by A. C. Arthur
She was in some type of parking lot, Priya surmised after looking around. Old condemned buildings across from her. Why would Perry drive all this way to come here? A dark, run-down place with nobody around. Whatever the reason it couldn’t be good and she figured she had two options—get back in the car and wait out this entire scene then return to the resort and try to talk to Perry again, or walk around until she found him and his men and figured out what they were doing here.
The alley back in D.C. had been dark and the men there had no doubt figured the darkness would cloak what they didn’t want anyone to see. Why wouldn’t Perry think the same thing this go-around?
Her decision made, she started walking forward since she was almost positive the footsteps she’d heard had moved away from the vehicle. In no time there was more movement and she could see men dressed in all black running in different directions. She didn’t know which way to follow but went with the ones closest to her, sticking close to the walls as they moved about. They seemed to be looking for something, going in and out of the buildings, kicking down doors, or breaking windows out. She prayed this whole trip hadn’t been about vandalizing a vacant property, even though that would make a great human-interest story—rich real estate mogul trashes old buildings in his spare time. That would be one hell of a headline.
Her thoughts were interrupted when the men she’d been following all ran right past the building she’d ducked inside of for cover.
“They found them!” she heard one of them yell.
“Go! Go! Go!” another one yelled.
Okay, whatever was meant to go down apparently was. Priya took off running after the last man had passed her hiding place. She thought she’d waited too long, especially since she clearly did not run as fast as they did. She had a membership at the local YMCA but rarely used it; now that her lungs were on fire and her thighs screaming for mercy, she thought maybe she should make more of an effort to use the membership after all.
By the time she’d made it around to what she thought might be the back of the buildings, she was totally out of breath and she thought she’d heard gunshots. At first she didn’t see anyone, then again her eyes were blurred with the sweat dripping from her brow. Then she heard them, yelling and cussing, threatening to kill someone. Fidgeting at her pockets she looked for her Mace, cursing because she hadn’t brought her purse with her. Which also meant she didn’t have her cell phone to call the police in the event someone actually did end up dead tonight.
Then all of a sudden, the shouting stopped. She ran ahead, still ducking in and out of the open doorways the others had left before her. Now she was actually appreciating their penchant for vandalism. She moved until she was one building away from where a group of them stood. Shadows of men were all she could make out, until he spoke.
“Enough!” he’d yelled.
And Priya froze. It was Perry. He hadn’t spoken to her in this tone, still she recognized it instantly.
“Clean this up. Load them in the truck and get inside to help pack up everything in that tunnel,” he continued and warmth flooded Priya’s body.
Sure, it was really hot out in this dry night air and she’d just run what felt like a country mile so it was safe to say her body temperature was already running on high. But this was different, the heat swirled around and inside her, centering in strategic locations—at the tips of her breasts and deep in her center like its own pulsing heartbeat.
She swallowed, willing herself to get a grip. Her eyes had zoomed in on a particular shadow, the taller one, with the broad shoulders and locked. It was him, she knew it even though she couldn’t see the butter tone of his skin, the silkiness of his hair or his … eyes …
As if they were magnets drawn inexplicably to her, and even though she stood hidden in the shadows of that building, his eyes found hers and they were not human.
Chapter 9
“No,” Bas said, a low rumble vibrating from his chest as he walked toward what he prayed was not really there.
It wasn’t Mariah, he knew this for two reasons: one, the scent was different and two, Mariah was dead. Still, it was a human, there was no doubt. The presence had been with him since he’d been back at the resort, in the distance but within reach, just like before.
All at once, or rather the moment their gazes locked, he knew exactly where both were coming from. This shit had been distracting him all damn night. He hadn’t been able to focus entirely at the briefing or during the ride down here, his mind had constantly gone back to that feeling that someone else was near, watching him, waiting for him. Her scent was spicy and hovered like a thick cloud over him every waking moment since he’d first pulled her into the hotel room in D.C. But he hadn’t believed for one moment she was in Sedona. Why would she be in Sedona? It was foolish to even consider that a possibility, even more foolish for him to entertain the thought that yet another female had followed him.
Still, the feeling persisted. The scent had permeated every part of him, inciting his highly trained-to-be-nonexistent cat into a not so gentle stalking. Bas had tried to ignore it, tried like hell to convince himself that he wasn’t one of those shifters who got all caught up in one female’s scent or craved her proximity. He’d never been that kind of shifter and wasn’t about to start now and especially not for this goddamned female!
“Need some help, sir?” one of his soldiers asked from behind.
Bas shook his head, holding up a hand signaling the shifter to remain where he was. “I got this,” was his tight reply.
Glass crunched beneath his booted feet as he stepped into the building where she still stood just inside the doorway. She hadn’t tried to duck out of sight when he’d noticed her. Would he have turned away, dismissing these feelings once more if she had? Maybe, but that didn’t matter now, since he was about three feet away from her and his fingers tingled to reach out and touch her. His jaw ticked with the effort of clenching his teeth the whole walk over here and now that he was this close, he felt like he was definitely going to get lockjaw if he didn’t speak soon.
