Given Hunter’s wild nature, Kylie was surprised at the tidiness of the living room, looking as unlived-in as the living room she had just left. No empty dishes or half-filled glasses on the coffee table, no scattered mail. Even the TV remote sat neatly in the center of the dark wooden surface. The only evidence that this was truly Hunter’s apartment was the faint aroma of Hunter’s unique scent that permeated the air.
“You can stay here tonight,” Hunter said as he ushered them onto the sofa while he sat on the sofa’s arm on the opposite end. “I’ll see if I can borrow Maxim’s ozone generator and have your new apartment neutralized.”
Kylie’s heart skipped a beat at the thought of sleeping so near to Hunter. “I think I’ve already caused you enough trouble tonight. I can just go stay at my dad’s until the apartment is sorted out.”
Hunter shook his head. “It’s probably better for you to stay somewhere where you can be alone for the next few days in case your heat suddenly returns.”
“But—what about you?” she asked. “I don’t want to kick you out of your own apartment!”
Hunter grinned. “Remember, I own a lot of real estate. I’ll be fine.”
“I still think Kylie should see Dr. Carter tonight,” Jennifer spoke up, looking at first, Hunter, then leveling a worried look at Kylie. “This isn’t only about the problem with her heat cycle. From what you’ve told me, her awakening was very traumatic. Her body is likely still transitioning into that of a true shifter. What if her jaguar soul suddenly takes over her consciousness while she’s asleep?”
Kylie stilled, and this time her heart started to race for an entirely different reason. Could that really happen again? She hadn’t forgotten those initial moments when she had been one hundred percent jaguar, how her thought processes had held no human reasoning. The world had been filled with only enemies and prey. In that state, she could very easily go on a rampage inside of the building.
Her eyes lowered to the hands that lay tightly fisted in her lap. She suddenly had the urge to run to the bathroom in order to scrub them, one that she ruthlessly squashed. No matter her fears, she absolutely could not allow that doctor—or any doctor other than Paul for that matter—examine her again. She had to hold it together, dammit!
“Even so—I’ve spent my whole life being smothered by a well-meaning doctor if I so much as sneezed,” Kylie said as steadily as she could. “Hospitals and doctor offices make me itch.”
When Jennifer flashed her a puzzled look, she added, “My father is a doctor.”
“Given your ancestry, is there a chance that he might know about shifters?” Jennifer asked with interest.
“No. He’s one hundred percent human. So was my mother. I was adopted.”
She deflated. “Oh. Sorry.”
“It’ll be okay, Jennifer,” Hunter said. “We can’t make her go see Needles if she doesn’t want to, but what I can do is stay and watch over her tonight.”
Jennifer looked at him sharply. “Are you sure that’s wise?” she demanded. “I don’t mind staying with her tonight.”
Hunter shook his head. “If the worst case scenario happens and Kylie inadvertently shifts during the night without her human soul in charge, I think it would be much too dangerous for anyone other than me to be here to confront her. I was there the first time she shifted. Her jaguar knows mine.”
It was Kylie’s turn to look at him sharply. Yes her jaguar knew his, but even if it had gotten used to Hunter’s scent over the last couple of days, what made him think that her jaguar wouldn’t decide to attack him again?
His only answer was to stare back at her as if daring her to say something. Unfortunately for Hunter, he didn’t know how stubborn she could be when she thought she was inconveniencing others, especially if one of them was someone she was determined not to send the wrong messages to.
Kylie threw up her hands in exasperation. “If you’re both so worried about my jaguar soul taking over completely, then the solution’s pretty simple. Just lock me inside your guest bedroom for the next few nights until everyone’s satisfied I’m in control. I assume it has a lock.”
Jennifer shot her an incredulous look before sighing noisily. “The lengths some people will go to in order to avoid going to the doctor truly boggles the mind.”
The older woman then turned abruptly and all but stabbed Hunter in the center of his chest with her index finger. “I’ll defer to your judgment in this for now, seeing as how Mr. Gaither trusted you to look after her in the first place, but Hunter…” Here her eyes narrowed. “…if you even think for a moment that you might lose control of your instincts, you damn well better leave the building right that instant and call me to take over here. I don’t care how late it is.”
“Of course,” he replied easily, seemingly unaffected by her very real consternation.
Jennifer’s eyes bored into his for a moment longer before she nodded to herself, satisfied by whatever she had seen in his eyes. “Well, it’s getting late; Kylie’s had a very trying day, so I’ll just see myself out. You two have a good night.”
“Thanks for everything,” Kylie said sincerely.
Then the teacher was gone, and they were alone with a very big elephant between them.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“You don’t have to be so tense around me,” Hunter said quietly. “What happened earlier between us was beyond either of our control.”
Kylie blew out a frustrated breath. “That’s not why I’m—I just—Dammit! I wanted to say I’m sorry, but what I should probably say instead is ‘thank you.’”
Hunter tilted his head at her in confusion and Kylie hastened to explain, “I know how hard it was for you to fight such a powerful instinct. As much as that horrible heat was threatening to drive me insane, I imagine that pulling away was also really painful for you. So thank you for giving me a chance to choose how to end my heat on my own terms, even if that meant calling you and begging you to come back in the end. At least then, however this whole mess played out, it would have been our call and not those damned mating hormones.”
