“Yes. It broke down. I’m so happy I was close to this town. The map I had made no sense at all…”
The biker abandoned his seat with amazing speed and closed beefy fingers around Cassidy’s arm. His grip was hard, but the look in his eyes was the wild one of a man who’d abandoned hope and then suddenly found it dangling in front him.
“Take me to your car. Hurry. I’ll fix it, and then you’ll need to get the hell out of here. But only if you promise to take me with you.”
Cassidy looked him up and down, pretending to be a silly rich woman contemplating giving a ride to her auto mechanic. “I don’t know. I had it detailed before I drove down here.”
“Please.”
The man was big, taller than Cassidy, but she smelled the fear on him. Waves and waves of fear.
She likewise scented fear on the second biker who came into the cantina, another of the gang Diego hunted. The second man frowned at his friend, then at Cassidy. “What are you doing?”
“She has a car,” the first man said to him.
“Yes, and I need help fixing it,” Cassidy said. “Does this road go back to Mazatlan?”
The second man gave the first a warning look. “You sure he didn’t send her?”
Cassidy blinked. “Sure who didn’t send me?”
“I don’t think so, man,” the first biker said. “Look, she needs to get out of here, and so do we.”
The first man started steering Cassidy out of the cantina. Cassidy nearly gagged on the smell of his fear, but she guided him down the street, toward the jeep waiting with Diego in the darkness.
Both men walked fast, propelling her along. She noticed they also made sure to stick to deep shadow, letting no stray light from any of the crumbling buildings touch them.
“Maybe I should stay here for the night,” Cassidy said. “Is there a resort anywhere nearby?”
“No, sweetie,” man number two said. “I’ll drive you to a resort. Any resort you want. Promise. Now, where’s your car?”
“There.” Cassidy pointed to the jeep, waiting alone.
Both men rushed for it, and Cassidy had to run to reach it with them. The first man jumped into the driver’s seat. “Keys?”
“Here somewhere.” Cassidy pretended to fumble in her pockets.
“Never mind.” The man reached under the steering wheel, ready to break his way in.
And found Diego’s shotgun in his face.
“I knew it,” the second man said, his voice a terrified whisper. Shane and Xavier closed behind him. “It was him.”
The first man was just as terrified, but not because of Diego’s gun. Both men were looking straight at Shane, and the fear in their eyes was boundless.
Diego cocked his weapon. “Do you remember me?” His voice was quiet.
The first man stared back at him, first in mindless panic, then in recognition. “Shit!”
His friend swung around, saw Diego, swallowed. “Aw, man. Just when I thought things couldn’t get any worse.”
The first man put his hands on top of his head, in perfect position for someone being arrested. “No, man, it’s OK. He’s a cop. He’ll arrest us and get us out of here. We surrender, all right?”
Diego exchanged a glance with Cassidy. Cassidy shrugged. “Something’s scared them bad,” she said, “and it’s not you.”
“I’m hoping it’s me,” Shane said.
“Come on, let’s go,” the first man said. “Before he finds out.”
He, again.
“Where are your friends?” Diego asked, not moving the gun. “My intel said there were four of you down here. I want you all.”
“Gone,” the first man said. “They’re gone.”
“Gone where?”
Their fear escalated, the men stinking with it. They hadn’t bathed in a while either, so the smell was overwhelming.
“They’re dead, all right?” the second man nearly shouted. “Dead. He had them killed.”
Diego still didn’t move. “I want them.”
“Come on, man,” the first man said. “I’ll show you where we buried them. What was left of them. But we gotta go. Now.”
“Diego,” Xavier said.
Diego’s face was like stone. Cassidy took the shotgun Shane was holding unsteadily and touched it to the second man’s cheek. She leaned to him, letting her eyes go Shifter. “Who is it that you’re afraid of?” she asked.
The man gasped. “You’re one of them.”
Cassidy moved her scarf so he could see her Collar. “If you tell us the truth, you’ll be fine. Lie to me, and I’ll put up with the pain. I’ve done it before.”
