Hunger's Mate

by A. C. Arthur

* * *

  To anyone outside their world this would all seem strange. How could a man, that was also half shifter, be infected by a shaman’s smoke? How could his DNA or body chemistry be any more fucked up than nature had already made it? Yet, he was living proof, along with his twin. They’d both gone into that jungle with the intent of coming out stronger, more powerful shifters, and in a sense they had. The damiana smoke they’d inhaled had enhanced their strength, heightened their senses, and at the same time, fed on some inherent anger that Ezra had deep inside.

  Ezra was no rocket scientist, but it hadn’t been all that hard to figure out that his senses and strength had been heightened ever since he’d returned from the Sierra Leone. But the other, the dark that tended to weigh down on him like a mountaintop, had first appeared the night Acacia died. The next time it reared its ugly head was when he’d overheard Rome, Nick, and X talking about the trouble at the Comastaz Labs. He’d known immediately that he would go to Sedona, he would look into what was going on in that lab, and he would bring a measure of peace to his kind. Only then he hadn’t realized that the darkness had resurfaced because it heard her calling to him.

  As he sat behind the wheel of the SUV driving toward the address in Grand Canyon Village, he thought of how powerful that darkness within him had been. It had rippled through his blood, pumping into his heart and mind with such forcefulness nothing else existed but the need to stop the pain, the anger, and to kill Acacia where she stood.

  His heart thumped with that thought, his mind zeroing in on the one main difference in this situation. The last thing in this world Ezra wanted to do was hurt Jewel.

  Especially not after he’d realized she’d already been hurt. That brought his cat to the surface, teeth and claws bared, ready to protect her at all costs. The cat had always known she was its mate. It was Ezra who had tried to deny and then ultimately ignore that fact.

  Well, not anymore.

  He turned off the exit ramp, the vehicle going so fast it skidded on the left-side tires. There was no doubt he was speeding and he could not care less. All parts of him were at play now, all working in accord, finally.

  Ezra almost choked the minute the air was drawn into his lungs. The stench was foul and familiar and angered him to the point that every nuance of his body vibrated. Heat pooled at his groin as the instant erection rose. His skin tingled with the beginnings of the shift, and his human eyes blinked rapidly as he looked from side to side for any sign of ADAM.

  That monstrosity was near. Ezra scented it without a doubt. And if ADAM were near, that meant so was Crowe, and hence Jewel. Crowe and his cohorts at Comastaz had created ADAM, what they most likely thought was a duplicate of a Shadow Shifter. The question of how they knew about the shifters had been one that Bas wanted to figure out. For the moment, Ezra didn’t care. All he knew was that Jewel was with them and that was not good.

  There was definitely loads of darkness in this ADAM creature, so much of it that its scent practically reached out to Ezra, believing it a kindred spirit. The anger that spurned both the shifter and the hybrid was palpable, still, Ezra was nothing like that abomination and he was ready to prove it just as he was ready to kill to save his mate.

  The closer his GPS drew him to the address that had been programmed into it, the thicker the stench grew. Ezra’s eyes had long since shifted to those of his cat, he’d glimpsed them as he’d looked into the rearview mirror and didn’t give a damn. Exposure was the least of his worries at this point. Saving his mate’s life was the priority.

  There was another turn around a winding bend and when he’d cleared it, the stench was so strong, his heart pounding so loud in his chest, that Ezra jumped out of the SUV and ran up the dirt driveway until he was at the front door. And that’s when he heard it.

  Jewel’s scream.

  To hell with knocking and waiting to be invited in, Ezra jumped down from the steps staring at the sturdy frame of the house. Inside his cat roared just as the darkness reached out for its kin and he broke into a run, stretching the length of his body the way his cat would have and crashed through the front window.

  * * *

  He was cold, Jewel thought the moment Larry had opened the door to a room and she’d seen her father sitting on the edge of the twin-sized bed. He was wearing his good dress pants, the brown ones with the brown suspenders that matched. He called them his church pants even though it had been years since he stepped foot into a holy building. His butter-colored dress shirt was wrinkled, the sleeves slightly too short for his gangly arms.

