Hakan Severin (2 page)

“Have you managed to figure out why the hell the kidnappers wanted to get their hands on Hiss?”

Parish shook his head. “Not yet. He’s not talking.”

Hakan bared his teeth, his cat straining to get free.

His mother had done her best to civilize him, but Hakan would always be a little feral.

“Give me ten minutes alone with him.”

Parish twisted his lips. No doubt the Hunter had already tried to get his hands on their prisoner.

“The elders have demanded to speak with him before allowing us to interrogate him.”

“Why?”

“If you want your balls handed to you, why don’t you go ask them?” Parish drawled. “Personally I’d rather put my head in a wood chipper.”

Hakan couldn’t argue.

The three female leaders of the Pantera could be scary as shit when they actually bothered to take an interest in their people.

Usually it was Raphael making the day-to-day decisions.

“Damn.” Frustration boiled through Hakan. He wanted to put his fist through something. Hard. “Shakpi’s curse is finally gone and the land is healing. We should be celebrating the birth of Soyala, not worrying about another threat to the Pantera.”

“Preaching to the choir,
mon ami
,” Parish agreed. “And if that’s not enough, the humans are becoming a genuine nuisance.”

Hakan briefly considered the pleasure of shifting into his cat form and showing the gathered humans just how dangerous a Pantera could be.

Then he gave a wry shake of his head. “Thank the Goddess I’m not a Suit.”

“Yeah, we’re all happy about that,” Parish said with a short laugh. “You have about as much diplomacy as a hungry gator.”

“Which is twice as much as you.”

The leader of the Hunters shrugged. “Painfully true.” Their conversation was interrupted by a muffled chime. With a frown, Parish dug his phone out of the front pocket of his jeans and pressed it to his ear. “What?”

Hakan narrowed his eyes as his companion paced down the hall, clearly unhappy with the direction of the phone call. He hoped like hell it was Parish’s mate complaining that the male forgot to take out the garbage, but there was a ball of dread in the pit of his stomach that warned it was something much worse.

At last Parish shoved the phone back into his pocket and prowled back to stand in front of Hakan.

“What’s up?” Hakan demanded.

“I’ve been summoned by the elders.”

Hakan grimaced. The poor bastard. No one wanted to be called before the three powerful females who shrouded themselves in mystery.

“I thought they were with Hiss?”

“He’s gone,” the leader said, his voice hard with anger.

“What did you say?”

“He’s gone.”

Hakan blinked. Then blinked again.

“What do you mean, gone?”

Parish’s eyes glowed with the golden power of his cat. “Vanished. Departed. Vamoosed.”

Hakan made a sound of annoyance. Now wasn’t the time for his friend’s twisted sense of humor.

“I understand the definition, but I thought he was being guarded. How did he escape?”

“A human who was armed with malachite darts managed to disable the guards long enough to unlock a back door to the clinic and sneak him away.”

“How did a human get across the border—” Hakan bit off his words, remembering the large mass of people who were currently parked at the edge of the Wildlands. “Holy hell.”

It could be a coincidence. The enemy might have noticed the flurry of fearful humans who were demanding answers from the Pantera.

Yeah, and he might sprout wings and a halo.

A low growl rumbled in his chest.

Parish studied him with a frown. “Hakan?”

“The humans were a deliberate distraction,” he said, sharing his growing suspicion.

“Distraction?”

“What better way to slip past our defenses than to rile up the national press with stories of dangerous beast-men?”

Parish sucked in a sharp breath, swift to follow Hakan’s logic. Then his golden eyes widened and he muttered a string of foul curses.

“It wasn’t just the reporters who were used as a distraction,” he at last said.

Hakan watched as his leader began to pace the hall from side to side. If he was in cat form his tail would be twitching.

“What else?” Hakan prompted.

“The kidnappers of Mercier and Rosalie,” Parish snarled. “If they knew enough about Pantera to use malachite to capture them, then they would have known that we would never trade one of our people for another. Not even a traitor. Instead we did exactly as they expected and sent out our Hunters to search for them. Then, when we were concentrating on the search, they used the humans’ growing fear of us to stir up yet more chaos so they could slip across the borders and get their hands on Hiss.”

