by A. C. Arthur
When they finally stopped, Ary thought she’d be relieved. Instead, when she was unceremoniously dropped onto a slightly drier hard-packed surface, her back slamming against rock so sharp it almost dug right into her skin, her anger won over her relief.
“Could you be any more careless?” she snapped, coming up on her knees and gathering her strength before trying to stand. Her throbbing head hurt like a bitch and caused her entire body to shake.
“Excuse me, I’ll keep my carelessness in mind the next time I come rescue your ass.”
Every muscle in her body—all the ones that already tingled with pain—tensed. She knew that voice. Only momentarily did she wonder why she hadn’t known his touch instinctively or why said touch had caused her discomfort. It was him. After all this time, he’d come back to the Gungi.
Her personality wasn’t that of a simpering female, falling at the feet of any shifter who ventured out to save her. She hadn’t asked to be saved and would have managed to get herself free, at some point. So despite her past with him—more because of that past with him—she stood and glared at the man who had once been everything to her. “I didn’t ask you to save me,” she told him, knowing that really wasn’t what she’d wanted to say.
“Aryiola, you are okay? Thank the spirits,” Davi said, running into what looked like a small cave and stopping in front of Ary.
He took her hands as he blocked her view of Nick slightly. Ary pulled her hands back. “I am fine, Father.”
That was a lie. A huge one. She was anything but fine.
“You’re welcome,” Nick said tightly, his voice louder than it had been before.
Ary suspected it was an attempt to bring their attention back to him. That would be just like the selfish, arrogant shifter that she remembered him to be.
“Again, I didn’t ask you to come,” she said looking around her father.
Davi spun around to look at Nick. “But we are grateful. Very grateful,” he said.
Another man stepped up, a darker man with eyes that probed deep even though he didn’t readily speak whatever assessments they made. He was from the States as well—Ary could tell because he wore long pants and boots, a T-shirt that displayed really great abs, and arms that made her a little leery about eyeing him so suspiciously. Still, she didn’t get any resentful or negative sense from this one.
“We were happy to help, Mr. Serino. Your family is a great value to the tribe.”
He spoke in a smooth, dominating voice that brooked no argument from Ary. Still, she tingled with a need-to-know vibe. “Who are you?” she asked, her own voice lower and less agitated because for some reason she sensed this shifter deserved that courtesy.
Coming closer, the shifter extended a hand to her. “I am Rome, East Coast Faction Leader of the United States.”
Obligingly, Ary took his hand for a brief shake and nodded. “A pleasure, sir. And thank you for your kindness,” she said out of respect for his title and all that he worked for in their tribe. She’d heard of him. He was the one who sent money and medical supplies. Yes, he deserved her respect and her gratitude. As for Nick, she didn’t even look his way.
“This,” Rome continued when he released Ary’s hand, “is my mate, Kalina.” He extended his arm and a female with lovely honey-toned skin and light brown eyes stepped to him, looking at Ary with a genuine smile.
“Hello, Aryiola,” she said, her teeth perfectly white. High cheekbones lifted as she smiled.
“Hello and thank you as well,” Ary said. They were a striking couple, this dark shifter leader and his lighter, only slightly less imposing female.
“Miss Serino.” The biggest of the three men came forward with a nod of his bald head. “Glad to see you’re safe. My name is X, commanding officer of the East Coast Faction.”
Wow didn’t quite describe this one. Bulging muscles, a fierce but extremely good-looking face, and eyes that just about devoured on impact had Ary swallowing hard. He looked like a warrior who never lost a battle, the epitome of a commanding officer. She could only imagine what type of cat he was. If there was fear somewhere within her personality, this shifter would certainly incite it.
“Hello” was all she could manage to say to this one.
Behind him she saw the skinny boy and nodded. “Lucas, I see you were kind enough to help the men through the forest,” Ary said in Portuguese. The young shifter was known throughout the village as the only jaguar to have been captured by humans then rescued by fellow shifters. No one knew what Lucas had experienced under human captivity, because he rarely spoke of it—or anything else that wasn’t absolutely necessary. Also unknown was whether the humans knew Lucas was a shifter or just considered him a lofty jungle prize. Unfortunately, the humans were not allowed to live to tell the tale.
