by Laura Wright
“Don’t be. You’re like a sister to me, Payton,” he said. “Which means that I’ve been tempted to kick Hakan’s ass more than once for hurting you.” He held her gaze. “If you need me to take care of him, I will.”
She shook her head. The last thing she wanted was violence between the two men.
“He claims he was protecting me,” she told her companion.
She didn’t know what she’d been expecting, but it wasn’t for Xavier to give a nod of his head.
“He was.”
“You agree with him?” She frowned, feeling a tiny jolt of betrayal. Whether she was right or wrong, Xavier was supposed to be on her side. “You just said you wanted to kick his ass.”
Xavier gave her chin a squeeze. “For hurting you, but I would have sliced off his balls if he’d tried to mate you before you were mature.”
She rolled her eyes. “Males.”
Dropping his hand, Xavier took a step back. “I’m assuming he’s decided it’s time to pursue you?”
“Not pursue,” she corrected, recalling Hakan’s arrogant assumption that he could decide they were mates whenever it was convenient for him. “Capture.”
He hesitated, studying her with a searching gaze. “I understand there must be some distinction between the two, but my poor male brain can’t figure it out.”
She gave a lift of her hands, trying to explain the tangled emotions that were knotted in the pit of her stomach.
“Hakan spent twenty years pushing me away,” she said. “Now he wants to snap his fingers and have me come running back to him.”
“Ah.” Xavier gave a nod. “You want to make him suffer.”
“No…” She hesitated, realizing she wasn’t being entirely honest. She couldn’t deny a small desire to see Hakan squirm. “Well, maybe a little.” She shrugged. “But mostly I just need time to adjust to the change in our relationship.”
“You want him to woo you.”
Payton’s lips twitched at the old-fashioned word. “Woo?”
“He’s seduced your body, now he has to seduce your heart.”
As usual, Xavier managed to hit the nail directly on the head.
All those years ago Hakan had walked away from the invitation her cat had offered. He hadn’t been interested in the playful games that marked the beginning of the mating process.
Now he wanted to leap directly into a committed relationship without the flirtatious fun.
“Yes,” she agreed.
A slow, wicked smile curved his lips. “Don’t make it too easy on him.”
“Trust me, I won’t.”
CHAPTER 6
Hakan heaved a sigh of relief when he received the text from Payton.
‘I need to see you.’
He wasn’t stupid enough to think that she had a sudden change of heart. It’d been less than a half hour since she’d refused to see him. No. This had to be about the information she’d stolen from The Haymore Center.
Still, it had to mean something that she would chose to contact him instead of simply calling Parish or Raphael.
Right?
Perfectly happy to clutch at straws, Hakan jogged through the communal eating area where a number of Pantera had gathered for breakfast. His stomach growled at the smell of food, but his pace never slowed as he entered the large, plantation-style building and moved past the Geeks who were monitoring a long line of computers arranged on a table.
He stepped into a small reception area that set apart the private offices to discover Xavier standing in the center of the hand-woven carpet.
The large Pantera Geek had his arms folded over his chest and an expression that said he was itching for a fight.
Hakan smiled and stepped directly into the male’s grill.
Xavier wasn’t the only one with a need to release some aggression.
“Hakan,” the Geek greeted him in cold tones.
“Xavier.” Hakan glanced over the male’s shoulder at the empty room decorated in shades of pale lemon and ivory. Payton’s favorite colors. “Where’s Payton?”
“Going through the data we managed to salvage,” Xavier said.
Hakan narrowed his gaze as the male remained parked between him and the door to Payton’s office.
“You have something on your mind?”
“Yep.” Xavier poked a finger into the center of Hakan’s chest. “Hurt her again and I’ll rip off your balls and shove them down your throat.”
A growl rumbled deep in Hakan’s chest, his cat roaring with fury that another male would dare to try to offer Payton protection.
That was his right.
His alone.
Only the knowledge that Xavier was happily mated kept him from punching the bastard in the face.
“I realize that you consider Payton a part of your family so I’m going to let that slide, but try to get between us and I’ll go through you,” he snarled. “Got it?”
Nose to nose, the males were indulging in a good old-fashioned glaring match when the sound of the door opening had them both spinning toward the female who was studying them with a stern expression.
“You two can measure your dicks later. I have something you need to see.”
She whirled on her heel, stomping back into her office.
Hakan exchanged a startled glance with Xavier.
“I don’t think she needs your protection,” he told the Geek, pride and exasperation laced through his voice.
Xavier gave a short laugh. “Maybe I should be more worried about you.”
Hakan nodded. Payton was not only dangerously clever and sexy as hell, but she’d developed a spirited independence that was going to make life with her extremely…interesting.
“No shit.”
“Are you coming or not?” Payton called through the open door.
Hakan and Xavier obediently headed into the inner office that was as neat and organized as Payton, with two delicate oak desks that were covered by a number of computers and precisely stacked papers.
“What have you got?” Hakan asked, resisting the urge to reach out and brush his finger down her too-pale cheek.
