Instinctive (17 page)

“What’s the matter, Slyck? You sweet on her or something?” Vall asked.

Slyck fisted his hands and worked to control his anger. “I’m looking at all the angles, Vall, trying to be smart about this, to think about the
town
’s best interest.”

As though taking personal offense at Slyck’s words, Vall sprang to his feet so fast his chair went flying backward. Slyck remained seated. Shifting during a meeting or challenging one’s dominance was strictly prohibited when all the members sat around the oaken table and closed the circle.

Eyes taunting, Vall baited him. “What’s the matter, kitty, afraid of the big, bad wolf?”

Slyck’s fingers twitched, but once again he refused to take the bait. He wouldn’t stoop to Vall’s level.

Suddenly, Vall’s face began to elongate and the sound of his bones crackling was like music to Slyck’s ears. Vall’s sharp fangs extended, and a long golden mane covered his flesh. The fierce, violent energy swirling through the long hall called out to both the demon and the vampire, which had Devon and Quinn on their feet in record time.

Digging deep to keep his panther in check and show his unwavering control, as it itched to claw at Vall, Slyck slowly stood and turned to the lycan. He met his gaze unflinchingly and put his face close, nudging the beast’s temper. He watched the lycan let his anger control the animal inside him, and knew it was one of his nemesis’s greatest weaknesses. Irreverent fool that he was. During the change, the man became most vulnerable. At that moment, while still in his human form, Slyck could have easily taken out the wolf, but chose not to.

Harmony banged her hand on the table. Reproof in her tone, she snapped, “Enough.”

Devon and Quinn resumed their seats, but Slyck wouldn’t budge, not until Vall backed down.

“Slyck, Vall,” Harmony said, anger in her usually calm voice. “Enough.”

With that, Vall snarled and shook off the call of the beast. After giving Slyck one last warning glare, Vall took his seat.

“Let’s get back to the matter at hand, shall we?” Harmony said, quickly getting everyone back on track. “So a show of hands, then.”

Slyck had no choice but to go with the majority; otherwise he’d raise suspicions, and after that little battle of wills, it was the
last thing he needed. He couldn’t risk it. Not with Jaclyn. All five council members raised their hands.

“Majority it is, then.” Harmony stood, unlocked the cupboard, and brought out a container with five straws. Beginning with Devon, she walked around the table and held the container out in offering, claiming that last straw as her own.

She sat down, then glanced around. “A show.” All five members held out their straws, and when Slyck saw the smirk on Vall’s face, he knew that his worst nightmare had just come true.

Oh fuck!

Slyck could feel his blood run cold as his mind raced. No fully transformed panther had ever turned into a lycan from a bite before. In the past, when they’d gone head-to-head, a lycan bite did one of two things: temporarily weakened the panther or, on a few rare occasions when the panther was too young to combat the virus, killed them. Like decapitation, a lycan bite could prematurely end all nine lives.

Slyck swallowed the bile rising up from his stomach. Without having gone through her first transformation, Jaclyn wasn’t equipped to deal with such a bite. She was still vulnerable, susceptible to turning lycan after a bite until her panther showed. He needed to speed up the process if he wanted her to stand half a chance of battling and surviving a bite from a lycan elder.

The sound of Vall’s voice pulled him back. “Looks like I’ve got some work to do,” the lycan said, gloating like the depraved bastard he really was.

“See to it that it’s taken care of before the next full moon,” Harmony added. “The sooner this is dealt with, the better.”

Despite his best efforts not to, Slyck flinched. He quickly tried to cover it up by returning his straw to the container, but he knew that action hadn’t gone unnoticed by the lycan. And no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t seem to control his galloping heart rate, either. Fuck. He suspected the mongrel had heard that too. Slyck needed to get out of there, to warn Jaclyn, to put a plan together before Vall tried to leave his mark on her.

Working to keep his voice casual, he said, “So if that’s it, then, let’s wrap this up. I’m needed at Vibes.” Not that he had any intention of heading to the club. He needed to get home and keep a watchful eye over Jaclyn.

Harmony tapped the table and closed the meeting, with all five species going their separate ways. Or at least they should have all gone off on their own. As Slyck moved down Main Street, he felt Vall’s hot glare on his back. The bastard was following him.

