Tempted by the Jaguar #2: Revelation (Riverford Shifters) (4 page)

“You don’t have to be so tense around me,”
Hunter said quietly. “What happened earlier between us was beyond either of our
control.”

Kylie blew out a frustrated breath. “That’s
not why I’m—I just—Dammit! I wanted to say I’m sorry, but what I should
probably say instead is ‘thank you.’”

Hunter tilted his head at her in
confusion and Kylie hastened to explain, “I know how hard it was for you to
fight such a powerful instinct. As much as that horrible heat was threatening
to drive me insane, I imagine that pulling away was also really painful for
you. So thank you for giving me a chance to choose how to end my heat on my own
terms, even if that meant calling you and begging you to come back in the end.
At least then, however this whole mess played out, it would have been
our
call and not those damned mating hormones.”

She drew in a deep breath to try to calm
her now racing heart. Saying all that had been significantly less mortifying
than she had feared, but she was still a little bit embarrassed. Lucky for her
that Hunter seemed to have such a calm personality.

“I’m not sure doing what was right
warrants a ‘thank you,’” Hunter said sardonically, “especially when it’s me and
my clan that should be apologizing for not warning you about something as
important to shifters as the heat.”

“And
that
conversation wouldn’t
have been awkward at all,” Kylie said with a small smile.

Hunter chuckled. “Yeah, you’re a little
too old for the ‘birds and the bees’ talk. Truthfully, your heat cycle probably
wouldn’t have even occurred to me until your first one had hit, and even then,
I never would have predicted that amount of chaos.”

“Because I’m a Returner?”

“Maybe,” he replied carefully.

His tone gave her pause. “I know that I
was being hardheaded about refusing to see the doctor Jennifer suggested, but I
want you to tell it to me straight. Am I being incredibly stupid not to go?”

“I’m probably the last person to give you
any kind of medical advice,” he said seriously, “and I can understand your fear
of being poked and prodded as I hate going to the doctor myself. However, I
will say this. What we know about Returners is mainly anecdotal, stories passed
on through the generations, so your going into heat without warning, losing
control the way you did, could actually be something that happens with all
Returners. We would need to find someone with loads more data or talk to a few
more Returners personally.”

“
Are
there any other living
Returners?” Kylie asked.

“I haven’t heard of any personally, but
that’s not really surprising given how rare you are and the natural secrecy
within shifter clans. The only reason why other clans know that you are a
Returner was because you attacked that bastard in the forest, and he lived to
talk. We
couldn’t
keep it a secret. It was pretty much the only defense
the other clans would have accepted for shifting in front of a human.”

“So what you’re saying is that even
though some of the shifter clans here in Riverford might have a Returner or two
living among them, they probably wouldn’t admit it if we asked?”

He nodded. “Though I doubt very much
another Returner exists in this city right now, I can ask the Elders to contact
the Elders of the few other jaguar clans here in the US, but even among our own
kind, they wouldn’t necessarily admit to having any Returners within their
communities. Wouldn’t want to risk another jaguar clan wooing them away now
would they? Not to mention not wanting any of the lion cla—”

Hunter abruptly cut himself off
mid-word, panic flashing briefly in his hazel eyes, before his expression
reverted back to something more neutral, and he shook his head.

“No, we’d never find another Returner
unless they wanted to be found,” he concluded as nonchalantly as though it was
what he had intended to say all along.

Kylie debated on whether or not to let
it slide before deciding that this was probably going to be her best chance to
get Hunter talking about the lions without making him question her interest.

“Lions?” she asked, allowing a bit of
surprise to color her voice. “There are
lion
shifters?”

“Yes, there’re lion shifters,” Hunter
answered way too casually.

“From your tone, I take it jaguars and
lions don’t get along,” Kylie pressed.

His shoulders stiffened ever so
slightly. “There are no lion shifters in Riverford.”

“Nice try, but you can’t brush off my
question so easily. Spill.”

“No we don’t get along,” he replied
curtly.

Kylie couldn’t help rolling her eyes.
“You do realize the less you say the more I know there is to be said? You’ve
already warned me to stay away from the alligators. Should I be just as worried
about lion shifters? Are they all arrogant bastards or something? Do you have a
rivalry going like the Siberians and the Bengals?”

Hunter sighed heavily. “You’re not going
to let this go are you?”

“If the reason why you’re so reluctant
is because of something personal, you don’t have to tell me, but if it’s not…”
She caught and held his gaze. “After what happened to us tonight, I’d rather
not be left in the dark about anything that could become important in the
future. I’ve had enough nasty surprises in the last couple of days to last me
several lifetimes.”

