by Lisa Kessler
I pushed the fear aside and raised my chin as I slid my hand free of his. “I was counting on that.” A fire flickered in my belly, a burn I barely recognized, a spark that had died when I lost everything. Passion, desire, yearning. I wanted my life back, my humanity, and I wasn’t going to give up. Not anymore. “Evolution Defense hasn’t delivered on a cure. Maybe the federal government scientists can. If they already know about werewolves, they may already have one for all we know.”
“This isn’t a sickness.” A muscle tensed in his cheek. “You can’t go back, but I can help you move forward.”
The wolf ached to touch him again, but I fought to control the urge. He didn’t want me to find a cure. He wasn’t in my corner. “You just don’t want the world to know.”
“Have you seen what people do to things that frighten them? They hunt them down.” He took a step toward me, his intense blue eyes searching my face. “They will kill every shifter if that’s what it takes. That’s what Brad Newport wants.”
“He knows too?” I frowned. “How is that possible?”
“It doesn’t matter right now.” Chandler broke eye contact, staring out the window. “But he knows. And if he makes it into the senate his top priority will be to declassify military experiments. We’ll look like monsters.”
I remembered the way that wolf had lunged at my brother. It was a monster. I wasn’t going to become one, too. Chandler didn’t understand.
“Evolution Defense is close to finding a cure.” I hated the pleading tone in my voice. I wanted those words to be true. “Shifters don’t need to exterminated; they need medical care. Humans aren’t meant to turn into animals.”
Chandler looked over at me. “Children are born shifters—happy little boys—and they’re not sick. They deserve a chance just as much as we do.”
“Born into this?” I gaped at him, struggling to find the right words. “You said you were bitten like me. How can you—” I gestured to my whole body “—accept this? I want my life back. Don’t you?”
He held his hand out to me. I stared at it for a second, fighting the desire to feel his skin against mine. This animal instinct blooming inside me frightened me, and every second I spent with Chandler seemed to weave another thread in a web that was drawing us closer.
Did he feel it, too?
I finally placed my hand in his. The sizzle of awareness warmed my blood as he walked me back over to the couch. “Acceptance doesn’t come instantly, but as you and your wolf connect, it becomes a natural bond.”
I sat beside him and wet my lips. “I was attacked, and I still don’t know if my brother is dead or alive. I can’t accept any of this.”
“I’m so sorry, Wendy.” I searched his eyes for any trace of the pity I usually found from the people who knew about my parents’ deaths and my brother’s disappearance. Instead, there was a spark in his eyes, a familiar spark I’d seen in my own reflection: rage.
For the first time in over three years, someone understood me. I wasn’t alone in this secret. Unwelcome tears blurred my vision as I blinked them back. “He was the only family I had left. I need to find a cure, or I’ll be alone forever.”
He shook his head. “I thought that at the beginning, too, but it doesn’t have to be like that.”
“Yes, it does.” I squeezed his hand tighter. “I’m too afraid to be near anyone like this. What if I hurt them? And I can’t just blurt out, ‘Oh, by the way, I can’t go out with you tonight because it’s a full moon and I’ll be a wolf up on Lookout Mountain.’”
His thumb caressed the back of my hand, the tenderness like a monsoon in the desert of my loneliness. God, it had been lifetimes since anyone had touched me with such…care. I wanted more. I didn’t want to settle for a life of solitude.
A slow tear rolled down my cheek as I met his eyes. “That wolf took everything from me. I’m going to get my life back—with or without your help.”
CHAPTER 6
Chandler
I barely knew this woman, but seeing the raw pain her silver eyes made it impossible for me to walk away. I needed to contain this, to keep her from exposing shifters more than she already had. Shit. If she’d been working with Evolution Defense all this time, it could have been her blood they had used to develop the serum that they had injected into the Timberwolves squad, giving them the heightened senses of a shifter without the shift itself.