The man eyed her Collar. “No, wait, you’re different.” His gaze flicked to Shane and his Collar. “You’re not with them.”
Cassidy wanted to scream, Them who? when Shane sniffed the wind.
“Aw, hell, Cass, you smell that?”
Cassidy did, and every hair on her body stood up.
“Can’t smell anything over the current BO,” Xavier said.
“Diego, get into the jeep and drive.” Cassidy pushed Xavier and his captive toward the backseat. “Just go.”
Diego gave her a hard look but, Goddess bless him, he didn’t argue. Diego shoved the first captive over and started up the jeep while Xavier pushed the second man into the backseat. Shane boosted Cassidy over the tailgate to the small space behind the seats.
Before Shane could climb in, they came. Out of the darkness, eyes shining in the jeep’s headlights, they came, bodies low to the ground, the smell overwhelming.
“Shifters,” Shane said as he dove over the tailgate. “Diego, gun it.”
“Shifters?” Xavier asked as the jeep leapt forward. “What the fuck?”
“Ferals,” Cassidy shouted. She hung on as Diego U-turned the jeep in a scattering of dirt. Every single one of the Shifters in the darkness had gone feral.
And every single one of them charged.
Eric had put Reid under his protection to reassure Cassidy, but he did not trust that Reid, once he felt better about himself, wouldn’t try to find another Shifter to bleed out for his spell. Reid might think twice about going after Collared Shifters, especially those protected by Eric, but there was an un-Collared Shifter running around Las Vegas, just waiting to be caught…
Iona Duncan.
Eric had put together the information on her himself the last couple of days, not wanting even his trackers to know that she was Shifter.
Iona owned, with her mother and sister, Duncan Construction, a company that built both residential and commercial buildings, nothing flashy, just serviceable. They’d been one of the few companies that kept going after the real estate crash, though they had to be hurting like everyone else. Humans put too much faith in building booms.
Iona’s mother was human, her father, an unknown Feline Shifter. Eric kept pretty close tabs on the Felines in his Shiftertown, and he knew that Iona’s father didn’t live there. Iona was just beyond thirty, which meant a few years past her Transition. She’d been born before the Collars, before Shiftertowns—her mother might not even have known until after Iona’s birth that the man who’d given her a daughter had been Shifter.
Iona stayed pretty low-key. She worked in the company’s office and didn’t often go to the building sites. She had a few select friends and confined her entertainments to simple outings with them or with her mother and sister.
And she was feeling the mating heat.
Eric had scented it on her at the club and knew it was only a matter of time before it started to drive her insane. She wouldn’t understand, and Eric needed to get to her before her instincts did her too much damage.
All Shifters learned careful control of their animal instincts from the time they were cubs, but Iona, who hadn’t been raised Shifter, wouldn’t have had that training. There was a good chance that her mating heat would drive her into becoming feral—Shifters who’d given in to their animal side, who’d become more animal than human, who c
ould control no instincts at all. They mated, and killed, without restraint.
Tonight Iona had gone to the Forum Shops at Caesars Palace with her friends. Shifters weren’t allowed in the gigantic mall, but Eric was perfectly welcome to linger outside on the Strip in front of Caesars. He knew that Iona and her friends would come out that way, because his research told him they liked to walk down the street afterward and watch the dancing waters at the Bellagio.
Eric lingered, leaning on the railing, his leather jacket hiding his Collar. Next to him, men called out to passersby, thrusting leaflets for exotic dance clubs at anyone who looked interested. One of the flyers lay at Eric’s booted feet, showing a photo of a Shifter woman, bare, her hands hiding her breasts.
Shifter women did dance in clubs, seeing nothing shaming about nudity and liking the tips. Some of the male Shifters didn’t like it, though, and Eric had to intervene with brothers angry that sisters were dancing for money. Granted, some males still thought Shifter females should be sequestered and used as cub-making machines, as they had hundreds of years ago.
Times change. We need to change with them, or we die.
