TEMPTED BY THE JAGUAR #4: INFILTRATION
A Riverford Shifters Serial
CRISTINA RAYNE
The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
Copyright © 2015 Cristina Rayne
All Rights Reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the author.
Table of Contents
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
ALSO BY CRISTINA RAYNE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CHAPTER ONE
“Kylie, something terrible has happened to Molly!”
For a split-second, Kylie stood frozen next to the bed she and Hunter had just made love on, unable to comprehend her friend, Tara’s, words as they played over and over within her mind.
“What…?” she whispered almost too low to be heard into her phone.
“What’s worse is I haven’t been able to get a hold of Ty!” Tara continued frantically as though Kylie hadn’t spoken. “We were all supposed to go out for drinks tonight, remember? Molly said you looked like shit last night, so I figured you weren’t coming, but when Molly didn’t show, either, and didn’t call, I went over to her place. There were cops everywhere! They told me they think someone broke into her apartment!”
Kylie felt all the blood drain from her face. It couldn’t be a coincidence…could it?
“Is she hurt?” she demanded.
Somewhere in some vague corner of her mind, Kylie sensed Hunter abruptly sitting up in the bed behind her.
“That’s just it, Kylie!” Tara all but shouted. “I only got a glimpse of her living room because the cops pushed me away before I could get too near Molly’s door, but the place was trashed. It looked like a tornado had hit it. The cops wouldn’t tell me anything, but some of the neighbors were gossiping about there being blood, that they can’t find Molly anywhere! I was praying that she and Ty were over at your place! Then you weren’t answering your phone and—Christ—I thought something had happened to you, too!”
“I haven’t seen or talked to Molly since last night when she brought me some meds!” Kylie said, her voice strained with worry. “Where are you right now? Are you alone?”
“I’m still at Molly’s apartment complex. The elderly couple that lives next door to her saw me freaking out and invited me to sit down inside their place.”
“Good. I’m coming over there right now to pick you up. Don’t leave that apartment for any reason.”
“Huh? But the cops want me to go—”
“Especially don’t leave with the cops,” Kylie added urgently. “I’ll explain when I get there.”
She tossed the phone on the bed behind her and scrambled after her strewn clothes on the floor. Tara’s frantic voice echoed ominously within her mind as Kylie struggled to pull on her jeans with hands that were shaking with equal panic.
“You know you’re doing exactly what they want you to do, right?” Hunter said quietly.
For the first time since she had answered the phone, Kylie glanced over at him. He sat on the edge of the bed, still completely naked, and watched her dress with an unreadable expression.
“I know,” Kylie said. She bent over and retrieved his t-shirt from the floor and tossed it to him. “That’s why you’re going to drive me over there.”
He dropped the shirt onto his lap. “Kylie—you know I can’t let you step even a foot outside this building right now. We have no idea how many from the lion clan other than that assassin and a handful of Sniffers have managed to infiltrate the city. We have several clansmen on the force. Your friend would be safer leaving that complex in their custody. One phone call from me, and it’s done. That’ll buy us some time to talk to Maxim. The wolves in his security detail are the best in the city.”
Kylie narrowed her eyes angrily at him. “You don’t seriously expect me to just hide out here while the lions are out there targeting, hurting, my friends?”
Hunter met her gaze calmly. “Yes, I do. Even if I was one hundred percent sure that the lion clans are responsible for what’s happened to your friend—which we’re not—I still wouldn’t let you go. Maxim’s people have been interrogating the lioness that attacked you and Jack for a few hours now. At the very least we should check in on their progress before we even consider doing anything else. In the meantime, I’ll make sure they’ll keep your friend safe at the police station until we have a better understanding of the situation, I promise.”
Some of the tension in her shoulders eased. “Fine. Hand me my phone, and I’ll tell Tara there’s been a change of plans while you get dressed.”
Instead of reaching for the phone, Hunter stood and reached out both hands to pull her firmly against him into a tight hug. Kylie felt a mild irritation at herself when the subsequent affectionate touch of his lips on her forehead caused a good majority of the rest of her tension to bleed away, and she actually leaned into his embrace. She didn’t like to think that she was so weak to crave comfort when so many others had it a thousand times worse right now.
After her parents had disappeared, she had despised having to lean on so many others, and now that she was as adult, it really pissed her off that she found herself still needing so many people as much as she did.
“We’ll find them,” Hunter murmured into her hair, “and we’ll make those lion bastards wish they had never stepped foot in our territory.”
***
“Hunter, who’s Jack?” Kylie asked once Hunter had finished talking to Maxim on the phone.
She was seated on the bed again, trying not to pick a hole in the sheets as she had listened to Hunter’s one-sided conversations with first, his contacts within the Riverford PD, and then with Maxim. Hunter had mentioned the name Jack several times during his conversation with his tiger friend.