“Do I need to introduce myself?”
She’d hoped if she ignored him he would somehow vanish. That hope was short-lived. Everyone cleared a path, and at the end of the cave stood Dominick Delgado. His face seemed fixed in a frown, golden-complexioned, thick eyebrows in a furrowed line across his forehead, medium-size lips clasped together in consternation, and eyes that were fiery and alluring at the same time. He hadn’t changed one bit.
“I know who you are,” she replied.
He nodded. “Good. Introductions are officially over. Now you can tell me what the leader of the Rogues wanted with you.”
Her fists clenched at her sides. Less as a show of resentment toward him than as a way for her to keep her hands to herself. Just because her mind screamed for her to stay far away from this man didn’t mean her body had to listen. “I don’t answer to you.”
He moved as fast as a flickering of light and was standing right in front of her before Ary could say another word.
“I’m not really in the mood for games. Just tell me what he wanted so I can have another reason for killing the bastard.”
“Nick,” Rome said in a mediating voice, “give her a minute to get herself together before you interrogate her.”
Kalina stepped forward, pushing past Nick to get to Ary. “Rome’s right. Let’s you and I go out to the creek and clean up a bit before we start traveling again.”
“We should stay here for the night,” X interrupted. “If those Rogues are still out there, they may be following us. We don’t want to lead them back to the village.”
Rome nodded. “X is right. We’ll stay put for the night. Get a fresh start in the morning. Hopefully the rain will subside a bit by then. Lucas has some supplies for us so we should be fine for the night.”
Davi was already nodding his agreement. “That is good. Good to stay here for the night.”
“I want to know what happened,” Nick insisted.
“Then why don’t you go find that Rogue and ask him?” Ary spat before pushing past him and heading out of the cave with Kalina.
* * *
Later, as the fire Lucas had built began to die down and they’d eaten the energy bars that they’d brought, the shifters all found a spot in the cave that suited them and settled in. Ary knew instinctively what would happen next.
“Did Sabar tell you why he kidnapped you?” Rome asked.
Throughout the time she’d been with them, Ary had noticed how in love with his mate the Faction Leader was, and vice versa. They would die for each other—there was no doubt about that. The knowledge stuck in Ary’s chest like a lump of coal. There was also loyalty here, and dedication. The stateside shifters were a unit, one that would be hard to break apart if anyone dared to try. They had joint causes and similar ways of dealing with those causes. Then there was Nick.
She’d avoided eye contact with him as much as she could, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t there. No, quite the contrary, the more she ignored him, the more intense his presence became, pushing quickly against her personal limits.
“My father knows what Sabar wanted,” she said to Rome with a glance to where her father had found a spot in a corner by himself. She still hadn’t found th
e words to say to him. There seemed to be none. He’d betrayed her. She knew that now and was afraid to ask just how far his betrayal had gone.
All eyes turned to Davi, who cowered closer to the wall where he sat. “It is over. All over,” he mumbled.
“What is over, Mr. Serino?” Rome asked him.
Davi shook his head, his watery eyes finding Ary. She refused to feel anything. He was her father, yes, but he could be a cruel and evil man. Her mother usually took the brunt of his negative energy, which made Ary hate it all the more. For years she’d begged her mother to stand up for herself, to tell Davi to go to hell or something of that nature. But Sheena Serino was not that type of woman. She said it was her duty to honor her mate; that’s what a female did when she was mated. That statement alone had convinced Ary: She’d never mate with anyone if she was expected to act like a simpering idiot.
“You knew he was going to take me all along,” she said, not necessarily to Davi, but to the group at large. “You know what he wants.” Then she licked her lips, which had suddenly gone dry. “You know what he wanted with the damiana.”
“Damiana?” Nick asked. He was the first to get up and stand near Davi. “What’s that?”
