Sari

by Middleton, Rose

  Stunned by the evidence, Kai reached out a hand but Sari grabbed it, stopping him. He snapped around to face her, but her eyes were kind and sympathetic.

  “We both know what that is. You go putting your scent all over it and we become unmistakable, traceable. It’ll be enough that we’ve trampled grass to get here.”

  It suddenly dawned on him that sleeping out here in the wild might be downright impossible. Now that he had proof the cats were in the vicinity, how could he close his eyes? They could track him down in a heartbeat. This wasn’t quite the camping adventure he’d hoped for.

  “They can sniff us out,” he said, more for his benefit than Sari’s. Unexpectedly he felt like a rookie. He should know better. “I didn’t—”

  Sari pressed a finger to his lips, a beautiful smile lifting the corners of her mouth. “I did. I’ve got it covered.”

  She was too good at this, made him feel like she’d done it all before and like he was a hack. For once, he was grateful. “Thank you.”

  Her smile brightened. “And thank you, for last night.”

  “You’re welcome, Sari. Anytime.”

  “I just find it hard to—”

  “I know, and I’m fully aware that you still don’t trust me. At least, not as much as I’d like.” The overwhelming desire to make contact with her beat his restraint to a pulp, and Kai reached for her. She didn’t flinch or move or back away, simply let him slide his fingertips down the side of her pretty face and lift away a lock of blond hair. “I’m worried about you.”

  “I’m fine.”

  Her eyelids fluttered down as she leaned into his touch. Again she rubbed against his fingers like a cat liking his attention. He’d give her more if he didn’t think it’d scare her, so he backed off a little, surprised when she followed and stepped closer. Her heat hit him first, her scent second. Sari always smelled good to him, but right now, that fragrance spread through him like wildfire, hardening his cock and giving his balls a jolt.

  Hot damn. Kai grinned. No woman had ever been so good on the nose, and he couldn’t remember a time when the mere scent of a woman aroused him in the blink of an eye. She could make him come with little more than a stroke to his cock. He didn’t want to think about what her mouth on him would do, and the very thought of sliding into her pussy messed with his head totally.

  Kai couldn’t remember the last time he’d ever been this aroused.

  Did she feel the same way about him? Could she sense his extremely horny state? He half expected her to. Could she guess he wanted to kiss her sweet lips, part them to slip his tongue into her hot mouth and taste her? How he’d love to run his tongue over her smooth teeth and duel with hers?

  The anticipation of a kiss quickened his pulse and the flow of blood south of his belt made it hard to focus on anything but her mouth. Those plump, ripe lips. That little tongue he’d seen a dozen times over and needed to have.

  A vision of Sari’s mouth wrapped around his cock struck him hard, and while he wanted to act above such animal desires, he conceded he was only a man. A normal man with healthy urges. Urges that aimed straight at Sari.

  Ah, to hell with it.

  He dipped his head and brushed his lips over hers, the gentle contact delivering a surprisingly strong taste of her sweetness. It ignited a fire in his belly, and he pressed harder. Her lips molded to his, and he couldn’t resist the temptation. He licked her bottom lip, teasing it with a nip, and was rewarded when her mouth opened and she sighed against him.

  “Kiss me, Kai.”

  He did, circling an arm around her waist and pulling her hips to his. If she felt his rigid cock, then so be it. Hiding his arousal was impossible at this point, and better she know the truth of his physical state. But the movement of those soft lips against his brought his mind back, and he slipped his tongue over her teeth. More heat greeted him, then her tongue. It flicked against his and when she tilted her head to the right, it flattened against his.

  Her taste flooded his mouth, her scent filled his nose. He couldn’t get enough. He dove deeper into her and swallowed her delighted purr. Against him, her body shuddered. Her nipples pressed to his chest were tight points under the layers of clothing and he doubted any amount of fabric could hide that. Good. He needed her to be as aroused as he was, as needful of him as he of her.

