A Lion's Heart

by A. C. Arthur

  They traveled over a narrow bridge with its towers and suspension cables fashioned in a bending curve which gave it an animated feel. The water beneath was also dark with reflections from the buildings and bridge above making it look like a glittering pool of gems instead. Coming off the bridge they rounded a corner and continued down a long street with more buildings and vehicles. But none as opposing as the one at least fifteen hundred feet ahead. It was a slender building, tall—at least one hundred stories—but flat like an envelope. Frosted white beams formed the main structure of the building, with iridescent windows on both of its flat sides. That’s where they were going, Nisa thought. Or rather she felt it. Her cat was alert, her body poised for whatever came next as the vehicle they were in came to a stop directly in front of the building.

  They each stepped out and for endless seconds stood on the sidewalk looking up at the building.

  “What’s the plan again?” Zion, the six-foot seven-inch tall jaguar shifter asked.

  He was a lanky guy with brown hair that was spiked to one side. Jordin stood next to him and answered his question when everyone else remained silent.

  “We get in, sniff around and get out with more information to take back to the FL.”

  She was a much shorter guard, coming in around five-feet three or four inches. Her jet black hair fell in heavy waves around her shoulders, cupping a pretty face with a hint of make-up that showcased her Korean heritage.

  “All while keeping Nisa within our sight,” Gold added.

  He was standing close to her, so it took almost no effort at all for him to touch her elbow and begin to lead her toward the door. Golden Harris was a six-foot tall, two hundred and thirty pound white lion with eyes so gold they actually appeared to glow. A fact which would certainly be a dead giveaway to his shifter status, which is why he wore dark framed glasses with brown slacks, beige shirt, bow tie and brown jacket.

  As she walked through the glass doors that had automatically slid open for them, Nisa looked back to make sure Jordin and Zion were with them. It was habit. She didn’t want to lose sight of any of her team this evening, so she’d been committing everything about them to memory. Zion had bent his arm and Jordin had slipped hers through it so that they moved like a couple on a date. Jordin wore all black like Nisa—a cropped jeweled top that bared the creamy skin of her midriff and a sheer jeweled skirt that hugged her hips and legs down to its short train. Black silk shorts worn beneath the skirt were the only thing that kept the outfit classy. Jordin sported deep red lips and walked like a runway model, while Zion wore a collarless charcoal gray jacket over a heather gray shirt and darker gray slacks. The pair looked young and hip. Not animalistic and deadly.

  A glass elevator took them up to the fifty-first floor, where they stepped out onto a silver specked floor. Gold led them toward an entryway where he paused and reached into his inside jacket pocket to pull out an envelope. A man wearing a white suit and standing in the doorway accepted the envelope and after looking at it gave Gold a nod. They continued inside, moving into a large room flanked in candlelight and yards of sheer white material draped from the ceiling. There were long tables covered in crystal dishes, tall centerpieces filled with water and flashing lights inside. And the people, there were hundreds of people. Humans.

  Nisa took a deep breath and attempted to act like this wasn’t a big deal. But it definitely was. She’d never been around so many humans before in her life. She wondered if they could smell the cat in her. Of course not, humans didn’t have a heightened sense of smell the way Shadow Shifters did. They wouldn’t be able to tell just by looking at her that she wasn’t one of them.

  With that thought in mind, Nisa walked with a little more confidence, smiling as men and women looked at her, giving slight nods by way of greeting. She’d been so busy doing this and taking in every aspect of this world that she felt she’d missed, that she hadn’t noticed the cheetah until her scent filled Nisa’s nostrils. Nisa paused and turned around just as Kyss was lifting a hand to touch her hair.

  “You made it,” she said. “I’ve been waiting forever for you to get here.”

  “Why?” Nisa asked. “I didn’t know it had been confirmed that you were coming.”

  She hadn’t been told that Kyss would be here. Sure, she’d been the one to tell them that they should keep suspected enemies close, but nobody had bothered to confirm final plans with her. Kyss’s original reason for showing up was to give Decan information on Lial and the murders. Nisa still didn’t trust that was Kyss’s only goal here, which was why she planned to keep an eye on her.

