CHAPTER 10
This was the world Nisa did not see often enough. It was the place her father had been sure to keep her away from.
Upon emerging from a different door that had led into yet another heavily forested area, Nisa, Gold, the two Central Zone guards, Jordin and Zion, climbed into a black vehicle that had been waiting for them. The top of the vehicle lifted slowly, revealing six captain’s chairs. Once inside, Gold waved his hand over the shiny silver steering wheel and Nisa watched with wide eyes as the entire front dashboard came alight in a neon green color. It resembled her holodeck with its screen-like appearance and different modes of control. He reached an arm forward and touched a button on the screen. Seconds later there was a clicking sound and Nisa felt herself being forced back against the seat. While she could still move her arms and legs, the rest of her body was momentarily stilled as she suspected the automated seat belts were engaged.
She hadn’t seen any wheels on the vehicle when she’d first approached but now she heard them as they began to move, the spheres screeching over the dirt terrain. They traveled quickly even though there was no sign of motion except for the flash of lights along the cityscape as they moved further away from Oasis, deeper into the human world. Nisa tried not to ogle the fluorescent light. The blue, pink and white that seemed to glow from every building. The sky was pitch black, something she’d noticed on the times she’d come above ground. Her mother used to talk of clouds and stars, a sky filled with emotion when she’d lived above ground. Yet, Nisa had never seen any of that.
They traveled over a narrow bridge with its towers and suspension cables fashioned in a bending curve which gave it an animated feel. The water beneath was also dark with reflections from the buildings and bridge above making it look like a glittering pool of gems instead. Coming off the bridge they rounded a corner and continued down a long street with more buildings and vehicles. But none as opposing as the one at least fifteen hundred feet ahead. It was a slender building, tall—at least one hundred stories—but flat like an envelope. Frosted white beams formed the main structure of the building, with iridescent windows on both of its flat sides. That’s where they were going, Nisa thought. Or rather she felt it. Her cat was alert, her body poised for whatever came next as the vehicle they were in came to a stop directly in front of the building.
They each stepped out and for endless seconds stood on the sidewalk looking up at the building.
“What’s the plan again?” Zion, the six-foot seven-inch tall jaguar shifter asked.
He was a lanky guy with brown hair that was spiked to one side. Jordin stood next to him and answered his question when everyone else remained silent.
“We get in, sniff around and get out with more information to take back to the FL.”
She was a much shorter guard, coming in around five-feet three or four inches. Her jet black hair fell in heavy waves around her shoulders, cupping a pretty face with a hint of make-up that showcased her Korean heritage.
“All while keeping Nisa within our sight,” Gold added.
He was standing close to her, so it took almost no effort at all for him to touch her elbow and begin to lead her toward the door. Golden Harris was a six-foot tall, two hundred and thirty pound white lion with eyes so gold they actually appeared to glow. A fact which would certainly be a dead giveaway to his shifter status, which is why he wore dark framed glasses with brown slacks, beige shirt, bow tie and brown jacket.
As she walked through the glass doors that had automatically slid open for them, Nisa looked back to make sure Jordin and Zion were with them. It was habit. She didn’t want to lose sight of any of her team this evening, so she’d been committing everything about them to memory. Zion had bent his arm and Jordin had slipped hers through it so that they moved like a couple on a date. Jordin wore all black like Nisa—a cropped jeweled top that bared the creamy skin of her midriff and a sheer jeweled skirt that hugged her hips and legs down to its short train. Black silk shorts worn beneath the skirt were the only thing that kept the outfit classy. Jordin sported deep red lips and walked like a runway model, while Zion wore a collarless charcoal gray jacket over a heather gray shirt and darker gray slacks. The pair looked young and hip. Not animalistic and deadly.
A glass elevator took them up to the fifty-first floor, where they stepped out onto a silver specked floor. Gold led them toward an entryway where he paused and reached into his inside jacket pocket to pull out an envelope. A man wearing a white suit and standing in the doorway accepted the envelope and after looking at it gave Gold a nod. They continued inside, moving into a large room flanked in candlelight and yards of sheer white material draped from the ceiling. There were long tables covered in crystal dishes, tall centerpieces filled with water and flashing lights inside. And the people, there were hundreds of people. Humans.
Nisa took a deep breath and attempted to act like this wasn’t a big deal. But it definitely was. She’d never been around so many humans before in her life. She wondered if they could smell the cat in her. Of course not, humans didn’t have a heightened sense of smell the way Shadow Shifters did. They wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at her that she wasn’t one of them.
With that thought in mind, Nisa walked with a little more confidence, smiling as men and women looked at her, giving slight nods by way of greeting. She’d been so busy doing this and taking in every aspect of this world that she felt she’d missed, that she hadn’t noticed the cheetah until her scent filled Nisa’s nostrils. Nisa paused and turned around just as Kyss was lifting a hand to touch her hair.
“You made it,” she said. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to get here.”
“Why?” Nisa asked. “I didn’t know it had been confirmed that you were coming.”
She hadn’t been told that Kyss would be here. Sure, she’d been the one to tell them that they should keep suspected enemies close, but nobody had bothered to confirm final plans with her. Kyss’s original reason for showing up was to give Decan information on Lial and the murders. Nisa still didn’t trust that was Kyss’s only goal here, which was why she planned to keep an eye on her.