  Though her eyes stayed closed, he knew she used her hands to gather information. Her lithe fingers brushed over his face, fluttered over his eyes and dug into his sweater to feel his chest. She went no lower, tormenting him with the very possibility, and it was his turn to shiver. But if she wouldn’t take it further, he would.

  A slave to his desires, he slid a hand down the curve of her hip to grip the round cheek of her ass. She whimpered but gave no resistance. He slid lower to her thigh, to her knee. The slightest tug and she yielded. He lifted it to his hip and pushed his thigh between hers, groaning at the fiery heat that met him.

  “Kai, we should—”

  “Not yet.” He trailed wet kisses across her cheek to suck her earlobe into his mouth. She whimpered and purred, like every woman should when a man enjoys her so. A smile curved his lips, and he lifted his thigh higher, to rub against the hidden flesh he knew would be wet.

  “Oh, Kai.”

  She held on to his neck, her body flat against his, her heart beating against his chest. Damn, it felt good. He loved the way her hair sifted against the back of his hand, the way her hips undulated against his.

  “You taste so good,” he whispered against her ear.

  Her head fell back and the grin on her lips filled his heart with joy, but when she purred again and sounded exactly like a cat, Kai stopped. Her head snapped up, fear instantly clouding her blue eyes. She opened her mouth as if to speak but no words came out.

  Letting her go, he stepped backwards to put a foot of cool air between them. Anything to clear his head and help him think.

  “Why do you purr like a cat?”

  “Kai, it’s complicated.” She fidgeted, nervous. “I told you they experimented on me.”

  “Say again? What did they do? Turn you into a cat?”

  Her skin paled and her eyes darted from left to right. Nervous wreck pretty much summed her up, yet she didn’t deny his half-hearted joke.

  “Sari?”

  “I-I told you,” she stammered. “I’m not normal.”

  “Sari,” he said, his voice strong enough to make her jump. He would not be denied. “What the hell is going on?”

  She hesitated and then gave a slight nod. “How much do you know about gene splicing?”

  Chapter Four

  Kai blinked in confusion. “Gene splicing?”

  She nodded. Cool as a cucumber. He couldn’t believe how calm she could be discussing a topic like gene splicing. Nor could he believe she knew anything about it. His confusion stemmed not from the technique she spoke of but from the words spilling from her mouth. Sari was a research assistant. She held diplomas in office management.

  She was not a scientist.

  “Kai?”

  He focused on her again. “I know what gene splicing is. What I don’t understand is how you know about it.”

  Her eyes widened. “Say again?”

  “You’re an assistant, not a scientist.”

  Her body stiffened and he knew he’d offended her. “I see. Well, since you know all about gene splicing, you don’t need me to tell you anything.”

  Sari turned and started back the way they came. Kai tried to piece together the fragments of this puzzle but failed and hurried to catch up. He ran through the use of gene splicing as a therapy to known illnesses, like diabetes. He knew of labs working at using the technique to combat hepatitis and AIDS, but it was still early days.

  Did Sari mean to imply that they—whoever they were—were using gene splicing to experiment on human subjects for reasons besides treating genetic illness? The very thought made the hairs on his nape stand on end. But how did her purring fit into it? Kai scratched his
head, then ran his hand through his hair. It didn’t make sense. If he read between the lines, then she was saying that they had used feline DNA in experiments on humans.

  “That’s impossible.”

  She came to a stop and turned to face him, and he realized he’d said the words out loud. Shit. He met her intense gaze and let her bore into his mind. If there was something she wanted to know, she needed only to ask. He was an open book, the Bible of all open books, and just as trustworthy.

  Unless it was about Rebecca.

  “What are you thinking, Professor?”

  “Just trying to work with the cryptic clues you like so much. It would be much easier and quicker if you just told me.”

  Anger hardened her features. “Uh-huh. Yeah, I’m going to blindly trust you after what they did to me. I don’t think so.” She shook her head. “I can’t do that.”

  “Who are they, Sari?”