He ran a hand agitatedly through his
hair. “It’s because of all those nasty surprises you’ve had to deal with that I
didn’t want to bring up the lions just yet, but I suppose I only have myself to
blame for slipping up earlier. Just do me a favor first.” He rubbed at his nose
and grinned sheepishly. “The lion clans are a subject that’ll take some time to
explain.”

“Oh, right. If you would rather wait
until morning, then—”

“No, that’s not it,” he interjected.
“It’s just you smell way too delicious right now for my peace of mind. Though
only residual, I can still smell some of your mating pheromones mixed in with
your usual scent, and I’d rather not test myself any more tonight.”

Once again, his bluntness had heat
rising to her cheeks, but she ruthlessly stopped her rising embarrassment
before it could take hold, refusing to look away. “Right. I’ll just go take
another shower. I need to go get the bag with my change of clothes from the
other apartment.”

“Right now a vinegar spray down will
work better,” he said as she started to get up. “It’ll neutralize the
pheromones saturated into your skin and clothes a thousand times better than
soap and water. Wait right there, and I’ll go pour some in a spray bottle.”

Kylie allowed herself to sit back into
the couch cushions as she silently watched Hunter head to his kitchen, glad for
the open floor plan of his apartment. Despite everything he had done for her,
she still didn’t trust his motives for his seemingly selfless help. That he had
just shrugged off their little tongue wrestling match earlier with a “oh well, what
can we do” attitude and didn’t seem as bothered about it as she was only added
to her misgivings.

She had to find a way to learn his
actual standing within the clan and soon. The longer she stayed and interacted
with Riverford’s shifter society, the harder it would be to leave should she
decide she would have better luck seeking out her mother’s clan or it suddenly
become necessary to disappear—in more ways than one.

Because despite all her misgivings and
embarrassment, she found that she really did enjoy his company.

Soon the acrid smell of vinegar
assaulted her newly sensitive nose.

Kylie wrinkled her nose. “I hope you
have lots of aspirin because something tells me that I’ll have a killer
headache before long.”

Hunter looked over his shoulder with a
concerned frown. “It’s already bothering you that much?”

She shook her head. “Not yet, but strong
smells have always given me headaches, so I just want to be prepared. This is
all still so new to me.”

He turned to face her completely. “Maybe
it would better if we just waited to talk more in the morning—”

“Are you kidding? I’d never get to
sleep, wondering why you’re so reluctant to tell me about the lion shifters.”

If anything, his frown deepened. “You
may not be able to sleep even after I tell you about them,” he warned.

How right he was, but his deadly serious
tone made Kylie feel a surge of excitement and hope that he would actually be
able to give her some new information rather than the dread she should have
felt.

“You make it sound as if they’re the
shifter version of the boogey man,” Kylie said just as seriously.

“That’s a pretty good comparison,”
Hunter said as he returned to the couch and motioned for her to stand.

“Are you saying they’re a clan full of
killers?” Kylie demanded.

Hunter began spraying the vinegar
lightly down her front, causing her to involuntarily flinch away as the strong
smell made both her eyes and nose burn.

“Among other things,” he agreed, though
he didn’t elaborate.

It seemed she was going to have to fish
hard for more useful information beyond what was common knowledge among the
clans. Given the danger her sudden awakening posed to both Paul and her, Kylie
didn’t have time to go about this as slowly as she probably should. Time to
bring out the big guns.

“And you’re
sure
there aren’t any
lions in Riverford?” she asked anxiously. “It’s a big city, after all.”

As expected, Hunter’s whole demeanor
grew noticeably tenser as he lowered the spray bottle. He stared at her for a
long moment with an unreadable expression before he sighed and said, “There aren’t
any lion
clans
in Riverford, but like cockroaches, it’s nearly
impossible to keep the bastards completely out. They always show up, one way or
another.”

Kylie sunk back down onto the couch, a
little stunned that he had actually answered her truthfully given what Paul had
told her yesterday about the Sniffers.

“What ‘other things’ are we talking
about here?” she asked.

Hunter resumed his place on the far end
of the couch. “What you have to understand about most of the shifter clans in
general is that we’re a fairly cooperative bunch. We’ve had to be in order to
keep ourselves hidden from the humans for so long. However, the lion clans have
always seen things differently. Their clans have always been strong, their
numbers at least twice that of all the other clans. Back in the day, when each
clan was ruled by a single alpha, their alphas were often powerful lords that
controlled entire regions, ruling over even the humans, and because of that,
they’ve always believed that everyone, not just the shifter clans, should
answer to them.

“Then the human population exploded and
whole shifter clans began immigrating to the ‘new world,’ and the lions
realized that they didn’t have near enough the numbers to lord it over us
anymore. Needless to say, they were pretty pissed about that. To this day,
they’ve had only one goal—to regain the power they once held. Not just over
shifters, but
everyone
. They want to be kings sitting on a world throne.”