Hakan turned to smash his fist against the wall, his hand punching through the paneling.

Home repair was a daily occurrence in the Wildlands.

“We were played,” he snarled.

“Like fucking violins,” Parish agreed, his hands clenching and unclenching as if he was thinking about doing some remodeling of his own. “Could this week get any worse? First Mercier and Rosalie are kidnapped, then we discover The Haymore Center has been using Pantera DNA to try to create…” The older Pantera grimaced. “Hell, I don’t even know what they’re trying to do.”

Talon had called Hakan when he was on his way back to the Wildlands to catch him up on the latest news. He was still wrapping his brain around the fact that a human female had been impregnated with a Pantera child without her knowledge.

“The Center has to have some connection to Hiss,” Hakan pointed out, wishing he could get his hands on the traitor.

Long ago he’d loved Hiss like a brother, but that wouldn’t stop him from beating the shit out of him to get the information they so desperately needed.

Parish gave a sharp nod of agreement. “We can hope the two missing Pantera aren’t in the hands of our newest enemies.”

Hakan went rigid. Talon hadn’t said anything about missing Pantera. Of course, lately the disasters were happening at a fast and furious rate. It wasn’t really surprising he had forgotten to pass along the information.

“Who’s gone?”

“At first we thought it was Rage and Bayon, but it turned out that Bayon was at the police station dealing with a very pissed-off Keira.” Parish’s lips twisted into a wry smile. His older sister had a temper that could make grown men cower in fear. “Instead, Rage was with Payton.”

Hakan’s heart came to a sharp, agonizing halt as a savage terror scoured through him like hot lava.

No. This had to be a mistake.

He was suddenly overwhelmed by the image of a tiny female with a heart-shaped face that was dominated by a pair of pale green eyes and framed by a halo of copper curls.

“How the hell can Payton be missing?” he rasped. “She’s a Geek. She’s supposed to be sitting at a desk typing on her computer, not out in the field.”

Parish arched a brow, clearly caught off-guard by the fury that vibrated in Hakan’s voice.

“We hoped the doctors would allow her to look through the files to reveal who was behind inseminating Lydia,” he explained. “They were a part of a larger group of Pantera who traveled to the Center…” His words trailed away as Hakan turned on his heel and charged toward the nearest door. “Hakan? Where are you going?” he called out.

“To get Payton,” Hakan snarled, pausing long enough to glare over his shoulder. “Then I’m coming back to kick the ass of whoever sent her into danger.”

***

The Haymore Center, just off the Pontchartrain Expressway, didn’t look like a den of evil.

The three-story red brick building was framed by professionally trimmed hedges and a manicured lawn with large urns on either side of the glass doors. Even inside there was nothing to indicate it was anything but an upscale health clinic that offered in vitro fertilization.

It was only in the basement, which was accessible by a hidden elevator in the lab and was protected by two guards, that it became obvious there was something wrong beneath the carefully constructed façade.

What clinic had hidden rooms with prison cells, complete with iron bars? Or a line of steel walk-in freezers that were protected with biometric locks? Or a computer system that would make Homeland Security have a stroke?

Payton had immediately known that she had to discover the secrets The Haymore Center was so anxious to hide.

Ignoring Rage’s vehement insistence that she return to the Wildlands, she’d entered the main computer room, not particularly concerned when the guards arrived and tossed her and Rage in the cells.

They were obviously rent-a-cops, not hardened warriors, and there hadn’t been any malachite in the iron bars of the cells. If they truly felt in danger they would be able to escape.

Besides, the Hunters weren’t the only ones who were willing to take risks to protect the Pantera. She might be a Geek, but she would do whatever necessary to discover who was behind the latest threat to her people.

And it had nothing to do with proving her worth.

Not one damned thing.

Leaning over the desk, Payton carefully monitored the numbers scrolling across the computer screen.