Annoyed, Slyck had no choice but to enter his nightclub. He somehow needed to escape Vall’s watchful eye so he could figure out what the fuck he was going to do to save his mate. It’d be a cold day in hell before he let Vall touch Jaclyn. And since, according to Devon, hell was thriving quite nicely with no foreseeable freeze in the near future, that cold day would be a long time coming.

Jaclyn awoke with a splitting headache. In fact, everything ached, from the tips of her split ends right on down to the tips of her cold toes. She blinked her eyes open carefully, and cringed when the bright morning sun cut through her windowpane and burned her sensitive retinas. Much aggrieved, she rolled back over, groaned out loud, and fought off the sudden feeling of nausea.

Good Lord, she never got sick. Maybe the odd sniffle every now and then, but she’d never been down and out with the flu before. Now she felt like she’d just gone ten rounds with a transport truck. And not only had the truck won—it had backed up over her to go another round.

She swallowed and took note of her thick tongue and scratchy throat. Jesus, what the hell was the matter with her? Could this really be the flu? Who the heck came down with the flu in the middle of summer, anyway?

With her aching body damp from fever, she kicked off her
light cotton covers and forced her rubbery legs to the floor. Immediately chilled, she crawled from her bed and held on to the wall as she padded across the carpet and made her way into the bathroom. After brushing her teeth, her tongue, and even the insides of her cheeks, she turned on the shower, hoping she’d feel a little more human once the warm spray hit her body.

The hot water felt good, but it only temporarily soothed away the ache. Once she climbed from the shower, her skin grew clammy and cool again as pain inched its way through her body. She hugged herself to stave off the shivers.

She quickly dried off and threw on a pair of jeans, along with a heavy knit sweater, despite the glorious, albeit blinding, sunshine outside. Once dressed, and feeling slightly warmer, she slipped into a pair of fuzzy slippers and, with slow, easy steps, padded softly to her kitchen, where she forced herself to choke down some dry toast.

After she’d managed to swallow the flavorless bread, and surprisingly keep it down, she fished her sunglasses out of her purse and made her way to work, stopping at the drug mart to pick up some Tylenol on the way.

Sunray, who looked like her normal gorgeous self, met Jaclyn at the front entrance of the department store. With the way her friend sparkled on this warm summer morning, it was a good thing Jaclyn had worn sunglasses; otherwise she’d have been blinded by the dazzling glare. Maybe that was why she was named Sunray, because she was just as bright as the sun’s rays. Jaclyn gave an easy shake of her head and tried to concentrate. Her fever had
obviously caused her mind to wander off track. Maybe it was even making her a little delirious.

Silvery eyes narrowed as Sunray pulled open the heavy glass door and gestured for Jaclyn to enter. She angled her head. “Hey, girl, you look like hell.”

Jaclyn let out a heavy sigh. “That’s probably because I feel like hell.”

Sunray paused and let her glance race over Jaclyn. “You sure you want to be here?”

Jaclyn pushed her hands deep into her jeans pockets and curled her fingers around her medicine bottle. “I’m sure after a little while I’ll be as right as rain.” And a half a dozen Tylenol.

As midmorning neared, Jaclyn certainly didn’t feel as right as rain. Even after the chalky medicine, she felt more like a tree ripped from its roots in the midst of a category-five hurricane. Her skin itched terribly, yet it was so sensitive, it hurt to scratch.

Deciding to leave her post at the cosmetics counter, she took a quick trip to the bathroom. After splashing her face with water, she glanced at herself in the mirror. Her hand flew to her chest, and she gasped in surprise.

“Jaclyn, do you need help?” The soft concerned voice came from behind her.

Jaclyn squinted, trying to blink away the green flecks in her eyes before her friend glimpsed them. When Sunray’s hand touched her shoulder, she fished her sunglasses out of her purse and spun around.

Sunray’s head came up with a start. “You’re not okay,” she said matter-of-factly. “Not okay at all.” Uncertainty flitted across Sunray’s eyes as she assessed her.

