His Purrfect Mate

by Georgette St. Clair

  “Hmmm. Never say never,” Bobbi said. “When I set my mind to something, I can be quite resourceful.”

  Jax grabbed his satellite phone which was sitting on top of the dresser.

  “I’ll call Tyler and remind him how urgent it is that we keep the prince’s little escapade quiet,” he said.

  Reggie ignored him, bent over in sorrow, crying noisily into his knees.

  Chapter Twelve

  “Jonathan Drake. We have a problem.” Kenneth snarled into the phone, his claws extending from his hands. Rage ripped through his body, and he could feel his face lengthening, his fangs descending. He’d never felt such raw fury, or such fear.

  For Chloe’s sake, he forced the fear deep, deep down inside, and struggled not to let his rage overwhelm him.

  Jonathan was the owner of Hammersmith Security, and if he didn’t give Kenneth exactly what he wanted, he was also a dead man walking.

  “How did you get this number?” he demanded. Kenneth had called him on his private cell phone, and even better, Kenneth happened to know that Jonathan was at his mistress’s house. Jonathan had inherited Hammersmith Security from his wife’s father.

  “I have my sources. I need to know the whereabouts of your employee, Alfonse Capitano. Now. He abducted a woman named Chloe Novak. She happens to be my fated mate. Think about that for a minute.”

  Kenneth could hear silence and heavy breathing on the other end of the phone. Jonathan was human, but he would be familiar with the concept of a fated mate. Heaven help the person who got in between fated mates…especially if one of those fated mates was Kenneth Chamberlin.

  “What makes you think that my employee had anything to do with-”

  “Don’t play cagey with me, motherfucker. Don’t even try. Chloe disappeared. My men and I questioned people who saw her getting in a car with a man who fits Alfonse’s description. He’s been following her, and harassing her. Employees of yours have also been following my people in Turak.”

  “Perhaps she got in the car with him voluntarily?” Jonathan’s voice quavered as he spoke.

  “No. I happen to know otherwise. And don’t keep wasting my time.” Kenneth glanced at the note which had been delivered to him by messenger. It was in Chloe’s handwriting, but it had several spelling and punctuation errors. Chloe would never, ever have made those errors, even at gunpoint. It was clearly the only way that she could send him a message that she was writing the note under duress.

  “Well, I can’t help you find him, I’m afraid. Alfonse has gone, ah, kind of, off the grid,” Jonathan said reluctantly.

  “ “How in the hell did that happen?”

  “He flew to Italy to continue his surveillance of Chloe Novak, and then…vanished. His cell phone has been turned off. He isn’t responding to emails or text messages.”

  “But he’s been following her. Why?”

  Jonathan’s voice came out in a nasal whine. “You must understand, that’s confidential client”-

  Kenneth felt his rage flow through him like a hot tide of lava, boiling through his veins and threatening to choke him. Chloe had been taken from him by force. He had no idea where in the world she was, or what was being done to her, if she was suffering, if she was frightened…His face lengthened, his mouth filled with fangs, and fur rippled over his skin.

  With enormous effort, he forced himself to return to human form. He had to stay human long enough to find Chloe, no matter how hard it was. His primal instincts rumbled under the surface, and all that he wanted to do was shift and find someone to maul.

  “If anything happens to Chloe, I will hold you personally responsible,” he snarled. “And I will personally rip your throat out.”

  “Are you threatening me?” Jonathan’s voice rose an entire octave.

  “Are you a complete fucking moron? Of course I’m threatening you. There’s no security force in the world that will stop me. If Chloe is harmed in any way, you will spend the rest of your very short life looking over your shoulder and waiting for me to find you, which I will. You sent a man to follow Chloe, and then that man kidnapped her. You caused this to happen, and therefore, you will answer every question that I answer, immediately, or I will make sure that you drown in your own blood.”

  There was a brief pause, and then Jonathan said, in an aggrieved voice, “What do you want to know?”

  “Who hired you to follow Chloe? Who hired you to follow my people in Turak? And why?”