Brad Newport had been the leader of the squad. According to Vance’s half brother, Micah, who had served under Newport, after most of the men had died from strokes and suicides, Newport had vowed to end the government’s super solider research by declassifying all the experiments. His fanatical mission would out shifters to the entire world, and we’d be on display as monsters, not as men.
And it might’ve all started with Wendy’s eagerness for a cure.
At least I understood now why she hadn’t recognized my scent earlier tonight. She hadn’t known jaguar shifters existed. Hell, she probably didn’t know anything about any of us. She’d been bitten and left behind.
That gut-wrenching lonely howl from the white wolf had come from this woman. There was no way I could walk away now. Her cry in the night had called to me in a primal way. I understood her pain intimately.
I also couldn’t let her keep pursuing a cure that didn’t exist. Maybe I could channel her energy in another way. “I know werewolves from two different packs, but none of them go by the name Brock, at least not now. Tell me about him. Maybe I can help you find him.”
She sighed, her gaze going distant. “He was three years older than me. After our parents died, he and I were inseparable.” A sad smile curved her lips. “He was the strong one.”
I caught her chin, bringing her attention back to my face. She was beautiful. My gaze wanders from her sparkling eyes lined with dark lashes to her full lips. Tragically beautiful. I wanted to steal all her pain and make her smile. Her scent like honey and spice intoxicated me. Damn. I needed to keep my head here. This woman could be dangerous for me and my pack.
What if she had called another reporter tonight? If she really had video footage of herself shifting, and gave it to the press…
A chilling shot of adrenaline slithered down my back. Our existence was closer to being exposed than I ever realized.
I cleared my throat, knowing I should put some distance between us, but I couldn’t move. “You’re stronger than you think.”
Her attention drifted down to my mouth and back up, making me ache to kiss her. Suddenly, desire mingled with the adrenaline. The scent of her arousal taunted me, reminding me how close her lips were to mine.
My voice cut to a whisper. “And you’re not alone anymore.”
She stared at me, through me, and finally replied, “I won’t stop looking for a cure.”
She was strong and stubborn. And her eyes would haunt me long after I left this house. A smile tugged at my lips. “Give me a week. Please. If you still think this is a sickness that needs to be cured, I’ll help you find it.”
For a second, I thought she was going to ask me to leave. I started to lower my hand from her chin, but she caught it. Her fingers were long and slender as she slid them through mine. “I still can’t believe you’re like me.”
I studied our joined hands. Mine were larger than hers, my skin a little tanner, but there was a strength to this union. Then I noticed the jagged scar along the back of her hand down to her wrist. The bite.
Mine was on my shoulder.
We might not have known each other well yet, but we’d both entered into this secret shifter world against our will, and if I could learn acceptance, there was hope for her. Maybe I could even help.
I lifted my gaze to her face. “No one taught you to use your heightened sense of smell. If they had, you would’ve recognized I was a shifter as soon as I came into Symphony Hall.”
She laughed, and her smile stole my breath. “Instead, I thought maybe you had a lot of cats.”
“I can teach you,” I o
ffered before I could stop myself. What was I doing? I didn’t have time for this, and I had cut women and dating out of my life when Vivi had cut herself out of mine.
Wendy tensed, sliding her hand free. “I’d rather not waste time. I should be finding a cure.”
I reached into my pocket to grab my cell phone. “And you think taking your story public is going to do that?”
“Yes.” She got up, her nervous energy filling the room again. “I figured the government would send scientists to study my DNA and figure out how to put me back together again. Evolution Defense was working on trying to separate the mutation. It’s worked in the lab, but they haven’t found a mechanism to achieve it inside my body. We tried a version of dialysis, but it’s never permanent.”
Jesus. She really was the source for the serum they shot into the Timberwolves squad. She had to be. I wanted to steal her away, hide her from them, but she didn’t trust me yet. I’d be the bad guy.
I struggled to keep my cool. “How did you get involved with them? I haven’t had a chance to do much research on your foundation yet, but I figured since you’re a donor to the opera, a defense contractor probably wasn’t one of your philanthropic projects.”