Spears of fear whipped through Jaclyn’s blood, chilling her to the bone. Oh God, did Sunray know what was happening to her? What would that mean for her? For Slyck?

“I have the flu,” Jaclyn said quickly, addressing her friend’s concerns, even though deep down she knew her sickness had nothing at all to do with a germ bug. By small degrees Sunray’s body tightened visibly. “Or maybe it’s just allergies,” Jaclyn offered. “Other than that, I’m fine, really,” she quipped lightly, a task that took a great amount of effort. She leaned against the sink for support and flashed a smile, or at least what she hoped passed for a smile.

Sunray regarded her with wide eyes as though she could read Jaclyn’s every little secret. Shock crossed her friend’s face when she nudged Jaclyn toward the door. “You need to get out of here, Jaclyn. Fast. Before . . .” She stopped midsentence when the door to the washroom opened and a customer walked in.

Sunray spoke quickly, “Go.” She worried her bottom lip and then leaned in and whispered, “I’ll cover for you.”

Jaclyn nodded as panic gripped her hard. She rushed back to her section, shut down her cash, and made her way outside. Even with the sunglasses on, the bright sunshine still cut through the dark lenses and stung her oversensitive eyes. She pulled up the long sleeves on her sweater and glanced at her arms. The hairs had grown coarser and darker.

Even though Slyck had warned her to keep her distance from
him while in public, until they figured out a plan of action, she needed him now, more than ever.

Since she’d been watching him for days, she knew his routine well enough to know that he’d be at Vibes, preparing for the night shift. She also knew that this early in the morning, Vibes wouldn’t be open to the townsfolk.

As she moved down Main Street, a vaguely familiar scent reached her newly sensitized nostrils. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it. When she inhaled again, it hit her. Wet dog. She glanced around but saw no one. Even still, she had an intuitive sense that someone was following her.

Instincts sharpened, and acting as if she didn’t have a care in the world, Jaclyn weaved in and out of a few different stores, picking up a couple of items to make it look like she was shopping. When the scent subsided, she carefully made her way around the back of the building that housed Vibes. In her weakened state, she dropped her shopping bags and was barely able to lift her arm to knock on the service-entrance door. While she waited, she prayed that Slyck was inside, because no way could she walk up to his house and knock, not without raising suspicion. And certainly not with the gut feeling that someone was stalking her.

She wrapped her arms around her waist and cradled her stomach. A few moments later the door opened, and one very surprised Slyck stood there, looking at her. He glanced past her shoulder and circled his hands around her waist, hauling her inside.

“Jaclyn,” he murmured and dragged her into his arms, his mouth on her eyes, her nose, her lips as though he couldn’t get enough of her. “This is dangerous, kitten.”

“I know,” she whispered back, feeling so much better in his presence. Her headache had even subsided, and she suspected it had little to do with the Tylenol.

“I’ve wanted to come to you for days, sweetheart,” Slyck confessed. “But I haven’t been able to. I’m being watched.”

Before she could explain that she too felt she was being watched, he said, “Come with me. We need to talk.” Slyck packaged her in his strong arms and escorted her down a long hallway, past the public washrooms and into the back office. The room was small, with only one tiny window, a sofa, a corner desk, and a cabinet full of files. Behind the office door she spotted a small private washroom.

With a nod Slyck gestured toward the sofa. After she sat, he took a seat beside her and edged close until their bodies touched. His warm hand caressed her cold and clammy cheek. His brow furrowed. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t think so.”

Slyck carefully removed her sunglasses. Something that looked like a mixture of concern and pride flitted over his face when he studied her eyes.

“You’re changing,” he said softly and gathered her hand into his. “That’s why you feel ill.”

Oh God, she could hardly believe this was happening. But it was happening, she reminded herself, and like everything else in her life, she had to face it straight on. Starching her spine, she pushed past her fears and asked, “Will it always feel like this?”

He gave her hand a comforting squeeze. “No. The first time is the worst. It’ll get easier each time,” he reassured her.

She searched his face when he got quiet. “What is it?”

He crouched down in front of her, his mouth tightened. “Presenting my panther will help bring on the shift,” he offered in a low, soothing murmur. “But I don’t want it to alarm you, sweetheart.”