Sexual Healing [Impulse 6] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Zara Chase

  “You okay, buddy?”

  “Never better. Nice wheels,” he said, nodding toward a yellow Corvette parked across the street, headlight still on, engine running, the driver’s door wide open. “Wonder who it belongs to.”

  “Come on, let’s get some clothes on, then we’ll check it—say, who are you?”

  A huge silver-striped domestic cat emerged from their crawl space and wound itself around their legs, mewing with a shrill urgency that got their complete attention.

  “Wonder who he belongs to,” Bryce said. “I’ve never seen him before.”

  “Me neither.” Jared cocked his head to one side, picking up on the cat’s urgency but unable to tune in to its thoughts. The cat went back toward the crawl space, repeatedly looking over its shoulder at them. When Jared and Bryce remained where they were it came back, meowed, and then headed for the space again.

  “I think he wants us to follow him.”

  Jared nodded. “Looks that way. You up to crawling about down there in the buff?”

  Bryce shrugged. “Don’t have anything better to do.”

  The cat looked back as though making sure they were following him then sped up, heading straight for what appeared to be a bundle of clothing in the far corner. Only as they got closer did Jared realize it was actually a person.

  It was a young unconscious woman, curled into the fetal position, dried blood on her forehead from a recent cut.

  “Shit!” Bryce said. “How did she get here?”

  “The yellow ’Vette?”

  “Yeah, I guess.”

  Jared leaned over her and checked for a pulse. It was thin, but there.

  “We need to get her somewhere where she can breathe,” he said.

  “How are we gonna get her out of this narrow space?”

  “You take her legs.”

  When Jared lifted her torso a waterfall of dark blonde hair fell free. There was no illumination in the dark space, but with his keen cheetah vision he could see that she was very attractive, even if she was deathly pale. There was also something familiar about her. Did he know her from somewhere? Had they met before? He would remember, surely? Jared tried to ignore the way his soul stirred at the sight of her. If they didn’t get her inside pretty damned quick she’d be dead and there would be nothing for him to fantasize about.

  Bent double, spurred on by the urgency of the situation, they managed to maneuver the woman out of the space. As soon as they’d done so, Jared swept her into his arms and carried her into the house.

  “You okay with her, buddy?” Bryce asked. “I’ve got more strength.”

  “I’m good. She doesn’t weigh much. You get the door.”

  The cat followed them inside. As though he thought he’d done everything that was required of him, he curled up on a chair and made himself at home. Jared barely noticed. The change that had taken place inside him the moment he touched the woman intensified. He gazed down at her, dirty, bloody, and unconscious, and once again he was convinced they weren’t strangers. Perhaps that was because he knew deep inside his cheetah soul that their intended mate had finally found her way to Impulse.

  And she certainly knew how to make an entrance.

  Chapter Three

  Jared laid their mate-to-be on a couch and gave her mouth-to-mouth, willing her to respond. To his relief, her breathing improved almost immediately. She spluttered and groaned but didn’t open her eyes.

  “Send Mikael a pheromone,” he said. “We need him here right now. I don’t like the look of her color. And that cut on her forehead looks deep.”

  “You think we got to her in time?”

  Jared flexed his jaw. “Let’s hope so. Send the pheromone, then go and shut her car down and bring anything in it up here.”

  “Right. We need to know who she is and what she’s doing here.”

  “No, on second thought, put her car in our garage, out of sight.”

  “Why?”

  Jared shrugged, not taking his eyes off their mate. “Just a gut feeling. Something tells me she’s running from something, or someone.”

  “Our enemies?”

  “I didn’t pick up any shifter qualities when I carried her in.” Jared leaned over, brushed his cheek against hers, and then drank in her scent. “Nope, she’s one hundred percent human.”

  “She still could have been sent here without being aware of it.”

  “Think I don’t know that?”

  “Whoa, there’s no need to bite my head off. I was just sayin’.”

  “Sorry.” Jared shook his head. “She’s making me crazy already.”