Iona’s friends came out of the shops and strolled up the long walkway to the street. Iona wasn’t with them.
Damn it.
Eric strode down the length of the walk, passing Iona’s friends without looking at them. In the pressing crowd this fine night, no one noticed him.
He could tell that Iona hadn’t come out this door at all, because her scent was nowhere near it. Keeping his head down, Eric ducked inside with the rest of the tourists, hunkering a little so his height wouldn’t give him away.
He took an escalator down, patiently waiting on the moving stairs instead of shoving his way through the crowd. At the bottom, he searched the crowd, letting his nose lead him in the right direction once he’d picked up her scent.
He found Iona outside a chocolate shop, staring at the exotic confections within.
Eric stopped to watch her. Iona’s black hair was caught in a simple tail, her lean body fine-looking in jeans and blouse, her high-heeled boots making her legs long and sexy.
Beauty. Un-Collared. Free.
Her scent screamed at him. Unmated female, rushing headlong into mating need with no idea how to contain it.
Eric knew from living with Cassidy that females tried to damp down mating need with food—chocolate, ice cream, cake. Shifter women worked off the calories fast, their metabolisms quickly burning the sugar. Probably why Iona was drawn to the chocolate shop.
Iona was so fixed on the chocolates that she never heard Eric, never smelled him. He was simply there between one moment and the next, filling her vision and her space.
She saw him, and her mouth went dry. Not again. She hadn’t been able to concentrate on anything since meeting him at the club, as though he’d invaded and taken over every thought. Stalking her in her head. She didn’t want to see him again.
And yet, every one of Iona’s female instincts came alert at Eric’s tall body, hard face, dark hair, and most of all, his eyes. They were jade green and held fathoms of thought. Those eyes could see all the way down inside her, uncovering things Iona hadn’t been aware of herself.
Not that she was going to let Eric and the confusion he stirred cow her. Iona turned to face him, no avoidance.
“Shifters aren’t allowed in here,” she said. “Tell me what you want, before I call security.”
His smile licked wicked delight up and down her body. “Go ahead and call. You know I can out you a hell of a lot worse than you can out me.”
“Why shouldn’t I call them?” Iona said, her lips stiff. “You’re obviously following me around.”
“Why didn’t you stay with your friends?”
“None of your business.”
Eric nodded at the tiers of confections. “They look good, don’t they?”
Iona glanced at the enticing chocolates, and her mouth started to water. She’d been walking by, and then she hadn’t been able to keep walking by. She’d told her friends she’d catch up to them, saying she needed to buy a gift for her sister or mother—some excuse.
“The scent,” Iona said. “I don’t know why it fascinates me. I like looking at the shape of the chocolates, imagining how they’ll taste in my mouth.” Smooth, dark, delicate, music on the tongue.
Eric gestured to the shop door. “Come on. I’ll buy you some.”
No. Iona couldn’t let him do anything for her; she couldn’t even stand next to him.
Eric shrugged and walked straight into the shop, not bothering to see if Iona would follow him. Iona didn’t want to. She resisted with all her might, but she sighed as her feet took her inside after him.
Eric did a good job, she saw, of hiding his Shifter-ness. The fact that he was Shifter screamed itself at Iona, but Eric rounded his shoulders so he didn’t look so tall, hid his Collar behind his high-necked shirt and jacket, and didn’t even look up at the perky young clerk.
He let Iona pick out what she wanted, playing the part of the patient boyfriend waiting for his girlfriend to make up her mind. Iona chose chocolate after chocolate, indulging in exotic flavors and fillings, all of which the clerk put into a pretty box, then a pretty bag. Eric handed over some cash, took the bag, and steered Iona out of the shop.
His hand on her arm sent electric heat through her body. Iona tried to jerk away once they were back inside the mall. “Don’t touch me,” she said.
Eric let go, but not because Iona commanded it. He did only what he wanted to.
“Come on,” he said. He started off in the direction opposite the one her friends had taken.
Iona followed him. He had the chocolate. She needed that chocolate.
