He laughed. “You have to try and see.” His beautiful eyes glinted with devilish glee, and something within her crumbled. She swiped at another drop, “One . . .” Her tongue swirled down the bulge of his pectoral muscle and flirted with the groove bisecting his chest. The flavor of his skin, the expression in his blue eyes, the heady scent of his clean male flesh made her quiver. “Two . . .”
She lapped a drop sliding down the ridges of his abdomen and followed it to the ledge below his hip. “Three,” then she gently engulfed him in her mouth.
He arced off the bed, thrusting further into her mouth.
She let him feel her teeth and eased out a moment to tease him. “The world may never know.” She smiled into his eyes as she took him in again.
He groaned as she sucked, the wet sounds of her attention filled the air.
“How did you get so good?” he asked with a growl.
She crawled up his body. “I come from the culture that invented Kama Sutra.” She kissed him. After a moment he moved back. A twinge of fear gripped her. Had she been too bold?
“Seriously,” he said. “Tell me about your boyfriends.”
She might have felt insulted by the assumption she’d had several relationships, but his expression was vulnerable. She shook her head. “There weren’t any. I never wanted to disappoint my family, so I always followed the expectations for Indian girls. No smoking, no alcohol, and no boys.”
“Never?” He raised a brow.
“Well, in college I dated a few guys, but I never really felt that spark. I guess, it was just easier to focus on my studies.”
“Good. I like to think we’re on even ground.” He cupped her face in his hands, thumbing her cheek. “I love the color of your eyes.”
She laughed. “Mud? You like the color of mud?”
He scowled. “Not mud. Mahogany.”
A silly grimace tugged her lips. “Wood, then.”
“Hey.” His blue gaze was intense. “Mahogany isn’t just wood. It’s rich and luxurious. Hell, I’d never even seen mahogany until I followed the call of some jewels into this mansion, a few days after I escaped the police. I’d never seen anything like that. Every chair and table dark and gleaming.” He pressed his lips together and glanced away. “All I’d ever seen was glorified cardboard and plastic made to simulate wood.”
A picture flashed into her mind. She didn’t know if it came from him or her imagination. A much younger Jake stroking his small, grimy hand down the deep mirror-like surface of a table, fascinated by the texture and depth of the wood. An ache pulsed in her throat and she could see he was hurting, too. She rubbed the pad of her fingertip on his lower lip, wanting to erase his pain. “Enough talk. Kiss me.”
He took over, slanting his mouth against hers in a way that curled her toes. His tongue teased hers and retreated, inviting her to return the favor. Anjali had never thought much of kissing, but the tender slide of his mouth, moist and heated on hers, couldn’t go on long enough.
She savored the pitch and roll of his chest as he panted against her mouth, her fingers squeezing his firm buttocks, his large palm wonderfully rough against her tender breasts.
His fingers brushed between their bodies to find her. He moaned when he delved inside her swollen, creamy folds.
“I can’t wait,” he said and lowered himself between her thighs.
The feel of him, damp and warm on her inner thigh, almost sent her over the edge. He rubbed against her for a second, gliding over the sensitive flesh to make sure she was ready for him.
She clutched his corded shoulders, digging her nails into his back. “Yes.”
He filled her and began a frantic rhythm, the delicious friction building between them until Anjali cried out and fire sparked through her, rocking her to her core.
Chapter 28
The phone ripped Gareth Kincaid from a dreamless sleep. He answered it with a brusque, “Yes.”
“They’ve left the Preserve.”
Shit. Killing Finn would be much easier with fewer witnesses. Even though it seemed the whole world had converged on the area, it was still more than a million acres of wilderness.
He checked his Rolex. Five in the morning. “How far ahead are they?”
“It doesn’t matter. They’re heading into civilization. Las Vegas, probably, so you don’t need me.”
“You’ve tracked them all night? An almost impossible task and you’re just going to give up now?” First, not a peep from those associates of Anders and now this. Really, no one had any work ethic these days.
