by A. C. Arthur
“It’s for cleansing energy,” Rome translated.
“Purification,” Kalina whispered. “Magdalena, the elder female shifter, performed a similar ritual with me the night before our joining.”
Yuri made some sound and wacked his arm over the fire. Everyone assumed that meant for them to be quiet.
After a few moments of moaning and whispering, Yuri reached for Nick’s hand. Not too keen on having a man—a strange man at that—pulling his palm into his own, Nick cleared his throat and reminded himself that this was for Ary.
“Her spirit fights,” Yuri said in a whisper meant only for Nick to hear.
“Fights who? When was the last time you saw her?” Nick was running out of patience.
Yuri continued to hold Nick’s hand, tracing the lines in his palm and moving up the veins in his arm. “You were connected once and will be again. It is imperative for you both to be whole.”
Snatching his arm away, Nick rose to his feet. “Where is she?” he yelled.
Yuri went back to his smoke, leaning forward and inhaling, sitting back on his heels and closing his eyes as if he was praying. What he wasn’t doing was talking anymore, which the group figured out after about five minutes.
“This is wasting time,” Nick said, heading for the small-ass hole in the wall he needed to climb through once more to get back to the forest, where Ary could be dead somewhere.
The others were moving to follow him when Yuri began to whistle. “Follow your heart,” he said finally. “Your soul recognizes hers.”
With a curse Nick crawled through the opening. Falling out onto the moist forest floor had him swearing fluently by the time the others made their way out.
“Well, that was a waste of time,” Nick was saying. “He didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.”
The others remained quiet. Nick didn’t know if that was because they agreed with him or if they were just letting him work off some steam. Lucas also did not speak. He did not assume the lead, either. Nick looked at him for a moment and was about to ask him where to go—then he figured fuck it, he’d find Ary on his own.
He began moving south, where the scent of the Rogues had come from. The farther he walked, the stronger the scent. Something else also grew stronger as he moved through the dimly lit forest. Desire boiled in the pit of his stomach; a raw hunger like he’d never before experienced was pressing him farther and farther. Now there were two scents guiding him—the stench of the Rogues and a stronger, sweeter scent that filtered through his body like a tonic.
Nick didn’t know what the new scent was or why he was picking it up so strongly. And he really didn’t care. All he knew for certain was that it would lead him to Ary.
Chapter 6
“She’s terrified. Her heart rate is out of control. What did you do to her?”
“You,” Sabar said, sweat beading his forehead, his fingers clamping around the other shifter’s neck, “do not get to question me!”
The man gulped, the movement of his Adam’s apple rippling against Sabar’s thumb. He jerked his hand back.
“I never wanted her hurt,” Davi Serino sobbed.
Walking across the room, stopping at the closed door, Sabar slammed his palm so hard the door almost broke free of the frame. “She’s no good to me hurt, either! Dammit! She killed him without a second thought.”
“My daughter is no killer,” Davi Serino said adamantly. “She would not willingly hurt another shifter. Something is wrong with her.”
“You bet your ass something is wrong with her. You told me the damiana would enhance my drug. That it would make my product worth even more on the street based on its potent sexual high. I’m supposed to be creating a new-age drug here, not watching after some crazed shifter.”
“I don’t know what’s going on. I just don’t know. Ary knows about the medicines of today. I don’t know.” Dropping his head in his hands, Davi sobbed louder.
“Bring her out here and if she shifts again shoot her ass,” Sabar ordered.
It had been hours since she’d killed Jose. Franco had dug a shallow grave, burying the remains. Not that Sabar gave a rat’s ass what happened to the remains of the pitiful shifter. He wasn’t going to amount to anything anyway. Hell, she’d actually saved Sabar the trouble of snapping the idiot’s neck. Then she’d run off into the forest roaring and circling back and forth like a confused house cat. Not until her father had gone out to talk to her did the feline calm down, allowing her to shift once more even though the human still appeared delirious.
She’d slept and been fed. Now Sabar wanted to know what the hell had happened.
Franco came through the door with Ary, her hands tied behind her back and her ankles shackled. Her hair had also been pulled back with a dirty band because Sabar wanted to see her face at all times. That had more to do with the stir in his dick when he looked into her sultry eyes than any of this drug business.
“Aryiola,” Davi whimpered, moving closer to his daughter as she was dragged into the room.
As the table had been destroyed, Franco just propped her against one of the walls and let her limp body slide down onto the floor. Davi fell to the floor with her, cupping her face in his hands.
“Answer me, my dear. Tell me what you are feeling,” he implored.
Ary’s head lolled back, her eyes open but not really focused. Through cracked lips she tried to speak. “Father, you are here?”
“Yes. Yes, baby. I am here. How are you?”
“My head hurts” was her reply.
From across the room Sabar stood with his legs slightly parted, arms folded over his chest.
“How did you feel when you killed Jose?” he asked.
It was a quick motion compared with her otherwise sluggish movements. Ary’s gaze shot past her father to Sabar and instantly paled. Her pupils seemed huge, dancing around as if she were overly excited even though she was sitting perfectly still.
“What? Why? Where am I?” she finally managed to ask. “How did you know where to find me?” This question was aimed at her father.