  She shrugged. “I wish I knew. At first I thought they were military, some sort of covert operation they didn’t want anyone to know about.”

  “So they’re not military?”

  For a second, her face softened and her eyes pleaded with him to stop asking questions. “No, at least, not sanctioned, but I don’t know how I know that. There’s a lot of stuff I know but don’t know how I know. It’s frustrating as hell.”

  And scary. She didn’t have to say the words but he heard them all the same. “Sari, we’ll figure it out.”

  Her features hardened again, and without a word, she turned and continued, picking up their original trail and heading east in silence. He traipsed behind her, following, hoping she’d say something else. This stubborn insistence of hers to treat him as untrustworthy needed correcting. She couldn’t just expect him to believe her when she refused him the same courtesy. They had a deal, a partnership, and dammit, he needed her help to find the cats.

  Why was she allowing personal matters to interfere all of a sudden?

  Kai stopped walking.

  His jerky brain connections started to make sense.

  Cats. Feline DNA. Jaguars in Australia. Gene splicing. Research. Sari.

  He looked up to find she’d stopped and stared at him in expectation. Did she hope he’d work it out on his own? Or was it just too hard for her to talk about?

  Kai’s heart skipped a beat and the weight of her words landed heavily on his shoulders. Someone had experimented on her with the gene splicing technique. He doubted she’d inherited a genetic disorder. In fact, he suspected she was healthier than most people, which was why they had experimented on her. Because she could take the pain and bounce back.

  Pain and I are best friends.

  But why would they experiment? What were they trying to find? Or worse, do? Was that why she could purr like a cat?

  But Jaguars don’t purr.

  His gut twisted so tight he thought he’d double over in pain. How many times had he asked himself who she really was? Now all he cared about was whether he actually wanted to know.

  He blinked and she came into focus, walking toward him. When she stood before him, she nodded. “You understand now.”

  Kai felt sick. “No. I don’t. Are you telling me they sowed feline DNA into yours? Because I’ll never understand that.”

  She reached out and rubbed his bicep. “It sickens you, doesn’t it?”

  How could it not? Why would they do it? Why would she let them?

  “That’s why you had a tracer in your arm. That’s how you came to be my assistant.” Things started to fall into place and Kai grabbed her shoulders to draw her closer. “You sought me out because of my research. That’s how you came to be at Eco-Corp.”

  She turned her face away but didn’t answer.

  “You’re using me and the company. Let me guess. You want to go back, go home to your other cat-like freaks and I’m your ticket.”

  A silent tear slid down her cheek but tears would not dissuade him.

  “Damn you, Sari. I see it all now and it makes me sick and angry. We’re here, in this fucking jungle, because you led us here. What happens when you find the others? Am I the evening meal?”

  She jerked backward, her eyes flashing with fury. In a blink she pulled out of his reach. God, she moved fast. “Screw you. Why the hell did I even think you’d understand? I must have been stupid to think that you researched these animals because you have a passion for them, but you just want the glory. You want to be the one who uncovers the truth about the mysterious black cat sightings. Get your name in the paper and have Waylon reward you.”

  Ouch. That stung.

  “Well, I’ve got news for you, Professor Harrison. It’s not what you think. You don’t understand shit.”

  The rage in her voice quieted his response. Somehow, she defused his anger with her own. He ran a hand through his hair and kicked at a tuft of grass.

  Kai took a deep breath to calm himself. “I’ve invested years of my life into this search,” he confessed. “I’ve been ridiculed by every scientist I once worshipped, my name is mud in the science community. Now, if I was to find a cure for AIDS, hell, I’d be friggin’ knighted by the Queen herself. If I wanted glory, I’d follow the money and the accolades. You think I don’t understand, huh? Well, why don’t you explain it to me? Or am I that much of a risk to you?”

  Sari’s arms crossed over her chest. Another barrier between them. There seemed to be so many already, and she wanted to put up more. Kai shrugged, resigned to it. His mission was Rebecca, not Sari. If she wouldn’t trust him, then she could go to hell.