  “Oh yes, I’m always on the job,” Kyss continued and then shifted her attention to Gold. “Hey big guy. How’s it hanging?”

  Gold did not reply but continued to move his head as if he were looking around the room.

  “Not speaking to me tonight?” Kyss asked when he declined to respond. “That’s cool. We ah…did enough last night.”

  She’d said that as she rubbed a finger over the skin beneath her bottom lip. Nisa tried not to think about what Kyss was referring to. She didn’t want to concern herself with who the shifter slept with. Still, she would have thought Gold would have been smarter than to fall for Kyss’s charms.

  Said charms that were now wrapped in hot pink sparkly shorts that rode so far up her legs they could have been considered underwear and a white halter top. Her shoes were pink also, with straps that wound in a crisscross fashion all the way up to her knee. Her hair was once again in that long straight tail that swung dramatically each time she moved.

  “There’s someone over there I need to see,” Gold told Nisa. “Come with me.”

  “No,” she replied. “From here I have a view of the entrance and all three of the side doors that could be used as exits. You go ahead. I’ll be right here when you finish. Unless who you’re going to see has something to do with us finding the rogues in this room.”

  Gold didn’t immediately answer, but stood still looking at her. Contemplating what he should do, no doubt.

  “Look, I’m just gonna stand right here and Kyss is going to stand here and keep me company. You do trust Kyss don’t you?” she asked with an arch of her brow.

  Kyss had folded one arm over her chest and brought the other one up so that she could dip the tip of a shiny red fingernail between her teeth. She was looking at Gold like they’d definitely done some things last night so she was basically daring him to say he didn’t trust her now. Nisa wanted to shake her head in disgust, but she’d been feeling her own bouts of lust lately so she decided not to judge anyone else who had the opportunity to scratch that persistent itch.

  “Stay right here,” he said evenly. “Both of you. I’ll just be over there.”

  He pointed to a crowded glass bar where two bartenders were creating drinks in fluorescent colors. It was only about ten feet away from where they were standing.

  “Fine,” Nisa said because, yes, only about ten feet away. He was acting as if he were leaving her on another planet.

  Gold did not speak again, but walked away after looking in Kyss’s direction. The second he was out of earshot, Kyss moved closer to Nisa.

  “Good job,” she whispered in her ear. “He doesn’t have a clue that you were trying to figure out how to get away from him the moment you stepped into this room.”

  Nisa wasn’t going to insult either of them by denying that fact. She did want to roam on her own. Jordin and Zion had walked in their own direction once in the room and a part of her had detested the idea that she had to stay with a chaperon.

  “I can see more without him breathing down my neck. Besides, having anyone guard me that close is ridiculous considering nobody in here knows who I am,” she said.

  “I agree,” Kyss stated. “And I see something we can do to occupy ourselves while he’s away.”

  She was staring straight ahead, to where a man dressed in a gray suit was standing. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a boardroom meeting with his neat
yellow tie and carefully pressed white shirt. His head lifted and the quick smile that ghosted his lips said he knew they were staring at him.

  “That’s Graham Parker. He’s second in command to Ewen Mackey in the Ruling Cabinet,” Kyss said just before snagging two neon green drinks with limes stuck to the side of the glass.

  She handed Nisa one and despite not knowing what it was, Nisa lifted it to her lips for a sip.

  “No one in his family has been targeted,” she said with the glass blocking her mouth just in case Graham could read lips.

  “Correct. He and Mackey are the only two of the eight members who hasn’t had anything happen to one of their family members,” Kyss continued, holding her glass up in the same position as Nisa. “We should go talk to him.”

  “Why?” Nisa asked.

  Kyss was actually taking a sip of her drink now, so Nisa answered her own question.

  “Because he’s the second in command. So if anyone in the Cabinet was working with a shifter, either it was him, or he would know who it was. Add to that his family’s been safe, and he looks like the one,” she said.

