And for a brief moment, she’d thought he felt the same way. Especially as they lay entwined in each other’s arms. She could feel the darkness in him, and their passionate, sensual lovemaking had been like a dance. She’d felt a part of something in a way she never had, and it wasn’t just the sex, but rather something else, a belonging. As if she was right where she should be, with the person she should be with.
But she was obviously wrong, though that wasn’t surprising.
Lately it seemed that she didn’t get much right.
All her life she had scoffed at Nana Stella’s fable regarding the clouded leopard, and Elianna’s fate. Only to find out it really was true. She’d been born a cursed leopard of a clan that was so rare, none of her other clan mates had ever met any before her.
Gah, she had the worst luck of anyone she knew.
Maybe it was her lot in life to forever be alone. And wasn’t that a sad thought.
But maybe this was fate paying her back for the shitty things she’d done. Sure, the way her clan had treated her had made her grow up not trusting anyone. Leery of the slightest kindness and looking for what might be behind it.
But biting and turning a sweet young man topped her list of the worst things she’d ever done. She might have been half out of her mind with fear for her future—she hadn’t wanted to die—but damn, what she did to Thaniel was all sorts of wrong. God, she owned the guy an apology.
For the first time in a year, she felt clearheaded. Almost as if a fog had lifted, but what she had to face was horrifying.
Shame washed over her as she contemplated all she’d done, those she’d hurt, and how she’d humiliated herself.
She’d tried so hard to entice the young unmated males in her clan, only to be rejected time and again because she wasn’t of their bloodline. Though she could live within the clan, she was not good enough to mate.
She finally realized that Nana Stella had indeed been telling the truth about the clouded leopard—about her—as her body started to grow weak.
Despair bloomed inside of Elianna.
That was, until the Tomlee kissed her. A quick kiss given in secret. It had lit a beacon—a single shred of hope inside of her.
He’d completely stunned her when he pulled her into a dark alcove and yanked her up against his chest. His white-blond hair was perfectly coifed and pulled back from his face, and his blue eyes were all seeing, and often, their coldness made her shiver. But that day they were heated, and his arms were steel bands that held her in place against his chest—her toes barely touching the ground. His erection had pressed against her belly, a little frightening and a lot enlightening. Then his mouth covered hers in a harsh, demanding, bruising kiss.
Then he was gone.
It hadn’t been a life-shattering kiss, but it had snapped her out of her depression. She might not have feelings for him, but she could do a whole lot worse than the clan Tomlee. Or so she told herself, until she’d convinced herself over the next few weeks that she loved him.
Like some kind of psycho, Elianna began to stalk him. She watched his every move, trying to find a moment to be alone with him. But it never happened again.
Instead she grew weaker.
As her cat’s heat cycle grew near, she became desperate. She said and did things she never would have done.
And now she knew that she’d been out of her mind, her hormones messing with her.
Her parents, whoever they were, should have just left her to the coyotes to eat. It would have saved so much pain and heartache.
As Elianna thought about the night she’d just spent with Enyowas, she realized that she really liked him. Besides being extremely sexy and handsome, he also was kind and gentle. He made her feel things no one ever had before, and yet, he didn’t want her either. No one did.
She long ago learned not to cry, and though the urge was strong to do so now, she shoved it away.
But no matter how she tried, she couldn’t push Enyowas or the memories of what they’d done together away.
A set of fiery-green eyes continued to haunt her.
At least she was no longer in heat, and for that she’d be forever grateful. Though now she had to worry about whether she was pregnant or not.
Because despite his words, Elianna could tell Enyowas didn’t want to be straddled with a baby. She couldn’t blame him. A guy wanted kids with someone he loved and planned to spend his life with, not some mongrel he helped through her heat.
She needed a plan.
She’d find a job and quickly, though doing what, Elianna had no clue. She had no experience doing anything, other than cleaning or sneaking around and not being seen. Yes, she’d learned at a very young age to be invisible, in order to avoid punishment.