  “Fine, don’t answer. If you want so much to be alone, then here, let me help you with that.”

  He pushed past her, stealing the map from her grasp and heading along the trail. It was getting late and they needed to find a place to bunk down for the night. He needed time to think, to decide where they went from here because he wasn’t spending a week with someone who wouldn’t trust him. She could have the bloody tent all to herself if she thought for one moment he’d let her use him. He’d prefer to sleep on the hard ground than next to a liar.

  Kai expected to hear her following footsteps. He heard nothing. Not the shush of grass against her legs or the soft rustle of leaves as she brushed against overhanging branches. The only thing following him was silence. But he didn’t look back. If she wanted to sulk, then so be it. Anger bubbled within him, churning his gut and making him see red.

  He felt like a fool.

  It wasn’t just him she’d taken for a ride, but the whole damn company. Waylon would be furious. Despite all the checks he ran on his employees, Sari had slipped through the net. Being duped was not something the boss liked and Kai hated to have to be the one to tell him. But he couldn’t let the guy go on believing that she was just a research assistant with basic office qualifications.

  Not any more.

  Not when Kai knew that she was something other than human.

  Shit.

  He pulled up short, out of breath, sweat pouring down the sides of his face. How could he think like that about Sari? The same woman he’d fantasized about for almost two years? Kai groaned. Yeah, he’d seen her day-in day-out for two years, but when it came down to it, he didn’t know her at all. And it was about high time she ‘fessed up and told him everything he needed to know. Or she could turn her plump little ass around and head straight back to the office. He started to turn.

  “Sari, listen—”

  She was gone.

  Sari peered down through the thick canopy at the bewildered Kai, her silent urging for him to continue to their campsite apparently falling on deaf ears. But he needed to move, to keep walking as if she hadn’t simply vanished into thin air. Which, in a way, she had. For good reason. She’d caught a waft of another shifter in the vicinity, the male who’d confronted her in the alleyway. She needed to draw the hybrid’s attention. It seemed he’d survived her attack and had returned to The Facility, no doubt giving Zimmerman the head’s up on her status.

  And now
he was out here patrolling.

  Gripping the wide branch and balanced perfectly on all fours, Sari inhaled a slow, steadying breath. If the enemy got close enough to Kai, he’d smell her scent on him and no amount of distance between them would save him. They could use him to lure her out of hiding. She only hoped her scent would catch the male’s attention and give Kai a head start.

  Would he recognize her scent?

  Of course he would. Cats didn’t forget, and the moment he realized who she was, he’d report it to Zimmerman. Shit. Fear clawed at her insides. She needed to make a decision. Take out the Hunter now or let him go back and tell the man she’d come to kill that she was within close proximity? Dread pumped through her veins, neither option ideal. If Zimmerman knew she was close, he’d send out search parties. Packs of Hunters with the sole intent of tracking her down and bringing them in.

  While she could elude them, Kai couldn’t. She couldn’t leave him to fend for himself. He didn’t stand a chance against the skill and speed of black jaguars.

  Not that he’d understand. She cringed at what he must think of her, but she steeled herself against the unwanted worries. Her plan had never been to win over his heart, just to attract him enough to keep him on her side. Everything was up in the air now. If he didn’t or couldn’t forgive her, she could kiss his help goodbye. Any hope of finding The Facility and confronting Zimmerman would disappear into thin air.

  Hell, if Kai thought badly of her now, what would he think if she confessed her true need to rip the man who’d turned her into this creature into tiny bloody pieces?

  Taking separate paths hadn’t been in the picture. Nor had making him angry. But while the hard reality of the situation wasn’t ideal, it wouldn’t stop her. Ever since she’d escaped that cold, dark hell, Sari hadn’t let small obstacles block her way. She wasn’t about to start now. If she could convince Waylon to let her join the Eco-Corp team with the most basic and irrelevant qualifications, then she could bring Kai back around to her way of thinking.