There was silence for a moment. “I can’t track them in the city.”
“I’ll send someone who can, but you know what they can do. I need someone who can bring down a large animal.”
Silence again, then, “Fine. Tell your men I’ll meet them at the Bellagio.”
“The Bellagio?”
“They’re probably a few hours ahead of me, but they’ll need rest. So do I. And with the risks of this job, I’m going to get it someplace nice.”
Gareth gritted his teeth. “Whatever. Just kill Finn and bring me the woman.”
Kyle stifled a yawn as he drove slowly down I-15 with the windows of his rental car rolled down. Thank God he’d slept on the plane or, even with every cell in his body pushing him to find Jake, he would be in danger of falling asleep at the wheel.
As soon as he’d landed at McCarran, he’d headed for the Preserve. The hope was he could smell some hint of where his brother might have gone. He wished he dared transform, but the dragon was out of the question and every yahoo from here to LA searched for a lion.
A bunch of cop cars, flashing lights illuminating the pre-dawn desert around them, sat outside a gas station. He pulled in. Maybe the commotion had nothing to do with Jake, but listening in wouldn’t hurt.
Kyle entered the station. The two police officers zeroed in on him. They seemed to weigh him, considering if he was a threat. At six foot five, he often got that reaction from law enforcement. He nodded at the men and went to a refrigerated case full of drinks.
One of the officers turned back to the attendant. Ky could feel the other eyeballing his back for another long second before rejoining the conversation.
The attendant, a scrawny teen with long, black hair, spoke, flailing his skinny arms in emphasis. “I went out to grab something from my car about four-thirty, and it was gone.” He folded his arms, his lip stuck out, making him seem about twelve. “It took you dudes long enough to get here.”
Kyle took a bottle of water to the counter.
The attendant kept on talking as he rang up Kyle’s purchase. “It’s been crazy around here. What with the lion sighting at all.” He shook his shaggy head. “But man, who would take my car? It was a total piece of shit.”
Kyle strode back out to the little parking lot. Aside from his car and the CHPs’, all the spaces were empty. Where would employees park?
Kyle sniffed the air, sorting past the car exhaust and other car-related odors. Then he smelled it. A man and a woman, with a hint of lion. He closed his eyes. Thank God.
Jake and Dr. Mehta were out of the desert.
He got into his car. If he were on the run he’d head for the largest nearby city. He guided the car to I-15.
Viva Las Vegas.
Anjali rolled over and smiled at Jake. She’d fallen asleep almost immediately after they’d made love and since he was still sleeping, he must have done the same.
The clock glowed on the nightstand. 11:00 a.m. The blackout curtains were worth their weight in gold.
Though she couldn’t imagine how Kincaid’s men could find them here, they’d better get moving. She’d wake Jake in five minutes.
Her lids fluttered shut as she thought about the events of the past night.
To think she was a shapechanger, a chimera. Who would have ever expected that in a million years?
“What are you grinning at?” Jake’s voice, gravelly with sleep, reverberated in her chest, igniting a litt
le shiver of pleasure.
“You should have seen the faces on those men when they realized they hadn’t caught some defenseless female,” she said, her eyes still closed, picturing the scene.
“What men?” Jake’s voice was suddenly right in her ear and her lids flew open. Bands of gold threaded his eyes.
She grimaced. “I guess I forgot to tell you about them after you jumped down my throat in the desert.”
“Tell me now.” He loomed over her, hard and dangerous. Like someone she wouldn’t want to meet in a dark alley.
She resisted the urge to stick her tongue out at his tone, and quickly ran down the whole story. “You should be proud of me,” she finished lightly, trying to jolly him out of his anger. “I didn’t even have to ‘slip into something more ferocious.’”
Jake flopped back onto his pillow, one hand on his forehead. “God, what did I do to deserve this?”
She poked him in the ribs. “Come on. You were unconscious. I did it to protect you.”