  “You must understand, this client originally just wanted us to follow your people and get information about that Sumerian artwork that your grandfather stole. Then they started making additional requests, offering my people a huge amount of money if they would kidnap Chloe and your employees. All of my people said no – except for Alfonse, apparently.”

  “And you never felt the need to warn me of this?”

  “It would have violated client confidentiality. It’s very important that word never get out that I revealed-”

  “Answer the fucking question! Who is your client? This is your last chance before I go Defcon five on your ass,” Kenneth’s voice shook with rage and ended in a snarl.

  “Well, it’s actually rather odd…” Jonathan said, and then he told him.

  Kenneth sank back into his chair, stunned.

  That made no sense. No sense at all.

  * * *

  Chloe woke gradually, with a dull throbbing in her temples. Where was she? The last thing she remembered…oh, no.

  She sat bolt upright and looked around. The room wobbled several times and then settled down.

  Slowly, carefully, she climbed off the bed. She was still wearing the clothes she’d had on when she was kidnapped, even her shoes.

  The room had no windows, and when she tried the doorknob, it was locked.

  Her purse and cell phone had been taken from her. Even if Kenneth had figured out what she’d tried to tell him with the note, how would he find her?

  In the distance, she could hear the air cracking with scattered gunfire.

  I must be in Turak, she thought.

  She’d been here before, in fact, six years earlier, when the region was stable. Everyone she’d met had been so kind and so fascinated to meet an American and she’d taken part in an archeological dig of an ancient city-state that dated back to 3500 B.C. She’d written her thesis on it, in fact. She’d never wanted to leave.

  Now she felt homesick and alone and very frightened. She also was angry enough to kill.

  Concentrate on being angry, she told herself. Someone had taken her from her fated mate. Someone had threatened her family. It didn’t matter if she was a small, clumsy, shifter who was terribly outnumbered, she wouldn’t go down without a fight.

  A quick search of the room revealed that there was a small bathroom, the closet was empty, and her purse was definitely gone. Of course, there was no telephone. The doorknob rattled, and then the door swung open. Two large bear shifters stood in the hall outside the doorway, in human form. They were the size of football linebackers, and their expressions were not friendly. “Come with us,” one of them intoned.

  There was no point in resisting – not yet, anyway.

  I am so in over my head, she thought despairingly, following them down a hallway.

  She was lead through several hallways, into a living room. The furniture was American style, but dated, with ugly black lacquer and fake gold accents.

  Chloe could smell death in the air. Rotting flesh, spilled blood. She sniffed, and realized that it was coming from down yet another hallway.

  A woman sat at a table, wearing a black dress and a hat with a thick, dark veil draped over her face.

  “Chloe,” the woman said, in a low, strange voice. Her grandmother’s voice. And yet…there was something off about it. She hadn’t seen her grandmother since she was a small child, and that was only for a very brief meeting. She’d only ever heard her grandmother speak over the telephone. In person, her grandmother sounded as if she were deliberately al
tering her voice.

  “You came,” her grandmother said.

  “What is wrong with your voice? Someone’s dead in this house, I can smell it! Where is my mother?” If her mother was dead, so help her and everyone in this house…

  “It’s the people who owned this house! These animals killed them!” her grandmother wailed. Her voice sounded wrong – too young. Was this an imposter? Was that why she was wearing a veil? “Tell these men everything they ask of you. Please. If you don’t, they’ll kill us all.”

  One of the bear shifters turned towards Chloe. “Have you found out where the other statues are?” he demanded, his voice heavy with menace.

  “Show me my mother!” Her voice was rising with hysteria.

  “You don’t get to make demands,” the man said, and slapped her grandmother on the side of the head so hard that her grandmother rocked sideways in her chair, wailing and cringing.

  The man raised his hand to slap her grandmother again.

  Anger swelled inside her and pushed aside the fear.

