CHAPTER 3
There had been changes since the last time Decan had been here. Both to the physical structure of this bunker, and to the reasons why he was here.
“Where are we?” Nisa asked the moment they passed through the oval walkway.
She had already moved by him and was surveying her surroundings no doubt, while she waited for his response.
“We’re in the Florida territory. The Everglades as you mentioned earlier.”
Decan watched as she moved.
At five-feet-five inches she was neither tall nor short. Just right was the way he would put it, as the top of her head came to his chin, causing her to have to look up to him. He didn’t know why that filled him with a gust of dominance as potent as a physical blow. Her booted feet were soundless over the carpeted floor.
“This location is not on any of the tunnel maps,” she continued. “That means it’s unsanctioned. Why do you know about unsanctioned locations and the Assembly does not?”
“How do you know they don’t know?” he asked as she moved past two rows of round tables and chairs.
The eight tables lined one half of the space, while an elaborate white column shot to the ceiling. The top of the column fanned out like the top of a cone and around that cone a metal sphere held egg-shaped LED lights equal distances apart.
“If they knew, then so would I,” she replied as she stepped over to the other half of the room.
There were sectional couches on that side, three in an off white color and four in a dark orange hue. The colors matched the striped carpet and worked well with the darker beige paneled walls. They’d come in on the ground level, so the ceiling was lowest in this room, no more than ten feet high at most.
“You do not have upper level clearance,” he replied and then held up his hand because even from across the room, he knew she would respond quickly to that statement.
“You’re a Senior Guard,” he told her. “That’s level 3 clearance. As I’m sure you are aware only Lead Enforcers and FLs have level 6 clearance.”
Her lips were clamped tightly, eyes boring into him like tiny chisels. He almost grinned at how easily he could anger her. He knew all her buttons to push and continued to push them, even when it wasn’t his intent.
“Then I should not be here at all,” she snapped and folded her arms over her chest.
The stance might have seemed childish or temperamental to anyone else, but Decan knew it for what it really was. Her shield.
Nisa Reynolds loved a good puzzle. She’d excelled in tactical training because she could quickly figure out the logistics of the battle and then was able to, just as fast, configure her best odds for survival. It worked for her every time. It was that same need to unravel the mystery and come up with a solution that had led her to the installation of the holodeck—which was a control center much like the humans’ Internet, for the shifter universe. She had been able to migrate all of the databases that had been created for the shifters and generate an entire system that included maps of the tunnels, blueprints of all of the bunkers, plans for the vehicles they used, the weapons that had also been specially enhanced for them, the genetic breakdown of each tribe and so much more. The system was intricate and far more advanced than most of the shifters in Oasis. Along with that accolade, Decan had been especially impressed with the network Nisa had helped Nick Delgado design, called ViceSecure. This was the system that scanned the genetics of each shifter from the moment of their birth so that there was no way an undocumented shifter could enter Oasis because the locks on the doorways were all DNA scan protected.
“This is where you belong for the moment, Nisa,” Decan replied to her intense gaze.
He’d lost seconds just staring at her wondering how all of that intellect and ability could be so neatly and attractively stored in one shifter.
“Before you ask any more questions just remember that your father assigned me to this mission. That means I’m responsible for you. I know you don’t know me that well, but rest assured, I have no intention of letting the Assembly Leader down. So just relax, you’re safe here. Trust me.”
“I don’t trust anyone who won’t answer simple questions,” she said, but her arms fell to her side as she turned and continued to move about the room.
“Well, I see you arrived safely.”
Decan looked away from Nisa long enough to see that their host had arrived.
“We did,” Decan said with a nod and then extended his hand for a shake.
Keller Cross was six-feet two-inches tall and at least two hundred and thirty pounds. He wore dark gray pants and a shirt that barely stretched over his broad chest and large arms. His skin was a deep golden color, his eyebrows thick over imperial green cougar’s eyes. He was probably the only shifter that wore his cat’s eyes all the time.
Decan noted Keller’s glance going over his shoulder and turned to see that Nisa had come to stand right behind him.
“Keller Cross, this is Nisa Reynolds. Nisa, this is Keller Cross.”
“You’re not a rogue,” she said, her eyes keen as she watched Keller lift her hand and bring it to his lips. “We know there are some hiding down here, but your scent is clean.”
Keller smiled just as Decan reached over and removed Nisa’s hand from his. The cougar’s smile faltered only slightly as he glanced quickly at Decan and then back to Nisa.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Nisa. It’s also good to know that my scent pleases you,” Keller said.
