by Laura Wright
***
Shirt off, sweat glistening on his skin, Reaux lay perfectly balanced on his back on a tree branch, under the late afternoon sun and overlooking the rushing bayou. He was exhausted. Quinton and Via’s session had been in the water today. There was no other way to get them out of their cats and into their human forms. They’d been stuck that way for a month. Too much damn rutting. Not to mention the constant need to remain on guard.
No longer were the enemies of the Pantera residing outside the borders of the Wildlands. More and more, they were breaching and coming to either take or destroy. Reaux had refused to visit either the flames of the bombed Headquarters or the start of the rebuild. Anger was always something to be feared with him. It seemed to intensify his musk. And with so many females around, he didn’t want the attention to be taken off what was vitally important. Seemed he was retreating deeper and deeper lately.
Just as he was nodding off, the sun penetrating his skin, the scent of sweet mint rushed his nostrils. Immediately, his weary body stirred. In both defense and in awareness. His jaw tightened and his nostrils flared. What the hell was she doing here?
“Stay where you are,” he growled low and fierce. “Not another step.”
The sound of footfall ceased, then a weary voice responded, “Okay.”
It bothered him, that thread of emotional and physical exhaustion in her tone. Made his awareness vibrate. Made everything inside him ache to help. It was why, long ago as a young cub, he’d hoped to become a Healer. Finding the reasons behind pain and working with the individual to push through it. It’s what his own Healer had done for him back when his curse emerged. That, and made him feel like less of a freak.
“Why are you here, Karen?” he demanded.
“I need to talk to you.”
“I told you—”
“That you only treat couples. I know.”
“If you know, then you should be back at the clinic with another Healer.”
“I also understand why you work with couples.”
He sat up, turned to face her. “You do?”
She nodded. Standing several feet below him, surrounded in green foliage and dappled sunlight, her red hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun, she looked disturbingly pretty. She’d changed clothes and was wearing dark gray jeans and a white tank top. She had a lush, very female body; tall, strong, with incredible curves. She was human, true. But she was built for a Pantera male. To both ride and be ridden.
That thought had Reaux snarling at himself. The last thing he needed to do was have physical opinions about this woman. “You need to go, Karen. Now.”
She shook her head. “No.”
She was stubborn as hell. “If you understand about me, then you know you shouldn’t be here. Shouldn’t be anywhere near me. And why I absolutely can’t treat you.”
“But—”
“No buts.”
“I’m not sexually interested in you, Reaux.”
He stilled, his ass digging into the branch. What had she just said? He stared down at her. At first, curious. Perhaps even hopeful. Then, disbelieving.
She took a step forward despite his warning. “I’m serious.”
He snorted.
“There’s no desire here.”
“Impossible.”
“Wow.”
He sighed. “I don’t mean that in an arrogant way, I assure you. It’s fact. A lifetime of it.”
“That may be,” she said, hands going to her hips. “But it has no effect on me. You have no effect on me. Maybe it’s because I’m human.”
He jumped down from the tree branch, landing a few feet in front of her. He was surprised and intrigued when she didn’t startle. Especially when she lifted her chin at him.
“It doesn’t matter what blood courses through your veins, Karen. Or any female’s, for that matter. What I have inside me will turn any blood to fire.” My curse. Or as the female who gave me life used to call it, my wickedness.
But Karen wasn’t moved. “Not me. I feel zero urge to kiss you or rip your clothes off or beg you to…” She stopped, shook her head. “Look, my need for you has nothing to do with a sexual one.”
Reaux stared hard into her eyes. Those pale brown pools of passion and sincerity. Impossible. He moved closer until he was only an inch or two away. He looked her over. Sniffed the air. Waited. Watched. But she didn’t move. Just looked up at him with those eyes…
Impossible.
His brows drew together as he calculated what he was witnessing. The only thing he scented was sweet mint. There was not even the faintest whiff of female lust. How was such a thing… He stared hard at her. “No.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You still refuse me?”
He didn’t tell her that his ‘no’ had meant only a disbelief in her impassivity, not a refusal. “I wouldn’t be the best choice for you, Karen. My training has been limited—”
“I don’t care.”
“You should. It’s your health.”
“I’m not just fighting for myself here. My son needs me to be whole or—” Her voice broke and she cursed. “Listen, I’m just asking you to try.”
She had a child. And she was most definitely human. No doubt she’d had him in captivity. His gaze moved over her face.
“I need you, Reaux,” she whispered. “You have no idea how much.”
The deep ache that moved through him at her words was impossible to turn from. He wanted to help her. He wanted to protect her. But he also wanted to hold her again. Feel her weight against his chest, her hands through the fabric of his shirt. What was that? Not something a Healer should be feeling for his patient. How could he know? His need for a female had never been allowed to start, much less grow. It had always just been…taken.
“So,” she asked softly. “What do you think?”
What did he think? This was going to be a mistake? But that he was also incredibly curious? That he needed to help her? That perhaps he was standing in front of the one female in the world he desired, but who didn’t desire him?
With a growl, he turned around and climbed back up the tree. Only when he was lying down again did he utter the words, “Come by my office tomorrow at ten.”
