Jaguar's Judgment (4 page)

He watched how her ebony hair fell over her shoulders when she knelt to place the logs in the fireplace. Although she wore a long sleeve shirt, her hand shook slightly as if the cold had started to affect her more than it should.

“When was the last time you ate?”

She stood and whirled to face him. “That is none of your concern. Besides, I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.”

He held her stare for a few moments then lowered his gaze to her lips. Need burned in his chest and trailed down to his cock. His jaguar snapped his teeth and urged him to touch her, caress her cheek, and pull her closer for a full body contact. Before he realized it, he’d closed the small gap between them.

Sable’s eyes grew round and her scent intensified. When she placed her hands on his chest and pushed, he closed his fists over them, drawing her closer. “I want to hate you, but I can’t. Not now. I saw your memories of the last fifteen years. How you sought out the truth about your father. How you protected Ana and Nigel. Most of all, the risk you took to build your group of rebels and break free from Onyx. A cold-hearted rogue would have killed Felix and taken his place.”

She averted her gaze but not before he saw the raw emotions of hurt and love in her teal eyes. “Yet, here we are, hunting down the rogue Alpha to kill him and his mate.”

Brushing his knuckles down her cheek, he tipped her head up with a finger under her chin and lifted her gaze to his. “You’re doing the right thing.”

“Why do I feel it’s not enough?”

“I’m not sure. I do know that we need to learn to trust each other again and work together to ensure we make it out of this mess alive.” He framed her face with his hands, loving the contrast of his pale skin against her creamy mocha coloring.

“Jared…don’t. I can’t go through losing you again.”

He opened his mouth then closed it. The future was too uncertain for promises he wasn’t sure he was ready to make. Releasing her, he stepped away.
Fuck
. What the hell was he doing? The last thing he needed was to mate with her. His damned cat almost had him claiming her. Something he couldn’t do until he was positive she wouldn’t turn on him and his Pack.

“We should search through the files.” He sat on the sofa and opened the closest box. “What are we looking for?”

She was silent for a moment then sat in the chair across from him, taking her own box with her. “Anything with my mother’s name. Birth records. Matings.”

Nodding, he started pulling out files, glad he had something to keep his focus off Sable.

Felix led his mate down to the underground laboratory. His head chemist had informed him that the first test subjects were ready. The male had also said he had concerns, but Felix ignored them. They all had concerns. The only thing that mattered was that Felix had a stronger army to take down the Council, Ashwood Falls, and anyone who allied with them.

Entering the room, Felix’s gaze settled on a tall, dark-haired male standing naked in the middle of the lab. The male watched Felix and Savannah as they stopped in front of him. His dark eyes held no emotion. In fact, the void in the depths was much like the mutants’. “What is this?”

Frank, the chemist in charge of the new batch of serum, came into view with a tablet in hand. “This, my Alpha, is your new breed of mutant. Savannah’s blood—or at least her magick—was the missing element we needed to make the creatures more human-like.”

Impossible
. Felix stepped closer to the mutant, who lowered his head as if sensing Felix’s Alpha power. Out of curiosity, Felix reached out with his telepathy. Most mutants went insane during the transition from human, or shifter, to the half-animal creatures he had created to beat into the obedient mind slaves who would kill at his command.

What he found inside this mutant’s mind surprised him. Instead of the web of jumbled thoughts, there was clarity and focus. Withdrawing from the male’s head, Felix met Frank’s stare. “What were your concerns?”

“The new batch of serum is close to a cure to the madness the other mutants experienced. The intelligence level of this subject is higher than it was when he was human. If they start thinking for themselves and become more independent, they will be harder to control.” Frank handed over the tablet.

Felix glanced at the graphs and data. “Email your reports to me. I’ll read them later.”

Savannah stepped up and handed Felix a thin, black collar. “Use this to control his mind. It’s enchanted and can only be removed by me or you. When he disobeys a direct order he will suffer excruciating pain.”

