by Zara Chase
“Aisha, open up, babe. I know you’re in there. We need to talk.”
Aisha’s heart rate had increased, but she didn’t respond. Rick had tried his now-defunct key and swore when it wouldn’t turn. She’d held her breath until, eventually, she’d heard him stomping off down the corridor, muttering expletives.
Now that she’d had time to come to terms with Rick’s betrayal, Aisha was actually glad she’d discovered what he was really made of when there was still time for her to change direction. He was a desperate man in a rapidly changing environment, struggling to stay afloat. She wondered who he’d pick on next to keep his star in ascendency. Not that she cared, it was merely idle curiosity.
Aisha became increasingly desperate to find a project worthy of her talents. She had something to prove to a skeptical world, but more especially to herself, and not much time to do it in.
Aristotle was considered the founder of meteorology.
“So what?” She deleted that possibility. “It’s been done to death.”
Trade winds and monsoons were disregarded for the same reason. So, too, were hurricanes and the melting ice cap.
“Come on.” She scrolled impatiently through more and more topics. “There has to be something.”
Her fingers stopped dead when she came to a ton of stuff about a small place called Impulse in Florida. She’d rejected it originally as being too insignificant to matter, but nothing more compelling had come to light, so it was worth a more detailed look. She’d heard about the weird atmosphere on the tiny spit of land—what meteorologist hadn’t?—but didn’t know much more about it. She spent the rest of the day reading everything she could find. Her excitement increased when she realized that no one had come up with a plausible explanation for the weird atmospheric conditions on that isolated peninsular.
“This is it!”
Aisha stood and stretched the kinks out of her body, beaming to herself and punching the air. She’d found her project and was suddenly full of energy, bursting to get started. She threw a few clothes into a bag and packed up her laptop. Then she got on the phone and booked herself on the first flight she could get out of New York that would take her direct to Tampa International.
* * * *
“Don’t say a word.” Kane held up a hand to fend off the question he could sense Mikael formulating when he and Tyrone walked into Impulse’s medical Institute. “You really don’t wanna know.”
“Apparently the other guy looks even worse,” Tyrone quipped, although Kane could sense no humor behind the remark, just grim determination to get at the truth.
Succinctly Kane explained what he could remember of the last twenty-four hours to Mikael, head of the Institute, and his partner, Philo. Both alpha tigers were frowning by the time Kane got to the end of his account.
“A shifter’s life is never dull,” Mikael said drolly, shining a light in Kane’s eyes and checking his vital signs.
“There’s a lot to be said for dull,” Kane replied. “Although, I can’t speak from recent personal experience.”
“Have you felt the urge to shift since waking up with this strange woman?” Mikael asked.
“Funny you should say that, but yes, almost overwhelming urges.” He shot Mikael a probing glance. “Does that mean something?”
“Possibly.”
“Feel free to share your thoughts any time you’re ready.”
“You probably know more about what’s happening to you right now than I do. You certainly know that we all feel the need to shift when we’re in combative situations.”
“So, even if I was drugged, I would have known better than to have sex?” Kane could hear the desperation in his own voice. “Please tell me that’s what you’re saying.”
Mikael shook his head. “Don’t put words into my mouth.” He strapped a tourniquet around Kane’s arm and drew a phial of blood. “We’ll have the results of this by tomorrow, which ought to tell us a lot more. But from what you’ve said, I tend to agree with Tyrone. I think you were drugged.”
“Which makes no fucking sense whatsoever. I couldn’t have performed under the influence of narcotics, surely?”
Mikael shrugged. “Depends what they gave you.”
“Come on,” Philo said, slapping Kane’s shoulder. “There’s nothing we can do here right now. Let’s get on over to the Cat’s Whiskers and talk it through with the other alphas. All that brain power ought to produce some plausible theories.”
Kane quirked a brow. “You reckon?”
“Not really, buddy, but at least it made you smile.”
“You’re full of it, Philo.”
“Yeah, so Mikael’s always telling me, but he loves me for it.”
“Someone has to love him,” Mikael agreed in a martyred tone.
All the alphas were present when Kane went through his story yet again. Rafe, leader of the colony, broke the silence when Kane ran out of words.
“The way I see it, if this woman was sent by our enemies to set you up, then Tyrone’s right and we’ll see her here in Impulse pretty damned soon.”
“Yeah, I’ve thought about that. I reckon if she was sent to have her wicked way with me, it was done to prevent me from mating and keeping the alpha line going. Our enemies can’t get Impulse by fair means, so they’re getting sneaky.”
“And patient,” Rafe pointed out.
“Yeah, that, too. But I can’t think of any other reason, unless it really was an innocent liaison and I’ve literally fucked up my chances of mating for life.”
“It’s weird,” Tyrone said, shaking his head.
“The worst part is, I might never know for sure. What if I were to meet my intended mate tomorrow with this hanging over my head? We all know that if I’ve had sex with a human, I can’t mate with anyone but her ever again, suitable or not. All those fucking years of celibacy only to screw it up now.” He thumped the table so hard that the wood made an ominous cracking noise. Kane thought the sound about summed up the way his future looked right now. “I never should have gone to that damned conference alone.”