She drew in a deep breath to try to calm her now racing heart. Saying all that had been significantly less mortifying than she had feared, but she was still a little bit embarrassed. Lucky for her that Hunter seemed to have such a calm personality.
“I’m not sure doing what was right warrants a ‘thank you,’” Hunter said sardonically, “especially when it’s me and my clan that should be apologizing for not warning you about something as important to shifters as the heat.”
“And that conversation wouldn’t have been awkward at all,” Kylie said with a small smile.
Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, you’re a little too old for the ‘birds and the bees’ talk. Truthfully, your heat cycle probably wouldn’t have even occurred to me until your first one had hit, and even then, I never would have predicted that amount of chaos.”
“Because I’m a Returner?”
“Maybe,” he replied carefully.
His tone gave her pause. “I know that I was being hardheaded about refusing to see the doctor Jennifer suggested, but I want you to tell it to me straight. Am I being incredibly stupid not to go?”
“I’m probably the last person to give you any kind of medical advice,” he said seriously, “and I can understand your fear of being poked and prodded as I hate going to the doctor myself. However, I will say this. What we know about Returners is mainly anecdotal, stories passed on through the generations, so your going into heat without warning, losing control the way you did, could actually be something that happens with all Returners. We would need to find someone with loads more data or talk to a few more Returners personally.”
“Are there any other living Returners?” Kylie asked.
“I haven’t heard of any personally, but that’s not really surprising given how rare you are and the natural secrecy within shifter clans. The only reason why other clans know that you are a Returner was because you attacked that bastard in the fores
t, and he lived to talk. We couldn’t keep it a secret. It was pretty much the only defense the other clans would have accepted for shifting in front of a human.”
“So what you’re saying is that even though some of the shifter clans here in Riverford might have a Returner or two living among them, they probably wouldn’t admit it if we asked?”
He nodded. “Though I doubt very much another Returner exists in this city right now, I can ask the Elders to contact the Elders of the few other jaguar clans here in the US, but even among our own kind, they wouldn’t necessarily admit to having any Returners within their communities. Wouldn’t want to risk another jaguar clan wooing them away now would they? Not to mention not wanting any of the lion cla—”
Hunter abruptly cut himself off mid-word, panic flashing briefly in his hazel eyes, before his expression reverted back to something more neutral, and he shook his head.
“No, we’d never find another Returner unless they wanted to be found,” he concluded as nonchalantly as though it was what he had intended to say all along.
Kylie debated on whether or not to let it slide before deciding that this was probably going to be her best chance to get Hunter talking about the lions without making him question her interest.
“Lions?” she asked, allowing a bit of surprise to color her voice. “There are lion shifters?”
“Yes, there’re lion shifters,” Hunter answered way too casually.
“From your tone, I take it jaguars and lions don’t get along,” Kylie pressed.
His shoulders stiffened ever so slightly. “There are no lion shifters in Riverford.”
“Nice try, but you can’t brush off my question so easily. Spill.”
“No we don’t get along,” he replied curtly.
Kylie couldn’t help rolling her eyes. “You do realize the less you say the more I know there is to be said? You’ve already warned me to stay away from the alligators. Should I be just as worried about lion shifters? Are they all arrogant bastards or something? Do you have a rivalry going like the Siberians and the Bengals?”
Hunter sighed heavily. “You’re not going to let this go are you?”
“If the reason why you’re so reluctant is because of something personal, you don’t have to tell me, but if it’s not…” She caught and held his gaze. “After what happened to us tonight, I’d rather not be left in the dark about anything that could become important in the future. I’ve had enough nasty surprises in the last couple of days to last me several lifetimes.”
He ran a hand agitatedly through his hair. “It’s because of all those nasty surprises you’ve had to deal with that I didn’t want to bring up the lions just yet, but I suppose I only have myself to blame for slipping up earlier. Just do me a favor first.” He rubbed at his nose and grinned sheepishly. “The lion clans are a subject that’ll take some time to explain.”
“Oh, right. If you would rather wait until morning, then—”
“No, that’s not it,” he interjected. “It’s just you smell way too delicious right now for my peace of mind. Though only residual, I can still smell some of your mating pheromones mixed in with your usual scent, and I’d rather not test myself any more tonight.”
Once again, his bluntness had heat rising to her cheeks, but she ruthlessly stopped her rising embarrassment before it could take hold, refusing to look away. “Right. I’ll just go take another shower. I need to go get the bag with my change of clothes from the other apartment.”
“Right now a vinegar spray down will work better,” he said as she started to get up. “It’ll neutralize the pheromones saturated into your skin and clothes a thousand times better than soap and water. Wait right there, and I’ll go pour some in a spray bottle.”
Kylie allowed herself to sit back into the couch cushions as she silently watched Hunter head to his kitchen, glad for the open floor plan of his apartment. Despite everything he had done for her, she still didn’t trust his motives for his seemingly selfless help. That he had just shrugged off their little tongue wrestling match earlier with a “oh well, what can we do” attitude and didn’t seem as bothered about it as she was only added to her misgivings.