He groaned and turned to her, propping his weight on his elbow. “All right. I’m sorry. You did good.”
Anjali traced his shoulder with her finger. “I was pretty scared at first, but I was more scared you were going to die.” Tears burned behind her eyes, but she blinked them back.
He threaded his hand through her hair, spreading the mass over her bare arm. “You’ve been alone a long time, Anjali. But you don’t have to be anymore.”
She sighed and nodded, knowing life wasn’t that certain, but not wanting to have that fight again.
He prodded the remote welded to the bedside table. “We better find out what’s going on in the rest of the world.”
He flipped through to an all news channel. Her picture was in the corner.
“Aye, Bhagvan.” Anjali called to God before flipping the covers over her head. “What does it say?”
A minute later, Jake yanked back the covers. “Apparently you’ve been missing for a couple days. It seems something violent happened to several men in your apartment and you’re feared dead. They’re conducting a massive search.”
She sat up and focused her attention on the television. A reporter turned to interview someone. She perked up. Meena Masi, her elderly neighbor.
“She’s such a pretty girl. I hope she isn’t injured.”
Anjali jerked the covers over her head again, making the spread puff out like a parachute. “Ugh, the poor woman! She must be so worried! How am I going to explain all this?”
Jake patted her through the sheet. “Get dressed. If we don’t get out of here. You may not have to.”
Anjali slipped into the shoes Jake had brought her after he’d gone out for food and supplies and glanced over at him.
He was gazing out the window beside the door. The strong light flooding in turned him into a shadow from behind, and she was struck anew by his size and strength.
He had bought new clothes for himself, and wore a black button-down shirt, untucked, over jeans. The light threw his profile into sharp relief, and she ached at the stark expression on his face.
She went to him and slid her arms around his waist, then laid her cheek against his warm back. “It’s going to be all right.”
His arms came up to hold hers. “I know it is, because I’m going to make it that way. As soon as I can find you someplace safe, I’ll go back for Kincaid.”
Suddenly Jake pushed Anjali toward the bathroom. “Someone’s coming. Get in the tub.”
Anjali stood her ground. “No. I can change now. Let me help.”
His features might have been carved from stone. “You’ve never had to kill anyone, Anjali. I don’t want you to have start now.”
Anjali pressed her lips together, but ducked into the compact bathroom, locked the door, and crouched in the now dry tub, straining to hear any clue of what was going on in the bedroom.
It burned her to have to let him face them on his own, and though she was capable of killing, she wasn’t sure she could, and now wasn’t the time to find out.
A crash sent a shower of glass down on her from the window, followed by an abrupt stinging pain in her arm. Her eyes blurred as she peered down at the object that had caused the pain, a tranquilizer dart. Hands hauled her to her feet. Before she could identify their owner, the world narrowed to a single pinprick, then went black.
Chapter 29
Jake roared, the sound far louder than anything his human chest could produce, and launched at the man who’d burst through the door seconds earlier, triggering Jake’s change.
The man from the desert, dark-haired and thin, with a face like brown leather and icy pale eyes, tried to raise his rifle to get off a shot, but Jake slammed him against the wall, claws unsheathed, piercing the man’s shirt. Blood tainted the air. His instincts called for a single, almost gentle bite to the hunter’s neck to cut off the blood supply to the brain. Jake lowered his head to deliver the kill, but the sound of breaking glass in the bathroom tore his attention from the man.
Anjali! he called to her mentally.
No answer.
Fear stopped his heart. He abandoned the man he held and leaped at the bathroom door, smashing into it with the full weight of his huge body and breaking the cheap lock.
He was just in time to see Anjali’s limp legs disappearing out the broken window.
He snarled and jumped at the window. Glass pricked his pads as he braced his paws on the sill, but he could never fit through. All he could do was helplessly watch them carry Anjali away.
Anger warred with relief. If she were dead, they wouldn’t bother taking her away.