“After Brock’s abduction, I had to finish all the documentation to close my father’s businesses. He’d heavily invested in a government watchdog group.” She paused, a crease forming on her brow. “I think it was…the Transparency something. Collective, maybe?”
The hair on the back of my neck rose, and my mouth went dry. “I’ve heard of them before.”
Fuck. I forced myself to breathe, to steady my pulse. She probably hadn’t learned to listen for heartbeats anyway. I turned the puzzle over in my mind. If her father was feeding money into the Collective, how in the hell did she end up with Evolution Defense? Could the defense contractor be working with the Collective too? I’d have to do more digging later.
She frowned, staring at me. “Are you all right?”
“No.” I shook my head. “We need to get out of here.” I reached for her hand. “Now.”
“What?” Her eyes widened as she pulled away from me. “Why?”
“Because the Collective is committed to proving to the world that shifters exist, and Evolution Defense wants to use our DNA to create super soldiers. They want it bad enough to pay someone to kidnap a little boy after your blood didn’t work the way they hoped. Maybe they decided a born wolf would be better than someone who was bitten.” I picked up my coat. “And if your dad was mixed up in the Transparency Collective, they could be watching us right now.”
Wendy balked. “My parents wouldn’t have been funding a kidnapping ring.”
“We can figure that out later.” I gestured toward the door. “We need to get somewhere safe.”
“We just met. Why should I trust you?”
Fuck, I didn’t know. In desperation, I popped the top buttons on my tux shirt and exposed part of the jagged scar on my shoulder. “Because unlike the people you’ve been working with, I was bitten, too. They’re using you, Wendy.”
She hesitated, her gaze frozen on the scar. Finally, she nodded. “Okay. Let me grab some clothes.”
“No time. We’ll borrow some.” I took her hand again, leading her toward the garage. “Come on.”
We got in her car and headed for Symphony Hall. We’d be safer ditching her car in the parking garage and driving mine out to Sedona. I kept my attention on the mirrors. A pair of headlights seemed to be tailing us.
I glanced over at Wendy. “Someone’s behind us. Get off the freeway. We’ll lose them on the surface streets.”
“Okay.” She didn’t sound convinced, but she did as I asked while I sent a text to Rodney, the cameraman from my news team.
Meet me at Symphony Hall downtown. Bring the news van and plenty of lights.
Rodney was a workaholic. I was betting he was still at the station, but as the seconds ticked by, my hopes dimmed. Finally, my phone buzzed.
Be there in 10.
I let out a pent-up breath and checked the mirrors again. “Rodney is going to meet us at the theater with the news van.”
“What?” She glanced over at me. “Is that a good idea?”
“Short of calling the police, it’s all I can think of to get these assholes to back off. They won’t want to be on TV. Lights tend to send the roaches scrambling back into the shadows.”
“I don’t want to be on TV, either.” She adjusted her grip on the wheel. “Symphony Hall will be empty by now. Why would the news be interested?”
“I can interview you for a short segment on the new opera season. You’re one of their donors.”
“How did you—”
I held up my cell phone. “I did a little research on my phone earlier. Found your foundation listed in the playbill.”
“You’re good.” She raised a brow and stayed focused on the road.
Her approval shouldn’t have mattered, but it did. I looked over my shoulder. The lights were still in the rearview mirror. No way someone just happened to be taking the same route we were at this time of night. For once I wished I had a gun like most of my pack members. But my best weapon was publicity, and in this case, I was praying it would work. If it didn’t, I was no stranger to a fight. Dodging bullets was a taller order, but they rarely flew with a camera rolling. I was counting on that.
Rodney already had two light poles set up by the time Wendy parked in front of the theater marquis. I got out and went around to her side, all my attention on the black car slowly driving by.
She stepped out of the car and whispered, “Shit. I forgot my shoes.”