“Oh yes, I’m always on the job,” Kyss continued and then shifted her attention to Gold. “Hey big guy. How’s it hanging?”
Gold did not reply but continued to move his head as if he were looking around the room.
“Not speaking to me tonight?” Kyss asked when he declined to respond. “That’s cool. We ah…did enough last night.”
She’d said that as she rubbed a finger over the skin beneath her bottom lip. Nisa tried not to think about what Kyss was referring to. She didn’t want to concern herself with who the shifter slept with. Still, she would have thought Gold would have been smarter than to fall for Kyss’s charms.
Said charms that were now wrapped in hot pink sparkly shorts that rode so far up her legs they could have been considered underwear and a white halter top. Her shoes were pink also, with straps that wound in a crisscross fashion all the way up to her knee. Her hair was once again in that long straight tail that swung dramatically each time she moved.
“There’s someone over there I need to see,” Gold told Nisa. “Come with me.”
“No,” she replied. “From here I have a view of the entrance and all three of the side doors that could be used as exits. You go ahead. I’ll be right here when you finish. Unless who you’re going to see has something to do with us finding the rogues in this room.”
Gold didn’t immediately answer, but stood still looking at her. Contemplating what he should do, no doubt.
“Look, I’m just gonna stand right here and Kyss is going to stand here and keep me company. You do trust Kyss don’t you?” she asked with an arch of her brow.
Kyss had folded one arm over her chest and brought the other one up so that she could dip the tip of a shiny red fingernail between her teeth. She was looking at Gold like they’d definitely done some things last night so she was basically daring him to say he didn’t trust her now. Nisa wanted to shake her head in disgust, but she’d been feeling her own bouts of lust lately so she decided not to judge anyone else who had the opportunity to scratch that persistent itch.
“Stay right here,” he said evenly. “Both of you. I’ll just be over there.”
He pointed to a crowded glass bar where two bartenders were creating drinks in fluorescent colors. It was only about ten feet away from where they were standing.
“Fine,” Nisa said because, yes, only about ten feet away. He was acting as if he were leaving her on another planet.
Gold did not speak again, but walked away after looking in Kyss’s direction. The second he was out of earshot, Kyss moved closer to Nisa.
“Good job,” she whispered in her ear. “He doesn’t have a clue that you were trying to figure out how to get away from him the moment you stepped into this room.”
Nisa wasn’t going to insult either of them by denying that fact. She did want to roam on her own. Jordin and Zion had walked in their own direction once in the room and a part of her had detested the idea that she had to stay with a chaperon.
“I can see more without him breathing down my neck. Besides, having anyone guard me that close is ridiculous considering nobody in here knows who I am,” she said.
“I agree,” Kyss stated. “And I see something we can do to occupy ourselves while he’s away.”
She was staring straight ahead, to where a man dressed in a gray suit was standing. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a boardroom meeting with his neat yellow tie and carefully pressed white shirt. His head lifted and the quick smile that ghosted his lips said he knew they were staring at him.
“That’s Graham Parker. He’s second in command to Ewen Mackey in the Ruling Cabinet,” Kyss said just before snagging two neon green drinks with limes stuck to the side of the glass.
She handed Nisa one and despite not knowing what it was, Nisa lifted it to her lips for a sip.
“No one in his family has been targeted,” she said with the glass blocking her mouth just in case Graham could read lips.
“Correct. He and Mackey are the only two of the eight members who hasn’t had anything happen to one of their family members,” Kyss continued, holding her glass up in the same position as Nisa. “We should go talk to him.”
“Why?” Nisa asked.
Kyss was actually taking a sip of her drink now, so Nisa answered her own question.
“Because he’s the second in command. So if anyone in the Cabinet was working with a shifter, either it was him, or he would know who it was. Add to that his family’s been safe, and he looks like the one,” she said.
Kyss lowered her glass and smiled brightly. “Let’s go.”
Nisa didn’t think twice. Well, yes, she did because that was her nature. She thought that going over to speak to Graham Parker was harmless because again, he had no idea who she was. Kyss didn’t look like a shifter and there was a room full of people. All they would do is talk and sniff because if Graham was working with a shifter, the scent would stick to him like lint.
“Hi darlin’,” Kyss spoke the moment they were close enough.
Nisa easily dismissed the accent Kyss had adopted and smiled as Graham looked from Kyss to her.
“Hello ladies,” he said and lifted a hand to smooth down his goatee. “Are you alone this evening?”
Kyss had already moved in, to the point that she was now standing right beside him. “We’re together, silly,” she said and then giggled. “And we’re trying to figure out how to have a good time at one of these things. Everyone in here looks so stuffy.”
Nisa watched her working. This was how the cheetah was able to get so much information. She was practically leaning on Graham now, bending just enough so that her halter top gaped open, giving him—and Nisa, for that matter—an unfettered view of her bare breast. Graham did what Nisa suspected any man would do, he looked.
“What type of fun are you interested in?” he asked and lifted a finger to trace along the bared skin just an inch or two away from Kyss’s breast.
“That depends,” Kyss replied and tapped her glass lightly against her chest so that condensation from the glass rolled down her skin.
Nisa was doing good holding her shock at bay until Graham leaned down and licked the droplet of water before asking, “Depends on what?”
Over his head Kyss winked at Nisa.
“Whether or not you have a friend for my friend,” she answered.
Graham stood up straight then and looked at Nisa. “Sure,” he said and licked his lips. “I’ve got lots of friends. Just let me get my keys and we can get to that fun.”
Kyss pouted and stomped her foot. “I don’t like waiting.”
“Oh no,” Graham said and laced an arm around Kyss’s waist, pulling her up close to him. “I won’t keep you waiting, sexy. Stay right here.”
He kissed the tip of Kyss’s nose and Kyss let her hand fall down to grip his crotch.
For a man that was being bold and brash that motion clearly caught him off guard as his cheeks blushed bright pink and he giggled like a fifteen year old boy.
“Be right back,” he told her and then turned to move hastily through the crowd.
“What the hell are you doing?” Nisa asked the moment he was gone. “We were just supposed to pump him for information.”
“Look,” Kyss told her. “This is your first mission. I’ve been doing this a long time. We’ll get the information we came here for and probably more. You just need to follow my lead.”
“Your lead is heading to that man’s bed,” Nisa said.
“Of course,” Kyss told her and shrugged. “That’s where you get all the juicy information.”
“That’s not part of my plan,” Nisa told her and started to walk away.
Kyss stopped her by grabbing her elbow.
“No. Your plan was to waltz in here, ask a bunch of questions, have someone give you all the answers and then you go back to headquarters and replay it for Jace. He’ll be in your debt or impressed by your skills and then he’ll name you Central Zone Faction Leader.”
Nisa didn’t speak. She didn’t want to confirm what Kyss had said, and she couldn’t deny it.
“That’s both naïve and selfish. People are dying, Nisa. And whether or not they’re humans who want us dead, they don’t deserve to have a shifter killing them because a human is directing him to do so. I believe in a fair fight. Always,” she said.
“Sex is off the table,” Nisa replied. “That’s where I draw the line.”
Kyss rolled her eyes. “Right, you’re saving yourself for your companheiro. Okay, that’s fine. I’ll do all the leg work. You smile, look sexy and listen well.”
That’s exactly what Nisa found herself doing fifteen minutes later after they’d taken a ride on an elevator with Graham and entered a room two floors down from the gala.
“My friend likes ropes,” he’d said as he insisted Nisa climb up onto the bed so that he could tie her up.
The look she’d given Kyss at that point clearly stated something else that was off the table, but Kyss had only nodded her head as if to say, “shut up and do it”. She didn’t have to do what this cheetah told her. Nisa was a Senior Guard and Kyss was an unlisted shifter with no real allegiance to anyone or any cause. She’d also gotten them into a private meeting with the Ruling Cabinet’s second in command. Kyss had been right, Nisa wanted to crack this case for Jace. She wanted to prove herself to him, Decan and her father. So she lay back on the bed and allowed her wrists to be tied to the headboard, and her ankles to the bottom posts.
For the first few moments after that Nisa had stared up at the ceiling thanking the heavens that Graham Parker couldn’t tie a knot to save his life. If she wanted out, it would be easy enough, so she relaxed against the bed and listened as Kyss talked.
“You’re with the Ruling Cabinet aren’t you?” she was saying as she pushed Graham’s jacket down his arms.
When it fell to the floor Graham took her by the shoulders and pulled her up to him. He lifted her until only the tips of her toes touched the floor and kissed her. The kiss looked rough and greedy. Nisa wondered if it were painful too because his fingers were digging into Kyss’s arms and from the way he was moving his head and making an annoying sound he was trying to eat her face. Nisa wanted to close her eyes but she didn’t because she’d caught a scent.
It was definitely animal.
So there was another shifter here besides her and Kyss. She looked to the door and then to the wall on the other side of the room that was all windows. Both appeared to be closed, so where was the scent coming from?
Seconds later the door opened and Graham released Kyss from his hold. He was smiling as he stared at the three who came in. Two men and one woman.
“Here she is,” Graham said. “Isn’t she everything I said she was? Both of them. Look! Look!”
The man was excited, again, like a young boy. The other two men, well, their eyes had darkened instantly as they looked at Kyss with her partially bared breasts and Nisa with her legs and arms spread wide.
“Oh yes,” the female of the trio said. “Both of them.”
She didn’t hesitate but walked over to Kyss and grabbed the back of her head. This kiss was different from the one Nisa had just witnessed. The woman moved slower, tracing her tongue over Kyss’s lips and then diving deep when Kyss extended her tongue for a duel. Graham backed up and took a seat in a chair. He spread his legs and Nisa watched as he unzipped his pants. She turned away when one of the men touched her breast. He didn’t smile as he looked down at her, just squeezed. She didn’t smile either and she tried like hell not to puke all over the red satin comforter.
“Watch them,” he directed Nisa as he continued to massage her breast.
Nisa did as he said because to keep looking at him was making her cat rage. If she didn’t have to see him and didn’t have to acknowledge that he was fondling her, then the cat would remain calm. At least she hoped so.