“That’s right…” he replied, coming over to sit down next to her on the bed. “We were interrupted before I could tell you much of anything. Jack’s our bleeding wolf friend, a member of the Bray wolf pack and the Parker Grove wolf clan. A lot of the wolves that Maxim employs are from that clan.”
“So he survived,” Kylie said with a nod of relief. “With those horrible wounds, I really didn’t think he would. I couldn’t tell from your side of the conversation, but was he one of Maxim’s employees?”
Hunter shook his head. “Neither one of us had ever met him, though Maxim knows some of his Bray cousins that live here in this city. No, as I started to tell you before, he knew my older brother, Ryder.”
He paused, then reached for one of her hands, taking it into both of his and giving it a firm squeeze. His expression was pinched as though he was trying to contain a surge of sudden emotions, but he couldn’t quite keep the brief flash of pain from his eyes.
His smile was bitter. “We share a common wound. Ryder went missing about a year ago.”
Kylie gasped sharply, a million questions instantly rising on her tongu
e, but Hunter was still talking. They would have to wait.
“We were supposed to go for a run in his territory one morning, but when I showed up, he was nowhere to be found. We had always met up in the forest, but I tried his apartment anyway, thinking he might’ve just slept in. When he didn’t answer, I tried calling him. Nothing. He had never blown me off before, so I was worried when a day passed and still no word.”
Hunter blew out an angry breath. “It wasn’t until he had been missing a month that the Elders took his disappearance a little more seriously. I know I shouldn’t be angry about it. Jaguars are known to wander off alone all the time. It’s just in our nature, but their utter lack of concern still really pisses me off. However, even I never imagined the horrible truth of what had happened to him.”
“The lions,” Kylie interjected flatly.
For a split-second, that same look of hatred she had seen in Hunter’s eyes when she had confirmed her Polyshifter nature appeared, and her chest tightened painfully with a bout of déjà vu. Then the look was gone, replaced with a rage so absolute and searing that it had even her inner jaguar quaking, and a strong urge to run washed through her.
“Jack says that they were abducted along with several others, mostly female, and imprisoned in a secret underground facility near Amarillo.”
Kylie furrowed her brow. “To use as leverage?”
Hunter’s grip on her hand tightened. “No, as guinea pigs.”
Her eyes widened. “They were experimenting on them? Like—full-on mad scientist experimenting?”
A low growl rose up from his throat as Hunter gave a sharp nod. “I don’t know what game those bastards are playing, but from everything Jack told me about the torture they all endured, it’s become painfully obvious that the shifter clans opposed against the lion clans really don’t know jack shit about the lions’ endgame in this silent war.”
“But, even taking into account being unexpectedly distracted by me,” Kylie said, “the lions have to know that their assassin didn’t quite finish the job. For all they know, Jack survived long enough to blab about what they are doing, including their exact location.”
She flashed him a stricken look. “You should be concentrating on a rescue rather than bothering with me and my problems! They could be moving all their victims to some other dungeon of horrors!”
“Which is why Maxim and his people are handling all the reconnaissance and preparation rather than me or even the Elders. He has connections all across the state that none of us can ever hope to match. The only thing I can do right now to help my brother is to stay out of Maxim’s way and try not to lose myself to my jaguar half that, at the moment, wants to go on a rampage. I need to be as clearheaded and in control as I ever have been in my life for the moment when we can finally make our move.”
Hunter released her hand and cupped her face gently with hands that were slightly shaking, betraying just how close to the surface his anger still blazed. “Helping you and your father, helping your friends, is something I can do, so there’s no reason at all for you to feel guilty. Whether or not your friend, Molly’s, disappearance has to do with your run-in with that lioness remains to be seen, but all the same, between the shifters on the force and Maxim’s people, if she’s still in this city, we’ll find her.”
Kylie closed her eyes. “I tried to call her boyfriend, Ty, again while you were talking to your contact at the police station, but his phone kept going straight to voicemail,” she said. “I’m worried that it isn’t just Molly who has disappeared. Tara said that there had been blood found in her apartment. If Ty was there when her apartment was broken into, I don’t doubt that he would’ve tried to protect her with his fists. He’s done it before.”
“Even so, the blood may not be from any of your friends at all,” Hunter pointed out. “Carl told me that the blood found on the scene was minimal. Since this case involves not only a potential kidnapping but also quite possibly those lion bastards, it’s been made a high priority among even the humans. We’ll know more by the morning.”
“I better call Karen and tell her what’s what. She and Mitch are hiding out at the house of one of her Elders for the night. If it turns out that Molly was targeted because of me, then they may need to keep out of sight for longer than they anticipated.”
Hunter caught her wrist as she reached for her phone that was sitting on the bed between them. “Can you please keep what I’ve told you about the ranch and my brother to yourself for the time being? Right now, the less people that know about it, the better.”
“You don’t trust them…” Kylie said slowly, her eyes daring him to deny it.
