by A. C. Arthur
The decision had been made that fateful night, three years ago. She’d arrived back at her apartment, heart beating so fast she felt the thumping in her throat, sweat rolling down her back and beading her forehead. She’d locked the door securely and stripped out of the black clothes she’d worn. Balling everything up, she’d stuffed them into a black trash bag.
A shower was next on her list but something else drew her attention. She’d tossed the other plastic bag where she put everything she’d taken from Larry’s safe onto her bed. Curiosity wouldn’t allow her to turn away. Instead she went to the bed, ripped the bag open, and pulled out the black velvet pouch and two flash drives. Her MacBook was on the nightstand. She turned it on, then plugged in one of the flash drives, watching as a list of files came up under a folder titled “The Genesis Project.” Deciding this was nothing but more about Larry’s military work, which he had always been obsessed with, she almost didn’t look at the second flash drive. But something a little stronger than curiosity nagged her. She’d opened one folder, and then another where pictures were stored. There were pictures of cats, cougars, jaguars, tigers, lions, and cheetahs. Exiting out of the pictures there were more folders with documents about animal DNA. The final folder contained pictures of a desert and a lovely resort called Perryville.
What better place to hide, she’d thought, than a place that Larry already knew about. He’d always thought she was stupid, had told her on more than one occasion that she wasn’t smart enough to figure out a way to take care of herself and her father and that’s why she’d ended up with him. That was also why she would never be able to leave him. Well, a part of her had always wanted to prove him wrong. And she knew instinctively that he’d never think to look for her there. He would never believe her smart enough to look on those flash drives she’d stolen and to make any sense of what was on them.
But she had.
And all the time she’d been at Perryville she’d figured out just why Larry had been looking at the place. Last night was the first time she realized that the information on that flash drive was much more dangerous than she’d originally thought, ADAM was so much more than Larry’s preliminary research could have predicted.
The cat made a noise, a chuffing sound as it sat up slightly, its huge head angling toward her. She swallowed and took a deep breath.
“I’m not afraid of you,” she lied. It wasn’t intentional, she just didn’t want to seem like she was ready to be a victim, not again. “I know what you are and where you’re from. I’ve known since I first came to Perryville. But I never said a word, not even when Priya was looking for confirmation. I never told. And I won’t tell now. If you let me go, I won’t tell anyone. I just need to go. Please, can you just let me go?” She was pleading, once again in her life she was begging a man, or at least a half man, to help her. The mere thought made her stomach churn in disgust.
The cat sat all the way up then. It moved slowly, predatorily across the room until it stood at the end of the bed. Jewel couldn’t help it, she tried to move back farther but the wall stopped her. She looked around for a weapon, realizing all she had near were those damned pillows. If the cat decided to jump up on the bed she was trapped and it would kill her. And her father would be left alone. She panicked and rolled to one side, her feet hitting the floor as she quickly stood, prepared to run. The cat moved faster, coming to that side of the bed and butting its head against her thigh.
She gasped, a hand going to her chest even though it was unable to still the rapid beating of her heart.
“Please,” she whispered. “I said I wouldn’t tell.”
The cat nudged her again, and again until she looked down at it, stared directly into the intense green eyes, where she could so easily see the man.
“Ezra,” she said softly, something inside her softening as she did. Of course she already knew it was him, she’d watched him fall to the floor, his body contorting until the cat appeared. But another part of her knew that deep inside this cat was him. It was Ezra, the man she’d wanted so desperately she’d broken her three-year celibacy, the one she thought might be more dangerous than anyone she’d ever known. The one that was a Shadow Shifter.
They were half-man, half-jaguars from the rain forest called the Gungi. There were different types of cat shifters from the Gungi, but Ezra was a jaguar, a big, beautiful, black jaguar. He opened his mouth, licking his tongue over short wiry whiskers, and she noticed the big beautiful jaguar also had long, sharp teeth and suddenly, the beauty faded just a bit. She backed away but the cat followed, keeping its eyes on her the entire time, pressure from its body preventing her from moving again.
“I…” she began but clamped her lips shut when the cat came up on its hind legs, its front paws going to her shoulders.
The cat was a lot heavier and bigger than she’d originally thought, as its head was level with hers. She wanted to scream, her brain yelled for her to do just that, but she didn’t. Instead, Jewel watched like it was some sort of out-of-body experience as her hand lifted, fingers shaking seconds before touching the cat’s nose.
Its tongue came out again, licking the inside of her wrist and part of the palm of her hand. She pulled her hand back instantly, gulping as she kept her gaze on the cat. It fell back to the floor, putting its head down, and shifted once more. A strong hand gripped her left ankle, another her right calf. Her legs almost buckled as his head lifted, his broad and gorgeously naked body following. She inhaled deeply, felt his scent—the fresh earthy smell tinged with a hint of musk that always surrounded him—sifting slowly, irrevocably throughout her body. From one pore to the next she grew warmer and warmer until all she could do was gasp as she stared into eyes, still green, but significantly less intense than those of the cat.
“I need you,” he said before licking his lips, his voice deep, gruff, sexy as hell. “I need you to tell me everything you know about the Shadow Shifters and about that thing called ADAM.”
