Animal Instincts (Kindred Souls Book 1)

by Patricia Rosemoor

  Before getting behind the wheel, he took one last fast look around. Where was Skye?

  Skye, c’mon. I can’t wait. I have to leave now. He was so irritated she’d defied him he almost didn’t add, Sorry. He threw himself into the Jaguar.

  He regretted abandoning her, but he had to get his sister safely out of there.

  Now.

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Sorry.

  Skye was, too. She was torn between being with Luc and helping his sister, maybe finding out more about Nuala’s relationship with Shade, and finding Ethan, so she could get him on board and make him believe the unbelievable.

  As she made her way inside, she ran into a man in black jeans and T-shirt rushing out. He gave her a quick look and she started. His eyes were dark and molten. He was young and tough-looking, with a scar that ran down one cheek. By the time she realized he was the guy who’d been in her brother’s apartment the night Shade had first appeared, he was gone.

  Around her, parents dragged the kids they’d brought to watch the most violent entertainment from the arena. How could they do that to their own children? Blocked at the entrances by uniformed police, they yelled and pushed and tried to get away.

  Maybe they could, but the supposed animals in cages outside the fight area—a wolf, a hyena, and a wild dog—weren’t going to escape. Not unless they could shift and use human hands to disable the locks and disappear. Part of her felt bad for them. It had been obvious that the coyote Hank hadn’t wanted to fight, but he’d been forced. Undoubtedly the fate of the creatures below. And it had sounded like the same had been happening to Luc’s sister. Skye had rushed inside just in time to see him grab Nuala and vanish.

  She stared at the animals, whirling in their cages. Shapeshifters? Once taken in by the ACU, they could be put down. She hadn’t thought about the fact that they were also part human, but there it was. The thought put a knot in her throat.

  And that was when Ethan found her.

  “Skye, there you are. Thank God you’re all right.”

  “And thankfully you got here with backup when you did.”

  He was staring across the arena at the cages. “What the hell? This isn’t some ordinary dogfight.”

  “Like I tried to tell you.”

  “How did you hear about it?” he asked before she could sell him on the real deal.

  “Remember the casino?” she asked.

  “Stay away from the Lazares.”

  “They’re not all bad,” she said. “I don’t think the Lazares are responsible for this.”

  Luc certainly wasn’t. And apparently Nuala had been an intended victim. Surely her father or other brother wouldn’t do that to her.

  “You’re dreaming. You have no idea of what Cezar Lazare might be responsible for. No idea of the kind of trouble you could be in.”

  “Shade lost his life investigating these fights. You think I don’t know that?”

  “Then what are you trying to prove?”

  Did Ethan think she could sit back and wait for results when she had an in that he didn’t?

  “I fell into something scarier than anything I’ve ever experienced. Shade and at least three others died as a result of fights like the one planned here tonight. I don’t want there to be more victims.”

  No way was she going to call them people, because they weren’t technically. Whatever they were, she mourned for them, too. For their human side. And for their animal side. They might not all be innocents, but they couldn’t be all evil. She didn’t believe Luc was evil. Nor his sister Nuala, not if Shade had cared for her. And Jez had been Luc’s only friend in that world.

  Ethan sighed. “You need to stay out of this. I’m warning you—”

  “No, I’m warning you. If you don’t listen to me and give what I’ve learned some credence and do something about it now, there will be more deaths.”

  Ethan asked, “Why bring me here rather than relying on the ACU?”

  “I know you. I saw the question in your eyes when I told you Shade heard you thinking about the human and animal blood being mixed up in the victims. You didn’t want to believe me, but I think at least a part of you did.” She swallowed hard. Would he believe what she could tell him? “What if the victims are both?”

  “Human and animal? Come on—”

  “All right.” She should have known it was too soon. She had no proof. Yet. “Let’s put that idea on hold for a minute, then. You’re already in the middle of the investigation. Maybe I can get information to you that’ll help.”

  “If you’re right, whoever is running these fights is dangerous. You get too close and you’ll get yourself killed.”

  “I hope not.” Not if she was forearmed with knowledge, something she was pretty sure Shade had been lacking until the end. “But it’s a chance I have to take. I can’t leave this alone. I have to do this for my brother.”

  Not simply to get him justice, but to do whatever it took to send him on his way. As much as she wanted to keep him with her forever, it wasn’t right or fair that her brother was trapped here on this plane of existence, unable to move on to the next.

  Looking across the arena, she was surprised to see Lieutenant Connelly standing back, watching the proceedings. Ethan must have told his superior where he was going, and Connelly must have decided to tag along. Still puzzled over Boomer’s earlier reaction to the man, she was about to tell Ethan about it when he cut into her thoughts.

  “What do you think I should do?”

  She’d been considering that from the moment she’d seen the Campbell-Warren Elementary sign. “This was a public school. It should have been secured by the city. How did the scum who runs these things get hold of it?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they just broke in. That’s something I can look into.”

  “Right. And the other venues.”

  He nodded. “We’ve been thinking they were convenient locations that no one would care about. An abandoned warehouse. An old train yard. A closed-down factory. That property near Wells and Roosevelt. But maybe there’s a connection. If there is, I’ll find it.”