“She didn’t say that,” Decan snapped. “She said you didn’t smell like a rogue. There’s a difference.”
Keller shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”
“Where are we?” Nisa asked. “What is this place and why is it not on the maps?”
Keller was quick and replied without Decan’s assistance. “Ah, yes, you are the lovely brain behind the holodeck and its wealth of information.”
“I seem to have missed something pretty prominent,” she replied and then looked around the room. “I’m guessing this bunker has eight levels, this one being the lowest. It’s built up instead of out like most of the others down here. The tunnel floor is almost thirty-one thousand feet down. That leaves a lot of space to build up, but it would have taken some time. And approval.”
“Well,” Keller said with a chuckle. “Now that we’ve gotten the logistics out of the way, can I get you a drink, Nisa? Or something to eat? I’m sure you’re starving after your long ride.”
She looked at him skeptically and Decan expected her to decline and demand he tell her where they were or take her out of here one more time for good measure. He wasn’t going to do either, but he wouldn’t deny that he liked her tenacity. It almost matched his.
“Fine,” she said and then accepted the hand that Keller immediately offered her. “I can eat.”
The moment Nisa’s fingers touched Keller’s, Decan felt it. The immediate and almost painful push of his cat against the wall that he always kept erected. He had to take a step to keep from falling with the force. Nisa looked back over her shoulder at him and when their eyes connected he could have sworn she was smiling. Her cat, that is.
It was a strange thought, one Decan had never had before. A Shadow Shifter’s sex drive could be insatiable. A full grown white lion could be skating along the human lines of being addicted to any and every sexual act. Decan declared himself somewhere in between. He also, once again, prided himself on his restraint. He chose who, when and how. Every time.
Nothing a female did could arouse him if he was not in the market for sex. And when he was in the mood, there was usually no female willing to turn him down. Tonight, Decan wasn’t in the mood. Or rather, he knew in his mind that he wasn’t. So why was his cat, and hers, doing some odd type of mating call?
Nisa was correct, this facility was built up. They took the elevator to the third level where the dining room was located. This circular room had only two tables, fifteen-feet each of dark glossed wood with high-back red cushioned chairs lined along each side like soldiers. These walls were smooth and painted a cool green color that wasn’t too bright or too dark. The carpet here was a tree bark brown and Decan immediately got the vibe that he figured whoever designed this space was going for. He’d never been to the Gungi rainforest where the Shadow Shifters originated and he’d never wanted to go. Tonight, was no exception.
“Have a seat,” Keller told Nisa.
She looked up to him and had even smiled before sitting in the chair Keller had pulled out for her. Decan grit his teeth in an effort to hold back the growl that wanted desperately to break free.
He pulled out the chair across from her and sat down heavily because he felt like he was being pushed.
“Our chef can make anything. He used to work for some fancy restaurant above ground and he had a television show. Tonight, in honor of where you are traveling to, I had him prepare barbeque.”
Keller was talking as he sat at the head seat. It was his favored spot, Decan recalled.
“I’ve had barbeque before,” Nisa told him.
“I’ll bet you have,” Keller continued. “I’m sure the chefs at Assembly Headquarters are top notch.”
“I’ve never seen you at any of the quarterly meetings,” she stated.
Keller glanced at Decan who was still trying to figure out what the hell his cat was up to tonight.
“I don’t attend them,” Keller answered.
“Because you’re not a Lead Enforcer? You’re not part of the Shifter Tactical Team at all, are you?” she asked.
Decan lay his hands flat on the table and drummed his fingers. Nisa immediately stopped talking, her head snapping toward his movement. He stopped. She looked up at him. He inhaled deeply and was just letting out a whispered curse when trays of food were brought out and placed on the table between them.
He immediately reached for the glass of water that had been placed in front of him. He watched her, watching him, as he drank.
“Well,” Keller spoke a little louder than he had been before. “I am not part of the STT, but I assure you that it’s perfectly safe for you to be here for the night. Isn’t it, Decan?”
Hell no! Decan almost roared.
He had a dreaded feeling that it wasn’t going to be safe for her to be anywhere around Keller. Not for long anyway.
“So you’re a renegade with enough money and manpower to get this place built. I’m guessing that you probably also have someone in the Assembly helping you keep all of this a secret,” Nisa said to Keller, with her gaze still locked on Decan’s.
“He’s no renegade,” Decan answered. “He’s a friend, doing me a favor.”