Over the past three days she’d been running the computer program that she’d personally developed to break through the firewalls that prevented her from downloading the files.

It should never have taken so long, but the complicated encryption system had meant there wasn’t going to be an easy solution. Instead she had to peel away each layer of security, one at a time.

And of course, it didn’t help that they had to pretend to be safely locked away whenever the guards stirred from their private break room to check on them.

It’d been a frustrating few days, but she was finally at the last firewall. She was close enough she could taste success.

Tapping an impatient finger on the edge of the desk, Payton pretended she didn’t notice the large Hunter who stepped into the room packed with high-tech equipment.

As if any female could ignore the gorgeous male with short, dark hair that always looked as if it’d been tousled by an eager lover. He had skin tanned to a warm shade of bronze, a lean, perfectly sculpted face, and eyes that were a startling shade of violet, flecked with gold.

No big shocker that Rage had been breaking hearts since he’d left the nursery.

“It’s almost halftime,” the male warned. It was Sunday night and the Saints were playing football. Payton had hoped it would keep the guards glued to their TV until she was done. “You need to get back to your cell.”

She absently chewed her thumbnail, psychically willing her program to work faster.

It didn’t actually help, but it made her feel as if she was doing something.

“Just one more minute,” she muttered.

“Dammit, you’re going to give me a heart attack,” Rage informed her. “Not to mention the fact that Parish is going to skin me alive for not checking in.”

The guards had taken their cellphones when they’d first captured them, which meant they hadn’t been able to contact the Wildlands and reveal what they were doing.

Payton didn’t want to worry anyone, but this was too important not to stay and finish the job.

“I’m close to breaking through,” she assured her companion.

Rage moved to stand at her shoulder, his impatience a tangible force in the air.

“I still don’t know why we can’t just take the computer and leave.”

Payton swallowed her sigh. Hunters. They were always eager to charge in and take action. This waiting was driving the male insane.

“Because they’ll know we have it and destroy the information we need,” she explained for the tenth time, glaring at the numbers that scrolled across the screen. Rage wasn’t the only one losing his patience. “Come on, come on,” she urged softly.

“Does talking to it make it go faster?” Rage teased.

“Smartass.”

“Hey now, is that any way to talk to the male protecting your very fine ass?”

She rolled her eyes, her lips twitching. Rage was a compulsive flirt, but she couldn’t deny she enjoyed his companionship.

Every female enjoyed a male who made her feel beautiful.

Especially after she’d been cruelly rejected by the male she loved.

“You need to keep your attention focused on the guards, not my ass,” she chided.

On cue, there was the sound of a door opening down the hall and Rage swore beneath his breath.

“Time’s up, sweetheart.”

Payton reluctantly straightened. “Crap.”

“We’ll try again after halftime.”

“How long will that be?”

“Twenty minutes.” Rage shrugged. “Thirty minutes tops.”

Payton hesitated. If she shut down the program she’d have to start over on the last layer of security.

“Then I think I’ll take the risk of leaving my program running,” she abruptly decided. “Unless they try to use the computer they won’t notice.”

Rage snorted. “I doubt those goons know how to turn on a computer, let alone comprehend what you’re doing.”

Payton agreed. It’d become painfully obvious the human guards hadn’t been hired for their brains.

Of course, whoever was running the clinic probably didn’t think anyone would ever manage to stumble across this secret basement. And if they did, most people would have been easily run off by a guard pointing a gun in their direction.

“I’m not worried about the guards,” she told him. “I’m afraid of triggering my presence once I break past the final firewall.”

“Let’s go.”

Grabbing her upper arm, he gently tugged her out of the computer room and past the large lab that was locked up tight. Then, entering the storage area at the back, they pushed aside the shelves to reveal the double cells built in the hidden room.

“You have the gun I gave you?” Rage demanded as he opened one of the cells and urged her inside.

Payton glanced down to where the full cut of her slacks hid the weapon strapped to her ankle.

“Yep.”

Rage shook his head as he closed the door and used a small piece of wire to tumble the lock. They both knew the weapon was more for show than actual protection. She couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn.