by Lisa Kessler
I pulled into the terminal, rolling down the windows and breathing in all the exhaust fumes and aftershaves and perfumes, searching for any sign of Lana.
“Why are we at the airport?” Jason asked.
“Just a hunch. Help me search for jaguar scents.”
Jason nodded and leaned toward his open window. After trolling slowly past the terminals, I drove around and headed up the parking structure. The tires squealed as I made the tight turns. When I was nearing the top floor, a black Mercedes came careening around the corner and nearly hit us. I slammed on the horn and kept circling until we reached the roof.
Sebastian stood up top. Alone, like a dark sentinel. I stopped the truck and flew out of the cab. He didn’t move or try to defend himself when I grabbed his shirt and got in his face.
“Where is Lana?” I growled.
“I told you not to leave her alone, wolf. Now your mistake could cost her life.”
I punched him in the mouth, grateful to see blood bloom on his lower lip. He smiled, revealing bloodstained teeth. “If you are through being an animal, perhaps we can help one another.”
Jason came up beside us, looking at each of us before he spoke. “Adam, are you going to introduce me to your friend?”
“This is Sebastian. He’s going to take me to my mate. Now. Aren’t you, Sebastian?”
The jaguar raised his arrogant brow and yanked my hands off of his shirt. “Your mate? Does she know?”
“Fuck you.” I shoved him backward. It was too tempting to have him so close to me when I wanted to rip his head off so badly I could taste it. “Sasha’s got Lana.”
He wiped his lip and nodded. “Yes, she does. She’s meeting with Nero for a trade.”
“Where?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know exactly.”
My head felt like it was going to explode. I signaled Jason back to the truck. “Fine. I’ll find her myself.”
Sebastian pulled something out of his pocket. “I can probably find her a little bit more easily since I put a tracking device on Sasha’s rental car.”
With my keen wolf hearing, I caught every word and looked back at Sebastian. “Get in the truck. You navigate.”
His lip was starting to swell, making his smile crooked. Without a sound he was past us and in the back of the truck.
Sebastian was focused on his tracker while I maneuvered Jason’s truck out of the parking structure. When we hit the highway, I heard Sebastian yell through the back window. “Keep heading north. I think she’s going to the Lake.”
I glanced over at Jason as the speedometer edged past eighty miles per hour. His eyes narrowed, but he kept his voice low and even. “Since when do we work with jaguars? Ever occur to you that this guy could be leading us right into an ambush? Think, Adam.”
Keeping my eyes on the road, I did my best to keep my voice down. “The jaguars are coming from a place called Nero. They’re breeding and training assassins for hire, and if I don’t get to Lana first, I’ll never see her again. If I have to work with a jaguar to find her then that’s what I’ll do. I don’t expect you to understand. I do expect you to call the Pack and let Malcolm know we’re headed toward Lake Tahoe.”
“This is insane,” Jason grumbled, but he made the call. I nodded and focused on the road.
Jason finally slipped his phone back in his pocket. “Jared is getting everyone together, then they’ll head up to the Lake. We can change up there tonight.”
“Thanks, Jason,” I said without making eye contact. Right now the only thing I could concentrate on was the vision of Lana’s smile in my head. Everything about her taunted me as I pushed the truck faster. I could see her looking up at me when she told me she loved me. I could hear her laughter and see her dark eyes flash at me when Aren had been impersonating me the first time they met. Dammit, I could even smell her hair. I gripped the wheel tighter. I had to believe we’d get there in time. We had to.
“This is the exit,” Sebastian shouted from the back of the truck.
Once we were on the main road around the lake I slowed down, breathing in the scents, praying I’d pick up Lana’s. From the back of the pick-up, Sebastian kept watch on his tracker. This time he leaned up into the window, keeping his voice soft.
“They’re close by, wolf. Do not go gentle into that good night.”
“What the hell? Isn’t that the line from a Rodney Dangerfield movie? What does that have to do with anything?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes. “Uneducated wolves. It’s one of the finest villanelle poems ever written, by Dylan Thomas.” When Sebastian saw that didn’t explain anything, he shook his head. “It means do not give up. Don’t lose hope.”
My nerves were wrapped so tight I could explode at any second. Some jaguar reciting poetry was not helping. “Just tell me which way to go, Shakespeare.”
“I would pull over here. We should go on foot. Otherwise Sasha will hear us coming.”
Jason shot me a silent don’t-do-this-Adam look, but I parked anyway. When I turned off the key I handed the key ring to Jason. “Stay here and wait for the others.”
“No way.” His eyes shifted between Sebastian and me. “We can’t trust him, Adam. And sunset’s coming.”
I shrugged. “I can take care of myself.”
“You’re not thinking clearly.” Jason took the keys and stuffed them in his pocket. “You don’t even know if he’s helping you. You could be walking—”
“Right into a trap. I get it.” I got out and slammed the door. “This is my only shot and I’m taking it.”
“Shit, Adam. Don’t pull me into this with you. You know I can’t let you go alone.”
“Listen, Sebastian doesn’t want Nero to have Lana either. For now, we want the same thing. Stay here and watch for the Pack.” I glanced at Sebastian to be sure he heard. Since I didn’t know his motives for helping Lana, it wouldn’t hurt for him to know he’d be hip deep in wolves soon.
Jason groaned and shook his head. “Fine. Good luck.”
“Looks like it’s just you and me,” I said to Sebastian as we walked away from the truck toward the trees.
“I am only taking you along as a shield, wolf. Sasha carries a gun, and she never misses.”
“She missed with Aren.”
Sebastian raised a brow and kept moving. “So I have seen.”
When he didn’t say anything else, I realized what he wasn’t saying was probably more important than what he had. Arrogant bastard.
I struggled to keep my footsteps silent, staying close behind Sebastian. The wind whistled through the tops of the pine trees, bending the branches and masking our movement. I glanced up at the twilight sky. Fighting against the moon was painful, mentally and physically. Sweat soaked through my shirt, and I gritted my teeth to stay focused. I wouldn’t be able to hold off shifting much longer, and I couldn’t shift with Sebastian nearby. I’d be too vulnerable.
But there weren’t any other options. I had to follow him. Lana needed me.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Lana
Sasha stopped the car in a clearing off the main road. We were back at Lake Tahoe, which instantly made me think of Adam, of the way it had felt when he brought me here last time. The way he’d goaded me into jumping to the top of a boulder and showed me how to be me. Now my wrists were rubbed raw, my back was bruised from some sort of plastic bullet, and an armed woman was about to hand me over to Nero as a science experiment. I tried really hard not to feel sorry for myself, but none of this was fair.
She opened the back door and yanked me out of the car. The crisp night air felt good on my skin. Above us, the sky was a stunning masterpiece of reds and purples, completely unaware of its contrast with my current predicament.
“Turn around,” she demanded.
I faced the car and then felt her messing with the cuffs. The metal bands released me, and I gasped at the pain that shot up my arms and into my shoulders now that my hands were free. My right wrist was bleeding, my l
eft looked bruised, but it felt so good to be free that I didn’t care.
“Thank you,” I rubbed at my aching arms.
“Nothing’s changed. I just don’t want them to pull some stunt about you being harmed and then break their end of the bargain.”
“I thought they said alive, not unharmed.”
She ground her teeth, the muscles of her jaw clenched, but didn’t answer. I couldn’t prevent a small smirk from creeping onto my face.
“Are they paying you a lot to bring me in?” The writer in me wanted to know details and keeping her talking couldn’t be a bad thing, I gathered. If I lived through this night, I had some great ideas for a book.
Sasha grabbed my elbow and walked me toward the trees. “They’re not paying me money.”
My jaw dropped a little. “You’re screwing up my life for free? Is this fun for you?”