“Yes, I am,” Keller replied with a deep chuckle.
Three loud chimes sounded at that moment and their host, who seemed to be enjoying this moment way more than they were, went silent.
“I have to go,” he said seconds later. “You two enjoy your meal. One of the staff will be along when you’re done to take you to your rooms.”
“Our rooms?” Nisa said. “So this is like a shifter hotel?”
Keller was now standing and he looked down at her, giving only a half grin this time. The look had Decan fisting his fingers and Nisa raising a brow in what…was that flirtation? Decan stood then, clapping a hand on Keller’s shoulder.
“I’ll find our rooms,” he told the host who was definitely doing the most with Nisa right now. “You go and take care of your business.”
Keller nodded, his grin disappearing as he stared back at Decan. “Yeah, and you should be careful with yours.”
Their gazes locked for a moment, until Decan turned away and listened to the cougar as he exited the room.
“Tense,” Nisa stated and lifted a finger to her lips to lick away some sauce.
The growl was like an earthquake moving through Decan’s body in a trek from the pit of his stomach until his lips peeled back from his teeth, letting the sound break free. Her head jerked up instantly, her eyes shifting from human to cat.
“Very,” he replied and stepped closer.
She pulled her finger slowly from her mouth as if her ultimate goal in life was to tease him to the point of distraction. Well, Decan admitted, even if momentarily, she’d done a damn good job of that. Her hand continued to move slowly down until now it rested in her lap. Decan gripped the back of her chair and pulled it out from the table far enough so that he could move to stand in front of her.
Beneath the zipper of his pants Decan’s cock twitched as her mouth was only a couple of feet away. In his mind, he could already feel her there, licking his length, sucking him deep, drawing everything from him in the blink of an eye.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
The man was surprised to see her immediately do as he’d requested. The lion inside was not.
“What are you doing?” he asked in a last ditch effort to figure out what the hell was happening at this moment.
She shook her head, her tongue skirting out to touch her lips before replying, “I’m not doing anything.”
His palms tingled with the thought of feeling her soft hair as he grasped the back of her head and pulled her closer. It would take only seconds to free his now raging erection and put her mouth to its tip. Just a taste. He’d give her only a little and then he’d pull back. He’d forget this ridiculous urging. Even as he thought it, the lion dismissed the notion. Just a taste would not be enough, not for either of them.
“Liar,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “Sexy, sneaking, liar.”
“No,” she snapped quickly, her eyes shifting back to human as she abruptly stood to face him. “I’m not the one lying here, Decan. You are. I can smell it. And I don’t like it.”
Nisa was stuck.
In this gorgeous suite, closed in her private bathroom, standing beneath the hot spray of water from the massaging showerhead. Her cat was stuck in her human body, because of a world that rejected it. Her desire to be more, to do more, with her life was stuck in the hands of a lion shifter with secrets that carried a distinct stench which should not have permeated her senses the way it had. Yet, it did.
From the moment he’d approached her, Nisa had scented it. Now, she tried her best to rid her mind, her senses and her cat of its effects. That, however, wasn’t going to be easy. More pertinent and shocking to recently admit was her desire to be sexually satisfied. It was stronger now, had been in the last few months at Assembly Headquarters. She hadn’t understood the overwhelming urge then and she definitely didn’t now.
Sitting on the bench which lined one of the shower walls, she lifted a leg, propping her foot on its end and let her hand fall to the bare skin of her juncture. It was smooth and warm as she separated her thick folds, moaning at the slickness that awaited her.
Her awakening had come when she was fourteen years old, much earlier than her mother’s, and a year earlier than was normal for female shifters. As she’d already known what she was, Nisa had been waiting anxiously to meet the cat that would share her body for the rest of her life. She’d had no idea that the cat would bring with it an urging that would threaten every sane part of her being. That’s how it felt, the arousal of a shifter. It quickly took over any and all thoughts. Nisa had been lucky that there had been very few shifters living in her part of Oasis that turned her on. But the few that had, the feeling that had warmed her to the point of her entire body trembling whenever she’d been around them was intense and pushed her to a point where she’d known something had to give.
But her father was Roman Reynolds.
In addition to being the Assembly Leader, he was a black jaguar with as much predatory power as any king of a jungle. Oasis was Rome’s jungle and Nisa was the second untouchable under his reign. Every shifter across the world knew this. They were not to speak a disrespectful word to Kalina, or give Nisa a second look. It was that simple and that serious at the same time.
The warning hadn’t bothered Nisa since all she’d ever wanted to do was work toward building a better future for the shifters. Yet, she’d still had to figure out a way to deal with the urgings without risking another shifter’s life by asking him to be with her. The answer had been fairly simple. She would slake her own need. It worked, she enjoyed the independence and that was it. She moved on to the next thing. At least that was how she normally handled the situation.
Tonight was different. She was not only trembling, but her cat was pacing and making a rumbling sound that echoed in Nisa’s mind. The cat needed and Nisa wanted, unlike either had before.
She shouldn’t. That was a given. Decan Canter was a lion and mixed joinings were frowned upon by some in the shifter community. Most commonly opposed was the shifter and human mating, but when her father met her mother while working at the law firm he used to own, neither of them had known that Kalina was a shifter. Ezra, Lead Enforcer, had joined with Dana, a human. Sebastian “Bas” Perry, the Mountain Zone Faction Leader, had joined with Priya, also a human. And there were countless others, she’d seen their names as she’d helped enter them all into ViceSecure. So the shifters as a whole had been moving toward accepting that union. As for the interspecies joinings, well, they were still a bit away from totally accepting that. Part of the reason was that Shadow Shifters themselves were a sort of anomaly. Half man and half cat, they had a complex DNA to start with. Mixing the half man, half cat, with a different variety of cat, was another level of the unknown. In the event of an offspring, what would it be? Which cat would dominate and how would the human half respond to such a mixture? It was something, that, to date, had not been answered because the different tribes had remained separate when it came to pairings.
Tonight, however, a jaguar was so turned on by a lion, she thought she might actually jump out of her human and cat skin if she did not receive some relief from these urgings.
She wanted to believe they’d come on quickly, but that wasn’t totally true. She’d been feeling restless and needing release more frequently in the past few months. Tonight, the need had morphed into an all-out hunger. One that seemed to be battering her senses. Why else would she allow herself to stay here without calling her father to intervene? Why hadn’t she blasted Decan with questions and more forcefully demanded the answers required when he decided to bring that cheetah along with them? Why…? The cat hissed and Nisa bit her bottom lip as she, finally pressed a finger into her center. The warmth immediately sucked the first digit in deeper and she let her head fall back against the gray marble walls of the shower. Her legs were already shaking slightly in anticipation as she pressed another finger alongside the first one.
Yes, her mind screamed.
As she began to pump her fingers into herself slowly, her chest heaved with each breath and she lifted another hand to grip her breast. It felt heavy in her palm, her nipple already tightened. She squeezed that nipple until her creamy walls clenched her fingers. With her eyes closed, Nisa’s breaths quickened and she continued working her hands and fingers in an effort to reach her pinnacle soon.
Her cat growled then because it was not enough. Nisa knew it too.
She thought about him, let his image form in her mind as she moaned.
He was so tall, even taller than X’s six-foot four-inch stature. And he was broad, his shoulders wide, arms thick and muscled. No, she hadn’t seen him naked, but she hadn’t needed to, his enforcer’s jacket did nothing to hide his build or the strength she suspected he and his cat carried. There was power in his hands, strength in the fingers with the blunt-tipped nails. Even his face was sort of rugged. The beard that was neatly trimmed, the thick curls atop his head and those eyes. Like glass dyed the lightest hue of blue. Cool and slick like a glacier. He was older than her, there was no doubt, and not just because of the mixture of black and white hair, because shifters rarely showed physical signs of aging. No, she guessed it was because he could not be a Lead Enforcer at her age.
Nisa pulled her fingers out and circled them over her clit as she thought of his hands moving over her now wet body. He would know how to touch her in just the right way, there was no doubt. He was worldlier, she guessed because she’d never heard his name mentioned in Oasis. She hadn’t seen it on the ViceSecure and there were no whispers about him. There was no doubt that a shifter that was this hot and this decorated on the STT would be sought after by men in leadership and females in need. She didn’t know where he’d been in all her years or why he was suddenly here now. And while she wondered, the question of how good it would feel to have him over her, sinking deep inside of her, was one she was most curious about at the moment.
With that thought her fingers slipped into her warm, wet pussy once more, pumping fiercely in and out until she was gasping, her cat growling. It was getting hungrier and she was only whetting its appetite with her futile attempts at release. Her body felt tight, as if she were just on the precipice of relief, but couldn’t quite get there. She wasn’t going to get there. Not like this. Not this time.