How a Shifter knew the back doors out of the Forum Shops, Iona didn’t know, but Eric led her through an obscure hall and outside into a shipping bay. It was dark here, the only light coming from the stars overhead and the distant glow of the parking lot.
Eric held up the bag. “Want one?”
Iona could barely breathe. “Yes.”
Eric made short work of the clerk’s lovely bow and opened the box. Two trays of eight beautiful chocolates nestled inside.
Eric lifted out the first one. Iona smelled it, liquid chocolate with candied violet inside.
She started to reach for it, but somehow she found her back against the wall, Eric in front of her. He touched the chocolate to her lips.
Iona closed her eyes, trying to resist, but her lips parted, and Eric slid the piece into her mouth.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Darkness, chocolate, smoothly bitter like coffee slid over Iona’s tongue, followed by the bright sweetness of the violet. Iona hummed softly as she chewed.
“Another?” Eric asked.
“Yes,” she whispered.
What was the matter with her? She should stop this, smother him with invective, then hurry away. Instead, she let Eric trace her lips with a second piece of chocolate before he popped it inside her mouth. This one was laced with chai—smoky, sweet, sharp.
Eric touched the corner of her mouth. “Good?”
“Yes. Give me more.”
“I will.” He leaned so close, his breath touching her lips. “You’re feeling the edges of the mating need. The chocolate will ease it, but only for a little while.”
What the hell was he talking about? Iona wanted the chocolate because it was chocolate.
She opened her eyes. Eric stood against her, body heat all over her, his scent…
Iona inhaled. She smelled the night, wildness, musk, and chocolate. Her body went tight, the craving for the sweet darkness transforming into a craving for Eric.
No. Eric was the enemy, a Shifter who wanted to capture her and take her into his fold. He’d expose Iona, put a Collar on her, ruin her life.
And yet, the craving didn’t leave her.
“Another,” she said.
Eric lifted the next chocolate, this one laced with chiles, and tucked it insi
de her mouth. Warm spice laced with sweetness danced over her tongue. At the same time, Eric touched his lips to the corner of her mouth.
Iona turned her head and took the kiss full on.
Her world melted. She found herself against the wall, Eric’s warmth covering her body. Eric’s taste fused with the chocolate, his tongue strong inside her mouth.
She lifted her hands to his neck, meeting the leather of his coat. Upward to his hair, short and silken under her hands.
Eric’s body was large, solid, warm in the cool air. His mouth brushed hers once, twice, opening each time. Iona stroked his hair, but Eric didn’t touch her. He kept one hand on the wall, the other still holding the precious chocolate.
Iona wanted him. In her apartment, alone. Tonight. Wanted him touching and stroking her, letting her touch and stroke his bare body in return.
She wanted to feel her mattress at her back, his weight on her, while his hands lifted her breasts, brushed between her legs, made her on fire for him.
Iona turned her head, breaking the kisses. “What are you doing to me?”
Eric remained close, his body heat like a blanket. “Nothing.” The word touched her lips. “Mating need. All Shifters go through it.”
“I’m only half Shifter.”
“Doesn’t matter. The Shifter side breeds strong.” He leaned closer still, the length of his body against hers. “Come home with me, Iona. I’ll help you through it.”
Seduction with chocolate. And Eric.
Iona sucked in a painful breath. “Forget it, furball,” she made herself say.
To her surprise, he chuckled, a warm sound, and kissed her again. Their mouths sought each other’s, heat, spice, and chocolate melding.
Iona wasn’t afraid. She should be, of this man who followed and watched her, who’d brought her out here in the dark, alone, and fed her chocolate. He made her body hum.
Eric eased out of the kiss, and Iona couldn’t suppress a faint moan of disappointment as he lifted himself away from her.
He touched her lips. “I’ll bring you in sometime, my Iona,” he said. “It would be easier if you didn’t fight me.”
Iona drew a shaking breath. “I’ve lived as human all my life. I can keep doing it. If I feel the need to go Shifter, I’ll call you.”