  “Good. And when you’re ready to hear what I’ve learned—”

  “Show me proof.”

  Which might be never as far as he was concerned. But that couldn’t be. On some level, Ethan had to know that. She had to give him a little more time. Or find proof he couldn’t refute.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Skye Cross was trouble. Look at what she’d set in motion. Flashing blue lights gave an unearthly strobe effect to the arrest scene.

  He watched from enough distance that he was practically invisible as spectators were arrested and the ACU rounded up the cages of shapeshifters and hauled them off to the vehicles. Disaster in the making. He would have to take positive steps to make certain the shifters didn’t slip back into human form and give the CPD something else to investigate. He would have to make sure the cops didn’t get onto him.

  This was a potentially explosive situation, and if it blew up on him, he didn’t want to think about the consequences. Cezar Lazare was not a forgiving man, no matter who crossed him.

  All that bitch’s fault, he was certain. Skye Cross couldn’t keep her nose out of what wasn’t her business. Bad enough that she’d learned about the Kindred. About the casino. About the fight tonight.

  Bad enough she’d joined forces with Luc, whom he’d planned to destroy from the first. That would give him personal satisfaction in addition to being necessary to achieve his goal of taking over the organization. Another hitch in the plan. Anyone who could support the bastard needed to be taken out. So far, he was one for three, since Luc’s bitch of a mother was still alive. Jez was gone, and after tonight, that traitor Nuala should have been as well. Instead, Luc had come to her rescue.

  No one would have told the half-breed about the venue.

  But Skye Cross? She had some kind of power over animals. And perhaps over certain shifters, too.

  She was sti
ll with the cop. Shade Cross’s partner. How much had she told him? How much did he believe? Was he going to be an additional problem that needed fixing?

  Worry wasn’t his specialty, but he was becoming too familiar with the tactile sensation, which felt like snakes eating away at his gut.

  She’d ruined the night for him. Again.

  After carefully creating a niche for his taste and talent—one that would ultimately get him everything he wanted—she was threatening to bring it all down on his head. She was another human threat, perhaps more insidious than her brother had been.

  Scaring her away hadn’t worked.

  What would?

  The death of a couple of shapeshifters had the CPD puzzled. They would never be able to identify those bodies. They could identify her.

  If they found her.

  That could bring his carefully built plans crashing down around his head.

  But if they didn’t find her body—now that was something to consider.

  She wouldn’t stay away from the casino for long. Hmm. He knew just how to do it.

  Now he simply needed opportunity.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  By the time Luc got Nuala to The Ark, she was able to shift back to human form. She was still shaky, though, and she clung to him all the way through the casino to her quarters. How long would it take for word to get back to their father? Pop would kill whoever had tried to destroy his daughter, and Luc was so angry he wouldn’t try to talk Pop out of it.

  Luc waited until he’d settled Nuala on a couch, bottle of water in hand, before he questioned her. “Who did this to you?”

  “I don’t know. I shifted and went into the habitat where I could think without interruption. Whoever attacked me did so from behind and darted me with some kind of tranquilizer. I went down so fast that I never got a look. Once I was drugged, I was stuck in my panther.”

  “I’d better get someone to check you over.”

  Her hand shook slightly as she downed half the water. “I-I’m fine. But the baby...” Her voice broke. “What if he hurt the baby?”

  “Baby? What is this about a baby? Whose baby?”

  “Mine.” Her dark eyes filled with tears. “I’m pregnant and I’m afraid the drugs might have hurt the baby.”

  Luc gaped at his sister. Pregnant? “Who’s the father?”

  She gave him a look that told him everything he needed to know.

  “Fuck.”

  “Don’t say that! I loved him.” She put her hand to her stomach. “Now this is all I have left of Shade.” Tears rolled down her cheeks. “If the baby is all right after tonight.”

  How could he not have realized? Nuala had been moody, not herself at all for the last week, but he’d put that to grief over Shade’s death. He was an idiot not to have figured out there was more to the story.

  “We’ll get you checked out,” he promised, pulling out his cell and calling the security office. “Find Dr. Botis and get him to my sister’s quarters now.” Clicking off, he told Nuala, “You’ll be all right. And if there’s anything wrong with the baby, he’ll know what to do.”

  No matter his assurances, Nuala was sobbing. Softly. Almost silently. Her beautiful face was drenched in heartbreak. A huge sweep of her emotion encased Luc, pulling him closer. He sat beside her on the couch and put his arms around her. She sobbed against his neck and clung to him as if she would never let go. He mentally urged Dr. Botis to hurry.

  When she calmed a little, he asked, “Does Pop know?”

  “No! Just Nik. I doubt he told anyone else. He guessed after that argument.”

  Tightening his hold on her, Luc remembered Nuala running to the bathroom where she’d thrown up. In a way, Nik had been right about the soul she was using doing this to her. But rather than a bad one as Nik had supposed, somehow she’d gotten a good one. Pop’s doing, no doubt—he knew everything about each and every one of the souls locked in his sea glass desk. Whatever his faults, he loved his children and wanted nothing but the best for the three of them. Luc only hoped that held true when Pop learned Nuala was pregnant.