Looking forward didn’t really help. The other man had come to stand behind Kyss and was now backing her up until he could sit in a chair. He pulled Kyss down on his lap, her back facing his front. His hands immediately went to Kyss’s breasts while the woman used her hands to grab Kyss by both knees and spread her legs wide.
“Before this goes any further, I like names,” Kyss said. “I’m Kyss. Like the hot one we just shared.”
The woman in front of her smiled and moved her hands slowly up Kyss’s thighs.
“I’m Lora,” she said. “He’s Jack and the one back there who’s going to be in charge of your friend’s orgasm is Patch.”
“Now that we’re all acquainted,” Jack said and reached up to grab Kyss by the chin, turning her face so that he was just inches away from her mouth. “Let’s get down.”
Nisa tensed at his words. Her fingers clenched and when Patch leaned in closer to rub his tongue along the rim of her ear she had to bite down on the temper, restrain the cat and keep her head. Remember those names. This place. This scent.
It was definitely animal, but it wasn’t Patch. As he’d touched her and leaned in closer she’d inhaled deeply, wanting to connect the scent with a body. But it wasn’t this one. So where was it? Where was this animal and what type was it? She couldn’t tell. Nisa knew all the Shadow Shifter tribe scents. This wasn’t one of them, which meant it wasn’t a cat.
“I should get my camera,” Graham said.
He couldn’t get anything since both his hands gripped his rigid cock as he watched Kyss with the others.
“Ewen would love this,” Graham was saying as he stroked himself harder.
“Where is Ewen?” Nisa asked. “Maybe he could join us?”
Maybe he had the other animal scent on him? Nisa didn’t know but whoever had that scent, it was driving her cat wild. It wanted out and it wanted to fight. There was a threat near.
“Nah,” Graham said and licked his lips, spittle dripping from his mouth. “He’s taking care of business tonight. Shifter business.”
Kyss moaned loudly then and Lora rubbed her hands between Kyss’s legs.
“He should be here handling this business,” Kyss whispered.
“Yes,” Nisa added. “He should.”
She was saying the words, but her body was also moving to the side in an effort to get away from Patch’s touch. It felt dirty. And she felt disloyal.
“He’s gotta give that funky animal new instructions,” Graham said, his hand slipping up and down his cock as he’d already started to ejaculate. “Disgusting business. Not like this…ahhh yeah, just like that…” he sighed and jerked and pumped into his fist.
The scent was closer and Nisa’s incisors grew longer. Her claws broke through the skin of her fingers.
“Shit!” Patch yelled.
She looked at him then, her eyes wide, but not as wide as his. He’d climbed over her at some point and was now staring down at her…and the first remnants of her cat.
“Shifter!” he yelled again. “She’s a fucking shifter!”
Decan sat back and tried not to turn his nose up at the stench of the wolf.
He hadn’t been surprised when Blaez Trekas had walked up behind him in the crowded room. He’d come here looking for the man and he’d found him—all of him. Now, they sat across from each other, neither fully trusting the other but knowing they had a common cause.
“Lial Johansen is working for the Ruling Cabinet,” Blaez said without formalities or menial chit-chat. “Or at least he used to be.”
Decan could appreciate the get in and get out mentality. He wasn’t one hundred percent comfortable in this room, with all these humans. Possibly because he didn’t trust that small part of him that had been vying for revenge for the last five years.
“If he’s working for them, why would he kill their family members?” he asked.
“I think you know the answer to that question,” Blaez answered.
Blaez Trekas was bald. He had tattoos going down his neck and probably everywhere else. But he was wearing black slacks and a white dinner jacket. He looked like a billionaire. A strong lycan billionaire.
“What I know is that humans are dying and shifters are being blamed for those deaths. If Lial is the killer then he should be taken down. If not, then we need to prove that before this war between us escalates even further.”
Decan couldn’t believe he was saying that. The words were necessary he told himself and then took a cleansing breath just in case the wolf could sense his dishonesty the way another cat shifter could.
“Lial isn’t here tonight,” Decan continued. “And neither is the FBI guy, Wilson.”
“And neither is Cole,” Blaez replied. “So you can report that to Jace Maybon.”
“I’d rather find out why a Shadow Shifter came to you in the first place. How did he even know who or what you are?”
Decan wasn’t buying this connection that seemed to have just surfaced. Rome had told him that Jace had a new lead on finding Cole. Then, when he’d met with Jace last night, the FL had spoken of an arranged meeting with Blaez Trekas. How and why was the communication between the Shadow Shifter and the lycan so casual?
Blaez sat back in one of the lounge chairs surrounding the small glass-top table. He shrugged as he asked, “He didn’t tell you?”
“All I know is that you told Jace you had a lead on Cole’s whereabouts. How you knew Cole was even missing or how to contact the Faction Leader of the Shadow Shifters to tell him this, is a mystery to me,” Decan told him.
A mystery that he’d like to solve before he moved any further.
“I’m not a fan of keeping secrets from your pack,” Blaez replied and leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees.
“Shadow Shifters don’t have packs,” Decan told him. “We’re a community of feline shifters fighting for our place in this world.”
“You’re a species on the run.” Blaez corrected him. “We all are. The humans fear us because they can’t control us.”
“And you want to change that? You want to help the humans to accept us?”
