by Dillon, Kym
He left her well enough alone when they were in the air, but when they stopped for their first refueling, and she looked like she was going to stay on the plane, he shook his head.
"Told you, part of the package deal is that you walk around the airfield. Come on."
She went easily enough, and as he got the plane refueled and checked in with his contacts, she stayed close. He supposed it made sense, woman on her own in Tanzania, but more than once, he caught her bright eyes on him, as if she, too, was trying to figure him out.
Marcus ignored her; she was human after all, and she wasn't even armed. He had real problems to contend with on this flight, and one little researcher wasn't one of them. No matter how attractive she was.
Back on the plane, once they had gained some altitude, the girl- Jessica- came to sit next to him in the cockpit. She watched him for so long that he finally looked over at her.
"Been a while since you’ve been with a man?" he asked. "That why you’re looking at me like that?"
She refused to take offense, which was unfortunate. If she had, she would have gone back to the bay, and he wouldn't have that uneasy attraction in the pit of his stomach whenever she got too close.
"No, I was just thinking. You're hiding from someone, aren't you?"
"What makes you say that?"
"You dragged me off the plane when we refueled. At first I thought you were just making sure I didn't steal anything, but then I realized that there was nothing to steal."
"There really isn't," he agreed, but she continued.
"So, you wanted to make sure that everyone who saw you saw us, a man and a woman together, not a man traveling alone. Am I right?"
He glanced at her, amused. She sat with her arms across her chest, trying to act nonchalant, but unwilling to move forward without the truth.
"I’m gonna go with yes. Why do you want to know?"
She shrugged.
"I wanted to make sure we got our story straight," Jessica replied. "Maybe I shouldn't go around telling the world that I'm traveling with Marcus Van der Berg, who is adjacent to the anthropology field without being a part of it."
He laughed at that.
"Not even the least little bit worried, are you?"
She smiled, and for just a moment, he could see a flash of pure steeliness in her eyes that left him slightly breathless. God, she should have been born one of his kind.
"As long as you get me where I need to go, that's all that matters to me right now."
"Bernie said something about medicine. Are you with Doctors Without Borders, something like that?"
"No, I'm with the World Health Organization. We're working with the Tanzanian government to figure out a deadly illness that seems to have several hot spots throughout western Tanzania. This one... looks pretty bad, so I'm on the ground to take samples, bring a few supplies, run what tests I can in situ."
"Ah, then you're saving lives?"
Her gaze darkened slightly.
"I hope so," she admitted. "The prognosis for this one, it’s not good. I'm not the only one taking samples, but until we get more information, there's... not a lot to be done."
"These things have a way of working themselves out, at least they do when people as determined as you are involved."
She smiled but lapsed into a morose silence. Impulsively, Marcus reached over to squeeze her hand gently, but then they both cried out in surprise.
The moment he touched her, the moment they touched each other, a spark of electricity leaped from her hand to his. It was as bright and unmistakable as a lightning bolt shot through a clear evening sky, and Marcus could feel the echo of that powerful sensation resonate through his whole frame, coming to rest low in his groin. He realized with the strength of pure instinct that he wanted this woman, that something in her was calling to him. It was reaching right past the human part of his brain, back to the part where the beast resided, and that could be a very dangerous thing for both of them.
Marcus swore softly in Dutch, and Jessica jerked her hand back as if she had touched a stove.
"Oh my god," she murmured, and if there was any doubt in his mind that she had felt it too, it was quickly dismissed. She looked at him accusingly, her blue eyes wide, but he had no more explanation than she had.
She babbled something about static electricity and weird engine misfires, and stumbled to the back of the plane. She couldn't go far, however, and Marcus knew, to the bottom of his soul, that somehow he would know exactly where she was for a good long while afterward.
I hope you enjoyed this sneak peek of Clawed from the Were-Soldier Warriors series. The full book can be found in the Amazon Kindle Store.
WERE-SOLDIER WARRIORS
Deep in the wilds of Tanzania, three female doctors fight to save villagers from a horrifying epidemic. They get a little more than they bargained for when they find a resourceful panther shifter, a powerful tiger shifter, and a stoic, broad-shouldered lion shifter roaming the savannahs and ruling the savage, untamed jungles of sub-Saharan Africa.
Clawed
Pounced
Mauled
Clawed, Pounced, Mauled Complete Box Set (best deal)