“Veneno,” Lucas whispered.
Davi sobbed, his head falling down to his chest. Nick grabbed him by the back of his shirt and pulled him up off the ground. “Who was he poisoning?”
Ary stood, because the sight of Nick being so rough with Davi didn’t make her feel as good as it should have. “Sabar’s men gave me some sort of mixture. I recognized the taste, but it was too late. Sabar seemed to be upset with my reaction to the mixture, but I don’t know why.”
“And you think your father knows?” Kalina asked.
Ary could only nod; saying it aloud sounded pathetic.
“Talk, Serino!” Nick ordered.
“You will let him speak to me this way? You are the leader here. He should show me some respect,” Davi said to Rome, who simply shrugged.
“I get the feeling you know more than you’re telling us. If his tactics get you to talk, then so be it.”
With that Nick slammed the man’s back to the wall and stared down at him. “You can talk on your own or I’ll beat it out of you. The choice is yours.”
“It was to help us. You … you,” Davi stuttered, his eyes moving quickly from Nick to Rome then to X and back to Nick. “You stay in the city with the humanfolk and forget about us here. We cannot live on the peanuts you send.”
Rome looked shocked—then as quickly as that emotion registered, it turned to rage.
“I send thousands a month in cash. Medical and household supplies are sent as well. What are you talking about?”
Davi shook his head adamantly. “It’s not enough.”
“Not when we don’t get everything he sends,” Ary added quietly. It had only been a hunch, one she’d been considering for a few months now. She’d mentioned it before, and Davi had not responded. Now she knew why.
Her father led the healing center, which meant that all of the medical supplies and a good deal of the cash sent through the U.S. accounts came to him to manage and filter throughout the village appropriately. As an only child, Ary worked by his side. She knew how things in the healing center should flow, what supplies they used most and how much was spent on the village necessities each month. But in the last five or six months, those amounts had dwindled significantly.
“You weren’t giving out everything that came in. Or you were sending it elsewhere,” she said, taking a step toward Davi.
“You know not what you speak,” he spat at her. “Your mind is clouded by that poison.”
That solicited a growl from Nick, and he tossed Davi onto the floor. “You had her poisoned, you bastard!”
This was a side of Nick she had never seen. His anger was so real, so raw, and yet she wondered if it were all truly centered on her kidnapping. Just as he took another predatory step toward Davi, she grabbed his arm.
The contact sent bolts of electricity straight through her fingers and up her arm. She jerked back in surprise and glared up into his dark eyes. His cat was awake—wide awake as evidenced by the shift in eye color, from dark brown to an eerie green. Pushing her arms behind her back, she tore her gaze from Nick and looked down at Davi.
“What did you do with the rest of the money and the supplies?” she asked him.
“You will get us killed! Do you not understand? He will kill us all!” Davi whined.
X leaned closer, put his face right in Davi’s, and pointed at Nick. “I don’t know who you’re talking about. But this one here, he’s going to rip your fuckin’ head off if you don’t start talking soon. You might want to consider that the most immediate threat.”
Suddenly the room was filled with so much tension, so much … testosterone, Ary thought she’d choke. Cats lurked ready to strike, while unanswered questions served as fuel to the simmering fire.
“I pay him to leave us alone. Is that such a bad thing?” Davi asked, rolling to his side and coming up on his knees. He coughed and coughed and for a split second Ary thought of going to him. Then she changed her mind.
“You are paying Sabar?”
Davi shook his head. “Every month I bring money to the place where he held you. I leave it there in bags he provides. I do not know how he gets it but he does and it keeps him away.”
“Then why would he suddenly need Ary?” Kalina asked.
She’d been quiet, mostly watching what was going on as if she were an outsider. Ary wished she, too, could pull herself out of this situation, sitting on the side as if she’d just tuned in. She hated that her father was a traitor and that he’d resorted to trading her.