She tightened her grip, and I made a mental note that pissing off my abductor was probably not a good idea. When we got to a shadowed area she pulled me down to the ground. I watched her crouch and take a deep breath.
Time was running out though, and at this point, my best shot at freedom was finding some way to appeal to her humanity. Sasha was tough, but I couldn’t let go of that moment in the car when I saw, for a second, a flash of what might live behind her emotional battle armor.
“You said if there were some other way, you’d take it. If money’s not what you’re after, then what is it? Maybe the Pack can help you get it.”
She kept her attention focused on the growing shadows. “No one can help me but Nero. There’s no other way.” She glanced my way as she lowered her voice to a whisper. “They promised me a cure.”
“A cure? For what—” Then it hit me. “They can reverse the jaguar bite?”
Her eyes scanned the wilderness around us. “They say they can.”
“Then what will you do?”
“Go back to my life, I hope.”
“How long have you been gone?”
She rubbed absently at the scar along her collarbone. “He bit me a year ago.” She gripped my arm tighter, and I couldn’t be sure if she was trying to convince me or herself. “They’re not going to kill you, you know. They want to keep you healthy.”
Revulsion snaked its way down my back. They wanted me healthy to see if I could create more female-born jaguars. I opened my mouth to reply, but Sasha shushed me. Without a word she grabbed my arm and started dragging me farther into the forest.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Away from Sebastian,” was her only reply.
Then I heard the lone howl of a wolf, and my heart stuttered. Sasha slid her pistol free from her shoulder holster. I didn’t care if she was trying to get a cure for her jaguar bite; if she was planning to hurt Adam or his family, then I was going to hurt her first. The realization hit me hard, but on some primal level my fear vanished and determination and love filled the void.
I loved Adam, and I wasn’t going to let this bitch hurt him.
Not a chance.
Sasha pulled me through the trees, only stopping when we reached the edge of another clearing. With the bright full moon overhead, we couldn’t hide, so she opted for taking the offensive. She shoved me in front of her, pressing the barrel of her pistol against my spine as she guided me to the center of the clearing. When we were where she wanted me, she didn’t holster her gun, instead she circled slowly, keeping it aimed and ready for anything that might approach us from the forest. Finally she lowered her gun, and I heard her exhale.
“Maybe they’ll actually get here before Sebastian screws everything up for me,” she mumbled.
A howl cut through the night, making her gun fly back up to the ready position. With both her hands on her revolver I could have tried to run, but as much as I wanted to believe I was more valuable to her alive, I didn’t want to prove that theory. Besides, she could always shoot out a knee.
My leg ached just thinking about it. I’d stay put. For now.
Chapter Forty
Adam
When we found Sasha’s car near Lake Tahoe it was empty, but the backseat was ripe with Lana’s scent. I glared at the darkening sky, the giant silver moon rising, calling to the animal inside of me. My incisors lengthened, and when my hackles rose, I could feel each hair bristling underneath my shirt. I’d never fought my instinct to change before. My skin hurt, my bones ached, and my pulse pounded in my head. I ground my teeth and kept Lana’s face in my mind. I had to resist the shift until I knew she was safe. She needed me, and it was programmed inside of me to protect her.
The reality that I needed her just as much as she needed me didn’t escape my notice. The primal instinct to hunt down and kill the person threatening my family made rational thought practically impossible.
“I’ve got to find her,” I grunted, following the scent of Lana’s blood toward the trees.
Sebastian stepped back as I pushed past him. “You are already changing, wolf. I will find them. You should go to your Pack.”
I glared over my shoulder and noticed my muscles straining against the fabric of my shirt. “Not until I know she’s safe.”
He shrugged, but kept his distance. It was for the best. His scent was teasing the predator inside. Lana was a jaguar too, but the wolf recognized her as family. It recognized Sebastian as a bastard and potential threat.
