A Lion's Heart

by A. C. Arthur

  Jace was the wild card of the FLs. The brash and opinionated owner of one of Los Angeles’s largest talent agencies. At least that was how he used to be known. Since the disappearance of Cole Linden, Jace had been somber and just on the brink of going completely rogue in order to find his friend. Decan could easily relate to that type of dedication and simmering rage. He carried his own scars and had personal goals to assuage them. So he spoke in his normal tone when replying to the FL.

  “The Everglades,” he told Jace. “Leaving first thing in the morning. Should get to you by nightfall.”

  “Good,” Jace replied. “We’ve had an interesting development that I want you to follow up on immediately.”

  “Yes. I’ll only be there a few days and then I’ll be heading back in this direction,” Decan lied. Something he’d been doing a lot of lately.

  “Change in plans,” Jace told him. “Get here as soon as you can and I’ll give you the details. And check your vehicles when we disconnect. The tracking devices must not be working because we’re unable to see your location on any of the positioning maps.”

  The call was disconnected before Decan could reply. He had no intention of telling the FL that the trackers had been disabled on each of the vehicles before they even entered into the Florida area. Not to mention the fact that this bunker and a thirty mile radius were protected by a power grid that not only supplied electricity and heat to this facility, but also kept any unauthorized devices from working while on the premises.

  “So they’ve been trying to track you,” Keller said as he sat on the edge of the heavily glossed wood table.

  That, six chairs and a mini-bar were the only furniture in this room. That’s the way Keller had designed it. Minimal and private. It was what their team needed.

  “We figured they would, that’s why we dismantled the tracking devices before we got close to the bunker so they wouldn’t receive a scramble signal,” Gold stated.

  “She never even bothered to check,” Decan said as he flattened his palms on the table and leaned his weight on the furniture. “She was so busy trying to figure out why the bunker wasn’t on her maps that she never noticed the light had stopped blinking on the dashboard and no doubt somewhere on that board she carries around like a detachable body part.”

  “But she’s going to figure it out soon, isn’t she?” Keller asked. “She has a reputation of being too intelligent for her own good. That’s why you need to get rid of her as soon as you possibly can.”

  That was much easier said than done, Decan thought as he pushed back and nodded. “We’re leaving at four. Set your alarm,” he told Gold who replied with a wry chuckle.

  “You think getting up early is going to throw her off the scent of the lies you’re force feeding her?” he asked.

  Decan stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder at both of them. They had no idea that he was also keeping something from them.

  “I think I’ve been running covert operations for a long time,” he told them. “So having the little lady as cargo for the time being is no big deal. We’re still on track to finish what we started. Nisa Reynolds has nothing to do with that.”

  He seemed pretty confident as he stepped through the door and heard the almost imperceptible click when it slid closed behind him. But as Decan walked down the winding hall toward the room where Nisa was sleeping, he wasn’t so sure.

  She was inquisitive. And she was sexier and more enticing than he’d thought she would be up close and personal. That was a combination he’d never faced in all the covert ops he’d worked during his time in the US military.

  She was unexpected, he concluded as he approached her room and unlocked the door. But she wasn’t going to stop him. Not her, the Assembly Leader or Jace Maybon were going to stop the events he’d set in motion. He wouldn’t allow them.

  Nisa had known he was going to come back. She didn’t know how or why, but she’d known.

  Another shower hadn’t eased the ache that was firmly planted between her legs. Nor had it washed away the feel of his hands on her. She could look at each spot on her skin that he’d touched and recall with absolute accuracy the sensations that had gone through her body at the time. Especially as his fingers had slipped deep inside of her. Never, in all her years of pleasuring herself, had Nisa felt the way she did when Decan’s fingers penetrated her. Even now she wanted to sigh with the intensity of that memory.

  But she didn’t.

