Wild Cat

Now, Diego felt Cassidy Warden’s long body against his, the sleek warmth of her hair on his cheek. He inhaled the scent of her, which, considering she’d been running around naked in the desert plus sitting in here for hours, was sweet and good.

Diego’s body responded. He’d kept himself celibate too long, and this woman was beautiful.

No, she was damn hot. He remembered her fine ass when he’d locked the cuffs on her wrists, her beautiful br**sts when she’d stood over him on the catwalk.

He felt those br**sts now, still unfettered, against him, her strong thighs along the length of his. She had one sweet, gorgeous body, and her face was strong and lovely. A man would have to be dead not to respond to her.

More than that, Diego wanted to lean her back over the interrogation table, open those coveralls, and explore everything he found inside the package. Beautiful, warm woman. Sex with Cassidy would be… explosive.

But Diego also felt her fear. He’d heard truth ring when she’d said, I’m so scared. It had cost this woman a lot to say the words.

Cassidy wasn’t afraid of Diego. Or of being arrested, he sensed, as though she didn’t truly believe the bad shit that could happen to her here. Diego needed to figure out what the hell was going on. It killed Diego to push her away, but he had to do it. Spreading her across the interrogation table, as fulfilling as that might be, would be the end of him.

“Sit down, Ms. Warden,” he said into her ear, liking how the softness of her hair tickled his lips. “And tell me about the man with the tranquilizer gun.”

Cassidy lifted her head. Her eyes were white green as she stared into his, her breath coming fast. The silver Collar around her throat was so damn sexy, though Diego knew it was a controlling device, which would pump shocks and pain into her if she turned violent.

Diego wanted to stroke her hair, to tell her that he’d take care of her and she’d be all right. He wouldn’t let anyone, or anything, hurt her.

He deliberately did not touch her.

Cassidy looked at him for a moment longer, drew a breath, and very slowly sat down again. Diego flicked on the microphone, looked at her, and waited.

“I don’t know who the man up there was,” Cassidy said. “I never saw him before, and I didn’t get a good look at him.”

Diego nodded, encouraging her. “Why were you chasing him?”

Fear flickered through her eyes again. “He was chasing me. That’s why I ran into the building. The two cops saw us and came up, and he shot them.”

“Why was he after you?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he wanted a Shifter pelt to hang on his wall. Hunters are allowed to shoot Collarless Shifters, you know. Sometimes they don’t bother to check whether they have a Collar or not.”

Her tone was bitter, grief and rage tainting it. Diego had read the file on Cassidy Warden, so he thought he knew what she meant.

“Another reason you shouldn’t have been running out there on your own,” Diego said. “What happened to your clothes?”

Cassidy touched the top button of the coverall just below her Collar. Diego couldn’t stop his gaze from going there, down into the shadow between her br**sts. “I chucked my clothes. I needed to strip to shift.”

And wouldn’t Diego have loved to have seen that? “Leaving behind your money or any ID…”

“I hadn’t brought it with me,” Cassidy said quickly.

“Which is illegal for a Shifter. Why did you leave everything at home?”

Cassidy’s gaze flicked sideways. She was trying to decide what to tell him. She was a bad liar, but Diego sensed that she lied out of fear, not cunning. He was very familiar with lies born of fear. He’d told them for years.

Cassidy wet her lips and shrugged again. “I wanted a run. I’d been cooped up too long. I needed to get away, out of Shiftertown, be somewhere else…”

Diego snapped off the microphone. “Stop.”

She jumped. “What?”

Diego leaned his fists on the table to look into her face. Her green eyes were so near his own, and he could feel her breath on his face.

“Listen to me, chiquita. Trespassing isn’t a misdemeanor for Shifters. It’s a crime with a prison sentence attached. I know you didn’t hurt Hooper and Jemez, because that guy with the gun shot at me too, and I watched you chase him off. But there’s no evidence, only my word, and yours, and you have to know by now that the word of a Shifter isn’t worth shit. If you admit you were running around in the desert for the hell of it, and some crazy Shifter hunter started chasing you, I can help you. You start talking about running away from your Shiftertown, and I can’t help you anymore. They’ll tranq you and lock you up. I’m your best shot at freedom, mi ja, so shut up.”

No Shifter, besides her brother Eric, would look at Cassidy like this or get in her face and talk to her in that stern, obey-me voice. Not unless he wanted to be knocked across the room or go up against her pissed-off brother. But Diego Escobar wasn’t asking for submission or fealty. He was trying to get Cassidy to understand, to obey because it was necessary. To trust him, because he knew the rules of this place, and Cassidy didn’t.

Diego turned the microphone back on. Cassidy’s heart beat in slow, thick beats as she leaned toward it. “I needed a run for the hell of it,” she said carefully. “To let off steam.”

Diego gave her a look that said she’d finally got it. “Good. Now tell me why.”