We traveled silently through the underbrush and the shadows as Lana’s scent grew stronger in my nostrils. We were getting close. When a howl broke the silence of the night, followed by many more, my head spun in the direction of the call from my brothers, my Pack. My throat burned as I bit back my answering call. When I didn’t reply, another howl echoed. I recognized my father’s plea, my Alpha’s instruction, and primal animal instinct won out over rational human thought. The tenuous hold I had on my change was lost.
I fell to the ground, gagging as my bones popped and mutated, changing my shape from a man into a large black wolf. My shirt tore and the buttons burst from my jeans. When I could finally stand, I was on four legs, my jeans sliding free of my haunches. Panting, I swiveled my head, searching for Sebastian. His scent was still fresh, but I couldn’t see him.
Tilting my head back, I cried out to the moon and to my brothers, my Pack, my family. The answering call told me the Pack was here at the lake, including Aren. In wolf form, my human mind and memories resided along with the wolf’s primal thought processes, so even the wolf seemed to understand my twin was injured. And they were coming to find me. But this night I knew I wasn’t hunting for food or territory like they were. My mate was in danger.
I galloped through the brush, trying to place the pads of my feet on solid ground to keep from making any noise. It was easier to catch the jaguar’s scent in my animal form. There were three now. My ears twitched as the wolf realized that one of the jaguar scents was my mate. With a swish of my tail, I picked up speed until the trees thinned, opening up to a clearing. The moon was full above us, casting light on the three shifters. My eyes locked on Lana. I panted softly, pulling her scent into my lungs. The smell of blood was weak; her wounds couldn’t be serious.
The wolf recognized the other female as an enemy, her name gone from my tongue as the wolf took over completely. My ears flattened, my tail lowered as I maneuvered in closer, every muscle on alert. She had a gun, and my wolf recognized danger. It was also pointed at the male of the trio. I tried to concentrate on what he was saying, but half of me remained focused on Lana. The wolf wanted to remove the threat to his mate, but I kept him back, kept him tempered. Barely.
My ears pricked up when the rest of my Pack arrived, forming an invisible perimeter around me and the jaguars.
Chapter Forty-One
Lana
“Get out of here, Sebastian,” Sasha hissed. “This is none of your business anymore.”
He started to raise his hands. “You wouldn’t shoot an unarmed man.”
“You would,” she replied, her weapon still aimed dir
ectly at him.
He shrugged, lowering his hands slowly. “Perhaps, but you have more moral character than I do. Nero has not beaten that out of you yet.”
I saw her finger brush along the trigger, and my chest tightened.
She tossed her head, sending her dark hair back over her shoulders. “Don’t be so sure.”
Sebastian’s face softened, and for a moment I thought I could see behind the veil of arrogance he wore like a second skin. He stared at her and then shook his head slowly. “Do not let them win, Sasha.”
He looked at me next and his cool demeanor returned. “If you hand her over to Nero, they still will not give you what they have promised.”
“Then I’ll kill her.”
Sebastian raised a brow. “If you kill an unarmed woman, then Nero still wins this battle, Sasha. Instead of having a research subject, they will have broken your spirit.”
I watched her gun start to lower and my blood pressure followed suit. Another howl cut through the night, and all three of us turned to look in the direction from which Sebastian had come. A wolf stepped forward, his dangerous gaze meeting mine.
“Will he recognize you when he’s a wolf?” Sasha asked.
“I don’t know.” My mind was racing from hearing Sasha say she was going to kill me. I couldn’t even be sure this wolf was Adam. I tried to remember when he’d first told me about his own shifting. He had been surprised that I didn’t have any memories of being a jaguar when I woke up in the morning, so did that mean he could remember being a wolf? Would the wolf remember being human?
I swallowed as I watched the wolf, large and black as pitch. God, he was so much bigger than a regular wolf. Massive even. Fear lit through me like wildfire, but I didn’t move from where I stood. When his eyes flicked toward me again, I knew. His eyes were a bright green, even in the glow of the moon. And then I caught the glint of silver—the silver bullet still dangled from his thick furry neck.
This massive wolf was Adam.