  Furious, Chloe leaped to her feet. “I don’t give a damn if you’re bears,” she snapped. “I will shift, and you can see what happens when you corner a cat. Don’t touch my grandmother again, and bring my mother out here, or I swear to God I’ll claw your faces off, or die trying! And then you won’t get any information from me at all.”

  The man glanced at her grandmother…as if he was waiting for a cue from her. As if she was in charge.

  And why the hell was her face veiled?

  “Chloe, please, just tell them what they want! Can’t you see they’ll kill me?” her grandmother whimpered, cringing away from the man.

  Pretending to cringe.

  A terrible suspicion started to swell inside Chloe.

  “Why don’t you want them to bring my mother out here?” she demanded.

  “She’s fine!” her grandmother wailed. “Please, Chloe! Please answer their questions!”

  Before they could stop her, Chloe shifted, leaped forward, and pawed the veil off her grandmother’s face…and fell back in shock.

  This couldn’t be her grandmother. It looked exactly like the picture that her mother had of her grandmother as a young woman. This woman was impossibly young. She should be in her seventies, but she looked like she was in her twenties. Her heart shaped face was smooth and unlined, and her wavy hair was a lustrous chocolate brown. She looked a great deal like Chloe and her mother.

  Chloe turned human again, clutching at her shredded clothes. The bodyguards had shifted into bears, and they loomed over her, growling, eyes blazing, but she was too stunned to be frightened.

  “Who the hell are you?” Chloe gasped. “What are you?”

  Impatiently, the woman pushed her chair back, standing up.

  “Oh, the hell with it,” she snarled at the bear shifters. “She’s not buying it. Bring in my darling daughter.”

  They both shifted back into human form, and turned to walk out of the room. “And put some clothes on!” the woman yelled after them as they walked out.

  The men vanished down the hallway, as Chloe stared at the woman, open-mouthed.

  “That’s one hell of a plastic surgeon you’ve got there,” she said finally.

  The woman looked at her and her eyes glowed red. “You have no idea,” she smiled unpleasantly.

  A minute later, one of the men, now wearing slacks and no shirt, was marching Chloe’s mother down the hallway.

  “Mom! Are you all right? What happened?”

  Her mother looked dazed. Her face was pale, her hair was a tangled bird’s nest and her blue blouse was torn at the shoulder.

  She glanced at Sophronia despairingly.

  “Oh, no. They got you, too, “ Hilary moaned. “That woman isn’t my mother. I don’t think she’s been my mother for a very long time.”

  Chloe stared at the woman, and a terrible understanding came to her. “You’re a demon,” she said. “Or at least, you’re possessed by one. You were possessed by a demon way back when Barrett and you found those statues. That’s why you suddenly started acting so different after you brought the statues back here. That would explain why you never aged. Why wasn’t Barrett possessed, too?”

  “I ask the questions here,” the demon-Sophronia said.

  Hilary collapsed into the chair next to the table.

  “I know why,” Chloe said. “I know. The inscription on the statues – it said not to bleed on the statues. You accidentally cut yourself and bled on one of the statues, didn’t you?”

  Demon-Sophronia made a bored slow clapping motion. “Aren’t you the clever one. The body that I now occupy – yes, it cut itself on a nail and bled on one of the statues when it was unpacking them. It set me free.”

  “Why are you trying to get all the statues together?”

  “Enough of this,” the demon snarled. “What have you found out? And don’t lie to me, or I’ll cut this woman’s throat.”

  Chloe looked at her. The demon-possessed Sophronia had produced a knife, with a gleaming, wickedly curved blade. Her stomach lurched.

  “Fine,” she said. “I’ll tell you what you want to know. But I just want to know something first. Why was it that you always avoided my mother when she was growing up?”

  The demon threw its hands up in the air despairingly.

  “Humans!” it said. “Do you know how much I despise this mortal body? Its hideous weaknesses, its feelings, its needs…it sickens me! I long to return to the demon realm.”

  “Then why don’t you?”