  She ran to him immediately, ignoring the evil glare she suspected Larry had fastened on her at the moment. She didn’t give a damn what he thought, or what he wanted, for that matter. All she cared about was getting her father to safety.

  “Hi, Daddy,” she said, wrapping her arms around him.

  She had to be careful to keep her voice as calm as possible and not to hug him so tight his frail bones might break.

  “There’s my sunshine,” Thurgood said, wrapping his arms around his only child. When his lips were close to her ear he continued, his voice low, “I don’t care what he says, don’t give him what he wants. Let that bastard rot in hell first.”

  His words startled her and she stiffened in his embrace, then she fixed a smile on her face as she pulled away. “Are you cold? Do you want a blanket?” she asked, hurriedly looking around the room for one.

  Only there was none to be found. There was a fitted sheet on the bed but that was all. At the window were room-darkening blinds that had been drawn tight. In the doorway, Larry stood with arms folded over his chest, leaning against the jamb.

  “He needs a blanket,” she told him.

  Larry shook his head. “He needs his daughter to get her act together. You ready to do that?”

  “No, she’s not ready for anything you want from her!” her father yelled, coming up off the bed in a wobbly stance.

  Jewel was back at his side instantly, her arms going around his waist as she helped him back down on the bed. “I’ll take care of this, Daddy. Don’t worry, everything’s going to be just fine.”

  “Making promises again?” Larry asked.

  When she looked up at him, one bushy graying eyebrow was raised in question. She’d never considered him a handsome man. While his body was very well built, she despised the way he used that strength, the intimidation that laced every word he ever spoke. If she were a rude and ill-mannered person, she would spit on him where he stood. But her father had raised her better, so instead she simply squared her shoulders and stared at him.

  “I’d be interested to see how you plan to take care of everything this time,” Larry continued, too blinded by his ego and that damned military training he thought made him some type of god, to realize she was no longer afraid of him.

  “Let’s go into the other room and talk, Larry,” she stated matter-of-factly. “I’ll be right back, Daddy.”

  Her father had grasped her hand tightly as she’d tried to walk away. He was wearing his dark shades so she couldn’t see his sightless eyes. It didn’t matter because she looked away from him, unable to stare at the man she loved more than life itself, knowing what she was about to put herself through. He would hate the sacrifice she was going to make, would argue with her if he knew what she was going to do. But he didn’t know, only she did and if she didn’t hurry up and see it through, she didn’t know if she’d make it another second.

  She yanked her hand away from her father’s, ignoring the heavy weight settling uncomfortably in the center of her chest.

  Larry made a sweeping motion with his hand, signaling her to leave the room ahead of him. She did and didn’t look back. Couldn’t turn to see her father’s sadness, his utter disappointment because he couldn’t understand that all his life, all the sacrifices he’d made for her meant that it was time for her to return the favor. She’d promised her mother she would take care of him and no matter what evil impurities she had to endure, Jewel planned to do jus
t that.

  They were barely down the hall to the living room before he’d grabbed her. She’d expected it so the gasp he most likely was waiting for never came. Instead she leveled her gaze at him, meeting the icy glare with one of her own.

  “What are you going to do now, Larry? Are you going to rape me again? Is that the only way you know to control your women?” she said with enough vehemence his entire face crinkled with rage.

  “I’m going to make your ass pay!” he said, pulling her deeper into the room then slamming her so hard against the wall her breath was lost.

  Before she could regain her composure he was up in her face, grabbing her by the back of her neck to pull her head up so he could see her. “Where the fuck are my diamonds, you thieving slut?”

  Tears stung the back of her eyes but Jewel dared them to fall. He would not see her cry, not ever. “They’re back in the car you had your robotic beast tear me from. You wanna try sending him back for them? He’s under your complete control, right? So you don’t have to worry about him stealing from you.”

  “I shouldn’t have had to worry about your ungrateful ass!” he yelled into her face, his spittle flying against her cheeks until she closed her eyes.

  “I gave you everything!”

  “You made me nothing!” was her retort.

  “Oh no, sweetheart, that was all you. You’re the one who wanted to gyrate for money. All I did was pay you.”

  He tightened his hold on her but Jewel fought against it. She moved her shoulders, shook her head, anything to show she wasn’t simply going to take whatever he dished out. Not anymore.

  “I wanted to help my father!”

  “You wanted to get fucked and get paid at the same time,” was his hateful retort.

  The follow-up to his words was his other hand coming to the collar of her shirt, ripping it straight down the middle so that her bra-covered breasts and bare torso showed. She saw the moment the glint in his eyes changed, the second his arousal began to overtake his anger. That was an intense fight, the sexual hunger that always seemed to be lurking inside him and the anger that Jewel was certain had never come solely because of her. No, Lawrence Crowe had a lot of pent-up rage boiling throughout his veins, something someone had done to him long ago had made him the monster he was today. She prayed it had been a female that had hurt him as much as he liked to hurt her.

  “I’m gonna fuck your brains out, you miserable slut. Then I’m gonna tie you down and let you watch while I kill your father slowly. And if you so much as think about leaving me again I’ll cut your heart right out!”

  He’d emphasized that threat by tracing his finger over her left breast, down to just beneath the mound where her heart beat the strongest.

  “And then you’ll go straight to the darkest corners of hell, where you belong!” she spat back at him. “You don’t scare me, you sorry sonofabitch!”

  He slapped her then. Such a simple and clichéd action, but one that snapped her head back and sent stinging sensations to every nerve ending in her body. It took everything—and Jewel meant every single stitch of her—not to cry out with pain. Instead, she let her head roll slowly back into position where she glared at him again, praying he could see every iota of hate she had for him.

  “I like a tough bitch!” he said with an evil grin, his lips wet from the drool that had begun to form.

  She’d never seen him quite this far gone and wondered if he’d sniffed some of that gray powder he’d had in the basement. She had no idea what the substance was, but she’d seen those same boxes being loaded into crates and being shipped to the Comastaz Labs. Whatever it was, Larry had also used it here.

  He cupped her between her legs, squeezing her juncture until she came up on tiptoe.

  “You wet for me, doll?” he asked before tracking his gross wet lips along the line of her jaw and back to her ear. “Tell me you’re wet and hot for me.”

  Jewel had something else in mind to tell him as her hand reached behind her back to the rim of her pants where she’d stuck the knife. The knife was sheathed in a leather case with a snap that held it closed. Luckily she could flip the snap free with one hand, and shaking her hand, had the case slipping free from the blade.

  Larry was licking along the line of her neck, going down toward her partially exposed breasts when she lifted her hand and brought the gleaming sharp edge of the blade down, thrusting it deep into his back. She screamed with the action, the adrenaline from all she’d been through in the last two days coming to a boil, the triumph of causing him a fraction of the pain he’d caused her as liberating as breathing.

  He reared back, his face contorted in a mask of shock, calling her every type of bitch he could manage while reaching behind him to pull the knife she’d left buried in his back free. “I’m gonna kill you, bitch!” he yelled, holding the knife up and getting ready to charge her.

  From across the room glass shattered, raining down onto the gleaming wood floors that shook beneath the booted feet of the Shadow Shifter that had come to her rescue.

  Chapter 20

  Rage was a hazy shade of red, blanketing Ezra as he leapt through the window only to see Crowe moving toward Jewel with a bloody knife in his raised hand. There was no controlling the roar that rumbled free of his chest, no stopping the claws that broke through the skin of his knuckles.

  Crowe jumped at the noise coming from behind him, turning until his icy gaze landed on Ezra. In that instant Ezra could see the man’s lips moving, knew he was saying something but had no idea what or to whom. Correct that: the loud crashing coming from his left signaled exactly who Crowe had been speaking to.

  ADAM crashed through the drywall, fists balled, teeth bared, every muscle in the six-and-a-half-foot-tall creature bunching as it immediately blocked Ezra’s path. Its chest heaved up and down as if it too relied on oxygen to live, but Ezra doubted that was true. This thing, no matter what its intention, was not a Shadow Shifter. That ooze coming from ADAM’s ears and now the cracks of his eyes, told another story entirely. So did the blurry haze over eyes that were green like a jaguar’s, its nose flat, lips peeled back from long, sharp teeth, and with two holes in its neck on either side.

  Ezra and Eli had been stuck on either side of their neck by Dagar, the night the protection ceremony had taken place. The shaman had used a branch that was as sharp as a knife to pierce them at spots the shaman had previously marked. They’d been temporarily paralyzed from that point down.

  ADAM wasn’t paralyzed. No, Ezra thought, feeling the power of his cat invading every corner of his human body, the creature was ready to kill.

  And Ezra was the target.

  Or after a few cracking bones, stretching muscles, and a roar that rattled the remaining windows on the lower floor of the house, the jaguar was now ADAM’s target.

  Ezra didn’t hesitate to lunge for the big creature, jaws open wide, teeth bared. To its credit ADAM didn’t move, but spread his brawny legs a bit farther apart and squatted, thick arms hanging at his sides like he was ready to catch the cat that charged him. The cat’s first bite landed on the left side of the creature’s chest. Then the cat was struggling to breathe as ADAM did what Ezra had first expected, wrapping those cannon-like arms around the cat and squeezing. The cat’s bones almost broke beneath the creature’s strength, but a twist and a direct bite to ADAM’s left bicep had the arms releasing, the cat falling on its feet to the floor.

  Ezra wouldn’t call it pain—the creature didn’t look as if it could decipher emotions on the physical level, just things that stopped it from completing its task. It looked down at the huge gash in its arm that Ezra had created and growled down at the cat. Ezra didn’t give a damn and wasn’t afraid. He was pissed off beyond repair and showed his attitude by going for the big beast’s legs to take a bite. This time the beast reacted quickly, kicking out said leg and sending the cat careening across the room.

  It stomped across the room then, the floor shaking in its wake. The cat had once again lande
d on its feet but was now backed into a corner. It hunched, staring at its prey with glowing eyes and killer teeth. ADAM stared back, its clawed hands at its sides. It walked like a man and could probably pass for one if its eyes would stay human or if it wore a nice pair of wraparounds. It looked angrier if that were even possible, its eyes almost bulging out of the sockets, teeth gnashing.

  The cat and the human eyed the monstrosity as they watched its approach. It couldn’t fall to its feet and shift into a big cat—whatever variety it had been mixed with. And it couldn’t quite be a full human. It was stuck in between, the dark evil floating around inside wondering where it fit into the equation.

  Similar to the way it had in Ezra.

  Only Ezra was a full-grown half-human, half-jaguar. He could take either form successfully and thus, he could take down this faulty creation.

  Until ADAM lifted a hand and smacked the cat just like a human would a child. The cat roared then and lunged, coming up on its hind legs, its claws swiping at ADAM’s distorted face. The beast reared back, but the cat kept going, biting at its shoulder, its torso, and then the top of its thigh. ADAM stumbled a little more with each assault, letting out horrific roars each time the cat sunk its teeth deep.

  When ADAM slammed against the wall, the cat backed off, going into a completely predatory stance. It moved low, keeping its eyes on its prey. ADAM pushed off the wall and staggered a foot or so toward the cat. The thing stopped as if it were listening for something, the head turning in one direction and then another. And that’s when the cat pounced.

  There was a loud crunching, cracking sound as its teeth sank deep into the back of ADAM’s skull. The thing’s head reared back as it roared and the walls around them shook. Seconds later ADAM fell to its knees, then finally on its face. The cat held on for minutes longer, its flanks heaving, blood covering the fur around its mouth.

  * * *

  Jewel had run the instant Larry turned from her. She tripped over something, falling in the hallway just a few feet away from the door to the room where she knew her father was. Her heart was beating so fast it echoed in her ears. She’d flattened her palms on the floor and was just about to push herself up and keep going when she heard him.