But now that she was no longer dying, she was strong. She could do this. She’d survive.
With that in mind, she fell into a fitful sleep where a sexy, green-eyed man, with shining black hair, and a body sculpted by an artist, made her feel things she didn’t know were possible.
Chapter 10
His chest ached for reasons that were strange and unnerving, and it took a moment for Enyowas to catch his breath. All his life he’d fought to survive, to climb to the top and not let anyone else bring him down. He knew better than to let a female in, yet all he wanted was to stay with Elianna. Or more aptly, stay with her in bed—naked. Hell, he didn’t even know her, and he’d just spent the most amazing night of his life. With her.
He needed to get away fast.
But as he headed for the main house to get Veldi, he had to force himself not to go back and cuddle next to Elianna, hold her in his arms.
His whole body tensed as a presence drew near, but as Enyowas gazed around, he saw nothing. He knew wolves patrolled the area, but whatever he’d sensed wasn’t a wolf. Then he glanced up. The sky was filled with clouds, obscuring the moon and stars. Then there it was. A massive dark shape, with large wings. Enyowas had extra keen eyesight, but what his mind told him he was looking at didn’t make sense. Dragons were a thing of myth, weren’t they?
As the shape disappeared, he rubbed a hand over his face in exhaustion, knowing his mind was playing tricks on him.
Still …
Hellfire was a phoenix shifter, maybe it had been her. With a last glance around, he continued to the house.
Enyowas found Veldi passed out on a couch in the very large common room, and nudged him awake. “Let’s go.”
“Hey, how’d it go?”
Without a word, Enyowas went back outside, glanced up at the sky, and when he didn’t see anything, climbed on his Harley and started the bike. The rumble between his legs was soothing.
A moment later, Veldi climbed on behind him. “You all right? She didn’t try to bind you, did she?”
“No.” Enyowas gave the bike some gas and headed down the gravel driveway.
The trip back to the city was done in record time. He pulled up to Club Purgatori and parked beside Veldi’s truck.
“You heading home or back to the girl?” Veldi asked.
“Neither.” He needed a drink—something to take his mind off what he’d just done, or rather the slip of a woman who he’d done it with.
“It went that good, did it?” Veldi said as he followed Enyowas.
Enyowas didn’t answer.
“Sorry to hear it, but maybe Genevevia or even Gia are still here,” Veldi suggested.
Enyowas would have laughed at the absurdity if his mood wasn’t so dark. Tonight with Elianna had been beyond his wildest dreams, but he wasn’t about to tell his brother that. Hell, he didn’t even want to think about it, or what it meant.
Even though he couldn’t stop thinking of it. Her. Elianna.
He bit back a curse as he grew painfully hard once again.
They headed to their usual table just as Gia and Genevevia finished their last set. The females exited the stage, and for once, the sight of neither woman did a thing for him.
Shit, he was so fucked
!
“Do you need me to go back and take care of Elianna?” Veldi asked.
“What? Hell no.” He snarled, anger coursing through him at the idea of anyone but him touching her.
“Possessive much?” Veldi asked, a twinkle in his eyes.
Enyowas reined in his temper. What the fuck was wrong with him? “Sorry, and don’t worry about it. I don’t think she’s up to anything more tonight.” Yeah, liar, liar, pants on bloody fire. Or, actually, cock on fire. Yeah, that was it. He adjusted himself to get more comfortable in his chair.
They sat and Enyowas closed his eyes and let the noise of the club wash over him. A familiar scent of female hit him, and he opened his eyes to see Genevevia at his side.
She slid onto his lap, put an arm around his neck, and gave a seductive purr. “Ohh, baby, I’m glad you came back.”
Her lips met his, and Enyowas felt nothing. In fact, the hard-on he’d been sporting for Elianna deflated.
His phone vibrated in his pocket.