She looked as weary as he felt, with bruises beneath her beautiful green eyes and her coppery curls tangled. But with an effort, he bit back the urge to tell her she needed to rest.
Not only were their people depending on her skill to discover the truth of their latest threat, but he currently didn’t have a place in her life to scoop her into his arms and carry her to the nearest bed.
Leashing his primitive instincts, he moved to stand at her side as she flipped open a file and pulled out the top sheet of paper.
“I printed out the files we managed to repair,” she said, handing it to him. “The first is a newspaper clipping.”
“Unidentified woman discovered bound and gagged in back of delivery truck,” he read out loud.
“According to the records, Reny…” Payton wrinkled her nose. “Or rather, Patient Z, as they called her,” she corrected herself, “was being moved to New York when the truck was hit from behind. The driver was killed and the human authorities arrived before she could be retrieved.”
Hakan nodded. “That’s how she managed to escape. Does it say anything about why she was being taken to New York?”
“Nothing.”
“I’ll see if I can do a background check on the dead driver. It might lead us to who hired him.” Xavier leaned against the edge of the desk. “Anything else?”
She pulled out more paperwork and handed them to the leader of the Geeks.
“These are reports from various private investigators who’ve been looking for Reny after she was found,” she explained. “It looks like the cops did a decent job of hiding her identity to protect her.”
Xavier studied the reports before he tossed them on the desk.
“I hate to admit it, but the human authorities probably saved her life.”
“Yes,” Payton agreed. “They kept her identity hidden in case the people holdi
ng her captive tried to find her.” She grimaced. “Which, of course, they were trying to do. Thankfully, they didn’t have any info on her until she arrived in New Orleans and was caught by a photographer during the spree of supposed puma attacks.”
Hakan grimaced. The disciples of Shakpi had been responsible for that fiasco, although their newest enemy appeared eager to use the humans’ growing fear of the Pantera to their advantage.
“Shit,” he muttered, glancing at the paper that Payton handed to him. The picture was blurry, but there was no mistaking Reny walking out of the FBI headquarters with Sebastian at her side. “She made the front page.”
Xavier gave a puzzled shake of his head. “So if our enemies know where Reny is, why didn’t they make any effort to retrieve her instead of Hiss?”
Payton grimaced. “They didn’t know about Hiss until they managed to plant a bug in The Cougar’s Den.”
“What?” Xavier roared, heat blasting through the air as he snatched the file from Payton.
“That’s where they overheard someone discussing the blood tests that revealed Reny and Hiss are siblings,” she said, unfazed at the large male’s fury.
Hakan was beginning to suspect that Payton had developed the ability to stand up to anyone and anything.
“Goddammit.” Xavier glared out the window that offered a view of the communal eating area. “I’ve had the damned place swept for electronic devices a dozen times.”
“Lian claimed our enemies have access to military-grade equipment,” Hakan pointed out.
Xavier jerked his head around to glare at Hakan. Clearly he took the electronic breach as a personal insult.
Hakan got it.
The knowledge that someone had slipped past the guards into the Wildlands and disappeared with Hiss continued to piss him off.
“I don’t care if they have fucking X-Men technology,” the Geek snapped. “I would have found it.”
Hakan rolled his eyes. Any other time he might have enjoyed provoking Xavier. The Geeks and Hunters enjoyed baiting each other, attempting to prove which faction was superior. But this was too important. They were Pantera. Which meant that they worked together.
“Not if it wasn’t actually in the bar,” he said.
Xavier scowled. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“They seem to have an enormous amount of money and political connections. It would be easy to bribe or blackmail a local to wear a listening device and hang around the bar.”
Xavier gave a lift of his brows, as if surprised that Hakan actually had the ability to do more than punch or bite things.
“Shit, you’re right,” he breathed, pulling out his phone. “It could be a customer carrying the listening device in and out of The Cougar’s Den. We need to put the place off-limits until we’ve managed to find out who our latest enemy is and what they want.”
“Wait.” Hakan halted the Geek from making his call. “We don’t want them to suspect that we’ve discovered how they’re getting intel on us,” he said. He might not be a Geek or a Suit, but Hunters understood how to stalk their prey. “Besides, we can send in trusted Pantera to give out false information. It might give them a sense of security if they think we’re chasing after shadows.”
Xavier gave a nod. “I’ll speak to Raphael.”
There was the sound of footsteps before a pretty female with blonde curls and violet eyes poked her head into the office. Lydia, Roch’s new mate, had been using her legal contacts to try to discover information on Stanton Locke.
“I think I found something you’ll be interested in on Mr. Locke.”
“What is it?” Hakan demanded.
“I know that you’ve had Hunters watching his home in the Garden District, but I’ve found another address that I’ve traced to him through a dummy corporation.”
“Where?”
“An old warehouse near the docks.” She held out a sheet of paper that had the coordinates printed on it. “Here you go.”
“Thanks.”
He shoved the paper in his pocket, preparing to follow Lydia as she left.
“Hakan.”
The soft voice immediately had him spinning around to meet Payton’s worried expression.
“Yes?”
“Be careful,” she said in soft tones.