“I will tell you all,” Davi said finally and stood staring at them. “He works with medicines, some kind that he sells in the United States. A while ago he asked if we had something to help him. I said I did not know, that my daughter knew of all the medicines and such. I know because she learned from Yuri. He wants to know what you know, Ary. That is all. You should just tell him.”
“I would never tell him anything!” she raged. “And you are lower than bile for giving your own flesh and blood to a creature such as Sabar!”
X looked at Davi with a sick kind of pity, while Rome shook his head, his contempt bubbling just beneath the surface. Nick’s face showed nothing but rage. It was controlled, as witnessed by the way his fists clenched at his sides and the throb of his temples, but just barely.
Tears stung her eyes and Ary cursed. “Go back to where you came from, Dominick Delgado! We can take care of ourselves here.” She said the words and meant them as grand bravado. Instead they were her breaking point. Ary felt like everything was falling down around her. She turned quickly and ran out of the cave, wishing like hell none of this had ever happened. Especially the part about her touching Nick, and liking it way too much.
Chapter 8
Nick told himself he wouldn’t go after her. He swore he wouldn’t rescue her when she so obviously didn’t want to be rescued again. But she’d been gone more than twenty minutes. Her alone time was up.
He didn’t have to track her, didn’t have to scent the air to know which direction she’d gone. All he did was close his eyes, and the visual of her appeared—just as she had been all those years ago, but better. Nick had seen beautiful women back in the States. He’d had quite a number of them for himself. But none of them compared to Ary.
She had a decidedly sultry look, with pouty lips and a stubborn chin. Thick eyebrows and long eyelashes only made her look more exotic. Wine-colored eyes that shifted to a deep gold when her cat lurked added a touch of mystery. As for her body, Nick shivered remembering the moment when his arm had clasped around her waist. Ary had never been model-thin; she was full of lush curves, heavy breasts and alluring hips. His dick hardened and his pace increased.
He knew where she was—or should he say his cat knew, and he followed accordingly.
The rain had stopp
ed, the forest growing even darker in the twilight hours. Just ahead he heard the rustle of water and breathed a little easier. With his nocturnal vision Nick proceeded until he stood across from a small fall of water. He had to struggle to catch his breath.
She was there, just visible through the thin curtain of water trickling down into the creek. In the same place he’d taken her sixteen years ago.
She was beautiful. The cat was, that is. With seemingly perfect symmetrical rosettes across its golden body, the animal stretched and dipped beneath the streaming water. Its mouth opened wide, tongue licking over viciously sharp teeth. Then it stretched again, this time shifting in a blur of motion and rivulets, until now the woman stood in all her naked glory.
Licking his lips, Nick felt an insane jealousy toward the water that sluiced over every inch of that glorious body without censor. Her back arched, her head held back as the thick mane of hair drank freely of the waterfall. Curved hips flared to voluptuous buttocks. When she turned slightly, the clean-shaven V of her mound appeared and Nick wanted to roar. The craving inside him beat a steady rhythm that finally had him taking a step toward the creek. He removed his clothes slowly, using her movements as a guide.
When she lifted her arms, her breasts rose higher, and her nipples puckered against the cool spray of the water. Nick pulled off his shirt and let his palms run down his torso, over his abs, to the waistband of his pants. She leaned forward, lifting a leg and pushing it sinuously through the curtain of water, rubbing her hands up and down the length. Nick pushed his pants over his muscled thighs and stepped out of them, his palm moving quickly to cup his heated erection, applying some much-needed stroking.
She stood straight again, her arms lifted, and pulled her hair around one shoulder. Nick walked slowly, his feet entering the creek silently. In seconds he was at the waterfall, standing just on the other side, only inches away from Ary.
Her body stiffened and she turned to face him. Through the water she looked like a goddess, droplets resting seductively on her lashes, her lips damp and swollen. He stepped through the spray, feeling the chill of the water against his heated skin but not letting it dissuade him. With one arm he reached out, clasped her at the waist, and pulled her to him. Her head instantly tilted, her mouth opening slightly. And that was all Nick needed.