Blaez shook his head. “Not in a million years. But I’m not running or hiding. I did that before. It didn’t work. So here we are.”
“You’ve seen Cole?” Decan asked.
Blaez nodded.
“Maybon showed up at my door years back. My home wasn’t easy to find so I knew instinctively that things were about to get worse simply because he—a Shadow Shifter—was there,” he said.
Decan listened. He sat facing the entrance and each of the exit doors. His senses were on high alert for any species other than human in this room. So far he’d only picked up the scent of the wolf sitting across from him. Satisfied with that he waited while Blaez continued.
“We’d watched in horror on television as the Unveiling unfolded, so as Maybon told us about his missing friend we sympathized with him. My mate offered to help.”
“Your mate?”
Blaez gave a wry smile. “Our pack works a little differently than your so called democracy. Anyway, Kira was able to locate Cole in the southwestern region. My pack went out and found him.”
“But you didn’t tell Jace?”
“Cole did not want us to.”
“So where is he now?” Decan asked.
“That’s what we need to find out,” Blaez told him.
“Wait, you said you found him, but now you don’t know where he is? How is that possible?”
“In the beginning Cole asked us to help him and we did so, for years.”
Decan wasn’t sure if he was believing this. The wolf’s words matched what Jace had told him, still Decan felt like something was off.
“How did you help him?” What could you and your pack do that Roman Reynolds and the other Faction Leaders couldn’t?”
Blaez smiled and nodded at the woman who then appeared at the table with fresh drinks. Decan didn’t offer a smile, but instead inhaled deeply as a secondary check. They hadn’t ordered any drinks so why was she replacing them? He glanced around at that moment, spying small groups of humans together talking, and more guests arriving even though the gala had been in full swing for at least an hour now. What he didn’t see or sense was Nisa, Gold or any of the other shifters that were supposed to be here working.
“We could still move around above ground without detection,” Blaez continued when the woman was gone. “After the President’s tirade and eventual death the entire world knew who and what Roman and his friends were. That’s why he had to close his firm and go underground.”
“But they didn’t know Cole because Cole had gone missing the night of the Unveiling,” Decan said.
He remembered the years when he’d entered high school and armed guards stood at the doors of the school watching every student enter and exit. It was like that everywhere he went. Guards filled the streets looking for any signs of the shifters—namely, the reported leaders of the species, Rome and his friends.
“We worked with Cole tracking down Reed’s killers and making sure a shifter named Boden and all of his rogues were dead.”
Decan knew that name. Boden Estevez was the rogue Topétenia shifter who along with Captain Lawrence Crowe were responsible for unveiling the shifters to the world.
“Then, a year ago there was a fire,” Blaez continued.
Decan tensed. There was a fire a year ago at the SIC in Arizona. It came after the explosion and it had nearly killed him.
“We were in Sedona,” Blaez was now saying. “In the area near where Sebastian Perry’s resort used to be. Cole had sensed a large group of rogues there. The fire started before we could find them. And when it was over, Cole was gone.”
“Gone? Where?” Decan asked and then he paused.
White hot pain speared through his chest. His hands trembled and the lion inside roared. He stood so abruptly his knee hit the table and his glass tumbled to the floor. Blaez stood as well. His eyes flickering an intense blue for a second before returning to normal.
“Nisa,” Decan whispered.
“Death,” Blaez said.
CHAPTER 11
Nisa jumped from the bed swinging her arm so that her claws swiped the man named Patch across the side of his face for a second time.
“Gun!” Kyss yelled from across the room.
Nisa ducked in time to have bullets cracking the bedframe behind her. She crawled on her hands and knees, teeth bared just before she jumped on one of the humans who had burst into the room. Her teeth clamped down over his wrist, sending the gun he’d just fired to the floor.
Adrenaline pumped through her veins, the instinct to fight for her life pounding against her skull like a brick. Her cat was ready to kill. It would be so easy to shift and take them out quickly, but she refrained. It was hard, but she did it and the next human that aimed a gun at her was rewarded for his efforts by her jumping on him, knocking him to the floor, her claws digging into his chest as she leaned her face into his and roared with all the ferocity she possessed.
That’s when she heard the glass breaking and more roars filling the space. She looked up in time to see a black wolf with bright blue eyes landing on the floor before charging the human that had the bad luck of standing closest to it. Kyss was lifting her leg to kick a gun out of one man’s hand, while reaching behind her to sink her claws into the stomach of another.
Nisa growled as heavy rope wrapped around her neck and yanked her head back. Her hands went to the rope as she tried to break free. The person on the other end was strong, pulling her so that the heels on her shoes broke as she was dragged across the floor. She managed to turn around just in time to see the tall bulky guy who thought he’d caught her. Her teeth bared, she roared once more before yanking on the rope so hard the guy lost his footing and tumbled toward her. He was just about to fall on top of her when a blur of white flashed before her eyes, and a roar like none she’d ever heard before vibrated throughout the room.
The man hit the wall with a sickening thud. He appeared dazed momentarily, to be followed by the spurt of blood from the quick and efficient bite to his throat. Nisa had only a moment to gasp before the new arrival turned to her, a man’s body with the lion’s face.
His hair had gone completely white, his eyes like glaciers. The beard was longer, blood dripping from his teeth as he glared at her.
“Decan?” she whispered before being pushed to the side as he charged another human.
Kyss came to her then, helping her up off the floor as the white lion and the black wolf finished the last two humans in the room. An eerie silence fell over the space as Nisa came to her feet, her claws and teeth retracting.
“Your shoes are fucked,” Kyss said glibly.
Nisa looked down and kicked what was left of the sandals off her feet.
Footsteps approached and seconds later Keller and Gold entered the room.
“They’re coming,” Gold announced.
“There’s a back elevator. Let’s go!” Keller insisted and moved to touch Nisa’s arm.
Decan roared so loud everyone stilled again.
His face was normal now, his hair back to its black and white streaks, but his eyes, they spoke clearly of rage and Keller immediately dropped his hand from Nisa’s arm. Decan moved first, coming toward her and scooping her up in his arms. Nisa wrapped her arms around his neck. A part of her wanted to say something, to tell him she could walk, or to stop being so grouchy, but the words didn’t surface. Something inside held her tongue and kept her still in his arms as they followed Gold out of the room. They all boarded the elevator and stepped out into the darkness of the parking garage. In seconds three large vehicles pulled up and Decan moved them toward the first one.
“We need to lay low, at least for tonight,” Gold said.
A man she didn’t recognize came from around the other side of the vehicle holding what looked like one of the human’s bloody jackets around his waist to hide the better part of his nudity.
“I’m on your comlink,” he said. “I’ll send you the address of a place to stay.”
Decan nodded and then looked to Gold and Keller.
“First thing in the morning,” he said. “That’s how long you’ve got to come up with a damn good reason for why you weren’t with her.”
Keller shook his head. “We were doing what we came here to do. Babysitting wasn’t part of the deal.”
“This is my operation. Whatever I say needs to be done, gets done!” Decan yelled.
“It was Mackey,” Gold said. “We had him.”
“I don’t give a damn! She could have been killed!” Decan continued.
“It’s been a really fun night, but I’m kinda hungry and tired, so can we wrap this up and reconvene in the morning?” Kyss asked from where she leaned on the second vehicle.
Nisa had never felt as out of place as she did at this moment. She was barefoot, in a shifter’s arms and remaining totally silent. How the hell did she get here? And where was the Nisa Reynolds that swore she could handle a mission on her own?
“First thing in the morning,” Decan repeated and then yanked the passenger side door open and deposited Nisa into the seat.
She immediately slid to the side and familiarized herself with the dashboard controls of this foreign vehicle. Decan slammed one door and then the other as he climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Sit back,” he told her.
Nisa paused and then decided to do what he’d said. There would be time for her to speak her mind, soon.
The vehicle took off quickly, moving even faster than the one that had brought them here in the first place. They drove through the city, into the almost pitch blackness of territory unknown to her, before finally coming to a stop. Decan stepped out and before he could get to her door Nisa got out on her own. Her feet landed on a grassy surface, and she looked down to see long blades of grass passing her ankles. Decan walked in front of her, going up the steps of what appeared to be an old wood house. Vines wrapped around the railing of what used to be a porch. Ivy stretched up the front walls like fluid arms and circled around the windows and roof so that the wood barely showed anymore. The place looked more like a grass hut now. He opened the door and waited while she entered, before closing it again. She followed him to the back of the dwelling where he opened another door and walked them down a flight of stairs.
Here, there was light and furniture and warmth. She almost sighed in relief at the sight of a small bathroom and a shower stall.
“Go ahead,” he said, his voice seemingly loud in the closed space. “I’ll be here when you get out.”
Nisa didn’t know what was happening to her. She was actually standing there searching for words. There was so much to say to him. So many questions and so much to tell him about what she and Kyss had learned about the Ruling Cabinet, but she did not say a word. She simply turned around and walked into the closet-sized bathroom.
Decan watched her.
Leaning against the doorjamb after opening the door, he just watched.
Her body was tight in all the right places, plump in the others. There was power in her legs, her calves moving up to her thighs. Her arms were long and strong as she lifted them over her head and let the spray of water hit her sides and her back. Soapy lather ran down her body in silken stretches that made him jealous all over again.
Wasn’t that how he’d felt as he’d run from that ballroom and headed to the elevators to follow her scent. Someone was touching her. They were feeling her and taking what was his. The sensation had quickly turned to rage when he’d seen the rope go around her neck and knew the human had planned to kill her. Now, Decan was back to not knowing what the hell he was feeling where she was concerned. Actually, that wasn’t true. The bulging in his pants said he was definitely aroused and the sheer reluctance to letting her out of his sight again had him standing there while she bathed and watching like some perverted stalker.
“It’s a good thing I’m not modest.”
He heard her words and blinked when he realized she’d shut off the water and stepped out of the shower stall. Naked.
“The towel is behind the door,” she continued.
He nodded and moved further into the small room so that he could push the door closed enough to pull the towel off the wire hook.
“Thank you,” she said when he handed it to her.
“You’re not modest around me,” he told her. “Because you know there’s no need.”
She’d bent over and began rubbing the towel down her legs. Standing again she tilted her head as she stared at him.
“You have no idea what I know,” she replied.