  Kyss lowered her glass and smiled brightly. “Let’s go.”

  Nisa didn’t think twice. Well, yes, she did because that was her nature. She thought that going over to speak to Graham Parker was harmless because again, he had no idea who she was. Kyss didn’t look like a shifter and there was a room full of people. All they would do is talk and sniff because if Graham was working with a shifter, the scent would stick to him like lint.

  “Hi darlin’,” Kyss spoke the moment they were close enough.

  Nisa easily dismissed the accent Kyss had adopted and smiled as Graham looked from Kyss to her.

  “Hello ladies,” he said and lifted a hand to smooth down his goatee. “Are you alone this evening?”

  Kyss had already moved in, to the point that she was now standing right beside him. “We’re together, silly,” she said and then giggled. “And we’re trying to figure out how to have a good time at one of these things. Everyone in here looks so stuffy.”

  Nisa watched her working. This was how the cheetah was able to get so much information. She was practically leaning on Graham now, bending just enough so that her halter top gaped open, giving him—and Nisa, for that matter—an unfettered view of her bare breast. Graham did what Nisa suspected any man would do, he looked.

  “What type of fun are you interested in?” he asked and lifted a finger to trace along the bared skin just an inch or two away from Kyss’s breast.

  “That depends,” Kyss replied and tapped her glass lightly against her chest so that condensation from the glass rolled down her skin.

  Nisa was doing good holding her shock at bay until Graham leaned down and licked the droplet of water before asking, “Depends on what?”

  Over his head Kyss winked at Nisa.

  “Whether or not you have a friend for my friend,” she answered.

  Graham stood up straight then and looked at Nisa. “Sure,” he said and licked his lips. “I’ve got lots of friends. Just let me get my keys and we can get to that fun.”

  Kyss pouted and stomped her foot. “I don’t like waiting.”

  “Oh no,” Graham said and laced an arm around Kyss’s waist, pulling her up close to him. “I won’t keep you waiting, sexy. Stay right here.”

  He kissed the tip of Kyss’s nose and Kyss let her hand fall down to grip his crotch.

  For a man that was being bold and brash that motion clearly caught him off guard as his cheeks blushed bright pink and he giggled like a fifteen year old boy.

  “Be right back,” he told her and then turned to move hastily through the crowd.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Nisa asked the moment he was gone. “We were just supposed to pump him for information.”

  “Look,” Kyss told her. “This is your first mission. I’ve been doing this a long time. We’ll get the information we came here for and probably more. You just need to follow my lead.”

  “Your lead is heading to that man’s bed,” Nisa said.

  “Of course,” Kyss told her and shrugged. “That’s where you get all the juicy information.”

  “That’s not part of my plan,” Nisa told her and started to walk away.

  Kyss stopped her by grabbing her elbow.

  “No. Your plan was to waltz in here, ask a bunch of questions, have someone give you all the answers and then you go back to headquarters and replay it for Jace. He’ll be in your debt or impressed by your skills and then he’ll name you Central Zone Faction Leader.”

  Nisa didn’t speak. She didn’t want to confirm what Kyss had said, and she couldn’t deny it.

  “That’s both naïve and selfish. People are dying, Nisa. And whether or not they’re humans who want us dead, they don’t deserve to have a shifter killing them because a human is directing him to do so. I believe in a fair fight. Always,” she said.

  “Sex is off the table,” Nisa replied. “That’s where I draw the line.”

  Kyss rolled her eyes. “Right, you’re saving yourself for your companheiro. Okay, that’s fine. I’ll do all the leg work. You smile, look sexy and listen well.”

  That’s exactly what Nisa found herself doing fifteen minutes later after they’d taken a ride on an elevator with Graham and entered a room two floors down from the gala.

  “My friend likes ropes,” he’d said as he insisted Nisa climb up onto the bed so that he could tie her up.