With her curse she let her leg fall from the bench and pulled her hands away from her body. It wasn’t going to work. She needed more.
It only took another few minutes for her to wash and slip on sweat pants, a t-shirt and tennis shoes. Then Nisa was slipping out of the room that Decan had escorted her to a half hour ago. This was the third floor, from the elevator control board she saw there were nine floors to this bunker. What she sought was up there. Pressing the appropriate button she eased further back into a corner of the car, keeping her head down while it took her to her destination.
Security would be tighter on the highest floor and hopefully—if this bunker was designed like the majority of them in Oasis—the security systems would give her some idea of who lived here and why this place was off the Oasis grid.
She stepped out of the elevator after the door quietly opened on the ninth floor. These halls were dimly lit and painted a muted gray. That was the first difference. Within all the Oasis bunker plans, the only floors kept without much light were for storage only. They could afford to conserve energy on those floors. Storage was never kept on the top floor of a bunker because that’s where the shifters housed their weapons. In this one, if a human or rogue happened upon the doorway above ground that lead to Oasis, they would enter on this floor. She wondered why.
Nisa kept moving, going to the right and keeping close to the wall. She looked up in search of the square of green dots which traveled across the ceiling from one end of the wall to the other. This was the signal for an operational security line, one that could be monitored by guards at the holodeck. There was none. There were also no doors, at least, she hadn’t come across any as of yet. Another thing that was missing on this level was a scent…any scent at all.
It smelled sterile, as if any trace of an aroma had been studiously washed away. She kept moving watching straight ahead as she walked, turning back every few minutes to be sure she wasn’t being followed. But who would even know she was up here if there weren’t any security monitors engaged?
When it felt like she could have possibly walked at least half the floor, Nisa thought about turning back. She didn’t think there was a doorway here, but she couldn’t actually believe that. There had to be a way for a shifter to get above ground. Just because they’d designed this underground hideaway to keep protected from the humans didn’t mean that no shifter ever went above ground. They did, even though the Faction Leaders were required to approve above ground missions or travel. Nisa knew this for a fact because she often went above ground without approval.
She’d never liked running on the indoor tracks or in the park sectors that had been built to mimic the conditions in the Gungi. Since her mother had taken her above ground for her first run as a jaguar, Nisa had craved the scent of fresh air. She loved the rainy nights best, when there was just a hint of a chill and the rain fell against her thick yellow-brownish coat. She was certain that was what her cat needed right now. So she continued to move down what seemed like an endless hallway.
There were still no doorways in sight, but there was a sound. It was faint, but it was there, like someone tapping. Nisa followed it, hoping it would lead to either an answer of where she was or a way out.
The rubber soles of her shoes were perfect as they kept her approach quiet, while the tapping grew louder. She moved faster, her heart beating wildly as she began to feel the noise was being made specifically for her. Did someone know she was here? Were they sending her a message? Maybe that she shouldn’t be here or that someone else was coming? It didn’t matter, Nisa wasn’t afraid. She was curious. As she’d always been.
She was getting closer. Not just because the sound was louder but because a scent slowly began to creep into the air. It was a fresh scent, like rain or morning dew. She kept going, dragging her hand along the wall as she’d been doing in search of the seams to a doorway. Dozens of steps later, none came. Yet she stopped anyway because the tapping had also ceased. A flash of light caught her eye across the hallway and Nisa pounced, following the tiny white dot until her entire body was pressed against the opposite wall, the vibrations from the resumed tapping rippling through her.
“Who are you?” she whispered because she knew there was someone on the other side of this wall.
She could feel them, another shifter, even though she still could not see it. The tapping continued, growing louder and faster until it almost matched the beat of her heart. Nisa turned and pressed her ear to the wall in the hopes of hearing more even though the tapping was getting to the point where her eardrums quivered in overdrive. Her fingers trembled and the sense that something was horribly wrong began to suffocate her. Nisa tried to push away from the wall, but she could not move. It was as if a magnet had drawn her there and was now holding on for her life.
There was a loud thumping and when Nisa was finally able to pull her face away from the wall a cone of light showed the distorted face of a cat on a naked human male’s body. She opened her mouth to scream but the sound died as a blast of cold air slammed against her back. The invisible force that had been holding her to the wall finally released her completely and she stumbled back, just as the thing that was on the other side of the wall disappeared. Nisa turned to see where it could have gone and where this frigid air was coming from. That’s when she saw it…the doorway.
She ran to it, jumping through the narrow passageway without a second thought.