He spun to go out the front door to chase her captors down, but a streak of fire burned his hide, and he whirled to confront the man he’d left standing.
The wound incited the lion to rage. He struggled to keep his focus though every particle of the lion wanted to destroy.
He bounded to the door, but the man fired again.
The bullet hit him like a fist to the chest, knocking his feet from under him, and bringing him crashing to the floor. The man pointed his rifle and prepared to unload into Jake.
Unable to move, Jake quailed inside at what might happen to Anjali if he died. He screamed her name inside his head and dug deep for the strength to change.
Except for after the snakebite, he’d never had so much trouble transforming. It was like slogging through mud, and seemed to take forever. He could hear the click of the trigger as he reformed into the dragon. The slug in his body dropped to the floor. The repeated crack of the rifle deafened him. Bullets ricocheted off his scales and plowed into the drywall and the bed.
Ping.
Another ricochet.
Jake followed the bullet as it bounced off his scale directly back toward the shooter.
The man gasped and clutched the spreading stain on his tan cotton shirt. His eyes lost the spark of life. He crumpled.
Jake squeezed his eyes shut. Another body to add to his count.
The dragon was too big for the room. He couldn’t even fit through the door. He tried to change so he could go after Anjali, but nothing happened. Though he’d removed the bullet by changing, he was still weak from shock and loss of blood.
He couldn’t transform.
Kyle’s shoes crunched on the gravel surrounding a construction site as he followed his brother’s scent away from the strip. The scent had drifted, pooling around the base of buildings, and diverging in open spaces, and he damned the time he’d wasted sleeping. After arriving back in Las Vegas he’d called John to check the status of their guest, and his friend had reminded him he couldn’t help his brother if he was too tired to hold human shape. So he’d bowed to his body’s needs and checked into a hotel to get some shut-eye.
The scent trail was old. For all he knew Jake was already out of town. But the woman’s scent was still entwined with Jake’s and it was colored by the same shadings that distinguished Jake from the rest of the population.
Dr. Mehta was a chimera.
So Jake had found his mate. Ky shook off a twinge of envy. He was glad his brother would have an anchor, would never lose himself to the beasts inside him.
And more importantly for his search, Jake would want to protect his mate. He would make sure she was rested before moving on.
Knowing his brother wouldn’t have many resources, he’d figured Jake might have to come to the strip to get cash, so after he’d awakened, he’d trolled the casinos until he found his brother’s scent at the MGM Grand.
He adjusted for drift and followed the trail around the corner. Jake’s scent led him to a cheap two-story motel.
His pulse picked up speed in anticipation. Was Jake still here? Was he finally going to meet his brother?
Pop. Pop. Pop. Gunfire. The sound prodded Ky into a run. His heart pounded in rhythm with the strike of his feet on the pavement.
An SUV peeled from behind the motel. Kyle leapt out of the way. The smell of burned rubber filled the air as he watched the vehicle skid around a corner. The breeze carried the smell away and another odor sent a shaft of fear through his chest.
Blood.
Jake expected more assailants to come through the door any second. The dark-haired man’s blood soaked the low-pile carpet and spread toward Jake.
He tried to move, but the space was too tight. He had to change back. Though his scales gave him protection, if he couldn’t move, nothing would stop his enemies from marching right up and shooting him in a vulnerable area.
Outside, a car engine revved. Tires squealed on the street. He stretched his senses. They were taking Anjali away.
He pictured Anjali at Kincaid’s mercy and dredged deep for the energy to change. Finally human, he braced his hands on the floor to get his equilibrium and attempted to stand.
His legs buckled.
Suddenly a man was there, supporting him. Jake’s hand shot out and collared the stranger around the throat, jerking him down to his level so he could see the man’s face. “Who are you?”
A band of gold rippled through the stranger’s green eyes. He exuded a powerful sense of leashed menace, but something about him seemed familiar.
In Like a Lion (The Chimera Chronicles) Page 23