“What the hell are you doing here?” were his words of choice.
“Seeing exactly what you told me didn’t exist,” was her quick retort.
“First,” Bas said, taking a step toward her. “You’re not seeing anything out here in the dark. And second, this ridiculous crusade of yours is going to get you killed.”
“Are you threatening me?”
He was right in her face now, only about an inch separating their bodies from touching. His hummed with an eerie anticipation for that connection to happen sooner rather than later, and her eyes filled with what Bas was positive was desire. Through her T-shirt her nipples had hardened, her arousal mixed with her already intoxicating scent was enough to make his human half feel more than a little weak at the knees, while his cat sat upright, roaring an unfamiliar call to Bas’s ears.
Reaching out he grabbed her by the arm, pulling her flush against his chest. There was a moan somewhere in that space, from which one of them Bas couldn’t be sure. “Not yet, Ms. Drake. But you’re begging for it,” he told her through clenched teeth.
“Sir, you ready to roll?” Jacques asked from the doorway Bas had just walked through.
Bas sensed the moment the Shifter’s eyes locked on the female and felt a glimmer of rage rippling through him.
“Where’d she come from? Was she with—”
Lifting an arm, his hand palm up to Jacques to silence the Shifter’s next words, Bas replied, “She’s with me. Get the trucks loaded and let’s go.”
Years of service and friendship held Jacques silent, no doubt, still Bas knew he’d have to figure out how to explain Priya’s arrival to his team. But first, he needed the nosy reporter to explain it to him.
Once Jacques had returned outside, Bas, his fingers still gripping Priya’s arm, looked down at her. “You’re going to ride back with me and keep your mouth shut. That is not a request, Ms. Drake.”
He could see
the conflict in her. She wanted to fight back, to shove him away and most likely curse him in that sharp, pinpointing way she had. But she was also smart enough to recognize her own predicament. If she’d followed them out here, which Bas doubted, but couldn’t completely rule out, then how was she going to get back? And where was she going back to, Perryville or D.C.? That wasn’t an easy question, but Bas had already decided on the answer, she was staying with him. He wasn’t letting her out of his sight, in spite of the ravenous pacing his cat was presently doing.
“Lead the way, sir,” she replied, sarcasm all but dripping from the last word—the last word that had his dick jumping to immediate attention.
With an obvious frown and a low growl that he kept buried deep in his chest, Bas headed for the door, pulling her behind him. He didn’t release his hold on her until he was back at his SUV and she was buckled in the seat right across from him.
* * *
The ride back was done mostly in silence. Bas remained deep in his own thoughts, more than aware of the female’s presence just a few inches away from him. There was no possible way he could ignore her. His dick was so hard, his need for her so great he was having a hard enough time breathing. Clenching and unclenching his fingers at his sides he cursed inwardly at the urge to take her right on the backseat. His temples throbbed as he thought of having her out of those tight-ass jeans, his dick buried hilt-deep in her wet pussy in about ten seconds flat.
She’d been staring out the window, acting as if she were trying to figure out her next move, when Bas knew instinctively lust was driving a similar heat path up and down her spine. He could tell by how she shifted in her seat every few seconds, adjusting her legs, making sure her thighs rubbed together, no doubt applying as much pressure to her clit as she possibly could under the circumstances. He ached to help her out in that situation.
But his duty held him still.
“I told you this was not a game,” he said finally, his words stilted by the intense heat radiating throughout his body.
“You have no idea what this is for me, Mr. Perry,” she snapped back instantly.
Bas was quiet a moment, taking in what she’d said and knowing it was absolutely true.
“Then tell me,” he insisted, his voice a little closer to normal. “Tell me why hours ago I watched you being dragged away by some guy on a street in D.C. and now you show up across the country snooping around where you don’t belong. Tell me there’s a good-ass explanation for why you insist on behaving so irrationally for a fucking story!”
Normal had lost its course somewhere along the way and now he was just plain angry.
“I don’t have to tell you anything,” she shot back.
Bas reached for her then, pulling her across the seat after snatching the seat belt free. She was just about in his lap as his hands gripped her shoulders tightly.
“Oh yes, Ms. Drake, you do have to tell me. Or so help me I’m going to fuck your tight little body in this backseat and then I’m going to take your ass to the airport and personally put you on the next plane back to D.C.” He spoke through clenched teeth.
She opened her mouth to speak and Bas simply reacted. Leaning forward he took her lips, not in a kiss, but a heat suckle of first the top, then the bottom one which was only slightly plumper. As his dick throbbed with the intense pleasure he let his tongue trace a line around her mouth as she gasped.
“Tell me to and I’ll stop,” he whispered over her lips.
This time when she prepared to speak he pressed forward again, taking her tongue and sucking like his life depended solely on the sweetness of her. She squirmed beneath his grasp, her breasts pressing against his chest, her hips moving seductively over his engorged length.
When finally Bas pulled away, whispering urgently, “Tell me,” once more, she turned her head, her breathing erractic.
“Stop,” was her breathy reply. “Just stop. This is not what I want. It’s not why I’m here.”