“You know there’s something between us. It’s been there since the moment I first saw you.”
“Well, since you technically stalked me for about what? Six months? Without me knowing, then I’d say I had nothing to do with that, so how could I know anything.”
“But you felt it. That day as you packed your Tracer. You didn’t startle when I came up behind you because you knew I was there,” he said, keeping his gaze leveled on hers.
Yes, he enjoyed looking at her body and yes, they were only about three feet apart and he figured he could just reach out and touch any part of that body he wanted to at the moment. But he wanted to look into her eyes, to know what he was feeling was reciprocated. Decan had no idea why that was so important to him now. It had never been before.
“I knew someone was there. We were packing to leave. I had a team,” she said.
“You wanna know why I watched you all those months?” he asked as he took a step toward her.
She wrapped the towel around her body and tucked it beneath her arms. “Why?”
“Because I knew,” he whispered. “I knew there was a connection.”
The companheiro connection.
He’d known and yet he’d tried to resist it. To ignore its lure and implications. He did not want a mate. The years he’d been a captive in the SIC had shown him the dangers of being a shifter. Of mating and possibly creating more shifters. No. He would not be a part of bringing new life into such a volatile world.
“Each time I tried to leave Assembly Headquarters, I was brought right back. When I wanted to go in the opposite direction of where I knew you would be. I ended up just feet away from you once more. I was drawn to you and you were to me.”
She shook her head. “I didn’t know you were there.”
“Didn’t you?” Decan asked and this time he did touch her.
He grabbed her by her waist and lifted her to sit on the small vanity.
“Didn’t you feel me?”
“No,” she whispered, her voice just a little shakier than it had been just seconds ago.
“Not physically,” he told her and then touched his fingers lightly to her temple. “Mentally.”
“You see, the companheiro connection is stronger than the physical hunger of mated shifters,” he continued, letting his fingers slide down her cheek. “It’s a mind, body and soul connection that very few shifters experience before the lust takes over.”
“There was lust,” she said and licked her lips. “All those months I wondered why it was getting stronger. Right from the start there was lust between us. It’s only grown in the short time we’ve been together.”
He nodded.
“And again, the mental.”
Decan lowered his face to hers, he touched his forehead to hers and closed his eyes. “That night you thought I called you by another woman’s name,” he said quietly. “I didn’t. Not verbally. You knew that name because you pulled it out of my mind. You used our connection to see a part of my past I wished I’d never lived through.”
She gasped.
“You’re the only one that’s ever been able to do that,” Decan continued. “Just you, Nisa. Just. You.”
His hands were on her knees now, pushing them apart.
Nisa swallowed. And she did not speak.
Well, to hell with that, she was tired of playing like she didn’t possess a coherent thought, or logical vocabulary.
“I heard you say her name,” she told him. “You said Mar—“
He leaned in and touched his lips to hers at that moment. His tongue moved slowly against hers and damn, hers followed its direction as if it were made for that reason alone. In seconds she was tilting her head and leaning into the kiss. Her eyes were closed, his hands warm against her skin.
Marlee.
She heard the name and was about to say something to him, but then she realized he was still kissing her. His hands were moving steadily up the inside of her thighs but his lips were most definitely still on hers, his tongue stroking against hers in a fashion designed to drive her crazy with desire.
“Marlee is the one who called the Outlaw Task Force on you. She’s the reason you’re locked in here now.”
The words continued and she reached up, grabbing hold of his wrists and then with all the force she could muster, pulled her mouth away from his.
“Who? What? I don’t understand,” she told him.
“I don’t either,” he whispered. “Not totally anyway. I just know that there are some shifters who experience this, while others do not.”
“No,” she said and shook her head. “I’m just a shifter. My job is to fight and design computer systems. I’m not—“
He kissed her again and Nisa felt like he was doing so to keep her quiet. She didn’t like that, but she didn’t stop him either. This time she lifted her hands to cup his face and when she was absolutely breathless from the kiss, she pushed his face away from hers.
“Why can’t we simply be attracted to each other? I’m a virgin, but I don’t wish to be any longer. Let’s just get this over with so we can both start thinking straight again,” she said.
“Nisa?”
“No,” she repeated, shaking her head once more. “Just this,” she continued. “Just you and me and just this.”
For a few nervous moments Nisa thought he would deny her. She thought all his talk of companheiro connection and body and soul was going to send him running. It was too serious—all that talk about connecting and committing. She didn’t want it. Not tonight anyway. Not after what she’d just been through.
With his hands on the top of her thighs, Decan’s thumbs brushed over the sensitive skin of her pussy. She sighed with relief, her eyes closing slowly before opening again.
“Is this what you want?” he asked.
His voice was husky, his eyes a crisp clear blue that seemed to cut right through her. To the parts of her that no one had ever seen before. Nisa dismissed how uncomfortable that made her feel and instead pulled his shirt so that the buttons popped off. He’d obviously removed his jacket while she was showering. That was just fine with her.
“This is what I want,” Nisa said and pushed the shirt down his arms in an effort to convince him and herself.
He had to move his hands from her in order to totally remove the shirt. Nisa did not like that but it gave her time to ditch the towel that was hindering her from feeling the touch of his skin directly on hers. She’d been craving that touch since he’d held her in the water. His mouth had been so hot on her then, even with the cool of the water on her back. He’d unbuckled his pants and was pushing them and his boxers down his legs when she grabbed him, pulling him to her as she locked her legs around his waist.
“Yeah,” he groaned and buried his fingers in her hair. “This is what I want too.”
Pulling her head back, he kissed her roughly this time, his teeth brushing over her lips sending a quick slice of pleasure/pain through her body. The unfamiliar sound that escaped from her must have been a green light for Decan because his nails scraped along her scalp as he sucked hungrily on her tongue.
She ran her fingers over his strong shoulders, up and down his bare back, pausing with a gasp at what she felt.
“What?” she asked in a breathy whisper.
He went totally still. So much so that if Nisa hadn’t felt and heard the quickened thumping of his heart she would have thought he’d died in her arms.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
But as he spoke he’d moved away from her mouth, dropping a chaste kiss on her shoulder.
“It feels like something,” she said still moving her hands over the parts of his back she could reach. “It feels like a lot of something.”
“You feel better,” he told her. “Every part of you feels so much better.”
As if trying to prove his point, Decan let his fingers slip from her hair down to her shoulders. He massaged her there and whatever thoughts Nisa had before his magical fingers had done the magical thing that relaxed her totally floated away. When his mouth touched the spot where he rubbed, she moaned. His kisses were lethal. The tiny bites that just barely pierced her skin were sinister. Her breasts felt full all of a sudden, her nipples hardened to a painful point.
He must have sensed that change in her as his kisses moved slowly—tortuously so—down her chest until he’d taken one tiny bud between his teeth. The other nipple was now between his fingers as he tugged and licked, then sucked and cupped. Nisa arched into him, her head hitting the small circular mirror above the sink.
“Yes,” he whispered over her skin, “you feel better than everything, Nisa. Better than I could have ever imagined.”
She’d taken her hands from his back to grip the sides of the vanity. It was small and she was certain it wasn’t built to accommodate her sitting on it and Decan doing what he was doing to her while she was sitting on it. He was taking full advantage of the fact that he now had unfettered access to her very naked and very sensitive body.
She’d closed her eyes to the sensations his mouth was sending through her body and so was barely aware of the fact that he seemed to be moving lower and lower. Until the second his fingers touched her pussy, separating her plump folds and his tongue flattened over her clit.
“Why does that feel so good?” she sighed and curled her toes. “I had no idea it would feel that good.”
He moaned over her, licking every inch of her and making deliciously naughty sounds while doing so. Cracking her eyes open Nisa looked down to see the top of Decan’s head, framed by her thighs. It was a gorgeous sight, one she knew she’d never forget. Just as she would not forget the angry slashes she could now see crisscrossing his back. The sensation of being filled and the trembling of her thighs cleared the thought from her mind and Nisa bit her bottom lip to keep from screaming out.
“Oh no you don’t,” Decan said gruffly and tilted his head back to look up at her. “I want every sound. Every pleasurable moan, every bit of your release.”
She sighed and shook her head because he was moving his fingers in and out of her as he spoke. In and out, deeper and deeper he went, faster and faster Nisa felt herself falling.
“Give them to me,” he urged and licked his lips before dipping his face back down to her dewy folds.
He licked and pumped her. She bucked and moaned, feeling as if she were going to explode at any moment now. He continued, whispering instructions for her to “let go” and “give it all to me” and Nisa simply floated on the pleasure. Her body had begun to move on its own, her hips jutting forward and pulling back with the ministrations of his fingers. Her pussy creaming as he sucked on her clit and licked her plump skin. So by the time he pulled away from her, and fit his body between her legs, Nisa was about to explode.
She literally felt as if she couldn’t take another prick of pleasure. Surely if she did she would tumble over the ledge she’d been precariously perched on since the moment he’d walked up behind her.
“Look at me,” he commanded.
She did.
Her eyes opened wide, her lips parted as she panted.
“Give it all to me, Nisa,” he told her once more. “I want it all.”
“Yes,” she said and nodded. “Yes, Decan.”
His name came out in a strangled cry as he thrust his complete length inside her.
She screamed his name then, and tore her hands away from the vanity to clap hold of his shoulders. There was stinging pain that was instantly replaced by pleasure that started somewhere deep inside of her and bloomed to every corner of her being. He was thick and long and completely filling her.
Nisa hadn’t realized her legs had fallen from around him, but Decan had. He wrapped them around his waist once more, clasping her ankles as he pulled her closer, nestling himself deeper inside of her.
“We’ve been connected from day one,” he said and pulled out of her slowly. “Now, it’s official.”
Nisa heard his words but didn’t have the strength to figure out what they meant. All she knew was that he felt good. Every part of him, every movement, and every word he spoke. It all felt good. So very good she rode along with him. Stroking and pumping, moaning and hissing, until her entire body trembled, her teeth clenching together and the cat inside roared loud and long.
Decan pumped faster. He leaned in and let his lion’s teeth glide along the line of her shoulder. His hands were now gripping her bottom, his nails digging painfully into her skin there.
“It’s done,” he whispered again, just before his teeth sank deep into her flesh.
Nisa cried out again, the pleasure filling her and the pain…awakening her.