She had to find a way to learn his actual standing within the clan and soon. The longer she stayed and interacted with Riverford’s shifter society, the harder it would be to leave should she decide she would have better luck seeking out her mother’s clan or it suddenly become necessary to disappear—in more ways than one.
Because despite all her misgivings and embarrassment, she found that she really did enjoy his company.
Soon the acrid smell of vinegar assaulted her newly sensitive nose.
Kylie wrinkled her nose. “I hope you have lots of aspirin because something tells me that I’ll have a killer headache before long.”
Hunter looked over his shoulder with a concerned frown. “It’s already bothering you that much?”
She shook her head. “Not yet, but strong smells have always given me headaches, so I just want to be prepared. This is all still so new to me.”
He turned to face her completely. “Maybe it would better if we just waited to talk more in the morning—”
“Are you kidding? I’d never get to sleep, wondering why you’re so reluctant to tell me about the lion shifters.”
If anything, his frown deepened. “You may not be able to sleep even after I tell you about them,” he warned.
How right he was, but his deadly serious tone made Kylie feel a surge of excitement and hope that he would actually be able to give her some new information rather than the dread she should have felt.
“You make it sound as if they’re the shifter version of the boogey man,” Kylie said just as seriously.
“That’s a pretty good comparison,” Hunter said as he returned to the couch and motioned for her to stand.
“Are you saying they’re a clan full of killers?” Kylie demanded.
Hunter began spraying the vinegar lightly down her front, causing her to involuntarily flinch away as the strong smell made both her eyes and nose burn.
“Among other things,” he agreed, though he didn’t elaborate.
It seemed she was going to have to fish hard for more useful information beyond what was common knowledge among the clans. Given the danger her sudden awakening posed to both Paul and her, Kylie didn’t have time to go about this as slowly as she probably should. Time to bring out the big guns.
“And you’re sure there aren’t any lions in Riverford?” she asked anxiously. “It’s a big city, after all.”
As expected, Hunter’s whole demeanor grew noticeably tenser as he lowered the spray bottle. He stared at her for a long moment with an unreadable expression before he sighed and said, “There aren’t any lion clans in Riverford, but like cockroaches, it’s nearly impossible to keep the bastards completely out. They always show up, one way or another.”
CHAPTER EIGHT
Kylie sunk back down onto the couch, a little stunned that he had actually answered her truthfully given what Paul had told her yesterday about the Sniffers.
“What ‘other things’ are we talking about here?” she asked.
Hunter resumed his place on the far end of the couch. “What you have to understand about most of the shifter clans in general is that we’re a fairly cooperative bunch. We’ve had to be in order to keep ourselves hidden from the humans for so long. However, the lion clans have always seen things differently. Their clans have always been strong, their numbers at least twice that of all the other clans. Back in the day, when each clan was ruled by a single alpha, their alphas were often powerful lords that controlled entire regions, ruling over even the humans, and because of that, they’ve always believed that everyone, not just the shifter clans, should answer to them.
“Then the human population exploded and whole shifter clans began immigrating to the ‘new world,’ and the lions realized that they didn’t have near enough the numbers to lord it over us anymore. Needless to say, they we
re pretty pissed about that. To this day, they’ve had only one goal—to regain the power they once held. Not just over shifters, but everyone. They want to be kings sitting on a world throne.”
Even though what Hunter was telling her was nothing new, it still sent a chill down her spine having what first her parents, then Paul, had been telling her all her life confirmed by someone outside their circle.
“What is it they’re doing exactly?” Kylie asked.
“They’re conquering major cities one by one,” Hunter replied quite matter-of-factly, “and right under the humans’ noses.”
“What do you mean? Because the last I checked, I haven’t seen any lion armies marching into cities on the news.”
The smile on Hunter’s lips didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Over the past hundred years, the sneaky bastards have been slowly taking control over every aspect of the cities they’ve been targeting. Businesses, politics, medicine, you name it and the so-called ‘pillars of the community’ in a majority of the major cities around the world are almost all lions.
“Of course, in the cities with shifter clans, there was a shit-ton of resistance, and at first, most were successful in keeping the lion clans from usurping their territories. Then gradually, as the lions grew their businesses into several multi-billion dollar corporations in everything from global exports to technology, it became nearly impossible for the other shifter clans to keep them out. Once in, it was only a matter of time before the lions controlled all the shifter clans in the region, too.”
“Why didn’t the other shifters just leave?” Kylie demanded.
Hunter scowled. “In the beginning, some tried, but when several of the shifters that had made a run for it started to turn up dead—in some instances whole families—no one else dared leave.”
“Are you serious?” Kylie exclaimed. “Who do they think they are, the mafia?”
“Actually, that’s a very good comparison, too. The alpha lion in charge of each city controls everything from the shadows just like a Don, or a kingpin. They have hitmen, or spies, or special ops—whatever you want to call them—too, though the majority of us have come to call them ‘Sniffers.’”
Tempted by the Jaguar #2: Revelation (Riverford Shifters) Page 4