  The look she’d given Kyss at that point clearly stated something else that was off the table, but Kyss had only nodded her head as if to say, “shut up and do it”. She didn’t have to do what this cheetah told her. Nisa was a Senior Guard and Kyss was an unlisted shifter with no real allegiance to anyone or any cause. She’d also gotten them into a private meeting with the Ruling Cabinet’s second in command. Kyss had been right, Nisa wanted to crack this case for Jace. She wanted to prove herself to him, Decan and her father. So she lay back on the bed and allowed her wrists to be tied to the headboard, and her ankles to the bottom posts.

  For the first few moments after that Nisa had stared up at the ceiling thanking the heavens that Graham Parker couldn’t tie a knot to save his life. If she wanted out, it would be easy enough, so she relaxed against the bed and listened as Kyss talked.

  “You’re with the Ruling Cabinet aren’t you?” she was saying as she pushed Graham’s jacket down his arms.

  When it fell to the floor Graham took her by the shoulders and pulled her up to him. He lifted her until only the tips of her toes touched the floor and kissed her. The kiss looked rough and greedy. Nisa wondered if it were painful too because his fingers were digging into Kyss’s arms and from the way he was moving his head and making an annoying sound he was trying to eat her face. Nisa wanted to close her eyes but she didn’t because she’d caught a scent.

  It was definitely animal.

  So there was another shifter here besides her and Kyss. She looked to the door and then to the wall on the other side of the room that was all windows. Both appeared to be closed, so where was the scent coming from?

  Seconds later the door opened and Graham released Kyss from his hold. He was smiling as he stared at the three who came in. Two men and one woman.

  “Here she is,” Graham said. “Isn’t she everything I said she was? Both of them. Look! Look!”

  The man was excited, again, like a young boy. The other two men, well, their eyes had darkened instantly as they looked at Kyss with her partially bared breasts and Nisa with her legs and arms spread wide.

  “Oh yes,” the female of the trio said. “Both of them.”

  She didn’t hesitate but walked over to Kyss and grabbed the back of her head. This kiss was different from the one Nisa had just witnessed. The woman moved slower, tracing her tongue over Kyss’s lips and then diving deep when Kyss extended her tongue for a duel. Graham backed up and took a seat in a chair. He spread his legs and Nisa watched as he unzipped his pants. She turned a
way when one of the men touched her breast. He didn’t smile as he looked down at her, just squeezed. She didn’t smile either and she tried like hell not to puke all over the red satin comforter.

  “Watch them,” he directed Nisa as he continued to massage her breast.

  Nisa did as he said because to keep looking at him was making her cat rage. If she didn’t have to see him and didn’t have to acknowledge that he was fondling her, then the cat would remain calm. At least she hoped so.

  Looking forward didn’t really help. The other man had come to stand behind Kyss and was now backing her up until he could sit in a chair. He pulled Kyss down on his lap, her back facing his front. His hands immediately went to Kyss’s breasts while the woman used her hands to grab Kyss by both knees and spread her legs wide.

  “Before this goes any further, I like names,” Kyss said. “I’m Kyss. Like the hot one we just shared.”

  The woman in front of her smiled and moved her hands slowly up Kyss’s thighs.

  “I’m Lora,” she said. “He’s Jack and the one back there who’s going to be in charge of your friend’s orgasm is Patch.”

  “Now that we’re all acquainted,” Jack said and reached up to grab Kyss by the chin, turning her face so that he was just inches away from her mouth. “Let’s get down.”

  Nisa tensed at his words. Her fingers clenched and when Patch leaned in closer to rub his tongue along the rim of her ear she had to bite down on the temper, restrain the cat and keep her head. Remember those names. This place. This scent.

  It was definitely animal, but it wasn’t Patch. As he’d touched her and leaned in closer she’d inhaled deeply, wanting to connect the scent with a body. But it wasn’t this one. So where was it? Where was this animal and what type was it? She couldn’t tell. Nisa knew all the Shadow Shifter tribe scents. This wasn’t one of them, which meant it wasn’t a cat.

  “I should get my camera,” Graham said.