  “We can’t,” the demon said bitterly. “None of us can. It was a one way portal; after we were summoned, we were trapped in this human world forever. At least in the days when we were first summoned here, there was blood everywhere. My master looked out on the field of battle, and made the blood of the humans boil inside their bodies, until they fell to the ground screaming in their death throes, and then we feasted. Glorious blood, beautiful, wonderful, fear and pain.”

  She fixed her gaze on Chloe. “You humans enjoy your chocolate and your wine. We live off of blood, and fear. The blood of a human dying in agony…it tastes a million times better than the sweetest sugar, it feels a million times better than the most intense orgasm. And you pathetic humans can never experience that joy.”

  “How unfortunate for us,” Chloe murmured. “But you still haven’t explained, why did you always avoid my mother?”

  The demon-woman fixed its eyes on Hilary, despairingly. “Because I didn’t want to kill her. Oh, I had no problem killing my husbands, my parents, sneaking out at night to find people to kill…”

  Hilary let out a shocked gasp. “You killed my father!”

  “Eventually, yes. I couldn’t help myself. I have to kill, you know, or I start to burn inside, with a craving so painful you can’t imagine it,” the demon said in a conversational tone. “But Hilary…when she was born, I felt…weakness.” The demon’s smooth brow wrinkled in frustration. “I didn’t want her to die.” Her lips curled back in disgust. “It was horrible. Unnatural. I had banished the human whose body I stole into an endless sleep, I should have no human feelings, but… there it was. ‘Maternal instinct’, they call it. I simply could not make myself kill that infant. This human body pollutes me.”

  “So you sent her away…”

  “I would have killed her if she’d stayed close to me. I couldn’t let myself be near her for any length of time or the urge would become too strong. It’s part of what we are. We can’t feel that loathsome human emotion that you call love; it turns into hate, and then the urgent need to kill.” A smile drifted across her face. “And then there’s blood. Delicious blood.”

  Hilary’s eyes were huge with shock. “My father,” she whispered. Chloe grabbed her shaking hand and squeezed it, hard.

  “You kept in touch with my mother over the years so that you could use her to help you look for the other statues. That’s why you had her take over that antique shop,” Chloe said. So much was beco
ming clear now…terribly clear.

  “Of course. The only reason I exist is to serve my master. I almost gave up, you know. I thought I’d never find the statues. I thought I was condemned to roam this world alone, sneaking under cover of darkness to feed, living a life of pointless monotony, tormented by human feelings…until that magazine came out with the pictures of those statues.” Her face stretched in a hideous rictus which apparently was meant to be a blissful smile.

  Chloe looked at her, narrow-eyed. “You stole those two statues from Kenneth. Why did you leave the other one behind?”

  “That was my statue. My prison. Once I was released from it, I didn’t need it anymore.”

  “And why did you lure me to your house and try to have lion shifters attack me? Why did you leave your own blood there?”

  “To make sure that you’d come after me. And now I tire of your stupid questions. What difference does it make, when you’re going to die soon?”

  She spun around, and the tip of her knife was pressed against Hilary’s throat. Hilary gasped in shock.

  “Where are the other statues? You know! Tell me!” the demon screamed at Chloe.

  “Wait!” Chloe cried. “You said that you didn’t want to kill her!”

  “I resisted the urge to kill before, when I thought I was trapped in this mortal body forever. Now, I am so close to the return of my master…so close…I would sacrifice anything for him, for his glory.” Her eyes were glowing as red as rubies. “The sacrifice of this human body’s daughter and grand-daughter…the master would appreciate that.”

  The master? One master? Which statue held the master, Chloe wondered.

  Chloe swallowed hard. This thing would kill her mother if she didn’t talk.

  She thought back on what Kenneth had told her about his employees who’d gone to Turak, and what they’d learned there.

  “There is a family named El-Debar, and they live in a compound in the center of town. They run an antique dealership. They questioned Kenneth’s family several times about the statues, asking to buy them. Kenneth’s family thinks it is possible that they have the other statues and that now they want to gather them all together.”