* * *
Ezra, the man, was very intelligent. He hadn’t graduated tops in his private school classes as Eli had, but that could be attributed more to the awakening, his acordado that had occurred just three days before his sixteenth birthday. He’d missed more than a few days from school because his parents were afraid his desire for a female was simply too strong to be safe. They had no idea, then, how accurate they really were. His cat, on the other hand, worked on instinct alone. Its cunning and guile a part of its genetic makeup, along with the DNA that led it through its entire life with one sole purpose—to find its mate.
For the weeks he’d been in Perryville he’d been inextricably drawn to Jewel Jenner. Now he knew why. She’d held a part of his past, a very painful part, and he doubted she had any idea. He’d admitted to needing her, then quickly followed up to make it seem like that need was related solely to the issue with Crowe. It wasn’t, but it was safer for both of them to think that way.
“Those diamonds over there,” he said while pulling a black T-shirt from the duffel bag he’d kept in the SUV over his head. Just a moment ago he’d pulled on new boxer briefs and jeans. “They’re from a mine in the Sierra Leone.”
While his other jeans were in shreds from his shifting, his boots were still intact as he hadn’t been wearing them at the time. He didn’t put them on just yet, but leaned back against the dresser, folding his arms over his chest instead.
She shook her head. “They were in his safe. I took them from there.”
Ezra nodded. “And you never thought to sell them, did you? You were going to use them as insurance against Captain Lawrence Crowe, the man you were sleeping with.”
She sucked in a breath then, her eyes closing as she held her head down for a fraction of a second, before lifting it to look directly at him. “Yes, I was sleeping with him. And then I decided to leave. Yes, I needed insurance because he said he would never let me go, he would never let me live without him. I was safe as long as I had the diamonds.”
She was telling the tru
th, partially, Ezra thought grimly. Always partially with her. Only now, they were running out of time, and he couldn’t afford to simply wait until she came around and decided to bare all to him. Answers were needed now if they were going to hopefully save more lives, and save the Shadow Shifter secret.
“There’s more, isn’t there? More that you found that you’re not saying. I’m going to guess that Crowe had some information regarding that ADAM thing in the safe and you found it. I’m also going to guess that’s what led you to Perryville.”
She tilted her head then, a ghost of a smile lifting the left side of her mouth. “Do Shadow Shifters have telepathy as well, Ezra? Tell me, are there more secrets your breed is hiding from Crowe? Is that why he was really looking into Perryville?”
Her words didn’t rub him the wrong way, they didn’t incite a flash of anger, which he suspected she’d been looking for, and they did not evoke any fear. If Jewel Jenner wanted to tell the world about the Shadow Shifters, she would have already done so. Just like if she’d wanted to sell those diamonds and run away to another country, she would have done that as well. No, there was more to what she was saying, or wasn’t saying.
“Why don’t you just tell me?” he implored. “You can trust me, Jewel.”
“Can I?” she asked. “Can I trust a man who walks around with his chest all puffed out, his dick hard whenever he gets near me, panting with need, his words smooth and arrogant? Can I trust someone who just showed up from across the country using an alias to work at a company for lord knows what reasons?”
When Ezra didn’t immediately respond, she continued.
“Tell me why exactly I should trust you when you’ve been less than forthcoming with me this entire time. The only thing I can truly believe that you said was that you wanted me. Well, now you’ve had that,” she said, shrugging. “What else do you want from me?”
“I want you to trust me enough to tell me everything that happened between you and Crowe. I want to know why you’re running from him and what other insurance you have against him. But really, first priority,” he said with a wry chuckle that had no inkling of humor in it. “First priority is finding that motherfucker so I can put my foot on his throat for daring to have you arrested and caged.”
She moved quickly then, going to her backpack and pulling something out. Turning, and with the right arm of an experienced pitcher, she hurled two flash drives at him. Moving on instinct he caught them, holding them tight in his palm.
“Take them, dammit! The information on them is more than three years old but if you want to know what Crowe’s about, here they are.” She was on the move again, grabbing the black velvet bag and kneeling down to begin picking up the diamonds. “But these are mine,” she said, intent and anger mixing to flash brightly in her eyes. “I earned them and I’m taking them with me. Once I’m gone this time nobody will ever find me. I’m doing what I should have done in the first place, getting the hell out of here forever!”
Ezra heard her words and something inside him exploded. He pushed away from the dresser, going to her and grabbing her by the arm, pulling her up to his chest. “I can’t let you,” he told her. “I won’t let you go!”
She pulled away and he instantly felt bad. He knew he’d hurt her when he grabbed her and he was ashamed. He was also very aware of the feelings churning inside him. The thought of her leaving made him feel desperate. While the thought of her staying and being in danger of him, of all people, scared him shitless.
Desperation won the battle and he stayed close to her, so close she could do nothing but breathe and glare at him with the same confusion and anger and desire that ripped through his insides like a raging storm.
Jewel was about to say something to him, to most likely tell him to go straight to hell and make no U-turns, when a cell phone rang. She looked at him, then down at her hip where there was a bulge in her jeans. Pulling out her cell she put it to her ear and said in a voice far more shaky than it had been just a few seconds ago, “Hello?”