CHAPTER 3
Karen watched him sleep in the light of the moon. The beautiful boy who was growing far too quickly, despite the deceleration of being in the Wildlands. Caleb looked so much like his older brother, Ward. Did Tate also look like them? Like her?
“Kar?”
She heard the call from the living room and eased the covers up to Caleb’s chin before leaving him to dream. Out in her small living room, her friend Adrian was sitting on the couch, furiously tapping away on the keyboard of his laptop. The male was a full Pantera¸ but had been in the labs with her and the rats. He’d already been there a year before she’d arrived. They’d been neighbors. Cell next door. On more than one occasion, the guards had put them together to see if they would mate naturally. While the bastards watched, of course. But Adrian never touched her. And he’d been beaten for it. Over the years, they’d become friends, understood each other, protected each other. Incredibly gifted with computers, he now worked with the Geeks.
“I’ve checked birth records in New York for that day and time,” he said. “Nothing. I’m sure whoever took him didn’t use that exact date anyway.”
Karen knew it was unlikely the information would be there. Babies like Tate were being bred for experimentation. They weren’t going to have birth certificates, or be adopted through state agencies. But she had to try.
“I’m going to research adoptions around then,” he added. “I’ll follow up with doctors. Schools.”
She came over to the couch and sat down beside him. “Thank you so much for doing this.”
“It helps me too, if that makes sense.”
“It does.”
“Sometimes I wish…” He trailed off.
“What?”
“I don’t know. That I’d…you and me had�
��instead of what they did to you.” He heaved a sigh, gave her a half smile. “If they’d have been mine, maybe something would’ve been different for you. At least I could’ve helped with the cubs.”
His words seared into her. They were lovely and generous. But they were fantasy. “They wouldn’t have let you anywhere near the babies when they were born, Adrian. They would’ve known how you’d react if they’d tried to take your child away.”
“Then I could have helped you,” he said.
“You are.” She put a hand on his shoulder. “Right now.”
His eyes shuttered, but he nodded. “We’ll find them, Karen. As long as it takes, okay?”
“Okay.” It was everything. Keeping Caleb with her, and finding Ward and Tate. And she so appreciated her friend’s generosity. “But not tonight,” she said pointedly. “One more hour, max. Then you’re out of here. I know you have a date.”
Adrian’s muscles flexed at the mention of the Hunter he was seeing. Like many of the Pantera males who’d come back from the labs, he had a difficult time opening up to anyone, much less the females. It was like his body was on constant alert. He wanted to relax and enjoy himself, but it never felt…safe.
A knock at the door brought Karen out of her thoughts. She gave Adrian a look. “Is Alisa meeting you here?”
“No.”
She got up and headed for the door, the nerves in her belly fraying. Like Adrian, she had that constant state of alert thing too. Came from being held captive. You never knew what or who was coming for you.
She pulled back the door and was surprised to see Reaux standing there. Moonlight at his back.
“Hello, Karen.”
Casually dressed in a black T-shirt and jeans, he held a file in his hand. Her heart stuttered at the sight of him.
“I thought our appointment was tomorrow,” she said, concerned about the stuttering. She’d made it very clear to him that she wasn’t affected by his musk. “In your office?”
“It is. I brought something for you to fill out. A few questions that are better answered without time constraints or pressure.”
“Oh, okay.” She took the file, though she thought it was kind of odd that he’d bring it by in person, and at night. But she wasn’t about to question it. She needed him. “Thank you.”
“Of course.”
She waited for him to turn around and head out, but when he didn’t, she asked, “Was there something else?”
His nostrils flared slightly, and his brow furrowed.
“Reaux? What’s going on?” She prayed he wasn’t having second thoughts. Again.
“Kar, I think I might have found something.” Adrian took that exact moment to pull up alongside her at the door. When he noticed Reaux standing there, he acknowledged him with a tip of the chin. “Hey there.”
Reaux didn’t say anything. But he was sure staring, the muscles in his neck bulging slightly.
“Adrian,” Karen said quickly, trying to figure out what was happening in her foyer. Or maybe she was trying to avoid it. “This is Reaux. The Healer I was telling you about.”
“Oh.” As if that made all the difference, he stuck out his hand. “Good to meet you. Thanks for helping out my girl here.”
Reaux looked like he might shift. Right then and there. And she’d seen enough Pantera males in the lab—pissed-off males—to know when a shift was coming. There was this electricity in the air, and the features on the male changed slightly. To more feline. The deadly, predator kind of feline.
But instead, he said coolly, “I understand now. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Before turning and stalking away.
***
As rain pelted the Wildlands, Reaux addressed the two males seated across from him. “I don’t want to hear about her history from either of you.” He’d built a covered deck off the back of his office at the clinic. It had proved useful, both for himself and for the couples he worked with. Or now, for a quick breakfast meeting with the Pantera leader and the Healer.
“I was only going to give you certain pieces of the puzzle,” Jean-Baptiste said in between bites of apple, the new tattoo he’d just had done of his mate’s eyes flashing on the back of his hand. “What most would know. Nothing intimate.”
“She has a cub,” Raphael put in. The leader of the Pantera, who also happened to be Reaux’s cousin, was dressed casually in jeans and a black sweatshirt. No doubt relishing a day without suit and tie. “His name’s Caleb.”
Reaux shook his head. Of course he knew the woman had a child, but as he’d told the males several times already, he wanted to hear from Karen herself.
“Backstory on my new patient aside,” he said to Raphael, pointedly, “isn’t there something you want to say to me?”
The male’s gold eyes flashed. “You called us here, Reaux.”
“Aren’t you concerned?”
“About what?”
“How my curse could affect this human female? One who’s obviously been through intense trauma.”
Raphael snorted. “Cousin, I’ve never been worried. That was your mother’s, and my aunt’s, irrational issue. One she seemed to relish torturing you about. You’ve always been smart about what you think you can handle. I don’t need to be involved.” He released a weary breath. “Besides, I have a few other pressing matters to deal with.”
“Like the safety of our species,” Jean-Baptiste put in.
“Shit…not just safety anymore. The survival.”
Reaux tensed, almost into fighting mode. “What’s happened?” First and foremost, he was Pantera. Ready to battle, protect. Ready to use his teeth and claws on anything that threatened his kind. “Has there been another suicide bombing?”
“No,” Raphael admitted. “But we know the reason behind it. Trying to destroy information on a biological virus Christopher developed that could wipe out the Pantera. He didn’t want us to know it existed at all.”
The cat inside Reaux pawed and snarled to get out. “How the hell could he create such a thing?”
“He had our kind to play with and experiment on for a long time, Reaux,” JB said, the metal in his lip and eyebrow flashing as a quick burst of lightning flickered in the sky. “I fear he knows our DNA better than we do.”
This bastard needed to be put down. “Was the research destroyed?”
“Looks like it,” Raphael said. “But we’ll have confirmation soon. I’m hoping something can be salvaged. If we can get our hands on the formula, we can create an antidote. Or that’s the hope.”
“Karen can tell you more about it,” Jean-Baptiste said.
The woman’s name made Reaux’s skin tighten. “What?”
“I know you don’t want backstory, but she was there. Just a few days ago. It was her son, Ward, who gave us the information. After he abducted Karen first.” He shook his head. “Still don’t know what to make of that. Hero or villain. But at least he got our people to safety.”
“Holy shit,” Reaux uttered. “That poor woman.”
Raphael lifted a brow. “So. Do you really want me to say you can’t help her?”
“Hell yes.”
“And would you follow that order if I gave it?”
“Fuck no.” The grin he shot the male was dark and half-assed.
Both Raph and Jean-Baptiste laughed. It was a difficult line to tread, leading a group of males and females who were at their core predatory animals who wished to do what they wanted—were driven by instinct to do what they wanted. But Raphael handled it well. Was fair and thoughtful in his rule.
“What’s really the problem here?” Jean-Baptiste asked. “Are you attracted to her? Not that I would blame you. She’s hot.”
Raphael shot him the side-eye. “Don’t let your female hear you talking like that.”
JB snorted. “Please. It’s one of our games. My mate and I. Genevieve says who she thinks is hot. I say who I think is hot. Then when we’re both so jealous we’re about to lose our minds, we both shift into our cats and get nast—”
Reaux cleared his throat. “Yeah, we get the picture, brother.”
Jean-Baptiste chuckled darkly.
“Are you attracted to her, Reaux?” Raphael asked.
Reaux evaded the question. Mainly because he wasn’t sure how he felt about the woman. How he should feel about her. “She claims to not be affected by me.”
His fellow Healer, tattoo-lover, and serious over-sharer nearly choked on the last bit of apple. “How’s that possible?”
Reaux pointed at the male. “Exactly.”
“She’s not mated, is she?” Raphael asked.
“I didn’t think so. But…she could be seeing someone.” The words sounded like gravel in his throat. “Do either of you know a Pantera called Adrian?”
Jean-Baptiste nodded. “I checked him out when he and the others came in.”
“He’s a rat? Hybrid?”
“Full Pantera,” JB told him. “Captured early, and held in one of the labs. Incredibly gifted with IT. I hear he was a fearless protector to the females on the inside. Or tried to be.”
Hero type. Sounded like just the kind of male Karen would choose. A good male. Why, then, did Reaux want to rip out his throat?
“What does it matter who she’s seeing?” Raphael asked him, his eyes humming with amusement. “You know, if you’re not interested.”
Reaux sent him a feral glare. “Screw you, cousin.”
The leader of the Pantera laughed. And just as JB joined in, the door to Reaux’s office buzzed.
“She’s here.” Reaux was up, out of his seat in seconds.
“Yeah, he’s not into her,” Jean-Baptiste uttered, shoving back his chair.
“Not at all.” Raphael stood. “I suppose we can leave the way we came. Finish breakfast at home with my mate and cub.”
JB nodded. “I’ve got to head back to work.” A slow smile touched his pierced lips. “Or I could slip back into bed with Genevieve and make a second breakfast out of her—”
“Look,” Reaux cut in on a growl. “Rain’s stopped. Thanks for coming. Talk to you guys later.”