  Instead she lay on her side with her back to the door, staring into the darkness of the room. She’d already searched the space earlier and knew that there were cameras and audio wires all over the place. So as much as she could, she kept the lights off. Even when she was in the shower she’d been in the dark. Apparently this was a place where they felt they needed to watch everyone doing everything. That was all well and good, it was their place not hers. But she wasn’t going to be watched or photographed, or whatever their intention was. And she wasn’t going to run back and tell her father that someone under his supervision had even expected her to. No, that’s what they were certain she would do. Which is why Nisa was doing the exact opposite.

  It was also why she’d kissed Decan so wantonly. Because each time he looked at her he saw the Assembly Leader’s daughter. A task to mark off his list of things to do. Well, Nisa wasn’t going to be so neatly compartmentalized. True, it shouldn’t matter what Decan thought of her or wanted, or didn’t want from her. He was simply escorting her to the Central Zone. Nothing more.

  Yet, Nisa knew that was a lie.

  She couldn’t explain exactly how she knew, but she did. There was something more brewing steadily between her and that lion shifter. Something she admitted only to herself that she’d never felt before. Or had she? In the past few months her body had felt differently. The way she touched herself feeling more inadequate each time. She’d tried to brush it off as simply being tired after working so hard and long on getting the holodeck up and running. Now, she wondered what it all meant.

  She wondered about so many things.

  Decan and everyone in this place were working hard to keep a secret from her and most definitely her father. Nisa was going to find out. What she was going to do with the information when it was hers, she wasn’t quite sure. But she was going to find out.

  There was no sound to the lock disengaging but she’d sensed him on the other side of the door moments before it opened quietly. It was a warming that began slowly in the pit of her stomach whenever he was near and then her cat, sliding slowly against that warmth as if it had been waiting for it, forever.

  She brought her knees up closer to her chest, her hands pressed between them, head sinking into the thick soft pillow. She wore shorts and a tank top with socks on her feet because the cement floor, although smooth and glossed, was cool and unfamiliar to her bare feet.

  He moved slowly, almost predatorily as he approached the bed. Her tank top rode up her back with her latest movement and she felt the heat of his gaze against her skin. He stood there for endless moments and Nisa willed herself to remain still. He was watching her and she was thinking of him. It was a strange sensation, one which had her biting her bottom lip in consternation. This wasn’t a predicament she’d found herself in before. It didn’t mean that she couldn’t come up with a way to get through it. To the contrary, her mind was already working to figure this out.

  “Get some sleep,” he said finally, his voice low. “We’re leaving early in the morning.”

  “Since I’m sure you’ve locked both of us in here this time, I guess there’s nothing to do but sleep.”

  That wasn’t what she should have said. She’d told herself that she was over him locking her in this room like she was some uncontrollable child. So maybe she wasn’t over it, but she hadn’t intended for him to know that.

  “You should take your own advice,” she continued quickly and turned over to lay on her back.

  Her next move took a little thought but managed to feel totall
y natural. Nisa stared directly at him as she extended an arm and patted the pillow beside her. “Leading requires a clear head. Rest works wonders for a busy mind. My Uncle Baxter used to say that to me when I was a little,” she told him.

  Baxter was the Overseer who had been with her father and her father’s family for years. He was a human who had come to the United States with his assigned shifter family. His job was to watch over them as they made the transition into the human world. To keep them safe and to report back to the Elders and the Seer of the Gungi on their status. He’d turned eighty-nine last month, celebrating his birthday reluctantly with the four-tiered chocolate cake Nisa had directed their baker to prepare for him. Next to her parents, Baxter held a huge chunk of her heart.

  “I’m not a child,” Decan replied.

  That admission hadn’t been necessary. Nisa knew he wasn’t a child. He was a full grown shifter. One whom she was undoubtedly attracted to. She wondered if that were the reason she’d invited him to sleep beside her. No, it wasn’t. She believed in keeping her enemies, and those she hadn’t quite yet decided whether or not to trust, close.