Then her face went pale, her eyes growing larger, her chest heaving up and down as she shook her head.
“Who is it?” Ezra said, moving close to her again.
She did not speak, just kept shaking her head. Tears filled her eyes while she held the phone to her right ear.
“Jewel, I said—” Ezra stopped the second a tear fell from her eyes, rolling down her cheek in one big drop. Cursing, he grabbed the phone from her hands.
“Hello? Hello?” he yelled. “Dammit, I said hello?”
“You keep my daughter safe. You keep her from this asshole,” a raspy old voice said just before another, deeper, angrier voice took over.
“You need to return what belongs to me before I slit her father’s throat then send ADAM and the rest of his friends out to hunt her down like the bitch in heat she’s always been!”
* * *
“He will kill him,” she whispered, falling to her knees in the center of that old motel room, diamonds still scattered across the floor around her. “He will kill my father.”
Ezra’s teeth clenched at her words, the desolate sound of her voice reaching deep inside his chest and squeezing until he almost wheezed for breath. Her head dropped as she whispered those same words over and over again until Ezra thought the sound of them was akin to a hot-bladed knife sticking him in the side. No, it had been his back, along the base just before his buttocks began. That was where Acacia had attempted to brand him, to make him her sex slave for the rest of his life. He’d stopped her that night with a tight fist around her wrist, so tight it should have broken the bony body part in half. But she’d been stronger than he’d imagined, stronger and crazier because the forceful sex that followed his rage at being cut had turned her on.
He went to his knees in front of Jewel, touching her shoulders with the gentlest movement he could manage.
“No. He won’t. I won’t let him,” he promised her.
She jerked away from him instantly. “You are not a god! You cannot save the world! You cannot save my father from that maniac! You couldn’t even stop that thing he created!”
Right was right, Ezra thought dismally. He hadn’t been able to stop ADAM but he vowed that would be the first and last time that happened.
“Look at me,” he insisted and when she didn’t immediately reply he shook her shoulders sternly. “Look at me, Jewel.”
Her head lifted slowly and the sight of her tearstained cheeks slapped him with full force. His teeth gritted as he tried to tamp down on the anger boiling within his gut. “I will not let him hurt you or your father. Not now or ever, do you understand me? Not ever,” he repeated, the words a mantra growing with intensity in his mind.
Moving his hands from her shoulders to her cheeks, he used his thumbs to wipe away the tears before lowering his forehead to hers. “I will protect you with my life,” he said softly. “With everything I am.”
“Why?” was her instant response. “You don’t know me, you don’t know why, you don’t—”
Ezra kissed her, his lips touching hers with just enough force to quiet her, enough contact to arouse him. Her hands came up to clasp his wrists as she kissed him back. Again their lips touched, then their tongues, a soft moist heat that spread through him immediately. The urge to take was instinctive, his heart pounding with the thought of spreading her legs and thrusting deep and hard inside her. His mind warred with a vision of wanting, no, needing something more, something on another level entirely.
Inside the cat called to its mate, its other half and Ezra could no longer ignore it. He had to accept, he thought when his eyes opened to see hers staring back at him. He could not walk away from her and would not let her walk away from him. It was inevitable, just as the shaman had predicted it would be.
He kissed her again, this time holding her gaze as his tongue slipped inside her mouth, rubbing along hers like they were old friends. No, not friends, lovers—always lovers and mated forever. Those words echoed in his head as if
he’d actually said them to her.
He pulled her closer, until they both were lifting up, still on their knees but the top halves of their bodies coming upward until they were completely touching. Her hands slid up his arms, pausing on his right bicep where his tat was and resting there for a moment. The spot warmed to the point of burning, his chest rising and falling with the incessant pressure from his cat. It wanted out, wanted to once again rub its fur-lined body against the softness of her skin. It had enjoyed the opportunity of scenting her through its own nose, having it sift through the length of its six-foot, two-hundred-and-seventy-pound animal body. When it had gotten close enough to her, when she’d let its tongue touch her hand, it had purred its pleasure, and now wanted more.
Ezra, however, held the cat on a tight leash. It would settle for what it could get through him. As for the darkness that still invaded his body and much of his senses, Ezra fought with all his strength to keep that away from Jewel as well. He would not hurt her and vowed to do whatever was necessary to keep that from happening.
When she’d looked up into his eyes he’d seen trust and longing, desire that meant more to him in that moment than any part of his past had. If she could trust after all she’d been through, then he could fight what was inside of him, he could push past that dark part that believed she would at some point become his victim. He would fight with all that he was to make sure no harm came to her from anyone, least of all himself. Because she was his mate. It was that simple and that monumental, all at the same time.
“I can’t get enough of your taste,” he whispered, his lips dying to touch her skin once more.
Her hands had finally moved from his biceps, up to cup the back of his head where she held firm, keeping his lips perfectly aligned with hers. There was strength here and determination. She wanted just as desperately as he did.
“This has never happened before,” she told him, her teeth biting at his lower lip. “No matter how much he demanded, I never felt like this. Ever.”