I glanced down at her bare toes. “We’ll keep the shot tight.” Then I called over to Rodney, “Are we ready to roll?”
“Just about.” Rodney was a foot shorter than I was, and a couple of inches shorter than Wendy. He was still in the same jeans and gray T-shirt he’d been wearing during the earlier newscast. My hunch that he had been at the station still appeared to right. He clipped a wireless mic to my lapel and reached for the neckline on Wendy’s gown.
Seeing his hands so close to her chest set off something primal inside me. I caught his wrist and took the mic. “I’ve got it. Get the camera rolling.” The black car came around the block again, and I pointed in that direction. “I want a shot of the downtown area, too.”
Rodney lifted the camera equipment onto his shoulder and spun around to face the street. “I don’t know, man. It’s pretty empty.”
“Just pan the area to bookend the spot.” All my attention was on the darkened corner. Sure enough, the car made another pass, but this time the camera was on them. They punched the gas and kept going through the traffic light.
I breathed a sigh of relief and turned to Wendy. She looked poised and ready for her close-up, despite of her lack of shoes. Confusion lined her eyes, but she rolled with the punches as I peppered her with questions about the Arizona Opera and the new season.
“Thanks so much for your time, Wendy.” I faced the camera again. “This is Chandler Williams, coming to you live from the Arizona Opera. Don’t miss out on Carmen.”
“And cut.” Rodney took the camera down from his shoulder. “Nice segment. When is it running?”
“I don’t know yet.” I took off my mic and glanced over at Wendy. She fumbled with the clip on the mic, and I reached over to help. “May I?”
“Thanks,” she replied and lowered her hands.
I pressed the clip, and my fingers lightly brushed her silky skin. She shivered under my touch. I lifted my gaze to her face. “Sorry.” I removed the mic, but I couldn’t take my eyes off hers.
Desire buzzed between us. Probably the remnants of adrenaline from the encounter with the car following us. Had to be. She still didn’t trust me. I wanted to persuade her not to tell the world about shifters, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to do it through seduction. I wasn’t a player, and love had burned me bad enough to keep my distance from that flame.
“You c
an put the mics in the bin over on the bumper,” Rodney said as he unplugged one of the light poles.
Shadows stretched across our faces, but I had no trouble seeing her. “I’ll be right back.”
“Yeah. See you soon.” She stepped back with a hint of a smile, breaking whatever the strange connection had been.
At the van, Rodney nudged me, keeping his back to Wendy. “What’s the story with her?”
He was whispering, but I knew enough werewolves to know Wendy would be able to hear every word. I cleared my throat. “She runs the Cain Foundation, a big donor for the opera. She offered me a ticket to Carmen tonight, and I enjoyed it, so I thought I’d give them some press.”
Rodney shot me a look, making it clear he wasn’t buying my bullshit.
I chuckled and clapped his shoulder. “I’ll tell you about it later. Thanks for getting here so fast, man.”
“No problem.” He headed for the other light pole and called, “You owe me one.”
I walked back over to Wendy. “Let’s go back to Jake’s and leave your car in the Hyatt’s parking structure. They won’t know to look for mine.”
“Okay.” She drove us up across town and parked beside my Z. “Nice wheels.”
“Wait until you see how fast it gets us to Sedona.”
“Sedona?” She frowned. “I thought we were hiding out at your place.”
“They saw us together. My place might be under surveillance now too. My pack has a ranch out in Sedona. We’ll be safer there.”
She didn’t look convinced. “What if they don’t want me around?”
“They’ll be fine.” I opened the passenger door, but she didn’t move. “Trust me. We’ve been looking for Deidra Harlow, and you already know her. They’re going to be happy to take you in.”
She got out of her car and stopped short of getting in mine. “If you think taking me to meet more shifters is going to change my mind about a cure, I should just drive home right now.”
I cursed under my breath. How could I make her see? I scanned the empty garage and lowered my voice. “Come with me to the ranch.” I waited for her to look at me. “I swear we’ll tell you everything.”