Gods, he loved his mate. She was brilliant. He took the collar from her, kissing her fully on the lips, before placing it around the male’s neck. “Shift only your hands.”

The male did as he was told with the ease of an Alpha. Most shifters could partially shift, but many had to concentrate to do it. Those who came from Alpha or magickal bloodlines could shift one or more body parts at will.

“He can shift fully into a wolf. I already put him through the basic training exercises. He can be put in the field with a scout.” Frank walked to his computer and clicked on the keys.

Savannah let out a satisfied laugh. “He’d be perfect to hunt Sable down.”

“How long do you need to track her?”

“I already have her location.” Savannah smiled and tapped her temple.

Felix nodded. “Frank, have him ready to meet the scout in fifteen. Oh, and prepare a syringe with a dose of the new serum.”

Sable would find out what it meant to betray her own Pack.

****

It’d been hours since Jared and Sable started searching through the Hunter Ridge Pack files. An awkward silence settled between her and Jared. The only sounds were the crackle of the fire and papers being shifted through. Confusion, heartache, anger, and hope for a happy future whirled inside her like a distorted cyclone.

When Jared had left a moment before to gather more wood, she sagged into the chair as some of the tension left her body. It was getting harder and harder to resist the pull to him.

A wave of dizziness washed over her and the room suddenly grew too warm. Rising, she stumbled to the door and opened it. A blast of cold air hit her, cooling her heated skin. She growled, hating that Jared, of all people, noticed her weakening state. She hadn’t eaten that day, and she couldn’t remember the last time she’d allowed her cat to hunt. Not for fun or sustenance, anyway.

She caught Jared’s heated stare right before he climbed the steps to the porch. Holding up her hand, she confessed before he could call her out on the weakness again. “I need to hunt.”

His expression didn’t change, nor was it judging. “Wait here and I’ll go with you.” Before she could respond, he added, “It’s not a trust issue. I smelled the faint stench of mutants.”

She studied him, not sure if she wanted to be annoyed or touched by his sudden protectiveness. “So you’re going with me to protect me.”

When he pulled his T-shirt off, her breath hitched, and images from a time she tried to forget flashed in her mind. The last time they’d hunted together was the day Jared had broken their bond, tearing out her heart.

She knew it hadn’t been easy on him either because she could still feel his pain through the thin, frail strand that remained. A mating bond could never fully be broken unless one of them died or mated with another. Even the new mating would lack the strength of a true mating.

“Call it what you want. We both need to hunt to keep our strength up and it’s safer to do it together. Besides, I’ve been bitten before and now have a resistance to them.” He unbuttoned his jeans and she averted her gaze.

“Bitten? When?”

The sound of denim sliding down his long, powerful legs made her mouth water and her skin tighten. She fought back a moan.

“Last winter,” he said then fell quiet. She glanced at him. A large, beautiful black jaguar stared at her. So much for answering her question. Stubborn male. Not bothering to remove her clothes, she shifted in a flash of gold and black, then jumped off the porch.

Taking off into the forest, she sensed Jared on her heels. A jolt of excitement surged through her. It’d been too long since she allowed herself to play and run. That’s what she wanted to do. For a few moments, she wanted to pretend she didn’t have a death sentence hanging over her and run carefree.

The scent of a deer caught her attention and she skidded to a stop. Jared eased up beside her, his fur brushing against hers. She ignored the erotic sensation that rippled through her and focused on the buck she heard moving through the brush.

Crouching low, she stalked forward, slowly at first. When the deer was in her sights, she took off, relishing in the chase. Her heart pounded, and blood pumped in her veins. In that moment, she was alive and free. An odd sense of peace and belonging claimed her, and it was Jared’s doing.

When she ran, he ran, but a few feet behind her as if guarding her, protecting her like a mated pair. That admission didn’t bother as much as it should. Great, she was going soft.

A short roar from Jared brought her focus back to the chase. With a final leap, she locked her jaw around the deer’s neck and brought him to the ground.