Even though what Hunter was telling her
was nothing new, it still sent a chill down her spine having what first her
parents, then Paul, had been telling her all her life confirmed by someone
outside their circle.

“What is it they’re doing exactly?”
Kylie asked.

“They’re conquering major cities one by
one,” Hunter replied quite matter-of-factly, “and right under the humans’
noses.”

“What do you mean? Because the last I
checked, I haven’t seen any lion armies marching into cities on the news.”

The smile on Hunter’s lips didn’t quite
reach his eyes. “Over the past hundred years, the sneaky bastards have been
slowly taking control over every aspect of the cities they’ve been targeting.
Businesses, politics, medicine, you name it and the so-called ‘pillars of the
community’ in a majority of the major cities around the world are almost all
lions.

“Of course, in the cities with shifter
clans, there was a shit-ton of resistance, and at first, most were successful
in keeping the lion clans from usurping their territories. Then gradually, as
the lions grew their businesses into several multi-billion dollar corporations
in everything from global exports to technology, it became nearly impossible
for the other shifter clans to keep them out. Once in, it was only a matter of
time before the lions controlled all the shifter clans in the region, too.”

“Why didn’t the other shifters just
leave?” Kylie demanded.

Hunter scowled. “In the beginning, some
tried, but when several of the shifters that had made a run for it started to
turn up dead—in some instances whole families—no one else dared leave.”

“Are you serious?” Kylie exclaimed. “Who
do they think they are, the mafia?”

“Actually, that’s a very good comparison,
too. The alpha lion in charge of each city controls everything from the shadows
just like a Don, or a kingpin. They have hitmen, or spies, or special
ops—whatever you want to call them—too, though the majority of us have come to
call them ‘Sniffers.’”

“That’s kind of unbelievable.” Kylie
narrowed her eyes at him. “Should I be worried?”

He sighed. “Every shifter who hasn’t
been forced to bare their throats to those bastards should at the very least be
wary. The lions haven’t managed to take over any shifter-occupied cities here
in the south, but it’s not for the lack of trying.”

“I meant since I’m a Returner,” Kylie
elaborated.

His expression instantly clouded. “I
don’t want to scare you…”

“…but?” she prodded with a bit of
firmness.

He rubbed at the back of his neck in
agitation. “There’s really not a good way to put this, but—the lions, they
collect
Returners.”

Kylie took in his words without
blinking. “I thought for sure you were going to say they put out hits on us.
Why in the world would they want to ‘collect’ us? For ransoms? Bargaining?”

“If only it were just that. No Kylie,
they want you for the same reason the clans are so protective of their
Returners.”

For a moment, she gazed back at him in
feigned perplexity before abruptly widening her eyes as though in epiphany.
“But I’m a
jaguar
!” she protested.

“Damn it, I figured Jennifer would’ve
told you about that when she was explaining the heat,” Hunter said. “Though it
doesn’t happen very much because the Elders tend to discourage it, we can mate
and have children with certain other shifters. Unfortunately for all of us,
jaguars can produce children with lions.”

“This mess just keeps getting better and
better,” Kylie grumbled.

She then scooted closer to him and put a
hand firmly on his arm, making him instantly go rigid. Since he was actually
answering all her questions, maybe it was time to ask the questions she really needed
the answers to.

“Tell me the truth, Hunter,” Kylie
continued sternly. “Are there lion shifters in Riverford right now? Is that why
you insisted on staying with me tonight even though you were obviously still
struggling being so close to me? Did Mr. Gaither assign you as my bodyguard?”

Hunter’s nostrils visibly flared as his
eyes fixed on her, his pupils dilating until only a very small sliver of
honey-gold showed. Getting this close to a male who likely still had some of
her pheromones swimming around in his head despite the vinegar probably wasn’t
the smartest thing to do, but Kylie stubbornly refused to back down. She needed
those answers, dammit!

Then he abruptly sneezed, and when his
eyes blinked back open, the heat that had been building within had faded. “Maybe
I was a bit overzealous with the spray bottle,” he said with a small, sexy
smile as he reached up to rub at his nose.

This close and she could smell his
heady, masculine scent even through the vinegar. A mad urge suddenly popped
into her head as she stared at him, and before Kylie could even think to stop
herself, she leaned forward and pressed her lips firmly against his.

A sharp gasp was her only warning before
his arms roughly wrapped around her back and she was crushed against his chest.
A wet tongue licked insistently across her lips until she instinctually parted
them—and suddenly her mind was as hazy and full of pleasure as it had been when
Hunter had pushed her up against the elevator doors the first time they had
kissed.