A fierce satisfaction surged through him at her obvious concern.
“Don’t worry.” He moved to gather her in his arms, pressing a tender kiss to her forehead. “I have every intention of returning.” Lifting his head, he held her gaze, letting her see his unspoken pledge that he wouldn’t take any unnecessary risks. Not when he was so close to getting everything he desired. “We have unfinished business.”
With a last kiss on her lips, Hakan pulled his phone from his pocket and headed out of the office.
“Parish, meet me at the garage,” he said as his leader answered. “We have a lead on Hiss.”
Less than two hours later, he was seated beside Parish as they took the narrow backstreets to New Orleans East.
“Do we have any research on the property?” Parish at last broke the silence, his expression tense.
He’d commanded a dozen Hunters to surround the area. It was never easy to put his people in danger.
Hakan glanced at his phone, skimming through the series of messages that Payton had sent him since leaving the Wildlands.
“It’s listed as a cold-storage warehouse although it’s not currently in operation,” he read out loud, scrolling to the next message. “Payton checked and the electricity is still running.”
“Which means someone is using it,” Parish said.
Hakan tossed aside his phone and pulled out his gun, his body tense as he prepared to engage the enemy.
“A perfect place to hide Hiss,” he growled.
Parish nodded. Keeping a Pantera locked in a freezer wouldn’t kill him, but it would weaken him to the point he would be far easier to control.
“These shitheads are starting to piss me off,” Parish muttered, turning onto the road leading toward the nearest canal. “I thought the disciples were a pain in the ass, but they weren’t nearly so well-funded, well-armed, or well-organized.”
“True,” Hakan agreed. “But they’re not Pantera. Which means they’ll eventually make a mistake that we—”
His words were cut short as Parish stomped on the brakes and yanked the vehicle to the side of the road. At the same time he shoved open his door to take a deep sniff.
“Do you smell that?”
“Smoke,” Hakan growled.
Together they were leaping out of the car and jogging down the street. Rounding the corner they came to a halt at the sight of the long building that was swiftly being consumed by flames.
“We’ll only have a few minutes before the human authorities arrive,” Parish said, his voice tight. “You circle right. We’ll meet back here.”
Dread clutched Hakan’s heart as he headed directly toward the burning building. Hiss might be a traitor, but Hakan wouldn’t wish his worst enemy to be trapped in that inferno.
Ignoring the fierce heat that seared his skin and the smoke that threatened to choke him, Hakan did a thorough sweep, his senses on full alert.
At last he was forced to back away as the first fire truck was pulling next to the nearly destroyed building.
Avoiding the throng of humans that were gawking at the disaster with fascination, he joined Parish at the edge of the empty parking lot.
“Anything?” the leader demanded, his voice harsh as he carefully scanned the crowd for any hint of danger.
“Hiss was here,” Hakan said.
Even with the thick smoke and nearby humans, he’d managed to catch his friend’s distinctive scent.
“Shit.” Parish clenched his hands. “Did he get out?”
Hakan nodded his head toward the parking lot. “His scent was near the road as if he was carried to a car, so we have to hope he survived.”
Parish scowled as his phone rang, and ha
stily yanked it from his pocket.
“It’s Raphael,” he muttered as he pressed it to his ear and stepped away from the sirens that threatened to pierce Hakan’s sensitive ears. “Yeah, we’re here, but we’re too late,” Parish told the head of the Suits. “The place has been torched.” He listened for a second before his eyes abruptly glowed with the power of his cat. “Shit.”
Hakan moved to join him as Parish ended the call.
“I’m afraid to ask,” he muttered.
Parish turned to head back toward the Jeep. “The Haymore Center just burned to the ground.”
Hakan swore even as he had to admit from a tactical standpoint it made sense.
If you feared your secrets had been compromised, then simply get rid of them.
“They’re brutal, but efficient,” he said.
“A dangerous enemy.” Parish said, his expression tight with concern. “And I have a nasty suspicion that we’d better find out what the hell they want from us before it’s too late.”
***
Payton was so weary she could barely keep her eyes open, but it was only Xavier’s threat of having her hogtied and carried home that finally forced her to leave her office and return to her parents’ house.
Not that she planned to go to bed.
How could she sleep before she was certain that Hakan had returned safely to the Wildlands?
Instead, she sought the peace of the small garden that she’d devoted years to creating. This was her sanctuary. The place she went when she needed to think.
Pacing through the camellias that were loaded with soft, pink flowers, she chewed her thumbnail, her concern growing with every passing hour.
Where was Hakan?
He should have returned long ago.
Unless something had happened to delay him…
Shadows had shrouded the garden in darkness when Payton at last caught the familiar scent of earthy male musk.
Without hesitation, she was flying across the garden to throw herself in his open arms.
“Hakan.” She snuggled against the broad chest that was covered only by a muscle shirt that was tucked into his black jeans, savoring the heat of his skin that was still damp from a recent shower. “I heard about the fire.” She pulled back to study his dark features, her heart squeezing with a love that was impossible to deny. Dear Goddess, if anything had happened to him… “Are you okay?”