“That’s why at least two of us always go places together,” Rafe reminded them in a mildly censorious tone. “To have one another’s backs in these sorts of situations.”
“It’s my fault,” Tyrone said, patting Kane’s shoulder. “Friday was the only day Maria was available to meet with me. You all know how long I’ve been trying to pin her down. Rather than postpone, we thought it would be all right for Kane to go alone because none of the beta leopards were free to go with him for various reasons. We’ve attended this conference enough times before and know most of the regular delegates. I guess we got lazy. Sorry.”
“It happens. All we can do now is wait to see if the woman turns up here and for the results of Mikael’s tests. In the meantime tighten up security, Vadim,” Rafe said, nodding at the alpha jaguar in charge of Impulse’s defenses, “and let me know if anything untoward occurs.”
“Will do.”
Kane and Tyrone drifted back home, tired, dispirited, but totally together.
“I didn’t ask you how it went with Maria,” Kane said.
Tyrone sighed. “Waste of fucking time. She won’t budge an inch.”
“Shit! Did you see the kids?”
“In the schoolyard. She wouldn’t let me talk to them and I thought it was probably better not to try, until we get this mess fixed.”
“Bitch! She has no right—”
“Yeah. You don’t need to tell me that she’s using my kids as a bargaining tool.” Tyrone clenched his jaw. “She broke the shifter code by cheating on me, and now she’s trying to pretend she’s the one who’s been wronged.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
“I’m free to mate again with human or shifter, once I’ve tidied up the mess with Maria and gotten my kids safely back here.”
“Yep, and how long have we been dreaming of a cozy little threesome with our human mate?”
“Right, but it doesn’t loo
k like that’s gonna happen any time soon.”
“I’m so sorry,” Kane said, pushing open the door to the information center and stepping through it. “So, what’s the next move?”
“I guess we’ll have to involve Rafe. I was hoping to get this fixed without him having to pull rank, but—”
“Ah, there you both are.” Claudia, their human receptionist, looked up from her computer screen and smiled. “There’s a lady here waiting to see you. She says it’s urgent and personal. I couldn’t get her to say anything more than that.”
“So soon,” Kane said beneath his breath. “Gotta hand it to her, she doesn’t wait around.”
“Then it must be a setup. Someone’s pulling her strings without her being aware. Otherwise she would never have gotten past Vadim’s security patrols. They’d have her pegged as a rogue shifter right off.”
“So would I if that’s what she is.”
“True. Oh well, let’s go and see what she wants.”
Kane shot his lover a wry look. “I think we both already know the answer to that.”
“Well then, she’s out of luck.” Tyrone threw an arm across Kane’s shoulders. “You’re spoken for and I’m not prepared to share you with just anyone.”
“Hold that thought, lover,” Kane said wearily. “Hold that thought.”
Kane shook off Tyrone’s arm and walked into the waiting room feeling like a condemned man, trying to convince himself this was all a bad dream. He glanced up at the woman standing there and stopped dead in his tracks. Their visitor wasn’t the one Kane had woken up with that morning but a redhead with corkscrew curls hanging halfway down her back. She had deep green eyes, curves in all the right places, and an expression that was all business.
A small gasp escaped her lips as she looked up at them. Kane was incapable of making any sound at all because his entire body had gone into sensory overload. He knew without even looking at Tyrone that his buddy would have reacted in the exact same way.
“A redhead,” Tyrone pheromoned. “I didn’t see that one coming.”
“Me neither.”
The woman they were looking at was the one they’d almost given up on finding. The other alphas mated with humans all said that they’d known the moment they looked at their woman that she was the only one for them. They spoke about a sea change occurring inside them before any words were even exchanged. Kane had thought that was sentimental bullshit.
Now he knew differently.
This sassy redhead, regarding them with a combination of curiosity and deep determination, was the female destined to become their mate. He knew it in his leopard soul, and his human one, too.
Unfortunately, though, her timing was lousy.
Chapter Four
Aisha tried to speak, but no words came out. She gulped, attempting to clear the blockage in her throat, and tried again. Still no dice. What the hell was wrong with her? Okay, so these two were easy on the eye, but with Rick’s betrayal still fresh in her mind she was off men, period.
The two guys treated her to a thorough once-over and seemed to like what they saw. Good, that would make them easier to manipulate. She’d vowed never to trade on her femininity to get ahead, but she’d wised up over the last few days. Her short and not-so-illustrious career in television had taught her that it was best to run with what she had. Aisha might not be a stunner, but her appearance tended to get her noticed, if only because of her unusual coloring, and she’d use whatever it took to get what she needed.
“I’m Kane Blair,” one of the guys said, extending a hand. “Something we can do for you?”
Several things sprang to Aisha’s mind, causing her cheeks to warm and her body to spring to life. What was it with her today? She absolutely did not want to go there and blamed this man Kane for sending her thoughts on a sensual detour. He was a hunk of the first order and he damned well knew it. Well, she wasn’t about to be intimidated. He’d given her the once-over, so she brazenly returned the favor.
Kane was a good six foot, with smoky-gray hair and opaque green eyes that held a hint of amusement as he appraised her, clearly waiting for her to stop gawping like a love-struck teenager and find her voice. Easier said than done. It was crazy, but she felt an instant connection to these two guys, like she’d known them all her life. She told herself severely not to be so damned fanciful and concentrate on her objective, which was to obtain unfettered access to all of Impulse.
She kept her concentration on Kane, since dealing with the pair of them simultaneously was beyond her limited capabilities right now. They made her feel out of control, and, since the debacle with Rick, hadn’t she vowed never to cede control to another person ever again? She dropped her eyes from Kane’s amused gaze, looking for a distraction. Her eyes alighted on the denim of his worn jeans. It looked soft and faded around the impressive bulge in the area of his crotch, catching Aisha’s attention in spite of herself and making it hard for her to look away. She dragged her gaze higher, which didn’t help much. His tank top displayed a lean, hard chest with a dusting of the same smoky-gray hair that cried out to have a woman’s fingers running through it.
Her fingers.
The man himself moved with a lithe elegance and graceful coordination that she found compelling. But that was nothing to the reaction she felt all the way to her pussy when she took his outstretched hand and his long fingers closed around her palm.
“I’m Aisha Carlton,” she said, her voice sounding gravelly and most unlike her own. “Thanks for seeing me.”
“Our pleasure,” said the other man, extending his own hand. “We’ve waited a long time to meet you.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, ignore me. It’s been a long day. Tyrone Darwin,” he said, offering her a sexy smile that inflicted further damage on her already-moist pussy. “Delighted to meet you.”
“Likewise.”
Tyrone was the same height and muscular build as Kane. His long, thick hair was all black and he had the most amazing yellow-gold eyes that reflected intelligence and frank interest in her as they shook hands.
“To what do we owe the pleasure, Aisha?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve come down from New York. I work for Cordite News and Weather.”
“Ah, you’re another meteorologist,” Kane said.
“Yes, I suppose you get a lot of those down here.”
“A fair few.”
“I was told this information center was the best place to come for permission if I want to do some research of my own into your rather unique weather patterns.”
Tyrone shrugged broad shoulders. “You don’t need a license or anything like that from the city. Feel free to delve wherever you like. Perhaps you’ll succeed where hundreds of others have failed.”
Aisha bridled, furious that he wasn’t taking her seriously. “Don’t patronize me.”
“Hey, I wasn’t. We’d like to know what’s going on here just as much as you would.”
“Sorry.” She spread her hands in a placating gesture. “My temper often gets the better of me. I blame that on being a redhead. It’s a genetic fault, but I’m working on controlling it.”
“Just so long as you don’t color your hair,” Tyrone said, chuckling. “We like it just the way it is.”
“You what?”
“When did you arrive?” Kane asked.
“Ten minutes ago,” Aisha replied, ignoring the odd comment about her hair. “I flew down from New York and hired a car at the airport.”
“Where are you staying?”
“I haven’t found anywhere yet. I thought I should come here first in case you close early, just to find out what permissions I need.”
“Do you have a crew here with you?” Kane asked. “You said you work for a television station, right?”
She hesitated, wondering how much to admit. “No, right now I’m doing this as a project on my own time.”
The two guys faced one another but didn’t speak, and Aisha could have sworn the
y were somehow communicating without using words. She shook her head. She must be more tired than she’d realized and her imagination was playing tricks on her.
“I see.” Kane looked at her in a way that made her wonder if he understood her situation better than he was letting on. No, that was impossible. “How have you found the air so far?”
“I don’t know how you guys can breathe it,” she said with feeling. “I only walked a hundred yards from my car to your door, but I felt like someone had clamped a vise around my lungs by the time I got inside.”
Tyrone laughed. “You’ll get used to it, but I gotta tell you, working outside until you do is gonna be a challenge.”
She summoned up her most enticing smile. “I was hoping you might be able to give me some help with that.”
“In what way?” Kane asked.
“Well, I read up on this place, and you guys seem to hold all the information that’s ever been written about the history of Impulse’s weather patterns. Not much of it is available online, and I thought that, perhaps…Shit, I’m sorry.” She turned away from them, embarrassed to sound so needy. “Of course you won’t let me see it. It was unprofessional of me even to ask.”
“Not necessarily,” Kane said with a glamorous smile.
“There’s no need to be kind. I get it, really I do. If you wanted the world to know about your atmospheric anomalies, you’d make the information you have freely available.” She turned toward the door. “Perhaps I should find a hotel and rethink my strategy. I must seem very ditsy to you, coming down here without a clear game plan.”
“Have dinner with us,” Kane said, smiling at her. “We were about to eat and could use the company.”
“Thanks, I’d love to,” she said, surprised by the invitation but not hesitating to accept. “If you’re sure it’s no trouble.”
“None whatsoever.”
Kane placed his hand in the small of her back, sending sensation swirling through her pathetic body. If Kane noticed her shudder he was too polite to remark upon it and guided her toward a corridor that led to a staircase. She climbed the stairs ahead of the two guys, hoping her damned blush would have faded by the time they could see her face again. When she reached the top of the stairs she found herself in a large living room that had a great view of the Intracoastal.