Like a splash of cold water her words rained over Bas and he instantly released her. First and foremost, he had never forced himself on a female and never would. Even though her body screamed the exact opposite of her words, that’s all Bas needed to hear.
“I can’t help you if you don’t trust me enough to tell me the truth.”
“How can you ask me to trust you when I don’t even know you?” she replied after moving back across the seat. “And it’s not even about you, not directly, I mean.” She sighed and then let her head fall back against the seat, closing her eyes momentarily. “I just need to get this story and I need to do it by the end of the month. Can you help with that, Mr. Perry?”
Bas didn’t know what to say to that. He wanted to say yes, that he’d do whatever he could to help her with whatever she needed. But he didn’t know if that was true.
She was a reporter. A damned tenacious, persistent, and sexy-as-hell reporter who was out to expose the shifters and he should simply kill her to remove that risk. He was almost positive if he called Rome that’s what the Assembly Leader would order him to do. While the Stateside Assembly was a peaceful organization, trying to live in a world where humans believed they were the dominant species, they were also entering into a time of war. Exposure now could be more than detrimental to not just the shifters, but also the humans.
So, if she wanted his help to tell the world about his kind, no, he could not do that. He also knew that to say those words to her, right at this moment would not benefit either of them.
Luckily, the vehicle had come to a stop and Jacques now stood holding the door for Bas to get out.
* * *
At Perryville Bas climbed out of the backseat first as Jacques stared at him expectantly.
“I’m taking her up to my suite. Secure the prisoners and the cargo. Don’t question the detainees any more tonight, let them stew for a while. I want everything found in those crates photographed and identified. Schedule a conference call with the FLs for seven tomorrow morning. You and I will meet in the conference room at six thirty. I don’t want to be disturbed until then,” he finished, giving his Lead Enforcer a nod of his head.
Jacques returned the nod. “I’ll walk you around to the back entrance.”
Bas moved around the truck to the passenger side and opened the door for Priya.
She didn’t hesitate but stepped her first leg out of the truck then followed with the next. When she stood in front of him she simply stared up into his eyes. A tilt of her head said what she saw wasn’t what she’d been looking for. At that, Bas gave a small smile, before taking her arm once more.
As Bas and Priya walked, Jacques remained in front of them. The soldier never turned back to look at them or to say a word. There was a back entrance into Perryville for when they had detainees that needed to go to the bunker or just didn’t want to be seen by the guests. Double steel doors that required a combination to get inside, opened at Jacques’s command. Bas and Priya stepped inside and moved down the long hallway with its gray-painted cinder block walls and tiled floor.
Only when they were on the elevator heading up to his suite did Bas relax, minutely. A few seconds later when the elevator doors opened again, he guided Priya off, moving swiftly to the door that would let them into his suite. She followed silently. Until they were inside.
“Look,” she began as soon as he released his grip on her and she’d spun around to face him. “I don’t know who you think you are, or who those drones out there have pumped you up to believe you are, but I’m not on your payroll. So the orders and the dragging me around stops here. You offered your help, but I get it if you cannot actually give it.”
Bas didn’t respond. Instead, he kept walking through the large living area, past the small office section, and straight back to the bedroom, knowing she would follow him. Once in his room he grabbed at the bottom of his shirt, pulling until it was free of his pants and up over his head. Tossing it onto one of the leather chairs that faced the floor-to-ceiling window across from his
bed, he turned to face her.
“So you didn’t come here to be ordered around,” he said in a voice that was practiced calm and smooth edges. It was his seduction voice, the one he used on the rare instances when he’d needed the release of sex.
The pulse at the base of her neck quickened and she folded her arms over the delectable mounds of her chest. “No. I didn’t,” she replied in a much less confident voice.
Bas nodded and sat on one of the chairs. He lifted one foot and removed his boot, did the same with the other, all without looking up at her. She was nervous, the musky incense-like scent mixing with the spicy aroma she held naturally. Bas inhaled it all, letting it move through his body with slow efficiency, almost relishing the moment it touched his cat.
He stood then, removing his belt, and unfastening the buckle of his pants. Together with his boxer briefs he pushed all the material down his thighs, stepping out of them as they pooled at his feet. Then he stood tall, naked, and looked at her.
She sucked in a breath.
Good, he thought with an inward smile.
He walked across the room, then took her hands and unfolded her arms from her chest. Keeping his eyes locked on hers—she couldn’t look away if she tried and Bas knew she wouldn’t make that effort—he flattened her palms against his chest.
“I will help you,” he stated softly. “You want to see if I’m really a cat beneath the human clothes?”
She licked her lips and Bas instinctively mimicked the motion.
“Do I feel like a cat, Priya?” he continued, taking a step closer to her, until his erection jutted forward, touching the soft cotton of her shirt just beneath her breasts.
The minute she opened her mouth to speak, Bas pounced, taking her mouth in a kiss so hungry his cat scratched at the surface, reaching for its own release instantaneously. She couldn’t reply verbally, could only react physically and that reaction was not what Bas had expected. It was so much … more.
Chapter 10