We shouldn’t…we shouldn’t…
the reasonable part of her mind screamed, but then
her back hit the seat cushions and her mind promptly wrenched to a stop as she
felt Hunter grind his hardness roughly against her groin with enough force to
make her cry out into the kiss.

Sloppy and hard and wet, it was one of
the hottest kisses she had ever had, and Kylie found herself nearly devouring
those soft, delicious lips with utter abandon. His stubble scratched against
her cheek and jaw, adding to the arousal that was now a throbbing, sweet ache
between her legs as Hunter continued to thrust and roll his hips erratically against
her.

Kylie squeezed her knees tightly against
his hips and thrust her pelvis up against the bulge in his jeans, grinding into
his irregular rhythm as she dug her fingers deeply into his shoulders. She
frowned as she realized that he still had his shirt on, that they both were
still fully dressed.

As if reading her mind, Hunter’s hands
were suddenly pushing up her long t-shirt over her chest, the rough pads of his
fingers making her shudder in excitement as they skirted up her belly to cup
her breasts over her bra. He gave them a playful squeeze before he pulled away
from their kiss with a sigh, his warm breath tickling her swollen lips.

“I want you so bad right now,” Hunter
said gruffly, making her eyes fly open in surprise. The last thing she had
expected him to do was talk so lucidly.

Lust-darkened eyes met hers, and for a
moment, she couldn’t breathe.

“I don’t know why, but the vinegar isn’t
working,” he said, gritting his teeth and closing his eyes as if in pain. “Even
though my nose is burning, your scent is still driving me crazy!”

Kylie swallowed thickly and tried to
make her mouth work. “I was the one who—who attacked
you
,” she finally
managed. “You smelled good, too.”

The muscles beneath her fingers tensed. “I
want you,” he repeated softly, his eyes still closed tightly. He pressed his
forehead against hers. “I think I’ve wanted you from the first time I saw you
step out from behind your door wearing my sweater. I wanted you when I knew
damn well I shouldn’t. That’s why I want you to tell me to go. I won’t take
advantage of you when you’re a slave to the heat, but I don’t think I’ll be
able to keep myself from you tonight, even if I leave this apartment right now,
unless you reject me.”

Here his lips curved up. “If you decide
you want this once you’ve got a clear head and you’ve had a few weeks to make
sense of this crazy shifter world, then I promise no power on this earth’ll be
able to drag me away.”

Kylie frowned.
Was
she starting
to go into heat again? Even now with her entire body thrumming with arousal,
she didn’t feel even an iota of that same scorching, intolerable heat of before
that had almost driven her insane with mindless need. Right now, she was pretty
sure she was just plain old horny. Maybe remnants of the heat were still
wreaking havoc with her hormones, but when she had looked at Hunter’s gorgeous
face smiling so sexily at her, she was pretty sure that she had kissed him
because she damn well had wanted to, not because she had been a slave to her
jaguar instincts.

Starting anything with Hunter was
probably the worst idea she had ever had, but…what if it wasn’t? What if he
turned out to be the only man who could ever truly understand her, truly help
her to find out what had happened to her parents? What if she could someday
reveal her secret to him? Could she really afford to get sidetracked from her
original intentions when it came to Hunter and the jaguar clan? No, more
importantly, could she really walk away from something she hadn’t even dared
hope for until now?

“
The Devil tempts but doesn’t force.
”
There had been no truer saying than that, especially when the “Devil” in this
instance was the jaguar shifter with a body like a god and the smile of an incubus
that was currently lying between her legs.

Slowly, Kylie raised her hands to gently
cup his cheeks. Startled, Hunter lifted his head, his entire body beginning to
shake with what was likely a gallant effort of keeping a sudden surge of lust
triggered by her touch at bay. He looked at her warily.

“I kissed you because I wanted to,”
Kylie said with a wry grin. “My earlier heat had nothing to do with it—well, I really
should say nothing
much
to do with it—and I’m definitely not in heat
right now. Maybe hot for you, but nothing as insane as I was feeling when we
went at each other in the elevator. If anything, it’s
your
fault for
distracting me with such a sexy smile, and I do love a guy with stubble.”

Something wild and excited flashed deep within
his eyes. “Just when I thought I had you all figured out, you totally surprise
the hell out of me.”

Then instead of bending down to
recapture her lips as she expected, Hunter pulled away completely from her body
and sprang to his feet. Before worry that he was going to leave her anyway could
creep into her mind, Hunter reached down to her shoulders and pulled her up
onto her feet as effortlessly as though she was made of air.

“Let’s go take a shower,” he said,
tugging her towards the hallway. “Damned if I’m going to smell that vinegar for
a second longer than I have to!”