****

Jared watched Sable weed through the files in the last box from the medical center. They were both much calmer after their hunt. As much as he didn’t want to, he felt relaxed around her. His damned jaguar was happy and content to share the hunt and the catch with her.

The thought that the Fates had brought them together again for a reason swirled in his mind over and over. Would it be so bad to give in? Could she be trusted?

“How close were you to your father?”

Sable lifted her lashes and sighed. “My father is not an easy person to live with. I grew up thinking he was normal, that Onyx’s way of life was normal. Until I met you.”

“Why me?”

“You were different, honest, and possessed a strength I hadn’t seen in anyone else.” She returned her attention to the files.

He watched how the firelight danced across her skin. His finger itched to touch her, but he needed her to give him a straight answer. “You didn’t answer the question.”

Not looking up from the box of files at her feet, she growled out her reply. “My father is sick. No, he’s insane. He allowed greed and the hunger for power to freeze his heart. Plus, the separation from his mate. That was the main driver for him losing his mind and humanity.” She glanced up to lock gazes with Jared. “I thought doing everything he wanted me to do would make him love me more. The little girl inside of me wanted her daddy.”

“What about now?” Jared masked his need to comfort her. She was hurting. He could feel it through the tattered link that still remained of their bond.

“Now, I must do what I wasn’t brave enough to do after returning home from our broken mating. Felix Darwin must die.”

Jared rose from the sofa and crossed the dimly light living room to her. He held out his hand. When she placed hers inside, he tugged her to a stand. “Two things could happen upon Felix’s death. Savannah could weaken, or she could become so enraged no one will be able to stop her.”

Sable’s teal eyes darkened slightly. “I’m counting on both. That’s why I need to find another way to weaken her before I kill her mate.”

The truth in her words choked him like invisible fingers had reached into his chest and squeezed. “I was so angry you hadn’t told me who your father was, but looking back now, I would have been just as furious if you had told me. The war has touched too many of my friends and Pack. I wanted nothing more than to escape it.”

He paused, released her hand, and turned away. “When I met you, I thought you were my escape. That we could run away from it all.” He let out a bitter laugh. “I was being a selfish bastard.”

Sable wrapped her fingers around his arm. “I wanted to leave it all, as well. You made me see there was life outside of Onyx, outside the violence. If you’d asked, I would have run away with you, no questions, no judgment.”

Facing her, he asked, “Where does that leave us now?”

“We have to start the end of the war.”

“What happens after you’re free? You take Nigel and leave?” His jaguar growled in his head at the thought. It’d be like losing her all over again.

“That was the plan, at first.”

Was the plan
? He searched her features. “And now?”

She shook her head. “I don’t know. A part of me wants to be with you, but I’m not sure if being together will only hurt more.”

He framed her face and closed the small gap between them. “We are fated mates. It will hurt us more to be apart. I’m tired of fighting the urge to claim you, to take you in every way imaginable.”

“Jared, I can’t. Savannah will use everyone and everything I care about against me.”

Lowering his head, he brushed his lips against hers. “You are just as strong as she is. You may be more powerful if you trusted yourself to let down your shields and test the strength of your magick.”

A battle of emotions played over her features as if she considered what he’d said. Then she went still. A ripple of her power skittered up his hands and arm. “What—”

She placed a finger over his lips and whispered, “It’s my mother and she’s not alone.”

Jared didn’t waste another moment. He grabbed her hand and tugged her through the kitchen to the back door. “Can we teleport?”

“Not yet. Savannah will most likely trace the magickal signature. It’s better if we leave a false trail first.” Sable let go of his hand and darted out the door. Once outside, they ran north.

After the third false trail had failed to throw Savannah and her scout, or whoever the hell was with her, Jared stopped running. “How can your mother track your every move?”

Sable whirled around, her eyes narrowing. “Apparently, she is the only one besides you who can see through my shields.”

Frustration mounted within and his jaguar paced under the surface. “We can’t keep running.”