  “And yet, the rest theory, would probably still work,” she quipped. “Come on. I’ll stay on my side of the bed. I promise I don’t bite.”

  That brought a chuckle from him. The sound was quick and momentarily startled her. It wasn’t until she felt the bed give beneath his weight as he sat on the other side and leaned over to remove his boots that she realized it was because she liked it.

  Following her advice it only took him a few seconds, of which he used to pull his shirt over his head and lay back on the bed beside her. Nisa was surprised by how close he was. Maybe this bed was smaller than she’d thought. She attempted to roll over again, but immediately felt his arm going around her waist to pull her back against him.

  When her back was spooned against his front and she was once again biting her lip at the new development, she felt the sharp nick against her neck.

  “I’m not making any promises about not biting,” he whispered as his tongue licked over the spot where his lion’s teeth had scraped along her skin.

  That was when the first slither of doubt etched along her spine, sending a warning echo to her brain. What the hell was she doing? And how was this going to end?

  This wasn’t going to be good.

  It couldn’t be.

  The clicking he’d already connected with dread sounded loudly and every muscle in Decan’s body went on instant alert. They were coming for him. Again.

  There were five of them this time. They never came alone. Not after the first time. The time that had ended with him sinking his teeth into the human’s throat and crushing his windpipe.

  They would attempt to hold him down again. No doubt resorting to the drug he detested because no matter how big and strong they thought they were, they were no match for his shifter strength. That, among other things, was what they feared most. That the shifters were an elite species, one that could wipe the humans out at any moment. Despite his upbringing and their tribe’s teachings, Decan wasn’t so sure that was a bad idea.

  “Stand up and face the wall!” the first one yelled.

  They wore all green, a darker tone from the military fatigues he’d been used to seeing when he was a soldier. It had been four years since then, he knew because he’d been keeping count using his claw to scrape each day along the concrete walls that surrounded him. He didn’t move when they commanded. He never did. And they were too afraid to touch him. Scared that his shifter DNA would rub off on them. Idiots.

  “Up! Now!” the man yelled again, this time using a baton to poke into Decan’s ribs.

  If he pressed the button at the other end, electric volts would shoot through the baton and ravage Decan’s body. It was painful and only served to anger the lion that had already been awakened inside of him. To avoid the worsening of this scenario, if at all possible, Decan stood slowly this time, but he did not turn his back to them. He would never voluntarily turn his back to another human again. That was what led him here in the first place.

  He looked directly in the man’s dark eyes without blinking and stood with his hands at his sides, fists already clenched and at the ready. He’d fought them each time they’d come to him since that first night, because he wasn’t an animal to be caged and mistreated, regardless of what they thought.

  “Get the chains, tie him to the wall,” another one behind the first man suggested.

  Decan heard the chains but did not take his eyes off the one standing in front of him. He was the leader. The way in which he stood with his legs slightly spread, the baton in one hand, his other resting atop the gun at his hip. He didn’t wear any stripes or other military commendations, which didn’t surprise Decan. The world had changed since he’d served. In fact, it had changed since the Unveiling. There was an air of lawlessness now with law enforcement officials and these militant goons who dedicated all their time and attention to one issue: the Shadow Shifters.

  “He broke through them the last time,” another—smarter human—had replied.

  “Do it!” the second man yelled.

  The leader held up a hand to impatiently stop the noise behind him.

  “If he cooperates there will be no need for chains,” he said while keeping his gaze on Decan.

  Then he boldly stepped closer.

  “Do you understand that, cat?” he asked in a voice full of disdain. And carefully masked fear.

  “If you tell me what I want to know, I won’t beat you like the worthless animal you are.”

  Decan didn’t move or reply. The beatings didn’t scare him. And he wasn’t going to pull that gun out and shoot him until he was certain he was dead. Because they needed him for something. Decan hadn’t figured out what, but their impatience was growing, which meant his resistance was getting to them. Decan couldn’t find it in his heart to be a bit sorry about that fact.