Davi paused, not sure what his response should be.
“He knew where you were because I told him where I was going to take you,” Sabar provided. “And I really don’t have the patience for the domestic issues. I have some questions about the damiana that I need you to answer, and I don’t have a lot of time.”
This fucking forest was driving him crazy. The incessant rain was making him cranky as hell and he needed some pussy and some real food, fast. Staying out here in the depths of trees and rivers and dirt didn’t afford him the lifestyle he was growing accustomed to back in the States. He drove an Audi R8, owned several Hummers, lived in a converted brownstone that he’d decked out in class A style, and had a staff that cooked and cleaned for him on command. These basic elements out here were killing his mojo.
“What’s he talking about?” she asked Davi. “Father, do you know what he’s talking about?”
“Of course he knows. It was his idea. Tell her, Father,” Sabar said with his signature sadistic laugh.
An eerie sort of glee slipped down Sabar’s spine as he watched her heated gaze land on her father. There was tension there, a situation clearly about to blow. Too bad he didn’t really care.
“Tell me about damiana, curandero. What are the effects?”
“I wouldn’t tell you the time of day,” she spat in his direction. “Father, why am I here? Did you know he was coming for me?”
Sabar growled. “Tell her, Father. And while you’re at it, teach your little bitch some manners. She’s staying alive only because I allow it. Make sure she knows that!”
“Leave us alone?” Davi asked Sabar, his voice just short of frantic. “Please. A few minutes?”
Sabar spit on the floor then laced his fingers together and cracked his knuckles. “Yeah, whatever. Five minutes then I’m coming back and she better start talking or Franco here’s gonna start shooting.”
He walk
ed out of the room with the satisfaction of knowing he’d scared the shit out of them. The heavy scent of fear permeated his nostrils, giving him a hard-on that kind of annoyed, but was good nonetheless.
Ary swallowed hard, the effort hurting her throat, which felt raw. There was a bitter taste in her mouth, like medicine, and as she closed her eyes she remembered those idiot shifters pouring something into her mouth.
Damiana.
The salty taste and smell she remembered. But something else had been in that mixture. Another herb, possibly; whatever it was, she couldn’t figure it out at the moment. The fact that they’d drugged her was fuel enough to push her cat to the brink.
Her eyes snapped open. “They gave me damiana. Why?”
“Aryiola,” Davi began in a hushed voice. “You have to do this for us. For our people. He will kill us all if you do not.”
“Do what? I don’t understand,” she told her father.
A dreadful feeling was creeping its way around her stomach as she watched him.
He looked nervous. Sweat poured from his temple; tendrils of his hair were soaked and stuck flat to his forehead. The shirt he wore was dirty and likewise damp, probably with sweat as well. He wreaked of fear, pure and putrid.
“He will kill us, daughter. You must understand that.”
“Tell me what you did,” she said slowly, because there was no doubt in her mind that her father was involved in whatever this was. Her chest clenched at the thought, but her mind would not let go of the notion. “What did you promise him and why?”
“He gave us money and supplies and everything we needed to survive out here. All he wants in return is your help.”
Behind her back the rope cut into her wrists. She was already trying to break free, her cat prowling close to the surface once more. But Ary was afraid to let her loose again. The last time she had been uncontrollable, and that was something new for her.
“What help does he want from me?”
“He wants you to create something for him. To mix some sort of drug. I do not know everything, but he will tell you. Then he will go and we will have our lives back.”
“Are you crazy?” Ary asked her father. Or should she say the man who sat in front of her, because what he was saying made him feel like a foreigner to her.
Davi shook his head vehemently. “He has helped us all along. The money, the supplies.”
“You mean the money and the supplies that have been dwindling? If he told you they’re from him, he’s a filthy liar!”
Davi looked away from her, then back again. There were tears in his eyes. Ary opened her mouth to say something else then clapped her lips shut. She’d never seen her father cry. Ever. But it looked like he was about to, which meant this wasn’t a good situation. As if she needed proof of that.
“I won’t help him,” she told her father. “He’s a murderer and a lunatic. I will not do what he wants. He’ll have to kill me.”
One tear rolled down her father’s cheek, streaking his dirty face and dropping onto his shirt. “He will.”
Ary didn’t know how much time passed, how long she and her father sat in silence. She didn’t know what to say to him. Or who he was, for that matter. How could the man who had taught her how to save the lives of their fellow shifters be working with a Rogue who wanted them all dead? It just didn’t make sense. And yet, on some disappointing level, it did.
Finally, she whispered, “Untie me.”
“Ary,” Davi begged.
“Untie me,” she said again. When he continued to hesitate, she looked him directly in the eye. “You put me in this position. You gave me to this murderer. The least you can do is allow me to fight for my life. After all, what will you tell my mother when you return to her?”
Her words hit the exact spot she wanted them to. Ary loved her mother, had stayed in the forest and done the job they were born to do because of her. She’d tried valiantly to respect her father as well as love him, but that had never been easy. Davi was an opinionated and sometimes cruel man. He could say the harshest things one moment, then sit at a table and eat a meal with them the next. There were times when Ary thought he might be two people instead of one. Today he just looked like one stranger.