  Bryce smirked. “Yeah, I got that part.”

  “I keep thinking I know her from somewhere, but I can’t think… Anyway, the pheromone, and then her car,” Jared reminded him.

  “I’m on it.”

  “Bryce.”

  “Now what?”

  “Put some clothes on,” Jared said, grinning over his shoulder at his buddy. “Don’t wanna frighten the natives.”

  Bryce chuckled, ran up to their room and retuned wearing just a pair of shorts. He threw another pair at Jared and was out the door. He returned via the internal stairs to their underground garage, clutching a large tote, a woman’s purse, and a laptop bag. Before they had a chance to look through her stuff, Mikael, alpha tiger and head of Impulse’s medical center, bounded through the door.

  “Where’s the fire?” he asked.

  Jared released the woman’s hand and explained the unorthodox circumstances of her appearance. Mikael asked no further questions but crouched beside his patient and checked her vital signs.

  “You found her in the nick of time,” he said when he’d finished his exam and straightened up. “Respiratory failure. Another five minutes and it would have been too late. Where did you find her?”

  “In the crawl space beneath our house,” Bryce replied. “If we hadn’t shifted in the road instead of coming back inside to do it like we normally do, we never would have known she was there.”

  Mikael scratched his head. “I still don’t get what made you check beneath your house for stray humans.”

  “This fellow.” Jared scratched the cat’s ears. “He kinda led us to her.”

  “Smart feline,” Mikael replied. “Hers, presumably.”

  “That’s what we figured.”

  “So, where did she come from?”

  “We have her car and her things. We’re about to try and figure that out. What do we need to do with her in the meantime?”

  Mikael busied himself cleaning the cut on her forehead and placing a dressing over it. “This is just superficial, so it won’t need stitches. I’ll give her a shot that’ll knock her out until the morning, give her lungs time to recover. If she freaks out at the sight of your ugly faces and tries to run off, it’ll be too much for her.”

  “But she’ll be all right?” both cheetahs asked together.

  Mikael shrugged. “No reason why she shouldn’t be. She seems young and fit. Rafe will want to know about her sudden arrival, of course.”

  “Yeah, we know.”

  “She’s all human,” Mikael assured them. “But that doesn’t mean much. She still could have been sent here.”

  “To hide under our house, where she was unlikely to be found,” Jared said heatedly. “It was pure luck that—”

  “Hey, don’t shoot the messenger, buddy.” Mikael pushed his hands toward them, palms outward, and grinned. “I know what you’re thinking, and I don’t blame you. She’s a babe and you could well be right, she could be the mate you’ve been waiting to find. But we have to be sure first. Our enemies know you two are desperate, and I wouldn’t put anything past them.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Bryce shot Mikael the finger. “Has anyone ever told you that you’ve become one smug bastard since finding your own mate?”

  Mikael’s grin widened. “What can I possibly say to that?”

  Jared, in no mood for banter, scowled. “Give her the damned shot and leave us
to make her comfortable, why don’t you?”

  “I’m totally unappreciated in this place,” Mikael grumbled, rummaging in his bag and extracting a syringe. “You need to get her out of those dirty, sweaty clothes, which I’m sure you won’t mind doing.”

  “Looks like she might work in a bar or restaurant,” Bryce remarked. “Why else would she be wearing that short skirt and low-cut blouse?”

  “A waitress with a Corvette?” Mikael hoisted one brow. “I hate to say this, but there could be another reason for the shirt skirt and sexy blouse.”

  Jared grunted but made no response. This woman was destined to be their mate, and as far as he was concerned, that was all there was to it. It wasn’t just wishful thinking, or desperation, on his part. He’d felt the connection the moment he’d laid eyes on her. There could be a whole heap of reasons for her choice of clothing. Besides, she was wearing minimal makeup and flat shoes, which didn’t jibe with Mikael’s insinuation. Jared suspected their guest was in trouble of some sort but he didn’t think she was on the game.

  Mikael administered the shot and stood up. “Right, that’s me out of here. Make her comfortable and put her to bed. I expect Rafe will call a council meeting tomorrow, once we know a bit more about her.”

  “I’ll send him a pheromone,” Jared said reluctantly. “He won’t be happy if he finds out there’s a stranger in our midst and he wasn’t informed about her arrival straightaway.”

  “Call me if there’s a problem,” Mikael said, slapping Jared’s shoulder and heading for the door. “I live to serve.”

  “And to annoy me,” Jared added but smiled as he did so.

  “Especially that, buddy.”

  “God, she’s beautiful,” Bryce said reverently once Mikael was gone. They gazed down at their mate-to-be, now sleeping peacefully. Her breathing was regular and even, her finely etched features serene in repose, even if they were covered with dried blood and dirt. Her lips were so damned temptingly plump and soft, just screaming to be kissed. “She’s the one for us, isn’t she?”

  “No question,” Jared replied, grabbing a washcloth and gently cleaning her face, revealing a line of delicate freckles across the bridge of her nose. “Why else would she have been beneath our house on the one day we chose to shift in the street if we weren’t supposed to find her? It was meant to be.”

  “My thoughts exactly. Come on, let’s get her upstairs.”

  This time Bryce carried her, while Jared and the cat followed behind. Jared pulled back the covers on the bed in their guest room, removed the pumps from her feet, and Bryce laid her gently down. She didn’t stir when Jared unbuttoned her blouse, revealing the lacy black bra that encased plump tits. Enticing glimpses of raspberry-colored areoles showed through the thin fabric.

  “Shit!” they said together.

  Bryce lifted her legs while Jared unfastened her skirt and pulled it off. Her panties matched her bra, causing both cheetahs to simply stand their ground and admire the view. She was goddamned perfect! Slim and curvy, with endlessly long legs, smooth, unblemished skin, and striking silver eyes. How the hell did he know that when she hadn’t yet opened them? A memory tugged but remained annoyingly just out of Jared’s reach. He knew somehow that he was looking at an intelligent, capable woman who went after what she wanted in life and wasn’t afraid to fight her corner or stand up for what she thought was right. And yet, right now she seemed breathtakingly vulnerable in her debilitated condition, reinforcing the protective instincts that had surfaced the moment he’d laid eyes on her. If those fucking rogue wolves or bears had sent her here, they’d damned well better look out because Jared’s blood was up and he was prepared to slay dragons for her.

  “A blonde,” Bryce said on an elongated sigh. “At least now we know what color our mate’s hair is.”

  “Yeah, we do.” Jared pulled the covers up to her chin, smiling as the cat jumped onto the bed and turned in several circles before making himself comfortable at her feet. “Lucky devil!”

  “Come on, man, she’ll sleep for now. Let’s see what we can find out about her from her things.”

  “Right.”

  Jared couldn’t resist dropping a kiss on her smooth forehead, careful to avoid the dressing covering her cut, before following Bryce from the room. He didn’t quite close the door, thinking the cat might want to leave at some point. Bryce poured them both large brandies when they reached their lounge. Jared sat with his, swilling the amber liquid around the glass, suddenly anxious to delay revealing their mate’s identity. His instincts told him she was one of the good guys, but she was definitely on the run from something, and that bothered him a lot.

  “Can’t put it off indefinitely, buddy,” Bryce said, taking the seat beside him.

  “What if she’s in the sort of trouble that threatens the entire colony?”

  “If she’s the one for us then Rafe and the others will help us. You know that. Rafe and Vilas put the entire colony at risk for their Chantal, and others have done the same for their mates without anyone here raising objections. All for one and all that shit.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.” Jared stretched his arms above his head, surprised to find that the fatigue which had become so familiar over recent months had now left him completely. “It’s just that having waited so long, and being in such dire need, if something went wrong I don’t think I could—”

  “Shush, now’s not the time to get all maudlin on me.” Bryce countered Jared’s infrequent bouts of self-pity by refusing to sympathize. “Let’s take it one step at a time and find out who she is first.”