Grateful for the distraction, Enyowas moved Genevevia off him to pull it out. Veldi withdrew his own phone, which was never a good sign.
Genevevia waited, a pout on her lips as he listened to the person on the other end.
When he hung up, Enyowas met Veldi’s gaze, suddenly shaken.
“What now?” Genevevia asked.
“We have to go.”
“Can I come with you?” she asked.
“No, it’s business.” It was also personal, but she didn’t need to know that.
“Business! Come on my lion king, I need you to take care of me.” She leaned close and licked his ear. “Let Veldi go alone, and you and I can go back to my place and play. Hard.”
“I can’t, and I told you not to call me that.” Enyowas felt nothing for her. No lust or desire, nothing except annoyance at the hands trying to hold on to him.
“You never minded before,” she said.
“I always minded.” She’d just never listened.
“Well then, Tom of the Spite Cats, I can wait for you at your place.”
“Not tonight.” Enyowas left her scowling, and together he and Veldi made their way through the club to the door.
“Think it’s really Tito?” Veldi said once they were outside.
“I do,” Enyowas said, then hesitated as a shiver raced down his spine. A dark menace. He gazed around at the people loitering about smoking, but none of them caught his attention or looked the least bit threatening. Still, if he’d been in cat form, his hair would be standing on end.
Even Veldi looked around nervously.
The evil vibe disappeared as if it had never been. Enyowas mentally shook his head. He was letting everything get to him. “It explains why we haven’t seen Tito around lately,” Enyowas said, keeping an eye on his surroundings even as he focused back on his brother. “All this death, you really don’t need to be here. Why don’t you just go home?”
Pain flashed in Veldi’s eyes, and he started to say something, but Enyowas cut him off. “I appreciate the bro solidarity, but you don’t need to put yourself through this again.” He knew that each time Veldi looked at another body, he saw his dead girlfriend.
Veldi sighed. “You’re right. I am tired, and Ferno’s there with team one.” He met Enyowas’s gaze. “Are you sure?”
“I am.”
“Later then.”
Enyowas watched his brother get in his truck and drive away, then he started his bike and went in the other direction.
Enyowas arrived at the crime scene to find it guarded by EfPP sentinels.
“Hey, Boss.”
“Ferno. Is it really him?” Enyowas asked.
“It is,” Ferno said.
“Same MO as the Ilyium?”
“Not at all. This was done by a cat shifter,” the tall blond said, a hard light in his eyes.
Enyowas steeled himself as he once again looked at a body he recognized. Only this one was male. “Too many supe deaths around here lately.”
“That’s an understatement. Whoever did this, really went to town.” Ferno took in their former clan member who’d been a Heinz fifty-seven mixed-breed were-cat. Tito’s black-and-white-striped mullet was covered in blood and he’d been ripped to shreds.
“You smell that?” Enyowas asked.
Ferno crouched beside him. “Besides the coppery stench of blood and Tito’s personal drug and alcohol use, yeah. It’s pungent.”
“It is. It’s a distinct brand of cigar, mixed with a sickly sweet, almost fruity body odor,” Enyowas said.
“Like someone who might be sick.”
“Right. But underneath it all is cat.” Or more precise, leopard.
“Definitely the same one who killed those other girls and a cat shifter who enjoys using his claws and teeth,” Ferno said.
“Yes.” Enyowas scanned the filthy alley. At the scene of Elsary’s death, it had been badly contaminated, making it nearly impossible to pick up anything specific. “Whoever killed Elsary, Tito, and the others, is out of control.”
Chapter 11
Enyowas started his bike and began to make his way back up north against his better judgment. It was nuts, but after losing his sister and now finding Tito lying like garbage in that alley, all he wanted to do was see Elianna. Check on her, make sure she was all right. It was stupid, she was probably just fine, and this need of his didn’t make any sense. In fact, if scared the hell out of him.
He wanted to run the other way, but he couldn’t do it. He had to go see her.
He tried to convince himself that it was to make sure she was all right.