  “What did Nik say?” he asked.

  “He hated the idea of my having a human’s child. Said I was a fool to chance it.”

  “That’s it?”

  “What more should he have said?”

  “I figured Nik would have a whole boatload of opinions on the matter.”

  Like suggesting she do something about her situation. As in terminate it. Luc hated to think it of his brother, but when puberty had struck, and Nik had made his commitment to the Kindred, he’d grown from loving Luc to hating him because of his human half. Would he feel that way about Nuala’s half-human offspring? Luc could see it happening.

  But how bad was Nik? Had he consumed enough evil that he could have his own sister drugged and put in a situation where she would lose a child Nik thought of as some kind of aberration?

  To his horror, Luc couldn’t say for certain that he wouldn’t.

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  “Sorry, no invitation, you can’t get in,” the security guard at the entrance to the lower-level casino told her. “Boss’s orders.”

  Not the same guard as last time. He wasn’t even thinking lascivious thoughts about her. Still, she gave him her best smile.

  “Except that I have been invited,” she told him, “even if I don’t have a silly piece of paper. Luc Lazare wants to see me.”

  Not an outright lie. She was betting on it, even if she hadn’t heard from Luc since he’d taken off with Nuala.

  The security guard’s expression shifted to cautious at the mention of Luc’s name. “Lazare, huh?”

  He needed convincing. She drew on a memory of Luc sliding his palm along the side of her face and let the security guard experience the raw attraction that always sparked between us. The guard’s eyes widened, and for a moment he was mesmerized. Then she pulled away the memory, and he jerked back to the present.

  “Lazare. Yeah, yeah, okay. Go ahead.”

  “Where will I find him?” she asked, as she sauntered through the security point. “He brought Nuala back here a while ago.”

  “As far as I know, he’s still with her. Her quarters.”

  she nodded as if she knew exactly where that was. Remembering Luc taking the elevators when he’d been called to an emergency the first time she’d been here, she decided no harm in trying that.

  But as she passed the habitat, she stopped and looked for Hank. No luck. He must be back in the wooded area again. She wondered what else he could tell her, whether he did know more than he’d said.

  Reluctantly leaving the area, she headed for the elevators.

  A couple was already waiting there. She guessed the man was human, the woman in a leopard print sarong not. His hand was on her buttocks. He kept flexing his fingers, squeezing. Uncomfortable at the public display, she looked away. Did they all have the power, then, to make one forget one’s self and do things—sexual things—that were out of character?

  Not that she’d actually done anything out of the ordinary with Luc. She simply couldn’t stop thinking about it. Even now she imagined him making her quiver with desire without even touching her.

  When the elevator doors opened, she swallowed hard and followed the couple inside, hoping they wouldn’t get too into each other with her there. Trying to wipe Luc’s sensual influence from her mind for a moment, she stopped in front of the panel. Noting there were two floors below this, she didn’t know which button to press.

  Nuala’s quarters...which floor? she silently thought.

  All the way down, came the silent answer from the woman.

  Pressing three, she flicked a smile at her, wondering if she realized she wasn’t one of her kind. She seemed too busy mesmerizing her companion to notice. Sexual tension charged the atmosphere of the small space, making her thoughts riot.

  Images of Luc and her in a hot clinch.

  The woman looked her way, her eyebrows arching nearly into her
hairline.

  Oh, no, she’d read her. She forced herself to think of supplies that she needed to order for Petopia so she wouldn’t feed her amusement. She snickered and turned her attention back to her companion.

  Skye was relieved when they got out of the elevator before her on two.

  A moment later, she was wandering the corridor of the lowest level below the casino and wondering how she was going to find Luc.

  Turning a corner, no sooner had she reset her internal radar in hopes of detecting his presence than she sensed he was nearby. She slowed near each door to concentrate on anyone inside and was quickly rewarded when she heard Luc’s voice.

  “What about the baby, Dr. Botis?”

  “The baby seems to be fine.”

  “You’re sure?” Nuala’s voice, filled with question.

  “Everything looks good to me, so relax.”

  “I’ll try.”

  Nuala pregnant?

  Her mind immediately made the jump. The door opened to reveal a congenial looking middle-aged man with a receding hairline, carrying a medical bag. He passed her, leaving her staring straight at Luc.

  His expression going from relief to irritation, Luc stepped back to let her in.

  Pacing the room like a restless cat, Nuala nevertheless looked limp with relief when she stopped. Her gaze met Skye’s and held.

  “Shade?”

  Nuala nodded.

  Skye’s eyes smarted with sudden unshed tears. Luc’s sister was pregnant with Shade’s child. When her brother went on, part of him would still be here. Maybe it should matter that the baby’s mother was something else, but it didn’t. Without hesitation, she hugged Nuala. who was so surprised she stiffened for a moment before returning the hug.

  Luc cleared his throat as if he didn’t like being left out. But when Skye glanced his way, she noted the quick shake of his head and the arrowed gaze on his sister indicating his concern, and it occurred to her that Nuala didn’t know Shade hadn’t actually passed on quite yet.