  “Right.”

  Jared stood up and grabbed the woman’s purse from the table where Bryce had left it. It didn’t feel right rummaging through someone else’s personal belongings, but in this case they had no choice. They couldn’t wait for the morning to find out if she’d been sent here by their enemies. Not that there was likely to be anything in writing to lend them any clues if she was. Even so, Jared was surprised by what little information the contents of the bag yielded about its owner.

  “I thought women carried their entire lives in their purses,” he said, frowning. “But there’s absolutely nothing in here that tells us who she is.”

  “Look in her wallet.”

  “I just have, and there isn’t a single credit card.” Jared flexed his brows. “Who in this world lives without plastic nowadays?”

  “Someone who doesn’t want to be found?” Bryce suggested.

  “Yeah, that explains why she’s carrying so much cash.” Jared extracted a hefty wad of notes. He then turned his attention to her cell phone, which was switched off. “She probably knew she could be traced through it if she left it on.”

  Bryce scowled. “Could she really be on the run from someone with that much influence?”

  “Hard to say.” Jared shrugged. “Television programs have a lot to answer for.”

  “Switch it on, see what you get.”

  Jared did so. “Damn, it’s asking me for a password.” He switched the phone off again. “We’ll just have to wait until she wakes up and see what she has to say for herself.”

  Bryce was busy rifling through her tote. “She packed in a hurry,” he said. “There are odd shoes in here, underwear that doesn’t match—and we already know that she likes to match her bras and panties—a pair of jeans, a couple of tops, and not much else.”

  “If she was driving, she must have a license somewhere, but it ain’t in this purse. Take a look in her car, buddy, and see if it’s in the glove box.”

  Bryce loped down the stairs and came back a short time later clutching a sheaf of papers. Jared took them from him and quickly came up with the goods.

  “Our mate’s name is Caitlyn Eton, and she’s from Jacksonville.” The impression that they’d met before hadn’t left Jared, but he’d never been to Jacksonville and her name meant nothing to him.

  “Sure it’s her?”

  “See for yourself.” Jared held up the license. “Tha
t’s her picture.”

  “If it’s a genuine license.”

  “It’s the best fake I’ve ever seen if it isn’t. There’s an address. Let’s see what we can find out about it online.”

  Bryce fired up his laptop and pulled up information on the condo in question. “Seems to be in a nice area of the city,” he remarked. “Caitlyn has recently taken it on a short lease, which doesn’t tell us much. I’m searching her name now to see what that brings up.”

  “Anything?” Jared asked, busying himself with Caitlyn’s own laptop but unable to get beyond the password on that, either.

  “Nope. This lady doesn’t want people to find her. I’ve checked Facebook and Twitter but she isn’t on either, at least not under her own name. We could probably get hold of her social security number and see what that throws up.”

  “No, let’s not go that far until we’ve spoken to her.”

  “Yeah, I’d prefer her to trust us and tell us herself.”

  “So,” Jared said, indulging in a lazy feline stretch. “We know our mate-to-be is frightened of something or someone, doesn’t want people to know who she is, and that something drew her to Impulse.”

  “We also know she’s all human,” Bryce added, “and that she likes cats.”

  “Of course she does.” Jared grinned. “She just doesn’t know quite how much yet.”

  * * * *

  Caitlyn opened her eyes, feeling as though she’d just woken from a long, restorative sleep. Apart from a sore temple she felt more refreshed than she had in weeks. Oh, and the heavy weight weighing down her feet, causing her to lose all sensation in them wasn’t helping. She glanced down at the reassuring sight of Marvin, stretched full-length across the bottom of her bed.

  Except it wasn’t her bed. This luxurious mattress was a far cry from the lumpy futon that came with her rented studio in Palm Beach. She gasped when recollections of the murder trickled through her brain. She wanted to believe it had been a bad dream, but she knew that wasn’t the case. Renewed dread gripped her and she sat bolt upright.