy,” he answered coolly, “but I’m surprised. Joslyn and I used to be serious in high school. In fact, the only thing that came between us is my going into service. Joslyn didn’t want to move around or be without me often.”

  She scented the vaguest hint of a lie in him. “Oh. Well, your service to our country is greatly appreciated. Are you looking for work?”

  “No. I have that covered. Besides, I’m no store clerk.” He gave her a genuine smile then.

  Cyanna returned it. She let her gaze slither over him. “I can tell. You’re built for more rugged pursuits.”

  His lips tugged up at the corners. “Exactly.”

  She smiled playfully and caught the frown on Joslyn’s face, but ignored it. He was a shifter, but he didn’t exactly smell wolf. He might be a tracker, though. Few trackers had a detectable scent, which was what made them so effective and dangerous.

  “Well, it was nice meeting you,” Cyanna said, giving him a nod.

  “Same here,” he said. “Oh, by the way, I was hoping to spend the evening with Joslyn, catching up. She said she had to work late. Is there any way she could get off early?” He gave her a disarming smile.

  She glanced to Joslyn and then back to Seymour. “I’m sorry,” Cyanna said. “It’ll have to be some other time. Joslyn, you know better.” She gave him a cool smile and headed into her office.

  * * * *

  “Your boss is a bitch,” Seymour said with a chill in his voice.

  she answered distracted. “I need to get back to work,” She answered distractedly. She needed to get in there and make sure Cyanna knew Seymour was just a friend and nothing more.

  “I know it might be late, but why don’t we have dinner after you get off?” he asked. “We can discuss how you’re going to be my date for Mari’s wedding.” He gave her that patent charming Seymour smile that had always worked on her before they started dating.

  She laughed. “It will be too late. Lunch was great, though.”

  He smiled. “I enjoyed it, but I always enjoy spending time with you. We really should get back together. We could be even better now than we were then.”

  “No.” She shook her head. “I’m not the same person I was then.”

  “We’ve both changed,” he said softly. “I’ve grown up and I can be the man you need.”

  “We can only be friends, Seymour,” she murmured. “I’m not interested in a relationship with you.”

  “Why?” he demanded as he crossed his arms over his chest and stared at her with narrow-eyed focus.

  She felt like a bug under a microscope. “I like women, Seymour. I’m a lesbian.”

  He blinked. Shock shone in his eyes as his jaw dropped. “I don’t believe you,” he said softly. “Maybe you’ve had a few encounters, but you’re not like that. We had sex.”

  “I am like that,” she asserted. “If you don’t want to be friends, fine. I’m not going to push the issue, but we’ll never be lovers, Seymour.”

  “You’re wrong, Joslyn,” he said angrily. “I’ll see you at the wedding.”

  Joslyn sighed softly as Seymour walked away. She drew in a deep breath glad she’d gotten that over with. She hoped they could still be friends, but she wasn’t counting it.

  She smoothed imaginary wrinkles from her dress and knocked on Cyanna’s office door.

  The muffled “come in” had her stepping inside. Her boss was leaning back in her chair, studyi
ng a paper design.

  “What is it, Joslyn?” She didn’t look up as she bent to make a change.

  “Thanks for not saying anything to Seymour.”

  “Your friend, your call,” she answered lightly. “Anything else?”

  “Umm, the flowers are beautiful. Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. I’ll pick you up at seven tonight. Dress casual.” She rubbed at the color in the design.

  She was talented, Joslyn thought studying the drawing from her angle. “I didn’t know you were an interior designer.”

  Cyanna looked up. “I didn’t know you were bisexual, either, but since it’s out in the open, art has always been my first love. What about you and men?”

  “There is nothing going on between me and Seymour,” she retorted, a little edgy at the accusatory tone of Cyanna’s voice. “We dated in high school for three years, but he’s the only guy I ever had sex with. His parents and mine pushed us together, but I’m not into men.”

  “He’s a wolf, too, then?” Cyanna asked curiously.

  “I suppose so. His family moved to Ridge Hollow when he was five. His father is a wolf, but his mother is dead. She died in childbirth and his father mated a wolf.”

  “A Ridge Hollow wolf?”

  “Yes.” She nodded. “How do you know about us?”

  “I’m from Wind Haven,” Cyanna answered with a shrug.

  “The Blood Moon pack?” Joslyn asked curiously. Their small town was right next door and was smaller than Ridge Hollow. Wind Haven was comprised of shifters only. The Blood Moon pack territory comprised the northernmost section of Ridge Hollow.

  “Yes.”

  Joslyn’s brows snapped together, then smoothed. “You were going home this weekend, anyway,” she said in an accusatory tone.

  “I was. A Gathering has been called.” Cyanna shrugged. “I’m required to be there. “

  “A Gathering?” The gathering was an important event in which all dominants were called to pack territory. That usually heralded an attack or some kind of serious political issue that would have far-reaching consequences.

  Joslyn frowned and paced a few steps away from Cyanna’s desk. If there was an imminent war threat, then she’d be forced to remain on pack lands until the threat passed.