“All you have to do is help him,” Davi said, reaching behind Ary’s back to work the ropes.
She sat up, scooting around so he’d have a better grip. All her thoughts were on escape now. She wasn’t listening to what her father was saying because there was no way she’d ever help Sabar do anything. She would definitely die first. But really, she didn’t feel like dying. She felt like finding a nice soft bed and lying down until the throbbing in her temples ceased. Since she couldn’t do that, she opted to fight.
When she was completely untied, Ary stood. A second later Sabar walked into the room—or what was serving as a room but was actually four walls that hadn’t fallen down yet and a patchy ceiling that dipped with the weight of the rain. She took a step back, not to run, but to get her legs in a better stance to lash out at him if necessary. Admittedly she wasn’t feeling 100 percent, but she would have to think about that part later.
“I already told my father I will never help you,” she told him.
He tossed his head back and laughed, his white teeth shining in the midst of his dark skin. For all intents and purposes Sabar looked normal, clean, almost sociable. But it was all a mask, she knew. She’d heard the stories and in some cases tried to heal the bodies of those attacked by this shifter or others trained by him. So Ary was on guard. There was no other option, no other way to be.
“You can help me or you can die,” he replied simply.
Okay, those were simple enough options. “Then you might as well kill me now.”
He took a step close to her, lifted a hand to touch her face. Ary smacked his hand away. “I said kill me, not touch me.”
“Aryiola!” her father yelled.
She ignored Davi and glared at Sabar. “Do not make threats you don’t plan to carry out,” she taunted.
When he pulled back his hand Ary knew he would strike her. Catching his palm with her cheek stung. Her cat roared. She tried to breathe through the pain and turned back to him.
“Is that all you’ve got?”
* * *
Nick began running.
He didn’t know why exactly, and he figured the others didn’t, either. But his feet chewed up the ground as he moved faster and faster, his heart pumping wildly. The need was urgent, pushing him, making his human legs move as fast as they possibly could. The cat wasn’t far beneath the surface, pacing, watching, waiting.
He spotted something dark green, a green that didn’t quite fit the decor of the forest, and headed there. Rain had begun falling in rapid sheets, trickling through the canopy and casting a silvery haze over the dark region.
As he moved closer, pain seared through his chest and he roared, loud and long. Coming closer to the dwelling he saw the truck and kept right on going. In a flash a cat pounced in front of him, baring its sharp teeth as a warning.
Nick didn’t have to react: A darker cat landed on all fours, baring its bigger, sharper teeth. Nick recognized X and kept moving toward the dwelling, making note to thank his friend later.
The minute he kicked in the door Nick knew she was here. His cat knew. It latched on to the rogue scent and roared loudly to announce his arrival.
So much for Rome’s suggestion to go in quietly.
Chapter 7
When Nick entered the room, all human morals fled from his mind. His gaze zoned in on the male slapping his female, and rage rippled through his body like a disease. Before another thought could register in his mind his hands were tangled in the male’s clothes, pulling him off Ary and throwing him to the floor.
In that instant, the room was filling with roaring and crashing sounds. But all Nick could see was the one who’d dared to put his filthy hands on Ary. He pounced, pounding fists into the man’s face and torso until something struck him in t
he back, knocking him off kilter for a moment. The male, whom Nick vaguely registered as Sabar—the head Rogue they’d been chasing back in the States—took advantage of that moment and rolled to his feet, baring his sharp canines.
Nick had canines of his own, bared them and let his claws elongate from his fingers. If he wanted to fight like animals, then so be it. Nick was happy to oblige. Instead the head Rogue took a step back, nodding his head, his glowing eyes moving about frantically.
The roof, or what was supposed to be a roof, picked that moment to collapse under the weight of the rain pelting onto it. Pieces of tarp landed on top of them as wind and water tore through the open space. Nick heard his name being called but ignored it. Instead his nostrils flared, and he followed the scent. Searching for her, the one he’d come for, the one responsible for the interminable heat weaving throughout his system. He was inexplicably drawn to her, his jaguar senses reaching out to her. Inside the cat roared and stretched, knowing its female was near.
It was dark and chaotic, but Nick kept moving, finally extending his arms toward the body in front of him. Clapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her close and launched them both through an opening in the flapping tarp. A familiar whistle had him turning in a northerly direction and running as fast as he could.
* * *
Ary struggled against the strong grip around her waist. Her feet didn’t touch the ground as he moved through the pelting rain and warm wind. There were others—shifters, she could tell. Frantically she’d looked for her father, but she hadn’t seen him since the roof collapsed on the dwelling where she’d been held. Her heart hammered in her chest, her cat hissing wildly just beneath the surface. And she still had that damn headache that threatened to split her skull in half.
Whoever carried her didn’t seem like the type to ask if she was okay. Hell, he hadn’t said a word, just scooped her up and took off. There was no foul stench, so she felt safe in assuming it wasn’t a Rogue. Still, she wanted to be put down, to escape on her own. As they tore through the trees in the dismal and rain-drenched forest, she realized that probably wasn’t going to happen.