Undiscovered

by Sara Humphreys

  Zander groaned, and his body tensed against her when their gazes locked.

  “God, you’re beautiful,” he murmured.

  As the words slipped from his lips, Zander’s eyes shifted into the glowing, scarlet eyes of the dragon. Rena’s breath quickened as his spirit stream raced around her in the air, dancing with hers. Everything spun wildly, a hurricane of sensations in body and mind. A whirling dervish of lust and power. Erotic and enticing, his desire for her was as unmistakable as her own ferocious need. Rena’s pulse thrummed wildly as Zander curled his hand around the nape of her neck and pulled her closer.

  “So are you…”

  In a blur of speed, his mouth crashed over hers, and Rena opened to him with a throaty groan of strangled, desperate need. It wasn’t a matter of choice but more like instinct. Her body had developed a mind of its own, and all it wanted was more of Zander Lorens. He tasted hot and sweet and fleetingly reminded her of licorice. Rena moaned as his firm lips melded against hers with perfection, each pass of his tongue growing more demanding than the last.

  Rena threaded her fingers through his shaggy hair and rose to meet him, the simmering heat of their desire erupting in a flurry of teeth and tongues. She tilted her head, angling to deepen their kiss. God. She wanted him to touch her everywhere. To feel the full weight of his body over hers.

  Without breaking the kiss, she lay back on the sofa, pulling him with her. Rena opened her legs, needing and wanting him to settle there, to blanket her with his hard masculinity. She arched her back, her breasts pressing against his chest, urging him to take what she offered.

  Instead of moving closer, he moved away.

  Confusion slid into Rena’s clouded, lust-fogged brain as Zander curled his fingers around her wrists. She whimpered when he broke the kiss and gently pulled her hands away before settling them on her chest. He pressed them there firmly, like an exclamation point on a humiliating sentence.

  His broad chest rose and fell in time with his heavy breaths. His eyes still glowing brightly, Zander shook his head adamantly and rose from the sofa. Rena struggled to catch her own breath, mourning the loss of his touch as he stepped backward, increasing the distance between them. Confusion washed over her as she slowly sat up and straightened out her shirt. Embarrassment wasn’t far behind.

  “We shouldn’t have done that,” he said gruffly between heavy breaths. His eyes shifted back to their human state and peered at her coldly between dark strands of hair. “I’m sorry. It was a mistake.”

  Her mouth fell open, and she pushed her bangs off her forehead, struggling for some kind of dignified retort. What could she say? She couldn’t act like she didn’t want him, since she’d been mauling him about ten seconds ago.

  “You kissed me, buddy,” she said with an indignant huff. “Let’s keep it straight, hot lips.”

  Oh yeah. That was dignified. It was official. She was a babbling, horny idiot.

  “I know.” His jaw clenched, the muscle flickering beneath the dark stubble. “I lost my head for a minute. You reminded me of someone and—”

  “Are you for real?” Rena shot to her feet. “So not only are you telling me that kissing me was a mistake but you weren’t actually kissing me?”

  Zander lifted one shoulder in an annoying, typically male, noncommittal gesture. Rena fought the urge to punch him in the face. She should. She should haul off and give him a knuckle sandwich. But that would only make her look like she gave a shit, and she didn’t.

  Liar.

  Whatever. It was only a kiss. No big deal. Right?

  Her gaze skittered over his tall, masculine form, one that was seemingly devoid of anything other than muscle and bone, and the dull ache between her legs throbbed. She was in big, fat, stupid trouble. She wanted him—she couldn’t deny it—but he was obviously mooning over the crazy broad from the vision.

  That realization stung more than anything else, but Rena shoved the growing humiliation aside. Zander held the answers to her increasingly long list of questions, and telling him to piss off would only hurt her in the long run.

  She hated to admit it, but she needed his help, and Rena wasn’t used to needing anyone. It made her uncomfortable to have to rely on another person because, in her experience, most people weren’t reliable.

  Once she got her answers, then she could punch him in the nose.

  Or kiss him.

  Crap.

  “Like I said, it won’t happen again,” Zander murmured. “When your eyes shifted, I got caught up in the moment and—”

  “Let me guess.” Rena folded her arms over her breasts and closed the distance between them. “I remind you of that crazy girl that you and your brother fought over? Right? The one who turned into a fox? Yellow dress, long reddish hair, and an I-like-to-mess-with-a-man’s-head grin?”

  Zander’s expression faltered, and Rena couldn’t help but let a smug smile curve her lips. It was nice to shock him for once, and it made her feel a bit more like herself. Because, so far, being around Zander had her feeling like a stranger in her own body.

  Anger flickered briefly over his sharp features but was swiftly shoved behind his calm, cool facade. Rena’s lips tilted. She had hit a nerve. Good. She wasn’t the only one feeling off her game. At least she was starting to learn which buttons to push if she had to.

  Zander loomed over her, intentionally crowding her space. Rena looked him up and down, a sense of empowerment flooding her. If she was going to head out on a road trip to some ranch full of shapeshifters, then she damn well had to keep a balance of power.

  Kiss or no kiss.

  “How do you know about her?”

  Rena sucked in a deep, cleansing breath and focused on shifting her eyes back to normal. With a tingling snap, she willed them to their human state. She lifted her eyebrows triumphantly, daring him to question her abilities. Zander’s eyes widened slightly when she exerted control over her newfound abilities.

  “Good.” He nodded curtly. “You’re a quick study. Now, tell me how you knew about—”

  “You’re not the only one with a few surprises up their sleeve.”

  “Go on.”

  Rena shrugged and walked around Zander to the other side of the office. It was time for Zander to get thrown a curveball or two. She could feel him staring at her, but she didn’t give him the satisfaction of looking at him. If there was one thing Rena couldn’t abide, it was feeling out of control, and it was about time she took control back.

  “I get visions when I touch stuff sometimes. Always have.”

  A feeling of pride filled Rena, along with a sense of relief, as she finally shared her secret. She had waited her entire life to be able to talk openly about her abilities with someone. She always thought she would be terrified to utter it out loud, but the opposite was true. Rena was empowered by the freedom of unloading her secret, and it was mostly because of Zander’s reaction.

  He didn’t even flinch. Zander didn’t look at her like she was a freak. On the contrary, he seemed impressed.

  “Interesting.” He folded his arms over his broad chest and remained completely tuned in. The guy was hanging on every word she said. “Go on. What else?”

  “The visions aren’t enough?” she said with a nervous laugh.

  “No.” His eyes crinkled at the corners, and humor laced his voice. “That’s not what I meant. I want to know how it affected you. It can’t have been easy to keep that secret.”

  “Oh…that. Yeah, I wasn’t great at making or keeping friends. Or a family.” Rena tucked her hair behind her ear and looked away, suddenly feeling exposed. “It toughened me up, I guess.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said quietly.

  She could feel him staring at her. Studying her. Maybe this whole sharing her secret business wasn’t all it was cracked up to be. Rena had always been an expert at hiding the truest part of herself fr
om the world, but now, here she was, with nowhere to hide.

  “It’s fine,” Rena said quickly. “It freaked me out when I was a kid, but once I learned how to control it, it was all good. If I want to, I can slip into the memories of the person by touching something they touched. I tune in to their spirit stream and—”

  “Spirit stream? You’re talking about an energy signature,” he said with a hint of awe. “That’s what we call it, the spiritual fingerprint all living creatures have. The Amoveo’s energy patterns are particularly strong, but so are most supernaturals.”

  “Okay,” Rena said slowly. “I guess it’s the same thing. Sounds like it. Anyway, if I touch something that you touched, and you’re hiding something…I’m gonna find out what it is. And I’m gonna find you. Nobody can hide from me. I’m like a living divining rod. Once I connect with their spirit—energy signature,” she quickly corrected, “I can find them anywhere.”

  “The money.” His voice was quiet but steady. “When you spaced out at the bar, you were having a vision, and you were in one of my memories?”

  “Yep. Part of one, anyway, and I saw even more when I touched the stone.”

  “Patricia mentioned you had a sixth sense.” His eyes flicked over her quickly. “You’re psychic.”

  “Give the man a prize,” Rena said with a sweeping gesture. “Ding, ding, ding. You win.”

  “Visions like yours are rare among humans, Rena. The Amoveo have several gifts, but I’ve never heard of one who could see into the past.”

  “Yeah.” She rolled her eyes. “Well, it felt more like a curse until I met Vito and he taught me the business. My visions or whatever you want to call them gave me a unique advantage when looking for people. Especially those who don’t want to be found.”

  “Then this Vito person knows about your ability?”

  “No,” Rena said abruptly. A glimmer of fear flared in her chest at the idea of Vito knowing exactly how weird she was. “And it’s going to stay that way. Vito and Patricia are the only real family I’ve ever had, and they never treated me like a freak. Anyway, I owe him everything. It’s because of him that I found a way to turn my freakishness to my advantage. The more I used it, the more I was able to control it.”

  “You didn’t look very controlled when you fainted.”

  “I never held an ancient spirit stone before either.” She arched one eyebrow at him. “And definitely not one given to me by a guy who can turn into a dragon.”

  Zander stilled but didn’t confirm or deny the part about the dragon.

  Interesting. Rena studied him closely as silence hung between them, the sound of the ticking clock and the cars outside filling the void. She had just called him out as a dragon shapeshifter. Why not admit or deny it? His choice to gloss over it gave her more pause than anything else.

  She wasn’t the only one who was used to hiding the truth.

  “I didn’t know the spirit stone was going to hurt you.”

  “Be serious,” she replied. “You must’ve thought it would do something, or you wouldn’t have given it to me.”

  “I had hoped… Shit.” He ran both hands over his face and let out a growl of frustration. “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Rena lifted one shoulder in a nonchalant gesture. “I think it woke up more of my powers or whatever.”

  “How so?” His eyes narrowed, and a hint of concern edged his voice.

  “My hearing and sense of smell have always been sharp but now…” She trailed off, her mind instantly going to Zander’s musky, male scent and the sweet licorice taste of his kiss still lingering on her tongue.

  “That’s not surprising. Members of the Fox Clan have excellent hearing and a strong sense of smell, even in their human form.”

  “Hmmm. Well, let’s just say that it feels like they’ve been supercharged. Even the vision I had was different than the others.”

  “Why? What did you see?”

  She grabbed her brown leather duffel bag off the floor and tossed it on her desk before unzipping it. Keeping her back to him, she put the brick of cash into the bag and closed it back up.

  “When you put the stone in my palm, I saw that whole drama in the forest play out like some kind of medieval soap opera. Usually, I’m in the memory or kind of a participant. But this time, I was just an observer and, boy, oh boy, did I get an eyeful. The fox-girl, she totally goaded you and your brother into fighting over her,” Rena said.

  “It wasn’t like that,” Zander bit out. “At least, it wasn’t supposed to be.”

  “How long ago did all that happen, anyway?”

  “Does it matter?” he asked flatly.

  “Yes, it does. I need the whole story.”

  His jaw clenched, and he sucked in a deep breath, as if deciding whether to answer her question.

  “You won’t believe me.”

  “Dude, are you serious? I get visions when I touch stuff, and now my eyes have started glowing like I’m a human Lite-Brite. Come on, Zander,” she said playfully. “I showed you mine…”

  “Fine.” His lips set in a tight line. “It was five hundred years ago.”

  Rena looked him up and down, her gaze lingering on his strong, stubble-covered jaw before locking eyes with him once again. Her gut instinct told her there was no way that could be true, but then again…why not?

  “You look pretty good for a guy who’s five centuries old,” she teased. “What kind of weird, supernatural creature are you? Are you an alien or something?”

  “No,” he said with mild amusement. “Just a man who’s been cursed.”

  “A man, huh? Well, I guess you’re sort of right.” She slung the bag over her shoulder and moved around the desk toward him. “You and your brother weren’t exactly men in the vision I saw. More like a couple of dragons.”

  He paused, and his square jaw clenched as though he was searching for the correct response.

  “Not anymore,” he rasped. “Not for more years than I care to recall.”

  “I thought you said you weren’t one of those shapeshifter Amoveo guys.”

  “I’m not Amoveo,” he said through a clenched jaw. “I was born into the Dragon Clan, but now I am only a man.”

  Rena adjusted the strap of the bag on her shoulder and let her gaze wander up and down the length of him slowly. Her eyes narrowed. He was wound tight, every inch of him looked ready to bolt, and that was the body language of a man who was hiding something.

  He wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

  “Right, a cursed man who’s five hundred years old but doesn’t look a day over twenty-eight, and his eyes glow bright red like a siren,” she said through a laugh. “There’s more to your story, and you’ll tell me eventually, one way or the other. Even if you don’t tell me, I’m going to figure it out. Like I said…nobody can hide from me.”

  Without waiting for him to respond, Rena strode around him and went to the front door. She hit the light switch, leaving the office lit only by daylight, and tugged the door open.

  “Let’s go.” She nodded toward the street. “I need to make a stop before we hit the road, but it’s on the way to the interstate.”

  “That’s it?” Zander asked warily. “You don’t have any other questions?”

  “Are you kidding?” Rena slipped on her aviator sunglasses. “Questions are all I’ve got.”

  “I’m impressed.” Zander moved toward her slowly, until he stood beside her in the open doorway, once again crowding her personal space like it was his job. “After everything I told you and what you saw…you’re still willing to go with me? You aren’t afraid?”

  Hell yes, she was scared, but she surely wasn’t going to tell him that. If ever there was a time to bluff her ass off, it was now.

  “First of all, dragon boy, I don’t scare easily. I’ve been on my own since I was fourteen years o
ld. You should see some of the stuff I’ve gotten a peek at over the years.”

  “I can imagine,” he said solemnly. “I’ve seen what humans are capable of.”

  “I’m going with you for two reasons.” Rena inched closer, so their bodies were a breath apart, and she kept her voice low. “One, I’m going because what I’ve learned about so far is only the tip of the iceberg, and I want to know more. I’ve wondered where I came from for my entire life, and it looks like you and these Amoveo are the only ones with the answers. Number two, you’re paying me a ton of cash, and you know what they say—cash is king. But I do have one condition.”

  Rena stilled as the smell of leather swirled around her with a gust of wind. Jeez. She resisted the urge to lean closer and breathe him in, because with the sure shot of lust came the pulsating instinct for her eyes to shift. By some miracle, she was able to keep them from going all glowy and weird.

  “What is it?” Zander asked, his deep, gravelly voice sliding over her seductively. “I’ll keep my hands to myself if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  Yup. She was worried that he would keep his hands to himself. Why did he have to smell so damn delicious? A hint of licorice bathed her tongue, a remnant of the kiss they had shared, and she fought the urge to moan. It was just the shapeshifter stuff, right? Her senses were on overdrive because of her heightened powers and not because of Zander.

  That was her story and she was sticking to it.

  “It’s not your hands I’m worried about.” Rena tilted her chin and adjusted the strap of the bag, praying he wouldn’t see right through her. “You be straight with me from now on. You obviously made up that story about finding your brother so you could get me to Montana to meet the rest of these Amoveo people or shifters or whatever they are.”

  He opened his mouth to respond, but she held up one hand, stopping any bogus excuses. She knew, deep in her gut, there was more to this thing with his brother, and she’d bet the thirty grand in her bag it had to do with their big, bad fight in the woods—and the woman at the center of it.

  “A simple yes or no will suffice.” Rena dropped her hand to her side. “I ask you honest questions, and you give me honest answers. No more phony stories. Do we have a deal?”