  “Now, where is your leader? Where is Roman Reynolds? Where is the one setting all the fires?” he asked, baring his crooked teeth.

  He’d been to Oasis in the months after his honorable discharge from the Marines. Visiting with his family had been a delight. Seeing the place in which all of his kind had been forced to live was not. Oasis was Roman Reynolds’ idea. Decan did not agree with it.

  Decan did not reply.

  The question came one more time. When he still remained silent, the leader gave a nod and the four that had been standing eagerly behind him, came forward with their tasers and batons and yet another battle had begun. All the while his lion remained unseen. Decan had given them that pleasure and eventually pain before. He’d sworn never to do it again. He could fight them just as long and fiercely in his human form. That was something else they hated. His resilience and his strength. They hated it because they couldn’t match it. And he hated them because—according to the laws of the Ètica which still bound the Shadow Shifters regardless of their new circumstances—he was not supposed to kill them. One slip was enough to have guilt choking him on a daily basis. Another, might kill him. If these hate-filled humans didn’t manage to do so first.

  Hours later she came to him, as they always allowed her to. The prostitute who had glimpsed his Serfin tattoo the night he’d hired her, and had immediately called the Outlaw Task Force. The group of law enforcement officials—or hunters were more like it—were formed to search for and dispose of any and all shifters. Armed guards had kicked in the door and crashed through the windows of the hotel room where Decan had asked the woman to meet him. They’d used some type of gas to knock him out before carrying him to the secret Shifter Isolation Camp located in the deserts of Arizona.

  “Easy baby, Marlee’s right here,” she would say as she climbed over him, sliding down until the already slick walls of her pussy grabbed his cock and held on until he could not contain his release any longer.

  Decan’s eyes shot open. He was lying in a bed. Not on the cold cement floor of the SIC where he’d been
held for nine long years. The air he breathed was free of the stench of sweat, smoke and sex. He still wore his pants, but his chest was bare and his shoes were off. He inhaled deeply and exhaled slowly in an attempt to calm the man and beast that had not experienced this particular dream in a long time. Not since a new scent had begun to fill his senses upon waking. The new scent wasn’t just in his memory this time. It was close and it was real. Each time since the quarterly meeting six months ago—the day he’d first seen Nisa—he’d awakened from the dreams of Marlee riding him to a thunderous climax, with the Assembly Leader’s daughter’s scent permeating the air.

  Tonight was no different. No, that wasn’t correct. It was different because he had more to go with just her scent. He’d kissed her and he’d touched her. He didn’t need to close his eyes or fall asleep to recall the feel of her tongue against his and the moist heat that surrounded his fingers as they’d pressed deep inside of her. The memories were fresh and potent and they were the reason his cock was rock hard at this moment. Not the dream and certainly not anything that happened in that dream. Marlee had never solicited this type of desire from him. And no matter how many times the idiot humans running the SIC thought they would be the first to claim a human pregnant with a shifter’s seed, they were wrong. There had never been any fear of Marlee becoming pregnant because a Shadow Shifter could only reproduce with its companheiro. And Decan was certain that Marlee was not the woman he was destined to be with for all time. There was no such woman for him.

  As if she knew he’d been thinking of her, Nisa moved. Her arm falling over his waist, her leg settling between his. Her breath was warm against his arm and for an instant Decan considered moving so that he could have her head lying on his bare chest. He would hold her tight and revel in the idea that she was so close and at the moment so unguarded with him. But that wouldn’t last. He knew that and thus decided it was futile to even try.

  Decan let his eyes close slowly as he tried to clear his mind of her and focus on tomorrow and the next day. But her hand moved again, this time lower on his abs. It was warm, or was that just him? Her fingers were still and then they weren’t, curling so that the sharp tip of her nails scraped over his skin. The quick jolt of pain should have taken him to that dark place where he came out swinging and asked questions later. Instead, this time, it did the opposite. It warmed him until he almost forgot everything else.