Hunter shook his head. “It’s not so much Karen and Mitch but the people around them. With all the excitement, I never did get around to telling you this, but a few days ago, I found evidence that a Polyshifter may have entered the city. Given that the most recent suspected Sniffers are cougars…”
Kylie felt her heart seize painfully. “It’s a wonder that you didn’t go for my throat the second you realized what I was.”
“That’s why I said I was dangerous. I should have taken you down instantly, but I couldn’t. Had you truly been a spy for the lions, I could’ve jeopardized everything because I let my emotions drown out any semblance of reason.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, hanging her head in guilt.
He leaned forward and pressed his forehead against hers. “You and I can apologize to each other until we’re both blue in the face, but it won’t change how fucked up things are right now. We both fucked up; let’s just leave it at that. All we can do now is lie in the bed we’ve made and hope that everything turns out okay in the end.”
CHAPTER TWO
A sudden knock on the door had both of them stiffening.
Hunter immediately raised his nose to scent the air and then almost in the same instant, his shoulders relaxed.
“It’s Maxim,” he said with obvious relief as he rose to let the tiger shifter into the room.
“Who did you think it was?” Kylie asked suspiciously.
He flashed her a wry grin. “Gaither, but that’s a discussion better left for another time.”
“Or not at all,” Kylie muttered under her breath as Maxim entered the room—and then promptly walked back out.
“Can we talk somewhere a little less—aromatic?” Maxim called from the hall with obvious amusement, eliciting a grin from Hunter.
Frowning at both men, Kylie joined Hunter at the door without a word. Now really wasn’t the time to joke, but she still allowed him to thread their hands together without even a token fuss. Truth be told, the warmth of his hand kept the panic that was still simmering at the surface of her emotions at bay. It reminded her that she and Paul weren’t alone this time, that there were powerful people that were able and willing to help them.
Hunter led them into another empty room at the end of the hall identical to the one they had just left. She and Hunter sat on the bed while Maxim pulled up a chair and sat facing them. Seeing the tiger shifter up close, Kylie couldn’t help but notice just how tired and ragged he looked from his eyes alone, as though he hadn’t slept in days.
She could feel her entire body tense in response. Just what bad news was he about to bring them that would have him looking so beaten down?
For his part, Maxim was looking at their joined hands in something like bemusement. However, when he realized that she was staring at him, he flashed her a small smile, and his posture showed a bit more life.
“It’s really good to see that you two have worked everything out,” Maxim said. “We’ll all need you both at your best during the next few days.”
Hunter eagerly leaned forward. “You’ve found it.”
Maxim nodded. “From what I’ve been able to find out, the ranch Jack Bray described is owned by a human Silicon Valley tech billionaire—at least on paper. It operates as a legit cattle ranch that’s been turning a hefty profit for over two decades. It’s no wonder it’s never
fallen under suspicion until now. Their invasion into this state runs a helluva lot deeper than any of us ever imagined.”
“And the assassin?” Hunter asked. “Have you managed to get anything out of her?”
“Not a peep. My men were still working on her when I left, but she’ll probably turn out to be a dead end. I’ve heard all my life that no one from a lion clan, even a Rogue, has ever betrayed their secrets, and I seriously doubt this one will be the first.”
“My friend, Karen, told me that shifter criminals are rarely sent to the same prisons as humans but dealt with by the individual clans,” Kylie interjected. “I imagine a lion prisoner would be treated differently as it affects all clans, really, no matter that it was just my family and friends and Jack Bray that she attacked in this instance.”
“Do we kill our lion prisoners, you mean?” Maxim replied bluntly.
Kylie blinked at him in surprise. “Not at all. The only things about the inner workings of a shifter clan I know are from what Karen and Mitch have been willing to tell me and the little I’ve experienced at Hunter’s side. I just wanted to know how these things are usually handled among shifters. For the sake of my real parents, there are things, questions that I’d want asked now that you have an actual lion in custody. I’m just wondering if that would be possible?”
Maxim’s eyes softened. “Understandable.”
“There’s still a lot I don’t know about shifter society, you know,” she admitted. “I’ve lived my whole life as a human. Their rules are the only ones I’ve known. Hell, I’m not even sure what you two plan to do about my secret, where I’ll stand within Riverford’s shifter society once this whole mess plays out.” She turned to Hunter. “You did seem to expect a visit from Mr. Gaither earlier.”
Hunter made a face as though he had swallowed a whole lemon. “Whom we will not be telling that you’re a Polyshifter if we can at all help it. I think we can all agree on at least that much. With all these Sniffers and assassins suddenly prowling around the city pretty much right under our noses for God-only-knows how long, I don’t need to be a psychic to tell you what’ll happen. For now, the Elders are content enough with me keeping an eye on you here.”
Tempted by the Jaguar #4: Infiltration (Riverford Shifters) Page 1