Plus, he felt like an ass for fucking her and then leaving her.
It didn’t matter that she had Sami and Hellfire, and the rest of their group. Until he was sure she was safe and somewhere that she was actually wanted, he couldn’t just abandon her.
Yeah, it had nothing to do with the fact he was desperate to lay eyes on her—inhale her scent or watch her sleep. No, that wasn’t it at all.
As his aching cock pressed against the front of his pants, Enyowas groaned. He fought to keep his focus on the road.
It didn’t help.
Then he purposely turned his thoughts to Tito.
The were-cat had been part of Enyowas’s clan, but he’d been a manipulative liar, cheat, and thief. His only agenda had been himself, so his death really wasn’t a surprise. In fact, Enyowas was surprised the reaper hadn’t claimed him sooner.
Enyowas had tried to help Tito straighten out. They all did. But it had become abundantly clear that he didn’t want to change, and there were times as Tom of the clan, Enyowas had considered throwing Tito out for the good of everyone else. He hadn’t done it, hoping the guy could be saved, but apparently not.
Still, Tito hadn’t deserved to die in such a horrific manner.
This death, so soon after Elsary’s, left a sudden gaping hole in Enyowas’s gut.
Enyowas turned off the highway and up the driveway, and hunger for the female churned through him once again, along with guilt.
He just needed some space to breathe, to think. Yet now, suddenly, he couldn’t stop the desire to go see her. What if he’d been wrong and her heat wasn’t over?
He should never have left her like he did.
The intense need—hunger—for her shocked him. What was the draw?
Sure, she was gorgeous, and he was super attracted in a way he’d never been to anyone before, but this wasn’t just about sex.
So what was it about?
As he neared the top of the winding mountain driveway, he tried not to think about how it had felt to be buried deep inside of her.
It didn’t work. No matter how he spun it, Elianna made him feel things he didn’t want or need to feel.
If he were smart, he’d turn around and go home. Or better yet, take Genevevia up on her offer. She’d be more than willing.
Though Veldi was right.
Genevevia had been growing clingy, demanding. And if he
was honest, he’d been getting tired of her for a while now. Still, he could have gone to see Gia. She was sweet and sexy, and any male would be lucky to have her.
But she wasn’t Elianna.
The female had changed something for him.
Enyowas pulled up to the top of the driveway and shut his bike off, not wanting to wake anyone. He sat for a long moment, then climbed off and began to push his bike over to the cabin.
Heart suddenly thumping hard in his chest, Enyowas set the kickstand and then inhaled the fresh mountain air. “You’re an idiot,” he muttered, and went inside. There was no sound other than Elianna’s quiet breathing.
Enyowas made his way over to the bed and stared down at her. In sleep she looked so peaceful, so unique, and very different from his normal tastes. In fact, she was quite beautiful. Features similar to another he once knew. He’d have to question her about her parentage.
Then the memory of another petite, dark-haired female popped into his mind. Only this one had unnaturally pale skin, and light-gray eyes. Luna Marie. Though he’d only been thirteen at the time, Enyowas had been attracted to her.
Part of it might have been his craving for a connection to someone who wasn’t his brother or sisters, someone who’d care about him in return. He’d stupidly thought Luna Marie was the one, and she had been for a very brief time, until she betrayed him.
Enyowas tore his mind from his past infatuation and studied Elianna. Though dark-haired and slight of build, that’s where the difference between the two ended. Elianna’s shoulder-length hair shone with an inner gloss, and her eyes were a warm gold, exotic. Inviting.
And while Elianna was a touch guarded, which he could understand given her upbringing, there was also an air of hidden defiance to her. One he sensed she’d buried for way too long. How he’d love to see more of it emerge.
Best of all, Enyowas didn’t sense the same calculating nature that Luna Marie had.
So, maybe he did have a type.
The realization left him shaky.
He sat down in the chair beside the bed, unable to take his eyes from Elianna.
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